Geoarchaeological tsunami deposits at Palaikastro (Crete) and the Late Minoan IA eruption of Santorini

The explosive eruption at Santorini in the Aegean Sea during the second millennium BCE was the largest Holocene volcanic upheaval in the Eastern Mediterranean region. The eruption was disastrous for the Minoan settlements at Santorini, but the effect on human society in the neighbouring islands and regions is still clouded in uncertainty. Tsunami generation was suggested, but comparatively little evidence was found. The lack of firm tsunami traces is particularly puzzling in Crete with its coastal settlements of the Late Minoan IA period, during which the Santorini eruption occurred. Here, we report the discovery of extensive geoarchaeological tsunami deposits at Palaikastro in north-eastern Crete. These deposits are characterized by a mixture of geological materials, including volcanic Santorini ash, and archaeological settlement debris. Various tsunami signatures were identified: (1) erosional contact with the underlying strata, (2) volcanic ash intraclasts in the lower part of the deposit, (3) reworked building stone material in the lower part of the deposit, (4) individual marine shells, (5) marine micro-fauna, (6) imbrication of rounded beach pebbles, settlement debris, ceramic sherds and even bones, (7) multi-modal chaotic composition. Late Minoan human settlement activities at Palaikastro provided architectural and stratigraphic frameworks in space and time that recorded and preserved tsunami evidence as geoarchaeological deposits. Such stratigraphic resolution and preservation may not occur in the natural landscape. Volcanic ash transported by wind from Santorini south-east to Crete preceded the tsunami. Geological, archaeological and radiocarbon dating criteria all converge, indicating that the tsunami deposits are coeval with the Minoan Santorini eruption. Field evidence suggests that tsunami waves at Palaikastro were at least 9 m high. Inverse tsunami modeling was attempted, based on these newly discovered tsunamigenic deposits. The initial wave in the generation region at Santorini that best fits the stratigraphic data is a wave with +35 to −15 m initial amplitude and a crest length of about 15 km.     

Regional and interregional networks of ancient Eleon during the early 12th century BCE as seen from the petrographic and neutron activation analyses of pottery

In this article, we present the results of application of petrographic and neutron activation analyses to a group of pottery fragments dating to the 12th century BCE deriving from ancient Eleon (Boeotia, Greece) as a means of investigating regional and interregional networks in which the site participated. Production centres in Boeotia and central Euboea provided, as could be expected, the majority of sampled pottery across various shapes. A number of more distant areas, however, such as eastern Attica, the Cyclades, Macedonia, and western Crete, are also documented in the present study, suggesting their products were available to local consumers at ancient Eleon. These results are discussed with reference to consumer preferences and exchange networks operating at that time. Finally, some of the identified petrographic and chemical groups can be securely identified at the macroscopic level, allowing us to arrive at conclusions pertinent to a substantial part of the entire pottery assemblage.     

Vernetztes regionales Engagement – Das Beispiel Heilbronn-Franken

At a regional scale, a variety of actors from all three sectors of private, public and civil society act together in a philanthropic field. This article deals with the question of how cooperation in charitable action unfolds in this field. Using the example of the region of Heilbronn-Franconia, the empirical case unpacks the dominance of local and regional forms of philanthropy and reconstructs two successful examples of intersectoral collaboration. However, the analysis also demonstrates the limits of the external designability that are due to the individuality of charitable actors, their diverse objectives and the contextuality of the regional environment. The realization of synergies through regional governance therefore succeeds only by respecting the dedication and self-determination of philanthropic commitment and by creating legitimate and sensitive structures of moderation and facilitation.     

Regionalökonomische Bedeutung kleiner Wallfahrtsorte

Today pilgrimage is experiencing an increasing interest, although motives are notable changing. Sites along pilgrim routes normally profit in an economically way. But until today regional economic effects of even very small pilgrimage sites are underexplored. Therefore economic impulses of the pilgrimage site in Biberbach (Bavaria) were identified using interviews and calculations. According to that the 10,000 visitors per year generate nearly 30,000 € gross turnover and 0.5 jobs. So even small pilgrimage sites can obviously produce a notable increase of local EVA.     

WEST OF THE BEST: ROCK ART AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES IN THE DORO !NAWAS REGION OF NORTHWEST NAMIBIA

The Northwest of Namibia bears a concentration of rock art that is among the highest in the world. One of the centres is Twyfelfontein, a cluster of sites surrounding a waterhole at the eastern fringe of the Namib Desert, classified as the prime rock engraving site in southern Africa and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Recent prospections in the desert west of Twyfelfontein have resulted in the discovery of engravings and paintings that exceed those at the UNESCO site, both in quantity and quality. Our contribution to this volume in memory of Klavs Randsborg introduces this newly discovered archaeological landscape and discusses the connection between water ‐ a rare commodity in the desert environment ‐ and the rich array of rock art and other archaeological features found here.     

DERIVATIVES OF FLOWS IN A DOUBLY CONSTRAINED GRAVITY MODEL

For many practical applications it is important to know how the flows in a doubly constrained gravity model react to slight variations in the predetermined marginal totals. The first-order approximation of these variations is a linear function on the set of feasible variations of marginal totals, i.e., the set of variations not violating the consistency constraint of the model. Several methods to find a matrix describing this linear function are developed and compared with former contributions to this issue. Finally, applicability of the methods to sensitivity and error propagation analysis is demonstrated.