An Evaluation of Endogenous Sustainable Development Planning for the Rural–Urban Environment in Gran Canaria

Urban developments can transform adjacent rural areas by degrading their natural resource base and environmental values. In this paper we provide evidence on the implementation of an endogenous sustainable development plan for the rural–urban environment in the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The objective was the generation of endogenous development in the rural areas by implicating the local population in developing activities in line with natural values and the recuperation of traditional cultures. At the same time, urban societies were expected to benefit from the preservation and availability of these rural environments. The plan was implemented in a large rural valley located between adjacent urban areas. The valley represents an opportunity for urban dwellers to benefit from a large rural park in the urban environment for leisure and cultural activities. The overall accomplishment of the plan was evaluated and contrasted with the benefits to the urban population, which were also measured with a discrete choice experiment. The results highlight that the principal objectives failed because of the lack of political determination to promote the participatory channels that would lead to the preservation of natural resources in a dynamic process of social change.     

Between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic: nautical iconography in the south‐west Iberian Peninsula

This study presents two new representations of ships, recently found in Casas del Turuñuelo, Spain, and dated to the end of the 5th century BC. They depict river barges, which supports the importance of river navigation in structuring the central Guadiana region in the Tartessian era. The systematization of all known ship iconography found in the area from the Early Iron Age makes it possible to highlight their homogeneity, and their Mediterranean hallmark. This serves to emphasize the interconnectivity that existed in Iberia's south‐west, fostering a process of cultural hybridization of which the vessels were both result and vehicle.     

Millet microremains—an alternative approach to understand cultivation and use of critical crops in Prehistory

The term “millets” is used to identify several genera of grasses (Poaceae), most of which belong to the subfamily Panicoideae. Millets are one of the major food sources in arid and semi-arid areas of the world and they have been important crops in the prehistory of Africa and Eurasia. In this paper, we discuss phytoliths and starch grains from two of the less studied major millets (Pennisetum glaucum and Sorghum bicolor) as well as from some small millet species that are not normally considered of much importance (so-called forgotten millets: Digitaria ciliaris, Echinochloa colona, Echinochloa frumentacea, Brachiaria ramosa, Setaria pumila and Setaria verticillata). The preliminary results of this study on phytolith morphology, both at single and joined (silica skeletons) morphotypes, and starch grains show great potentials for the identification of different genus or species on the basis of microremains.     

¿Hacia una literatura de compromiso? Cohesión social desde el individuo en La muerte de Kurt Cobain de Care Santos

Socially committed writing in contemporary Spanish narrative scene sometimes eliminates the possibilities of depicting individual realities. Care Santos's novel La muerte de Kurt Cobain (1997) develops the case of a unique young girl who goes through a life-changing experience during a summer when she has to overcome personal issues in order to form her persona. The novel is half crime-fiction since there is a mystery to solve and half bildungsroman due to the formation of the personality of the female lead character. Coming of age by becoming a human being, a friend, a sister, and a woman is the main focus of this text, which rejects generalizations regarding youth as a reckless period of life and embraces adulthood as a natural process of growth. Young Spanish girls represented in Santos's work are portrayed through the protagonist who contributes to build a human and cohesive society that stems from the level of commitment of the individual.     

La tragedia del Tasso: obra inédita de Manuel Fernandez y Gonzalez

Although Manuel Fernández y González is mainly known for his work as a novelist, he also developed a significant number of plays that, in spite of the warmth of the audience at the time, today remain unexplored in most of nineteenth century studies. The purpose of this article is twofold: first, recovering an unpublished play of Fernández y González that it is also representative of Spanish postromantic drama from the mid-century; and second, exploring the reasons why the figure of Torcuato Tasso did not reach in Spain the category of romantic icon that it did in other European counterparts.     

Is Greener Whiter? Voluntary Environmental Performance of Western Ski Areas

This study analyzes the initial implementation of the Sustainable Slopes Program a voluntary environmental initiative established by the U.S. National Ski Areas Association in partnership with federal and state government agencies. Our findings indicate that participation of western ski areas in the Sustainable Slopes Program is related to institutional pressures in the form of enhanced federal oversight and higher state environmental demands exerted by state agencies, local environmental groups and public opinion. The analysis also suggests that, despite these institutional pressures, participant ski areas appear to be correlated with lower third-party environmental performance ratings. This behavior seems to reflect the lack of specific institutional mechanisms to prevent opportunism in the current design of the Sustainable Slopes Program. That is, the program does not involve specific environmental standards, lacks third-party oversight, and does not have sanctions for poor performance.     

Measuring the Complexity of Past Social Systems: a Task Analysis Approach to the Study of Late Prehistoric Monumentality in Iberia

In this paper, we explore the heuristic potential of a set of ideas about the structural and functional complexity of systems, proposed in the 1990s by theoretical biologist Daniel McShea. In particular, we focus on the structural aspects of the complexity exhibited by social systems organized into low- and intermediate-level functional units (i.e., groups and teams). To address this subject, we describe a methodology suited for measuring the complexity in the organization of work in such systems, which is primarily based on hierarchical task analysis. With this methodology, we approach a concrete case study: the construction of megalithic monuments in late prehistoric Iberia (ca. 3800–1800 BC). On the basis of the analysis of the three best documented, most structurally, and functionally complex monuments built within each of the three periods under study (Late Neolithic, Copper Age, and Early Bronze Age), we found that there was a trend towards less complexity in work organization related to monument building from the Late Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. We discuss the importance of these results in light of the existing models of social complexity in European Later Prehistory, concluding that a more balanced view of social processes would be obtained if we look at complexity as a property of every different social system integrated into the whole society, and not as an exclusive property of the latter.