Experimental Boat and Ship Archaeology: Principles and Methods

The need for experiments to study physical aspects of craft of the past is stated, as well as the necessity for them to have clear aims and to follow the established principles of scientific enquiry. These principles are discussed in this joint paper by ten maritime archaeologists and others, together with methods and some points of management critical to their application in this field.     

Institutions du travail et etat‐nation histoire d'un mariage à l'avenir incertain

Concepts of unemployment or of the labour market are not abstract, but develop from each society's own particular logic. Taking the examples of Germany and France at the end of the nineteenth century, it is possible to see how these concepts were constructed in specific national contexts, and how they were then used in practice. This analysis leads us to rethink current ideas about work and unemployment, and to ask what their future will be in a united Europe.     

Application of European regional development fund for objective 2 in Catalonia: planning,monitoring and evaluation

This paper describes the administration procedures of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for Objective 2 in Catalonia. The paper shows also that the flow of an average of 100 million ECU per year from this Fund from 1989–1993, despite having a relatively slight impact on the Catalan GDP, has contributed to solving some of the bottlenecks in the Catalan economy.     

The Greek Neolithic: A new review

The Greek Neolithic, here divided into five phases, is the oldest in Europe. Geographically, it is the closest to the Near East and has thus long been seen as an impoverished derivative of the latter. However, recent research has tended to emphasize the autochthonous nature of Neolithic development in Europe, including Greece. The Greek Neolithic economy, which was based almost entirely on domesticates, and its densely packed, long-lived villages strongly recall the Near East, as do also the early emphasis on fine, decorated, nonculinary pottery and the wealth of figurines. On the other hand, the evolution of stylistic patterns is specifically Greek, although generally related to trends in the Balkans. Originality in the development of the Greek Neolithic is also seen in its latest phase, with apparent decreases, rather than increases, in site density, social differentiation, and, to some extent, long-distance trade. At the same time, however, the dichotomy became much sharper between the rich agricultural plains of northern Greece and the more pastoral(?) regions of the Peloponnese and Cycladic Islands; this presages similar contrasts during the Bronze Age.     

Determination of the Fineness of Medieval Coins—Evaluation of Methods in a Case Study of a Medieval Pfennig

The original fineness of coins is very important information that can help us to understand the commercial situation in a wide historical context. This paper deals with a comparison of analytical methods suitable for the evaluation of the actual and original fineness of coins based on a detailed case study of a medieval coin sample. Both non‐destructive (i.e., scanning electron microscopy/energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, X‐ray fluorescence, atomic force microscopy and hydrostatic weighing) and destructive (i.e., inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry and the Volhard titration method) techniques were used. The original fineness can be also deduced from knowledge of the internal structure of the coin (limited miscibility of copper and silver). A new analytical method based on a combination of a micrograph of the metallographic cross‐section with consequent image analysis was developed for determination of the original fineness. The proposed approach is relatively simple and provides reliable values. Sample heterogeneity and its impact on the determination of fineness are also discussed.