Impediments to a human rights-based approach to heritage conservation: the case of Bagan,Myanmar

The recognition of human rights at stake in and around World Heritage sites has led to an increased interest in the adoption of a human rights-based approach to heritage conservation. This approach is understood to address issues of social justice and enable a more sustainable form of heritage conservation. However, research at the historic and religious site Bagan in Myanmar shows various conceptual, practical and political hurdles that need to be addressed before this approach can effectively be adopted. Challenges can be found on local, national and regional scales and include the interpretation of cultural rights and conflicting rights, the contentiousness of human rights language and the lack of capacity to hold violators accountable. These impediments are relevant beyond Myanmar and demonstrate that the effectiveness of a human rights-based approach to heritage conservation is highly context-dependent.     

The production of borders in nineteenth-century Europe: between institutional boundaries and transnational practices of space

The article proposes a synthesis of the major historical works on nineteenth-century European borders. Founded on an original methodological approach, the article advances a rethinking of the concept of ‘territoriality’ traditionally attributed to the rise of modern nation-states. The innovative method adopted is based on combining the focus on spatiality in recent historiography – especially in global history – with the categories and the ethnographic method developed within the border-studies field. The analysis is conducted in two directions. The first focuses on ‘borders’, specifically on some border-creation processes developing throughout the European continent. The second is more centred on European ‘borderlands’, conceived as trans-state and trans-national regions, mainly linked to the space's well-established social practices, familial and economic networks and religious experience. On the one hand, the article highlights how nineteenth-century borders were not simply the product of an institutional decision performed by emerging nation-states, but also the result of an interactive dialectic between state institutions and social actors inhabiting the borderlands. On the other, it shows how the borderlands as cross-border territorial entities continued to exist alongside the new territorial state limits, helping shape a more complex European spatiality than traditionally stated.     

Feasting and Building an Urban Society at Cerro Jazmín,Oaxaca, Mexico

Here we present new excavation data from the urban site of Cerro Jazmín, Oaxaca, Mexico. Based on a comparative analysis of ceramic, faunal, botanical, and architectural evidence collected from a prominent city sector and a contemporary residence, we argue that feasting took place in the Sunken Patio Sector in the Late and Terminal Formative periods. Feasting strategies in an earlier occupation of the city sector employed a largely exclusionary strategy, giving way to a more corporate strategy in a later occupation. We take the findings from the Sunken Patio feasting complex as evidence of the formalization of Cerro Jazmin’s urban, regional role as a site of civic-ceremonial activity. Participation in this meaningful act of food consumption may have served to cement communal ties in a nascent urban society.     

A preliminary study of ceramic pastes in the copper age pottery production of the Rome area

This paper presents the preliminary results of an analytical study on domestic pottery samples originating from the Copper Age sites of Casetta Mistici, Tor Pagnotta, Osteria del Curato-Via Cinquefrondi, Torre della Chiesaccia and Valle dei Morti, all of which are located in the Rome area (Latium, Italy). The aim of this research is to define the compositional features of the ceramic pastes and to reconstruct the main technological choices characterising pottery production in these contexts. The importance of these archaeological sites lies in their geographic position, being located in an area bounded by the Tiber and Aniene rivers and the Colli Albani volcano, and in their stratigraphic sequence, spanning from the mid-fourth to the end of the third millennium bc. This research, based on a petrographic and chemical investigation of pottery samples, led to the distinction of eight petrographic groups that reflect specific choices in pottery production. Moreover, the analytical results provide indications about the prehistoric pottery production of the Rome area in relation to the ceramic recipes used, the pastes that were obtained and their sourcing areas.     

The construction of gender-sensitive peacebuilding in Australia: ‘Advance Australia Fair’

Australia was the first United Nations member state to commit to the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund when it was established in 2006, and it has made annual contributions since then. Australia has also made significant contributions towards enhancing gender equality in peace and security governance, most recently during its 2013–14 term of office on the United Nations Security Council, recognising that gender matters in and to all aspects of peacebuilding activity. This article offers a discourse-theoretical policy analysis of a range of Australian Agency for International Development guidelines and strategies addressing gender and peacebuilding issues, and reads these against the international framework to explore the discursive construction of gender-sensitive peacebuilding in Australia. The authors argue that the representations of peacebuilding in the documents they analyse shape how Australia engages in peacebuilding-related activities and inform how Australia is positioned internationally as a peacebuilding actor.     

Effectiveness of Phosphocitrate as Salt Crystallization Inhibitor in Porous Materials: Case Study of the Roman Mosaic of Orpheus and the Beasts (Perugia,Italy)

Salt crystallization in porous materials constitutes one of the major causes of decay of buildings/archaeological sites in a wide range of environments. Desalination is among the most common methodologies of conservative treatment for salt decay. However, classic desalination techniques might be not suitable for long-term conservation. During the past decade interest has been an increasing towards crystallization inhibitors as a new means of controlling crystallization damage. This study deals with the first in-field application of an environment-friendly inhibitor system— phosphocitrate (PC). In particular, the case study of the Roman mosaic of Orpheus and the Beasts in Perugia (Italy) is presented. The inhibitor is completely soluble in water or alcohol, non-toxic, and easy to apply, thus enabling its use in accordance with the volatile organic compounds emission control and safety during the conservation works. Relevant samples from control and treated mosaic areas were collected and analyzed comparatively by means of Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive spectrometry to study the potential of the inhibitor system in preventing/controlling salt damage in such archaeological site.