Southwest Scottish Crannogs: using in situ studies to assess preservation in wetland archaeological contexts

This paper presents the results of in situ monitoring of waterlogged burial contexts in southwest Scotland. The sites investigated are Iron Age crannogs (lake dwellings) which have a proven waterlogged archaeological component, and which are being assessed as part of a national program of study by the Scottish Wetland Archaeology Programme (SWAP) team. A monthly monitoring program commenced in July of 2004. To date, monitoring of water levels, pH, and redox potential, has been undertaken for a period of 17 months in order to encompass any seasonal variability at the sites studied. The results have proven robust in that an ‘ideal’ site for in situ preservation has been identified from the five sites investigated, and the monitoring has highlighted external variables and seasonal impacts that have the potential to influence the long-term in situ preservation at the remaining sites studied. In general, these results have expanded upon our knowledge of the potential for the preservation of existing archaeological remains within such contexts. This study represents the first stage of monitoring aimed at developing a holistic understanding of in situ conditions at the crannog sites studied in southwest Scotland.     

Unions et désunions monétaires en Europe du Gold Standard au Système Monétaire Européen

La naissance de la Banque centrale européenne a suscité une discussion soutenue à propos des critères de convergence, de l'objectif d'inflation et de la flexibilitédes taux de change de l'euro par rapport aux autres monnaies-clés (dollar, yen). Un détour par les arrangements et unions/désunions monétaires passés s'avère pertinent en termes d'information à propos des conditions essentielles pour l'établissement et la gestion des politiques monétaires, non seulement du point de vue économique mais également du point de vue politique. Les lec¸ons principales qu'apporte l'Histoire indiquent que: inflation et taux de change constituent deux 'ancres', parmi d'autres, choisies en fonction d'une orientation idéologique plus marquée qu'il n'apparâ L t au premier abord; qu'àla fois les créditeurs et les débiteurs nets doivent être responsabilisés pour organiser un système durable; que l'intégration du marchéa toujours précédél'union monétaire; enfin, qu'un lien solide entre pays apporte une meilleure protection contre les chocs extérieurs qu'un ensemble de réactions individuelles non coordonnées. Néanmoins, une question importante reste en suspens: est-il possible pour une union monétaire de supporter la présence de parasites monétaires dans sa périphérie, hôtes indésirables qui ne participent pas au partage des coûts engendrés par l'union monétaire, mais qui s'invitent au sein du système et en profitent àtravers des alignements tacites sur la politique appliquée àla monnaie unique?     

Innovation Advantages of Cities: From Knowledge to Equity in Five Basic Steps

This paper explores the reasons why cities are often major centres of innovation, even in some less favoured regions and countries. It starts with an anatomization of the dominant factors that explain why key less favoured settings developed 'new economy' clusters through institutional interaction with Silicon Valley. The analysis concludes that public research resources and private commercialization funding are central, supported by a wide array of private but few public innovation support services. It then examines a number of cases from cities in less favoured regions and countries where innovation has occurred. The conclusions are that the research-venture capital model is present and explains innovation in each case. However, in some cases public venture capital has to substitute for private due to market failure, or a phenomenon termed 'Silicon Valley Offshore' has been induced. Cities are innovative where they concentrate the desired scientific and investment knowledge capabilities.     

Digital technologies,children and young people's relationships and self-care

Children's and young people's access to and use of digital technologies have received increasing attention in recent years. While influential UK media commentators have often focused on associated risks, researchers have taken a less exclusively problem-focused approach. Children and young people's use of, for example, social media and computer games to extend the spaces available to them in which to maintain relationships, to experiment with social identities, and to engage in an ‘economy of dignity’, however fragile, have all been highlighted. This paper builds on this work to further consider the role of such resources, accessed primarily through computers and mobile phones, as means of caring for oneself or ‘self-care’. It draws on a qualitative study which employed visual and audial methods to explore the sense of belonging (or not) of young people who have been ‘looked after’ by others than their biological parents, often in less affluent circumstances.