Aktuelle Herausforderungen für die Tourismuspolitik am Beispiel von Rheinland-Pfalz

Als Folge der weltweiten Terroranschläge der letzten Jahre, der internationalen politischen Konflikte und der gesundheitlichen Gefahren durch Krankheiten wie SARS, steht die Tourismusbranche vor einer veränderten Situation, die sie in dieser Ausprägung bisher nicht kannte. Welche Konsequenzen sich hieraus für die Branche und den Deutschlandtourismus allgemein sowie für das Land Rheinland-Pfalz im besonderen ergeben, diskutierte DIPL.-GEOGR. KAI PARTALE, DVAG-Arbeitskreissprecher Freizeit+Tourismus, mit dem Tourismusreferenten des Ministeriums für Wirtschaft, Verkehr, Landwirtschaft und Weinbau des Landes Rheinland-Pfalz, DIPL.-GEOGR. ROLAND JOHST.     

Integration of Complementary Archaeological Prospection Data from a Late Iron Age Settlement at Vesterager—Denmark

The complementary use of various archaeological prospection data sets offers a series of new possibilities for the investigation of prehistoric settlements. In addition to the separate interpretations of the single methods, the implementation of image fusion provides an additional tool to obtain an even higher degree of data integration during the interpretation process. To investigate some possibilities and risks of image fusion, a procedure frequently used in the medical field but rarely applied in archaeology, various algorithms inside a dedicated MATLAB toolbox TAIFU (Toolbox for Archaeological Image FUsion) were tested on the geophysical prospection data from an Iron Age settlement near Vesterager in West Jutland, Denmark. The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology had conducted large-scale, high-resolution ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetometry surveys at the site in 2014, based on its discovery by the Ringkøbing Museum through aerial photos and the results of a follow-up excavation in 2009. The aim was to determine if, and to what extent, geophysical prospection together with a novel integrative interpretational approach was able to add more detailed information to an already known prehistoric settlement. Results yielded a variety of deeper insights into the separate farms (dated to around AD 400), including the discovery of several new structures and more information about the construction of the longhouses, as well as a first suggestion on how to implement image fusion into the process of analysis and archaeological interpretation of geophysical data sets.     

Provenance of Iron Age iron in southern Germany: a new approach

Ores, slag, and blooms from an Early Iron Age smelting site in the Black Forest, southern Germany, were analysed in view of their possible provenance in combination with products from a modern smelting experiment. Rather than employing lead isotope ratios, like in a previous study, osmium and strontium isotope ratios are used for the discussion of provenance. The results of the smelting experiment with iron ores from the archaeological site and their comparison with original finds show the high potential of osmium as a tracer to determine provenance. Strontium may be an additional indicator but possible contaminations need to be assessed. A Celtic iron ingot has also been analysed to check the potential of osmium for further provenance studies.     

Engineering Education in Cold War Diplomacy: India,Germany, and the Establishment of IIT Madras**

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT) was set up with assistance of the Federal Republic of Germany between 1956 and 1974. It became the largest, and finally, a successful techno-scientific education project undertaken by the Federal Republic outside of Germany. In this paper, I argue that the engagement of the Federal Republic at IIT Madras has to be understood primarily as a project of Cold-War science and technology diplomacy, which on the German side was aimed at preventing an Indian recognition of the German Democratic Republic as a sovereign nation. In aiding the establishment of IIT Madras, the Federal Republic came into direct competition with the Soviet Union, which supported IIT Bombay but also with the United States of America, which supported IIT Kanpur. The assistance to establish IIT Madras and its governance followed mainly political guidelines, to which educational and scientific aspects were rendered subordinate. When the project was in a crisis after the first State Treaty to establish IIT Madras expired in 1963, the political flagship project of the Federal Republic was not allowed to fail. Instead, the cooperation was reorganized and support increased.     

Freemasonry in Turkey’s modern history of ideas: A factor of liberalization and individualization?

This article provides a brief outline of the impact of Turkish Freemasonry on the development of modern Turkey since the eighteenth century. It draws a short and incomplete history from a qualitative viewpoint, including influential topics, approaches, and camps. As European influences were historically strong in shaping Freemasonry on the Bosphorus, the text makes Turkish Freemasonry a case of Turkish‐European exchange and an example of specific currents of modernization, individualization, and liberalization—with all their pros and cons—within Islamic societies. The relevant questions are where and in which frameworks such currents may have been effective, where they perhaps produced the opposite of what they intended, and to what extent they could contribute to mitigating today’s torn political climate to all participants’ benefit. The article is based on interactions with representatives of Turkey’s Freemasonry, mainly of the liberal and progressive strands, making it more a narrative‐oriented account of an evolving greater picture than an array of detailed empirical‐scientific evidence on single pillars. The goal is to illustrate the complexity of “semi‐secular” socio‐religious dynamics in a Muslim context and to put the past into some relation to the present.