Minimum Thrust of Rounded Cross Vaults

This study analyzes the static behavior of the rounded cross vaults based on the limit analysis approach developed for masonry structures and adopts a rigid no-tension constitutive model with no sliding. The kinematic theorem of the limit analysis with a compatible tridimensional mechanism is applied on these structures with the aim of evaluating the minimum thrust. In this way it was possible to build some abaci in which the ratio between the minimum thrust and the weight is plotted versus the geometrical characteristics of the vaults. Finally, the proposed abaci are used to calculate the thrust of the main vault of the Diocletian Baths in Rome.     

The Bourbon monarchy and prison legislation in Sicily: two competing plans for reform (1826–1830)

The nineteenth century was a critical phase in the construction of European penitentiary systems. The eighteenth century had seen the evolution of the concept of punishment and the corresponding development of the practice of imprisonment as central to new ideas about penal sanctions. As a result, between 1830 and 1848 grand plans to reform prison systems were put forward in almost all the larger European countries. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies played its part in this process: an innovative reform plan was developed here, ahead of the rest of the Italian peninsula, which was fully implemented between 1832 and 1845 but had its origins in an earlier period, being given its initial impetus by modernisation on the legislative front. Sicily was particularly rich in terms of legal experimentation in this area. Here, informed by the most recent developments in contemporary science, plans to reform prison legislation were produced as early as the 1820s; these attest to the interest with which lawyers, philanthropists and government officials approached the issue. The analysis of two plans discovered in the Archivio di Stato in Palermo is especially helpful in demonstrating the existence of a ‘workshop for prison legislation’ that addressed concrete problems while also being the manifestation of a sophisticated legal culture.     

Two bullocks,a ladder and a lamp: electoral symbols in Nehruvian India

There is a substantial body of literature on nation‐building that, from a variety of theoretical approaches, examines the role of symbolic constructs in the process of construction and consolidation of new nation‐states. Among these works, the dramatic and symbolic aspects of election and their function in the nation‐building project have been investigated by political scientists and anthropologists alike. However, analysis of electoral emblems as constitutive elements in the nation‐building process has been largely missing from most studies of nation‐building and official nationalism. A case study of postindependence India suggests how national belonging was also made to hinge upon on competent democratic participation of the masses in the political life of the country. Central to this process of identity work was the establishment of an independent Election Commission and of strict rules for the design, selection and allotment of election emblems. Conventional accounts have argued that these procedures were introduced primarily for the benefit of the uneducated masses who were suddenly invited to participate in India's democratic process. I argue against this simplistic interpretation. Far from being only tools for the simplification of electoral processes, India's election symbols were one of India's institutional mechanisms designed to nurture the development of a correct democratic conduct and therefore ultimately contributing to the Nehruvian national project.     

Testing flora as bioindicator of buried structures in the archaeological area of Maxentius’s villa (Rome,Italy)

The flora of the archaeological area of Maxentius’s villa (Rome) was tested as bioindicator of buried remains of masonry and pavements. A total of 53 floristic surveys provided the occurrence of each species in sample units, as well as some their phenological features. The data were elaborated through multivariate statistical analysis in order to assess floristic affinities/differences among sample units, and define their ecological characteristics. The fuzzy set methodology was applied to evaluate relation between floristic richness, plant cover and soil depth. Results showed that the buried remains of stonework create a discontinuity in the ground, influencing the flora growing above it. This phenomenon may give rise to differential presence of some species (e.g., Cota tinctoria, Trifolium scabrum ssp. scabrum on thin soil; Ranunculus bulbosus, Trifolium pratense on deeper soil), but will not have such a great effect on floristic richness. The bioindication of this phenomenon also occurs through phenological irregularities in single specimens and changes in plant cover. Nevertheless other environmental factors (soil moisture/aridity, trampling, enrichment of nitrogen, cutting, ground depression) can interfere with the use of plants as bioindicators of buried structures. It is therefore necessary to consider other factors ecological influencing each site when you want to use plants as bioindicators in archaeological prospection.     

Introduction: Italy in the EU—pigmy or giant?1

This introductory article discusses the circumstances under which Italy manages to forge ‘national preferences’ and push them through the European policy‐making process. Drawing from the analysis of several policy areas, it concludes that Italy plays a major policy‐making role, particularly when it acts as mediator between large countries and small‐ and medium‐sized ones, and when it argues its case according to policy‐ and EU‐appropriate logics. While Italy may not have it ‘its way’ all the time (as no member‐state does), it still manages to influence the EU policy‐making process more frequently and more significantly than the literature has so far conceded.     

The deposit of KHB-1, Ra’s al Khabbah (Ja’lān region,Sultanate of Oman): Stratigraphy,features and structures

The excavation of KHB-1 archaeological site was part of the Joint Hadd Project [Joint Hadd Project is a project operating in the Ja’lān region since 1985, born under the collaboration between ISIAO (Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente, Rome), CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris) and the University of Bologna] carried out in the Ja’lān region, along the coast of the Sultanate of Oman. Different phases of occupation with significant structural evidences were identified within the deposit: an early short-term occupation in the 7th millennium, followed by a longer, extended period of occupation during the 4th millennium by a community of hunter-gatherers, with some evidence of animal husbandry. The material culture recovered from KHB-1, which includes architectural remains, provides new insights on the cultures of this region, highlighting a need for further excavations and analysis. This paper will illustrate the stratigraphic sequence and the main features recovered at KHB-1, followed by a discussion on the two main periods of occupation which will help shed a light on the site function and more broadly provide key insights on mobility, economy, and material culture of Ja’lān in the beginning of 7th and along the 4th millennium B.C.     

Negotiating the regulation of the structural funds: Italian actors in EU regional policy‐making

The role of Italy in the reform process of the regulations concerning EU regional policy has traditionally been weak. Since 1998, however, Italian actors in Brussels started to play an increasingly more central role. Looking at the 1998 Regulation, we analyse the internal and external factors that explain this improved performance and conclude that this change might lead to an even more active and creative role being adopted by Italian institutional actors in the current negotiations which will lead to the reform of the regulation of the Structural Funds for 2007–13.     

Book reviews

Filippo Mazzonis (ed.) (1995) L'ltalia contemporanea e la storiografia internazionale (Venice: Marsilio), pp. 1‐315, 54,000 lire, ISBN 88‐317‐6207‐9.

Giuseppe Ricuperati (1994) Le avventure di uno stato ‘ben amministrato’. Rappre‐sentazioni e realtà nello spazio sabaudo tra Ancien Régime e Rivoluzione (Turin: Tirrenia Stampatori), pp. 1‐249.

Angela Groppi (ed.) (1996) Il lavoro delle donne (Rome‐Bari: Laterza), pp. i‐xvi, 1‐530,50,000 lire, ISBN 88‐420‐4868‐2 hardback.

Anna Bravo and Anna Maria Bruzzone (1995) In guerra senza ami: Stone di donne, 1940‐1945 (Rome/Bari: Laterza), pp. 1‐214, 25,000 lire, ISBN 88‐420‐4590‐X paperback.

Stefano Cavazza (1977) Piccole patrie: Feste popohri tra regione e nazione durante il fascismo (Bologna: II Mulino), pp. 1‐263,32,000 lire, ISBN 88‐15‐05762‐5 paperback.

Barbara Spackman (1996) Fascist Virilities: Rhetoric, Ideology, and Social Fantasy in Italy (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press), pp. 1 ‐187, US$ 18, ISBN 0‐8166‐2787‐8 paperback.

Jane C. Schneider and Peter T. Schneider (1996) Festival of the Poor. Fertility Decline and the Ideology of Class in Sicily, 1860‐1980 (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press), pp. 1‐322, ISBN 0‐8165‐1544‐1 hardback, ISBN 0‐8165‐1519‐0 paperback.

Franco Ferraresi (1996) Threats to Democracy, the Radical Right in Italy after the War (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press), pp. 1‐311, $35, ISBN 0‐691‐04499‐6 hardback.

Gianfranco Pasquino (1996) 1945‐1996: Profilo delta politica in Italia (Bari: Laterza), pp. 1‐117, plus CD‐ROM 1945‐1996: Archivio della politica in Italia, Gianfranco Pasquino with the collaboration of Marzia Zannini, ISBN 88‐420‐5139‐X.

Michela De Giorgio and Christiane Klapisch‐Zuber (eds) (1996) Storia del matrimonio (Bari and Rome: Laterza), pp. 1‐481, 50,000 lire, ISBN 88‐420‐5016‐4.     

FISHERS OF THE CORDED WARE CULTURE IN THE EASTERN BALTIC

Between 2800 and 2400 cal BC pastoralists from Central Europe migrated into the eastern Baltic paving the way for the Corded Ware Culture (CWC), and a new type of economy, animal husbandry. Traditionally the CWC people were viewed as highly mobile due to the lack of substantial traces of dwellings and material culture at settlement sites; they were reliant on an economy based on animal husbandry as demonstrated by zooarchaeological and stable isotopic evidence. However, this paradigm is beginning to shift. Here, we present new AMS radiocarbon (¹⁴C) measurements, pollen and macrobotanical data from sediment samples and a portable fish screen, as well as technological, molecular and isotopic data obtained from ceramic vessels from three CWC sites in the eastern Baltic. Overall, our results indicate a de-Neolithisation process undergone by some CWC groups, particularly in lacustrine and coastal ecotones, and a shift to hunting, gathering and fishing.     

Archaeometric analysis of the ‘greco scritto’ marble slabs from the Edificio dei Triclinii at Murecine (Pompeii,Italy)

This paper presents the results of the archaeometric analysis of the greco scritto marble slabs from the Edificio dei Triclinii, an inn or statio negotiatorum discovered at Murecine in Pompeii’s suburbs in 1999–2000. A total of 14 samples were collected and subjected to standard X-ray diffraction (XRD), optical microscopy (OM) on thin sections and stable isotope ratio analysis (SIRA) to assess the stone’s identity and provenance. The results of this study substantiate the hypothesis (already put forward and based on a macroscopic identification by Perna and Scognamiglio) that the stone originates from the Hasançavuşlar quarries near Ephesus in Asia Minor, and represent the first step towards a systematic contextual and geochemical study of Ephesian greco scritto in Roman contexts and its respective contribution to the Roman stone trade.