Paleotemperature record in late pleistocene clastic sediments at Divje babe 1 cave (Slovenia)

A new sedimentary morphogenic analysis was carried out at the Divje babe I Paleolithic site to determine paleotemperatures for Late Pleistocene deposits (around 80,000–40,000 BP) and to discover hiatuses in the sedimentary sequence. The Divje babe I paleotemperature record is based on the relative abundance of congelifracts in a 280 cm thick sedimentary sequence. Congelifracts are clasts whose morphogenesis is directly associated with post-depositional frost wedging. The Divje babe I paleotemperature record compares well with global GRIP (Summit) and other regional paleotemperature records for the Late Pleistocene. Comparisons are supported by ESR dates from the Divje babe I site. Two significantly cool climate phases were identified in the Divje babe I record. The older cool phase was placed between 67,000 BP and 62,000 BP and the second, younger cool phase was placed between 61,000 BP and 58,000 BP (both Middle Würmian) according to correlations with the GRIP record. The main disadvantage with the Divje babe I paleotemperature record is missing data. The sequence of cave sediments is not complete in Divje babe I due to breaks in sedimentation. Two reliable and two assumed hiatuses were identified in the studied sedimentary sequence.     

Do rural development programmes promote gender equality on farms? The case of Slovenia

The necessity of gender equality in agriculture has been identified as a relevant political issue and incorporated into strategic documents and programmes of the EU. However, until now, not much has been examined about the actual contribution of these policy actions and programmes to the everyday life of farm women; there is a considerable gap in the data about women in farming across Europe, particularly for new member states. The article addresses this issue by focusing on the situation of gender equality on farms in Slovenia. Pertaining to two measures of The Rural Development Programme 2004–2006 – the Setting Up of Young Farmers and the Early Retirement of Farmers – the aim of the analysis is to compare the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of these two measures at family farms in terms of their development capacities and their inclination towards gender equality. Results based on the survey data ‘Generations and Gender Relations on Slovenian Farms 2007’ revealed the above-mentioned measures did indeed reach those family farms that showed better development capacities in terms of economic and demographic conditions. However, the farms did not show significant development in terms of gender equality as examined through division of work and decision-making on family farms. The rigidity in gender statuses and roles on family farms is explained and discussed through the issue of unequal access of women to farmland ownership and agricultural education, and through persistently weak institutional support to increase political participation and power for farm women.     

Dating of 4th millennium BC pile-dwellings on Ljubljansko barje,Slovenia

We present absolute dates of seven late Neolithic pile-dwellings on Ljubljansko barje, Slovenia. They were settled from ca. 3600 to 3332 (±10) and from 3160 to 3071 (±14) cal BC, as shown by investigations of wood using dendrochronology and radiocarbon wiggle-matching. We defined eleven periods of intensive tree felling (and building activities) and one major settlement gap (when no trees were felled) from 3332 to 3160 cal BC. A major settlement gap presumably also followed after 3071 cal BC (i.e., after the end date of the investigated sites). Our investigations included over 2500 pieces of wood, mainly from the piles on which the dwellings were built. Among important wooden artefacts were a wheel with axle (one of the oldest preserved wheels in the world) and two dugout canoes, all from the settlement phase from 3160 to 3100 cal BC. As shown by parallel studies, the economy in the sites was characterized by copper metallurgy, skilful wood processing and use, cultivation of domestic plants, gathering of wild plants, animal husbandry, hunting and fishing. The settlements were contemporaneous with a number of sites in the north of the Alps, the younger ones coincided with the lifetime of the Neolithic Iceman (Ötzi). Since Ljubljansko barje has a strategic position at the crossroads between western central and (south) eastern Europe the presented absolute dates provide a basis for their comparison with other dated contemporaneous sites (in the west), to revise the chronology of similar sites in the (south) east (which are not yet exactly dated), and to evaluate their interconnection and roles in cultural development in prehistory.     

EU Enlargement,the New Central European Member States,and Austria

A noted Austrian-based geographer examines impacts of the EU accession of Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Slovenia on these four countries as well as on the neighboring state of Austria. The paper examines broad macro-economic and regional development issues (including, more specifically, spatial disparities, cross-border relations, migration, and the political landscape) as well as attendant or projected changes in transportation infrastructure. An effort is made to discriminate between changes initiated or strengthened by accession per se versus measures introduced earlier, in anticipation of accession. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F02, J61, O11, O18. 7 figures, 60 references.     

A Feasibility Study for the Investigation of Submerged Sites along the Coast of Slovenia

Maritime investigations along the Northern Adriatic coast have traditionally focused on the Roman and later archaeology. However, studies of post-glacial sea-level change and shoreline displacement suggest there is significant potential for the discovery of sites close inshore dating back to the early- to mid-Holocene, c .9000 BC onwards. A feasibility study for the investigation of submerged sites along the coast of Slovenia was undertaken in 2005. Here we describe the project rationale and research design, the survey and recording methods used, the logistical problems encountered, the results obtained (regardless of age), and the prospects for future research in the region.
© 2009 The Authors     

Peter Kozler and His Map of the Slovenian Land and Its Provinces (1849–1871)

Early modern regional maps of Europe usually indicated the area occupied by people who were beginning to refer to themselves as Slovenians under various names. It was not until the mid-nineteenth century that the actual extent of the Slovenian language was depicted on a map and Slovenians were recognized as a nation within the Austrian Empire. Much of the credit for the systematic recording of the distribution of Slovenian speakers can be attributed to Peter Kozler, the Gottscheer German lawyer who compiled his pioneering The Map of the Slovenian Land and Its Provinces [Zemljovid slovenske de?ele in pokrajin] during the political upheavals associated with the ‘Spring of Nations’ and the 1848 Revolution in the Habsburg Monarchy. Although Kozler’s map was completed in 1852 and first printed in 1853, the authorities repeatedly delayed its publication until 1861. This article uncovers the history of the map’s production and eventual publication.     

The renaissance of sausage: The role of Kranjska sausage in the contemporary process of reconstructing the Slovenian nation

The article discusses the contemporary reconstruction of the Kranjska sausage as a national dish by exploring different actors in this process. This representative culinary object played a significant role in the formation and development of Slovene national consciousness from the Spring of Nations onward, faced devaluation in socialist era and experienced a renaissance in the new millennium, when it was also given a role in the project of the construction of the nation‐state. The modern rebirth of the Kranjska sausage is presented as an interrelated and complex process due to many factors: the efforts of an influential ethnologist, the role of an institution dedicated to the Kranjska sausage, and other persons, groups, and institutions with different objectives, ideas, and understandings. The article conceptualizes nationalizing as an everyday practice, as a network, or collection of people, practices, places, institutions, ideologies, objects, technologies, and ideas that define people's subjectivity and shape their actions and imaginations.