Measuring the impact of the European Capital of Culture programme on overnight stays: evidence for the last two decades

This study explores the effects of the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) on tourism demand, measured as overnight stays, for the years 1998–2014. The analysis includes 34 ECoC hosts and makes use of data on approximately 800 European cities. A difference-in-differences propensity score matching estimator shows that hosting the ECoC leads to an increase in overnight stays of 8% on average during the year of the event but does not stimulate tourism demand in subsequent years. To account for deviations in the distribution of tourism inflows between ECoC and other cities, the quantile difference-in-differences estimator is used. This leads to similar but somewhat stronger results, especially for the year of the event and for the year after. Separate estimations of ECoC hosts reveal that there is a certain degree of heterogeneity in the effect. Long-term impacts can only be observed for a small group of cities (Essen, Guimarães, Salamanca and Tallinn).     

Greening cultural policy

Abstract

This article focuses on greening cultural policy within a sustainable development context. We examine shortcomings of major public-policy responses to the ecological crisis, linking this to the ambivalent philosophical heritage of anthropocentric worldviews that underpin ideas about the relation of culture to non-human nature. This ambivalence is reflected by weak environmentalism in the cultural policy arena, exemplified by surprisingly non-green cultural platforms espoused by green political parties. Green thinking is further hampered by the widespread adoption of digitisation within cultural organizations, which we contextualise in the broader political economy of digital capitalism and the attendant myth that high-tech culture is a low emissions business. Green cultural policy necessitates intensive self-examination of cultural institutions’ environmental impact, at the same time these institutions deploy art, education, entertainment, sports, and news to raise awareness of ecological crisis and alternative models of economic activity. We cite the efforts of activist artists’ resistance against fossil fuel corporations’ sponsorship of arts and cultural organizations as a welcome provocation for greening cultural policy within cultural organizations and green political parties alike.     

Formation of Fluid Inclusions during Heat Treatment of Barremo‐Bedoulian Flint: Archaeometric Implications

At the end of the fifth millennium bc , the development of a specialized lithic industry in the Chassey societies of south‐eastern France and its dissemination as far as Catalonia and Tuscany attest to important socio‐economic changes in the Mediterranean Neolithic societies. The lithic production was made on barremo‐bedoulian flint that was heat‐treated to improve the sharpness of the tools produced. Microscopic observations of archaeological and geological, heated and unheated barremo‐bedoulian flint samples allowed us to highlight the heat‐induced formation of fluid inclusions. Microthermometry analyses showed that these inclusions contain pure H₂O, most probably resulting from the dehydration of length‐slow (LS) chalcedony and the closure of narrow pores, according to the model proposed by Schmidt et al. ( 2012 ). Our results enable us to estimate the heating temperatures used by Chassey artisans to ≈ 230°C. We also propose the ‘pressure cooker’ model to explain the migration of liquid water in flint nodules heated to 230°C. Then, we discuss the ability of a particular type of flint to be heat‐treated, and hence its value for Neolithic society, which depends on: (1) the amount of LS chalcedony that ensures the water release at relatively low temperature; and (2) on the total volume of porosity available to store the dehydration water.     

论中国城墙的起源

中国的城墙起源于原始社会后期,即龙山文化时代。它是由壕沟演变而来的防御工程,并逐渐代替壕沟而成为城市防御的主要手段。
经过夏、商两代的发展,西周时代已普遍筑城,城和国已成为同义词。而且筑城技术也发展到一个新的高度,与今天的筑城方法十分相似。
城和市都兴起很早,二者之间也没有关系。由于西周时代城内设市,就出现了中国早期的城市。"城市"一词起源于战国,即设市之城邑谓之城市。     

重庆地区出土青铜器铅同位素比值研究

青铜器矿料来源和产地研究,是青铜时代至关重要的考古问题,也是考古的重点和难点之一.通过比较青铜器样品和矿床的Pb同位素分析数据,可以进行青铜金属原料来源的产地研究.为此,本工作利用MAT262固态离子源型质谱仪对重庆地区云阳李家坝遗址,涪陵小田溪墓群,万州大坪墓群,开县余家坝遗址东周时期巴地青铜器的铅同位素进行了测定和比值研究.结果显示其中合金中铅都为普通铅,而非放射性成因铅.实验数据反映出206Pb/204 Pb比值分布在17.4630 ～ 18.6960,207 Pb/204 Pb比值分布在15.5573 ～ 15.8490,208 pb/204 Pb比值分布在36.7828 ～39.3869,除了两个数据外,大部分器物铅同位素比值分布范围几乎重叠,显示了稳定铅源的存在.此外,这批数据与滇川黔铅锌多金属成矿区的底苏和大梁子矿床数据分布范围相近,局部重合,表明其铅料来源与这一地区有着一定的关系.实验结果反映了重庆地区东周青铜器群在铅料来源上具有同一性和连续性,说明了巴人在春秋时期就已经建立了独立的青铜冶铸业,一直延续到战国时期.     

从鱼鸟相战到鱼鸟相融──仰韶文化鱼鸟彩陶图试析

在仰韶文化彩陶图中,有一些是鱼鸟纹同绘于一件器物之上。本文通过综合分析,认为其中反映了仰韶文化不同支系之间社会集团的相互关系。即“鱼”集团与“鸟”集团之间的战争与融合。     

瑶山墓地研究

通过对瑶山墓地出土玉冠状器的类型学研究,排比了该墓地13座墓葬的下葬顺序及其可能的成因。     

花山岩画与将军崖岩画探研

通过对广西花山岩画地理位置、自然状况、岩画内容等方面的描述和分析,且从岩画内容上与连云港将军崖岩画作一番比较,旨在进一步探索中国古代岩画文化的奥秘。     

文化信息的空间扩散分析

本文从信息论的角度探讨了文化的空间扩散过程;初步探讨了文化扩散的信息内涵,提出了文化源地、文化宿地、文化扩散媒介等文化信息扩散要素,简要地分析了文化信息扩散的类型;着重探讨了影响文化信息扩散的作用因素,分析了环境约束,区域引力,空间距离、地形摩擦、文化惯性和文化革新等6个因素的作用。