From operculum to bead: Production of pearls from opercular bones of Cyprinus carpio in the Romanian Eneolithic

Significant amounts of opercular bones from Cyprinus carpio, used to manufacture circular pearls for adornments, were found from the Romanian Eneolithic, associated with the Gumelnita culture. The origins of this raw material are local: the carp was an important food resource for the communities located close to the River Danube. An experimental program was undertaken to obtain replicas of pearls of C. carpio, to compare with the archaeological pieces, in order to identify an a chain of manufacture resulting in the finished pieces. The study of the adornments represents an inexhaustible source of reflection because, through them we can identify aspects of the human groups' symbolical behaviour, and socio-economical aspects of these communities' evolution. In this case they suggest that the aquatic world, with its resources, had an important position in the spiritual life of these communities.     

Affective Protest Symbols: Public Dissent in the Mass Commemoration of the Sewŏl Ferry’s Victims in Seoul

ABSTRACT

Symbols used in the Sew?l protests in downtown Seoul from 2014 onwards proved effective in soliciting public engagement for three years. After the sinking of the Sew?l ferry that took 304 lives, most of them high school students, objects such as yellow ribbons gained iconic status as signifiers of the demand to investigate the ferry’s sinking and honour the memory of the victims. New visual indexes that created and articulated this emotionally laden discourse formed a common visual language of grief and anger towards the Korean authorities. This ethnography-based article explores the development of the protest’s affective aestheticism, its main agents and semiotics, and how it produced affect, which had strong cultural, social and emotional impacts. In 2016, the Sew?l movement became the core of larger protests against the ruling elites.     

IDENTIFICATION,PROCESSING AND USE OF RED PIGMENTS (HEMATITE AND CINNABAR) IN THE VALENCIAN EARLY NEOLITHIC (SPAIN)

The results of the first elemental and structural physicochemical analyses (SEM–EDX, TXRF, XRD, FTIR, GC and EDXRF) of Early Neolithic red pigment samples from the region of Valencia confirm one of the earliest uses of cinnabar (HgS) in Spain (5300 to 5000 cal bc ). They also inform on the storage of massive quantities of hematite and the development of specific technologies of hematite‐based paint production and use. The samples were recovered at the three most significant Early Neolithic sites of the Mediterranean coast of Spain: Cova de l'Or (Beniarrés, Alacant), Cova de la Sarsa (Bocairent, Valencia) and Cova Fosca (Vall d'Ebo, Valencia), which together have provided the most important European collection of Cardial ceramic ware (chronoculturally diagnostic of the Early Neolithic).     

STUDY ON THE PROVENANCE OF XICUN QINGBAI WARES FROM THE NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY OF CHINA

The Xicun kiln in Guangdong Province was a famous porcelain kiln in the Song Dynasty of China, and for years there has been controversy over the provenance of Xixun Qingbai wares. This paper analyses Qingbai samples from the Xicun, Hutian (Jingdezhen) and Chaozhou (Guangdong Province) kilns by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS) and energy‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence probe (EDXRF). The analytical results indicate that wares with a thin body excavated from the Xicun kiln site were produced in the Hutian kiln, and wares with a thick body were locally fired in Xicun; the contents of trace elements (V, Rb, Ba, Ta, Pb and Th) and the Nb/Ta ratio can be used to discriminate the products from the Xicun and Chaozhou kilns.     

New evidence for the use of cinnabar as a colouring pigment in the Vin?a culture

This paper presents the results obtained for red pigments used on ceramics from the Neolithic period, excavated at three Vin?a culture archaeological sites on the territory of present day Serbia. Emphasis was put on cinnabar, a characteristic red pigment, in order to define its possible origin and usage. Several spectroscopic techniques (EDXRF, PIXE, X-ray powder diffraction) were applied to identify the pigments. According to the results presented in this paper, the known record regarding the first cinnabar use in the Balkans can be extended to the end of the sixth millennium BC.     

Reliability of a new X-ray analytical microscope in archaeological research

In this report we assess both the reliability and sensitivity of a new X-ray Analytical Microscope (XAM) in specific archaeological studies. The instrument's precision is measured here by its ability to repeatedly produce similar data each time it analyzes the same sample. The accuracy, sensitivity and detection limits of the XAM were evaluated through the quantification of spectra acquired from certified reference materials (CRM), while potsherd identification was assessed by analyzing several potsherds found at different archaeological sites, then correlating their chemical compositions to determine compatibility and possible grouping. Repeatability standard deviation percentages for relative intensity values ranged between 1% and 4% for major elements, while the system's sensitivity for detecting trace elements was in the 50–100 ppm range. Quantification accuracy was excellent with a fitting factor of 0.98 between measured and certified element concentrations. Archaeological potsherds were clearly distinguished according to their elemental compositions, and grouped using bivariate graphs.     

Walking as an Aesthetic Practice and a Critical Tool: Some Psychogeographic Experiments

This paper gives an account of a fieldwork exercise in Paris which attempted to relate social theory and fieldwork practice. The paper begins with a brief historical review of different perspectives on the practice of walking, as a form of movement through the city with aesthetic and critical potential. A more detailed account is then given of the particular theories and practices of the avant‐garde group known as the Situationist International, which are drawn upon for the fieldwork exercise. The paper then reflects on the problems encountered in trying to apply these ideas in a fieldwork exercise, and concludes with some comments on improvements and further developments.     

Population Trends in Europe's Poorest Country: Results of the Most Recent Census of Moldova

An American population geographer and specialist on demographic trends in the former Soviet republics examines the results of the first post-Soviet census of Moldova (the poorest country of Europe), conducted in 2004 and released years later. He reviews major national- and regional-level changes in population size, urban/rural distribution, and ethnicity since the last Soviet-era census in 1989 and reconciles the two sets of data. A major factor complicating the analysis is the de facto secession in 1992 of an eastern region of the country, now known as the Pridnestrovskaya Moldavskaya Republic (PMR), which prompted a brief war and subsequent uneasy ceasefire later that year. However, a population enumeration conducted in the PMR, also in 2004 (and released later), facilitates the identification of overall demographic trends in the region, which may experience the involuntary return of jobless migrant workers from Russia and the EU due to the 2008/2009 global recession. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: J110, O180, R230. 2 figures, 2 tables, 49 references.     

Crusading in Africa: Religion,Race, and Post-9/11 Intervention in Antoine Fuqua’s Tears of the Sun (2003)

Abstract

African American director Antoine Fuqua’s Tears of the Sun, a 2003 war ?lm made with US Navy cooperation, imagines the intervention of Navy SEALs in an ethnic cleansing being conducted against Christians by Nigerian Muslims. It is at once an exercise in black diasporic consciousness and an expression of American exceptionalism. The director aimed to raise awareness of contemporary African crises, but the picture is also the closest Hollywood combat cinema came in the immediate post-9/11 years to addressing and endorsing the polarizing discourse and militarism of the Bush administration. The ?lm’s use of reductive religious imagery, its weak box of?ce return, and its generally hostile reception overseas expose its failure as a tool of diplomacy and reveal the waning ability of triumphalist Hollywood cinema to de?ne or explain the ‘War on Terror’.