The Jewish Communities of Central Asia in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods

When the Jews first settled in Central Asia is uncertain, but circumstantial evidence clearly indicates that this happened at least two and a half thousand years ago. In the first millennium AD, the Jews lived only in cities no farther than 750?km east of the Caspian sea (in the eighth–eleventh centuries the sea was called Khazarian). Only later did they migrate to the central part of the region, to cities like Samarkand and Bukhara. It is possible that Jews from Khazaria joined them, since they already had tight trade connections with Central Asia and China. There is no trace of evidence regarding the existence of Jews in the entirety of Central Asia in the early sixteenth century. At the very end of the sixteenth century Bukhara became the new ethnoreligious center of the Jews in that region. In the first half of the nineteenth century, thanks to European travelers visiting Central Asia at that time, the term “Bukharan Jews” was assigned to this sub-ethnic Jewish group. Drawing on a wide range of primary and secondary source materials, this article aims to prove that the presence of Jews in Central Asia was not continuous, and therefore the modern Bukharan Jews are not descendants of the first Jewish settlers there. It also attempts to determine where Central Asia’s first Jewish population disappeared to.     

An experimental ethnoarchaeological approach to understanding the development of use wear associated with the processing of river cane for split-cane technology

Southeastern Indians have been using cane (Arundinaria spp.) for basketry and matting for thousands of years. Unfortunately, it is only under extraordinary preservation conditions that such items survive archaeologically. Inferring the production of split-cane technology requires an understanding of prehistoric manufacturing and processing techniques. It is hypothesized that stone tools were once used to process cane for use in split-cane technologies. In the Southeast, it is not uncommon to find stone tools with traces of plant use; however attributing wear to specific plants has been problematic. Pilot experiments, grounded on ethnoarchaeological observations, were conducted with river cane (Arundinaria gigantea) in collaboration with expert basket weavers in the Cherokee Nation. The experimental ethnoarchaeological program was designed to test the efficiency of stone tools in cane processing and document use wear through microscopic observations. The results found that non-retouched flakes were efficient for processing river cane and that the different stages of splint preparation resulted in the differential development of use-related wear. Additional experimentation with river cane is necessary to better define use wear and establish criteria for identification in archaeological contexts. Nonetheless, the collaborative and experimental approach undertaken demonstrated the utility of combining traditional archaeological methods with experimentation, ethnoarchaeology, and tribal knowledge.     

Modelling the built environment: Spatial patterns,siting techniques and layout works of non-monumental architecture in Early Bronze Age Eastern Arabia

Interest in the built environment of Early Bronze Age (EBA) Eastern Arabia is rapidly increasing with the emergence of new field data from the excavation of settlement sites. However, little is known about architectural planning and spatial patterns in the region. This article explores non-monumental architecture throughout the third millennium BCE. A series of methods (Pythagorean triples, modular grids, interception of circles) were used to assess the geometric and metric characteristics of buildings, and to stress regularities and variation in the long term. The results of these analyses suggest the application of specific techniques in layout and construction works: the intersection of circles during the Hafit occupations, and more sophisticated techniques, combining the properties of circles and triangles, during the Umm an-Nar period. The diachronic approach allowed by the temporal span of the occupations highlights a firm progression of architectural paradigms and building crafts throughout the EBA. The evidence hints at the existence of a specialised workforce since the dawn of the Bronze Age, and reveals a sharp increase of technicity and standardisation towards the end of the third millennium.     

Building Forcello: Etruscan wattle-and-daub technique in the Po Plain (Bagnolo San Vito,Mantua, northern Italy)

The study analyses through an interdisciplinary approach the wattle-and-daub building technique used on the Po Plain of northern Italy, focusing on the archaeological evidence from the Etruscan site of Forcello, near Bagnolo San Vito (Mantua) (540–375 bce ). Wattle and daub is widespread across different times and periods, and is particularly common in regions such as the Po Plain, where stone sources for construction are not immediately available. Thanks to a combined archaeometric, geological and anthracological study, the paper provides new insights on a fifth-century bce building structure from Forcello. The findings reveal information on the life history of this feature, including its construction, maintenance and final destruction. The research also sheds a new light on the wattle-and-daub technique and on the interaction between people and the Po Plain Etruscan palaeoenvironment.     

THE CRISIS OF HUMANITY: OR,WHAT IF WE HAVE NEVER BEEN HUMAN?

This collection of nine essays brings together a variety of responses to the question of the “nonhuman turn” within the humanities and the social sciences, understood broadly as a developing concern with overcoming anthropocentrism in its diverse manifestations. Emerging from The Nonhuman Turn conference held at the University of Wisconsin‐Milwaukee in 2012, which was hosted by the Center for 21st Century Studies, it represents the first attempt to account for and consolidate the many intellectual approaches and developments that may now be regarded as constituting the nonhuman turn. The nonhuman turn is contextualized as both “yet another” turn but also a necessary one, and as something critically distinct from “the posthuman turn”—whereas the posthuman turn is concerned with what comes after the human (ways of being, ways of thinking), the nonhuman turn insists (according to editor Richard Grusin) that “we have never been human.” My reading of this volume suggests that this claim is not borne out across the chapters it contains, and that the notion that we have never been human, though a noble gesture to Bruno Latour's widely lauded claim that “we have never been modern,” does not enable a new philosophy, nor does it advance the two primary streams of philosophical thought featured here: object‐oriented ontology (OOO) and new materialism.     

The Cables and Cablets of the Mary Rose (1545)

Henry VIII's warship Mary Rose sank in the Solent on 19 July 1545, during an engagement with a Franco/Papal invasion fleet. During excavation between 1979 and 1982, four cable coils and a number of lengths of cable and cablets were discovered. Direct study of these, combined with the excavation, finds, and conservation records, have established the number of cables found on the wreck, their spatial organization on the vessel, and their function at the time of the wrecking. Analysis of the cables has illuminated 16th‐century rope‐making techniques. The possible presence of Tudor salvage cables is also discussed.     

馆藏文物保护中数字建模技术应用研究

随着三维扫描技术的发展,三维扫描技术的应用范围逐步扩大。在文物保护领域,三维扫描技术也有着重要的应用。同时,作为博物馆数字化的一个重要组成部分,馆藏文物保护与修复的数字化技术也在不断深入。因此,首都博物馆文物保护分析实验室应用三维激光扫描技术开展了一系列在文物保护分析过程中的数字建模工作,特别是对文物修复和复制的辅助作用进行了有益的尝试。针对工作过程中遇到的技术难点诸如偏色、背景干扰等进行了分析,并提出解决办法,旨在供文物保护领域和计算机技术领域共同探讨研究。     

信息技术影响下的空间观及其研究进展

本文主要评述信息技术影响下时空观、空间构成、空间形成和信息技术对空间的影响等方面的研究进展。文章认为传统的空间概念在信息技术影响下发生了改变,空间观由实在论走向关系论,空间尺度无限缩小,空间向着多维度发展。在信息技术影响下,传统空间观从内涵到外延都发生了深切的变化,空间观的研究正由理论研究向运用与实证研究转化,未来应重点构筑我国信息技术影响下的空间理论体系。     

企业网络中技术权力现象研究评述

近年来,网络权力现象逐渐受到学术界的关注,而技术权力则是在更大程度上影响着企业网络的产生、运行机制与创新升级。本文回顾了国内外企业网络中技术权力的研究现状及发展动态,论述了网络权力与企业网络非均衡性、技术权力概念与特征、技术权力对企业网络的影响、高技术企业网络技术权力与创新能力,分析了技术权力研究对发展中国家与地区的理论与实践意义。笔者认为,既有的研究成果忽视了网络内部的不平等技术权力关系,对网络中企业间技术权力关系演变及其对网络升级的影响缺乏专门研究,应重视微观空间尺度上企业网络内的技术权力现象,关注不同层级企业网络中各种权力相互影响和制衡机理与结果。     

LA PÉPINIÈRE D'ENTREPRISES DANS LE CONTEXTE D'UN PARC SCIENTIFIQUE: L'EXEMPLE DU CENTRE QUÉBÉCOIS D'INNOVATION EN BIO TECHNOLOGIE À LAVAL, QUÉBEC (CANADA)

L'émergence de pépinières visant à soutenir la formation d'entreprises à caractère innovateur demeure un phénomèna relativement récent. Dans les villes où il existe un parc scientifique, ou encore où l'on développe un projet de technopôle, la pépinière représente un outil d'aménagement et d'intervention de premier ordre en termes d'innovation et de transfert technologique.
Cependant, le problème est de reconnître dans quelle mesure la pépinière d'entreprises constitue un appareil d'appui et de services à l'expansion des futures entreprises, en regard des préoccupations locales de développement économique. L'étude du Centre Québécois d'innovation en Biotechnologie à Laval nous a permis de nourrir cette réflexion et d'apprécier le rôle qu'il joue en matière de développement economique au sein d'une opération technopolitaine.
The rise of business incubators to help in the creation of new innovative firms is a fairly new phenomenon. For cities that have developed science parks or technopoles, the incubator represents an important planning tool oriented towards the creation innovation and technology transfer.
But the question remains; in the context of local economic development strategies, how effective are business incubators for providing help and services that can stimulate future firms expansion. This study of the Centre Québécois d'innovation en Biotechnologie located in Laval, addresses this question and seeks to provide insight on the role of incubators on economic growth in the context of a science park.