Joint geophysical measurements to investigate the Rossano of Vaglio archaeological site (Basilicata Region,Southern Italy)

A high resolution geophysical survey was carried out in the archaeological site of Rossano di Vaglio (Basilicata Region, Southern Italy), where an important ancient sanctuary is located. It was built during the IV century B.C. and devoted to the goddess Mephitis. The sanctuary rises in an area affected by a multiple and retrogressive rototraslational landslide, historically and presently subject to reactivation. The main objective of this work was the identification of buried structures of archaeological interest in an area designated by the Archaeological Superintendence of the Basilicata Region. The study was performed by means of the use of high resolution geophysical surveys. In particular, we made use of the joint application of three highly sensitive and non-invasive geophysical techniques, namely the Geoelectrical, the Magnetic and the Ground Probing Radar (GPR) methodologies. In such a way, we obtained two important results: first, we provided the archaeologists with information about the limits of the areas to be excavated; second, we could verify in real time the reliability of the geophysical results. The experimental results showed four main magnetic anomalies in the area of study, in agreement with the GPR results obtained for the same target. Finally, a partial excavation test of the investigated area revealed a buried building structure, located in correspondence of an anomaly identified by means of the geophysical prospecting.     

‘Life is War’: Informal Transport Workers and Neoliberalism in Tanzania 1998–2009

This article analyses how informal labourers fare under flexible labour markets and economic liberalization, through a case study of transport workers in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It highlights the mainstream conceptualization of urban informality as self‐employment and its influence on policy. The article stresses the importance of class differentiation in the Dar es Salaam transport sector and the predominance of informal wage employment, the uneven degree of power commanded by bus owners vis‐à‐vis informal unskilled wage workers and the pernicious consequences of the lack of regulation of the employment relationship on the workforce itself and on society. It then interrogates the criminalization of the workforce and shows how labour over‐supply, its fragmentation and geographical dispersion explain workers’ lack of response to their plight. The longitudinal study of the rise and fall (1998–2005) of a labour association within the sector further highlights the tensions among the workforce and the forms and limits of their solidarity. The conclusion of this study suggests some policy implications.     

The creation of shared space and the definition of a ‘light’ community in Italian television in the 1980s

In the mid-1970s the reform of Italy's radio and television system led to the end of RAI's monopoly and the advent of commercial television stations. This resulted in a reorganisation of the system according to the precepts of daily life and domesticity, with viewers at the centre of the relationship with the medium. This article, by analysing televisual archives such as game shows, explores how television formed part of the changes taking place in society and reveals how it became a kind of meeting-place, coinciding with the rise of an affluent society, between aspirations and desires and stereotypical models dictated by the market. These models were able to express new values that went beyond the boundaries of ideological affiliations and were in effect a response to the search for new forms of identity. In particular, television's place became an open space that was defined through modes of socialisation. It thus constructed a wider intimacy, a ‘mediatised hearth’, that progressively eroded the barriers between the private and the public sphere and led unexpectedly towards a ‘relationship of interest’ between television, competitors, viewers and financial backers. A new community then emerged, characterised more by possessing than by existing.     

The impact of crime on firm entry

The article investigates the effect of crime on firm entry rates in Italian provinces over the period 2007–2016. The extant literature focuses mainly on the relationship between crime and the sorting of new businesses. The present paper contributes to this stream of work by estimating the effect of crime on the overall propensity to engage in entrepreneurial activities across a national territory. We measure the extent to which property and violent crime affect firm entry rates using an instrumental variable approach in which the instrument for criminal activity is the effective abortion rate. Our findings suggest that crime has a negative, sizable impact on firm entry. The results are robust to alternative instrumental variables and firm entry indicators. This empirical exercise emphasizes the need to consider loss of new business activities as a downstream effect when computing the social costs of crime.     

New discoveries in the Piramide Naranjada in Cahuachi (Peru) using satellite,Ground Probing Radar and magnetic investigations

The detection of buried earthen structures by using remote sensing techniques is still an open issue and a strategic challenge as crucial as it is complex. It is crucial because earthen archaeological remains are widely present thoughtout the world (in South America, Asia, Africa) and it is complex due to the subtle physical contrast between earthen remains and the surrounding subsoil.     

The “Hidden” Code: Coding and Classifying in Rock Art. The Case of Northwestern Patagonia

In spite of its importance for rock art studies, rock art motifs coding and classification process is not always made explicit. In this discussion of the process of rock art classification, we consider an exploratory research employing two different criteria for the coding of a northwestern Patagonian rock art motifs database. One coding makes use of a ‘lumping’ criterion, and the other uses a ‘splitting’ criterion. Each of these criteria will be evaluated using cladistic analysis, recording how each coding criterion affects results. As a conclusion, and given our results, the use of more than one coding criterion is suggested when classifying rock art.     

Characterization of Materials and Artistic Techniques on Two 17th‐Century Neapolitan Wood Sculptures

Two sculptures of Gaetano Patalano, one of the most important Italian sculptors of the late 17th century, were analysed to study the stratigraphy, the organic and inorganic materials, and to distinguish the original layers from the repaintings. Samples taken from the Immacolata Concezione and from San Gaetano da Thiene (Santa Chiara church, Lecce, Italy) were studied by optical microscopy, μ‐Raman spectroscopy and Py‐GC–MS. Different binders and pigments were used for the preparatory layers on the different parts of the statues: the results demonstrate that Patalano mastered the various materials and techniques, and that his choices have allowed his carving ability to be emphasized.     

Declining,transition and slow rural territories in southern Italy Characterizing the intra-rural divides

As metropolitan areas around the world keep expanding, behind them, rural areas continue to be affected by greater rates of depopulation. This is not a new phenomenon: rural to urban migration has been reported in the developed world at least from the period between the two world wars. However, recent rural depopulation trends have dramatically intensified in both the developed and the developing countries worldwide. In planning literature, greater emphasis is placed on the “urban–rural” divide, that is, people leaving the countryside to look for better opportunities in urban areas. However, a growing body of literature points to the fact that not all rural areas are declining at the same rate. Indeed, some rural towns have managed to retain population and even to grow. Therefore, at least in developed countries, an “intra-rural” divide notion is emerging. To exemplify this notion, we have studied rural towns in Southern Italy.     

U-series and radiocarbon dates on mollusc shells from the uppermost layer of the archaeological site of KHB-1, Ra's al Khabbah,Oman

The archaeological site of KHB-1, Oman, has been investigated in order to improve the chronological knowledge of the site, which is dated to the beginning of the fourth millennium B.C. on the basis of the archaeological context. Mollusc shells of the genus Anadara, coming from the uppermost layers of the site, have been dated using two different methods, radiocarbon and U-series technique. The results of the two techniques date the last occupational phase of the site from the end of the fourth millennium B.C. to the beginning of the third millennium B.C.