From The Iron Curtain to Franco’s Spain: Right-Wing Central Europeans in Exile

After the Second World War, anti-communists of different backgrounds from Central and Eastern European countries decided to settle in Franco’s Spain, where they sought safety and a place to live during the Cold War. This article will provide an overview of their political profiles and assess the reasons these exiles chose Spain, a country excluded from the United Nations until 1955 and led by Francisco Franco. The article also shows how they settled in the dictatorship linked to the Nazis and Italian Fascists, and the ways in which they continued their struggles against Communism with public and private resources.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Corrales de Indios</Emphasis> (Lithic Structures) in Tandilia,Argentina: A Global Study

In the central-southeastern area of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, lies a mountainous area of low height in Tandilia that contains important outcrops of quartzite and granite. A large number of buildings are made of massive blocks of rock, some of them with a surface of over 1 ha. In addition to these completely artificial constructions are other structures that are semi-natural, having been made in places with special topographical characteristics and complemented with dry-stone walls. Scanty written documents allow us to attribute some of the constructions to an age before the permanent settlement of the Creole population. In the Tandilia Sierras these structures are commonly known as “corrales de indios” (Indian corrals). This designation involves a double prejudice with regard to function and cultural affiliation. Out of a total of 22 structures, we analyze a group of 4 that were excavated to use to review the written documents.     

Growth and Convergence Profiles in the Spanish Provinces (1965–1997)*

Abstract. Economic performance in Spanish provinces has led to a considerable improvement in standard of living of their populations. Intense capital accumulation since the 1950s played a key roll in this process. Provincial inequalities may increase or decrease as a result of this growth pattern. This study analyzes the evolution of the disparities by means of distribution dynamics techniques. It explicitly considers economic size of each province and whether spatial spillovers exist. Results indicate that the convergence process has been especially intense for labor productivity, total factor productivity, and capital intensity, while for per capita income the patterns of convergence are less marked. When we weight our analysis according to economic size of each province, our conclusions do not hold. However, when we take geographic location into account, we find support for our conclusions.     

La Bataille,l'armee et la gloire (1745–1871)

This paper would like to contribute to the discussion on the formation of the idea of Europe and contextually shaping of the debate on the New World in early modern and modern history. Following an important Italian historiographic tradition, the paper discusses the eighteenth-century within a wider objective and subjective historical development.

The first part of the paper focuses on the Eurocentric realigning of the relations in the Atlantic world. It argues that this realignment remains basically a middle period phenomenon. The resistance by the Anglo and Hispano-American colonies to the “reforms” and the internationalisation of the crisis of American Empires actually caused a real caesura in the political history of the Atlantic.

The second part of the paper focuses on the impact of the Eurocentric reorganisation of European/American relations on collective consciousness, political ideologies and historical discourses on both sides of the Atlantic. It argues that this impact was much more lasting and profound.

The paper focuses finally on the anti-Eurocentrism matured in the Americas in the late eighteenth-century. It argues that this attitude declines to present the European cultural and ideological heritage, on the basis of an age-long American experience that historiography presents by now as multiethnic, multicultural and métisse. The paper suggests in particular that this American anti-Eurocentrism can be considered to some extent prototypical of a phenomenon destined to develop in nineteenth and twentieth century in the framework of the apogee, crisis and decline of Europe in the international world system and international world society.     

Magnetite grain-size analysis and sourcing of Mediterranean obsidians

The potential of magnetic grain-size variations as an obsidian source characteristic is investigated using geological and archaeological obsidians from five islands of the Mediterranean Sea: Lipari, Sardinia, Palmarola, Pantelleria, Melos. Four parameters are used: magnetic (χ) and anhysteretic (χ_a) susceptibilities, saturation isothermal remanent magnetizations at room (SIRM₂₉₃) and liquid nitrogen (SIRM₇₇) temperature. The ratio S_T = SIRM₇₇/SIRM₂₉₃, which depends on the superparamagnetic grains relative abundance, varies little in each individual site, with the exception of Lipari which is characterized by large variations and the highest content of superparamagnetic grains. The χ_a vs. χ plot ( King et al., 1982) shows some within-site dispersion of the samples; but the ratio Q_a = χ_a/χ, which is strongly influenced by the single domain grains content, is characteristic for each site. The combined use of the King and Q_a vs. S_T plots discriminates the samples from most of the sites and suggests that the grain-size analysis is a promising approach in sourcing obsidian archaeological artefacts. Moreover, the measurements of the four parameters used are simple, quick and feasible with no or little damage to archaeological finds.     

The Archaeology of the Battle of Vuelta de Obligado,Buenos Aires Province,Argentina

Abstract

This paper presents the results of research carried out for more than a decade at Vuelta de Obligado, San Pedro, north-east of Buenos Aires province. The objectives were to understand the dynamics of the strategy followed on the 1845 battlefield by the two groups who fought (Anglo-French and Argentine), and to assess the impact of formation processes on the results produced. This has been achieved through the use of several sources of information: the archaeological record, written documents, Argentine and European plans and sketches, as well as data provided by the current population.     

The Ba/Sr ratio,carious lesions,and dental calculus among the population buried in the church La Concepción (Tenerife,Canary Islands)

Certain trace elements may accumulate in bone in relation to dietary habits, so some of them are of interest in paleodietary analysis. This is the case with strontium (Sr) and barium (Ba), whose potential value as paleodietary indicators is enhanced by their relatively inert metabolic behaviour. The presence of carious lesions may indicate consumption of sugar and vegetables, whereas the etiology of dental calculus deposition is multifactorial, although some authors consider this as an indicator of protein consumption. Based on these facts we analysed (1) Ba, Sr, and calcium (Ca) content of inner cortical bone obtained from the ramus mandibularis, by atomic absorption spectrophotometry, (2) presence of teeth with carious lesions, and (3) presence of teeth with calculus deposition in 62 mandibles. All samples were obtained from the church La Concepción, an 18th century burial place in Tenerife. Gender was assessed by analysing genetic expression of amelogenin in some cases (14), and by inspection of pelvic bones when available (41 cases). We found (1) Carious lesions in 32 cases, and dental calculus, in 39; no association was observed between sex and presence of dental caries or calculus deposition, nor between the sex and the proportion of carious teeth nor the proportion of teeth with calculus deposition; (2) people buried near the altar (priests and individuals of the highest social class) showed a significantly higher proportion of teeth with dental calculus deposition (χ² = 5.36, p = 0.021); (3) bone Sr and bone Ba were significantly higher than the values observed in a control group of 10 modern omnivorous individuals; the lowest Sr values were observed among people buried near the altar; and (4) the Ba/Sr ratio was directly related with the proportion of teeth with carious lesions. These data suggest that there were differences in dietary pattern among the individuals belonging to different social classes; overall, consumption of vegetables was widespread, as shown by the high proportion of carious lesions, in relation with raised Ba/Sr ratio, whereas consumption of marine products was scarce.