How does transportation shape intrametropolitan growth? An answer from the Regional Express Rail

This paper analyzes the influence of transportation infrastructure, and in particular of the Regional Express Rail (RER), on employment and population growth in the Paris metropolitan area between 1968 and 2010. In order to make proper causal inference, we rely on historical instruments and control for all other transportation modes that could be complement or substitute to the RER. Our results show that proximity to an RER station increases employment and population density and, in particular, employment and population growth. The latter effects are higher in municipalities located near RER stations and close to employment (sub)centers. They are also found to be particularly strong for jobs in the service sector, for factory workers, and for highly educated population. We find no impact of the RER expansion on employment growth during the first part of the period, while the effect on population growth appears earlier but declines over time.     

La fealdad de Safo: su tratamiento eufemístico en Leopardi

The ugliness of Sappho, despite the credibility it has enjoyed for centuries, has always been circumvented or attenuated in scholarly works, and even more so in literary recreations of the life and death of this celebrated muse. These strategies range from the portrait of Sappho as a beautiful woman to expressing her ugliness via euphemistic formulas: that which is resorted to most is the negation of the antonym (Sappho is not beautiful). Leopardi, with his Ultimo canto di Saffo, stands out among those who have explored this particular path in depth. Analysis of the most direct sources of this poem, as well as of some of its translations and imitations in Spanish, helps to see how in Leopardi euphemistic negation interweaves and fuses with suicidal negation, beautifying “nothingness” and suggesting readings at a second level, which simplify and run contrary to the logic of the discourse.     

The changing Neolithic household: Household autonomy and social segmentation, Tell Halula, Syria

While households are widely held to have existed as the fundamental building block of early agricultural villages, researchers have only a limited understanding of the local social and economic trajectory of Neolithic households. Expanding our archaeological understanding of the Neolithic household beyond architecture, settlement organization, and subsistence practices, in this paper we explore how gradual changes in mortuary practices at Tell Halula, Syria, help us to understand the process of household development around 7500–7300 Cal. BC. Drawing upon high-resolution mortuary data we consider the tempo and mechanisms of change and how these patterns help us understand the organization of the household. Material patterns including the increased use of burial objects, an increased frequency of the placement of burial objects among adults, and the differential use of burial objects between households. These represent subtle, yet observable, small-scale shifts in how social roles were redefined and materialized. We argue that these reflect a series of gradual changes that are suggestive of increased household autonomy and an increase in social segmentation within and between households. The Tell Halula data highlight elements of continuity and how household members adhered to a broadly shared physical and organizational framework of life. Data also illustrate how household members developed subtle means by which practices were personalization, and potentially, reflect growing means by which households and individuals were identified within these communities. Collectively, this research provides a detailed understanding of the grass-roots building blocks of Neolithic households over a short time frame and a more detailed understanding of the local social and economic trajectory of Neolithic households.     

What do divided cities have in common? An international comparison of income segregation

This paper provides a comparative assessment of income segregation in cities of 12 countries. We use spatial entropy indexes based on small‐scale gridded income data and consistent definition of city boundaries to ensure international comparability of our segregation measures. Results show considerable variation in the levels of income segregation across cities, even within countries, reflecting the diversity within urban systems. Larger, more affluent, productive, and more unequal cities tend to be more segregated. Urban form, demographic, and economic factors explain additional variation in segregation levels through the influence of high‐income households, who tend to be the most segregated. The positive association between productivity and segregation is mitigated in polycentric cities.     

The garden in Umayyad society in al‐Andalus

The majority of Arab sources concerning gardens and spaces dedicated to the cultivation of any kind of plant species in al‐Andalus date mainly from the eleventh century onwards and offer very little specific information about the Umayyad period (mid‐eighth to the beginning of the eleventh centuries). However, we do know the importance that gardens, understood broadly, had both in the material and daily life, as well as in the emblematic and symbolic life, of al‐Andalus during the Umayyad period. The present article reconsiders the early history of the Andalus garden in the context of the cultural history of the Umayyad period in order to understand better the foundations of the specific nature of Andalusī gardens and to show that, despite the influence of the reigning dynasty, the history of the garden in al‐Andalus has a notably collective dimension.     

“Funerary bundles” in the PPNB at the archaeological site of Tell Halula (middle Euphrates valley,Syria): analysis of the taphonomic dynamics of seated bodies

This paper presents the results of the taphonomic analysis of the burials from Tell Halula (Middle Euphrates Valley, Syria). The numerous burials recovered from this Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) settlement, in addition to the large volume of field documentation, have provided an opportunity to study burials in more depth than is usually allowed. This data set is important because of the unique mode of deposition, the exceptional preservation of the related assemblages (including fabrics, mats, and basketry) and the highly standardized nature of the funerary practices. Although the burials were found in various stages of preservation and articulation, we will show that they all represented the same type of funerary deposit, namely seated burials, often encased in bottle-shaped funerary bundles, and that the variability found during excavation can be attributed to post-depositional taphonomic effects. We provide a study of the different forms that result from these taphonomic influences and highlight the importance of doing this type of analysis. We hope that this paper will be a valuable contribution to the growing body of literature surrounding both seated burials and the taphonomy of burials.     

Trampling experiments at Cova Gran de Santa Linya,Pre-Pyrenees,Spain: their relevance for archaeological fabrics of the Upper–Middle Paleolithic assemblages

The study of fabrics, that is, the analysis of the orientation and slope of archaeological and sedimentary materials associated with the Middle Palaeolithic/Upper Palaeolithic (MP/UP) transition at Cova Gran shows substantial differences. Archaeological assemblages are characterised by greater isotropy in the fabrics than the sedimentary levels within which they are located, indicating that these differences may be generated by anthropic processes. One of the anthropogenic processes associated with horizontal and vertical displacement of archaeological artefacts is trampling and circulation caused by later occupations. In order to evaluate the effect of movement on materials, we undertook experiments simulating geological and archaeological conditions at Cova Gran. The results show that human trampling does not cause major isotropy in fabrics, but arranges archaeological assemblages towards planar or linear materials according to surface geometry. We were not able to replicate the fabric pattern of materials from the archaeological levels of Cova Gran, suggesting that they must be associated with the activities of human occupation at each level.