Grave‐goods from the long chamber tomb “Dibba 76/1” (Fujairah,UAE): a first inventory

The aim of this paper is to present the rich set of finds collected inside the grave Dibba 76/1, in the Emirate of Fujairah, during a season of rescue excavation conducted under the direction of S. Ali Hassan in 1994. The recovered grave‐goods include pottery, soft‐stone vessels, metal finds, personal ornaments, coins, and other items. Although comparable with other corpuses of material excavated in south‐eastern Arabia, the material of Dibba 76/1 stands out for the inner variety of the different artefacts’ classes and their remarkable chronological heterogeneity. The study of the grave‐goods suggests that Dibba 76/1 was reused over several centuries, showing a strong continuity in the funerary destination of this specific place from the end of the Wadi Suq period (2000–1600 BC) to the first phases of the late pre‐Islamic period (250 BC–AD 400), and the full integration of the area of Dibba in the succession of the various cultural facies known during this long time span.     

Local mining or lead importation in the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis? Lead isotope analysis of curse tablets from Roman Carthage,Tunisia

This study attempts to determine if there was Roman lead mining in Africa Proconsularis, approximately the area of modern day Tunisia, using lead isotope analysis. Another important aspect of the study is the innovative use of electron microprobe analysis (EMPA) as a screening tool to greatly reduce the number of expensive lead isotope analyses needed for the study. The EMPA X-ray mapping for arsenic, antimony, copper, and silver narrowed the sample of curse tablets to those most likely produced from Tunisian ores; these tablets were then tested using thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) analysis. A total of 96 Roman lead curse tablets from Carthage, Tunisia were screened with EMPA and twenty selected for TIMS to determine the ore sources of the lead used to manufacture the tablets. Comparing the lead isotope ratios of twelve of the sixteen tablets most likely to be made of Tunisian lead to samples of Tunisian ores suggests that the Romans were mining lead in Africa Proconsularis and were not relying solely on imports.     

Developing a Collaborative Strategy to Manage and Preserve Cultural Heritage During the Libyan Conflict. The Case of the Gebel Nāfusa

The paper discusses the potential of a collaborative scheme for the development of a protocol for recording and managing the cultural heritage in Libya. The critical political situation in the country urges the development of cultural heritage management policies in order to protect it more thoroughly and consistently. Moving on from the numerous international initiatives and projects dealing with a mostly “remote” approach to the issue, the project here presented to engages with staff members of the Department of Antiquities (DoA) in the development of a joint strategy for the application of remote sensing and geographical information systems (GIS) to the preservation and monitoring of Libyan cultural heritage. A series of training courses resulted in an initial development of new ways of recording and analysing field data for a better awareness of the full range of threats that the archaeology of the country is subject to. Focussing on the case of the Jebel Nafusa, the training involved the assessment of site visibility on satellite imagery, the analysis of high-resolution satellite datasets for archaeological mapping, the creation of a GIS spatial database of field data, and the mapping of risks and threats to archaeology from remote sensing data. This led to the creation of of a risk map showing the areas that are affected by a number of threats, thus giving the DoA a tool to prioritise future fieldwork to keep the assessment of site damage up to date. Only a collaborative approach can lead to a sustainable strategy for the protection of the invaluable cultural heritage of Libya.     

The Misinterpretation of Women's Status in the Muslim World

Spiritual equality, responsibility, and accountability for both men and women are well‐developed themes in the Qur'an. Spiritual equality between men and women in the sight of God is not limited purely to religious issues, but is the basis for equality in all aspects of human endeavor. This article's main interest is in the woman's status, and her role within the Arab countries. Islam is the main religion—its principles, values, and practices are dominant in the region. Therefore, this article introduces and discusses the misinterpretation of women in Islam, with special consideration of Muslim women's rights and their roles within the Muslim society. This will help to enhance future discussions of social behavior, values, and attitudes toward women in Islam. In the last few decades there has been a great misunderstanding in many aspects of public consciousness about the role of women in Arabic society. There is a significant gap between the status of males and females. However, this gap is more evident in rural areas. The level of women's rights and roles in many Arabic countries prevents women from improving their economic growth and development. This gender gap is the result of social, religious, cultural, and gender inequality. More specifically, it results from structural constraints faced by women. Gender inequality is not a new issue, nor is it only Muslim women who are suffering from this inequality. There is gender discrimination almost everywhere. The Qur'an is the basis of Islam, and encompasses rules, legislation, examples, advice, history, and system of the universe. It draws a picture of the earth and describes the roles of human beings. The Qur'an is the answer to the spiritual and material needs of the Islamic society, and is an exposition and an explanation of all aspects of life.     

Hierarchical Bayesian Spatiotemporal Analysis of Childhood Cancer Trends

In this article, generalized additive mixed models are constructed for the analysis of geographical and temporal variability of cancer ratios. In this class of models, spatially correlated random effects and temporal components are adopted. Spatio‐temporal models that use intrinsic conditionally autoregressive smoothing across the spatial dimension and B‐spline smoothing over the temporal dimension are considered. We study the patterns of incidence ratios over time and identify areas with consistently high ratio estimates as areas for further investigation. A hierarchical Bayesian approach using Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques is employed for the analysis of the childhood cancer diagnoses in the province of Alberta, Canada during 1995–2004. We also evaluate the sensitivity of such analyses to prior assumptions in the Poisson context. En este artículo los autores construyen modelos aditivos generalizados mixtos (generalized additive mixed models) con el fin de analizar la variabilidad geográfica y temporal en las tasas de incidencia de cáncer. Este tipo de modelos emplean efectos aleatorios correlacionados espacialmente y componentes temporales. Los modelos espacio‐temporales emplean un suavizado condicional intrínseco autorregresivo (conditionally autoregressive smoothing) a través de la dimensión espacial y un suavizado de tipo B‐spline sobre la dimensión temporal. Los autores examinan los patrones de las tasas de incidencia a través del tiempo e identifican las áreas con valores consistentemente altos con el fin de sugerir áreas de investigación para el futuro. El estudio utiliza un enfoque jerárquico bayesiano (hierarchical bayesian) que usa una cadena de Markov Monte Carlo para evaluar los diagnósticos de cáncer infantil en la provincia de Alberta, Canadá durante el periodo 1995–2004. Asimismo, también se evalúa la sensibilidad de este tipo de análisis con respecto a los supuestos a‐priori, en el contexto de los modelos tipo Poisson. 本文提出了广义可加和混合模型进行癌症比率的地理和时间变化分析。在这类模型中引入了空间相关的随机效应和时间组分。时空模型在空间维度上采用本征自回归条件平滑,而在时间维度上则使用了B样条平滑。本文研究了疾病发生率模式,并识别出一直具有高比率估计的地区作为进一步调查区。在1995–2004年加拿大亚伯达省儿童癌症的诊断中,采用了基于马尔科夫链‐蒙特卡罗模型的分层贝叶斯方法,并且在泊松先验假设条件下评估了该类分析的敏感性。     

Reviews

Authority and Political Culture in Shi'ism, Said Amir Arjomand, ed., Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1988, 393 pp., index. $19.95, paperback. $49.50, cloth.

A Lonely Woman: Forugh Farrokhzad and her Poetry, Michael C. Hillmann, Washington, D.C.: Three Continents Press and Mage Publishers, 1987, 181 pp.

The Timurid Architecture of Iran and Turan, Lisa Golombek and Donald Wilber, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1988; Vol. 1: 510 pp. of text; Vol. 2: 16 color plates, 481 black‐and‐white photographs, 8 maps, 162 plans and sections. $130.

Timurid Architecture in Khurasan, Bernard O'Kane, Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 1987, 418 pp., numerous figures and plates. $49.95.

Iranian Immigrants in the United States: A Case Study of Dual Marginality, Abdolmaboud Ansari, Millwood, N.Y.: Associated Faculty Press, 1988, xii + 148 pp.

Aux Sources de la Nouvelle Persane, Christophe Balay and Michel Cuypers, Paris: Institut Français d'Iranologie de Teheran, 1983, 222 pp., bibiography, indexes of proper names, books and journals. 124 Fr. paperback.

Post‐Revolutionary Iran, Hooshang Amirahmadi and Manoucher Parvin, eds., Boulder: Westview Press, 1988, 262 pp. $39.50.

Islamic Art and Spirituality, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1987, 213 pp., 10 monochrome plates. $75.00.

Nishapur: Some Early Islamic Buildings and Their Decoration, Charles J. Wilkinson, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986, 328 pp., num. ill., 29 col. pl. $75.00.

The Making of Iran's Islamic Revolution: From Monarchy to Islamic Republic, Mohsen M. Milani, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1988, xiv + 361.

The Poet Sa'di: A Persian Humanist, John D. Yohannan, (Persian Studies Series, No. 11) Lanham, Md.: University Press of America; Bibliotheca Persica, 1987, 149 pp.

The Destiny of a King, Georges Dum´ezil (translated by Alf Hiltebeitel), Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988, 155 pp. $11.95.

Revolutionary Iran, R.K. Ramazani, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986, xvi + 254 pp., appendix to p. 282, notes to p. 294, bibliography to p. 302, index to p. 311. $27.50.

A Bibliography of the Iran‐Iraq Borderland, Keith MacLachlan and Richard Schofield, Cambridge, U.K.: Middle East and North African Press, 1987, 383 pp.

Tales from Luristan (Matalya Lurissu): Tales, Fables and Folk Poetry from the Lur of Bala‐Gariva, Sekandar Amanolahi and W.M. Thackston, transcribed and translated with notes on the phonology, the grammar of Luri and Luri‐English vocabulary. Harvard Iranian Series, Vol. 4, 1986, XIII + 250 pp. $19.95 paperback.

Shi'ism and Social Protest, Juan R. I. Cole and Nikki R. Keddie, eds., New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1986, x + 321 pp.

My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Ustad Muhammad‐'Aliy‐i‐Salmani, the Barber, translated from the original Persian by Marzieh Gail, Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1982, 122 pp., appendices, short biographies of Baha'is mentioned in the text, as well as notes, selected bibliography and selected love poems of Ustad Muhammad‐'Aliy‐i‐Salmani.

Agricultural Change and Rural Society in Southern Iran, C. Salmanzadeh, Cambridgeshire, England: MENAS Press Ltd., 1980, 275 pp. £17.00 hardback, £10.50 paperback.

Religion and Politics in Contemporary Iran: Clergy‐State Relations in the Pahlavi Period, Shahrough Akhavi, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1980, xx + 255 pp.

Iran: From Religious Dispute to Revolution, Michael M.J. Fischer, Cambridge, Mass., and London, England: Harvard University Press, 1980, xviii + 314 pp.