Trade and Power in Ancient Egypt: Middle Egypt in the Late Third/Early Second Millennium BC

Middle Egypt provides a unique insight into the organization of power, politics, economy, and culture at the turn of the third millennium BC. The apparently easy integration of this region into the reunified monarchy of king Mentuhotep II (2055–2004 BC) was possible because the interests and the local lineages of potentates were preserved. Trade and access and/or control of international exchange networks were important sources of wealth and power then. And Middle Egypt appears as a crossroads of diverse populations, as a hub of political and economic power, as a crucial node of exchanges through the Nile Valley, and as a power center whose rulers provided support to the monarchy in exchange of local autonomy and considerable political influence at the Court. In the new conditions of early second millennium, potentates from Middle Egypt succeeded in occupying a unique advantageous position, not matched elsewhere in Egypt, because of the concentration of wealth, trade routes, new technologies, political power, and autonomy in the territories they ruled.     

Experimental characterization of the constitutive materials composing an old masonry vaulted tunnel of the Paris subway system

A significant proportion of the Paris metro tunnels comprise a masonry vault built out of stone blocks and mortar joints, and sidewalls and slabs made of unreinforced concrete. In order to provide the necessary data for future structural evaluation, an extensive laboratory testing programme has been conducted to characterize the materials of the tunnel separately, i.e., mortar, stone, and concrete. The tests, carried out on specimens taken from cores extracted from a 1930s tunnel, enabled to determine the mechanical properties, including direct tensile, shear strength, and mode I fracture energy, as well as the properties of the stone-mortar interface. Results show that the masonry mortar joints could reach 10 cm in width, and that blocks of stone varied in composition and porosity, thus producing a wide range of mechanical properties. The concrete was composed of large-sized aggregates and showed low stiffness and strength. Based on these experimental results, ratios between mechanical characteristics are hereby proposed. Perspectives on the use of this experimental data in a finite element model are then discussed.     

MORE THAN ONE MONUMENT AT POZO MORO? NOTES ON IBERIAN ARCHITECTURAL DECORATION

More than fifty years after the discovery of the first remains from Pozo Moro, new research has begun to question the arrangement, until now agreed upon, of the tower-shaped monument. The recent paper by García Cardiel and Olmos (2021) employs iconography to sketch the possibility that the reliefs and sculptures encountered in said necropolis do not belong to a single monument, but two or more. In this paper we delve into this possibility by studying a fragment of architectural moulding from Pozo Moro, which allows us to conclude the possible existence of a pillar-stele datable between 425–300 BC, when the necropolis was at its floruit. To reach this conclusion special attention is paid to Iberian architectural ornaments, a subject seldom yet studied.     

The Preservation and Interpretation of δ34S Values in Charred Archaeobotanical Remains

The measurement of sulphur isotope (δ³⁴S) values in charred plant remains has the potential to inform understanding of the spatial configuration and ecology of crop production. We investigated the effects of charring, manuring, oxidation and anaerobic soil conditions on modern cereal grain/pulse seed δ³⁴S values, and assessed the effect of chemical pre‐treatment on charred modern and archaeobotanical grain/seed δ³⁴S values. We used these results to interpret δ³⁴S values in archaeobotanical material from Neolithic Çatalhöyük. Our results suggest that δ³⁴S values can be reliably preserved in charred grain/seeds but are subject to influence by anaerobic soil conditions, the effect depending on the timing of flooding in relation to S assimilation.     

Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón and 16th-Century Building Techniques: The Cimborio Vault of Archbishop Fonseca College Chapel in Salamanca (Spain)

Rodrigo Gil is one of the greatest masters of Spanish architecture. His brilliant career is partially explained by the efficiency of his design methods and his building techniques, especially evident in his ribbed vaults. If we examine the latter as a whole, the first aspect to be noted is undoubtedly their great formal complexity. However, the detailed study discloses that rather limited geometric and building techniques are hidden behind those elaborated patterns, aimed at simplifying and making the execution more economical. In order to bring some of these devices to light, one of his best-known vaults was selected for an in-depth study. The construction of a large-scale model of it also revealed some interesting features regarding the placing of the centerings and shorings during the erection.     

A transnational millet in the Jewish state: A Judeo-Spanish diaspora between Israel and Turkey, 1948–1958

Between 1948 and 1956, 36,302 Jews migrated from Turkey to Israel, forming the largest Turkish diaspora hub at that time. Drawing on the nine newspapers published by Turkish Jews in Israel in their vernacular, Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), this article sheds light on the complex nature of the migrants' transnational affinity to the Turkish Republic and on how it coexisted with their Jewish nationalism. In addition to situating this development within the broader context of post-WWII Turkish transnationalism, we also delineate their unique historic status as ethnic Jewish communities or millet. Examining the post-Ottoman era, we show how they leveraged their political, commercial and leisure-related ties with Turkey—deemed more developed in those terms than Israel—to empower themselves as an ethnic community and to facilitate their integration into the Jewish state. In so doing, this study bridges some of the gaps in the analyses of Muslim and non-Muslim migrations, and it suggests that we rethink the languages used to explore Turkish transnationalism as well as its geographical borders and underlying characteristics.     

The dejuvenation of the Italian population

Abstract

In recent decades, a process of structural reduction of the weight of new generations in overall population (dejuvenation) has been observed. In Italy, this process started in the 1970s and accelerated in the 1990s. We present here its main consequences for Italian society and economy. The number of Italian young people (aged 0–29) was reduced from 24.5 million in 1951 (51.6% of the population) to 17.5 million in 2016 (28.8%). What is more, many young Italians are becoming a wasted resource and a social cost, facing high rates of unemployment, long economic dependence on the family of origin, renunciation of full achievement of their life plans, distrust of institutions, low social and political participation, and increasing emigration flow. We analyze, using multivariate models, the data of the Rapporto Giovani survey held by the Toniolo Institute in 2015. Our main finding is that generational disadvantages not only hamper economic growth but, in a familistic context, also exacerbate social inequalities.