Task: Class Definition Understanding (ontology: Arts_Media_Entertainment/CIDOC_CRM)

Which of the following definitions best describes 'E4 Period'?

A. Scope note:
This class comprises distinct, delimited and coherent processes and interactions of a material nature, in cultural, social or physical systems, involving and affecting instances of E77 Persistent Item in a way characteristic of the kind of process. Typical examples are meetings, births, deaths, actions of decision taking, making or inventing things, but also more complex and extended ones such as conferences, elections, building of a castle, or battles.
While the continuous growth of a tree lacks the limits characteristic of an the concept, its germination from a seed does qualify as an the concept. Similarly, the blowing of the wind lacks the distinctness and limits of an the concept, but a hurricane, flood or earthquake would qualify as an the concept. Mental processes are considered as events, in cases where they are connected with the material externalization of their results; for example, the creation of a poem, a performance or a change of intention that becomes obvious from subsequent actions or declarations.
The effects of an instance of the concept may not lead to relevant permanent changes of properties or relations of the items involved in it, for example an unrecorded performance. Of course, in order to be documented, some kind of evidence for an the concept must exist, be it witnesses, traces or products of the the concept.
While instances of E4 Period always require some form of coherence between its constituent phenomena, in addition, the essential constituents of instances of the concept should contribute to an overall effect; for example, the statements made during a meeting and the listening of the audience.
Viewed at a coarse level of detail, an instance of the concept may appear as if it had an ‘instantaneous’ overall effect, but any process or interaction of material nature in reality have an extent in time and space. At a fine level, instances of the concept may be analysed into component phenomena and phases within a space and timeframe, and as such can be seen as a period, regardless of the size of the phenomena. The reverse is not necessarily the case: not all instances of E4 Period give rise to a noteworthy overall effect and are thus not instances of the concept.

Examples:
- the birth of Cleopatra (E67) (Pomeroy, 1984)
- the destruction of Herculaneum by volcanic eruption in 79 AD (E6) (Camardo, 2013)
- World War II (E7) (Barber, 1994)
- the Battle of Stalingrad (E7) (Hoyt, 1993)
- the Yalta Conference (E7) (Harbutt, 2010)
- my birthday celebration 28-6-1995 (E7)
- the falling of a tile from my roof last Sunday (fictitious)
- the CIDOC conference 2003 (E7)

In First Order Logic:
- E5(x) ⇒ E4(x)
B. Scope note:
This class comprises the states of objects characterised by a certain condition over a time-span. 
An instance of this class describes the prevailing physical condition of any material object or feature during a specific instance of E52 Time-Span. In general, the time-span for which a certain condition can be asserted may be shorter than the real time-span, for which this condition held.
The nature of that condition can be described using P2 has type. For example, the instance of the concept “condition of the SS Great Britain between 22(nd) September 1846 and 27(th) August 1847” can be characterized as an instance “wrecked” of E55 Type.

Examples:
- the "reconstructed" state of the “Amber Room” in Tsarskoje Selo from summer 2003 until now (Owen, 2009)
- the "ruined" state of Peterhof Palace near Saint Petersburg from 1944 to 1946 (Maddox, 2015)
- the state of my turkey in the oven at 14:30 on 25(th) December 2002 [P2 has type: E55 Type “still not cooked”] (fictitious)
- the topography of the leaves of Sinai Printed Book 3234.2361 on the 10(th) July 2007 [described as: of type "cockled"] (fictitious)

In First Order Logic:
- E3(x) ⇒ E2(x)
C. Scope note:
This class comprises instances of E92 Spacetime Volume, whose temporal extent has been chosen in order to determine the spatial extent of a phenomenon over the chosen time-span. Respective phenomena may, for instance, be historical events or periods, but can also be the diachronic extent and existence of physical things. In other words, instances of this class fix a slice of another instance of E92 Spacetime Volume in time. 
The temporal extent of an instance of the concept typically is predetermined by the researcher so as to focus the investigation particularly on finding the spatial extent of the phenomenon by testing for its characteristic features. There are at least two basic directions such investigations might take. The investigation may wish to determine where something was during some time or it may wish to reconstruct the total passage of a phenomenon’s spacetime volume through an examination of discrete presences. Observation and measurement of features indicating the the concept or absence of a phenomenon in some space allows for the progressive approximation of spatial extents through argumentation typically based on inclusion, exclusion and various overlaps.

Examples:
- the Roman Empire on 19(th) August AD 14 (Clare and Edwards, 1992)
- Johann Joachim Winckelmann’s whereabouts in December 1775 (Leppmann, 1970)
- Johann Joachim Winckelmann’s whereabouts from 19(th) November 1755 until 9(th) April 1768 (Leppmann, 1970)

In First Order Logic:
- E93(x) ⇒ E92(x)
D. Scope note:
This class comprises sets of coherent phenomena or cultural manifestations occurring in time and space.
It is the social or physical coherence of these phenomena that identify an instance of the concept and not the associated spatiotemporal extent. This extent is only the “ground” or space in an abstract physical sense that the actual process of growth, spread and retreat has covered. Consequently, different periods can overlap and coexist in time and space, such as when a nomadic culture exists in the same area and time as a sedentary culture. This also means that overlapping land use rights, common among first nations, amounts to overlapping periods.
Often, this class is used to describe prehistoric or historic periods such as the “Neolithic the concept”, the “Ming Dynasty” or the “McCarthy Era”, but also geopolitical units and activities of settlements are regarded as special cases of the concept. However, there are no assumptions about the scale of the associated phenomena. In particular all events are seen as synthetic processes consisting of coherent phenomena. Therefore, the concept is a superclass of E5 Event. For example, a modern clinical birth, an instance of E67 Birth, can be seen as both a single event, i.e. an instance of E5 Event, and as an extended the concept, i.e. an instance of the concept, that consists of multiple physical processes and complementary activities performed by multiple instances of E39 Actor.
the concept is a subclass of E2 Temporal Entity and of E92 Spacetime Volume. The latter is intended as a phenomenal spacetime volume as defined in CIDOC CRMgeo (Doerr & Hiebel, 2013). By virtue of this multiple inheritance, it is possible to discuss the physical extent of an instance of the concept without representing each instance of it together with an instance of its associated spacetime volume. This model combines two quite different kinds of substance: an instance of the concept is a phenomenon while an instance of E92 Spacetime Volume is an aggregation of points in spacetime. However, the real spatiotemporal extent of an instance of the concept is regarded to be unique to it due to all its details and fuzziness; its identity and existence depends uniquely on the identity of the instance of the concept. Therefore, this multiple inheritance is unambiguous and effective and furthermore corresponds to the intuitions of natural language.
Typical use of this class in cultural heritage documentation is for documenting cultural and artistic periods. There are two different conceptualisations of ‘artistic style’, defined either by physical features or by historical context. For example, “Impressionism” can be viewed as a the concept in the European sphere of influence lasting from approximately 1870 to 1905 during which paintings with particular characteristics were produced by a group of artists that included (among others) Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley and Degas. Alternatively, it can be regarded as a style applicable to all paintings sharing the characteristics of the works produced by the Impressionist painters, regardless of historical context. The first interpretation is an instance of the concept, and the second defines morphological object types that fall under E55 Type.
A geopolitical unit as a specific case of an instance of the concept is the set of activities and phenomena related to the claim of power, the consequences of belonging to a jurisdictional area and an administrative system that establishes a geopolitical unit. Examples from the modern the concept are countries or administrative areas of countries such as districts whose actions and structures define activities and phenomena in the area that they intend to govern. The borders of geopolitical units are often defined in contracts or treaties although they may deviate from the actual practice. The spatiotemporal properties of Geopolitical units can be modelled through the properties inherited from E92 Spacetime Volume.
Another specific case of an instance of the concept is the actual extent of the set of activities and phenomena as evidenced by their physical traces that define a settlement, such as the populated the concept of Nineveh.

Examples:
- Jurassic (Hallam, 1975)
- Populated the concept of Nineveh
- Imperial Rome under Marcus Aurelius
- European Bronze Age (Harrison, 2004) 
- Italian Renaissance (Macdonald, 1992)
- Thirty Years War (Lee, 1991)
- Sturm und Drang (Berkoff, 2013)
- Cubism (Cox, 2000)
- The Capital of Russia (E4) [the capital of Russia in the sense of an administrative unit moved in historical times from Moscow to St Petersburg and then back to Moscow. This exemplifies an administrative unit changing place over time without temporal discontinuity]
- The settling activity of the community of Helsinki (a.k.a. Helsingfors) (E7) [the original settlement called Helsinki was located in the area of the modern airport. The community moved later to settle on the coast. This exemplifies a continued activity changing place over time without temporal discontinuity]
- Bronze Age (E4) [Bronze Age, in the sense of technological adoption, spread over disjoint areas including islands such as the British Isles without temporal discontinuity]
- Japan, the state (E4) [In 2021, the Japanese state as a political unit comprised in 6852 islands extending along the Pacific coast of Asia]

In First Order Logic:
- E4(x) ⇒ E2(x)
- E4(x) ⇒ E92(x)

Answer: Scope note:
This class comprises sets of coherent phenomena or cultural manifestations occurring in time and space.
It is the social or physical coherence of these phenomena that identify an instance of the concept and not the associated spatiotemporal extent. This extent is only the “ground” or space in an abstract physical sense that the actual process of growth, spread and retreat has covered. Consequently, different periods can overlap and coexist in time and space, such as when a nomadic culture exists in the same area and time as a sedentary culture. This also means that overlapping land use rights, common among first nations, amounts to overlapping periods.
Often, this class is used to describe prehistoric or historic periods such as the “Neolithic the concept”, the “Ming Dynasty” or the “McCarthy Era”, but also geopolitical units and activities of settlements are regarded as special cases of the concept. However, there are no assumptions about the scale of the associated phenomena. In particular all events are seen as synthetic processes consisting of coherent phenomena. Therefore, the concept is a superclass of E5 Event. For example, a modern clinical birth, an instance of E67 Birth, can be seen as both a single event, i.e. an instance of E5 Event, and as an extended the concept, i.e. an instance of the concept, that consists of multiple physical processes and complementary activities performed by multiple instances of E39 Actor.
the concept is a subclass of E2 Temporal Entity and of E92 Spacetime Volume. The latter is intended as a phenomenal spacetime volume as defined in CIDOC CRMgeo (Doerr & Hiebel, 2013). By virtue of this multiple inheritance, it is possible to discuss the physical extent of an instance of the concept without representing each instance of it together with an instance of its associated spacetime volume. This model combines two quite different kinds of substance: an instance of the concept is a phenomenon while an instance of E92 Spacetime Volume is an aggregation of points in spacetime. However, the real spatiotemporal extent of an instance of the concept is regarded to be unique to it due to all its details and fuzziness; its identity and existence depends uniquely on the identity of the instance of the concept. Therefore, this multiple inheritance is unambiguous and effective and furthermore corresponds to the intuitions of natural language.
Typical use of this class in cultural heritage documentation is for documenting cultural and artistic periods. There are two different conceptualisations of ‘artistic style’, defined either by physical features or by historical context. For example, “Impressionism” can be viewed as a the concept in the European sphere of influence lasting from approximately 1870 to 1905 during which paintings with particular characteristics were produced by a group of artists that included (among others) Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley and Degas. Alternatively, it can be regarded as a style applicable to all paintings sharing the characteristics of the works produced by the Impressionist painters, regardless of historical context. The first interpretation is an instance of the concept, and the second defines morphological object types that fall under E55 Type.
A geopolitical unit as a specific case of an instance of the concept is the set of activities and phenomena related to the claim of power, the consequences of belonging to a jurisdictional area and an administrative system that establishes a geopolitical unit. Examples from the modern the concept are countries or administrative areas of countries such as districts whose actions and structures define activities and phenomena in the area that they intend to govern. The borders of geopolitical units are often defined in contracts or treaties although they may deviate from the actual practice. The spatiotemporal properties of Geopolitical units can be modelled through the properties inherited from E92 Spacetime Volume.
Another specific case of an instance of the concept is the actual extent of the set of activities and phenomena as evidenced by their physical traces that define a settlement, such as the populated the concept of Nineveh.

Examples:
- Jurassic (Hallam, 1975)
- Populated the concept of Nineveh
- Imperial Rome under Marcus Aurelius
- European Bronze Age (Harrison, 2004) 
- Italian Renaissance (Macdonald, 1992)
- Thirty Years War (Lee, 1991)
- Sturm und Drang (Berkoff, 2013)
- Cubism (Cox, 2000)
- The Capital of Russia (E4) [the capital of Russia in the sense of an administrative unit moved in historical times from Moscow to St Petersburg and then back to Moscow. This exemplifies an administrative unit changing place over time without temporal discontinuity]
- The settling activity of the community of Helsinki (a.k.a. Helsingfors) (E7) [the original settlement called Helsinki was located in the area of the modern airport. The community moved later to settle on the coast. This exemplifies a continued activity changing place over time without temporal discontinuity]
- Bronze Age (E4) [Bronze Age, in the sense of technological adoption, spread over disjoint areas including islands such as the British Isles without temporal discontinuity]
- Japan, the state (E4) [In 2021, the Japanese state as a political unit comprised in 6852 islands extending along the Pacific coast of Asia]

In First Order Logic:
- E4(x) ⇒ E2(x)
- E4(x) ⇒ E92(x)