bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Muhammad cartoons and humor research: A collection of essays
Authors: Davies Christie , Kuipers Giselinde , Lewis Paul , Martin Rod A , Oring Elliott , Raskin Victor
Published: February 2008

At the 2006 conference of the International Society for Humor Studies (Danish University of Education, Copenhagen), several panels addressed issues raised by the Muhammad cartoon story. Among these, a colloquium organized by Paul Lewis and decorously titled “Transnational Ridicule and Response” focused on the implications for humor research of the events surrounding the publication of the cartoons. Along with other materials, panelists were encouraged to review summaries of and timelines for the story available from the BBC and Wikipedia. Of the questions considered by panelists, the following drew interesting and, at times, provocative responses: Were the cartoons humorous; if so, did they represent a distinct or new kind of humor? Were the modes of global transmission of the cartoons new? Does the story have implications for ongoing humor research and advocacy? The goal was to approach the controversy not as partisans with particular political outlooks but as students of humor. The brief essays collected here were written following the conference by members of the panel (Christie Davies, Giselinde Kuipers, Paul Lewis, and Victor Raskin) and by two others who attended the colloquium (Elliott Oring and Rod A. Martin). After reviewing the essays, HUMOR editor Salvatore Attardo suggested that each of the participants be invited to read what the others had written and submit a brief response. Responses included here were received from Davies, Kuipers, Lewis, Oring, and Raskin.
The fear of being laughed at: Individual and group differences in Gelotophobia
Authors: Ruch Willibald , Proyer René T
Published: February 2008

Single case studies led to the discovery and phenomenological description of Gelotophobia and its definition as the pathological fear of appearing to social partners as a ridiculous object (Titze 1995, 1996, 1997). The aim of the present study is to empirically examine the core assumptions about the fear of being laughed at in a sample comprising a total of 863 clinical and non-clinical participants. Discriminant function analysis yielded that gelotophobes can be separated from other shame-based neurotics, non-shame-based neurotics, and controls. Separation was best for statements specifically describing the gelotophobic symptomatology and less potent for more general questions describing socially avoidant behaviors. Factor analysis demonstrates that while Gelotophobia is composed of a set of correlated elements in homogenous samples, overall the concept is best conceptualized as unidimensional. Predicted and actual group membership converged well in a cross-classification (approximately 69% of correctly classified cases). Overall, it can be concluded that the fear of being laughed at varies tremendously among adults and might hold a key to understanding certain forms of humorlessness.
Political satire and hegemony: A case of “passive revolution” during Mussolini's ascendance to power 1919–1925
Authors: Mascha Efharis
Published: February 2008

Although political satire can be considered a significant part of humor studies and cultural studies, it has been systematically neglected by theorists of both disciplines. This article looks critically at the role of political humor expressed in early Italian satirical journals in the period 1919–1924, which was central to the rise of fascism. Freud's techniques of condensation and displacement and Gramsci's account of hegemony will be the analytical tools for the satirical discourse and its counter-hegemonic project to the fascist ideological ascendance. Both tools will facilitate my analysis of political satire as a discourse expressing revolutionary sentiments and occupying a middle space between the dominant ideology and the discourse that resists it. In order to understand this space, which is not anti-hegemonic but counter-hegemonic, we should look at the language of the dominant discourse and how this is used by political satire. Having in mind the particular role of censorship and the constraints it poses to the satirical discourse, I will discuss three empirical sections in relation to the ascent of Fascism: the role of power, the political consensus and the political practices.
Weiße Stellen und schwarze Löcher: Vergangenheit und Gegenwart in Ostgalizien
Authors: Bartov Omer
Published: February 2008

I Das Grenzland

Im Jahre 1772 annektierte das Habsburgerreich im Süden Polens gelegene Gebiete und gliederte sie als „Königreich Galizien und Lodomerien“ in seinen Herrschaftsbereich ein. Nach dem Zusammenbruch der Habsburger Monarchie im I. Weltkrieg wurde Galizien 1918 Teil des erneut unabhängigen Polen. In Ostgalizien gründeten ukrainische Nationalisten eine kurzlebige „West-Ukrainische Republik“. Im Anschluss weiterer Kampfhandlungen zwischen Polen, Ukrainern und Sowjets annektierte Polen dann ganz Ostgalizien, das von den Polen „Kleines Ostpolen“ genannt wurde, einschließlich der nördlichen Gebiete Wolhyniens (Wolyñ) und Polesiens (westliches Belorussland). Die im Gefolge des Kriegsendes neu entstandenen Grenzen wurden 1923 international anerkannt. Ostgalizien und Wolhynien wurden 1939 von der UdSSR annektiert und der ukrainischen Sowjetrepublik angegliedert. Während der deutschen Besatzung zwischen 1941–1944 war Ostgalizien Teil des von den Deutschen kontrollierten Generalgouvernements Polen. Im Anschluss an die Befreiung dieser Gebiete durch die Rote Armee kam Ostgalizien wiederum an die ukrainische Sowjetrepublik. Seit der ukrainischen Unabhängigkeit 1991 ist es Teil der West-Ukraine (zusammen mit Wolhynien, dem nördlichen Teil der Bukowina und der Transkarpaten oder früher auch Ruthenien genannten Region). Das ehemalige ostgalizische Grenzlandgebiet erstreckt sich von der im Norden gelegenen Kreishauptstadt L'viv (Lwów, Lvov, Lemberg) bis zu der im Süden gelegenen, der ehemaligen österreichischen Provinz Bukowina zugehörigen Stadt Chernivtsi (Chernovtsy, Czernowitz, Cernăuti), von der Bergkette der Karpaten im Westen bis zum Fluss Sbrutsch (Zbrucz, Pruth) und zu den Ebenen von Podolien im Osten. Es handelt sich um ein Gebiet, das berühmt, aber durchaus auch berüchtigt ist.
Epistemics of the Holocaust Considering the Question of “Why?” and of “How?”
Authors: Diner Dan
Published: February 2008

The Holocaust was a rupture in civilisation – a Zivilisationsbruch –, a shattering of ontological certainty. The perception of the event enshrined in the notion of “rupture in civilisation” is the result of both the historical and the conceptual engagement with the event. Its manifest content seeks to combine two ways of discerning which are in fact opposed to one another: a particular one and a universal one. The particular perspective reflects the experience undergone by Jews as Jews of having been destroyed everywhere and solely because of their belonging, i.e. because of their alleged origin. It was hence the experience of being exposed to total extermination without any reason. Never before had anything of this kind taken place: a rupture in civilisation, carried out upon the Jews. The significance of the concept is further-reaching, however. The concept of rupture in civilisation seeks to denote the indeed singular circumstance of the extermination of human persons by human persons as the transgression of all the ethical and instrumental limits of comportment which had hitherto been considered as certain and secure. Transgression of this kind marks a rupture in civilisation that is carried out upon all humankind. The phenomenon of the crime against humanity experienced by the Jews can, however, be split and regarded from those two opposing perspectives: one that argues historically and that is above all adopted by the victims, while the other is an anthropologically inclined perception of the events which rather reaches further into a universal domain. The latter focuses on the significance of the events for the species as such. These perspectives are necessarily unequal. They may even work against other.
La mémoire, l'histore, l'oubli: A Symposium with Paul Ricœur. Part I: Prefatory Remarks
Authors: Noor Ashraf
Published: February 2008

Early in the year 2000, Paul Mendes-Flohr suggested to me that we invite Paul Ricœur to Jerusalem to engage in discussions with the researchers of the Rosenzweig Centre. At the time, Paul Mendes-Flohr, Maria Diemling, and I were participating in a Sonderforschungsbereich on Jewish and Christian thought, in collaboration with Bonn University. We considered that Ricœur's work on hermeneutics and his studies of history and memory coupled with his interest in the philosophy of religion had much in common with our research. After corresponding with Ricœur, I traveled to Paris, to Ricœur's residence in the community of the Murs Blancs in order to prepare the symposium. Ricœur had just finished his book La mémoire, l'histoire, l'oubli and he suggested that we base our work in the planned meeting in Jerusalem on the second section of the book. He said that he was exhausted and felt empty, after completing the manuscript. Nonetheless, his conversation was animated, touching on geo-political aspects of the war in what was formerly Yugoslavia and speculating on the reasons why armed conflict often originated and spread from the Balkans. Ricœur had given a paper to the research group of the Rosenzweig Centre, at the invitation of Stéphane Mosès, in December 1994. He was excited about coming to Jerusalem. I returned to Jerusalem with a typescript of the section of the book we were to discuss, and we prepared for the meeting in regular sessions of the research group.
Concepts of Time and Space in Phenomenology
Authors: Roubach Michael
Published: February 2008

I Ricœur's account of the distinction between phenomenological and cosmological time

My theme concerns the notions of time and space in Ricœur's thought with special emphasis on its relation to Phenomenology. As I understand it, in Temps et récit and again in La mémoire, l'histoire, l'oubli Ricœur proposes an opposition between subjective/phenomenological time and objective/cosmological time. In La mémoire, l'histoire, l'oubli he introduces a parallel distinction between lived space and geometrical space. We can state Ricœur's position in Husserlian terms and say that he is developing different regional ontologies, while I shall argue in these remarks that a certain fundamental ontology is required which will unify these different notions of space and different notions of time. Cosmic time is characterised by Ricœur as constituted by the distinction between earlier and later and by a general notion of the instant. The phenomenological notion of time is characterised by the distinction between the past and the future and its privileged instant is the present. In the third part of Temps et récit Ricœur argues for the autonomy of each notion. This autonomy is a necessary step in developing a third notion of historical time as a bridge between these two notions, the cosmic and the phenomenological.
“Aber wie soll ich denn aus dem Jiddischen übersetzen?”: Gershom Scholem and the Problem of Translating Yiddish
Authors: Groiser David
Published: February 2008

I Westjuden, Ostjuden, and the Place of Yiddish

During the First World War, the young Gershom (Gerhard) Scholem (1897–1982) published a typically forceful critique of three recent works of translation from Yiddish into German. His article, “Zum Problem der Übersetzung aus dem Jidischen [sic]” [On the Problem of Translating from Yiddish] (1917), reveals important dimensions of the cultural place of Yiddish in this period. Of general importance for understanding the development of Scholem's conception of language, the article and the exchange that it inspired also show in particular how, even within the camp of those sympathetic or devoting themselves to greater understanding of the Ostjuden, in some cases also converting their sympathy into practical action, there were widely differing approaches to the correct means and method by which this should be achieved.
Hannah Arendt on Action and Exile
Authors: Matveev Julia
Published: February 2008

I Politics and “exilic” experience

One remarkable aspect of this “Myth of Exile” is that it served two conflicting purposes: through its mystical interpretation of exile as action instead of suffering, it could rouse the people to hasten the coming of the Messiah [… ] But [… ] it served equally well the needs of the disillusioned people, who, having lost the Messianic hope, wanted a new, more general justification of exile, of their inactive existence and mere survival.
Zum Briefwechsel von Leo Löwenthal und Siegfried Kracauer
Authors: von Wussow Philipp
Published: February 2008

Eine große Leidenschaft von Siegfried Kracauer war es, mit jüngeren, gleichsam noch unfertigen Denkern zu „symphilosophieren“. Dies hat etwa in den neueren Adorno-Biographien zu vielerlei Spekulationen und mitunter schlüpfrigen Anspielungen auf vermeintliche homoerotische Beziehungen zwischen Kracauer und Adorno geführt – Spekulationen, die sich nur im Deutschen Literaturarchiv überprüfen ließen, da das Material bislang nicht zitiert werden darf. Der Briefwechsel mit Leo Löwenthal legt nahe, dass es sich bei seiner Vorstellung vom „Symphilosophieren“ tatsächlich um eine subtile geistige Homoerotik handelt, mehr aber auch nicht. Geradezu beschwört wird „das Philosophieren zu zweien, das immer und ewig schön“ sei. Am 16. Oktober 1921 schreibt Kracauer: „Träumen Sie nicht auch jeden Menschen in seiner Art vollendet?“ Um der Perfektionierung des Leo Löwenthal willen scheut er auch vor sachlich scharfer Kritik nicht zurück, die sich jedoch mit unverbrüchlicher persönlicher Loyalität paart. Zu den Aspekten, die die frühen Briefe Kracauers so lesenswert machen, gehört es, wie er den jungen Löwenthal von der Bahn eines „wilden“, schwärmerischen Messianismus zu einer säkularen Wahrnehmung religiöser Inhalte zu lenken versucht.
Storage Strategies and States on Prehistoric Crete: A Reply to Strasser (JMA 10 [1997] 73-100)
Authors: Halstead Paul
Published: February 2008

In the literature on early states, central control of surplus frequently plays a major role as a precondition, if not cause, of the emergence of social complexity. Many models claim empirical support in changes in the scale, form or social context of agricultural storage, despite the ambiguity of much of the archaeological evidence. The palaces of Minoan Crete are no exception: palatial storage looms large in much of the literature from Renfrew's Emergence of Civilization (Renfrew 1972) onwards, but the identity of many proposed grain-storage facilities is far from unassailable. Strasser questions the identification of the enigmatic, early palatial 'koulouras' as granaries. While accepting that the small, above-ground, internally plastered koulouras at the palace of Mallia were granaries, he argues that their larger, subterranean, roughly stone-lined counterparts outside the palaces at Knossos and Phaistos were not. On this basis, he proceeds to reject the link between storage (especially 'social storage') and state formation on Crete.
Northern Slaves and the Origin of Handmade Burnished Ware: A Comment on Bankoff et al. (JMA 9 [1996] 193-209)
Authors: Genz Hermann
Published: February 2008

For more than 20 years Handmade Burnished Ware has been known to occur at sites on the Greek Mainland and some of the islands in association with the end of LH IIIB and LH IIIC. Its origins have been traced to various regions in Northern Greece, the Balkans and Italy. Numerous theories have been put forward to explain the presence of these foreign elements in Mycenaean Culture. Basically all theories can be grouped into two opinions. One group of scholars interprets this pottery as evidence for the presence of a foreign ethnic component (e.g., Deger-Jalkotzy 1983), variously seen as conquerors, settlers, traders or mercenaries. Others interpret Handmade Burnished Ware as belonging to the Mycenaean cultural sphere and either attribute it to a pastoral element of the society, or see it as representing household production in times when the specialized pottery workshops declined in importance (e.g., Small 1990).
Conflict and Competition in Spanish Prehistory: The Role of Warfare in Societal Development from the Late Fourth to Third Millnium BC
Authors: Monks Sarah J.
Published: February 2008

The inevitability of war or warfare cannot be taken for granted in prehistory. Nor can it be seen merely as something constantly going on in the background throughout societal development. Conflict is all too often explained as either a natural human characteristic, which does not require any explanation, or as the inevitable solution to some economic or environmental crisis or change. It is rarely defined or explained, and has not been ascribed a significant role in social change. This paper seeks to address these issues by developing a theoretical framework, which is tested through a specific archaeological case study. It is argued that conflict and competition have a significant role to play in explaining and tracing some of the social and cultural changes which took place from the Late Neolithic and throughout the Chalcolithic in prehistoric Spain. .
The Archaeology of Beekeeping in Pre-Roman Iberia
Authors: Rosado Helena Bonet , Parreno Consuelo Mata
Published: February 2008

This paper presents a set of pottery beehives from the pre~Roman Iberian peninsula, dating from the third century BC, and all coming from a single region known in antiquity as Edetania. These beehives are closely related to similar examples from Greece and to a type described by Roman authors such as Columella. It is the first such archaeological material that can be associated with apiculture in this area.
Copper Age Settlement and Economy in Le Marche, Central Italy: A Social Perspective
Authors: Skeats Robin
Published: February 2008

This paper attempts to rewrite the story of Copper Age settlement and economy in the Marche region of central Italy with particular reference to social processes, the exploitation of prehistoric resources and the development of social differentiation. During the 4th and 3rd millennia Cal BC, it is suggested that human groups expanded their territories and socio-economic strategies in order to relieve a variety of socioeconomic pressures and demands on traditional Neolithic subsistence resources in the coastal lowlands. An increasing divergence between groups based in the coastal lowlands and groups based further inland is also proposed, and interpreted in terms of the relative marginalization of the former, in contrast to the stability and success of the latter, who had greater access to subsistence resources and longer distance networks of communication and exchange.
Storage and States on Prehistoric Crete: The Function of the Koulouras in the First Minoan Palaces
Authors: Strasser Thomas F.
Published: February 2008

Arthur Evans discovered three large stone-lined circular pits, known as koulouras, in the West Court of the first palace at Knossos. A fourth kouloura was found under the Theatral Area. Since Evans's discovery four, or possibly five, koulouras have been found in the West Court at Phaistos, and eight in the southwest corner of the palace at Mallia. All were constructed and used during the first palace period. Like many features of Minoan palaces, the koulouras seemed to be a recurring architectural feature. Evans thought the koulouras at Knossos were 'rubbish-pits' or 'blind wells'. Since then, many scholars have interpreted their function as granaries. This paper contends that the koulouras at Knossos and Phaistos were not granaries, but those at Mallia were. Consequently, the storage capabilities of the first palaces of Knossos and Phaistos have been overestimated. The storage facilities of the three palaces did not function identically, and the role of grain storage in the emergence of the first Minoan palaces has been exaggerated.
Radiocarbon Determinations and the Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition in Southern Italy
Authors: Pluciennik Mark
Published: February 2008

More than 120 radiocarbon determinations which are relevant to the issue of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition are now available from southern Italy. Previous treatments of this topic have tended to concentrate on identifying the earliest Neolithic traits and sites. It is suggested that ideas of the transition are better placed in the context of discussion of the Mesolithic Holocene hunter-gatherers, as well as the introduction of new domesticated crops and animals and material culture which conventionally signify the Neolithic. Radiocarbon determinations from the provinces of Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Puglia, Sardinia and Sicilia are critically evaluated, and it is noted that for a variety of reasons there is a substantial gap lasting about 1000 calendar years in our knowledge of the latest dated Mesolithic and earliest dated Neolithic in southern Italy. This gap, as well as the academic divide caused by periodization of the archaeological record into Mesolithic and Neolithic, is argued to privilege models which see the Neolithic as necessarily radically different and largely due to social dynamics deriving from outside southern Italy.
Strategic Symbolism: Miniature Nuraghi of Sardinia
Authors: Blake Emma
Published: February 2008

From Sardinia's later Nuragic period, there are found miniature stone and bronze representations of the nuraghi, the island's distinctive stone towers. These distinguish themselves from the building models of the eastern Mediterranean, in that they are not found in habitations as foundation offerings, nor are they from mortuary contexts, but rather from ritual sites. Traditionally, these models have been amassed into a single archaeological category, and then read as evidence of a shift in ritual practices reflecting broader social changes. This paper closely examines the individual models and the category as a whole and suggests that rather than being an expression of ideological uniformity in the period, differences among the models may correspond to conflicts within society.
Does the 'Economic Explanation' Work? Settlement, Agriculture and Erosion in the Territory of Halieis in the Late Classical-Early Hellenistic Period
Authors: Acheson Phoebe E.
Published: February 2008

This paper examines the landscape and archaeological sites around fourth- and third-century BC Halieis, in the Southern Argolid, Greece, exploring the ancient agricultural economy in all its socio-economic variety and micro-environmental variability. It is a re-study of the Late Classical Early Hellenistic period as described in the publications of the Southern Argolid Survey, and challenges conclusions drawn there about the economic focus of this region, its predominant agricultural practices, and the relationship between settlement expansion and soil erosion. It is suggested that previous publications have emphasized the construction of general models to the neglect of analysis of specific historical situations. In-depth analysis of data from a regional study project of the sort undertaken here, concentrating on the historical and economic situation of one specific period, can allow a nuanced and detailed understanding of human-land interactions, especially if archaeological and environmental information is synthesized.
Phantom Euboians
Authors: Papadopoulos John K.
Published: February 2008

This paper critically examines interpretations of social and economic pre-eminence and ethnicity in the eastern and central Mediterranean in the EIA. More particularly, it challenges the conventional view of Aegean, especially Euboian, primacy in early maritime trade and colonial ventures. To focus on one particular group - whether Greek, Levantine or other - to the neglect of others, is to miss the broader Mediterranean perspective and to impose national and nationalistic concepts which shift according to scholarly notions. Against the backdrop of a less-centralized and growing world-system, in which fluid boundaries allow for mobility of people and ideas, communities throughout the Mediterranean were affected and drawn together in a variety of ways. The process of 'blending' was more profound than merely combining two or more cultures. The only way to understand the complexities of multi-ethnic communities is to examine the entire cultural milieu and assemblage, not just certain aspects of the material record, and to recognize the interplay of ethnic, class, gender and other divisions.
Can We Move Forward? Comments on the Current Debate over Handmade Burnished Ware
Authors: Small David B.
Published: February 2008

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Inventing the Eteocypriots: Imperialist Archaeology and the Manipulation of Ethnic Identity
Authors: Given Micheal
Published: February 2008

For 60 years the 'Eteocypriots' have been seen as the Iron Age survivors of the indigenous population of Cyprus. In the 1930s, however, when the Eteocypriots first appeared in the literature, the British colonial rulers of Cyprus were exploiting ancient history and archaeology to combat Greek nationalism. This article investigates the ideology and mechanisms of imperialist archaeology, examines the textual and artefactual material used to 'invent' the Eteocypriots, and demonstrates that there is no secure archaeological or historical evidence for their existence. By encouraging the creation of an 'authentically' Cypriot ethnic group which pre-dated the Greeks, the British colonial regime denied the Hellenic character of ancient and modern Cyprus.
The Ethnoarchaeology of Abandonment and Post-Abandonment Behaviour in Pastoral Sites: Evidence from Famorca, Alacant Province, Spain
Authors: Creighton Oliver H. , Segui Joan R.
Published: February 2008

This paper addresses questions of site abandonment processes, using examples of pastoral structures on the threshold of the archaeological context, recorded during ethnoarchaeological research in eastern Spain. Current views of abandonment behaviour are seen as deficient with respect to the Mediterranean pastoral economy. A selection of 'small' pastoral corral sites and their environs was planned and recorded in detail, and the data supplemented with ethnographic data collected among the contemporary agro-pastoral community. Abandonment behaviour is examined at three scales of analysis: the abandonment of the agro-pastoral 'landscape', patterns of structural disintegration, and the material assemblages of abandonment, including coral 'furniture' and portable material culture. The study concludes that the abandonment of 'small', seasonal pastoral sites is the product of wider re-orientations in landscape exploitation, visible at the inter-site level. At the intra-site scale, abandonment is viewed as a multi-phase process resulting in complex yet structured material assemblages requiring behavioural interpretation.
Maintenance Activities, Technological Knowledge and Consumption Patterns: A View of Northeast Iberia (2000-500 Cal BC)
Authors: Colomer Solsona Laia , Marcen Paloma Gonzalez , Monton Sandra
Published: February 2008

The analysis of the archaeological evidence from some prehistoric settlements in the area of Valles (northeast Spain) allows us to propose an interpretation of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in the area as calibrating transformations in the organization of labour, storage patterns and maintenance activities. Despite the difficulties involved in the evaluation of this kind of settlement (pit structures dug into the ground and refilled after use with waste materials), our working assumption is that such deposits contain valuable information concerning the wide variety of activities carried out in the settlements and the dynamics of their development. In our study, it has been possible to hypothesize a continuity it some aspects of production, as well as a marked increase in agrarian production. It is argued that these dynamics can only be understood by focusing on the organization of social activities in the so-called 'domestic domain'.
Early Modern Archaeology in Central Greece: The Contrast of Artefact-Rich and Sherdless Sites
Authors: Vroom Joanita
Published: February 2008

Sorry, no abstract text available.
Early Neolithic Offshore Accounts: Remote Islands, Maritime Exploitations, and the Trans-Adriatic Cultural Network
Authors: Bass Bryon
Published: February 2008

Sorry, no abstract text available.
Fuel For Thought: Archaeobotanical Evidence for the Use of Alternatives to wood Fuel in Late Antique North Africa
Authors: Smith Wendy
Published: February 2008

Sorry, no abstract text available.
Reconstructions of knossos: Artists' Impressions, Archaeological Evidence and Wishful Thinking
Authors: Klynne Allan
Published: February 2008

Sorry, no abstract text available.
Of Tiny Hippos, Large Cows and Early Colonists in Cyprus
Authors: Simmons Alan H.
Published: February 2008

Sorry, no abstract text available.
Constructing Marki Alonia: Reflections on Method and Authority in Archaeological Reporting
Authors: Frankel David
Published: February 2008

Sorry, no abstract text available.
Eteocypriot Myth and Amathusian Reality
Authors: Petit Thierry
Published: February 2008

In a recent article (JMA 11: 3-29), Michael Given tried to show how British colonial propaganda perpetuated the existence in ancient Cyprus of a so-called 'Eteocypriot' population, in order to check Greek nationalism which was threatening its power in the island. At the end of this work, Given devoted some pages to discussing and questioning the historical and archaeological reality of the Eteocypriots themselves, and concluded that there is no evidence for them. In this reply, I attempt to show that this last conclusion is based on an incomplete scrutiny of both epigraphical and literary evidence now available. Indeed, it seems that we must henceforth avoid the use of 'Eteocypriot' to define this population and its language. Nevertheless, the Amathusians and their very peculiar language, far from being a '20th-century myth', are a well-documented historical reality.
Complexity and Diversity in the Southern Levant during the Third Millenium BC
Authors: Philip Graham
Published: February 2008

Archaeologists have generally viewed the appearance of Khirbet Kerak Ware (KKW) in the southern Levant in the early 3rd millennium BC in terms of a movement into the area of population groups of east Anatolian origin. However, there are serious theoretical and empirical objections to this position. It is suggested that by concentrating upon KKW as a macro-level phenomenon, scholars have neglected to consider the existence of significant inter-community distinctions in the scale and manner in which KKW was employed. This paper offers an alternative view which sees KKW as a material resource, knowledge of which was linked to participation in previously existing coastal networks of communication, the adoption or rejection of which was linked to socio-economic conditionals prevailing in specific areas of the southern Levant.
La trahison des archeologues? Archaeological Practice as Intellectual Activity in Postmodernity
Authors: Hamilakis Yannis
Published: February 2008

This paper discusses the role of archaeologists within the field of cultural production and examines archaeological practice within its broader social and political setting. It advocates the need to view archaeologists as intellectuals who deal with representation, rather than as stewards of the archaeological 'record'. It concludes that since, as many archaeologists now realize, there is no archaeological record as such, only fragmented material traces of the past which are produced as archaeological 'record' or 'evidence' through disciplinary practices and discourses on identity, archaeologists should acknowledge and accept the responsibility that goes with that realization. That responsibility involves challenging regimes for the 'production of truths', exploring and interrogating the links of knowledges with power, and adopting a critical stance in the global battlefields of cultural production and consumption. These arguments are explored by discussing critically two case-studies from the Mediterranean: the legacy of Manolis Andronikos and his involvement in the discourse of Greek nationalism, and the recent, on-going excavation at Catalhoyuk and its implication in the local and global cultural economies and structures of power.
Alonia
Authors: Whittaker John C.
Published: February 2008

Prepared threshing floors, used with flint-toothed threshing sledges drawn by animals, were a common feature of traditional Mediterranean agriculture. Archaeological examples of threshing floors are known from at least the first millennium BC in Greece. Although they are widespread, common, durable, and economically and socially important, few archaeologists have attempted to interpret or even describe them. The ethnoarchaeological information necessary to understand threshing floors and realise their interpretive potential is also spare and scattered. Examples of threshing floors from Cyprus, and ethnographic information about Cypriot threshing, reveal both variation and common features which reflect functional, social and economic contexts.
The Hidden Landscape of Prehistoric Greece
Authors: Bintliff John L. , Howard Phil , Snodgrass Anthony
Published: February 2008

For all-period intensive surveys in Greece, even those of very recent years, an abiding problem has been the difficulty of detecting prehistoric remains, whether at the level of nucleated sites or in the form of scatters across the landscape. The authors suggest explanations for the problems encountered in this regard, over the past 20 years, by the Boeotia Survey. They offer some first steps toward the solutions of these problems, based on assessment of the actual results achieved, here and elsewhere by intensive survey methods.
Late Pleistocene and Holocene Landscape Development in the Algarve Region, Southern Portugal
Authors: Chester David K. , James Peter A.
Published: February 2008

Using information from historical records, previously published studies bythe authors and the results of more than a decade of empirical earth and soil science research, an integrated account of landscape evolution during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene is presented for the Algarve region, southern Portugal. Whereas in the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene, landscape change was under the influence of factors of the physical environment - particularly those of climate and sea-level, the period from c. 3000 BP has seen two episodes of rapid erosion punctuated by a period of relative stability. These episodes of erosion are dated at c. 3000 PB to c. 300 BP and from c. 1914 to the present. Whilst the role of physical causal mechanisms cannot be ruled out and may have been contributory factors, it is argued that these phases equate to three differing styles of human impact on the Algarve landscape. The period from c. 3000 BP to c. 300 BP was associated with pre-Roman, Roman, Moorish and early Portuguese phases of settlement, exploitation of the region for timber and other agricultural products, widespread erosion of hillslopes, extensive deposition of sediment within inland valleys and situation of coastal estuaries. From c. 1700 to c. 1914, a reduction of human pressure on the most erosion-susceptible land and the spread of more environmentally sustainable agriculture led to a stabilization of slopes, a reduction in sediment movement, and the incision of valley and estuarine sediments. The 20th century has witnessed renewed 'pressure' on the landscape, due, first, to a campaign to foster agricultural self-sufficiency through the development of what cultivation on easily eroded soils, and, secondly, subsequent widespread ploughing and afforestation using Eucalyptus globulus. At the present time, signs of erosion and sediment movement may be observed as the landscape continues to evolve under human pressure. Finally, the authors assess some of the pressures currently being placed on the landscape as a consequence of mass tourism in the region.
Beyond Bunkers
Authors: Galaty Michael , Stocker Sharon R. , Watkinson Charles
Published: February 2008

This paper considers how the Communist dictatorship in Albania employed material symbols to help impose its ideological vision on the population. We illustrate the eventual demise of these strategies of domination, by describing what has become of some specific elements of Communist material culture (bunkers) in a post-Communist landscape, and by discussing the use and re-use of an individual artefact (a second-century AD architectural block) as a symbol of resistance during Communism and of new beginnings in the post-Communist era. Rather than presenting substantive archaeological data, this paper explores how the treatment of material culture in newly open post-Communist countries like Albania can stimulate archaeological thinking about the formation and manipulation of landscapes and the interplay between domination and resistance as an agent of change.
Journeys of an Icon
Authors: Lapatin Kenneth D.S.
Published: February 2008

The traditional account of the delivery of the gold and ivory Minoan Snake Goddess to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, by a Cretan immigrant, formerly a workman at Knossos, is a fabrication. Previously unpublished documents reveal that two American archaeologists with close ties to the Museum were directly involved in transporting the statuette, in June 1914. Neither was interested in personal profit; rather, they acted as middlemen, apparently for a senior employee of Arthur Evans at Knossos who had previously offered the statuette to a German scholar. The Cretan origins of the Goddess are thus confirmed. Yet the information presented here solves only one of the Goddess's mysteries. For, notwithstanding affinities to excavated material, the statuette lacks a verifiable archaeological provenience. Despite the wishful thinking of many over the past 85 years, to employ the Goddess as evidence of ancient Cretan art, culture, and religion, let alone to authenticate other unprovenienced -Minoan- figurines, is methodologically unsound. Forgers as well as illicit excavators were active in early 20th-century Crete. The Boston Goddess nonetheless remains valuable historiographically as her journeys shed light on the traffic in cultural property at the beginning of the last century, contemporaneous attitudes towards prehistoric Cretan civilization, and modern myths of its recovery.
The Social Dynamics of Enclosure in the Neolithic of the Tavoliere, South-east Italy
Authors: Skeates Robin
Published: February 2008

The Neolithic ditched enclosures of the Tavoliere have been subject to various interpretations since their initial identification during the Second World War. The first part of this paper provides a critical review of these interpretations. The second part then sets out to re-write the history of the ditched enclosures, drawing upon a new radiocarbon chronology, the results of recent archaeological excavations, and developments in interpretative archaeology. By paying due attention to the depositional sequences at these sites, it becomes evident that the ditched enclosures of the Tavoliere were never static finished entities, but rather were always in a dynamic accumulative process of construction and modification, excavation and deposition, occupation and abandonment. Also, by regarding the ditched enclosures as an integral part of a dynamic material cultural process, it is argued that the ditches played an active role in forming and transforming social relations in the Mesolithic and Neolithic of the Tavoliere.
Ethnic Identity and Urban Fabric
Authors: Kaiser Alan
Published: February 2008

Between 200 and 150 BC, several major construction projects significantly altered the appearance of the Greek sector of the site of Empúries in the Catalonian region of Spain. These changes have been interpreted as a sign of the growing prosperity of Greeks at the site after the Roman conquest of the eastern Iberian Peninsula. The author challenges this view, citing evidence that the Greek residents of the city did not prosper from the Roman invasion but, instead, lost political and economic status in the region. As an alternative explanation, it is argued that the alterations to the urban fabric witnessed in the first half of the second century bc were a conscious assertion of ethnic identity and that the Greeks at the site were attempting to create a strong group identity, symbolized by specific types of architecture, to help them negotiate their changing roles in the northeastern Iberian peninsula.
An Extensive Alternative to Intensive Survey: Point Sampling in the Riu Mannu Survey Project, Sardinia
Authors: Velde Pieter van de
Published: February 2008

Intensive surveying is restricted to limited areas. As it is a line-walking method, there is a smearing effect on the results from averaging over larger stretches of land, compounded by archaeological visibility problems, the definition of diagnostics and walkers idiosyncrasies. Numerical correction cannot produce qualitative differentiation, however, and thus reliability (replicability) of the results is compromised. The present paper discusses a field methodology in which systematically arranged (gridded) points of two square metres are cleared of vegetation, and all non-soil objects in the points taken in for further analysis. That way, the definition of -diagnostics-, most of the time conceived of as practical/logistic in nature, but in the final count a reliability problem (e.g. Bintliff et al. 1999), is obviated and additional fabric analysis considerably enhances the database. Numerical analysis of the results from nine field seasons of the Riu Mannu Survey Project in Sardinia shows that visibility effects are reduced far below customary confidence levels. Illustrations are provided by a general description of the finds in one transect and a more detailed analysis of the finds from a Punic farm site.
Balsam in the Mediaeval Mediterranean: A Case Study of Information and Commodity Exchange
Authors: Milwright Marcus
Published: February 2008

The economic and political implications of commodity exchange in the mediaeval Mediterranean have been the subject of extensive study by historians and archaeologists. In recent years anthropologists and archaeologists working in other regions and historical periods have begun to focus greater attention upon the cultural aspects of commodity exchange. The functions performed by a commodity, and the value consequently accorded to it, may be subject to considerable variation across cultural boundaries. The control of both exotic imported commodities themselves and the information concerning their functions and provenance may form part of the ideologies of political elites. These issues are explored in a case study based on a luxury commodity, balsam. It is argued that greater attention needs to be paid to the role of information in the exchange of luxury commodities across cultural and political boundaries in the mediaeval Mediterranean.
Placing Individuals: Pompeian Epigraphy in Context
Authors: Allison Penelope M.
Published: February 2008

In both popular and scholarly literature, Pompeii is viewed as a typical Roman town reflecting the social and cultural conditions of the capital, a perception now so embedded in Pompeian studies that it is often assumed to be part of the known facts. This paper questions that perception and explores alternative readings for broadening our approaches to Pompeian society through examination of the material contexts of the epigraphical texts from Pompeii. In particular, it investigates how the names of individual Pompeians have been used to provide evidence on Pompeian households and on the interrelationships and statuses of their members, in four particular houses. It considers the contribution of Greek-dominated Magna Graecia to the development of this town and its inhabitants. It concludes that more contextualised investigations of the material evidence from Pompeii can lead to more informed approaches to its social and cultural relationships, and those between this region, the Roman capital, and the wider Mediterranean region in the first century AD.
Excavating to Excess? Implications of the Last Decade of Archaeology in Israel
Authors: Kletter Raz , De-Groot Alon
Published: February 2008

For the first time, there exists a database about all archaeological fieldwork carried out in the state of Israel during the last decade. Documenting a total of 2200 excavation projects (excluding surveys), it shows that the numbers of all types of projects are constantly and sharply rising: the 153 excavations in 1989 more than doubled in 1998 to 333. Yet final publications lag far behind-an illogical situation, if archaeology is reckoned to be a scientific activity. A related problem, not yet discussed in Israel, is that archaeological sites are not an endless resource, and for too long we have been treating ancient sites as did American bison-hunters in the nineteenth century. Thus a radical measure is needed: to stop unnecessary excavations. While it is impossible to halt salvage excavations, a moratorium on new licenses for a few years is feasible. Only if we can restrain our burning desire to excavate so much will we be able to divert funds towards earlier projects, and their publication.
Imagining Macedonia in Prehistory, ca. 1900-1930
Authors: Fotiadis Michael
Published: February 2008

My subject is the peculiar reputation Macedonia acquired in the discipline of Aegean prehistory. The province, I observe, came to be regarded as not simply deficient by comparison with that discipline-s core provinces (mainly in the south of Greece), but as their very antithesis, their 'Other'. This happened as soon as prehistoric research in Macedonia began, in the early decades of the 20th century. I turn, therefore, to the prehistorians- texts from that period, and try to document the tropes in which Macedonia's alterity was cast. I also trace the epistemic effects of those tropes, the research questions they engendered and the limits to knowledge they prescribed. I also try to historicize the development of Macedonia's alterity by placing it in the context of early 20th-century disciplinary premises and quests.
The Balearic Islands: Prehistoric Colonization of the Furthest Mediterranean Islands from the Mainland
Authors: Ayuso Victor M. Guerrero
Published: February 2008

The human colonization of islands was radically different in nature from the occupation of new territories by prehistoric communities on the mainland. The Balearics are the most isolated of all the Mediterranean islands and consequently they share many patterns with oceanic islands; thus their initial colonization has characteristics which in many respects are closer to that of the Pacific islands than to that of other Mediterranean islands. This conclusion stems from the study of models of human colonization, both in the larger Mediterranean islands (Cyprus, Crete, Corsica, Sardinia, Malta) and in smaller islands such as Pantelleria or Lampedusa, and comparison of these patterns with those of the first human colonization of the Pacific Islands. From examination of archaeological, palaeobotanical, and palaeontological data, we conclude that the colonization of the Balearic islands had two consecutive phases, each with different characteristics and a distinct palaeoecological impact. It is now clear that the model of the relationship between prehistoric people and indigenous Pleistocene fauna, proposed 30 years ago and hitherto accepted as valid, cannot be sustained in the light of recent research.