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Extending Cliometrics to Ancient History Using Complexity
No full textInternational audienceCliometrics, concerned with the application of economic models to history, have left Antiquity aside because of the perceived lack of data available for this period. We argue that cliometrics do not have to specifically focus on the economy and, associated with complexity sciences, can operate on primary historical sources. Thus redefining cliometrics gives them access to the extensive corpora of historical material that have been digitized, in particular for ancient history, which has so far remained outside cliometrics’ purview. We discuss two examples of a cliometrics and complexity approach to ancient history: inscriptions and votive acts in ancient Greece
Nos Lueurs. L'hypothèse des Lumières queers
No full textInternational audienceComment répondre aux discours réactionnaires qui voient dans les théories queers, féministes et décoloniales un dangereux obscurantisme ou une nouvelle religion « woke » qui gangrènerait l'Université ? Dans cet essai percutant, Pierre Niedergang propose de relire les pratiques et les théories queers à l'aune des thèmes et des grandes valeurs des Lumières telles que l'humanisme, l'universalisme, l'émancipation, la science, l'éducation et la critique de l'autorité religieuse. Il montre comment ces valeurs ne sont pas abandonnées, mais retravaillées et réactivées de manière subversive par les savoirs critiques minoritaires.En faisant l'hypothèse que les théories et pratiques queers peuvent être lues comme de « nouvelles Lumières pour le XXie siècle », il ouvre un horizon original pour la pensée critique contemporaine et nous rend attentif·ves à ces lueurs queers qui vibrent dans l'obscurité inquiétante du présent
50 Shades of Bricks: Couleur des matériaux, caractéristiques techniques et choix des constructeurs
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A Macrodynamic Model of War: Addressing Kant's Democratic Peace Proposition
No full textInternational audienceWar and political regime are fundamentally linked. From Athen’s democratic empire in the 5th Century BCE, through the industrialization of war in the 19th and 20th centuries to today’s nuclear powers, all forms of political regimes have been involved in war. Very few macroeconomic models have accounted for the costs and benefits of war. We develop a macrodynamic model of war in order to address Kant’s notion of democratic perpetual peace. We enrich macroeconomics by introducing regime-specific sensitivity to human loss, which affects the desirability of war. Our model, based on a dynamics à la Solow, can account for multiple wars throughout history
Reassessing Craft in the Late Acheulean: Technological Insights from Jaljulia Handaxes (Levant)
No full textInternational audienceRecent research on the Lower Paleolithic of the Levant has re-evaluated technical trends defined for the Acheulean techno-complex during the 1970s, trends built upon typological analysis of handaxe assemblages. To this end, new methods are being applied to old and new collections in order to assess handaxe morphological and technological variation over time, opening a discussion about the technical skills of Acheulean knappers, also referred to as “craftmanship” (hereafter referred to as “craft”). In this context, morphometric studies conducted at the Late Acheulean site of Jaljulia have highlighted the crudeness and high morphological variability of the bifacial assemblage, challenging the 1970s idea of handaxe increasing refinement over time. Interestingly, the authors do not attribute this variability to a lack of knapping skill—as irregular and non-standardized productions are traditionally interpreted—but to an expedient chaîne opératoire of tool production. Produced predominantly in brecciated flint, collected and modified on the spot, the sample studied is interpreted by the authors as tools mostly adapted for bone-crushing purposes. This paper aims to offer a new perspective on this assemblage by conducting a critical technological analysis of the handaxes from the oldest locality on-site, Area D, taking into account raw material constraints as well as the site’s function as a handaxe production workshop, among other activities conducted at this Paleolithic landscape. Our results suggest the presence of pieces discarded during the production process, which contributes to the increased morphological variability observed in the assemblage. Our analysis discusses the expedient character of Jaljulia’s handaxe reduction sequence and points to the production of three distinct techno-types, potentially associated to a wider variety of tasks. To conclude, we discuss our results in the context of the Late Acheulean of the Levant, within the broader framework of technological trends and associated technical skills in the late Acheulean
Apprehensions of illiberalism. Examining how the principles of the Rule of Law are dismantled
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