1,721,053 research outputs found
The Neolithics of Wales and the mid-west of England: a systemic analysis of social change through the application of action theory (2 Vols)
No full textThis thesis presents the results of a study of social change in Wales and the mid-west of England during the period 4500 - 2000 BC. Emphasis is given to understanding the entire extinct social system, as far as archaeological data permits, and for analytical purposes neolithic society is conceived of as a set of six interpenetrating action based subsystems. Social change is taken to mean alterations in the pattern of co-existant actions. Principles developed in the field of General Systems Theory to cope with open-organic systems are adapted to model the operation and integration of the subsystems. A review of available chronological evidence allows four phases to be identified within the neolithic period. Examination of evidence pertaining to activities within each subsystem reveals a complexity of putatively interrelated changes through time. Regional variation is also evident, and the overall trajectory of change is shown to be neither straight nor unilinear. During the first half of the period, changes appear to be cumulative and progressive. In areas east of the River Severn a disjunction is identified in the period shortly after 2500 bc, when the effects of pressure on land were putatively instrumental in a breakdown of projective and political control. Subsistence, economy, exchange and settlement all show dislocation which is rapidly overcome by colonisation of new areas, changes in the exploitation pattern of animal resources and a shift in th axis of exchange. Projective activities, which prior to c.2500 be were probably based. on a cult of the ancestors, never regained their former character, and new practices became established. Political activities became severed from projective activities and some evidence exists for the emergence of an elite who controlled trade and presumably people also. Changes west of the Severn are shown to be less dramatic, possibly because continuous colonisation of the uplands and exploitation of coastal and marine resources diminished competition for land. The wealth of natural resources available in north Wales promoted changes towards the end of the neolithic, and the area became assimilated into patterns of society prevailing in Ireland and east of the Severn. It is concluded that changes in the first half of the period relate specifically to adaptations to uncertainties in the flow of matter and energy within the social system, but that the observable patterns of change in the second half of the period are responses to uncertainties in the flow of information. A gazetteer of recorded neolithic sites, monuments and find spots within the study area is provided as an appendix; other appendices detail ceramic assemblages analysed, radiocarbon dates, evidence used in the analysis of individual subsystems and studies of human physiology.</p
Antiche pietre : la cultura dei dolmen della preistoria della Sicilia sud-orientale
No full textThis book came about due to the author's experience with regards to a very little discussed topic in Sicily: the existence of Dolmens in the land. The archaeological proofs which the author has been able to collect show that at least one of these dolmens in particular, that of ‘Cava dei Servi’, was used as a burial place between the end of the third and first half of second millennium B.C.
The first chapter concerns the origin of these enormous European monuments that according to the Australian archaeologist V. Gordon Childe, were built by mythical megalithic missionaries. The perfection of the absolute dating system (C-14), has proved that the oldest megalithic tombs originated in central-north Europe around 4500 B.C. The author therefore describes the principal characteristics of the dolmens (and the menhirs and cromlechs) of Brittany and United Kingdom and reflects on the Mediterranean dolmens (Spain, Balearic Island, Sardinia, Apulia). The chapter ends with his discovery of Sicily dolmens.
Subsequently, the second chapter revolves around the discovery of Sicilian dolmens: ‘Monte Bubbonia’, ‘Cava dei Servi’, ‘Cava Lazzaro’ and ‘Avola’. Every dolmen differs from the other, but they all are classified by the European typology. In ‘Cava dei Servi’ the author was able to find a few earthenware fragments dated back to the early Bronze Age and anthropological remains which confirmed the burial purpose of the artifact. The dolmen of ‘Avola’, as found by the geological analysis conducted for the aims of this book is a natural construction on which the human hand interfered.
In the third chapter, the author speculates on what could explain the disappearance of the great Maltese civilization which lived between 4000 B.C. and 2200 B.C., that of the people who built the megalithic temples of Tarxien. The archaeologist Themistocles Zammit attributed the disappearance of the "Culture" to an epidemic. In the late 50’s, J.D.Evans ascribed that an Apulian invasion occurred: this by the analogy of the Maltese dolmens with Apulians. The discovery of Sicilian dolmens, similar to the ones mentioned above, would disprove this theory
Mythical rings? Waun Mawn and Stonehenge Stage 1
Full text linkIn a recent Antiquity article, Parker Pearson and colleagues (2021) presented results from excavations at Waun Mawn in south-west Wales, interpreting the site as a dismantled stone circle and source for some
of the Bluestone pillars used in the Aubrey Holes at Stonehenge. Here, the author examines the evidence, showing that alternative interpretations are possible. Waun Mawn is argued to represent a series of smaller stone settings, typical of ceremonial sites in southwest Wales. Meanwhile the Aubrey Holes are shown to reflect a well-established regional sequence in which post circles are followed by pit circles. A
Welsh ‘source-circle’ for Stonehenge cannot be excluded but, the author argues, the claim is unsupported by the current evidence
Ancient stones : the dolmen culture in prehistoric south-eastern Sicily
Full text linkA richly illustrated guide to the dolmen culture of Prehistoric Sicily.
Scattered around the world in woods and on mountains dolmens have posed a mystery for hundreds of years. The interpretations of these mysteries has been extremely imaginative over the centuries.
But in Sicily it has only been in recent years that the presence of numerous megaliths habe been revealed.
This manual provides a comprehensive guide to the dolmens of Sicily and the artefacts as well as historical and cultural associations of these prehistoric sites
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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