scholarly journals Forensic Archaeometry Applied to Antiquities Trafficking: An Investigation at the Frontiers of Knowledge

Author(s):  
Ignacio Rodríguez Temiño ◽  
Ana Yáñez ◽  
Susana Jorge Villar ◽  
Álvaro Reyes Mateos ◽  
Javier Rufino Rus ◽  
...  

For most of its history, archaeology has taken an indulgent attitude toward looting and antiquities trafficking. The primary response to these dangers has been to publish the main findings made outside of academia. As a result of this approach and the prominent role played by police techniques in investigating such crimes, investigations are primarily based on documentary research. This approach makes it harder to determine such essential factors in this field as an object’s collecting history or discovery date. This paper offers an overview of the state of the research on the fight against antiquities trafficking. It then proposes new ways of studying collecting history, drawing on research projects on the use of archaeometry to shed light on cases of looting or trafficking involving police, court, or government intervention; hence, its qualification as “forensic.” Although the current state of knowledge does not enable the presentation of novel research, we believe that researchers and interested institutions should be made aware of the advisability of using archaeometry more directly in the fight against these scourges.

Arts ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignacio Rodríguez Temiño ◽  
Ana Yáñez ◽  
Susana Jorge Villar ◽  
Álvaro Reyes Mateo ◽  
Javier Rufino Rus ◽  
...  

For most of its history, archaeology has too often taken an indulgent attitude toward looting and antiquities trafficking. The primary response to these dangers has been to publish the main findings made outside of academia. As a result of this approach and the prominent role played by police techniques in investigating such crimes, investigations are primarily based on documentary research. This approach makes it harder to determine such essential factors in this field as an object’s collecting history or discovery date. This paper proposes new ways of studying collecting history, drawing on research projects on the use of archaeometry to shed light on cases of looting or trafficking involving police, court, or government intervention; hence, its qualification as “forensic”. Although the current state of knowledge does not enable the presentation of novel research, we believe that researchers and interested institutions should be made aware of the advisability of using archaeometry more directly in the fight against these scourges.


Impact ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (3) ◽  
pp. 82-84
Author(s):  
Chaolumenggerile

Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region of China. Nowadays, the traditional nomadic lifestyle of Inner Mongolians is increasingly difficult to maintain. Good and abundant pastures with water fields and soil with soda are key to this lifestyle as they are essential for livestock. In recent years, however, livestock numbers have decreased and, additionally, Inner Mongolians have experienced lifestyle changes such as remaining in one location instead of moving with the changing seasons. Furthermore, grasslands that once grew across the land have lost some of their regenerative power and now grow in patches and only to a relatively small height. Dr. Chaolumenggerile, Inner Mongolia University, China, is exploring historical materials in an effort to better understand these changes and in order to ascertain what can be done to preserve the traditional nomadic lifestyle of Inner Mongolians. She believes that understanding the state of Mongolian society under the Qing Dynasty 300 years ago would contribute to better understanding the current state of Mongolian society and is working to understand the rangeland demarcation policy that was implemented under the Qing Dynasty rule and how it penetrated Mongolian society. Part of the work involves investigating pasture conflicts in Mongolia during the Qing Dynasty and she has already succeeded in shedding light on the forms and patterns of rangeland conflicts that existed during that time.


1999 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Murad Wilfried Hofmann

This article examines the state of Islamic jurisprudence with regard to many sensitive issues, such as the status of women and minorities in Islam, Islam and Democracy, hudud punishments. The author explores the current state of Islamic discourse on jurisprudence and identifies three approaches-traditional, secular and reformist. The paper explores the positions of the traditional ulama and the reformist muj­tahids on the mentioned topics and finds the reformist position more sensible and closer to the position of ihe Qur'an and Sunnah. This paper while advocating neo-ijtihad, makes an impressive case for the merit???? and Islamic credibility of the reformist jurisprudence.


Author(s):  
Stéphane A. Dudoignon

Since 2002, Sunni jihadi groups have been active in Iranian Baluchistan without managing to plunge the region into chaos. This book suggests that a reason for this, besides Tehran’s military responses, has been the quality of Khomeini and Khamenei’s relationship with a network of South-Asia-educated Sunni ulama (mawlawis) originating from the Sarbaz oasis area, in the south of Baluchistan. Educated in the religiously reformist, socially conservative South Asian Deoband School, which puts the madrasa at the centre of social life, the Sarbazi ulama had taken advantage, in Iranian territory, of the eclipse of Baluch tribal might under the Pahlavi monarchy (1925-79). They emerged then as a bulwark against Soviet influence and progressive ideologies, before rallying to Khomeini in 1979. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, they have been playing the role of a rampart against Salafi propaganda and Saudi intrigues. The book shows that, through their alliance with an Iranian Kurdish-born Muslim-Brother movement and through the promotion of a distinct ‘Sunni vote’, they have since the early 2000s contributed towards – and benefitted from – the defence by the Reformist presidents Khatami (1997-2005) and Ruhani (since 2013) of local democracy and of the minorities’ rights. They endeavoured to help, at the same time, preventing the propagation of jihadism and Sunni radicalisation to Iran – at least until the ISIS/Daesh-claimed attacks of June 2017, in Tehran, shed light on the limits of the Islamic Republic’s strategy of reliance on Deobandi ulama and Muslim-Brother preachers in the country’s Sunni-peopled peripheries.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (13) ◽  
pp. 3765
Author(s):  
Jarosław Brodny ◽  
Magdalena Tutak ◽  
Peter Bindzár

The global economic development is, to a great extent, dependent on access to large amounts of cheap energy sources. The growing social awareness of ecology and the enormous damage to the Earth’s ecosystem due to the production of energy from conventional sources have forced fundamental changes in the energy sector. Renewable energy is considered to be an opportunity for such changes. The current state of the art allows such changes to be made without restricting economic development. Therefore, activities related to the energy transition are being taken all over the world. The European Union has definitely managed to achieve the most tangible effects in this regard. This article presents the findings of the research aimed at presenting the current state of renewable energy in the European Union and analyzing the changes reported in this sector in the last decade. The research was carried out using a selected set of 11 indicators characterizing renewable energy in individual countries. These indicators were selected on the basis of literature review and own studies of the state of renewable energy and its development prospects. Based on these indicators, changes in the energy structure of individual European Union countries between 2008–2018 were determined. The study is divided into two main stages. The principal components analysis (PCA) was used for the first analysis. In turn, the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) was adopted to assess the level of renewable energy development in the European Union countries. Both these methods and the extended statistical analysis were applied to determine the state of renewable energy development in the European Union countries in the studied period and to divide the Member States into classes with different levels of development. The results of the study showed that the EU countries are characterized by significant differences in the development of RES during the period in question. The unquestionable leaders in this respect are Sweden, Austria, Finland, and Latvia. Based on the findings, it is possible to evaluate the effects of activities related to renewable energy development and to prepare assumptions for future activities. Additionally, both the research and its findings broaden the knowledge of the directions of renewable energy development in individual European Union countries. This is particularly important in the context of changes related to the need to reduce harmful substance emissions and the implementation of the European Green Deal idea.


2004 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 457-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Lawrence Schrad

“Tell a man today to go and build a state,” Samuel Finer once stated, “and he will try to establish a definite and defensible boundary and compel those who live inside it to obey him.” While at best an oversimplification, Finer's insight illuminates an interesting aspect of state-society relations. Who is it that builds the state? How and where do they establish territorial boundaries, and how are those who live within that territory compelled to obey? Generally speaking, these are the questions that will be addressed here. Of more immediate concern is the fate of peoples located in regions where arbitrary land boundaries fall. Are they made loyal to the state through coercion or by their own compulsions? More importantly, how are their identities shaped by the efforts of the state to differentiate them from their compatriots on the other side of the borders? How is the shift from ethnic to national identities undertaken? A parallel elaboration of the national histories of the populations of Karelia and Moldova will shed light on these questions. The histories of each group are marked by a myriad of attempts to differentiate the identity of each ethnic community from their compatriots beyond the state's borders. The results of such overt, state-initiated efforts to differentiate borderland populations by encouraging a national identity at the expense of the ethnic, has ranged from the mundane to the tragic—from uneventful assimilation to persecution and even genocide. As an illustration of the range of possibilities and processes, I maintain that the tragedies of Karelia and Moldova are not exceptional, but rather are a consequence of their geographical straddling of arbitrary borders, and the need for the state to promote a distinctive national identity for these populations to differentiate them socially from their compatriots beyond the frontier.


2014 ◽  
Vol 60 ◽  
pp. 50-54
Author(s):  
Chryssanthi Papadopoulou

In his recent book The Ancient Harbours of the Piraeus I.1, Bjorn Lovén notes that archaeological investigation of the Classical naval installations in the Piraeus goes back almost as far as the discipline of archaeology in the modern Greek state (Lovén 2011: 15). This enduring archaeological interest in the Piraeus installations is not some ungrounded fascination, but rests on the importance of these facilities not only for the Piraeus, but for the whole of Classical Athens. The commission of these installations was an integral part of a Classical building programme that saw the construction of triremes and the fortification of the Piraeus peninsula. As Vincent Gabrielsen (2007: 256–57) has shown, the building of warships is not necessarily synonymous with the construction of a navy. The latter implies the centralization of war reserves by the city-state and the provision of infrastructure (naval facilities and walls to protect both these facilities and the ships stationed in them), and it would be essential for the state to maintain and operate these resources. Investigations of the Piraeus shipsheds therefore shed light not only on the size of Athenian triremes, but also on the overall planning and works undertaken by the Athenian state in Classical times, in order to command and sustain a large navy.


1901 ◽  
Vol IX (3) ◽  
pp. 153-157
Author(s):  
B. Obraztsov

The author asks the question of finding out what the relationship is between modern artistic creativity and the phenomenon of progressive increase in our nerves and mental illnesses. shed light on the state of health of the artist, being, so to speak, artistic symptoms of his illness.


2020 ◽  
pp. 48-59
Author(s):  
A.M. Agapkin

The state of the problem of processing agricultural waste as a newly forming industry for the disposal of such waste in conjunction with the development of the emerging industry of organic production and the market of organic fertilizers is considered. The issue is regarded in the interrelation of the regulatory, economic and technological components in their dynamics from the current state to the target (desired).


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. e1806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kari Tove Elvbakken

This article explores the role of food control in the professionalization of veterinarians in Norway. Veterinarians became engaged in public health through food control and market inspection, which were the responsibility of Norway’s city boards of health from the 1860s. Food inspection served a double purpose: to ensure honest trade and to maintain the safety of food. I argue that food control, which was associated with cities’ efforts to secure public health and order, was important to the legitimacy of the veterinarian profession. This activity is not what one today sees as a core practice of veterinarians, which is the prevention and curing of animal sickness. Exploring boundary activities at the fringes of a profession, and especially activity connected to the city and the state, may shed light on the more general sources of professional influence and legitimacy in the Norwegian profession state.


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