The Emergence of the Western Welfare State

The chapter provides a perspective on the early development of the welfare state in the countries of the European cultural complex, including the European (English) settler nations. The focus is on the emergence of the institutions of social insurance since the 1880s until 1945. First, an overall picture of early collective solutions to social problems is presented, followed by a depiction and discussion of why state-initiated social insurance came about, why Germany was a forerunner, and why national authorities reacted differently to the new challenge of social policy. The second part of the chapter covers the phase of consolidation, expansion, and geographical diffusion of social insurance and protection legislation after the First World War. A comprehensive tabular overview of the first statutory social security schemes in the forty-two ILO member countries that had introduced at least three out of five insurance pillars by 1945 is included. The chapter ends with a brief look at the Second World War experience.

Architects of the Engaruka Techno-Cultural Complex: Testing the Sonjo Connection

Engaruka is an archaeological site that became known to the world of scientific researchers for the first time in 1883. Since then the site has been the subject of many research undertakings varying in purpose and intensity. Most of the published literature about Engaruka has focused on its economy, technology, population, probable reasons for its success and demise, as well as speculations about its first settlers. Several different ethnic groups have been proposed as Engaruka’s architects: the Iraqw, Tatoga, Maasai, and the Sonjo. Despite the impressive scope of collected evidence, the original occupants of Engaruka have yet to be determined conclusively. The analysis of available evidence assembled here supports the hypothesis that the Sonjo people were the creators of Engaruka, by virtue of these indicators: (i) terrace patterns, (ii) pottery technologies, (iii) stone structures, (iv) fire places, and (v) contemporary ethnography.

Spatially explicit paleogenomic simulations support cohabitation with limited admixture between Bronze Age Central European populations

The Bronze Age is a complex period of social, cultural and economic changes. Recent paleogenomic studies have documented a large and rapid genetic change in early Bronze Age populations from Central Europe. However, the detailed demographic and genetic processes involved in this change are still debated. Here we have used spatially explicit simulations of genomic components to better characterize the demographic and migratory conditions that may have led to this change. We investigated various scenarios representing the expansion of pastoralists from the Pontic steppe, potentially linked to the Yamnaya cultural complex, and their interactions with local populations in Central Europe, considering various eco-evolutionary factors, such as population admixture, competition and long-distance dispersal. Our results do not support direct competition but rather the cohabitation of pastoralists and farmers in Central Europe, with limited gene flow between populations. They also suggest occasional long-distance migrations accompanying the expansion of pastoralists and a demographic decline in both populations following their initial contact. These results link recent archaeological and paleogenomic observations and move further the debate of genomic changes during the early Bronze Age.

Combining relative chronology and AMS 14C dating to contextualize ‘megasites’, serial migrations and diachronic expressions of material culture in the Western Tripolye culture, Ukraine

Scholarship regarding the Eneolithic Cucuteni-Tripolye cultural complex of Romania, Moldova and Ukraine has recently focused on ‘megasites’ of the Western Tripolye culture (WTC) in Central Ukraine. However, in order to properly contextualize such unusual phenomena, we must explore the broader typo-chronology of the WTC, which is suggestive of a high degree of mobility and technological transfer between regions. We report 28 new AMS 14C dates from sites representing diagnostic types and propose a high-resolution chronological sequence for the WTC’s development. Our results support the relative chronology and offer an opportunity to propose a new chronological synthesis for the WTC.

Architectural and Historic-Geographical Mystery of the Church of Vasilcau Village

The article provides a comprehensive architectural and historical-geographical analysis of a unique monument of medieval religious-defensive architecture – the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin in Vasilcau village, located on the banks of the Dniester River, near the state border of the Republic of Moldova and the Ukraine. Vasilcau was the border point between the Principality of Moldavia and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Middle Ages. Its geographical position led to the formation of a fortified border point here, which served as an eastern outpost of the Soroca tsinut (county). The elevated cape with steep slopes, on which a temple with a bell tower, a courtyard, a trading square, as well as an ancient trade road and a river crossing was built, is a vivid example of a natural, historical-cultural complex, the basis of which is a medieval fortified point with a unique cult-defensive monument of architecture. The church represents a widespread type of place of worship, whose architecture combines the planimetric features of wooden architecture with those used in medieval buildings built of stone, highlighted in the found proportions. The solution of the historical-geographical enigmas that envelop the history of the heritage monument in the absence of written sources is carried out on the basis of a complex poly-scale historical and cartographic analysis and the use of modern geoinformation methods.

Identification of Architectural Components Affecting the Development of Knowledge and Gaining Experience from Nature (Case Study of Design and Construction of Educational-Cultural Complex)

The present age is the time for increasing environmental awareness and paying attention to the role of human connection with nature which can improve the quality of human life as well as preserving nature. Many factors contribute to the success of environmental projects, programs and the conservation of natural resources. Manpower is one of the most important ones and given the effect of human beings on their environment, in general, one of the most important measures to solve environmental problems is the development of natural resources and the promotion of public culture in this field, which, in turn, requires education about man's connection to nature and the environment. Therefore, the objective of this research is to identify the components affecting design in order to develop awareness and gain experience from nature. The present project is an educational-cultural complex with the approach of developing awareness and gaining experience from nature, which is formed with the aim of fulfilling two main missions: 1. Sensitizing people to nature and finding a view seeking the meaning of nature and natural phenomena 2. Raising the level of environmental literacy of people through education and preventing the indiscriminate destruction of the environment. This descriptive-analytical study addresses issues such as identifying design components in order to develop knowledge and gain experience from nature, investigating the relationship between humans and nature using the observation technique, field and library studies, methods of promoting and teaching environmental issues, sustainable architecture and green architecture, design bed studies, how the project is formed and the presentation of the physical plan. As a result, after identifying design components in order to develop knowledge and gain experience from nature, we achieve the necessity to build a cultural-educational complex in line with the research objective, and also the results show that environmental awareness and education have a direct and indirect effect on urban livability components of sustainability.