THE RESEARCHS IN THE MIDDLE DNIESTER BASIN IN 2009—2019

The paper deals with the course of exploration of the multilayered archaeological sites of the Middle Dniester within the Kamianets-Podilskyi district of Khmelnytskyi region. During 2009—2014 P. Boltaniuk (Head of the «Museum of Antiquities» sector of the Kamianets-Podilskyi State Historical Museum-Reserve, hereinafter — K-PSHMR) and I. Starenkyi made a number of explorations on the multilayered site Kamianets-Podilskyi, Tatarysky (Trypillia culture, Chernyakhiv culture, Kievan Rus age) near the Smotrych village. In 2012 O. Mohylov (Senior Research Fellow, IA NAS of Ukraine) and P. Boltaniuk have explored the multilayered site Malynivtsi on the left bank of the Dniester (Early and Middle Trypillia, Late Chornolis, Early Scy­thian culture, antiquities of the Middle Ages — Modern age). In 2019 the study of this site was continued by the expedition of the K-PSHMR (authors and P. Boltaniuk) which also made further exploration along the left bank of the Dniester River to the Zhvanets village which permits to survey the sites Malynivtsi, Popivskyi Yar (Trypillia, Early Iron Age, Cherniakhiv, Kievan Rus antiquities), Babshyn (Trypillia A, Chernyakhiv culture), Braga (destroyed). The authors’ main focus was on the analysis of Middle Trypillia findings from the Kamianets-Podilskyi, Tatarysky and Malynivtsi sites of the BII stage. Firstly the characteristic ornamental features of the pottery were identified. The mapping of the site to the second phase of the Mereshovka local-chronological group was justified. Concerning the settlement of Malynivtsi the analysis of the pottery complex made it possible to trace the main features of the first phase of the Shypyntsi group and the influences of the Mereshovka ornamental traditions. As a result we managed to attribute the site to the Shypyntsi-Mereshovka contact area. The history of the study of these monuments is described, the materials obtained are analyzed, the attention is paid to the problems and prospects of studying and preserving the monuments.

At the end of the world? Settlement in the Šumava mountains and foothills in later prehistory

The aim of this paper is to explore and define the boundary of the zone of inland, mainly agricultural settlement in southern and western Bohemia, Czech Republic in the later prehistory, and to try to determine why such settlement appears not to have spread further into the Šumava foothills and mountains. With the help of predictive MaxEnt modelling – used in ecology to determine the degree of uncertainty in the geographic distribution of species – and using a comparison with data on soil productivity, we explore whether in later prehistory the agricultural settlement was limited by unsuitable natural conditions or by other factors. The boundaries of the territory suitable for agropastoral farming most probably moved in time with technological advances, increases in population density, and the changing preferences of inhabitants of the Bronze and Iron Ages. The margin of agricultural settlement in the foothills describes a line beyond which agriculture had become unprofitable; a similar boundary existed throughout the Early Middle Ages. At the same time, there was a good deal of contact across the mountains with Bavaria and Upper Austria, as is shown by archaeology both in the form of similarities between the prehistoric typo-chronological complexes and by finds of bronze and iron items along presumed routes of access. There were also montane sites (whose function is still unknown) situated beyond the margin of the agricultural zone, such as the recently discovered settlements on the Křemelná river. Apart from prospection, a wide range of other activities could have taken place, including those connected with communication and routes of access to Bavaria and Upper Austria, with which Šumava formed a common typo-chronological group.

Clay paste characterization and provenance determination of Middle and Late Helladic vessels from Midea

Results of the Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) of 61 pottery samples of Middle and Late Helladic date from recent excavations in Midea are presented. Chronologically, the sampled pieces fall into two groups, the first of Middle Helladic and Late Helladic I/II, the second of LH III date, with most samples dating to LH IIIB or IIIC. The analyses suggest an Argive/North-eastern Peloponnesian provenance for the majority of the sampled pottery, since 26 of the samples are assigned to the NAA group Mycenae-Berbati (MYBE) and 15 to the NAA group Tiryns (TIR), including their subgroups. In addition to the two main groups the analyses include three other categories: “non-Argive”, unlocated, and singles. The differentiation into a small number of distinct chemical patterns is much more evident in the second chronological group of sampled pottery than in the earlier one which comprises a variety of chemical patterns in a small number of samples. Evidently, during the Mycenaean Palatial period several specialized workshops operated in the wider region of the North-eastern Peloponnese for the production of fine and coarse ware pottery in large quantities.

Efficacy of using simile completion tasks as a measure to evaluate the figurative language abilities in adolescents aged between 10-15 years

Background: Language development is an ongoing process. The understanding of figurative expressions such as similes begins during the preschool years with subsequent improvement throughout childhood, adolescence, and into adulthood. Studies pertaining to the development of such higher language skills are limited, especially in a multilingual setup like India.Methods: Participants were divided into six groups (10-10,11 to 15–15.11 years), with each group consisting of 5 children each. The groups selected for the present study were also classified into the Piaget’s cognitive stages. The participants were required to fill in the incomplete figurative expressions (similes). The responses were recorded. Univariate Analysis of Variance was employed to determine the main significant difference across two variables - chronological group and the cognitive stage.Results: Results revealed a significant main effect in the means of the accurate responses for the simile completion tasks across the chronological as well as the cognitive groups.Conclusion: The ability to understand similes follows a developmental pattern, and probably continues to develop even after 15 years. The responses obtained by the participants in the present study improved with age there by suggesting that the amount and quality of knowledge that a child possesses concerning a figurative expression, does play an important role in the child’s comprehension of such higher language aspects.Nepal Journal of Medical Sciences Vol.3(2) 2014: 110-115

Form and Function of the Side Chambers of Fifth- and Sixth-Century Churches in Ravenna

Side chambers-rooms flanking the apses of churches-occur throughout broad geographical areas in the Christian East, and within a wide chronological span, ranging from the 5th through 12th centuries. This article, however, will carefully examine the side chambers of only six 5th- and 6th-century churches clustered in the Ravenna/Classe region of the Western Empire. The side chambers of these churches have usually been seen as forming a close typological and chronological group whose existence is thought to prove the Byzantine influence on this late capital of the Western Empire. For this reason, the side chambers are often erroneously referred to as pastophoria. These chambers were not pastophoria, as the word is commonly used by architectural historians when referring to the side chambers of Middle Byzantine churches with specific liturgical requirements. Instead, they vary widely in both form and function; they seem not to be liturgically required; and they seem to have a specific iconography.

A Lost Peisistratid Name

The family of Peisistratos did not indulge in strikingly uncommon names but it is noteworthy that all but one of them also appear in Chios. Neleus or Neileus (e.g. c. 150a, SEG xvii 381 A 1.2), Hippokrates (c. 420a, RE s.n. 14), Hipparchos {s. Ia, BSA lxi [1966] 199 no. 3.15), Heges[istratos?] (e.g. s. IVa, NC xv [1915] 430), Peisistratos, Hippias and Thessalos (see below): only Iophon is certainly missing. Their occurrences cover many centuries and no long filiations can be established, nor is there any positive argument that they all belonged to the same family, but for the late fourth and third centuries there is a hint. Chian social units had a family-based molecular structure. A catalogue of one of them gives us about 70 names c. 300a with an average of two additions p.a. thereafter (BSA lv [i960] 181–7 = SEG xix 580). On it there is a Hippias of the later fourth (father of the named member) and a Thessalos of the later third century. At least one Hippias appears on coins of the later fourth (NC xv [ 1915] 430) and another (or the same) on a subscription list of the mid third as father of the subscriber (SEG xix 578.12). A Chian Peisistratos dedicated in Rhodes in the second century (IG xii.i 113), a Peisistratos son of Peisistratos made a patriotic subscription in the later third (BCH xxxvii [1913] no. 27. 18—19), a Chian Peisistratos, grandson of Peisistratos, is given proxenia at Delos in the mid third or a little earlier (IG xi.4 598), a Peisistratos put his name on coins belonging to the same chronological group as those of Hippias (NC xv[i9i5]430). That the Hippias-group and the Peisistratos-group were somehow related is put beyond doubt by the name which one fourth-century Hippias and one fourth-century Peisistratos gave to their sons.