Tuesday, 5 June 2012
Saturday, 25 February 2012
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
The Archaeology of Violence and Conflict: From Prehistory to the Great War
Universiteit Leiden
Honours Classes
Honours Classes
Laatst Gewijzigd: 11-10-2011
Inleiding
In the 17th century Thomas Hobbes postulated that humans were by nature warlike and that peace could only be achieved by states. By contrast Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued a century later that people were essentially peaceful and only became belligerent when corrupted by civilisation. These philosophical thoughts about the human nature have impacted ideas on warfare in the past enormously. It is only in the last decades that there has been a shift from normative speculations to an assessment of the archaeological data that can inform us about violence and conflict throughout human history. In this course we will evaluate data and ideas about violence and conflict from Prehistory up to the Great War (1914-1918), with evidence from various parts of the world.
The Honours Class will explore the theoretical and practical dimensions of recent, excellent research into conflict and violence through the ages, and will proceed in this manner beyond any ordinary descriptive account. The course will confront students with the major ideas and controversies in the current discourse about conflict in history. Students will learn to think critically about this topic and how to evaluate the material evidence for war and its social implications.
The Honours Class will comprise a series of lectures, which will explore violence and conflict in various periods and from various theoretical perspectives. Whenever possible, reference to conflict in our days will be taken into account. Students will learn from renowned scholars from several countries, who will present the latest developments in their fields of expertise, with ample opportunities for discussion and reflection.
Programma
De Honours Class zal worden ingericht rond acht bijeenkomsten van elk twee uur. De Honours Class vindt plaats in blok III van het tweede semester, de inschrijving sluit 1 december 2011.
Contactpersoon
Prof. P.M.M.G. Akkermans
http://onderwijs.leidenuniv.nl/honours-onderwijs/honourscollege/honours-classes/honours-class-archaeology.html
Thursday, 20 October 2011
A arqueologia forense sugere que em torno de 15% dos indivíduos nas sociedades "pré-estatais" morriam de maneira violenta
Ora viva,
A arqueologia forense suger que em torno de 15% dos indivíduos nas sociedades "pré-estatais" morriam de maneira violenta
Novo livro do psicólogo de Harvard defende que apesar de sentirmo-nos rodeados por violência, ela diminuiu ao longo da história
A história da humanidade representa uma evolução na qual as pessoas são cada vez mais inteligentes, e em consequência disso, menos violentas, diz artigo publicado nesta quarta-feira (19) no último número da revista Nature.
O psicólogo canadiano Steven Pinker argumenta que o aumento da inteligência, que se reflecte em pontuações médias cada vez mais altas nos teste de raciocínio abstrato, e também o desenvolvimento da empatia entre os seres humanos, propiciaram um declive da barbárie nos últimos séculos.
Além disso, a alfabetização e o cosmopolitismo favoreceram uma troca de ideias em nível global que "possibilita a compreensão do mundo e facilita os acordos" entre distintas sociedades.
"Apesar de atualmente sentirmos-nos constantemente rodeados pela violência, em séculos anteriores a situação era muito pior. Impérios em colapso, conquistadores maníacos e invasões tribais" eram comuns, afirma Pinker.
A arqueologia forense e a demografia sugerem que em torno de 15% dos indivíduos nas sociedades "pré-estatais" morriam de maneira violenta, uma proporção cinco vezes maior à registrada no século XX, apesar de suas guerras, genocídios e crises de fome.
Nesse sentido, Pinker aponta que a afirmação popular de que "o século XX é o mais sangrento da história" é uma mera "ilusão" que dificilmente pode ser apoiada em dados históricos.
A barbárie diminuiu comparada a épocas anteriores não só em relação a conflitos armados, mas também a comportamentos sociais, diz o investigador..
No século XIV, 40 em cada 100 mil pessoas morriam assassinadas, enquanto atualmente essa taxa se reduziu a 1,3 pessoas.
"Além disso, nos últimos séculos, a humanidade abandonou progressivamente práticas como os sacrifícios humanos, a perseguição de hereges e métodos cruéis de execução como a fogueira, a crucificação e a empalação", lembra o psicólogo.
Pinker atribui essa evolução ao aperfeiçoamento da racionalidade e não a um "sentido moral" dos seres humanos, que por si só serviu para "legitimar todo tipo de castigos sangrentos".
"A propagação de normas morais tornou frequentes as represálias violentas por faltas como a blasfêmia, a heresia, a indecência e as ofensas contra os símbolos sagrados", afirma.
O estudo ressalta que com o tempo o ser humano foi diversificando sua tendência ao comportamento agressivo, presente desde os primeiros Homo sapiens.
"A racionalidade humana precisou de milhares de anos para concluir que não é bom escravizar outras pessoas, exterminar povos nativos, encarcerar homossexuais e iniciar guerras para restaurar a vaidade ferida de um rei", diz o psicólogo.
O autor do estudo apoia sua tese sobre o aumento da inteligência em pesquisas anteriores, que mostram como o Quociente Intelectual (QI) médio aumenta a cada geração.
"As empresas que vendem testes de inteligência têm que normalizar os seus resultados periodicamente. Um adolescente médio de hoje em dia se voltasse a 1910 marcaria um QI de 130, enquanto uma pessoa típica do século XX não passaria da pontuação 70 atualmente", explica Pinker.
--
Saúde e fraternidade,
António Correia
facebook: http://pt-pt.facebook.com/people/Antonio-Correia/100001002237842
Monday, 5 September 2011
University of Glasgow :: Centre for Battlefield Archaeology :: Conference Programme
Friday 7th October
09.00 - 13.00 Registration for delegates in the Gregory Building (see campus map)
10.00 - 13.00 Tour of the Arms and Armour Collections at Glasgow Museums, Nitshill Resource Centre (details to be posted)
Afternoon sessions and keynote speech to be held in the Officer Training Corps, 95 University Place
Chair: Lt Col Simon Higgens (Commanding Officer, Glasgow & Strathclyde Universities Officer Training Corps)
14.00 - 14.20 John Winterburn (University of Bristol)
Flying Elephants and Pumas: aerial archaeology and a desert war
14.20 - 14.40 Terence Christian (University of Glasgow)
Title tbc
14.40-15.00 Matthew Kelly (AHMS Pty Ltd/University of Sydney)
Eora Creek, Papua New Guinea, Battlefield Survey: local knowledge and historical events of World War Two
Discussion
15.15-15.30 Coffee/Tea Break
15.30 - 16.45 Session Two: Equipment, Methods and Techniques of Historical Warfare
Chair: TBC
15.30-15.50 Christina Mackie (Cranfield University at the Defence Academy)
An Application of Modern Ballistic Techniques to 15th Century Artillery
15.50-16.10 Brendan Halpin (University College, Dublin)
The Importance of Reenactment and Western Martial Arts: an Irish case study
16.10-16.30 James O’Neill (Queens University, Belfast)
Trailing Pikes and Turning Kern: assimilation and adaptation of military methods during the Nine Years War in
Ireland,1593-1603
Discussion
19.00 – Keynote: Dr Tony Pollard (Director, Centre for Battlefield Archaeology, University of Glasgow
To be followed by a wine reception in the Officer's Mess, hosted by the Glasgow & Strathclyde Universities Officer Training Corps
Saturday 8th October
09.00 - 09.30 - Registration and sessions to be held at the Queen Margaret Union (see campus map)
09.30 - 11.10 – Session Three: Social Meanings in Material Culture
Chair: TBC
09.30-09.50 Rachel Askew ()
‘Not with down-right bloews to rout’: the social side of siege warfare during the English Civil Wars
09.50-10.10 John Mabbitt (Newcastle University)
The Origins of Humpty Dumpty: archaeology, destruction and the narratives of the city
10.10-10.30 Abigail Coppins (Southampton University)
Prisoners of War at Portchester Castle 1793-1815
10.30-10.50 Chantel Summerfield (Bristol University)
The Forgotten City of Tents
Discussion
11.10 - 11.30 – Coffee/Tea Break
11.30 - 13.00 – Session Four: Death, Memory and Heritage
Chair: TBC
11.30 - 11.50 Emma Login (Birmingham University)
The Memory of Defeat or the Defeat of Memory: war memorialisation in the Lorraine region of France
11.50-12.10 HyunKyung Lee (University of Cambridge)
The Post-conflict Response of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) to the Built Heritage of the Japanese Occupation
12.10-12.30 Artemi Alejandro-Medina (University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria)
Franco’s Bunkers and Hitler’s Dreams in the Canary Islands: the heritage nobody wants to inherit
12.30-12.50 Tadeusz Kopys (Jagiellonian University)
The Massacre of Polish Soldiers in the Soviet Union 1939-1944
Discussion
13.10 - 14.30 Lunch
14.30-15.45 Session Five: Conflict Archaeology in Practice
Chair: TBC
14.30 - 14.50 Syed Shahnawaz (University of Padua)
Braving the Conflict: Swat Valley archaeological sites and the Operation Rah-e-Raast
14.50-15.10 Owen O’Leary (JPAC/Centre for Battlefield Archaeology)
Accounting for America’s Missing: recovery and identification of a Consolidated B-24 Liberator from World War Two
15.30-15.30 Alexandria Young (Bournemouth University)
Reconstructing the Aftermath of Battle: the effects of vertebrate scavenging on the recovery and identification of human remains
Discussion
15.50 - 17.10 Session Six: Tourism and Thanatourism at Sites of Conflict
Chair: TBC
15.50-16.10 Justin Sikora (International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies, Newcastle University)
Considering the Value of Battlefields as Heritage through On-site Interpretation
16.10-16.30 Stephen Miles (Glasgow University)
From ‘Fields of Conflict’ to Dark Attractions: battlefields as thanatouristic sites
16.50-17.10 Annalisa Bolin (University of York)
Witnessing the Remains: material heritage, memory politics and western tourism in Rwanda’s National Genocide Memorials
Discussion
17.00 - 19.00 Drinks to be held in Jim's Bar of the Queen Margaret Union
19.00 - Conference Dinner: Mother India, Westminster Terrace
Sunday 9th October
09.00-9.30 Registration
09.30-11.10 Session Seven (a): Methodologies for Conflict Archaeology
~
Chair: TBC
09.30-09.50 Julie Wileman (University of Winchester)
Evidence for Prehistoric Warfare: a counter-intuitive perspective
09.50-10.10 Joanne Ball (University of Liverpool)
Lost Landscapes of Conflict: approaches to locating ancient landscapes
10.10-10.30 Carlos Landa (CONICET/Universidad de Buenos Aires), Emanuel Montanari (Universidad de Buenos Aires) and Facundo Gomez Romero (UNCPBA)
La Verde Battlefield (25 de Mayo, Buenos Aires Province)
10.30-10.50 Gavin Lindsay (Independent Researcher)
Material in Conflict: rethinking approaches to challenging assemblages
Discussion
Or
09.30-11.10 Session Seven (b): Heritage Management and Remembrance
Chair: TBC
09.30-09.50 Emilio Distretti (University of Portsmouth)
The Stele of Axum and Italy’s Colonial Legacy: all the remains in the land of amnesia
09.50-10.10 Elizabeth Cohen (University of Cambridge)
Reminders of a Shared Past: the Ottoman heritage in Greece
10.10-10.30 Iraia Araboalaza (GUARD Archaeology) and Carmen Cuenca-Garcia (University of Glasgow)
Retrieving the Long Lost Memory: Spanish Civil War archaeology
10.30-10.50 Emily Glass (University of Bristol)
‘Enverism Nostalgia’ or Albanian Cultural Heritage Icon: conflicting perceptions of Tirana’s pyramid
Discussion
11.10-11.30 Coffee/Tea Break
11.30-12.45 Session Eight: Ancient Warfare
Chair: Dr Jon Coulston (Ancient History and Archaeology, University of St Andrews)
11.30-11.50 Samantha L. Cook (University of Liverpool)
Archer’s Looses in Sudan: an Asiatic style in an African context
11.50-12.10 Catherine Parnell (University College, Dublin)
The Kopis and the Machaira: portrayals and perceptions
12.10- 12.30 Salvatore Vacante (Università degli Studi di Genova)
Alexander the Great and the Defeat of the Sogdian Revolt
Discussion
12.45-14.00 Lunch
14.00-15.15 Session Nine: Landscapes of Conflict
Chair: Ryan McNutt (Centre for Battlefield Archaeology, University of Glasgow)
14.00-14.20 Benjamin Raffield (University of Aberdeen)
A Landscape of Endemic Warfare: the archaeology of Scandinavian-occupied England
14.20-14.40 C. Broughton Anderson (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
Subtle Violence: improvement and clearance in Galloway during the 18th Century
14.40-15.00 Salvatore Garfi (University of East Anglia)
Colonialism, Conflict and Exclusion: the case of Western Sahara
15.15-15.30 Coffee/Tea Break
15.30-17.00 Workshops/Roundtables
Workshops titles to be confirmed
Conference Posters
These will be on exhibit in the Queen Margret Unition throughout the duration of the conference.
Angela Cunningham (Kingston University)
Terrestrial Lidar as a Data Collection Method for Historic Landscape Reconstruction
Emma Login (University of Birmingham)
A Biographical and Collective Memory Approach to War Memorials
Beatriz Rodriguez Garcia (University of Bath)
Consuming Dark Tourism: the role of organisational storytelling and narratives
09.00 - 13.00 Registration for delegates in the Gregory Building (see campus map)
10.00 - 13.00 Tour of the Arms and Armour Collections at Glasgow Museums, Nitshill Resource Centre (details to be posted)
Afternoon sessions and keynote speech to be held in the Officer Training Corps, 95 University Place
Chair: Lt Col Simon Higgens (Commanding Officer, Glasgow & Strathclyde Universities Officer Training Corps)
14.00 - 14.20 John Winterburn (University of Bristol)
Flying Elephants and Pumas: aerial archaeology and a desert war
14.20 - 14.40 Terence Christian (University of Glasgow)
Title tbc
14.40-15.00 Matthew Kelly (AHMS Pty Ltd/University of Sydney)
Eora Creek, Papua New Guinea, Battlefield Survey: local knowledge and historical events of World War Two
Discussion
15.15-15.30 Coffee/Tea Break
15.30 - 16.45 Session Two: Equipment, Methods and Techniques of Historical Warfare
Chair: TBC
15.30-15.50 Christina Mackie (Cranfield University at the Defence Academy)
An Application of Modern Ballistic Techniques to 15th Century Artillery
15.50-16.10 Brendan Halpin (University College, Dublin)
The Importance of Reenactment and Western Martial Arts: an Irish case study
16.10-16.30 James O’Neill (Queens University, Belfast)
Trailing Pikes and Turning Kern: assimilation and adaptation of military methods during the Nine Years War in
Ireland,1593-1603
Discussion
19.00 – Keynote: Dr Tony Pollard (Director, Centre for Battlefield Archaeology, University of Glasgow
To be followed by a wine reception in the Officer's Mess, hosted by the Glasgow & Strathclyde Universities Officer Training Corps
Saturday 8th October
09.00 - 09.30 - Registration and sessions to be held at the Queen Margaret Union (see campus map)
09.30 - 11.10 – Session Three: Social Meanings in Material Culture
Chair: TBC
09.30-09.50 Rachel Askew ()
‘Not with down-right bloews to rout’: the social side of siege warfare during the English Civil Wars
09.50-10.10 John Mabbitt (Newcastle University)
The Origins of Humpty Dumpty: archaeology, destruction and the narratives of the city
10.10-10.30 Abigail Coppins (Southampton University)
Prisoners of War at Portchester Castle 1793-1815
10.30-10.50 Chantel Summerfield (Bristol University)
The Forgotten City of Tents
Discussion
11.10 - 11.30 – Coffee/Tea Break
11.30 - 13.00 – Session Four: Death, Memory and Heritage
Chair: TBC
11.30 - 11.50 Emma Login (Birmingham University)
The Memory of Defeat or the Defeat of Memory: war memorialisation in the Lorraine region of France
11.50-12.10 HyunKyung Lee (University of Cambridge)
The Post-conflict Response of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) to the Built Heritage of the Japanese Occupation
12.10-12.30 Artemi Alejandro-Medina (University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria)
Franco’s Bunkers and Hitler’s Dreams in the Canary Islands: the heritage nobody wants to inherit
12.30-12.50 Tadeusz Kopys (Jagiellonian University)
The Massacre of Polish Soldiers in the Soviet Union 1939-1944
Discussion
13.10 - 14.30 Lunch
14.30-15.45 Session Five: Conflict Archaeology in Practice
Chair: TBC
14.30 - 14.50 Syed Shahnawaz (University of Padua)
Braving the Conflict: Swat Valley archaeological sites and the Operation Rah-e-Raast
14.50-15.10 Owen O’Leary (JPAC/Centre for Battlefield Archaeology)
Accounting for America’s Missing: recovery and identification of a Consolidated B-24 Liberator from World War Two
15.30-15.30 Alexandria Young (Bournemouth University)
Reconstructing the Aftermath of Battle: the effects of vertebrate scavenging on the recovery and identification of human remains
Discussion
15.50 - 17.10 Session Six: Tourism and Thanatourism at Sites of Conflict
Chair: TBC
15.50-16.10 Justin Sikora (International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies, Newcastle University)
Considering the Value of Battlefields as Heritage through On-site Interpretation
16.10-16.30 Stephen Miles (Glasgow University)
From ‘Fields of Conflict’ to Dark Attractions: battlefields as thanatouristic sites
16.50-17.10 Annalisa Bolin (University of York)
Witnessing the Remains: material heritage, memory politics and western tourism in Rwanda’s National Genocide Memorials
Discussion
17.00 - 19.00 Drinks to be held in Jim's Bar of the Queen Margaret Union
19.00 - Conference Dinner: Mother India, Westminster Terrace
Sunday 9th October
09.00-9.30 Registration
09.30-11.10 Session Seven (a): Methodologies for Conflict Archaeology
~
Chair: TBC
09.30-09.50 Julie Wileman (University of Winchester)
Evidence for Prehistoric Warfare: a counter-intuitive perspective
09.50-10.10 Joanne Ball (University of Liverpool)
Lost Landscapes of Conflict: approaches to locating ancient landscapes
10.10-10.30 Carlos Landa (CONICET/Universidad de Buenos Aires), Emanuel Montanari (Universidad de Buenos Aires) and Facundo Gomez Romero (UNCPBA)
La Verde Battlefield (25 de Mayo, Buenos Aires Province)
10.30-10.50 Gavin Lindsay (Independent Researcher)
Material in Conflict: rethinking approaches to challenging assemblages
Discussion
Or
09.30-11.10 Session Seven (b): Heritage Management and Remembrance
Chair: TBC
09.30-09.50 Emilio Distretti (University of Portsmouth)
The Stele of Axum and Italy’s Colonial Legacy: all the remains in the land of amnesia
09.50-10.10 Elizabeth Cohen (University of Cambridge)
Reminders of a Shared Past: the Ottoman heritage in Greece
10.10-10.30 Iraia Araboalaza (GUARD Archaeology) and Carmen Cuenca-Garcia (University of Glasgow)
Retrieving the Long Lost Memory: Spanish Civil War archaeology
10.30-10.50 Emily Glass (University of Bristol)
‘Enverism Nostalgia’ or Albanian Cultural Heritage Icon: conflicting perceptions of Tirana’s pyramid
Discussion
11.10-11.30 Coffee/Tea Break
11.30-12.45 Session Eight: Ancient Warfare
Chair: Dr Jon Coulston (Ancient History and Archaeology, University of St Andrews)
11.30-11.50 Samantha L. Cook (University of Liverpool)
Archer’s Looses in Sudan: an Asiatic style in an African context
11.50-12.10 Catherine Parnell (University College, Dublin)
The Kopis and the Machaira: portrayals and perceptions
12.10- 12.30 Salvatore Vacante (Università degli Studi di Genova)
Alexander the Great and the Defeat of the Sogdian Revolt
Discussion
12.45-14.00 Lunch
14.00-15.15 Session Nine: Landscapes of Conflict
Chair: Ryan McNutt (Centre for Battlefield Archaeology, University of Glasgow)
14.00-14.20 Benjamin Raffield (University of Aberdeen)
A Landscape of Endemic Warfare: the archaeology of Scandinavian-occupied England
14.20-14.40 C. Broughton Anderson (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
Subtle Violence: improvement and clearance in Galloway during the 18th Century
14.40-15.00 Salvatore Garfi (University of East Anglia)
Colonialism, Conflict and Exclusion: the case of Western Sahara
15.15-15.30 Coffee/Tea Break
15.30-17.00 Workshops/Roundtables
Workshops titles to be confirmed
Conference Posters
These will be on exhibit in the Queen Margret Unition throughout the duration of the conference.
Angela Cunningham (Kingston University)
Terrestrial Lidar as a Data Collection Method for Historic Landscape Reconstruction
Emma Login (University of Birmingham)
A Biographical and Collective Memory Approach to War Memorials
Beatriz Rodriguez Garcia (University of Bath)
Consuming Dark Tourism: the role of organisational storytelling and narratives
Saturday, 27 August 2011
Tropical Civil War Correlated to El Niño.
Discovery News > Earth News > Tropical Civil War Correlated to El Niño
Analysis by Tim Wall
Thu Aug 25, 2011 03:04 PM ET
The El Niño/La Niña cycle has been correlated to periodic increases in warfare by researchers at Columbia University's Earth Institute.
Drought, crop losses, and other effects of the dry, hot El Niño climate conditions may destabilize already vulnerable nations. For example, the research notes the case of Peru. In 1982 a severe El Niño dried out the highlands of Peru and destroyed crops. That same year, attacks by the Sendero Luminoso, or Shining Path, guerrilla revolutionary movement escalated into full blown civil war.
BLOG: Climate Change and Corn a Bad Combo in Africa
Though El Niño can't be said to cause warfare, the research found a strong correlation between fluctuations in the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and large-scale civil strife. ENSO is the collective term for the El Niño/La Niña cycles.
The research, published in the journal Nature, found that the arrival of El Niño doubles the risk of civil wars across 90 affected tropical countries. El Niño, which strikes every three to seven years, may partially account for a fifth of worldwide conflicts during the past half-century.
"The most important thing is that this looks at modern times, and it's done on a global scale," said Solomon M. Hsiang, the study's lead author. "We can speculate that a long-ago Egyptian dynasty was overthrown during a drought. That's a specific time and place, that may be very different from today, so people might say, 'OK, we're immune to that now.' This study shows a systematic pattern of global climate affecting conflict, and shows it right now."
BLOG: Did Drought Kill the Mayans?
The scientists examined ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) from 1950 to 2004, alongside the onsets of civil conflicts that killed more than 25 people in a given year. They studied 175 countries and 234 conflicts, more than half of which caused in excess of 1,000 battle-related deaths each.
For nations where ENSO has little effect on the weather, the chances of a civil war stayed steady at 2 percent. In countries where ENSO influences the weather, La Niña increased the chance of civil war breaking out to about 3 percent.
But during El Niño, the chance doubled, to 6 percent. The Columbia researchers estimated that El Niño may have played a role in nearly 30 percent of the civil wars in those countries affected by El Niño, and 21 percent of all civil wars during the period studied.
Specifically the study mentions Sudan, first in 1963, then 1976, and finally in 1983. The fighting which started in 1983 continued for 20 years and resulted in 2 million deaths.
El Salvador, the Philippines, and Uganda were plunged into turmoil during a 1972 El Niño.
Angola, Haiti, and Myanmar experienced serious civil conflict starting in the 1991 El Niño year.
Congo, Eritrea, Indonesia, and Rwanda suffered deadly conflict during the 1997 El Niño.
Wealthier nations are better at keeping calm through disruptive El Niño events. Australia is influenced by ENSO, but has never had a civil war.
"But if you have social inequality, people are poor, and there are underlying tensions, it seems possible that climate can deliver the knockout punch," said Hsiang.
"No one should take this to say that climate is our fate. Rather, this is compelling evidence that it has a measurable influence on how much people fight overall," said coauthor Mark Cane, a climate scientist at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory . "It is not the only factor--you have to consider politics, economics, all kinds of other things."
Currently, the Horn of Africa suffers serious drought as well as brutal and deadly civil conflict. Discovery News recently covered research correlating La Niña conditions with drought in Eastern Africa.
BLOG: East Africa Drought Linked to La Niña
"Forecasters two years ago predicted that there would be a famine in Somalia this year, but donors in the international aid community did not take that forecast seriously," said Hsiang in a teleconference covered by the AFP.
"We hope our study can provide the international community and governments and aid organisations with additional information that might in the future help avert humanitarian crises that are associated with conflict."
Thursday, 4 August 2011
‘We go to gain a little patch of ground’: postgraduate research in conflict archaeology'
The Centre for Battlefield Archaeology Postgraduate Conference
First call for Papers
7th - 9th October 2011, University of Glasgow
Email: conflictpg@gmail.com
The Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at the University of Glasgow is hosting a three-day postgraduate conference bringing together researchers working within the field of conflict archaeology. It is intended that this conference be a postgraduate answer to the Fields of Conflict conference cycle. The first Fields of Conflict conference, held in Glasgow in 2000, represented a significant horizon for those eager for the opportunity to share pioneering research in the burgeoning field of conflict archaeology. In the last decade, conflict archaeology has transformed from a radical sub-discipline into an established, yet dynamic, academic subject covering a myriad of research avenues.
This postgraduate conference will bring together postgraduate researchers from around the world, providing a platform to present a new generation of research in the field of conflict archaeology. It is hoped that this conference will address a perceived lack of forum for the discussion and presentation of postgraduate work in all facets of conflict archaeology and will in turn foster a vibrant postgraduate research community that forges intellectual, international and interdisciplinary connections. We go, therefore, ‘to gain a little patch of ground’ (Hamlet IV.iv.18).
Papers will cover a wide range of research interests, reflecting the multifaceted nature of conflict archaeology, covering all time periods from the ancient to the contemporary.
Papers will examine topics such as:
■Methodologies and new approaches
■Landscapes of conflict
■Warfare, violence, resistance
■Politics and propaganda
■Memorialisation, remembrance and forgetting
■Imprisonment / internment
■Colonial encounter
■Heritage management of sites of conflict and public engagement
■Battlefield tourism, thanatourism
■Recreation, re-enactment and ersatz experience
■Ethics of studying violence and conflict
■Investigating and interpreting uncomfortable / problematic histories
■Recovery of remains
In addition, delegates are invited to participate in student-led workshops and round table discussions during the final afternoon of conference proceedings (more information to follow).
We are currently still accepting proposals for A0- and A1-sized research posters. If you would like to present your research as an academic poster, please send a 250-300 word abstract to conflictpg@gmail.com by 1 September 2011.
Selected papers from the conference will be published in a special edition of the Journal of Conflict Archaeology.
Watch this page for updates – a provisional programme will be coming soon.
For further information contact Natasha Ferguson, Jennifer Novotny or Jonathan Trigg.
Centre for Battlefield Archaeology
University of Glasgow
Gregory Building
Lilybank Gardens
Glasgow G12 8QQ
+44 (0)141 330 2304
conflictpg@gmail.com
Keynote speaker
The keynote speaker is Dr. Tony Pollard, University of Glasgow. He has carried out battlefield and conflict related archaeological projects in the UK, mainland Europe, Africa and South America. His interests range from 18th-century warfare, particularly in relation to the Jacobite rebellions in Scotland, to the archaeology of the First and Second World Wars. A co-organiser of the first Fields of Conflict conference, Dr. Pollard has long been at the forefront of research in conflict archaeology. His talk will explore (what?).
The keynote speech will be given on Friday evening, 7 October at the Officer’s Training Corps Drill Hall. This will be immediately followed by a welcome reception at the Drill Hall with a cash bar.
Conference dinner
The conference dinner will be held on Saturday, 8 October at Mother India, 28 Westminster Terrace, Glasgow G3 7RU (see http://www.motherindiaglasgow.co.uk/index.php?action=cms.westminster for more information). The price is £18.50 and includes starters, entrees, and bread and rice from a set menu. The menu includes vegetarian options.
We ask that you pay the conference dinner fee in advance, no later than Friday, 23 September so that we can finalise the booking for our large party. Though places may be available on the day, these will not be guaranteed.
Please advise us well in advance if you have any special dietary requirements or allergies.
To view Mother India’s set price menu, click here.
(add menus if we can get them)
Field trip
On the morning of Friday, 7 October, we will be offering an artefact handling session led by European Arms & Armour curator Ralph Moffat, at the Glasgow Museums Resource Centre, Nitshill. A minibus will pick you up at 09.30 and transport you directly from the Archaeology Department (Gregory Building) to the Resource Centre, returning to the Archaeology Department at midday. For a sneak peak at some of the items in the Glasgow Museums collection, see http://collections.glasgowmuseums.com/cld.html?cid=533626
There is no charge for this session, however, please register here as soon as possible. Places are extremely limited, due to restrictions on how many people are allowed in the museum stores at one time.
If you have any questions or require additional information, email conflictpg@gmail.com
Link to the online web registration form here
For further information contact Natasha Ferguson, Jennifer Novotny or Jonathan Trigg.
Centre for Battlefield Archaeology
University of Glasgow
Gregory Building
Lilybank Gardens
Glasgow G12 8QQ
+44 (0)141 330 2304
conflictpg@gmail.com
First call for Papers
7th - 9th October 2011, University of Glasgow
Email: conflictpg@gmail.com
The Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at the University of Glasgow is hosting a three-day postgraduate conference bringing together researchers working within the field of conflict archaeology. It is intended that this conference be a postgraduate answer to the Fields of Conflict conference cycle. The first Fields of Conflict conference, held in Glasgow in 2000, represented a significant horizon for those eager for the opportunity to share pioneering research in the burgeoning field of conflict archaeology. In the last decade, conflict archaeology has transformed from a radical sub-discipline into an established, yet dynamic, academic subject covering a myriad of research avenues.
This postgraduate conference will bring together postgraduate researchers from around the world, providing a platform to present a new generation of research in the field of conflict archaeology. It is hoped that this conference will address a perceived lack of forum for the discussion and presentation of postgraduate work in all facets of conflict archaeology and will in turn foster a vibrant postgraduate research community that forges intellectual, international and interdisciplinary connections. We go, therefore, ‘to gain a little patch of ground’ (Hamlet IV.iv.18).
Papers will cover a wide range of research interests, reflecting the multifaceted nature of conflict archaeology, covering all time periods from the ancient to the contemporary.
Papers will examine topics such as:
■Methodologies and new approaches
■Landscapes of conflict
■Warfare, violence, resistance
■Politics and propaganda
■Memorialisation, remembrance and forgetting
■Imprisonment / internment
■Colonial encounter
■Heritage management of sites of conflict and public engagement
■Battlefield tourism, thanatourism
■Recreation, re-enactment and ersatz experience
■Ethics of studying violence and conflict
■Investigating and interpreting uncomfortable / problematic histories
■Recovery of remains
In addition, delegates are invited to participate in student-led workshops and round table discussions during the final afternoon of conference proceedings (more information to follow).
We are currently still accepting proposals for A0- and A1-sized research posters. If you would like to present your research as an academic poster, please send a 250-300 word abstract to conflictpg@gmail.com by 1 September 2011.
Selected papers from the conference will be published in a special edition of the Journal of Conflict Archaeology.
Watch this page for updates – a provisional programme will be coming soon.
For further information contact Natasha Ferguson, Jennifer Novotny or Jonathan Trigg.
Centre for Battlefield Archaeology
University of Glasgow
Gregory Building
Lilybank Gardens
Glasgow G12 8QQ
+44 (0)141 330 2304
conflictpg@gmail.com
Keynote speaker
The keynote speaker is Dr. Tony Pollard, University of Glasgow. He has carried out battlefield and conflict related archaeological projects in the UK, mainland Europe, Africa and South America. His interests range from 18th-century warfare, particularly in relation to the Jacobite rebellions in Scotland, to the archaeology of the First and Second World Wars. A co-organiser of the first Fields of Conflict conference, Dr. Pollard has long been at the forefront of research in conflict archaeology. His talk will explore (what?).
The keynote speech will be given on Friday evening, 7 October at the Officer’s Training Corps Drill Hall. This will be immediately followed by a welcome reception at the Drill Hall with a cash bar.
Conference dinner
The conference dinner will be held on Saturday, 8 October at Mother India, 28 Westminster Terrace, Glasgow G3 7RU (see http://www.motherindiaglasgow.co.uk/index.php?action=cms.westminster for more information). The price is £18.50 and includes starters, entrees, and bread and rice from a set menu. The menu includes vegetarian options.
We ask that you pay the conference dinner fee in advance, no later than Friday, 23 September so that we can finalise the booking for our large party. Though places may be available on the day, these will not be guaranteed.
Please advise us well in advance if you have any special dietary requirements or allergies.
To view Mother India’s set price menu, click here.
(add menus if we can get them)
Field trip
On the morning of Friday, 7 October, we will be offering an artefact handling session led by European Arms & Armour curator Ralph Moffat, at the Glasgow Museums Resource Centre, Nitshill. A minibus will pick you up at 09.30 and transport you directly from the Archaeology Department (Gregory Building) to the Resource Centre, returning to the Archaeology Department at midday. For a sneak peak at some of the items in the Glasgow Museums collection, see http://collections.glasgowmuseums.com/cld.html?cid=533626
There is no charge for this session, however, please register here as soon as possible. Places are extremely limited, due to restrictions on how many people are allowed in the museum stores at one time.
If you have any questions or require additional information, email conflictpg@gmail.com
Link to the online web registration form here
For further information contact Natasha Ferguson, Jennifer Novotny or Jonathan Trigg.
Centre for Battlefield Archaeology
University of Glasgow
Gregory Building
Lilybank Gardens
Glasgow G12 8QQ
+44 (0)141 330 2304
conflictpg@gmail.com
Sunday, 24 July 2011
The Better Angels of Our Nature: The Decline of Violence in History and Its Causes
Author: Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker's riveting, myth-destroying new book reveals how, contrary to popular belief, humankind has become progressively less violent, over millenia and decades.
Given the images of conflict we see daily on our screens, can violence really have declined? And wasn't the twentieth century the most devastatingly brutal in history? Extraordinarily, however, as Steven Pinker shows, violence within and between societies - both murder and warfare - really has declined from prehistory to today. We are much less likely to die at someone else's hands than ever before.
Debunking both the idea of the 'noble savage' and a Hobbesian notion of a 'nasty, brutish and short' life, Steven Pinker argues that modernity and its cultural institutions are making us better people. He ranges over everything from art to religion, international trade to individual table manners, and shows how life has changed across the centuries and around the world - not simply through the huge benefits of organized government, but also because of the extraordinary power of progressive ideas. Why has this come about? And what does it tell us about ourselves? It takes one of the world's greatest psychologists to appreciate and explain this story, and to show us our very natures.
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Sexo e Violência: Realidades Antigas e Questões Contemporâneas
Novo livro
lançamento durante a reunião da Anpuh
são paulo – 21 de julho de 2011
apoio: FAPESP
ORGANIZADORES
José Geraldo Costa Grillo (UNIFESP)
Renata S. Garraffoni (UFPR)
Pedro Paulo A. Funari (UNICAMP)
São Paulo
Annablume/FAPESP
2011
Sumário
Introdução
O terrorismo dos kamikazes? Bombas carregadas a Eros
Ian Buruma
Mundo Antigo:
Tramas nos domínios do faraó
Margaret M. Bakos
O jardim do pecado: uma narrativa de violência sexual na Mesopotâmia
Katia Maria Paim Pozzer
Guerra, violência e sociedade na iconografia do sacrifício de Políxena
José Geraldo Costa Grillo
Homoerotismo, sedução e violência na Grécia antiga. Presentes e raptos, visões da pederastia na iconografia da cerâmica ática (séc. V a.C.)
Fábio Vergara Cerqueira
Corpo e sexualidade feminina na Atenas Clássica
Fábio de Souza Lessa
Sangue na arena: repensando a violência nos jogos de gladiadores no início do principado romano
Renata Senna Garraffoni
Sexualidades antigas e preocupações modernas: a moral e as Leis sobre a conduta sexual feminina
Marina Cavicchioli
Sexualidade e Violência no Reino dos Céus: O caso do Evangelho Secreto de Marcos e as tradições cristãs primitivas.
André Leonardo Chevitarese
Gabriele Cornelli
Mundo Moderno:
Arqueología, Resistência escrava e rebelião
Charles E. Orser Jr.
Pedro Paulo A. Funari
Espetáculos da diferença: gênero, raça e ciência no século XIX
Ana Paula Vosne Martins
A prostituição ontem e hoje
Margareth Rago
Os sussurros de Eros e Tânatos Renata Plaza Teixeira
Também quero ser “gato”: masculinidades e relações de subordinação
Vanda Silva
Crianças e Jovens: Adestramento e violência
Judite Maria Barboza Trindade
lançamento durante a reunião da Anpuh
são paulo – 21 de julho de 2011
apoio: FAPESP
ORGANIZADORES
José Geraldo Costa Grillo (UNIFESP)
Renata S. Garraffoni (UFPR)
Pedro Paulo A. Funari (UNICAMP)
São Paulo
Annablume/FAPESP
2011
Sumário
Introdução
O terrorismo dos kamikazes? Bombas carregadas a Eros
Ian Buruma
Mundo Antigo:
Tramas nos domínios do faraó
Margaret M. Bakos
O jardim do pecado: uma narrativa de violência sexual na Mesopotâmia
Katia Maria Paim Pozzer
Guerra, violência e sociedade na iconografia do sacrifício de Políxena
José Geraldo Costa Grillo
Homoerotismo, sedução e violência na Grécia antiga. Presentes e raptos, visões da pederastia na iconografia da cerâmica ática (séc. V a.C.)
Fábio Vergara Cerqueira
Corpo e sexualidade feminina na Atenas Clássica
Fábio de Souza Lessa
Sangue na arena: repensando a violência nos jogos de gladiadores no início do principado romano
Renata Senna Garraffoni
Sexualidades antigas e preocupações modernas: a moral e as Leis sobre a conduta sexual feminina
Marina Cavicchioli
Sexualidade e Violência no Reino dos Céus: O caso do Evangelho Secreto de Marcos e as tradições cristãs primitivas.
André Leonardo Chevitarese
Gabriele Cornelli
Mundo Moderno:
Arqueología, Resistência escrava e rebelião
Charles E. Orser Jr.
Pedro Paulo A. Funari
Espetáculos da diferença: gênero, raça e ciência no século XIX
Ana Paula Vosne Martins
A prostituição ontem e hoje
Margareth Rago
Os sussurros de Eros e Tânatos Renata Plaza Teixeira
Também quero ser “gato”: masculinidades e relações de subordinação
Vanda Silva
Crianças e Jovens: Adestramento e violência
Judite Maria Barboza Trindade
Monday, 4 July 2011
Interpersonal Violence in Paleolithic and Mesolithic Societies
Posted on 05/14/2011 by Katzman in Aggsbach's Paleolithic Blog
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Reply
Imix says:
05/16/2011 at 10:55 am
Two things cross my mind when reading on this topic: First, that hominis unlike other primates are or became hunters of large mammals – killing a large mammal is deep in their blood and their psyche – also, then, of humans? Second, while we do not know the circumstances and context of the famous Upper Paleolithic cave paintings, there is a conspicuous absence of images of interpersonal violence such as war parties, raids, killings in them, which is in contrast to rather frequent depictions of such acts in most historial ethnic art.
Reply
Cernunnos says:
05/17/2011 at 9:47 am
Very interesting topic, indeed. I haven’t heard of the mentioned quite clear indications of interpersonal violence during the later phases of the paleolithic. I’d appreciate if you could state your sources, not because I reject your credibility, of course, but because I’d like to find out more about the sites by myself. Thanks a lot!
Anyway, they are all quite late and I doubt that the Sima de los Huesos evidence has much to do with the usual meaning of the term violence. Still, like in the previous comment, I consider the notion of lacking evidence (of course you know about the problems of “absence of evidence”) for inter- and intrapersonal violence during most of the paleolithic and especially in contrast to post-paleolithic periods, as a still valid paradigm.
Reply
Katzman says:
05/17/2011 at 5:45 pm
I doubt the Sima de los Huesos evidence also, and of course it does not fulfill my “gold standard”. The most useful articles and books about the topic:
Thorpe I. J. N. Anthropology, archaeology, and the origin of warfare. World Archaeology; 2003. 35: 145–165.
Kelly R.C. The evolution of lethal intergroup violence. PNAS 2005. 102: 43 15294-15298.
Marcus J. The Archaeological Evidence for Social Evolution. Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 2008. 37:251–66
Wendorf F (Ed.) Prehistory of Nubia. Vol 2 954-996
These are razor sharp microlithic arrowheads from the middle to late Ertebølle period. Such artifacts could not only be successfully used for hunting animals, but also for killing humans.
Biological anthropologists argue for a continuity of an aggressive instinct from a common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans (Kelly 2005) -but why should an aggressive attitude be evolutionary more successful than coalitions with friends?
Social anthropologists see interpersonal violence as the outcome of competition of individuals for status, prestige and high rank. They have also noted, that inter and intra group violence is more prevalent in non segmented societies, than in segmented ones (Marcus 2008).
Historical Materialists simply believe that conflict and warfare are driven by the need for food, land and other resources.
The archaeological record of interpersonal violence shows an enormous regional variation, clearly arguing against any simple monocausal explanation. A convincing gold standard of identifying victims of a lethal conflict is the association of artifacts lodged in human bones, with corresponding skeletal damage or the presence of lethal bone lesions that are unambiguously caused by other humans.
The earliest possible skeletal evidence of intra group violence comes from Sima de los Huesos, Atapuerca, Spain, with at least 32 human skeletons dating to ca. 250 k.a. BP. Several skulls of this sample have healed impact fractures. A final report is not available and therefore it remains somewhat unclear whether these findings should be interpreted as evidence of human conflicts.
Two late Paleolithic (Epigravettian at ca 13 k.a. BP) bodies of this kind are known from Italy. One, from San Teodoro cave in Sicily, was a woman with a flint point in her right iliac crest. This artifact was designed as a triangle and was most probably an arrow point. The other was a child with a flint in its thoracic vertebra, found in late Epigravettian layers of the Grotta dei Fanciulli (the famous Grotte des Enfants) at Balzi-Rossi / Grimaldi, on the LIgurian Italian / French border.
The most remarkable discovery of late Paleolithic Age comes from Jebel Sahaba, a few kilometers north of Wadi Halfa on the east bank of the Nile. A graveyard (ca 12 k.a.BP) containing 59 burials was located on a hill overlooking the Nile. Twenty-four skeletons had flint projectile points that were either embedded in the bones or found within the grave fill in positions which indicated they had penetrated the bodies. The excavator of the site, Fred Wendorf (The prehistory of Nubia, II p. 991) wrote: ” The most impressive feature is the high frequency of unretouched flakes and chips. In a normal assemblage all of these would be classified as debitage or debris and none would considered tools. Yet many of these pieces were recovered from positions where their use as parts of weapons were irrefutable”. joteIn total, more than 40% of the men, woman and children in the commentary had died by violence. Fred Wendorf, suggested that environmental pressure and vanishing resources on the end of the Pleistocene were the causes of violence, but this remains only one hypothesis. A detailed analysis of the skeletons with nowadays methods (dna-analysis, stable isotopes) is missing till now. If war is defined as organized aggression between autonomous social units, the archaeological record at Jebel Sahaba may indeed indicate the presence of an early war.
Coming back to the European Record, at Ofnet cave in Bavaria two pits contained the skulls and vertebrae of thirty-eight individuals, all stained with red ochre, dating to around 6.5 k.a. cal BC (Orschiedt 1998). The Ofnet finding most probably represents a massacre, which wiped out a whole community and was followed by the ceremonial burial of skulls. Most of the victims of deadly attacks were children; two-thirds of the adults were females, which led to the suggestion, that a temporary absence of males may have been the precipitating cause of the attack. Half the individuals were wounded before death by blunt mace-like weapons, with males and females and children all injured, but males having the most wounds.
Territoriality may have had an important connotation in semi sedentary Ertebølle communities. At Skateholm, two larger cemeteries from the middle to late Ertebølle period both located on an island contained about 85 graves. An arrowhead was lodged in the pelvic bone of an adult male and a bone point was found with another male At the Ertebølle Vedbæk cemetery on Zealand, one adult, probably male in a grave with three bodies had a bone point through the throat. Bone points that probably caused lethal damage have also been found in the chests of burials of adults at Bäckaskog and Stora Bjers in Sweden. Other Mesolithic victims of fatal injuries are known from France (Téviec in Brittany) to the Ukraine (Vasylivka III cemetery) in the East.
Ofnet-Cave (after R.R. Schmidt)
Reply
Imix says:
05/16/2011 at 10:55 am
Two things cross my mind when reading on this topic: First, that hominis unlike other primates are or became hunters of large mammals – killing a large mammal is deep in their blood and their psyche – also, then, of humans? Second, while we do not know the circumstances and context of the famous Upper Paleolithic cave paintings, there is a conspicuous absence of images of interpersonal violence such as war parties, raids, killings in them, which is in contrast to rather frequent depictions of such acts in most historial ethnic art.
Reply
Cernunnos says:
05/17/2011 at 9:47 am
Very interesting topic, indeed. I haven’t heard of the mentioned quite clear indications of interpersonal violence during the later phases of the paleolithic. I’d appreciate if you could state your sources, not because I reject your credibility, of course, but because I’d like to find out more about the sites by myself. Thanks a lot!
Anyway, they are all quite late and I doubt that the Sima de los Huesos evidence has much to do with the usual meaning of the term violence. Still, like in the previous comment, I consider the notion of lacking evidence (of course you know about the problems of “absence of evidence”) for inter- and intrapersonal violence during most of the paleolithic and especially in contrast to post-paleolithic periods, as a still valid paradigm.
Reply
Katzman says:
05/17/2011 at 5:45 pm
I doubt the Sima de los Huesos evidence also, and of course it does not fulfill my “gold standard”. The most useful articles and books about the topic:
Thorpe I. J. N. Anthropology, archaeology, and the origin of warfare. World Archaeology; 2003. 35: 145–165.
Kelly R.C. The evolution of lethal intergroup violence. PNAS 2005. 102: 43 15294-15298.
Marcus J. The Archaeological Evidence for Social Evolution. Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 2008. 37:251–66
Wendorf F (Ed.) Prehistory of Nubia. Vol 2 954-996
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