Early State Formation

Although culture contact is a well-studied area of archaeological inquiry, complex ancient cross-cultural interactions can be challenging to discern. As zones of innovation in which boundaries are obscure, ancient frontiers offer ideal contexts to analyze the nuances of such interactions. To address the challenges of interpreting a multicultural frontier in the Moquegua Valley, southern Peru, we apply a practice-based approach using foodways to elucidate the complexity of culture contact between Wari-affiliated and Indigenous Huaracane communities during the Middle Horizon (AD 600-1000). Our findings indicate that after Wari colonization of the Moquegua frontier, the Huaracane community at Yahuay Alta began brewing chicha de molle, an alcoholic beverage associated with and central to Wari political and religious social structures. They did not, however, adopt the practice in a completely Wari fashion. Instead, we see Huaracane leaders brewed and served chicha de molle in ways that aligned with their own cultural practices. The material remains of chicha de molle production and consumption at Yahuay Alta should not be seen as a simple adoption of a nonlocal cultural practice by an Indigenous group, but instead an active manipulation of practice as part of frontier cultural negotiations and entanglements. Resumen El contacto cultural es un área de la investigación arqueológica bien estudiada, aunque los matices de las interacciones interculturales son difíciles de discernir. Para abordar los desafíos de interpretar una frontera multicultural en el valle de Moquegua, sur de Perú, aplicamos un enfoque basado en la práctica utilizando las formas alimentarias como lente para contextualizar el contacto cultural entre las comunidades Wari y Huaracane durante el Horizonte Medio (600-1000 dC). Nuestros hallazgos indican que después de la colonización Wari de la frontera de Moquegua, la comunidad Huaracane en Yahuay Alta comenzó a preparar chicha de molle, una bebida alcohólica asociada y central para las estructuras sociales políticas y religiosas Wari. Sin embargo, no adoptaron la práctica de manera completamente Wari. En cambio, vemos a los líderes de Huaracane preparado y sirviendo chicha de molle de manera creativa en formas nuevas y diferentes que se alinean con sus propias prácticas culturales. Los restos materiales de la producción y consumo de chicha de molle en Yahuay Alta no deben verse como una simple adopción de una práctica cultural no local por parte de un grupo indígena, sino más bien como una manipulación activa de la práctica de negociaciones culturales fronterizas.

The Early Bronze Age in Europe is characterized by social and genetic transformations, starting in the early 3rd millennium BCE. New settlement and funerary structures, artifacts and techniques indicate times of change with increasing economic asymmetries and political hierarchization. Technological advances in metallurgy also played an important role, facilitating trade and exchange networks, which became tangible in higher levels of mobility and connectedness. Archeogenetic studies have revealed a substantial transformation of the genetic ancestry around this time, ultimately linked to the expansion of steppe- and forest steppe pastoralists from Eastern Europe. Evidence for emerging infectious diseases such as Yersinia pestis adds further complexity to these tumultuous and transformative times. The El Argar complex in southern Iberia marks the genetic turnover in southwestern Europe ~ 2200 BCE that accompanies profound changes in the socio-economic structure of the region. To answ...

Most of the persons (76 or 77), who participated in the conclusion of the Russian-Byzantine treaty in 944, bear Old
Norse names. The number of persons with Slavic names, Svjatoslavъ, Pere(d)slava, Volodislavъ (principals) and Sin’ko
and Borich’ (merchants) can be supplemented with names *Voikъ (principal) and Voistъ (ambassador, probably a hypocoristic
of Voigost) together with two names derived from Old Russian ethnic names Libi and Jatvjagъ. Thus, the knjazhja
(princes) include members of Prince Igor’s clan and rulers of local polities, both of Scandinavian and Slavic origins.
The group of ambassadors, “princes’ men”, is polyethnic while the merchants/warriors are almost all Scandinavians. The
three-level hierarchy of the Russian elite in the mid-tenth century is one of the indicators of an early-state polity.

IZVLEÈEK-Tepe Gheshlagh je eno najpomembnejših najdišè bakrene dobe na vzhodnem obmoèju osrednjega Zagrosa. Osrednje raziskovalno vprašanje te študije sta organizacija administrativnih sis temov in koncept lastništva v tem obdobju. S pomoèjo deskriptivno-analitiène metode podrobneje ob ravnavamo zbirko peèatnikov iz Gheshlagha, ki dokazujejo sistem lastništva in trgovinske izmenjave. Struk turnaanalizaikonografijepeèatnikovkae,dalinearni,kroniinponavljajoèisevzorcinisobili zgolj osebni simboli, namenjeni prepreèevanju ponarejanja ali spreminjanja, temveè so predstavljali znake v okviru doloèenega sistema pred vpeljavo pisave. Vsak znak ali simbol je verjetno oznaèeval doloèeno vrsto blaga, ki se je prenašalo ali izmenjevalo. Kljub veliki raznolikosti geometrijskih motivov je njihova sestava sledila doloèenim konvencijam, kar nakazuje na standardizirano vizualno komunikacijo znotraj skupnosti. Bakrenodobni pečatniki iz Tepe Gheshlagh in njihova uporaba v sistemih lastništva in izmenjave KEY WORDS-chalcolithic; stamp seal; cylinder seal; Central Zagros; Tepe Gheshlagh ABSTRACT-Tepe Gheshlagh is one of the major sites with deposits of the Chalcolithic period in the east of the Central Zagros. The central question in the present study was the administrative system and ownership in the Chalcolithic period. With a descriptive-analytical method, an attempt was made to expound on Gheshlagh's glyptic assemblage that attest to the existence of an ownership system and commercial exchanges. A structural analysis of the glyptic iconography suggested that each of the linear, circular, or repeating patterns were less mere personal insignias intended to exclude the possibility of alteration or forgery than they were marks belonging to a pre-literate system where each sign/symbol stood for individual commodity types that were transported or exchanged as such. At the same time, the composition of these widely varying geometric motifs followed certain conventions.

Demonstrating the existence of a soaring demand for strategic materials in fifteenth-century Rome, the article pioneers research in the late medieval trade in saltpetre, the irreplaceable, rare component of gunpowder, indispensable for waging war following the diffusion of artillery technology. More importantly, the essay highlights the political measures undertaken to support the supply of materiel, revealing a pragmatic stance that combined state control with private initiative. The result is a compelling example of the role materials procurement played in the early development of state capacity.

This paper aims to analyse the root causes of the conflict of authority in the Pashtun tribal society in historical perspectives. The autonomous and independent Pashtun tribes traditionally follow the pashtunwali which is their social code of conduct and customary law to resolve their social and legal matters. It is observed that there is not a single form of pashtunwali; rather it is heterogeneous in its form and has a variety of manifestation in various Pashtun tribes. The Pashtun perception of Islam is deeply embedded in their social code of conduct: pashtunwali. My argument is that Pashtun’s experience of Islam is unique in many ways from the rest of their neighbouring regions. They had never been the part of any central rule, thus remained autonomous, away from the central commanding authority. Their socio-political system functioned through the tribal structure while their religious perception was deeply rooted in their culture through which they manifested their religious ide...

Based on an inscription from the early 4th century BC concerning the festival of Alea Athena in Tegea (Arcadia), and taking into account the results of Norwegian excavations at the site, this study offers a comprehensive interpretation of IG V.2, 3 . The aim is to show that it regulates the practical organization of the goddess's panegyris. The Festwiese model also allows us to revisit the nuances of the opposition between sacred and profane spaces.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

The Korean Peninsula has been inhabited since at least 10,000 BCE, with evidence of settlements dating back to circa 6,000 BCE. The earliest dynastic kingdom, Gojoseon, is traditionally believed to have been founded roughly 4300 years ago, yet remnants of even older civilizations remain scattered across the country. Among these are megalithic structures, such as dolmens from the 2nd millennium BCE, with hundreds of thousands spread across the Korean landscape.

While Korean mounds are typically classified as tombs, their true purpose may be more complex. Much like the Egyptian pyramids and temples, which were initially assumed to be exclusively burial sites, and the mounds and pyramid-like structures of China, these mounds have been assigned a similar identity despite a lack of widespread human remains. The sealed wooden chambers, encased in layers of clay and earth, were designed to protect their contents not only from grave robbers but potentially from environmental elements as well. Ancient sites like the Gaya Tumuli or the Marsian Tumuli Mounds, traditionally considered burial sites, may instead represent fortified dwellings or repositories of cultural preservation, safeguarding knowledge and artifacts of a lost civilization. If any Korean mounds contain artifacts that don’t align with typical burial practices, this could support this theory.

The People Rus’ in the Ninth – Middle Eleventh Centuries: New Approaches to the Study of Ethnogenesis and Politogenesis // Social Evolution & History. 2025. Vol. 24, № 1 (March). P. 30–57. [DOI: https://doi.org/10.30884/seh/2025.01.02 /
The main aim of this article is to try to give an outline of modern understanding of processes and mechanisms of formation of the people called Rus' and the polity of the Rurikid lineage. New interpretations of written sources are placed in the basis of the proposed approach. The later Old Russian narratives, first of all, the ‘Primary Chronicle’, are recognized as unreliable and secondary sources, and the basic factual basis is formed on the basis of documents (treaties, statutes and legal codes, etc.) and synchronous for the tenth century narrative texts, first of all, the Byzantine descriptions of the Rus' in special manuals on diplomacy and ambassadorial protocols. It is no less important now to understand the epistemological and practical limitations of the use of archaeological and linguistic data, and to eliminate schemes based on false interpretations of them. Following these guidelines, the article substantiates the following provisions. First, the autocatalytic process of development of a network of long-distance trade routes and the emergence of urban centres in their hubs became the basic factor for the formation of medium-scale polities on the East European Plain. Second, in the new settlements of the Upper and Middle Dnieper area in the tenth century, new mixed urban communities were formed, including groups of people who called themselves Rus'. Here, both politogenesis and ethnogenesis were triggered and stimulated by long-distance trade and urbanization. Third, no medium-size polity of the ninth and tenth centuries had the characteristics of an early state, because it was an ecumene without developed writing abilities. Only the complex chiefdom under the leadership of the Rurikids, after joining the Byzantine Christian Church, gained access to the technology of writing. This made it possible, in the first half of the eleventh century, to create a government machine of specialized functionaries, proto-bureaucrats, who produced the first state regulatory documents. By the mid-eleventh century, the early state in Rus' was established. In the same period, the elite and the population of the ‘Rurikid empire’ finally adopted the ethno-political label Rus', as a result of which a new Christian people with such a name appeared on the map of the Western Eurasia. These processes of ethnogenesis and politogenesis on the East European Plain in the ninth and eleventh centuries fit into the most standard models of socio-cultural and political anthropology.

Vāyu Purāṇa, one of the early Purāṇas, refers to Maharloka, the fourth heaven. “Those brāhmaṇas of acute discernment, who are of extra-ordinary good behaviour, who subsist on the residue of what is consigned to sacred fire in Homa, and who maintain special piety, become the residents of Maharloka, along with the Devas.” Juxtaposed to such an image is that of the brahmarākṣasa. The Mānavadharmaśāstra in Chapter Twelve, that deals with the fruits of karma, mentions the brahmarākṣasas. A brāhmaṇa who steals, enters thousands of times the wombs of spiders, snakes, lizards, aquatic animals, and vicious piśāca - lūtāhisaraṭānāṃ ca tiraścāṃ cāmbucāriṇām, hiṃsrāṇāṃ ca piśācānāṃ steno vipraḥ sahasraśaḥ and finally, A man who forges links with outcastes, has sex with someone else's wife, or steals what belongs to a brāhmaṇa becomes a brāhmaṇa rākṣasa - saṃyogaṃ patitair gatvā parasyaiva ca yoṣitam, apahṛtya ca viprasvaṃ bhavati brahmarākṣasaḥ.” There are many such references in the Dharmaśāstras as well as the Epic-Puranic corpus. While existing historiography has looked at the issue of evolution of varṇa-jāti to include those who could not be put into the existing varṇa order, the focus has been on varṇasaṁkara and the vrātya kṣatriya. This paper argues that the historical processes of expansion of state through giving of land grants as well as coming up of śrāmaṇic tradition and sectarian developments led to a creation of a new social category of brāhmaṇas – the brahmarākṣasa – who could not be brought into the varṇa framework yet couldn’t be ignored.

Homing in on a series of events that unfolded in the context of posttsunami reconstruction in India's Tamil Nadu state, this article explores how people at the margins win small concessions from the state by deploying forms of power that the latter cannot effectively countervail. Marshaling analyses of tsunami reconstruction and its anchoring in late neoliberal developmentalist policy frameworks, as well as the rich and complex history of incorporation and autonomy shaping fisher-sovereign relations, I argue that a dynamic reading of power enables an analysis of autonomy and agency shaping engagements with sovereign power. To this end I supplement my ethnographic account of post-tsunami events with a historical ethnographic reading of locally popular narratives, in order to consider how such actions might be viewed as strategic and resistant.

I SHALL START BY MAKING A STATEMENT that could not be more banal: the second half of the eighteenth century, in Britain and Germany alike, was a time when things began to be in flux. Reform, improvement, transformation these are the terms in which historians frequently try to capture the spirit of the times. Of course, there is also another school of historiography, the one which subsumes conditions of the later eighteenth century under the category ancien rkgirne. Since Jonathan Clark, this heuristic concept has even been applied to conditions in Britain.' None the less, the fact remains that the majority of historians see the period after the Seven Years War in particular as a period of change. Yet when they describe this change in Germany and Britain, they concentrate on very different things. Those who deal with Germany look at, for example, Frederick the Great, Joseph 11, and the problem of enlightened absolutism. Those who deal with England write, among other things, about...

The information contained in the oldest written sources reveals that Poznań was the seat of the Bishop of St. Peter’s Church and emphasises the military strength of the stronghold during the reign of Bolesław the Brave (Chrobry). They do not, however, provide any data about the size, fortifications, or development of the area covered by the stronghold or about the processes that transformed its buildings. As the written sources seem laconic, archaeologists must rely on the results of their research to reconstruct a picture of how the stronghold functioned. They reveal that in the second half of the 10 th century, the prince/duke possessed a stone palas in the stronghold of Poznań with a separate reception hall, chancellery office, and treasury, as well as a stone palace chapel used for private devotion. Adjacent to the palas was a wooden building that was a goldsmith’s workshop – one of the specialized work- shops that fulfilled the needs of the court. The nearby paved square was pr...

During the whole of the Middle Ages there was no such thing as 'region' in the vocabulary of medieval politicians, nor in historiography or in their theory of power. Medieval writers were focused on histories, deeds that were done in a specific social or political context, regardless of historical tradition or social cohesion in respect of what distinguished  'state' from 'region.' Terms such as 'regnum,' 'ducatus,' or 'terra' may be used to describe states, regions, subregions or even - in the case of 'terra' - small localities if they formed distinctive administrative units.  Even the use of the word 'provintia,' which had characteristics close to our understanding of 'region,' was not restricted to societies of a long-term existence nor was it dedicated to a specific level of administrative units. Does this mean that medieval men did not conceive the concept of region or did not value it as being worth their attention? Did a region, as part of the hierarchic structure of a social organization, exist at all, in any form within the consciousness, or at least in the communication, of medieval men? Or have we applied the concept of a structural framework of societies, and therefore also of a region’s presence to the medieval reality with a contemporary meaning, pressured by the above mentioned customs of present-day public language?

In this paper-whose title is inspired by Abulğazi Bahadur Khan's Şäcärä-i Türk-I would like to address briefly a number of theoretical aspects in the study of the history of Turkic statehood. My goal is to problematize the notion of what is a "Turkic state" in order to explore this topic further. I argue that we must first agree upon what the definition of a "state" is, after which we must define what is "Turkic" (Türk). I believe that it is only by defining our terms and introducing theoretical rigor into this discussion that we can make progress towards achieving our goals. At the same time, it will allow us address in an academic manner some approaches which I consider to be problematic.

By debunking the predominant theory of the origin of the state as a myth, resurrecting the conquest theory, and reinforcing it with the idea of extrahuman transportation, the paper argues for the nomadic origin of the state. The paper thus places nomadism at the origin of the state and civilisation and the Eurasian steppe at the centre of human history.

Now today We'll talk about pre-Qin history.This's my hope that this lecture will provide a comprehensive overview of our current understanding of the pre-Qin history and catch the most discussions currently within the discipline. This lecture is going to be covers ancient China from 2000 BC to 100 BC, it was called Pre-Qin history period.In China when we talk about before 2000 BC, it always belongs to the field of archaeological research, not the research scope of our Pre-Qin history. In other words, it is related to the study of the origin of Chinese civilization before 2000 BC. So let's start by looking at the dynastic periods of ancient China, I've given you a pie chart, Here to see how much time each of them took up in this 2000 years period. So starting with the Xia dynasty. There are rough dates 2000 BC roughly to 1600 BC, may have been earlier. But Let's just say 400 years. The Xia is more of a legendary dynasty. There's actually no physical evidence, there's no archaeological, or historical evidence in writing from that period.

This collection of articles represents the output of the first stage of research on the history of the region of Silesia, conducted under the patronage of the European Science Foundation as part of the project 'Cuius regio. An analysis of the cohesive and disruptive forces determining the attachment and commitment of (groups of) persons to and cohesion within regions'. Silesia, one of the regions analyzed in the project, is an example of a borderland territory whose historical development was substantially influenced by various cultural traditions. The primary goal of the research on the Silesian history was to determine the factors that led to disintegration and subsequent re-creation of the region, for there are arguments indicating that the history of the local community has been -and continues to be -the product of a dynamic process whose course was not determined solely by the factor of its constant existence within the limits demarcated within the 16 th -century Kingdom of Bohemia. We are hopeful that the book will inspire a discussion in the academic community on a new dimension of the social history of Silesia, on issues connected with the development of Europe's regions and on universal mechanisms present in the formation of regional social cohesion.

Social subunits in household units of Río Bec Group B | 000 6.2. Radiocarbon dates used in the figure .8 graph | 000 7.1. | 000 7.2. Southern Belize Chronology | 000 7.3. Settlement data for Uxbenká and Ix Kuku'il | 000 7.4. UAP settlement group typology | 000 7.5. Uxbenká settlement group types and foundation dates | 000 7.6. Ix Kuku'il settlement group types and foundation dates | 000 7.7. Average number of settlement group types within neighborhoods | 000 xvi | Tables xvi | Tables 8.1. Ceramic complexes and chronological phases for Naachtun | 000 8.2. Occupation rates of SUT and PCT compared with the total volume of public construction from the Epicenter, during each subphase | 000 8.3. Surface area of the Naachtun's plazas | 000 11.1. The major chronological periods and known dates for Caracol, Belize | 000 11.2. Presence/absence data of urban service facility features | 000 11.3. Gini inequalities for roughly contemporary Mesoamerican cities | 000 13.1. Seats of power and residential concentrations in the Naachtun hinterland | 000

The predominance of multi-use mortuary spaces in the Mycenaean funerary sphere, including tholos tombs, chamber tombs, various forms of built tombs and shaft graves, has confounded the direct employment of archaeological interpretative methodologies that are commonly implemented to study the mortuary record of other time periods and regions. Recent developments in Aegean Bronze Age osteoarchaeology have demonstrated how embracing the complexity inherent in the Mycenaean mortuary record can be intensely rewarding and significantly deepen our understanding of past social practice. This paper argues that the episodic and dynamic nature of the Mycenaean funerary sphere can be better appreciated by using the framework of a ‘tomb biography’, analogous to the ‘object biography’ approach used by archaeologists for several decades to reconstruct, as far as possible, the total lifecycle of a given artefact. The paper presents two methodological principles for analysing artefacts – the ‘personal versus portable’ principle and the ‘messy finds’ principle – that can be used to assess opportunities for the retrieval of artefacts from multi-use mortuary spaces, and thus shed light on the decision-making processes that lay behind the social practices evident in the Mycenaean mortuary record.

Raně středověká hradiště představovala centrální lokality ve fyzickém i sociokulturním světě.
Změny v okolní krajině mohly být jednou z příčin dynamického vývoje alespoň některých centrálních lokalit.
Cílem tohoto článku je ukázat prostřednictvím ideálních rekonstrukcí možný vývoj raně středověkého hradiště ve Staré Boleslavi v kontextu jeho měnící se okolní krajiny. To slouží primárně k diskusi o variantních
interpretacích minulosti a archeologických nálezů. Součástí je zhodnocení vývoje specifického areálu na
akropoli, který souvisí se vznikem řemeslnického okrsku. Pro vypracování výsledných digitálních kreseb
bylo nutné doplnit mezery v poznání o lokalitě hypotetickými řešeními na základě interpretací, dílčích
poznatků a možných analogií.

Early medieval strongholds as central sites constituted important landmarks in physical as well as
sociocultural landscape. Changes in the surrounding landscape may have contributed to dynamic development of at least some central sites. This work attempts to reconstruct the appearance of an early medieval
stronghold in Stará Boleslav in Central Bohemia and its landscape throughout the course of time. This
serves primarily for discussion about the variant interpretation of the past and archaeological finds and
features. An assessment of changes in function of a specific area at the acropolis, relating to the emergence
of a metalworking workshop, is included. Digital paintings of ideal reconstructions are presented in this
paper. In order to accomplish those paintings, gaps in our knowledge of the site due to highly fragmented
archaeological source material needed to be bridged by possible solutions supported by arguments.

On August 13, 1521-two years after departing from Havana-the Spanish adventurer Hernán Cortés slaughtered over two hundred thousand Aztec warriors in a single night, consigning women and children to slavery. The land of Mexico was transformed into a Spanish colony, New Spain, with Cortés appointed as its governor. More than ten thousand kilometers from home, a small band of adventurers and mercenaries demolished an entire civilization, upon whose ruins they erected a world of arrogance and violence under crimson banners. When King Philip II of Spain asked him, "Who are you?" Cortés replied:-I am the man who has given Your Majesty more lands than your ancestors left you cities.‖ Historiography abounds with examples illustrating that governance is fundamentally an-alchemical‖ synthesis of art and knowledge. A case in point is the brilliance of administration reflected in Chinese military philosophy-not mere command, but a

Capturing the fluid, dynamic interactions that constitute political form and change is best accomplished by adopting a network perspective. This approach calls attention to how power contests are waged close to the ground by self-reflexive agents who co-operate within wider webs to mobilize material and conceptual resources in support of common political projects. Political contests are, thus, waged within networks of networks in which decisions are made and across which the consequences of those choices are felt. This framework is used to disentangle the outcomes of a dramatic event in Mesoamerican prehistory: the beheading of one lowland Maya monarch by his erstwhile subordinate. The case study illustrates how political processes are best grasped as the results of initiatives instigated by variably well-informed agents of all ranks, living in diverse locales, who co-operate with some and compete with others to take advantage of new opportunities to define and meet their goals. Debates about modelling political organization hold a venerable position in social theory. These arguments are especially energetic when dealing with the formation and dynamics of archaic states. Increasingly frequent today are emphases on historical contingency, the actions of individuals, and flux in organizational form (Campbell

Cemetery names (necronyms) serve as linguistic, cultural, and historical markers that reflect social stratification, migration history, and identity retention within the Cina Benteng community in Indonesia. This study examines how necronyms function as more than burial site identifiers by encoding class distinctions, ancestral connections, and generational linguistic shifts. Utilizing a multimethod approach that includes cemetery name documentation, semi-structured interviews with community members, and historical records analysis, the study categorizes cemetery names based on phonological, morphological, and semantic patterns to explore their role in identity preservation and cultural adaptation. Findings reveal that necronyms reinforce social stratification, with elite families securing named burial sites that emphasize lineage and status, while lower-class cemeteries are often designated with generic or geographically descriptive names. Associative meanings in cemetery names highlight the community’s migration history, with references to ancestral origins in China (e.g., Fujian, Guangdong) and symbolic representations of resilience, survival, and integration. Emotive necronyms encode collective memory, reinforcing spiritual beliefs through cemetery names that emphasize peace, honor, and ancestral reverence. Linguistic analysis indicates a gradual shift from traditional Chinese phonetics and morphological structures toward Indonesianized and hybridized naming conventions, reflecting broader socio-political and linguistic integration trends. Older cemetery names retain Mandarin and Hokkien phonetic elements, while newer cemeteries increasingly adopt Indonesian and English-influenced names, reflecting a generational transformation in identity perception. The study also finds that commercial and modern burial practices have influenced the shift toward neutralized and marketable necronyms, prioritizing accessibility and emotional resonance over cultural specificity

The act of entrusting the apostolic see to Civitas Shinesghe and its surroundings was made on Easter, April 5, 991* during the Third Congress of Quedlinburg, where Mieszko I - perhaps accompanied by his wife Oda and their sons: Mieszko and Lambert - met with the empress regent and the Byzantine princess Theophano and the young emperor Otto III.
The term (adjective) and the name Digenis (Διγενῆς) were widely known in the Byzantine Empire.
In the Dagome iudex document created in Quedlinburg, surrounded by the Byzantine princess Theophano and chancellery officials (maybe also from Byzantium?), the name Mieszko (Misico - "half-breed") was transcribed into Latin to Dagone, as the equivalent of the Greek Digenis (meaning "half-breed", "two-born", "born of two tribes"), so that the prince's name would be more understandable to the Roman Curia.

Под обложкой настоящей брошюры читатель сможет найти перевод статьи
2004 г., написанной бельгийским историком Эриком Туном. Данная статья подробно раскрывает авторскую методику по изучению аграрной истории регионов в Средние века и раннее Новое время – методику «социальных агросистем». Полезность представленного подхода для отечественной науки обосновывается во вступительной статье, подготовленной переводчиком текста, и аргументируется системностью, цельностью этого подхода, столь необходимых для осмысления эволюции социально-экономических порядков аграрных обществ, отдельными точечными наблюдениями, а также самим способом постановки проблемы качественной изменчивости развития региона в долгосрочной перспективе. Публикация теоретико-методической статьи на русском языке в области аграрной и социально-экономической истории является также попыткой привлечь внимание к образовавшимся лакунам в предельно важных, но ныне недостаточно исследуемых проблемах в отечественной медиевистике.

According to the Report on the Spring and Autumn bronze inscriptions discovered in 1983 in Henan province, the character bao 'treasure; precious' is found written consecutively after the adverb yong 'always', giving ze yong bao bao . The presence of this unusual juxtaposition of two bao is puzzling because such a phrasal structure has never been encountered in any other bronze inscriptions. The Report did not deal with this dubious structure, or justify the identification of the two characters as bao bao (hereafter referred to as X and Y), not to mention any verification of its idiomatic acceptability. After a thorough check of relevant bronze rubbings, it became clear that the Report's graphic identification of X and Y is not valid and that neither of them has anything to do with the character bao . The new reading proposed here is based on graphic identifications and semantic analyses, buttressed with evidence from some similar idiomatic expressions found in Chinese bronze inscriptions of the same period.

This paper examines the symbolic expiration of the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement in 2024 and the subsequent geopolitical transformations unfolding across the Middle East. It argues that the collapse of centralized regimes in Iraq, Syria, and potentially Iran—coupled with Western strategic interventions—signals an intentional shift away from colonial-era borders. Focusing on the Kurdish people, the paper explores how the dismantling of authoritarian structures has empowered long-suppressed ethnic groups and redefined regional alliances. Through detailed historical analysis and contemporary developments, this article frames the Kurdish struggle not as an isolated nationalist cause but as a central axis of the new Middle East. The work concludes by asserting that the Middle East’s future will be shaped less by imperial agreements and more by identity, autonomy, and regional reconfiguration.

In the present essay we introduce the concept of macroculture as a complex of mutually supporting values, norms and beliefs in various areas of human activity, like war, religion, politics, athletics, etc. in a model. Then, by applying the concept of bounded rationality, we analyse how some macrocultures that are favorable or the 'precondition' for the emergence of democracy and institutions develop, in particular property rights, that foster economic development. We analyze this for Bronze Age and Archaic Greece, as being the historical case where such a macroculture favorable to democracy and stable property rights first emerged. Our main findings indicate that during Mycenaean and Archaic age period, the emergence of various elements of macroculture, in warfare, religion, city-state environment and athletic games evolved into similar proto-democratic values leading to the establishment of democracy as a political phenomenon in Classical Greece.

A new research project in El Salvador is focused on the hitherto almost completely uninvestigated, significantly large archaeological site of Tapalshucut, Izalco, Department of Sonsonate. Probably dating to the  Middle and Late Preclassic Periods, it is also where, in 2002, the largest
deposit of stone monuments known thus far in El Salvador was discovered
accidentally by construction workers renovating and enlarging a school.
Intriguingly, LiDAR survey data obtained before beginning formal field work for planned multiyear investigations of the remains has revealed close
similarities to the physical plan of ancient structures at another large site in El Salvador, El Trapiche, one of several sites probably once part of one very large site at Chalchuapa, Department of Santa Ana. Based on this and other apparent links to other large sites nearby and further away as well as other preliminary information, we believe the Proyecto Comunitario Tapalshucut de El Salvador (PACTES) will obtain important new information about social and cultural transformations in Middle-to-Late Preclassic times in Western El Salvador, leading possibly to early state development. Guided by models of “social” or “community archaeology,” a central goal of the project is to work closely with the indigenous community of Izalco, acknowledging their primary cultural links to the remains.

The paper delivered by Raymond Westbrook offers us the occasion to discuss a very important issue, one that we have never discussed at these meetings as far as I can remember -and my recollection of the Symposia goes back to the first one, held in Rheda exactly thirty years ago. My first comment, therefore, is that we must thank Raymond Westbrook for giving us this opportunity. The issue at stake is the possible presence of Near Eastern borrowings in Greek political and legal institutions: in particular, as far as Westbrook's paper is concerned, in Homeric ones. Westbrook has given us a fascinating discussion of this issue. However, I am not convinced by his hypothesis, as I will explain. Before going into detail, I would like to make a general statement, in order to avoid any possible misunderstanding. I do believe in the possibility of Near Eastern influences on the Greek world. I do not think that the world started with Homer. Fuerunt ante Homerum poetae, as Cicero said (Brutus, 18, 71). The Greeks did not invent poetry, and they did not invent the law. Fuit ante graecos ius, we could say, paraphrasing Cicero. I am very willing to admit that the Greeks might be indebted to Near Eastern civilisation in this field as well. Let me add that I believe that even the Romans, the creators of a legal system still at the basis of much modern civil law, are indebted to Near Eastern legal systems. In other words, I do not reject the idea of the Near Eastern origins of Western (in our case Homeric) legal institutions, per se. Instead, I am concerned with problems of evidence related to the specific institutions examined in this paper, and with a couple of methodological problems that I will make clear, before going into specifics. Westbrook maintains that in order to understand the legal context of the story of Odysseus, we need a coherent legal and political background "which the Homeric poems themselves do not provide, with their fragmentary allusions". He suggests that the best available background is found in the ancient Near East. In my opinion, this raises two problems. First: do we agree with the idea that Homeric political and legal institutions can be reconstructed only if we put them in an exterior historical frame? Second: is the ancient Near Eastern legal system really the best system to use as a frame for the information in the Homeric epics? Let us start with the first problem: recourse to external sources. Of course, I do not dispute the importance of comparanda (Greek and non-Greek), when available. On the contrary, I believe that they are very important. Nonetheless I am not sure

Öz: MÖ 4. binyıl, Güney Mezopotamya kronolojisinde Uruk Dönemi'ni, Kuzey Mezopotamya kronolojisinde ise Geç Kalkolitik 2-5 evrelerini kapsamaktadır. Geç Kalkolitik Dönem boyunca Güney ve Kuzey Mezopotamya yerleşimleri, ekolojik şartlar ve sosyal ihtiyaçlar doğrultusunda ortaya çıkan, merkezinde tapınaklar veya anıtsal yapıların yer aldığı farklı ölçeklerde ve nitelikte karmaşık sosyo-ekonomik organizasyonlara sahne olmuştur. Bu alanlarda yürütülen arkeolojik çalışmalar, bahsi geçen yapıların temsil ettiği sistemin, uzun mesafeli ticaret, yeniden dağıtım, iş gücünün organize edilmesi vb. faaliyetler ile gündelik hayatı ve materyal kültürü şekillendirilmesinde önemli kurumlar olduğunu göstermektedir. Farklı niteliklere sahip bu yerleşimler ekseninde Mezopotamya ölçeğinde uzmanlaşma, merkezileşme, kentleşme, kültürlerarası etkileşim ve ticaret/değişim gibi kavramlar kapsamında çeşitli tartışmalar yürütülmektedir. Bunlardan biri Güney Mezopotamya kökenli bir kültür olan Uruk kültürünün, MÖ 4. binyılda Kuzey Mezopotamya ve İran'ın çeşitli bölgelerinde yer alan yerleşimlerde tespit edilmesiyle başlamıştır. Güneyli ve yerel toplulukların etkileşimlerini sistematik bir şekilde açıklamaya çalışan bilim insanları çeşitli modeller geliştirmişlerdir. Bu makale kapsamında bahsi geçen modellerden biri olan ve Algaze tarafından önerilen "Uruk Dünya Sistemi" incelenmiştir. Algaze'nin 1993 yılında yayınladığı "The Uruk World System. The Dynamics of Expansion of Early Mesopotamian Civilization" başlıklı çalışması birçok tartışmayı beraberinde getirmiş ve doksanlı yıllarda Kuzey Mezopotamya'nın farklı bölgelerindeki arkeolojik çalışmalarda elde edilen verilere dayanılarak sıklıkla eleştirilmiştir. Algaze, ilk dönem çalışmalarından sonra ortaya çıkartılan arkeolojik veriler ve yapılan bu
eleştiriler doğrultusunda modelinde güncellemeler yapmıştır. Bu sebeple makalede, yaklaşık 40 yıllık bir geçmişe sahip olan Algaze’nin çalışmaları, ilk ve son dönem çalışmaları olarak değerlendirilmiştir.

Автор дискутує з секретарем  Чернігівського обкому КПУ  Миколою Лебединцем про реалії буття «червоної області».  Як показують ці свідчення станом на початок 1995 р. комуністи  досить активізувалися та досягли значних успіхів  в  здобутті владних портфелів. Незважаючи на вражаюче зменшення за роки незалежності  в обласній організації на 70 тисяч членів КПУ,  більшість населення і далі  за інерцією прихильніше сприймала риторику лівих сил.

This study examines 135 tombs (ca. 350-550 CE) in Gyeongju and the surrounding areas in Korea to elucidate social differentiation among the elites of the Silla Kingdom. Previous research has highlighted a vertical social stratification among the elites, assuming a correlation between social status and luxurious burial goods. By analyzing prestige items, tomb sizes, and locations, this study reveals that burial datasets support both vertical and horizontal differentiation within the elite hierarchy. Before 350 CE, emergent state leaders were signified by wooden-coffin tombs with iron weapons. These assemblages of burial goods persisted, but after 350 CE, the burial data indicate the emergence of two additional, distinctive elite identities: the highest-ranking individuals, evidenced by tumuli in central locations with lavish status symbols; and the mounted warrior group, characterized by burial goods that are modest yet represent direct enforcement power over broader regions. Notably, this study reveals some flexibility in the selection of luxury items in the highest-ranking tombs, challenging previous claims of strict regulation by sumptuary laws. These findings illustrate the social differentiation among the Silla elite, who wielded varying levels of economic, military, and ideological power essential for effective governance over an expanding territory.

У статті комплексно переосмислено історичну долю сербських спільнот межиріччя Заале та Мульде у добі Людольфінгів-Оттонів. Розглянуто їхню роль у системі міжнародних відносин першої половини Х ст., визначено позицію в конфліктах Людольфінгів з угорцями, далеминцями-гломачами, гаволянами-стодоранами та Чеським князівством Пржемисловичів. На основі аналізу політичної ситуації у регіоні та запропонованої реконструкції епізодів співпраці полабських сербів з Генріхом Птахоловом спростовано поширений в історіографії стереотип про домінування у середовищі етнопотестарних утворень досліджуваного ареалу проугорської орієнтації.
Уточнено хронологію інтеграції межиріччя Заале та Мульде до Саксонського герцогства, запропоновано її періодизацію. Заперечено інтерпретацію військово-стратегічного освоєння Генріхом Птахоловом цих теренів у 921 му році в контексті наративу завоювання та поневолення слов’ян, наголошено на зумовленості відповідних заходів потребою оборони Саксонії від угорських набігів, а також необхідністю протидії коаліції Стодоранської династії та чеських Пржемисловичів. Підтримано тезу Е. О. Шульце про подальше збереження внутрішньої автономії сербських князівств у 20–40 х рр. Х ст. Виходячи з ідентифікації згаданих Відукіндом Корвейським agrarii milites зі слов’янськими витязями-ветеничами розкрито сербський контекст військової реформи Генріха І Птахолова, реконструйовано її соціальні наслідки, простежено вплив на інтеграційні процеси у довгостроковій перспективі.
Описано запровадження у межиріччі Заале та Мульде безпосереднього саксонського управління і створення тут церковної організації, охарактеризовано систему бурґвардів, оттонівську колонізацію та становище місцевого слов’янського населення. Розкрито особливості етнічної політики Оттонів на новоприєднаних землях Білої Сербії. Услід за К. Генкстом і Ґ. Е. Шраґе констатовано використання слов’янської мови в офіційній та приватній комунікації, визнання слов’янської правової традиції в судовій практиці, збереження первинного господарського та соціального укладу сербських громад, а також залучення політичної еліти полабських сербів до нових управлінських структур.

The vivid engravings on vertical rocks at the desert site of Nag el-Hamdulab west of the Nile comprise a rock art gallery of exceptional historical significance. The authors show that the images of boats with attendant prisoners, animals and the earliest representation of a pharaoh offer a window on Dynasty 0, and depict the moment that the religious procession of pre-Dynastic Egypt became the triumphant tour of a tax-collecting monarch.

Abstract: The medieval Laws on the Church for the Swedish province of Uppland were created about 1300. They are an important source on the history of Sweden and a celebrated monument in the history of the Swedish language. During the late Middle Ages these laws
were used not only in Uppland but also in other regions of the Swedish Realm. Text variations which are present in these manuscripts are interesting for language and history studies. Among the texts that deserve attention are two manuscripts which are present in Russia, in The Russian National Library (Saint Petersburg) and in The State Archives for old Acts
(Moscow). In the 19th century these manuscripts were studied by Carl Johan Schlyter, but afterwards these texts were not subject to scholarly investigation for a long time. My study of the manuscripts made it possible to reassess Schlyter’s conclusions concerning the manuscripts
in question. Schlyter maintains that the Chapter on the Church in Saint Petersburg manuscript is close to the so-called “Manuscript P” preserved in the city of Kalmar. I prove, however, that this text has a greater number of common features with the so-called texts “K”, “T” and “X”, than with “P”. regarding the Moscow manuscripts, Schlyter highlights the similarities with the so-called texts “O” and “Q”. I conclude, however, that there are
also significant common traits with two other texts – “P” and “R” – the fact which has not been mentioned by previous scholarship. The appendix contains a transcription of parts of the manuscripts which illustrates the tendencies mentioned in the article.

Many persons have contributed to this endeavor, to all o f whom I am supremely grateful. Gari Ledyard, my advisor at Columbia, and Hans Bielenstein trained me in the use o f historical sources and guided my initial forays into the early history o f China and northeast Asia. Knowing of my previous background in art history and the fine arts, Professor Ledyard encouraged me to take up the problem o f the Koguryo muraled tombs and saw me patiently through to the dissertation's completion. His thorough and insightful comments have improved the final product immeasurably. Support for my initial research in South Korea and Japan was provided by a dissertation grant from Fulbright-Hays and the Social Sciences Research Council. During my stay in Korea I enjoyed the generosity and assistance o f the late Kim Ki'ung, Research Institute for Cultural Properties, and Huang Yonghun o f Kyonghi University, President o f the Archaeological Association o f Korea. In Japan, Professor Toda Teisuke o f the University o f Tokyo graciously sponsored me during my tenure as a researcher at the Toyo bunka kenkyu jo. Above all, I wish to express special gratitude to my husband, Dan Stevenson. It was he who shaped my ideas through our day to day conversations on this topic, who reviewed and made suggestions on successive drafts, who came to my assistance when faced with knotty problems in Chinese historical sources or archaeological reports. His support has been above and beyond the call o f duty. Without him this dissertation, quite simply, would have never seen completion. iv R eproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.