This cartoon came to my attention on Facebook:

Some may be expecting me to make a point in favor of a particular political party. But my thought when seeing this was just how much the beliefs that some people have across the political and economic spectrums, about political and economic matters, are comparable to the kinds of religious beliefs that would get most people thinking “NUT.”

Paul Tillich focuses particular attention in his book The Dynamics of Faith on the way that “faith” in one's nation or political party becomes idolatrous, substituting in place of the truly ultimate something which is less than ultimate.

How close are the parallels to religion in the political and economic devotion of human beings (and Americans in particular, thinking of my own immediate context)? Do people turn only to particular news sources or types of sources, much as ancient Israelites sought prophets who said what they wanted to hear rather than what they needed to hear? Do people have a blind and irrational faith that if they choose the right president, jobs will be created, gas prices will fall, and other things outside of a president's control will nonetheless occur as a result?

It is a well-known fact that we quickly label views we disagree with as “nuts” but are rarely able to see how our own beliefs look from the perspective of others. Perhaps more of us need to publicly present our views, and listen closely enough to hear the judgment on our sanity which others pass as a result, and ask what we can learn from what they say (hopefully out loud, since in real life we do not have the benefit of cartoon thought bubbles).

I am not suggesting that all views are equally worthy of respect, nor even that the label “crazy” might not be apt on occasion. I am simply highlighting that everyone has views which seem completely ludicrous and insane to someone else. And unless we are open to receiving correction and constructive criticism, our chances of sidestepping actual craziness is that much smaller – as I emphasized here on this blog not that long ago.

Are there any beliefs which you hold that you know seem crazy to others? Why do you persist in holding them? What beliefs do others hold that seem crazy to you? Are you able to understand why they do not seem that way to them? And are labels related to lack of sanity used to frequently and inappropriately?

Pedro Paulo Funari, Airton Pollini (éd.), Mercato. Le Commerce dans les mondes grec et romain, Paris, 2012.

Éditeur : Les Belles Lettres
Collection : Signets Belles Lettres 19
XXVIII - 316 pages
ISBN : 978-2-251-03019-7
14,50 €

Précédé d'un entretien avec Jean Andreau

Ceci n'est pas un livre sur les footballeurs. Mercato, mot italien pour le marché, est utilisé en français en référence au « marché » des joueurs de foot et il n'est pas question ici de rapprocher ces transactions modernes au commerce des personnes dans l'Antiquité. Pourtant, l'on trouve de tout sur les étals des Anciens : des esclaves bien sûr, mais aussi des fruits, des légumes, des chevaux, des professeurs, des poètes, des petites filles et parfois des hommes d'affaires véreux. Au cœur de la cité grecque et de la ville romaine, l'agora grecque ou le forum romain ont aussi inspiré une réflexion économique, sociologique et philosophique, souvent différente de la nôtre.
Critiques, élogieux, ironiques voire sarcastiques, les plus de cent extraits de Mercato offrent un joyeux aperçu du marché antique sous toutes ses facettes, sociales, politiques, religieuses mais aussi pratiques et comiques. Évoquer l'économie antique, en percevoir l'altérité, c'est plonger dans la vie quotidienne des Anciens, mais également accroître notre esprit critique et acquérir un regard plus avisé sur le monde contemporain. Consommez intelligent et faites vos courses avec Aristophane, Cicéron et Platon !

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Peter Brown, Through the Eye of a Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the Making of Christianity in the West, 350-550 AD, Princeton (N. J.), 2012.

Éditeur : Princeton University Press
806 pages
ISBN : 9780691152905
$ 39.95

Jesus taught his followers that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Yet by the fall of Rome, the church was becoming rich beyond measure. Through the Eye of a Needle is a sweeping intellectual and social history of the vexing problem of wealth in Christianity in the waning days of the Roman Empire, written by the world's foremost scholar of late antiquity.
Peter Brown examines the rise of the church through the lens of money and the challenges it posed to an institution that espoused the virtue of poverty and called avarice the root of all evil. Drawing on the writings of major Christian thinkers such as Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome, Brown examines the controversies and changing attitudes toward money caused by the influx of new wealth into church coffers, and describes the spectacular acts of divestment by rich donors and their growing influence in an empire beset with crisis. He shows how the use of wealth for the care of the poor competed with older forms of philanthropy deeply rooted in the Roman world, and sheds light on the ordinary people who gave away their money in hopes of treasure in heaven.
Through the Eye of a Needle challenges the widely held notion that Christianity's growing wealth sapped Rome of its ability to resist the barbarian invasions, and offers a fresh perspective on the social history of the church in late antiquity.

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I caught a snatch of Any Questions yesterday; someone (I think it might have been Sally Bercow) was saying words to the effect of "transparency is always a good thing" -- presumably in the context of whether Prince Charles's letters to government ministers should be made public.

I am not sure what I think about that partcular teaser. My gut reaction is to think that even people in power ought to be able to write things to each other that aren't automatically made public. If they cant write it down for fear of disclosure, they'll do exactly the same business on the phone or over dinner and then no evidence will be left and no-one will ever know.

But what really struck me was how people get fixated on the "right to know", at the expense of much bigger and more important questions. If we are going to have a king -- then I guess I'm prepared to let him, when heir to the the throne, write to government ministers privately. I'd much rather that people got worked up about whether we should have a king at all, or at least whether the structures of the monarchy as now defined deliver to us what we want. Just knowing what he wrote doesn't make a blind bit of difference to that big issue. You'd never actually be able to pin any decision to his influence anyway.

I've fought for disclosure on all kinds of things, and information that the powers that be think we cant be trusted with. And just after the final Hillsborough revelations, it's probably a bad time to be writing this. But, unfashionable as it is to say, we do appear to have forgotten that sometimes not knowing things can actually be useful. Some things are usefully confidential.

It always strikes me at this time of year, when the uni applications for next year have come in. In days gone by (presumably back in the Dark Ages before the data-protection act), the school references for candidates were confidential, between the head and the university; the kids didnt get access to them. Now they are entirely open to both the applicant and their parents. And they are much less useful in the selection process, for obvious reasons.

I know all the good motves for the change (apart from the long arm of the data protection act). The relationship between pupil and school should be such that nothing that is said should come as a surprise to the applicant. If there are mistakes in the reference, then it is only right that the kid should be able to correct it. Etc etc. In fact, when I got my job aged almost 30, back in my old college, one of the first things I did was rummage through the old files and dig out my head teacher's reference.

Now I dont want to sound as if I don't value the hard work that teachers still put into writing these references, to be as helpful as they possibly can. But the truth is (as many teachers will tell you) that openness does put a curb on frank honesty. And when we are trying to get as rounded a picture of the candidate as we can (partly with all the well known issues of access in mind), the blander records-of-achievement style references that we now often have are much less useful.

Of course, in the old days, there were occasionally teachers who were biased for or against a candidate, or made a bad judgement of them ( I remember one teacher lambasting a girl for her lack of enthusiasm for team sports... it might have been a clever double bluff, but I dont think so). But we never treated these things as gospel truth anyway; they were however very useful as judgements, and we judged the judgements.

And however good the relationship is between school and pupil, there are things that might be usefully conveyed that would be useless and counterproductive for an anxious, or ambitious, or volatile eighteenyear old to read (still less their Mum and Dad). When I finally got to my reference among all the back files, I thought it was spot on, and it pinpointed things about me that would have been a useful guide to how I was likely to perform (or not) at interview. "She is the only child of elderly parents" said a very great deal about the 18 year-old Beard, but it wouldn't have done me any good to read at the time.

The same goes, so far as I'm converned, for medical records. There is nothing I want to see less than what my doctor has just written ("over anxious, borderline obese, drinks too much...?cancer"). What I do want from my doctor is that s/he'll have the time to talk to me, according to the necessarily changing agenda of what I want to know or what s/he thinks I need to know. I mean, what I want is dialogue, not a glimpse of some notes (whether written in the knowledge that I shall be looking at them or not).

My sneaking suspicion is that access to documents is what a bureaucracy gives us when its practitioners havent got the time to talk to us anymore. It can be a poor substitute.

Africa est une revue composée de trois séries. La première est consacrée aux études et aux recherches préhistoriques antiques et islamiques (Africa), la seconde aux études et aux recherches relatives au monde phénico-punique et aux antiquités libyques (Reppal), la troisième est consacrée aux études et aux recherches ethnographiques (C.A.T.P.).

Outre les études et la recherche scientifique, Africa publie tous les travaux d’inventaire, de sauvegarde, de mise en valeur et de présentation muséographique du patrimoine.

La revue accueille les contributions originales (articles, rapport de fouilles, notes ou compte rendus) en langue arabe, française, anglaise, italienne, espagnole ou allemande.

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[3&4] 
[5&6]
[7&8]
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[11&12]
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The success of every printed publication depends on how it is received by the readership. From this point of view the Irs-Heritage magazine, which was previously published under the name Irs, was a definite success. It has its own regular readers who value it highly and impatiently wait for the next issue. This question is often heard: To whom does the Irs-Heritage magazine belong? The answer is very simple and clear: It belongs to all - to all who strive to glorify their homeland far beyond its boundaries. Our aim is also simple: to acquaint our readers with the past and present, with the economical and cultural life of Azerbaijan and to transmit this heritage to future generations. In addition, the publishing of this magazine proved to be welcome because our compatriots living outside Azerbaijan have for a long time felt that there is a shortage of publications meeting modern requirements. We would like them to have close connections with their homeland and be able to represent it properly abroad. That is why the meeting between You, Dear Readers, and the magazine is not an accident but a necessity.

It seems that the day is not far away, when the cherished dream of Azerbaijanis about all Azerbaijani diaspora organisations coming together for a common good will be realised. The fact that scientists, leaders of different communities and representatives of the intelligentsia of different faiths are represented on the editorial board again gives hope that this dream will be realised.

We hope that the activities of the Irs-Heritage magazine will become a fertile ground on which this dream will grow and become a reality. Everyone who believes in the future of Azerbaijan and who makes efforts to strengthen its statehood may confidently call Irs-Heritage their magazine, irrespective of if they live in Azerbaijan or abroad. We invite everyone to collaborate and hope that this will be interesting for You.

Archive

№ 1, 2010 From Imperial Province to Parliamentary Republic The Recognition of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan at the Versailles Peace Conference – An Important Victory for Azerbaijani Diplomacy The Army – Ensuring the Protection of the People The One Without Equal The Role of Azerbaijan in the Victory over Fascism ABOUT THE TOPONYM AZERBAIJAN They are waiting for us Karabagh - the Soul of Azerbaijan Lahij An Azerbaijani Historic Cultural Reserve The happiness of introducing Azerbaijan… The guest – a sacred person A Swallow of Tea but only in an Armudu…	№ 2, 2010 “Irs-Heritage” is the journal of every Azerbaijani who loves and values his country 1920 April coup, decline of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic The national flag of Azerbaijan Republic Genious Composer History and Law: In Quest of Truth in the Documents of the League of Nations Bridges of Khudaferin Ashabi-Kahf and its Historic Roots Natural monuments of Azerbaijan Enchanting sounds of Balaban Wedding customs in Azerbaijan Let’s make tea in samovar
№ 3, 2010 Our goal is to make Azerbaijan known beyond its boundaries Certain touches to the Karabakh annexation policy Causes and consequences of 20 January 1990 developments “This was a bloodbath. I haven’t seen anything more horrifying in my life” They must not remain unpunished Karabakh Mugham School Medieval Azerbaijani Architecture Melody from the depth of centuries The drama of the Hajinski house Khinalig – a relic of Azerbaijan’s ethnic history Azerbaijani grapes: Past and Present	№ 4, 2011 Let’s explore Azerbaijan together Karabakh in the Middle Ages Signature of the centurion Erivan city of Western Azerbaijan Art Nouveau architecture in Baku March 1918: Azerbaijan without Azerbaijanis Deportation of Azerbaijanis from Armenia Carpet-weaving genius Millenary New Day Heralding people’s joy and victories Medicine In ancient and medieval Azerbaijan Naftalan – a magical gift of nature
№ 5, 2011 Come and see our diversity! Karabakh in the Middle Ages Karabakh’s cult architecture Closer look at ancient history Azerbaijanis in France: history of political emigration Azerbaijani sage from Samarkand Azerbaijan’s ethnic minorities Azerbaijan – land of music festivals Gavaldash Rediscovering Azerbaijani art Baku embankment Azerbaijan’s resorts	№ 6, 2011 Our independence is eternal 20 years of independence: achievements, problems, prospects Kars conference: Known and unknown facts Karabakh as independent khanate (1747–1805) Karabakh cuisine Stone plastic art of Western Azerbaijan First monument of Azerbaijani miniature A musical instrument of global sounding Beauty captured in the threads Great romantic of Azerbaijani painting
№ 7, 2011 Karabakh as independent khanate (1747–1805) Town wiped off the map Karabakh cuisine Masterpiece of the Renaissance – the Azerbaijani carpe Is the essence of faith Tolerance Saz – indispensable instrument of Azerbaijani ashugs Jews in Azerbaijan Azerbaijan at a closer look	№ 8, 2012 Craftsmen’s quarter in ancient Baku (rabad) – analogy of Black City (outer city) From Black City to Baku White City How Karabakh Khanate Was Joined to the Russian Empire: Historical Myths and Realities Karabakh healers The ancient stamp of Azerbaijan The most melodious of instruments – kamancha The nizami of azerbaijan and the world Proverbs Novruz cuisine Momina Khatun and Gudi Khatun Mausoleums in Nakhchivan

Syria, qui paraît depuis 1920 sans interruption, est publiée par l’Institut Français du Proche-Orient, en une seule livraison annuelle. La revue se consacre à l’histoire et l’archéologie du Proche-Orient sémitique (y compris Chypre) de la préhistoire à la conquête islamique. Elle publie des articles dans toutes les disciplines de ce champ de recherche, archéologie, épigraphie, philologie, histoire, histoire de l’art ; ces articles peuvent être quelquefois regroupés en dossiers thématiques, mais le plus souvent chaque volume tente de donner, à travers 12 à 18 articles, un panorama varié de la recherche au Proche-Orient ancien. Les langues employées sont le français, l’anglais, l’allemand, l’italien et l’espagnol. Tous les articles sont précédés d’un résumé en français, en anglais et en arabe. La revue publie aussi à l’occasion de courtes notes d’actualité, et consacre dans chaque numéro un épais cahier aux recensions d’ouvrages parus sur le Proche-Orient ancien.

Open Access Article- John Dee, King Arthur, and the Conquest of the Arctic

http://www.mun.ca/mst/heroicage/issues/15/toc.php

• Oetzi and Gok4, the "farmers" seem to lack the Amerindian component
• Ajv52, and Ajv70, the northern hunter-gatherers seem to possess it
• Bra1, the Mesolithic Iberian seems to lack it as well

History of the Ancient World: The Roman Family in the Annals of Tacitus: A Consideration of the Family of the Annals and Its Objective Validity.

Laudator Temporis Acti: Cambridge Lectures in Classics.

A new series of calibrated radiocarbon measurements from Japan’s Lake Suigetsu will give scientists a more accurate benchmark for dating materials, especially for older objects, according to a research team that included Oxford University’s Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit.

Teams have been working for over a decade on the small lake extracting cores of beautifully preserved layers of sediment, containing organic material (such as tree leaf and twig fossils), from the bottom of the lake where they had lain undisturbed for tens of thousands of years.

A more precise method of dating

As an article in the journal Science explains, the findings are hugely significant because they provide a much more precise way to examine radiocarbon ages of organic material for the entire 11,000-53,000 year time range which will facilitate one of the world’s most accurate methods of carbon dating, providing scientists with a clear and precise window into the Earth’s past.

For example, archaeologists should now be able to pinpoint more accurately the timings for the extinction of Neanderthals or the spread of modern humans into Europe.

At the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Professor Christopher Ramsey with his doctoral student Richard Staff and chemist Dr Fiona Brock worked with two other radiocarbon laboratories (the NERC facility at East Kilbride, Scotland, and Groningen in the Netherlands) on the radiocarbon record from the lake. This research is part of a large international research team, led by Professor Takeshi Nakagawa of Newcastle University, studying the cores for clues about past climate and environmental change.

Leaf fossils for 50,000 years

Radiocarbon is continuously produced in the upper atmosphere. These roughly constant levels of radiocarbon from the atmosphere are then incorporated into all living organisms. Once the organisms die, the radioactive isotope decays at a known rate, so by measuring the radiocarbon levels remaining in samples today scientists can work out how old things are. However, the complication in the calculation is that the initial amounts of radiocarbon in the environment, which are in turn incorporated into growing organisms, vary slightly from year to year and between different parts of the global carbon cycle.

The radiocarbon in the leaf fossils preserved in the sediment of Lake Suigetsu comes directly from the atmosphere and, as such, is not affected by the processes that can slightly change the radiocarbon levels found in marine sediments or cave formations. Before the publication of this new research, the longest and most important radiocarbon dating records came from such marine sediments or cave formations, but these needed to be corrected. At last, the cores from Lake Suigetsu provide a more complete, direct record of radiocarbon from the atmosphere without the need for further correction.

The cores are unique: they display layers in the sediment for each year, giving scientists the means of counting back the years. These counts are compared with over 800 radiocarbon dates from the preserved fossil leaves. The only other direct record of atmospheric carbon comes from tree rings, but this only goes back to 12,593 years ago. The Lake Suigetsu record extends much further to 52,800 years ago, increasing the direct radiocarbon record by more than 40,000 years.

The new method enables scientists to determine the age of events around the globe within a range of about 340 years.

“In most cases the radiocarbon levels deduced from marine and other records have not been too far wrong. However, having a truly terrestrial record gives us better resolution and confidence in radiocarbon dating,” said Professor Ramsey.

“It also allows us to look at the differences between the atmosphere and oceans, and study the implications for our understanding of the marine environment as part of the global carbon cycle.”

Small shifts in chronology

To construct a radiocarbon record from Lake Suigetsu, Professor Ramsey and his colleagues measured radiocarbon from terrestrial plant fragments spaced throughout the core. The research team also counted the light and dark layers throughout the glacial period to place the radiocarbon measurements in time. Many of the layers were too fine to be distinguished by the naked eye, so the researchers used a microscope, as well as a method called X-ray fluorescence that identifies chemical changes along the core.

A record of year-to-year changes in radiocarbon levels in the atmosphere, such as those found in a sediment core, must be ‘anchored’ in time by assigning some part of it an absolute age. The researchers did this by matching the first 12,200 years of their record with the tree-ring data, a well-established record that begins in the present. Ramsey and colleagues also lined up segments of their data with those of other records from the same time periods and found that they generally aligned.

“This record will not result in major revisions of dates. But, for example in prehistoric archaeology, there will be small shifts in chronology in the order of hundreds of years,” said Professor Ramsey.

“Such changes can be very significant when you are trying to examine human responses to climate that are often dated by other methods, such as through layer counting from the Greenland ice cores.  For the first time we have a more accurate calibrated time-scale, which will allow us to answer questions in archaeology that we have not had the resolution to address before.”

Generally, researchers use a composite record called IntCal to determine the ages of objects, based on their radiocarbon measurements. The IntCal record uses data from multiple sources, including marine records, stalagmites and stalactites, and tree rings. It is expected that the Suigetsu data will be incorporated into the latest iteration of IntCal, which is due to be released within the next few months.

Source: University of Oxford

More Information

• Full study in Science magazine (pay view)
• Hiroyuki Kitagawa, Johannes van der Plicht, 1998, A 40,000-year varve chronology from Lake Suigetsu, Japan; extension of the (super 14) C calibration curve., Radiocarbon – University of Arizona Vol 40, 1998
• Lake Suigetsu 2006 Varved Sediment Core
• Radiocarbon Web-Info
• CALIB 14C Calibration Program

For Archaeology News – Archaeology Research – Archaeology Press Releases

The University of Cincinnati just came out with some items to fill your travel time; details:

• AIA-Cincinnati Society Launches Podcasts in Time for National Archaeology Day

Interesting (if somewhat basic) article on the Sibyls in Roman religion … with a nice explanation at the end how Christianity dealt with some of their prophecies:

• Christians saw ancient female oracles as divine (Deseret News)