Chronological Proximity Research Articles

The shaping of social and symbolic capital during the transition to farming in the Western Mediterranean: Archaeological network analyses of pottery decorations and personal ornaments.

Storing information and circulating it between individuals and groups is a critical behaviour that signals a tipping point in our evolutionary history. Such practices enabled the preservation and consolidation of knowledge over extended periods, facilitating the accumulation of cultural innovations across generations. In this study, we used Social Network Analysis methods to explore how knowledge circulated during the transition to agriculture in the Western Mediterranean region. Previous studies have shown that specific elements of the material culture reveal distinct patterns of cultural interaction among early farming communities. Here, we investigated if two archaeological proxies, personal ornaments and pottery decorations, both with an exclusively symbolic function, reveal different network structures, and if the different degree of connexions acted equally on the transmission of styles, symbols, and network changes over time. Our results relied on cultural data recorded from 77 archaeological occupations covering Italy, France, and Spain, spanning over 1,500 years (ca. 7950~6450 cal BP). By utilizing a chronological dataset comprising 114 radiocarbon dates, we revealed that pottery decorative techniques networks exhibited stronger connexions over space and time, with nodes organized in clear cluster, when compared to personal ornaments networks. The findings highlight the regionalization and fragmentation of cultural networks during the Early Neolithic, and that the transmission of cultural traits within each category of artefact operated through varying cultural and social mechanisms. Pottery expressed a dynamic regional identity, continuously shaped by geographical and chronological proximity, while bead-type associations contributed to enduring identities shared across vast geographical scales. These networks shed light on the multifaceted shaping of social and symbolic capital among the Mediterranean's early farmers, emphasizing the strength and quality of social ties that existed between communities and the level of reciprocity and cooperation required to foster these diverse social, economic, and cultural development strategies.

Погребения девочек-принцесс в раннесредневековом Китае

The article addresses materials found in two burials of representatives of the ruling clans of the early medieval states in China. The first one is the tomb of the Rouran princess Yujiului Chidilian (550) — the granddaughter of the Rouran Khagan Anagui and the wife of Gao Dan (a member of the aristocratic family of the Northern and Eastern Wei period, whose representatives founded their own Northern Qi dynasty). The second is the tomb of Li Jingxun (608) — the granddaughter of the penultimate emperor of Northern Zhou and the great-granddaughter of the first emperor of Sui. The authors provide characteristics of the design features and accompanying grave goods of the burial complexes. Despite the cultural and chronological proximity of two complexes, the commonality of age and gender characteristics and the social status of the buried, there are more differences than similarities in the burial rite of the complexes under consideration: during the 2nd half of 6th — early 7th centuries the material and spiritual culture of the northern regions of China underwent significant transformation, which is reflected in the materials of these tombs.

Overlapping Origins, Diverging Paths

Although public historians and public intellectuals were present in the United States long before the 1970s and 80s, in those decades these terms emerged as focal points for intensified debates about the roles to which they pointed. Those debates shared more than chronological proximity; they had common questions and concerns. As The Public Historian marks its forty-fifth year, comparing discussions about public historians to those about public intellectuals casts new light on a question posed at the outset and present since: what is public history? This comparison highlights the development of public history as a process—rather than the public historian as a role or public history as a product—and locates it in a broader reconfiguration of academic authority in the public sphere over the last fifty years, which included “public intellectuals” and movements for public sociology, public philosophy, and public humanities. Whereas the authoritative voice remained central to the role of the public intellectual, the process of public history was the ground for a shift to shared authority. Developments in theory and practice in the field of public history therefore resonate beyond it: they constitute one of the richest bodies of work grappling with the always-contested place of experts, professionals, and intellectuals in American democracy.

"Bagatellen von - Beethoven?"

Beethoven's contemporaries perceived the association of "the celebrated hero in music" with the trivial piano genre of the bagatelle as a paradox. Subsequent generations felt even more provoked by the chronological proximity of Beethoven's Bagatelles opp. 119 and 126 with the enigmatic late chamber music works. This article proproses a new and broader perspective on the Bagatelles beyond the "purely musical" by focusing on genre conventions (brevity and stylistic variety) as well as compositional context and intentions (pedagogy and the formation of good taste), against the background of their precarious aesthetic evaluation. This attention to context automatically highlights a practice which accounted for the majority of piano compositions published in the early decades of the nineteenth century, but which today can be reconstructed only rudimentarily.

Modern jewelry art of Kazan: jewelry models of architectural monuments

The subject of this research is the modern history of development of Kazan jewelry art. The article explores the development of Kazan jewelry art in the 2000s; the creation of remarkable jewelry artworks as the models of famous architectural monument and their authors. The research material contains the iconographic sources – unique images of the jewelry art patterns, as well as testimonies of the eyewitnesses – the jewelry artists. One of the authors is the direct participant and co-author of the jewelry works under review Thus, the article employs the method of overt observation, interviewing, and source analysis. The scientific novelty is first and foremost defined by the chronological proximity of the studied period. The article introduces the previously unpublished images of the jewelry artworks under consideration, as well as the new facts on the revival of jewelry art in Kazan of post-Soviet period. Analysis is conducted on the sources of the revival of Kazan jewelry art and the peculiarities of jewelry works. The article also unveils the plotlines of the jewelry works and history behind them. The conclusion is made that the revival of jewelry art in Kazan, which was partially lost in the Soviet period, has begun only in the late 1990s – early 2000s. After the removal of a number of legislative restrictions, the jewelers were given the opportunity to experiment and create the true works of art.

On the dating of the three-parted temples of Anakopia and Nizhne-Arkhyz fortified settlement

The article is devoted to the architectural features comparative analysis of the medieval temples of Simon the Canaanite in New Athos (Abkhazia) and North Zelenchuksky in Karachay-Cherkessia (Russian Federation) in the context of three-porch temples, the study of prototypes of their architectural forms, and a description of the building solutions analysis results of the temples based on the X-ray phase method. This method is applied to the named temples’ research for the first time. The scientific novelty of the article is due to the fact that a comprehensive study of the planning, volumetric-spatial solution and building material of the temples of Simon the Canaanite and Severny Zelenchuksky, based on the results of physical and chemical analysis, allows us to confirm their dating to the 10th century and establish the chronological proximity of the two monuments.

Dental characteristics of the Scythian time population of the Forest-Steppe Altai

Materials from the analysed sites of the Staroaleyka and Kamen Cultures in the Forest-Steppe Altai (South-ern Siberia) are dated to the 6th–2nd c. BC. The aim of this study is to introduce the dental data for the Staroaleyka and Kamen Cultures into scientific discourse, to identify and analyse intergroup variability within both communi-ties, their origin and genesis, and the direction of their relations with the Bronze and Early Iron Age populations. Materials of the Staroaleyka Culture are represented by a series from three burial grounds: Firsovo-14, Tu-zovskiye Bugry and Obskiye Plesy 2, dated to the 6th–5th c. BC. The Kamen Culture series from the Forest-Steppe Altai has been collected from six burial grounds: Rogozikha-1 (6th–4th c. BC), Obyezdnoye-1 (5th–4th c. BC), Kamen-2 and Kirillovka-3 (5th–3rd c. BC), Novotroitskoye 1 and 2 (5th–3rd c. BC), Maslyakha-1 (3rd–2nd c. BC). In total, 402 individuals were examined using the Odontological program. The analysed craniological series are stored in the TSU (Tomsk) Cabinet of Anthropology and the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography of Altai of AltSU (Barnaul). As comparative data, published Bronze and Early Iron Age series from Western, Southern and south of Eastern Siberia, southern Trans-Urals, Aral Sea Region, Central and Western Kazakhstan were used. Study methods: 25 odontoscopic and odontoglyphic features were recorded. Ten key characteristics, which have comparative data in literature, were discussed. The evaluation of the traits and their further analysis were carried out according to the methodology of A.A. Zubov. The construction of circular polygons and calculation of the av-erage taxonomic distances were carried out in the GROUP COMPARISON program (author — Olga M. Leybova), designed for processing of dental data. Intergroup variability was assessed through correspondence analysis in the STATISTICA 8 software. For the first time, dental data for the Staroaleyka Culture population have been re-ceived, and data for Kamen Culture has been significantly extended. Despite the territorial and chronological proximity of the Staroaleyka Culture series, it has been established that they belong to two different odontological variants. Odontological data does not exclude the presence of the «Ural» component in their morphological com-plex. The analysed samples of the Kamen Culture, with the exception of those from Rogoziha-1, appear to repre-sent the Western odontological branch with different proportions of the eastern component in the series. In the morphocomplexes of the groups from the Obyezdnoye-1 and Kamen-2 burials, traits of an undifferentiated gracile type have been identified. The burial complexes of Novotroitskoye 1 and 2 and Maslyakha-1 were left by anthro-pologically uniform population representing a maturized odontological variant. Similarly to the craniological data, a fairly wide range of contacts has been established for the population of the Kamen Culture, including the early nomads of the Southern Urals, Western Kazakhstan, south-western and eastern Aral Sea region on the one hand, and Tuva and the Minusinsk Basin on another. Unlike craniological studies, odontological data does not suggest any proximity to the synchronous Pazyryk population of the Altai Mountains. Significant differences have also been revealed with the Kamen Culture population of the Ob River region near Novosibirsk.

Mężczyzna między matriarchatem i sadyzmem

The Polish culture suggests to the men two stances: subjugation to the (real or imaginary) female power or, to the contrary, aggressive elimination of “femineity.” The article analyzes these stances as presented in certain works of fiction and their worlds. Femineity is eliminated under the model of homosocial sadism, which must be distinguished both from the traditional patriarchy and from – denied or sublimed – homosexuality. The issue is first discussed based on Wzgórze psów by Jakub Żulczyk; then it is tracked back to the works displaying similar psychosocial structures, even though they may not obviously belong to the same historical literary community (despite their chronological proximity). These works are: Zwał by Sławomir Shuty, Ciało obce by Rafał Ziemkiewicz, White Raven by Andrzej Stasiuk, Morfina by Szczepan Twardoch and His Current Woman by Jerzy Pilich. The theoretical tools applied come from politicized versions of the late psychoanalysis and schizoanalysis (along the Lacan – Deleuze – Theweleit line).

Новий погляд на виникнення філософії у Греції та Індії. Seaford, R. (2020). The Origins of Philosophy in Ancient Greece and Ancient India. A Historical Comparison. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

The article provides a brief description of the main theses of Richard Seaford's new book. I criticize some of these theses. In particular, there are doubts that the common characteristics and chronological proximity of the origin of philosophy in ancient Greece and India can be explained by the common process of growth of money circulation in these cultures. I argue that Seaford de facto uses monetization as a metaphysical category. It is very similar to the Marxist use of the concept of labor. To my mind, the interiorization and the cosmic projection are the main processes of transition between real human actions and their metaphysical perception. The universalization of these processes gives them an ability to transform any phenomena of the external world into mental ones and vice versa, which makes Seaford's arguments excessively reductionist. Another weakness of Seford's book is the fact that Greek and Indian philosophies are considered in a too general way, in the style of a textbook rather than a research work.

The Safety of Hip Arthroscopy within 3 Months of an Intra-Articular Injection.

Ultrasound-guided intra-articular hip injections have become a mainstay in the diagnosis and treatment of various hip disorders. Concern arises with regard to the chronological proximity of an injection to subsequent arthroscopy. Thus, the purpose of this study was to report the risk of postoperative infections among patients who have undergone an intra-articular corticosteroid injection within 3 months of hip arthroscopy. In-office, ultrasound-guided, intra-articular hip injections were first performed at this center in 2011. Corticosteroid is used for therapeutic purposes in the presence of painful hip conditions to reduce joint symptoms, either to allow for more effective supervised physical therapy or simply as a last line of nonoperative management. A retrospective review of patient records was performed, identifying all patients who had undergone arthroscopy and had received an intra-articular injection of corticosteroid at this institution within 3 months of the surgical procedure. Five hundred patients underwent an ultrasound-guided intra-articular injection of corticosteroid within 3 months of a hip arthroscopy. The mean age was 37.6 years (range, 14 to 74 years), with 112 male patients and 388 female patients. The mean time between the injection and the arthroscopy was 59 days (range, 15 to 92 days). There were no postoperative infections. When both the injection and the procedure are performed in a tertiary referral center, an ultrasound-guided intra-articular injection of corticosteroid within 3 months prior to arthroscopy, at a mean time of 59 days, resulted in no postoperative infections among 500 cases and can represent an acceptably low rate of complication. To our knowledge, this is the largest reported series on this subject. Therapeutic Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

De la crítica a la mística. Edith Stein y el neokantianismo de Marburgo

The chronological proximity of the Marburg neo-Kantian school and Edith Stein’s phenomenological philosophy, and - related to this - the existence of common philosophical problems allow us to approach the question of the relationship between Edith Stein and the Marburg neo-Kantian school not looking for similarities, but rather comparing the points of view of Edith Stein and Paul Natorp (the author chosen to represent this School) on the same problems.

Verdad divina y lenguaje humano

In this work the author presents the positive doctrine on the four principal problems which are intimately related with the theme "divine truth and human language". He uses a method which is both positive and speculative and follows the main documents of the Magisterium, especially those of Pope Paul VI, step by step. At the same time he outlines the internal reasoning which is the basis of the teaching of the Magisterium on this matter. In the first part which is entitled "our knowledge of revealed truth", the author answers the following question: how can we have objective knowledge, although in a limited form, of revealed truth which we receive in human terms and concepts? He highlights the need to have recourse to the analogy of being and of human cognition, and subsequently points out the step from the "analogia entis" to the "analogia fidei". The author shows clearly that not all philosophical frameworks are suitable receptacles for divine Revelation and that certain claims of "theological pluralism" are in the last analysis cases of pluralism in matters of faith. Foreseeing the possibility of timeworn accusations he analyzes the attitude of the Magisterium towards aristotelian philosophy, St Thomas' philosophy and towards philosophy in general. The second part, entitled "the truth of the infallible formulae of the Magisterium", establishes the classical distinction between the terms used by the Church and meaning which she has given to same. He recalls the need for christians to speak "juxta certam regulam loquendi" (St. Augustin). The conclusion is that the formulae of faith, with the meaning given to them by the Magisterium, are true and immutable, and are suitable for expressing the truth to all men in all times. He naturally analyzes the text of Pope John's discourse on the opening of the 2nd Vatican Council, on the bases of the authentic interpretation given by Paul VI and the declaration "Mysterium Ecclesiae". In the third part, entitled "the connexion between basis and form", he strives to solve the problems caused by the proponents of the structuralist theory who strip language of all objective meaning. The author distinguishes between structuralism as a method, pointing out its limits as a method, and the way structuralism is abused by some exegetes and historians of dogma. He makes brief reference to a related topic; that of the more correct translation of the words of St Vincent of Lerins, which have been frequently used by the Magisterium (sed in suo duntaxat genere, in eodem scilicet dogmate, eodem sensu, eademque sententia). In the fourth part he analyzes the theme "as close as possible to the truth revealed". He recalls the distinction between chronological proximity and cognitive proximity, which some authors ignore. He then shows how greater authenticity is not restricted to primitive texts of greater chronological proximity, but rather, given the charisma of inspiration, the homogeneous development of Dogma and the infallible assistance which the Magisterium enjoys, he shows how in fact the opposite in the case: the later expressions are as authentic as the earlier, and as well as that the later ones are more explicit and more complete gnoseologically.

Los foros de Conimbriga y de Aeminium: comparación y síntesis del estado de la cuestión

This paper presents the forums of the Roman cities of Conimbriga (Condeixa-a-Velha, Portugal) and Aeminium (Coimbra, Portugal), both of which date from the time of Augustus. The Aeminium forum was completely rebuilt in the time of Claudius/Nero, while the Conimbriga one was remodelled in the same period, before being demolished under the Flavians to make way for a completely new construction. This article offers a state-of-the-art comparison of the architectural models used in these two cities, based on the analysis and review of the available data, partly supplied by recent archaeological excavations. The geographic and chronological proximity of these two forums mean that it is of interest to compare their architectural design, which differ considerably in aspects such as volumetry, layout and the conceptual model used. The article discusses the proposals for the development of the Conimbriga forum and indicates an up-to-date bibliography for both public spaces, resulting, in the case of Aeminium, from a large-scale research and intervention project carried out in recent years.

Gender and the City: Schnitzler’s Vienna around 1900

At first glance, Arthur Schnitzler’s narratives Die Toten schweigen and Lieutenant Gustl seem to be rather different from each other, both with regard to their respective sujets and with regard to form. Die Toten schweigen relates the horrific end of an illicit affair between a married bourgeois woman and a young man from her social circles. Lieutenant Gustl opens a window onto the emotional turmoil that engulfs a young lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian army who fears that an insult he experienced has taken away his honor. The story of Die Toten schweigen is related to us by a third-person figural narrator who at various points utilizes both of the text’s main characters, Franz and Emma, as reflector figures.1 Lieutenant Gustl, by contrast, does away with the agency of a narrator and introduces to German-language literature the radically new concept of the Monolognovelle, a narrative presented in interior monologue, and entirely from the perspective of its central character.2 And yet, for all their differences, the two texts also share certain characteristics. They were published in fairly close chronological proximity to each other—in 1897 (Die Toten schweigen) and 1900 (Lieutenant Gustl), respectively. Moreover, both texts represent characters who move through the cityscape of Vienna while they live through personal crises. Thus, as Schnitzler allows his readers to access the inner lives of the characters at the centers of his stories, his narratives capture images of Vienna as a conflicted imperial city suspended between its past and the threshold of modernity.3 Most strikingly, though, the mapping of the topography of figural consciousness onto the chronotopography of Vienna4 makes plain that Schnitzler’s texts render the experience of urban spaces as distinctly marked by gender. On the following pages, then, I want to elucidate what I believe to be a particular kinship between Die Toten schweigen and Lieutenant Gustl, namely the representation of a gendered experience of the imperial city that was Vienna as the 19th century drew to a close.

Między Chrystusem a ziemskimi pożądliwościami. Historia przekładów i interpretacji oraz współczesna debata nad ewokacją ho emos eros estaurotai (Rom 7, 2) Ignacego Antiocheńskiego

Composed into the letter of Ignatius of Antioch to the Church of Rome, perhaps the most famous evocation – ho emos eros estaurotai – has a long tradition of interpretation, which being initiated by Origen and taking somewhat turbulent course reaches our times. Its manifestation is visible in the translations themselves, where already from the Latin rendering a significant diversity can be observed, and the wide range of interpretations is being reflected with its spread in the modern translations. Those of Greek Fathers who spoke after Origen essentially upheld the interpretation of the Alexandrian, seeing under eros – as he did – the Christ Himself. Finally they fastened so conceptualized eros in the spiritual theology and inscribed the Ignatius’ evocation into the liturgy of the Eastern Church for ages. However in the Western Church, it seems that the significant influence on the mod­ern interpretation of the Ignatius’ evocation – starting from the nineteenth century – had the ongoing in the background discussion on authenticity of the Antiocher’s letters. The time of extensive research, beyond the contribution to the determina­tion of the middle recension, from exacting blade of critics had adjudicated about fundamental error of Origen and the other Greek Fathers in the interpretation they adopted. The dominance of the newly discovered interpretation coincided with the adoption of middle recension and spreads to the present day. The resulting dis­sonance to the voice of the ancient Church born an undying question which – al­though with different intensity at different times – continues resounding. Could the Greek Fathers be so much wrong in taking the comment to the famous Ignatius’ evocation? How is it possible that those for whom the ancient Greek was the lan­guage of everyday life, and appropriate for the letters of Ignatius „Sitz im Leben” was the environment in which in the chronological proximity they grew up and lived, diverge from the actual socio-cultural and literary context from the inside of which Ignatius spoke? These and other questions have intrigued many scholars of the last century. It is, perhaps, their echo that outlines a certain circle being formed by modern translations and commentaries, running back to the beginning, to the first interpretations. This movement, presumably, shows unextinguished disagree­ment for leaving such a significant dissonance to the voice of the ancient Church. Perhaps it is also a hunch that in the content of the Ignatius’ words there is still something else, what more clearly saw the Fathers, and what in some sense re­mains hidden from modern researchers. By the same token, following the path of these assumptions, the undertaken analysis of the Syrian translation combined with the conclusions of the recent philological study on the Greek text put a question mark on the popular interpretation and allow to hypothesize in a way that is getting closer to the voice of Fathers again. It seems that the meaning of Ignatius’ evoca­tion could have been more positive than it is used to be frequently commented.

Saint-Illiers-la-Ville and the Micoquian of Weichselian sequences of the Paris Basin

The excavation at Saint-Illiers-la-Ville revealed an archaeological level which contained one Micoquian biface, of a kind known in the vicinity and across the Paris Basin since the 19th century beginning of Palaeolithic archaeology, and through the doctoral research of François Bordes. As the stratigraphy of these old collections appears similar to that of Saint-Illiers-la-Ville, this geographical and chronological proximity raises questions about the possible technical unity of these groups. In this view, the technical characteristics of Saint-Illiers-la-Ville industries are presented and compared in this paper with the old series of the Paris Basin, as well as with other series subsequently attributed to this Micoquian entity. It emerges that the Micoquian biface is not suitable to define a group because it constitutes one technical solution among others, present in various moments and places of prehistory. However, when inserted into its wide geographical, chronological and technical context, this type of biface is able to define a techno-cultural reality. Accordingly, it is suggested that the term Micoquian should be abandoned and that a new name be chosen to designate these industries of the beginning of the last glaciation in the Paris Basin.

Textual Corpora for the Analysis of Terminological Dependency: Challenges and Premises

The present paper aims to define and the main criteria which must be taken into account in order to build a textual corpus for the study of terminological dependency. After having completed a detailed analysis on the way Spanish depends on English to create neologisms in the field of Alzheimer Disease, (Sánchez Ibáñez, 2013), we propose a set of basic principles and strategies to keep both uniformity and asymmetry as opposite but yet complementary notions along the whole corpus building process, as a first step to keep track of this kind of linguistic subordination between languages. The thematic specificity, the chronological proximity or the genre of texts compiled have turned out to be very useful factors for our purposes. The conclusions we have drawn confirm that an accurate, bilingual corpus, built according to a set of well-defined parameters, is a valid starting point for the study of terminological dependency.

Vocabulary links between Shakespeare's plays as a guide to chronology: a reworking of Eliot Slater's tables

In a doctoral thesis (1981) and then a book (1988) on the authorship of Edward III, Eliot Slater included tables showing the numbers of rare words that each Shakespeare play shared with each of the others. Figures were presented for three categories of words: (a) those that occurred in at least 2 plays but not more than 6 times within the canon, (b) those that occurred from 7 to 10 times, and (c) the combined totals of these. It was obvious that there was a correlation between the number of words shared between plays and their degrees of chronological proximity. Slater's data were among kinds of internal evidence used by the editors of the Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works (1986) as aids to determining the order of the plays’ composition. However, in comparing actual frequencies of rare words shared between plays with frequencies expected had they been distributed on a purely random basis, Slater calculated the latter in a way that produced several misleading results. When expected figures are recalculated according to a mathematically appropriate formula, the true affinities between plays emerge with much greater clarity. Data for Shakespeare's poems have also been reworked, as have those for Edward III, which is shown (pace Slater) to be collaborative. However, this latter finding is peripheral to the main purpose of the present article, which is concerned with the order of composition of Shakespeare's works. The Oxford chronology is generally supported, but the new computations indicate the probable need for a few adjustments.

The Alethes Logos of Celsus and the Historicity of Christ

With the advent of the so-called New Atheism, attacks of all kinds on the truth-claims of Christianity have increased both in number and agitation, though frequently unfettered by evidence. I intend to address what would be the most damning claim of all, if it were true, namely that Jesus of Nazareth never existed and was convenient fiction contrived in second-century Gospels, characterized by Richard Carrier as mythic biography.1 These claims had been advanced by Bruno Bauer and Arthur Drews in the late nineteenth century, and roundly dismissed.2 The last gasp came in the 1970s from Ph.D. in German literature; swiftly, and to my mind convincingly, rebutted by R. T. France.3 The position was eulogized in 1977 by historian Michael Grant, who wrote: Modem critical methods fail to support the Christ-myth theory. It has again and again been answered and annihilated by first-rank scholars, apparently laying the matter to rest.4 However, current popular authors have unearthed the argument again,5 and it is now being advanced aggressively by those possessing scholarly credentials.6 Claims of mythical Christ immediately awaken range of quite reasonable questions. How does one account for the existence of the church in the first century?7 If Christ never existed, why were the leaders of the church, who would themselves have known the veracity of Christian truth-claims, willing to die for their belief in resurrected Christ?8 Why were the worshippers so insistent in their belief that Christ was divine and had physically appeared after his death?9 Many of these mythicist claims have been specifically addressed in recent works focusing on the evidence in the New Testament, so I should like to approach the issue from different angle.10 The claims of the mythicists are significantly deflated by works of early anti-Christian writers, particularly the hostile testimony to Christ's existence in the second-century author Celsus.CelsusBefore we examine Celsus' writings, let us address possible objection, namely that this source is dated. While it is common today to assume that the ancients were terribly unenlightened and unsophisticated, it is Celsus' very antiquity that gives the evidence such weight. He likely wrote in the 170s, when any second-century conspiracy would have been easily identified and deflated.11 These points would be made equally well by evidence from such similar authors as Porphyry of Tyre, one of the greatest pagan intellectuals of the late third century, Sossianus Hierocles, the governor of Bithynia, and the emperor Julian, philosopher in his own right who had the resources of the empire to hand.12 In short, they were all well-educated and wellplaced to address the matter of Christ's non-existence, that is, if it was viable argument to take up. However, given Celsus' chronological proximity to the supposed second-century conspiracy, I shall focus upon him.One does not have to share Celsus' Christology to think that his statements are worthy of serious engagement. We know little about his life, but the positive assessment of his abilities by scholars should give pause to those who would dismiss his evidence. Stephen Benko has described him as a man who relied not on rumors and hearsay evidence but on personal observation and careful study.13 Celsus attributed the falsehood of Christianity to the errors of origin, content, and transmission of the Christian scriptures.14 Celsus was broadly monotheistic, but believed different cultures manifested different expressions of divinity.15 Celsus' general approach consisted of his own appeal to return to traditional religion, as well as his taking on the persona of Jew chastising Christians for deviating from Judaism. His work Alethes Logos, or the True Word, described as a noble attempt to defend the traditional values of Rome,16 is preserved in large part in Origen of Alexandrias response c. 245 CE, Contra Celsum.17 Celsus' anti-Christian claims that relate to Christs historical existence break down into three areas which I will examine in turn: disreputable birth, low and ordinary life, and pointless death. …

Hominin dispersals from the Jaramillo subchron in central and south-western Europe: Untermassfeld (Germany) and Vallparadís (Spain)

This article reinforces the hypothesis that humans were well established in Europe by the time of the Jaramillo subchron (1.07–0.98 Ma). The lithic industry found in the Untermassfeld site demonstrates human occupation at 50° N in Europe. This evidence extends human occupation beyond the Mediterranean, as do other sites such as Kozarnika Cave (1.6–1.4 Ma), Pont de Lavaud (1.1 Ma), and Happisburgh 3 and Pakefield at the Matuyama–Bruhnes limit. Demonstrating the presence of humans at Untermassfeld has important implications regarding the human settlement of northern latitudes. Its stone tool assemblage shares the same open-air alluvial situation, chronological proximity, Epivillafranchian faunal association and Mode 1 technology as that of Vallparadís, which allows us to hypothesise that human groups with the same technology and acting as predators spread throughout the continent from the Jaramillo subchron onwards. These groups moved from already inhabited areas in the Mediterranean such as the Iberian Peninsula (the Trinchera Elefante-TE9 and Orce sites), and/or from the Near East along coastal routes around the Black Sea, along the Danube and/or along the Rhône-Saône-Rhine route (“Belfort Gap”) to the north-western coastline of Europe. The finds from Untermassfeld as well as the probably slightly more recent archaeological sites of Happisburgh 3 (England) and Dorn-Dürkheim 3 (Germany) suggest that landscapes in latitudes around 50° N were already part of the initial colonisation period of Europe in the late Early Pleistocene using Mode 1 technologies. The latter sites bridge the time period between Untermassfeld and the early Middle Pleistocene of mid-latitude Europe, as is indicated by Pakefield in Britain, and may indicate that north-western and central parts were at least intermittently recolonised from southern Europe after periods of full glaciation. This model is supported by the absence of early Mode 2 lithic industry in Europe in the second half of the Early Pleistocene which would have accompanied recolonising populations if the primary population source of Europe came from south-west Asia. Thus, the fact that Mode 1 lithic industry remains present during this period argues against the depopulation of Europe at this time.