Dark Ages Research Articles

Status of Women in Pre-Islamic Civilizations: Analytical Study of the Dark Ages -From the Ancient Greek to the Jahiliyah

Woman had no status and no rights in Pre-Islamic civilizations and religions. Before the advent of Islam, the women were no better than animals or chattels.They had no rights of earning livelihood, no rights of inheritance, and no rights of owning of property, no rights in marriage, dower or divorce, and even not tospeak of any politicalrights. They were treated like commercial goods, destined to be purchased and sold in open markets. In many regions of the world, theywere generally regarded as slaves or at the best as domestic servants whose chief duty was to serve the men and please them by satisfying their sexual appetite. The research paper in hand presents a brief study on the plight of woman in various leading civilizations and communities of the world, especially the Greek, the Roman, the Judaism, the Christianity, and the Jahiliyah.

SAINT LITERATURE IN CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT

Saint-Literature is a unique set of various thought-ranges of Indian thought. Self-realization and instinct, it was the dark age of ignorance, illiteracy and immorality for India and these poets belonged to the low level of the people of their era, yet the light of knowledge that they ignited is wonderful and unique. In this form, the usefulness of saint literature has been discussed in the contemporary context.

أديلارد الباثي

قصد الكثير من العلماء الأوروبيين الشرق خلال القرن الثاني عشر، وذلك رغبة في التعلم على أيدي العرب فضلاً عن ترجمة أعمالهم إلى اللاتينية. ومن بين أولئك المترجمين برزت شخصية المترجم اللاتيني أديلارد الباثي والذي يهدف البحث إلى دراسة أعماله الأصلية وتلك التي ترجمها من العربية إلى اللاتينية. تتتبع الدراسة رحلته العلمية بدءاً من مسقط رأسه مدينة باث الإنكليزية ثم فرنسا حيث درس، وأخيراً إلى الشرق حيث تعلم من العرب. كما يشير البحث إلى مستوى التعليم أثناء المرحلة التي تُعرف بالعصور المظلمة في أوروبا. علاوة على ذلك، يوضح البحث مدى تأثر أديلارد بالعرب من خلال استقراء أعماله التي أعدها قبل تعلمه في الشرق وتلك التي أعدها بعد ذلك. 
 استند البحث على مؤلفات أديلارد المُترجمة إلى الإنكليزية كمصدر أساسي إضافة إلى المراجع الثانوية الأخرى كالدوريات والأطروحات وغيرها. وبعد البحث والتقصي، يُلاحظ بأن الفكر العربي بدا واضحا في مؤلفات أديلارد حيث أشار إليهم عدة مرات كما أكد على أهمية المنهجية التي يتبعها العرب. وعلى ضوء ذلك، فقد ساهم أديلارد في تكوين نقطة تلاق بين الحضارة الإسلامية والنهضة الأوروبية، لذلك فإن إجراء المزيد من الدراسات حول شخصيته ستبرز مدى التفاعل بين الشرق والغرب من خلال المترجمين كأديلارد.

Late Holocene environmental evolution of Qilihai Lagoon, North China, based on a high-resolution multi-proxy sedimentary record

Lagoons are sensitive to the interaction between marine and terrestrial environments, and their evolution is also closely related to climate and sea level changes. Bohai Bay is a representative area of global change research in East Asia, due to its unique geographical location and shallow water environment. Here, we present the results of a study of pollen, algae, and grain-size of a late Holocene sediment core from Qilihai Lagoon in Bohai Bay, which is the largest lagoon in North China. The results show that the Qilihai Lagoon area experienced three stages of environmental change in 3,100–1,000 cal yr BP: during 3,100–1,800 cal yr BP the regional vegetation was broadleaved forest dominated by Quercus with a small amount of Pinus, indicating that the regional climate was warm and wet. The level of the Bohai Sea was high, and the sampling site was a shallow bay environment. During 1,800–1,400 cal yr BP, corresponding to the Dark Ages Cold Period (DACP), coniferous trees and grassland expanded. The sedimentary environment of the sampling area was greatly influenced by terrestrial sediment sources as the sea level fell and sandbars were exposed. We speculate that the modern Qilihai Lagoon formed at ∼ 1,800 cal yr BP. The lagoon shrank during the coldest interval of the DACP, and an extensive area of coastal wetland developed around the lagoon. During 1,400–1,000 cal yr BP the regional climate warmed, however, there was little change in the terrestrial vegetation. The lagoon became closed and the sedimentary environment was unstable due to the encroachment of coastal dunes driven. The coastal wetland began to decrease due to the expansion of the lagoon. Our study provides an important supplement for the environmental response research in the East Asian coastal areas, as well as other regions of the world.

Sarah C. Murray, The Collapse of the Mycenaean Economy. Imports, Trade and Institutions 1300–700 BCE.

This book derives from a PhD dissertation defended at Stanford University in 2013, added to by further research in following years. It treats a topic of considerable importance in any discussion of the degree of continuity between the civilisations of the Aegean Bronze Age and that of the early Greeks, which was becoming well established in the eighth century BC (all dates cited subsequently are BC), and the reality or otherwise of an intervening ‘dark age’.

Sing C. Chew, Ecology, Artificial Intelligence, and Virtual Reality: Life in the Digital Dark Ages

Sing C. Chew, <i>Ecology, Artificial Intelligence, and Virtual Reality: Life in the Digital Dark Ages</i>

Gamma‐Ray Radiation Stability of Mixed‐Cation Lead Mixed‐Halide Perovskite Single Crystals

AbstractOrganic–inorganic hybrid lead halide perovskites have shown extraordinary potentials in space photovoltaic technology and high‐energy‐rays detection but their practical application still faces the bottleneck of radiation‐induced instability. Specifically, gamma‐ray radiation hardness is a main concern due to the highest penetrability and difficulty in stopping of gamma‐photons. However, the gamma‐ray radiation stability of perovskites remains controversial. Herein, stability of mixed‐cation lead mixed‐halide FA0.95Cs0.05PbI2.7Br0.3 single crystals under 60Co gamma‐ray radiation of different doses is investigated by tracking the evolution of structural, optical, and photophysical properties. Importantly, they show excellent stability to humidity and heat, eliminating the potential influence of moisture and temperature upon evaluating their gamma‐ray radiation stability. FA0.95Cs0.05PbI2.7Br0.3 single crystals are found stable with an accumulated dose lower than 200 krad and the performance of the irradiated perovskite photodetector could almost completely self‐heal after aging in dark. Perovskite decomposition occurs when the radiation dose is increased to 400 krad or even higher. These phenomena are explained by the synergistic effect between defects generation and lattice reparation caused by ion redistribution during gamma‐ray radiation. These results provide guidance for their practical application in space photovoltaic technology and gamma‐ray detectors.

CONTRIBUTION OF ISLAM IN THE WORLD (Case Study of Islamic Education Transmission)

Talking about the civilization of western, of course, it cannot be separated from the old history of Islam and the peak of its civilization. Before the power of science raised the spirits of western people who gave birth to the renaissance, Islam had experienced its golden age, while Europe was confined by the dark age. It reads a terrible condition, which Islam is busy with scientific studies so that it gives a civilization that has a very high value, unlike the western which closes rationality and relies on mystical. The spirit of moderation, liberation, and tolerance built by muslims, made westerners who chose to leave the old age free from pressure to make intellectual contact with muslim scholars. It is noted that they helped Islam a lot in translating Greek books into Arabic and translated by westerners into Latin. If you look closely, there is a common thread to connect these two different Qiblas. Muslims who reached the peak of glory in the Middle Ages, of course there was “interference” from other nations, such as the western. On the other hand, advanced western nations cannot be separated from the great contribution—consciously or unconsciously—by muslims in the past. Therefore, it is deemed necessary to recall Islam and its great contribution to the western world through Islamic education.

Women’s Voices and Patriarchal Hegemony of the Edo Period in Shinju Tenno Amijima (1720)

The Edo Period (1603-1868), known as the feudal era, lasted for nearly three centuries in Japan. Confucian teachings applied in all sectors of life had a great influence on the expansion of the patriarchal system in Japanese society at this time. Under the strict control of the Tokugawa shogunate government, the implementation of social class stratification was firmly established, including in the hierarchical relationship between men and women. The period of peace that occurred throughout the Edo period had contributed to a conducive situation for the rapid development of Japanese culture. Male artists were very dominant in the development of Japanese culture, and they were centred in big cities during this period. On the other hand, this era had become a dark age for women who did not get the opportunity to speak and create as men did. The female figures of the Edo period were presented in the works of male writers. This study focuses on examining women’s voices in the works of these male writers in the period. After exploring research on this period’s literary works, we found that these studies have various focuses related to the disclosure of women during the period, starting from the representation of women, their relationship with a male and other female characters, to their roles and positions. This research will contribute to discussions on gender, history, and literature, as well as on the way women's voices in this work serve a purpose in supporting the patriarchal hegemony that occurred in the period. We aim to reveal women’s voices in a male writer's play Shinju Tenno Amijima (1720) by Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725) through a feminist critique approach. To explain women's voice and patriarchal hegemony, we apply the concepts of silence from Olsen (2003) and hegemony from Antonio Gramsci. The results of this study indicate that women’s voices raised in this play are the ones who support men's interests and are subject to patriarchal values. This play consistently displays the exclusion of women's voices of opposition and defiance. This work also shows its existence as a locus for the dominant values emphasized for women in the Edo period.

Shedding light on the Sudanese Dark Ages: Geophysical research at Old Dongola, a city-state of the Funj period (16th-19th centuries).

The article presents the results of magnetic and ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) research carried out in Old Dongola in northern Sudan in 2018 and 2020, within the framework of a project designed to investigate the transition from Christianity to Islam taking place in the capital of the Nubian kingdom of Makuria. The integrated datasets from the application of two geophysical methods, of which one is the standard magnetic method used on sites in the Nile Valley and the other ground‐penetrating radar, enhanced the archaeological interpretation, focused in this case on a reconstruction of the urban layout of the 16th–18th‐century Funj settlement within the walls of the Dongola Citadel. The magnetic method, the effectiveness of which has gone unquestioned with regard to the study of silt architecture in the Nile valley, was successful in mapping the general outline of the settlement on the Citadel hill and in the quarter north of the walls. The GPR survey (450‐MHz antenna) provided a much more detailed image of the street grid and was much more effective than the magnetic method in tracing the course of mud‐brick walls in a sandy matrix containing baked brick rubble. Verification of the geophysical results through the excavation of selected parts of the Citadel not only satisfied the objectives of the archaeological project, which was to establish the overall street and building layout in the research area, but also confirmed the effectiveness of the two prospection methods applied in combination and the potential of integrated research with the use of the GPR and magnetic methods for the study of mud‐brick and baked brick architecture on settlement sites in Sudan.

Probing leptogenesis and pre-BBN universe with gravitational waves spectral shapes

On the frequency-amplitude plane, Gravitational Waves (GWs) from cosmic strings show a flat plateau at higher frequencies due to the string loop dynamics in standard radiation dominated post-inflationary epoch. The spectrum may show an abrupt upward or a downward trend beyond a turning point frequency f*, if the primordial dark age prior to the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN), exhibits non-standard cosmic histories. We argue that such a spectral break followed by a rising GW amplitude which is a consequence of a post-inflationary equation of state (ω > 1/3) stiffer than the radiation (ω = 1/3), could also be a strong hint of a leptogenesis in the seesaw model of neutrino masses. Dynamical generation of the right handed (RH) neutrino masses by a gauged U(1) symmetry breaking leads to the formation of a network of cosmic strings which emits stochastic GWs. A gravitational interaction of the lepton current by an operator of the form ∂μRjμ — which can be generated in the seesaw model at the two-loop level through RH neutrino mediation, naturally seeks a stiffer equation of state to efficiently produce baryon asymmetry proportional to 1 − 3ω. We discuss how GWs with reasonably strong amplitudes complemented by a neutrino-less double beta decay signal could probe the onset of the most recent radiation domination and lightest RH neutrino mass at the intermediate scales.

Influences of accreting primordial black holes on the global 21 cm signal in the dark ages

ABSTRACT Baryonic matter can be accreted on to primordial back holes (PBHs) formed in the early Universe. The radiation from accreting PBHs is capable of altering the evolution of the intergalactic medium (IGM), leaving marks on the global 21 cm signal in the dark ages. For accreting PBHs with mass MPBH = 103(104) M⊙ and mass fraction fPBH = 10−1(10−3), the brightness temperature deviation ΔδTb reaches $\sim 18~(26)~\rm mK$ at redshift z ∼ 90 ($\nu \sim 16~\rm MHz$), and the gradient of the brightness temperature dδTb/dν reaches $\sim 0.8~(0.5)~\rm mK~MHz^{-1}$ at frequency $\nu \sim 28~\rm MHz$ (z ∼ 50). For larger PBHs with higher mass fraction, the brightness temperature deviation is larger in the redshift range z ∼ 30–300 ($\nu \sim 5\!-\!46~\rm MHz$), and the gradient is lower at the frequency range $\nu \sim 20\!-\!60~\rm MHz$ (z ∼ 23–70). It is impossible to detect these low-frequency radio signals from the Earth due to the influence of the Earth’s ionosphere. However, after taking care of the essential factors properly, e.g. the foreground and interference, a future radio telescope in lunar orbit or on the farside surface of the Moon has a chance of detecting the global 21 cm signals impacted by accreting PBHs and distinguishing them from the standard model.

Middle-late Holocene climate and hydrologic changes in the Gulf of Saros (NE Aegean Sea)

A multi-proxy analyses was applied on the sediment core from the Gulf of Saros (GoS) to identify and characterize climate and hydrological changes during the middle-to-late Holocene. The formation of two discrete Holocene sapropel layers in the GoS sediments was documented for the first time in the sediment core based on total organic carbon analysis. According to our paleo-proxy records, the lower Holocene sapropel was deposited under warm and humid climate conditions that gave rise to high delivery of terrestrial organic matter by numerous rivers in the northern catchment of the GoS. Biomarker and μ-XRF data were used to decipher climate variations during the middle to late Holocene. The general trends of sea-surface temperature records from the GoS and Sea of Marmara (SoM) at the beginning of late Holocene are in good agreement, underlying the influence of the Black Sea inflow. A relatively warm and wet climate together with a high sedimentation rate during the mid-Holocene Climatic Optimum resulted in high organic productivity and ensuing formation of the younger Holocene sapropel between 5.4 and 3.0 cal ka BP. Late Holocene European climate periods are evident in the Saros core records. The Roman Humid Period is represented by high variation in climate, indicating an earlier (2.5–2.3 cal ka BP) dry and a later (2.3–1.55 cal ka BP) wet periods. The abrupt return to drier condition during the Dark Ages Cold Period (1.6–1.3 cal ka BP) was followed by a wetter Medieval Climate Anomaly (1.1–0.7 cal ka BP). The paleo-proxy record of the core indicates a passage from a wetter to drier climate during the cold Little Ice Age period (730–110 cal yr BP), and highlights the influence of deforestation in the catchment of the GoS as a result of human activities during the last three centuries.

Impacts of new small-scale N -body simulations on dark matter annihilations constrained from cosmological 21-cm line observations

We revisit constraints on annihilating dark matter based on the global 21cm signature observed by EDGES. For this purpose, we used the numerical data of the latest N-body simulation performed by state-of-the-art standard in order to estimate the boost factor at high redshifts ($z$ = 10 - 100), which enhances the annihilation of dark matter in course of structure formation. By taking into account to what fraction injected energy from dark matter annihilation contributes to ionization, excitation and heating of intergalactic medium during dark ages, we estimated how large the global 21cm absorption can be. By assuming the thermal freezeout scenario, we find that $m_{\rm DM} < 15$ GeV and $m_{\rm DM} < 3$ GeV have been excluded at 95$\%$ C.L. for the annihilation modes into $b\bar{b}$ and $e^+ e^-$, respectively.

Late Holocene Mongolian climate and environment reconstructions from brGDGTs, NPPs and pollen transfer functions for Lake Ayrag: Paleoclimate implications for Arid Central Asia

A coupled pollen-brGDGT paleoclimate reconstruction approach has been tested to provide independent and robust estimates of Holocene climate and environment changes in the extremely arid environment of the mountainous areas ranging from northern Arid Central Asia (ACA) to the Mongolian Plateau. The two proxies were calibrated for both global and local modern data sets (NMSDB). This multi-proxy approach was then applied to a sediment core collected from Lake Ayrag, Arkhangai, covering the Late Holocene. In addition to brGDGTs and pollen, we also performed magnetic susceptibility, micro-XRF, elemental and isotopic bulk chemistry, and Non-Pollen Palynomorph (NPP) analyses on the Lake Ayrag sediments in order to better understand the lake system and human impact dynamics. While the globally calibrated record (both for pollen and brGDGTs) displayed a slight millennial-scale cooling, the locally calibrated results exhibit centennial-scale climate oscillations such as the 4.2 and 3.5 kyr events, the Roman Warm Period (RWP), Dark Ages Cold Period (DACP), Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and Little Ice Age (LIA). These climate oscillations and vegetation changes are discussed with regard to the main Mongolian human historical occupation events documented by pastoralism proxies, especially the Xiongnu, Mongol Empire, Mandchou and Soviet periods. The climate systems currently dominating the Mongolian Plateau are difficult to resolve because inter-annual climate variability is pronounced. However, precipitation mainly occurs in summer (easterly monsoon driven) when the winter Westerlies lead the air mass movement. In the past, both pollen and biomarkers exhibited anti-correlated trends with annual precipitation and temperature: over the last 4000 kcal yr BP, the warm periods (MWP, RWP) were dry and the cold periods (LIA, DACP, 3.5 kyrs) were humid. Thus, the East Asian Summer Monsoon (i.e., warm and wet conditions dominant during summer) seems not to have influenced central Mongolian climate during the Late Holocene, which could have remained dominated by the Westerlies/Siberian High cells conflict. A comparison between the Ayrag record and other paleoclimate records from the Baikal area (Dulikha), Mongolian Plateau (D3L6, D1L1, NRX, ATM), and continental China (Kesang, Baluk and Tonnel caves, XRD section) to the Loess Plateau (Huangye and Xianglong caves) suggests that the monsoon front has oscillated since the Early Holocene. A climate synthesis following strictly the same approach (locally calibrated brGDGTs vs. pollen-inferred climate) for all the ACA records available for the Late Holocene helps us to resolve the climate systems paced by centennial to millennial-scale oscillations and their consequences for human societies.

Khap Panchayat: Retrieving ‘Honour’ through Violence

As the custodians of honour, Khap Panchayats are self-proclaimed tribunals with full validity and authority among the segments of their caste. These Panchayats are not real courts and do not have a constitutional basis. Under this unconstitutional system, all people of a village huddle around a Chabutara in order to make rapid, unilateral, and incontestable decisions on a variety of problems such as social transgression, marriage, offences, property rights, or situations endangering the village's tranquillity. It is concerning to notice that, in an era where individuals communicate via 3G technology, Indian civilization has regressed to the Dark Age. In today's culture, when legal standards and constitutional authority rule society, organisations like the Khap Panchayat obstruct progress and good government. The residents of the particular territory or community in which 'Khap' exists praise the dictates of Khap Panchayat; this is the most significant hurdle to Khap Panchayat's elimination. This study attempts to answer the question, "Why do Khaps still exist in India?" What is Khap's source of strength? It provides a thorough examination of the problem and attempts to propose a solution.

Enhanced aging of polystyrene microplastics in sediments under alternating anoxic-oxic conditions

Aging of microplastics (MPs) (i.e., degradation and weathering) is ubiquitous in the environment. The MP aging process is thought to be limited to light and static areas, while aging in dark and fluctuating anoxic-oxic areas is poorly understood. Here, we provide initial evidence for aging of polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) under different anoxic/oxic conditions in sediments, and we further explored these mechanisms using sediment column experiments and pure-culture experiments. The results showed that PS-MPs in alternating anoxic-oxic sediments displayed the highest degree of aging. In the in-situ experiment, both the weight losses and O/C ratios of PS-MPs aged under alternating anoxic-oxic conditions were ∼2 times higher than those aged under static oxic and static anoxic conditions during 2-month experiments. In a 2-month column experiment, the PS-MPs in the alternating anoxic-oxic group showed weight losses and O/C ratios that were, respectively, triple and double the corresponding values for the static oxic and static anoxic groups. Column and pure-culture experiments demonstrated that dark production of ·OH which showed a positive correlation with a Fe redox process could explain enhanced MP aging under the alternating anoxic-oxic conditions. These findings provide a basis for risk assessment and management of MPs in the natural environment, such as in intertidal zones and paddy fields, and also have implications for engineering of optimized MP degradation processes.

Persinggungan Filsafat dengan Bahasa Arab

This article was a study of the intersection of philosophy with Arabic. Philosophy is essentially an attempt to understand or understand reality in terms of its meanings and values. Reality is something that symbolizes language. Therefore, language is a vital tool in philosophizing, as a tool to communicate the results of thoughts. The intersection of philosophy with Arabic began in the Umayyad period, preceded by a period of conquest when Arabs took over areas previously under Roman rules, such as Egypt and Syria in the 7th century. The intersection of these Greek thoughts with Arabic occurred when the caliph Abdul Malik bin Marwan carried out Arabization reforms massively. During the Abbasid dynasty, translation activities dominated. The progress of the translation activity was fully supported by the authorities with the establishment of an institution called Bayt al-h}ikmah. This translation activity was one of the drivers of the rebirth of philosophical studies. We can say that without the contribution of translation in the golden age of Islam, Europe would never have emerged from the dark ages.

Probing the effects of primordial black holes on 21-cm EDGES signal along with interacting dark energy and dark matter–baryon scattering

ABSTRACT21-cm radio signal has emerged as an important probe in investigating the dark age of the Universe (recombination to reionization). In the current analysis, we explore the combined effects of primordial black holes (PBHs), cooling-off of the baryonic matter due to dark matter (DM)–baryon collisions and interaction of DM and dark energy fluid on the 21-cm brightness temperature. The variation of brightness temperature shows remarkable dependence on DM mass (mχ) and the DM–baryon scattering cross-section (σ0). Bounds in mχ–σ0 parameter space are obtained for different possible PBH masses and for different interacting dark energy (IDE) models. These bounds are estimated based on the observed excess ($-500^{+200}_{-500}$ mK) of 21-cm brightness temperature by Experiment to Detect the Global Epoch of Reionization Signature experiment. Eventually, bounds on PBH mass is also obtained for different values of DM mass and for different IDE model coupling parameters. The compatibility of the constraints of the IDE models, in the estimated bounds is also addressed.

Persinggungan Filsafat dengan Bahasa Arab

This article was a study of the intersection of philosophy with Arabic. Philosophy is essentially an attempt to understand or understand reality in terms of its meanings and values. Reality is something that symbolizes language. Therefore, language is a vital tool in philosophizing, as a tool to communicate the results of thoughts. The intersection of philosophy with Arabic began in the Umayyad period, preceded by a period of conquest when Arabs took over areas previously under Roman rules, such as Egypt and Syria in the 7th century. The intersection of these Greek thoughts with Arabic occurred when the caliph Abdul Malik bin Marwan carried out Arabization reforms massively. During the Abbasid dynasty, translation activities dominated. The progress of the translation activity was fully supported by the authorities with the establishment of an institution called Bayt al-h}ikmah. This translation activity was one of the drivers of the rebirth of philosophical studies. We can say that without the contribution of translation in the golden age of Islam, Europe would never have emerged from the dark ages.