Early Formative Period Research Articles

Exploring the Liminal Characteristics of Muslim Converts

When considering questions of integration, assimilation, and adjustment in the formative centuries of Islam it is vital to think about the individuals who converted to Islam. The gradual nature of conversion and the enduring ties of Muslim converts to their former coreligionists kept them in a liminal position. My analysis will evolve around three spheres of inquiry: linguistic, social, and practical. Linguistically, I show how ecclesiastical Syriac and rabbinic Hebrew terms that refer to apostates speak of individuals who did not burn all bridges but retained some level of contact with their former coreligionists. With respect to society, I discuss the place of converts to Islam as treated by the law of their former religions, and, finally, I dwell upon the persistence of former religious practices among converts to Islam. By viewing converts as liminal figures and unpacking the concept of liminality in its historical context I hope to contribute to the theoretical discussion regarding the process of conversion to Islam in the early and late formative Islamic periods and to argue against its presentation in linear terms.

Early Evidence of Atlatl Use in the Titicaca Basin: A Lithic, Microwear, and Typological Analysis

ABSTRACT We present three atlatl hooks unearthed at the Jiskairumoko and Kaillachuro archaeological sites dated to the Terminal Archaic and Early Formative periods (5000–3000 BP). Using morphological analysis – a typological comparison with eleven other specimens recovered from various sites in the South-Central Andes – and high-power microwear analysis, we demonstrate that the three artifacts recovered from Jiskairumoko and Kaillachuro functioned as atlatl hooks and assign probable atlatl types for each. Our findings support the early use of atlatl weaponry in the Titicaca Basin, as well as support its continued use after the adoption of the bow and arrow system. Beyond the presentation of our data, we propose a strategy for the study of hooks that will enable Andean researchers to infer the type of atlatl system employed.

How a Nazi occupied India’s first chair in International Relations

Abstract This article contributes to disciplinary histories of International Relations (IR) by revealing a little-known history: how a Nazi diplomat, Curt Max Prüfer, occupied the first chair in IR in India. While the paper documents how Prüfer, a discredited diplomat, landed in Delhi through his connections with peripatetic Indian anti-colonial networks and spent slightly over two years as the first IR chair at Delhi University, it also makes broader claims about how we narrate disciplinary histories. Intellectual genealogies, the predominant way in which disciplinary histories are written, often miss the contingent factors that play a considerable role in the fashioning of the discipline. Contingency-filled narratives also point towards the fact that International Relations/Affairs, at least in its early period of formation, operated as a term of mythical heft – a placeholder to fit anyone with academic or practical expertise in varied fields such as international law, colonial administration, anthropology, diplomacy, history, political economy, and military strategy.

Rethinking some roots of ecosystem approach in aquatic ecology: between the food cycle and lake metabolism.

The present study provides new insight into the key aspects of the early formative period of the ecosystem concept in aquatic ecology. Raymond Lindeman's trophodynamics is known to be a starting point for the development of the modern concept of ecosystem. The trophodynamic approach in ecology was proposed by Lindeman in his widely cited paper of 1942. Lindeman's views are analyzed in comparison with the contemporary production studies in aquatic ecology. It is shown that a similar theoretical system has been proposed in the USSR at the end of the 1930s by Georgiy G. Vinberg. He introduced the concept of biotic balance based on the wide appraisal of the dark and light bottles method. The study shows that both Lindeman's trophodynamics and Vinberg's concept of biotic balance relied on an energy-based approach in considering the wholeness of a water body. The two scientists, however, differed in several important aspects concerning the interpretation of the role of living organisms. The holistic interpretation of ecosystem by Lindeman and Vinberg can be seen as part of the dilemma between physicalism and organicism. At the same time, the main emphasis in the concepts of both Vinberg and Lindemann was on the primary production component, a feature that was common to the first holistic systems in production hydrobiology (e.g., E. Naumann's regional limnology). It is clear that modern problems of aquatic ecology should be addressed from the perspective of the organismocentric understanding of the ecosystem, but undoubtedly at the new level of development of this view.

The Russian Archaeological Project in South America: Principal Findings and Prospects

The Russian Archaeological Project in South America: Principal Findings and Prospects

The hydraulic network of the pre-Hispanic city of Tiwanaku (Bolivia): New insights from the integration of canal morphology, hydrogeological and palaeoenvironmental data

The hydraulic network of the pre-Hispanic city of Tiwanaku (Bolivia): New insights from the integration of canal morphology, hydrogeological and palaeoenvironmental data

Orange Ware production and exchange in formative central Mexico as an index of regionalization of pottery styles

Orange Ware production and exchange in formative central Mexico as an index of regionalization of pottery styles

Insights into quantitative evaluation technology of PM2.5 transport at multi–perspective and multi–spatial and temporal scales in the north China plain

Insights into quantitative evaluation technology of PM2.5 transport at multi–perspective and multi–spatial and temporal scales in the north China plain

Landscape ecology, settlement, and land use in the Lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, México: An unusual case for coastal Mesoamerica

This article examines the roles of coastal environments in prehispanic settlement patterns and land use within the lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, México using interdisciplinary methods. We first compare population levels in the coastal zone—including areas by the estuaries and sea—to inland habitats such as the floodplain. Second, we discuss resource extraction and trade associated with the coastal zone. Excavations and a 224 km2 full-coverage survey indicate that, except during the initial Early Formative period (1600–1350 BC), coastal zone habitats were not a settlement focus. Land use concentrated on the extraction of resources such as fish, salt, and ornamental shell. These goods were consumed locally and exchanged via long-distance networks for obsidian, pottery, and during the Postclassic period (AD 800–1522), copper items. Archaeofaunal and isotopic data suggest that aquatic resources from estuarine and marine environments constituted a small proportion of the total caloric input, but may have been important sources of protein. Finally, we compare settlement patterns between the lower Verde and other Mesoamerican coastal regions. Lower Verde population in the coastal zone was low, especially relative to areas which practiced mixed subsistence into the Middle/Late Formative periods (ca. 700–150 BC). This is related to the proximity of arable lands to estuaries.

Agricultural Intensification, Regional Differentiation, and Incipient Village Formation: Early Formative Period Patterning in the San Carlos Safford Area, Southeastern Arizona

Archaeologists commonly interpret the Early Formative period through the lens of ceramic technology and as a significant break from Late Archaic or Early Agricultural period lifeways; however, the local changes underlying this pattern often remain obscure. In this paper, we evaluate the existing literature for the Early Formative period the San Carlos Safford Area of southeastern Arizona and discern the accuracy of the current understanding of the local chronology, material culture, and regional patterning. Through a systematic examination of chronological, ceramic, and architectural data, we advocate for several interpretive shifts in the Early Formative period and characterize regional patterning during this temporal interval. We relate the emergence of larger villages as an adaptive strategy against a significant climatic event in the early to mid-sixth century yet also demonstrate the incongruities present between the San Carlos Safford Area and far better studied areas within central and southern Arizona.

Crafting the voice of God: ceramic waylla kepa shell horn technology in the Andes

Crafting the voice of God: ceramic waylla kepa shell horn technology in the Andes

The lexicon and creole formation

Abstract There is disagreement as to the formation period of Chabacano, Philippine Creole Spanish. This article examines lexical items that have been claimed to stem from an early period of formation of Chabacano (Jacobs & Parkvall 2020). As a response to these claims, we show with ample dialectological and diachronic evidence that Chabacano items ansina ‘this way, like this,’ endenantes ‘a little while ago’, onde ‘where,’ and vos ‘2sg’ are compatible with any period of formation for the Creole. Consequently, the presence of these lexical items in the Chabacano varieties does not link their formation to a hypothetical proto-Creole created before 1640, nor does it lend proof to the hypothesis that the current varieties descend directly from it. In general, we argue that creoles require as rigorous diachronic and diatopic studies as their lexifiers to show the maturity of Creole Studies as a field of inquiry.

Macabalaca: New Evidence of the Kotosh Religious Tradition in the Huarmey Valley, Peru

Rescue excavations at the site of Macabalaca (PV35-72) in the Huarmey Valley, Peru, identified a rectangular structure with niches on its walls and a floor with a central hearth. We present results of those excavations, emphasizing the stratigraphic components and relative chronology. We conclude that the structure belongs to the Kotosh Religious Tradition (KRT) and can be preliminarily placed in the Late Archaic (2800–1800 BC) or Early Formative period (1800–1200 BC).

Dual Homeland: Cho Myŏng-hŭi and the Origins of Koryŏ Saram Literature

This article constitutes a first step toward filling a crucial gap in English-language studies of Koryŏ saram literature. I focus on the early formative period, which began in the 1920s in tandem with the establishment of Soviet power in the Russian Far East. Its protagonists are Cho Myŏng-hŭi, the proletarian writer from colonial Korea who crossed the border to the Soviet Union in 1928, in addition to the first generation of Soviet-Korean writers centered on the Korean-language newspaper Sŏnbong. This first, Far East, phase of Koryŏ saram literature was violently terminated during the Stalinist purges with the deportation of the population to Central Asia in 1937, which was in turn preceded by the execution of thousands of Koryŏ saram intellectuals and writers, including Cho. The rise of proletarian literature was one of the major developments of Korean literature of the early twentieth century. Among proletarian KAPF (Korean Proletarian Artists' Federation) writers, Cho stands out from this group as the only writer who migrated—and so soon after writing "Naktong River" (1927), a landmark work of Korean proletarian literature—to the Soviet Union, the source and center of world socialism. Aside from his ideological commitment, what little has been known of Cho's migration and Soviet period (1928–1938) has been understood within the dominant image of Cho as a fierce anti-colonial nationalist writer. But Cho's efforts to lay the foundations of a Soviet Korean literature during his decade in the Russian Far East complicate the traditional notion of the exiled or diasporan writer longing for the homeland.

The Development of Russian History of Technology in the 20th Century

On the 28th of February, 1932, the General Assembly of the USSR Academy of Sciences adopted a resolution on the reorganization of the History of Knowledge Commission (KIZ) into the Institute for the History of Science and Technology (IINT) of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The past 90 years have demonstrated scientific and practical importance of the new discipline, history of science and technology. Its history-of-technology component has played an important role in the development of this discipline. The article analyzes the path traveled by the history of technology as well as the most important results in engineering and technology, obtained both by the IHST researchers and their colleagues from other research and educational institutions. Considerable attention in the article is given to the early period of formation of the history of science. The impact of difficult Soviet prewar realities on science in general and on the tragic fate of IINT (the arrest of its director, N. I. Bukharin, invectives addressed to the Institute, and its shutting down) is analyzed. The author emphasizes that, during the period under study, the history of technology community continued with their research, and points out to the works of B. L. Bogoslovskii, V. V. Danilevskii (also spelled Danilevsky), A. A. Radtsig, S. T. Strumilin, and others. The organizational and administrative revival of the history of technology dates back to 1942 and is reviewed in the context of historical meeting of V. L. Komarov, President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, with I. V. Stalin, the head of state, during which it was deemed advisable to reinstate the Institute for the History of Science (IIE). What distinguished the history of technology in the second half of the 20th century was its steady, systemic development. Everything was changing: the configuration and balance of research priorities, methodological toolkit and the forms of studies, standards and themes of scientific work, staff, social context, and funding. The collective and individual monographs alternated as predominant forms of scientific output. The diversity of genres correlated closely with staff dynamics. The author focuses on the important role of paternalism of the foremost Soviet scientists in the history of technology. One of the main factors of disciplinary stability was the pursuit of new knowledge. In this context, the main theme clusters and their ideologists were: factographic, including field, studies (V. V. Danilevskii); current scientific and technological revolution (S. V. Shukhardin); technical sciences (Yu. S. Meleshchenko); and theoretical and methodological matrix of the technical world (I. Ya. Konfederatov). The author writes about today’s marketplace realities with undisguised worry for the future of the discipline. The sources used in this article are collective and individual monographs on the history of machines and technical sciences, publications in the journal “Voprosy istorii estestvoznaniia i tekhniki” (Studies in the History of Science and Technology), as well as the written and audio archive of the author who has been working at S. I. Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology of the USSR (Russian) Academy of Sciences since 1971.

MP04-10 OES TUNICAL DEFECT LENGTH AFFECT FUNCTIONAL OUTCOMES IN PENILE FRACTURE SURGERY?

MP04-10 OES TUNICAL DEFECT LENGTH AFFECT FUNCTIONAL OUTCOMES IN PENILE FRACTURE SURGERY?

Applicability of Islamic Methodology Concerning Novel Issues to the Organ Transplantation in Religious Scholars’ Contemporary Discourse

Classical Islamic theology has laid down a meticulous and intricate methodology of dealing with novel issues from theological perspectives; to understand and actualise religious viewpoints regarding any matter or event that did not take place during the early formative period of Islamic Shari’ah, i.e., the lifetime of the Prophet (S.). During the later formative period, classical Islamic scholars developed several principles such as Qiyas (analogical deduction), Ijma’(consensus), Istihsan (public interest), ‘Urf (local norms) and so on, that all together would build the construct of the concept of Ijtihad (independent interpretation), and which would be carried out by competent religious scholars. Organ transplantation, of which organ donation is a conceptual component, is a contemporary issue that was not familiar among Muslim scholars in the early era. Therefore, it is the contemporary religious scholars’ responsibility to address this matter and bring Islamic judicial inference into the discussion. In doing so, some of the scholars differ in opinions. This paper aims to offer an introductory survey of the religious viewpoints on this issue, as presented by leading scholars from different schools of thought. This study will also include the judicial principles they have adopted in reaching those opinions. By doing so, this paper will introduce an overview of current and ongoing theological discourse on the matter of organ transplantation and donation.

The bursty origin of the Milky Way thick disc

ABSTRACT We investigate thin and thick stellar disc formation in Milky Way-mass galaxies using 12 FIRE-2 cosmological zoom-in simulations. All simulated galaxies experience an early period of bursty star formation that transitions to a late-time steady phase of near-constant star formation. Stars formed during the late-time steady phase have more circular orbits and thin-disc-like morphology at z = 0, while stars born during the bursty phase have more radial orbits and thick-disc structure. The median age of thick-disc stars at z = 0 correlates strongly with this transition time. We also find that galaxies with an earlier transition from bursty to steady star formation have a higher thin-disc fractions at z = 0. Three of our systems have minor mergers with Large Magellanic Cloud-size satellites during the thin-disc phase. These mergers trigger short starbursts but do not destroy the thin disc nor alter broad trends between the star formation transition time and thin/thick-disc properties. If our simulations are representative of the Universe, then stellar archaeological studies of the Milky Way (or M31) provide a window into past star formation modes in the Galaxy. Current age estimates of the Galactic thick disc would suggest that the Milky Way transitioned from bursty to steady phase ∼6.5 Gyr ago; prior to that time the Milky Way likely lacked a recognizable thin disc.

Virtue Through Habituation: Virtue Cultivation in the Xunzi

Abstract This paper investigates virtue cultivation in the Xunzi《荀子》, paying particular attention to the early formation period. I first give a brief survey of the usage of the character de 德 in the Xunzi and the corresponding understanding of virtue cultivation. With the identification of some of the most controversial questions regarding Xunzi’s ethical thought, including how a person with a bad nature comes to be attracted to virtue, recognize the value of virtue cultivation, and embark on the path of virtue cultivation, I then review the efforts that have been made to address these questions and evaluate what challenges remain. I go on to argue that such challenges can be met and articulate how a petty man can be attracted to and also recognize true virtue. Finally, borrowing some resources from Aristotle’s idea of habituation of virtuous actions, I argue that it is possible for a person to embark on virtue cultivation, even though he is without prior moral dispositions and internal motivation for virtue.

Reconsidering the Age and Typological Character of “Pox Pottery” from Guerrero, Mexico

We revisit the age and typological character of “Pox Pottery” that was reported in the 1960s by Charles Brush who considered it to be uniquely early (~2440 BC). Investigating the same two sites in coastal Guerrero where Brush excavated, we recovered Early Formative ceramics, some with the “pox” attribute. Here, we report potsherd frequencies for these deposits at both sites according to regional ceramic typologies, as well as AMS 14C dates used to establish a Bayesian stratigraphic chronology for each site to better constrain the age of these Early Formative period deposits. We argue that “Pox Pottery” is not a ceramic type per se and that the “pox” attribute occurs in multiple Early Formative period ceramic types. The earliest pottery is similar to other Red-on-Buff ceramic traditions from the Central Mexican Highlands and west of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Our chronological work demonstrates that these ceramics date between 1820 and 1400 cal BC, consistent with other recent studies indicating an early age of Red-on-Buff ceramics and suggesting shared cultural traditions distinct from the contemporary Locona interaction sphere that emerged in parallel.