El Sombrero Research Articles

Abrigo 1, Cerro El Sombrero: An Early Site in Eastern Argentina

ABSTRACT Late Pleistocene human occupations are well represented in the Tandilia Range, Argentine Pampas. Abrigo 1 is a small shelter in close relation to the main and better-known site on the hilltop of Cerro El Sombrero, with both sites including Fishtail points. The oldest levels at the shelter dated to 13,000–12,000 calendar years ago and yielded two Fishtail points. This paper deals with the analysis of the sedimentary context, stratigraphy, artifact distribution, and site formation processes at Abrigo 1. The sedimentary record is dominantly composed of geogenic sediments with a minor participation of anthropogenic material, mainly lithic artifacts. The geogenic input includes sediments coming from the physical and chemical weathering of the rockshelter’s quartzites and windblown sediments. Pedogenesis is the prevailing site formation process. Artifact distribution, the homogeneity of the assemblage, and refitting are considered relevant to assess site integrity. The results are compared to other early cultural contexts of the immediate vicinity.

Балет М. де Фальи «Треуголка» в сценическом оформлении П. Пикассо (1919)

The article is devoted to the description of the creative process accompanying the appearance of scenography of Manuel de Falla’s ballet "El sombrero de tres picos" ("The Three-Cornered Hat"). The details of events in the center of which the leading figures of 1910th–1920th art (Pablo Picasso, Sergei Diaghilev, Léonide Massine, Tamara Karsavina, Vladimir Polunin) worked and lived, are presented in the article in a panoramic and detailed way. Picasso’s scenography of the "The Three-Cornered Hat" (which implies not only the creation of sketches of scenery, costumes and curtains, but also the painting of portraits of ballet troupe artists, as well as the development of individual sketches of makeup for them) is considered as a single artistic whole and analyzed in a comprehensive manner, in reliance on the interaction of art-historical and theater-historical aspects.

The Ritual Solidarity of Masked Processions in Calabar, Cameroon, and Cuba

The Ritual Solidarity of Masked Processions in Calabar, Cameroon, and Cuba

De Falla's Hungarian Success: A háromszögletű kalap (1928)

Abstract In this study, I examine a hitherto completely unknown subject: the Hungarian reception of Manuel de Falla's ballet pantomime, El sombrero de tres picos (The three-cornered hat). As I point out, the story of the piece began well before Falla composed his music: Alarcón's novel was published in a Hungarian translation just two decades after the Spanish original. In the first decades of the twentieth century, the Budapest Opera House (Magyar Állami Operaház) and Municipal Theatre (Városi Színház) developed intensive opera, theatre, and ballet seasons, in association with the main European capitals during the first decades of the twentieth century. De Falla's ballet was premiered in Budapest in 1927 by Diaghilev's Russian Ballet, in the Municipal Theatre under the Hungarian title A háromszögletű kalap. The piece had such success that it had to be repeated three times. What is more, a Hungarian production was premiered in the Budapest Opera House one year later and this production continued until 1963, delivering a total of 75 performances. The sources (among others the handwritten performing scores) of this latter production preserved in the National Széchényi Library and in the Archives of the Hungarian State Opera House reveal an intense work of choreographic adaptation, along with careful design of staging, costumes, lightning, and scenery effects, all accomplished by great international personalities to make this very Spanish ballet understandable to the Magyar audience. Falla's work also found a significant support in the press, highlighting both the plot's universality and the expressiveness of his music, which had made it a Hungarian success.

Una serrana domesticada: La señá Frasquita en El sombrero de tres picos (1874)

ABSTRACTDespite the large amount of scholarship on Pedro Antonio de Alarcón's El sombrero de tres picos, its female protagonist, Frasquita, has been overlooked. This article analyzes the character of Frasquita through her literary and historical context. We argue that Frasquita's descriptions and actions are inspired by the mythical figure of the serrana and, more specifically, by Gila, the titular protagonist of Luis Vélez de Guevara's La serrana de la Vera. Both female protagonists, Frasquita and Gila, are described as excessively beautiful and desired, yet they are simultaneously described as having masculine strength and independence. Alarcón utilizes the serrana figure, tamed and transformed into the character of Frasquita, to assuage fears over the changing roles of women in fin-de-siècle Spain. By presenting gender deviance through Frasquita, and yet ultimately restoring her to a traditionally feminine and domesticated role at the end of the novel, El sombrero de tres picos attempts to represent and resolve the anxieties over gender deviance that were prevalent at the end of the nineteenth century.

Abundancia, diversidad y caracterización de la comunidad de coleópteros acuáticos en una plantación de arroz al noreste de Argentina

Rice fields occupy large areas in Northeastern Argentina, and in Corrientes this widespead activity has become a feature in the landscape, as it is one of the main producing provinces. The aquatic Coleoptera is part of the fauna inhabiting these artificial environments but little is known about this group in irrigated rice fields. The aims of this study were to determine the diversity and species richness of coleopterans in a typical rice field, and to characterize the community of water beetles through different abundance models. For this, samples were collected from an active rice field located in "El Sombrero" town, in Corrientes Province, between November 2011 and April 2012. An entomological net of 30 cm diameter was used, and species richness, diversity and equitability were calculated monthly; besides, the community composition was characterized by means of rank-abundance models. A total of 74 species of aquatic coleopterans were identified. January and February resulted the months with the highest diversity. The aquatic Coleoptera species found in most of the sampled months were adjusted to the logarithmic rank-abundance model. The data suggests that, if it is properly managed, rice cropping in Northeastern Argentina can support a diverse aquatic coleopteran fauna.

Landscape and Rocks in the East-Central Portion of the Tandilia Range (Buenos Aires Province, Argentina)

The east-central Tandilia Range (Pampean region, Argentina) witnessed recurrent human occupations during the final Pleistocene and early Holocene. Here we introduce an updated synthesis about material culture and landscape studies based on eight archaeological sites. The lithic technology of the early groups that inhabited the micro-region includes a highly selective acquisition of rocks and their transport from different sources, sometimes from very long distances. There is significant inter-assemblage variability among sites; within this diverse context, the assemblage at Cerro El Sombrero is exceptional, including infrequent artifacts and a large number of Fishtail projectile points. Our findings indicate people with a deep knowledge of their environment, their stones, and geographic features, some of which had distinctive uses and meanings. We consider that this network of ideas, places, and objects suggests that people in the micro-region were deeply engaged with their surroundings by the Pleistocene–Holocene transition.

Miniature points in an exceptional early South American context

Miniature points, similar to full-sized types used as hunting weapons, have occasionally been described in North and South America for Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene hunter-gatherer societies. They are explained as toys, practice pieces or ceremonial objects. They are an interesting case to use to reflect on how people materialize abstractions, encode visual communication and develop special practices related to particular places. Here we present six miniature points found at Cerro El Sombrero Cima (Buenos Aires province, Argentina), an early site with an unusual assemblage. Five specimens are fishtail projectile points and the sixth is an undescribed stemmed type. We use relevant theoretical insights and address point life histories according to their techno-morphological characteristics, raw material identification and fatty acids and sterols analyses. Finally, these projectile-point miniatures are considered in the context of discard, and their role among early American hunter-gatherers is addressed.

Breakage Patterns on Fishtail Projectile Points: Experimental and Archaeological Cases

Fishtail projectile points, also known as Fell 1, are dated between 11,000 and 9,500 14C yr B.P. in South and Central America and have been traditionally considered diagnostic of the early peopling of the continent. In this paper, experimental observations of impact breakage patterns on fishtail projectile point replicas are compared with archaeological points from the Cerro El Sombrero Cima site, in the Argentinian pampas, which exhibit a high breakage ratio and suggest that impact was a major cause of breakage in the assemblage. The position of these fractures is also briefly compared to patterns described by J. Bird (1969) for fishtail projectile points from Ecuador and Southern Chile.

Detailed fatty acids analysis on lithic tools, Cerro El Sombrero Cima, Argentina

This paper describes results obtained through fatty acids analysis on a sample of lithic artifacts. Analyzed tools come mainly from the excavated assemblage of Cerro El Sombrero Cima (Tandilia, Argentina), where the occupation has been assigned to the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. They include fishtail projectile points (FTPP), retouched tools, and ground tools. A variety of resources have been identified which indicate the great diversity of organic materials used and highlights the importance of plants in past daily life. Also, through this method marine resources have been identified, giving support to the proposition that different environments, including the sea coast, were familiar to early hunter-gatherers in the region. In addition, results are relevant to the discussion of the hafting and recycling of FTPP and the generalized use of other tool types.

Married Temptresses in Falla and Lorca

Wives’ coquetry abounds in the musical comedy of Falla and the poetry and theatre of Lorca, with such flirtatiousness always displaying female fantasy. In this comparative study between literature and music, it requires little imagination in the lewd ballad, ‘El molinero de Arcos’, for the deceived wife to conceive the double adultery as comedy. Comic theatricality dominates Alarcón's novella El sombrero de tres picos, avoiding its source's lewdness and satirizing authoritarianism. In Alarcón, Frasquita's grace and musicality inspire Falla's pantomime El Corregidor y la Molinera and its revised version, the ballet El sombrero de tres picos. Both compositions translate into music Alarcón's love triangle between the manly miller, the supple but heavy-set Frasquita, and the craven Corregidor in her play within the play. Lorca too closely imitates this internal play device in his unfinished opera libretto Lola, la comedianta, bearing Falla's self-imitating musical suggestions. However, Lorca's ‘La casada infiel’ relies on more mature borrowings from ‘El molinero de Arcos’ and Falla's ballet. Finally, Falla's puppet opera El retablo de maese Pedro inspires Lorca's La zapatera prodigiosa, climaxing in its own play within a play.

Pedro Antonio de Alarcón (prensa, política, novela de tesis) (review)

LoPEZ, IGNACIO JAVIER. Pedro Antonio de Alarcon (prensa, politica, novela de tesis). Madrid: Ediciones de la Torre, 2008. 349 pp.Poor Alarcoa Once wildly popular, even critically esteemed, he is now largely ignored. When measured against such giants as Galdos, Pardo Bazan, and Clarin, he falls short. The well-regarded El sombrero de tres picos is still read, but notable efforts like El escandalo and El Nino de la Bola are not. Ignacio Javier Lopez's book endeavors to turn this rising tide of literary history and popular judgment, and for this he is to be heartily commended.Lopez approaches Alarcon by planting him deeply in the political and cultural landscape of his time. Alarcon's move from liberalism to conservatism has to be analyzed as a product of the period starting with the Revolution of 1854 and culminating in the Revolution of 1868. Relying in part on Paul Benichou's brilliant book, Le saae de l'ecrivain (trans, as The Conseaation of the Writer, 1750-1830 [Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1999]), Lopez usefully chronicles the changing position of the writer in mid-nineteenth-century Spain, arguing that the case of Alarcon is representative and even symptomatic of a large number of writers who were so in bed with politics they were in service to it and, at times, even to specific politicians.Indeed, as Lopez remarks, Alarcon's conservative, Catholic ideology continues to be a stumbling block to current- day understanding of his work. The critic is to be applauded for taking on such a challenge. But he also says that Alarcon is one of the most complex and enigmatic figures of nineteenth-century Spanish novelists. Clearly, Lopez's goal is to illuminate that complexity and enigma, thus bringing Alarcon back into the fold of the Spanish canon. He rightfully asserts that novels like El Nino de la Bola and El escandalo are worth reading, but there is a basic flaw to his approach that becomes increasingly apparent the more deeply one reads. One simply cannot argue that Alarcon is both representative and exceptional at the same time.The contradiction is especially apparent in the analysis of Diario de un testigo de la Guerra de Africa. Alarcon's book, Lopez maintains, is a piece of propaganda, written to support a politics of national prestige as incarnated in the figure of O'Donnell. I think this is a valid and even enlightening argument, but how does this reading convince us of Alarcon's literary, or aesthetic, value? The short answer is, it doesn't.Lopez doesn't help his case by continually undercutting his own argument, with remarks like this: the Diario presenta grandes dificultades para el analisis, y de no haber sido por su importancia coyuntural hoy resultaria banal o, peor incluso, un tanto servil (74). …

Cambio de planes a través del tiempo para el traslado de roca en la pampa bonaerense

Se analizan las formas de traslado de las materias primas liticas a partir de la comparacion entre nucleos de momentos tempranos y tardios en la pampa bonaerense argentina. El objetivo es estudiar las modalidades en el transporte de roca para comprender las modificaciones en la organizacion de los cazadores-recolectores a traves del tiempo. Esta region es especialmente adecuada para estudios de abastecimiento porque los recursos estan muy localizados. La base de datos esta formada por los materiales de las localidades Cerro La China y Cerro El Sombrero fechados entre 10200 y 11200 AP y una coleccion de superficie de la localidad El Guanaco correspondiente al Holoceno Tardio. A traves del analisis de los nucleos se evidencia una notoria habilidad artesanal en ambos momentos. Pero, mientras que en los momentos tempranos el equipo era transportable, en los momentos tardios coexistieron dos modalidades de abastecimiento de roca: por un lado se equiparon de materia prima determinados puntos del paisaje y, por otro, se proveyo de roca a individuosPalabras clave : liticos; nucleos ; pampa argentina ; aprovisionamiento de materias primas.AbstractThe aim of the paper is to study rock distribution in order to understand changes in the hunter-gatherer societies through time. The study area is specially suited for the present purpose since resources are highly localized. Our data base includes artifacts from Cerro La China and Cerro El Sombrero localities dated between 10200 and 11200 BP and the surface collection of site1 at El Guanaco locality, which corresponds to Late Holocene times. We conclude that during the early occupations transportable toolkits were in use, while during the more recent occupation two strategies of provisioning individuals and places coexisted. Also, the presence of prepared cores is evidence of a great flintknapping ability during both momentsPalabras clave : lithics ; cores ; Argentine humid pampas ; provisioning of raw materials.

Comentarios sobre el estatus de Calomys callosus (Rengger) y nuevos datos sobre la distribución de micromamíferos en el noroeste de la provincia de Corrientes (Argentina)

From cytogenetic and morphologic data, correspondence between Calomys callosus and C. callidus is discussed. The karyotypes described here for specimens of C. callosus from the province of Corrientes are almost identical with those described by other authors for specimens from the province of Entre Ríos (ascribed to C. callidus ). Known data restrict the geographic range of Calomys callosus to the neighbourhood of the flood valley of the Paraguay River and the Argentine Mesopotamia. Furthermore, new distributional records of 16 species of small mammals (Marsupialia, Chiroptera, Rodentia) are presented from two localities in the northwest of the province of Corrientes: El Sombrero (27º 70’S - 58º 58’ W), department of Empedrado, and El Pontón (27º 56’S - 58º 45’ W), department of San Luis del Palmar. At both localities bone remains, mainly hemimandibles and cranial fragments, were recovered from Barn Owl pellets. The samples are largely dominated by Holochilus sp. , with low frequencies of Akodon cf. A. azarae , Akodon montensis , Calomys callosus , Gracilinanus agilis , Necromys temchuki , Oligoryzomys sp. cf. O. flavescens - O. microtis , Oligoryzomys nigripes , Scapteromys aquaticus and Oxymycterus rufus .

Occurrence of Fusarium moniliforme and fumonisins in kernels of maize hybrids in Venezuela

Fusarium moniliforme (FM) incidence and fumonisins (FUM) content were determined in white kernel samples of maize hybrids, harvested in farms of Guarico and Portuguesa states, Venezuela. FM incidence was estimated in subsamples placed on a malt-salt-agar medium. Values in the range of 0-15 % were considered low, from 15-30% intermediate, and more than 30% high. FUM content was quantified through specific immunoassay (Fumonitest, VICAM Sci. Tech., USA) and values above 1 ppm were considered high. The hybrids were compared using a completely randomized design and results were subjected to analysis of variance and mean comparisons. The correlation between FUM content and FM incidence was also estimated. FM and FUM were detected in all of the 89 samples. Mean incidence of FM among hybrids ranged from 26.0 to 72.0% in Portuguesa state (PS) and from 28.7 to 55.7 in Guarico state (GS). Significant differences among hybrids were determined in farms of El Playon and Turen, PS, and El Sombrero and El Socorro, GS. The incidence of FM was high in all hybrids. FUM contents ranged from 0.80 to 10.00 ppm in PS, and from 1.50 to 13.00 ppm in GS. Significant differences among hybrids were found in El Playon, PS, and in both locations of GS. Only in Ospino, PS, the content of FUM was correlated with FM incidence. This indicates the natural occurence of FM strains with different toxigenic capabilities. The results show that Guarico and Portuguesa states are hazardous regions regarding FM and FUM in maize kernels.

Fashioning the Ancien Regime: Alarcon's Sombrero de tres picos

*i the text translated into at least seven different ,, languages during the author's lifetime, but its storyline has since s rved as the basis for French, -Belgian and German operettas, a number of films in both Italy and Spain, and, of course, the ballet composed by Manuel de Falla which premiered in London in 1919 with sets by Picasso and choreography by Massine. In a certain sense, this international acclaim is fitting; after all, the basic story of El sombrero de tres picos does emerge from the pan-European folk-tradition and an ancestor of the tale can be found in a book translated into Castilian from Arabic in the thirteenth century.1 Nevertheless, the folk origins and the cosmopolitan reception and assimilation of El sombrero seem to have torn the novel out of its immediate context-Spain, 1874-and transformed it into a universal divertimento. In this paper my goal is to begin to recontextualize the novel; to sketch some of the ways the book might be

The Pluralism of Alarcón's "El Niño de la Bola"

The publication of Alarcon's first novel, El final de Norma, in 1855 (Alarcon claimed that he had written it in about 1850)1 meant that Spanish Romanticism was a very close antecedent of his early work, and it was an inheritance that he never relinquished. Yet the common companions of Romanticism—liberalism, radicalism and republicanism—do appear to have been discarded by Alarcon some time in the wake of the 1868 Revolution, in favour of a much more conservative view of life. The post-revolutionary period of the 1870s in general has proved fertile ground for the discovery of novelas de tesis, and since Alarcon's four major novels, El sombrero de tres picos (1874), El escandalo (1875), El Nino de la Bola (1880) and La Prodiga (1882) were mainly composed during his conservative phase and during the decade following the sexenio revolucionario of 1868–1874, it is tempting to classify at least the last three as ‘ideological novels’,2 with a particular, rather narrow moral point to make. Perhaps the universal a...

Galdós and the anti-bureaucratic tradition

Galdós and the anti-bureaucratic tradition

Dramatic Variations on Themes of el Sombrero de Tres Picos: La Zapatera Prodigiosa and Una Viuda Dificil

Recent textbook editions of Garcia Lorca's La zapatera prodigiosa and Nal' Roxlo's Una viuda dificil have caused me to notice certain similarities between these plays.' In both, there is a resemblance in title and genre: La zapatera prodigiosa, farsa violenta en dos actos; Una viuda dificil, farsa en tres actos. It is hoped that the resemblance will become more apparent during this discussion. The probable relationship of La zapatera to Alarc6n's and Falla's versions of El sombrero de tres picos has been observed (e.g., Helman, pp. 23, 36). If my assumptions are correct, Una viuda represents variations on the same tragicomic themes and is in keeping with the contemporary realizations of and return to the dramatic and spectacular in the tradition. Not that Alarc6n or his reader is unaware of these elements in the subject and treatment in El sombrero.2

Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:ANATOLE FRANCE, Le Livre de Mon Ami. Edited with introduction and notes by V. F. Boyson.H. Klinghardt: Uebungen in deutschem Tonfall. Für Lehrer und Studierende, auch für Ausländer.LE MAÎTRE DU MOULIN BLANC by Mathilde Alanic.Otto Ernst, Semper der Jüngling. Abridged and provided with Notes, Fragen, Übungen, and Vocabulary by W. C. DeckerTRANSLATION FROM AND INTO GERMAN. A guide to German unseen translation and composition suitable as a preparation for the first public examination, by H. MidgleyEL AMA DE LA CASA. Comedia en dos actos por Gregorio Martínez Sierra. Authorized edition, with Introduction, Notes and Vocabulary by Arthur L. Owen. Original drawings by Angel Cabrera Latorre. Benjamin H. SanbornPALACIO VALDÉS, Marta y María. Edited with exercises, notes, and vocabulary by H. M. Martin.EL SOMBRERO DE TRES PICOS, by Pedro A. de Alarcón. Edited with introduction, footnotes, exercises, and vocabulary by Charles B. Qualia.TRES SAINETES EN VERSO POR NARCISO SERRA, JAVIER DE BURGOS, RICARDO DE LA VEGA. Edited with Notes, Exercises, and Vocabulary by S. Griswold Morley and W. J. Entwistle.ESPAÑA by A. Marinoni.NORSE MYTHOLOGY, Legends of Gods and Heroes, by Peter Andreas Munch