Multi-isotope investigations for scientific characterisation and provenance implication of banded travertines from tripolis antique city (Denizli–Turkey)

The coloured stones used in buildings and monuments were an indicator of power and wealth during the ancient times. In this study, Tripolis city samples have been compared with Tripolis quarry samples in order to recognise the provenance of the banded travertine blocks in the ancient city. The banded travertine samples have similar mineral compositions and mainly consist of calcite with minor amounts of dolomite, aragonite, clay and iron oxide minerals. These results are also supported by CRS studies. Calcite is in the form of needle-shaped crystals ranging between 0.163–1.418 mm (in city) and 0.303–1.270 mm (in quarry). Tripolis banded travertine samples show the similar compositional spread in terms of major oxide, trace elements. δ13CV-PDB values of banded travertines range from 1.93 to 5.25‰ (in city) and 2.99 to 3.99‰ (in quarry), δ18OV-PDB values change between (−16.93)–(−10.08) ‰ and (−15.93)–(−13.01)‰, respectively. The U–Th radiometric ages are determined between ∼267 and 9 ka in Tripolis city samples and ∼350 and 2 ka in Tripolis quarry samples. The minero-petrographic, geochemical, C–O and U–Th isotope results fairly matched with each other. It seems highly probable that the banded travertines in Tripolis city were extracted from the Tripolis quarry, which is located at the northeast of the antique city with a distance of 3 km. © Association for Environmental Archaeology 201

Detecting seasonal cycle shift on streamflow over Turkey by using multivariate statistical methods

Climate change analysis includes the study of several types of variables such as temperature, precipitation, carbon emission, and streamflow. In this study, we focus on basin hydrology and, in particular, on streamflow values. They are geographic and climatologic indicators utilized in the study of basins. We analyze these values to better understand monthly and seasonal change over a 40-year period for all basins in Turkey. Our study differs from others by applying multivariate analysis into the streamflow data implementations rather than on trend, frequency, and/or distribution-based analysis. The characteristics of basins and climate change effects are visualized and examined with monthly data by using cluster analysis, multidimensional scaling, and gCLUTO (graphical Clustering Toolkit). As a result, we classify months as lowflow and high-flow periods. Multidimensional scaling proves that there is a clockwise movement of months from one decade to the next, which is the indicator of seasonal shift. Finally, the gCLUTO tool is utilized in a novel way in the hydrology field by revealing the seasonal change and visualizing the current changing structure of streamflow

‘A gap in the bridge?’: European Union civil society financial assistance in Turkey

While external programmes developing civil society receive criticism for adhering to a Westernised, neo-Tocquevillean development model, the case of the European Union (EU) and Turkey is different. Turkey's European aspirations legitimise the efforts to ‘democratise’ its civil society, and the EU-propelled political reform programme has helped to expand the variety of voices in Turkish civil society. The impact of external funding on civil society, however, is contingent on the way the aims of this assistance are interpreted in the context of domestic political debates. This article uses examples from the Turkish women's movement to illustrate the complex socio-political debates about religion and secularism that inform NGO behaviour. By implementing an external agenda that draws on the European model of civil society, and which steers away from the government's domestic agenda for civil society, the EU policy has the potential to undermine the successes of the broader political reform process