The dawn of the copy in the Bronze Age

Contemporary everyday life is dominated by industrially reproduced serial objects that we perceive as easily replaceable in case of dam- age or loss. We are used to seriality, i.e. the existence of what we perceive as identical copies of a certain kind of object. Seen from a long-term perspective, humans have not been able to create visually identical copies in large numbers for the most part of their existence. Seriality only became possible to a larger extent with the invention of the bronze casting technique in the Near East in the early third millennium BCE, from where the technique was introduced to Central Europe in the late third millennium BCE. In my contribution to this volume, I want to elucidate the changes in the perception of the material world that were connected with the new technical possibility of casting large numbers of visually identical objects with casting moulds. I will demonstrate how the ability to produce almost identical copies resulted in the creation of new practices with objects and new ideas about the meaning and potential of objects in the world: the possibility to possess several identical weapons became the hallmark of the Early Bronze Age hero and groups of seemingly identical objects in the form of hoards were considered the most appropriate offering to the gods

Rebalancing the Euro Area: The Costs of Internal Devaluation

This paper investigates the economic costs of rebalancing current account positions in the Euro area by means of internal devaluation. Internal devaluation relies on wage suppression the deficit countries. Based on an old Keynesian model we estimate a current account equation, a wage-Phillips curve and an Okun’s Law equation. All estimations are carried out for a panel of twelve Euro area members. From the estimation results we calculate the output costs of reducing current account deficits. Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain (GIIPS) had, on average, current account deficits of 8.4% of GDP in 2007. To eliminate these current account deficits, a reduction of GPD by some 47% would be necessary. In principle there are two ways that trade imbalances could be resolved: deflationary adjustment in the deficit countries or inflationary adjustment in the surplus countries. Presently, the burden of adjustment is exclusively on the deficit countries. Our results indicate that the economic costs of this adjustment to those countries are equivalent to the output loss of the Great Depression. An adjustment of the surplus countries would increase growth and it would come with higher inflation, but it would allow rebalancing without a Great Depression in parts of Europe

Introduction: the Transformative power of the copy

This volume offers a fresh perspective on the copy and the practice of copying, two topics that, while the focus of much academic discussion in recent decades, have been underrepresented in the discourse on transculturality. Here, experts from a wide range of academic disciplines present their views on the copy from a transcultural perspective, seeking not to define the copy uniformly, but to reveal its dynamic and transformative power. The copy and the practice of copying are thus presented as constituents of transculturality via thought-provoking contributions on topics spanning time periods from antiquity to the present, and regions from Asia to Europe. In so doing, these contributions aim to create the basis for a novel, interdisciplinary discourse on the copy and its transcultural impact throughout history

Testing Reinecke’s chronology of the Early Bronze Age with radiocarbon dating: new evidence from Southern Bavaria

In this article we present a critical view of the current chronological framework for Early Bronze Age burials from Southern Bavaria, by using radiocarbon dating to re examine Paul Reinecke’s relative chronological classification system. We also examine chronological divisions established by other scholars based on his system. The results of our study show a complex pattern of local groups appropriating new types or styles of objects from others, which then influences the timeline for the appearance of such type objects. Our findings show that every region had its own socio cultural history with a slightly different chronologyIntroduction Results of radiocarbon dating - Regionality as a problem for wide range relative chronology - Grave goods and burial customs as a problem/change for relative chronology in the later eba Conclusio

Pedigree-based Bayesian modelling of radiocarbon dates

Within the last decade, archaeogenetic analysis has revolutionized archaeological research and enabled novel insights into mobility, relatedness and health of past societies. Now, it is possible to develop these results further and integrate archaeogenetic insights into biological relatedness with radiocarbon dates as means of chronologically sequenced information. In our article, we demonstrate the potential of combining relative chronological information with absolute radiocarbon dates by Bayesian interpretation in order to improve age determinations. Using artificial pedigrees with four sets of simulated radiocarbon dates we show that the combination of relationship information with radiocarbon dates improves the age determination in many cases at least between 20 to 50%. Calibrated age ranges are more constrained than simply calibrating radiocarbon ages independently from each other. Thereby, the precision of modelled ages depends on the precision of the single radiocarbon dates, the number of modelled generations, the shape of the calibration curve and the availability of samples that can be precisely fixed in time due to specific patterns in the calibration curve (“anchor points”). Ambiguous calibrated radiocarbon dates, which are caused by inversions of the calibration curve, can be partly or almost entirely resolved through Bayesian modelling based upon information from pedigrees. Finally, we discuss selected case studies of biological pedigrees achieved for Early Bronze Age Southern Germany by recent archaeogenetic analysis, whereby the sites and pedigrees differ with regard to the quality of information, which can be used for a Bayesian model of the radiocarbon dates. In accordance with the abstract models, radiocarbon dates can again be better constrained and are therefore more applicable for archaeological interpretation and chronological placement of the dated individuals

Neoliberal growth models, monetary union and the Euro Crisis : a post-Keynesian perspective

The paper offers an account of the Euro crisis based on post-Keynesian monetary theory and its typology of demand regimes. Neoliberalism has transformed social and financial relations in Europe but it has not given rise to a sustained profit-led growth process. Instead, growth has relied either on financial bubbles and rising household debt (‘debt-driven growth’) or on net exports (‘export-driven growth’). In Europe the financial crisis has been amplified by an economic policy architecture (the Stability and Growth Pact) that aimed at restricting the role of fiscal policy and monetary policy. This neoliberal economic policy regime in conjunction with the separation of monetary and fiscal spheres has turned the financial crisis of 2007 into a sovereign debt crisis in southern Europe

Comparison of static immersion and intravenous injection systems for exposure of zebrafish embryos to the natural pathogen Edwardsiella tarda

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The zebrafish embryo is an important <it>in vivo </it>model to study the host innate immune response towards microbial infection. In most zebrafish infectious disease models, infection is achieved by micro-injection of bacteria into the embryo. Alternatively, <it>Edwardsiella tarda</it>, a natural fish pathogen, has been used to treat embryos by static immersion. In this study we used transcriptome profiling and quantitative RT-PCR to analyze the immune response induced by <it>E. tarda </it>immersion and injection.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Mortality rates after static immersion of embryos in <it>E. tarda </it>suspension varied between 25-75%, while intravenous injection of bacteria resulted in 100% mortality. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis on the level of single embryos showed that expression of the proinflammatory marker genes <it>il1b </it>and <it>mmp9 </it>was induced only in some embryos that were exposed to <it>E. tarda </it>in the immersion system, whereas intravenous injection of <it>E. tarda </it>led to <it>il1b </it>and <it>mmp9 </it>induction in all embryos. In addition, microarray expression profiles of embryos subjected to immersion or injection showed little overlap. <it>E. tarda</it>-injected embryos displayed strong induction of inflammatory and defense genes and of regulatory genes of the immune response. <it>E. tarda</it>-immersed embryos showed transient induction of the cytochrome P450 gene <it>cyp1a</it>. This gene was also induced after immersion in <it>Escherichia coli </it>and <it>Pseudomonas aeruginosa </it>suspensions, but, in contrast, was not induced upon intravenous <it>E. tarda </it>injection. One of the rare common responses in the immersion and injection systems was induction of <it>irg1l</it>, a homolog of a murine immunoresponsive gene of unknown function.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Based on the differences in mortality rates between experiments and gene expression profiles of individual embryos we conclude that zebrafish embryos cannot be reproducibly infected by exposure to <it>E. tarda </it>in the immersion system. Induction of <it>il1b </it>and <it>mmp9 </it>was consistently observed in embryos that had been systemically infected by intravenous injection, while the early transcriptional induction of <it>cyp1a </it>and <it>irg1l </it>in the immersion system may reflect an epithelial or other tissue response towards cell membrane or other molecules that are shed or released by bacteria. Our microarray expression data provide a useful reference for future analysis of signal transduction pathways underlying the systemic innate immune response versus those underlying responses to external bacteria and secreted virulence factors and toxins.</p

Ancient Yersinia pestis and Salmonella enterica genomes from Bronze Age Crete

During the late 3rd millennium BCE, the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East witnessed societal changes in many regions, which are usually explained with a combination of social and climatic factors.1, 2, 3, 4 However, recent archaeogenetic research forces us to rethink models regarding the role of infectious diseases in past societal trajectories.5 The plague bacterium Yersinia pestis, which was involved in some of the most destructive historical pandemics,5, 6, 7, 8 circulated across Eurasia at least from the onset of the 3rd millennium BCE,9, 10, 11, 12, 13 but the challenging preservation of ancient DNA in warmer climates has restricted the identification of Y. pestis from this period to temperate climatic regions. As such, evidence from culturally prominent regions such as the Eastern Mediterranean is currently lacking. Here, we present genetic evidence for the presence of Y. pestis and Salmonella enterica, the causative agent of typhoid/enteric fever, from this period of transformation in Crete, detected at the cave site Hagios Charalambos. We reconstructed one Y. pestis genome that forms part of a now-extinct lineage of Y. pestis strains from the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age that were likely not yet adapted for transmission via fleas. Furthermore, we reconstructed two ancient S. enterica genomes from the Para C lineage, which cluster with contemporary strains that were likely not yet fully host adapted to humans. The occurrence of these two virulent pathogens at the end of the Early Minoan period in Crete emphasizes the necessity to re-introduce infectious diseases as an additional factor possibly contributing to the transformation of early complex societies in the Aegean and beyond.Results and discussion STAR★Method

Ancient DNA sheds light on the genetic origins of early Iron Age Philistines

The ancient Mediterranean port city of Ashkelon, identified as “}Philistine{”} during the Iron Age, underwent a marked cultural change between the Late Bronze and the early Iron Age. It has been long debated whether this change was driven by a substantial movement of people, possibly linked to a larger migration of the so-called {“}Sea Peoples.{” Here, we report genome-wide data of 10 Bronze and Iron Age individuals from Ashkelon. We find that the early Iron Age population was genetically distinct due to a European-related admixture. This genetic signal is no longer detectible in the later Iron Age population. Our results support that a migration event occurred during the Bronze to Iron Age transition in Ashkelon but did not leave a long-lasting genetic signature

The effects of financialisation and financial development on investment: Evidence from firm-level data in Europe

In this paper we estimate the effects of financialization on physical investment in selected western European countries using panel data based on the balance-sheets of publicly listed non-financial companies (NFCs) supplied by Worldscope for the period 1995-2015. We find robust evidence of an adverse effect of both financial payments (interests and dividends) and financial incomes on investment in fixed assets by the NFCs. This finding is robust for both the pool of all Western European firms and single country estimations. The negative impacts of financial incomes are non-linear with respect to the companies’ size: financial incomes crowd-out investment in large companies, and have a positive effect on the investment of only small, relatively more credit-constrained companies. Moreover, we find that a higher degree of financial development is associated with a stronger negative effect of financial incomes on companies’ investment. This finding challenges the common wisdom on ‘finance-growth nexus’. Our findings support the ‘financialization thesis’ that the increasing orientation of the non-financial sector towards financial activities is ultimately leading to lower physical investment, hence to stagnant or fragile growth, as well as long term stagnation in productivity