Constructing ‘traditions’: Aspects of identity formation in the southern ionian islands during the late helladic period and the iron age

This paper focuses on the Late Helladic (LH) burial structures and related sacred areas of the southern Ionian Islands and considers how they served as diachronic markers of social space and active agents within the processes of individual and collective identity formation and negotiation. More specifically, it explores a series of examples depicting instances of manipulating memory and the past. I argue that Mycenaean burial monuments played an important part in the configuration of ideological narratives and the construction of traditions aimed either to affirm or to legitimise social status and socio-political hierarchies. Development of tomb and hero cults as interrelated phenomena with strategies of past manipulation are also discussed in detail. The chronological framework covers a broad period between the early LH and the Geometric period, and focuses on the island of Kefalonia, which includes the richest dataset. © Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2019

Cyprus at the end of the Late Bronze Age: Crisis and colonization or continuity and hybridization?

Ancient cultural encounters in the Mediterranean were conditioned by everything from barter and exchange through migration and military engagement to colonization and conquest. Within the Mediterranean, island relations with overseas polities were also affected by factors such as insularity and connectivity. In this study, we reconsider earlier interpretations of cultural and social interactions on Cyprus at the end of the Late Bronze Age and beginning of the Iron Age, between ca. 1200 and 1000 B.C.E. Examining a wide range of material evidence (pottery, metalwork, ivory, architecture, coroplastic art), we revisit notions (the "colonization narrative") of a major migration of Aegean peoples to Cyprus during that time. We argue that the material culture of 12th-11th-century B.C.E. Cyprus reflects an amalgamation of Cypriot, Aegean, and even Levantine trends and, along with new mortuary traditions, may be seen as representative of a new elite identity emerging on Cyprus at this time. Neither colonists nor conquerors, these newcomers to Cyprus - alongside indigenous Cypriots - established new social identities as a result of cultural encounters and mixings here defined as aspects of hybridization

Prehistoric human remains reviewed: Palaeopathology and palaeodiet in Neolithic and Chalcolithic Cyprus, Limassol district

The current paper presents the results from the recent reexamination of osteological material deriving from Ceramic Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites of the Limassol district, Cyprus. The available skeletal material was macroscopically examined in order to identify possible palaeopathological lesions, while stable isotope analyses (carbon and nitrogen) were conducted aiming to reconstruct past diets. Although only a small percentage of the samples provided acceptable collagen, this study still offers valuable insights into the economic strategies and everyday practices during the mid-5th to late-4th millennium B.C. It is also noted, that nearly all the available skeletal material from the Ceramic Neolithic period on the island was sampled. This study, therefore, provides a useful basis for future comparative research. © 2019 Elsevier Lt

Unfolding beeswax use in Neolithic and Chalcolithic Cyprus through molecular analysis of lipids extracted from ceramic containers

During the past 30 years, molecular analyses have provided an important corpus of evidence for the exploitation of Apis mellifera products, honey and beeswax, since the Neolithic. In this paper, we report the earliest, to our knowledge, evidence of bee product exploitation in Cyprus dated to the Ceramic Neolithic (5th millennium BC) and the Chalcolithic periods (4th–mid 3rd millennia BC). Systematic sampling and analysis of organic remains absorbed in the walls of ceramic containers from the Ceramic Neolithic sites of Sotira Teppes and Kantou Kouphovounos and also the Middle Chalcolithic site of Erimi Pamboula, located to the central and southern part of Cyprus, were undertaken. We conducted lipid residue analysis in seventy-nine sherd samples, using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry that provided direct chemical evidence for the presence of beeswax residues in twelve vessels from Erimi Pamboula and one vessel from Sotira Teppes. These findings bring new light on the use of beeswax in Cyprus, pushing back the date for the exploitation of Apis mellifera on the island to the second half of the 5th millennium BC. The sampled vessels do not imply a pattern in pottery types where beeswax was preserved, although its extensive presence at Erimi Pamboula ceramics suggests the diachronic use of bee products in the area. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature

Magnesium sulfate and risk of postpartum uterine atony and hemorrhage: A meta-analysis

Objectives: Magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) is among the most commonly used medications in labor and delivery units. It has been used as a mean to protect against eclampsia and a neuroprotective agent for fetuses at risk of preterm birth. In the present study we investigated its impact in the occurrence of postpartum uterine atony and hemorrhage. Methods: We searched the Medline, Scopus, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials CENTRAL, Clinicaltrials.gov and Google Scholar databases for randomized trials and observational studies. Statistical analysis was performed with the Hartung-Knapp-Sidik-Jonkman model in RStudio using the meta package. Results: Twelve studies fitted the predetermined criteria and these involved 41,190 women of whom 10,565 (25.6 %) received MgSO4. The meta-analysis revealed that the risk of postpartum uterine atony was similar among patients that received MgSO4 and those that did not (OR 1.93, 95 % CI 0.78, 4.81). Estimated blood loss (SMD 0.04, 95 % CI -0.10, 0.18) as well as the risk of postpartum hemorrhage (OR 1.82, 95 % CI 0.99, 3.35) also did not differ. Subgroup analysis revealed that evidence drawn from observational studies indicates a significant effect of MgSO4 on the odds of postpartum uterine atony and hemorrhage; however, randomized trials do not support this. Conclusions: The results of our meta-analysis suggest that it is reasonable to consider MgSO4 in women at risk of delivering before the completion of its elimination half-life. However, physicians should be vigilant in cases at risk of postpartum hemorrhage as current data are very heterogeneous and should not be considered as definitive. © 2020 Elsevier B.V