The climate and environment of Byzantine Anatolia: Integrating science, history, and archaeology

pre-printThis article, which is part of a larger project, examines cases in which high-resolution archaeological, textual, and environmental data can be integrated with longer-term, low-resolution data to afford greater precision in identifying some of the causal relationships underlying societal change

Glass Transition Phenomena Semiannual Status Report

Multiple glass transitions, heat capacities, and equation of state properties of polymer system

Managing the Roman Empire for the long term: risk assessment and management policy in the fifth to seventh centuries

This chapter analyses the reasons for the survival of the eastern Roman state from three different but complementary angles: imperial administration, the environmental conditions impacting land-use for the period, and the ability of the state to leverage resources. We conclude that a major contributory factor in survival was the effective use of natural resources and a self-reinforcing social-ecological system through which the state and its elites and infrastructure facilitated the survival of landscapes, generating the resources necessary for the state’s continued existence. In areas where this broke down—as in the western part of the empire—the Roman state in the long term disappeared

Not the End of the World? Post-Classical Decline and Recovery in Rural Anatolia

Between the foundation of Constantinople as capital of the eastern half of the Roman Empire in 330 CE and its sack by the Fourth Crusade in 1204 CE, the Byzantine Empire underwent a full cycle from political-economic stability, through rural insecurity and agrarian decline, and back to renewed prosperity. These stages plausibly correspond to the phases of over-extension (K), subsequent release (Ω) and recovery (α) of the Adaptive Cycle in Socio-Ecological Systems. Here we track and partly quantify the consequences of those changes in different regions of Anatolia, firstly for rural settlement (via regional archaeological surveys) and secondly for land cover (via pollen analysis). We also examine the impact of climate changes on the agrarian system. While individual histories vary, the archaeological record shows a major demographic decline between ca .650 and ca. 900 CE in central and southwestern Anatolia, which was then a frontier zone between Byzantine and Arab armies. In these regions, and also in northwest Anatolia, century-scale trends in pollen indicate a substantial decline in the production of cereal and tree crops, and a smaller decline in pastoral activity. During the subsequent recovery (α) phase after 900 CE there was strong regional differentiation, with central Anatolia moving to a new economic system based on agro-pastoralism, while lowland areas of northern and western Anatolia returned to the cultivation of commercial crops such as olive trees. The extent of recovery in the agrarian economy was broadly predictable by the magnitude of its preceding decline, but the trajectories of recovery varied between different regions

Estou mais seguro na minha cidade do que os outros: identidade com o lugar e optimismo comparativo na percepção de riscos urbanos

Esta pesquisa pretendeu estudar o optimismo comparativo face aos riscos urbanos e explorar o papel que a identificação com a cidade de residência tem neste processo. O estudo foi realizado através de um inquérito a 156 estudantes universitários, residentes em Lisboa, Huelva e Lyon. Os resultados revelaram a existência de optimismo comparativo face a todos os riscos urbanos considerados (carteirismo, assalto da casa, terrorismo e queda de avião): os riscos para o próprio foram sempre considerados inferiores aos riscos para os outros. No entanto, os residentes consideram-se menos vulneráveis do que os residentes de outras cidades (comparação exo-grupal) em particular no caso dos riscos graves e incontroláveis (terrorismo e queda de avião), sendo menos optimistas relativamente aos riscos menos graves e controláveis (assalto e carteirismo). Verificou-se que, no caso dos riscos urbanos incontroláveis, os inquiridos mais identificados com a sua cidade de residência revelam maior optimismo comparativo face aos residentes de outras cidades

Modelling climate and societal resilience in the Eastern Mediterranean in the last Millennium

This article analyses high-quality hydroclimate proxy records and spatial reconstructions from the Central and Eastern Mediterranean and compares them with two Earth System Model simulations (CCSM4, MPI-ESM-P) for the Crusader period in the Levant (1095–1290 CE), the Mamluk regime in Transjordan (1260–1516 CE) and the Ottoman crisis and Celâlî Rebellion(1580–1610 CE). During the three time intervals, environmental and climatic stress tested the resilience of complex societies.We find that the multidecadal precipitation and drought variations in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean cannot be explained by external forcings (solar variations, tropical volcanism); rather they were driven by internal climate dynamics. Our research emphasises the challenges, opportunities and limitations of linking proxy records, palaeoreconstructions and model simulations to better understand how climate can affect human history

Group 11 tris(pyrazolyl)methane complexes: structural features and catalytic applications

Tris(pyrazolyl)methane ligands (Tpmx) have been for years a step behind their highly popular boron-anionic analogues, the tris(pyrazolyl)borate ligands (Tpx). However, in the last decade the development of new members of this family of ligands has boosted a number of contributions albeit their use in coordination chemistry. This fact has also triggered the application of metal-Tpmx complexes as catalysts for a range of organic transformations, particularly with group 11 metals. The main structural features of complexes containing the TpmxM (M = Cu, Ag, Au) unit and their success as catalysts in a variety of reactions under homogeneous or heterogeneous conditions are presented.We thank MINECO for support with Grant CTQ2017-82893-C2-1-

Class dynamics of development: a methodological note

This article argues that class relations are constitutive of developmental processes and central to understanding inequality within and between countries. In doing so it illustrates and explains the diversity of the actually existing forms of class relations, and the ways in which they interplay with other social relations such as gender and ethnicity. This is part of a wider project to re- vitalise class analysis in the study of development problems and experiences