In 2013 we discovered the archaeological site of Chactún, which is located in the eastern part of the Mexican federal state of Campeche, in the southern portion of the vast archaeologically unexplored area extending between the Chenes and Río Bec regions. In the urban core of the ancient city, composed of three concentrations of monumental architecture, a number of sculpted monuments were found, many of them with well preserved relief carvings. To judge by the extent of the site and building sizes, Chactún is one of the largest Maya urban centers known so far in the central lowlands of the Yucatán peninsula. While the ceramics indicates occupation since the Preclassic period, the stelae with hieroglyphic inscriptions show that the city reached its climax during the Late Classic, when it acquired an important role in regional political hierarchy. Considering the proximity of the Río Bec core area, it is surprising that the site's characteristics reflect a much closer relationship with the wider Petén tradition. A peculiarity of Chactún are stone monuments with reliefs modeled in stucco, while secondary positions in which many stelae and altars were found reveal that certain activities took place at the site even in the centuries after its apogee.
COBISS.SI-ID: 278510336
Clock-time differentiates and systematizes in a way rarely endorsed by small-scale societies, where the tendency is to reject systematization and hierarchy based on the measurement of time. Taking the lead from the Ambonwari, Papua New Guinea, the author introduces the concept of egalitarian temporality produced by never ending competition between different individuals and groups, and their temporalities. The villagers are themselves responsible for exchanging periods and ways of being in both their environment and society, and they actively participate in dramatic episodes intended to cut into their existent ways of life. These ‘cuts’ then exchange one period for another and are then perceived as changes in mode of existence. The author argues that time in the Sepik and egalitarian small-scale societies in general is very much agentive and thus possessed, held and seen by individuals and groups, with periods defined by and organized around future oriented projects.
COBISS.SI-ID: 38280237
In Slovenian forests, ice storms are a very frequent natural disturbance process and have an important impact on forest structure, composition, and function. Moreover, tree damage due to ice accumulation usually leads to reduced value of timber and has negative economic consequences for forestry and forest owners. Indirectly, ice damage increases the susceptibility of forest trees to a variety of diseases and pests. In this contribution we describe risk factors, discuss novel technologies and methods useful for a proper assessment of damages, and propose the guidelines for improving forest stability and resilience.
COBISS.SI-ID: 4228774
This is an Albanian translation of the monograph originally published in Slovene by the ZRC Publishing House in 2008. The monograph is about the ongoing, unstable reconstruction of spaces and places in the village of Dhërmi/Drimades of southern Albania. It is based on twelve months of anthropological field research in that village. Particular consideration is given to the process of reconfiguration and redefinition of the meanings that pertain to the village and its people. The monograph focuses on local peoples’ biographies, oral histories, rhetorical claims, and their everyday discourses, through which it is shown how the meanings of the village are reconstructed through interrelations of the locals with other people and places. The underlying theme is the continuity of movements and interrelations through which the local people of Dhërmi/Drimades recreate and reproduce the sense of locatedness of »their« village and themselves.
COBISS.SI-ID: 39041069
The monograph presents the results of a systematic study of astronomical significance of orientations in prehispanic architecture of two sub-areas of Mesoamerica. The alignment data for a number of civic and ceremonial buildings were collected with field measurements at 42 archaeological sites, employing a more rigorous methodology than most of the former studies. The analyses have revealed that the orientations were functional predominantly or exclusively in the east-west direction, largely marking sunrises and sunsets on certain dates, but the existence of some orientations to lunar standstill positions on the horizon is also very likely. Aside from providing a deeper insight into the ideas involved in the architectural design and urban planning in the two research areas, the results of our study shed light on general trends in the evolution of orientation practices and on shared and divergent developments in different regions, thus contributing also to the understanding of the processes of cultural interaction along the history of Mesoamerica.
COBISS.SI-ID: 280983552