Search results for ""author schnell"

Contributions in this volume from archaeology and history deal with the question of what effect external pressure might have had in decentralised political structures with personalised rule in the European empires of the 10th century. One of the most important findings is that the concrete effects of external threats are hard to grasp, and the archaeological findings do not give a clear picture. The traditionally assumed causal links between external incursions and crisis phenomena are obviously just as unacceptable as the assumption that the Hungarian incursions would have had a lasting impact on existing structures.

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This book conceptually develops the condition of rule of law within a framework of continental integration. It then analyzes the European Economic Community as a case of economic integration with rule of law. This contrasts with the North American experience of free–trade integration with rule of law, which was joined by Mexico. The Latin American cases of trade integration without rule of law are reviewed as failed attempts. The study furthermore analyzes the current European Union as a case of integration including politics and rule of law, and its current challenges. The book ends with a new approach to Latin American integration, starting from energy integration and other infrastructure projects.

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In the capital of Kievan Rus’, princely Kiev, almost 70 medieval hoards have been discovered to date. The hoards published in this book contained gold and silver jewellery of the ruling dynasty, nobility and the Christian Church. They were unique to Kiev and their quantity and magnificence of style cannot be matched by anything found either in any other former city of Rus’, or in Byzantium. Most of the objects has never been published outside the former Soviet Union. During the 17th-20th centuries, many medieval hoards were gradually unearthed; some disappeared soon after they were found. This book provides a complete picture of the three largest medieval hoards discovered in Kiev: in 1906, 1842 and 1824, and traces the history and whereabouts of other lost treasures. Other treasures took pride of place in some of the world’s top museums. This publication highlights the splendid heritage of medieval Kievan jewellery. It illustrates not only the high level of art and jewellery craftsmanship in the capital, but also the extraordinary religious, political, cultural and social development of Kievan Rus’, the largest and most powerful East Slavic state in medieval Europe.

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Kremsmünster Abbey houses one of the most precious liturgical vessels of the early Middle Ages: a lavishly decorated and magnificently inscribed communion chalice. This illustrated book provides for the first time a comprehensive descriptive and pictorial documentation of the chalice. The chalice was donated by Bavarian Duke Tassilo III and his wife, the Lombard princess Liutpirc. Created about 1250 years ago in the Salzburg area, splendour has surrounded this singular work of art for centuries. Researchers consider the Tassilo-Liutpirc chalice to be a symbol of ancient Bavaria and a short-lived symbiosis of Mediterranean-insular post-antiquity. But little was known about its production, authenticity and original function. Despite many efforts, the message of the mysterious images and ornaments remained a mystery that this volume aims to solve. For the first time, as a result of a five-year research project, a comprehensive descriptive, photographic and graphic documentation as well as in-depth archaeometric and goldsmith investigations according to the latest state of the art can now be presented. The historical environment and the artistic heyday of that time are illuminated against the backdrop of Tassilo's glorious reign and his intriguing overthrow by Charlemagne in 788. In detective meticulousness, the lost art treasure of Tassilo III is brought back to life and the enigmatic pictorial program of the Tassilo Liutpirc chalice is deciphered as an allegorical visualization of the celestial city. Language of text: German

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The Trier City Library preserves bibliophilic treasures of the highest value, dating back to the 7th century. The Codex Egberti, the Trier Apocalypse, the Ada Evangelia or the Gutenberg Bible are particular treasures. This catalogue presents in words and images 100 of the most significant items from the collection. The library, which was created at the beginning of the 19th century, quickly developed into a huge depository of the abandoned manuscripts and prints of the secularized monasteries of the Trier area. In addition to magnificent manuscripts from the entire Middle Ages, there are numerous works from the early days of printing. Highlights of the collection include the Gutenberg Bible, the Schedelsche Weltchronik or the Catholicon created by Fust and Schöffer. Texts and fragments from the Old and Middle High German periods are also of great appeal, as are maps, atlases and autographs. This publication offers a representative cross-section of the collection and encourages you to visit the treasure-house that is the library at Trier.

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This exhibition catalogue provides insight into the spectacular conservation of this masterpiece from the Städel Museum in Frankfurt. The Crucified Thief fragment, by the "Master of Flémalle", shines in new splendour. The book documents the spectacular results of the restoration, and describes and comprehensively contextualises the painting. This book is the catalogue for an exhibition in 2017-18 at the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung in Frankfurt. The exhibition highlights a single painting, the Master of Flémalle’s The Crucified Thief, a key work of European art history, created by one of the most enigmatic artists of early Dutch painting. The recently restored fragment of the painting, painted on both sides, is the only surviving part of a large-format triptych of the Descent from the Cross, which was one of the most important and influential works of its time. In addition to the results of the technological investigation and restoration of the painting, thirteen selected works of art are presented, including the eponymous "Flémaller Panels", the "Medici Madonna" by Rogier van der Weyden as well as mounted and unmounted sculptures by the Master of the Rimini Altarpiece and Hans Multscher. They exemplify the reciprocal references between painting and sculpture and thus contribute to a deeper understanding of the breathtaking detail realism and the suggestive effect of the altarpiece on the contemporary viewer. The gruesome picture of a crucified man, which was once the top half of the right wing of a monumental altarpiece the rest of which has long been lost without trace. That Deposition Triptych from around 1430¬ is considered a founding work of early Dutch painting, comparable to the Ghent Altarpiece. The exhibition catalogue provides insight into the spectacular conservation of this masterpiece from the Städel Museum, reconstructs the original appearance of the lost ensemble with the aid of copies, and explains the context of its creation by means of international loans and gems of the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung.

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Pope Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli, 1876-1958) was one of the most prominent personalities of the Catholic Church in the 20th century. Under the sponsorship of Archbishop Reinhard Cardinal Marx, a highly acclaimed Series of lectures was held in 2009, whose individual contributions are now made available to a wider reading public. Leading scholars address a wide range of important topics, including: “Pius XII and Modernity,” “Pius XII and the Jews,” “Pius XII and Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber,” and “Pius XII in the Judgment of Posterity.” Eugenio Pacelli – Pius XII (1876-1958): In the View of Scholarship provides an overview of the most current research on this important but also controversial pope. This volume makes that significant new scholarship available to English readers.

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Excavations at the Early Pleistocene vertebrate site of Untermassfeld took place over a total of 127 months, resulting in the recovery of an abundance of 18,000 identifiable paleontological finds. Led by R.-D. Kahlke, this incredible collection has been preserved and evaluated by an interdisciplinary team of scientists. Part 4 of the Untermassfeld monograph details the research history of the site from 1997 to 2015. New results on the geological evolution of the Werra valley in the area of the fossil deposit are discussed along with the absolute age of the finds. This volume also contains studies on insect-generated bone modifications and new discoveries on fish, amphibian, reptile, bird, and bison skull finds. Current knowledge on the extensive collection of Untermassfeld cervid fauna and pathological results on hippo remains has been extended and the volume concludes with additional descriptions of new equid and rhinocerotid finds. All contributions are richly illustrated and written in English.

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This volume contains thirteen papers from a conference held in the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum in Mainz in 2015. The contributions primarily deal with the material culture of goldsmiths’ works, such as crosses, reliquary caskets, jewellery, enamel works, and precious stones, spanning the wide geographical area of Byzantium and many of its neighbours, from Russia via Trebizond and Serbia to Crete. Furthermore, written sources on Byzantine goldsmiths, their craft and the provenance of precious metals provide evidence for goldsmithing in Byzantium throughout its history.

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This book presents selected findings that are representative of the archaeological wealth of Rhineland-Palatinate, as well as up to date information on findings from current research. The Rhine and Moselle make today’s Rhineland-Palatinate region both a hub and a transit area, at times a centre of power, at times a contested border region. The history of this region is one of cultural diversity and cultural encounters, in which the flows of people, goods and ideas – often still visible today – have shaped the region over the millennia.

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This beautifully illustrated book points to ways in which a sense of social responsibility can be applied in the preservation and use of historic gardens. It offers diverse international examples of the value of these cultural monuments in tackling current sustainability challenges—ranging from climate change to the contemporary relationship between humankind and nature. The spectrum of types and purposes and uses of these gardens and parks with their diverse range of functional and formal designs derives from the evolution of urban lifestyles and specific needs. Historic gardens have always been places of pleasurable interaction, education and leisurely relaxation. They are also extremely valuable from the point of view of biodiversity, providing benefits in terms of recreation, human well-being, leisure, environmental education and interdependence with the climate. As part of the cultural heritage, historic gardens can act as a stable driving force in the context of contemporary civilisation processes, helping to formulate and implement sustainable goals for action geared towards a humane outlook and lifestyle in our society. For thousands of years, the design, cultivation and preservation of gardens and cultural landscapes as fine arts and as useful arts have been among the most striking expressions of human culture. As vehicles of meaning, historic gardens are important not just aesthetically but also historically, allegorically and symbolically.

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This richly illustrated volume invites you to dip into Germany’s endless variety of stately homes and parks between Lake Constance and the Baltic Sea. Germany is a country of palaces and castles, of abbeys, parks and gardens. They define our regions, give our cultural landscapes their unmistakable character, and create a sense of home and belonging, of regional rootedness and touristic flair. They offer leisure and regeneration; they are centres of culture and communication; and for the cultural historian they are an indispensable, tangible archive. From celestially inspired Gothic to proud Renaissance, from exultant Baroque to gardens of earthly paradise, this book presents a journey of discovery through epochs, styles, and thematic worlds. It is a journey to enjoy, and one that may inspire you to personally explore one or other of these worlds—the choice is overwhelming.

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Ganz gleich, was Sie konstruieren, Sie werden dabei mit Werkstoffen arbeiten müssen und da hat jeder so seine Eigenschaften. Deshalb kommen Sie in den Ingenieurwissenschaften an der Werkstoffkunde nicht vorbei. Martin Bonnet erklärt Ihnen zu Beginn die Grundlagen wie Bindungstypen, Gitterarten und Gitterfehler. Danach erläutert er was es mit Legierungen, dem Eisen-Kohlenstoff-Diagramm und Stählen auf sich hat, warum Korrosion mehr als einfach nur Rost ist und vieles mehr. Gegen Ende des Buches erfahren Sie dann noch mehr über Nichteisenmetalle und Nichtmetalle. Zahlreiche Übungsaufgaben mit Lösungen helfen Ihnen, Ihr Wissen zu überprüfen und zu festigen. So können Sie sich einen schnellen Überblick über dieses spannende Thema verschaffen.

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Es gibt nur wenige Studiengänge, in denen Sie an der Statistik vorbeikommen. Statistik gilt zudem als anspruchsvoll und sehr lernintensiv, aber Sie können auch zu sehr spannenden Ergebnissen kommen. Reiner Kurzhals erklärt Ihnen so knapp und verständlich wie möglich, was Sie über Statistik wissen müssen. Er erläutert neben den Grundbegriffen die wichtigsten Punkte der beschreibenden und der schließenden Statistik. Viele Beispiele helfen Ihnen dabei, sich die abstrakten Formeln und Begriffe besser vorstellen zu können. Mit den zahlreichen Übungsaufgaben mit Lösungen können sie Ihr Wissen festigen und prüfen.

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After working in Augsburg and Vienna they came to Regensburg in 1663. Their sculptural reliefs for Emperor Ferdinand III on Ovid brought issues of Empire, iconography and artistic creation into focus. The attached catalogue of works deals with the provenance, restauration, iconography, analysis and reception of their oeuvre. This study provides valuable evidence that a re-evaluation of ceroplastics is long overdue within the canon.

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The contributors to this volume examine the complex dynamics which arose between the Byzantine Empire and the Near East. Moving beyond the tradition of histoire événementielle, the contributions collected here highlight the passing of artistic practices, ideas and interlocutors between Byzantium and the Islamicate world. In this way, the book seeks to nuance and contextualize our understanding of the relationship between these two medieval cultural spheres.

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The study of sanctuaries and sacred contexts in Magna Graecia and southern Italy has undergone profound changes in recent years. The discoveries of weapons in some sanctuaries (e.g. Caulonia) in museum magazines (e.g. Paestum) together with monographic studies on specific weapons (e.g. tanks) today allow systematic research of weapons in votive contexts. Especially important is the possibility of comparing ritual practice in different cultures. This volume collects contributions on the complexity, prevalence and significance of war in votive contexts of southern Italy between the Archaic and Roman periods.

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This Tandem Festschrift pays tribute to Elaine Turner and Martin Street, to celebrate all they have both contributed to the MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre and Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, in ensuring high research standards, and for your contributions to Palaeolithic Archaeology in Germany and beyond. It should be understood as a big “CHEERS” from the MONREPOS staff and many other friends and colleagues from all over the world, who contributed to this Festschrift. This double volume covers a broad spectrum of topics from the Lower Palaeolithic to the early Holocene and even to the Medieval period – touching upon the vast array of topics Elaine and Martin have dealt with over the last more than 30 years. It starts with the discussion of the oldest evidence for fire and addresses many other key-topics of scientific debate at fascinating levels of detail. "There is no doubt that Elaine Turner and Martin Street are to be especially acknowledged as the trailblazers for the internationalisation of Pleistocene Archaeology in Germany. The diversity of topics reflected by these contributions is due in large part to their rock-solid research, which is based on their exceptionally broad expertise and reflected in their highly interdisciplinary research projects.” (The Editors)

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This volume is an invitation to meet this extraordinary woman of the 13th century, kings daughter, landgravine, and saint, in Germany, Hungry, Italy and Slovakia. The pictures evoke stations of her life, trace the path of her husband Ludwig IV who was called the Holy, lead to the source of her Franciscan ideal, present the preserved remains of a distant past, tell legends and guide ones gaze towards the artwork of pious veneration. The text and pictures of this book incite the reader to come closer: What appears to be a legend might seem, as a life really lived, strange to us nowadays. With Franciscan humility, Elisabeth chose a pathway removed from the beaten track of her times. She set an example of humanity which can be understood the world over down to the present day.

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The so-called Cappenberger Barbarossakopf is one of the most famous and well-known monuments of 12th century art. It is now kept in the former monastery church of the Premonstratensian monastery of Cappenberg, the collegiate church of St. John the Evangelist. This book sheds new light on the importance of Cappenberg for the spread of the Premonstratensians, but above all it explains the origin, function and significance of the Cappenberg head. The head raises many questions: Who does the head actually represent? What is its liturgical function? How can the head be historically contextualized? How can the identification of the head with the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick Barbarossa be explained? Does this attribution still hold true? A conference in Cappenberg in 2019 attempted to answer these questions; this book publishes the papers presented at that conference. The head has long been regarded as a portrait of the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa (1122–1190). However, previously unpublished results of a material engineering investigation from 1977/78 require a new definition of the context in which the work was created. What are the consequences for the understanding of the head? In addition to the consistent reference to the object, the foundation of the Premonstratensian monastery of Cappenberg is the focus of many of the contributions to the book. What influence did Otto von Cappenberg’s godparenthood of Friedrich Barbarossa have on the furnishings of the monastery? The contributions shed new light on the importance of Cappenberg for the spread of the Premonstratensians.

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The Vogtland is an old cultural landscape that includes parts of today’s German states of Thuringia, Saxony, and Bavaria, as well as parts of Bohemia in the Czech Republic. Over a period of centuries the dynasty of the Reeves of Weida, Gera and Plauen left its mark on the region, developing it economically and culturally on behalf of the Holy Roman Emperor. Copiously illustrated, The Reeves’ Progress traces routes through the largely unresearched territory of late medieval Vogtland. In a topographic journey it explores the old domains of the reeves before drawing the strands together in a thematic treatment. The book takes in the estates and churches, religious houses and sacred art of the region, examines the impact of the Teutonic Order, and introduces the reader to key monuments of pre-modern municipal and economic history.

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The volume "Humans, environment and Chronology of the Late Glacial of the North European Plain" assembles papers presented during a workshop for the 15th Congress of the Union International des Sciences Préhistoriques et Protohistoriques held in Lisbon in September 2006. The workshop was organised under the remit of U.I.S.P.P. Commission XXXII, which focuses on the "The Final Palaeolithic of the Great European Plain", and the present volume continues the series of conference proceedings that have been published at regular intervals during the past decade. This most recent contribution underlines the geographical spread and chronological depth of research into this topic, with papers ranging from those in the British Isles to the eastern Baltic and from the Paris Basin to southern Scandinavia, and covering a period of time extending from the late Magdalenian to the early Mesolithic.

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The guide opens by describing the ever-changing history of the museum. In two clearly structured and richly illustrated chapters the various departments present their respective collections and individual items - Prehistory and Early History, Archaeology, paintings and sculptures ranging from the early Middle Ages to the present. Also included are Block Beuys, Applied Art, the Graphic Collection, as well as Zoology, Mineralogy and Geology-Palaeontology including the fossils from the Messel Pit UNESCO World Heritage site. The main focus of the museum guide is not on a classical tour of the building. It is rather a well-founded consolidation, classification and visualisation of the collections enabling the reader to become familiar with the museum, as an in-depth analysis, or as a follow-up and recollection of the museum visit.

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The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is one of the few medieval monuments whose decoration, preserved, even if partially, in its original state until recently, can be almost completely reconstructed on behalf of surviving mosaics and wall paintings, in situ inscriptions, and rich written evidence from the Middle Ages and early modern times. The decorative program, dating back to the third quarter of the twelfth century, represents a unique testimony of its time, in its historical, theological, and art-historical aspects. The crusader lining of one of the most important monuments of early Christianity takes up local, Byzantine, and European traditions, eastern and western impulses to emphasize a locus sanctus that supports the Christian claim to universality. It is close to a miracle that such a diverse network of sometimes contradictory requirements and traditions as the one extant in crusader Holy Land merged into an exceptionally consistent programme.

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The Cathars: not the largest heretical movement of the Middle Ages, but a modern invention? Richly illustrated and supplemented by the translations of central sources, the book introduces into their complex history the idea that these famous heretics were constructed as an enemy image in the High Middle Ages and then became a myth in modern times. The Cathars are considered the largest heretical movement of the Middle Ages, a kind of counter-church, ultimately destroyed by crusaders and inquisitors. This traditional image of the famous heretics has been fundamentally questioned by international research over the past quarter of a century. Instead of a historical mass phenomenon, the Cathars seem to be a modern myth, essentially based on an enemy image created in the High Middle Ages for the struggle for heresy, developed by historians in the 19th century and now closely linked to the regional identity of today's southern France, which is also marketed as "Cathar country" for tourism. Richly illustrated and supplemented by the translations of central sources, the volume introduces the complex history of this "invention" for the first time. Language of text: German

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Jerusalem is a city holy to three world religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. From the early Byzantine period, Christian pilgrimage here and to other holy sites became a »mass phenomenon«. Thousands of Christians set out to holy sites in Palestine, Egypt and other places in order to physically experience salvation history and seek divine intervention in their lives. Numerous travel reports, pilgrim guides and other written sources highlight important aspects of pilgrimage. In addition, many well-preserved churches, monasteries, hostels and other buildings, as well as rich archaeological findings, provide us with a vivid and synthetic picture of the history of pilgrimage to the Holy Land. This volume presents the contributions of a conference held at Jerusalem in 2017. They address the phenomenon of the pilgrimage to Jerusalem from very different approaches using written and material sources. On the one hand, they ask how pilgrims travelled to the Holy Land, what was the infrastructure that made pilgrimages possible, what did they see and what impressed them. On the other hand, they approach the pilgrims themselves, their origins, their motivations and their itineraries.

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Every booklet in this Series presents an important medieval fortress, a castle, a stately home or a fortified complex in central Europe. The carefully and competently written texts, the ample number of photographs and the many drawings and plans provide both experts and booklovers interested in history and culture with state-of-the-art research on castles. In addition to extraordinary architectural photographs, many specially created drawings illustrate previous forms and buildings, while information boxes analyse various Subjects and provide the main historical data.

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Grotte des Pigeons, Taforalt (Morocco), is one of the most famous cave sites in North Africa. This book presents new findings on the Iberomaurusian hunter-gatherer inhabitants who faced the major challenges of a rapidly changing climate. In this volume we describe archaeological evidence covering the period 23,000 to 12,500 years ago. We examine the nature of environmental and behavioural changes, culminating in a major broadening of the food spectrum at around 15,000 years ago, linked to technological innovation in some aspects but conservatism in others. The cave also came to be used as a substantial human cemetery, enabling us to explore burial practices and recover additional information on diet and lifestyles.

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Thanks to a fortunate and rare circumstance, throughout the centuries her tomb was never robbed and numerous, precious grave goods survived. In 2001 an unusually rich and filigree assemblage of jewellery was lifted together with the deceased's skeleton in two blocks by a team of Chinese archaeologists in a far-sighted way and brought to the archaeological laboratory in Xi'an. There specialists of the German-Sino co-operation project of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (Mainz) and the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology (Xi'an) worked together on the uncovering, documentation and presentation of the finds and contexts. For the first time such a multipartite and fine jewellery assemblage could be analysed and reconstructed within its archaeological context. The result is of impressive singularity. In the publication presented here an interdisciplinary team of academics deal in many individual studies with the complex investigations into the Tang period burial of Li Chui. Apart from archaeology, art and cultural history, as well as sinology, it is not only the scientific restoration and conservation, but also various fields of the natural sciences, which worked together towards one goal: to convey a unique and realistic insight into the world of Li Chui and her times.

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Behind the intriguing title of this volume is a compilation of many of the papers presented during a session of the 15th Congress of the Union Internationale des Sciences Préhistoriques et Protohistoriques held in Lisbon in 2006. The session reviewed the current state of research into the spatial analysis of western Eurasian Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites. Covering a broad temporal and geographical range, these studies reflect the enormous variety of spatial evidence preserved in the archaeological records of these periods.

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As part of a detailed introduction to the post-Reformation church topography of Norway, some 140 epitaphs preserved in all parts of Norway from the period 1550 to 1700 are documented with illustrations, descriptions and short biographies. In addition to numerous illustrations of the epitaphs, the volume contains transcriptions of all inscriptions as well as their translation into English. The epitaph genre was particularly popular in post-Reformation Lutheranism (unlike in the Reformed areas of Europe) - as it was in Norway. In addition to a comprehensive introduction to the cultural, social and geographical context of epitaphs, the volume offers a detailed insight into the (self-)representation of the elites who commissioned these epitaphs. It also names the most important artists who were entrusted with the production of the epitaphs in Norway. The main part of the volume is a detailed presentation of the surviving epitaphs in Norway's four early modern bishoprics. Pictorial motifs, inscriptions and biographical studies are included in the interpretation.

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Viewed on a large scale, Christianisation proceeded from south to north and from west to east, but besides continuity, it also repeatedly showed breaks. This volume compiles important source material from different European countries, which should enable an assessment of this complex process. An emphasis is placed on the often lesser-known archaeological sources. This also includes an evaluation of the possible statements that can be derived from the interpretation of finds and features, i.e. of art and everyday objects as well as building remains. In 28 contributions, international experts from the relevant scientific disciplines of archaeology and history explore the core question of how Christianisation processes can be recorded and assessed. Where are the origins of the religion that still shapes Europe today?

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Within the research project known as ‘Harbours from the Roman Period to Middle Ages’, an international conference titled “Harbours as objects of interdisciplinary research – Archaeology + History + Geosciences” was held in Kiel in 2015. This volume includes 26 papers presented at the conference under the headings ‘Geophysics and Field Research: Developing methods’, ‘Geoarchaeology: Changing Harbour Environments’, ‘Archaeological Features: Harbour Facilities and Infrastructure’ and ‘Written and Iconographic Sources: Complementing the Material Evidence’.

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Between 1200 and 750 BC, the Mediterranean world saw the breakdown of Bronze Age civilizations, and the rise of Iron Age cultures. These chronological stages which unfortunately are often taken into consideration separately, have been bridged. The editors’ introduction and a picture of the theoretical framework of Mediterranean studies, are followed by five geographical parts. By commenting on cultural changes and interculturality in the sub-regions of the Mediterranean, new important insights into interregional mobility, connectivity, and decentering phenomena are provided. The vision of the Mediterranean parts as equally important for understanding the significance of contacts represents a special feature of the volume.

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Since Antiquity, the routes of the so-called Silk Road formed an important network for commercial, cultural and technological exchange. Far-reaching and criss-crossing the Asian continent they connected eastern and south-eastern parts of Asia to the Mediterranean world via both maritime and overland routes. Named after the lucrative silk trade, which developed during Han Dynasty, one tends to think of the Silk Road as a one-way road starting in China and ending at the Mediterranean. However, goods, technologies and ideas were travelling in both directions, and glass is an excellent example for a trade-good that arrived in the East from the West. The key developments of glass, which had its origins in the Middle and Near East, mainly took place in the Mediterranean and in the Arab World during Antiquity and Islamic times. Although known in the Far East since at least the Han Dynasty and treated as equivalent to precious stones, glass never played a significant role in Far Eastern cultures. Therefore, glass finds from Far Eastern sites provide evidence for far-reaching trade-relationships and imply cross-fertilization with other cultures. Thus, the contributions to this conference dealt with a geographical area between Western Europe, the Balkans, the Near East, Central Asia, as well as Eastern and Southeastern Asia and covered a chronological range from 200 BC to AD 1000. The conference focused on the one hand on recent results of scientific analyses of glass and on the other hand on archaeological questions. The possibility of interdisciplinary research was one of the focal points of the conference and hence this volume, as well as questions on workshops, raw material, technology and trade. The current state of research on glass along the Silk Road was the subject of an international conference within the scope of the "Sino-German Project on Cultural Heritage Preservation" of the RGZM and the Shaanxi Provincal Institute of Archaeology, hosted in 2008 in Mainz. The book contains the contributions to that conference.

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The concept of »transformation« or simply »reshaping« contains the elements of what remains, the conservative, the kernel of what continues, as well as the elements of what changes, the innovative. In the framework of this publication of articles from a conference in 2016 on »Transformations of City and Countryside in the Byzantine Period«, we draw attention to this dichotomy and investigate the social dynamics behind changes in urban and rural life in the Byzantine period that can be detected by archaeology, history and art history. The Byzantine Empire is an ideal subject for studying how social transformation proceeds, what triggers transformation, what factors underlie it and what the processes involved are. Who were the agents of transformation and how did they and their environment change? How flexible were the state or its citizens in handling external and internal pressures of innovation? In what manner and to what extent were the Byzantines able to preserve their identity and the internal cohesion of their empire in the course of these processes of adaptation?

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In recent years, effective Dirac systems have received a lot of attention in solid state physics. These are systems whose dispersion can effectively be described by a Dirac cone, the most prominent examples being graphene and topological insulators (TIs). These systems exhibit intriguing phenomena---for example, TIs can host perfectly transmitted modes or, in conjunction with superconductors, Majorana zero modes. This work deals with superconducting heterostructures of both of the aforementioned materials and examines transport phenomena as well as the formation of sub-gap states in such systems: In the first chapter, superconducting bilayer graphene with a chemisorbed adatom is investigated and the existence of peculiar sub-gap states, so-called Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states, is shown. The second chapter deals with T junction devices made out of three-dimensional (3D) TI nanowires. Together with proximity induced superconductivity in one arm and external magnetic fields, this setup allows for the occurrence of crossed Andreev reflection, including perfect crossed Andreev reflection, and negative nonlocal conductance. In the third chapter, Josephson junctions of 3D TI nanowires are investigated. The origin of unusual, experimentally observed supercurrent oscillations in dependence of a parallel magnetic field is examined in a semiclassical analysis.

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Among the German Staufen castles, the architecture and architectural sculpture of the Gelnhausen pfalz, with its Upper Rhine-Alsatian and Southern French forms, is the most artistically noble. However, with the end of the Staufen dynasty and the system of pfalzen in the 13th century, the complex lost its importance. A period of decay set in. What is now only in ruins was once a seat of administration and hosted a farmyard, a place of adjudication, receptions, festivities and imperial diets. Thomas Biller explains the significance of the building, which was used as a seat of government, on the basis of individual building elements and ornaments and sheds light on various reconstruction attempts.

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This study reveals the artistic and cultic multiplicity of arrangements, consisting of archaism and modernization, ahead of the crystallization of the Iconostasis as the »distinctive feature of churches of the Byzantine rite«. Thus it demonstrates a material proof of cultural identity and religious consciousness of the Orthodox populace in an area (Crete) and a period (Venetian rule) that is characterized by both osmosis and conflict. The book researches the Bema display of Cretan churches in a time period spanning from the Byzantine re-conquest of the island (11th century) until the middle of the Venetian dominance (15th century). It focuses on the apparition and distribution of the Templon-barrier, the function of a certain group of frescoes as prostration images and the (partial) establishment of fresco-painted masonry screens at the Orthodox churches of the island, just before the prevalence of the »wooden wall of icons« – known as Iconostasis.

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Based on the research project the project "Metal finds as testimony to the interaction between Greeks and indigenous people in Sicily between the 8th and 5th centuries BC", the nineteen contributions to this volume deal with the interactions between archaeological legacies and identities both from a theoretical-methodological point of view and on the basis of concrete case studies. The focus is on ancient Sicily and its extensive connections and interdependencies, but the geographical framework extends from Asia Minor and Greece via Sicily and Lower Italy to France and Central Europe.

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A comprehensive account of Protestant church building in the early modern period throughout Europe. 26 German- and English-language contributions by renowned experts present a wide range of topics that open up the form and content of church building in its peculiarities as well as theological and socio-political issues. The volume is the result of a workshop that took place in Vienna at the end of 2013 as part of the research project of the same name under the direction of Prof. Dr. Jan Harasimowicz. The contributions show the efforts made by the denominations that emerged from the Reformation movement to create a ‘preaching space’ adapted to their needs. Western European, especially Dutch and French solutions soon found their way to Northern and Central Europe, where they were modified differently as needed. A feature of the post-Reformation era, however, was the emergence of new ways of cultural transfer. An important role was played by the countries in the Baltic Sea region, which, thanks to the Reformation, gained their own cultural identity.

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Old alleyways seem to echo with the footsteps of the Latin scholar in Mansfeld or the student in Erfurt. The reader can envisage the medieval traveller in the images of roads that Luther travelled 500 years ago. Portraits by Wittenberg painter Cranach and historical paintings of later eras illustrate biographical incidents, giving a face to Luther’s companions and opponents and a vivid impression of the places where the events took place. The text is closely linked to the images. It is not didactic; it tells Luther’s story and motivates the reader to reflect on the man, his work and his time. Across the centuries, the interested reader will find much that is familiar.

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