El objetivo del trabajo es analizar la relación entre humanos y animales a lo largo del tiempo. En este contexto, buscamos puntualmente comprender el papel de estos últimos en los procesos de construcción identitaria de los grupos humanos de Sierras Centrales (Córdoba, centro de Argentina). Para ello, proponemos una perspectiva que integre herramientas metodológicas de la etnozoología, la historia y la arqueología. Desde el presente, abordamos el conocimiento ecológico local de las comunidades rurales, donde muchas familias llevan como apelativo el nombre de algún animal. En tanto, indagamos en los vínculos identificados en los documentos y trabajos históricos, lo que habilita rastrear cambios y continuidades de algunas prácticas sociales donde fueron mencionados los animales. Consideramos que la conjunción de estas líneas posibilita repensar la presencia de estos seres en las dinámicas sociales de las comunidades humanas del período Tardío (ca. 700-1550 dC), con base en el análisis de la iconografía zoomorfa del arte rupestre. La evidencia recuperada nos habilita a reconocer la continuidad del diálogo entre personas y animales como central en las dinámicas sociales, y cómo sus diferentes expresiones identitarias tuvieron lugar en distintos momentos históricos en las regiones objeto de estudio.

The Katakomben-Stichting (Catacombs Foundation) is a private institution established in 1913 by the wealthy Dutch textile entrepreneur Jan F.M. Diepen and his family on the site of a ‘facsimile’ of the most famous sections of the Roman catacombs (today Museum Romeinse Katakomben), constructed between 1909 and 1913 in an abandoned quarry in Valkenburg aan de Geul, the Netherlands. The Foundation owns a collection of early Christian artifacts, watercolours and cartoons aimed at the creation of replicas of the catacomb paintings, as well as an archive, all of which await proper study and dissemination. A careful survey of the archive has added a new and valuable piece to the history of research involving the Crypt of Saint Cecilia in the Catacomb of Saint Callixtus. Diepen, together with the Trappist monk Eugenius van Doorn, coordinated between 1912 and 1916 a pioneering stratigraphic analysis of the decorations of the so-called ‘palimpsest wall’ of the Crypt, after they discovered a previously unknown fragment of an early medieval wall painting containing the bust of a Christ hovering in the sky, from that moment known as Salvatore Olandese. The analysis was supported by meticulous documentation of the decorations, which remains largely unpublished within the Foundation’s archive. The reasons for not publishing this comprehensive study remain uncertain. Examining Diepen’s notebook and correspondence with Rome-based archaeologists and art historians reveals a ‘harsh’ picture of the so-called ‘Roman school’ of Christian Archaeology, marked by rivalries and hostilities and lacking scientific collaboration with foreign scholars. It was precisely within this environment that a certain obstructionism appears to have emerged against the Dutch amateur and his circle’s efforts to study and publish the Salvatore Olandese, contributing to the ‘cancellation’ of this fresco from collective memory to this day.

This study examines the overlooked protests at the 1968 Venice Biennale to reassess the role of the media in Italy’s sessantotto. While mainstream newspapers largely dismissed the student and cultural demonstrations, illustrated magazines and television news offered more varied and sometimes sympathetic coverage, reaching millions. First-hand accounts of police violence in the work of photojournalist Gianni Berengo Gardin and in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s evolving commentary for Tempo magazine show that protest could come from within the media itself. The analysis highlights the significance of television’s innovative current affairs programming, which, despite censorship, brought global and Italian unrest into homes. By exploring the media ecosystem beyond newspapers – magazines, photojournalism, and television – this research shows how these platforms played a crucial role in shaping public understanding of 1968’s cultural and political conflicts, offering a fresh interpretation of Italy’s ‘1968’ and the complex relationship between protest and the media.

Land snail shells are usually avoided for radiocarbon dating, due to the possible presence of dead carbon, although measurements on certain small species can be reliable. However, terrestrial gastropods, which are often abundant and well preserved in favorable sedimentary contexts, may represent an important source of material for precise dating. In this study, the shell selection method and radiocarbon results are presented, based on about twenty dates, from well-known and reliable archaeological contexts mostly from the Languedoc (southern France) and covering different cultural periods of the Holocene. Chronological controls are provided by dates based on plant remains, archaeological artifacts and stratigraphy, as well as geomorphological and environmental interpretations. The results obtained based on gastropod shells show a good agreement with the expected dates. In some examples, the target period is quite large, making it difficult to determine the degree of accuracy. However, other tests give perfectly synchronous dates between botanical or archaeological material and mollusks. Species selection takes into account that terrestrial gastropods living in the midst of vegetation are less likely to ingest fossil carbon and are therefore better suited for dating, especially wetland species, Succinella oblonga and Vertigo pygmaea. These promising results show the potential of terrestrial shells for dating archaeological sequences when prevailing biological material such as charcoal is lacking or is unreliable.

Five unknown Holocene flank eruptions from the Masaya caldera are reported here. These eruptions comprise basaltic lava flows emplaced in Masaya’s northern rift zone along the Cofradía fault zone, east of Managua City. The lava flows were defined as Mosintepe, Portillo, Gorgonia, Campuzano, and Martha units. Paleosol samples were collected below each lava flow, and radiocarbon AMS analyses were performed, yielding ages of 2250 ± 30, 1610 ± 30, 1600 ± 30, 1140 ± 30, and 790 ± 30 yrs BP, respectively. Calibrated age intervals are 285–229 cal BC for Mosintepe, 496–534 cal AD for Portillo, 496–535 cal AD for Gorgonia, 914–976 cal AD for Campuzano, and 1226–1268 cal AD for Martha; all stratigraphically consistent. These eruptions emitted magma bulk volumes between 0.02 and 0.51 km3, reaching up to 8 km from their eruptive vent and 13 km from Masaya’s polygenetic system summit crater. Their mineral paragenesis, and major and trace element geochemical fingerprint reveals a common volcanic provenance from the Masaya caldera due to lateral magma draining. This study demonstrates that basaltic lava flow flank eruptions are common in the Masaya caldera along its northern volcanic rift zone. Therefore, this information should be considered in future hazard and risk assessments.

The green tree python is quite a favorite pet for sale on the international market. The species is therefore protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES). Since the illegal poaching of large numbers of specimens in the wild might lead to the detriment of native populations, and wildlife breeding farms were found to be serving as conduits to funnel wild-caught green tree pythons out of Indonesia, a forensic tool to distinguish wild-caught from captive-bred specimens could support the enforcement of CITES protections. To disrupt the illegal trade of green tree pythons, we have developed an effective tool to distinguish the animals supposedly bred in captivity from those caught in the wild, based on the strontium isotope composition in conjunction with trace element data. Like in human hair, 87Sr/86Sr values seem to vary according to the relative contribution of endogenous and exogenous sources. Thus, we infer that if there is enough sustainable strontium available for the analysis, it might be possible to use the 87Sr/86Sr values in parallel with trace elements to distinguish wild-originated specimens from the in captivity-bred ones. Indeed, our pilot study on the shed skins of animals where the geographic origin was either the Czech Republic or Indonesia, confirms that shed skins can be effectively used for further forensic Sr radiogenic isotope analyses.