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The history of the African people before slavery and colonization illustrates the ways in which different pictures of reality are created by which data are selected and ignored. The model of inquiry that verifies historical accuracy can help all program evaluators provide greater truth and equity for their clients. (SLD)

Social exclusion has been faced in modern societies as a phenomenon to be prevented in terms of equality. However, it can also be explored in past societies, where some individuals could confront situations of marginalization and exclusion. Previous scholars have accepted or rejected the existence of social exclusion in Ancient Egypt, although none of them has employed a theoretical framework to study it. This paper shows social exclusion as a phenomenon present in Ancient Egypt, analyses the available Egyptian evidence from a theoretical basis inherent to the social sciences, especially Sociology, and applies it to two case studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faunal evidence from the Fayum Neolithic is often cited in the framework of early stock keeping in Egypt. However, the data suffer from a number of problems. In the present paper, large faunal datasets from new excavations at Kom K and Kom W (4850–4250 BC) are presented. They clearly show that, despite the presence of domesticates, fish predominate in the animal bone assemblages. In this sense, there is continuity with the earlier Holocene occupation from the Fayum, starting ca. 7350 BC. Domesticated plants and animals appear first from approximately 5400 BC. The earliest possible evidence for domesticates in Egypt are the very controversial domesticated cattle from the 9th/8th millennium BC in the Nabta Playa-Bir Kiseiba area. The earliest domesticates found elsewhere in Egypt date to the 6th millennium BC. The numbers of bones are generally extremely low at this point in time and only caprines are present. From the 5th millennium BC, the numbers of sites with domesticates dramatically increase, more species are also involved and they are usually represented by significant quantities of bones. The data from the Fayum reflect this two phase development, with very limited evidence for domesticates in the 6th millennium BC and more abundant and clearer indications in the 5th millennium BC. Any modelling of early food production in Egypt suffers from poor amounts of data, bias due to differential preservation and visibility of sites and archaeological remains, and a lack of direct dates for domesticates. In general, however, the evidence for early stock keeping and accompanying archaeological features shows large regional variation and seems to be mainly dependent on local environmental conditions. The large numbers of fish at Kom K and Kom W reflect the proximity of Lake Qarun. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the punctuated equilibrium model has been employed in paleontological and archaeological research, it has rarely been applied for technological and social evolution in the Holocene. Using metallurgical technologies from the Wadi Arabah (Jordan/Israel) as a case study, we demonstrate a gradual technological development (13th-10th c. BCE) followed by a human agency-triggered punctuated “leap” (late-10th c. BCE) simultaneously across the entire region (an area of ~2000 km2). Here, we present an unparalleled, diachronic archaeometallurgical dataset focusing on elemental analysis of dozens of well-dated slag samples. Based on the results, we suggest punctuated equilibrium provides an innovative theoretical model for exploring ancient technological changes in relation to larger sociopolitical conditions—in the case at hand the emergence of biblical Edom–, exemplifying its potential for more general cross-cultural applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abydos is a large, complex archaeological site located approximately 500 km south of Cairo in Upper Egypt. The site has served as a cemetery for thousands of years and is where most of the Early Dynastic royal tombs are located. North Abydos includes the Middle Cemetery and the North Cemetery, which are separated from each other by a wadi. The Middle Cemetery was the burial ground for important Sixth Dynasty (2407–2260 BC) officials and over time for thousands of elite and non-elite individuals as well. Excavations at the core area of the Old Kingdom mortuary landscape have revealed many culturally important wooden objects but these are often found with extensive deterioration that can compromise their preservation. The objectives of this study were to characterize the biodegradation that has taken place in excavated wooden objects, elucidate the type of wood degradation present, obtain information on soil properties at the site and identify fungi currently associated with the wood and soils. Light and scanning electron microscopy studies were used to observe the micromorphological characteristics of the wood, and culturing on different media was done to isolate fungi. Identification of the fungi was done by examining morphological characteristics and extracting rDNA from pure cultures and sequencing the ITS region. Wooden objects, made from Cedrus, Juniperus and Acacia as well as several unidentified hardwoods, were found with extensive degradation and were exceedingly fragile. Termite damage was evident and frass from the subterranean termites along with sand particles were present in most woods. Evidence of soft rot attack was found in sections of wood that remained. Fungi isolated from wood and soils were identified as species of Aspergillus, Chaetomium, Cladosporium, Fusarium, Penicillium, Stemphylium Talaromyces and Trichoderma. Results provide important information on the current condition of the wood and gives insights to the identity of the fungi in wood and soils at the site. These results provide needed information to help develop conservation plans to preserve these degraded and fragile wooden objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isotope data from a sacrificial ass and several ovicaprines (sheep/goat) from Early Bronze Age household deposits at Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel provide direct evidence for the movement of domestic draught/draft and husbandry animals between Old Kingdom Egypt (during the time of the Pyramids) and Early Bronze Age III Canaan (ca. 2900–2500 BCE). Vacillating, bi-directional connections between Egypt and Canaan are known throughout the Early Bronze Age, but here we provide the first concrete evidence of early trade in animals from Egypt to Canaan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the issues of equality in the countries of the Maghreb and Egypt, where inequality in inheritance and with respect to interreligious marriage is of major significance. As a result, international agreements and international law take on a fluid character according to the whim of existing political systems, where legislators fluctuate between cultural particularism and the need to set themselves within the modernist movement. Yet how can one claim to be modernising countries in which half of the citizens have a truncated status and reservations attached to international agreements raise insuperable barriers against any change premised on equality between men and women? The considerations offered here start from legislation in four Muslim countries with a view to assessing the likelihood that international agreements might one day bring such countries not merely to comply with them but also to give women the place that is theirs by right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Egypt witnessed in the last decade, as in many Southeast Asian mega-cities, the reshaping of public space through the creation of new shopping malls and recreation places. This went hand in hand with the 'gentrification' of certain areas of the city of Cairo, which is continuing at the expense of pushing away the poor. The 1980s and 1990s also witnessed increasing prosperity among certain classes and the appropriation of new consumer lifestyles. This article attempts to look at the variations of shopping malls in Cairo and the new phenomenon of hybridization of tastes. One can observe the creation of 'chic' shopping malls functioning parallel to popular and working-class malls which are frequented by different classes, depending on the various districts of Cairo. These newly created public spaces are gendered. The malls provide new outlets for deprived youth to experience mingling and flirting, in other words, these spaces offer new forms of 'mixity' between sexes. A glimpse at the ' grands magasins' is brought up in relation to the history of consumerism in Egypt. This article also analyses the government's official discourse which alienates those living in unplanned and scattered construction as 'violent' and unruly and relates it to the new remaking of the town of Cairo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contrast to the arguments expounded by some theorists who study the position of women in the Muslim Arab world, women in Egypt have been economically active in all facets of the national economy throughout history. Their labour force participation and social status have been determined by their class and according to the five phases of economic development in Egyptian history. Previous to the rule of Mohammed Ali, women of the upper socio-economic stratum had limited labour participation, while peasant women were economically active throughout the five phases. The reforms of Mohammed Ali initiated a process in which it became a new ideal for women to be educated workers, beginning with the upper strata, and is now also a source of striving for women of the lower classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts related to social science. They include "Collective resistance and sustainable development in rural Greece: The case of geothermal energy on the island of Milos," by Maria Kousis, "Labor migration and rural development in Egypt: A study of return migration in six villages," by Christoph Reichert and "Reclaiming nationalized land in Hungary," by Terez Kovacs.

The article discusses the Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development Studies (ICDS), the first private and professional research organization in Egypt. The firm was founded by Saad Eddin Ibrahim, a professor of political sociology at the American University in Cairo, in 1988 with the idea to create an independent institution for applied social science research and sophisticated policy advocacy in the service of positive social change. ICDS commits most of its attention to the relationship between civil society and democratization.

The article focuses on archaeological researches on early Egypt. The author aims to summarize these archaeological researches and set it in the context of contemporary debates about early complex societies. According to the author, Egypt may become a primary database for attempts to explain and understand cultural complexity if current theoretical trends in archaeology continue. Its early evolution of a written language and elaborate material culture provides a long and rich account of ancient ideology.