Articles:
How closely the Neolithic people of the site of Okhta 1 were related to the Neolithic people of the sites of Sarnate and Šventoji 43?
Alexander Akulov
The Pit-Comb Ware from the Neolithic site Okhta 1 is much alike that from the Neolithic sites located on the territories of the Baltic states. The degree of relatedness of the Neolithic people of Okhta 1 to those of Sarnate and Šventoji 43 can be estimated by calculating the degree of resemblance of the corresponding assemblages of potsherds. The degree of resemblance between the assemblages of potsherds from Okhta 1 and from Sarnate is 0.32. The degree of resemblance between the assemblages of potsherds from Okhta 1 and from Šventoji 43 is 0.42. The degree of resemblance between the assemblages of potsherds from Sarnate and Šventoji 43 is 0.39. It means that the regularity of contacts of the Neolithic people of Okhta 1 with those of Šventoji 43 was the same as the regularity of contact between the Neolithic people of Šventoji 43 and those of Sarnate.
Keywords: Pit-Comb Ware; Neolithic period; Neolithic pottery; ornaments of pottery; Mathematical Semiotics
A function describing the regularity of changes of the potential relative error that occurs in the comparison of randomly selected assemblages of potsherds
Alexander Akulov, Tresi Nonno
The error that occurs in estimating degrees of resemblance of randomly selected assemblages of potsherds depends on the ratio of the numbers of potsherds. Originally the error is determined by the following points: if the ratio of numbers of potsherds is 1 – 0.7 the error is 0.01 or less, if the ratio is 0.65 – 0.6 the error is about 0.045, if the ratio is 0.55 – 0.5 the error is about 0.075, if the ratio is 0.45 the error is 0.14, if the ratio is 0.4 and less the error is about 0.19. To derive a function from the above-shown data was employed an online calculator that used several regression models to approximate an unknown function given by a set of data points. The function that fits the above-shown data best way is the following quadratic regression: δ = – 0.88r2 + 1.52r + 0.35, r is the ratio of numbers of potsherds.
Keywords: comparing assemblages of potsherds; mathematical semiotics; ornaments of pottery; semiotics
Think pieces:
Substrate words of Sami which correlate with Sumerian words
Alexander Akulov
In Sami there are 30 words that have no Uralic etymology; they could be borrowed from the language of Paja Ul Deˀŋ. It is supposed that Paja Ul Deˀŋ spoke a language belonging to the western branch of the Ainu-Minoan stock. Recently Sumerian language has been proved to belong to the western branch of the Ainu-Minoan stock, so Sumerian can be applied to these words of dim etymology. At least six words can be correlated with Sumerian words: kipp’tε “to cook” ~ Sumerian kibiKAK; Kildin Sami (KS) luhpel’ “1 y.o. reindeer” ~ Sumerian lahar, lahar2 “ewe”, “sheep” (however the word lahar can be of Akkadian origin, this point requires a special research); KS modžes “beautiful” ~ Sumerian mu5 “beautiful”, “good”; KS mun “frost” ~ Sumerian: mabi, mabi2, mammi2; KS nigkeš “pike” (fish) ~ Sumerian nig̃2-kiku6 “fish”; KS nissε “to kiss” ~ Sumerian níg̃-sa6-ga “pleasure”, “happiness”, niĝ2-sag9-ga (nig2-sag9-ga) “goodness”, “good (thing)”.
Keywords: substrate in Sami; Paja Ul Deˀŋ; Sumerian; Ainu-Minoan stock
Androgynous deities/beings in mythologies and art of the Ainu-Minoan people as a sign of positive attitude toward variations of gender
Tresi Nonno
If certain languages are related, i.e.: belong to the same family/stock, then the corresponding cultures share certain similar/look-alike conceptions/ideas/patterns. The more closely are certain cultures related, the larger is the set of their similar conceptions. In the case of such language unities as Ainu-Minoan only very basic ideas can be common. One of the common ideas of the people of the Ainu-Minoan stock is a pretty positive attitude toward variations of gender. This idea/tendency is expressed by the presence of androgynous deities/beings in the corresponding mythologies and art. In the most obvious form this tendency is expressed in Sumerian culture in the cult of Inanna. In Chinese culture this tendency is expressed by the figure of Lan Caihe. In Jōmon culture this tendency is expressed by clay figurines dogū depicting androgynous beings. In Minoan Crete this tendency is expressed by frescoes depicting people of ambiguous gender.
Keywords: androgyny;Inanna; Sumerian culture; Chinese culture; Jōmon; Minoan Crete
Between income and prestige: an essay on Roman landowning
Vladislav Semenov
Many of those who get acquainted with the history of the ancient world, Roman history, and in particular the history of the economy of Ancient Rome, believe that the Romans organized their economy on the rational principle of income extraction, transferring the modern realities of the capitalist world to the history of the ancient world. However, this does not correspond to what our sources show. From them it can be seen that the economy of the ancient world was quite archaic, and demonstrative consumption played a big role in it, to indicate its status in society and prestige. One of the elements of prestigious consumption was in the possession of land. The Roman aristocracy is trying to increase the size of its possessions, despite the low and even negative profitability of the estates, going bankrupt at the same time.
Keywords: economics; history of Ancient Rome; ancient world; history, prestige, classical studies
Cultural Anthropology and Ethnosemiotics 