Periodisation

Scientific research has concluded that it takes eight-to-twelve years of training for a talented player/athlete to reach elite levels. This is called the ten-year or 10,000 hour rule, which translates to slightly more than three hours of practice daily for ten years Charness, 1994, Bloom, 1985; Unfortunately, parents and coaches in many sports still approach training with an attitude best characterized as "peaking by Friday," where a short-term approach is taken to training and performance with an overemphasis on immediate results. We now know that a long-term commitment to practice and training is required to produce elite players/athletes in all sports.

Fr : Apparition et création des villes, le temps des villes closes, villes et métropoles en expansion, effets de mobilité : ville verticale et ville étalée, les limites de la mobilité...
En : Emergence and creation of cities, the era of closed cities, towns and cities expanding, effects of mobility: Vertical town and city spread, the limits of mobility ...

"This book presents the papers and discussions held at the second meeting of the European Megalithic Studies Group (Seville, Spain, November 2008). This is therefore a cooperative, international book that brings together leading specialists from several European countries, including France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Portugal, Sweden, and Spain. This volume revolves around two crucial aspects of recent research on prehistoric monuments: time (chronology) and matter (raw materials as used in both architecture and artefacts). Both topics have generated much discussion in recent years and form one of the main cutting edges of current research on prehistoric monuments. These two main themes have recently witnessed major advances thanks to the application of new scientific techniques to old and new archaeological problems. For the chronology theme, specific issues include the origin of prehistoric monuments, the limitations and advantages of newly available high-resolution dating techniques (such as AMS radiocarbon analysis of pigments, thermoluminiscence and OSL), and patterns of utilisation, re-utilisation and abandonment. For rare rocks, some of the specific issues covered by this book are rock selection, the frequency and type of rare materials (variscite, quartz, amber, etc.), trade and exchange, the manipulation of raw materials, the symbolic catchment of geological landscapes, and the sourcing of stones. The idea here is to explore the value, function and symbolism of the materials in their prehistoric context, their placement and positioning in relation to funerary structures (architecture) and human remains (individuals), and the evidence they provide for interregional interaction."

Based on the article by S. Sokolov-Remizov on Fangu - the Chinese method of "interpreting the classics", the author considers the appeal to the "classics" as a phenomenon common to a number of Oriental cultures. The terms "classic", "classical" need clarification and identification of the specifics of their meaning in relation to the subject under consideration, and the identification of the reasons for the characteristics of specific masters as "classics" and certain works, genres, techniques, phenomena, etc. how "classical" can become a separate historiographic task. Comparison of the manifestations of the "interpretation of the classics" should include the definition of the specifics, mechanisms and boundaries of referring to the "heritage of ancestors" (copying, quoting, imitation, etc.), as well as an analysis of the reasons, goals and consequences of such an appeal.

The present study attempts to identify and characterise some basic principles that underlined  historical  development  in ancient  Egypt,  specifically  during  the  Old Kingdom period. Looking at the ever-increasing corpus of the evidence, it applies the theory of punctuated equilibrium for explaining some of the major features operating human society in a diachronic perspective. The explanatory potential of the punctuated equilibrium concept seems to work rather well when applied to the historical evidence we have at hand. As a consequence, Old Kingdom history is not any more a rather homogenous continuum represented by individual pharaohs and monuments arranged into a regular evolutionary scheme; on the contrary, it emerges as an intricate open system punctuated by several historically brief “events” during which major changes in society took place and which were divided by longer periods of stasis, a continuum with seemingly no significant development. The Old Kingdom era emerges as an open system in which the specific role of the individual in specific historical circumstances is able to significantly enhance our understanding of new discoveries, historical facts, and known contexts.

The  emerging concept  of historical  development  outlined  above can  be, in my view, successfully applied for a description of some of the irregularities which once governed the development of ancient Egyptian society during the Od Kingdom. Stephen Jay Gould and Nils Eldridge in the early 1970s formulated a new theory, describing the nature of processes encountered in evolutionary biology. It was a theory that explained some formerly incomprehensible patterns in the distribution of fossil remains over a long period of time. They concluded, due to a lack of other evidence, that instead of an evolutionary linear concept, one may well apply a theory of punctuated equilibria. This appeared to be a much more suitable explanation for the observed phenomena.
In simplified terms, the original concept of “punctuated equilibria” means that species (following the original studies of Eldridge and Gould) continue to exist in an apparently balanced way, punctuated by major individual events introducing  crucial  changes  within  that  basic species, or group evolution. These major developmental changes tend to happen in certain discrete peri- ods of time divided by rather uneventful  periods of stasis when no significant development takes place.
If we look now at the data which we have analyzed for the Old Kingdom, we can see that a similar “punctuated” pattern emerges. The explanatory potential of the punctuated equilibrium concept seems to work quite well when applied to Old Kingdom history. There is every reason to believe that it can be applied to other periods as well. The results given above have proven to have had a significant bearing on how we can now view Old Kingdom history. With regard to the Old Kingdom, it seems to be appropriate to assume that the evidence at our disposal is rich enough and sufficiently heterogenous to allow for such a theory, thus avoiding the risk of coming to speculative conclusions.
In my opinion, Old Kingdom history should no longer be considered as a rather homogenous continuum represented by individual pharaohs and monuments arranged into a regular evolutionary scheme: on the contrary, it emerges as an intricate open system in which several historical individuals embedded in specific historical contexts managed considerably greater achievements than others. It would certainly deserve a detailed study if the “events” must always be connected to a historical personage. For the time being, this seems to be the most probable context.
Equally powerful can be the concept of punctuated equilibrium when applied to an analysis of the development, rise and fall of any given complex society—as it has done in the case of the history of Old Kingdom Egypt. The fact that we can bind specific innovations to specific historical circumstances and embed them in a particular historical context lets us detect more satisfactorily the decisive turns in the development of any given society.
  In this particular case we can see without any significant bias that factors that formerly initiated dramatic success of the ancient Egyptian state gradually transmuted into negative ones that contributed to the decline and eventual collapse of the Old Kingdom. Thus the roots of principal internal factors contributing to a system’s ultimate demise can be detected already in the formative stage of the system. Their former positive feedback eventually turns them into factors that usher in a crisis of the system. At the same time, it is the shortening and eventually total disappearance of the equilibrium periods which is indicative of the approaching collapse of the current state of affairs.

The multiplier effect, coupled with the concept of punctuated equilibrium, represent tools with which it is possible to better understand the nature of some traditional phenomena in history. Moreover, this concept provides a rather different perspective from the former notion of history as a continuous uninterrupted current of more or less isolated events.

This paper explores the relationships between local or national housing markets and recent historic transformations in global capitalism. It proposes a periodization of developments in housing markets, policies and practices distinguishing between, first, the pre-modern period; second, the modern or Fordist period; third, the flexible neoliberal or post-Fordist period; and fourth, the late neoliberal or emerging post-crisis period. This periodization is a heuristic device that helps to make sense of the interdependence of national housing markets and the global financial crisis. The argument is not that the crisis caused the breakdown of the post-Fordist housing model, but rather that the shift to this model introduced certain dynamics to housing markets that a few decades later culminated into a crisis. The start of the Great Moderation was also the start of the financialization of states and economies in various domains, particularly housing. In making this argument, I unpack the concept of the Great Moderation: what appeared to be a structural moderation of macroeconomic cycles was in fact the build-up of a bubble economy. The 1970s and early 1980s as well as the post-2007 crisis are critical junctures in the development of housing. The Great Moderation was also a Great Excess in terms of rising inequality and excessive credit and debt, suggestive of a finance-led regime of accumulation.
Keywords: global financial crisis, Great Moderation, financialization, periodization, regime of accumulation, debt

This paper synthesizes the currently available data on the radiocarbon chronology of the south-western Iberian Bronze Age. First, the bulk of c. 1000 existing dates for southern Iberian Late Prehistory is analysed, and its main issues discussed. Secondly, a discussion is presented of the main features of settlement and funerary patterns in the south-western Bronze Age as dated by radiocarbon, with special emphasis in issues such as their temporal evolution and synchrony with the south-eastern record.

This essay welcomes the current return to long-term history, known as the Temporal Turn. Various implications follow. Historical periodisation is being reconsidered, to jettison outdated and rigid divisions. And attention is rightly returning to long-term causes, effects, and trends - not forgetting deep continuities. (To repeat) my own term for the interlinking dimensions of continuity (persistence), gradual change (evolution) and rapid transformation (turbulence) is historical trialectics.

How far do you think that the establishment of a dynasty represents the foundations of a state? Do you agree with the view that the rise and fall of political dynasties and certain historical events determine the 'medieval' in Indian history?

Jzabella Zatorska feu qu'ils ont allumé (volé ?) dans le ciel, leurs successeurs ont pu faire le leur. Qui, à côté d'eux, paraît du clair-obscur I6 • Une grande absente des études dix-huitiémistes a longtemps été la pensée chrétienne et la voie esthétique d'inspiration religieuse (quelques grandes exceptions, dont celle de G. Gusdorf, mises

Periodization is a fundamental exercise for archaeology and for historical studies in general, aimed primarily at clarity in communication. However, this exercise imposes particular modes of conceptualizing specific periods. An attractive case study for research in the historiographical processes that shape periodization is posed by the period of Greek archaeology extending from the end of the second to the early first millennium B.C.E. This study analyzes the different conceptual baggage of each of the many names used for this period and focuses on the terminological struggle between the Dark Age(s) and the (Early) Iron Age. Ι argue that this struggle was shaped not only by discussions within classics but also by debates in other historical disciplines and developments in the politi- cal history of 20th-century Greece. The struggle over the name of the period has served as an arena for the unfolding of broader politicized debates in classics, Greek history, and the archaeology of the Mediterranean.

This article discusses a radiocarbon-based chronology for the Neolithic–Eneolithic pe­riod in the present-day Republic of Karelia (Russian Federation). The main goal is to present all cur­rently available radiocarbon datings, including the previously published dates, as well as the ones recently obtained by the authors. In total, there are 194 dates from 77 sites covering the period from the 6th to the 2nd millennium cal BC. Besides providing an up-to-date list of datings, the article also evaluates their reliability and utility in building a local chronology. Despite several shortcomings, the new AMS-supported chronology enables the study of past cultural dynamics in much greater detail than previously and allows its better integration into the wider north-east European chronological framework.

A modern történelemtudomány kialakulása óta létezik a múlt egyes szakaszainak elkülönítése a többitől. A történészek sok esetben vitatják egymás erről alkotott teóriáit, és máshol húzzák meg az általuk kreált időegyenesen a választóvonalakat. Az idővel való foglalkozás új keletű dolognak számít a társadalomtörténetben. Francois Hartog, az Annales iskola egyik ismert történésze például "szakadékokat" lát az időben és erre építi fel újszerű elméletét, amely a történetiség rendjeit meghatározza. A magyarul 2006-ban megjelent A történetiség rendjei című munkájában részletesen kifejti az ezzel kapcsolatos koncepcióját. Hartog a közelmúlt történelmi eseményeit vette górcső alá, és az itt felbukkanó "réseket" emelte ki, mint például az európai világban az első világháború után, majd 1945-ben is. Ekkor a folytonosság megszakad, és két korszak rajzolódik ki. A kérdés, mik lehetnek ezek a rések, korszakhatárok? A magyar történelemben is megvannak azok a periódusok, melyeket gyakran téves módon hermetikusan elzártan különítenek el egymástól az iskolai oktatásban és a szóbeszédben is. Ezek azonban csak modern korunk vívmányai. A klasszikus, politikatörténeti időfelosztás mellett azonban létezhet alternatív klasszifikáció is, ilyetén módon akár a technikatörténet egyes korszakalkotó vívmányait is tekinthetjük töréspontoknak, melyek egy új éra kezdetét jelenthetik. Célom, hogy jelen tanulmányban a hazai vasúttörténet egy alternatív periodizációját felvázoljam, amelyre azért van szükség, mert a történészek legtöbb esetben a klasszikus, az ország történelmében is fordulópontot jelentő eseményekre koncentráló korszakolást használják monográfiáikban vezérfonálként, melyet nem lehet hibaként aposztrofálni, de-meglátásom szerint-a magyarországi vasútfejlődést kevésbé egzakt módon mutatja be. Ámbár más perspektívát eredményezhet a vasúttörténetben a magyarországi vasúthálózat alakulásának töréspontjaira helyezni a hangsúlyt. A kérdés tehát: a magyar vasúttörténetben hol húzhatók meg azok a korszakhatárok, melyeket nem feltétlenül politikai, hanem jelentős vasúthálózat(fejlesztés)i változások eredményeztek, s amelyek térszervező hatással is bírtak?

This article challenges the common periodisation of global economic developments after the Second World War. In contrast to common notions in the social sciences and humanities, the emergence of neoliberalism as a mode of structuring global economic interactions is dated to the late 1940s, while the 1970s, commonly assumed to be a decade of rupture when neoliberal policies burst onto the global economy, are identified as the moment when neoliberalism consolidated. The major example for the case made is the global spread of export processing zones (EPZs). Following an overview of common periodisations such as those of David Harvey and Niall Ferguson, I show how in the world’s first EPZs in Puerto Rico features such as flexible accumulation emerged, how the zones were spread across the world as the Cold War escalated, and how the zones ultimately, and somewhat coincidentally, became a major factor in the non-aligned movement’s call for a new international economic order. To conclude I propose a return to a historical materialist analysis of world history that considers change as the effect of struggles between (anti-) social movements and not as a sequence of dominant modes of regulation.

Prefabricated housing estates, which were created in the Czech lands between
the late 1950s up until the mid-1990s, have in recent years emerged as a subject of interest,
and not only for architectural history. An extensive interdisciplinary research project into
Czech housing estates, covered by the five-year grant “Prefabricated Estates in the Czech
Republic as Part of the Urban Living Environment”, has also included the participation of the
Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague.
In the over four decades of their construction, these housing estates underwent architectural
development, though this need not immediately be apparent on first view. For us
to deal with all of the theoretical as well as practical problems posed by the phenomenon
of the prefabricated housing estate, we need first of all to find a suitable terminology and
a basic periodicisation, which has been the aim of our work.
Because it has been found within the documentation of selected housing estates to be
impossible to accept any of the previous chronological and stylistic divisions of mass housing
without reservations, the article discusses a concept for periodicisation that would apply
on the level of the entire nation. The proposal is based on the architectonic and urban
analysis of the estates, the development of prefabrication and panel technology, as well as
on the era’s political and economic situations, which directly influenced the construction of
public housing. The housing estates of Prague have been selected as a model instance for
the reason that they provide the hitherto most thoroughly researched locality in the Czech
Republic, while the national capital at the same time acts as the nation’s most influential
cultural centre.

(For Dutch see below), This volume aims to provide insight into the meaning of time in constructing the past. After all, in their historiography, historians combine subjective experienced time and objective measured time in different ways. However, so far little attention has been paid to the role of time in the practice of history. In twelve articles historians and (historical) philosophers examine issues of time. They discuss not only the interaction between time and historical consciousness, but also between time and history. Historical consciousness arises after major social changes. The past is objectified and put at a distance, as can be seen from the diary fragments of an 18th-century boy in the Dutch Republic or from 19th-century world fairs. The experienced time is dealt with, for instance, in the intrigue that gives meaning to heterogeneous events. The intrigue consists of a beginning, middle and end, with the end ensuring unity. For periodization, the chosen end point of a period also determines the start.

Deze bundel wil de betekenis van tijd voor de constructie van het verleden inzichtelijk maken. In hun geschiedbeoefening combineren historici immers op verschillende manieren subjectieve tijdservaring en objectieve tijdsmeting. Aan de rol van het tijdsbegrip in de geschiedbeoefening is echter tot nu toe weinig aandacht besteed.
In twaalf artikelen buigen historici en (geschied)filosofen zich over de temporele problematiek. Zij bespreken niet alleen de wisselwerking tussen tijd en historisch besef maar ook die tussen tijd en geschiedverhaal. Historisch besef doet zich voor na grote maatschappelijke veranderingen. Het verleden wordt geobjectiveerd en op afstand gezet, zoals blijkt uit dagboekfragmenten van een 18e-eeuwse jongen in de Republiek of uit de wereldtentoonstellingen in de 19e eeuw. De ervaringstijd komt in het geschiedverhaal onder meer aan bod in de intrige die aan heterogene gebeurtenissen betekenis verleent. De intrige bestaat uit een begin, midden en einde, waarbij het einde zorgt voor de eenheid. Ook voor het periodiseren geldt dat het gekozen eindpunt van een periode mede bepalend is voor het begin.

In einem Science-Fiction-Bestseller des späten 19. Jahrhunderts, in Edward Bellamys "Ein Rückblick aus dem Jahre 2000 auf 1887", wird die Gegenwart des Autors und seines Publikums als zukünftige Vergangenheit imaginiert. Als Er-zähler figuriert ein Historiker, der im Dezember des Jahres 2000 das zurückliegende 20. Jahrhundert als eine Phase großen technischen und sozialen Fortschritts zeichnet. 2 Der Autor des Buches, ein US-amerikanischer Jurist und Journalist, nützt das Bild des zukünftigen Geschichtsschreibers, um seiner von enormen sozialen Problemen geprägten Zeit einen Spiegel vorzuhalten und die Umsetzung einer gerechteren, auf Gleichheit und Freiheit basierenden, Gesell-schaft zu fordern. Aus heutiger Sicht ist das Buch ebenso vergangene Zukunft, wie es die vielen anderen utopischen literarischen Texte des fin de siècle sind. Manche davon entstanden in Wien, so etwa Theodor Herzls zionistische Utopie "Altneuland" oder die an Bellamy anknüpfende Erzählung "Freiland" des Nati-onalökonomen Theodor Hertzka. 3 Bellamys Erzählstrategie des zukünftigen Rückblicks aber löst ein Denk-und Darstellungsproblem, dem Zeithistorike-rInnen in ihrer Arbeit schwerlich ausweichen können: Da sie Zeitgeschichte vor einem offenen Zukunftshorizont denken, ermangelt es ihnen eines stabilen Sehepunktes, von dem aus sie die untersuchten Strukturen und Ereignisse einordnen können.

This essay urges that a debate on historical periodisation is long overdue. In practice, historians are eclectic and many invoke their own preferred timespans. Yet the collective 'default' system of the profession sticks with outdated assumptions about the onset of the ancient world, medievalism, modernity, and (perhaps) postmodernity. However, did history really change so schematically? All the apparently 'established' chronologies have problems, including the Marxist variants of Feudalism, Capitalism, and Communism. So the analysis should move beyond Post-post to study multi-layered experiences in the past as in the present.

This article describes the emergence of the dialectal differences in phonology that eventu-ally led to the division of Western Karaim into two dialects: North-Western and South-Western Karaim. The study is based on manuscripts and manuscript editions covering the period between the 17th and 20th centuries. Special attention is paid to the relative chronology of the phonological changes. A proposed periodization of Western Karaim is also presented.

Presentation made within the webinar "Forum APHG - Journées de l'Université : Transitions, mutations" organised by the Association des Professeurs d'Histoire et Géographie de Champagne-Ardenne and the Departments of History and Geography of the Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, in association with the Rectorate of the Académie de Reims (online, 19-20 May 2021).

The year 1918 and Polish Literature: End, Beginning and
Continuation, or Julian Tuwim from Spring to You All, Go
Kiss My Ass. This essay addresses issues of periodization,
with a specific focus on the importance (or overvaluation)
of the reconstruction of the Polish State and its effects and
consequences on contemporary Polish culture and literature:
in fact, 1918 was perceived as a turning point and as an ideal
boundary between an old and a new era. At the same time,
different opinions about the “limits of modernity” in Polish culture
and literature were discussed, emphasizing the longue durée
of such cultural macrophenomena as the “romantic paradigm”
or “Sarmatian” mentality and their significant impacts on the
processes of continuity and discontinuity of culture. Searching
for a merely literary explanation for the periodization of this
first troubled period of the “short century”, the author stresses
the importance of two texts by Julian Tuwim, Spring (1918) and
You All, Go Kiss My Ass (1938), which feature all the euphoria
of the beginning and the drama of the end of the period. The
article also offers an initial attempt at an Italian translation of
the Tuwimian Poem in which the author politely but firmly
implores the vast hosts of his brethren to kiss his ass.

Antiquité, Moyen Âge, Renaissance, Trente Glorieuses… Les époques structurent notre imaginaire temporel et notre appréhension du présent. Catégorie centrale des sciences humaines et sociales, l’époque régit aussi l’expérience ordinaire des acteurs et peut servir de fondement à l’action politique. Elle reste pourtant remarquablement peu interrogée. Au fond, qu’est-ce qu’une époque ? Comment en arrêter les contours ? De quoi est-on contemporain ? Et que produisent les tentatives de périodisation sur notre rapport au temps et à l’histoire ? C’est à l’étude de ces questionnements qu’est consacré ce numéro de Tracés. À travers l’examen d’objets aussi divers que la naissance du capitalisme, l’historiographie du Moyen Âge, la place des femmes dans la Renaissance, la critique du temps présent dans le théâtre des XVe et XVIe siècles, les révolutions caribéennes de la fin du XVIIIe siècle, la périodisation des relations internationales, le sens du temps à l’ère capitaliste, la crise financière de 2008, ou les époques du futur imaginées par la science-fiction, les différentes contributions de ce numéro viennent chacune éclairer un pan de ce phénomène que nous appelons époque. Ce numéro montre ainsi la pluralité des manières de « faire époque », en s’intéressant aux conditions parfois conflictuelles de la genèse des époques, ainsi qu’aux soubassements épistémologiques et politiques de leurs usages.

Doktorska disertacija je nastajala med leti 2011 in 2016 v času moje zaposlitve na Oddelku za arheologijo v okviru programa mladi raziskovalci, ki ga je financirala Javna agencija za raziskovalno dejavnost v okviru Ministrstva za izobraževanje, znanost, kulturo in šport Republike Slovenije. Spodbudno je bilo tudi delo s projektno skupino v okviru raziskovalnega programa "Arheologija (P6-0247-058)" in predvsem raziskovalnega projekta "Arheologije lovcev, poljedelcev in metalurgov: kulture, populacije, paleogospodarstva in okolje (J6-4085-0581)".

The main factors for the development of Croatian art in the Early Modern Period were the changing historical conditions, marked by the intrusions and conquests of Ottoman forces and various sources of influence: of Mediterranean or Italian origin in Adriatic Croatia, or Hungarian in inland Croatia and strongly Habsburg-related from the 16th century onward. These circumstances have largely affected art-historical scholarly research as well. In the first period of the rise of art history as a discipline, in the “age of the founders” corresponding to the last decades of the 19th century, research was focused on the creation of the corpus of works of art, with emphasis on the study of the monumental heritage of the Adriatic coast and artwork belonging to earlier periods (I. Kukuljević Sakcinski, 1816-1889). The art of inland Croatia and more recent artistic periods would come into focus only with the expansion of the influence of the Viennese School of Art History, first with the survey written in 1902 by Iso Kršnjavi (1845-1927) and especially with the activity of Gjuro Szabo (1875-1943) and Artur Schneider (1879-1946).
Besides to the key issue of identifying national features in the history of art, many scholars devoted their attention to problems of periodisation, with two distinct and parallel approaches or views of the topic. On one hand, scholars emphasized the contemporary appearance of artistic phenomena, which corresponded to current trends in Western art. On the other hand, Ljubo Karaman’s (1886-1971) reflections on art in periphery and on the delayed adoption of styles would prove to have a profound effect on the art-historical discourse of the 20th century. The applied methodology and periodisation reveal different approaches to the research of artwork in Adriatic and inland Croatia. While the periodisation of Dalmatian art was primarily based on formal characteristics and morphological features, especially decoration, an entirely different approach was introduced in the study of art of inland Croatia, with emphasis on context in discussing individual works of art.
These theses will be considered on several examples. For the periodisation of Dalmatian art, an important element was the distinction between Gothic and Renaissance and efforts to define the “mixed Gothic-Renaissance style” in discussions between Cvito Fisković (1908-1996) and Ljubo Karaman. For the study of art in inland Croatia, it was important to determine the beginning of the Baroque period, which coincided with the arrival of the Jesuit order and the construction of their church in Zagreb, as well as the construction of new type of castles (Anđela Horvat, 1911-1985). Precisely the research of A. Horvat would abandon the traditional narrative of the chronological sequence of styles and embrace the notion of pluralism of stylistic phenomena (Between Gothic and Baroque, 1975).

Contemporary production technology is about to exert an influence on the development of ar- chitecture as fundamentally as experienced during Industrialization in the 19th century. While new computer-aided methods are widely discussed and applied, their roots and relation to previous production technology remain obscure.
The present work analyzes architecture from the perspective of production technology. It aims to contextualize contemporary research in the building industry—driven by information tech- nology—and identify it as part of a continuous development in history of technology.
The thesis is built around the scheme of a periodization model, which intends to integrate fabrication within manual, industrial and information technology. It is based on the relation between the three categories matter, energy, and information in each respective period.
The validity of the model is proven with help of history of timber architecture, as no other construction method illustrates the relation between processing technology, fabrication me- thods and architecture more comprehensively over a comparable period of time. It will be studied whether the proposed model can be circumstantiated with historical fact — how constitutive changes in process technology influenced wood processing and how they respectively coined construction and appearance of timber architecture.

From the early 1890s, application of the term fin de siècle functioned
as an ambiguous metaphor that could symbolise hope invested
in progress and technological innovation, or a fear of national
decline. The term was most consistently employed to regulate the
behaviour of women, in the reinforcement of prevailing gender
roles and in resistance to the emergence of the New Woman,
identified as an unwelcome embodiment of the fin de siècle and
feared for her potential to destabilise the emerging nation’s
future. The press functioned as a key technology for the
transmission of this narrative, and its extensive deployment in the
public sphere spread as its meaning was embraced and
contested, and faded in the early 20th century as its usefulness in
making sense of a transition to the challenges and opportunities
of a new century seemed spent. As a device for repudiating
outmoded or illegitimate values and forms of behaviour, its
deployment cleared a path for approved forms of progress. As a
metaphor of modernity, the fin de siècle narrative helped
Australians break with the past in order to compose the future.

This essay, first published in 2010, reconsiders an important theme for historical studies. In-depth analysis of short periods of micro-history is surely valuable. Yet micro-history means little without understanding the long-term frameworks of macro-history. Old models of inevitable progress or eternal class struggles are no longer convincing. Nor can theories of unremitting chaos or pure accident explain linked developments through time. New approaches, paying attention to both long-term changes and long-term continuities, are needed.

Excessive compartmentalising of literary and political texts projects anachronistic, artificial boundaries in place which, once entrenched, are difficult to shake, both within the academy and beyond. Categories such as ‘eighteenth-century’, ‘nineteenth-century’, ‘Romantic’ and ‘Victorian’ can be misleading, implying far less fluidity and interactivity. Similarly artificial is separation of different written genres, such as those which equate eighteenth-century texts with post-Enlightenment political philosophy, Romantic texts almost exclusively with pastoral poetry, and Victorian writing with the social problem novel. Before the gradual separation of scholarship into specialised disciplines in the later nineteenth century, polymathy combined painting, exploration, writing poetry, fiction, essays (scientific, political, theoretical and artistic) and journalism. While many academics have long engaged in cross-period, cross- and inter-disciplinary studies, this newer approach has yet to permeate to many undergraduate syllabi. The disparity may be seen in publications, with many monographs deconstructing divides, while teaching anthologies reinforce them. [...]

У статті запропоновано можливий варіант періодизації радянської міської геральдики в Україні. Вона ґрунтується на двох принципах: розвиток ідейної основи герба у радянську добу та її реальне втілення у життя.  Запропонована періодизація спрямована на те, щоб допомогти дослідникам орієнтуватись у процесах радянського герботворення та впорядкувати відомі на сьогодні факти у логічну структуру, що допоможе розгляда­ти радянську добу у сфері представницької символіки як цілісне явище.