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The museum is in crisis. Contrary to their self-image as preservers of cultural heritage, museums seem to be losing cultural and social relevance precisely because of their historical legacy: Their collection histories, epistemological foundations, personnel policies, and not least their architectural settings and displays are deeply rooted in nineteenth century ‘power knowledge’ (Michel Foucault). However, the clear-cut division of exhibits into art and non-art, modern and pre-modern, or ‘the West and the Rest’ (Stuart Hall) is becoming increasingly incompatible with everyday experiences in a post-migrant, globally entangled world. However, this crisis cannot be solved discursively or conceptually alone, but also needs to be reflected on an aesthetic level. A contemporary exhibition design has to invent new perceptual ‘affordances’ - ones that subvert the cognitivist bias, linear historiography, and identificatory logic of Western museology. Both Theodor W. Adorno's concept of ‘constellation’ and Edouard Glissant's ‘poetics of relation’ could serve as guiding principles.

Based on the assumption that museums have been spatially transformed in recent decades in the course of globalization, decolonization, and mediatization, we investigate from a socio-spatial perspective what influence this has on visitor experience and whether it leads to inequalities in ways of knowing. To this end, we conducted a visitor study in a science exhibition in a newly opened museum complex in Berlin, by using a mixed methods approach combining movement tracking, visitor survey and ethnographic observation. By analyzing the spatial practice in and spatial perception of the exhibition, we developed parameters along which spatial appropriation in the museum differs and correlated them with variables relating to museum spatial knowledge and scientific expertise. By integrating the spatial and social data using a multiple correspondence analysis protocol, we show that the legibility of museum space varies according to the visitors' cultural and specific symbolic-spatial capital. As this unequal access to the museum space has a direct influence on ways of knowing, the study shows that inequalities are reproduced by the current spatial refiguration of the museum.

In the contemporary world of social change, accelerated mobility and plural identities, the creation of open and inclusive environments seems to be a recurrent aim at all levels from cities to buildings and to museums in particular. Through the first-hand study and analysis of current case studies, the paper will argue that museums engage space to express the contemporary museological concepts of accessibility, openness and inclusiveness, and through these to engage visitors in cross cultural informational experiences and social encounters. The spatial nature of the contemporary museum, it is proposed, points to a new concept of the museum, which often aims to be part of the city, both in the sense of how it connects to it and in being internally more like a city, and so a continuation of it.

Architecture is not only a social product; the social is also constituted through architecture. This holds particularly true for the museum. Museum architecture is a spatialized expression of social order and an infrastructure through which collective imaginations are generated. I will show how the German Bundeswehr uses its principal museum to apply a post-heroic mode of identity formation. The Bundeswehr has to distance itself from the past while it also has to articulate a minimum of historic continuity to legitimize itself. The Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr (Dresden) achieves this through a twofold spatial tactic. First, through a dramatic architectural intervention, and secondly, through the interpretation of this spatial arrangement. Articulated in and through architecture, the ‘critical engagement with the past’ becomes institutionalized. Providing a sociological explanation of why the critical negation of the past became a prominent narrative within German memorial culture, I argue, that it allows for a coherent self-narration below the horizon of historical fractures and multiple conflicts in the refigured modernity. Although a similar discourse is at work at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin, its affirmative architecture, however, contradicts any claims of a ‘critical engagement with the past’.

Botanical garden museums are undergoing profound transformations. At the beginning of the 21st century refiguring processes, including climate change, the imperative of decolonisation, and advances in digital technology have led to a shift in the positioning of botanical gardens from Humboldtian collectors of nature to protectors of biodiversity. In this paper, through the sociospatial investigation of Berlin’s Botanical Garden and Museum, we analysed the ordering logics underpinning the staging of nature within the glasshouses - caught between permanence and change. Pursuing this investigation on a double analytical level, we analysed how the Berlin botanical garden is adapting to, or indeed struggling with a shifting conservation mission; and secondly, what are the consequences for the destabilisation of the conservation regime’s modernist underpinnings. We conclude the paper by speculating about the necessity of a nature-culture conservation regime.

This paper is concerned with an Actor-Network Theory approach to museum space. It builds upon qualitative research at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, a museum and educational building in Norwich, England. Following the people who work with the building in the process of dismantling an exhibition, I examine the negotiations that emerge when a problem occurs with the handling of a specific artwork. Drawing on the concept of spacing by Bruno Latour, this paper highlights the multiplicity and complexity inherent in museum practices. I argue that space is not contained inside the building but is done with the building, exhibition objects, handling instructions, surfaces, and people. Analyzing this process of spacing, then, the work towardsand negotiation of stability and flux, of homogeneity and heterogeneity inherent to museum spaces become visible which allows for a rich and nuanced understanding of the relationship between people and physical stuff.

Understood as active in the mediation of knowledge and values, museum spaces have become a growing field of investigation in the course of the spatial turn within the museum studies. In this special issue, we focus on the transformation of museum space. To this end, we introduce a specific theoretical framework, the refiguration of spaces, which aims to think spatial transformation in a non-linear, multiscalar and multiple way: The basic assumption is not to presume a sequential historic transformation of spatial figurations of museums – from chambers of wonders, through universal museums and white cubes towards interactive museums – in which a new type always replaces the previous one, but rather to draw our attention onto the dense juxtaposition of these figurations, which continue to be drawn upon, competing to reshape museums, and informing our spatial understanding of the museum of the future. In this editorial, we firstly (re)trace the different spatial-aesthetic figurations of museums and work out the limitations of a transformational framework. We introduce then the refiguration theory and its potential, before presenting the seven contributions of the special issue and synthesising their findings about the conflicting and shifting multiple spatialities of museums. We end our editorial with a speculative reflection about the futures of refiguring museums.

This article analyses the Conflictorium – Museum of Conflict, founded in 2013, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, and its use of museum space both within its designated location and the broader socio-spatial surroundings of the neighborhood and city. The museum is discussed as a site that offers space to experience and engage with conflicts about religion, citizenship, caste, identity and belonging in the historically and contemporary, polyphonic processes of Indian nation-making. By unpacking four, partially interrelated, dimensions of spatial transformations in the Conflictorium, the article offers an empirically-grounded understanding of museums’ different spatial strategies to convene information, create affective atmospheres and memories about contentious aspects of contemporary Indian society that might not be attended to in state-run museum or political discourse. In sum, the article argues that museum spaces can function as socio-spatial and -technological infrastructures that forge for the cultivation of consciousness about conflict, and the radical interrelatedness of India’s diverse social fabric.

Museums internationally continue to engage in urgent debates about the need to decentre the epistemological foundations of collections and institutions built on colonial expansion. Industrial cities like Manchester are only just beginning to address the uncomfortable legacies of colonial exploitation within their educational and cultural institutions. Contributing to this discussion, this article examines a project at the Manchester Museum that invited students from a local school to collaborate in the production of a film inspired by taxidermy specimens originating from a 1929 hunting safari in Sudan. Recounting the methods and outputs of this practice-based research project, I suggest that a cross-collections, creative approach to engaging audiences can generate new forms of imaginative and performed knowledge about the colonial histories of collections. Not only can these new forms of knowledge challenge existing accounts of provenance, they can be a tool to address historical injustices: inviting audiences to re-tell the histories of these things in their own words and making permanent space for these creative outputs within collections.

Storytelling lies at the heart of how museums share their collections with the public. However, not all stories are treated equally. Archaeological collections, with their small finds and fragmentary artifacts, find that many of their stories are relegated to the succinct, objective language of a label, necessarily truncating the rich associations that each object embodies. This does not allow much space for stimulating visitors’ imagination, and is even less conducive to motivating a critical approach. In cases where there are gaps in the object’s origins, the regular label format may give little to no clarification on the object’s life. As a thought-experiment in the possibilities of object biography, we chose the case study of a humble bronze figurine in Musée L’s archaeological collections. Despite its missing provenance and incomplete provenience, we developed a series of display interventions through which we could tell its story in the museum in new way.

The exhibition, Beyoug Folding Screens 2, which ran from January to April 2023 at the Amorepacific Museum of Art in South Korea, is analysed with a focus on the shift in perspective in presenting traditional historical art in museums. The review illustrates how a historical object can be presented in diverse ways, each telling a unique story, while also actively engaging visitors in the exhibition.

El patrimonio mueble de Ibagué constituye un valor cultural que refleja la historia e identidad de su población. La investigación se centra en un análisis reflexivo en la conexión de la comunidad y su patrimonio mueble. Se busca comprender el valor simbólico que tienen para sus habitantes. El trabajo de investigación se llevó a cabo utilizando un enfoque cualitativo, el cual se basó en encuestas para explorar el significado y el impacto del tema en la identidad local. Los resultados revelaron que los monumentos son testigos tangibles del pasado, facilitando la conexión entre diferentes etapas históricas urbanas. Sin embargo, debido al desarraigo social, escaso sentido de identidad y pertenencia, estos monumentos han experimentado un deterioro progresivo. Por tanto, se busca promover una reflexión frente al valor cultural de los monumentos en la comunidad Ibaguereña.

El patrimonio cultural inmaterial posee un funcionamiento único, al contener manifestaciones y/o expresiones que contenido altamente simbólico para las comunidades siendo desplegadas por medio de ámbitos tan amplios como artes escénicas, las prácticas sociales, los rituales, los festejos hasta los conocimientos tradicionales. La Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (UNESCO) se ha dado a la tarea de estudiar y posicionar mejores maneras entender el desarrollo de este patrimonio, proponiendo que existen cuatro facetas imprescindibles, que denominamos dimensiones siendo: 1) Tradicional, contemporáneo y viviente al mismo tiempo, 2) Integrador, 3) Representativo y 4) Basado en la comunidad, durante el desarrollo del presente artículo nos adentraremos en una profundización teórica de cada una de estas dimensiones para ampliar su panorama y mejorar en su entendimiento, con miras a la visualización de mejores prácticas de tratamiento, además de reflexionar en el accionar personal.

Silverfish (Zygentoma) are an ancient, but poorly studied group of primitively wingless insects. Species definition based on morphology alone is complicated by variations arising from the continuous moulting, even after reaching sexual maturity. In recent studies the use of molecular data has supported the identification of consistent morphological character traits, however only a small fraction of the species have been investigated. Eight species of the large silverfish genus Acrotelsella, collected by the first author from the Cape York Peninsula of northeastern Australia, are described and named as new species. Molecular data (COI and 28S) are presented that reinforces previous suggestions that the genus will eventually need to be split into two.

Against the background of museological theory, this paper questions new trends in current museum exhibition displays, focusing on universities as institutions of higher education and as preservers of cultural heritage. The first part of this paper provides an overview of university heritage, its scale and scope and the labels of heritagisation that can be linked to it. In the second part of the paper, select examples of university exhibitions are introduced – each of which dealing with a specific university heritage. These examples are all part of the Coimbra Group network of universities, which includes some of the oldest universities in Europe. The exhibitions are analysed in terms of their forms of presentation, the way in which they deal with objects as evidence for university history and the communication modes they use.

The aim of this study is to analyse the extensive collection of the zoological drawings by Samuel Niedenthal that has been preserved in Dresden. They were executed using various techniques and depict a variety of animal species. This article draws attention especially to studies of the local fauna. This legacy of Pomeranian zoology is unique and important given the destruction of the painter’s artistic oeuvre, but also because it illustrates development of science in his time. Niedenthal’s depictions of animals, birds and insects are the first such complete compendium created in in seventeenth-century Central Europe. The detailed and accurate pictures make it possible to identify species occurring in the area, representing the first records of them in Pomerania.

This study presents research on the exhibition Encyclopaedia of Silesia at the Silesian Museum in Opava. The aim of the research was to identify the form of Czech national identity that is constructed and reconstructed by this exhibition, by focusing on the elements and narratives through which Czech national identity is presented and constructed. It also examines whether these elements replicate the prevailing ideas and stereotypes related to this identity in society. The research takes the form of a case study based on dispositional analysis, and showed that the narrative of Czech national identity appears in the exhibition. This confirmed that national identity can emerge not only in national museums but also in other types of museum – in this case a regional museum in which national and regional identities are intertwined.

This article deals with cultural sustainability, authenticity and one of its basic pillars: the preservation of diversity. It looks at constructions around the world and how they have adapted to local geophysical circumstances, both in the construction methods and materials used. It analyses how diversity has been endangered by globalisation in the territory of Slovakia and elsewhere. Subsequently, the article focuses on monument care and preservation in Slovakia and other countries, comparing the legal instruments used in different countries. The article proposes a system for the categorisation of objects built before 1947 in Slovakia. This is key to better understanding the topic of protection of heritage buildings for professionals and government agencies dealing with monument protection. The proposed categorisation could help significantly in systematising the protection of tangible cultural heritage and building culture in Slovakia.

The Ainu are indigenous groups of people found in Hokkaido and northeast Honshu, Japan. During the nineteenth century, their land was integrated into the Japanese empire and the people redefined and assimilated. While intended to erase the Ainu as distinct groups, policies and discourses also showed that Ainu communities were not accepted as belonging to the category of ‘Japanese’, with the notions that they lacked Japanese ingenuity and civilization, were stuck in a prehistoric past, and lived in terra nullius. These discourses influenced the formation of museums’ collections in Japan, such as the Tokyo National Museum (TNM) and the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka (Minpaku). By offering a reading of exhibitions on the Ainu and their accompanying catalogues between 1977 and 2017, this research sheds light on how colonial legacies continue to be shaped and challenged in representing Ainu communities in museums. The TNM seems unable to challenge tropes of this colonial discourse due to their intricate connection with the government, their notion of political neutrality, and their focus on art that tends to exclude the Ainu from the museum. Minpaku, on the other hand, has tried to introduce notions of cultural relativism and centre cooperation with Ainu communities to facilitate best practices.

Resilience thinking refers to the need to be prepared for the unexpected and unknown. Museums have learned to adjust to societal changes, not least because of the recent global pandemic, which has necessitated the introduction of new ways of activating a diverse public. We discuss how resilience thinking can function as a promoter of the adaptive reuse of industrial heritage by including local heritage knowledge in the ongoing regeneration of former brownfield sites. The current sectoral barriers in the planning system prevent museums from being central participants, despite their well-established local anchoring. Intangible heritage can provide coherence and connection between old buildings, including technical structures and new buildings/infrastructure. This allows for options for museums to voice ongoing creative and critical input and appear as spokespersons for civic involvement. Museums’ ability to facilitate local involvement needs to be acknowledged in urban planning.

This article sets out to tackle the question: ‘what can museum anthropology do in the twenty-first century?’ It does so by focusing on the doing in a double-sense: on what museum anthropology can do, as in affecting, impacting and achieving, as well as on museum anthropology’s own doing, as a particular set of knowledge practices brimming with methodological, epistemological and ontological potentials to be harnessed for its own renewal and for cross-disciplinary fertilization across the academy and beyond the museum itself. The character of the article is programmatic, laying out the program of museum anthropology being developed at LMU Munich, Germany. The article begins by pondering this question explicitly. Then it proceeds by mapping out what has been done, what is being done, and what will be done to address this question at LMU Munich in collaboration with other universities and museums. At the end, the article draws out some of the implications of answering that question for an anthropology not only of and in but through museums, which intervenes in the fields that it studies.

The contemporary museum has two contradictory agendas. It is supposed to be a place of dialogue, debate, and even conflict – and it is called upon not to shy away from positioning itself in relation to contemporary discussions, which implies engaging in an activist museum practice and advancing social justice. The current article contributes to the debates on this apparent paradox from an audience studies perspective. Adopting Berlin Global, an exhibition in the newly opened Humboldt Forum in Berlin, Germany, as a case study, it describes the exhibition’s embeddedness in the human rights framework as a choir-like, polyphonic multivocality, seen as a type of multiperspectivity in which a diversity of voices ‘sing’ in unison. Employing ethnography as the methodological approach, the authors analyse visitor reactions to the exhibition’s multiperspectivity and positioning. They demonstrate that some visitors perceive Berlin Global as highly political and even ideological. This leads the authors to join the arguments in favour of ‘agonistic interventions’ that not only potentiate a better balance of multivocality with positioning and thus offer a solution to the aforementioned paradox, but also, they contend, increase the chance of engaging those who would otherwise reject the exhibition.

This study draws on data from a public exhibition that was purposefully designed to engage children’s sense of smell in relation to an adapted version of The Three Little Pigs story at a children’s museum. Twenty-eight children attended the exhibition before official opening and their experiences were documented through researcher-led interviews, children’s drawings and researcher fieldnotes. Narrative hermeneutical analysis revealed that children’s olfactory engagement with the story was associated with the portrayal of good and evil and was fostered through the exhibition’s multisensory display. Children asserted themselves in the identity of wayfarers and engaged with the olfactory elements by criss-crossing personal, shared, literary and olfactory boundaries. The power of olfaction to stimulate idiosyncratic emotional responses came to the fore in children’s appropriation of the story narrative and the shared exhibition space.

This article investigates the current practices and needs of institutional actors operating at the intersection of cultural heritage and social innovation. Through a mixed-methods approach that includes a survey and in-depth interviews, responses have been collected from GLAMs (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums), social enterprises, public administration, cultural and artistic associations, and educational institutes. A key focus is given to exploring cultural-based participatory practices aimed at engaging disadvantaged communities. The article explores problems and barriers hindering quality engagement, beneficial participation, and impactful outputs, as well as collecting instances of good practice, suggestions, and lessons learnt. The overall goal of this work is to outline the lessons learnt from fields of action to develop guidelines and recommendations for facilitating participatory, collaborative, and inclusive cultural heritage initiatives, including when planning for the use and adoption of digital tools and technologies.

This article looks at how new diaspora communities are carrying out heritage work with and outside museums. Based on a multidisciplinary theoretical framework, extensive research materials and long-term collaboration with Somalis who have been involved in museum and exhibition projects in Finland, our ethnographic study illustrates how Somalis cherish and talk about their cultural heritage in diaspora. Our analysis reveals the complexity of diaspora communities’ cultural heritage and how Finnish museums have—or not—recognised the rapidly growing Somali diaspora. It also shows the extent of independent cultural heritage work that Somalis do outside museums. Our findings contribute to discussions on inclusive museum work.

This viewpoint is a participatory reflection and response to the exhibition Dazhiikigaadeg Maanendamowin: Wanichigewin gaye Wiijiiwidiwin gii-ayaag COVID-19 / Transforming Grief: Loss Togetherness in COVID-19, displayed at Fort York in Tkaronto/Toronto, Ontario, Canada, from March 2023 to January 2024. A graduate class from the University of Toronto visited the exhibition as part of the Winter 2023 ischool Information Management course ‘Museums, Archives and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’, taught by Phillips. This piece includes observations and photographs from the students, as well as details of the process of creating and curating the exhibit from Armando Perla and Raven Spiratos, former-Curator for Toronto History Museums and exhibit curator (respectively). The content from the course discussions, readings, and assignments are put into conversation with this innovative community-based exhibition, giving students a rich understanding of ways to prioritize the needs of communities to activate decolonizing, Indigenizing, and new ways of thinking about museums, galleries, and archives.

Considering the variety of architectural Cultural Heritage typologies, systemic architectures require specific attention in the recovery process. The dimensions of "extension" and "recurrence" at geographic and technological levels affect the complexity of their knowledge process; they require systematic ways for their categorisation and comprehension to guarantee correct diagnosis and suitable rehabilitation. Recent applications involving Internet of Things (IoT) for the built Cultural Heritage have demonstrated the potentialities of three-dimensional (3D) geographic information system (GIS) models and structured databases in supporting complex degrees of knowledge for technicians, as well as management for administrators. Starting from such experiences, the work presents the setting up of a web-based platform to support the knowledge and management of systemic architectures, considering the geographical distribution of fabrics, natural and anthropic boundary conditions, and technical and administrative details. The platform takes advantage of digital models, machine and deep learning procedures and relational databases, in a GIS-based environment, for the recognition and categorisation of prevalent physical and qualitative features of systemic architectures, the recognition and qualification of dominant and recurrent decays and the management of recovery activities in a semi-automatic way. Specifically, the main digital objects used for testing the applied techniques and setting up the platform are based on Red-Green-Blue (RGB) and mapped point clouds of the historical Telegraphic Towers located along the Madrid-Valencia path, resulting from the on-site investigations. Their choice is motivated by the high level of knowledge about the cases reached in the last years by the authors, allowing them to test rules within the decision support systems and innovative techniques for their decay mapping. As the experience has demonstrated, the systematisation of technical details and operative pipeline of methods and tools allow the normalisation and standardisation of the intervention selection process; this offers policymakers an innovative tool based on traditional procedures for conservation plans, coherent with a priority-based practice.

The heritage values of Levantine rock art, as UNESCO World Heritage since 1998 and as an Asset of Cultural Interest since 1985 according to the Spanish Heritage Act, together with its fragile nature, demand developing initiatives aimed at regularly revisiting and monitoring the sites and updating any existing records (descriptions, tracings, photographs, etc.). This is especially important for long-known sites, such as La Joquera, discovered and first graphically recorded in 1930 and for which these records have not been updated for decades. Such revisits should be aimed to: a) asses the integrity of the finds since their discovery or since the last revision; b) test whether current digital technologies can improve previous interpretations and reproductions of the art preserved there; and c) produce accurate three-dimensional (3D) photorealistic models that capture the 3D nature of this heritage and even improve the visualisation of motifs. These integral approaches are relevant to the qualitative and quantitative study of the art, as well as to its preservation and monitoring, and creation of digital archives to ensure a virtual future for Levantine art. This paper reports the technologies and methods used, the challenges faced (in terms of space available, lighting restrictions and the visual interference caused by the protective fence), and the results obtained at La Joquera rock art site as part of the 2D and 3D digital recording of the rock surface, the colour and the motifs depicted. Highlights of this paper include the identification of previously invisible weaponry and adornments of the only archer preserved on this site, as well as some other incomplete remains. Deliverables also include the production of a photorealistic model on which colour-intensified tracings are projected. This facilitates the identification of art that is now extremely faded and offers a closer look at what the site may have looked like originally.

This paper deals with the study of construction and geometry, as well as with the analysis of deformations and active degradations of the natatio belonging to the Western Baths in La Alcudia archaeological site. Its location in Elche-Alicante, Spain (Colonia Iulia Ilici Augusta), is widely known for the discovery of The Lady of Elche in 1897. The dimensions of this natatio in the frigidarium are 6.60 x 9.30 m (22 x 31 Roman feet) and 1.50 m deep, making it one of the largest Roman swimming pools documented to date on the Iberian Peninsula. The natatio has several cracks sealed with materials used in earlier interventions at the end of the third century. Its comparison with the hypothetical original form allowed the researchers to quantify the current deformations. A damage evolution study has been made comparing the 2016 point cloud with the 2022 cloud, both obtained by light detection and ranging (LIDAR). There is evidence that an active process of degradation and deformation is gradually increasing damage to the pool. By studying the geometry and constructive systems of the natatio, relevant data to understand the historical evolution of the Western Baths have been provided. A results analysis conclusion is that the pool was built in two different stages. The eastern half corresponds to the original natatio, while the western half was extended or rebuilt after having collapsed. The early abandonment of the use of the natatio was most likely due to deformations caused by differential settlement; this occurred when the western half was cemented on landfill between the ancient wall and that of the last third of the 1st century AD.

In recent years, archaeological, historical and geographical research assisted by Geographical Information Systems (GIS) has shown relevant results. However, the area of study proposed in this paper, together with the historical context chosen, has lacked specific multidisciplinary research that brings together the three disciplines aforementioned. This article presents analyses carried out using QGIS software. It also explains and contrasts the results obtained with the archaeological studies and fieldwork. The study area chosen here belonged to the westernmost territories of the ancient "cora de Santaver". The Order of Santiago inherited these territories at a later date. Currently, the territory coincides with La Mancha of Toledo and Cuenca. The proposed chronology starts in the 10th century, with the Muslims settled in the Iberian Peninsula. And it ends in the 16th century, a time after the Christian population was definitively established in the area. This chronology was chosen because it allows researchers to evaluate the role of the fortifications from their origin until their integration after the Christian conquest. The methodology applied has made possible to locate 86 fortifications of different types over an area of more than 5000 km2. These were built by the Andalusi population between the 10th and 12th centuries. GIS analyses were carried out on these fortifications. They consisted of visibility basins, intervisibility networks and heat maps. The results showed that the fortresses visually controlled the entire territory. This made it difficult to conquer. Entering this territory riddled with fortresses did not allow any medieval army to conquer the capital: Uclés. The GIS study has made it possible to evaluate the defensive patterns created. One of these patterns shows the existence of towers capable of observing over a long distance: 50 km. These towers sequentially connect to other fortresses that have a shorter visual range. This network of fortresses not only defined patterns of territorial defence, but also of occupation of the territory. The distribution of these buildings shows where the population preferred to live, as many of these fortresses were associated with places of habitation. It also reveals where they feared their enemies would approach or where they obtained the resources they most desired. It has also been possible to stipulate a typology of the fortresses, common constructive elements and their functions. The fortifications observed are two qaṣr, one munya, one ma'qil, two qal'a, five qarya, two qaṣabah, ten ṭalā'i' and the rest have been identified as husûn. It is proven that the fortresses were simple buildings. They were built to protect the population and their resources, as well as for communication purposes. They were built on rocky crags that were not the highest in the area, but were the best visually connected to neighbouring fortresses. They were built on a flattened stone surface and used a 'zarpa' to regulate the ground. Their walls were made of stone or mudwall. They used reddish mortar made from clays. It has also been shown that all of them acted as communicating elements: a good example of this is the name Añador (an-nāẓūr). And they must have communicated with fire as suggested by the word al-manāra. Definitely, this network of fortresses was created to be a deterrent effect in itself, being difficult to go through for any medieval army. In sum, the use of GIS provided a simple, useful, and powerful tool for analysing historical defences within the defined cora de Santaver territories. It delivered concrete data that can be checked by fieldwork and synthesises huge amounts of information that would be neglected or misunderstood if they were analysed by smaller portions of territory, as sometimes happens when a small meaningless area is used as a representative pattern of occupation for bigger territories.

La investigación arqueológica regional enfocada en el paisaje fue realizada en el sector meridional del partido de Punta Indio (noreste de la provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina). En este sector de 722 km2, que contaba con escasos antecedentes arqueológicos, se realizaron prospecciones en las cuales fueron registrados los sitios Los Tres Ombúes, El Puesto, Don Enrique y Corral del Indio. La integración de los datos obtenidos posibilitó la comprensión del sector como parte del paisaje habitado por grupos cazadores-recolectores en momentos del Holoceno tardío (1110-260 años C14 AP; 982-1796 años cal.), con una notoria participación en redes regionales de interacción social. Este artículo tiene por objetivo, por una parte, presentar el análisis de la información espacial resultante del abordaje arqueológico del sector meridional del partido de Punta Indio y su integración regional, realizado mediante Sistemas de Información Geográfica (SIG); por otra parte, discutir su aporte al estudio del paisaje arqueológico del Holoceno tardío en el noreste de la provincia de Buenos Aires (Argentina). El análisis implicó tres escalas: el sitio arqueológico, el sector de estudio y la escala regional (recorte espacial de 12.000 km2). En primer lugar, se abordaron la visibilidad y la accesibilidad al entorno inmediato para cada sitio. También se establecieron áreas de tránsito que permitieron indagar la movilidad en el sector y para una escala más amplia, lo cual implicó integrar los resultados obtenidos con el conocimiento arqueológico relativo a las áreas vecinas. Asimismo, fue realizada una evaluación multicriterio de alcance regional, la cual permitió generar un modelo actualístico de aptitud respecto a la localización de los lugares habitados. Se destaca el aporte de los SIG al estudio arqueológico de los grupos cazadores-recolectores en contextos de tierras bajas, al propiciar la interpretación de las estrategias para habitar el paisaje implementadas por dichos grupos.

The archaeology of disability is a relatively recent and little-known approach in France. While the study of palaeopathology now goes hand in hand with funerary archaeology and osteoarchaeology, the French study of disabilities and disabling pathologies remains marginal and unevenly treated, depending on location, chronology and researcher’s interest. This paper focuses on highlighting the compatibility between this new research area, the obligations of osteoarchaeology, and the benefits of developing a national, diachronic, and interdisciplinary study. A database is designed within an interpretive, consensual framework, that can be adapted to overcome limitations and promote open-minded research on the care of the disabled in their own communities. A preliminary category selection of disabling pathologies has been made. These are trepanation, completely edentulous and/or compensating denture, neuronal impairment, severe scoliosis, Paget's disease, Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis (DISH), rickets, dwarfism, infectious diseases, unreduced fracture, amputation, severe degenerative disease and others. This list has been critically reviewed by experts in the field; it will evolve in a somewhat Darwinian fashion. Our database is hosted on the Huma-Num platform, with a management interface and quick access based on multiple tabs. The data includes information about archaeological operations, subjects, and pathologies; it is complemented by pictorial data stored on the Nakala platform. The development involved creating a prototype using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL, and PHP, with features to display, add, modify, and delete operations and subjects. Enhancements have been made, including search optimization, charts, and the ability to export data in CSV format. The database, whose administrative interface can be accessed at archeohandi.huma-num.fr, contains so far 211 existing operations with a total of 1232 registered subjects spread throughout metropolitan France. These initial data reveal numerous research perspectives in osteoarchaeology that can be combined with other research topics, such as virtual reality.

The Petralona Cave, which local inhabitants discovered by chance in 1959, is a remarkable natural and cultural landmark close to the village of Petralona, in the Chalkidiki peninsula of Greece. The site has gained global recognition for the discovery of a remarkably well-preserved Palaeolithic human skull, unearthed in 1960; it also holds archaeological and palaeontological significance. In this paper, the researchers introduce the Petralona Cave Virtual Museum: an innovative project whose mission is to increase public awareness and comprehension of the site. Our approach goes beyond mere replication of the physical museum located close to the cave; instead, the objective is to create an independent and comprehensive experience that is accessible to all visitors, irrespective of their ability to visit the site in person. Our methodology involved the documentation of the site and its history, analysis of user requirements, development of use cases to steer the design process, as well as architectural designs creation, itineraries and findings digitisation, and architectural structure finalisation. The Virtual Museum provides a well-organised frame structure that serves as an efficient gateway to the content, making navigation easy for visitors. Thanks to various presentation methods, including videos, high-quality images, interactive maps, animated content, interactive 3D models, plus searchable item libraries, among others, users are empowered to create a highly personalised navigation plan; thus the Virtual Museum experience is comparable to visiting the physical museum or cultural site. Cutting-edge digitisation techniques were employed to create highly detailed 3D models of the site. The Petralona Cave Virtual Museum is expected to offer an immersive experience, engaging diverse audiences; the interactive and educational exploration provides highly innovative access to archaeological knowledge. The visibility of the Petralona site is amplified and there is a significant contribution to knowledge dissemination about this important cultural heritage site.

The research described below proposes a spatial analysis of the hydraulic infrastructure, and settlement remains, as well as a topographic analysis of the site of as-Sila'/Sela on the southern Transjordan plateau. The authors designed Sela's first photogrammetric model from aerial photographs provided by the "Aerial Photographic Archive for Archaeology in the Middle East (APAAME)" project. This modelling has enabled the research team to locate new hydraulic structures, settlement remains, marks on vertical facing, and elevated or levelling platforms hitherto unidentified by a pedestrian survey; it was also possible to obtain more detailed direct and indirect relationships between these features. The 3D model has provided a reference for locating the various elements and correlating their surface with the topographic coordinates recorded by the total station during fieldwork. Additionally, a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was derived from the 3D model to depict the flow direction of run-off. Through our analysis, we identified spaces for accessing, managing, and utilising available water resources, including settlement density and flooding zones. The hydrological analysis revealed potential run-off and flood-prone areas, guiding the location of hydraulic structures to prevent water contamination. This study highlights the importance of Sela's water supply systems and the technical expertise of ancient communities in their construction and management. The applicability and feasibility of the applied methodology emphasise its use as a powerful and indispensable tool to obtain a complete overview of the site. The results yield a comprehensive site mapping with a broader scope than previous research and provide a basis for further research, as well as for understanding the site's water supply and settlement patterns. Thus, this study enhances the hydro-technological investigation of Sela's water management and culture and contributes to its holistic analysis. Future studies can use the data to propose effective water management strategies and shed light on the social structures involved in water supply practices.

As a part of the survey discovering the land snail fauna of Can Tho City, Vietnam, this study recorded snails for the first time in the city and an additional data on Amphidromus inversus annamiticus (Crosse & P. Fischer, 1863) for the plains of the Cuu Long River Delta. A. inversus annamiticus found in the study area has two types of shell spiraling, both dextral and sinistral, with or without a blackish brown spiral streak from the apex. All of the shells without that streak are sinistral and bigger in size compared to the ones with the color streak. Snail individuals were hibernating on the branches and trunks of landscape trees that include, Dipterocarpus alatus, Samanea saman, Khaya senegalensis, and Erythrina fusca.

In May 2021, one of the authors collected 22 specimens of land mollusks in the Khoja Mohammed Ridge,located in the northeastern part of Afghanistan. Shellis extraordinary, similar to Fruticicola perlucens(Rosen, 1903).However, having a number of differences,includinga finely grained sculpture of the embryonic whorls,smoothly ribbed last whorl,evenly turned edges oftheaperture, a strongly blurred white lip,anda clearly pronounced swollen base of the stylophore of this species,makes it describeofFruticicolapseudoperlucenssp. nov.as new species to science.

On December 6, 2022, a single individual of African Crake Crecopsisegregia(Gruiformes, Rallidae) was recoveredin the Algerian Sahara at Illizi City. This observation is considered the second in Algeria after the first at Kerzaz in Béni Abbès dated November 27, 2020.

New distinguishing genus, Oxybelochardus gen. nov., belonging to the tribe Oxybelini (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae), with the type species Oxybelochardus iraqensis sp. nov. from Iraq, have been described and illustrated. The diagnostic characters and differences from the close genera that were distributed and listed in the Palearctic Region are presented.

An updated checklist of the Megachilid bees of Iraq is presented in this paper. The current list includes 31 species belonging to 10 genera, under the tribes Lithurgini, Osmiini, Anthidiini,and Megachilini within the Megachilinae subfamily. The basionyms, synonyms,and distribution of species in the world are also given.Based on the specimens, which obtained during this study, a diagnostic key was designed to identify the tribes andgenera; the genus HeriadesSpinola, 1808 (Tribe, Osmiini) is recorded for the first time in theIraqi entomofauna.

This study presents a comprehensive list ofthe freshwater and marine bivalves distributed in Iraq. A total of 51 species were recorded, and distributed as: 14 freshwater species, and 37 marine species, these species belonging to 25 families, all available remarks on the distribution, taxonomy, and nomenclature of these species were given. This study included the recently collected specimens along with thosepreviously studied and recorded in Iraq.

The biodiversity of benthic foraminifera around the coral communities and the concentration of heavy elements (e.g., Mn, Fe, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, Cd, and Co) in Miskan Island and Al-Khiran coastline of Kuwait are used as an ecological indicator for the environmental and anthropogenic stresses occurred from February 2018 to February 2019. The study resulted in identifying 19 families, 6 orders, 29 genera, and 94 species. Using R-mode cluster analysis results in four assemblages and using Q-mode principal component analysis (PCA) distinguished three groups depending on the deep. The three main assemblages refer to different depths, Group A from 20 cm to 1 m depth;Group B from 1.5 to 2 m depth, Group C from 6 to 8 m depth. Al-Khiran coastline is characterized by anoxic conditions, confirmed by the existence of pyrite. Additionally, high water turbidity because of anthropogenic effects. The low number of benthic foraminifera on Miskan Island is due to the dissolution and calcification of foraminiferashells. The Island characterized by freshwater runoff from Iraq meets saltwater in the gulf, affecting the salinity. The turbidity is caused by sediment runoff and eutrophication. Both sites were considered relatively unpolluted compared with the nearest Iranian coast. However, the relatively high potentially toxic elements in some locations are due to the semi-restricted geographic characteristic and high anthropogenic activity. There is no clear abnormality in the identified species showing normal aperture, coiling, shape, and size.

Cyprinidae species are the most abundant and widely distributed fish species in the inland waters of Iraq. Cyprinids are complex species,and it is difficult to identify them on the basis of morphology. Thus, the morphological characteristics must be achieved and confirmed by molecular analysis. Twenty specimens of Cyprinion kaisHeckel, 1843 (Piscies, Cypriniformes, Cyprinidae) were collected from two localities at Tigris Riverinthe middle of Iraq:five specimens from Al-Tharthar Lake, Saladin Province,and 15 specimens from Al-Zubaydiyah sub-district, Wasit Province. The DNA sequences of C.kais were done using the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b (cytb) gene. After analysis, the sequences were compared with sequences of other fish genera and species available in GenBank. The barcoding result (DNA sequencing) showed that it fit with C. kais. We conclude the results of the current study confirm that the validity of the morphological diagnosis of C.kais, using DNA sequencing analysis.

This study was done in Al-Alam City, Salah Al-Din Province, to determine the diversity of the macrofungi in it. The results of the field study showed two species were recorded in Iraq for the first time, Inocutis tamaricis(Pat) Fiasson & Niemelä, 1984 (Basidiomycota, Hymenochaetales) and Melanoleuca castaneofuscaContu, 1998 (Basidiomycota,Agaricales). These species werediagnosed based on macroscopic andmicroscopic, DNA sequence analyses and environmental charactes. The study included the adoption of the ITSgene for molecular diagnosis, the results of which were confirmed for morphological and environmental diagnosis, and the specimens were registered in the NCBI Global GenBank under the international accession numbers OP153814.1and MZ334407.1 for the species I. tamaricisand M. castaneofusca, respectively.

The present study provides the first record species of the genus LithobiusLeach, 1814, L. ferganensis(Trotzina, 1894) which was collected from the middle of Iraq. A detailed explanation of the morphology and the diagnostic characters of specimens of both sexes is provided

The checklist of the species belonging to the Halictinae of Iraq is presented. Totally, 27 species under 3 genera belonging to Halictinae (Hymenoptera, Halictidae) are listed, of which Sphecodes cristatusHagens, 1882, and LasioglossumzunagaSakagami, 1995, are documented as new records for Iraqi entomofauna. They were described and illustrated, as well as the distribution, basionyms, and synonyms of genera and species are provided.

In the current review, an updated list of dark beetle species (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae) recorded in Iraq was given. The current paper isbased on previous studies in the literature and contains all dark beetles referred to in Iraq, except for the species within the Pimelinae subfamily. The investigation of this review showed the presence of 89 species belonging to 34 genera within fivesubfamilies. This work included mentioning the basionyms and synonyms for genera and species with their global distribution,as wellas, correcting the scientific names that were mentioned in the previous checklists.

The article focuses on the specifics of the preparation and realization of compact touring exhibition projects. In the introductory theoretical part, it deals with the issue of museum communication and museum presentation, their means, approaches and forms, on the basis of which several types of exhibition projects are distinguished. Special attention is paid to touring exhibitions, their specifics and possibilities in relation to the public. In the empirical part, the article contains several examples of the preparation and realization of compact touring exhibition projects, implemented in the field of Museology at the Masaryk University in Brno.