Rock art and social life - Revisiting the Neolithic transition in Mediterranean Iberia

This article revisits the Neolithic transition in Mediterranean Iberia taking into account an aspect usually neglected in the archaeological discourse: the rock art styles that emerged in this context. These distinct styles have been generally attributed to different populations, according to a historicist point of view that equates stylistic variability and ethnic identity. However, the recent recognition that they were developed by the same social group requires the formulation of an alternative explanation. My proposal is based on the exploration of the social context of production and consumption of the rock art, through the analysis of the patterns of location of the sites within the landscape and the definition of their archaeological context.

The visibility of agricultural subsidies and market illusions in the Common Agricultural Policy: Some evidence from farmers' views in Germany, Portugal and the United Kingdom

This article demonstrates that the design and nature of agricultural support schemes has an influence on farmers' perception of their level of dependence on agricultural support. While direct aid payments inform farmers about the extent to which they are subsidised, indirect support mechanisms veil the level of subsidisation, and therefore they are not fully aware of the extent to which they are supported. To test this hypothesis, we applied data from a survey of 4,500 farmers in three countries: the United Kingdom, Germany and Portugal. It is demonstrated that indirect support, such as that provided through artificially high consumer prices, gives an illusion of free and competitive markets among farmers. This 'visibility' hypothesis is evaluated against an alternative hypothesis that assumes farmers have complete, or at least a fairly comprehensive level of, information on agricultural support schemes. Our findings show that this alternative hypothesis can be ruled out.