Memória para a frente, e...o resto é lotaria dos exames. A reforma do ensino liceal em 1947

A promulgação, em 1947, de um diploma legal reformando o ensino liceal, precedido e procedido de importantes dispositivos legais, enquadra-se na política educativa do Estado Novo, que se confronta então com o problema da identidade do ensino secundário e, especialmente, do ensino liceal. Nessa época, a Assembleia Nacional constituía um espaço político onde os discursos proferidos punham em evidência as medidas de governação de Oliveira Salazar e, simultaneamente, tornavam por vezes públicas as realidades existentes. Por outro lado, a imprensa periódica desempenhava, dentro dos condicionalismos que lhe eram impostos, o principal instrumento de difusão mais alargada das políticas adoptadas. Utilizando como fontes primárias, documentação existente no Arquivo Histórico do Ministério da Educação, actas das sessões da Assembleia Nacional e artigos de imprensa, com este estudo pretende-se pôr em destaque: o processo de preparação da reforma de 1947; os conteúdos das intervenções e o sentir dos deputados sobre o funcionamento dos liceus;o papel desempenhado por alguns jornais, com a publicação de artigos, estudos e notícias, que contribuíram naturalmente para a (in)formação da opinião pública sobre o sentido e valor do ensino liceal e daquela reforma.

Entre el antiguo y el nuevo régimen: el triunfo de los cuerpos intermedios. El caso de la Audiencia de Quito, 1765-1830 (Estudios)

Este ensayo se ocupa de investigar la importancia política que tuvo el cabildo entre el período de las reformas borbónicas, la crisis de la monarquía española y el proceso de formación de los estados independientes. Se analiza la consolidación de los poderes jurisdiccionales de los cabildos durante la última fase de la época colonial y la manera en que éstos se convirtieron en representantes legítimos de todos los intereses de su espacio territorial. El caso de la Audiencia de Quito muestra cómo el cabildo o municipio resistió con éxito los intentos de convertirlos en entes puramente administrativos por parte del aparato estatal grancolombiano. El municipio se mantuvo como órgano autónomo de la sociedad frente al Estado y titular de una parte de la soberanía.

Vegetation development and human occupation in the Damascus region of southwestern Syria from the Late Pleistocene to Holocene

Rockshelter Baaz in the Damascus region of Syria provided a variety of botanical remains from the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene period. These remains provide new information about the vegetation evolution in this region. The earliest occupational levels correspond with a moisture peak during the Late Pleistocene, between ca. 34-32 kyr b.p., when pine expanded. The next occupations took place during extreme arid conditions, ca. 23-21 kyr b.p., and probably during the Last Glacial Maximum when a steppe vegetation was established. The occupation level of the Younger Dryas, represented by Natufian remains, suggests that the area had been covered by almond-pistachio steppe, similar to later periods of the Early Holocene, and was probably located just outside the range of dense wild cereal stands. There is no drastic impact of the Younger Dryas visible on the vegetation in the botanical remains. The lack of fruits and seeds at Baaz indicates that the site was more likely to have been a temporary hunting post rather than a plant processing site for much of its history. It is ideally suited to this purpose because of its location over the Jaba'deen Pass and the associated springs. However, archaeological remains from the Natufian period, suggest that the site was more permanently occupied during this time.

Archaeological evidence for the first Mesolithic occupation of the Western Isles of Scotland

The examination of eroding coastal dunes at the prehistoric site of Northton, Harris, has produced the first archaeological evidence of Mesolithic activity in the Western Isles in the form of two midden-related deposits. The first phase of Mesolithic activity is dated to 7060-6650 cal. Bc based on AMS dating of charred hazelnut shells. This discovery appears to validate the frequent pollen-based inferences of Mesolithic impact for the area and, as predicted, allows the Atlantic fringe of Scotland to become part of the European Mesolithic mainstream. A detailed pedological analysis also suggests that these early midden layers may have been amended during the Neolithic period as part of a possible phase of cultivation.