Pre-Columbian human occupation patterns in the eastern plains of the Llanos de Moxos, Bolivian Amazonia

Despite an increasing number of publications regarding the Pre-Columbian earthworks of the Llanos de Moxos, there have been no serious attempts to undertake a systematic survey of the archaeological remains of this lowland region in the Bolivian Amazon. Based on the GIS analysis of data gathered in the field and retrieved from satellite images, we discuss the spatial distribution of the Pre-Columbian settlements in a 4500 Km2 area of the Llanos de Moxos to the east of Trinidad, capital of the Beni Department, and their relationship with the geographical settings. Our findings shed new light on the prehistory of the region and bear important implications for our understanding of the impact of Pre-Columbian human occupation.

Córdoban Discourses: A Drama of Interreligious Dialogue

SETTING: Cordoba, Spain, 1135 CE, 29th year of the reign of ‘Ali “amir al-muslimin,” second king of the Berber Almoravid dynasty, rulers of Moorish Spain from 1071 to 1147. Cordoba, the capital of Andalus and the center of the Almoravid holdings in Spain, is a bustling cosmopolitan center, a crossroads for Europe and the Middle East, and the meeting-point of three religious traditions. Most significantly, Cordoba at this time is the hub of European intellectual activity. From the square—itself impressively large and surrounded by a massive collonade, the regularity and ordered beauty of which typifies the Moorish taste for symmetry (so beloved of M.C. Escher)—can be seen the huge Cordoban mosque, erected in the 8th-century by Khalif Abd-er-Rahman I to the glory of Allah, oft forgiving, most merciful. It is the second largest building in Islam, and the bastion of the still entrenched but soon to fade Muslim presence in western Europe. SCENE: Three figures sit upon stone benches beneath the westernmost colonnade of the Cordoban mosque, involved in an animated, though friendly discussion on matters of faith and reason, knowledge and God, language and logic. The host is none other than Jehudah Halevi, and his esteemed guests Master Peter Abelard and the venerable Råmånuja, whose obviously advanced age belies his youthful voice, gleaming eye, quick hands, and general exuberance. It is autumn, early evening…

Out of Eastern Africa: defibulation and sexual function in woman with female genital mutilation

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the female external genitalia and/or injury to the female genital organs for cultural or any other non-therapeutic reasons.