Dedicated to Pavel Avetisyan, a leading modern Armenian archaeologist with wide international recognition, 36 contributions take the reader to the fascinating world of Caucasian archaeology. The volume demonstrates the essential role of the region in shaping the prehistoric cultural landscape of the Ancient Near East.

Religion has been a fundamental aspect of human societies throughout history, but is on the decline in the modern scientific era. Simultaneously, Autism rates are on the rise, raising questions about whether this increase is due to improved diagnosis and recognition of the condition or if reflects an actual rise in prevalence. We explore the complexities of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), its potential causes, and the implications it holds for the future of humanity and evolution. Autism is a difference in intuitive thinking and understanding of the world. The differences in thinking from the point of view of the general population are often seen as deficits. Drawing on work from Ara Norenzayan this book explores the hypothesis that the deficits in theory of mind that Autistic people experience constrain their ability to believe in a God and accept religious claims. This book is an exploration of the evolutionary psychology of religion and Autism. What is the future of religion and its place in human evolution?

This volume presents the work of leading scientists from Russia, Georgia, Estonia, Lithuania, Israel and the USA, revealing major insights long unknown to the scientific community. Without any doubt their work will provide a springboard for further research in anticipation. Until recently, Robert Rosen (Anticipatory Systems) and Mihai Nadin (MIND – Anticipation and Chaos) were deemed forerunners in this still new knowledge domain. The distinguished neurobiologist, Steven Rose, pointed to the fact that Soviet neuropsychological theories have not on the whole been well received by Western science. These earlier insights as presented in this volume make an important contribution to the foundation of the science of anticipation. It is shown that the daring hypotheses and rich experimental evidence produced by Bernstein, Beritashvili, Ukhtomsky, Anokhin and Uznadze, among others—extend foundational work to aspects of neuroscience, physiology, motorics, education.

The claim that India--uniquely among civilizations--lacks historical writing distracts us from a more pertinent question: how to recognize the historical sense of societies whose past is recorded in ways very different from European conventions. Romila Thapar, a distinguished scholar of ancient India, guides us through a panoramic survey of the historical traditions of North India, revealing a deep and sophisticated consciousness of history embedded in the diverse body of classical Indian literature. The history recorded in such texts as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata is less concerned with authenticating persons and events than with presenting a picture of traditions striving to retain legitimacy amid social change. Spanning an epoch from 1000 BCE to 1400 CE, Thapar delineates three strains of historical writing: an Itihasa-Purana tradition of Brahman authors; a tradition composed mainly by Buddhist and Jaina monks and scholars; and a popular bardic tradition. The Vedic corpus, the epics, the Buddhist canon and monastic chronicles, inscriptional evidence, regional accounts, and literary forms such as royal biographies and drama are all scrutinized afresh--not as sources to be mined for factual data but as genres that disclose how Indians of ancient times represented their own past to themselves.

Inclusive and progressive theological and religious perspectives have an important and distinctive contribution to make to an analysis of the critical issues facing women-identified persons in the 21st century. This incisive collection of essays recovers the missing theological voices, grounded in those religious communities and traditions, which gender and sexuality studies often overlook. Feminist theologies have, from their beginnings, aspired to be the communal production of women-identified persons who critically reflect on their experiences in the contexts of culture, social standpoint, religious practices and beliefs, and imagination of the Feminine Divine. Pae and Talvacchia draw from this heritage to engage the critical issues of today to create new perspectives. They create an intellectual and discursive space where feminist theologians in all of their diversity renew and reclaim the rich legacies of the feminist theological tradition through inter-generational, racially diverse, and transnational conversation.

Established in 1982, the British Association for Korean Studies has published nine sets of Papers in the period 1991–2005 – the outcome of conferences, study days and workshops. The themes of Korea past and Korea present were selected to give the editors and BAKS council the widest choice of options in terms of scholarship, subject matter and interest.

This volume presents the highlights of the IX World Congress of Psychiatry. The congress was a major event with the participation of over 6000 scientists from all over the world with the scientific program covering all aspects of contemporary psychiatry. The 200 papers selected for this volume provide an insight into recent advances in psychiatry. They discuss a wide spectrum of subjects ranging from the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses to critical issues affecting the future of mental health care throughout the world. Authors include leading psychiatric clinicians and researchers throughout the world as well as international mental health policy makers.