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Talk:Melancholia

MELANCHOLIA: The Medical Illness
A severe psychiatric illness, Melancholia, has long been recognized. It was a feature of 19th Century psychopathology. In the 20th Century, it was subsumed under the sobriquet of "Depression" and lost. In the past 30 years, interest has been rekindled and the detailed characteristics of the illness have been described, as have the associated systemic dysfunctions of the neuroendocrine system. More important, effective treatments have been developed.

Scidata (talk) 21:36, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Dürer's woodcut is actually entitled Melencholia and is usually referred to by that spelling. S.

It is? if so please update this page & the Durer page

"The present classification of psychiatric disorders is ill-defined, offering poor guidelines for the treatment of the ambulatory and the severe mentally ill." I think that's a little biased, and has no proof. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cannda180 (talk • contribs) 06:54, 6 September 2009 (UTC)

---

From the article:
 * It was characterized by "aversion to food, despondency, sleeplessness, irritability, restlessness," as well as the statement that "fear or depression that is prolonged means melancholia."

Can anyone say where those quoted passages are from?

Stanley Jackson, Melancholia and Depression: From Hippocratic Times to Modern Times, (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1986) p.30. cites Hippocrates, Works, 1: 263, 4:185. I am not sure how much of this [and in what form] should be included in the article.

I love that image used for this page. Studio1991 06:16, 17 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * As far as I can tell, the first direct quote is probably from Hippocrates's On Epidemics. It's from the end of Sixteen Cases of Disease - Case i, and deals with a case which is not explicitly described as a melancholic disease. From Adams's translation :
 * In this case the urine throughout was black, thin, and watery; coma supervened; there was aversion to food, despondency, and insomnolency; irritability, restlessness; she was of a melancholic turn of mind.
 * I suspect that the quote was added to the article because of the "melancholic turn of mind" line.
 * The second direct quote is definitely from Hippocrates's Aphorisms (Section 6.23). Adams translates it :
 * If a fright or despondency lasts for a long time, it is a melancholic affectation.
 * Best, -- Docether 20:05, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

But the writing in the woodcut itself spells it "Melencolia"

 * Per this, I am changing the spelling. --MarkBuckles 03:22, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Nevermind, see Melancholia I --MarkBuckles 03:26, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

melancholy
wikipedia would be better with a page on "melancholy" as it is used contemporarily. should the modern use go on this page or another page? Id like to know the consensus before i begin work on this page that angers somebody. Spencerk 17:58, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

 * idk 💀 97.121.196.207 (talk) 01:07, 4 April 2023 (UTC)

Durer's Solid
The object in the woodcut is clearly not a truncated cube, as defined in the linked page. The truncated cube has no pentagonal faces, while the object in the woodcut has many. It is a symbol of melancholy in art, so I think it would be nice to know the correct name for it. Cgray4 13:58, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

 * You are correct. It is a truncated rhombohedron (but not cube, a cube being a special case of a rhombohedron).  I've corrected the text with an external link to a mathematical discussion of the shape.  I found the link and the correct name in the article about the artwork itself. Aleta 20:19, 1 January 2007 (UTC) (edit Aleta 04:00, 2 January 2007 (UTC))

 * It's an ENGRAVING not a woodcut Johnbod 20:53, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

 * Good point, even if it was meant as sarcasm. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia - accuracy matters. Since, according to Melancholia I, much has been written about the solid, apparently there are others who think it important that it was not a truncated cube. Aleta 21:27, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

 * Sarcasm? See a dictionary Johnbod 10:36, 9 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Sardonicism, pardon me. Aleta 23:46, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

 * try exasperation  Johnbod 04:00, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Name
On the name thing, I definitely agree with Spencerk it should be listed under the modern name, although it is worth mentioning that it is derived from another word. Going back to old fashioned terms for stuff makes wikipedia go out of sync.

On the article, I think their is something mayor missing in this article as it states: "It is now generally believed that melancholia was the same phenomenon as what is now called clinical depression." That is a bit harsh, everybody feels melancholic at times, it does not qaulify as a 'clinical depression', it is an emotion. Only when stretced to the extreme it can be called a depression. So jay for the backdrop and a little bit of history but where is the detailed description of (normal) melancholy? Oliver Simon 21:03, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Greek spelling of "melancholia" (μελαγχολία)
I corrected the Greek word "μελαγχολία" that had been mistakenly written as "μελανχολία". Anyone interested could check the Lidell-Scott dictionary or some texts: Galenus, De locis affectis libri, 8,193,10; Anonymus Medicus, De alimentis, 75,43; Palladius Medicus, Commentarii in Hippocratis librum sextum, 2,21,13. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.75.20.24 (talk)

 * It was me that made the changes. I couldn't find a source outside of Wikipedia that spelled it the way you did. It doesn't seem that gamma would be the appropriate letter for that. I don't think I've ever seen it used for an "n" sound. --Infosocialist 09:21, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Greek is my mother tongue. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 85.75.251.245 (talk) 14:02, 23 February 2007 (UTC).
 * The ni letter is always converted to gamma when it is placed before the following consonants: kappa, gamma, chi. Examples: ἔγκυος < ἐν+κύω (=pregnant); ἐγχέω < ἐν+χέω (=I pour a liquid inside something).

 * Interesting. Thanks for that. I'm just learning... And on my own. --Infosocialist 00:14, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

Ishaq ibn Imran
It is referred to Ishaq ibn Imran as diagnosing a type of melancholia, but did he use the word 'melancholia', the word 'ḥuzn' as used by Avicenna or some other word? Or was his finding only later classified as melancholia? I unfortunately don't have access to the reference.

The word 'Melancholia' may in ancient times been referring to illnesses with several different labels today, such as clinical lycanthropy and schizophrenia, which this article should of course reflect. But we then need to stay as true as possible to the history and don't make their concepts vaguer than they were. If arabic scholars recognized a mood disorder with symptoms similar to schizophrenia as a separate mood disorder, this in fact has implications for today's debate on the "schizophrenia label". EverGreg (talk) 11:24, 17 January 2008 (UTC)
 * This has now been clarified by Jagged 85's edits on 25th of January 2008. Thanks! :-) EverGreg (talk) 15:16, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

Etymology
Can someone explain how the etymology is simultaneously Greek and Arabic? How is that not a contradiction? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.86.37.47 (talk) 19:32, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

It's Arabic!
I find it unfair to erase the arabic origin of the word from the inroduction, since the latin word itself is no more than a latinization of the word Milakhuliya, which i believe is some neologism that Ishaq coined for that precise condition, since it has no roots in the arabic language. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.250.113.58 (talk) 17:00, 23 August 2009 (UTC)
 * This is so patently absurd. Galen described the four humours, what, 800 years before Ishaq, but you want to believe that Ishaq coined the word melancholia? Ishaq wasn't describing melancholy for the first time; he was simply describing one form of it. Oh, and then there's this bit from the OED:
 * post-classical Latin melancholia (5th cent.; already in classical Latin as a Greek loanword)
 * Unless Ishaq was a time-traveller, I'd say the fact that the word existed in Latin 500 years before his existence is pretty good evidence that he didn't coin it. It had long existed in both Greek and Latin by his time, and if he invented anything, it was an Arabicization of one of those words, not the other way around. I'm removing the Arabic etymology accordingly.--76.28.236.209 (talk) 08:53, 26 April 2010 (UTC)
 * I added Hippocrate's passage and the Greek etyma references. The Cat and the Owl (talk) 09:28, 26 April 2010 (UTC)

Treatment
Under the heading of Treatment is the reference to ECT, which is given its own sub-heading. However, it is not defined. Further something appears to be left out, as the flow of the paragraph is disjointed. Unless I am completely wrong, ECT is the acronym for Electroconvulsive thearapy. Its usage has neither a clarification of the acronym, nor does it have a reference to the ECT Wikopedia article. This needs editing. - KitchM (talk) 03:03, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

Citations: What a mess!
At the moment the citations are all messed up as superscripts are being used rather than the proper wikipedia style. This means all the citation numbers are now incorrect. Also the article references ref 1 which is a deadlink. Thanks for taking the time to add citations but please could those who have inserted the references update them to the wikipedia style see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citing_Wikipedia Thanks. 194.83.139.177 (talk) 15:05, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

 * This appears to be because someone copied and pasted in an entire article, "Resurrecting melancholia" by M. Fink & M. A. Taylor, from the journal "Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica" Volume 115, pages 14–20, February 2007. This text, half the article, has now been removed. - 220.101 talk\Contribs 06:23, 21 September 2010 (UTC)

Religious melancholy
This article is a bit weak on the medieval and christian theological discussion of melancholy. We had an unsourced contribution which may have rectified this or may have been a personal opinion. I can't tell but is preserving the contribution below. EverGreg (talk) 17:11, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

The traditional definition of melancholy which originates from Burton, is that melancholy is a fear and sadness without cause. Saying that melancholy is a condition that is without cause is a cause for concern. Modern psychoanalysis suggests that this 'without cause' suggests that the melancholic individual is mourning a loss or even more specific a lack of something. One form of melancholy is religious melancholy which stems as far back as the Baroque epoch. After the secularization of religious institutions and the distrust in religious figures, people started turning away from God, and turned inwards to a more spiritual and less institutionalized form of finding God. See pantheism for more information. It is believed that melancholy originates from the loss of godly devotion and critical skepticism. On a materialistic viewpoint, the melancholic cannot be at a loss, if they never possessed that over which is mourned, e.g. the conflict between the first and second born son. If the second born son is melancholic, yet despises his first born brother because he is first in line to the throne, or for the family riches, or the receiver of the father's love, we speak of the melancholic second born as being melancholic because of a lack of something. In comparison to the 'loss of something' that one sees with religious melancholy, we cannot speak of a 'loss of something' if that person never had it in the first place. Understanding that the individual ins melancholic due to a 'lack of something' suggest a need for something, e.g. perfection or completion, thus seting the seeds of narcissistic attitudes.

 * This would need a discussion of the relation of melancholia and acedia. Brianshapiro (talk) 22:44, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

Misuse of sources
This article has been edited by a user who is known to have misused sources to unduly promote certain views (see WP:Jagged 85 cleanup). Examination of the sources used by this editor often reveals that the sources have been selectively interpreted or blatantly misrepresented, going beyond any reasonable interpretation of the authors' intent.

Please help by viewing the entry for this article shown at the cleanup page, and check the edits to ensure that any claims are valid, and that any references do in fact verify what is claimed. Tobby72 (talk) 18:42, 12 September 2010 (UTC)

 * The changes in question is the following: There are two references to check. EverGreg (talk) 08:20, 21 September 2010 (UTC)

Likely Copyright Violation Removed
I have removed half of this article as it appears to be a direct copy, c/w footnote 'markers' of the article "Resurrecting melancholia" by M. Fink & M. A. Taylor from Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica Volume 115, pages 14–20, February 2007.
 * Added 1 May 2009. DIFF
 * See CopyVio report - 220.101 talk\Contribs 06:05, 21 September 2010 (UTC)

 * Good catch, thanks. EverGreg (talk) 08:14, 21 September 2010 (UTC)

 * No problemo, I am just very surprised no one picked it up earlier. What I twigged to was the unlinked footnotes, which another editor made into superscripts! - 220.101 talk\Contribs 09:35, 21 September 2010 (UTC)

Related Concepts In Islam
This sections appears to reference a psychological state unlike the that of the main article and specially attributes negative psychological causes to reasons specific to a particular religious viewpoint. The description provided more closely matches the religious topic Dukkha — Preceding unsigned comment added by Thetrek (talk • contribs) 03:16, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Romanticism, modernism, and melancholia
The article says "In the 20th century, much of the counterculture of modernism was fueled by comparable alienation and a sense of purposelessness called 'anomie'." To start off with, I don't know that modernism was a 'counter-culture' -- at first, maybe -- but it very quickly became absorbed into the mainstream culture of academic institutions. Regardless, I don't know that there's necessarily a one-to-one relationship between melancholy, and angst; angst is what modernists were concerned with and the cause of anomie, and of ennui. Its more of a condition of anxiety than what was called 'melancholic depression', although to be sure, in humorism, anxiety and depression could both be products of black bile and were both driven out by the same remedies. Yet, much of modernism was also fueled by an opposing sentiment, jouissance, or joie de vivre. Romantics put a lot of positive characteristics behind melancholy, considering it a higher state of awareness. Victorians were influenced by romanticism, and modernists often ended up looking down on the bourgeois culture of Victorian society as being repressed and internalized, joyless and preferring death over life. Angst and jouissance, while entirely different types of states of mind, were both antagonistic values to repressed, bourgeois culture. Expressionism, to some degree, incorporated melancholia, but was soon attacked as 'too bourgeois' itself and as a latent product of romanticism. Brianshapiro (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 22:14, 20 August 2013

Requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: No move. This discussion has gotten quite confused in a short order of time, but I think we've achieved consensus on a few key points. First, we have a general agreement that this article is (or should be) about melancholia as one of the four temperaments. As such, there is no agreement that "melancholy" is a better title for it. There is also considerable question and confusion over whether this is really the primary topic of "melancholy" compared to depression (mood) and other uses, and therefore question over whether it should remain a redirect here. As such, I will close as no move for Melancholia, and will take the additional step of moving Melancholy (disambiguation) to Melancholy. Several editors suggested Melancholy be redirected to depression (mood); this possibility may be worth exploring in its own RM. Cúchullain t/ c 20:20, 5 June 2014 (UTC)

Melancholia → Melancholy – WP:COMMONNAME by a mile. Try Google, Google Books, Google Scholar, or JSTOR—"melancholy" is far more common. BDD (talk) 16:16, 22 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Isn't "melancholy" just the adjective, though? Red Slash 20:11, 22 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Nope. --BDD (talk) 20:30, 22 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Support, then. Wikipedia is not a dictionary and therefore we can ignore any redirect of melancholy to depression/sadness/etc. This is the only encyclopedic usage of the term "melancholy". Primary topic is clear, so let's go with the common name. Red Slash 03:21, 24 May 2014 (UTC)

 * No. This article is about the pre-modern medical (i.e. Galenian) concept, one of the four temperaments associated with one of the four humours. This spelling naturally disambiguates from "melancholy", which is both a synonym to melancholia and a mood (not the same as a mood) in common speech like angry, happy, sad, listless, wistful, etc. walk  victor falktalk 11:05, 23 May 2014 (UTC)

 * Support @victor falk - that argument falls down given that Melancholy redirects here! The modern uses that have survived can be covered here, and are in the lead, which in fact has full coverage of modern usages and too little on "medical" Melancholy. Wiki CRUK John (talk) 11:27, 23 May 2014 (UTC)

 * Support. Melancholy in modern usage simply means 'sad'; this meaning diverged from the mediaeval usage in the sixteenth century. Until then 'Melancholy' (Black bile) was one of the 4 Galenic humours, derived from the Aristotelian elements, and the 'Melancholy Complexion' described a man who suffered from fearfulness, bad dreams and dark reflections, all somewhat 'neurotic', so the word 'melancholy' is both a noun and an adjective, and has both mediaeval and modern senses. The term 'melancholia' appears to name a disease associated with the Melancholy Complexion and humour. All of this means that 'Melancholy' is the more general term in English; arguably Melancholia is a separate term (could be a subsection or a subsidiary article). The existing article describes Melancholy in general and should be so named. Chiswick Chap (talk) 11:39, 23 May 2014 (UTC)

 * Oppose The fact that melancholy redirects here is not at all reason to move this article. If anything melancholy might redirect somewhere else, but I think that would be a loss for those looking for this article. Possibly a new notice at the top of the page? CFCF  (talk · contribs · email) 12:08, 23 May 2014 (UTC)
 * The existing redirect is no evidence either way. 'Melancholia' will in any case remain as a search term if anyone chooses to use it, so no loss is involved. Chiswick Chap (talk) 12:10, 23 May 2014 (UTC)

 * Comment I'm not so sure the article is about just the medical concept - the "Cult" section seems to be about "melancholy" more generally. Perhaps it would be possible to produce two separate articles - one strictly on the ancient medical concept and one on "melancholy" more generally. But probably it is not possible to split the two concepts - and so long as that is true, it doesn't really matter whether it ends up at the one or the other. Furius (talk) 12:26, 23 May 2014 (UTC)

 * Oppose The body of the article is very clearly about the historical concept related to the Four temperaments, a form of Humorism.  The lead of this article and redirects are not accurate.  "Melancholy" should redirect to Depression (mood).   The lead of Four temperaments is also messed up.  Am fixing both now. Jytdog (talk) 12:29, 23 May 2014 (UTC)
 * I agree that Depression (mood) is the correct encyclopedic target for "melancholy". walk victor falktalk 12:32, 23 May 2014 (UTC)
 * This is becoming confused. Depression (mood) is the right target for the modern sense of 'melancholy', but not for the mediaeval sense. Chiswick Chap (talk) 12:37, 23 May 2014 (UTC)
 * I don't really agree that "Depression (mood) is the right target for the modern sense of 'melancholy'". Firstly, in modern usage it retains something of its older sense of being a frame of mind, and permanent disposition, while the essence of a mood is that it is transient. Secondly it is just rather different, with elements of pessimism and morbidity that aren't necessarily part of a depressed mood. Wiki CRUK John (talk) 14:17, 23 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Whichever we choose, there should be a redirect to either melancholia or depression (mood), to help the readers looking for the other subject. walk <i style="color:green;">victor falk</i><i style="color:green;">talk</i> 12:44, 23 May 2014 (UTC)
 * To spell it out: Melancholy redirects here. See melancholia/depression (mood). <sup style="color:green;">walk <i style="color:green;">victor falk</i><i style="color:green;">talk</i> 12:47, 23 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Note, I also fixed the dab pages for Melancholia (disambiguation) and Melancholy (disambiguation). Chiswick I think those changes will satisfy you? And Victor, the hat for this page refers to the dab page Melancholia (disambiguation) which says "see also" Melancholia (disambiguation) which has a link to depression (mood)  - is that good enough? Jytdog (talk) 12:49, 23 May 2014 (UTC)
 * I also note that as of right now, melancholy redirects to Depression (mood) - i just did the search. So I just changed the redirect of Melancholy to Melancholy (disambiguation) Jytdog (talk) 12:51, 23 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Someone must have changed it in the last hour then. Wiki CRUK John (talk) 14:17, 23 May 2014 (UTC)
 * You have tidied up some of the mess, well done, but the article's title remains strange (and matches a disambiguation entry, so it's not better than 'Melancholy'). Basically nobody uses 'melancholia' even in history of science books any more, so the article's title just looks a bit weird/old-fashioned/ill-informed. I think therefore that 'Melancholia' should redirect to 'Melancholy'. Chiswick Chap (talk) 12:56, 23 May 2014 (UTC)

I hear you! I am not sure on what basis you say that the term is no longer used in history of science.... but in any case, what if we renamed this to "Melancholia (temperament)"? Jytdog (talk) 13:06, 23 May 2014 (UTC)

 * Thanks... the hatnote is now broken, but why don't we just call it Melancholy (temperament)? Easier, and it seems you've already created the other search term to redirect there... It's quite hard to prove a negative, beyond assuring you it's the case. Even back in 1964, for instance, Lewis, a man very comfortable with Latin, could write
 * "Elyot's symptoms of the Melancholy Complexion run: 'lean...moche watch...dreams fearful...stiff in opinions...anger long and fretting'. Hamlet diagnoses himself as melancholy (II, ii, 640)..." (The Discarded Image, Cambridge, 1964. p172)
 * So I'd rephrase the question, why does anyone want to keep 'melancholia'? It seems quite inappropriate to use a Latin term when an English one has been around since at least the 16th century. Chiswick Chap (talk) 13:59, 23 May 2014 (UTC)

 * i went ahead and boldly made the change to Melancholia (temperament)... Jytdog (talk) 13:52, 23 May 2014 (UTC)
 * that's the 3rd edit conflict ... you are changing things very quickly, but not necessarily correctly or by agreement. See above. But I'm glad we're moving. Chiswick Chap (talk) 13:59, 23 May 2014 (UTC)
 * It's really NOT helpful to move things in the middle of an RM discussion, 5 mins after the title moved to was first proposed, in particular because that change cannot be reverted. I suggest we carry on, although all targets seem to be moving ones. Wiki CRUK John (talk) 14:08, 23 May 2014 (UTC)
 * sorry to be upsetting. thanks for your tolerance. Jytdog (talk) 14:55, 23 May 2014 (UTC)

 * Move Melancholy (disambiguation) to Melancholy Per WP:MALPLACED: A malplaced disambiguation page is one that has no primary topic but is not at the base name, e.g., when Foogle redirects to Foogle (disambiguation). <sup style="color:green;">walk <i style="color:green;">victor falk</i><i style="color:green;">talk</i> 16:31, 23 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Note: it only redirects/redirected to the disambiguation page because you changed its target within the past week. It'd been stable for over two years before that. Red <b style="color:#460121;">Slash</b> 03:21, 24 May 2014 (UTC)
 * The above editor's edit on Melancholy did not result in a redirect to the disambiguation page; that was the result of a different editor. Steel1943  (talk) 12:18, 24 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Thank you for noting that I haven't moved anything, least of all at anytime before a day or so after this RM was posted. The only thing I've done is removing "(temperament)" from the list on the disambiguation page. <sup style="color:green;">walk  <i style="color:green;">victor falk</i><i style="color:green;">talk</i> 12:34, 24 May 2014 (UTC)

 * I apologize again for the pre-emptive move. Bad judgement on my part. Jytdog (talk) 14:22, 24 May 2014 (UTC)
 * I am horrified by my error--I apologize unreservedly to victor falk. Red <b style="color:#460121;">Slash</b> 04:22, 25 May 2014 (UTC)
 * no big deal. Cheers, <sup style="color:green;">walk <i style="color:green;">victor falk</i><i style="color:green;">talk</i> 04:41, 25 May 2014 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

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trimmed/updated content
Trimmed/updated in lead :

Despite there being a variety of mental and physical symptoms to this condition, clinicians in the 20th century came to attach the term "melancholia" almost exclusively to depression, before largely ceasing to use it at all. As such, "melancholia" is the historical predecessor of the modern mental-health diagnosis of "clinical depression", and the term currently characterises a subtype of major depression known as melancholic depression.

(rapid note: the trimmed PMID 3074848, Berrios 1988, appears to be a useful source, although not so recent and unfortunately paywalled). 86.169.96.127 (talk) 16:55, 17 March 2021 (UTC)

...changed to: "Between the late 18th and late 19th centuries, melancholia was a commonly used medical diagnosis, and modern concepts of depression as a mood disorder eventually grew out of this historical practice. Although depression and melancholia are separate concepts, the adjective 'melancholic' is still used as a current diagnostic term to specify certain features that may be present in major depression." 86.169.96.127 (talk) 20:55, 17 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Essentially fine with that, but can you reword to avoid the Easter egg link in "the adjective "melancholic" is still used as a current diagnostic term to specify certain features...". Maybe "the adjective "melancholic" is still used in melancholic depression, in American medicine a current diagnostic term with certain specific features...".  I've also globalized - something you should probably be more attentive to. Johnbod (talk) 17:06, 17 March 2021 (UTC)
 * @Johnbod Hum, my (limited :) understanding is that while DSM is American, it has a rather wider - albeit not universal - reach. Personally, I felt that my inclusion of the word "adjective" was itself a bit clunky, though I did try to keep close to the sourcing. Given that Melancholic depression seemed to me a somewhat muddled/dated page, I'm not altogether sure how easter-eggy  "...a current diagnostic term to specify certain features..."  actually is. I wonder if it could be appropriate to call @Markworthen (or another experienced PSY editor) for an informed opinion/recommendation. 86.169.96.127 (talk) 20:35, 17 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Well, I wouldn't know, but my impression is that this is one of the areas where DSM & APA ideas are by no means universally accepted (domestically as well as globally). We might ask User:Casliber.  "Melancholic depression|specify" looks pretty chocolatey to me. Johnbod (talk) 21:09, 17 March 2021 (UTC)
 * And I'm really *happy* to seek input from others. 86.169.96.127 (talk) 21:19, 17 March 2021 (UTC)
 * DSM 5 is very widely used and has become de facto lingua franca for diagnoses etc. Writing is ok - I should be able to get the Berrios paper. Also, Melancholic depression should be merged into this article as it doesn't exist as an entity any more - was a qualifier in DSM IV...actually not sure if even a qualifier anymore...hmmm Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 23:18, 17 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks - happy to take your word for that. Johnbod (talk) 04:59, 18 March 2021 (UTC)

Edits by Markworthen on 18 Mar 2021
Thank you for the ping. :) I made some edits today (diff). Here is a brief description of the edit with my rationale.

 * Change "medical doctor" to "physician". The term "medical doctor" is relatively recent compared to "physician". Both historically (the definition that follows dates back to 1200) and currently, "physician" means "a person who is trained and qualified to practise medicine; esp. one who practises medicine as opposed to surgery." At present (21st century), "doctor" often means "a doctor of medicine", but it also means "a person who, in any faculty or branch of learning, has attained to the highest degree conferred by a University"; "a person who is proficient in knowledge of theology: a learned divine"; or "a person who is proficient in knowledge of law".

 * I deleted "Although depression and melancholia are separate concepts" because, as written, it is not accurate, particularly for an article about the historical concept of melancholia. For example, the American Heritage Dictionary provides this definition: "melancholia, n. 1. Extreme, persistent sadness or hopelessness; depression. No longer in clinical use."

 * Finally, I rewrote the rest of the paragraph in question. It now reads:

At present (21st century), melancholia describes a depression subtype characterised by:

 * severely depressed mood, wherein the person often feels despondent, forlorn, disconsolate, or empty
 * pervasive anhedonia - loss of interest or pleasure in most activities that are normally enjoyable
 * lack of emotional responsiveness (mood does not brighten, even briefly) to normally pleasurable stimuli (such as food or entertainment) or situations (such as warm, affectionate interactions with friends or family)
 * terminal insomnia - unwanted early morning awakening (two or more hours earlier than normal)
 * marked psychomotor retardation or agitation
 * marked loss of appetite or weight loss

The American Psychiatric Association does not like anyone to copy their text verbatim, so I made sure I did not violate their copyright. Plus ICD-11's "Current depressive episode with melancholia" is quite similar. Thus, the list above is representative of current understanding in the two major nosological systems, which I referenced, yet the list does not violate copyright and it is not original research.

Btw, I recognize that many people, including many Wikipedia editors, believe that DSM-5 predominates internationally and in English-speaking countries. DSM-5 is certainly very influential, but ICD is used to classify and understand medical (including mental) disorders at least as often, if not more so. I will eventually write something about that fact with citations, but it's still on my to do list. Mark D Worthen PsyD (talk) [he/his/him] 18:46, 18 March 2021 (UTC)

 * Thank you for that Mark. I'm happy to defer (and the DSM / ICD point is well taken). Your edits imply that melancholia does remain a *current* medical concept, and I've made a rapid copyedit to avoid an internal contradiction in the lead. I leave it to you PSY guys to agree on the extent to which melancholia can (still) be considered a "subtype" of depression. My own very laylish understanding fitted more with Casliber's response above  that, in DSM at least, it's a "qualifier" (but maybe this is a semantic hair-splitter?). More generally, I concur about the *historic* character of the article. While finding the many cultural aspects intriguing, I can't help feeling that it also poses particular editorial challenges that aren't altogether straightforward (for example how to weight its *current* med relevance as a somewhat marginal qualifier/subtype of the far broader diagnosis it historically spawned) . But hey, that could be cool... 86.134.212.111 (talk) 20:46, 18 March 2021 (UTC) 86.186.155.219 (talk) 13:17, 19 March 2021 (UTC)

 * Right, think about it like this - historically melancholia was a syndrome of low mood, lack of energy and psychomotor retardation (not moving much), DSM comes along with endogenous (i.e. biological) depression and reactive depression - these then shift in DSM IV to broaden to "major depressive disorder" and narrow to "adjustment disorder with depressed mood". The criteria of major depressive disorder are much broader than original melancholia and include people who are pervasively depressed, many of whom do not have psychomotor retardation. "with melancholic features" is preserved as a qualifier in DSM IV and has some use as some medications work better in those people (TCAs and venlafaxine) than usual first line agents. Anyway I need to check but I suspect this qualifier has been kyboshed in DSM 5. NB: not thrilled about "physician" as in Australia it means non-surgical specialist in internal medicine (i.e. specifcially excludes surgeons, psychiatrists, radiologists, pathologists etc.). But not really fussed about this. I see "doctor" as unequivocally plainer English. No-one is going to presume we mean Doctor of Philosophy or other non-medical doctor in this sense here. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 21:17, 18 March 2021 (UTC)

 * Excellent points.

 * 86.134.212.111 - Thank you for your rapid copy edit. :) ¶ There probably is a unique type of depression with some of the current descriptors/symptoms listed in DSM-5 & ICD-11, but the current list will likely be refined over the next several years as research continues. ¶ I agree that this article poses editorial challenges, and maybe it would be best merged with melancholic depression, but I haven't looked into that possibility at all (it may have been argued and decided previously).

 * Cas Liber - It's still in DSM-5 (p. 185 in the print book). ¶ I did not know that about Australia! Thank you. I changed "physicians" to "doctors". Mark D Worthen PsyD (talk) [he/his/him] 16:40, 19 March 2021 (UTC)

 * Hum, imo, the bullet-point list might be better located in a dedicated section of the main text (titled something along the lines of == Current medical/psychiatric xxxxxxxxx == [?]). At the moment, I think there's a real issue of undue weighting in the lead, potentially making it seem as if centuries of conceptual history have somehow culminated in this particular qualifier of depression. Whereas, consensus in the reliable sourcing (of which PMID 31995137 is a recent example) seems to be that the centuries-long traditions of Melancholia ultimately culminated in the birth of the new  major diagnostic entity of clinical depression, within which the *term* melancholic is currently used as a descriptor for certain cases. (Fwiw, I think that other notable *psychological* traditions that may remain of current non-psychiatric/non-medical pertinence should also find space in the page.) My 2c, 86.186.155.219 (talk) 19:02, 19 March 2021 (UTC)

 * Another excellent point, i.e., it is too much detail for the lede. Thank you. Mark D Worthen PsyD (talk) [he/his/him] 00:26, 20 March 2021 (UTC)

 * Hehehe - I looked in a DSM 5 in clinic today at saw page 185. Is only a qualifier "with melancholic features" - which can be applied to a depressive episode. So "melancholic depression" not an entity labelled or described as such. I'm gonna post a merge template soon - this should be the target page as the simpler title and longer-lasting concept Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 10:34, 20 March 2021 (UTC)

 * Well, as they say, the devil is in the detail (...just a couple of small changes ). A bit unclear to me exactly how the various bullet points relate to each of the two cited sources, but hopefully that will emerge in the proposed merger. 86.172.165.171 (talk) 15:20, 20 March 2021 (UTC)

 * @86.172.165.171 - I wrote above: "Thus, the list above is representative of current understanding in the two major nosological systems, which I referenced,[3][4] yet the list does not violate copyright and it is not original research." I think that explains how the various bullet points relate to each of the two cited sources, but if not, please let me know. Mark D Worthen PsyD (talk) [he/his/him] 16:50, 21 March 2021 (UTC)
 * @Markworthen: on reflection, a straightforward copyedit seemed to me all that's needed (doh :). 86.134.212.117 (talk) 19:21, 21 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Nice. I like it. :O) Mark D Worthen PsyD (talk) [he/his/him] 19:26, 21 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Btw, I definitely agree with your downgrading : the page needs work. Imo, the main focus should be on the history of the idea and its broad cultural reach (including the arts, natural philosophy, etc, etc). If done appropriately I think it could be a really valid and genuinely *encyclopedic* page. My 2c, 86.134.212.117 (talk) 19:39, 21 March 2021 (UTC)

 * @Cas Liber - We are on the same page. :0) Mark D Worthen PsyD (talk) [he/his/him] 16:52, 21 March 2021 (UTC)

Merge proposal
I propose merging Melancholic depression into Melancholia. The two are in essence the same concept - one through a historical and lay-lens, the other in DSM classification. A unified page discussing them in a holistic manner with context would make for a more informative read than two separate articles. I tentatively support the destination page being "Melancholia" as broader more common term, though could easily settle on "Melancholic depression" as more exacting/defined term I guess. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 23:52, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
 * I'm broadly supportive, but the difficulty would be keeping ancient and modern clearly distinct. Johnbod (talk) 01:52, 21 February 2024 (UTC)
 * I think this is feasible. The current pages combined would be about 2,500–3,000 words long, which is reasonable.  I feel like Melancholic depression is missing some information (e.g., sex ratio?), but there would be room for some expansion.
 * I prefer Melancholia as the resulting title. WhatamIdoing (talk) 02:32, 21 February 2024 (UTC)
 * @WAID: Imo, appropriately weighted content on an historical diagnosis (in this case, 'melancholic depression') would not require the same level of clinical/epidemiological detail as a currently recognised clinical entity. 86.177.202.213 (talk) 21:08, 21 February 2024 (UTC)
 * @Johnbod: Fwiw, I think the key question is how to distinguish between historical and current (the Melancholia page already tries to distinguish somewhat between "ancient" and "modern" history). 86.177.202.213 (talk) 20:57, 21 February 2024 (UTC)
 * That's what I meant; too fanciful language. Johnbod (talk) 04:36, 22 February 2024 (UTC)
 * I support. I agree with WhatamIdoing, and if I understand correctly, "merging Melancholic depression into Melancholia" means that Melancholia would remain after the merge, whereas Melancholic depression would not. Mark D Worthen PsyD (talk) [he/him] 19:18, 21 February 2024 (UTC)
 * "Melancholic depression" would become a redirect to this page. WhatamIdoing (talk) 21:26, 21 February 2024 (UTC)

 * Support. Melancholic depression is an *historical* diagnosis and not a *current* diagnostic entity. The Melancholic depression page, as it stands, is clearly problematic, confused and misleading (recently, it's even attracted wholly inappropriate attention as a focus for "Communicating the Fundamentals of Epidemiology"). On editorial grounds, I believe pertinent *historical* information about melancholic depression could appropriately appear under Melancholia (per WP:Summary style, I think it is theoretically conceivable that a history-type 'Melancholic depression' page might eventually be re-created, should this become necessary/appropriate). As regards Wikipedia coverage of *current* clinical information relating exclusively to the melancholic features specifier (in DSM-IV and DSM-5) of depression, it seems to me that a natural home for some appropriately weighted content would be under Mood disorder (maybe also with a passing mention inserted under Melancholia to point out that the word melancholic is still used, albeit in a much more restricted manner). 86.177.202.213 (talk) 20:46, 21 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Melancholia implies a more classical, proto-psychological term. But melancholic depression means a more modern psychological term. 2001:56A:F9E5:8000:9DAA:DCFD:FAC2:54F (talk) 07:31, 23 February 2024 (UTC)
 * comment: Here, for example, is an RS (from an 'encyclopedic' publication) that recounts and critiques the long and overlapping histories of the concepts of melancholia and depression (including melancholic depression). In arguing for "the reinstatement of melancholia as a separate and distinct mood disorder", the author expresses a POV that diverges from the currently valid versions of the internationally accepted classifications (ICD and DSM) that are adhered to by Wikipedia Medicine as a basis for the provision of reliable medical information. Nevertheless, per WP:RS, I think the ideas expressed in this sort of book chapter – including its controversial and challenging POV – might be suitably (wp:weight) acknowledged within a page like Melancholia which is set up to provide readers with a wide-ranging cultural history (ancient and modern) of an influential concept. Of course, a page such as Melancholic depression could in theory also be set up in a similar way, in which case it would presumably be providing more detailed information on content contained in Melancholia and Depression (mood) / History of depression (and conceivably, I suppose, Mood disorder ). At present, however, Melancholic depression describes a *current* diagnosis (i.e. a currently accepted clinical entity), which appears to be at odds with the currently valid versions of ICD (i.e. ICD-10 and ICD-11) and – assuming I've understood Cas Liber correctly – DSM (i.e. DSM-IV and DSM-5). This seems to me problematic, which is why I have argued to merge Melancholic depression into Melancholia. 86.177.202.227 (talk) 18:19, 23 February 2024 (UTC)

 * support per Cas Liber rationale--Ozzie10aaaa (talk) 17:41, 29 February 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Melancholia


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Innerleithen

Innerleithen (Inbhir Leitheann) is a civil parish and a small town in the committee area of Tweeddale, in the Scottish Borders. It was formerly in the historic county of Peeblesshire or Tweeddale.

Etymology
The name "Innerleithen" comes from the Scottish Gaelic meaning "confluence of the Leithen", because it is here that the river joins the Tweed. The prefix "Inner-/Inver-" (Inbhir-) is common in many Scottish placenames, such as Inverness and Inverurie. At this confluence, the Tweed flows approximately west-east, and the Leithen Water flows from the north.

Layout
The layout of the town is dominated by the surrounding hills. To the north the peaked hill of Lee Pen (502m), and its southerly spur Caerlee Hill (258m). To the east the rounded hill of Pirn Craig (363m) - locally known as "Rocky" - and its townward spur of Windy Knowe (155m), also known as "Pirn Hill", and to the south, beyond the Tweed, the extended of ridge of Plora Craig rises sharply from the southerly bank. Thus the town has grown in an inverted 'T' shape north up the valley of the Leithen and east-west along north bank flood plain of the Tweed.

History
The area occupied by the town has been inhabited since pre-Roman times. The remains of an Iron Age palisaded settlement, with seven circular houses are visible on the summit of Caerlee Hill. This is a scheduled Ancient Monument. Ditchworks are also visible on the hill of Windy Knowe and, whilst there is some local speculation that these belong to an unusual round Roman hill fort, they are in fact typical of an indigenous Iron Age hill fort. Crop marks from aerial photographs of the 1950s suggest the existence of a semi-permanent Roman marching camp on the flood plain by the river Tweed at Toll Wood (near Traquair) and at nearby Eshiels.

The town is said to have been founded by an itinerant pilgrim monk called St. Ronan in A.D.737, who came to Innerleithen via the River Tweed in a coracle. Monks would certainly have travelled the natural route of the Clyde and Tweed valleys on their way between the religious centres of Iona and Holy Island. A Celtic stone carved with cup and rings/channels, known as the Runic Cross (although there are neither runes on it, nor any evidence that it was a cross shaft) was found on the slopes of the Leithen valley suggesting that a church existed during the Early Middle Ages. The stone can be viewed in the courtyard of the parish church on Leithen Road. In the local legend of the town's founding "St. Ronan Cleik't the Deil by the hind leg and banished him", possibly a metaphor for the monks bringing Christian learning back into these regions.

The legend was actually formalised by Sir Walter Scott and was later instigated in a town festival called "The Cleikum Ceremonies" in 1901. This was seen as a way to prevent the legends and folktales of the region from dying out. Scott wrote about the town in his 1824 novel St. Ronan's Well.

The Ceremonies continue to this day as part of St. Ronans Borders Games, also known as 'Games Week' (although, in reality, this is a 10-day-long festival). The Border Games date from 1827 and are the oldest organised sports meeting in Scotland. These happen in the first and second week in July and draw significant local and tourist participation.

Accounts of Innerleithen date from the 12th century, when it was recorded as "Inverlethane". It is said that a son of King Malcolm IV of Scotland (who was staying at Traquair House on a hunting trip), drowned accidentally in a deep pool at the confluence of the rivers Leithen and Tweed. The body was recovered by locals and taken to the church, in recognition of which the King bestowed the right of sanctuary to the land. The pool where the drowning is alleged to have taken place is still known locally as "The Droont Pool". However, it should be borne in mind that Malcolm IV is reported to have died childless at the age of twenty five, so the tale is questionable.

Later written accounts of the town date from the 15th century when it is referred to as "Henderleithen", and at this point it is recorded as a hamlet within the Parish of Traquair, which with its major baronial house was centre of the Parish.

The industrial revolution and wool milling saw Innerleithen outgrow Traquair and become the larger village. Innerleithen's population rose from 1130 (1861 census) to its current level of over 2500. At one point it had five significant wool mills (or hosieries). Of these, only one, Caerlee Mills remained with a reduced workforce of 33 after its owners JJ & HB Cashmere went into administration in 2010, finally closing in April 2013.

The industries which have supplanted the wool industry and allowed the town to keep growing have been primarily tourism, of which Mountain Biking plays a huge part, and secondly, timber and forestry. Additionally, a significant proportion of the population now commutes to work, including to Edinburgh some 30 miles north. The town has a football team, Vale of Leithen, who were established in 1891 and play in the East of Scotland Football League. They play their games at the town's Victoria Park.

Tourism

Tourist attractions within the town include Robert Smail's Printing Works and St. Ronans Wells, and nearby Traquair House. Popular tourist activities in the area include golfing (the town has a 9-hole golf course), walking and mountain biking. The area is famous for fly fishing (both trout and salmon), and there is a fish ladder near the golf course, just outside the town boundary on Leithen Road. This proves a popular stopping point for locals and visitors to watch the autumn and winter runs of salmon.

The town has several small hotels including the Traquair Arms Hotel and the St. Ronans Hotel. There are also numerous private houses offering bed and breakfast, a camp site and a caravan site.

The town hosts the annual Innerleithen Music Festival in the Memorial Hall. In addition, it has an active amateur operatic society which stages an annual production.

To get to Innerleithen from Edinburgh, follow the A701, then A703 south from Edinburgh, and at Peebles turn east onto the A72. The town is also served by the First Bus no. 62 service which runs between Edinburgh and Melrose via Penicuik, Peebles, Innerleithen and Galashiels.

Innerleithen has several bookshops, the largest of which holds nearly 19,000 titles and is one of the largest in the Scottish Borders.

Innerleithen is also popular for mountain biking and, together with Glentress, forms one of Forestry and Land Scotland's "7 Stanes". It is very popular with downhill bikers and has hosted national events since the early 1990s. An uplift shuttle bus service provides access to the top of Plora Rig, ready for riders to plummet back down the trails. Current gems include the "Matador" and "Make or Break". In recent years the 'Golfie' trails in Caberston Forest have been widely developed and sanctioned, providing a unique network of rider managed technically demanding MTB descents. In addition to the downhill trails, there is a long cross-country loop that climbs to the top of the Minch Moor before descending through some excellent trails. The Innerleithen XC trails are more demanding than those found at Glentress.

Since 2003, the town has held a music festival every August. Acts that have played at the festival include Eddi Reader, Julie Fowlis, Dougie MacLean, Karine Polwart, Karen Matheson and Old Blind Dogs.

Twinned communities
The town of Innerleithen has been twinned with the community of Thondwe in Malawi since 2008. Both the local church and the Rotary Club are involved.

Notable people

 * Alexander Tait (poet) (b.1720), known as 'Sawney Tait' was a contemporary and associate of Robert Burns and David Sillar.
 * Murray Davidson (b. 1988), Scottish international footballer who played for Livingston F.C. and St Johnstone F.C.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Innerleithen


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Talk:AD 91

91 is the atom number of the chemical element Protactinium.

This page is for the year 91 not the number 91.

title: Talk:AD 91


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Kongsvinger

Kongsvinger is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Glåmdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Kongsvinger. Other settlements in the municipality include Austmarka, Brandval, Lundersæter, and Roverud.

The 1036 km2 municipality is the 111th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Kongsvinger is the 72nd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 17,966. The municipality's population density is 18.9 PD/km2 and its population has increased by 1.9% over the previous 10-year period. Kongsvinger's eastern municipal boundary is the Norway–Sweden border.

General information
In 1854, the King designated the market town of Kongsvinger as a kjøpstad, which gave it special rights. The designation included a small patch of land on both sides of the river Glomma with an area of approximately 5.2 km2. Because of this designation, on 7 February 1855, the town was separated from the municipality of Vinger to form a separate municipality. Initially, the town had 472 residents and this left Vinger municipality with 10,947 residents. On 1 January 1876, the town was enlarged when an area of Vinger (population: 209) was transferred into Kongsvinger. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the town of Kongsvinger (population: 2,345) and the surrounding municipalities of Vinger (population: 6,257) and Brandval (population: 4,384) were merged to form the new Kongsvinger Municipality. The new municipality of Kongsvinger (briefly) lost its status as an urban municipality (bykommune) after this amalgamation due to merging with rural municipalities. One year later, on 1 January 1965, the government redesignated Kongsvinger as an urban municipality. On 1 January 1974, the unpopulated Lystad area was transferred from Grue Municipality to Kongsvinger Municipality. On 1 January 1986, the northern part of the Åbogen area (population: 14) was transferred from Kongsvinger to the neighboring municipality of Eidskog.

Name
The whole region where Kongsvinger is located was historically called Vinger (Vingr). This name could be related to the river Glomma which flows through the region. One could compare this to the English word swing (for the missing s see Indo-European s-mobile). The river Glomma passes through the center of the district where the south-flowing river takes a sharp northwestward turn. This can be compared to the similar Lithuanian word vìngis which means "bend", "bow", or "turn". This old name used to represent this whole area. The first element of the name is the possessive form of (meaning "the King's") was added after the Kongsvinger Fortress was built in 1690. It was first applied only to the fortress (written as Königs Winger in old documents). Then, it was later given to the town that grew up around the fortress.

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 25 June 1926. The design is a stylized representation of Kongsvinger Fortress towering high above the river Glomma. The river is rendered as a wavy bar in the bottom half of the design. The river and fortress have a tincture of argent which means they are commonly colored white, but if the arms are made out of metal, then silver is used. The lower part of the arms represent the land and the mountain on which the fortress sits. This area has a background in black to represent the local conifer forest. The curved upper part of the background is colored red to symbolize the sky. The color is taken from the Norwegian flag to mark the national historical importance of the fortress. A mural crown is often shown above the escutcheon to indicate that the town of Kongsvinger is located in the municipality. The arms were designed by J. W. Oftedal.

Churches
The Church of Norway has three parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Kongsvinger. It is part of the Solør, Vinger og Odal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar.

History
The area was historically a part of the prestegjeld of Vinger. The village that later became Kongsvinger already existed as a trading center by the Middle Ages, due to the accessibility by natural waterways. Viking chieftains reached Sweden by boat from Kongsvinger. Kongsvinger Fortress was founded in 1669, and a star-shaped plan was laid out for the fortress. Work began in 1682 and it was finished in 1690 as part of a general upgrade to Norwegian fortresses. The building of the fortress formed the foundations for what was to become the town of Kongsvinger. The fortress was built as a defensive structure against the Swedes, and on numerous occasions there have been military engagements in the area around the fortress, but Kongsvinger fortress has never been taken in military combat. Below Kongsvinger fortress lies Øvrebyen, which literally translated means "upper town". This is the oldest part of the town of Kongsvinger, and one can still find a number of the original houses built after the establishment of the fortress. Kongsvinger Museum is located here, together with a museum of female emancipation in a building called "Rolighed", the home of Dagny Juel, the famous author once portrayed by Edvard Munch.

The rural, eastern parts of Kongsvinger and its neighboring municipalities to the north and south were populated at the end of the 17th century by Finnish emigrants who came across the Swedish border. The area is called Finnskogen which means "The Finnish forest".

Kongsvinger played an important part in the Norwegian resistance force against the Nazis being a gateway to Sweden. Norway's highest decorated citizen, Gunnar Sønsteby frequently passed through Kongsvinger in his work to sabotage the Nazis' installations in Norway. Some of the busiest escape routes for refugees also went through Kongsvinger to Sweden.

From 1983 to 1999, and again in 2010, Kongsvinger's association football team KIL Toppfotball held a position in the Norwegian Premier League. It made some notable merits participating in the UEFA Cup and winning a silver medal during the 1992 season.

Government
Kongsvinger Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Romerike og Glåmdal District Court and the Eidsivating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Kongsvinger is made up of 33 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors
The mayors (ordfører) of Kongsvinger:

 * 1855-1856: Jacob N. Hygen
 * 1857-1859: S. Christian Strøm
 * 1859-1859: Sigvald Rynning
 * 1860-1860: Christian Kruse
 * 1861-1877: Hans Hansen
 * 1877-1880: C.F. Heidenreich
 * 1881-1884: A. Knagenhjelm Blix
 * 1885-1888: Lorentzo Rynning
 * 1889-1898: Carl Henriksen
 * 1899-1907: O.A. Herud
 * 1908-1910: Otto Aamodt
 * 1911-1913: O.A. Herud
 * 1914-1914: Kristian Walby
 * 1915-1919: Axel Engebretsen
 * 1920-1920: Sigvald Olsen
 * 1921-1922: Eiler Baanerud
 * 1923-1925: Jacob Forseth
 * 1926-1928: Thomas Johnsen
 * 1929-1931: Eiler Baanerud
 * 1932-1932: Christian Voss
 * 1933-1933: H. Wallerud
 * 1934-1934: Christian Voss
 * 1935-1940: Eiler Baanerud
 * 1940-1941: R. Talhaug (NS)
 * 1942-1943: Erling Huseby (NS)
 * 1944-1945: Johan Nitteberg (NS)
 * 1945-1945: Eiler Baanerud
 * 1946-1964: Aasmund Grimstad
 * 1964-1975: Norvald Strand (Ap)
 * 1975-1984: Odd Finsrud (Ap)
 * 1984-1993: Terje Pedersen (Ap)
 * 1994-1995: Jan K. Kristiansen (SV)
 * 1995-1995: Johanne Wetterhus (H)
 * 1995-1999: Trond Hansen (Ap)
 * 1999-2011: Arve Bones (Ap)
 * 2011-2015: Øystein Østgaard (H)
 * 2015-2019: Sjur Strand (Ap)
 * 2019-2021: Margrethe Haarr (Sp)
 * 2021-2023: Eli Wathne (H)
 * 2023-present: Elin Såheim Bjørkli (Ap)

Geography
Kongsvinger is situated on both sides of the river Glomma, where the south-flowing river takes a sharp northwestward turn. The Kongsvinger Fortress is the main landmark, situated on a hill west and north of the river. Kongsvinger is a regional center of the Glåmdal region, which is made up of the southern parts of Innlandet county. Kongsvinger municipality is bordered to the west by the municipality of Sør-Odal, to the north by Grue, and to the south by Eidskog. To the east it borders Eda and Torsby municipalities in Sweden. Kongsvinger is about 110 km from Oslo and 70 km from Oslo Airport, Gardermoen.

The Holtbergmasta, a 163 m tall guyed mast for FM-/TV-broadcasting on Holtberget at 60.167602 N 11.994356 E was built in 1967.

Transportation
Travel to and from Kongsvinger:
 * Several daily train services to Oslo
 * Twice daily train services to Stockholm, Sweden
 * Five daily train services to Karlstad, Sweden
 * Several daily bus services to Elverum, Hamar, and Charlottenberg, Sweden
 * Suburban bus services running throughout the town of Kongsvinger
 * Four lane highway between Kongsvinger and Oslo is under construction.

Distances
The following are road distances to Kongsvinger from various locations:

Economy
There are 1,530 businesses including forestry and farming, and 245 of these are retail outlets. There are 25000 m2 of mall situated in the downtown area. As well as downtown shopping streets, there are also glass domed pedestrian shopping streets. The governmental regional Kongsvinger Hospital is also situated in Kongsvinger.

Major businesses
• InfoCare Computer service and logistics

• Eidsiva Energi customer service unit (energy)

• Ibas (IT)

• Thales (IT)

• Metso Minerals (conveyor belts)

• Schütz Nordic (plastic)

• Statistics Norway

• Telenor customer service unit (telecommunications)

• TI Automotive (fuel systems)

Public service & public thinking

 * Cathrine Dahl (1855—1906), first female lawyer in Norway
 * Christen Schmidt (1727 in Kongsvinger – 1804), the Bishop of the Diocese of Oslo in 1773
 * Georg Ræder (1814 in Kongsvinger – 1898), a military officer, railway pioneer, and politician
 * Hans Georg Jacob Stang (1830–1907), a Norwegian attorney and Norway's Prime Minister from 1888–1889; established his legal practice in Kongsvinger in 1859
 * Anna Stang (1834–1901), a feminist, liberal politician, president of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights, and wife of Jacob Stang who ran a private school in Kongsvinger for 17 years
 * Carl Wille Schnitler (1879 in Brandval – 1926), a Norwegian art historian
 * Rudolf Falck Ræder (1881 in Kongsvinger – 1951), a military officer, engineer, and politician
 * Åse Wisløff Nilssen (born 1945 in Kongsvinger), a Norwegian politician
 * Tove Strand (born 1946 in Kongsvinger), a Norwegian politician
 * Per Hjalmar Nakstad (born 1946 in Kongsvinger), radiologist
 * Monica Kristensen Solås (born 1950), a glaciologist, polar explorer, and crime novelist; brought up in Kongsvinger
 * Karin Andersen (born 1952), a Norwegian politician who served as MP for the Socialist Left Party

The Arts

 * Maren Elisabeth Bang (1797 in Skansgården – 1884), a writer who wrote the first printed Norwegian cookbook
 * Erika Nissen (1845 in Kongsvinger – 1903), a Norwegian pianist
 * Erik Werenskiold (1855 in Eidskog – 1938), a Norwegian painter and illustrator
 * Dagny Juel (1867 in Kongsvinger – 1901), a Norwegian writer who was famous for her liaisons with various prominent artists and for the dramatic circumstances of her death
 * Borghild Langaard (1883 in Kongsvinger – 1939), a Norwegian operatic soprano
 * Eva Lund Haugen (1907 in Kongsvinger – 1996), an American author, editor, and translator
 * Pål Refsdal (born 1963 in Kongsvinger), a freelance journalist, photographer, and filmmaker
 * Roy Lønhøiden (born 1964 in Kongsvinger), a country music composer and singer-songwriter
 * Levi Henriksen (born 1964 in Kongsvinger), a novelist, short story writer, and singer-songwriter
 * Håvard Gimse (born 1966 in Kongsvinger), a Norwegian classical pianist
 * Hildegunn Øiseth (1966 in Kongsvinger), a jazz musician on trumpet, flugelhorn, and bukkehorn
 * Runar Søgaard (born 1967 in Kongsvinger), a leadership trainer, life-coach, and motivational speaker
 * Thomas Cappelen Malling (born 1970 in Kongsvinger), a Norwegian author, and director
 * Andreas Ulvo (born 1983 in Kongsvinger), a jazz pianist, organist, composer, and photographer
 * Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir (born 1990), an Icelandic singer at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 who is known by the stage name Yohanna, lives in Kongsvinger

Sport

 * Sverre Strandli (1925 in Brandval – 1985), a Norwegian hammer thrower who competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics
 * Bjørge Stensbøl (born 1947 in Kongsvinger), a former chief of top-level athletics Olympiatoppen
 * Even Pellerud (born 1953 in Kongsvinger), a former football player with 180 club caps and coach
 * Øivind Tomteberget (born 1953 in Kongsvinger), a retired football midfielder who played 660 games for Kongsvinger IL
 * Espen Nystuen (born 1981 in Kongsvinger), a former footballer with over 300 club caps
 * Lars Krogh Gerson (born 1990 in Luxembourg, Luxembourg, grew up in Kongsvinger), a footballer playing for Luxembourg.
 * Ole Christian Veiby (born 1996 in Kongsvinger), a rally driver

Twin towns — sister cities
Kongsvinger has sister city agreements with the following places:
 * 🇸🇪 Arvika, Värmland County, Sweden
 * 🇱🇧 Ebel es Saqi, Marjayoun, Lebanon
 * Skive, Denmark
 * 🇫🇮 Ylöjärvi, Länsi-Suomi, Finland

In popular culture
Kongsvinger is referenced within the title (and indirectly within the lyrics) of the song "A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger" by the American rock band Of Montreal on the 2007 album Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?.

title: Kongsvinger


text:
Hazaragi dialect

Hazaragi is an eastern dialect and variety of the Persian language that is spoken by the Hazara people.

Classification
Hazaragi is a member of the Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It is an eastern variety of Persian and closely related to Dari, one of the two official Languages of Afghanistan. The primary differences between Dari and Hazaragi are the accents and Hazaragi's greater array of many Turkic and a few Mongolic words and loanwords  or, according to Britannica, with many Mongolian and Turkic words. Despite these differences, the two dialects are mutually intelligible.

In Daykundi (former Uruzgan), Hazaragi has a significant admixture of Turkic influence in the language via Karluk.

Geographic distribution and diaspora
Hazaragi is spoken by the Hazara people, who mainly live in Afghanistan (predominantly in the Hazarajat (Hazaristan) region of central Afghanistan, as well as other Hazara-populated areas of Afghanistan), with a significant population in Pakistan (particularly Quetta) and Iran (particularly Mashhad), and by Hazaras in eastern Uzbekistan, northern Tajikistan, the Americas, Europe, and Australia. The number of Hazaragi speakers in Iran increased significantly due to the influx of refugees from Afghanistan where there are an estimated 399,000 speakers in the country as of 2021.

In recent years, a substantial population of Hazara refugees has settled in Australia, prompting the Department of Immigration and Citizenship to move towards official recognition of the Hazaragi language. Currently, NAATI (National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters) holds interpreting tests for Hazaragi as a distinct language, noting in test materials that Hazaragi varies by dialect, and that any dialect of Hazaragi may be used in interpreter testing as long as it would be understood by the average speaker. The test materials also note that Hazaragi in some locations has been significantly influenced by surrounding languages and that the use of non-Hazaragi words assimilated from neighboring languages would be penalized in testing.

Persian and Islam
The Persian language became so much part of the religion of Islam that it almost went wherever Islam took roots. Persian entered, in this way, into the very faith and thought of the people embracing Islam throughout South Asia.

Turkic and Mongolic influence
Over time, Turkic and Mongolic languages penetrated as living languages amongst Hazaras, and Hazaragi contains many Turkic and a few Mongolic loanwords or, according to Britannica, with many Mongolian and Turkic words.

According to Encyclopaedia Iranica, the present dialect to consist of three strata: (1) pre-Mongol Persian, with its own substratum; (2) the Mongolian language; and (3) modern tājiki, which preserves in it elements of (1) and (2). According to Temirkhanov, the Mongolian elements make up 10% of the Hazara vocabulary.

Grammatical structure
The grammatical structure of Hazaragi  is practically identical to that of the Kabuli dialect of Persian.

Phonology
can also approach the sound or.

As a group of eastern Persian varieties which are considered the more formal and classical varieties of Persian, Hazaragi retains the voiced fricative, and the bilabial articulation of has borrowed the (rare) retroflexes  and ; as in buṭ (meaning "boot") vs. but (meaning "idol") (cf. Persian bot); and rarely articulates. The convergence of voiced uvular stop (ق) and voiced velar fricative  (غ) in Western Persian (probably under the influence of Turkic languages) is still kept separate in Hazara.

Diphthongs include, , and (cf. Persian ab, āb, ûw). The vocalic system is typically eastern Persian, characterized by the loss of length distinction, the retention of mid vowels, and the rounding of and, alternating with its merger with , or  (cf. Persian ān).

Stress is dynamic and similar to that in Dari and Tajik varieties of Persian, and not variable. It generally falls on the last syllable of a nominal form, including derivative suffixes and several morphological markers. Typical is the insertion of epenthetic vowels in consonant clusters (as in pašm to póšum; "wool") and final devoicing (as in ḵût; "self, own"). only occurs infrequently and among more educated speakers. can be heard as either a trill or a tap. // can also range to uvular sounds [].

Nominal morphology
The most productive derivative marker is -i, and the plural markers are -o for the inanimate (as in kitab-o, meaning "books"; cf. Persian -hā) and -û for the animate (as in birar-û, meaning "brothers"; cf. Persian -ān). The emphatic vocative marker is û or -o, the indefinite marker is -i, and the specific object marker is -(r)a. The comparative marker is -tar (as in kalû-tar, meaning "bigger"). Dependent adjectives and nouns follow the head noun and are connected by -i (as in kitab-i mamud, meaning "the book of Maḥmud"). Topicalized possessors precede the head noun marked by the resumptive personal suffix (as in Zulmay ayê-ši, literally "Zulmay her mother"). Prepositions include, in addition to the standard Persian ones, ḵun(i) (meaning "with, using", da (meaning "in"; cf. Persian dar); the latter often replaces ba (meaning "to") in dative function. Loaned postpositions include comitative -qati (meaning "together with") and (az) -worî (meaning "like"). Interrogatives typically function also as indefinite (as in kudam, meaning "which, someone"). The inflection (u,o) that Hazaras use to pluralize nouns is also found in Avesta, Yashts such as Aryo.

Particles, conjunctions, modals, and adverbials
These include atê/arê, meaning "yes"; amma or wali, meaning "but"; balki, meaning "however"; šaydi, meaning "perhaps"; ale, meaning "now"; and wuḵt-a, meaning "then". These are also marked by distinctive initial stress.

Verb morphology
The imperfective marker is mi- (assimilated variants: m-, mu-, m-, mê-; as in mi-zan-um, "I hit, I am hitting"). The subjunctive and imperative marker is bi- (with similar assimilation). The negation is na- (as in na-mi-zad-um, "I was not hitting"). These usually attract stress.

Tenses
The tense, mood, and aspect system is typically quite different from Western Persian. The basic tense system is threefold: present-future, past, and remote (pluperfect). New modal paradigms developed in addition to the subjunctives:

 * The non-seen/mirative that originates in the resultative-stative perfect (e.g., zad-ēm; cf. Persian zada(e) am), which has largely lost its non-modal use;
 * the potential, or assumptive, which is marked by the invariant ḵot (cf. Persian xāh-ad or xād, "it wants, intends") combined with the indicate and subjunctive forms.

Moreover, all past and remote forms have developed imperfective forms marked by mi-. There are doubts about several of the less commonly found, or recorded, forms, in particular those with ḵot. However, the systematic arrangement of all forms according to their morphological, as well as semantic, function shows that those forms fit well within the overall pattern. The system may tentatively be shown as follows (all forms are 1st sing), leaving out complex compound forms such as zada ḵot mu-buda baš-um.

In the assumptive, the distinction appears to be not between present versus past, but indefinite versus definite. Also, similar to all Persian varieties, the imperfective forms in mi-, and past perfect forms, such as mi-zad-um and zada bud-um, are used in irreal conditional clauses and wishes; e.g., kaški zimi qulba kadagi mu-but, "If the field would only be/have been plowed!" Modal verbs, such as tan- ("can"), are constructed with the perfect participle; e.g., ma bû-r-um, da čaman rasid-a ḵot tanist-um, "I shall go, and may be able to get to Čaman". Participial nominalization is typical, both with the perfect participle (e.g., kad-a, "(having) done") and with the derived participle with passive meaning kad-ag-i, "having been done" (e.g., zimin-i qulba kada-ya, "The field is ploughed"; zamin-i qulba (na-)šuda-ra mi-ngar-um, "I am looking at a plowed/unplowed field"; imrûz [u ḵondagi] tikrar mu-kun-a, "Today he repeats (reading) what he had read"). The gerundive (e.g., kad-an-i, "to be done") is likewise productive, as in yag čiz, ki uftadani baš-a, ma u-ra qad-dist-ḵu girift-um, tulḡa kad-um, "One object, that was about to fall, I grabbed, and held it". The clitic -ku or -ḵu topicalizes parts of speech, -di the predicate; as in i-yši raft, ma-ḵu da ḵona mand-um, "He himself left; I, though, I stayed".

title: Hazaragi dialect


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Altun Ha

Altun Ha is the name given to the ruins of an ancient Maya city in Belize, located in the Belize District about 50 km north of Belize City and about 10 km west of the shore of the Caribbean Sea. The site covers an area of about 8 km2.

Stones from the ruins of the ancient structures were reused for residential construction of the agricultural village of Rockstone Pond in modern times, but the ancient site did not come to the attention of archeologists until 1963. The Old Northern Highway connects Altun Ha to Belize's Northern Highway, and the site is accessible for tourism. The largest of Altun Ha's temple-pyramids, the "Temple of the Masonry Altars", is 16 m high. A drawing of this structure is the logo of Belize's leading brand of beer, "Belikin".

Etymology
According to the Belize Institute of Archaeology, the site's name means "Rockstone Water," and is a Yucatec Mayan approximation of the name of the nearby village of Rockstone Pond. In Yucatec Mayan, haltun is a stone water deposit or cistern, and ha means water. An ancient emblem glyph for the site has been identified, but its phonetic reading is not currently known.

Archaeological investigations and rediscovery
In 1961, W.R. Bullard conducted excavations led by the Royal Ontario Museum, at Baking Pot and San Estevan, and although no excavations took place, the site was initially called “Rockstone Pond.” In 1963, quarrying activity by local villagers led to the recovery of a large, elaborately carved jade pendant. The current commissioner of archaeology, Hamilton Anderson, notified David M. Pendergast and a reconnaissance trip was made in 1963. Starting in 1964, an archaeological team led by Dr. David Pendergast of the Royal Ontario Museum began extensive excavations and restorations of the site, which continued through 1970. There was a total of 40 months of excavation with a field season in 1971 of ceramic and laboratory analysis.

Setting
Altun Ha lies on the north-central coastal plain of Belize, in a dry tropical zone. The site was very swampy during its pre-Columbian occupation, with very few recognizable water sources. Currently, the only recognizable natural water source is a creek beyond the northern limit of the mapped area. The water sources used during occupation were Gordon Pond, which is the main reservoir, and the Camp Aguada, which is located in the site center. The site may have contained two chultuns, but provenience is lost since they are used in modern times.

The site itself consists of a central precinct composed of Groups A and B. Groups A and B and Zones C, D, and E consist of the nucleated area, with Zones G, J, K, M, N making part of the suburban area. The site does not contain any stela, suggesting that stelae were not part of ceremonial procedures. There are two recorded causeways, one in Zone C and one connecting Zone E and Zone F. The Zone C causeway does not connect to any structures, but is probably related to Structure C13, and was perhaps used for ceremonial purposes. The other causeway connected the two zones where water sources were located, and was constructed for topographical reasons, specifically to traverse areas of swampy land; it may have been impassable without raised walkways.

Occupational history
Altun Ha was occupied for many centuries, from about 900 B.C. to A.D. 1000. Most of the information on Altun Ha comes from the Classic Period from about A.D. 400 to A.D. 900, when the city was at its largest.

Preclassic
The earliest structures found at Altun Ha, found in Zone C, are two round platforms that date to about BC 900−800, structures C13 and C17. Structure C13 contains remnants of postholes and several burials, while C17 has traces of burning, or fire. Structure C13 was an early religious building, with Zone C inhabitants being of relatively high status. The Late Preclassic had a population increase and large public structures were built. The first of these was structure F8 in AD 200. Although this structure was constructed at the end of the Preclassic, the majority of the archaeological evidence dates to the Early Classic. This structure has a two-element stair composed of small steps with stairside outsets that were perhaps devoted to innovation. F8 also had a three-stage development.

Early Classic
One of the most important finds in the Early Classic comes from structure F8, specifically tomb F8/1. The tomb was placed here about fifty years after the construction of the structure. It contained the remains of an adult male who was interred with a jade and shell necklace, a pair of jade earflares, two shell disks, a pair of pearls, five pottery vessels, and fifty-nine valves of Spondylus shells. Bib head beads in the necklace are associated with southern Mesoamerica. The ceramics for the most part reflect the pattern that was being established at other burials in Altun Ha. Above the burial, however, the roof showed association to the large Mexican site Teotihuacan. The burial was capped with over 8,000 pieces of chert debitage and 163 formal chert tools. The ritual offering, or cache, also contained jade beads, Spondylus valves, puma and dog teeth, slate laminae, and a large variety of shell artifacts. The clear association to Teotihuacan however, comes from the 248 Pachuca green obsidian objects and the 23 ceramic jars, bowls and dishes. The obsidian is of the Miccaotli or Early Tlamimilolpa phase, suggesting that this symbolism was still important and dominant at Teotihuacan. This offering may be of importance to Teotihuacan because of the associations that the ruler in the burial had with central Mexico or the association that the entire Altun Ha community had with Teotihuacan.

There is also evidence of contact and trading with the other side of Mesoamerica in the intermediate area. An offering in the central ceremonial precinct contained an undecorated lidded limestone vessel with jadeite objects, two pearls, laminae of crystalline hematite, Spondylus shell beads, and a tumbaga gold-copper alloy bead representing a jaguar claw. This deposit has been dated to about 500. Traditionally, it was not believed that the Maya had gold during the Classic period; gold was restricted to the Postclassic. This is in part because many believed that gold was not naturally occurring in the Maya area, but recent investigations have shown that placer gold can be found in the streams of the upland zone of western Belize. The Maya most likely did not use metallurgy because of a lack of techniques, which may have been due to the fact that yellow in Maya ideology represent dying plant life and crop failure. This artifact is also identical with other artifacts of the Cocle in central Panama. The Cocle had a sufficient amount of metalworking by 500, and surely played a role in trade relationships beyond Panama. This discovery also shows that important trade networks were set up much earlier than previously thought.

Late Classic
In general, the elite burials at Altun Ha during the Late Classic can be characterized by large amounts of jade. Over 800 pieces of jade have been recovered at the site. More than 60 of these pieces are carved. The beginning of the Late Classic at Altun Ha had one of the most interesting burials in the Maya lowlands. Structure B-4 has tombs with many jade artifacts, including a large jade plaque with a series of twenty glyphs in the phase six construction level. In the 1968 field season, after excavating many tombs in Structure B-4, also called the Temple of the Masonry Altars, the seventh phase of construction revealed the most elaborate tomb at the site nicknamed “The Sun God’s Tomb”.

The Sun God's Tomb
The Sun God's Tomb is in Structure B-4, also called the Temple of the Masonry Altars. Structure B-4 is in Group B, which is part of the central precinct at Altun Ha, and has a height of 16 meters. Phase VII, the level where this tomb is, is dated to about 600−650, which is at the beginning of the Late Classic period. The tomb is the seventh and earliest in B-4, which made the excavators designate this burial Tomb B-4/7.

Tomb B-4/7 contained the skeleton of an adult male with many offerings. The body was fully extended dorsally with the skull facing south-southwest. The person had a height of 170–171 cm, with the recovered skeletal materials consisting of a fragment of the skull, the mandible, long bones, five teeth, two vertebrae, five carpal bones, the patellas, and miscellaneous metacarpals, metatarsals, and phalanges.

The bulk of the interpretations, research, and interest in this tomb have undoubtedly been on the artifacts that were contained in this particular burial. In the initial study, Pendergast classifies these artifacts between perishables and non-perishables.

The perishable artifacts that are in the burial that the researchers were able to recognize include a wooden platform that the body was placed on, felid skins, cloth, matting, cordage, rods, stuccoed objects, red pigment, and gray clay. Not all perishable objects have been interpreted for their original use in the burial, but some have clear associations. The entire tomb was covered in cloth, with textile impressions noted on the pottery. Red pigment was distributed throughout, with evidence of it on most of the jade.

The researchers documented 43 non-perishable artifacts. These include ceramic bowls; shell beads; jadeite anklets, bracelets and beads; pearls; pyrite and hematite artifacts; and, the most outstanding of all, a carved jade head of the Sun God, Kinich Ahau. The head has a height of 14.9 cm, a circumference of 45.9 cm and a weight of 4.42 kg. It was placed at the pelvis of the body, with the face of the jade boulder facing the skull.

The Sun God's Tomb marks the starting point for tomb construction in Structure B-4 during the Late Classic period. The unusual form of this tomb shows the distinctive cultural aspects of Altun Ha and the Caribbean zone compared to the inland Classic Maya sites. Pendergast suggests that with so much jade found at the site, the jade head may have been carved at the site with imported jade. The giant jade head also suggests that this small site had a strong status as a trade or ceremonial center. Pendergast suggests that this tomb contained a priest that was associated with the Sun God and that Structure B-4 was dedicated to this deity, based on this one artifact.

More recent research, however, has shown that this interpretation may be incorrect: it suggests that this giant jade head is a Jester God. When drawing this figure spread out on a plane, the figure on this carving shows more of a resemblance to a bird deity with maize iconography, not Kinich Ahau. The Jester God is an early symbol of Maya rulership and is usually seen iconographically in the head, or in this case the jade head.

With so many artifacts associated with this tomb, it is clear that the male buried in here was of great importance. The Jester God argument is a better fit for what this person represented, which would also correlate with this being the first tomb constructed in Structure B-4.

Terminal Classic
By 700, modifications in the Central Precinct became rarer, and in Plaza B only Structures B4 and B6 were modified regularly, while Plaza A was still being modified extensively. By 850, structures B5 and A8 were completely abandoned. Gradual abandonment of the site began in 800, except for Zone E, which actually reached its peak usage and occupation between 700 and 800.

Structure D2 is located at the edge of the site's Central Precinct and is dated to the Late-Terminal Classic. This structure in particular yielded a stemmed bifacial blade of Pachuca green obsidian in a post-abandonment offering. The form, size and manufacturing characteristics are very similar to those found in F8. Two possible explanations for the context of this artifact are that the blade could have been produced long after the decline of Teotihuacan, or was reused from an earlier time period.

Postclassic
In the Postclassic, Structures A1 and A5 were solely used for depositing the dead. By the beginning of the eleventh century, the site of Altun Ha was completely abandoned. During the Late Postclassic after 1225, however, there was a renewed limited occupation at Altun Ha which lasted probably until the fifteenth century. Lamanai-related Postclassic ceremonial vessels were excavated atop B-4.

Diet at Altun Ha
The diet at Altun Ha was a maize based (C-4) diet, but there was also a large marine component to their diet compared to other sites in the Maya area. The marine/reef resources were more important here than in other regions. Between the Preclassic and Early Classic, there was a dramatic increase of maize consumption, which researchers argue is an indication of a rise in intensive maize agriculture at the beginning of the Early Classic. The individuals with the highest recognized status during this time period also had the highest intake of maize. In the Late Classic, more maize was consumed in the central precinct than in the outer zones, and Zone C had a higher degree of reef resources than in other areas. In the Postclassic, a higher portion of terrestrial animals were consumed, possibly deer or dogs.

Caches at Altun Ha
Caches occur in two categories at Altun Ha. The largest class is in communally built structures that were dedicated to public ritual, the second occurs in residential structures with usually a single-family focus. The primary axis was the principal determinant of cache position in communally built structures. The primary axis functioned as the main avenue of communication with deities. In other public and domestic contexts, there are offerings that are away from the primary axis, and this is based on a matter of exclusion. Late Preclassic caches at Altun Ha can be defined by the round platform. Jade objects become significant in offerings by 450−300 BC. Classic Period caching practices at Altun Ha consisted of single, highly varied offerings in context with structural modification. The caches during this time period had a high scale of ceremonial value and made a forceful statement of the site's prominence.

title: Altun Ha