Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east, is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south. It corresponds with the modern administrative region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and includes the departments of Var, Bouches-du-Rhône, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, as well as parts of Alpes-Maritimes and Vaucluse; the largest city of the region is Marseille. The Romans made the region the first Roman province beyond the Alps and called it Provincia Romana, which evolved into the present name; until 1481 it was ruled by the Counts of Provence from their capital in Aix-en-Provence became a province of the Kings of France. While it has been part of France for more than five hundred years, it still retains a distinct cultural and linguistic identity in the interior of the region; the coast of Provence has some of the earliest known sites of human habitation in Europe. Primitive stone tools dating back 1 to 1.05 million years BC have been found in the Grotte du Vallonnet near Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, between Monaco and Menton.

More sophisticated tools, worked on both sides of the stone and dating to 600,000 BC, were found in the Cave of Escale at Saint Estėve-Janson, tools from 400,000 BC and some of the first fireplaces in Europe were found at Terra Amata in Nice. Tools dating to the Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic were discovered in the Observatory Cave, in the Jardin Exotique of Monaco; the Paleolithic period in Provence saw great changes in the climate. Two ice ages came and went, the sea level changed dramatically. At the beginning of the Paleolithic, the sea level in western Provence was 150 meters higher than today. By the end of the Paleolithic, it had dropped to 100 to 150 metres below the sea level today; the cave dwellings of the early inhabitants of Provence were flooded by the rising sea or left far from the sea and swept away by erosion. The changes in the sea level led to one of the most remarkable discoveries of signs of early man in Provence. In 1985, a diver named Henri Cosquer discovered the mouth of a submarine cave 37 metres below the surface of the Calanque de Morgiou near Marseille.

The entrance led to a cave above sea level. Inside, the walls of the Cosquer Cave are decorated with drawings of bison, auks and outlines of human hands, dating to between 27,000 and 19,000 BC; the end of the Paleolithic and beginning of the Neolithic period saw the sea settle at its present level, a warming of the climate and the retreat of the forests. The disappearance of the forests and the deer and other hunted game meant that the inhabitants of Provence had to survive on rabbits and wild sheep. In about 6000 BC, the Castelnovian people, living around Châteauneuf-les-Martigues, were among the first people in Europe to domesticate wild sheep, to cease moving from place to place. Once they settled in one place they were able to develop new industries. Inspired by pottery from the eastern Mediterranean, in about 6000 BC they created the first pottery made in France. Around 6000 BC, a wave of new settlers from the east, the Chasséens, arrived in Provence, they were farmers and warriors, displaced the earlier pastoral people from their lands.

They were followed about 2500 BC by another wave of people farmers, known as the Courronniens, who arrived by sea and settled along the coast of what is now the Bouches-du-Rhône. Traces of these early civilisations can be found in many parts of Provence. A Neolithic site dating to about 6,000 BC was discovered in Marseille near the Saint-Charles railway station, and a dolmen from the Bronze Age can be found near Draguignan. Between the 10th and 4th century BC, the Ligures were found in Provence from Massilia as far as modern Liguria, they were of uncertain origin. According to Strabo, the Ligurians, living in proximity of numerous Celtic mountain tribes, were a different people, but "were similar to the Celts in their modes of life", they did not have their own alphabet, but their language remains in place names in Provence ending in the suffixes -asc, -osc. -inc, -ates, -auni. The ancient geographer Posidonios wrote of them: "Their country is dry; the soil is so rocky. The men compensate for the lack of wheat by hunting...

They climb the mountains like goats." They were warlike. Traces of the Ligures remain today in the dolmens and other megaliths found in eastern Provence, in the primitive stone shelters called'Bories' found in the Luberon and Comtat, in the rock carvings in the Valley of Marvels near Mont Bégo in the Alpes-Maritimes, at an altitude of 2,000 meters. Between the 8th and 5th centuries BC, tribes of Celtic peoples coming from Central Europe began moving into Provence, they had weapons made of iron, which allowed them to defeat the local tribes, who were still armed with bronze weapons. One tribe, called the Segobriga, settled near modern-day Marseille; the Caturiges and Cavares settled to the west of the Durance river. Celts and Ligurians spread throughout the area and the Celto-Ligures shared the territory of Provence, each tribe in its own alpine valley or settlement along a river, each with its own king and dynasty, they built hilltop forts and settlements given the Lat

Kuhn vs. Popper: The Struggle for the Soul of Science is a 2003 book by sociologist Steve Fuller, in which the author discusses and criticizes the philosophers of science Thomas Kuhn and Karl Popper; the book, published by Columbia University Press, received several negative reviews, but was made Book of the Month by Popular Science magazine. Fuller uses the 1965 meeting between Thomas Kuhn and Karl Popper, in which they discussed the philosophy of science, as a point of departure to discuss how their respective philosophies have been received by the media, the public, scholars. Academic Rupert Read called the book worthless, wrote that it presented an over-simplified and distorted view of both Popper and Kuhn; the Economist wrote. The mass circulation US magazine Popular Science made the book Book of the Month in February 2005. A UK-based website called'Popular Science' but bearing no relation to the magazine, wrote that "Fuller rightly points out some of the flaws in both Popper and Kuhn's approach", but added that he wasted an opportunity to explain the philosophy of science in a way that ordinary readers would find useful.

Choice July–August 2005 volume 42 i11-12 p1999 Kirkus Reviews November 15, 2004, volume 72, issue 22, p1078 New Scientist September 6, 2003, volume 179, issue 2411, page 48 Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Rupert Read Sept 2005 v35 i3 p369-387 Popular Science February 1, 2005, volume 266, issue 2, page 89 The Economist August 9, 2003, volume 368, i8336, page 71 Kuhn Vs. Popper

The ancient town of La Hoya is a most important archaeological site of the Bronze and Iron Ages of the Basque Country and nearby areas of Spain. The fortified town occupies four hectares, it has three levels: Middle-Late Bronze Age: in this early period, the fortifications, as well the houses, were all made of wood. Early-Middle Iron Age: construction became more complex using mixed formulas with stone and adobe. Most houses were near the wall in this period. Late Iron Age, with a cultural context that some classify as Celtiberian, shows important changes in urbanization: with paved streets and plazas that form a reticular structure; the wall is rebuilt on stone. This final period shows great advancement in the technologies: potter's wheel, elaborated blacksmithing, etc; the successive layers of rubble, that served as cimentations for further edification, make up a small tell 3 meters high. The town was destroyed violently c. 300 BCE, leaving the remains of the people and their quotidian tools in the streets.

Euskonews: La Hoya: Un poblado fortificado del primer milenio a.c.. Article by Armando Llanos. Auñamendi Encyclopedia: La Hoya Iregua: Poblado de La Hoya