First Insights into the Technique Used for Heat Treatment of Chert at the Solutrean Site of Laugerie‐Haute,France

The earliest evidence of flint and chert heat treatment was found in the ~21.5–17 ka old European Solutrean culture. The appearance of pyrotechnology as part of the production of stone tools has important implications for our understanding of Upper Palaeolithic technological evolution and the specific adaptations during the last glacial maximum in Europe. However, the techniques and procedures used to heat‐treat rocks during the Solutrean remain poorly understood. No direct archaeological evidence has so far been found and the most promising approach is to understand these techniques by determining the parameters with which flint and chert were heated at that time. In this study, we investigate the heating temperature of 44 heat‐treated laurel‐leaf points from Laugerie‐Haute, using a non‐destructive technique based on infrared spectroscopy. Our results document that most of the artefacts were heated to a narrow interval of temperatures between 250 °C and 300 °C. This indicates a standardized technique that allowed to created similar conditions during successive heating cycles. The implications of these results for our understanding of the technical complexity during the Solutrean must be discussed in the light of different heating techniques used at different places and periods.     

Identification of Green Pigment Used in Persian Wall Paintings (ad 1501–1736) Using PLM,FT–IR,SEM/EDX and GC–MS Techniques

The technique of oil painting was introduced to Iran via a cultural exchange with Europe in the Safavid period (ad 1501–1736). Since the first attempt at scientific conservation of wall paintings in Iran in the 1960s, the nature of green pigment used in Persian wall paintings has not been clear, although work on contemporary miniature paintings has identified malachite and verdigris. PLM, FT–IR, SEM/EDX, GC–MS and the study of contemporary historical treatises of the Safavid period were the main tools used in the present study to identify the green pigments in Persian (oil‐based) wall paintings. Eight samples taken from the two famous Safavid buildings, Chehel Sotoon Palace and the Sukias House in Isfahan, were analysed. Here, the identification of copper‐based pigment and of verdigris in oil as oleate amends the existing knowledge of the green pigment used in these paintings. It also suggests that oleate was introduced to Persian artists via the European influence on Persian painting as a result of cultural exchange in the Safavid period, when the technique of Persian painting changed from tempera to oil painting. However, as verdigris in oil and resin can appear as oleate over time, it is unknown whether the Persian artists did this deliberately or accidentally.     

How Chinese scholars think about Chinese foreign policy

China’s assertive diplomacy in recent years has ignited intense debates among international relations (IR) scholars. Some argue that China’s assertive behaviour is rooted in its perception of increasing power and capabilities. Others suggest that it is US policies that triggered China’s assertive reactions. Relying on an original survey of China’s IR scholars conducted in Beijing in 2013 and using structural equation modelling, we empirically examine Chinese IR scholars’ attitude towards Chinese power versus the United States, their perceptions of US policy in Asia, and their preference for an assertive Chinese foreign policy. We find that both the power perception and policy reaction arguments make sense in accounting for Chinese IR scholars’ attitude regarding China’s assertive diplomacy. However, our research suggests that a more pessimistic view on Chinese power is more likely to be associated with a preference for an assertive foreign policy.     

天然水硬性石灰在不同碳化条件下的水化反应

为了探究不同碳化条件对天然水硬性石灰水化过程的影响,继而认识到养护条件中的碳化作用对天然水硬性石灰早期强度和养护时间的影响,模拟制备了不同碳化条件下的样品,用X射线衍射(XRD)、热重分析(TG)、红外光谱(IR)、扫描电子显微镜和X-射线能谱分析(SEM-EDX)测试和比较养护前后天然水硬性石灰成分、结构、形貌的变化。研究表明,天然水硬性石灰水化生成水化硅酸钙(CSH)、氢氧化钙(Ca(OH)_2)的反应与CSH、Ca(OH)_2的碳化反应同时进行,并且Ca(OH)_2的碳化速率大于水化反应生成Ca(OH)_2的速率。随着养护龄期增加CSH逐渐由细小的针棒状结构生长为粗大的棒状结构,随后又逐渐变短并最终完全碳化为方解石晶型的碳酸钙(CaCO_3)形貌。天然水硬性石灰水化产物的碳化作用能促进其水化反应进程。     

CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND STATISTICAL MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF ANCIENT POTTERY FROM MESSINA,CATANIA, LENTINI AND SIRACUSA (SICILY)*

This paper presents the chemical characterization of 79 fragments of Archaic and Hellenistic fine‐grained pottery from archaeological sites in Messina, Catania, Lentini and Siracusa (Sicily). The sherds were classified as ‘calcidian’, ‘banded’, ‘unvarnished’ and ‘black varnished’ pottery. The major and trace elements identified by X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) were statistically elaborated using the method proposed by J. Aitchinson in 1986 for the analysis of compositional data. From cluster analyses using element/SiO₂ log‐ratios, it was possible to group the pottery found in Catania, Lentini and Siracusa into highly linked clusters. Conversely, the Messina pottery was divided into two clearly distinct groups. With the aim of identifying any possible mineralogical differences between the two Messina groups, Fourier transform infrared (FT–IR) absorption measurements were made, showing only quantitative differences in plagioclase and muscovite. The specific groups of pottery with restricted chemical compositions are considered to be of local production, also on the basis of archaeological and petrographic evidence.     

ANALYTICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF ROMAN PLASTERS OF THE ‘DOMUS FARINI’ IN MODENA*

The paper refers to the analytical characterization of Roman painted plasters dating back to the second century ad . The following techniques were used: optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM–EDS), micro‐Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies (µ‐Raman and FT–IR), X‐ray diffraction (XRPD), colorimetry and thermal analyses (TG/DTA). The investigation analysed the chemical composition and structure of the plasters, the chemical composition of the pigment layers, the use of binders and any chemical alteration of pigments as well as deterioration of the samples. Stratigraphic analysis of plasters allowed identification of their individual components, which proved helpful in finding out more about the mural painting technique employed.     

Unraveling Ravelstein: Saul Bellow's Comic Tragedy

Abstract

This article argues that international relations (IR) theory, defined by its paradigms, theories, and models, has responded not to questions of human experience in world politics, but rather, has been primarily an exercise in self-definitional or privately satisfying research interests. I demonstrate this through analysis of two of the most cited and discussed IR approaches of the past half-century, Waltz's structural realism and Wendt's constructivism. The article argues that a reconstruction of IR premised on John Dewey's pragmatism would enable IR to succeed in responding to questions of practical import. Such questions inherently cannot be determined by privately satisfying research interests of academia, but rather, are defined as problems of lived human experience in world politics as determined by the public itself.     

AN 8500‐YEAR‐OLD BLADDER STONE FROM UZZO CAVE (TRAPANI): FOURIER TRANSFORM–INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY ANALYSIS*

A calcium carbonate (calcite) bladder calculus was found in the pelvis of an adult female buried in a Mesolithic cave‐tomb on the coast of Sicily; it was dated by ¹⁴ C to around 6500 bc . Its chemical composition, which was not known before, was determined by means of Fourier transform–infared microspectroscopy (FT–IR–M) using the high‐pressure diamond cell, a device that makes it possible to analyse a small amount of the sample (1–2 µg). In this way, the analysis of all the laminations of the calculus was performed without destroying the sample. Although calcite was the main component, carbonate apatite was also detected in the nucleus and in a more external layer.     

Characterisation and blind testing of radiocarbon dating of cremated bone

The success of radiocarbon dating of burned or cremated bones depends on the exposed temperature during burning and the degree of re-crystallisation of the inorganic bone matrix. We present a method for characterisation of likely cremated bones by employing visual inspection, infrared spectrometry and carbon stable isotope analysis on the bio-apatite fraction. The method of radiocarbon dating of cremated bones was tested by dating paired samples of bone and associated context materials such as pitch, charcoal and a dendrochronologically dated oak coffin. The dating of these paired test samples were largely performed as blind tests and showed excellent agreement between pitch and bone. The weighted mean age difference of all test samples is observed to −9 ± 60 ¹⁴C yr. To test the indicators and the effects of the degree of burning, a Late-Neolithic human individual has been studied, as this individual exhibits the full spectrum from low temperature burning (charred) to high temperature (“cremated”) from one end of a single bone to the other. This is reflected as a marked step in numerous parameters as well as in a significant difference in ¹⁴C age between the charred and the cremated bone samples.     

Characterization of Pigment and Binder in Badly Conserved Illuminations of a 15th‐Century Manuscript

In this work we report a pre‐restoration spectroscopic study by a multi‐technique approach on the green pigment and the binder used in illuminations in a codex of the late 15th century. Our analysis aimed to characterize the badly deteriorated parts of the codex, mainly the green parts, by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) and infrared spectroscopy (ATR‐IR). We will show that a combined study by EPR and IR spectroscopies on model systems allowed us to refine the general information obtained with the other techniques and to identify the binding media surrounding the chromophore Cu(II) ion.