Trends in adult stature of peoples who inhabited the modern Portuguese territory from the Mesolithic to the late 20th century

This study documents long‐term changes in stature from the Mesolithic to the late 20^th century in the territory of modern Portugal. Data utilised originated from published sources and from a sample of the Lisbon identified skeletal collection, where long bone lengths were collected. Mean long bone lengths were obtained from 20 population samples and compiled into nine periods. Pooled long bone lengths for each period were then converted to stature estimates. Results show three major trends: (1) a slow increase in stature from prehistory to the Middle Ages; (2) a negative trend from the Middle Ages to the late 19^th century; and (3) a very rapid increase in mean stature during the second half of the 20^th century. The political and territorial stability of the Kingdom of Portugal may have contributed to the greater heights of the medieval Portuguese, compared with the Roman and Modern periods. The negative secular trend was rooted in poor and unsanitary living conditions and the spread of infectious disease, brought about by increased population growth and urbanisation. Although the end of the Middle Ages coincided with the age of discoveries, the population may not have benefited from the overall prosperity of this period. The 20^th century witnessed minor and slow changes in the health status of the Portuguese, but it was not until major improvements in social and economic conditions that were initiated in the 1960s, and further progress in the 1970s, that the Portuguese grew taller than ever before. Since the Middle Ages other European countries have experienced similar oscillations, but showed an earlier recovery in stature after the industrial period. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the accuracy of estimating living stature from skeletal length in the grave and by linear regression

This study evaluates a method for obtaining stature estimates for populations represented by skeletal material, with individuals buried in a supine position. During the excavation of a Danish mediaeval cemetery, in situ skeletal length in the grave was measured from a point above the cranial point farthest from the body to the most distal point of the talus. The measurement was made with a folding rule placed on the sagittal midline of the skeleton, allowed to follow any curvature of the skeleton in situ. In the laboratory, stature was reconstructed anatomically, and this stature was regarded as an accurate estimate of living stature. Stature was also reconstructed from femur length by two linear regression procedures: 1) by sample and sex specific formulae, employing a leave‐one‐out approach, and 2) by sex wise formulae for Euro‐Americans from Trotter & Gleser (1952, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 10 : 463–514). Skeletal length in the grave and the two stature estimates based on linear regression were compared to anatomically reconstructed stature. Skeletal length in the grave estimated anatomically reconstructed stature with practically no bias (95% CI: −1.3–1.5 cm). Sample specific regression formulae estimated anatomically reconstructed stature also with no bias (95% CI: −1.2–1.1 cm). In contrast, statures calculated from Trotter & Gleser's regression formulae estimated anatomically reconstructed stature with a bias of about 4 cm (95% CI: 3.3–5.0 cm). Estimates of stature variance were biased for all three estimation procedures. However, for samples of adults, an adjusted variance estimate can be obtained by subtracting 8.7 cm² from the variance obtained from skeletal lengths in the grave. It is recommended to measure skeletal length in the grave whenever possible, and use this measurement for estimating statures for prehistoric and early historic populations. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Archaeomagnetic Study of a Roman Bath in Southern France

Absolute Thellier–Thellier archaeointensity determinations were conducted on 137 tiles and sedimentary blocks from five different structures from the ‘Site de la Molère’, southern France, to constrain the archaeological interpretation of a relative age difference between structures and add new data to the French secular variation database. We present 89 new archaeointensity and 20 new directional results, with averages of 57 (±8) μT in the second century ad and 68 (±7) μT in the third century ad . The overall data trend is consistent with the limited available data, indicating rapidly increasing field intensity from the second to the third century ad .     

Population-specific stature reconstruction for medieval Trondheim,Norway

Temporal changes in average stature are often used as a measure of a past population's adaptation, or lack of it. Traditionally, stature estimates have been calculated using formulae derived from limb proportions of cadavers. However, many authors have noted the problem of regional or population variation in body proportions of such reconstructed ratios. Before differences in stature can be attributed to environmental adaptation, ‘ethnic’ or population differences in limb ratios must be taken into account. The present paper calculates the stature of a medieval Norwegian skeletal sample using archaeological plan femur length and dry bone femur length. The author presents a variety of formulae and compares the stature derived from these calculations to the stature derived from archaeological plans. The Trondheim statures are then compared to stature reconstructions of other contemporary populations.     

New regression equations for stature estimation for medieval Scandinavians

Estimating stature from skeletal remains in an archaeological context requires appropriate methods that take into account possible temporal and spatial changes in body proportions. New regression equations—both least squares (LSQ) and reduced major axis (RMA) equations—were thus developed for estimating living stature from the long bone lengths of medieval inhabitants (N = 60) of Westerhus, Sweden. The living stature of these skeletal specimens was determined by using the anatomical method. Findings in this study reveal that LSQ regression equations systematically overestimate statures of short individuals and underestimate those of tall individuals, whereas the RMA equations—both combined sexes and sex‐specific equation—provide more accurate stature estimations for individuals of very different statures. The combined sexes RMA‐equations should be used for cases in which the sex is unknown because they provide more accurate stature estimations than sex‐specific equation with a wrong sex determination. These new equations are more appropriate than generally used regression equations for estimating statures of the medieval period Scandinavians. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Visualisierungen in der deutschen Geographie des 19. Jahrhunderts. Die Beispiele Robert Schlagintweit und Hans Meyer

Visualization in 19^th‐century German geography: Robert Schlagintweit and Hans Meyer as examples. – Visual representations of nature formed an essential part of 19^th‐century earth sciences. In particular, colonial photography – as a visual source, and as an instrument of the construction of national identities – serves essential research interests of current history and social sciences. The present paper is a case study on the role and function of photography in German geography of the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. It focuses on the work of the Munich geographer Robert Schlagintweit (1833–1885) and the Leipzig colonial geographer Hans Meyer (1858–1929); the early history of photography in India and the function of images in the geographical exploration of overseas territories are discussed. Although there is nearly half a century between the work of R. Schlagintweit and H. Meyer, their photography shows remarkable parallels. The ideas of both on the practice of visualization are rooted in pedagogic and didactic concepts as well as in popular science. For both geographers photography was essentially a technical help, which often needed graphic revisions. And they both preferred photography to depict people and buildings (compared, for instance, to landscapes). Concerning the more comprehensive question of how far their photography transmitted a specific German ‘image of abroad’, it is indicated that such a specific image should have its essential roots in a peculiar visual culture of German earth sciences in the first half of the 19^th century. Thus the paper offers a starting point for further studies discussing the change from a ‘Biedermeier image’ of foreign cultures to a more ‘colonial’ one in 19^th‐century German geography.     

Parnassus of the Evangelical Empire: Orientalism and the English Universities, 1800–50

Challenging the fundamental assumption of Edward Said that orientalism was a product of the secular Enlightenment, this article explores the state of oriental learning at England's most prestigious sites of intellectual and discursive production in the first half of the nineteenth century. By tracing the definitively Christian approach to empire propounded by the leading university orientalists of the period, the essay excavates an important era of orientalism overlooked by modern scholarship. From the most senior positions in the universities there spread a distinctly anti-secular and ‘providentialist’ reading of empire. Unlike the secular orientalism of the eighteenth and later nineteenth century, this new ‘evangelical orientalism’ formed the major institutionalised means of understanding Britain's Asian empire during the decades in which it was chiefly acquired. In place of the collusion of extractive imperialism and secular knowledge forms delineated by Edward Said, the article therefore outlines a relationship between orientalism and empire that was more fraught and contested.     

Men Making Home: Masculinity and Domesticity in Eighteenth‐Century Britain

Eighteenth‐century England is, for many scholars, the time and place where modern domesticity was invented; the point at which ‘home’ became a key concept sustained by new literary imaginings and new social practices. But as gendered individuals, and certainly compared to women, men are notable for their absence in accounts of the eighteenth‐century domestic interior. In this essay, I examine the relationship between constructs of masculinity and meanings of home. During the eighteenth century, ‘home’ came to mean more than one's dwelling; it became a multi‐faceted state of being, encompassing the emotional, physical, moral and spatial. Masculinity intersected with domesticity at all levels and stages in its development. The nature of men's engagements with home were understood through a model of ‘oeconomy’, which brought together the home and the world, primarily through men's activities. Indeed, this essay proposes that attention to how this multi‐faceted eighteenth‐century ‘home’ was made in relation to masculinity shifts our understanding of home as a private and feminine space opposed to an ‘outside’ and public world.     

On The Grounds Of Post‐Byzantine Greek Icons

The grounds of 51 post‐Byzantine icons (Eastern Orthodox panel paintings) were studied by means of analytical techniques. The artefacts cover the period from the mid‐15th to the mid‐19th century and originate mainly from western (Epirus and the Ionian Islands) and southern Greece (Crete). The findings are examined in the light of technical recipes from related areas and eras, while special insights are gained from the exploration of a gypsum processing recipe by Dionysius of Fourna. A spectrum of ground fabrication practices that is richer than that reported so far or can be deduced from surviving Greek recipes is documented; three instances of ‘grosso‐sottile’ type grounds and a case of ‘inverse grosso‐sottile’ ground are among the reported novel, for post‐Byzantine icons, findings. Moreover, a case of an early icon restoration intervention is documented.     

Changing Notions of Authenticity: Presenting a Castle Over Four Centuries

Bolsover Castle is a 17th‐century mock‐medieval castle built for the Cavendish family. First impressions suggest that its Pillar Parlour has survived with little alteration for nearly four centuries. In reality, there have been minor but telling changes to its fabric. The 18‐century Cavendishes venerated the castle as a shrine to their ancestors. Bolsover’s 19th‐century tenants recreated a romantic Olden Time appearance. The public bodies responsible for the castle in the 20th century used archaeology to reconstruct its 17th‐century form. In each case, these custodians aimed to present the site ‘authentically’, but their work reveals their own contemporary readings of the castle’s history. This evidence, gathered for a Conservation Plan, allowed English Heritage’s re‐display of the castle (1996–2001) to take a more reflective and positive approach to creating new meanings. This use of history to create local important meanings should give good cheer to those managing similar small but significant sites across the world.     

Sexing cattle horn‐cores: problems and progress

It has long been recognised that cattle horn‐cores are sexually dimorphic, and many methods have been developed using archaeological material for differentiating between specimens belonging to cows, bulls and oxen. Whilst these techniques have been adopted widely by zooarchaeologists, in particular those studying medieval and post‐medieval tannery and horn‐working assemblages, they are highly subjective and their reliability has never been tested using material from cattle of known sex. This paper seeks to redress the balance. It presents the results of a study of 19th and 20th century cattle horn‐cores, from animals of known age, sex and breed, which were examined and measured in order to test the validity of traditional horn‐core sexing techniques. Previously claimed traits of sexual variation are here refuted, and a new metrical threshold for separating the males and females of ‘medium‐horned’ and ‘long‐horned’ types are presented. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

《燕行录》资料反映的16-19世纪东北南部地区冬半年气温变化

朝鲜古汉籍《燕行录》,是历史上朝鲜使臣出使中国的见闻记录,保留有很多历史气候资料,十分宝贵。本文收集了19种《燕行录》中记载的16-19世纪东北南部地区河流封冻情况,并利用中国其它文献为补充,使用现代河流封冻资料为对照,逐年考订了当时河流封冻与现代河流封冻的距平情况,并得出封冻期的50年平均距平值。由于冬半年气温变化是影响河流冰情的关键因素,河流封冻情况的变化可很好地反映该区域冬半年温度变化情况。分析发现,在1500-1900年间,存在3个较冷的时期,其中16世纪上半期是400年中最冷的时期;存在2个较暖的时期,分别为18世纪下半叶和19世纪下半叶。而和20世纪的温度变化衔接分析,则500年间区域气温基本是上升的趋势。同时和中国其它区域以及欧洲的小冰期温度变化序列比较,在大的趋势变化和波动方面有一致性,但在时间上并不完全一致。表明区域间气候变化的复杂性。     

Täuschend ähnlich – Bemerkungen zur Geschichte des Modellexperiments

Deceptively Similar. Remarks on the History of Model Experiments. The article argues for a reconsideration of what has been called ‘model experiments’ or ‘mimetic experiments’. After providing a short overview of the historical developments and the occurences of such types of experiments, three aspects pertaining to their practical functions are discussed. First, the aspect of control: Model experiments are often employed to get a grasp on phenomena that are otherwise beyond the control of human actors. Second, their aesthetic dimension: Model experiments often employ aesthetic strategies that, far from being epistemic obstacles, establish their function as models and may generate new areas of research. Third, meta‐theories: The practice of experimenting on models is often accompanied by discussions about their representativeness. Albeit triggered by problems in local contexts, this self‐reflective discourse did acquire a more general relevance with the formulation of scaling laws in the 19th century.     

Religion and ethno‐nationalism: Turkey's Kurdish issue

One approach within the Islamic camp treats Islam, which emphasizes overarching notions such as the ‘Islamic brotherhood’ and ‘ummah’, as incompatible with ethno‐nationalist ideas and movements. It is, however, striking that in the last decades, several Islamic and conservative groups in Turkey have paid increasing attention to the Kurdish issue, supporting their ethnic demands and sentiments. Even more striking, the leftist, secular Kurdish ethno‐nationalists have adopted a more welcoming attitude toward Islam. How can we explain such intriguing developments and shifts? Using original data derived from several elite interviews and a public opinion survey, this study shows that the struggle for Kurdish popular support and legitimacy has encouraged political elites from both camps to enrich their ideological toolbox by borrowing ideas and discourses from each other. Further, Turkish and Kurdish nationalists alike utilize Islamic discourses and ideas to legitimize their competing nationalist claims. Exploring such issues, the study also provides theoretical and policy implications.     

On the Metal‐Leaf Decorations of Post‐Byzantine Greek Icons

Metal leaves were widely used as decorative materials in post‐Byzantine ritual painting. Fifty‐two icons (mid‐15th to mid‐19th centuries) were studied by means of analytical techniques in order to reveal the materials and techniques encountered in their metal‐leaf decorations. High‐purity gold leaf was used throughout the studied period. Silver was employed rarely and mostly during the latter part of the period in consideration, while metal powders were mostly used from the mid‐18th century onwards. The identification of a gold–silver powder mixture and an ‘electrum’‐type alloy are among the reported findings, which are novel for post‐Byzantine icons. Three micromorphologically distinct highlighting techniques were also documented.     

Tesserae Recycling in the Production of Medieval Blue Window Glass

The purpose of this paper is to develop a means of quantifying glass recycling and to discuss the ‘anachronistic’ chemical composition of medieval blue window glass. This method relies on a new numerical method using kernel density estimates and is based on a database of published glass chemical compositions. It seeks to reveal when, to what extent and why blue tesserae were recycled for the production of French and English blue glass. First, it is suggested that blue glass had an ‘anachronistic’ chemical composition only before the 13th century. Second, the ‘anachronistic’ chemical composition of 12th‐century blue glass comes from the recycling of both blue tesserae and non‐coloured glass. Finally, this recycling was motivated by the scarcity of cobalt sources until mines were found in the 13th century.     

Analysis of Heavy Metals in Smoke Deposits in the Limewash of the Royal Artillery Factory of Seville (17th Century): Contributions to the Location of the Furnaces

The Royal Artillery Factory of Seville in Spain originated from pre‐existing private bronze foundries dating from the 16th century. The paper analyses the stratigraphy of wall cladding in the areas traditionally known as the ‘Old Foundry’ and the ‘New Foundry’, through its characterization by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectrometry (SEM‐EDX), micro‐X‐ray fluorescence (μ‐XRF) and micro‐X‐ray diffraction (μ‐XRD), in order to analyse the metal deposits that have accumulated since the 17th century. The data obtained allowed the verification of the available historiographical information and the location of the original bronze smelting furnaces. The analysis of patinas deposited on the overlapping layers of lime also confirmed that neither the raw materials nor the composition of the alloys used presented any substantial changes.