AT THE ROOTS OF THE ‘FINLAND BOOM’

Finland enjoys a positive country image in Japan, where, reportedly, enthusiasm for things Finnish reached the state of a ‘boom’ during the 2000s–2010s. What is this positive visibility based on? To shed light on the foundations of Finland’s visibility in Japan, this article tracks Finland’s national imaging there from a historical perspective. Through an empirical study of Finnish diplomatic archives, the article looks beyond nation branding – the latest mode in the official promotion of states to foreign audiences – and opens a window into the past practices of Finland’s official promotion in the distant East Asian case. In the 1960s, the Press Bureau of Finland’s Foreign Ministry drafted an image policy to support Finland’s neutrality and to broaden the country’s interaction with the West. The policy was implemented through Finland’s embassies, and therefore Finland’s newly defined characteristics also became actively promoted in Tokyo. As a result of this intensification of Finnish public diplomacy in the Cold War, many of the modern aspects of Finland’s later nation branding in Japan were introduced. Of the redefined official autostereotype, cultural and commercial dimensions proved the easiest to promote, whereas its foreign political dimension was met with the most local contradiction.     

THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF COMMUNICATIONS’ DIGITAL AGE

Abstract

This paper reviews the history of the digital age of communications that began with the invention of the stored program computer in 1948 and is today realised by the World Wide Web, super fast broadband and the smart phone. Taking a predominantly UK focus, the paper examines the key technological advances that were made, where they occurred and what archaeological evidence remains of their existence. The paper begins by examining how digital technology was applied to the telephone network, how that network then provided the means by which early computers could be connected together, and from there to subsequently offer access to information services. Packet switching, the home computer, modems, optical fibre and the Internet are reviewed in terms of their importance in the creation of and growth in the World Wide Web. Finally, the application of digital technology to the mobile phone is discussed in terms of the development of mobile networks and the evolution of the handset into today’s smart phones. The paper concludes by recognising that much of the archaeological evidence of communication’s digital age has already been lost and that urgent action is needed to put in place appropriate preservation strategies.     

THE ‘LORD OF THE STONEMASONS’: PART I. THE ‘SWORD DEITY’ AT PETRA

Abstract

During the 2000 Season of the Brown University excavations of the so-called Great Temple at Petra, an elusive rock-cut figure (termed the ‘Sword Deity’) was discovered in the southern perimeter wall. Since then, the current authors have identified other such figures as belonging to this previously unknown type, which has similarities with the Greek herm. Based on a contextual analysis of these figures, it is proposed that the type may depict a protective deity or ‘lord’ of the Nabataean stonemasons, most likely Dushara. According to this interpretation, the stonemasons sought divine protection during their work by carving the image of the deity high in the rock faces. This paper sheds new light not only on the representation of Nabataean deities, but also on the role of religion in the daily life of the inhabitants of Petra and their relationship with the natural environment.     

MIGRATION AND THE WELL-BEING OF THE ‘LEFT BEHIND’ IN ASIA

This paper serves as an introduction to the three substantive papers in this themed section on the impact of migration on the well-being of the ‘left behind’ in Asia. In the light of recent migration trends such as the ‘feminization’ of migration and ‘brain-drain’ of health workers in the region, the paper provides a brief review of the existing scholarly literature on the vulnerability of different groups of the 'left behind’, particularly women, children and the elderly. It argues that a multi-dimensional approach is needed, taking into consideration not only the economic impact of remittances but also factors such as social networks and gender effects.     

THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS? GENOMIC HISTORY AND THE RETURN OF RACE IN THE STUDY OF THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN

This article discusses the impact of genomic history, a subdiscipline that emerged in the study of the ancient Mediterranean in the 2010s. In 2014, scientists first published a method for extracting genetic material, which they christened aDNA (ancient DNA), from ancient human remains in hot climates. After a decade of research, genomic history is now poised to transform our understanding of Mediterranean premodernity, centering migration and conflict as the key mechanisms for cultural change. Despite years of critique, aDNA researchers have failed to seriously examine the bioessentialist assumptions implicit in their work—a failure that has led many to deploy language that is strikingly evocative of pre-World War II racialism. Even worse, some genomic historians continue to make troubling overtures toward the ethnonationalist Right, which has been ascendant across Europe and North America since the 2010s. This article traces the intellectual genealogy of genomic history from World War II to the present, examines recent attempts to answer criticism from the humanities and social sciences, and suggests paths for responsible use of aDNA in historical and prehistorical scholarship.     

PIECING TOGETHER THE STORY OF A PAIR OF MAKRON’S FRAGMENTED CUPS

In 2022, an Athenian red-figured cup attributed to Makron was returned to Italy by New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. The cup had been acquired in fragments, through purchase and gift, from multiple sources over several years, starting with two fragments from the restorer Fritz Bürki in 1978. A second cup, also attributed to Makron, was acquired in a parallel way. The sources for the fragments from both cups point to galleries collectors and donors – Summa Galleries, Frieda Tchachos, Elizabeth Hecht, and Dietrich von Bothmer – who have been associated with other material that has been repatriated to Italy in recent years. It is suggested that some of the incised ‘signatures’ by Hieron that are found on cups attributed to Makron may have been applied since antiquity.     

LAST CALL BEFORE THE UNDERTAKER: A COMMUNITY’S PERCEPTION OF THE LOCAL WORKHOUSE AND OLD PEOPLE’S CARE BEFORE AND AFTER THE INCEPTION OF THE WELFARE STATE

Abstract

Workhouses were no doubt the first old people’s homes. Sick old people without social or financial resources had no alternative other than admission to one of these state institutions . These institutions instilled fear in local communities and admission represented a failure in society. Due to medical advances and improved social conditions, people lived for longer and during the 20th century the majority of the inmates were old people. After the inception of the welfare state institutional care for older people was mainly in buildings inherited from the poor law. Consequently, even after I948, for many old people admission to an institution still carried a stigma. By using oral histories of relatives and professionals who cared for old people during this time, alongside documentary sources, this article examines how the process of transition from poor law to welfare state affected families in Oxford. This first-hand perspective, missing from most studies on the history of ageing, explores how caring for old people at a time of great social change was influenced by the local workhouse.     

WILLIAM HERON, ‘HAMMER OF THE POOR,PERSECUTOR OF THE RELIGIOUS’, SHERIFF OF NORTHUMBERLAND, 1246–58

Abstract

In 1895 Richard Holmes identified Paulinus of Leeds, the late-twelfth-century vicar of Leeds and master of St Leonard's Hospital in York, with Master Paulinus, a son of Ralph Nowell, Bishop of Orkney, who was consecrated in 1110 × 1114. Holmes' identification, though dubious on chronological grounds, has generally been accepted. But a recently published charter of Hugh du Puiset, Bishop of Durham, shows that Paulinus son of the Bishop was dead in 1184, so cannot have been the same man as Paulinus of Leeds, who was still living in 1201. The careers of these two men, and others named Paulinus, are here disentangled, and the suggestion is made that Paulinus of Leeds may have been a member of a family of hereditary priests of Leeds. The much misunderstood life of Adam of Birkin, who seems to have been a relative of Paulinus of Leeds, is also re-examined.     

THE “RUSSIAN LAND” AND THE FORMATION OF THE TERRITORY OF THE ANCIENT RUSSIAN STATE

The author retraces, on the basis of extensive written sources, the formation of the territory of the ancient Russian “independent semi-states” on the vast expanse of the Eastern European Plain. His conclusions, which show that the problem of the study of the formation of state territory is not at all the same as the study of ethnic territory, particularly colonization, confirm that the territory of the ancient Russian state was formed not with the appearance in Kiev of Oleg and Igor but as a result of a long internal process that commenced long before that event and continued for centuries after. (The translation was prepared by James R. Gibson of York University, Toronto.)     

NOTES ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE INCANTATION OF MAQL SERIES

There has recently been a marked revival of interest in what many generations of Assyriologists called 憁agic?and 憌itchcraft literature?a revival in which the names of T. Abush1 (1974, 1986), G. Cunningham2 (1998), M. Geller3 (1985), A. Livingstone4 (1…     

THE ‘LORD OF THE STONEMASONS’: PART II. ‘STANDING FIGURE WITH BETYLS’ AT PETRA

Abstract

This paper presents the second type of representation of the ‘lord’ of the Nabataean stonemasons, a male figure standing with betyls. This type is found in five rock-cut reliefs in Petra, usually high in the walls of quarries or monuments. It is argued that, like the so-called ‘sword deity’ figures presented in Part I, this second type was also carved by the stonemasons as another representation of their tutelary deity, possibly Dushara. Study of these little-known figures reveals new information on the diverse depiction of Nabataean deities, as well as on the religious beliefs of the stonemasons at Petra.     

THE PUBLICATION OF--＂BANQUETS OF WISES-THE TRANSLATION OF THE HISTORY OF TUBO＂

<正>Bawo Tsukla Chengwa(1504-1566) is the author of Banquets of Wises (in Tibetan,it is Lho-brag-chos-vbyung for short).The book has five volumes of which the mo...     

EASTER ISLAND： THE EVOLUTION OF ITS CULTURE UNTIL THE DESTRUCTIONS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

1. Introduction
Since the first time Easter Island was explored, scholars have been arguing and speculating about the date of the natives＇ arrival, the nature and purpose of the larger statues, its actual number of inhabitants, the reasons for the progressive deforestation of the island, etc.