The use of ‘statbilized earth’ in the conservation of megalithic monuments

Abstract

The main features of the megalithic monuments in Sardinia, Italy, dated to the Middle-Late Bronze Age, are described. These constructions are in a poor state of preservation, especially those built with stones particularly vulnerable to weathering. To impede water ingress into the masonry structure of these archaeological ruins, it is proposed to use a stabilized earth-based mortar that acts as an effective substrate for a water-repellent polymer.     

Terrorist use of weapons of mass destruction: How serious is the threat?

This article examines the extent to which terrorist use of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons poses a tangible threat to international security. In the literature on terrorism and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) some analysts have tended to exaggerate the scope of the threat and assumed that large-scale terrorist acts involving WMD are only 'a matter of time'. In short, there is a tendency among observers to converge on analogous assessments at the higher end of the threat spectrum. In this article I argue that although WMD terrorism remains a real prospect, the ease with which such attacks can be carried out has been exaggerated; acquiring WMD capabilities for delivery against targets is a lot more problematic for terrorists than is generally acknowledged in the literature. However, this is not to say that the possibility of such attacks can (or should) be ruled out. The rise of a 'new' brand of terrorism that operates across transnational networks and whose operations aim to inflict mass casualties, coupled with the destructive threshold crossed on 11 September 2001, mean that terrorist attacks using WMD will continue to be a realistic prospect in the future.     

Cycling towards the nation:the use of the bicycle in Germany and the Netherlands, 1880–1940

This article explores the role of commodities in the construction of identities by examining the use of the bicycle in the Netherlands in comparison with and contrast to Germany. It argues that cyclists in Germany and the Netherlands used the bicycle to construct and display a certain identity and to express certain views of themselves as well as of the society in which they lived. The popularity of the bicycle in Dutch society can thus be explained by its particular meaning in that society. The vehicle became an important object in Dutch national identification, whereas in Germany, despite its widespread use especially among the working class, the bicycle was viewed as outdated and inferior technology by the 1920s.     

Digital Dialogue? Australian Politicians' use of the Social Network Tool Twitter

The recent emergence of online social media has had a significant effect on the contemporary political landscape, yet our understanding of this remains less than complete. This article adds to current understanding of the online engagement between politicians and the public by presenting the first quantitative analysis of the utilisation of the social network tool Twitter by Australian politicians. The analysis suggests that politicians are attempting to use Twitter for political engagement, though some are more successful in this than others. Politicians are noisier than Australians in general on Twitter, though this is due more to broadcasting than conversing. Those who use Twitter to converse appear to gain more political benefit from the platform than others. Though politicians cluster by party, a relatively ‘small world’ network is evident in the Australian political discussion on Twitter.     

On the correlation between the formation of the “Maowusu Desert” and land use in Liuhu sub-prefecture in the Tang dynasty

The historical changes of the “Maowusu Desert” can be divided into three phases: the late Tang dynasty phase, the Song-Yuan-Ming dynasty phase, and the late Ming dynasty to the present phase. Different parts of the desert were formed in different times, with the northwestern part being the earliest to form. As all evidence shows, the Maowusu Desert in its early stage is believed to have taken shape largely around the ancient site of the You state during the years of Tianbao in the Tang dynasty, which is nowadays the eastern half of the Etuoke banner and Prior-Etuoke banner. The formation of the initial Maowusu Desert is not attributed to the so-called over-cultivation from farming but to the long-time exceedingly quartered husbandry starting from the 4th year of the Zhenguan to the years of Tianbao in the Tang dynasty, which resulted in the destruction of the ecology of the natural grassland. __________ Translated from: Shaanxi Shifan Daxue Xuebao 陕西师范大学学报 (Shaanxi Normal University Journal), No.3, 2004     

‘China-ware in the skies’: overlapping identities in the ornamental use of plates in Uruguay

Abstract

This is the study of a church where tableware manufactured in Great Britain was used to decorate the façade in the early 19th century. An argument is made that this one surviving case points to a larger regional tradition, now lost, whose greatest exponent was Montevideo Cathedral, Uruguay. The hypothesis presented here is that the use of British plates in religious façades shortly before the South American Wars of Independence was part of a search for identity in a region trying to break away from Spain, and in the process of becoming a small republic between the two larger countries of Argentina and Brazil.     

New evidence for the use of cinnabar as a colouring pigment in the Vin?a culture

This paper presents the results obtained for red pigments used on ceramics from the Neolithic period, excavated at three Vin?a culture archaeological sites on the territory of present day Serbia. Emphasis was put on cinnabar, a characteristic red pigment, in order to define its possible origin and usage. Several spectroscopic techniques (EDXRF, PIXE, X-ray powder diffraction) were applied to identify the pigments. According to the results presented in this paper, the known record regarding the first cinnabar use in the Balkans can be extended to the end of the sixth millennium BC.     

Determining the use of Late Archaic shell rings using lithic data: “ceremonial villages” and the importance of stone

ABSTRACT

Late Archaic shell rings have been the focus of archaeological research for decades, yet their history, use, and function are debated. Relying on an evidentiary line rarely used in shell ring studies – the analysis of stone tools and debitage – we test prevailing theories and find that models describing the rings as circular dams intended to hold freshwater are incorrect. Instead, by tracing the origins of stone and its distribution within two shell rings on St. Catherines Island, Georgia, we posit that shell rings were places of both daily residence and intermittent gatherings. Because they have proven useful in interpreting the St. Catherines Island shell rings, we suggest archaeologists shift their sampling and recovery techniques so that representative lithic assemblages can be attained from other rings, thereby providing a better understanding of ring-builders and the Late Archaic occupation of the South Atlantic coastline.     

“Tearing Down the Burning House”: James Buchanan's use of Edmund Burke

The 1854 Ostend Manifesto has long been scorned as an expansionist treatise, a leading indicator of “Young America's” hold on the antebellum Democratic Party, and a signal of Franklin Pierce's failed presidency. Unnoticed is the genesis of the document's most famous metaphor, of Cuba representing a neighbor's “burning house” that could cause American intervention. The primary author of the Manifesto was minister to Great Britain and future president James Buchanan, and he attempted to smooth over the rough suggestion of an American takeover of the island by borrowing imagery from Edmund Burke's 1791 Reflections on the Revolution in France. Buchanan's use of Burke, the anti‐revolutionary English philosopher of prudence and critic of ideology, demonstrates the wide but underappreciated popularity of Burke with American politicians of all parties. Not just Whigs and Southern planters, but also Northern Doughface Democrats such as Buchanan, especially in the 1850s, used Burke to preach calm, moderation, and political prudence. As his use in the Manifesto makes clear, a larger study of Edmund Burke's appeal to Americans is badly needed to plot his broad influence on American politics leading up to the Civil War.     

Showing and telling science – the integrated use of literature and images in the works of Erasmus Darwin and Alexander von Humboldt

ABSTRACT

In recent years, both the fields of literature and science and visual culture of science have addressed the importance of different visual and literary elements and their roles in establishing meaning and communication in science. In this article, I explore how visual and textual elements work to establish a narrative of plants in Erasmus Darwin’s The Botanic Garden (1791) and in Alexander von Humboldt’s Essai sur la géographie des plantes (1804). These two scientists employed literary and visual elements in order to construct their visions of the nature of plants in a time when the ideals of Enlightenment science gave way to a more holistic view of integrating the sciences and the arts. I, therefore, also discuss the analytical approach of integrated readings between the literary and visual elements of science.     

On the use of Nazi sources for the study of Fascist Jewish policy in the Italian-occupied territories: The case of south-eastern France,November 1942–July 1943

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the use of Nazi sources for the study of Fascist policy towards Jews in 1940–1943. By exposing the gap between the Nazi perception of and the reality of the Fascist policy towards Jews in Italian-occupied south-eastern France, the article demonstrates that Rome’s refusal to hand over Jews for deportation did not contradict the fundamental anti-Semitic nature of its Jewish policy in that context. Thus, the article highlights the risks for historians to read Fascist Jewish policy through Nazi lenses and thereby fall prey to stereotypical characterizations of the Italians as insubordinate, scheming and driven by what an S.S. official disparagingly labelled a ‘Jewish-friendly attitude’. At the same time, the article shows that, when combined with Fascist sources, Nazi sources can help shed light on the conceptual divide that underpinned the Axis partners’ disagreement over the means by which the ‘Jewish problem’ should be ‘solved’, thereby exposing the analytical limitations of the current prevailing understanding of the Fascist refusal to hand over the Jews as purely the outcome of ‘pragmatic’ opportunistic considerations.     

The use of stereoscopic images taken from a microdrone for the documentation of heritage – An example from the Tuekta burial mounds in the Russian Altay

To analyse, interpret and manage our cultural heritage it is important to have an accurate and realistic representation of it. Documenting this heritage involves geographic techniques such as photogrammetry, for which a lot of rather expensive and extensive platforms are already in use. However, a microdrone, a recently developed unmanned aerial vehicle platform is a cheaper and easy to handle tool. To test the very limits of the microdrone and its accompanying data-acquisition and data-processing software, we collected data from a remote area in Tuekta, in the Russian Altay Mountains. This paper presents the challenges faced during the whole photogrammetric procedure from planning the flights to producing the final deliverables.     

The use of radiocarbon-derived ΔC as a paleoclimate indicator: applications in the Lower Alentejo of Portugal

Values of δ¹³C are frequently reported with radiocarbon dates from organic materials. In C₃ plants δ¹³C values have been linked to changes in water use efficiency as a response to arid conditions. By calculating ¹³C discrimination (Δ¹³C) from ¹³C isotopic composition (δ¹³C), archaeologists can gain potentially valuable inference into past climate conditions. Values of Δ¹³C reflect the process of discrimination against heavier ¹³C isotopes of carbon by comparing the δ¹³C of samples to that of the atmosphere, and can be calculated when records of atmospheric δ¹³CO₂ are available. The present study examines a 1300 year history of radiocarbon-derived Δ¹³C from the Lower Alentejo of Portugal using charcoal recovered from excavations of a series of medieval habitation sites in the study area. To calculate Δ¹³C, the posterior means generated from Bayesian change-point analysis of δ¹³CO₂ records were used. Archaeological data were then compared to contemporary ecological studies of Δ¹³C of the same taxa against instrumental records of climate. Values of Δ¹³C fell within mean ranges for the taxa through a period of population growth between the 7th and 10th centuries AD. During the height of the Medieval Warm Period in the 11th century AD Δ¹³C values frequently fell to low levels associated with arid conditions. At this time environmental degradation and erosion were documented. Values of Δ¹³C increased for a brief period in the early 12th century AD before the rural Lower Alentejo was largely abandoned for nearly two centuries. Another period of aridity occurred in the 16th and 17th centuries AD. Radiocarbon-derived Δ¹³C is a potentially useful paleoclimate proxy for archaeologists provided that results can be paired with observed Δ¹³C variation in studies that pair these data with instrumental climate records.     

Subsistence change,landscape use,and changing site elevation at the Pleistocene–Holocene transition in the Dordogne of southwestern France

The dramatic topography of the Dordogne Valley region of southwestern France has long been recognized as an influence on prehistoric human settlement and subsistence patterns. Previous research on late Pleistocene settlement patterns in this region implies that, as cold-adapted higher-ranked resources became scarce in the lowlands, site location in the Dordogne and adjacent river valleys should shift towards higher-elevation areas during the period from 18,000 to 6500 years BP. This study employs a GIS-based analysis to evaluate the changing settlement patterns in the Dordogne region at this time. While no significant changes in elevation were found during this period, site elevation variance does appear to increase significantly between the Magdalenian and the Sauveterrian. Explanations for this finding are explored using zooarchaeological data from Moulin du Roc, one of the sites in the data set. Results suggest that the Magdalenian period in the Dordogne may not have been as resource-rich as is often assumed.     

Integration of use-wear with protein residue analysis – a study of tool use and function in the south Scandinavian Early Neolithic

This study presents research on how an integration of use-wear analysis with protein residue analysis can produce new results on prehistoric tool use and function. Thirty flint artefacts from an Early Neolithic TRB site in south Sweden were analysed for both use-wear and protein residues. The results show a positive correlation between the two methods. The Early Neolithic tools analysed were primarily used to process fish.     

Protecting the Environment of the Qomolangmo

While Man recently celebratedthe 50th anniversary of dwarfingQomolangmo, the world's high-est peak suffered from environ-mental pollution. Statistics show,from May 1953 to the 1990s, themountaineers left behind morethan 50 tons of garbage. Over the past,decade or more,efforts were doubled and redou-bled to clean the environment.However, an increasing number     

Difficulties of the Re-Emergent Science — the Case of Astrobiology

Abstract

Science dealing with the emergence and evolution of life in the Universe — on Earth and beyond appears under different names in subject literature, these names are usually either a portmanteau of biology and astronomy, or involve particular branches of natural sciences. Scientific and linguistic methodology reveals the danger of gross oversimplification when using names such as: exobiology, cosmobiology, biocosmology, bioastronomy, as- trobiology, etc. The main purpose of this article is to present and analyse the relationships of such notations and synonyms, which are often used interchangeably, and to criticize the attempts of unifying these terms, and to characterize them in a linguistic context. On such basis, it shall be argued that the origin of the existing confusion and misunderstandings might have been either scientific or non-scientific imprecision which may be eliminated for the purpose of a better scientific communication and clarification of terminology as shown in this paper.