On the stability of the ozone layer at Tromsø

Long-term measurements of the thickness of the ozone layer in Tromsø since 1935 show that the annual mean value can vary by as much as 18%. However, no decreasing trend of the ozone content and no correlation with the increasing amount of chlorine and halogen compounds of the atmosphere are found in the Scandinavian sector of the Arctic.     

Thomas Graham Brown (1882–1965): Behind the Scenes at the Cardiff Institute of Physiology

Thomas Graham Brown undertook seminal experiments on the neural control of locomotion between 1910 and 1915. Although elected to the Royal Society in 1927, his locomotion research was largely ignored until the 1960s when it was championed and extended by the distinguished neuroscientist, Anders Lundberg. Puzzlingly, Graham Brown's published research stopped in the 1920s and he became renowned as a mountaineer. In this article, we review his life and multifaceted career, including his active neurological service in WWI. We outline events behind the scenes during his tenure at Cardiff's Institute of Physiology in Wales, UK, including an interview with his technician, Terrence J. Surman, who worked in this institute for over half a century.     

The court of the Lionheart on crusade, 1190–2

The source material that records the history of the Third Crusade gives the impression that Richard was a king who found it easy to interact with people from different backgrounds. Though he was one of the greatest warrior-kings of the medieval era, he was comfortable with churchmen and knights, with Frenchmen and Anglo-Normans, with lords and clerks, with his men and his father’s men. No doubt every royal court was a bustling, perhaps nearly chaotic, environment, but the individuals found in this study indicate that the court of Richard I was not an ivory tower to which only his barons had access.     

On the Grounds of the Fresh Water Pond: The Free-Black Community at Five Points, 1810–1834

During the first few decades of the nineteenth century a sizable African American community thrived in lower Manhattan. This district was centered near the Fresh Water or Collect Pond just north of the heavily settled city. By 1840 much of the original community was gone and almost forgotten in the lore surrounding the later and more notorious Five Points. Evidence of the vibrant neighborhood may be found in the presence of social and religious structures including the original A.M.E. Zion Church and the African Mutual Relief Society, located for a brief period of time near the Fresh Water Pond. In this paper documentary sources are used to illuminate the lives of Five Points' early residents. These are lives and struggles not necessarily visible in the archaeological record.     

The Shishakli assault on the Syrian Druze and the Israeli response,January–February 1954

This article addresses Syrian leader Adib al-Shishakli's assault on the Syrian Druze minority in the mid-1950s, the Syrian Druze reaction, and contemporaneous observations and reactions from both the Israeli government and the Israeli Druze community to Shishakli's assault. The events analyzed in this article provide insight into the difficulties and opportunities the Jewish state had in cultivating minority allies in a hostile region, on the one hand, and the dilemmas Middle Eastern minorities had in seeking out the regionally beleaguered Jewish state's support, on the other.     

Proceedings at Meetings of the Royal Archæological Institute February 5, 1885

Excavation of the Franciscan friary church at Hartlepool revealed an apparent two phase stone construction, preceded by an aisled timber building. An initial long narrow church of c.1240 was extended by the addition of a nave and north aisle. An extensive series of burials from beneath the church floor and from the friary burial ground provides useful pathological information, whilst a range of worked stone and other building materials, together with evidence for window manufacture, provides information on the fabric of the building. After the Dissolution the friary site was occupied by a mansion.     

On the Content of the Concept “Geographical Environment” and the Influence of the Environment on Society

The author traces the evolution of the environmentalist concept through Marxist philosophy and analyzes the influence on the geographical environment on society. He adduces a number of examples to demonstrate the significance of the environmental factor in various historical contexts. For another discussion on the same subject, the reader is referred to Ian M. Matley, “The Marxist approach to the geographical environment,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 56, No. I, March 1966, pp. 97–111.     

On Reforming the “Fallen” and Beyond: Transforming Continuity at the Magdalen Society of Philadelphia, 1845–1916

The first institution in the United States concerned with caring for and reforming fallen women, the Magdalen Society of Philadelphia and its Asylum provide one window into the many changes that occurred in American culture between the institution's founding in 1800 and closing in 1916. This paper outlines aspects of a contextual, feminist historical archaeology of the Society, focussing on the changes and continuities that characterized the period 1845–1916. The research centers on what each of the Society's constituent groups said (their oral discourse) and what they did (their performance discourse) as they pursued their own cultural agenda and goals. Both resulted in, indeed necessitated, and occurred in the context of the production, use, interpretation, alteration, and replacement of material culture. It remains difficult to hear the voices of Philadelphia's fallen, to understand their perspectives, goals, and strategies, and to cast them as actors, not victims. But a diverse corpus of written records and the women's actions and reactions in the context of the Asylum's architecture, landscape, foodways, and dress code present archaeologists with a unique opportunity to understand a transforming ritual in action.