Original DocumentsDivination in the Fifteenth Century by Aid of a Magical Crystal

It is rare to find infant or neo-natal burials in the cemeteries of Roman Britain before the fourth century. There is evidence to suggest that it was as a result of the influence of Christianity that these small bodies came to be buried informal or designated cemeteries, rather than merely being disposed of in convenient pits or ditches, or under the floors or just outside the houses in settlements and towns. It would seem that the presence of neo-natal burials given the same burial rites as adults in a west—east cemetery carefully laid out to avoid intersection of graves or disturbance of other burials is a pointer to identification of the cemetery as Christian.     

Artificial cranial modification on a female skeleton from the Byzantine site of Maroneia (Thrace,Greece)

Artificial cranial modification is one of the most often documented types of intentional intervention on the human skeleton in the anthropological record. A female cranium exhibiting headshaping recently came to light at the Early Byzantine site of Maroneia, in Thrace, northern Greece. Headshaping was practiced by several different population groups during the migration period (1st–9th c. AD), but was unknown in Byzantine customs. Homogeneity in burial customs, evidenced by the skeleton's position and orientation and by cemetery topography, strongly supports the hypothesis that this burial belonged to a Christianised citizen who had the right to be buried in a common Christian cemetery. Headshaping provides strong evidence for the cultural adaptability and complexity of Early Byzantine society at Maroneia, an important provincial urban centre of the Byzantine Empire. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

毛庆沟墓地年代学研究

<正>位于内蒙古凉城县蛮汉山南麓的毛庆沟墓地,已发掘79座墓葬,其中东西向墓葬67座,南北向墓葬12座,墓葬间没有发现打破或叠压关系。这批材料最先于1982年披露,1986年发表考古发掘报告(以下简称《报告》)。报告     

Life on the Edge of the Arctic: The Bioarchaeology of the Keldudalur Cemetery in Skagafjörður,Iceland

Burials were examined from the late Viking Age early medieval Christian cemetery at the farm of Keldudalur in the Skagafjörður region, Northern Iceland. The cemetery likely served a single household for about 100–120 years, from the beginning of the 11th century AD to the turn of the 12th century. Cemetery inhabitants represent a population that lived through the transitional period when Christianity was established in Iceland. The changes are visible in the mortuary record with the changeover from outlying pagan graves to enclosed Christian cemeteries situated on the farmsteads. Keldudalur is one of the numerous early Christian family cemeteries that littered the 11th century Skagafjörður landscape. The burials included 53 well‐preserved skeletons of 27 adults and 26 subadults. Various factors such as fluctuating climate and environmental conditions, and seasonal or periodical availability of resources have the potential for impacting human diet and health over time. To assess the health status of the burials, data were collected for a number of health status indicators such as stature estimation, developmental enamel defects, porotic hyperostosis, infectious disease, trauma, degenerative joint diseases, dental caries, calculus and tooth loss. Results suggest that inhabitants of Keldudalur experienced periodic stress and rigorous living conditions. Infant mortality was great, although if individuals survived childhood, the age expectancy was fairly high. There was no obvious evidence for interpersonal violence or endemic infectious disease. However, the common occurrence of growth disturbances, generalised periostitis, trauma and degenerative joint disease all point to a number of stressors in the lives of the people at Keldudalur, which is suggestive of a resilient people living and adapting to a harsh and periodically resource scarce subarctic environment. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

河南平顶山应国玉器的分析测试研究

本文对13件河南平顶山应国墓地出土的玉器残片进行了测试分析,结果表明:透闪石玉是应国玉器的主要玉种,不同材质的玉器均受到一定程度的风化,其中,蛇纹石玉器普遍受沁严重,较透闪石玉器受沁为深,且受沁严重的透闪石玉器与蛇纹石玉器在外观上有很大的相似性;所有玉器表面均附着朱砂,可能当时人们已经认识到朱砂的防虫防腐功能.     

Multi-method Analysis of Avian Eggs as Grave Goods: Revealing Symbolism in Conversion Period Burials at Kukruse,NE Estonia

Eggshells are unusual finds in the Iron Age of eastern Europe (500 BC–1200 AD) deserving extra attention in terms of analysis as well as interpretation. This paper discusses two rare eggshell finds, discovered in female burials at the conversion period (12th–13th century AD) cemetery at Kukruse, NE Estonia. Our multianalytical study combining FT-IR, SEM(-EDS), microscopy and ZooMS provides an overview of methods applicable for identifying egg species, their predepositional history and curation. Based on the analytical results and the comparative analysis of the content and context of these two burials, we argue that different aims and connotations lay behind depositing eggs as burial goods, allowing well-supported interpretations of both pagan and Christian religious worldviews simultaneously.     

MORTUARY DISPLAY AND CULTURAL CONTACT: A CEMETERY AT KASTRI ON THASOS

Summary.   This article explores how the patterns of development within the local populations prior to Greek colonization, or even Greek contact, can elucidate the process of Greek colonization. Focusing upon the Thracian Early Iron Age cemetery of Kastri on Thasos, it suggests that past interpretations of such cemeteries as undifferentiated is due to the imposition of modern ideas of value. This article instead uses the criterion of diversity to suggest that the cemetery in fact has clear patterns of social differentiation in the first and last periods of use. Furthermore imports are restricted to graves of highest diversity in the last period of use (the early seventh century BC). This pattern is repeated over Early Iron Age Thrace, and is indicative of a social change within Thrace prior to Greek colonization which saw nascent Thracian elites seeking out imports from many areas in order to bolster their status.     

HISTORY AND ITS DEAD

Thomas Laqueur has brought together half a century of research on modern European mortuary culture into an impressive narrative of how the Christian churchyard was replaced by the modern cemetery, how interment was partly replaced by the technology of cremation, and how writing and preserving the names of the dead coincided with democratization and social reform. Beyond the grand narrative of the history of modern burial, he also shows how the modern culture of history and memory is intertwined with the transformation of mortuary practices. On a deeper level, he points toward new ways of conceptualizing the relation between the living and the dead, leading up toward, if not fully confronting, the challenge that propels his own endeavor, namely the existential‐ontological predicament of living after those who have been and the nature of spectrality.     

AN ANGLO-SAXON EXECUTION CEMETERY AT WALKINGTON WOLD, YORKSHIRE

Summary.   This paper presents a re-evaluation of a cemetery excavated over 30 years ago at Walkington Wold in east Yorkshire. The cemetery is characterized by careless burial on diverse alignments, and by the fact that most of the skeletons did not have associated crania. The cemetery has been variously described as being the result of an early post-Roman massacre, as providing evidence for a 'Celtic' head cult or as an Anglo-Saxon execution cemetery. In order to resolve the matter, radiocarbon dates were acquired and a re-examination of the skeletal remains was undertaken. It was confirmed that the cemetery was an Anglo-Saxon execution cemetery, the only known example from northern England, and the site is set into its wider context in the paper.     

The Ambiguities of Christian Sexual Discourse in Post‐War Britain: The British Council of Churches and Its Early Moral Welfare Work

This article extends and develops recent historical discussion on the relationship between British Christianity, sexuality, and modernity, proposing some ways forward for future scholarship. Recent accounts have concentrated on liberal Anglican positions on issues of sexuality, but here the focus is on the British Council of Churches, its early moral welfare work, and interdenominational efforts to reconsider Christian sex teaching in the immediate post‐war years. While examining broader trends towards positive statements about sex and attempts to assemble self‐regulating sexual citizens in Christian moral welfare thinking, the article suggests that, far from a narrative of relatively untroubled and gradual acceptance of progressive Christian views on sex, this was a halting and uncertain process. The article reflects closely on the complexities of post‐war Christian attempts to work with new ideas about sexuality and to formulate their own version of them, the difficulties and ambiguities involved in developing a cogent position in a debate where Christian opinion was so fiercely divided, as well as the complicated nature of institutional decision‐making. As a case study, the British Council of Churches reflects earlier, problematic attempts to alter Christian sex teaching, as well as the unfolding of later difficulties for the British churches.     

Reconstruction of Socioeconomic Status in the Medieval (14th–15th Century) Population of Grevenmacher (Luxembourg) Based on Growth,Development and Diet

Numerous historical sources describe many aspects of the estate‐based society in medieval times; the detection of socioeconomic status within populations through skeletal remains is a topic of growing interest in anthropological studies. In medieval times, it was common for members of high social rank to be buried within or next to a church. This was certainly the case in Grevenmacher (Luxembourg), where remains of a church building and an adjacent cemetery from the 13th until the beginning of the 15th century were subjected to archaeological and anthropological analysis. By integrating archaeological and anthropological elements, as well as stable isotope analysis, we documented osteological manifestations as indicators of diet differentials in two subsamples (first group consists out of 56 individuals, second one out of 184 individuals) from the medieval cemetery of Grevenmacher. We could distinguish two subsamples that we assumed as different in their socioeconomic status with regards to the burials' position in the cemetery and burial characteristics. Differences in osteological traits such as bone length, stature and body mass indicated differences in diet between sample groups. To substantiate these outcomes, stable isotopic analysis (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N) were made; the results displayed a clear separation between the sample groups on the basis of their diet. Therefore, we were able to confirm certain individuals in the medieval population of Grevenmacher in relationship to their socioeconomic status. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ritual Appropriation and Appropriate Ritual: Christian Healing and Adaptations of Asian Religions

This article analyzes the uses of the past for liberal Christians who borrow from Asian healing‐related practices such as yoga, Buddhist meditation and Reiki. It focuses on questions of historicity, both in the ways liberal Christians validate their syncretism by drawing connections to the Christian past, and in the way that longer histories of orientalism and colonialism shape current Christian interactions with Asian religions. Centred on the narratives of three North American Anglicans, and informed by attendance at their various healing services, meditation groups, yoga classes and Reiki sessions, this article is evidence of a wider liberal Christian embrace of difference via ritual. The article argues that these liberal Christians use “ritual proximity” to bring together symbols, acts and memories from various times and cultures, thus constructing new lineages of religious inheritance within webs of Christian ritual.     

New evidence for the antiquity of leprosy in early Britain

Examination of skeletons excavated in Dorset has probably produced the earliest example of leprosy known in northern Europe. The site, Poundbury Camp, Dorchester, was excavated under the direction of C. J. S. Green for the Dorchester Excavation Committee from 1966 to 1973. It is a Romano-British cemetery, apparently Christian, and the leprous bones are dated by their archaeological context to the middle of the fourth century AD.The specimen consists of the distal portions of right and left tibiae and fibulae, and the right and left feet. The right intermediate cuneiform is missing, but this may be a post-mortem loss. All parts of the skeleton above the mid-shaft of the tibiae and fibulae have been lost due to modern disturbance. It is therefore impossible to estimate the sex of the individual or its age, but the bones are certainly those of a mature adult.The following pathological changes were noted.     

Human Passions: From Classical Greece to the Contemporary Psychology of Passions and the Contribution of Christian Spirituality to the Tradition of the Capital Sins

The centrality of passions in the human psyche has attracted recent interest in psychology as a part of the conative domain; furthermore, there is a very important tradition of study on the human passions, which is the Christian tradition of the capital sins. This article aims to present the origins and evolution of the latter tradition through its most influential representatives, with the purpose of understanding human passions in depth. The article is intended to find out commonalities and differences among the most relevant authors in Christian spirituality and the contemporary psychology of passions. In doing so, we are attempting to grasp to what extent the contemporary views are influenced by this Christian tradition. It is also a way to renew the interest in Christian spirituality by going directly to its genuine sources.     

Anglo-Saxon charms in the context of a Christian, world view

The following article explores aspects of a Christian world view found in late Anglo-Saxon England, seeking to put such phenomena as magic, miracles and charms in their proper Christian perspective. Previous criticism has had a tendency to accentuate the pagan aspects of the charms and to confuse a modern definition of magic with that of the early medieval Christian view. The view of nature found in Ælfric's sermons, for example, reveals a particular attitude towards magic, miracles and natural remedies such as charms. Magic and miracles are at opposite extremes, while charms are part of an intermediate category of practices not specifically condemned as develish magic, nor fitting into the Christian interpretation of miracles as signs from God.The second part of the article turns to an examination of the charms themselves to demonstrate how they do fit into a Christian view. Charms having to do with elves, as found in the Leechbook, contain large amounts of Christian material. There is an especially strong correlation between these charms and the use of the mass to counteract the influence and effects of elves. Thus the charms, far from being examples of the remnants of paganism, are evidence of the integration of popular material into a Christian view of the world.     

二战前新加坡华人基督教教育探析

论文以二战前新加坡华人基督教教育为研究对象,初步考证了新加坡华人教会创办学校的历史,分析了影响新加坡华人基督教教育发展的主要因素、新加坡华人教会办学宗旨的转变以及这一转变所产生的效果。认为二战以前的华人基督教教育对教会在新加坡华人社会中传播起到了重要的促进作用。新加坡华人社会在各个时期所呈现的不同特点,也成为影响教会教育,乃至基督教传播的关键因素。正是基于华人社会的变迁,1885年前后卫理公会调整了教会学校的办学宗旨,从而使新加坡华人基督教得到了长足的发展。     

Another Meditation on the Third Commandment

This article presents several normative and conceptual challenges to the prospects of the creation of a Christian political party in American politics. Given that political parties differ from interest groups insofar as they seek to govern, and as governing includes the exercise of coercive force, constructing a Christian political party that is recognizably and uniquely Christian and capable of successfully wielding political power will be an exceedingly difficult task.     

试论温峤

温峤墓是迄今为止南京地区发现的墓主身份明确、地位最高的东晋勋臣墓葬。本依据考古发现及献资料,对温峤家世、事迹和葬地进行比较全面的考察。