Traditional Perceptions of the Dog Among the Khakas People of the Late 19th–Mid-20th Century

The article describes a body of myths and rituals associated with the dog, one of the most prominent ? gures of Khakas folklore. The analysis covers the functional and symbolic aspects of the dog as well as the relationship between the dog and rituals associated with life cycles.     

‘A rancour and a passion would be introduced into politics’: Perceptions of the Woman MP in Late 19th and Early 20th Century Britain*

On 21 November 1918, the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act was passed, which enabled women over the age of 21 to stand for parliamentary election. Unlike women's suffrage, there was no sustained campaign to allow women to sit in parliament. However, this does not mean that the issue was ignored in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This article traces perceptions of the woman MP in the pre-1918 period and offers the first detailed exploration of the topic. It argues that although discussions on the matter were not widespread like women's suffrage, there is value in examining these lesser-known debates. This article studies the parliamentary candidacy of Helen Taylor in the 1885 General Election, in addition to how male politicians, the press, suffrage, and anti-suffrage organisations engaged with the idea of women sitting in parliament. Women's supposedly emotional nature played an integral role in how contemporaries approached the subject of women MPs. Indeed, women's emotions, and more specifically their passionate temperament, were often used to discredit their political capabilities and portray women as emotionally, intellectually and physically inferior to men.     

Paleopathology of The Population of Krasnoyarsk,Central Siberia (Pokrovskiy and Voskresensko-Preobrazhenskiy Cemeteries of the 17th– Early 20th Centuries)

Published data on the paleopathology of Siberian populations are scarce. However, two samples of adult and non- adult skeletons taken from excavations at the Pokrovskiy (17th–18th centuries) and Voskresensko-Preobrazhenskiy (17th–early 20th century) cemeteries in Krasnoyarsk (123 and 204; 101 and 81, respectively) revealed cases of rickets, tuberculosis, and congenital syphilis in children, and vertebral tuberculosis and tertiary syphilis in adults. Trauma areas included ribs, hands, forearms, and tibiae. These two samples provide evidence on which to base an assessment of the health of the Krasnoyarsk population from 1628 to the early 1900s.     

On the Biological Affinities of People of the “Lappish Parishes”: A Craniometric Analysis of the 17th– Early 19th Century Population of Alozero,Karelia

The 17th–early 19th century cranial series, consisting of 23 specimens (15 male and 8 female) from Alozero is the earliest from northern Karelia. The cemetery was evidently left by one of the ?rst groups of Karelians who had permanently settled in this territory. Their crania are generally similar to those of later Karelians. Two distinct morphological trait combinations are present. One is characterized by robustness, a very high vault and a broad face. This combination appears to be the earliest since it links the Alozero people not only with later northwestern Karelians but also with the medieval population of the northwestern Ladoga region and ultimately with the Mesolithic and Neolithic people of the Baltic region. Another trait combination includes a medium high cranial vault, a medium broad face and a convex nasal bridge, linking it with the combination displayed by recent Finns of Finland. The latter component apparently re?ects immigration from central Finland. The predecessors of Karelians in that territory are sometimes said to be related to modern Sami. However, no evidence of Sami admixture has been detected either in the Alozero series or in other Karelian groups     

An Early Illustrated Comparative Anatomy of the Brain: Samuel Collins’ A Systeme of Anatomy (1685) and the Emergence of Comparative Neurology in 17th Century England

The concept of comparing of the brains of various animals and of individual human brains was launched in the last half of the 17th century in England and was much influenced by the formation of the European scientific societies and their attempts to guide naturalist observations into a new systematics. An ambitious attempt to document this trend in an extensively illustrated work of encyclopedic pretensions was the singular publication of Samuel Collins (1618–1710), an energetic anatomist and president of the Royal College of Physicians. His little known two-volume folio presentation, written in the vernacular for broad acceptance, contains the seeds of a science of comparative neurology with the largest collection of brain illustrations (as well as of other organ systems) attempted in his era. Although lacking the conceptual insight that might derive from a true “comparative” anatomy and an understanding of the relations of different animals, the handsome engravings exemplified the new direction of the ‘enlightenment’ of the scientific revolution and are discussed in the context of relevant events of this period.     

The “Weakened Spring of Government” and the Executive Branch: The Department of Justice in the Late 19th Century

Recent research on American government and public life in the late 19th century suggests that the extensive growth of the American state during this time did not necessarily involve a corresponding expansion of national authority or effective executive bureaucratic administration. Rather, the American polity was characterized by what Wallace Farnham termed the “weakened spring of government,rdquo; a government that “failed to use the powers it had.” This study examines how the late 19th century Department of Justice exemplified this problem. Despite increased personnel, resources, and responsibilities, effective law enforcement by the department was often frustrated by corruption, partisan political activity by department personnel, and by traditional reliance on local, decentralized responsibility for law enforcement. Examples of this were the attempts by the Justice Department to protect federal timber lands and enforce the federal election statutes in the south. Moreover reforms within the department were little more than “patchwork” efforts to achieve effective enforcement capacities.     

The impact of human activities on the natural environment of the Canary Islands (Spain) during the pre-Hispanic stage (3rd–2nd Century BC to 15th Century AD): an overview

Abstract

This paper presents a brief review of archaeological evidence for the impact of the pre-Hispanic population on the environment of the Canary Islands. Prior to human colonisation, the archipelago was an untouched environment with high botanical and faunal biodiversity. The first human settlement can be traced to the early 1st millennium BC; this period of settlement finished at the end of the 15th century AD when the Spanish Crown conquered the archipelago. It has often been assumed that the pre-Hispanic population had little significant impact on the islands' ecosystems. However, abundant evidence for faunal extinctions, deforestation and soil erosion has been recovered from archaeological sites across the islands. This indicates that pre-Hispanic colonisers introduced cultivated plants, opened up the forests to create fields and cut woody vegetation for fuel. They also introduced domestic animals and alien predators resulting in a major depletion of native fauna.     

Early Middle Ages Houses of Gien (France) from the Inside: Geoarchaeology and Archaeobotany of 9th–11th c. Floors

ABSTRACT

At Gien (France), indoor floors from early Middle Ages occupation (8th–10th c. AD) are very well preserved, providing a new reference for archaeological investigation in northern France. This site is located on an outcrop, 20 m above the Loire valley, where a 15th c. castle stands now. The medieval occupation combines high-status houses with crafting and agricultural areas. They constitute a new urban nucleus, which grew 2?km east from an ancient Roman settlement. During the rescue excavation, four buildings of different status were sampled and studied using an integrated approach, combining stratigraphy, micromorphology, chemical, macro-remain and phytolith analyses. Micromorphological investigations helped to identify 74 built floors, from 0.5 to 150?mm thick, made with transformed local clay or imported silty earth. Mineral floors were covered by vegetal ones, consisting of crop processing refuse. These litters include an abundance of phytoliths and some seeds, both produced by cultivated cereals, which were processed in situ, such as Triticum durum, Secale cereale and Hordeum vulgare. The refuse above the mineral and vegetal floors were trampled. They were produced not only by domestic activities, such as cooking and eating, but also by metallurgic activities and animal husbandry. The investigation of a contemporary pit indicated that, despite the large amount of refuse, floors were well maintained and regularly rebuilt. The spatial distribution of waste indicated that a single space could be dedicated to several activities, which were not necessarily separated by new floors. Moreover, the total absence of bioturbation allowed the study of a stage of dark earth formation, by comparing it to the contemporaneous mechanical disturbance of a part of the strata which occurred when building new floors. All these results give new evidence of the richness and the complexity of the early Middle Ages town, in addition to help identifying the activities which could take place in early castral areas.     

Settlements and Seafaring: Reflections on the Integration of Boats and Settlements Among Marine Foragers in Early Mesolithic Norway and the Yámana of Tierra del Fuego

The abundant Early Mesolithic (11,500–10,000 cal. BP) settlements at the raised shorelines in Norway and Sweden represent the earliest documented marine foragers in northern Europe. In the Scandinavian seascapes, both traveling and subsistence depended on seaworthy vessels. However, this highly mobile lifestyle was likewise dependent on settlements on firm ground. Departing from actor-network theory and symmetrical archaeology, I explore the structural relations between extensive use of boats, basic co-residing units, and activity patterns at settlements. The empiric basis for my study is the excavated Early Mesolithic coastal sites in the Ormen Lange project in Central Norway, dated to ca. 11,000–10,800 cal. BP. I suggest that the structural uniformity that is observed in the settlements may be related to the dependency on boats for subsistence activities as well as transport and settlements, creating human-thing dynamics that interlocked co-residents and boat crews, logistics, and activity patterns. This dynamic regime is also explored with ethnohistorical and archaeological references to the Yámana in the Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.     

An archaeometric study of the bulk and surface weathering characteristics of Early Medieval (5th–7th century) glass from the Po valley,northern Italy

Compositional and structural characterisation was carried out on Early Medieval (5th–7th century) fragments of glass goblets excavated from the archaeological sites of Monte Barro, Brescia and Monselice (northern Italy) with the aim of identifying raw materials, glass-working techniques, and surface weathering characteristics. Optical analyses and X-ray spectrometry were used for bulk, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning and transmission electron microscopy for surfaces. The samples of each area were produced using siliceous–lime sands, with natron as flux. The differences observed in chemical composition allow to subdivide the samples from Monte Barro and Brescia from those of Monselice, the latter generally show higher silicon, calcium and aluminium and lower sodium contents than the others. By plotting reduced base glass compositions in soda–lime silica phase diagrams, melting temperatures varying from 900 °C for Monte Barro and Brescia samples to 1000 °C and more for those from Monselice were estimated. Differing Fe₂O₃, Sb₂O₅and MnO₂contents are related to the different colours of the samples, Monselice samples being blue–green and Monte Barro and Brescia samples green and yellow–green. The chemical differences may be interpreted as related to different provenance and/or glass-working techniques. Surfaces are depleted in alkaline and alkaline-earth elements due to weathering process. Alteration lamellae show a nanostructure, similar to that of opal.