Developing a framework of Holocene climatic change and landscape archaeology for the lower Gulf region, southeastern Arabia

Geomorphological and geoarchaeological studies from the lower Gulf region of southeastern Arabia are increasing our knowledge of hydrological, ecological, and aeolian changes during the Holocene. Preliminary analyses of sediment records from two palaeolakes in the United Arab Emirates are presented, highlighting the potential of these sediment sources for providing high-resolution decadal studies of climate change and landscape evolution over the past 10,000 years. In order to study the society-environment relationship in this marginal region, a framework of environmental change is being developed against which the archaeology of the region can be set.     

Spatial variations in the salinity of pore waters in northern deep water Gulf of Mexico sediments: implications for pathways and mechanisms of solute transport

Spatial variations in the salinity of pore waters in sedimentary basins can provide important insight into basin-scale hydrogeologic processes. Although there have been numerous studies of brine seeps in the deep water Gulf of Mexico, much less is known about porewater salinities in the vast areas between seeps. A study has been made of spatial variation in pore water salinities in sediments in an approximately 500 km by 200 km area of the northern deep water (water depth >500 m) Gulf of Mexico sedimentary basin (GOM) to provide insight into pathways and mechanisms of solute transport in this portion of the basin. A second objective was to document salinities in the upper 500 m of the sedimentary section, the approximate depth to which methane hydrates, a potential future energy resource, may be stable. Elevated salinities would reduce the P – T stability range of hydrates. Salinities were calculated from borehole logs using a dual electrical conductivity model. Even though much of the northern GOM is underlain by allochthonous salt most of the undisturbed shallow sedimentary section has not been permeated by hypersaline waters. These waters are limited to areas near brine seeps. Hypersaline waters having salinities in excess of 100 g l⁻¹ become more common at subseafloor depths of 2 km and greater. A field study at Green Canyon 65 and published numerical simulations of fluid flow above tabular salt bodies suggest that brines produced by salt dissolution migrate laterally and pond above salt and/or within minibasins and that the dominant mechanism of vertical solute transport is a combination of compaction-driven advection and diffusion, not large-scale thermohaline overturn. Superimposed on this diffuse upward flux of dissolved salt is the more focused and localized expulsion of saline fluids up faults.     

Archaeological and chemical evidence for the earliest American use of raw coal as a fuel in ironmaking

The archaeological discovery of bituminous coal in the tipple area and the subsequent analyses of specimens of the iron ore, charcoal, limestone, slag, and cast iron from the Eaton (Hopewell) blast furnace built in 1802 indicate that raw coal was used in combination with charcoal as a fuel in American iron smelting at least thirty years before it was used alone. Further, its use in this combinatory manner marks the earliest as yet attested to in the New World.     

Geophysical and geochemical evidence of large scale fluid flow within shallow sediments in the eastern Gulf of Mexico,offshore Louisiana

We analyse the fluid flow regime within sediments on the Eastern levee of the modern Mississippi Canyon using 3D seismic data and downhole logging data acquired at Sites U1322 and U1324 during the 2005 Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 308 in the Gulf of Mexico. Sulphate and methane concentrations in pore water show that sulphate–methane transition zone, at 74 and 94 m below seafloor, are amongst the deepest ever found in a sedimentary basin. This is in part due to a basinward fluid flow in a buried turbiditic channel (Blue Unit, 1000 mbsf), which separates sedimentary compartments located below and above this unit, preventing normal upward methane flux to the seafloor. Overpressure in the lower compartment leads to episodic and focused fluid migration through deep conduits that bypass the upper compartment, forming mud volcanoes at the seabed. This may also favour seawater circulation and we interpret the deep sulphate–methane transition zones as a result of high downward sulphate fluxes coming from seawater that are about 5–10 times above those measured in other basins. The results show that geochemical reactions within shallow sediments are dominated by seawater downwelling in the Mars‐Ursa basin, compared to other basins in which the upward fluid flux is controlling methane‐related reactions. This has implications for the occurrence of gas hydrates in the subsurface and is evidence of the active connection between buried sediments and the water column.     

邳州市发现京杭大运河古船闸遗址

１９９５年在邳州市发现的一处京杭大运河古船闸遗址,对于了解明末至清徐州的水利、清运有一定的研究价值。     

从若干项文物科技成果看我国文物保护技术的发展

20世纪末,我国的物保护科学技术基本形成了具有中国特色的完整的科学体系。在石质物、金属物、纸张物、竹木漆器物、壁画物、石窟物等的保护技术方面取得了多项科研成果,并且达到或接近世界先进水平,使我国许多珍贵的化遗产得到了抢救和有效地保护。     

Geochemical discrimination of basaltic sources as a tool for provenance analyses of bifacial tools in the southern Levant: first results from the Jezreel Valley,Israel

The determination of groundstone tool sources bears the potential to examine aspects like raw material selection and preference, mobility, trade and exchange patterns, control over resources and long term use of raw material sources. The discovery of the Neolithic/Chalcolithic basanite bifacial quarry of Giv'at Kipod in the Jezreel Valley, Israel, provides the opportunity of raw material centred provenance studies of bifacials in the southern Levant. The basis for reliable provenance analyses is a clear geochemical characterization of the extraction site and its discrimination from other potential sources. To achieve this, the Miocene magmatic rocks of the Jezreel Valley were sampled and analysed by XRF and La-ICP-MS. The geochemical evaluation, combined with cluster analyses, resulted in a clear discrimination of the Giv'at Kipod lava from other basaltic sources in the area. Based on the geochemical field data, a Giv'at Kipod provenance for six bifacial tools found in three archaeological sites dated to the Neolithic and the Chalcolithic periods was established. The results suggest that the quarry was in use for several millennia. This pilot study demonstrates that for provenance analyses lava outcrops in the southern Levant can be geochemically discriminated from each other on a very small spatial scale, on the basis of a detailed field sampling and the application of multivariate methods.     

King Stephen,the English church,and a female mystic: Christina of Markyate's Vita as a neglected source for the council of Winchester (August 1139) and its aftermath

One of the central reasons for the disintegration of royal authority (sometimes called ‘the Anarchy’) during the reign of King Stephen of England is generally thought to have been his troubled relationship with the English church. The king was summoned to appear before the legate in England, Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester (who was also Stephen's brother), at a church council called for Winchester on 29 August 1139, in order to show cause for his conduct in arresting several prominent bishops and in confiscating their property. Several major chroniclers discuss the events leading up to and occurring at the council of Winchester, especially William of Malmesbury in his Historia novella and the anonymous Gesta Stephani. The versions of events contained in these sources are not entirely consistent. The present paper examines yet another recounting of the events of the council, seldom appreciated by historians of twelfth-century England, presented in the Vita of Christina of Markyate (c.1096/98–c.1155/66), composed by an anonymous monk of St Albans between 1140 and 1146. Christina was close to the abbot of St Albans, Geoffrey de Gorham, who was probably the patron of the Vita and who quite likely attended the Winchester council and apparently became involved in its aftermath. These events are recorded in some detail in the Vita, presenting us with a vivid recounting of the council and the immediate consequences thereof. The narrative of the Vita contains a somewhat different picture of the personalities and occurrences surrounding the Winchester council than we encounter in the chronicles. The current essay compares the Vita to the standard accounts. We argue that the Vita may be the earliest and possibly most reliable source for the events of the council. Moreover, if we privilege the report of the Vita, the council becomes an especially significant moment in the breakdown of relations between Stephen and the English church.     

King Stephen,the English church,and a female mystic: Christina of Markyate's Vita as a neglected source for the council of Winchester (August 1139) and its aftermath

One of the central reasons for the disintegration of royal authority (sometimes called ‘the Anarchy’) during the reign of King Stephen of England is generally thought to have been his troubled relationship with the English church. The king was summoned to appear before the legate in England, Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester (who was also Stephen's brother), at a church council called for Winchester on 29 August 1139, in order to show cause for his conduct in arresting several prominent bishops and in confiscating their property. Several major chroniclers discuss the events leading up to and occurring at the council of Winchester, especially William of Malmesbury in his Historia novella and the anonymous Gesta Stephani. The versions of events contained in these sources are not entirely consistent. The present paper examines yet another recounting of the events of the council, seldom appreciated by historians of twelfth-century England, presented in the Vita of Christina of Markyate (c.1096/98–c.1155/66), composed by an anonymous monk of St Albans between 1140 and 1146. Christina was close to the abbot of St Albans, Geoffrey de Gorham, who was probably the patron of the Vita and who quite likely attended the Winchester council and apparently became involved in its aftermath. These events are recorded in some detail in the Vita, presenting us with a vivid recounting of the council and the immediate consequences thereof. The narrative of the Vita contains a somewhat different picture of the personalities and occurrences surrounding the Winchester council than we encounter in the chronicles. The current essay compares the Vita to the standard accounts. We argue that the Vita may be the earliest and possibly most reliable source for the events of the council. Moreover, if we privilege the report of the Vita, the council becomes an especially significant moment in the breakdown of relations between Stephen and the English church.     

"That Food of the Memory which Gives the Clue to Profitable Research": Oral history as a source for local, regional, and family history in the nineteenth and early twentieth century

Numerous local, regional and family historians in the nineteenthand early twentieth century collected oral narrations and conductedinterviews as a form to document information that otherwisemight have never been preserved. Family historians, in particular,not only practiced interviewing relatives for family histories,but also encouraged the practice in how-to-do manuals amongtheir peers. While advocating the practice, family historiansalso reflected about the value of "traditionary evidence" collectedthrough interviews and other means. These reflections by familyhistorians mirrored the discussions about the value of traditionsand memories as historical sources among several professionalhistorians at the time. These reflections were shaped by a modernizedunderstanding of tradition, which combined a reverential approachto the authoritarian element of tradition with a critical approachquestioning the validity of tradition. In this context, oralhistory was both a tool to negotiate the value of traditionand a mirror to the contemporary understanding of tradition.