Manufacture of Eastern European decorative tin–bronze discs from twelfth century BC

During the European Bronze Age, flat discs with a variety of decorative elements were produced to be used most likely as either decoration attached to clothing or as parts of horse harnesses. The size and decoration differ according to region and period. The discs discussed here were all found in hoards deposited in a rather short period around 1200–1100?BC in Croatia, Bosnia and Austria. They were analysed to obtain information about their composition and manufacture, both of which may have changed in relation to increasing distance from the centre of distribution or supposed production as a result of copying, or might not have changed significantly if the discs were imported.     

Worked and decorated shell discs from southern Arabia and the wider Near East

This article presents and discusses a corpus of worked and decorated shell discs from recently excavated archaeological sites in southern Arabia, including Dibba (northern Oman), Saruq al‐Hadid (UAE) and Sumhuram/Khor Rori (southern Oman). The artefacts are compared to a wide range of shell discs from controlled excavations in Arabia and the broader Near East in order to better understand their date, manufacture and use. The comparative study highlights the wide distribution of decorated shell discs across the ancient Near East, particularly during the early Iron Age, and the complex economic and cultural connections that underpinned the collection, crafting, exchange and significance of such items.     

Accelerated drying of water-wetted materials in electric fields

The electric currents, I, associated with drying rates of discs of paper toweling and cotton cloth wetted with water have been measured as functions of several parameters: E, the strength of the electric field in which the discs were placed; T, the temperature; H, the percent relative humidity. Drying rates increased monotonically with E, and typical drying times decreased by factors of up to about 10 as E rose from 0 to above 7 kV/cm. Measured electric currents over this range of E increased 3–4 orders of magnitude. A solid dielectric object placed in the electric field caused I to be reduced proportionately to the area of the disc that was blocked by the object.     

Enhanced drying rates of wetted materials in electric fields

Laboratory experiments have been performed in which the drying rate of discs of paper towelling moistened by water was measured as a function of the strength of the electric field E in which they were placed. The drying rate increased monotonically with E, the associated drying time (in a typical experiment) decreasing by a factor of about 6 as E rose from 0 to 7 kV/cm.     

Bronze Age Textiles from the North Caucasus: New Evidence of Fourth Millennium BC Fibres and Fabrics

Summary.   Textiles from the North Caucasus Majkop culture (3700–3200 cal BC) site of Novosvobodnaya were selected for a programme of examination. Wool, flax and cotton-like plant-fibre threads were identified. This is the oldest example of wool so far identified in the archaeological record. Weaving techniques employed in making the textiles included the use of tablets or discs, and a simple frame. In addition, two dyeing techniques using tannin dyes have been determined.     

河北南皮芦庄子汉墓的性质

河北省南皮县芦庄子汉墓有较大面积的覆斗形封土,是一座一侧有墓道的"甲"字形土坑竖穴墓葬,墓穴内有大量积陶,砌有砖椁,砖椁内还可能有木椁。出土遗物包括铜礼器和其他铜器及玉璧、相关敛葬用玉等,其中的四件鎏金镶玉铜枕构件表明该墓应为夫妻同穴合葬墓。墓葬的时代为西汉晚期偏早或稍早阶段,等级上属列侯级别墓葬,墓主当为西汉临乐侯国的某一列侯及其夫人,很可能是西汉晚期的节侯刘万年与其夫人。该墓葬作为西汉晚期临乐侯刘万年与其夫人的同穴合葬墓,对汉代列侯墓葬尤其是西汉列侯墓葬的确认和研究具有一定的参考价值和学术意义。     

A preliminary report on ophthalmoi from the Tektas Burnu shipwreck

Ophthalmoi , or ship's eyes, were a common decoration adorning the bows of ancient Greek ships. Athenian naval records and archaeological finds from Piraeus attest to ophthalmoi taking the form of marble appliqués on Greek warships of the Classical Period. Evidence for the use of marble ophthalmoi on Classical merchantmen has only recently come to light. The Institute of Nautical Archaeology's 1999 and 2000 excavation campaigns at Tektag Burnu yielded two marble discs decorated to resemble eyes. These are the actual ophthalmoi of a Classical Period merchantman: the first known from an ancient shipwreck and the earliest archaeological examples of this decorative element.     

A Quasi Non‐destructive Microsampling Technique for the Analysis of Intact Glass Objects By Sem/edxa

A novel sampling technique for the analysis of glass is described, which involves the removal of minute particles from an object with a diamond‐coated file, followed by energy‐dispersive X‐ray analysis in the scanning electron microscope (SEM/EDXA). The particles are fixed to adhesive carbon discs and carbon coated without grinding or polishing. Mean compositions are determined for 10 arbitrarily selected particles above a minimum grain size of 150 mm and normalized to totals of 100%. Tests were carried out on two standard soda–lime–silica glasses of well‐characterized composition, using two files of different grade. The analyses showed good agreement with the accepted values of all elements. Although the precision is somewhat reduced, this highly portable and quasi non‐destructive microsampling procedure provides almost the same information as that gained from samples embedded and polished in the normal way. Its application is thought to be especially useful for the investigation of intact glass objects and ceramic glazes.     

The Conundrum of Intellectual Property Rights: Domestic Interests,International Commitments and the Australian Music Industry

The creation and exploitation of intellectual property is of central importance to Australia's economic security and cultural identity. However, the protection of intellectual property rights can have undesirable consequences including the protection of anti-competitive business environments; the privileging of private over public interest; and the erosion of the state's policy autonomy. In a case study of the recent conflict over the import of compact discs into Australia, this article demonstrates how the Commonwealth Government's attempt to curb the oligopolistic behaviour of the major foreign-owned record companies has been undermined by its desire to demonstrate its commitment to intellectual property rights, especially in the context of the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations and the new agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property TRIPS.     

Later Stone Age ostrich eggshell bead manufacture in the Northern Cape,South Africa

Two different prehistoric manufacturing pathways are identified in the manufacture of ostrich eggshell beads in the South African Later Stone Age. In Pathway 1, blanks are drilled prior to being trimmed to rough discs. This is the dominant production strategy and is consistent with most ethnographic accounts. That in which the trimming occurs first, Pathway 2, was rarely practiced. The data from five bead factory sites in Namaqualand show that most breakage occurs during the drilling stage and that the production process has not changed through the last 4000 years. The use of grooved stones for smoothing beads is contentious and the identity of drilling tools remains unknown. Contrary to the suggestions of others, beads seem to have been readily produced at both short and long term occupation camps and scarcity of ostrich egg is unlikely to have been a determining factor. The lack of production debris reflecting large beads suggests these beads were brought into Namaqualand from elsewhere.     

Intervertebral chondrocalcinosis: an exercise in differential diagnosis in palaeopathology

Intervertebral chondrocalcinosis (calcification of intervertebral discs and associated structures) may arise from a variety of causes. This work presents a discussion of intervertebral chondrocalcinosis and the identification of its most probable cause in skeletal remains, using as a case study a skeleton of an elderly male from medieval Ipswich, UK. The skeleton is examined using gross observation and radiography, and the intervertebral calcifications are subject to chemical analysis. In addition to intervertebral chondrocalcinosis (which has resulted in ankylosis of lumbo‐sacral segments), lesions identified include chondrocalcinosis at some synovial joints, various soft tissue calcified bodies, and severe osteoarthritis particularly at the gleno‐humeral joints. Interpretation of the results of the chemical analysis of the calcified deposits is complicated by diagenesis, but they are most consistent with apatite and/or whitlockite. Arriving at a most probable cause of the lesions in this case is difficult, but it is tentatively suggested that ochronosis may be the best diagnostic option. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The beads of Indian Knoll

ABSTRACT

Busycon discs, barrels, rings, and columellas, Leptoxis and Prunum shell beads, and stone and coal beads from Webb and Moore excavations at Indian Knoll (15OH2) are discussed in this paper as the author seeks to determine how beads were deployed to convey social information during the Archaic period. After wrestling with the count of beads (ca. 27,337) and the number of burials (ca. 260) with beads, the types of beads are tallied and measurements given based on the author’s examination of beads. The presence and distribution of beads in the shell-bearing stratum and the hardpan, and their distribution among women, men, and subadults, are explored. The beads appear to have been assembled rather than manufactured as sets. An argument is made that shell beads were used at Indian Knoll as regalia for members of and victims of a hunt god/spirit cult. Leptoxis sashes are identified in 36 burials and discussed as regalia. Bead co-occurrence with atlatls, faunal species, and violent death is examined as part of the hypothesized cult rituals.     

Evaluating similarity of radial increments around tree stem circumference of European beech and Norway spruce from Central Europe

Extracting cores from a tree using an increment borer has been standard practice in dendrochronological studies for a long time. Although empirical rules exist regarding how many samples to take and which methodology to apply, comparatively few studies provide quantification of the similarity of relative tree-ring-widths (TRW) around the stem circumference. The aim of this study was therefore to precisely measure the similarity of standardised TRWs around the stem circumference and to provide objective suggestions for optimal core sampling of Norway spruce (Picea abies Karst. [L.]) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) growing in Central European temperate forests. A large sample of cross-sectional discs was used from Norway spruce and European beech trees growing on various slopes, at different altitudes and biogeographic regions across the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The similarity of TRWs measured in different coring directions was analysed by testing the relativized TRW around the trunk (rTRW). Comparison of rTRWs revealed no significant differences between coring directions, indicating that the relative increment was the same around the radius. The results also showed the high similarity between the rTRWs to be independent of both slope inclination and altitude. Moreover, the reconstruction of proportional tree diameters and basal areas backward in time from one core sample and one measurement of tree diameter (basal area) at the time of sample extraction is possible with reasonable precision.     

中国出土的一批战国古玻璃样品化学成分的检测

对化学成分体系的确定是中国古代玻璃研究中很重要的一个方面,为此,用外束质子激发X荧光技术(PIXE)、电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱分析(ICP AES)等方法,对新疆、湖北、河南和重庆等地区出土的一批战国时期的玻璃珠(包含镶嵌玻璃珠)、玻璃璧样品进行了检测。结果表明,战国时期中国境内同时存在PbO BaOSiO2、K2O SiO2、Na2O CaO SiO2三种硅酸盐玻璃,分布的地域范围从中国的新疆东部一直到长江、黄河流域,以及南方的四川、贵州等地区。中国古代的PbO BaO SiO2和K2O SiO2玻璃在技术发展上应该具有密切联系。结合文献资料对这些玻璃的产地等相关问题进行了简要讨论。     

Scurvy in adults and youngsters: the Dutch experience. A review of the history and pathology of a disregarded disease

Prior to the Dutch maritime expansion of the 17th and 18th centuries, scurvy was known in the Low Countries as an endemic disease. From the end of the 16th century the disease started to draw much more attention due to increasing long sea journeys of sailors. Already in the Dutch medical literature of the 16th century, a strong relation was expressed between the prolonged taking of foodstuffs of poor quality and the risk of contracting scurvy. Although from that time, many Dutch physicians recommended oranges, scurvy grass and brook‐lime, it took 200 years before inadequate therapy on the fleet was replaced by systematic prevention. Why did the old time effective recommendations for the therapy of scurvy stay inadequate for mariners? To understand, maritime and medical history were unfolded and evaluated with respect to palaeopathological findings reported for 39 cases of active scurvy and one case of healed scurvy. The palaeopathology of scurvy in adults and still growing youngsters was investigated from the remains of 50 Dutch whalers who had been buried during the 17th and 18th centuries on an island of the Spitsbergen Archipelago. Conforming the clinical literature, the original haematomas from scurvy were found as a black staining at the tips of dental roots. In the weight‐bearing bones of the lower extremities large black stains were positioned bilaterally around endofractures of the metaphyses, bilaterally on joint surfaces and bilaterally at epiphyseal discs of youngsters. In the non‐weight‐bearing bones they were often found unilaterally, such as at insertions of muscles. Immunoenzymatic staining of microscopic sections proved that the black stains were from remnants of denatured haemoglobin. No microscopic bone repair activities had happened. In a case of healed scurvy it could even be demonstrated how many times the recovery process had taken place from the layers of appositional bone which had replaced the original subperiosteal haematomas. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The chronology of Rebetiko – a reconsideration of the evidence

Abstract

In this note I would like to discuss the problems presented to researchers by the almost complete lack of reliable information concerning the dates of pre-war rebetika recordings. It is unfortunately no exaggeration to say that with very few exceptions the published dates of older rebetika recordings are not to be trusted, and they have not been based on factual evidence. We are all of us familiar with the well-known reissues of older discs which as a rule never contain the slightest information about the original 78 recordings. A crass example is the series <inline-graphic href="splitsection11_in1.tif"/>whose six volumes do not furnish anything in the way of chronological or label information about the reissued records. There are, moreover, other reissues with more serious pretensions, but no less disappointing. For example the various reissues of the ‘Center for the Study of Rebetika’ where we are given extensive notes and illuminating discussions of musicological problems (at least on some of the early reissues) but not a word about the date, label, catalogue and master numbers of the original recordings. Even in the case of the best reissue so far of pre-war rebetika, Martin Schwartz's ‘Greek-Oriental’ (Folklyric 9033) the information provided in the extensive sleeve notes is not wholly satisfactory. The editor has given us the information found nowhere else on similar reissues, namely the original catalogue and masternumbers from which it should be possible to date the recordings. For instance, Schwartz notes that Charal. Panagis' recording <inline-graphic href="splitsection11_in2.tif"/>appeared originally on Greek Parlophone with the catalogue B 21751 and the masternumber 101476. He does not say, however, when he thinks the record was made, although he has all the information needed. From what we know of Parlophone catalogue numbers it seems certain that the record was issued in early 1934. On the same LP we also have Roza Eskenazi's <inline-graphic href="splitsection11_in3.tif"/>(Greek HMV AO 2147); nor in this case does Schwartz attempt to give a date, although it is plain that the record was issued in 1934.     

The 18th international conference on the history of cartography,Athens, July 1999: Report

The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought. By John Block Friedman. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2000. Original edition, 1981. ISBN 0 8156 2826 9. Pp. xiii, 308, illus. US $29.95 (paper).

A Guide to English Illustrated Books, 1536–1603. By Ruth Samson Luborsky and Elizabeth Morley Ingram. Medieval &; Renaissance Texts &; Studies, vol. 166. Tempe: Arizona State University, 1998. ISBN 0 86698 207 8. Two volumes. Pp. (xxxii), (754), [iv]; (vi), (218), [150], [ii], illus. US $75.00.

The Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection, Library of Congress: Gerardus Mercator, Atlas sive Cosmographies Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi et Fabricati Figura (Duisburg, 1595). Translated from the Latin by David Sullivan, with commentary by Robert W. Karrow, Jr. Oakland, California: Octavo, 2000. ISBN 1 891788 26 4. CD‐ROM (2 discs). US $65.00. [Octavo: ; e‐mail ; Octavo Customer Service, 580 Second Street, Suite 220, Oakland, CA 94607–3543.]

The Travel Diary of Robert Bargrave, Levant Merchant 1647–1656. Edited by Michael G. Brennan. Hakluyt Society Third Series, No. 3. London: The Hakluyt Society, 1999. ISBN 0 904 180 63 8. Pp. xix, 288, illus. STG £45 (doth). [The Hakluyt Society, c/o The Map Library, British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB, UK.]

California 49: Forty‐nine Maps of California from the Sixteenth Century to the Present. Edited by Warren Heckrotte and Julie Sweetkind. California Map Society Occasional Paper no. 6. San Francisco: California Map Society with the Book Club of California, 1999. ISBN 0 1 888126 01 9. Pp. 128, illus., 7 col. plates, 1 folded map. US $49.00 (doth). [Hinckle and Sons Printing Office, 2567 Fourteenth Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94127.]

Mapping Cities. Catalogue and essay by Naomi Miller. Exhibition coordinated by Karen E. Haas. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press for Boston University Art Gallery, 2000. ISBN 1 881450 13 9. Pp. 92, 23 illus., 7 col. plates. US $20.00 (paper).

8. Kartographiehistorisches Colloquium Bern, 3.‐5. Oktober 1996. Vorträge und Berichte. Edited by Wolfgang Scharfe in association with the Arbeitskreis ‘Geschichte der Kartographie’ der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Kartographie und der Arbeitsgruppe D‐A‐CH deutscher, österreichischer und schweizerischer Kartographiehistoriker DGfK‐ÖKK/ ÖGG‐SGK. Murten: Verlag Cartographica Helvetica, 2000. (= Cartographica Helvetica, Sonderheft Nr. 16.) ISSN 1422 3392. Pp. x, 225, illus., col. plates. DM 70.00 / SFR 55.00. [Verlag Cartographica Helvetica, Untere Längmatt 9, CH‐3280 Murten.]

The Universe Unveiled: Instruments and Images through History. By Bruce Stephenson, Marvin Bolt and Anna Felicity Friedman. Chicago and Cambridge: Alder Planetarium and Astronomy Museum and Cambridge University Press, 2000. ISBN 0 521 79143 X. Pp. 152, fflus., col. plates. US $29.95 (cloth). [Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, 1300 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605.]

Mikra'ot Gedolot ‘Haketer’: A revised and augmented scientific edition of the Mikra'ot Gedolot Based on the Aleppo Codex and Early Medieval MSS: Ezekiel. Edited by Menachem Cohen. Ramat‐Gan, Israel: Bar‐Han University Press, 2000. ISBN 965 226 230 7. Pp. xvii, 339, illus. NIS 94.80 (cloth). [Bar‐Dan University Press, Ramat‐Gan 52900 Israel].

Diercke—ein Atlas für Generationen: Hintergründe, Geschichte, und bibliographische Daten bis 1955. By Jürgen Espenhorst and Erhard Kumpel. Schwerte, Germany: Pangaea Verlag, 1999. ISBN 3 930401 50 9. Pp. 119, illus., 9 col. plates. DM 39 / Euro 20 (cloth). [Pangaea Verlag, Villigster Str. 32, 58239 Schwerte, Germany.]     

THE OPTIMAL PROVISION OF A CENTRAL PARK IN A CITY*

In this paper, I examine the conditions and decision rules pertaining to the efficient provision of a central park in a city (provision that must satisfy the Samuelson condition). An interesting finding is that an additional opportunity cost that results from competition with residential use must be included to determine the efficient size of a central park. An efficient central park is larger in a city with public landownership than in a city with absentee landownership. Profit maximization and population maximization can be used as decision rules to determine the efficient provision of a central park in both an open city with absentee landownership and one with public landownership. The net benefit of a central park in a closed city with absentee landownership is reflected not only in the land rent or profit, but also in the utility level, while that of a closed city with public landownership is fully reflected in the utility level. It is not feasible to determine the efficient size of a central park for a closed city with either absentee or public landownership solely based on observable market information.     

Wealden nature and the role of London in nineteenth-century artistic imagination

The new outlook on nature as a restorative for jaded urban-dwellers that is associated with Victorians' sense of an increasing separation from their natural environment, had a powerful influence upon the imagination of mid nineteenth-century landscape artists choosing to work in south-east England. Although they established close business relations with the metropolis and provincial cities, they experienced a loss of confidence in London as a subject for landscape painting and with new opportunities for travel provided by railways they preferred to satisfy a quasi-scientific curiosity in the visible appearance of natural and semi-natural beauty in the green world beyond London, especially in the expressively-shaped Weald, long connected with aesthetic appreciation and scientific observation. Their specific contribution of plain-air realism was to conceive the Wealden landscape both as a natural marvel and a human epic, an idea then new and exciting to the mind. Their feelings of awe and wonder have Ruskinian undertones and are inextricably linked with the drama of earth history that natural scientists were simultaneously unfolding in a newly constituted laboratory of field studies. This spiriting of a new, imagined, wilderness out of what wooded nature still survived in a shrunken form after the clearings of pioneer farmers became an inexhaustible source of enrichment to nineteenth-century urban life and conforms at least partially with mid-Victorians' perception of a natural habitat juxtaposed with one of the world's largest and most artificial environments that Victorians themselves were creating. It became a nearly symbolic image of an ideal English landscape which existed largely as a protected paradise of the urban imagination.     

Australia and the rise of India

Australia is at risk of being left behind by the pace of India's emergence as a regional and global power and its lack of engagement with India during this emergence. The Rudd Labor government is developing a framework which may make Australia a significant partner with India. There is the potential for a thoroughgoing engagement of interests and ideals in proposals Australia has put forward in three areas. Australia's vision of an Asia Pacific Community, with cooperation as its habitual operating principle, and with a membership that includes India and the USA as well as China and Japan, fills a multilateral gap. Secondly, the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament may provide a global framework assisting the development of Australian and Indian initiatives in the controlling and winding back of nuclear proliferation. Thirdly, Australia's national carbon pollution reduction program is intended to demonstrate international leadership and engagement in climate change, and opens the prospect for Australia of a substantial bilateral partnership with India (and others) to advance common interests around climate change. Australia, while emphasising its close relationship with the USA, is preparing to live in a region where the USA will, over time, be less influential as its relative power declines. As other great powers rise, Australia can actively pursue a hedging strategy to diversify its dependencies, and develop a much deeper engagement with that other emerging Asian giant.