Holocene archaeological evidence of extinct and very rare British Scarabaeoidea

Abstract

The analysis of British Holocene insect assemblages has discovered nine species of scarabaeoid dung beetles which are now extinct in Britain and two more that are extremely rare. Some of these species had been suspected as native by early 19th century entomologists but doubt had been cast on specimens in old collections of British Coleoptera. Eight are dung feeders which, although they would have initially been favoured by clearance for pasture and a possible warm climate episode in the middle Bronze Age, subsequently declined as a result of increasing cultivation and a slight cooling of the summer climate. The other three species probably became extinct due to human-induced habitat loss.     

Nicosia and its municipal administration during the very early years of British rule in Cyprus

Abstract

In recent years, the trauma concept has been applied to fiction in several literary studies. This article discusses the narrative mediation of traumatic experiences in selected Civil War novels, using narratological tools and focusing on the complex relationship between trauma, memory and narration. The authors use innovative narrative and representational strategies, such as a disrupted chronological order or intertextual references, to illustrate the paradoxical character of remembering and narrating trauma. These works highlight diverse aspects of the Greek Civil War, depart from conventional narrative modes and share common characteristics with so-called 'trauma fiction'.     

A glimpse of British political studies

Patrick Dunleavy and Jeffrey Stanyer (eds), Contemporary Political Studies, 1994 (2 vols). Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Political Studies Association of the United Kingdom, University of Wales Swansea, 29–31 March 1994.     

A British view of race relations

Paul Baxter and Basil Sansom, eds. Race and Social Difference: Selected Readings. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books (Penguin Modern Sociology Readings series), 1972. 495 pp. Maps, tables, charts, references, indexes and bibliography. $3.95 (paper).     

A very public affair: art meets science

ABSTRACT

What happens in interdisciplinary practices between the arts and sciences? What determines their successes and failures, and how they should be conducted? Here I propose that we can deepen our understanding of them by looking at the role of one specific and, to my mind, vital aspect of many (most?) successful art/science collaborations, namely their presence in public. More specifically, I suggest that museums, having played a crucial historical role in shaping some specialized disciplinary thought, are now well-placed to encourage an opposite tendency towards trans-disciplinary activity. I elaborate this argument by focusing on three characteristics of museums that have made them ideal places to locate art-science collaborations: the role of exhibitions as units of investigation; the ascendency of artist/curators as unusual enquirers; and the enduring value of middle-sized things in these risky initiatives.     

中国古代失蜡工艺求真——兼述失蜡工艺特征与青铜器鉴定

本文是作者<失蜡工艺的起源与失蜡铸件的工艺特征>一文的姐妹篇,立足于探究中国古代的失蜡工艺.基于古代文献和近现代文献资料的综合分析与研究,作者指出:(1)中国古代的失蜡工艺不同于现代失蜡铸造,是不可能铸造出象曾侯乙尊盘那样繁复透窄或其他枝连交错的青铜器件的;(2)从宋至明清,中国古代的失蜡铸造无论是模料、壳料还是具体的技法都不是一成不变的,而是不断变化发展的;(3)有无范缝不能作为青铜器辨伪的有效判据,失蜡铸件有其固有的工艺特征,可以用来鉴别仿制和复制的器物.     

A British Lead Seal from Northern New Spain

Abstract

It is often suggested that only a fairly small percentage of the buried population was commemorated on stones before the 19th century. However, there has been little empirical study of what proportion is represented on monuments for different periods. This work compares the number of individuals whose names appear on surviving monuments in historical burial grounds, and the number of individuals recorded in parish records. Although there was considerable variation between graveyards, the mean proportion of those registered as having been buried and who were also commemorated was 8·23%, the figure being much higher in rural areas and much lower in urban ones.