New compositional data on ancient mortars from Hagia Sophia (Istanbul,Turkey)

This study shows the results of a multidisciplinary collaboration between the University of Calabria (Italy) and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), about the compositional characterization of some mortars taken from Hagia Sophia in Istanbul (Turkey), one of the most important buildings in antiquity. Twenty samples of joint mortars were analysed by micro-chemical analyses (SEM-EDS), X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), optical microscopy (OM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The compositional study allowed us to define, with more detail, the construction phases of the fifth, sixth and tenth century. The petrographic analysis in thin section by optical microscopy showed four typologies of sands, used as aggregate, with specific compositional features. SEM-EDS analyses and TEM observations of the binder around the ceramic fragments of the aggregate showed the presence of different morphologies of single C-S-H compounds.     

Thermographic Survey at Hagia Sophia: Main Arches,Pendentives and Tympana

Hagia Sophia is one of the oldest and most complex existing monuments. Many unanswered questions are still open on the historical and constructive evolution of this monument. The boundaries between the different construction phases and the details of the masonry and materials used in the various phases are still not defined with precision.

The thermographic survey, carried out inside the monument, made ??it possible to answer some of these questions by specifying the exact location of the past interventions and the variability of the materials employed allowing a better understanding of the constructive history of the monument. The technique was applied at a great distance and in normal environmental conditions, taking advantage of the high thermal sensitivity of the instrumentation. The results achieved confirm the validity of the technique in the study of ancient buildings.     

Of Ships and Deer: early Western Mediterranean ship graffiti reappraised

Re‐analysis of the Hal Tarxien prehistoric ship graffiti, the incised figure on a pottery sherd, from the Neolithic site of Grapceva cave on a Croatian island, known as the ‘Hvar boat’, and the Villanovian‐Etruscan bronze razor from Bologna allow the last two to be reinterpreted as animals rather than ships, and the first to be dated to the Bronze Age Cemetery phase of the site. These findings require the earliest ship graffiti in the western Mediterranean to be reconsidered.     

Three Scandinavian Counterfactual Scenarios from the Napoleonic Wars

The article focuses on the possibilities of counterfactual history through three showcases from the Scandinavian theatre of the Napoleonic Wars. The scenarios are based on clearly described and plausible points of divergence, i.e. single, identifiable historical events that could have resulted in a different outcome. The counterfactuals are explored by means of systematic extrapolation. The first scenario presents the possibility of a Danish victory against the British naval expedition in the Battle of Copenhagen Roads in 1801. The scenario seeks to answer the question whether the Danish victory could have maintained the League of Armed Neutrality intact in some form, keeping Scandinavia out of the Napoleonic Wars altogether. The second scenario describes the Abborfors border dispute of 1803, which historically nearly triggered a war between Sweden and Russia. The extrapolation focuses on the hypothetical consequences of a premature Swedish-Russian conflict in 1803, and its impact on the War of the Third Coalition. The third scenario explores the hypothetical French invasion of Jutland in 1807, and the potential of Scandinavia as a strategic quagmire of the Napoleonic Wars, comparable to what Spain became in our timeline.     

Speaking from the Shadows: Sophia Morrison and the Manx Cultural Revival

The true extent of national and cultural revival in the Isle of Man, 1880-1920, is only now beginning to be understood. The present paper focuses on a previously marginalised figure, the folklorist and activist Sophia Morrison. Her work exposes the importance of folklore in providing impetus for the revival movement in the absence of a strong literary tradition for Manx Gaelic. Morrison's ability to move between social circles sets her apart from other antiquarians, and she emerges as a key figure in the Manx language movement.     

Urban small vertebrate taphonomy: a case study from Anglo–Scandinavian York

Sampling of deposits at the Queens Hotel site, York, produced a substantial number of small terrestrial vertebrate remains from the Anglo–Scandinavian features. By studying bone surface modification, fragmentation and skeletal completeness as taphonomic indicators, it was possible to demonstrate that the assemblage had resulted from two very different modes of accumulation and deposition. Refuse pits situated within the boundaries of the tenements had acted as accumulators of the fragmented and abraded small mammal and amphibian bones that existed as a sub‐surface death assemblage within the local environment. In contrast, the excellent preservation and skeletal completeness of numerous frogs recovered from the basal fill of a wooden well could be accounted for by their direct entry into the burial environment as a result of pit‐fall trapping. This paper also discusses the implications that the temporal and spatial variation in deposition demonstrated by the micro‐faunal remains has for the reconstruction of local ecological and environmental conditions within this site, and for other such sites. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.