Archaeometric Clearinghouse XXI

Abstract

A repository of archaeometric research collections and records has been established at the Conservation Analytical Laboratory of the Smithsonian Institution. It will not only preserve analyzed artifactual and raw material that has been bequeathed to the Smithsonian Institution, but also maintain computer files of current and past analytical work in a form accessible to archaeologists and archaeometrists. This is a report on the origin and scope of this new enterprise, and a call to the archaeometric community to contribute information and materials to SARCAR.     

Voluntary Societies and the Urban Local Community: A Case Study of the Halifax Mechanics' Institution

Abstract

This article considers the structure of the Halifax Mechanics' Institution, located in one of the principal manufacturing and commercial towns in the nineteenth-century West Yorkshire, based on the local primary sources, printed sources and my original historical computer database. Although some established works have described Mechanics' Institution as one of the most active societies in the second quarter of the nineteenth century, the hitherto-research has paid little attention to an aspect of its urban public institution. The Mechanics' Institution dealt with disputes within the institution, established hierarchical structure among its members, made social relationships inside and outside the institution, and aimed to have interrelationships with other urban bodies. Such practices were of vital importance for strengthening the ties between the institution and the urban local community of Halifax in order to bring about stability and order in the urban society.     

Milton’s Euripides and the superior rationality of the heathen

ABSTRACT

If arguments have always been made either that Milton maintains the primacy of the Bible over classical literature, or that he often presents classical sentiments as congruent with the biblical, one claim that has rarely been made is that Milton is willing to assert the truth of classical literature over that of the Bible. This article argues that there are moments in the canon that show him capable of doing precisely this, with particular reference to the invocation of his favourite Greek dramatist, Euripides. The article considers Milton’s reading and interpretation of Euripides in his early poetry and prose, before examining more closely the citation of Euripides in two of the prose works which bear heavily on the question of how politically and religiously radical Milton was: The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates and De Doctrina Christiana. The turn to Euripidean authority over the biblical reveals Milton’s willingness to subject Scripture to the test of pagan wisdom, if he judges that wisdom to have superior claims to rationality. This willingness derives from the development of his ethical thought in the 1630s and early 1640s, and from his understanding of classical, patristic and contemporary authorities, including John Selden.     

The Development of Comparative Judicial Politics

Abstract

Much of the scholarly debate over the Heidegger controversy has endeavored to either connect or free his philosophy from fascism. Against both these tendencies, I argue that the central concepts of Heidegger's philosophy are politically underdetermined. Throughout both his late and early periods, Heidegger's primary ambition remained the illumination of the question of being, a project that I argue made his ontological framework inherently relativistic.     

Spiritual-Material Noninterventionism: Reformed Influences on Bodin's Political Theology

ABSTRACT

Jean Bodin's political philosophy drew on a key Reformed principle: the necessary separation between the spiritual and material realms. This principle, as Bodin understood it, required that the sovereign avoid interference with his subjects’ property. As such, the separation of the spiritual and material served Bodin's voluntarism, permitting man, who occupied a middle state between the spiritual and material, to impose his will on the world, but also made man (and particularly woman) vulnerable to abusing this state through witchcraft. Tracing this principle through Bodin's thought demonstrates another connection between the sovereign and the witch.     

REMARKABLE PHOTOGRAPHS OF CLARENCE B. MOORE’S EXPEDITION TO THE OUACHITA RIVER VALLEY,LOUISIANA, 1908–1909

Abstract

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Clarence Bloomfield Moore spent approximately 30 years visiting, excavating, and reporting on archaeological sites across the southeastern United States. During the latter 25 years of his research, Moore employed the sternwheel steamer Gopher as his primary mode of transportation. From early November 1908 until late April 1909, Moore and the Gopher, along with an experienced excavation team, the boat’s captain and crew, and several technical experts, examined sites along the Ouachita River in Louisiana and Arkansas. One of the members of this expedition was Arthur W. Clime, whose widow, Celia Clime, donated a number of photographs to the Smithsonian Institution that depict scenes from the Ouachita River work. These photographs of Clarence Moore’s field research are unique in that they provide an important glimpse into some of the earliest archaeological work conducted in Louisiana and into the field techniques employed by Moore.     

Noble Traditions and Christian Principles: The Integral Spirituality of Bernard Narokobi

ABSTRACT

This article describes some of the major events in the Catholic Church in Papua New Guinea (PNG) following the Second Vatican Council, the ‘self study’ of the church in PNG in the 1970s, and the General Assembly of 2003–4. An outcome of the self study was the establishment of a national Catholic council in which Bernard Narokobi played a significant role. The article continues with a reflection on how Narokobi’s promotion of Melanesian spirituality finds links with a Catholic theology of grace and sacrament and how these two contribute to his understanding of the dual pillars of the PNG Constitution with its noble traditions and Christian principles coming together in the ideal of integral human development. The article lays out different ways Bernard Narokobi was formally involved with the church over his lifetime and how his bringing together of Melanesian experience and Christian faith provided a model for the integral liberation he envisaged and expressed – both in his work in the church and in the National Goals and Directive Principles of the PNG Constitution.     

Illustrations of the History of Knitting Selected from the Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum

Abstract

Based on new archival findings, this essay maps the life and business strategies of Brussels tapissiers Albert Auwercx and Judocus de Vos. It shows that categorising Auwerxc as a minor tapissier — a label he was assigned in the past — ignores the underlying structure and dynamics of the industry. Brussels tapissiers created an intricate web of social networks that generated trust, which paved the way for semi-structured and flexible cooperation between small firms. Judocus de Vos also belonged to the Brussels social and production networks but made his name as a commercial link and broker between Brussels, the Antwerp-Oudenarde production and trading complex, and the European élite — particularly after 1719 when he handed over the reins and assets of the De Vos workshop to his brother Jan-Frans.     

Kang Youwei’s propaganda adjustments after the Hundred Days Reform, 1898–1900

ABSTRACT

After the failed Hundred Days Reform, Kang Youwei launched a propaganda campaign in the newspapers under his control. In addition to casting himself in a favorable light, the campaign served two other purposes: to justify his own fleeing from China and to solicit foreign intervention to free Emperor Guangxu from house arrest. Immediately following the bloody coup d’etat in 1898, Kang identified Empress-Dowager Cixi as the chief instigator of the tragedy. By 1899, he turned to blaming some of her “evil ministers” as well. A year later he accused both parties. After the founding of Baohuang hui (Chinese Empire Reform Association) in 1899, Kang’s overseas propaganda began to call for an armed rescue mission and for funds from the overseas Chinese communities for this purpose. The adjustments Kang made to his propaganda campaign were echoed by progressive newspapers published inside China. Together, they created a public opinion that forced the Qing government to proceed with the political reform.     

What is settler colonialism? An anthropological meditation on frantz fanon's "concerning violence"

There has been a tendency in anthropology to read Frantz Fanon referentially, reflectively and phenomenologically. As a consequence, his analyses have been regarded as reductive and simplistic. Promoted here is a relational, reflexive and historical reading of his essay "Concerning Violence" that forms the basis for an alternative deconstructive and political critique to current anthropological studies of colonial discourses reliant on epistemologically based critiques. The intent is to consider some of the effects generated by the use of unexamined concepts and typologies. In particular, this deonstructive and political critique, in significant measure made possible by Fanon's oeuvre, is applied to the concept of "settler colonialism" as used in the discipline over the last three decades via texts as diverse as those of Leo Kuper, David Prochaska and Patrick Wolfe.     

Silks,skills and opportunities in Byzantium: some reflexions

Abstract

Silks gave visible form to Byzantium's political culture and, being light to carry, could circulate widely. Many of the garments issued to recipients of offices and titles were made of silk and the Book of the Eparch takes for granted the close connection between imperial prerogatives, silken vestments of various shades of purple and restrictions on foreigners' access to them. Through whetting appetites for silks and maintaining a monopoly over the finest quality products, the emperor could hope to arouse in his own subjects and foreigners alike the desire to gain them through some form of ‘service’. These products simultaneously expressed his wealth, superior knowledge and — by the symbols on them — the antiquity and unsurpassable legitimacy of his rule.     

Josephus' Retelling of Nathan's Oracle (2 Samuel 7)

This paper deals with the way Josephus has retold and rewritten the narrative in 2 Sam 7 in his Jewish Antiquities 7.90-95. Recent studies made on this issue have focused either on the question of Messianism or on the characterization of king David in Josephus' writings. However, our study focuses on Josephus' qualities as a commentator and discusses how Josephus handled the hermeneutical problems he encountered in the story, for example: why did God forbid David to build a temple? What was the nature of God's promise to David that his dynasty will rule forever? These questions are examined through a close reading of the Josephus' retelling of the biblical story in 2 Sam 7. We have considered omissions, additions, and changes in the sequence of actions. Our aim was to find out whether the differences between the biblical text and that of Josephus should be ascribed to a different Vorlage (which may be identical to the LXX), to harmonization or to intentional changes made to clarify difficult verses within the text.     

At Last! The Voegelin Reader

ABSTRACT

The Collected Works of Eric Voegelin, one of the great political scientists of the twentieth century, run to 34 volumes. The selection republished in this Reader will provide senior undergraduates and graduate students (and perhaps their teachers) with a wide-ranging introduction to Voegelin's modern but Aristotelean political science. The selection includes excerpts from his Autobiographical Reflections and from his best-known work, The New Science of Politics. There are several examples of his late an alytical essays. Readers unfamiliar with his relationship to Christianity, always a contentious issue, will find his discussions of the relationship of philosophical or noetic symbols and experiences to revelatory of pneumatic ones especially helpful. The editors and the University of Missouri Press have performed a major service to contemporary political science by making this se lection available.     

The Rolt Memorial Lecture, 1978 Sir Humphry Davy: His Life and Work

Abstract

Sir Humphry Davy, a largely self-taught genius of humble birth, made major contributions to the development of chemistry, physics, geology and natural history in the early nineteenth century. Much of his research was directly beneficial to various industries principally agriculture, mining and metallurgy, electro-chemicals and leather processing. He is best remembered for his miners' safety lamp and the story of its development forms the core of this paper.     

Dr Thomas Beddoes The Interaction of Pneumatic and Preventive Medicine with Chemistry

Abstract

Chemistry has often been pressed into the service of medicine. In the years following Lavoisier's chemical revolution, the attention of chemists focused upon gases. Thomas Beddoes (1760–1808) developed a research programme that explored the therapeutic effects of different gases in the treatment of tuberculosis and other diseases. Beddoes was inspired by the discoveries of Joseph Priestley, employed young Humphry Davy as an assistant in his researches, received advice and encouragement from Erasmus Darwin, and used pneumatic apparatus designed by James Watt. He also engaged in efforts directed at social reform and at reforms in public health, being especially concerned with the condition of the poor. His Pneumatic Institution in Bristol was at one and the same time a research centre and a health clinic. This paper explores the interaction between chemistry and medicine in Beddoes' career, within a context of scientific and social ferment.     

Our Heritage – Our Future

Abstract

Much of our present technology can be traced to the great discoveries at the beginning of our century, particularly relativity and quantum mechanics. This is our heritage. Based on these, reasonable extrapolations can be made for our future, and are here exemplified by microelectronics, lasers, molecular biology, new material, aviation and nuclear energy. But often the unexpected development is the most important, here compared with non-linear equations in mathematics. Man's great future will arise from such non-linearities and the space telescope may bring a new field theory, redundancy in computers may give us thinking machines and finally the discovery – or the proof of absence – of extra-terrestrial life will bring the greatest of all non-linear changes. It is concluded that human imagination is unlimited, that imagination lets man grow to transcend his limits and to fulfil his dreams.     

THE PREHISTORY OF MR. ELI LILLY

Abstract

The disciplinary mythology of North American archaeology grudgingly acknowledges Eli Lilly’s financial support for research. At the same time it systematically devalues and even deletes his role as a productive scholar, the author of original works on the prehistory of Indiana, the creator of an effective archaeological seminar on the prehistory of Indiana and the Eastern United States, and the guiding force in the establishment of several enduring archaeological institutions. This paper documents the scholarly contributions of Eli Lilly. It shows how his mind and management skills were even more important to the development of archaeological research in the Midcontinent than was his financial support for many important archaeological research projects.     

Goethe's ‘Wilhelm Meister’ and Spinoza

Abstract

A strong case is made in this review that Spinoza greatly influenced Goethe in his much-studied Wilhelm Meister novels, a fact not hitherto recognized, although Goethe himself acknowledged the inspiration he derived from Spinoza's work. Goethe's Werther, and his Faust, are the mythical figures of modern times with the two Wilhelm Meister novels the critical countertheme in which the voice of Spinoza is here considered the cantus firmus of outstanding significance.     

The Internationalism of German Castle Research: Bodo Ebhardt,His European Network,and the Construction of 'Castle Knowledge'

Abstract

Recent monographs and articles emphasize the strong impact of nationalism and racist thinking on archaeology. In contrast to the treatments which focus on single nation states and on archaeology as a politically legitimate science, this paper explores the tension between internationalism and racist premises in German castle research, and how it manifests itself in the construction of knowledge about medieval castles across national borders. I will focus on Bodo Ebhardt, Germany's most famous and influential castle researcher of the first half of the 20th century. The analysis of his scientific work, and of his personal contact with other European researchers as well as with German politicians and patrons, will shed light on the changes and continuities in his network, and in particular on his construction of the past that was influenced by the formation of this network, which, in turn, affected his assessment of medieval castles.     

On St. Artemius as ‘Deacon’

Abstract

The publication of an English translation of the 7th-century Miracles of St. Artemios, with facing Greek text and accompanying commentary, is most welcome, and will undoubtedly invite further discussion of the various points of interest raised by this text. Here I wish to focus on the physical appearance of St. Artemios, in particular his alleged appearance as a deacon in miracle 32. In this miracle, a friend tells a certain Menas how St. Artemius had appeared to him as he slept in the Church of St. John the Baptist and had cured his hernia.