‘I call the people.’ Church bells in fourteenth-century Catalunya

Bells were an inescapable part of fourteenth-century urban life. They signalled the hours of the day and times for prayers; they warned of tempests and enemy armies; they heralded masses, funerals, and deaths. The pealing of bells brought men, women, and children together, choreographing communal behaviour in time and space. Bells echoed the vox Domini, calling out the deaths of holy men and women, celebrating the working of miracles. The ubiquitous presence of bells reflected the omnipresence of God in the medieval world. Their echoes transformed private moments into collective experiences, elevating the mundane into the miraculous. Scholars have rarely examined the religious aspects of bells, looking instead at their more practical side, especially their utilisation as markers of time and the allegedly concurrent rise of mercantile culture. This article approaches bells from the viewpoints of those men and women who heard them and wanted them rung. Focusing on sources from Christian clerics, we see that medieval men rang the bells with clear, but many possible, purposes in mind. By marking time and prayers, Christian church bells helped to create and facilitate communities within dioceses, spurring and choreographing their actions. During funerals, bells broadcast private moments, giving them communal significance. The transformative, creative function of bells is clearest in their role in miracles. In Manresa, the vision experienced by a few became a community affair when the church bells gathered the people; the bells transformed an ordinary day into one where the people, as a community, received divine favour. Finally, with the deaths of holy persons, the tolling of bells transformed private, even anonymous deaths, into moments of wonder as God’s hand touched the world.The pealing of bells defined Christian communities in the Mediterranean and, at the same time as rulers and elites throughout the region were seeking to control minority groups, those same groups were seeking to exercise control over the sounds within their own communities. Through the pealing of bells, churchmen across Catalunya sought to direct the thoughts and prayers of their listeners. When the Christian clerics of Catalunya rang their churches’ bells, they had specific aims in mind, yet, as the evidence demonstrates, the pealing of the bells never meant just one thing. This article demonstrates that there is much more to understanding medieval bells than knowing ‘for whom the bell tolls’; we have to look at the listeners as much as the ringers in order to understand their cultural significance in medieval Europe. This article is a first step in how such a study could be begun.     

PRE-COLUMBIAN METALLURGY: TECHNOLOGY,MANUFACTURE, AND MICROPROBE ANALYSES OF COPPER BELLS FROM THE GREATER SOUTHWEST*

Twenty-four cast copper crotals (commonly called bells), one 'spilled bell’, one tinkler bell and a number of minerals from locations throughout the Greater Southwest were analysed for their elemental composition by a PIXE nuclear microprobe at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, USA. Sixteen bells contained minor and trace amounts of silver, antimony, arsenic, lead, and in some cases tin, strontium, and selenium. Nine bells contained little or no detectable amounts of these elements. This suggests that several workshops throughout the Greater Southwest and Mexico might have manufactured these bells.     

Of saints,sows or smiths? Copper-brazed iron handbells in Early Medieval England

ABSTRACT

Copper-brazed iron handbells were a distinctive feature of monastic life in Early Medieval Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Handbells were used in liturgy, prayer, worship, and later as reliquaries. In England, brazed bells of the seventh to ninth centuries take on a greater range of sizes and forms and are found on a wider variety of sites. As a consequence, their roles within Christianity have been questioned, and associations with animals and itinerant smiths have been emphasised instead. Recent archaeological investigation of an Anglo-Saxon marsh-island at Little Carlton, Lincolnshire has resulted in one of the largest assemblages of copper-brazed iron bells from any site in England, comparable to similar collections from Flixborough and Brandon. Taking into consideration the inclusion of brazen bells in some ritualistic ‘closure hoards’, this paper argues that whilst Anglo-Saxon plain iron bells may have fulfilled a range of profane functions, those that were copper-brazed, regardless of their size, were important objects amongst early Christian communities in England, and the Northumbrian church in particular.     

Experimental Dynamic Testing and Numerical Modeling of Historical Belfry

The experimental characterization of historical bell towers and wall belfries can provide important information for the calibration of numerical models as well as to implement proper restoration strategies. Within this framework, the presented study is concerned with the experimental dynamic assessment of an ancient belfry dating back to 1537. The structure is part of the “Santa Maria in Aracoeli Church” (Rome, Italy), an important heritage construction placed on the summit of the Capitoline Hill, close to the building that hosts the Major’s office. Several field tests have been conducted using accelerometers, and records obtained under different dynamic loading scenarios have been examined. Moreover, experimental accelerations have been elaborated to estimate the most important modal features of the structure and to validate a finite element model. Field tests have confirmed that severe vibrations are induced when the bells swing, and thus a slight reduction of the swing angle has been suggested in order to provide an immediate and inexpensive benefit to the structure. A new set of field tests demonstrates that the new swing angle is sufficient to reduce the induced vibrations while preserving the original sound.     

'Chiefs and Thieves and Other People Besides': The Making of George Speight's Coup

In August 1899, US Naval and Marine forces arrived on Guam to establish an American military government that would replace more than two centuries of Spanish colonial rule. Within the first month of Captain Richard Leary's term as naval governor, he directed a number of decisive actions specifically against the Roman Catholic Church. These included a ban on the annual celebration of village fiestas, a prohibition on the ringing of church bells and, most dramatically, the expulsion of the island's Spanish priests. While the existing scholarship interprets these events as political actions to establish a uniquely American governmental system that enforces the separation of Church and State, this paper interrogates an additional array of intersecting economic and cultural issues to tell a story about some of the desires and anxieties regarding colonialism, capitalism, and nationalism in the Pacific.     

Exploring the potential linkages between oil‐field brine reinjection,crystalline basement permeability,and triggered seismicity for the Dagger Draw Oil field,southeastern New Mexico,USA, using hydrologic modeling

We used hydrologic models to explore the potential linkages between oil‐field brine reinjection and increases in earthquake frequency (up to M_d 3.26) in southeastern New Mexico and to assess different injection management scenarios aimed at reducing the risk of triggered seismicity. Our analysis focuses on saline water reinjection into the basal Ellenburger Group beneath the Dagger Draw Oil field, Permian Basin. Increased seismic frequency (>M_d 2) began in 2001, 5 years after peak injection, at an average depth of 11 km within the basement 15 km to the west of the reinjection wells. We considered several scenarios including assigning an effective or bulk permeability value to the crystalline basement, including a conductive fault zone surrounded by tighter crystalline basement rocks, and allowing permeability to decay with depth. We initially adopted a 7 m (0.07 MPa) head increase as the threshold for triggered seismicity. Only two scenarios produced excess heads of 7m five years after peak injection. In the first, a hydraulic diffusivity of 0.1 m² s^?1 was assigned to the crystalline basement. In the second, a hydraulic diffusivity of 0.3 m² s^?1 was assigned to a conductive fault zone. If we had considered a wider range of threshold excess heads to be between 1 and 60 m, then the range of acceptable hydraulic diffusivities would have increased (between 0.1–0.01 m² s^?1 and 1–0.1 m² s^?1 for the bulk and fault zone scenarios, respectively). A permeability–depth decay model would have also satisfied the 5‐year time lag criterion. We also tested several injection management scenarios including redistributing injection volumes between various wells and lowering the total volume of injected fluids. Scenarios that reduced computed excess heads by over 50% within the crystalline basement resulted from reducing the total volume of reinjected fluids by a factor of 2 or more.     

重锤坠力天文钟述略

南京博物院入藏的清初重锤坠力天文钟表,是以坠力动源取代水、沙动源的一种新型天文钟表。探析坠力天文钟表的动源、擒纵调速机构、字盘显示、报时方法和制作年代,为研究明末清初的钟表提供了实物资料。     

Observations of lunar tides in upper atmosphere winds at Poker Flat,Alaska

The lunar semidiurnal tide is extracted from hourly values of winds in the 75–105 km region measured by the Poker Flat Alaska MST radar used in the meteor mode. Since year-to-year variations are apparent, detailed results for 1983 and 1984 are presented. Inferred vertical wavelengths range from 17 km in March 1983 to 46–55 km in September of 1983 and 1984. The height progression of the phase is frequently too irregular to derive a vertical wavelength. Amplitudes of 3 m s⁻¹ are common and range up to 8 m s⁻¹. Amplitudes generally are largest at the equinoxes, especially in September, with another maximum in winter sometimes occurring. Reasonable agreement is found with lunar tidal measurements at Saskatoon, and some points of similarity are found with the solar semidiurnal tide at Poker Flat.     

Transfer of hydrocarbons from natural seeps to the water column and atmosphere

Results from surface geochemical prospecting, seismic exploration and satellite remote sensing have documented oil and gas seeps in marine basins around the world. Seeps are a dynamic component of the carbon cycle and can be important indicators for economically significant hydrocarbon deposits. The northern Gulf of Mexico contains hundreds of active seeps that can be studied experimentally with the use of submarines and Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV). Hydrocarbon flux through surface sediments profoundly alters benthic ecology and seafloor geology at seeps. In water depths of 500–2000 m, rapid gas flux results in shallow, metastable deposits of gas hydrate, which reduce sediment porosity and affect seepage rates. This paper details the processes that occur during the final, brief transition — as oil and gas escape from the seafloor, rise through the water and dissolve, are consumed by microbial processes, or disperse into the atmosphere. The geology of the upper sediment column determines whether discharge is rapid and episodic, as occurs in mud volcanoes, or more gradual and steady, as occurs where the seep orifice is plugged with gas hydrate. In both cases, seep oil and gas appear to rise through the water in close proximity instead of separating. Chemical alteration of the oil is relatively minor during transit through the water column, but once at the sea surface its more volatile components rapidly evaporate. Gas bubbles rapidly dissolve as they rise, although observations suggest that oil coatings on the bubbles inhibit dissolution. At the sea surface, the floating oil forms slicks, detectable by remote sensing, whose origins are laterally within ～1000 m of the seafloor vent. This contradicts the much larger distance predicted if oil drops rise through a 500 m water column at an expected rate of ～0.01 m s^?1 while subjected to lateral currents of ～0.2 m s^?1 or greater. It indicates that oil rises with the gas bubbles at speeds of ～0.15 m s^?1 all the way to the surface.     

青铜编钟修复中的矫形定位装置及其使用

2002年湖北省文物考古研究所在枣阳九连墩战国墓中发掘出一套34枚编钟,其中有3枚钮钟、3枚甬钟因长期在地下受到泥土等挤压,变形破损十分严重。我们在修复巾研究出新的矫形定位装置及操作方法,对变形破损编钟进行无损矫形,然后进行定位焊接,最终修复并复原各枚编钟原形。     

中国财税博物馆藏滕侯赇之歌钟考

2002年前后,中国财税博物馆征集入藏一套4件春秋晚期的编镈,其中一件钲部有清晰的滕侯赇之歌钟6字铭文,揭示了一个史料无载的滕国国君名,填补了滕国历史研究中的一个空白。这组青铜镈器形规整,铸造精良,但没有调音结构,可能是为滕侯赇下葬专门铸造的。     

Mean winds observed by the Kyoto meteor radar in 1983–1985

Mean winds at 82–106 km altitude have been almost continuously monitored by the Kyoto meteor radar over the period from May 1983 to December 1985. The mean zonal wind becomes eastward with amplitudes as large as 30 m s⁻¹ in the summer months (May–August), maximizing early in July at 95 km altitude, while it is less than 10 m s⁻¹ at all the observed altitudes during the equinoxes. It is normally eastward in winter at low altitudes, although it sometimes becomes westward during sudden stratospheric warmings. The mean meridional wind is usually equatorward and is weaker than the zonal component. A southward wind exceeding 10 m s⁻¹ is detected in July and August. The observed mean winds are compared with the CIRA 1972 model and coincidences with sudden warmings of changes in zonal wind direction are pointed out.     

For Whom the Bells Fall: Metals from the Cenote Sagrado,Chichén Itzá

Bells of copper and copper alloys and gold–copper alloys were deposited in events at the Cenote Sagrado at Chichén Itzá, Mexico during the site's primary occupation (ad 750–1050) and in later centuries. Housed in three museums in the United States and Mexico, bells (n = 38) were evaluated for traces of fabrication and alteration using Vis–UV–IR optical microscopy. Bulk compositions were determined through p‐ED‐XRF. Phases and compositional variation by depth were characterized through XRD and RBS. The technological styles of bell groups were ascribed to communities of metallurgical practice, from West and Central Mexico to Costa Rica and Panama.     

曾公(田求)编钟铭文初步释读

2019年,随州枣树林曾国贵族墓地M190出土的曾公(田求)编钟与同墓地出土曾侯與编钟、嬭加编钟铭文可以互相印证,内容非常重要。本文对该编钟铭文进行释读和初步的注释,考订出编钟年代在公元前646年。文章指出曾国的爵称为侯,但是因为曾公(田求)重新得到了周王室的册命,取得了"公"的爵命。文章还利用铭文资料重新探讨了曾国疆域等问题。     

Longitudinal differences and inter-annual variations of zonal wind in the tropical stratosphere and troposphere

A quantitative assessment has been made of the longitude-dependent differences and the interannual variations of the zonal wind components in the equatorial stratosphere and troposphere, from the analysis of rocket and balloon data for 1979 and 1980 for three stations near ±8.5° latitude (Ascension Island at 14.4°W, Thumba at 76.9°E and Kwajalein at 67.7°E) and two stations near 21.5° latitude (Barking Sands at 159.6°W and Balasore at 86.9°E). The longitude-dependent differences are found to be about 10–20 m s⁻¹ (amounting to 50–200% in some cases) for the semi-annual oscillation (SAO) and the annual oscillation (AO) amplitudes, depending upon the altitude and latitude. Inter-annual variations of about 10 m s⁻¹ also exist in both oscillations. The phase of the SAO exhibits an almost 180° shift at Kwajalein compared to that at the other two stations near 8.5°, while the phase of the AO is independent of longitude, in the stratosphere.The amplitude and phase of the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) are found to be almost independent of longitude in the 18–38 km range, but above 40 km height the QBO amplitude and phase have different values in different longitude sectors for the three stations near ±8.5° latitude. The mean zonal wind shows no change from 1979 to 1980, but in the troposphere at 8.5° latitude strong easterlies prevail in the Indian zone, in contrast to the westerlies at the Atlantic and Pacific stations.     

Peverell’s Castle in the Peak

The church at Hardham is a small simple building constructed of sandstone and ironstone rubble interspersed with Roman tiles; originally it was whitewashed. It was built without a tower, but a bell turret was added in Victorian times. There are no features which prove that it was built before the Conquest, but three of the deeply-splayed windows are primitive; one of them has a rebate on the outside for a shutter. Other windows were cut later, the earliest being a double lancet behind the altar which dates from the thirteenth century. The church consists of a nave, 9.6 m x 5.8 m (31 ft 6 in x 19 ft), and chancel, 5.2 m x 4.7 m (17 ft x 15 ft 6 in). The insertion of the lancet window has destroyed the centrepiece of the decorative scheme of paintings which extended over both parts of the church and formed an integrated whole (Johnston 1901a, 74; 1901b, 62; Milner Gulland 1985, 27, 43; Baker 1986, 49–49). In both nave and chancel the theme of the decoration is the contrast between good and evil. Thus, in the nave the Sacrificial Lamb with angels waving censers is placed over the chancel arch and is confronted by a representation of the damned in hell which faces it on the west wall. In the chancel, Christ seated in Majesty, adored by Cherubim and the Elders of the Apocalypse, was painted on the east wall and faced a representation of the Fall of Man and the history of Adam and Eve on the east face of the chancel arch. This scheme interprets the words of St Paul, As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive' (I Corinthians xv, v 22). The central part of this composition was destroyed by the insertion of the thirteenth-century window. The theological idea that sin was brought into the world by the disobedience of Adam and Eve, and could only be expunged by the Life and Passion of Christ, is often illustrated in the Middle Ages. This, for instance, is the theme of the illustrations in the St Albans Psalter, which was produced during the first half of the twelfth century (Dodwell et al. 1960, 49; see especially Pacht 1962, 49–53).     

SEISMIC DESIGN REGULATION CODES: CONTRIBUTION OF K-NET DATA TO SITE EFFECT EVALUATION

The purpose of this study is to compare the site effect section of building codes (EC8 and UBC97) with the set of data provided by the Kyoshin network. In order to obtain a set of site coefficients and spectral shapes, we have first deduced an attenuation law for both horizontal and vertical motion. Site conditions are represented by the shear velocity averaged over the upper 30 m (V _s ³⁰). Our site classification (4 categories similar to those proposed in the new ECS and the UBC97) is based on borehole investigations at every station. This classification has permitted to distinguish clearly four response spectra which demonstrates the efficiency of V _s ³⁰ as characterising site conditions. Our law is then used to test site coefficients and spectral shapes of building codes ECS and UBC97. Concerning spectral shapes and site coefficients, our results are found to be in good agreement with EC8 and UBC97 only if category B (400<V _s ³⁰<800 m/s) is taken as reference. We also conclude that a site which is characterised as “rock” on geological criteria can not generally be classified in category A (V _s ³⁰>800 m/s). This suggests that classification in category A should be based only on field measurements. Concerning vertical motion, our analysis of the K-NET data shows that the ratio av/ah (vertical peak ground acceleration over horizontal peak ground acceleration) is between 0.50 and 0.68.     

Hydraulic observations from a 1 year fluid production test in the 4000 m deep KTB pilot borehole

A long‐term pump test was conducted in the KTB pilot borehole (KTB‐VB), located in the Oberpfalz area, Germany. It produced 22 300 m³ of formation fluid. Initially, fluid production rate was 29 l min^?1 for 4 months, but was then raised to an average of 57 l min^?1 for eight more months. The aim of this study was to examine the fluid parameters and hydraulic properties of fractured, crystalline crusts as part of the new KTB programme ‘Energy and Fluid Transport in Continental Fault Systems’. KTB‐VB has an open‐hole section from 3850 to 4000 m depth that is in hydraulic contact with a prominent continental fault system in the area, called SE2. Salinity and temperature of the fluid inside the borehole, and consequently hydrostatic pressure, changed significantly throughout the test. Influence of these quantities on variations in fluid density had to be taken into account for interpretation of the pump test. Modelling of the pressure response related to the pumping was achieved assuming the validity of linear Darcy flow and permeability to be independent of the flow rate. Following the principle ‘minimum in model dimension’, we first examined whether the pressure response can be explained by an equivalent model where rock properties around the borehole are axially symmetric. Calculations show that the observed pressure data in KTB‐VB can in fact be reproduced through such a configuration. For the period of high pumping rate (57 l min^?1) and the following recovery phase, the resulting parameters are 2.4 × 10^?13 m³ in hydraulic transmissivity and 3.7 × 10^?9 m Pa^?1 in storativity for radial distances up to 187 m, and 4.7 × 10^?14 m³ and 6.0 × 10^?9 m Pa^?1, respectively, for radial distances between 187 and 1200 m. The former pair of values mainly reflect the hydraulic properties of the fault zone SE2. For a more realistic hydraulic study on a greater scale, program FEFLOW was used. Parameter values were obtained by matching the calculated induced pressure signal to fluid‐level variations observed in the KTB main hole (KTB‐HB) located at 200 m radial distance from KTB‐VB. KTB‐HB is uncased from 9031 to 9100 m and shows indications of leakage in the casing at depths 5200–5600 m. Analysis of the pressure record and hydraulic modelling suggest the existence of a weak hydraulic communication between the two boreholes, probably at depths around the leakage. Hydraulic modelling of a major slug‐test in KTB‐HB that was run during the pumping in KTB‐VB reveals the effective transmissivity of the connected formation to be 1 to 2 orders of magnitude lower than the one determined for the SE2 fault zone.     

Further Notes in Reference to the Discoveries at Ickleton and Chesterford

Abstract

Although it is generally well-known that a number of cathedrals and major abbeys in medieval England especially had detached bell towers, the towers themselves have never been considered as a group. Nor has a ‘complete’ listing been attempted. Their existence is difficult to explain because the majority of these buildings also had central towers and some had western towers. No doubt because so many of the detached towers have been destroyed, they are less well-known than the examples on the Continent, especially in Italy. Surprisingly, towers seem to have been rare in Romanesque and Gothic France and Germany. The Insular ones appear to have been less ‘standardized’ in their design and more variable in their location vis-à-vis the church building than those of Italy. The history of detached towers in England (and Scotland) is here traced from their earliest appearance, in wood in the 12th century and in stone c. 1200, to the end of the Middle Ages.