Condemned to metallum? The origin and role of 4th–6th century A.D. Phaeno mining campresidents using multiple chemical techniques

The Byzantine period (4th–7th centuries A.D.) site of Khirbet Faynan (Phaeno) was a state-run mining camp described in ancient sources as a destination for Christian martyrs and others prosecuted by the administration who were condemned to the mines (damnatio ad metallum). However, other evidence suggests that Phaeno had a much broader role and population in antiquity than that described by ancient writers. Here, strontium and oxygen isotope data on the level of migration into Phaeno were compared with elemental data on lead and copper skeletal levels to illuminate the varied exposure of local vs. non-local individuals to contaminated environments (presumably from working in mining and smelting operations). Dental enamel ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and δ¹⁸O data from 31 individuals excavated from the Southern Cemetery identified one individual born in a region with different strontium isotope values in the bedrock yet similar oxygen isotope signatures as Faynan. Most of the primarily locally-derived Faynan residents displayed skeletal copper and lead levels exceeding those seen in comparative samples, confirming that growing up and residing in the polluted environment of Faynan led to notable bioaccumulation of heavy metals and its resulting health effects. In addition, ten individuals had extremely elevated lead and copper levels in their skeleton resulting from more intensive exposure to contaminated environments, possibly through smelting and mining activities. These data confirm the relatively localized nature of this imperial operation and that this predominantly locally-derived population had different activities that put them ask varied risk for contamination by heavy metals.     

Gaston Paris. August 9th, 1839–March 5th, 1903

RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AND HERESY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. By the Rev. F. W. BUSSELL, D.D. London: Robert Scott. 1918. Reviewed by J. Kennedy.

SIDE-LIGHTS ON THE TAIN AGE AND OTHER STUDIES. By M. E. DOBBS. Price 2s. 6d. net. Dundalk.. 1917. Reviewed by J. Baudi?.

THE MEGALITHIC CULTURE OF INDONESIA, by W. J. PERRY, B.A. Manchester: University Press. Longmans, Green &; Co. 1918 Reviewed by E. Sidney Hartland.     

A Very Moderate Socialist Indeed? R. H. Tawney and Minimum Wages

R. H. Tawney has been placed alongside G. D. H. Cole and HaroldLaski as one of the most important contributors to British socialistthought this century. But, on the issue of poverty wages, Tawneywas circumspect and conventional. In supporting such a modestreform as the 1909 Trade Boards Act, he was concerned with pragmaticconsiderations. His two studies of chainmaking and tailoring,funded by the Ratan Tata foundation and carried out at the LondonSchool of Economics, show him to be more concerned with moderate(and, in his opinion, workable) policies rather than radicalideas. In order to prove the boards a success, Tawney exaggeratedtheir advantages. It can be argued that what was required toend low pay was not industry-based trade boards, but a nationalminimum wage based on an agreed living income. Whilst Tawneyrejected Beatrice and Sidney Webb's national minimum wage asbeing overly based at the subsistence level, he also dismisseda more generous minimum on the grounds that it might be abovewhat an individual trade could bear. Although Tawney's ideaswere highly influential, they were an inadequate guide to solutionsto the problems of low pay in the twentieth century.     

A Memorial to the 9th Bainqen Lama

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A Visit to the 14th Dalai's Hometown

In1938,athree-yearoldboynamedLhamoToinzhubfromHongyaVillage,easternQinghaiProvince,wasidentifiedasthereincarnateoftheenthronedasthel4thDalaiLamaDainzinGyamcotwoyearslaterinthePotalaPalaceinLhasa.HongyaVillagethusbecamefainous.Thezigzagpassagetheyoungboyto…     

Geochemical provenience of 16th–19th century C.E. Asian ceramics from Torres Strait,northeast Australia

Existing insights into the history of southeast Asian contacts with northern Australia prior to British colonization in 1788 are limited to Macassan visitors and the trepang industry beginning in the early 18th century and perhaps 16th century. Neither historical nor archaeological evidence indicate extension of such contacts to Torres Strait of northeast Australia. To shed further light on this issue, a collection of 16 Asian ceramic sherds surface collected and excavated recently from the islands of Pulu and Mabuyag in Torres Strait were compared to a large database of Southeast and East Asian stoneware jars that are well characterised, elementally, typologically and chronologically. This comparison matched a number of sherds with two jar types with likely production origins in Thailand and southern China. While the surface collected sherds from Pulu sourced to Thailand date probably to the 19th century, the small glazed sherd from Mabuyag island is typical of a southern Chinese decorated jar type dating to c. 1500–1600 C.E. This Chinese sherd is the earliest known Asian artefact in Australia and parallels recent archaeological evidence on the antiquity of contacts between Macassan trepangers and Aboriginal Australians. It is unknown if the Chinese sherd came ashore to Mabuyag through direct contact with Asian traders or from a nearby shipwreck through salvage.     

An age of transition? Castles and the Scottish Highland estate in the 16th and 17th centuries

Abstract

In the archaeology of post-medieval rural Scotland, research traditions have inhibited understanding of social change prior to the 18th century as the emphasis has been on the dramatic overturn of 'traditional' society with Improvement and the Clearances. This contrasts with the situation for England and, indeed other parts of Europe, where there is an established concern for the much earlier 'Age of Transition' from medieval to modern. Here I explore the ancestry of Improvement by considering the genesis of the landed estate in the 16th and earlier 17th centuries, and this is primarily achieved through an analysis of the architecture and geography of castles in one area of the Highlands. This case study concerns the castles of the Glenorchy Campbells, a lineage emerging in the earlier 15th century and proceeding to become one of the most significant of Scottish, and British, landed families. In no small part through a changing approach to castle building, their rise was predicated on the transformation of clan territory into landed estate in the period after 1550. The usefulness of the 'Age of Transition' construct, in this specific context and in general, is appraised. In concluding, I argue for the alternative of the dialectical Marxist concept of contradiction. This places the focus on tension, fluidity, and lack of resolution in society, running counter to the idea of transition from one state to another. With contradiction, modern society as a simply definable entity is never established and cannot be delineated in a straightforward way. It is an itinerant process, constantly emerging and changing.     

Trade and markets in northern Fenno‐Scandinavia A.D. 1550–1750

Generally, two main opinions have been maintained concerning the age of the markets in northern Fenno‐Scandinavia: One asserting that the markets have their origins well before A.D. 1600, and possibly are dating from the Middle Ages; and the other suggesting that the markets may be constructions of the 18th century. The majority of studies relevant to the question of the markets have, however, been confined within strict geographical limits. Few efforts have been made to view the markets in a broader context, comprising the totality of the trade relations of northern Fenno‐Scandinavia. While giving the written evidence a critical and chronological sifting, the author of this paper stresses this perspective on the markets, as instruments of mediation between what is conceived as the three great trade systems embracing the northern part of Fenno‐Scandinavia.     

Kroll,Stefan, Normgenese durch Re-Interpretation--China und das europ~iische VOlkerrecht im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert （Genesis of Norms via Re-interpretation--China and European International Law in the 19th and 20th Centuries）

In Stefan Kroll＇s book Genesis of Norms via Re-Interpretation, the authoranalyzes the reception and adaptation of the European discipline of international law during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in China. Combining philological methods taken from sinology with methods in the fields of legal history and sociology, he is able to create an analytical framework that describes the genesis of international norms as a process of isomorphic strategy, a term that is discussed in what follows.