Metals,microanalysis and meaning: a study of metal objects excavated from the indigenous cemetery of El Chorro de Maíta,Cuba

This is the first publication reporting systematic analytical research conducted on archaeological metals from Cuba. The main focus of the study consists of beads and small metal objects excavated at the cemetery of El Chorro de Maíta, which comprises some of the richest funerary deposits so far recovered on the island. Some comparative samples from the nearby site of Alcalá were also investigated, with an emphasis made on the manufacture, composition and origins of the different alloys. The resulting picture is that members of the social elite of the indigenous Taíno peoples were buried with beads made of placer gold exploited locally, gold–copper–silver pendants brought from continental South America and, above all, brass lacetags from European clothing that were perceived as sacred metals. The archaeometallurgical approach offers fresh insight into the relationships between Europeans and Taínos, and the impact of colonization on the indigenous customs, values and social structures.     

Reappraisal of ‘chronospecies’ and the use of Arvicola (Rodentia,Mammalia) for biochronology

The water vole, genus Arvicola, is characterised by a broad geographic distribution throughout Europe and is widespread during the late Middle and Upper Pleistocene. This genus is used as a major biostratigraphic tool within the Quaternary. Specific determinations using the Schmelzband-Differenzierung-Quotient or SDQ have identified many chronospecies within the fossil species Arvicola cantiana (Hinton, 1910). As SDQ calculation remains limited, this study reappraises the Arvicola genus in terms of morphodiversity and morphospace using outline analysis which takes into account the tooth as a whole. Outline analysis suggests that one single species of Arvicola, A. cantiana, was present during the Pleistocene. This species shows great variability with no trends or patterns in morphospace. Thus, these results call into question the reliability of SDQ for specific determinations and throw doubt on the biochronological framework based on Arvicola.     

The Temple of Venus (Pompeii): a study of the pigments and painting techniques

We report here on a study of 57 fragments of wall painting excavated from the Temple of Venus (Pompeii). These samples were characterised by a wide range of analytical methods. Data showed that the palette is varied, although not so broad as that found in other buildings in Pompeii, and is consistent with pigments used elsewhere in Pompeii and in the Roman Empire. It is composed of: natural earths, minerals and rare artificial pigments. Paintings are made up of thin paint layers (0.01–0.10 mm thick) strongly adhering to the underlying preparation layer. Nonetheless, in some cases thicker layers (up to 0.40 mm) were recognised, often spread on other previous painting layers. Samples were also compared with the microstratigraphic criteria developed in Piovesan (2009) to distinguish wall painting techniques. This comparison demonstrated that both fresco and lime painting techniques were adopted.     

‘Everything is made of atoms’: the reprogramming of space and time in post-war London

From the middle of the Second World War until the early 1950s, architects, planners and designers in Britain made an unprecedented investment in reforming the built environment as a means to ensure a stable and secure post-war society. This essay considers the importance of movement, trajectory and repetition within this reconstruction vision and how the organisation of these things provided a basis for imagining a new form of consensual urban community. The essay begins by exploring how the County of London Plan (Abercrombie and Forshaw, 1943) and the Greater London Plan (Abercrombie, 1945) articulated a set of spatio-temporal logics, based on the prescribed trajectory of the individual embedded within a programme of quotidian repetitions. These logics suggested that urban space could be built to foreclose the possibility of historical conflict. The essay then explores the material design of two post-war exhibitions, Britain Can Make It (1946) and the Festival of Britain's South Bank Exhibition (1951), which offered visitors an experiential taster of what these new urban choreographies would feel like. To end, the essay explores the recurrent figure of the atom within post-war public pedagogy. Within this briefly ubiquitous mechanistic image lay an unacknowledged assurance about how hierarchical structures of movement and repetition sustained the material world, just as these things were being invoked to secure London's position across a range of scales from the local urban neighbourhood to the post-war Commonwealth.     

Essentials in the use of mycolic acid biomarkers for tuberculosis detection: response to “High-throughput mass spectrometric analysis of 1400-year-old mycolic acids as biomarkers for ancient tuberculosis infection” by

High molecular weight long-chain mycolic acids are key structural components of the cell envelope of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and they are established as biomarkers for the identification of both ancient and modern tuberculosis. Mycolic acids from M. tuberculosis have a characteristic profile, reflecting contributions from five major distinct homologous series of mycolate structural types. Diagnosis of tuberculosis in archaeological material, using mycolic acid biomarkers, depends on objective recognition of the key characteristic mycolic acid components. A recent article in this journal claimed that tuberculosis could be confirmed in ancient bones by high throughput mass spectrometric analysis of mycolic acids. Scrutiny of the data presented reveals no convincing evidence for the presence of mycolic acids, characteristic of the M. tuberculosis complex, in the skeletal remains examined. This communication reviews the essential criteria necessary for positive tuberculosis diagnosis, using mycolic acids.     

“The need and ability for expansion”: Conceptions of living space in the small-state geopolitics of Gudmund Hatt

Although they are often subjected to critical scrutiny, formal geopolitical practices have rarely been put on trial. One exception is the case of Gudmund Hatt (1884-1960), professor of human geography at Copenhagen University from 1929 to 1947, who was found guilty of “dishonorable national conduct” for his geopolitics during the German occupation. As a contribution to the critical history of geopolitical traditions, this article investigates Hatt as an example of a small-state geopolitician. Particular attention is given to his view of geopolitics as a practice and as an essentially material struggle for Livsrum (living space), and what this made him infer for the great powers and for small-state Denmark. Hatt’s geopolitical ideas had many parallels to those of his great-power contemporaries, but in important respects, his analyses also differed from traditional geopolitics. It is argued that, to a significant degree, this difference is related to the fact that Hatt narrated geographies of world politics from a small and exposed state with few territorial ambitions. This made him emphasize economic relations, efficiency rather than territorial size, and the geopolitical role of the Danish Folk (i.e., the nation). Hatt’s position as a peripheral observer to the geopolitical mainstream may also explain his understanding of geopolitics and living-space politics as practices pursued by all great powers.     

The dregs of trembling, the draught of salvation: the dual symbolism of the cup in medieval literature

This article examines the symbolism of the cup in Old English poetry and Old French romance. It argues that the dual symbolism of the cup in the Bible, both the cask of divine wrath and the vessel of mercy, invested the image with a particular dichotomy that was inherited by its metaphoric social functions in the literature of the middle ages. In Old English literature, the cup became a metonym for the contract for lord and thane, the conviviality and treasure exchange that united the mead-hall community. But never far beneath the surface is the fact that this contract requires the thane to die, and this unspoken yet unavoidable truth is writ large in the contagious imagery and vocabulary of the cup. In Old French romance, dichotomy crystallises into binary. The association of the cup of the Last Supper with Joseph of Arimathea, and the development of the Grail legend, made the service of the cup an exclusive loyalty, at the expense of social obligation, and its exigencies are made absolute and immediate. This article offers parallel readings of the same biblical metaphor in different literary cultures and a detailed analysis of a symbol that stands simultaneously for the positive image and its reversal, opposites that are mutually contingent: the community’s desire for unity and preservation and its concomitant fear of disintegration and death.     

The use of a high-resolution 3D Chirp sub-bottom profiler for the reconstruction of the shallow water archaeological site of the Grace Dieu (1439), River Hamble,UK

The remains of Henry V's flagship, the Grace Dieu, currently lie buried within the inter-tidal sediments of the River Hamble (S. England). Previous archaeological investigations have been hindered by difficult excavation conditions resulting in a poor understanding of the dimensions, shape and degradation state of the hull's deeper structure. This study therefore aimed to image, characterize and reconstruct the buried remains of this vessel using a high-resolution 3D acoustic sub-bottom Chirp system with RTK-GPS positioning capability. The accurate navigation and high-resolution data that were acquired enabled the construction of a full 3D image of the site that not only identified the remains of the wooden hull, but also features buried within it. In addition, the degradation state of these buried wooden remains were investigated by calculating reflection coefficients while a hypothetical larger reconstruction of the Grace Dieu's hull was achieved, through the use of the ShipShape ship design software package.     

"That Food of the Memory which Gives the Clue to Profitable Research": Oral history as a source for local, regional, and family history in the nineteenth and early twentieth century

Numerous local, regional and family historians in the nineteenthand early twentieth century collected oral narrations and conductedinterviews as a form to document information that otherwisemight have never been preserved. Family historians, in particular,not only practiced interviewing relatives for family histories,but also encouraged the practice in how-to-do manuals amongtheir peers. While advocating the practice, family historiansalso reflected about the value of "traditionary evidence" collectedthrough interviews and other means. These reflections by familyhistorians mirrored the discussions about the value of traditionsand memories as historical sources among several professionalhistorians at the time. These reflections were shaped by a modernizedunderstanding of tradition, which combined a reverential approachto the authoritarian element of tradition with a critical approachquestioning the validity of tradition. In this context, oralhistory was both a tool to negotiate the value of traditionand a mirror to the contemporary understanding of tradition.     

Characterization of organic media in the wall-paintings of the “Palace of Nestor” at Pylos,Greece: evidence for a secco painting techniques in the Bronze Age

This paper presents the results of an investigation of organic binding media detected in samples from the Mycenaean wall-paintings at the “Palace of Nestor” in Pylos (Western Messenia, Greece): samples dated from the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1200 BC). This is the first scientific study to be conducted on organic binding media in Mycenanean painting, and it is a study that aims to contribute significantly towards our understanding of the original painting techniques used during the Bronze Age. The analytical procedures employed for the detection and characterization of the organic substances preserved within the paint layers (proteinaceous materials, lipids and plant gums), were based on chromatography/mass spectrometry techniques (PY–GC/MS, GC/MS). The most significant results, highlighting an a secco painting technique, are herein reported and discussed.