Conference report

Abstract

The International Committee of ICOMOS for the Protection and Management of the Underwater Cultural Heritage has produced a draft Charter of principles to follow. The Charter is due for discussion and adoption at ICOMOS' General Assembly in October this year. We will publish eventually the full text of the adopted Charter; meanwhile, we asked Dr Robert Hohlfelder, underwater archaeologist with three decades of experience exploring harbour sites in the Mediterranean, to comment on the draft text.     

夏商西周时期的定量容器与基本单位量浅析

夏商西周时期是我国古代量制初步建立的重要时期,大口尊、盔形器、尖底陶杯、花边陶釜、殷墟的部分铜容礼器和箕形器是这一时期比较典型的定量容器.通过分析殷墟箕形器和南河崖西周盔形器的容积,可知晚商的安阳地区和西周中期的鲁北制盐作坊可能俱以250mL为基本单位量,与之配套的量制体系也可能已经产生.     

Containers and mobility in West Africa

In West Africa, containment practices have long been localized in their production, moulded by environmental forces, and scaled to the human body. In the twentieth century, fossil fuels have changed how people keep and carry things. But newer technologies have tended to alter, rather than eliminate, older forms of storage.     

Cargoes of Iron Semi‐Products Recovered from Shipwrecks off the Carmel Coast,Israel

Underwater surveys along the Israeli Carmel coast have revealed six cargoes of iron semi‐products associated with shipwrecks. They are described and dated according to the associated artefacts. Metallographic and chemical analyses on samples from the biggest cargo have determined the stages of the chaîne opératoire, identified the properties of the iron and characterized the iron trade along the Israeli coast. The new discoveries contribute to our understanding of the circulation of iron in the South Levant, which was characterized by an almost complete absence of local iron production. During the Byzantine and Crusader periods, this absence was compensated by long‐distance sea trade, depending on political circumstances and restrictions. Three main types of iron semi‐products were identified: (a) partly consolidated blooms, (b) short pointed bars and (c) elongated pointed bars. The cargoes discovered represent a time period of nearly a millennium. Altogether, 148 iron semi‐products were studied. Of these, 166 were from cargo a, which was dated by coins to around 1130–1200 ce . Those coins could have been imported from Europe for Crusader military and civil uses in the Levant. The iron from cargoes b, d and f, dated perhaps to the Byzantine period, could have been imported from Anatolia or Venice for military and civil purposes.     

An Asian Drama: The Asian Relations Conference, 1947

The Asian Relations Conference has long served as a historical footnote to the more famous Bandung Conference of 1955. In this paper, however, I argue that this Conference needs to be read and analysed independently. As the opening act of decolonial solidarity, this Conference juxtaposes the moment and the movement of decolonisation, alerting us to the promises and pitfalls of both. In particular one needs to be conscious of its Eurocentric readings which almost always place the ‘Third World’ within the context of the Cold War project and thus are incapable of understanding its historical relevance.