Population-specific stature reconstruction for medieval Trondheim,Norway

Temporal changes in average stature are often used as a measure of a past population's adaptation, or lack of it. Traditionally, stature estimates have been calculated using formulae derived from limb proportions of cadavers. However, many authors have noted the problem of regional or population variation in body proportions of such reconstructed ratios. Before differences in stature can be attributed to environmental adaptation, ‘ethnic’ or population differences in limb ratios must be taken into account. The present paper calculates the stature of a medieval Norwegian skeletal sample using archaeological plan femur length and dry bone femur length. The author presents a variety of formulae and compares the stature derived from these calculations to the stature derived from archaeological plans. The Trondheim statures are then compared to stature reconstructions of other contemporary populations.     

Two medieval ‘trepanations’ – therapy or swindle?

During the 1991–1992 excavation of the ruins of the medieval cathedral in Hamar, Norway, the broken skull of an elderly man was found, showing evidence of an incomplete trepanation. The ‘surgeon’ had obviously tried to penetrate the skull surface around bregma in an irregular circle of 23 × 21 mm. Upon investigation, the skull revealed a reactive‐pathological area of the internal surface of the occipital bone, which probably represents a respite after a meningeal disorder (a tumour or an infectious process), causing us to suggest that the trepanation was meant to cure the patient's increasing headache. However, as a second skull with similar marks was found in the same churchyard, another explanation seems possible. Because the brain tumour in the first case may have altered the patient's mental state, we may surmise that these incomplete operations were an attempt to remove from these patients' heads the ‘Stone of Madness’, which was then commonly considered to be the reason for psychiatric diagnoses as well as persistent headache, and often depicted in European art, most notably in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. The second skull, revealing an even more incomplete attempt, did not show any skeletal pathology at all. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

读《中古中国与外来文明》札记

本文以新出版的《中古中国与外来文明》为切入点,对半个多世纪以来有关中古中国与外来文明的研究进行了回顾与评述,认为学术接轨对于提高中古中国与外来文明的研究十分重要,感情投入对于深化人文社会科学的研究也十分重要。     

Research on Conservation State and Preservation Conditions in Unsaturated Archaeological Deposits in Oslo

Abstract

Archaeological, biological, and geochemical investigations of soil sample series from a section and five boreholes have been studied to evaluate the state of preservation at the time of investigation and the preservation conditions of urban archaeological deposits from medieval Oslo, Norway. Focus has been put on the most fragile deposits in the unsaturated and fluctuation zones. Even with limited investigations, it is possible to assess the archaeological conservation state and the preservation conditions. Further work should focus on interpreting measured results and on mitigation strategies.     

A recently excavated odontome from medieval Canterbury,Kent

During archaeological excavation of St George's church, Canterbury, 269 skeletons ranging from early medieval to late nineteenth century were recovered. A medieval female aged ca. 23–28 years displayed an unusual dental anomaly, an odontome. Odontomes are infrequent in clinical dentistry. A search of the literature suggests that very few archaeological examples have been published and our specimen is the first excavated case reported from Britain. Archaeological material, if subject to radiographic examination, provides a unique source of information for the prevalence of odontomes from prehistoric to modern times.     

当代美国外来移民的学历构成分析:1965-2000年

自1965年以来迁入美国的外来移民日渐增多,并在20世纪末期达到了历史高潮。在入境移民中,整体学历结构呈两极化趋势:即接受1-11年教育的移民和在大学学习一年以上的移民比例相对较高,而高中毕业的移民数量较少。这种状况源于美国移民政策中强调移民家庭团聚条款,同时也因为美国在20世纪后半期吸纳了大量难民,赦免了数百万低学历的非法移民。在各民族群体中,墨西哥和拉丁美洲移民的学历整体较低,亚洲和欧洲移民的学历较高。另一方面,高学历移民呈逐渐提高的趋势,特别是在90年代更加明显,这主要归因于美国政府加大引进外国优秀人才的政策。大量优秀人才从中国等发展中国家的流失值得重视。     

Women on the Third Crusade

Historians remain undecided over whether or not women actually took up arms during crusading expeditions. Opinions vary widely, from denying that women could ever be true crucesignati to concluding that they took an active role in the fighting, This study focuses on the Third Crusade, for which the chronicle evidence is particularly full. Some of the narrative accounts of the crusade never mention women or even deny that they took part, while others describe their assisting crusaders in constructing siege works or performing menial tasks. The Muslim sources for the Third Crusade, however, depict Christian women taking part in the fighting, armed as knights. The study discusses the reasons behind these divergent depictions of women in the Third Crusade. It examines the evidence for women taking an active part in military activity in Europe, and concludes that women could certainly have taken an active military role in the Third Crusade. Yet, as the European sources are silent on the subject, it is unlikely that women did play a significant military role, although it is possible that some fought in particularly desperate battles.     

Women on the Third Crusade

Historians remain undecided over whether or not women actually took up arms during crusading expeditions. Opinions vary widely, from denying that women could ever be true crucesignati to concluding that they took an active role in the fighting, This study focuses on the Third Crusade, for which the chronicle evidence is particularly full. Some of the narrative accounts of the crusade never mention women or even deny that they took part, while others describe their assisting crusaders in constructing siege works or performing menial tasks. The Muslim sources for the Third Crusade, however, depict Christian women taking part in the fighting, armed as knights. The study discusses the reasons behind these divergent depictions of women in the Third Crusade. It examines the evidence for women taking an active part in military activity in Europe, and concludes that women could certainly have taken an active military role in the Third Crusade. Yet, as the European sources are silent on the subject, it is unlikely that women did play a significant military role, although it is possible that some fought in particularly desperate battles.     

Natural encounters: climate,weather and the Italian Renaissance

This paper examines a key issue in the history of the climate in the pre-instrumental period, that is, how to use narrative sources which make frequent references to weather events, but which need contextualised interpretation. The paper follows an argument that climatological techniques for deriving temperature indices from chronicles, though they have become increasingly elaborate and refined, nevertheless leave out much that is of interest to the social historian. This paper explores the area of the what-is-left-behind when chronicle narratives are reduced to numerical indices. Investigating a broad range of Latin and Italian chronicles from fourteenth and fifteenth-century Italy, the paper draws three main conclusions: that sensitivity to weather events not only varied greatly among writers (as one might expect) but so too did their use of severe weather to serve the purposes of narrative (through sequencing, metaphor and analogy); that sensitivity to meteorological anomaly changed during the period, especially in the fifteenth century with the spread of prognosticating verses; and that the broadening of chroniclers' interests in weather, both ordinary and extraordinary, and in its effects on everyday, material life may allow a connection to and re-evaluation of the Burckhartian idea of the Renaissance ‘discovery of the world’.     

Vulnerabilities of Highly Skilled Immigrants in Canada and the United States

Despite similar permanent status immigration categories (Economic, Family, and Refugee), the experiences of skilled immigrants in Canada and the United States are quite different. The point system used to select applicants for the Economic Class in Canada makes skilled immigrants vulnerable to a number of perils after the migrant lands. Foreign credentials and work experience are discounted by Canadian employers, who also impose a discriminatory income penalty on minorities. While previous cohorts of Economic Class migrants may have been warned of these perils via reliable migrant networks, new Canadian research suggests that recent cohorts have no such safety net. This article examines the economic integration experiences of Economic Class migrants in the United States in light of the Canadian experiences. The vulnerabilities reported in Canada do not appear to be transferable to the United States, because immigration policy in the US stresses pre-landing employment commitments via employer sponsorship. Accordingly, prospective Economic Class migrants to the United States do not migrate without first knowing how their credentials and “minority status” will affect employment opportunities. However, for the 85,000 skilled workers admitted to the United States on H-1B temporary visas each year, the perils noted in the Canadian experience are relevant, as are a number of additional concerns.     

Reconstructing Kilmainham: the topography and architecture of the chief priory of the Knights Hospitaller in Ireland,c.1170–1349

ABSTRACT

For almost 400 years the Knights of St John of Jerusalem – the Knights Hospitaller – maintained a priory in Kilmainham, Co. Dublin, as their principal residence in Ireland. Nothing survives of it above ground. The priory's early history and topography are mainly shrouded in mystery, but a fourteenth-century registrum illuminates the workings of its community and the character of its members, and provides valuable evidence relating to the appearance of its architecture and layout when it was at the peak of its prosperity. Yet the registrum has never been subjected to detailed scrutiny. Recent research on the Hospitallers in Ireland on the one hand, and on the organisation of domestic space in medieval contexts in Ireland on the other, has prompted this comprehensive appraisal of the evidence in Kilmainham's registrum.     

Concepts of Necessity in Voltaire's Poème sur le Désastre de Lisbonne

The eleventh-century Chanson de Sainte Foy is a paradigmatic example of early Romance textuality. Composed in southwestern France and intimately tied to the saint's cult centered around the abbey at Conques, an important site on the French pilgrimage road to Santiago, the almost 600-line poem is among the earliest examples of an extended narrative poem in Romance. Nonetheless, the place of composition and the language of the text remain a controversy. Most editors and linguistic studies of the text have identified its language with the French department of the Aude, specifically around the vicinity of Narbonne, thus rejecting a more southerly Catalan locus of composition. While widely recognizing the poem's cultural matter, this article argues for a stronger Catalan presence in the language of the poem. Specifically, the author examines forms of the so-called Pyrenean definite article derived from Latin IPSE in light of contemporary dialect features of the Catalan of the Eastern Pyrenees.     

Immigration Reform in Canada and the United States: How Dramatic,How Different?

In contrast to recent policies in the United States, immigration reform in Canada, during the past decade, has resulted in one of the most transformative periods in Canada’s immigration history. This article examines these changes, against the comparative backdrop of American inaction. These include changes affecting the three classes of legal permanent residents—economic, family, and refugee—as well as temporary foreign workers and foreign students. Canadian citizenship rules have also been refocused from citizenship as a “right” to citizenship as a “responsibility.” The article illustrates the advantages of the Canadian system, but cautions against overmanagement, centralization of decision-making power, and the loss of Canada’s welcoming reputation. The Canadian system, while not perfect, is efficient and should be able to successfully adjust to future problems that arise, provided that the Canadian public has sufficient input in policy decisions. Given a more complex and cumbersome US immigration policy system, comprehensive immigration reform is not likely to occur if partisanship prevails.