A hypothesis on different technological solutions for outdoor and indoor Roman wall paintings

The determination of the chemical composition of different parts of wall paintings (pigments, mortars and binders) provides information about technology of preparation of an artefact. Herein, we present a multi-methodological characterisation of wall paintings from a Roman archaeological site in Cuma, focusing on differences between an indoor (domus) and outdoor fabrication (a temple, Tempio con Portico (TCP)). Both pigments, binders and mortars were studied via a combination of destructive/μ-destructive (mass spectrometry, ionic chromatography, ICP-based techniques) and non-destructive (Raman microscopy, small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and X-ray diffraction) methodologies. Particularly, the systematic presence of dolomite only in mortars from TCP may suggest an intentional use of such limestone for the outdoor fabrication of public interest. Differences between TCP and domus are also related to the composition of the pigment binder. In particular, the detected binders (studied by LC-MS/MS and GC-MS) were proteinaceous in the case of domus (possibly egg and animal glue) and drying oils in the case of TCP. Ultimately, our multi-methodological study provides an overall picture of the material components of paintings from fabrications with different use, proposing a hypothesis on technological choices according to conservative and destination reasons.     

Re-designing military security in Europe: cooperation and competition between the European community and NATO during the early 1980s

Abstract

In the early 1980s, the member-states of the European Community (‘the Ten’) extended their foreign-policy cooperation into the field of security and disarmament. They advanced a proposal for a Conference on Disarmament in Europe within the framework of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe process. As disarmament was a preserve and priority concern of NATO, the move engendered both competition and cooperation between NATO and European Political Cooperation (EPC), that is, the mechanism the Ten used to elaborate common positions. This article analyses these dynamics by paying particular attention to the exchange of ideas between the two forums. It also shows the key role of some Western European governments in inspiring competition or promoting cooperation between the two organizations, and the rationales and drivers behind their actions. The article proves that Cold War concerns played a key role in this regard: the will to preserve European détente and the need to address domestic opinion critical of an escalation of the East–West confrontation motivated their initiative in the disarmament field. At the same time, concern that the Soviets might exploit divergences across the Atlantic prompted their attempts to secure NATO’s cohesion and project a strong image of unity.     

European Socialist regimes facing globalisation and European co-operation: dilemmas and responses – introduction

So far, historians working on the two sides of what used to be a divided Europe have had considerable contacts but they have operated – at least in the realm of international history and the history of European integration – with largely separate agendas and networks. The authors of this special-issue introduction have both come to work on the increasing interaction between East and West in the framework of détente, and feel that the time is ripe for a scholarly analysis of the concepts, strategies and approaches of the Socialist regimes to pan-European co-operation in the long 1970s. Through a collaborative research effort, specialists on specific Socialist countries and historians of Western Europe (and particularly of its integrative experience) are brought together in this special issue of the European Review of History to bridge the existing gap between two parallel strands of scholarship. Their close collaboration is the key to the conceptual development of a broader view of pan-European co-operation against the background of global economic trends.     

Untying Cold War knots: The EEC and Eastern Europe in the long 1970s

This article sheds new light on the interrelation between Western European integration and the Cold War by unveiling and bringing under scrutiny the active role of the EEC in East–West relations. It argues that the EEC's pro-active Eastern policy was pivotal in loosening Cold War constraints in Europe and engendering instead a new kind of intra-European relations. Relations between the EEC and socialist bloc countries grew more intense and diversified, irrespective of the renewed superpower confrontation. Not only were détente and integration compatible, they actually reinforced each other, and the EEC proved to be a major and successful promoter of the overcoming of the Cold War in Europe.     

The impact of the Roman Empire on animal husbandry practices: study of the changes in cattle morphology in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula through osteometric and ancient DNA analyses

The change in cattle size during the late Iron Age and the Early Roman period is a widely known phenomenon. However, hardly any information is available about this change and its causes in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula. In order to shed more light on this issue, variations of cattle size and shape through the analysis of Bos taurus remains from ten archaeological sites located in the north-east Iberia and occupied from the middle fifth century bc to the third century ad are examined in this paper. Osteometric postcranial and teeth analyses show a clear change in cattle size and shape during the Romanization period at newly founded sites. This change is documented at all the sites from the Early Roman period. Genetically, authenticated results from a short fragment of the mitochondrial d-loop were obtained from 6 cattle metacarpals out of 33 tested. They affiliate to the main European taurine haplogroup T/T3. The integration of the available data including the archaeological background suggests that the presence of these morphologically different cattle, introduced during the Romanization period, was more pronounced at sites interpreted as villas and trading posts, rather than at cities during the Early Roman period.     

New light; friendly soil: affective–discursive dimensions of Anzac Day commemorations in Aotearoa New Zealand

This paper investigates affective–discursive dimensions of nation‐building via commemorations of nationhood within Aotearoa New Zealand to ask about how these assemblages construct feeling trajectories for citizen participants. We report auto‐ethnographic analyses of participation in specific Anzac Day war remembrance events that occurred in the capital city Wellington. Analyses point to the ways in which engagement in the choreographies of commemoration constructs varied emotion‐laden subject positions for participants and how these psycho‐social differences index and evoke contrasting memorial politics. We conclude that while the differences in affective ambience at different events may prompt citizens towards nationalistic or more conciliatory identity politics, the ceremonies create space for participants to feel and enact diverse affective practices.     

The famished soul: resonance and relevance of the Irish famine to Irish men’s accounts of hunger following immigration to England during the 1950s and 1960s

This paper uses a hermeneutically informed analysis to reveal how Irish men’s accounts of acute hunger on arrival in England during the 1950s and 1960s resonate with archival oral accounts of the Great Hunger in Ireland during the 1840s. The paper makes the case for a new continuum of memory which foregrounds the corporeal and spiritual dimensions of acute food deprivation and its significance over space, place and time. I argue that a corporeal-spiritual medium of memory represents a two-sided reality, a pivotal yet nebulous point of contact which exemplifies our understanding of how discourses of hunger recounted over the course of a century help shape reconstructions of Irish sociocultural identity. The symbolic potency of hunger and particular foods to expose a distinct moral and social order during both time periods is examined. I also show how this more burnished and fluid medium of corporeal and spiritual memory highlights the importance of intracultural diglossia in respect of Irish sociocultural identity and with it, the interface between individual, collective and folk memory.     

Local gender contract and adaptive capacity in smallholder irrigation farming: a case study from the Kenyan drylands

This article presents the local gender contract of a smallholder irrigation farming community in Sibou, Kenya. Women's role in subsistence farming in Africa has mostly been analyzed through the lens of gender division of labor. In addition to this, we used the concept of ‘local gender contract’ to analyze cultural and material preconditions shaping gender-specific tasks in agricultural production, and consequently, men's and women's different strategies for adapting to climate variability. We show that the introduction of cash crops, as a trigger for negotiating women's and men's roles in the agricultural production, results in a process of gender contract renegotiation, and that families engaged in cash cropping are in the process of shifting from a ‘local resource contract’ to a ‘household income contract.’ Based on our analysis, we argue that a transformation of the local gender contract will have a direct impact on the community's adaptive capacity climate variability. It is, therefore, important to take the negotiation of local gender contracts into account in assessments of farming communities' adaptive capacity.