Exceptional preservation of a prehistoric human brain from Heslington,Yorkshire, UK

Archaeological work in advance of construction at a site on the edge of York, UK, yielded human remains of prehistoric to Romano-British date. Amongst these was a mandible and cranium, the intra-cranial space of which contained shrunken but macroscopically recognizable remains of a brain. Although the distinctive surface morphology of the organ is preserved, little recognizable brain histology survives. Though rare, the survival of brain tissue in otherwise skeletalised human remains from wet burial environments is not unique. A survey of the literature shows that similar brain masses have been previously reported in diverse circumstances. We argue for a greater awareness of these brain masses and for more attention to be paid to their detection and identification in order to improve the reporting rate and to allow a more comprehensive study of this rare archaeological survival.     

A contested legacy: the Kennedy Committee revisited

The Kennedy Committee Report on Ireland's reformatory and industrial schools, published in 1970, is an important, though contested, milestone in the history of Ireland's childcare policy. The Committee found its genesis in Church/state conflict and conducted much of its work in the teeth of state and religious opposition. Its published report was watered down on the understanding that the state would act to curb the worst excesses of the system without the need for some of the more damaging discoveries reaching the public realm. Notwithstanding this the published report became the focus of political manoeuvring that stifled its potential effectiveness. Its legacy, therefore, is mixed, marking the beginning of the slow painful modernisation of the Irish childcare system whilst being an opportunity lost in terms of its potential to ameliorate the suffering of children detained in the system for a further three decades.     

Hello Sailor! How maritime museums are addressing the experience of gay seafarers

Traditionally, maritime historians and maritime museums have adopted a very narrow view of seafarers’ lives and issues of social diversity have been little explored. Whilst some research has been undertaken on women and ethnic minorities in recent years, the experience of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered seafarers has received virtually no attention. This paper will consider how museums have begun to address this issue and will look in detail at the special exhibition, Hello Sailor!, organised by National Museums Liverpool in 2006. Hello Sailor! was based on ground-breaking research about gay seafarers on board British cruise liners in the mid-twentieth century, mainly gathered from oral testimony. The paper will examine the content, development and impact of the exhibition and will place it in a context of how maritime museums are beginning to address questions of social diversity and to make themselves accessible to a wider and more diverse audience. In particular, it explores the difficulties faced by curators, including the paucity of documentary sources and secondary literature, the limitations of existing museum networks and the almost total absence of objects and other visual material with which to tell the story.