Investigating the processes necessary for satisfactory freeze-drying of waterlogged archaeological wood

Preliminary studies into methods for improving and safeguarding the preservation of waterlogged archaeological wooden artefacts are presented. Mannitol, sorbitol and trehalose have been tested as replacements for polyethylene glycol (PEG) as a treatment prior to freeze-drying of wooden archaeological objects. The highest anti-shrink efficiency achieved in this short experiment was (70 ± 15) % using a 20% weight per volume solution of sorbitol after soaking for one week. The collapse or eutectic temperature of each solution used was determined using a freeze-drying microscope. Importantly, it was noted that the collapse temperature of the solutions was reduced by several degrees after use for treatment of the wood samples for one month. A freeze-drying microscope with a cold light source has been used to observe the real-time freeze-drying behaviour of various treatments inside a thin section of wood, confirming that this novel technique is indeed possible and useful. Lastly, the effects of magnesium phytate as an iron chelator have been studied. It was found that the treatment lowers the collapse temperature of a PEG 600/2000 solution by roughly 3 °C meaning that objects must be freeze-dried at a correspondingly lower temperature. Iron K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy analysis showed that the treatment extracted approximately half of the iron(III) ions present in the timbers.     

Moral economies of food and geographies of responsibility

This paper uses the concept of 'moral economy' to challenge the conventional view that defines morality and the market as oppositional terms. Drawing on evidence from life history interviews with key actors in the British food industry, the paper outlines how moral and ethical questions are articulated through notions of space and time. Using case study material from the chicken and sugar industries, the paper examines the way that ethical and moral issues are expressed through the dimensions of time (via notions of remembering and forgetting) and space (via notions of connecting and disconnecting) and via notions of visibility and invisibility. The paper concludes by examining how our understanding of the moral economies of food can be advanced through the adoption of a relational view of geographical scale and temporal connection, contrasting the attribution of individual blame with a politics of collective responsibility.     

Lessons from the Zeyouma Trading post near Flagstaff,Arizona

Historical Archaeology -     

Patterns of Temporary Mobility in Australia: Evidence from the 1991 Census

While Census data are generally employed to examine permanent migration, they also provide a unique window on temporary population movements, a phenomenon largely neglected in Australia. Building on the work of Zelinsky, this paper outlines a conceptual framework for analysis of temporary mobility and reviews the strengths and limitations of the Census as a source of information. Data from the 1991 Australian Census are then used to analyse the incidence of temporary movements, the characteristics of temporary movers, and their spatial distribution. It is shown that temporary mobility is selective of certain groups and that there are substantial concentrations of temporary movers in both coastal and inland locations. By combining analysis of their origins with the attributes of their destinations, a preliminary typology of temporary population movement is proposed. The concluding section considers the implications of this form of mobility and identifies some avenues for further research.     

Republican Political Theory and Irish Nationalism

Republicanism has enjoyed something of a revival in recent times among political theorists. This article examines the way in which republican strains of democratic political philosophy impacted political thinkers and leaders in the case of modern Ireland. Although the Republic of Ireland was officially established in 1949, the question of its origins was a source of contention throughout the first part of the twentieth century. I argue that the intellectual origins of Irish republicanism lay in the impact of French revolutionary thought on Irish nationalist leaders in the 1790s, and then trace these republican ideas through the public debates and tracts that marked the major stages in the development of the Irish Republic. In particular, I focus on the principles informing the 1916 Declaration of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic, as well as the central arguments employed in the debates surrounding the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 and the Republic of Ireland Act of 1948. My aim is to demonstrate that republican ideas affected nationalism to such an extent that in Ireland republicanism and nationalism became, and in some respects still are, practically synonymous.     

Application of Quantitative Mineralogical Analysis in Archaeological Micromorphology: a Case Study from Barrow Is., Western Australia

This study assesses the use of the Tescan Integrated Mineral Analyser (TIMA) platform, which integrates scanning electron microscopy—energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) chemical analysis with mineral identification software, to quantitatively determine the mineralogical composition of sediments in archaeological research. Ten samples, spanning 50,000 years of sedimentation, were examined from archaeological excavation profiles in the Boodie Cave, Barrow Island, Western Australia. TIMA mineral abundance data show a gradual change from a polymineralogic quartz-rich assemblage from ~50–12 ka to a more simple carbonate-dominate assemblage from the terminal Pleistocene. This trend is consistent with a decreasing contribution of reworked terrestrial siliciclastic sediments derived from the mainland and an increase in carbonate sediments of marine derivation, as the exposed coastal plain become submerged during post-glacial sea-level rise. SEM-EDS analysis has also provided empirical data on cultural materials, mainly bone and shell fragments that similarly reflect the increasing contribution of marine fauna into the Holocene sediments. Particularly useful is the ability of mineral mapping function of the TIMA outputs to help distinguish 16 sub-units representing sections of the main nine stratigraphic units, including at least three contiguous midden events. The SEM-EDS data indicate that the redeposited sediments were derived from the overlying midden unit, with layering reflecting differential settling of mineral phases. This study demonstrates that automated mineralogy studies using TIMA can clearly aid the identification of provenance and processes within archaeological sediments and soils.