ARCHAEOMETRIC INVESTIGATIONS OF SGRAFFITO CERAMIC TILES (FIFTEENTH‐SIXTEENTH CENTURIES) RECOVERED FROM EXCAVATIONS IN UDINE (NORTH‐EAST ITALY)*

Most of the Renaissance sgraffito tiles excavated in Udine (Italy) constitute a homogeous group, the tile body having a CaO/MgO molar ratio ?= 3:2. They were produced using a dolomite‐ and calcite‐containing clay fired at 900–950°C. A small group of samples, with a lower firing temperature and a CaO/MgO ratio ?= 2:3, was probably produced in a different factory. Slip and transparent glaze, characterized by optical microscopy and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry, are an illite‐rich clay and a lead silicate, respectively.     

MAGNETIC SUSCEPTIBILITY THICKNESS CORRECTIONS FOR SMALL ARTEFACTS AND COMMENTS ON THE EFFECTS OF‘BACKGROUND’MATERIALS*

Correction factors for magnetic susceptibility measurements on thin (<c. 50 mm thick > artefacts have been determined experimentally for a KT‐5 Exploranium G S. instrument using prepared blocks of Whin Sill dolerite. The cor rection factor is large (> 1.4) for samples less than 10mm thick, and reduces to 1 01 for samples of 50mm thickness. Measurements on thin samples can also be affected by the backing or substrate material on which they are measured. ‘Background’material, for example, soil or plaster, can contribute significantly to recorded measurements on artefacts, particularly for thin artefacts with low susceptibilities     

An Application of Canonical Correlation Analysis in Regional Science: TheInterrelationships Between Transport and Development in China's Zhujiang Delta

Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) has the ability to deal with two sets of multivariate variables simultaneously and to produce both structural and spatial meanings. In view of the valuable insights to be gained, in this paper I examine the potential applications of CCA in regional science by describing its algorithm in a regional or spatial context. Next, I apply CCA to explore the mutually interdependent relationship between transport and development inChina's Zhujiang Delta. The results highlight the utility of CCA in revealing the structural and spatial patterns of two dominant and four subdominant transport-development relationships in this growing region of China.     

The Diverging Geographies of Social and Business Interaction Patterns: a Case Study of Rural South Australia

Major changes in personal mobility and in country town service provision have taken place in rural South Australia in the period 1968–69 to 1992–93. The later part of this period was one of major rural recession across Australia as a whole. The impact of this recession is considered by investigating changes in three different geographies of rural South Australians. These are their affective identification with place, their local social interaction and their commercial service consumption. There has been a shift of both commercial and social activity up through the hierarchy of settlement, but this is much more pronounced in the case of commercial activity. These differential rates of change are weakening the once mutually reinforcing links between community self‐identification, social interaction and trading patterns. The full impact of the rural crisis commencing in 1982–83 on social and commercial spatial patterns is unlikely to have been achieved by 1992–93, and adjustment is likely to continue.     

Approaches to violent death: a case study from early medieval Cambridge

This paper examines one of a number of weapon‐injury victims from the cemetery at Church End in Cherry Hinton, Cambridge (Hertfordshire Archaeological Trust/Archaeological Solutions site HAT358), which was in use from the late Anglo‐Saxon period until after the Norman Conquest. Drawing on precedents set by forensic studies, palaeopathology and more traditional spatial cemetery analysis, assertions are made about the nature of the attack and its context. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Glass Fragments from the Crypta Balbi in Rome: the Composition of Eighth‐century Fragments

Eighth‐century glass fragments from the Crypta Balbi in Rome were analysed by inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy. The samples included fragments of artefacts as well as ingots of raw glass and wasters. All the fragments proved to be soda–lime glasses. Manganese‐to‐iron atomic ratios are highly variable and determine the colour of a large number of samples. Fairly high copper contents, generally associated with relatively high amounts of antimony and lead, were detected in some green and blue–green samples: this suggests recycling of glass in the form of opaque mosaic tesserae. All three elements are higher in eighth‐century than in previously analysed seventh‐century fragments. This may indicate greater recourse to recycled glass, related to a reduction in trade exchanges in the Mediterranean.     

Aid as a Catalyst

This article argues that aid is not the prime mover of development, but rather a catalyst. It might be used as a reward for good development governance. However, it will fulfil its catalytic function better by creating conditions for policy improvement. Better governance should be seen not only as a pre‐condition for development and for development aid, but also as a development objective in itself. This is particularly true for aid recipient countries in disarray.