Zur Geschichte des Kaiser-Wilhelm-Instituts für physikalische Chemie und Elektrochemie. Zur geplanten Veränderung des Instituts in eine Forschungs- und Entwicklungsstätte des Heeres für den Gaskampf und Gasschutz auch in Friedenszeiten 1916 und nach 1933

A Contribution to the History of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry: On Projected Changes of the Institute into a Research and Development Center of the Army for Chemical Warfare also in Times of Peace 1916 and after 1933. — The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics and Electrochemistry, today named after its first director Fritz-Haber-Institut, was in the first World War a place of research on chemical warfare. Evidences in the Archive for the History of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft show that it was planned during the war to continue research in this area in peacetime. To realize this Fritz Haber proposed to found a special Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. As this could not be accomplished the war ministry founded 6 million marks to establish an extra department in the KWI of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry just before the end of the war. After Germany lost the war these were used for other research areas while work on chemical warfare was carried out elsewhere. When Fritz Haber resigned 1933 because of the race-laws of the nationalsocialists the war ministry in cooperation with the ministery for culture nominated an obliging scientist as director of the institute with the aim to take up again research in the area of chemical warfare despite of the opposition of the president of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft and the ministery of the interior. After that time until the end of the second world war 1945 a good part of the work carried out in the institute was done for the war ministry.     

Amino-acid analysis of the contents of a vial excavated at Axum, Ethiopia

This report describes in some detail both the chemical technique of ultra-micro amino-acid analysis and some of its applications to archaeology. The technique itself consists of heating a sample of protein weighing less than 1 μg in hydrochloric acid, separating the amino-acids by ion-exchange chromatography, colorimetrically determining the amount of each which is present, and quantifying the results. As an example of the application of this technique to archaeological problems, a seemingly inorganic calcitic concretion found in the bottom of a glass vial excavated at Axum was analysed. The vial was found with associated artifacts which suggested that it had been manufactured around or after about AD 600. Approximately 4% of amino-acids were detected in the concretion. The resulting data suggested the presence of skin and hair. These analytical results were coupled with observations concerning the present day distribution of civet cats in Africa, and lead to the conclusion that the vial originally contained civet cat gland exudate, which has a musky odor. In other words, the vial was probably used originally as a perfume bottle.     

Drake and Cermeno in California: Sixteenth century Chinese ceramics

Historical Archaeology -     

The innovative power of regional policy networks: A comparison of two approaches to political modernization in North Rhine‐Westphalia

The paper compares two recent approaches of North Rhine‐Westphalia to promote the restructuring of old industrialized areas: the concept of IBA Emscher Park, a combination of expert networks and a regional development agency, and the concept of ‘Regional Conferences’, a regional round table device with the aim of defining regional development paths. The comparison focuses on the impact of the two approaches on regional policy‐making structures. Although both concepts adopt a network approach, regional conferences are comparatively weak devices focusing on common development schemes instead of projects, lacking strong power promoters, having weaker innovation incentives, being subject to counterproductive regimes and suffering from a discrepancy between conflicts to be resolved and conflict resolution capacity.     

The Potential of EBSD and EDS for Ceramics Investigations—Case Studies on Sherds of Pre‐Columbian Pottery

The work focuses on the potential of structural and chemical examinations by scanning electron microscopy based methods for archaeometric studies on ceramics. Achieved by a single preparation technique (polished block sections), the feasibility and benefits of electron backscatter diffraction are demonstrated as case studies using polychrome examples of pre‐Columbian pottery (Wari, Moche and Cajamarca). Elemental and phase maps allow for separate consideration of clay and temper. Identification of mineral phases and intergrowths of temper particles provide information for clarifying clay procurement and firing techniques with respect to local versus non‐local pottery to enlighten trade relations, technological transfer and shared heritage of pre‐Columbian cultures.     

Stone Tool-Making and Brain Activation: Position Emission Tomography (PET) Studies

This study introduces to archaeology a new experimental technique for examining the relationship between stone tool-making and brain function. The principal focus of this exploratory study was the development of effective methods for the identification and examination of the regions of the modern human brain recruited during the manufacture of simple (Oldowan or Mode I) stone tools. The functional brain imaging technique employed, Positron Emission Tomography (PET), examines task-related brain activity by assessing changes in regional cerebral blood flow during specific tasks. The single-subject study reported here represents a heuristic, initial exploration of this subject. Results indicate that during stone tool-making there was heavy activation of cortical and subcortical regions of the brain associated with motor and somatosensory processing. Especially interesting was the high degree of activation in areas known to be involved with complex spatial cognition requiring integration of diverse sensory inputs (e.g. vision, touch, and proprioception, or sense of body position and motion). Expansion of such higher-order association areas has been particularly important during the course of human evolution. This single-subject pilot study demonstrates the application of the PET brain imaging technique to the study of early stone technologies and suggests hypotheses to be tested in more comprehensive studies in the future.