Glass from the Archaeological Museum of Adria (North-East Italy): new insights into Early Roman production technologies

In the present study, the first archaeometric data on an ample selection of intentionally coloured (or decoloured) Early Roman glass (1st–2nd centuries AD) from the Archaeological Museum of Adria (Rovigo, Italy) are reported. The analysed samples are 61 in total, both transparent and opaque, and were characterised from the textural (SEM-EDS), mineralogical (XRPD) and chemical (XRF, EPMA, LA-ICP-MS) points of view. This combined approach allowed us to identify the raw materials and production technologies employed in the manufacture of glassware. Results for the transparent samples show that they are all silica-soda-lime glasses. Most of them, independently of colour, have compositions close to those of typical Roman glass, produced with natron as flux. No relationships were identified among chemical compositions, types or production techniques, but a dependence on bulk composition was identified for some particular colours, revealing the careful and intentional selection of raw materials. This is the case of Sb-colourless glass, produced with sand of high purity, a group of intensely coloured objects, mainly emerald green and black, produced with soda ash as flux, and some blue examples produced with various sources of sand or soda ash as flux. Two main types of opacifiers were identified for the opaque samples: calcium antimonate for white, mauve and blue glasses, and lead antimonate for the yellow ones; in one case, a yellow lead-tin antimonate was also identified. As regards the opaque glasses, most of the samples opacified with calcium antimonate are silica-soda-lime in composition, similar to the typical Roman glass. Instead, samples opacified with lead and/or lead-tin antimonates are lead glasses, suggesting different production technologies.     

Early American technological Edens

Howard P. Segal, Technological Utopianism in American Culture, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1985     

Spatial Analysis of Employment and Population Density: The Case of the Agglomeration of Dijon 1999

The aim of this paper is to analyze the intraurban spatial distributions of population and employment in the agglomeration of Dijon (regional capital of Burgundy, France). We study whether this agglomeration has followed the general tendency of job decentralization observed in most urban areas or whether it is still characterized by a monocentric pattern. To that purpose, we use a sample of 136 observations at the communal and at the IRIS (infraurban statistical area) levels with 1999 census data and the employment database SIRENE (INSEE). First, we study the spatial pattern of total employment and employment density using exploratory spatial data analysis. Apart from the CBD, few IRIS are found to be statistically significant, a result contrasting with those found using standard methods of subcenter identification with employment cut‐offs. Next, in order to examine the spatial distribution of residential population density, we estimate and compare different specifications: exponential negative, spline‐exponential, and multicentric density functions. Moreover, spatial autocorrelation, spatial heterogeneity, and outliers are controlled for by using the appropriate maximum likelihood, generalized method of moments, and Bayesian spatial econometric techniques. Our results highlight again the monocentric character of the agglomeration of Dijon.     

Challenging intellectual hierarchies. Hegel in Risorgimento political thought: an introduction

ABSTRACT

The introduction to this special issue rethinks Italy’s liberal tradition and nineteenth-century Italian political thought in transnational perspective, with particular focus on the role of Italian Hegelianism during the emergence of the modern Italian nation state. Starting from an attempt to recast the transnational dimension of the Risorgimento, this co-authored article relates existing studies of Italian Hegelianism to wider trends in intellectual history elsewhere in Europe. Introducing the different contributions to this special issue, our approach challenges notions of centre and periphery in the history of intellectual flows, and helps to free the history of the Risorgimento from self-incurred exceptionalism.     

Oxygen isotopic composition of limpet shells from the Beagle Channel: implications for seasonal studies in shell middens of Tierra del Fuego

Shell middens distributed along the coastal areas of the Beagle Channel (Tierra del Fuego) testify the primary role of marine resources in the successful social dynamic of hunter–gatherer–fisher societies (HGF) in extreme high latitude environmental conditions. Intertidal and subtidal limpet species are frequently identified taxa of these archaeological deposits. We investigated whether shell δ¹⁸O of the limpet species Nacella deaurata is a valuable record of local sea surface temperature (SST) and ambient water δ¹⁸O (δ¹⁸Ow) fluctuations, and in turn can be used to estimate the season of its exploitation by Holocene HGF. Sequential shell δ¹⁸O of modern species track seasonal changes of SST and δ¹⁸Ow. The comparison of shell δ¹⁸O profiles of N. deaurata and Nacella magellanica (a coexisting species) suggests the occurrence of distinct growth rate and physiological adaptations between species. Shell δ¹⁸O of zooarchaeological specimens of N. deaurata from Lanashuaia II suggests that animals were exploited predominantly in winter and that experienced similar environmental conditions of present day at ∼1320 years BP. Results also indicate that N. deaurata is a valuable candidate for studying past seasonal changes in SST and δ¹⁸Ow in this southernmost part of South America.     

Susceptibility measurements,optical and X-ray analysis to explain the origin of archaeological magnetic anomalies in Tavoliere lowland (Southern Italy)

Since 2002 a non-invasive investigation integrating aerial photography and high-resolution magnetometry has been carried out for reconstructing extensive ancient settlements in Tavoliere lowland (Southern Italy). Relevant magnetic anomalies were detected in all the surveyed sites allowing a precise mapping of the buried structures over more than 150 ha. Next to this research susceptibility measurements, PXRD, XRF and optical analysis were also performed in order to explain the origin of the notable magnetization contrast between the anthropogenic structures and the embedding materials, generating the measured signals. This last study was accomplished, in 2006, in Monte S. Vincenzo site, a vast Neolithic village where the remotely sensed data were also used to guide some direct inspection. Trial archaeological excavations brought to light parts of C-shaped compounds, providing complete information on the geometry and location of the sources of magnetic signals. Profiting by the archaeological feedback, the susceptibility contrast between the soil filling the ditches and the calcareous substratum was assessed in situ. A synthetic model based on this information was created and compared with the experimental data. The infilling material was also sampled for laboratory analysis: the presence of several magnetic minerals (pyroxenes, monometric magnetite, haematite) was ascertained. Furthermore optical analyses showed different types of volcanic and igneous products such as pumices, melanite garnets and lava fragments. Geomorphological and archaeometric evidence allowed us to relate these materials to activity of the Mt. Vesuvius volcano. Eventually their possible spatial distribution was inferred from recent studies on ash transportation and deposition during explosive activity.     

Migrant masculinities in-between private and public spaces of reproductive labour: Asian porters in Rome

Abstract

This article explores the construction of migrant masculinities in the context of reproductive labour. It focuses on Asian Christian men working as porters in upper middle-class residential buildings in Rome (Italy). This masculinised niche of reproductive labour combines differently gendered chores: feminised tasks (cleaning and caring) - mainly performed in the most private spaces of the home - and masculinised tasks (maintenance and security), carried out in the public or semi-public spaces of the buildings. The analysis addresses the dearth of studies on the sex-typing of jobs in the context of migrant men’s work experiences. It also contributes to ongoing debates on the geography of reproductive labour, by exploring how gendered practices of migrant reproductive labour construct private and public places. The construction of masculinities and place is shaped by the gendered racialisation of migrant men at the wider societal level, which materialises in the construction of ‘dangerous’ and ‘respectable’ urban areas. The article suggests that widespread concerns over religious difference and public security play a key role in defining migrant men’s access to the workplace and in shaping work relations.