七万美元当国王

豪华游艇？度假别墅？总统套房？与七万美元租下一整个国家的诱惑相比,这些似乎都显得太平淡了。这个正在考虑把自己出租的国家,就是欧洲袖珍国度列支敦士登。合约内容看起来相当吸引人,该国的临时“拥有者”将在议会仪式上得到一把象征性的钥匙,然后就可以使用土地,调用当地警察、铸造临时货币等。其他的福利还包括到列支敦土登王子的私人酒窖畅饮红酒、坐着中世纪马车游览首部瓦杜兹、     

REVIEW ESSAY

Rednecks, Eggheads and Blackfellas: a study of racial power and intimacy in Australia. By Gillian Cowlishaw Sydney: Allen and Unwin. 1999. Pp. xix + 352. Figures, Maps, Photos & Index $35     

Lebens‐Geschichte ‐ Wissenschafts‐Geschichte. Vom Nutzen der Biographie für Geschichtswissenschaft und Wissenschaftsgeschichte

Biography as a genre of historiography had been dismissed for some years, criticized for being conservative, resistant to theoretical approaches, and hostile to methodological innovations. But the predominance of a historiography devoted to structures, functions, and statistics has, however, led to a renewed interest in the human factor in history. This paper argues that the pluralism of methods and theories which has emerged thereafter reopened the case for an innovative biography, thus facilitating the convergence of general history and the history of science.     

Application of veratraldehyde as a temporary consolidant for relics at underwater cultural heritage sites

Because it is often difficult to preserve fragile relics in situ at underwater cultural heritage sites, it is sometimes necessary for relics to be extracted and moved to a controlled environment on land for protection and study. This paper discusses the feasibility of using the volatile organic compound veratraldehyde as a temporary consolidant for underwater fragile relics extraction. The results show that different materials (iron, tile, sand, wood) under water can be bonded together and extracted when using veratraldehyde. The fact that veratraldehyde is difficult to spread on the surface of underwater objects is a problem that can be solved by adding a layer of strong hydrophobic polypropylene (PP) fibres onto the object, serving as a ‘package' for the relics. Under laboratory conditions, we used veratraldehyde and PP fibres to extract broken tiles from underwater sand onto an exhibition stand. The broken tiles, in both condition and distribution, were safely and completely retained as the veratraldehyde was slowly removed by the soaking process. This work fills a gap in knowledge about temporary consolidant materials in underwater archaeology, and provides a new method for extracting underwater fragile cultural relics without damaging them.