Risk Management Strategies Among African-American Slaves at Locust Grove Plantation

African Americans faced a variety of risks under the institution of slavery. The theory of risk management is used as a context for understanding the lives of slaves at Locust Grove Plantation in Kentucky and for deconstructing the common myth that slavery was unusually mild there. African Americans used a diversity of means at Locust Grove to cope with risk, including generalized reciprocity, food storage, religion, and strong kinship/community bonds.     

Slag inclusions in iron objects and the quest for provenance: an experiment and a case study

Slag inclusions are found within most archaeological bloomery iron artefacts and are remainders of slag created during the smelting and smithing processes. Although they are widely believed to provide data with the potential for provenancing iron artefacts, previous slag inclusion studies have mostly proven inconclusive. The main aim of the work reported here is to analyse experimental smelting and smithing assemblages (including ore, furnace lining, fuel and slag), to compare these to slag inclusions in the resulting bloom and worked objects, and then explore the relationships between ore, slag and slag inclusions. This study has revealed that the composition of slag inclusions most closely relates to the smelting slag produced, whereas provenance to a specific ore would be difficult due to the chemical variability derived from furnace lining, fuel and any fluxes used. Some compounds in the slag inclusions are particularly affected during smithing of the artefact, i.e. those present in the sand flux and fuel used. However, trends are observed in the K₂O/MgO, MnO/SiO₂, Al₂O₃/SiO₂, Al₂O₃/MgO, Al₂O₃/K₂O and Al₂O₃/CaO ratios that allow comparison between slag inclusions and smelting slag in these experiments, and may therefore be used during other provenancing attempts. The knowledge gained from the experimental assemblages was subsequently applied to an archaeological case study, examining objects from the 900 Cal BC smithing site of Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel and the 930 Cal BC smelting site of Tell Hammeh, Jordan. The analyses suggest that none of the artefacts examined derived from the Hammeh smelting system.     

In Memoriam William Wells Newell,Died at Wayland,Massachusetts, 21st January, 1907

CELTIC MYTH AND ARTHURIAN ROMANCE. By ROGER SHERMAN LOOMIS. New York: Columbia University Press, 1927. 9″x5?″. Pp. xii+371. 30s. Reviewed by Eleanor Hull.

BÉALOIDEAS : The Journal of the Folk-Lore of Ireland Society. Published by the Society at Room 78, University College, Dublin, 1927. Volume I, Parts i and ii. Pp. 205. 8vo. Ann. sub. 7s. 6d. Reviewed by Eleanor Hull.

LIA FÁIL. Dublin: 89 Talbot Street. Large 8vo. 5s. per vol. Reviewed by Eleanor Hull.

“THE PACK OF AUTOLYCUS,” or Strange and terrible news of Ghosts, Apparitions, Monstrous Births, Showers of Wheat, Judgments of God, and other Prodigious and Fearful happenings as told in Broadside Ballads of the years 1624–1693. Edited by HYDER EDWARD ROLLINS. Cambridge (Harvard) University Press, 1927. 4to. Pp. xvii+270. Ill. 2is. Reviewed by M. Gaster.

DIE HELLENISTISCHEN MYSTERIENRELIGIONEN nach ihren Grundgedanken und Wirkungen. By R. REITZENSTEIN. 3rd ed. Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1927. 8vo. Pp. viii+438. 16s. Reviewed by M. Gaster.

THE NEGRO AND HIS SONGS. A Study of Typical Negro Songs in the South. By HOWARD W. ODUM and GUY B. JOHNSON. Chapel Hill, Carolina, U.S.A.: Univ. of North Carolina Press (Oxford Univ. Press), 1925. 9″ x 5?″. Pp. xii. + 306. 18s. 6d. Reviewed by A. R. Wright.

FOLK BELIEFS OF THE SOUTHERN NEGRO. By NEWBELL NILES PUCKETT. Chapel Hill, Carolina, U.S.A.: Univ. of North Carolina Press (Oxford Univ. Press), 1926. 9″x5?″. 9 ill. Pp. xvi+644. 22s. 6d. Reviewed by A. R. Wright.