Sustainability Science Partnerships in Concept and in Practice: a Guide to a New Curriculum from a European Perspective

This paper makes the case for advancing sustainability science partnerships (SSPs) both within universities and through innovative means of integrating universities with external public‐private and civil sectors. It links the basic principles of sustainable development with an emerging science of cooperative learning that connects researchers to a wide range of partners. SSPs are specifically designed to be transformational through becoming active agents for societal change. Universities play a special role here because they can act both as communication networks and as laboratories for developing the capability to design and manage SSPs in the creative transition to sustainability. It is gratifying to note that these ideas are beginning to emerge in a number of universities, with European examples being highlighted in this paper. Further steps towards introducing full‐blooded SSPs across the university spectrum are suggested.     

DETERMINATION OF PIGMENTS AND BINDERS IN POMPEIAN WALL PAINTINGS USING SYNCHROTRON RADIATION – HIGH‐RESOLUTION X‐RAY POWDER DIFFRACTION AND CONVENTIONAL SPECTROSCOPY – CHROMATOGRAPHY

The employment of synchrotron techniques complemented by conventional laboratory systems has allowed us to deepen and improve our knowledge of Roman wall painting procedures. The palette identified in wall paintings from Pompeii and Herculaneum from the second century bc includes goethite, hematite, cinnabar, glauconite, Egyptian blue, and other components such as calcite and aragonite. Proof of the use of organic binders is provided by FTIR and PY–GC/MS. Therefore, the possibility of the use of ‘a secco’ techniques cannot be ruled out. Pigments in wall paintings are usually found in small percentages and conventional X‐ray diffractometers do not detect them. Synchrotron radiation – high‐resolution X‐ray powder diffraction has allowed identification with only a few micrograms of sample.     

COMPOSITIONAL VARIATION IN ROMAN COLOURLESS GLASS OBJECTS FROM THE BOCHOLTZ BURIAL (THE NETHERLANDS)*

We investigated the major and trace element composition and Pb and Sr isotope characteristics of a series of about 20 colourless glass objects from a single high‐status Roman burial from the Netherlands (Bocholtz). The major elements show a relatively homogeneous group, with one outlier. This is corroborated by the Sr isotopes. Based on the Sb and Pb content, three major groups can be discerned, with two other outliers. This grouping is corroborated by the contents of the trace elements Bi, Sn, Ag, As and Mo, and by variations in lead isotopic ratios. On the basis of these results, we conclude that the glass of all objects was probably made with sand and lime from the same source. The variation in trace elements and lead isotope composition is most likely the result of variations in the composition of the sulphidic antimony ore(s) that were used to decolourize the glass. The composition of the Bocholtz glass is compared with that of other Roman glass, and implications for production models, trade and use of colourless glass objects are discussed. On the basis of isotopic and major element variation, we conclude that the antimony ore presumably originated from different mines.     

The influence of different tempers on the composition of pottery

The modification of the raw clay by the potter to produce a paste suitable for the intended purposes adds a layer of obfuscation to the problem of provenancing the original clay source by chemical fingerprinting. By preparing different pastes from the same commercially available raw clay and their chemical analysis by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis, an experiment under controlled conditions (tempers, mixing ratios, firing temperatures and sampling methods) sheds light on the influence of different tempers.     

The extent of farm desertion in central Sweden during the late medieval agrarian crisis: landscape as a source

The effects of medieval agrarian crisis on settlement and population were considered in a major interdisciplinary research project in Scandinavia during the 1960s and 1970s. Within this project, there were significant differences in methods used to calculate the extent of farm desertion between historians in the participating countries. The reliance on written source material within the Swedish team reflected the dominant approach amongst historians who made less use of map and landscape evidence than others. In this renewed investigation of the magnitude of farm desertion in the Late Middle Ages, focussing on the province of Jämtland in central Sweden, field survey of the physical landscape and some three thousand historical maps are used as evidence, alongside conventional written sources, such as official letters and taxation documents. The results indicate that the extent of farm desertion in medieval Sweden has been underestimated because Swedish scholars generally eschewed the use of the retrogressive method, which their Norwegian counterparts had been using since the 1940s. There is therefore good reason to reassess the desertion rates of medieval farms in other parts of Sweden as well, using traditional geographical source materials together with the documentary sources usually favoured by historians This may also hold for other parts of Europe as well. The rate of desertion is discussed in a wider context of settlement contraction and expansion in central and peripheral areas of Sweden, including the long drawn-out process of reclamation of the deserted farms (ödesbölen).     

THE LOGIC OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF RURAL POLITICS: POLITICAL DISCOURSES ON RURALITY IN NORWAY

Two competing discourses emerge from a careful reading of parliamentary debates in Norway on rural development. One regards rural values as intrinsic, while the other regards the rural as an actor in a play about economic growth. The 'growth' discourse has economic growth as its nodal point and fo-cuses on the freedom of an individual to establish a business wherever he or she wishes, and to migrate to any preferred destination. The 'intrinsic value' discourse places the value of rural settlements and cultures as its nodal point and focuses on allegedly forced migration, a nature-based economy, and local freedom of action. During the neoliberal period, starting about 1980 the strength of the intrinsic value discourse has been increasingly displaced by the growth discourse. The latter seems to match general social changes such as neoliberalism and globalization more than the former. However, analysing the fight between these two discourses is not exhaustive. A broader analytic perspective is needed if we want to understand the logic of how the meaning of rurality comes about. The meaning of rurality in Norwegian politics is made through the way the competing discourses link up to 'nondiscursive' topics that originate and evolve outside the discourses on Norwegian rural politics. We claim that topics which include economic safety and national identity/nation-state are more or less fundamental to understanding the logic of the production of the concrete discourses of rurality in Norwegian politics. We provide evidence that rural change is contingent not only on the meaning-making process in parliamentary debates, but on the way truth claims made by politicians are linked to general national and global issues.