Assessing Ceramic Compositional Data: A Comparison of Total Reflection X‐ray Fluorescence and Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis On Late Iron Age Spanish Celtiberian Ceramics

A solid‐phase, non‐chemical processing protocol was recently developed as a means of chemically characterizing archaeological ceramics by total reflection X‐ray fluorescence (TXRF). Following this methodology, TXRF can provide semi‐quantitative determinations for 18 elements with comparable levels of precision and accuracy for the majority of them in comparison with a clay reference material analysed by instrumental neutron activation (INAA). In order critically to assess the analytical capabilities of TXRF, a large sample set of Late Iron Age Spanish Celtiberian ceramics and modern clays was analysed both by TXRF and INAA. Semi‐quantitative chemical data provided by TXRF and quantitative data provided by INAA were subjected to commonly used multivariate statistical methods as a way of evaluating the ability of the new technique to discriminate among different compositional groups. The comparison of the two data sets shows no significant discrepancies, thereby allowing support for the same archaeological interpretation. These results suggest that TXRF has potential applicability for compositional characterization of archaeological ceramics, providing data that are useful for provenance studies.     

Too precarious to be inclusive? Hotel maid employment in Spain

ABSTRACT

Hoteliers have steadily been able to reduce costs and increase employees’ workload as a result of mass unemployment sparked by the financial crisis, beginning in 2008, and associated legislative reforms by the Spanish government. Outsourcing has been hotels’ main instrument in this drive. Hotel chambermaids are among the groups most affected by this phenomenon. This article analyses the impacts of outsourcing on hotel maids’ working conditions, while questioning the possibilities for achieving inclusive tourism given the current outsourcing trend. It is based on 44 in-depth interviews with a range of informants, including 24 hotel maids who have experienced the process of outsourcing, in major Spanish tourism destinations. This study aims to understand the changes these workers have experienced and perceived in their working conditions. The research results highlight a marked deterioration in hotel maids’ working conditions in recent years, most notably involving (a) a reduction in their salary and the loss of professional categories, (b) work overload, (c) greater uncertainty in the duration of employment, timetables and work schedule, (d) de-professionalisation, (e) segmentation, division and an increase in competition between hotel staff, (f) the accentuation of health problems and (g) a decrease in the capacity of representation and the defence of workers’ collective interests.     

Seismic performance of historical vaulted adobe constructions: a numerical case study from Yazd,Iran

Past earthquakes have demonstrated that historical vaulted adobe buildings are highly vulnerable to seismic actions. Hence, it is crucial for such building typologies to be evaluated in terms of seismic capacity. To this end, this article deals with the seismic performance of historical vaulted adobe houses from the city of Yazd, Iran as one of the seismically active areas of the world and possessing a very rich adobe heritage. Thus, and based on a detailed geometrical survey, a representative sample of adobe houses from Yazd was studied using a simplified in-plane analysis based on three geometric indexes. Concerning the out-of-plane behavior, a deeper assessment was conducted by performing a numerical study, where the main influential parameters on the seismic behavior of vaulted adobe buildings were considered. The numerical analyses were carried out by adopting the limit analysis theory implemented in the Block2D software. The results obtained indicate the safe in-plane behavior of most of the houses and the safe out-of-plane response of the sample under gravitational loads. However, the sample out-of-plane safety under earthquake-induced loads seems to be a matter of concern.     

Unraveling a Neanderthal palimpsest from a zooarcheological and taphonomic perspective

Practically all archeological assemblages are palimpsests. In spite of the high temporal resolution of Abric Romaní site, level O, dated to around 55 ka, is not an exception. This paper focuses on a zooarcheological and taphonomic analysis of this level, paying special attention to spatial and temporal approaches. The main goal is to unravel the palimpsest at the finest possible level by using different methods and techniques, such as archeostratigraphy, anatomical and taxonomical identification, taphonomic analysis, faunal refits and tooth wear analysis. The results obtained are compared to ethnoarcheological data so as to interpret site structure. In addition, activities carried out over different time spans (from individual episodes to long-term behaviors) are detected, and their spatial extent is explored, allowing to do inferences on settlement dynamics. This leads us to discuss the temporal and spatial scales over which Neanderthals carried out different activities within the site, and how they can be studied through the archeological record.     

A Comprised Archaeological History of Taiwan through the Long-Term Record of Heping Dao,Keelung

We present the results of six years of archaeological work carried out in Heping Dao, Keelung, northern Taiwan. The site has revealed a rich archaeological record spanning a sequence that comprehends most of the history of Taiwan, including the most salient historical landmarks in it. The study of this long-term sequence of habitation in Heping Dao throughout prehistory to current times, allows us to attempt a historical archaeology of the longue duree of the place that in turn enables the establishment of comparisons between periods and raising of specific questions, among them: the general understanding of cultural transformation along the Neolithic and the Iron Age, and in turn the transition Iron Age/Aboriginal historic times in Taiwan, which in our view has to be observed as a history of continuity rather than of interruptions; the recognition of the Chinese presence in Taiwan in the pre-European period; the implantation of the European colony and its effects on the local populations; the differing material remains and impacts caused by the presence of pre-European Chinese and the Qing occupation; and the potential for a comparison between the European and the Japanese colonial projects as seen in the material record.     

The Contribution of Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) to Understanding Pre‐Columbian Goldwork Technology

This paper highlights the contribution of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) when combined with scanning electron microscopy and energy‐dispersive X‐ray microanalysis (SEM/XEDS) to characterize objects in archaeology. The application of TEM in archaeology is not yet a common tool, but it may provide data that are significant to understanding pre‐Columbian gold metallurgy, specifically the gilding and silvering methods. Two gilded rods were studied using a combination of TEM and SEM/XEDS techniques. The objects were found at the Atacames archaeological site, in the Esmeraldas region, Ecuador, which was occupied between ad 750 and 1526 by the Atacames culture. The microchemical and structural results of the inner and the external gilded part of the artefacts support the hypothesis of a gold diffusion to the surface enhanced by chemical treatment with chloride‐rich solutions, heating and successive annealing processes. The present study reveals that microstructural investigation by TEM provides useful information with which to investigate the techniques used to modify the chemical surface composition of pre‐Columbian artefacts.     

Rethinking the metaphor of light: María Zambrano in dialogue with Jacques Derrida and Hans Blumenberg

ABSTRACT

The notion of metaphor has been broadly discussed during the twentieth century as an essential and necessary part of language and history. This article examines the theoretical dialogue that links the centrality of the metaphor of light in the work of María Zambrano with reflections on this topic by Jacques Derrida and Hans Blumenberg. Through various formulations of this metaphor across different works, Zambrano presents the metaphor linked to poetic reason as not reducible to a mere rhetorical ornament or to a concept. By articulating alternative metaphors to the imperative of clarity as the blinding light of Occidental reason, Zambrano introduces a solid critique to rationalism and introduces the metaphor of the Dawn as a new form of knowledge. This new intonation of the metaphor of light opens up an unexplored direction in Spanish thought not only by thinking the metaphor of light through poetic reason and its critique to the philosophical tradition, but also by assuming the political implications of this metaphor and criticizing its heliopolitical configuration. Indeed, Zambrano states the significance of the metaphor of the sun linked to the sacrificial structure of history, particularly of Spain, and its necessary overcoming as the possibility of a radical democracy.