The composition of ‘naturally coloured’ late Roman vessel glass from Britain and the implications for models of glass production and supply

Naturally coloured, blue or green are the most common glass colours found in assemblages from the Roman world from the end of the 1st century BC onwards. In the 4th century two different compositions have come to dominate this group, ‘HIMT’ and ‘Levantine 1’ glasses, both of which are now thought to have been produced in the eastern Mediterranean. Using Romano-British glass assemblages from the 4th and 5th centuries, it is shown here that although the two naturally coloured glass types predominate, by far the most common composition in British assemblages is HIMT, although older, earlier blue-green compositions are still present. The earliest date HIMT could be identified in these assemblages is around AD 330, although two distinct compositions can be identified within this group which relate to changes in composition over time. A similar change over time is seen in the Levantine 1 glasses. The reasons for these patterns within the assemblages are explored within the archaeological evidence currently available for glass production and consumption in the Roman world.     

ROMAN GLASS‐MAKING AT COPPERGATE,YORK? ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE NATURE OF PRODUCTION*

Ceramic vessels and associated vitreous debris, excavated at Coppergate, York, UK, have been interpreted as the remains of Roman glass‐making from the raw materials. This paper reports the results of analysis of this assemblage by XRF, ICPS, XRD, SEM– EDAX and thin‐section petrography. These findings suggest that some ceramic vessels, used as crucibles, have been subjected to temperatures up to 1200°C, well above the firing temperatures of the local domestic assemblage from which they were selected. Analysis of quartz‐rich debris, intimately mixed with glass in some samples and in others interleaved with glassy phases, indicates partially reacted glass‐making raw materials, with α‐quartz, tridymite and cristoballite phases represented. This could represent evidence either of a failed attempt to frit the raw materials, or a batch that had not fully fused. Variability in the composition of glass at the site is viewed in the light of glass‐making technology, and possible interpretations concerning this episode are discussed in the light of the archaeological evidence.     

Exploring Goodness-of-Fit and Spatial Correlation Using Components of Tango's Index of Spatial Clustering

The ability to detect anomalies such as spatial clustering in data sets plays an important role in spatial data analysis, leading to interest in test statistics identifying patterns exhibiting significant levels of clustering. Toward this end, Tango (1995) proposed a statistic (and its associated distribution under a null hypothesis of no clustering) assessing overall patterns of spatial clustering in a set of observed regional counts. Rogerson (1999) observed that Tango's index may be decomposed into the summation of two distinct statistics, the first mirroring standard tests of goodness-of-fit (GOF), and the second an index of spatial association (SA) similar to Moran's I . In this article, we investigate the effectiveness of Rogerson's expression of Tango's statistic in separating GOF from SA in data sets containing clusters. We simulate data under the null hypothesis of no clustering as well as two alternative hypotheses. The first alternative hypothesis induces a poor fit from the null hypothesis while maintaining independent observations and the second alternative hypothesis induces spatial dependence while maintaining fit. Using Rogerson's decomposition and leukemia incidence data from upstate New York, we show graphically that one is unable to statistically distinguish poor fit from autocorrelation.     

The Niagara Fruit Belt: the Ontario Municipal Board Decision of 1981

In the preceding essay, Gayler has traced and explained part of the tortuous, long-delayed progress towards an effective regional land use plan over the Niagara fruit belt. As population and expansion projections diminished, excessive amounts of land were requested by the several municipalities and by the regional council. These demands were not greatly reduced after lengthy Ontario Municipal Board (omb) hearings, but the board's decision offers some limited hope that the remaining lands will remain under agricultural uses. This proposition will be examined in this paper, with particular reference to the nature and character of the omb decision.     

Re-imagining the kitchen as a site of memory

Extending the focus of previous geographical research on public spaces of remembering, this paper demonstrates the ways in which memory work also takes place in private domestic spaces. The paper draws on a combination of life history and ethnographic research undertaken in Northern England, examining kitchens as a specific lieu de mémoire, showing how they serve as places where valued items are displayed and material artefacts are curated as part of the construction and reproduction of personal memories and familial identities. Using ethnographic and visual evidence from two case study households, the paper demonstrates the role of material artefacts in curating the past and materialising memory. Additionally, life history interviews with older women reveal narratives of everyday cooking practices which seemingly contradict popular discourses of the past, questioning conventional ideas about the distorted nature of nostalgia. In combination, our data represent complex narratives in which the past can be seen as infusing the present, and where present-day concerns are revealed as actively shaping public discourses which favour a return to an idealised past, which may have little bearing on people’s actual lived experience.     

Book reviews

S. Schafer, The Political Criminal: The Problem of Morality and Crime, Free Press, New York, 1974, pp. 179, $8.95.

Audrey Williamson, Thomas Paine: His Life. Work and Times, London, George Allen & Unwin. 1973, pp. 296, $14.40.

Anthony Clunies Ross and John Langmore, eds, Alternative Strategies for Papua New Guinea, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1973, pp. viii + 263, $5.95.

Frank Stevens, Aborigines in the Northern Territory Cattle Industry, ANU Press, Canberra, 1974, pp. xiv + 226, $7.95.

K. Lindgren, H. H. Mason and B. L. J. Gordon, The Corporation and Australian Society, Law Book Co., Sydney, 1974, pp. v + 334, $14.50.

J. R. Davis and P. Spearritt, Sydney at the Census: 1971 A Social Atlas, Urban Research Unit, ANU, Canberra, 1974.     

Book reviews

D. Crane, Invisible Colleges: Diffusion of Knowledge in Scientific Communities. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1972, pp. 213. $A10.35; $2.40.

David Freeman Hawke, Paine. Harper & Row, New York, 1974, pp. 500. $US15.00.

Theodore Zeldin, France 1848–1945, Volume I, Ambition. Love and Politics. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1973, pp. 823. $19.30.