Emperors,bishops, art and jurisprudence: the transformation of law in Eusebius of Caesarea

This article analyses the collection and repurposing of legal documents in the early fourth‐century historical writings of Eusebius of Caesarea. Some of these individual documents have been the object of repeated study; others are still largely neglected. But they are even more interesting, I suggest, when considered as a collective, as Eusebius’ careful editing reveals they were intended to be. This mobilization of collated and embedded law was, I argue, the meeting of two separate wider trends that took off in this early fourth‐century watershed moment – the so‐called late antique artistic aesthetic, and the gradually changing legal dynamic between government and governed. Eusebius used both as strategies to resist imperial dominance in the uncertain times in which he wrote, constructing an image of the bishop capable of going toe to toe with emperors. In doing so, he anticipated not just the growing conflict between church and state in the centuries to come, but the rhetorical strategies that would come to be employed.     

Landscapes for Neolithic People in Mainland,Orkney

Journal of World Prehistory - Neolithic occupation of the Orkney Islands, in the north of Scotland, probably began in the mid fourth millennium cal BC, culminating in a range of settlements,...     

Medieval Britain in 1978

Abstract

ZOOARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF a substantial assemblage of animal bones excavated from Dudley Castle, West Midlands, suggests that a significant change in pig management occurred during the 14th century. A dramatic decrease in the relative abundance of pigs, combined with an increase in the size of post-cranial bones and teeth, and a higher proportion of neonatal individuals, raises the possibility that greater control over breeding and feeding was being exerted in this period through the emergence of enclosed husbandry practices. Carbon and nitrogen stable-isotope analysis of a sample of 41 pig mandibles from two tightly dated phases of occupation supports this interpretation. Between the late 13th century and later 14th century there was a statistically significant decrease in δ¹⁵N, but not in δ¹³C, and pig dietary diversity probably also decreased. This paper discusses several explanations for these patterns, all consistent with a major change in pig management at this time.     

Paleocene flora from Seymour Island,Antarctica: revision of Dusén’s (1908) angiosperm taxa

The Paleocene flora from Seymour Island, Antarctica, is one of the most diverse floras of this age in the Southern Hemisphere. First collected on the Swedish South Polar Expedition (1901–1903), it was described by Dusén in 1908 as having 87 leaf taxa. Forty-seven angiosperm taxa were described and/or illustrated. Many species are based on single specimens, and the flora has not been re-examined in its entirety since it was first described. This study is the first reassessment of the flora updating the original research using current methodologies, and permitting evaluation of the flora in the context of modern ideas on plant evolution and palaeogeography. This paper continues the revision of the material first studied by Dusén; a previous paper described the ferns and gymnosperms; here we describe the angiosperms. The revision is based on the original collections held at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, together with the first major new collections held at the British Antarctic Survey. Among the taxa recognized by Dusén, we recognize only three entire-margined and 11 tooth-margined angiosperms. This revision to 14 species notably lacks the two tropical elements originally described from the flora, Mollinedia seymourensis and Miconiiphyllum austral. Hence, its status as a ‘Mixed Flora’ comes into question and influences climatic interpretations based on Gondwanan floras. Anne-Marie Tosolini^? [a.tosolini@unimelb.edu.au], Department of Earth Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK, and Environmental Geoscience, Latrobe University, Victoria, 3086, Australia; David Cantrill [david.cantrill@rbg.vic.gov.au], National Herbarium of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, Private Bag 2000, Birdwood Ave, South Yarra, Victoria, 3141, Australia; Jane Francis [j.francis@earth.leeds.ac.uk], Department of Earth Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. ?Present address: School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia. Received 5.5.2012; revised 13.12.2012; accepted 7.1.2012.     

The geography of community and political organisation in London today

Set in the context of growing concern about the lack of a coherent political response to the economic crisis, and in the aftermath of devastating urban violence in English cities, this paper highlights the pressing need for new forms of political organisation in countries like the UK. The paper focuses on the remarkable growth and prominence of community organising in the UK. The largest community alliance, called London Citizens, now commands significant support and influence in the capital and is attracting attention from politicians, journalists and commentators from across the UK. The rising profile of community organising flies in the face of much scholarship in the social sciences which has long declared the death of geographical community – and its socio-political significance – in the modern metropolis. The paper provides an overview of this literature and highlights the particular importance of population turnover, increased diversity and stretched social networks. In this context, the paper then explores how London Citizens has been able to use a particular geographical architecture to work with and against these challenges. The paper argues that London Citizens’ territorial but institutionally networked structure is particularly important to its growth and impact. This model of politics locates institutional islands of social solidarity and forges connections between them, creating a new community that is able to mitigate some of the effects of population turnover and stretched social networks in the city-at-large. The paper highlights the strengths and weaknesses of this geo-political architecture, drawing attention to the importance of institutional affiliation, identity-making, the reproduction of collective memory, and the issue of funding.