The Digital Reconstruction of the Sutton Hoo ship

This article describes the digital reconstruction of the ship remains from Mound 1, at the early 7th‐century Anglo‐Saxon burial ground at Sutton Hoo, East Anglia, UK. This research provides a critical component of the wider project to build a full‐scale reconstruction of the Sutton Hoo ship. The nature of the archaeological record relating to the Sutton Hoo ship is outlined, and the subsequent assumptions underpinning the digital reconstruction explained, followed by a step‐by‐step account of that work. Hydrostatic testing of the resulting digitally reconstructed hull is then presented, allowing new insight into the capacity and capability of the vessel.     

A Simple Model for Estimating Shocks in Unrestrained Building Contents in an Earthquake

Building contents that include cabinets housing electronic equipment are typically not rigidly secured to the floor, nor to the adjacent wall except in regions of high seismic activities. The behavior of unrestrained building contents in an earthquake is a cause of concern because of the consequence of damage to certain equipment or other forms of fragile items. Much of the research reported in the literature has been devoted to studying the rocking and sliding motion behavior of base-excited rigid objects and their risks of overturning. In contrast, this paper is concerned with estimating the impact acceleration that can be generated by the pounding of the rocking object onto the floor. Algebraic expressions for predicting the acceleration level, which can be translated into dynamic force values, are derived and illustrated by case studies. Importantly, the proposed expressions have been verified by comparisons with results from both simulated and physical experiments. In illustrating the use of the proposed analytical procedure, a parametric experimental study has been undertaken on a cushion material to study the sensitivity of its static and dynamic stiffness to changes in the boundary conditions of the cushion. The proposed calculation procedure, while simple to apply, can be used as a means of predicting shock and the dynamic forces that can be generated in an object in the course of the response to an earthquake.     

Identifying palaeo-environments and changes in Aboriginal subsistence from dual-patterned faunal assemblages,south-western Australia

Palaeo-environments and past human subsistence patterns are difficult to determine from dual-patterned faunal assemblages where human and non-human predators have accumulated and intensively modified animal bones. This paper examines such records in the Leeuwin–Naturaliste Region of south-western Australia, where a thin belt of coastal limestone contains caves and rock shelters with rich faunal deposits. The Late Pleistocene and Holocene part of this record derives from four archaeological sites: Devil's Lair, Tunnel Cave, Witchcliffe Rock Shelter and Rainbow Cave. Correspondence analysis combined with cluster analysis enables a preliminary assessment of habitat changes using simple species abundances in the faunal assemblages and comparison with indices of past human activity in the sites and the species’ present habitat preferences. These inferred changes, consistent with previous analyses of faunal remains and tree charcoal, suggest that late Holocene sites document Aboriginal occupation in coastal heath, scrub and woodland. Late Pleistocene deposits record hinterland occupation at times of low sea-level when the coast was up to 30 km seawards of its present position and the surrounding vegetation was open-forest or woodland. As rainfall increased and vegetation changed in the Holocene, species foraging in open-woodland declined or became locally extinct, while species requiring closed canopy habitats increased. Rank-order correlations of taxa and archaeological remains from depositional sequences before and after the environmental change indicate that the occupiers of late Holocene sites favoured the same generalist species that occupiers of Late Pleistocene sites had favoured, which were available at all times. Prey habitats, foraging behaviours and historic records of ethnographic hunting and settlement pattern suggest that this local continuity is consistent with maintenance of a “dispersive mode” subsistence pattern in the region.     

Petrographic analysis and INAA geochemistry of prehistoric ceramics from Robinson Pueblo, New Mexico

The examination of thin sections is a successful method for discovering provenance groupings of archaeological ceramics if non-clay inclusions in pottery paste can be identified with petrographically distinctive geologic sources. When this is not the case, geochemical analysis must be employed to search for more subtle evidence of such groupings. This situation is likely to arise in studies, such as the present one, where the objective is to discern local or subregional patterns of pottery manufacture and exchange. Ninety potsherds from site LA46326 in New Mexico were subjected to both INAA and petrographic analysis. The results of this conjoint approach are assessed in relation to geochemical theory and are analysed graphically and statistically.     

Generating Confusion,Concern, and Precarity through the Right to Rent Scheme in Scotland

The Immigration Act 2016 has heralded an era of amplified Government intervention into day‐to‐day life, placing increased responsibility for border protection on UK citizens. Using interviews with representatives from the field of housing in Scotland, this paper examines one specific aspect of the Immigration Act 2016, the Right to Rent scheme. We investigate how the Right to Rent creates a precarious environment for all those who may appear to be non‐UK citizens. We argue that it may endorse senses of fantasy citizenship to inculcate people into acting on behalf of the state and is a driver for further division in society. Scotland provides a particularly interesting case study, as housing is a devolved power, but immigration is not. This creates an additional layer of tension in our interview data, as housing organisations are faced with a set of conditions imposed from Westminster, infringing on a field that Scotland has self‐determined for some time. Our interviews illustrate the level of confusion around the scheme, the fact that it is increasing criminalisation in the housing sector, and stresses that the scheme is offloading state responsibility for border protection.     

Public School Search Policies and the "Politics of Sin"

In recent years, high school students have been subjected to greater levels of drug searching and surveillance on school grounds. The effect of such searching is potentially wide-ranging, because public schools "play an important role in socializing students according to the norms and mores of society" ( Vergari, 2000 ). Using the "morality politics" framework, this study reports and analyzes the presence of random, suspicionless drug searches in the Nebraska public schools. Whereas most studies of morality policy have focused on the state as the unit of analysis, we consider the perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of principals in regards to drug policies in schools. Our findings, based on a survey of 181 high school principals, reflect several features of morality policy. There has been a significant rise in the number of random drug searches, despite the principals' observation that these measures neither lessen drug use nor catch perpetrators. The most important predictors of drug policy are pressure from local sources, perception of the problem within the community (but not the schools), and the racial composition of schools. Principals articulate limited concern for student rights, and students largely accept searches without resistance. In the discussion, we consider these findings in light of recent court rulings and introduce the potential ramifications of waging the drug war in our nation's classrooms and hallways.     

Between Utopia and Tradition: William Morris’s A Dream of John Ball

ABSTRACT

William Morris, author of the famous nineteenth-century utopian novel News from Nowhere, thought it both possible and desirable to develop a utopian vision that could be affirmed by many individuals. However, Morris also recognised that achieving such utopian unity was not easy. There is, at least potentially, something personal about utopian visions; they are shaped by idiosyncratic desires that cannot be shared. Through a reading of Morris’s A Dream of John Ball, I argue that Morris offers a temporal solution to the problem of utopian unity. The central characters in the text, medieval priest John Ball and a nineteenth-century socialist agitator, come to recognise their shared adherence to the same image of a new society. This is achieved through the mediation of tradition: Ball and the agitator overcome their differences by committing themselves to disappointed hopes elaborated in past struggles that have been handed down to the present. Morris’s articulation of utopia and tradition—the sense that visions of the future can be made shareable through reference to the past—offers the possibility of a transtemporal solidarity of utopians and the bringing together of the dreams of a plurality of individuals.