Material evidence for the use of Attic white-ground lekythoi ceramics in cremation burials

White-ground lekythoi ceramics offer important evidence for funeral practices in Ancient Greece (5th century BC). The images painted-on these oil containers provide the best visual narrative for the events surrounding death, including indications that the vessels themselves were used as part of the funerary rites. However, until now, their specific function and treatment within the funeral ceremony was not well understood. We present here material evidence that the vessels were ritually burned, together with the body of the deceased, during cremation, as evidenced by a diffuse purplish-red discolouration found on many white-ground lekythoi. Through EPMA and μXAS studies, we show that: (1) this characteristic purplish-red discolouration is due to the presence of metallic copper nano-particles embedded in a glassy layer; (2) this metal-glass matrix formed as the result of a high temperature reaction between painted-on Cu-based pigments (e.g., Egyptian blue) and the white-ground ceramic slip; and (3) the reaction occurred under a reducing environment. Given the mortuary context for these vessels, we propose the reduction firing to which the vessels were exposed was that associated with the cremation of the body. The observation of discontinuous formation of the purplish-red discolouration along adjoining fragments supports the hypothesis that the vessels were broken prior to being burned. The majority of lekythoi in museum collections lack information on their original archaeological context, and our data suggest the presence of this purplish-red discolouration may serve as a visual marker for cremation. As such, it is expected our findings will provide a new basis for interpreting how this important class of ceramic, and associated iconographic imagery, relates to Athenian funerary practices and the ancient Greek notion of death.     

A Biography of James Ramsay Hunt (1874–1937)

James Ramsay Hunt (1874–1937) was a pre-eminent twentieth-century American neurologist. The name of Ramsay Hunt is known today because several neurological disorders bear his name, including the herpetic geniculate ganglion syndrome and a form of ataxia and myoclonus. Despite his importance in the field of neurology, few biographical details have been recorded about Hunt’s life. One of the authors of this report recently located Hunt’s daughter. This biographical sketch was based on interviews conducted with her and review of documents in her possession, including letters written by Hunt. Details are depicted about Hunt’s family background and childhood, medical education and early professional development, courtship and marriage, wartime experiences, family and social life, daily routine and professional development, as well as illness and death.     

Carnival and Literature in Early Modern England

A FOLKLORE SAMPLER FROM THE MARITIMES: WITH A BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY ON THE FOLKTALE IN ENGLISH. Ed. by HERBERT HALPERT. Mount Allison University and Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1982. 273 pp., appendices and bibliography. Reviewed by Georgina Boyes.

THE DRUNKEN KING, OR, THE ORIGIN OF THE STATE. By LUC DE HEUSCH, translated and annotated by Roy Willis. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1982. Pp. xv + 50 (£16.50). Reviewed by Loreto Todd.

RITES AND RELIGIONS OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS. By GALE R. OWEN. David and Charles, London, and Barnes and Noble Books, New Jersey, 1981. Pp. 216, 24 plates, 40 figs. £12.50. Reviewed by H. R. Ellis Davidson.

SIJOBANG: SUNG NARRATIVE POETRY OF WESTERN SUMATRA. By NIGEL PHILLIPS. Cambridge Studies in Oral and Literate Culture, Cambridge University Press, 1981. Pp. 255. 2 maps. 8 plates. £22.50. Reviewed by H. R. Ellis Davidson.

THE CULT OF THE SERPENT: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY SURVEY OF ITS MANIFESTATIONS AND ORIGINS. By BALAJIMUNDKUR. State University o f New York Press, Albany, 1983 ISBN 0-87395-631-1. 363 pp., 107 ills. Cloth $39.50, paper $12.95. Reviewed by Jacqueline Simpson.

BRÜDER GRIMM KINDER-UND HAUSMÄRCHEN. Textkritisch revidiert und mit einem Nachwort herausgegeben von HEINZ RÖLLEKE. Cologne (Eugen Diederichs Verlag), 1982. 2 volumes, pp. 592; with 4 illustrations by Ludwig Emil Grimm. Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.

LEGENDS OF THE WORLD. Ed. by RICHARD CAVENDISH. Orbis Publishing, London, 1982. Pp. 433, ill. £12.50. Reviewed by Alicia C. Percival.

THE RIVER'S IN MY BLOOD: RIVERBOAT PILOTS TELL THEIR STORIES. By JANE CURRY. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 1983. Pp. 288. £10.00. Reviewed by Ruth Glass.

PERFORMED LITERATURE: WORDS AND MUSIC BY BOB DYLAN. By BETSY BOWDEN. Indiana University Press, 1982. Pp. 239. $18.95. 0 253 34347 X. Reviewed by Brian Hinton.

LEYENDAS, TRADICIONES, CUENTOS FABULOSOS, Y OTROS RELATOS FANTASTICOS DE LAS ISLAS CABRERA, FORMENTERA, EIVISSA, MENORCA Y MALLORCA. By GABRIEL SABRAFIN. Archivo de Tradiciones Populares, vol. 35. Apartado 296, Palma. 1982. 8vo. Pp. 237 + 3 folding maps. ISBN 84-85354-87-6. 1100 pesetas. Reviewed by Leslie Grinsell.

MYSTERIOUS WALES. By CHRIS BARBER. David and Charles, Newton Abbot, Devon. Pp. 243, 143 illus. and map. Hardback. 1982. £8.95. Paperback, 1983 (Paladin), £2.50. Reviewed by L. V. Grinsell.

OURS ONCE MORE: FOLKLORE, IDEOLOGY, AND THE MAKING OF MODERN GREECE. By MICHAEL HERZFELD. Austin: University of Texas Press 1982. x, 197 pp. Reviewed by Charles Stewart.     

“Going Public” Reconsidered: Reagan's 1981 Tax and Budget Cuts,and Revisionist Theories of Presidential Power

This paper examines the thesis of the public presidency. In light of the success of Ronald Reagan, many revisionist scholars have criticized traditional models of presidential politics. Whereas traditional views emphasized the bargaining presidency, these recent scholars now argue that, today, the politics of rhetoric dominate the politics of bargaining. This paper examines the central case study of the going-public model, Reagan's 1981 tax and budget cuts, a critical case because it represents Reagan's central legislative success and because many scholars and pundits have credited this success to Reagan's frequent televised public appeals. The case reveals that a strong bargaining dynamic played a part in the 1981 process, and that going public strategies were not as dominant as previously thought.

What has changed significantly is the balance of incentives and constraints that influence strategic choice and the kinds of politicians in the Oval Office who make them. Contemporary presidents, after carefully considering their options, will choose going public over bargaining more often than did their predecessors.

–Samuel Kernell, Going Public     

Millet cultivation history in the French Alps as evidenced by a sedimentary molecule

We report on the detection, in a sediment core drilled in Lake Le Bourget (French Alps), of a fossil molecule (miliacin) that was synthesized by broomcorn millet cultivated in the watershed, and then exported to the sediment. The variation in abundance of this molecule allows us reconstructing the history of millet cultivation around Lake Le Bourget. Our results support the introduction of millet around −1700 BC in the region. After an intensive cultivation during the Late Bronze Age, the failure of millet cropping during the Hallstatt period coincides with a phase of climatic deterioration. Millet cultivation recovers during the Roman and Mediaeval periods before falling most probably due to the introduction of more productive cereals. These pioneering results constitute the first continuous record of an agrarian activity covering the last 6000 years and emphasize the close relationships between local hydrology, land use and agro-pastoral activities around Lake Le Bourget.     

Irish Republican Politics and Violence before the Peace Process, 1968–1994

Analyses of the Provisional IRA in Northern Ireland tend to underplay the influence of political strategy in the 1970s, preferring to emphasise militarism. Similarly, the persistence of militarism in the 1980s is often obscured by the attention paid to a ‘new’ republican political orientation. This article seeks to draw attention to the IRA's evolving attitude to the ‘problem’ of Ulster unionism, and republicanism's various estimations of the likely efficacy of violence throughout the period. Republicanism is best understood as a deeply rooted working-class ethno-nationalist movement interacting closely with the other agents of the Northern Ireland conflict: constitutional nationalism, unionism and the British government. ‘Armed struggle’ became a declining asset for republicanism as it came to be seen less as a form of ‘popular guerrilla warfare’ and more as ‘terrorism’. 1 [1] For valuable advice, thanks to Prof. Roy Foster. Opinions expressed are my own. View all notes     

Eventorientierte Veranstaltungen und Lebensqualität innenstädtischer Wohnbevölkerung

Events do have, in addition to economic effects, impact on the quality of life of the affected population. Using a case study from the city of Bamberg this article addresses the subjective contentment with larger events. The results show variation in the range of contentment depending on age and time of residency in the city. Furthermore, it becomes obvious that the particular expectation on “life in the inner city” shapes the contentment. Cities should pay attention to this social heterogeneity when deploying strategies of revitalisation through festivals and events. They should take it seriously by using tools of collaborative planning to preserve the multi-functionality of inner cities.     

The mobilisation of identities: a study on the relationship between elite rhetoric and public opinion on national identity in developed democracies

Over the last decade, the topic of national‐identity has gained considerable importance after various heads of states have made it an important political issue in the context of ongoing globalisation and European integration processes. There is also a large, mainly historical literature that has emphasised the role of the political elite in the formation of national‐identities. While this argument is widely discussed in both public and academic debates, there is, surprisingly, hardly any empirical research on this issue. We do not know whether elite positions resonate with how the masses think about these issues. We therefore set out to test this relationship by combining the 2003 wave of the International Social Survey Programme and content analysis of elite mobilisation rhetoric from the Comparative Manifesto Project. Results indicate that an overlap exists between politicians' articulation of exclusive notions about the contours of national‐identity and heightened expressions of civic and ethnic national‐identity within public opinion. By contrast, elite mobilisation along more inclusive lines appears ineffective. From this, it appears that exclusionary arguments play a more important role, at least in terms of attitudes about national‐identity, than inclusionary ones.     

Mycobacterium leprae genotype amplified from an archaeological case of lepromatous leprosy in Central Asia

We have amplified Mycobacterium leprae DNA from the skeleton of an adult human female exhibiting signs of lepromatous leprosy (LL). The remains were excavated from the site of Devkesken 6 on the Ustyurt plateau of Uzbekistan and date to between the 1st and 4th centuries AD. Recovered DNA was fragmented but of sufficient quality and quantity to allow a series of biomolecular genotyping methods to be applied. These methods included variable nucleotide tandem repeat (VNTR) typing of two microsatellite and one minisatellite regions and also single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) typing for nine informative loci.Genotyping showed that the causative strain of M. leprae exhibited a SNP-type 3 profile, characteristic of cases associated geographically with Europe and North Africa. Further SNP sub-typing was performed and the data obtained from the Uzbek leper was compared with the same loci amplified from a case of LL recovered from Blackfriars, Ipswich, UK dating to between the 13th and 16th centuries AD. Unique group 3 subtypes were found in both the Uzbek case and Ipswich 1914. These appear to be ancestral to recent type 3 strains. Mycolic acid analysis confirmed the presence of M. leprae in the Uzbek samples. Phylogenetically informative SNPs and other polymorphic loci will contribute to the study of human migrations, as well as the origin and spread of leprosy.