Lead isotope and chemical signature of copper from Oman and its occurrence in Mesopotamia and sites on the Arabian Gulf coast

Lead isotope data, together with an evaluation of previously published results for the chemical composition of Omani ores and copper‐base artefacts are used to define a material signature of Omani copper. Absent from our group of Bronze Age metal (Umm an Nar and Wadi Suq periods) are the signature of ores from Masirah Island and also from the vast deposits in north Oman inland from Suhar. Contemporaneous copper from Bahrain and from Tell Abraq on the Gulf coast is consistent in its material signature with Omani copper; a derivation from Omani ores of this copper is highly likely. A few exceptions at Tell Abraq point to Faynan/Timna in the southern Levant as a possible source region. Among Mesopotamian artefacts the signature of Omani copper is encountered during all cultural periods from Uruk at the end of the fourth millennium BC to Akkadian 1000 years later. Oman/Magan appears to have been particularly important during Early Dynastic III and Akkadian when about half of the copper in circulation bears the Omani signature.     

Granite‐related overpressure and volatile release in the mid crust: fluidized breccias from the Cloncurry District,Australia

The source and transport regions of fluidized (transported) breccias outcrop in the Cloncurry Fe‐oxide–Cu–Au district. Discordant dykes and pipes with rounded clasts of metasedimentary calc–silicate rocks and minor felsic and mafic intrusions extend several kilometres upwards and outwards from the contact aureole of the 1530 Ma Williams Batholith into overlying schists and amphibolites. We used analytical equations for particle transport to estimate clast velocities (≥20 m sec^?1), approaching volcanic ejecta rates. An abrupt release of overpressured magmatic‐hydrothermal fluid is suggested by the localization of the base of the breccias in intensely veined contact aureoles (at around 10 km, constrained by mineral equilibria), incorporation of juvenile magmatic clasts, the scale and discordancy of the bodies, and the wide range of pressure variation (up to 150 MPa) inferred from CO₂ fluid inclusion densities and related decrepitation textures. The abundance of clasts derived from depth, rather than from the adjacent wallrocks, suggests that the pressure in the pipes was sufficient to restrict the inwards spalling of fragments from breccia walls; that is, the breccias were explosive rather than implosive, and some may have vented to the surface. At these depths, such extreme behaviour may have been achieved by release of dissolved fluids from crystallizing magma, in combination with a strongly fractured and fluid‐laden carapace, sitting under a strong, low permeability barrier. The relationship of these breccias to the Ernest Henry iron‐oxide–Cu–Au deposit suggests they may have been sources of fluids or mechanical energy for ore genesis, or alternately provided permeable pathways for later ore fluids.     

Of Sceptres and Censors: Biblical Interpretation and Censorship in Seventeenth-Century France

In 1676 Pierre-Daniel Huet, scholar and tutor to the Dauphin,encountered difficulties with state censorship. Bishop Bossuetwas blocking the publication of his Demonstratio evangelica,a recasting of an ancient Christian apologetic. The Sorbonnetheologian and censor, Edme Pirot, was caught in the middle.An analysis of the interaction between these three men revealsAncien Régime censorship as a series of negotiationsshaped by the different stakes, personalities, ambitions andstatus of the participants. Huet and Bossuet’s quarrelalso echoed the confessional debates of the sixteenth centuryand reflected disagreements within the Catholic Church thereafter.It raised such important questions as whether the Bible shouldbe subjected to the same types of analysis as secular textsand anticipated concerns about the relationship between biblicalcriticism and the rise of irreligion. Throughout, Bossuet skilfullymanipulated the mechanisms of state censorship to defend hisvision of Church Tradition by delaying the publication of Huet’sDemonstratio and suppressing Richard Simon’s L’histoirecritique du Vieux Testament.     

Determinants of Residential Location Choice: How Important Are Local Public Goods in Attracting Homeowners to Central City Locations?*

Abstract. A hybrid conditional logit choice model is estimated using data on the characteristics and destination of homeowners who engaged in intrametropolitan moves among 17 school districts within the Columbus, Ohio area in 1995. The model is used to test the relative influence of local fiscal and public goods versus household‐level characteristics in determining household location choices across central city and suburban school districts. Results provide evidence of both a “natural evolution” of households to the suburbs, due to job location, residential filtering, and household income and lifecycle effects, and “flight from blight,” due to lower school quality, higher crime levels, and lower average income levels in the city. In comparing the magnitudes of these variables, we find that school quality exerts the strongest influence: a 1‐percent increase in the school quality of the city district increases the probability of choosing a city residence by 3.7 percent. In contrast, the effects of household income and other individual characteristics are relatively modest. The findings provide support for a “flight from blight” suburbanization process that is dominated by differences in neighborhood quality between the city and suburbs. An implication is that investments that promote central city development and reduce suburbanization are justified on efficiency grounds if negative externalities are generated by increased concentration of poverty, crime, and low school quality.     

A modified sampler for uncontaminated DNA cores from soft sediments

A piston-type mud sampler is described. It is a development of the Livingstone corer and was designed to extract cores for DNA analysis of sediments. Prevention of contamination was paramount. As the entire system is self-contained and the sample is retained in the corer, it was found ideal for extracting very soft sediments which could not be captured by existing corers.     

Variable nucleotide tandem repeat (VNTR) typing of two palaeopathological cases of lepromatous leprosy from Mediaeval England

Using ancient DNA methods, we have examined in detail two archaeological cases of leprosy from Mediaeval England. The first was a child skeleton with rhino-maxillary changes typical of lepromatous leprosy (LL). The second case was the skeleton of a male adult who showed both typical rhino-maxillary changes and osteitis/periostitis on the leg and foot bones. Bone powder was sampled from both cases and DNA extracts were prepared. These were subjected to a series of polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) specific for regions on the Mycobacterium leprae genome. The repetitive element RLEP was used for confirmation of M. leprae DNA and then three polymorphic regions were successfully amplified and sequenced to determine the number of variable nucleotide tandem repeats (vntr) at these loci. These were the microsatellite regions ML2344 and ML2172 and the minisatellite region ML0058. Genotyping data from the strains preserved within the skeletal remains were compared with those obtained for a reference strain of M. leprae. Variation at these three loci was found between both burials and the reference strain, indicating that vntr typing of LL cases from the archaeological record is a useful way of confirming disease and an additional means of authenticating aDNA data. This demonstrates the feasibility of targeting multiple loci for phylogenetic studies of leprosy strains from archival sources.     

NON‐DESTRUCTIVE INVESTIGATION OF BRONZE ARTEFACTS FROM THE MARCHES NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY USING NEUTRON DIFFRACTION*

Non‐destructive neutron diffraction techniques were applied to determine composition and microstructure data, and hence to derive information on manufacturing techniques of Picenum bronze artefacts. Furthermore, texture analyses were carried out on standards and suitable ancient artefacts to investigate their potential role in archaeometallurgical studies. This is a first step towards an overall characterization of the bronze collection of the Marches National Museum of Archaeology, Italy, and the analytical demonstration of relations with and differences compared to Etruscan metallurgy. The work is also an example application of the powerful non‐destructive archaeometrical approaches provided by time‐of‐flight neutron diffraction.