Understanding residues of oil production: chemical analyses of floors in traditional mills

Oil production is an important aspect of ancient Mediterranean economy; therefore, archaeological studies on oil-producing installations using archaeometry and in particular the chemical analysis of absorbed residues is valuable in identifying the substances actually produced and to understand the spatial distribution of the activities carried out at oil mills.Modern contexts may provide a good reference for interpreting the archaeological chemical traces.This study examines the chemical traces in three abandoned oil mills in the Mediterranean: Polveraia (Tuscany, Italy), Martina Franca (Puglia, Italy) and Binibassi (Mallorca, Balearic Islands). To identify the residues released by the production of oil and absorbed by the floors, samples were taken from the floors of these installations and analysed using spot tests aimed at identifying the presence of fatty acids and phosphates. Some of the samples were analysed also with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The results of the analyses were plotted in the Geographic Information System (GIS) platform and interpolated with Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) to determine the spatial distribution of the residues. Overall, the results show a large presence of fats in the analysed floors in all of the installations.     

Analysis of the Out-Of-Plane Seismic Behavior of Unreinforced Masonry: A Literature Review

Although the issue of the out-of-plane response of unreinforced masonry structures under earthquake excitation is well known with consensus among the research community, this issue is simultaneously one of the more complex and most neglected areas on the seismic assessment of existing buildings. Nonetheless, its characterization should be found on the solid knowledge of the phenomenon and on the complete understanding of methodologies currently used to describe it. Based on this assumption, this article presents a general framework on the issue of the out-of-plane performance of unreinforced masonry structures, beginning with a brief introduction to the topic, followed by a compact state of art in which the principal methodologies proposed to assess the out-of-plane behavior of unreinforced masonry structures are presented. Different analytical approaches are presented, namely force and displacement-based, complemented with the presentation of existing numerical tools for the purpose presented above. Moreover, the most relevant experimental campaigns carried out in order to reproduce the phenomenon are reviewed and briefly discussed.     

Modeling Mechanisms of Cultural Diversity and Ethnicity in Hunter–Gatherers

This paper aims to analyze the emergence of ethnicity and cultural differentiation in hunter–gatherer groups, using computer simulation methods. The existence of differences and similarities between populations has long been a major topic of investigation for archaeologists, who have traditionally used material culture as a means to identify different human groups. Today, this approach is perceived as being too simplistic. However, in the absence of satisfactory models, it often continues to be assumed as valid. In this paper, we present a preliminary model and its computer implementation to predict how hunter–gatherer societies interacted and built cultural identities as a consequence of the way they interacted. Our starting point for such analysis assumes the definition of ethnicity as the production and reproduction of group identity among members of a community, resulting from restricted cooperation flows. Results are compared with ongoing ethnoarchaeological research of Patagonian hunter–gatherers.     

The Squatters' Movement in Europe: A Durable Struggle for Social Autonomy in Urban Politics

Squatting empty properties for living or to develop public activities has lasted in European cities for more than three decades. Although local and national contexts differ significantly, there are also some general trends and patterns that deserve careful attention. When squatting occasionally appears in public debates, controversy is generated and many gaps open between academic, social and political perceptions. In this article I use evidence from several European cities to argue that the squatters' movement has produced an original impact in urban politics. The main feature of this impact has been to generate a relatively wide autonomous and mainly non‐institutional mode of citizen participation, protest and self‐management. How has this been possible? Which are the specific contributions made by this urban movement? These are questions that both scholars and activists continuously claim to be relevant, so that this research attempts to offer some general answers based on detailed comparisons and experiences.     

Seismic Vulnerability of Building Contents for a Given Occupancy Due to Multiple Failure Modes

A methodology is presented for assessing the seismic vulnerability of inventories of contents to multiple failure modes. An ordering method to find out probabilities of failure of a conditional mode upon the survival of the other modes is applied. The procedure considers the statistical correlation of failure modes due to the dynamic response, such as sliding and/or overturning, of contents and also to non structural components. This methodology was applied to inventories of four types of occupancy (house, school, office, and hospital) located in Mexico City, considering that all contents are situated at ground level. Expected damage functions for these inventories show large differences between them, the house and school inventories being the least vulnerable, and the hospital inventory, the most vulnerable, even for low intensities.     

Survey Results from Lagos Bay,Portugal

The Projecto de Carta Arqueológica Subaquática do Concelho de Lagos (PCASCL) aimed to locate, identify and protect existing underwater cultural heritage within the district's coastal area. This project was based on a five‐phase methodology which included archival research, assessment, survey and conservation. PCASCL resulted in the discovery of five shipwrecks and several artefacts which were added to the Portuguese archaeological record. This also led to the development of a secondary project which focused on one of the five shipwrecks as well as proposals for an underwater archaeological park in Lagos.     

The experiments of Ramón M. Termeyer SJ on the electric eel in the River Plate region (c. 1760) and other early accounts of Electrophorus electricus

This paper focuses on Ramón M. Termeyer SJ (1737-1814?), a naturalist who experimented with the electric eel in the River Plate region during the 1760s. After going through an enumeration of the chroniclers that since the sixteenth century noticed the benumbing discharge of Electrophorus electricus, the article summarizes the work that immediately preceded Termeyer's and considers as a term of comparison the experiments on the electric eel performed by Bertrand Bajon (fl. 1751-1778) in the French Guyanne. It ends by discussing the meaning of Termeyer's 1781 and 1810 articles in the light of contemporary ideas of animal electricity.     

From the Portolan Chart of the Mediterranean to the Plane Chart of the Atlantic: Cartometric Analysis and Modelling Maps of Portugal in the Eighteenth Century: From National Perspectives to Foreign Contributions

Handritade kartor över Sverige i Uppsala Universitetsbiblioteket. Katalog av Åke Davidson (Handgezeichnete Karten von Schweden in der Universitätsbibliothek zu Uppsala), Acta Bibliothecae R. Universitatis Upsaliensis, X (Uppsala, 1956), 136 pp., 5 tabs.

Franti?ek Roubik, Soupis map Ceských Zemí. Svacek 2, ?eskoslovenská Akademie Věd. (Praha, 1955), 311 pp.

R. Oehme, Joannes Georgius Tibianus. Ein Beitrag zur Kartographie und Landesbeschreibung Südwestdeutschlands im 16. Jahrhundert, Forschungen zur deutschen Landeskunde. Veröffentlichungen des Zentralanschluses für deutsche Landeskunde und der Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, 91 (Remagen/RH., 1951), 154 p., 17 tabs.

T. E. Layng, Sixteenth‐century maps relating to Canada. A Check‐List and Bibliography (Ottawa, 1956), XXVI + 283 pp.

Dainville, François de, Cartes anciennes de l'église de France (Paris, 1956), 4°, 323 pp., with figures and XVI plates.

Takejirô Akioka, Nippon Chizu Shi (A History of Cartography of Japan) (Tôkyô, 1955), 10 + 217 pp., 1 facsimile map, 1 fullsize coloured map, 72 plates and 40 ills, in the text