Progress in the holocene chrono-climatostratigraphy of Polish territory

The Holocene delivers a unique possibility to establish climatic stratigraphic boundaries based on detailed chronostratigraphy reflected in various facies of continental sediments, in their lithological parameters and organic remains. These sediments are dated by the ¹⁴C method in the case of organic remains, by counting annual laminations in lacustrine facies, and by dendrochronological method in the case of fluvial sediments. The existence of well dated profiles enables to reconstruct various climatic parameters like amplitudes of seasonal temperatures, types and frequency of extreme rainfalls and floods and, finally, to distinguish rare rapid changes and most frequent gradual ones. This reconstruction is based on the analogous effects of various types of present-day rainfalls. The current authors present a critical review of existing chronostratigraphic divisions starting from simple millennial division by Mangerud based on Scandinavian palynological stratigraphy of peat-bogs and Starkel’s concept based on fluctuations in rainfall and runoff regime reflected in fluvial and other facies of continental deposits. In the last decades, the calibration of ¹⁴C dates allowed a new approach to be used for the construction of the probability distribution function of these dates in various facies or types of sediments, which formed a background for distinguishing and correlating climatic phases and defining boundaries between them. These approaches have been creating new opportunities for revision of the existing chronostratigraphy. The aim of this paper is to present a revised version of chronostratigraphic division based on climatic fluctuations reflected in various facies of sediments on the territory of Poland and discuss their correlation with other European regions and global climatic changes.     

Problems of TL dating of the Mesopleistocene loess deposits in the Podillya and Pokuttya regions (Ukraine)

In many papers different authors was described problem of systematic underestimation of TL ages for sediments older then 100 ka. We presented the results which probably are not significantly rejuvenated. This is another example of the TL dates made in Lublin laboratory which are likely in agreement with the stratigraphic interpretation. In 2002 Kusiak et al. published the TL ages ranging from 200 to 800 ka for the Zahvizdja loess profile in Ukraine. These first promising results of TL dating of so old deposits encouraged us to undertake further studies. In next years were discovered other Ukrainian loess profiles with the Middle and Lower Pleistocene deposits, among others in the Skala Podils’ka, Mamalyha and Vendychany sites. The thermoluminescence dating made for these profiles in the Lublin laboratory gave the next, after Zahvizdja, series of 15 TL ages ranging from 200 to 700 ka. This way we confirmed the possibility of TL dating of the deposits older than 400 ka BP.     

Service or Benefice? Officeholders in Poland and Sweden of the seventeenth century

Exploring the differential structures of social and political power in early modern Europe, this paper examines the contrasting experiences of Poland and Sweden by focusing on the growth of civil office in each country. Central to the study is an understanding of the books of disciplinary regulation imposed on office holders, and how and why these measures were enforced. As the author illustrates, the two case studies give very different conclusions. In Sweden, as exemplified in the trial of leading members of the Swedish Council in 1680, the holder of civic office was constrained by a ‘corset of bureaucratic routine’. Strict, and widely enforced, rules governed activities such as office hours, dress and rates of remuneration. In contrast, Polish office holders pursued appointments not in the name of civic efficiency but to grasp social and political privilege. At the end of the article Kopczyński discusses some of the factors involved in these differences, laying emphasis on the structures of political and military power in each state.     

Reconstruction of smelting conditions during 16th- to 18th-century copper ore processing in the Kielce region (Old Polish Industrial District) based on slags from Miedziana Góra,Poland

This study presents the first reconstruction of the smelting conditions in 16th- to 18th-century smelters from Miedziana Góra (Holy Cross Mountains, Poland). Based on geochemical (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry/emission spectrometry, X-ray fluorescence) and mineralogical analysis (X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, electron probe micro-analysis) of historical slags, their chemical/phase composition and the basic smelting parameters (temperature, melt viscosity, and oxygen fugacity) were determined. Due to the differences in chemical and phase composition, slags from different smelting stages have been distinguished: hypocrystalline slags (MG6) from speiss/matte production and glassy (MG1–MG5) from matte conversion. In glassy slags, pyroxenes, quartz/cristobalite grains, and aggregates composed of metallic Cu and PbO are dispersed in the glass. Hypocrystalline slags are composed of wollastonites, anorthites, and metallic Cu. The temperature range at which the slags were formed was from ~1100°C (solidus temperature) to 1150–1200°C (liquidus temperature). The silicate melt's viscosity was from log η = 1.19 to 4.42 Pa s (at 1100–1200°C). The higher viscosity of MG1–MG5 slags indicates that, unlike MG6 slags, they were not formed during gravity separation. Information about the phase composition made it possible to determine the oxygen fugacity in the range of log fO₂ = −4 to −12 atm. High oxygen fugacity indicates the oxidizing nature of the smelting process.     

Overseas imports on the Blue Nile: Chemical compositional analysis of glass beads from Soba,Nubia

Archaeological evidence as well as textual sources leave no doubt about Alwa's (Alodia's) intense transcultural connections, further corroborated by understudied overseas glass bead imports found there. This paper presents results of an analysis of 23 glass beads from Soba, the most prosperous capital of medieval Nubia. Compositional analyses using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) have identified glass belonging to a number of broad compositional groups. Three samples were made of soda lime low-alumina glass produced in the Middle East (v-Na-Ca) and Egypt (m/v-Na-Ca). The remaining beads were made of two types of mineral–soda high-alumina glass (m-Na-Al) North Indian in origin. The results of this study provide new evidence for the provenance and chronology of glass beads available in medieval Soba and Northeast Africa, and contribute new data to research on trade contacts of that time.     

The Dragoman and the Scholar: Two Polish Translations of Saʿdi’s Golestān

This article discusses two Polish translations of Sa?di’s Golestān, prepared by Samuel Otwinowski and Wojciech Biberstein-Kazimirski (alias Albert Kazimirski de Biberstein) and published in 1879 and 1876 respectively. Though edited at the end of the nineteenth century, Otwinowski's translation had been originally completed in the first half of the seventeenth century and is assumed to be the first one or one of the very first renderings of Sa?di's work into a European language. The question that remains unresolved is whether or not Otwinowski's translation, despite being unpublished, was known to seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Polish poets. One can find some stories and motifs “picked” from Sa?di’s Golestān in their poetry, but they seem more likely to have been influenced by non-Polish renderings. This article describes the different translation strategies adopted by the two translators, the literarily gifted dragoman Otwinowski and the nineteenth-century philologist Biberstein Kazimirski.     

Feeding the Crusades: Archaeobotany,Animal Husbandry and Livestock Alimentation on the Baltic Frontier

ABSTRACT

The integrated results of micromorphology, plant macrofossil, pollen, phytolith, and non-pollen palynomorph analyses represent an important study of two thirteenth-century Teutonic Order castles at Karksi (Livonia), and Elbl?g (Prussia). The research examines deposits that formed during the period of active crusading. At Karksi, the investigation of a midden and of the organic-rich sediment beneath allows the diachronic use of this area to be understood. Freshwater aquatic indicators are consistent with the occurrence of shallow stagnant water, as also suggested by a waterlaid pond sediment identified in thin-section. Coprophilous spore taxa suggest the use of the pond as a watering hole. Plant macrofossils from the midden represent a range of habitats, mostly from wet/damp areas, as well as pastures and meadows, and also woodlands. Fragments of millet are embedded within herbivore dung in thin-section showing the use of this grain as fodder. At Elbl?g, parasite ova may derive from animal feces as they also occur in the dung observed in thin-section, and a range of coprophilous fungal spore taxa were extracted. The results reveal information about the range of livestock that the Teutonic Knights kept, whereabouts within the castles the animals were stabled, and what fodder was used.     

New Neolithic sites in the western al-Hajar mountains

A new archaeological project in the western al-Hajar Mountains in northern Oman involves a systematic survey of the small valley of Qumayrah and excavation of selected sites. Two field seasons revealed a number of Neolithic settlement traces. Three newly discovered sites were excavated, two of which proved to be stratified. The most intensive fieldwork focused on QA 2, a Stone Age campsite that contained stone structures, numerous lithic tools, stone and shell beads and marine shell fragments. Radiocarbon dating provided a c.4200 cal. BC age, corresponding with the prevalent lithic evidence. Two other excavated sites yielded fewer materials, that were, however, diagnostically relevant. They indicate a diachronic occupation ongoing probably since the Late Neolithic till the end of that period, but some materials point to other stages of the Neolithic period as well. The appearance of marine shells suggests seasonal occupation and connections with coastal areas. It raises questions about the reasons for the settling of the Qumayrah valley.     

The Green Matzevah

ABSTRACT

This article examines the extent to which historical memory, including the symbolism of Auschwitz-Birkenau, can be considered not only in terms of its close connections to both Polish and Jewish national and political imaginaries, but also in terms of its entanglements with survivors’ memories of nature. I analyse the presence of the post-camp space of Auschwitz-Birkenau in Helena Birenbaum’s poetic testimonies. This is a space that has often been described as tainted and contaminated while being treated as a lifeless “landscape of death” and cemetery. Readings of Birenbaum’s testimonial poetry alongside archival and field research conducted at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum have enabled me to talk about grey and green camp’s landscape. I have sought to demonstrate that such spaces function in Auschwitz testimonies under the cover of metaphorical constructions and poetic images that I call “the green matzevah,” that contain significant analytical and empirical potential. I explore how the camp’s dead grey zones have over the years turned into green matzevahs, i.e. terrain that has experienced post-traumatic curating by invasion of plants. I argue that drawing attention to the world of nature as represented in testimonies can expand knowledge of the camp, challenging the martyrological framing that prevailed under communism and help to imagine how to preserve a memory of this place when there are no human witnesses.