The Marausa Wreck,Sicily: interim report on a boat built in the Western Imperial Roman tradition

In 1991, the wreck of a late 3rd–early 4th century AD Roman merchant vessel was discovered on the west coast of Sicily that had carried North African amphora, tubuli, and other ceramics. The hull was dismantled and raised in 2011, including a keel hook‐scarfed to stem and sternposts, 39 pegged mortise‐and‐tenon joined planks, 43 frames with an irregular pattern of floor‐timbers, half‐timbers, and futtocks fastened to the planking with treenails and copper nails, sister‐keelsons and evidence of two stringers, 36 ceiling strakes, and the base of a bilge pump. Many repairs are indicated. The fairly flat bottom and round bilges, mortise‐and‐tenons, sister‐keelsons and lack of a coherent framing pattern, place the boat in the Western Imperial tradition.     

Unwritten Factors Affecting Structural Funds: The Influence of Regional Political Behaviours on the Implementation of EU Cohesion Policy

While EU regional policy has the ambitious objective of supporting lagging regions and promoting inter-regional convergence, its impact is dependent on the ability of regional policymakers to secure and use EU funding to meet the region's needs. This paper aims to show under which conditions politics has a defining influence on the distribution, allocation and utilization of structural funds (SF), specifically in Objective 1 regions. The empirical analysis focuses on the 2000–2006 programming cycle in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. The results show that regions politically aligned with national governing coalitions tend to perform better in terms of received SF support and enjoy more flexibility in implementing SF. However, the influence of regional political behaviours on economic performances is very limited. The findings confirm the importance of politics in influencing SF implementation, but its limited influence on economic outcomes.     

A hoard of Nilotic nacreous shells from Egypt to Jericho (Early Bronze II, 3000–2800 BCE): Their finding,content and historical archaeological implications

ABSTRACT

The Tell es-Sultan, ancient Jericho, is amongst the earliest “cities” that rose in the Southern Levant between the end of 4th and the beginning of the 3rd millennium BCE. The site is being excavated, studied and rehabilitated for tourism by Sapienza University of Rome and the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities since 1997. In 2017, during the 13th season of excavation, an unexpected discovery occurred: five Chambardia rubens shells have been found piled up in a dwelling unit dating back to the Early Bronze Age IB-II. The discovery is a tangible evidence of trade and cultural interconnections between the Southern Levant and Egypt, as these shells belong to a species that is only been found to live in the Nile. Moreover, chemical analysis, and thorough Scanning Electron Microscopy examination revealed that the shells contained Manganese Dioxide, an inorganic compound used as make-up ingredient in ancient Egypt, and available in the ores of the Sinai. These findings strongly support the existence of a link between the urban rise in EB IB-II through international trade of luxury goods, and are suggestive of the emergence at Jericho of a ruling elite that was influenced by Egypt.     

The Impact and Legacy of the Otterburn Public Inquiry,Northumberland National Park,England

The Otterburn Public Inquiry (1997 and 1999) polarized opinion as to how England’s finest countryside should best be utilized. On the one hand, the Ministry of Defence sought to realize a major development in a protected area, whereas on the other, Northumberland County Council and Northumberland National Park Authority opposed the plans, arguing that conservation and recreation should take priority. This study was undertaken several years later and took a retrospective look at the saga through a recollection of personal accounts, so as to examine the impact and legacy that was borne out of this development. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with a number of stakeholders as part of a wider project on partnership working. It was found that the Ministry of Defence used this planning dispute to affirm that defence of the realm was a greater national interest than environmental protection. The outcome of the Public Inquiry was also found to contribute towards a radical change in the way Northumberland National Park was managed.     

New Excavations at Border Cave,KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa

New excavations at Border Cave use high-resolution techniques, including FT-IR, for sediment samples and thin sections of micromorphology blocks from stratigraphy. These show that sediments have different moisture regimes, both spatially and chronologically. The site preserves desiccated grass bedding in multiple layers and they, along with seeds, rhizomes, and charcoal, provide a profile of palaeo-vegetation through time. A bushveld vegetation community is implied before 100,000 years ago. The density of lithics varies considerably through time, with high frequencies occurring before 100,000 years ago where a putative MSA 1/Pietersburg Industry was recovered. The highest percentage frequencies of blades and blade fragments were found here. In Members 1 BS and 1 WA, called Early Later Stone Age by Beaumont, we recovered large flakes from multifacial cores. Local rhyolite was the most common rock used for making stone tools, but siliceous minerals were popular in the upper members.     

Performance-based Seismic Risk Assessment of Urban Systems

ABSTRACT

Disaster risk mitigation has become a urgent global need. Similar to other natural hazards, earthquakes may cause significant damage on a large scale. In Europe and in other regions with dense urbanization, seismic events can heavily impact historical city centers due to the several structural fragilities. These centers are often part of the worldwide cultural heritage and their preservation is considered a strategic issue. Furthermore, earthquakes may have severe negative short-term economic effects on the impacted communities and adverse longer-term consequences for economic growth. For this reason, the development of an efficient approach for urban seismic risk assessment becomes essential. An original approach is proposed, based on performance concepts and multidisciplinary perspectives. The procedure is applied for validation to the city center of Concordia Sulla Secchia (Italy), damaged by the 2012 Pianura Padana Earthquake (PPE), comparing predicted damage scenarios with the actual post-seismic survey data.     

Morphological reconstruction of Roman <Emphasis Type="Italic">styli</Emphasis> from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Iulia Concordia</Emphasis>—Italy

Iulia Concordia is an important Roman settlement known for the production of iron objects and weapons during the Roman Empire. A huge number of well-preserved styli were found in the bed of the main channel of the city. In order to shed light on the production processes used by Roman for stylus manufacturing and the conservation state of the finds, a neutron tomography analysis was performed on NEUTRA beamline in Switzerland. SEM-EDS analyses were performed on few selected objects in order to identify the composition of metal decorations. Here, we present results from our investigation conducted on 91 styli, disclosing, in a non-invasive way, the morphological characterization related to the ancient Roman working techniques.     

Hydrogeochemical dynamics affecting steam‐heated pools at El Chichón Crater (Chiapas – Mexico)

El Chichón is an active volcano located in the north‐western Chiapas, southern Mexico. The crater hosts a lake, a spring, named Soap Pool, emerging from the underlying volcanic aquifer and several mud pools/hot springs on the internal flanks of the crater which strongly interact with the current fumarolic system (steam‐heated pools). Some of these pools, the crater lake and a cold spring emerging from the 1982 pumice deposits, have been sampled and analysed. Water–volcanic gas interactions determine the heating (43–99°C) and acidification (pH 2–4) of the springs, mainly by H₂S oxidation. Significantly, in the study area, a significant NH₃ partial pressure has been also detected. Such a geochemically aggressive environment enhances alteration of the rock in situ and strongly increases the mineralization of the waters (and therefore their electrical conductivity). Two different mineralization systems were detected for the crater waters: the soap pool‐lake (Na⁺/Cl^? = 0.4, Na/Mg>10) and the crater mud pools (Na⁺/Cl^? > 10, Na/Mg < 4). A deep boiling, Na⁺‐K⁺‐Cl^?‐rich water reservoir generally influences the Soap Pool‐lake, while the mud pool is mainly dominated by water‐gas–rock interactions. In the latter case, conductivity of sampled water is directly proportional to the presence of reactive gases in solution. Therefore, chemical evolution proceeds through neutralization due to both rock alteration and bacterial oxidation of ammonium to nitrate. The chemical compositions show that El Chichón aqueous fluids, within the crater, interact with gases fed by a geothermal reservoir, without clear additions of deep magmatic fluids. This new geochemical dataset, together with previously published data, can be used as a base line with which to follow‐up the activity of this deadly volcano.