Neutron imaging study of ‘pattern-welded’ swords from the Viking Age

We present novel imaging results from a non-invasive examination of three ‘pattern-welded’ swords from the Viking Age belonging to the National Museum of Denmark, using white beam and energy resolved tomographies with neutrons. Pattern-welded blades are made by forge welding together thin strips of iron and steel that were twisted and joined in various ways, producing a decorative pattern on the surface. The study shed light on the inner structure of the composite material and manufacturing techniques of these admired examples of past technology, revealing some otherwise invisible details of their assembly methods, phase distribution and extent of the corrosion.     

Manuring and stable nitrogen isotope ratios in cereals and pulses: towards a new archaeobotanical approach to the inference of land use and dietary practices

This paper explores the impact of animal manure application on the δ¹⁵N values of a broad range of crops (cereals and pulses), under a range of manuring levels/regimes and at a series of locations extending from northwest Europe to the eastern Mediterranean. We included both agricultural field experiments and areas where ‘traditional’ farming is practised. Our aim is to ground-truth interpretation of δ¹⁵N values in archaeobotanical crop remains as evidence of past growing conditions and husbandry practices. The results confirm the potentially radical impact of manuring on δ¹⁵N values in cereals, depending on manuring level, but indicate only a slight effect on pulses, which can fix atmospheric nitrogen. The expected geographical trend towards greater δ¹⁵N with increasing climatic aridity is not apparent, probably because the growing conditions for crops are ‘buffered’ through crop management. Each of these observations has fundamental implications for archaeobotanical interpretation of δ¹⁵N values as evidence of land use practices and (together with analysis of bone collagen/tooth enamel in potential consumers) palaeodiet.     

Lethal differences: a short history of the concepts of wealth and poverty in Danish epidemiological writings, 1858-1914

Through a study of the history of the concepts of wealth and poverty, this paper investigates the onset of a tradition in the conceptual architecture of epidemiological research concerning social differences in mortality rates from 1858 to 1914. It raises the question as to what the concepts of wealth and poverty meant to those who used them and what objects of interventions the conceptual architecture surrounding the concepts enabled the researchers to create. It argues that a transition began in the late 19th century in which an important framework for the understanding of causal relations behind the mortality patterns changed and that this change in turn influenced the scope of what was conceived as relevant objects of intervention.     

Building from Scratch: The aesthetics of post‐disaster reconstruction(Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

This article looks at the visual character of post‐conflict and post‐disaster settings, and shows how states of physical ruin can help to produce an ‘aesthetics of post‐disaster reconstruction’. With examples primarily drawn from the author's field site in Timor‐Leste, the article shows how ruins, ashes and demolition may be perceived as enabling particular kinds of agency and opportunity. Thus, some of the most hopeful of international‐intervention dreams of recent decades have been produced out of sites of mass‐scale destruction.     

Land use and resource exploitation in the Norse western settlement in Greenland

Undersøgelsen af areal‐ og ressourceudnyttelsen omkring udvalgte mindre, marginalt beliggende nordbogårde i Vesterbygdens centrale del fokuserer især på gårdsanlæggenes vegetationsressourcer med henblik på beregning af deres bæreevne og foderværdi.

På grundlag af biomasseberegninger synes en kronologisk og/eller social betinget bebyggelsesekspansion fra “gode” områder mod mere marginale områder at kunne påvises.

Analyser af forholdet mellem græs‐ og husarealer tyder på, at gårde med begrænset græsareal i nærheden kompenserer herfor enten ved at holde flere får eller geder (fremfor køer), som kræver mindre græs som foder og som oftere huses i fritliggende udhuse, eller ved at have større udhuskapacitet til oplagring af hø høstet længere borte fra gårdene.

En veldokumenter et gård bliver brugt som eksempel til beregning af vegeta‐tionspotentialets bæreevne, det faktiske dyreholds størrelse og husstandens størrelse.

Desuden bliver udnyttelsen af højlandet søgt belyst i forbindelse med betragtninger over forekomsten af anlæg og ressourcer relateret til sæterdrift og rensdyrjagt.