The consilience of historical and isotopic approaches in reconstructing the medieval Mediterranean diet

During the Middle Ages, the economies of Europe, the religious directives involving dietary requirements, and the general human subsistence base were transformed. These complicated and intertwined issues are starkly revealed in an isotopic study of two inland Italian human populations that are separated by approximately 850 years in time. Stable carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) isotopic values observed in human dentin and bone collagen from the sites of early medieval Castro dei Volsci and late medieval Rome are consistent with diets that differed substantially. As the North Atlantic opened to fishing and food preservations methods improved, Mediterranean peoples increased their fish consumption dramatically, and in doing so, met the religious directives of the Catholic Church. By analyzing both teeth and bone collagen within individuals, long-term feeding behaviors are documented, and the utility of last erupted teeth collagen as sources of adult dietary information is established. This study offers the first physical evidence of this new economic reality linking the Atlantic and Mediterranean economies at the end of the Middle Ages.     

Ancient DNA in human bones from Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in Greece and Crete

Attempts were made to detect ancient DNA (aDNA) in samples of 88 human skeletons from eight Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in Greece and Crete. Ancient DNA was absent in specimens from Nea Nikomedia, Lerna, Karaviádena (Zakro), Antron Grave Circle A and Mycenae Grave Circle A. For each of three skeletons from Antron Grave Circle B that were sampled, polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) gave products for nuclear but not mitochondrial DNA, but amplicon yield was low and inconsistent with replicate PCRs failing to give reproducible results. With specimens from Mycenae Grave Circle B, evidence for mitochondrial aDNA was obtained for four of the 22 skeletons that were studied, and at Kouphovouno evidence for mitochondrial and/or nuclear aDNA was obtained with eight of the 20 skeletons that were examined. We conclude that, although aDNA might be present in some Eastern Mediterranean skeletons from later centuries of the Bronze Age, it is not commonly found in material from this period and is likely to be absent from older material.     

Information and Local Activism: The Case of Two County Instructors in Early Nineteenth-Century Fujian and Taiwan

This article examines the efforts of two county instructors (jiaoyu), Xie Jinluan and Zheng Jiancai, to bolster the security of the maritime frontier and stabilize local society in early 19th century Fujian and Taiwan. Occurring during the Jiaqing transition in which Chinese elites increasingly voiced concerns about problems afflicting the empire, Xie and Zheng waged an information campaign to lobby for local issues while embedded in county educational posts. Printing their treatises through their alma mater, the Aofeng Academy, Fuzhou’s premier educational institution that promoted a rigorous Neo-Confucian scholarly orientation, and using well-positioned Aofeng alumni to take their causes to Beijing, the instructors were able to make changes on the local level and provide Qing officials with a new source of “expert” local information that bypassed the regular bureaucracy. By producing information on themes of local governance and manipulating the elite network of the Aofeng Academy that connected Fujian to circles of power in Beijing, Xie and Zheng became models of local political action, influencing new generations of Fujianese scholars over the 19th century.     

Olive oil production on bronze age Crete: nutritional properties, processing methods and storage life of Minoan olive oil

Archaeological studies on olive oil produced in Crete in the Bronze Age focus primarily on aspects such as the period when olive cultivation became widespread, the number of olive trees cultivated, or the quantity of oil stored in the Minoan palaces. Olive oil is however an organic substance, a perishable product, the nutritional and storage properties of which are determined by environmental, agronomic, processing and storage conditions. In this paper archaeological, environmental and biochemical evidence is combined to present a comprehensive picture of the potential quality, nutritional and storage properties of Minoan olive oil. The comparative evidence presented suggests that Minoan olive oil was equal in quality to the cold-pressed virgin olive oils produced today, and as such, the oil was nutritionally important in the Bronze Age and a valuable trade commodity.     

Gender and Witchcraft in Agrarian Transition: The Case of Kenyan Horticulture

This article examines the social effects of contract farming of export horticulture among smallholders in Meru District, Kenya. During the 1980s and 1990s, contracting was popularized by donors and governments alike as a way to reduce poverty and increase opportunities for self–employment in rural areas. Considerable research has documented the tensions in social relations that emerge in such cases, giving rise to gendered struggles over land, labour, and income in the face of new commodity systems. This article highlights similar tendencies. It suggests that men’s failure to compensate their wives for horticulture production has given rise to a string of witchcraft allegations and acts, as the wealth engendered by horticultural commodities comes up against cultural norms of marital obligation. While witchcraft accusations can expose women to risks of social alienation and financial deprivation, witchcraft nevertheless remains a powerful weapon through which women can level intra–household disparities and, more broadly, challenge the legitimacy of social practice. In Meru, witchcraft discourses are a vehicle through which gendered struggles over contract income are articulated and contested, and through which the social costs of agrarian transition become apparent.     

"Seeing" and "Hearing" in a Deaf–Blind World: Laura Bridgman's Legacy (Review Essay)

Books reviewed in this article:
Ernest Freeberg, The Education of Laura Bridgman: The First Deaf and Blind Person to Learn Language
Elisabeth Gitter, The Imprisoned Guest: Samuel Howe and Laura Bridgman, the Original Deaf–Blind Girl     

Equations of state for basin geofluids: algorithm review and intercomparison for brines

Physical properties of formation waters in sedimentary basins can vary by more than 25% for density and by one order of magnitude for viscosity. Density differences may enhance or retard flow driven by other mechanisms and can initiate buoyancy‐driven flow. For a given driving force, the flow rate and injectivity depend on viscosity and permeability. Thus, variations in the density and viscosity of formation waters may have or had a significant effect on the flow pattern in a sedimentary basin, with consequences for various basin processes. Therefore, it is critical to correctly estimate water properties at formation conditions for proper representation and interpretation of present flow systems, and for numerical simulations of basin evolution, hydrocarbon migration, ore genesis, and fate of injected fluids in sedimentary basins. Algorithms published over the years to calculate water density and viscosity as a function of temperature, pressure and salinity are based on empirical fitting of laboratory‐measured properties of predominantly NaCl solutions, but also field brines. A review and comparison of various algorithms are presented here, both in terms of applicability range and estimates of density and viscosity. The paucity of measured formation‐water properties at in situ conditions hinders a definitive conclusion regarding the validity of any of these algorithms. However, the comparison indicates the versatility of the various algorithms in various ranges of conditions found in sedimentary basins. The applicability of these algorithms to the density of formation waters in the Alberta Basin is also examined using a high‐quality database of 4854 water analyses. Consideration is also given to the percentage of cations that are heavier than Na in the waters.     

Survey and excavation of the main well in Cape Town Castle, South Africa: fieldwork and structural aspects

During the last few decades, Cape Town Castle has been extensively renovated. Parallel to this, a series of archaeological excavations were undertaken under the auspices of different institutions. During the course of these, it became clear that one specific site needed to be approached in a rather unorthodox way. This site, the main well situated in the centre of the previous headquarters of the Dutch East India Company at the Cape of Good Hope, was filled with water. Owing to its inaccessibility and other constraints, which made the application of adapted excavation techniques necessary, the need arose to call in the assistance of a diver-archaeologist. This article describes the approach to fieldwork undertaken in the Kat well during 1989 and 1999 and some of this feature's structural details.