Multiple assessments of local properties,production, and performance in metal objects: an experimental case study from Petra,Jordan

This object-specific case study focuses on cupreous artifacts excavated from the Great Temple complex of Petra, Jordan to demonstrate how the use of compositional X-ray analyses alongside two experimental applications (ImageJ software and nanoindentation) have the potential to generate different and otherwise unobtainable information about archaeological metals. The study highlights the value of using multiple techniques as a means of resolving the ambiguities that tend to arise from interpretations of single-sited measurements on objects and from single-instrumental analyses during studies of production processes and consequent material performance. Employing different techniques on multiple localities within a sample permits the gathering of precise information about the behavior of and interrelationships between variables that affect the objects’ fabrication and use, particularly composition, structure, and hardness properties. The resulting data are interpreted in association with contextual archaeological information from Petra to consider the use-life and potential significance of these objects.     

Multiproxy Analysis of Adhered and Absorbed Food Residues Associated with Pottery

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory - The application of multiple lines of evidence is necessary to understand past complex behaviors such as diet and cuisine. This paper advocates for the...     

Spatial and environmental impacts on adverse birth outcomes in Ontario

This study assesses the overall spatial variations and neighbourhood‐level “hot spots” of low birth weight and preterm birth incidence within three public health units in Ontario, Canada. The analysis uses a stepwise approach of intra‐class correlation analysis, a spatial scan statistic, and multilevel spatial modeling. Results show that neighbourhood level variation accounts for only 2–3 percent of the total variation of adverse birth outcomes in the study area. However, strong spatial autocorrelation is observed at the neighbourhood level, and spatial clusters of relatively high adverse birth outcome rates exist in areas that are associated with environmental risks, including pollution sources and proximity to highways. Thus, although estimated neighbourhood impacts on adverse birth outcomes are small compared with those of individual‐level risks, local high potential environmental risk areas are identifiable. Environmental surveillance and spatial statistical analysis should be conducted regularly by local health authorities to identify and monitor the impact of environmental changes on health in general and on birth outcomes in particular. Specific community‐oriented health interventions may be required to reduce observed local health impacts.     

Twenty-First Annual Report of the Council

THE SAVIOUR GOD, comparative studies in the concepts of Salvation presented to Edwin Oliver James. Manchester University Press, 1963. 37s. 6d. Reviewed by E. P. Baker.

THE SACRED BRIDGE. Researches into the nature and Structure of Religion. By E. J. BLEEKER. Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1963. Pp. 272. 2 8 guilders. Reviewed by E. O. James.

EDWARD LHUYD IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS 1699–1700. By J. L. CAMPBELL and DERICK THOMSON. Clarendon Press: Oxford University Press, 1963. Pp. xxxii, 319; plates XXIII. 63s. Reviewed by Stewart F. Sanderson.

VOLK UND VOLKSTÜMLICHE MOTIVIK IM FESTWERK DES BAROCKS. Dargestellt an Dresdner Bildquellen. By FRIEDRICH SIEBER. Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für deutsche Volkskunde vol. 21. Berlin, Akademie Verlag, i960. Pp. xii, 202. 29 text figs and 112 plates. Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.

FEBOLD FEBOLDSON: TALL TALES FROM THE GREAT PLAINS. By PAUL R. BEATH. New Edition including: Louise Pound, ‘Nebraska Strong Men and Olof Bergstrom Swedish Pioneer’. University of Nebraska Press, 1959. Pp. 137. Reviewed by C. A. Burland.

BUSOJARAS MOHACSON. By L. Mandoki. Pecs, 1963. Reviewed by E. O. James.

JAPANESE RAINMAKING AND OTHER FOLK PRACTICES. By GEOFFREY BOWNAS. 176 pp. George Allen &; Unwin Ltd, 1963. 25s. Reviewed by W. H. Hudspeth.

THE MENOMINI LANGUAGE. By LEONARD BLOOMFIELD. London, Yale University Press, 1963. Pp. 515. 72s. net. Reviewed by C. A. Burland.

JUBELFEST. By J.-Ö. SWAHN. Lund, 1963. Reviewed by W. R. Mead.

LACE. By L. W. VANDER MEULEN-NALLE. London, Merlin Press, 1963. Pp. 79 + 32. 5 plates. Reviewed by W. Bonser.

SKANDINAVISCHE BALLADEN DES MITTELALTERS. By I.-M. GREVERUS. Rowohlt, Hamburg, 1963. Reviewed by W. R. Mead.

KINSHIP AND COMMUNITY IN CARRIACOU. By M. G. SMITH. New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1962. Reviewed by A. William-Ellis.

JAHRBUCH FÜR VOLKSKUNDE DER HEIMATVERTRIEBENEN. Vol. vi. Freilassing, Otto Müller, 1961. Pp. 207. Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.

CONTES CORSES. By GENEVIÈVE MASSIGNON. Centre d'Etudes Corses de la Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines d'Aix, 1963. Reviewed by Violet Alford.

THREE BAGS OF GOLD AND OTHER INDIAN FOLKTALES. By MURKOT KUNHAPPA. Asia Publishing House, 1963. Pp. 134. 25s. Reviewed by J. H. Hutton.

FIABE E LEGGENDE ROMAGNOLE. Corpus delle Tradizioni populari Romagnole. Edited by P. TOSCHI and ANGELO FABI. Bologna, Cappelli Editore, 1963. Pp. xii, 303,12 plates. Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.     

Anti-Housewives and Ogres' Housekeepers: The Roles of Bluebeard's Female Helper

In 1997, Daniela Hempen published a short research paper in Folklore (108:45-8) about a somewhat unexpected character in some Bluebeard stories. Hempen calls her Bluebeard's female helper. An old woman employed in Bluebeard's home in two tales in the first edition of the Grimms' Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812), she is found by the newlywed or newly betrothed heroine already at her grisly work: in The Castle of Murder ( Das Mordschloss ) (no. 73) scrubbing the intestines of a former victim; in The Robber Bridegroom ( Der Räuberbräutigam ) (no. 40) with water on to boil, ready to cook the chopped-up corpse of the heroine. To discover the meanings of this odd character, help cannot be sought from the scholarship of the past for, as Hempen remarks, the female helper has been constantly overlooked in 'Bluebeard' criticism. The present essay seeks to rectify this neglect.