A provenance study of Mycenaean pottery from Northern Israel

The occurrence of imported Mycenaean pottery in the Late Bronze Age southern Levant is one of the most conspicuous aspects of Eastern Mediterranean trade connections during this period. A group of 183 Mycenaean pottery vessels from 14 sites in northern Israel, from both coastal and inland settlement contexts were analyzed by Neutron Activation Analysis. The results indicate that the vast majority of these vessels have a similar profile and can be provenanced to the north-eastern Peloponnese or more specifically, to the Mycenae/Berbati workshop in the Argolid. Possible interpretations of these results are presented and discussed against the historical and cultural background of the Late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean.     

Age Patterns of Mortality During the Black Death in London, A.D. 1349-1350

This paper examines adult age-specific mortality patterns of one of the most devastating epidemics in recorded history, the Black Death of A.D. 1347-351. The goal was to determine whether the epidemic affected all ages equally or if it targeted certain age groups. Analyses were done using a sample of 337 individuals excavated from the East Smithfield cemetery in London, which contains only individuals who died during the Black Death in London in 1349-1350. The age patterns from East Smithfield were compared to a sample of 207 individuals who died from non-epidemic causes of mortality. Ages were estimated using the method of transition analysis, and age-specific mortality was evaluated using a hazards model. The results indicate that the risk of mortality during the Black Death increased with adult age, and therefore that age had an effect on risk of death during the epidemic. The age patterns in the Black Death cemetery were similar to those from the non-epidemic mortality sample. The results from this study are consistent with previous findings suggesting that despite the devastating nature of the Black Death, the 14(th)-century disease had general patterns of selectivity that were similar to those associated with normal medieval mortality.     

Generating Confusion,Concern, and Precarity through the Right to Rent Scheme in Scotland

The Immigration Act 2016 has heralded an era of amplified Government intervention into day‐to‐day life, placing increased responsibility for border protection on UK citizens. Using interviews with representatives from the field of housing in Scotland, this paper examines one specific aspect of the Immigration Act 2016, the Right to Rent scheme. We investigate how the Right to Rent creates a precarious environment for all those who may appear to be non‐UK citizens. We argue that it may endorse senses of fantasy citizenship to inculcate people into acting on behalf of the state and is a driver for further division in society. Scotland provides a particularly interesting case study, as housing is a devolved power, but immigration is not. This creates an additional layer of tension in our interview data, as housing organisations are faced with a set of conditions imposed from Westminster, infringing on a field that Scotland has self‐determined for some time. Our interviews illustrate the level of confusion around the scheme, the fact that it is increasing criminalisation in the housing sector, and stresses that the scheme is offloading state responsibility for border protection.     

The Oldowan and Early Acheulean Mammalian Fauna of Wonderwerk Cave (Northern Cape Province,South Africa)

We describe and discuss the large vertebrates recovered from the basal layers (Strata 12 and 11) of Excavation 1 at Wonderwerk Cave, a site located in the Kuruman Hills, Northern Cape Province, South Africa. Stratum 12 is associated with a small core and flake Oldowan assemblage while Stratum 11 contains some Acheulean material. Based on palaeo-magnetism, the time span covered by these Strata is estimated to date to ca.1.8–1.1 million years ago. Taxa identified include late Makapanian forms, such as Procavia transvaalensis, Procavia antiqua, a hipparionine and an unnamed species of large caprine, also found in the Makapan Limeworks deposits, confirming the antiquity of these layers. The bones are highly fragmented due to the action of multiple agencies, both pre- and postdepositional, which prevented diagnosis in many cases to lower levels of taxonomy. In support of other palaeo-environmental proxies from Strata 12 and 11, the large mammal remains reflect a semi-arid ecotone palaeo-environment, consisting of a mix of taxa associated with broken, montane habitat and semi-arid grassland-savanna plains habitat.     

Contra damnationis filios: the Visconti in fourteenth-century papal diplomacy

This article seeks to reappraise the relationship between the Avignon papacy and the Visconti lords of Milan during the fourteenth century. Avignon popes generally viewed the Visconti as the major obstacle to papal temporal power in Italy and thus fashioned propaganda that demonised them. This mythic portrayal, that was re-framed by Florence to justify its own imperialistic ambitions in Tuscany, has been accepted uncritically by modern historiography. Documents from the Vatican archive reveal a more complicated diplomacy. Papal policy toward the Visconti was far from consistent, as the curia welcomed Visconti money and Avignonese popes regularly granted the Visconti papal vicariates. This article demonstrates that the papal-Visconti struggle was a key factor in the creation of the strategic alliance between Florence and the Visconti that made the War of Eight Saints possible and ended the Guelph alliance. This study further suggests that the political ambitions of Giangaleazzo Visconti were stoked in great measure by the Great Schism when partisans of both popes looked to him as the saviour of the Church and of Italy. Finally this article suggests that a re-evaluation of fourteenth-century diplomacy might accord closer scrutiny to the role played by the Church in destabilising Italy.     

LOW- AND MODERATE-INCOME HOUSING IN THE SUBURBS: THE MASSACHUSETTS "ANTI-SNOB ZONING" LAW EXPERIENCE

Can a state re-assertion of power to override local exclusionary zoning practices “open up” the suburbs for low and moderate income households? Such an approach, tried in Massachusetts over the last ten years, has had some notable, though limited results. Some 14,000 units of LMIH have been proposed under the innovative provisions of the Massachusetts “Anti-Snob Zoning” Law, but only about 3,600 have actually been built. The foremost factor limiting the impact of the law has been persistent resistance to it by suburbanites. While much suburban opposition undoubtably stems from racial prejudice and fears, some is based upon rational concern over the costs to local communities of providing services to the residents of subsidized housing. Offsetting these costs with state and/or federal subsidies could lower major barriers to the creation of more housing opportunities in the suburbs for low and moderate income persons.