The Glaze Technology of Hispano‐Moresque Ceramic Tiles: A Comparison Between Portuguese and Spanish Collections

For the first time, Hispano‐Moresque glazed tiles from Portuguese and Spanish collections were studied together and compared. This work is included in a wider study tackling the technology of Hispano‐Moresque tile production from several collections in the Iberian Peninsula. While showing many similarities, differences were identified between collections, regarding both chemical and morphological characteristics. The collection from the Mosteiro de Santa Clara‐a‐Velha (Coimbra) stands out from the other collections, with higher SnO₂ content (up to 14 wt%), the highest Fe₂O₃ contents in amber glazes and a Ca‐rich interface layer (mostly comprised of wollastonite, CaSiO₃). Samples from Palácio Nacional de Sintra (near Lisbon) and Seville‐attributed samples (from the Instituto Valencia de Don Juan) are chemically similar, except that most Sintra's samples display a K‐rich glaze/ceramic interface, whereas the ones from Seville exhibit both K‐rich and Ca‐rich inclusions. The samples attributed to Toledo show glazes with many inclusions, contrasting with the homogeneous glazes in most Hispano‐Moresque tiles. From these results, we identify differences that can be used as markers in future studies on Hispano‐Moresque tiles.     

The transatlantic Muslim diaspora to Latin America in the nineteenth century

Since the 16th century, African Muslims figured prominently among the slave population of the Americas. While the number of Muslims pulled into the trade has always been a matter of speculation, lists of Africans rescued from slave ships provide us with some clues about the size and direction of the Muslim diaspora to Latin America in the 19th century. Based on an analysis of tens of thousands of names recorded in these lists, this essay argues that the majority of Muslim captives leaving Africa departed from Upper Guinea and suggests that Cuba was the center of the forced Muslim diaspora in the Americas. It traces the transatlantic links that connected particular regions of embarkation in Africa to their counterparts in Latin America and considers the implications of those connections for religious and cultural change within 19th-century slave populations. The essay challenges in important ways the colonial/postcolonial divide in Latin American history and uses Islam to pose important questions about the dynamics of social change across slave societies.     

Constructing America from the Sea: Maritime Archaeology Research,International Cooperation and Best Practices in the Underwater Cultural Heritage of Latin America

This article introduces this special issue of the Journal of Maritime Archaeology by giving a brief introduction to the current situation of the practice of maritime archaeology in Latin America, as well as reviewing the main challenges that the discipline faces here. An assessment of existing regional cooperation, the presence of maritime archaeology within the international community and its importance to develop new theoretical and methodological perspectives that advance access to knowledge is made. Finally, the article focuses on some of the current work carried out in Latin America.     

A case of Human Bone Chalcolithic Technology from the Perdigões site (Alentejo,Portugal)

A human femur diaphysis in the form of a burin was excavated from a secondary burial context containing osteological remains and industry in the Archaeological Complex of Perdigões (Portugal). The majority of these evidences are thermo‐altered and highly fragmented. Radiocarbon dates for this context place it in the middle 3rd millennium BC. Typological analyses indicate that the human femur fragment is a burin, and use‐wear comparisons suggest that it was used to drill hide. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Non‐osseous calcaneonavicular coalition in the Portuguese prehistoric population: report of two cases

This paper reports articular surface defects detected in three foot bones. These were exhumed from Portuguese collective burial places, Hipogeu de São Paulo II (artificial cave, Almada) and Necrópole da Serra da Roupa (shelter, Columbeira) dated to the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods. Other aetiologies were presented, but non‐osseous calcaneonavicular coalition proved to be the most probable explanation for the unusual morphology detected in two calcanei and one navicular bone. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bronze production in Southwestern Iberian Peninsula: the Late Bronze Age metallurgical workshop from Entre Águas 5 (Portugal)

Archaeological works at Entre Águas 5 (Portugal) uncovered a seasonal LBA settlement with significant metallurgical remains (crucibles, moulds, prills and a tuyere) related to bronze production. Radiocarbon dating ascribes an occupation period (10th–9th century BC) previous to Phoenician establishment in Southwestern Iberia. In spite of the proliferation of metal artefacts during LBA, the production of bronze alloys is still poorly understood. An integrated analytical approach (EDXRF, optical microscopy, SEM–EDS, micro-EDXRF and Vickers microhardness) was used to characterise this metallurgy. Crucibles show immature slags with copious copper nodules, displaying variable tin content (c. 0–26 wt.%), low iron amount (<0.05 wt.%) and different cooling rates. Certain evidences point to direct reduction of oxide copper ores with cassiterite. Scorched moulds with residues of copper and tin indicate local casting of artefacts. Finished artefacts also recovered at the site have an analogous composition (bronze with ∼10 wt.% Sn and low amounts of Pb, As and Fe) typical of coeval metallurgy in SW Iberia. Some artefacts reveal a relationship between typology and composition or manufacture: a higher tin content for a golden coloured ring or absence of the final hammering for a bracelet. An uncommon gilded nail (gold foil c. 140 μm thick; 11.6 wt.% Ag; ∼1 wt.% Cu) attests the existence of evolved prestige typologies. This LBA settlement discloses a domestic metallurgy whose main features are typical in Iberian Peninsula. Finally, it should be emphasized that a collection as comprehensive and representative of a single workshop has rarely been studied, enabling a deeper understanding of the various operations involving the bronze production and manufacture of artefacts.     

State,Politics and the Idea of Social Justice in Chile

This article explores the ways in which the idea of social justice has been utilized during this century as an idée-force in Chilean politics. It stresses the Catholic background of the concept and shows how it has been adapted to the political objectives of several doctrinal streams. The idea of social justice has been a powerful ideological instrument for governments in their attempts to deal with the social expectations of the electorate and to create a broad consensus between different political and social sectors. This idea has also been historically related to an active state role in the search for equity through income distribution and the adoption of progressive social legislation. While the recent military government (1973-90) radically reformulated both the social function of the state and the official definition of social justice, the current democratic authorities seem to have readopted the idea of social justice as a key element in their ideological discourse.     

Consigned to Oblivion: Rehabilitation of First World War Disabled Veterans in Portugal (1917–1927)

The First World War is known for its use of advanced weaponry, which caused massive injuries. Over 8,000 Portuguese soldiers who had fought in the African and European theatres of war returned home with a disability. Through a qualitative analysis of archival data, newspaper articles, and legislation, this article examines what was done for these disabled veterans in Portugal between 1917 and 1927, drawing comparisons with similar situations in other countries. As it will be noted, voluntary organisations and the State took limited measures to rehabilitate disabled ex-servicemen, who were consigned to oblivion.     

A Mona effect: How place discourse constitutes culture‐led change

The arrival of the Museum and Old and New Art (Mona) in the disadvantaged municipality of Glenorchy was heralded as the beginning of significant social change in Australia's island state of Tasmania. These expectations were premised on a local place discourse known as the “Tasmanian gothic,” and, in this article, our aim is to illustrate the importance of place specifications in culture‐led change, including in relation to how place discourse constitutes such change. To do this work, we illustrate a Mona effect that comprises a critical account of the Tasmanian gothic informed by an empiric of tourist movement to and from Mona. We demonstrate that tourist movements follow existing socio‐spatial patterns, with tourists from higher socio‐economic backgrounds bypassing Glenorchy and those from lower socio‐economic backgrounds more likely to stop in this disadvantaged municipality. This socio‐spatial account unsettles the characterisation of Tasmania and Tasmanians provided by the Tasmanian gothic and we conclude by observing (1) a lack of significant social change resulting from Mona, in part explained by well‐established socio‐economic patterns; (2) signs of more subtle change that warrant further investigation; and (3) how local place discourse can act to curtail culture‐led change by reinforcing existing socio‐economic patterns.     

The Composition of the São Brás Copper Hoard in Relation to the Bell Beaker Metallurgy in the South‐western Iberian Peninsula

A large ceramic vessel was discovered at São Brás (southern Portugal) containing a metallic hoard from the Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age period. These weapons and tools were characterized by microanalytical techniques as being composed of copper with varying arsenic contents (2.2 ± 1.6 wt%) and minor amounts of lead, bismuth and iron. The collection shows a clear association between daggers and copper with a higher arsenic content, which can be explained by the high status of these silvery alloys. Finally, the compositional distribution of the hoard was compared with the metallurgy of the Bell Beaker and non–Bell Beaker communities inhabiting the south‐western Iberian Peninsula.