Book reviews

N. C. van Setten van der Meer. Sawah cultivation in ancient Java: aspects of development during the Indo‐Javanese period, 5th to 15th century. Canberra: Australian National University. Faculty of Asian Studies in association with Australian National University Press, 1979. xx, 168 pp. (Oriental Monograph Series, 22.)

C. R. Boxer. Jan Compagnie in war and peace 1602–1799: a short history of the Dutch East‐India Company. Hong Kong, etc: Heinemann Asia, 1979. 115 pp. £3.25.

Bernd Nothofer. Dialektgeographische Untersuohungen in West‐Java und im westlichen Zentral‐Java. Teil 1: Text. — Teil 2: Karten. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1980. xi, 264 pp; xiii pp., XXVIII, 169 maps. DM 68.

Harry Aveling (ed.). The development of Indonesian society. From the coming of Islam to the present day. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1979. xxi, 242 pp.

Werner Müller. Bibliographie deutschsprachiger Literatuv über Indonesien. 2. verbesserte und ergänzte Auflage. Hamburg: Dokumentations‐Leitstelle Asien, 1979. 201 pp.     

Book reviews

Werner Röoll. Indonesien: Entwicklungsprobleme einer tropischen Inselwelt. Stuttgart: Klett, 1979. 206 pp.

Shirley Deane. Ambon: island of spices. London: John Murray, 1979. 222 pp. £5.95.

G. W. J. Drewes (ed. and tr.). An early Javanese oode of Muslim ethics. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1978. viii, 104 pp. (Bibliotheca Indonesica, 18.)

Tunku Shamsul Bahrin and P. D. A. Perera. FELDA: 21 years of land development. [Kuala Lumpur: Federal Land Development Authority, 1977.] x, 167pp., map.

Urs Ramseyer. The art and culture of Bali, [Translated from the German by Eileen Walliser-Schwarzbart.) Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977. 266 pp.

J. P. Sarumpaet. Modern usage in Bahasa Indonesia. Carlton: Pitman, 1980. vii, 264 pp.

F. van Anrooij and others (ed.). Between people and statistics. Essays on modern Indonesian history presented to P. Creutzberg. Editorial committee: F. van Anrooij, D. H. A. Kolff, J. T. M. van Laanen, G. J. Telkamp. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff [for] the Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, 1979. 315 pp. Paper, guilders 39.50./     

THE BLUE ENAMELS IN THE BAROQUE DECORATIONS OF THE CHURCHES OF PALERMO,SICILY: FE2+‐COLOURED GLASSES FROM LIME KILNS*

Deep blue glasses coloured by octahedral Fe²⁺ cations are often reported as textbook examples of blue pigmentation. However, despite the possibility of laboratory synthesis under reducing conditions, to date there are no well‐reported occurrences of their production and use in the past. A thorough historical, ethnographic, mineralogical, and chemico‐physical investigation of the ‘smaltini di calcara’ from several baroque churches in Palermo, Sicily, has revealed that the blue enamels widely used for altar decorations in the 17th and 18th centuries are actually a unique case of ancient blue glasses pigmented by divalent iron cations in distorted octahedral coordination. This mixed‐alkali glass was accidentally produced under severely reducing conditions in the local kilns during production of lime.     

PROVENANCE OF ANCIENT TEXTILES—A PILOT STUDY EVALUATING THE STRONTIUM ISOTOPE SYSTEM IN WOOL*

Strontium isotopes are used in archaeology to reconstruct human and animal migration routes. We present results of a pilot study applying strontium isotope analyses to modern sheep hair as a basis for its potential use as a provenance tracer for ancient woollen textiles. Our hydrofluoric acid‐based, lipid soluble analytical protocol, also tested on a number of ancient textile fibres, allows for contamination‐free, low blank strontium isotope analysis of minimal amounts of archaeological material. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of decontaminated sheep hair agree well with the compositions of biologically available (soluble) strontium fractions from the respective feeding ground soils, a translatable requirement for any potentially successful provenance tracing applied to wool textiles.     

The application of a new method of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy to the analysis of burned bone

A new method of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) is applied to the analysis of burned bones. FTIR analyses were undertaken to examine changes in Crystallinity Index (CI), Ca/P and C/C ratios in bone experimentally burned to known, but varying, temperatures and durations. Three sample groups were used to assess the new FTIR method. Blind tests were performed to assess the use of the CI for predicting burning conditions. The results suggested that the new method of FTIR was preferable to the traditional approach, but that CI is affected by factors other than temperature of burning, including the method of FTIR used, and that predictions of burning conditions in archaeological material may not extend beyond that of ‘high’ or ‘low’ intensity of burning.     

Impact of transition zones, variable fluid viscosity and anthropogenic activities on coupled fluid-transport processes in a shallow salt-dome environment

In the Schleswig–Holstein region (S–H) of Germany, most observed near-surface saline ground waters originate from dissolution of shallow salt domes. Previous numerical simulations of thermohaline flow clarified the major mechanisms controlling large-scale density-driven flow. It has been found that, in addition to topographically driven flow, gravitational and thermohaline convection are the primary mechanisms for extensive solute exchange between shallow and deep aquifers. Geological features such as glacial channels control recharge/discharge processes at the surface. Here we address several previously unresolved issues: (i) the impact of a permeable unit (transition zone) between the salt and adjacent units; (ii) the role of variable brine viscosity in affecting regional- (i.e. km-) scale heat and mass patterns; and (iii) the influence of anthropogenic activities such as pumping stations on density-driven flow. We found that geophysical factors play a major role in determining the dynamics of fluid processes. The transition zone significantly influences the flow field and the distribution of heat, slowing the formation of highly concentrated salty plumes. The impact of variable fluid viscosity on the coupled heat and brine flow is twofold. In a colder and highly concentrated environment, such as a shallow salt-dome crest, it retards brine flow. In a less saline environment, variable fluid viscosity enhances thermally induced upward fluid flow. Groundwater extraction from production wells only affects brine and heat flow locally within the upper aquifers.     

Evidence for glass ‘recycling’ using Pb and Sr isotopic ratios and Sr-mixing lines: the case of early Byzantine Sagalassos

The secondary production (working) of glass from imperial to early Byzantine times has been proven at the ancient city of Sagalassos (SW Turkey) by the existence of glass chunks, fuel ash slag and kiln fragments related to glass processing. It had been previously suggested that local green glass might have been recycled from two other locally found glass types (blue glass vessels and chunks and HIMT glass chunks). This paper provides analytical evidence for the recycling of glass next to the use of imported raw glass. The heterogeneous lead isotopic composition of the green and HIMT vessel glass at Sagalassos, with as end members on the one hand the isotopic composition of local blue glass vessels and chunks and on the other hand that of the HIMT glass chunks, could indicate the production of ‘recycled’ glass, although heterogeneous raw materials could have been used. However, the use of Sr-mixing lines confirms local recycling. It is clear that the Sr in the green and HIMT vessels is a mixture of the Sr in the aforementioned end members. It cannot be proved whether the green ‘recycled’ glass was produced from a mixture of chunks alone, or from a mixture of cullet and chunks. Suggestions are made towards the possible origin of the raw materials for the blue and HIMT glass on the basis of Sr isotopic signatures and absolute Sr contents in the glass.