An investigation of diet in early Anglo-Saxon England using carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of human bone collagen

The principal aim of this work is to investigate whether protein sources in human diets in early Anglo-Saxon (5th-7th century AD) England varied with geographic location, or with respect to age or sex. The methodology used was analysis of δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C in human bone collagen from 76 adult skeletons from a total of 18 different cemeteries located in inland, riverine and coastal environments. In order to control for the possible effects of socio-economic status on diet, only high status individuals, as identified by grave goods, were studied. Data were analysed using statistical manipulation of the raw results and using IsoSource (Phillips and Gregg, 2003), a mathematical treatment which models the composition of the protein part of human diets using bone stable isotope ratios when the isotopic values for potential protein sources are known or can reasonably be inferred. The results suggest that protein sources varied little according to geographic location and that terrestrial foods dominated at all locations. However there were some subtle patterns. Slightly elevated δ¹³C in skeletons from coastal locations, and δ¹⁵N in those from riverine sites may indicate that communities in these locations made greater use of marine and freshwater resources respectively. If this is correct then it demonstrates that 5th-7th century communities made some use of wild resources even within a predominantly agrarian economy. In general the analysis of the raw data and the IsoSource results were mutually supportive, and this work demonstrates the value of this twin-pronged approach to analysis of human bone stable isotope data.     

Pottery wall thinning as a consequence of increased maize processing: a case study from central New York

The histories of maize in northeastern North America are not well understood at the subregional level. The complexity of formation processes for various lines of evidence for maize use requires the application of many analytical methods and techniques to produce data on subregional maize histories. The present analysis uses bulk δ¹³C values on directly dated charred encrusted cooking residues to provide the first direct correlation of water-based maize cooking to trends in pottery wall thinning. The results add to the growing body of evidence for the history of maize use in central New York.     

The challenge of the spaceship: Arthur C. Clarke and the history of the future, 1930–1970

Arthur C. Clarke’s 1946 essay on ‘The Challenge of the Spaceship’ was one of the founding manifestoes of the Space Age, and helped to establish him as the West’s leading techno-prophet. Restating his ideas in subsequent factual and fictional works, Clarke successfully propagated the belief that man’s destiny lay in space and that the process was already underway. On the surface Clarke’s oeuvre offers a classic astrofuturist model of progress as technology-driven, but on closer examination it also incorporates a more pessimistic, historically based strand of philosophy, British rather than American. This essay traces the genesis of Clarke’s early work and the influence upon him of the historian Arnold J. Toynbee and the moral philosophers Olaf Stapledon and C.S. Lewis. Toynbee was essentially a Christian pessimist who believed that western civilization was on the way out; his long historical perspectives were an important source of inspiration for Clarke, leading him to a cyclical rather than a simply progressive model of history which contemplated both the beginning and the end of civilizations. The concerns of Stapledon and Lewis with grand narratives of decline and redemption were also influences on Clarke. All this needs to be understood in relation to both the European experience of World War I and to the coming of the atomic bomb, the latter a profound influence on Clarke’s generation. Such perspectives gave European astroculture a more modulated vision of the human future in space than the technologically based astrofuturism which dominated in the USA.     

The European miracle. Environment,economies and geopolitics in the history of Europe and Asia

This article analyses the 1936 “Wotan” essay by Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung in light of one of its reigning motifs, Ergriffenheit. First, this term is examined within the works of Protestant theologian Rudolf Otto and Indologist Jakob Wilhelm Hauer, who used it to describe what they claimed to be the original religious experience, a state of being deeply stirred or even seized by the “the holy” or by “the ultimate reality.” The article then examines antecedents in Jung's theory of states of psychic seizure, in which two halves of the psyche come into conflict, the resolution of which leads to an increased capacity to create the arts of culture. The analysis then moves to the “Wotan” essay itself, where Jung brings together his own theory of psychic seizure with the theory of the original religious experience as proposed by the above-named scholars of religion in order to suggest that, under National Socialism, the Germans were in the midst of a collective confrontation with their own inner divinity, which should lead to a national spiritual rebirth. The article then investigates the works of several of the men Jung mentions in the essay, as well as his use of ancient Germanic mythology, to support his claim. Through his portrait of the Germanic archetype Wotan, Jung psychologizes and thereby essentializes the Romantic image of the Germans as “a people of poets and philosophers” as well as that of a Nietzschean “master-race.” In conclusion, the article argues that, at least in 1936, Jung's attitude towards Hitler and National Socialism was much more favorable than has previously been recognized.     

The use of radiocarbon-derived ΔC as a paleoclimate indicator: applications in the Lower Alentejo of Portugal

Values of δ¹³C are frequently reported with radiocarbon dates from organic materials. In C₃ plants δ¹³C values have been linked to changes in water use efficiency as a response to arid conditions. By calculating ¹³C discrimination (Δ¹³C) from ¹³C isotopic composition (δ¹³C), archaeologists can gain potentially valuable inference into past climate conditions. Values of Δ¹³C reflect the process of discrimination against heavier ¹³C isotopes of carbon by comparing the δ¹³C of samples to that of the atmosphere, and can be calculated when records of atmospheric δ¹³CO₂ are available. The present study examines a 1300 year history of radiocarbon-derived Δ¹³C from the Lower Alentejo of Portugal using charcoal recovered from excavations of a series of medieval habitation sites in the study area. To calculate Δ¹³C, the posterior means generated from Bayesian change-point analysis of δ¹³CO₂ records were used. Archaeological data were then compared to contemporary ecological studies of Δ¹³C of the same taxa against instrumental records of climate. Values of Δ¹³C fell within mean ranges for the taxa through a period of population growth between the 7th and 10th centuries AD. During the height of the Medieval Warm Period in the 11th century AD Δ¹³C values frequently fell to low levels associated with arid conditions. At this time environmental degradation and erosion were documented. Values of Δ¹³C increased for a brief period in the early 12th century AD before the rural Lower Alentejo was largely abandoned for nearly two centuries. Another period of aridity occurred in the 16th and 17th centuries AD. Radiocarbon-derived Δ¹³C is a potentially useful paleoclimate proxy for archaeologists provided that results can be paired with observed Δ¹³C variation in studies that pair these data with instrumental climate records.     

Calcium oxalate AMS C dating and chronology of post-Palaeolithic rock paintings in the Iberian Peninsula. Two dates from Abrigo de los Oculados (Henarejos,Cuenca, Spain)

Since 2005 we have been utilizing accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) ¹⁴C dating in research on calcium oxalate crusts associated with open air rock art of the Iberian Peninsula. In this paper we present two dates linked with three eye-idol pictographs at Abrigo de los Oculados (Henarejos, Cuenca, Spain). Radiocarbon ages for these motifs agree with the expected iconography-based archaeological chronology. Such oxalate dates could provide an independent basis for evaluating chronological theories for post-Palaeolithic sites, designated in the UNESCO World Heritage List as Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula.     

激光治疗仪中C8051单片机FLASH存储器的应用

本文针对基于C8051的激光治疗仪提出了一种新的数据存储方法,通过单片机自带的FLASH存储器进行存储,节省了硬件资源。文中详细介绍了单片机中FLASH存储器的使用方法,给出了设计的程序框图和简单的例程．