GEOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL LIME MORTARS: PROVENANCE INPUTS*

Chemical and mineralogical analyses were carried out on historical lime mortars from the parish church of Santa María La Real (Guipúzcoa). The study included various periods ranging from Roman to modern times and allowed the identification of various types of raw materials. In order to obtain pure binder, free of carbonate aggregates and charcoal particles, an innovative binder separation method was implemented. The chemical composition of the binder allows discrimination of different provenance areas for the raw materials, although those areas do not correlate with specific historical periods. In addition, the influence of burial processes on the primeval chemical features has been assessed and reveals that modern mortars display greater chemical modification than the Roman mortars.     

A case of multiple metastasis in Late Holocene hunter‐gatherers from the Argentine Pampean region

Chenque I site is a prehistoric cemetery located in Lihué Calel National Park (La Pampa province) in the Western Pampean region of Argentina. Hunter‐gatherer societies made use of this site during the Final Late Holocene for at least 700 years (1030–370 BP). Currently 41 burial structures have been excavated, and more than 150 individuals have been recovered. There is great variability in mortuary patterns at the site (simple, multiple, primary, secondary burials, and also a variant not previously observed in the region). The life‐ways of this population have been investigated through the evaluation of several biological and cultural factors. Several pathological conditions have also been identified in this cemetery. Burial no. 12 contains a skeleton of an adult male that shows multiple pathological lesions, compatible with a neoplastic disease. These lesions have been analysed using several methodological strategies: macroscopic, radiological and microscopic. This is the first time that this kind of disease has been identified from a prehistoric burial in Argentina. In this paper the location and characteristics of the lesions are evaluated, and the different neoplastic diseases that could have produced them are discussed. Since the people buried in this cemetery belonged to highly mobile societies, a key issue is to infer the consequences that this disease would have had on the dynamics of the group in which this person lived, because of the gradual deterioration of his health and physical strength. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Where is Chinese nationalism? The political geography of a moving project

ABSTRACT. Since the rise of Chinese nationalism at the end of the nineteenth century, different political groups have sought to mobilise regional support by identifying with the national agenda of regional preferences. There have been changing contestations appealing to north, south, center, west and east. By analysing these moving identities, one can escape a misleading homogenisation of actual multi‐strandedness and better understand the nature and potential consequences of ongoing political struggles using conflicting nationalisms on behalf of diverse political agendas, some more war‐prone than others.     

The lenses of nationhood: an optical model of identity

ABSTRACT. This paper tries to make the case for a model of political identity based on an optical metaphor, which is especially applicable to nations. Human vision can be separated into sentient object, lenses and inbuilt mental ideas. This corresponds well to identity processes in which ‘light’ from a bounded territorial referent is refracted through various lenses (ideological, material, psychological) to focus in certain ways on particular symbolic resources like genealogy, history, culture or political institutions. Distinguishing between referent, lenses and resources helps us more precisely situate many hitherto disparate problems of national identity. These include the ‘ethnic‐civic’ dilemma, the mystery of national identity before nationalism, and the relationship between local and national, and individual and collective, identities. The model also clarifies the place of universalist ideology, which currently fits poorly within the leading culturalist and materialist theories of nationalism.     

Heat transport at boiling,near‐critical conditions

Two‐phase flow and near‐critical phenomena are likely to enhance energy transport in high‐temperature hydrothermal systems. We present a series of two‐dimensional simulations of two‐phase flow of pure water at near‐critical conditions. The results show that at near‐critical conditions, two‐phase convection can be more efficient in transporting energy than single‐phase convection. The highest heat fluxes are attained when two‐phase heat‐pipes form near the bottom boundary, recharging the root of the upflow zone and thereby enabling the formation of broad upflow regions. When the system becomes more vapor‐dominated, it loses this ability, upflow zones become narrower and the energy efficiency drops to more moderate values.     

Role of Infragravity Energy in Bar Formation in a Strong‐Wind Bay: Observations from Seaford Beach,Port Phillip Bay,Australia

Measurements of the surf zone wave field and morphology were obtained from a multi‐barred beach in a fetch‐limited, strong‐wind bay (Seaford, southeastern Australia) during both low‐ and high‐energy conditions. Analysis of the infragravity energy present during high‐energy events (onshore winds >7 ms^?1) revealed that it was broad‐banded, consisting of a mixture of standing and progressive motions and displaying daily variations in standing wave length scales. Infragravity standing waves were therefore not considered significant to the formation and migration of bars at Seaford during this study, with bar behaviour during high energy events potentially attributable to either breaking wave‐bed return flow and/or self‐organisational mechanisms.     

The Work‐Life Balance: Geographical Perspectives on Lifestyle,Leisure, Stuff and the FuturePresidential Address to the Institute of Australian Geographers’ Conference,Hobart, July 20081

The work‐life balance is a pressing social issue in Australia but one on which geographers have been relatively silent. Predictions of ‘a leisure society’ have not been fulfilled. Instead, work has come to dominate life in Australia and in many other advanced western societies. The reasons for this are explored. Materialism is at the heart of the work‐life imbalance. There is, however, evidence of a changing work ethic and the emergence of leisure‐orientated lifestyles, albeit with ‘leisure’ interpreted as ‘freedom to’ undertake gratifying activity rather than simply ‘freedom from’ obligatory commitments. Despite the supposed homogenising influence of globalisation and the internet, place will become increasingly important in a leisure‐orientated lifestyle‐led future.     

THE SECTILIA PANELS OF FARAGOLA (ASCOLI SATRIANO,SOUTHERN ITALY): A MULTI‐ANALYTICAL STUDY OF THE RED,ORANGE AND YELLOW GLASS SLABS*

SEM–EDS, EMPA, ICP–MS and ICP–OES were applied to the study of three sectilia panels made of red, orange and yellow glass slabs. In order to determine the chemical state of Cu, XAS was also performed. The results indicate that, with the exception of the red samples, all slabs were made by mixing a siliceous sand with natron. The red slabs show significant compositional differences with respect to K₂O and MgO contents, probably linked to the use of plant ashes as a source of alkali. The red, orange and yellow slabs are coloured by metallic copper, cuprite and Pb antimonates, respectively. The comparison between the chemical composition of the Faragola samples and several glass reference groups did not provide conclusive evidence of provenance.     

The circulation of precious metals in the Arab Empire: the case of the near and the Middle East*

The analysis by nuclear activation techniques and by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry combined with an UV laser of a large number of gold coins issued in the Arab Empire from the seventh to the 12th century ad showed that several different supplying sources were used, according to the region and to the period. The aim of this paper is to point out the circulation of gold in the Near and Middle Eastern mints of the Arab Empire and to make a parallel with the mints’ policies running in the other regions of the Empire, such as North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula and the Sicily. The identification of different gold ores by means of characteristic trace elements indicated recycling of the ancient coinage and, after ad 750, the minting in the entire Arab Empire of different new gold ores: Egyptian type, North Eastern type and West African type. The analysis of a small number of silver coins from the same periods and regions also showed a change in the ore supply after ad 750.