De Bow’s Revolution: The Memory of the American Revolution in the Politics of the Sectional Crisis, 1850–1861

In January 1861 editor James D.B. De Bow advocated the secession of southern states from the union as he proclaimed to his readers that white Southerners “are mainly the descendants of those who fought the battles of the Revolution, and who understand and appreciate the nature and inestimable value of the liberty which it brought.” While editors on both sides of the Sectional Crisis over slavery in the 1850s and 60s claimed to be “custodians of the legacy of 1776” as they used the American Revolution symbolically in their rhetoric. By focusing on De Bow’s Review, a widely read and influential journal during this fight, we can gain a better understanding of the specific terms by which Southerners were encouraged to think of themselves not as rebels but as guardians of “the true American character.”     

Tell el-Hesi: A type site for reevaluating so-called ‘Egyptian Governors’ Residencies’ of the south

In 1984 Eliezer Oren identified a series of structures found at 13th and 12th centuries BCE sites of southern Canaan, calling them Egyptian Governors’ Residencies. He identified Bliss’s City IV as a defining site. In 2000 Blakely identified Petrie’s Pilaster Building as a second example from Tell el-Hesi. It is now clear that Bliss’s City IV dates to the 13th century and that some of its architectural elements were salvaged after its destruction to build Petrie’s Pilaster Building in the 12th century. All of the southern examples are found in an agricultural zone of uncertainty where there is no clear likelihood of a harvestable crop in any given normal year. As it happens, the 13th and especially the 12th centuries BCE were far from normal, being a period of drought and extreme drought. Thus no crops could have been expected. This suggests the structures could not have been centres for the collection of a grain harvest tax, the accepted view. Rather, one wonders if the sites did not monitor a large pasturage.     

BULK STABLE LIGHT ISOTOPIC RATIOS IN RECENT AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESINS: TOWARDS DETECTING THE TRANSPORT OF RESINS IN ANTIQUITY?*

We have applied and refined methods for the determination of bulk hydrogen, carbon and oxygen isotope ratios in modern and archaeological resins. The modern resins have a wide range of isotopic values and vary within the same tree, between individual trees, with species and location. For all isotopes measured, there is a general trend of increasing depletion of the heavier isotope with increasing altitude. There is also a linear trend between depletion of δD and δ¹³C values with increasing latitude; this trend is less clear for oxygen, but is related to the meteoric water line. Two case studies using archaeological resins known or suspected to have been transported in antiquity have been investigated to determine whether isotopic signatures can assist in pinpointing the geographical origin of the resin: Pistacia sp. resin from Canaanite amphorae imported into Egypt from known geographical locations in the eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age, and Roman amphorae sherds lined with Pinus sp. resin from sites ranging from Britain to the eastern Mediterranean. These results show separate groupings between the two resin types (pine/pistacia) and between the modern/archaeological resins. Some archaeological samples are distinct from the others and the modern resins show differences between geographical areas. However, there are no clear patterns relating the different Canaanite fabrics or the suggested manufacturing site of the Roman amphorae.