The archaeology of industry; people and places

The development of industrial archaeology over the last 50 years can be traced through articles published in PMA. The early stages of recording the standing remains of industrial activity were augmented by detailed studies of groups of structures which revealed the organization of the manufacturing process. From the late 1980s, developer-funded excavations became important following extensive remediation work on brownfield sites. Greater attention was paid to the social context of past industrial activity including workers’ housing and institutional buildings, and this has continued with studies of oral history. New challenges considered include studies of modern technologies, de-industrialization and the digital revolution.     

Political iconoclasm: the destruction of Eccleshall Castle during the English Civil Wars

SUMMARY: The mid 17th century in the British Isles was dominated by a period of political and religious turmoil known as the English Civil Wars. The two sides, Royalist and Parliamentarian, became associated with very different forms of Christianity, with the latter being identified with Puritanism, an extremely austere religion whose supporters became associated with iconoclasm. However, this paper explores the motivations for the damage caused at the Bishop of Lichfield’s palace at Eccleshall, Staffordshire, and suggests its destruction was caused by politics rather than religion, thus demonstrating the need for a more nuanced examination of slighting during this turbulent time.     

The origins of New Zealand’s first government house

SUMMARY: In 1842 the former first government house located at Okiato, New Zealand, burnt to the ground and the site was abandoned. A well on the site was excavated in 1994–95, revealing a base layer of burnt timbers, a Maori digging stick and ceramic sherds with an estimated manufacture date range of 1823–41. We argue that this deposit is derived from the 1842 destruction of the Okiato government house building. An analysis of the wood identified kauri (Agathis australis) and kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides), confirming that the building was not a prefabricated imported structure, but rather was constructed on site from locally available timber.     

Down at the old Ship and Ball — taverns,trade and daily life in the London Borough of Southwark

SUMMARY: Archaeological excavations in Southwark over the past 50 years have proved to be a very prolific source of evidence for the material culture of people living in this part of London from the 16th century onwards. This lecture, the fourth held by SPMA in honour of the late Geoff Egan, focuses on a remarkably rich and varied assemblage of 17th- and 18th-century artefacts excavated on a site in Tanner Street in 2012. Covering a wide spectrum of activities, occupations and levels of society, these include ceramics, glass, clay tobacco pipes, pewter, copper-alloy, wood, leather, bone and ivory, with objects as diverse as cloth seals, spoons, book mounts, wine bottles and glasses, bird feeders and a mallet for playing pall mall, and sources ranging from the English Midlands to the Far East.     

Networks and Neolithisation: sourcing obsidian from Körtik Tepe (SE Anatolia)

This paper details the use of obsidian sourcing to reconstruct networks of interaction (or ‘communities of practice’) amongst populations of south-eastern Anatolia and the Near East in the context of ‘Neolithisation’ during the late 11th–early 10th millennia BC. EDXRF was used to elementally characterise 120 artefacts of Epi-Palaeolithic – Pre-Pottery Neolithic A date from Körtik Tepe in south-eastern Anatolia. Four eastern Anatolian sources are represented, mainly Bingöl A/B and Nemrut Da?, plus the first evidence for the use of Mu? obsidian. When the source data is integrated with the artefacts' techno-typological attributes it is possible to locate the assemblage within an Upper Tigris tradition (with some interesting local differences), which stands in stark contrast to contemporary practices in northern Mesopotamia and the Levant. These local and regional distinctions support recent views of the Neolithic being much more heterogeneous, with a ‘mosaic’ of community-specific/local traditions of subsistence practices, raw material choices and lithic technologies during the Younger Dryas–Early Holocene.     

DOMUS AUREA,THE ‘SALA DELLE MASCHERE’: CHEMICAL AND SPECTROSCOPIC INVESTIGATIONS ON THE FRESCO PAINTINGS

In this paper, data collected from the wall fresco paintings of room 114, called the ‘Sala delle maschere’, of the Domus Aurea in Rome is analysed. The chemical composition of the efflorescence is investigated by infrared spectroscopy. The colour palette is determined by means of EDXRF, Raman spectroscopy and visible reflectance spectroscopy. EDXRF has allowed an extensive mapping of the elements present in the pigments and plaster; whilst in‐situ Raman spectroscopy has been determinant for attributing the molecular composition of the pigments in a number of doubtful cases. Most pigments identified are typical of Imperial Roman fresco paintings (first to fourth centuries AD) ( Ward‐Perkins 1981 ); more interestingly, we found evidence of fragments painted with Egyptian blue, which was normally used mostly in official rooms.     

杭州南宋遗址出土官窑类瓷片的科技研究

本文采用荧光能谱仪(EDXRF)测试了杭州卷烟厂、严官巷、吴庄和太庙四处南宋遗址出土的官窑类瓷片的胎釉元素组成;并根据胎体元素分类情况,制备了光学薄片,运用偏光显微镜对部分官窑瓷片的胎体进行了岩相分析。在此基础上,本文对杭州这些遗址出土官窑类瓷片的窑口问题进行了初步讨论。结果表明四处南宋遗址出土的56块官窑类瓷片当中,有48块样品可能为杭州两窑烧造,而有8块样品的胎体元素组成更接近龙泉黑胎青瓷,结合判别分析和岩相分析结果,这八块样品为龙泉窑烧造的可能性更大,但具体窑口尚需进一步研究。     

北京明清建筑琉璃构件黄釉的无损研究

本文以北京明、清典型官式琉璃构件的黄釉为研究对象,利用EDXRF分析了釉料的化学组成,结合文献记载初步研究了北京明清官式琉璃构件釉料的变化规律。研究结果表明,明清琉璃黄釉的主要元素(硅、铅、铝、铁)含量在一定范围内稍有波动,氧化铅含量有逐渐降低的趋势。此外,明清釉料中氧化铝含量变化大体经历了由低到高,再由高到低的过程。从氧化铁的变化趋势来看,明代的釉料大体稳定,而清代则经历了由低到高的过程。这表明古代琉璃釉料的配方并非墨守成规、因循守旧,而是受技术进步、窑炉、政治经济等级审美观念的多重影响,古代匠人在不断的摸索中改进配方。