MANUSCRIPT XXXIV: ‘The feelings of friendship which We have always entertained’: Fragments of Tongan–Hawaiian Relations, 1880–8

ABSTRACT

After the Hawaiian Kingdom had played an important part as a model for Tonga's transition to a modern constitutional monarchy from the 1850s to 1870s, Tonga's government attempted to reconnect with Hawai‘i in the 1880s by suggesting a friendship treaty between the two kingdoms but then failed to follow through, despite Hawaiian enthusiasm for the project. Correspondence in the Hawai‘i State Archives, hitherto unacknowledged by historians, documents these late 19th-century fragments of Hawaiian–Tongan relations.     

The Rolt Memorial Lecture 2017: Conserving the Waterways Heritage

ABSTRACT

This article describes the work of the Canal & River Trust in managing and conserving the heritage assets and the wider historic environment of the Trust's waterways in England and Wales. Various types of heritage assets are described, and the ways in which these assets are managed, including via archaeological recording, along with conservation-led repairs to historic engineering structures and other historic waterway-related buildings, are considered. New directions that offer effective and efficient ways of dealing with heritage assets are examined.     

Seismic History of the Church of San Pietro Di Coppito in L’Aquila

After the terrible 18th-century earthquakes—in L’Aquila in 1703, Lisbon in 1755, and Reggio Calabria in 1783—specific anti-seismic precepts were introduced in the rules of the art of masonry construction. Scrupulously adhered to in the first years after the earthquake, those precepts gradually ceased to be used until they were almost completely forgotten, centuries later, by which time the earthquake had become a distant memory. The church of San Pietro di Coppito, one of the most important churches of L’Aquila, is emblematic of this singular process. Deeply transformed in accordance with new anti-seismic construction techniques after it was particularly badly damaged in the terrible 1703 earthquake, the church was subjected, in the 1970s, to drastic alterations by the Commissioner Mario Moretti, who demolished all the baroque additions and redesigned it in the “medieval Abruzzo” style, eliminating in the process the intelligent anti-seismic provisions introduced in the 18th century. In addition to documentary purposes, this work aims to underline the effectiveness of this early 18th-century example of anti-seismic engineering in the belief that the constructive solutions it employed could still form a valid architectural and structural model in view of the massive restoration task for which, unfortunately, L’Aquila is still waiting today.     

Spondylolysis in the lower thoracic–upper lumbar spine in a British medieval population

Spondylolysis is generally a condition of the lower lumbar spine, but occasionally it is observed at cranial to L4. It is generally agreed that spondylolysis in the lower lumbar spine represents fatigue failure of the neural arch. However, whether a biomechanical explanation is adequate to explain lesions cranial to L4 is disputed. Morphological aspects of spondylolysis at T12–L3 (five cases) are compared with those of lesions at L4–L6 (24 cases) in a mediaeval English skeletal series with the aim of shedding light upon any differences in aetiology of lesions at the two sites. It was found that spondylolysis at T12–L3 was more often unilateral than in L4–L6. In T12–L3, clefts more often took an angulated, dog‐leg course across the pars interarticularis, whereas most in L4–L6 were fairly straight and had an oblique orientation. In T12–L3, clefts often had facetted opposing surfaces suggestive of a diarthrodial joint, but this was only seen once in L4–L6. It is suggested on morphological grounds that facetted defects are more likely congenital than acquired. The need for consideration of factors in addition to activity regimes when interpreting spondylolysis in earlier populations is emphasised. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

倦勤斋内饰用珍稀木材的分析与对比研究

本文通过对乾隆时期倦勤斋内饰各个部位所用的五种珍稀木材与今天所要修配的木材同时进行科学检测、对比分析,不仅解决了文物修复中材料界定的现实困难,也改变了靠传统经验来判断木材真伪的方法,用检测与分析的结论澄清了多年来争论不休的关于所谓“老紫檀木”、“老鸡翅木”的一些误传。     

胡宗宪《吕港帖》与乍浦之捷考

《吕港帖》是明代胡宗宪致沈良才的一封信。胡宗宪在向上级汇报抗倭作战情况的同时,明确了倭寇驻扎的时间、地点以及胡宗宪拟布置兵力的时间,并说明了作战将领的心理状态。作者就信中人物和事件进行考证,推论出信中涉及的是明嘉靖三十五年七月江浙总督胡宗宪指挥的一次抗倭战事,即胡宗宪撰《筹海图编·大捷考》一章中的"乍浦之捷"。作为个案,《吕港帖》也反映了尺牍丰厚的文献价值。