The 5th‐Century BC Shipwreck at Tektaş Burnu,Turkey: evidence for the ship's hull from nail concretions

The Tekta? Burnu ship (440–425 BC) sank along a rough and desolate stretch of the Turkish Aegean coast. Archaeological excavation of the shipwreck site by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University resulted in the retrieval of hundreds of small fragments from the ship's wooden hull and its metal fasteners. Recent study of this artefact assemblage suggests that the coastal trader was built with pine planks and made‐frames, and assembled by a shell‐based construction method. Fasteners include pegged mortise‐and‐tenon joints and double‐clenched copper nails, and the ship may have had laced extremities consistent with other contemporaneous shipwrecks.     

Boats and Boatbuilding in Tanzania (Dar‐es‐Salaam and Zanzibar)

A wide variety of traditional wooden boats and small ships can still be seen in use and being built on the mainland of Tanzania and the island of Zanzibar. This paper compares different accounts in the literature with observations made in 2012, and documents in detail the various stages of building wooden dhows on the beaches of Zanzibar.     

Reconstructed nationalism in Taiwan: a politicised and economically driven identity

Since the late 1980s, Taiwan has been engulfed in waves of both democratisation and integration with mainland China. These two waves have pulled identity reconstruction in Taiwan in two different directions. In the process of democratisation, a shift to a majoritarian system encouraged a Taiwanese renaissance on the political platform and consequently led to the deconstruction of Chinese identity. On the other hand, in the 1990s, with the high mobility of capital and people across the Taiwan Strait, close economic ties could have put the brakes on Taiwan independence movements. Hence, this paper uses random coefficient models to explore how the democratic transition and increasing cross‐strait relations brought about psychological and structural mechanisms that motivated people to opt for identity change in Taiwan. It also attempts to investigate how people dealt with the dissonance between rising Taiwanese nationalism and the economic interests that deterred a radical Taiwanese identity.     

Polyphasic hydrothermal and meteoric fluid regimes during the growth of a segmented fault involving crystalline and carbonate rocks (Barcelona Plain,NE Spain)

A polyphasic tectonic‐fluid system of a fault that involves crystalline and carbonate rocks (Hospital fault, Barcelona Plain) has been inferred from regional to thin section scale observations combined with geochemical analyses. Cathodoluminescence, microprobe analyses and stable isotopy in fracture‐related cements record the circulation of successive alternations of hydrothermal and low‐temperature meteoric fluids linked with three main regional tectonic events. The first event corresponds to the Mesozoic extension, which had two rifting stages, and it is characterized by the independent tectonic activity of two fault segments, namely southern and northern Hospital fault segments. During the Late Permian‐Middle Jurassic rifting, these segments controlled the thickness and distribution of the Triassic sediments. Also, dolomitization was produced in an early stage by Triassic seawater at shallow conditions. During increasing burial, formation of fractures and their dolomite‐related cements took place. Fault activity during the Middle Jurassic–Late Cretaceous rifting was localized in the southern segment, and it was characterized by hydrothermal brines, with temperatures over 180°C, which ascended through this fault segment precipitating quartz, chlorite, and calcite. The second event corresponds to the Paleogene compression (Chattian), which produced exhumation, folding and erosion, favouring the percolation of low‐temperature meteoric fluids which produced the calcitization of the dolostones and of the dolomite cements. The third event is linked with the Neogene extension, where three stages have been identified. During the syn‐rift stage, the southern segment of the Hospital fault grew by tip propagation. In the relay zone, hydrothermal brines with temperature around 140°C upflowed. During the late postrift, the Hospital fault acted as a unique segment and deformation occurred at shallow conditions and under a low‐temperature meteoric regime. Finally, and possibly during the Messinian compression, NW‐SE strike‐slip faults offset the Hospital fault to its current configuration.     

Role of compressive tectonics on gas charging into the Ordovician sandstone reservoirs in the Sbaa Basin,Algeria: constrained by fluid inclusions and mineralogical data

Structure‐ and tectonic‐related gas migration into Ordovician sandstone reservoirs and its impact on diagenesis history were reconstructed in two gas fields in the Sbaa Basin, in SW Algeria. This was accomplished by petrographical observations, fluid inclusion microthermometry and stable isotope geochemistry on quartz, dickite and carbonate cements and veins. Two successive phases of quartz cementation (CQ1 and CQ2) occurred in the reservoirs. Two phase aqueous inclusions show an increase in temperatures and salinities from the first CQ1 diagenetic phase toward CQ2 in both fields. Microthermometric data on gas inclusions in quartz veins reveal the presence of an average of 92 ± 5 mole% of CH₄ considering a CH₄‐CO₂ system, which is similar to the present‐day gas composition in the reservoirs. The presence of primary methane inclusions in early quartz overgrowths and in quartz and calcite veins suggests that hydrocarbon migration into the reservoir occurred synchronically with early quartz cementation in the sandstones located near the contact with the Silurian gas source rock at 100–140°C during the Late Carboniferous period and the late Hercynian episode fracturing at temperatures between 117 and 185°C, which increased in the NW‐direction of the basin. During the fracture filling, three main types of fluids were identified with different salinities and formation temperatures. A supplementary phase of higher fluid temperature (up to 226°C) recorded in late quartz, and calcite veins is related to a Jurassic thermal event. The occurrence of dickite cements close to the Silurian base near the main fault areas in both fields is mainly correlated with the sandstones where the early gas was charged. It implies that dickite precipitation is related to acidic influx. Late carbonate cements and veins (calcite – siderite – ankerite and strontianite) occurred at the same depths resulting from the same groundwater precipitation. The absence of methane inclusions in calcite cements result from methane flushing by saline waters.     

Asylum and the Post‐Political: Domopolitics,Depoliticisation and Acts of Citizenship

This paper explores the ways in which practices of asylum governance serve to depoliticise those seeking asylum in the UK. In critiquing claims over the “post‐political” nature of contemporary governance, the paper proposes a focus upon situated practices of depoliticisation which displace those seeking asylum through the production of specific sites of accommodation and specific discourses of risk, security and moralised concern. The paper questions the tendency within “post‐political” thought to strip the potential of modes of informal citizenship through arguing that minor acts of resistance are ineffectual and illusory. In response, the paper explores irregular migrant's “acts of citizenship”, and suggests that such prosaic acts can be powerful forms of political interruption through which new ways of seeing asylum are constructed. The paper concludes by suggesting that an incremental politics orientated around such acts of interruption is essential to challenge the material, affective and discursive closures of asylum domopolitics.     

Middle Bronze Age II Battleaxes from Rishon LeZion,Israel: Archaeology and Metallurgy

Thirteen bronze battleaxes from Middle Bronze Age II graves at Rishon LeZion, Israel were analysed by ED XRF at multiple surface locations in order to determine their metallurgical composition. Six of these were further subjected to neutron diffraction using an ENGIN‐X diffractometer in order to determine bulk phase composition. The results indicate that the previously established geographical and chronological variability in Sn–Cu (with occasional Pb) and As–Cu alloys found using the former method may be an artefact of preservation and conservation. In addition, the varying homogeneity determined by the latter reflects special treatment for improving on the metal cast.     

On the Origin of the Green Colour of Archaeological Bone Artefacts of the Gallo‐Roman Period

Recent findings in the city of Reims have lead to the discovery of manufactured bone objects coloured in green throughout their entire volume. In order to discover the intentional nature of the colouration and to propose a colouration mechanism, modern ox bones have been coloured in the laboratory. Bones with a hue similar to that of the archaeological artefacts have been obtained by boiling in an acidic brine in a copper vessel. A combination of infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction and transmission electron microscope observations did not reveal the speciation of copper, but allowed us to validate the colouration process and to discuss the intentional origin of the colouration.     

Rehydroxylation of Fired‐Clay Ceramics: Factors Affecting Early‐Stage Mass Gain in Dating Experiments

To obtain accurate results in the RHX dating of ceramics, it is essential that the RHX measurements are continued until the rate of mass gain is constant with (time)^1/4. In this paper, we discuss how the initial stages of mass gain are affected by the specific surface area (SSA) of the ceramic material. The paper provides guidance on experimental protocols to avoid dating results being distorted by relatively early‐time mass gain data.