Investigating Human Migration and Horse‐Trading in Yelang (夜郎) Through Strontium Isotope Analysis of Skeletons from Zhougshui Sites,South‐West China (1300 bc – ad 25)

Yelang (夜郎), a mysterious state located in the south‐western area of early China and dating from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age (1300 bc – ad 25), is a cultural interactive junction between the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau and the Yangtze River Basin. The Zhongshui Basin in Weining County, Guizhou Province, was one of the important distribution areas of the Yelang civilization. This area, which includes sites at Jigongshan (鸡公山; 1300 – 800 bc ), Hongyingpan (红营盘; 700 – 400 bc ) and Yinzitan (银子坛; 400 bc – ad 25), has provided a very integrated chronology, spanning from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age in the eastern Yunnan – western Guizhou area. To investigate human migration and horse‐trading at these Yelang sites, we conducted a strontium isotopic analysis on the teeth enamel of humans and horses unearthed from these three sites. The results indicated the following: (1) people at the earlier sites (Jigongshan and Hongyingpan) were all indigenous, whereas in the Yinzitan cemetery, there was a more immigrant population, and all the people who were buried in an upper limb flexed supine position were non‐local; and (2) most of the horses found at the Jigongshan and Yinzitan sites show different provenances, probably related to the famous Dian (滇) and Zuo (筰) horses recorded in historical documents, providing more clues for further study on horse‐trading in South‐West China during the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age.     

The Archaeometry and Archaeology of Ancient Chinese Glass: a Review

This paper provides a new review of archaeometric research carried out on glass found in China, set in an archaeological context, from its earliest occurrence to the Song dynasty. It is set within a broad geographical context taking the terrestrial and maritime Silk Road contacts into account. We discuss chemical and isotopic compositional contrasts in glasses from different periods found in different parts of China, the glasses that were almost certainly made in China and those that were imported. A theme that runs through the paper is the problem of provenancing glass found in China, along with a lack of evidence for primary glass‐making sites and minimal evidence for secondary glass production. We discuss the glass artefacts that are of typical Chinese types and contrast these with imports; the structure reflects this contrast. We discuss potential new scientific and archaeological approaches to Chinese glass.     

The Evolution of the Vitruvian Recipes over 500 Years of Floor‐Making Techniques: The Case Studies of the Domus delle Bestie Ferite and the Domus di Tito Macro (Aquileia,Italy)

The paper reports the results of a research project aimed at the characterization of the floor bedding mortars of two Roman houses in Aquileia (north‐eastern Italy), the Domus delle Bestie Ferite and the Domus di Tito Macro. Seventy floor bedding mortars of the two domus were selected and almost half were fully minero‐petrographically characterized by means of optical microscopy operated in transmitted light (OM‐TL), X‐ray powder diffraction analyses coupled with quantitative phase analysis by means of the Rietveld method (XRPD‐QPA) and scanning electron microscopy with EDS microanalysis (SEM–EDS). The results indicate an evolution of the mortar preparation techniques over time in the mosaic of both houses. The materials are compared to the traditional Roman recipes for specific construction techniques.     

Determination of the Fineness of Medieval Coins—Evaluation of Methods in a Case Study of a Medieval Pfennig

The original fineness of coins is very important information that can help us to understand the commercial situation in a wide historical context. This paper deals with a comparison of analytical methods suitable for the evaluation of the actual and original fineness of coins based on a detailed case study of a medieval coin sample. Both non‐destructive (i.e., scanning electron microscopy/energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, X‐ray fluorescence, atomic force microscopy and hydrostatic weighing) and destructive (i.e., inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry and the Volhard titration method) techniques were used. The original fineness can be also deduced from knowledge of the internal structure of the coin (limited miscibility of copper and silver). A new analytical method based on a combination of a micrograph of the metallographic cross‐section with consequent image analysis was developed for determination of the original fineness. The proposed approach is relatively simple and provides reliable values. Sample heterogeneity and its impact on the determination of fineness are also discussed.     

Extreme weather events in northeastern New Brunswick (Canada) for the period 1950–2012: Comparison of newspaper archive and weather station data

In the context of global warming, changes in extreme weather and climate events are expected, particularly those associated with changes in temperature and precipitation regimes and those that will affect coastal areas. The main objectives of this study were to establish the number of extreme events that have occurred in northeastern New Brunswick, Canada in recent history, and to determine whether their occurrence has increased. By using archived regional newspapers and data from three meteorological stations in a national network, the frequency of extreme events in the study area was established for the time period 1950–2012. Of the 282 extreme weather events recorded in the newspaper archives, 70% were also identified in the meteorological time series analysis. The discrepancy might be explained by the synergistic effect of co‐occurring non‐extreme events, and increased vulnerability over time, resulting from more people and infrastructure being located in coastal hazard zones. The Mann Kendall and Pettitt statistical tests were used to identify trends and the presence of break points in the weather data time series. Results indicate a statistically significant increase in average temperatures and in the number of extreme events, such as extreme hot days, as well as an increase in total annual and extreme precipitation. A significant decrease in the number of frost‐free days and extreme cold days was also found, in addition to a decline in the number of dry days.     

First Insights into the Technique Used for Heat Treatment of Chert at the Solutrean Site of Laugerie‐Haute,France

The earliest evidence of flint and chert heat treatment was found in the ~21.5–17 ka old European Solutrean culture. The appearance of pyrotechnology as part of the production of stone tools has important implications for our understanding of Upper Palaeolithic technological evolution and the specific adaptations during the last glacial maximum in Europe. However, the techniques and procedures used to heat‐treat rocks during the Solutrean remain poorly understood. No direct archaeological evidence has so far been found and the most promising approach is to understand these techniques by determining the parameters with which flint and chert were heated at that time. In this study, we investigate the heating temperature of 44 heat‐treated laurel‐leaf points from Laugerie‐Haute, using a non‐destructive technique based on infrared spectroscopy. Our results document that most of the artefacts were heated to a narrow interval of temperatures between 250 °C and 300 °C. This indicates a standardized technique that allowed to created similar conditions during successive heating cycles. The implications of these results for our understanding of the technical complexity during the Solutrean must be discussed in the light of different heating techniques used at different places and periods.     

TEXTS ON THE MOVE: TEXTUALITY AND HISTORICITY REVISITED

The last time texts were brought onto the general theoretical and methodological agenda of the human and social sciences, they were reintroduced into history in terms of an indefinite set of indefinitely complex contexts, which gave every text a specific date and location in a network of other texts and events. A couple of decades later, however, a more prominent feature of texts seems to be that they are permanently on the move: they circulate, have effects on other things, change and transform realities, and are at the same time themselves translated and modified. In the literature exploring the textuality of history, these dimensions have been under‐theorized and often ignored. To meet this challenge, we need to develop concepts and approaches that enable us to place the mobility of texts as well as their mobilizing force at the center of our current historical concerns. In this article we will explore what the consequences of this move could be, and what resources are already at hand in different scholarly traditions. Exploring the entanglements between actor‐network theory (ANT in the version of Bruno Latour), on the one hand, and literary criticism, linguistics, and book history, on the other, enables us to focus on how texts move and how they move others. We will proceed in this essay by identifying three decisive moments in twentieth‐ and twenty‐first‐century textual scholarship, often conceptualized as “turns,” which are linked to the works of three path‐breaking authors and which at the same time represent three different stages or forms of textuality: the linguistic turn (Saussure), the turn to writing (Derrida), and the turn to print (Eisenstein). Our discussions of these three moments and forms of textuality aim at uncovering how they also represent seminal moments in Bruno Latour's development of the theoretical and methodological complex now referred to as ANT.     

1. PRÉCIS IMAGES OF HISTORY: KANT,BENJAMIN, FREEDOM,AND THE HUMAN SUBJECT

My fundamental motivation in writing Images of History was to avoid some forms of hubris and despair that trouble contemporary philosophy and to develop instead a picture of human life in historical time. According to this picture, we live amid institutional and practical inheritances we can address but can never fully stabilize and perfect. In different ways, Kant and Benjamin each accept this thought, and they each develop a picture of philosophy as historically situated, open criticism of existing practices and institutions. Each emphasizes the priority of the practical over any fixed metaphysical‐theoretical stance. I survey each of their general theories of critical historical understanding, and I pay special attention to the texts in which they each provide detailed, specific accounts of Western social‐historical development or circumstances: Kant's Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason and Benjamin's One‐Way Street. Where Kant's philosophical criticism is reformist, liberal, and casually dismissive of non‐Christian religion, Benjamin's is modernist, erotic, and improvisatory. Their respective images of history according to which we achieve orientation are both complementary and fundamentally opposed—not readily combinable into a consistent whole. Drawing on the work of Jonathan Lear, I end with a picture of maturity and practical self‐unity as centrally a matter of developing the skill of modulated alternation between these two orientation‐affording images.     

The impact of bargaining delays under the threat of eminent domain

Developers seeking to assemble complementary parcels of land will likely encounter strategic behavior by landowners. Using a property‐level data set from Florida's Department of Transportation covering the period January 2000 to July 2014, I test whether bargaining delays lead to higher final transaction prices. Given the nature of the data, I can compare properties within the same roadway project to estimate the effect of delayed negotiations. My empirical estimates indicate that bargaining delays lead to increased final transaction prices. The magnitude of this effect is approximately 7 percent for the average holdout, however, the effect is nonlinear and diminishes over time.