The behaviour of lead as a corrosion resistant medium undersea and in soils

Lead is a highly corrosion resistant metal in some environments and an attempt has been made to show its strength and weakness under long-term corrosion in land and marine conditions by means of examples taken from archaeological contexts. Some analyses and thicknesses are given of the corrosion films found on them. The importance of fine grain size and the role of certain impurities in obtaining this may be one reason why the older leads are often more resistant than modern leads.     

Micro-invasive method for studying lead isotopes in paintings*

A micro-invasive technique is presented that enables pigment sampling from individual layers of a painting cross-section by obtaining a furrow 10–50 μm wide of chosen length. Combined with increased sensitivity of lead (Pb) isotope analysis using multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICPMS) equipped with a 10¹³ Ω resistor or a Pb double-spike technique, the amount of Pb needed for isotopic analysis is drastically reduced, while maintaining a relative 2 SD precision for ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb of < 0.02%. The methodology proved able to characterize Pb isotope differences within paint layers.     

Identification of PbO (BaO) faience from an early and middle Warring States period cemetery at Zhaitouhe,northern Shaanxi,China

Low‐temperature vitreous materials fluxed with lead (and barium) appeared in the early Warring States period (c.fifth century bce ) in ancient China. A range of lead vitreous products fluxed with the same agent, including faience/glass beads, glazed pottery and Chinese blue (purple) pigment, were developed subsequently. This study carries out scientific analysis of six vitreous beads unearthed from the Zhaitouhe cemetery site in northern Shaanxi dating to the early and middle Warring States period to investigate their chemical composition, microstructure and coloration. The lead (and barium) vitreous beads identified here are some of the earliest lead vitreous materials discovered in China so far, and therefore important for the study of the development of lead vitreous technologies in ancient China. This paper also points out that it is meaningful to evaluate the lead glass, glazed pottery and barium copper silicate pigments as a whole technological assemblage given their close relationships.     

Long‐distance interaction in Urartu?: Provenance and composition of copper alloys from Ayanis,Turkey

The paper analyses tin bronze weaponry found at the first‐half‐of‐the‐seventh‐century‐BCE Urartian fortress in the Lake Van region of eastern Turkey. Examples of finely manufactured artefacts provide evidence for the consumption of high‐quality bronzes in a well‐defined elite context. This study tests for the presence or absence of long‐distance procurement of the raw materials used to produce status objects. The results of quantitative elemental and lead isotope abundance ratio analyses show that the bronzes were produced with varying copper tin alloys, and the copper was procured from several possible locations, including Anatolia and Cyprus.     

Probing the provenance of archaeological glaze colorants: Polychrome faunal reliefs of the Ishtar Gate and the Processional Way of Babylon

The polychrome glazes from the Processional Way and the Ishtar Gate of Babylon are among the best preserved from antiquity. Yet, little is known about the logistical choices involved in their production. Variations in isotope ratios can be useful for complementing an archaeological investigation of potential geological sources of raw materials. Consistent with archaeological evidence and ancient texts on trade in metals, Turkish ore deposits are thus tentatively proposed as possible sources of the metal oxide colorants used for the investigated polychrome glazes of three Neo‐Babylonian faunal reliefs that are now part of the collection of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen.     

Feeling at Home: Gender and Creative Agency at Red House

Much has been written about Red House, the home of Jane and William Morris between 1859 and 1865, as an example of architectural innovation and a place of artistic fellowship. In accounts by Morris's contemporaries and subsequent scholars, Red House has also been represented as a site of conviviality, creativity and youthful idealism, where a utopian way of life proved unable to withstand the vagaries of mature responsibilities. This essay reconsiders the happy memories attached to Red House and explores how the affective investments that linked people, spaces and objects were created and enhanced by a shared process of creative improvisation there. Drawing on recent scholarly work on feelings, emotions and affect, this essay pays particular attention to the gendered experience of intimacy and creativity at Red House and seeks to redress a tendency to discount women's creative agency in the household. In the web of relationships at Red House, expressed and enacted through practices of creative labour and hospitality, Jane Morris and Georgiana Burne-Jones articulated an increased capacity for agency not merely as aesthetic objects but as creative subjects.     

重金属的测定——微量物证在纺织品拉链拉头含铅量超标的质量鉴定中的应用

纺织品中含铅的主要原因是采取了含铅的染化料,助剂,稳定剂,以及服装加工时采用含铅金属附件或饰品等,容易导致纺织品含铅超标。铅是一种对神经系统有害的重金属元素,特别是儿童代谢功能尚不完善,很容易发生铅中毒事故。本文针对生活中纺织品中含铅量超标的现象,借助电子探针和扫描电镜x射线能谱分析（SEM／EDS）以及电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱法等微量物证分析手段,来确检测样品是否有铅超标的现象存在。     

A multi-technique characterization and provenance study of the pigments used in San rock art, South Africa

During the course of a conservation project at the rock shelter known as RSA TYN2 (Eastern Cape, South Africa), a sample of 33 painted fragments that had become detached from the wall were collected. They have been studied using a multi-technique approach (optical microscopy, SEM-EDS, Raman spectroscopy and FTIR), with the aim of achieving a better understanding of their paint stratigraphy, composition, and provenance. The paintings are on a Clarens Formation sandstone and are embedded in calcium sulphates and oxalates. The red pigments show two different ‘hues’, corresponding to two different compositions. The light red is a red ochre, possibly pure, which is probably a degradation product of the Clarens Formation sandstone. The dark red contains more iron oxides and may be a mixture between the red ochre and pure haematite. Because of the presence of crystals which may be identified as augite we suggest this haematite came from the basaltic upper part of the Drakensberg, at least 4 km away from the rock shelter. The black pigments have been identified as carbon black, that is to say, incomplete combustion products of organic compounds, and are radiocarbon dated to between 2120 and 1890 cal BP, making these samples the oldest directly dated South African rock art.