Kulturen des Experiments

Cultures of Experiment. – It is generally accepted that the development of modern science is rooted in experiment. Yet for a long time, experimentation did not occupy a prominent role in history of science. With the practical turn in science studies, this has begun to change. This paper is concerned with cultures of experiment. In the first part, a suggestion is made as to how the concept of experimental culture can be used to go beyond a history of disciplines. In the second part, a particular experimental culture in the life sciences is looked at more closely. A survey is given on the changing forms of in vitro experimentation, that is, on analyzing biological functions in a test tube.     

Design als ‘mediating interface’ Zur Zeugen‐ und Zeichenhaftigkeit des Radioapparates

Design as Mediating Interface: Historical Evidence and Symbolic Enunciation of the Radio Set. – Based on a case study on the invention of the radio station scale in the late 1920's and early 1930's, this article pleads for an interdisciplinary look at the importance of design as a mediating interface in the production‐consumption junction. In this cultural history perspective on technology, the material artifact matters both as a witness of and a sign for the symbolic meaning and appropriation of the technical object, which transgresses the functional logic of instrumental rationality. In presenting five different perspectives on design offering some alternative looks for a cultural history of technology, this theoretically inspired essay wants to sound the critical potential of a multilayered semantic approach to the radio apparatus as a prominent representation of a radical innovation in media technology.     

Hydatidosis of a Pregnant Woman of the 3rd Century bc,Greece

Analyses of cremains of three individuals from a 3rd‐century‐bc hydria revealed a calcified hydatid cyst among commingled bones of a man, woman and fetus. The free cyst likely belonged to the pregnant woman who may have died of hydatidosis, a disease known in Greece since the 5th century bc . Hydatid cyst finds are rare in the literature. This is the first cyst found with cremains and in Greece. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implicaciones legales de las seis muertes en La Celestina: Un acercamiento histórico-literario

This article examines the different types of deaths in La Celestina from the point of view of their legal and sociological significance. The analysis builds on contemporary historical data on suicide, homicide, executions, and accidents. It is shown that, beside its literary value, La Celestina is also an important historical document that provides an accurate portrait of the legal system relative to deaths that were socially unacceptable at that time. This study also highlights the presence of social criticism in the text when it describes how the authorities did not comply with some legal regulations.     

A possible eighteenth to nineteenth century example of a popliteal aneurysm from Leicester

Examples of the impressions made on bones by arterial aneurysms are rare in the archaeological record. One such specimen was found in a collection of 5000 pieces of disarticulated human bone from a disturbed eighteenth to nineteenth century graveyard in Leicester. The distal end of an adult femur shows a lesion on the posterior surface that has been identified as that made by an aneurysm of the popliteal artery, by comparison with an authenticated museum specimen of that condition, also of eighteenth century data. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Avian resources at a Mexican site at the time of the Spanish Conquest

The time of the Spanish Conquest in America saw a major biological interchange caused by human action. In the native people it was expressed by major changes in the use of animals, due to the introduction of domestic European fauna. This theme is discussed here based on a review of ethnohistorical sources and a small body of recent archaeological evidence. An analysis is presented of the use of birds at a Mexican settlement inhabited in the sixteenth century at the time of Spanish contact. The bird remains, 456 fragments, are from the site of El Japon, southeast of Mexico City. The main avian resources were domestic fowl, Gallus gallus, turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, and four species of ducks. The exploitation of scrub jay, Apheolocoura coerulescens is recorded for the first time in Mexican archaeo-ornithology. The study confirms ethnohistorical information about the introduction of the domestic fowl, but also shows that native resources were more widely used than is known from the chronicles of the sixteenth century. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

早期夏文化研究中的几个问题

夏商周断代工程中的早期夏文化研究,在确定研究目标和研究方法后,对早期夏文化遗存进行了年代学研究,着重讨论其相对年代和绝对年代.工程指认早期夏文化即为河南龙山文化晚期(或称王湾三期文化)和二里头文化早期遗存,并将夏文化的始年推定在公元前21世纪.     

近代西方在中国东半部的地理探险及主要游记

地理探险和游记是西方认识世界的重要手段。近代西方在中国主要地区开展了许多探险和考察活动,并留下了不少游记报道。但我国学术界对这一题目及有关游记的研究仍属空白。尤其是关于西方近代在我国东半部的探险活动和游记报道,国内外均缺乏系统的介绍。本文对十九世纪后期英国等国在我国东半部地理探险的路线、主要游记作品及其特点进行概括和分析。     

The Bakau wreck: an early example of Chinese shipping in Southeast Asia

Very few early Chinese shipwrecks have been discovered in Southeast Asia, despite the enormous volume of trade with China. This article describes the surprising hull features of one such wreck, and its diverse ceramic cargo. The Bakau Wreck dates to the early 15th century, and was bound from southern China to Indonesia via a Thai entrepot port.