Errors of Fact and Errors of Representation: Response to Shepherd and Haber's Critique of the World Archaeological Congress

Abstract

The llisu dam in the Kurdish region of Turkey, if built, would displace up to 78,000 women, children and men, causing immense destruction of culture, past and present. The article outlines some major issues arising as a result of work by an archaeologist to examine the dam's cultural impacts, work that has supported villagers opposing the dam and aiming to contribute to campaigns in Europe. Some of the work was part of the successful campaigning from 2000–2002 that resulted in the collapse of the consortium of companies then planning to build the dam. As a new consortium revives the project, an assessment is needed: where archaeologists are working with grassroots communities who are fighting for survival, mutual accountability is required. But how difficult is this to achieve? In particular, women's case against the dam is shown to be vital in an approach that requires both objectivity and commitment from archaeologists.     

The Impact of the Franco-Prussian War on Veterans: The Company-Level Career Patterns of the French Army 1870–1895

Abstract

The German Army generally failed to capitalize on early developments in mechanization and armoured vehicles during the second half of the First World War. This article argues that, while the German military was certainly not technophobic nor resistant to change, the developments in 'machine warfare' were fundamentally inimical to the dominant cultural assumptions held by German officers concerning the nature of war, and that this goes a long way in explaining the decision not to mass-produce armoured vehicles.     

‘As Poor as Church Mice’: Bishops,Finances, Posts,and Civil Duties in the Duchy of Warsaw, 1807–13

Abstract

Relations between the Catholic Church and the secular authorities of the Duchy of Warsaw were characterized by the one’s efforts to maintain its old privileges, and the other’s modernization of the law in a Josephist spirit. Cooperation and compromise between Church and state were possible, but their relations were full of tension, which sometimes erupted into open confl ict. This article presents a wider range of problems than has hitherto been noted in the historiography. From the beginning of 1807, the Catholic clergy was expected to fulfi l new duties, because of the shortage of administrative staff. Confl icts arose over the duties of patrons, payments for the clergy, their taxes, the government’s prohibition on plural holding of benefi ces cum cura animarum, and over ecclesiastical organization in general. The place of the Church was more clearly outlined in the Constitution of the Duchy of Warsaw (1807), but the concept of the ’state religion’ was seen by some clergymen as an opportunity to spread the Church’s infl uence. Further changes opened the higher ecclesiastical ranks to commoners. The civil government and the episcopate also differed on the role of religious orders, with the former looking to employ nuns and monks in social welfare and education. Bishops complained of ministers and offi cials who did not pay priests’ salaries punctually, if at all, but some episcopal interventions led to the authorities releasing the orders from fi nancial obligations and taxes. The Civil Code, introduced in 1808, assigned the duties of registrars to priests. Insofar as divorces and civil marriages were concerned, this role could place priests in contravention of canon law, although in practice almost no such cases occurred. Despite the work undertaken by representatives of the clergy and the civil authorities, no concordat, which would have resolved these issues, was agreed with the Holy See. As a result, the period of the Duchy brought the Catholic clergy great insecurity, alongside their hopes for the Polish nation.     

Imperial Nationality Policy and the Russian Version of the History of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Mid-Nineteenth Century

Abstract

This article analyses how changes in Russian nationality policy after the 1830–31 Uprising in Poland and Lithuania led to the initiative of an historical project that sought to prove the Russian nature of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It focuses on the tender organized by the Ministry of Education in the 1830s for the publication of a history textbook, which was to form the canon of Russian interpretations of the history of the Grand Duchy. The most important creator of this narrative was Nikolai Ustrialov. According to Ustrialov, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was just as much a Russian state as the Grand Duchy of Moscow, with the sole caveat that the tiny Lithuanian nation had played a part in creating it. Territorial rivalry between these two states was a mere ‘family quarrel’ over which dynasty would prevail. The supremacy of the Lithuanian dynasty did not mean the victory of an alien power since the Lithuanian princes were closely related to Russian princes and moreover, a considerable number of them belonged to the Eastern (Orthodox) Church. Russians could regard therefore them as their own. The last part of this article is devoted to the changes in nationality policy after the 1863–64 Uprising and the requirement for a new interpretation of the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.     

DETECTING FORGERIES AMONG ANCIENT GOLD OBJECTS USING THE U,Th–4He DATING METHOD*

Forgeries of ancient gold objects are prevalent in almost every collection and some public exhibitions in the past have been exposed as containing forgeries to an embarrassing extent. This situation comes from the fact that it is sometimes impossible to unequivocally recognize forgeries based on their patina or manufacturing and decoration characteristics. We demonstrate that for 13 ancient gold objects the time of their last melting process can be estimated using the U,Th–⁴He dating technique. The extremely small quantities of radiogenic ⁴He found, due to the young age and small sample size, require the use of a specially designed ultrasensitive mass spectrometer. We show that the proposed method is a powerful, and the only, quantitative tool in archaeometry for discriminating between fake and genuine ancient gold objects.     

SPECTROSCOPIC INVESTIGATION OF RED STAINS AFFECTING THE CARRARA MARBLE FAÇADE OF THE CERTOSA OF PAVIA

The nature of the large red stains exhibited on the Carrara marble elements of the Certosa of Pavia façade was investigated by means of spectroscopic techniques and scanning electron microscopy. Although previous microbiological analysis has demonstrated the presence on the stone of a bacterial strain identified as Micrococcus roseus, that is capable of carotenoid production, it has been ascertained in the present study that an inorganic pigment, namely Pb₃O₄, is responsible for the observed coloration. On small green spots, the presence of photosynthetic micro-organisms has been demonstrated by microbiological analysis and confirmed by resonance Raman spectroscopy.     

LASER ARGON DATING AND GEOLOGICAL PROVENANCING OF A STONE AXE FROM THE STONEHENGE ENVIRONS*

The recently-developed laser microprobe ⁴⁰argon-³⁹ argon technique has been used to give a geological date for a rhyolitic tuff stone axe fragment from the Stonehenge environs. The method requires only milligramme-sized samples and gives dates of sufficient accuracy to aid in provenancing artefacts to sources, as well as information on the heating history of samples. The axe sample is of Lower Carboniferous date (341 ± 5 Ma) and this limits possible sources to outcrops within the Scottish Midland Valley and small altered exposures in Dartmoor. X-ray fluorescence analysis of the axe suggests the Scottish Midland Valley as the more likely source. The laser argon analysis also shows that the implement had not been heated in antiquity. Laser argon-argon dating can, therefore, be a useful tool in artefact study.     

RESEARCH ON THE PIGMENTS FROM PAINTED CERAMICS EXCAVATED FROM THE YANGQIAOPAN TOMBS OF THE LATE HAN DYNASTY (48 BC – AD 25)

The analysis of pigments on painted ceramics excavated from the Yangqiaopan Tombs of the late Western Han Dynasty was undertaken using optical microscopy (OM), micro‐Raman spectroscopy (μ‐RS), scanning electron microscopy with energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectrometry (SEM–EDS), X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy spectra (FTIR). The pigments were identified as red lead (Pb₃O₄), carbon (C), malachite [Cu₂CO₃(OH)₂], Chinese purple (BaCuSi₂O₆) and illite {[K,H₃O]Al₂Si₃AlO₁₀(OH)₂}. Fibrous materials were observed in some pigment samples. When observed by SEM, one showed a large amount of fibre in solidified gum, which indicated that gum of ramie could have been used as the binding medium to make the pigment particles adhere together. These results provide significant insights into the characteristics of these pigments in the Qin and Han Dynasties.     

IDENTIFICATION OF FORGERIES BY MEASURING TIN ISOTOPES IN CORRODED BRONZE OBJECTS*

The reliable identification of fakes consisting of bronze often presents problems, because traditional methods such as stylistic studies, optical microscopy, chemical analysis or X‐ray diffraction of the corrosion may not be conclusive. We present a method that is based on the comparison of the tin isotope ratios ¹²²Sn/¹¹⁶Sn and ¹¹⁷Sn/¹¹⁹Sn in the metal and in the adherent corrosion layer. An artificial patina is usually generated within a short time period. It has been observed that such a procedure leads to a depletion of the light tin isotopes in the corrosion layer, while in naturally corroded authentic archaeological objects no isotopic fractionation has been detected. The method has also been applied to archaeological objects and it could be confirmed, among other examples, that the famous ‘Sky Disc of Nebra’ is authentic.     

Assessing the later prehistoric environmental archaeology and landscape development of the Cetina Valley,Croatia

Abstract

This paper describes preliminary work on the environmental and archaeological potential of the Cetina River Valley, Croatia. Two seasons of fieldwork and assessment have suggested that the valley contains a preserved landscape, much of which is waterlogged. It is clear that there is the potential to address many local and regional questions concerning land use, subsistence and environmental change in an area where previously only limited environmental archaeology has been undertaken. One pressing issue is how to prospect for both cultural and environmental archaeological deposits within this regional landscape. This is especially true in cases where little 'base-line data' exists. This paper outlines the current practice and suggests a number of new approaches to prospecting for environmental 'hotspots'.