The Archaeological Site of Persepolis (Iran): Study of the Finishing Technique of the Bas‐Reliefs and Architectural Surfaces

One of the aims of the 5‐year Iranian/Italian project for Persepolis, called ‘From Palace to Town’ was to contribute to the conservation of the stone monuments of the imperial site. As part of the activities dedicated to this purpose, a diagnostic study was carried out. Various aspects were considered: petrographic characterization of the stone, forms and factors of decay, and in situ testing of suitable conservation treatments. The present paper reports on the unexpected results of the study on the finishing of architectural surfaces. The results obtained on a limited, but nevertheless significant, number of samples collected from the monuments of the imperial Terrace, allow us to state that the dark grey limestone used for several (or many?) monuments was covered on purpose with a thin, fine whitish layer containing fluorapatite, as major component, and calcite. It is highly probable that the fluorapatite was obtained from calcined animal bones and that slaked lime was used as a binder. Further evidence for this is the discovery of a kiln with the remains of calcined bones and, nearby, a waste pit with animal bones containing fluorapatite. A second white layer, obtained with barium sulphate, was detected in one of the samples beneath the external, earthy encrustation. It could be perhaps interpreted as the remnants of a polychrome finishing.     

Pb and Sr Isotopes and the Provenance of the Painting Materials of Cornelius Krieghoff in 19th‐Century Canada

Radiogenic lead and strontium isotope data are presented for lead‐ and calcium carbonate/barium sulphate‐containing paint and ground samples from 15 paintings, executed between 1844 and 1871, by 19th‐century Canadian artist Cornelius Krieghoff. Like many artists of this era, Krieghoff used lead‐based pigments such as lead white, chrome yellow and Naples yellow, and extenders such as calcium carbonate and barium sulphate. The lead isotope analyses of the majority of these pigments are consistent with the isotopic compositions of lead mined from European lead deposits in England and/or Germany. However, three samples from Krieghoff's early career yield lead isotope compositions that are much more radiogenic than European sources. The lead isotope compositions of these three samples are consistent with the addition of a more radiogenic lead component that is similar to the lead derived from North American lead deposits in Missouri and Illinois (Mississippi Valley Pb–Zn type deposits). The strontium isotope compositions of the extenders suggest that the raw materials for calcium carbonate or barium sulphate extenders were largely derived from Palaeozoic to modern‐day marine environments. This study shows that pigments manufactured from North American lead were being incorporated into Canadian paintings as early as 1844.     

中国西北地区古代壁画彩塑中的含铅白色颜料

本文叙述了我国西北地区探测发现的铅白（类）、角铅矿、碱式硫碳酸铅、硫酸铅、氯化铅、羟基氯化铅、磷氯铅矿砷铅矿（类）等九种含铅白色颜料。它们在我国有丰富而悠久的历史。它们可能来源自矿物,也有可能是人造的。天梯山石窟有丰富的含铅颜料品种;麦积山石窟大量使用磷氯铅矿砷铅矿类颜料,是上述石窟使用颜料特征之一     

Chemical analysis of white porcelains from the Ding Kiln site, Hebei Province, China

The Ding kilns were some of the most famous early kilns of medieval China, producing huge quantities of white and cream-white porcelains of outstanding technical and aesthetic quality. Since 1949 they have been excavated three times, in 1965, in 1987, and in 2009 respectively. In this latest study 69 white porcelain sherds from assured contexts and from the 2009 excavations were analyzed using laser ablation techniques (ICP-AES). The samples date from Five Dynasties, Northern Song and Jin Dynasties respectively (early 10^th to early 13^th C CE). The results show that Ding wares of different times show different characteristics that can be demonstrated through chemical composition. During the early phase of production the Ding ware bodies consisted largely of high firing kaolinitic clays with predominantly calcareous materials as fluxes. After the early Northern Song Dynasty, some calcareous material was replaced by a more potassic material. The compositions of the glazes show a parallel evolution to the bodies. However, because the glazes are very low in titania it seems unlikely that the main clay ingredients of the bodies could have been used in the glaze recipes. For much of the kiln site’s history the glazes appear to have been made mainly from the same siliceous flux-rich materials that had been blended with the main body-clays used to make the Ding ware porcelains, plus some extra calcareous material. The P₂O₅ contents of the glazes suggest that wood ash may have been one source of CaO in the glaze recipes.     

The Sector Theory and the Canadian Arctic, 1897–1970

ABSTRACT

Although European discovery in the Arctic began during the Middle Ages, sovereignty issues did not become a major concern until the early twentieth century. At that time, the controversial sector theory was taken up by Canada, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, but opposed by the United States and Norway. This article examines the sector theory in Canadian state practice, clarifying the version of the theory to which Canadian officials subscribed and the aims they hoped to achieve through its use. The international response to Canadian claims is also described.

The article demonstrates that Canadian use of the sector principle during the 1920s was pragmatic and successful, but in later decades, confusion arose both inside and outside the government. Inconsistent public statements were made by government representatives in the 1950s and 1960s; these have puzzled and misled scholars ever since. Differences between the Canadian and Soviet versions of the sector theory, lack of adequate institutional memory in Ottawa, and partisan political rivalries all played a part in creating the confusion, but perhaps the key factor was the inherent difficulty of state control over this remote yet geopolitically crucial region.     

THE REFLEXIVE TEST OF HAYDEN WHITE'S METAHISTORY

This paper assesses Hayden White's Metahistory through the test of reflexivity; that is, it asks whether the book's “general theory of the structure of that mode of thought which is called ‘historical”’ applies, as it should, to its own history of nineteenth‐century “historical consciousness.” Most components of the theoretical apparatus—the various concepts invoked in the “theory of the historical work” and in the “theory of tropes”—fail the reflexivity test; further, it emerges that those same components are also seriously flawed on other grounds. The sole and partial exception is the concept of emplotment, which passes the reflexivity test, albeit with qualifications, but more particularly has the virtue of illuminating the traditional history of history against which Metahistory's own story was pitched; and this result provides an ironic and unexpected vindication of Metahistory's underlying vision. Thus the book's fundamental insight—that the form of historical writing is epistemologically consequential—can be retained, even though its two theories should now be set aside.     

墓葬壁画地仗层加固修复技术研究

任何形式的古代壁画,其结构主要都是由基础支撑体、地仗层、颜料层三部分组成。但各种类型壁画的制作工艺不同,所使用的材料也不同。壁画的地仗层下与支撑体黏接,上又是颜料层的载体,地仗层性质的优劣直接关系到壁画能否长期保存,许多壁画的毁坏都是因地仗层的毁坏而引发的。本文针对陕西唐昭陵长乐公主墓壁画,河北湾漳北齐墓壁画、河南洛阳唐安国相王孺人崔氏墓壁画地仗层的保护修复,从壁画制作材料与工艺、修复工艺、外观等方面详细介绍三种不同的墓葬壁画原地仗层加固方法,并进行了比较。     

内蒙古赤峰缸瓦窑与河北定窑白瓷的对比分析

缸瓦窑为内蒙古地区辽代规模较大的窑场,为辽代官窑,与宋代五大名窑中的定窑同处一个历史时期。为科学揭示缸瓦窑与定窑之间胎、釉制作工艺关系,运用能量色散X射线荧光光谱法(EDXRF),分析了缸瓦窑与定窑白瓷的胎、釉化学组成,同时结合显微结构和烧成温度分析,并辅助以往的研究资料,将宋辽时期河北定窑与赤峰缸瓦窑白瓷胎、釉化学组成及制作工艺等进行系统的对比分析,发现缸瓦窑受定窑影响较大,缸瓦窑白瓷的生产体现了宋辽两地制瓷工艺的交流传播。     

POSSIBILITIES IN “A THOROUGHLY HISTORICAL WORLD”: MISSING HAYDEN WHITE'S MISSED CONNECTIONS

This article assesses Herman Paul's intellectual biography of Hayden White, the most important figure in the philosophy of history of the past half century. Offering a clear overview of White's career and contribution, Paul's account proceeds chronologically from the 1950s to the present, distinguishing the phases of White's career, but convincingly pinpointing an abiding core of concerns around an existentialist and liberationist humanism. In that light, White sought to show the way beyond historiographical realism to more innovative approaches—ideally to serve progressive politics. Paul notes, however, that White failed to connect with most mainstream historians, and Paul's account is not sufficiently probing and critical to explore the gulf. Indeed, following White, Paul is too prone to take White's particular liberationist agenda as the only alternative to a conservative, passive realism—and thereby to gloss over alternative ways of conceiving the postrealist cultural space. Moreover, Paul fails to note White's tendency sometimes to imply that mainstream history claims more than it does, and sometimes to denigrate prejudicially what it in fact does, or could do. Although much of White's challenge could have been especially salutary, he tended toward mischaracterizations that fostered polarization in the historical discipline and reinforced prejudicial understandings of historiography in the wider culture. Paul's overview provides a useful, and in many ways exemplary, introduction to White's legacy, but it is too deferential to provide a convincing overall critical assessment.