The Hemerdon China Clay Works,Devon: A History and Description of the Site and Working Methods

This article presents an overview of the Hemerdon China Clay Works, 6 miles north-east of Plymouth (Devon), active from c.1860 to 1942. Based on research commissioned in advance of an extension to Headon West Quarry, it describes the development of the clay works and the methods of clay extraction and processing. Archaeological survey recorded a broad range of structures, features, earthworks and artefacts. They included the remains of an engine house of c.1907, two large masonry bases (probably associated with the flat rod system that transferred power from the engine) and a rocker beam. The article also describes a group of mica drags and settling tanks built c.1907. Combining this evidence with that gleaned from documentary sources, notably the large-scale Ordnance Survey mapping, an exceptionally detailed narrative has been constructed of the work's development through time. It has a relevance beyond the particular, and will help the future interpretation and management of the china clay extraction sites that are so characteristic of the region.     

Why the History of Parliament Has Not Been Written*

There have been legions of individual studies of the history of the English/British/United Kingdom parliament, which is not surprising, since its history is widely acknowledged to be so closely bound up with the history of the nation state itself. But there have been remarkably few attempts to put the story together, to try to consider the long‐term development of parliament as an institution. What would such a story look like? This essay discusses some of the critiques of the whiggish narrative of constitutional and parliamentary development to recognise a common theme in whiggism's tendency to anthropomorphise parliament, to describe it as a single organism with agency and purpose. To forgo that temptation, however, makes it difficult to provide a satisfying narrative of parliament over time. The essay tries to imagine how one might construct a history of parliament as an institution which no longer sees it as an actor in its own story, but, instead, a complex collection of ideas, processes, customs, and conventions, which competing forces struggle to organise in order to achieve their goals, and which is also an arena and forum for that competition.     

汴河故道上的虹桥遗踪——淮北柳孜运河遗址“石构建筑”新探

安徽淮北市境内的柳孜运河遗址是全国重点文物保护单位,它有一个较大的"石砌建筑"遗物。有关专家认为:它可能是宋代的码头。但是根据相关中外文献考证,它是北宋时期所建造的"无柱飞桥"(俗称虹桥)的桥墩遗迹。     

基于环境监测的三星堆遗址祭祀坑考古现场预防性保护

目前考古现场保护主要以应急保护技术与临时加固材料的研究和应用为主,而关于考古现场预防性保护少有报道。本次三星堆遗址祭祀坑发掘保护构建了由考古舱、考古舱环境调控系统、空气质量监测系统、土遗址监测系统、区域气象站、预防性保护措施、监测信息智能管理平台组成的预防性保护体系。发掘前,通过土遗址监测系统和区域气象站获取文物埋藏环境信息和区域气象信息,为考古舱内环境设置提供了依据。发掘过程中,采取舱内温湿度调控、保湿、空气杀菌净化、控制舱内人数与新风换气等预防性保护措施,达到控制考古舱温湿度、减少细菌和真菌总数、降低舱内CO_(2)浓度,减缓象牙等文物失水速度的目的,有效控制了出土文物开裂、酥粉、霉菌暴发等病害发生,为考古发掘与保护赢得了时间。三星堆祭祀坑考古现场预防性保护的创新探索与实践为以后重要遗址的现场保护指引了方向、提供了可借鉴经验。     

The archaeology of scattered wreck-sites: formation processes and shallow water archaeology in western Lake Huron

This paper explores the application of archaeological site formation theory to stranded wooden vessels and the scattered wreck-sites they produce. Shallow water wrecks and wreckage sites in the Au Sable Shores region of western Lake Huron are used to develop a preliminary classification of the processes operating on the breakup and deposition of wooden vessels.     

The House of Commons Serjeant 1640–93

The conflict between the crown and parliament in the 17th century inevitably disrupted the orderly succession to the offices of the house of commons, as is illustrated by the case of the serjeant‐at‐arms. Existing lists of the holders of this office tend to oversimplify the situation. This note brings together the available facts with the object of identifying those who actually carried out the duties of the office between 1640 and 1693.     

The frequency and distribution of dental caries and tooth wear in a Byzantine population of Sa'ad,Jordan

The aim of this study was to determine the frequency, distribution and extent of dental caries and tooth wear in a Byzantine population in Sa'ad, to compare these with modern Jordanians, and to draw inferences about their lifestyle. Dental caries and tooth wear were examined in 1159 permanent teeth using direct vision and dental explorer. The location and extent of the lesions were recorded and evaluated according to defined criteria. The overall caries prevalence was 16.8% (n = 1159). Most of the carious lesions (13. 9%, n = 1159) were present in the tooth crown, on occlusal or proximal surfaces; 2.9% of teeth displayed root caries alone. The upper and lower central incisors exhibited the lowest coronal caries frequency, while molars showed the highest frequency. Attrition with moderate dentine exposure was evident in most teeth. Some teeth (9.8%) demonstrated oblique abrasion and 9 (0.78%) teeth exhibited cupped occlusal surfaces. The prevalence of caries was within the range reported for other Byzantine populations and lower than that of modern Jordanians. The attrition seen in most teeth and the cupped occlusal surfaces might be due to eating abrasive food, drinking wine or acidic beverages. Oblique abrasion on the facial and palatal surfaces reflects their business or craft, such as basket making and leather processing. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

‘Rushworth Shall Not Take Any Notes Here’: Journals,Debates and the Public, 1640–60

This article focuses on, and rethinks, the issue of parliamentary ‘secrecy’ during the mid 17th century, by comparing the official journals of the house of commons with the kinds of information that emerged in the public domain in the 1640s and 1650s, not least in printed newsbooks. It suggests that scholars have too readily assumed that MPs sought rigorously to uphold the principle that parliamentary proceedings were not fit matters for public consumption, and the idea that their activities at Westminster should be protected from the public gaze. It argues that this has involved paying excessive attention to occasional comments and orders which suggest that MPs resented public scrutiny of their activity, as well as a failure to distinguish between different motives for achieving ‘secrecy’, between attitudes to the availability of different kinds of information, and between principles and political practice. The aim of the article, in short, is to offer a more nuanced appreciation of the ways in which MPs sought to professionalise and formalise public access, even to the extent of rethinking ideas about political accountability.     

In No One's Shadow: British Politics in the Age of Anne and the Writing of the History of the House of Commons

The publication in 1967 of Geoffrey Holmes's masterpiece, British Politics in the Age of Anne , effectively demolished the interpretation of the 'political structure' of early 18th-century England that had been advanced by the American historian R.R. Walcott as a conscious imitation of Sir Lewis Namier. But to understand the significance of Holmes's work solely in an anti-Namierite context is misleading. For one thing, his book only completed a process of reaction against Walcott's work that was already under way in unpublished theses and scholarly articles (some by Holmes himself). Second, Holmes's approach was not simplistically anti-Namierist, as some (though not all) of Namier's followers recognized. Indeed, he was strongly sympathetic to the biographical approach, while acknowledging its limitations. The significance of Holmes's book to the study of the house of commons 1702–14 (and of the unpublished study of 'the Great Ministry' of 1710–14 to which it had originally been intended as a long introduction), was in fact much broader than the restoration of party divisions as central to political conflict. It was the re-creation of a political world, not merely the delineations of political allegiances, that made British Politics in the Age of Anne such a landmark in writing on this period.     

Black Rod and the Office of Usher of the Parliament Chamber

The gentleman usher of the black rod has long been acknowledged as an officer of the house of lords. Yet he was in origin an officer of the order of the Garter with no necessary connection with parliament. This note aims to throw light on the process whereby this association came about. By 1509, the house of lords had the services of an usher of the parliament chamber, a post always held in conjunction with an office in the royal household. By 1558, this post was being exercised by one of the gentlemen ushers daily waiters, who had been granted the office of black rod as an additional perquisite in 1554. From this point it became customary for the offices of black rod, daily waiter and usher of the parliament chamber to be held by one man. This association was broken in 1620, when the then usher relinquished the office of daily waiter but retained his parliamentary functions together with the office of black rod. In 1631, a decree was promulgated annexing the office of black rod to that of one of the gentlemen ushers daily waiters but it was only from 1660 that this became fully effective.