Timber economy in the Roman Age: charcoal data from the key site of Herculaneum (Naples,Italy)

The city of Herculaneum (Naples, southern Italy), buried by the volcanic eruption of Mount Somma-Vesuvius in 79 ad, is a key site for understanding the timber economy during the Roman period. In this paper, the results of charcoal analysis of different building element types are presented. Beams, joists, poles, planks and door and window frames were investigated allowing us a view of which timber the Romans preferred for building in this area. We also fit the taxonomic results into the reconstruction of the ancient Campanian landscape, and finally, we discuss the knowledge that the Romans had about the technological properties of the wood that they used for building and the possible selection criteria that they followed in choosing them. Coniferous timber is the preferred material for building purposes. Abies alba is especially used, this fact confirming its stronger presence in southern Italian woods during the past and suggesting that its decline is mainly due to human overexploitation. The large presence of Cupressus sempervirens, selectively used for the production of poles, confirms that this tree was cultivated in plantations for timber production in the Vesuvius area. Furthermore, it might indicate that cypress could have been present as a natural tree in the local vegetation, suggesting a forest type that nowadays almost completely disappeared from this area and from the entire Italy. The findings of Juglans regia, Pinus pinea and Olea europaea, typical elements of the Mediterranean cultural landscape, show that their use was not limited to fruit production and that Romans also appreciated their timber. Beside these local resources, the presence of Picea abies and Picea/Larix indicates the importation of timber from northerly regions, probably the northern Apennines and the Alps.     

Multiproxy approach to the study of Medieval food habits in Tuscany (central Italy)

A multiproxy approach based on archaeobotanical, organic residue and isotopic analyses was carried out on materials from 12 Medieval archaeological sites in Tuscany (central Italy), in order to provide a diachronic overview of local diet in rural and urban sites from the mid-eighth to the fourteenth centuries AD. Archaeobotanical analyses were applied to 130,578 seeds/fruits, residue analyses involved 87 samples from cooking and storing vessels, whereas analyses of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes included 63 human bone samples and 26 animal specimens. The results indicate that from the mid-eighth century AD, crop production was of high quality similar, to that of the Roman Age. The main cultivations were naked wheats, barley and horse bean, a diversity that attests the technological skills reached by Tuscan peasants during the whole Middle Ages. Different cereals and pulse abundantly supplemented the diet. This strategy not only ensured peasants’ subsistence in the mid-eighth century AD, minimizing the risks of environmental adversities, but it also increased crop production – from the mid-ninth century AD on, for the revived markets and trade. Between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries AD, C4 plants had a dominant role in the peasants’ diet, when the wheat production was strictly collected first by the landlords and then by the cities for their own needs. Crop production was integrated by swine farming; animal meat consumption is well documented in rural and urban populations from the ninth century AD. Wine and olive oil, considered important elements of diet in Medieval Tuscany, have a very scarce presence, but they are recorded for later periods, mainly in urban areas and in higher social classes, such as the religious and aristocratic ones. In fact, only between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries AD was the great expansion of olive groves and vineyards recorded, when cities and urban populations claim to have access to these luxury foods.     

Sexuality in diasporic space: rural-to-urban migrant women negotiating gender and marriage in contemporary China

Feminist geographers use the term diasporic subjectivity to emphasize the relational quality of identity as it is constructed in the dynamic in-between space occupied by the migrant and traversed by norms and practices associated with the village community, migrant peers, and urban consumer society, as well as nation-states. Using ethnographic methods, I explore how young, single rural Chinese women who migrated to Beijing in the 1990s negotiate sexuality in diasporic space, within the discursive and institutional orders of state, market and family. Though migration does not fundamentally alter these structures that construct inequality around place-based identity, gender and class, it does enable rural women to shift position within them and, significantly, to imagine that further, future change is possible. Foregrounding migrant women's agency in remaking gender identity from so-called rustic peasants to modern girls as well as in choosing marital partners and conducting courtship provides an important counterweight to the primary emphasis on structure found in much of the migration literature.     

FIRM PRODUCTIVITY AND INSTITUTIONAL QUALITY: EVIDENCE FROM ITALIAN INDUSTRY

This paper aims to contribute to the debate on the determinants of differentials in firms’ productivity. We test the hypothesis that macro factors, especially the quality of local institutions, play a central role in explaining firm productivity in Italy. To this end, we construct measures of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) for about 4,000 firms by means of different estimation techniques, and a province‐level index of institutional quality. Then, we estimate the relationship between institutional quality and firm‐level TFP. Our results show that the existence of better local institutions might help firms to become more productive.     

Problems of Identification and Quantification in Archaeozoological Analysis,Part I: Insights from a Blind Test

In archaeozoology, counts are generally considered as replicable data that accurately represent the initial abundances of elements, individuals, or taxa, although perhaps only at the ordinal scale. However, few studies have tested these assumptions with control data. To improve our knowledge of these issues, we conducted a blind test that involved the analysis of two large experimental samples composed of modern ungulate specimens of known element and taxon. Because the samples differed in level of fragmentation, the blind test provides substantial information on the impact of bone processing on faunal identification and quantification. Our results suggest that Number of Identified SPecimens (NISP) and Minimum Number of Elements (MNE) provide measures of abundance for whole assemblages and for samples limited to non-long bones that are both replicable and accurate at the ratio scale. However, the same metrics generally failed, even at the ordinal level, to predict abundances in analyses restricted to long bones and long bone portions. Given these mixed results, it seems judicious, in agreement with the current majority view among archaeozoologists, to treat faunal tallies as ordinal-level information. Despite issues of reproducibility and the difficulty of aggregating counts with MNE, the blind test also indicates that this measure is more robust at predicting skeletal abundances than NISP. Substantial variations in rates of long bone fragmentation and identification probably explain the poorer performance of NISP in the blind test.     

Problems of Identification and Quantification in Archaeozoological Analysis,Part II: Presentation of an Alternative Counting Method

Archaeozoologists commonly use Number of Identified SPecimens (NISP) and Minimum Number of Elements (MNE) as measures of anatomical abundances. According to a blind test examining the reproducibility and accuracy of identifications of ungulate remains (Morin et al., Part I, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, doi: 10.1007/s10816-016-9300-4), NISP provides estimates of skeletal abundances that are less robust than those based on MNE. However, although results were improved with the latter method, MNE is not free of problems. Here, we show through an analysis of paired NISP-MNE data for 24 classes of elements that MNE is prone to inflate the representation of rare parts (as measured by NISP), a phenomenon more strongly expressed in certain elements than in others. Moreover, some elements show a wide scatter of points, which raises issues of data reproducibility. MNE is also known for being seriously affected by aggregation methods. These fundamental problems severely undermine the value of MNE as a measure of abundance. This article introduces an alternative counting method that avoids many of the weaknesses of MNE. This counting method, called the Number of Distinct Elements (NDE), focuses on the occurrence of pre-determined, invariant landmarks counted on mutually exclusive specimens. Preliminary experimental results suggest that NDE counts are robust predictors of skeletal, and perhaps taxonomic, abundances. Moreover, the NDE approach eliminates the complex and time-consuming task of spreading or drawing specimens to identify fragment overlap. Furthermore, NDE values are additive and easy to calculate. Given these features, the NDE approach represents a compelling alternative to MNE in archaeozoological analysis.     

Seismic Assessment of the Bell Tower of Santa Maria Del Carmine: Problems and Solutions

A complete structural analysis of the bell tower of Santa Maria del Carmine in Naples (Italy) has been developed by using a 3D FE model based on the results of detailed experimental investigations in situ. Linear analysis for gravity loads, linear modal analysis, and nonlinear static analysis (Push Over) were carried out in order to assess the seismic capacity of the structure. A check of local out-of-plane failure mechanisms was also performed to verify if the structure is able to attain a global behavior. Problems and solutions related to the different methods are presented and discussed.     

Large-scale content analysis of historical newspapers in the town of Gorizia 1873–1914

We have digitised a corpus of Italian newspapers published in 1873–1914 in Gorizia, the county town of an area in the North Adriatic at the crossroad of the Latin, Slavic and Germanic civilizations, then part of the Habsburg Empire and now divided between Italy and Slovenia. This new corpus (of 47,466 pages) is analysed along with a comparable set of local Slovenian newspapers, already digitised by the Slovenian National Library. This large and multilingual effort in digital humanities reveals the statistical traces of events and ideas that shaped a remarkable place and period. The emerging picture is one of rapid cultural, social and technological transformation, and of rising national awareness, combining the larger European pattern with uniquely local aspects.