Italy and Australia: a relationship made and unmade by immigration

Australia's new-found post-colonial ‘independence’ in 1901 initially required it to continue to hold on to the apron strings of its colonial master. After World War II, these needs changed, as did the geopolitical power of the leading nations. For Australia, there would be the need to secure its borders, build its labour power, find security arrangements, and adhere to a cold war framework in its geographical region. The USA and the Asian region fell into Australia's sphere of interest. Italy, on the other hand, was a nation of contrasting interests and perspectives. Besides being located in Europe, the post-war period defined Italy by its participation in the concept of a European community and an entirely different set of allies, concerns and trajectories, which made it position itself in a different orbit than that of Australia. Australia's changing economic and social needs required a new and vast migration program in 1947, which would change the dynamics of its relationships. Enter Italy. The two countries now had common destinies in relation to migration—Australia needed people to help build its country, whilst Italy encouraged its impoverished rural population to emigrate to this distant and foreign land. A relationship was born.     

Ancient ‘Black’ Decorative Stones and the Ephesian Origin of Sculptural bigio antico

Isotopic, EPR and petrographic studies aimed at establishing the provenance of sculptural bigio antico are reported, including 18 possible quarry sites and 21 ancient sculptures. The results demonstrate that the Belevi quarry, north‐east of Ephesos, above the more famous white marble quarry, was the major source of this marble. Nineteen artefacts belong to Belevi, whereas the precise origin of the remaining two is unknown, but must probably be found within the same area. The peculiar distribution of δ¹³C values both for Belevi and artefacts was crucial for inferring the correct provenance, subsequently confirmed by additional analytical and petrographic data.     

Giordano Bruno's Infinitely Numerous Worlds and ‘Lunar’ Literature

This paper analyses Giordano Bruno's dialogue De l’infinito universo e mondi (The Infinite Universe and Worlds), written during his stay in England (1583–85), in the context of his philosophical works and, particularly, within the context of scientific and imaginative writings such as Cyrano de Bergerac's Other Worlds (published posthumously in 1662) and Francis Godwin's The Man in the Moone (1638). The article also discusses the contemporary speculations of Galileo and Kepler regarding the existence of a plurality of worlds and the presence of creatures on the moon and their rapport with humans. Besides the imaginative, fantastic and pseudoscientific elements, attention is also given to religious implications and attitudes, especially in the case of Godwin, who, like his countryman John Wilkins—author of The Discovery of the Worlde in the Moone (1638)–was a bishop and therefore wanted to avoid any controversy with the church.     

Survey and excavation of the main well in Cape Town Castle, South Africa: fieldwork and structural aspects

During the last few decades, Cape Town Castle has been extensively renovated. Parallel to this, a series of archaeological excavations were undertaken under the auspices of different institutions. During the course of these, it became clear that one specific site needed to be approached in a rather unorthodox way. This site, the main well situated in the centre of the previous headquarters of the Dutch East India Company at the Cape of Good Hope, was filled with water. Owing to its inaccessibility and other constraints, which made the application of adapted excavation techniques necessary, the need arose to call in the assistance of a diver-archaeologist. This article describes the approach to fieldwork undertaken in the Kat well during 1989 and 1999 and some of this feature's structural details.     

Perspectivism: 'Type' or 'bomb'?

In this editorial Bruno Latour reviews a debate on 'Perspectivism and animism' between Philippe Descola (College of France) and Eduardo Viveiros de Castro (National Museum of Rio de Janeiro), that took place at Maison Suger, Institute of Advanced Studies, Paris on 30 January 2009.