New Architectural Models and Building Tradition: A Dialogue in Early Modern Sardinia – The Jesuit Church in Sassari

Architecture in early modern Sardinia is characterized by a strong continuity with previous practices. In the second half of the 16th century, new models join the Gothic building tradition, linked in particular to trends in military engineering and Classicism of the Catholic Counter-Reformation. The Jesuit church in Sassari offers an interesting example of the intertwining of these architectural modes, which originated with a sudden change of leadership at the site. Giovan Maria Bernardoni, an Italian Jesuit architect, initially modeled the church after the Gesù in Rome, and it was partially built under his direction. After his departure from Sardinia, local master builders finished the construction, following the Gothic tradition and possibly some external influences. This article analyzes the church, particularly focusing on the challenges presented by its articulated vaulting system completed between 1587 and 1609.     

Fair Ladies: The place of women antique dealers in a post-industrial Italian city

After the collapse of its state-subsidized industries, Genoa is taking up a new role as a ‘city of culture’ capable of attracting tourists and high-tech companies alike. Part of the process of urban renovation entails the transformation of Genoa's streets and piazzas into sites for the consumption of culture. This happens, among other ways, through a proliferation of antique fairs that give chronically under- and unemployed middle-class women an opportunity for self-employment. This essay is an ethnographic exploration of how middle-class women antique dealers draw on their gendered and classed skills—especially their aesthetic sensibility and their humanistic cultural capital—to stake out a place for themselves in an urban sphere molded by a neoliberal economy of culture.

Mujeres de las ferias: el lugar de las negociantes de antigüedades en una ciudad post-industrial italiana

Después del fracaso de sus industrias subvencionadas por el Estado, Génova se trata un nuevo papel como la ‘ciudad de cultura’ capaz de atraer turistas y empresas de tecnología avanzada. Parte del proceso de renovación urbana implica la transformación de las calles y las plazas de Génova a sitios para el consumo de cultura. Se ocurre, entre otras formas, a través de una proliferación de ferias de antigüedades que da a las constantemente sub- y desempleadas mujeres de la clase media una oportunidad para volverse autónoma. Este artículo es una exploración etnográfica de cómo las negociantes de antigüedades de la clase media utilizan sus experiencias de género y clase—especialmente sus sensibilidad estética y sus capital cultural humanístico—para definir un lugar para sí mismas en una esfera urbana formada de una economía neoliberal de la cultura.     

Age of the final Middle Palaeolithic and Uluzzian levels at Fumane Cave,Northern Italy,using C,ESR, U/Th and thermoluminescence methods

This article presents and discusses the chronological layout of the final Mousterian and Uluzzian levels of Fumane Cave in northern Italy using ¹⁴C, ESR and TL methods. Given its complex sedimentary and cultural succession, Fumane is a key site to assess the Middle–Upper Palaeolithic transition in Southern Europe and to explore Neanderthal behaviour and to compare it with the first Aurignacians. Large ranges defined by the ESR and TL dates cover the radiocarbon ages for units from A11 to A4, respectively, from 42.8 to 32.5 ka BP become progressively younger in agreement with the stratigraphy, despite high dispersions within the same unit. Our estimates using chronometric data seem to support the hypothesis that the sequence may cover almost 10,000 radiocarbon yr and that from comparison with the sedimentological and palaeoecological data, the late Middle Palaeolithic and the early Upper Palaeolithic at Fumane occur in sediments formed under moderately cool to mild climatic conditions correlated to the Hengelo-Interstadial, shifting towards cooler and drier conditions. Finally, comparisons between the Fumane data set and other sites in the North-Adriatic region are discussed.     

8500-year-old Late Mesolithic garment embroidery from Vlasac (Serbia): Technological,use-wear and residue analyses

This paper presents results of contextual, technological, use-wear and residue analyses of body ornaments from two Late Mesolithic burials recently excavated at the site of Vlasac in the Danube Gorges of the central Balkans. Common to both burials are ornaments made from modified and unmodified carp (Cyprinidae sp.) pharyngeal ‘teeth’ along with Cyclope neritea marine gastropods. Experimental and low and high magnification use-wear approaches have been employed in reconstructing the way these ornaments were made and used. The precise contextual distribution of these ornaments has been recorded for the first time. The two examined burials exhibit a number of similarities, particularly in the way ornaments were placed in relation to the body. Both burials are also contemporaneous, dated to the mid-7th millennium BC. Implications of these findings for Mesolithic foragers' corporeal symbolism, group identity and regional and long-distance acquisition networks are briefly examined.     

First bryozoan fauna from the middle Miocene of Central Java,Indonesia

Di Martino, E., Taylor, P.D., Fernando, A.G.S., Kase, T. & Yasuhara, M. 3 June 2019, 2019. First bryozoan fauna from the middle Miocene of Central Java, Indonesia. Alcheringa 43, 461–478. ISSN 0311-5518.

Despite the publication of several taxonomic studies during the last few years, our knowledge of bryozoans from the diversity hotspot of the Indo-West Pacific remains seriously deficient. Here we describe 11 bryozoan species, comprising two anascan- and nine ascophoran-grade cheilostomes, from the middle Miocene (Langhian–Serravallian) of Sedan in Central Java, Indonesia. Three ascophoran-grade cheilostomes, Characodoma multiavicularia sp. nov. Di Martino & Taylor, Stenosipora? cribrata sp. nov. Di Martino & Taylor and Lacrimula patriciae sp. nov. Di Martino & Taylor, are described as new species. All of the three extant species have an Indo-Pacific distribution today and two are here reported as fossil for the first time. Four species are left in open nomenclature, either because of the scarcity of available material or the absence of crucial morphological features. Two of these, placed in Cosciniopsis and Actisecos, are likely to be new, while Discoporella sp. represents the easternmost known record for this common free-living genus. A single species, Lacrimula asymmetrica Cook & Lagaaij, was already known from the early Miocene of the same region, although from a site further to the east.

Emanuela Di Martino* [e.di-martino@nhm.ac.uk], Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK; Paul D. Taylor [p.taylor@nhm.ac.uk], Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK; Allan Gil S. Fernando [agsfernando@yahoo.com], National Institute of Geological Sciences, The University of Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines; Tomoki Kase [neritopsis@gmail.com], National Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba, Japan; Moriaki Yasuhara [yasuhara@hku.hk], School of Biological Sciences, Swire Institute of Marine Science, University of Hong Kong, Kadoorie Biological Sciences Building, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR, PR China     

Silvio Berlusconi and the myth of the creative entrepreneur

Berlusconi became a high‐profile entrepreneur in the course of the 1980s, founding his empire on construction, television and department stores. His transformation of AC Milan into a powerful force in football and popular culture set the scene for his entry into politics in 1994. Berlusconi presented himself as an outsider and a possible saviour of the nation in crisis. With his appealing image and constant repetition of his personal success story, he conveyed to the electorate a reassuring message of future prosperity. However, he lacked the visionary energy of the true charismatic leader. Instead he was a corporate politician who filled the personality vacuum left by the removal of the old élite.     

Three-dimensional geometry, ore distribution and time-integrated mass transfer through the quartz–tourmaline–gold vein network of the Sigma deposit (Abitibi belt, Canada)

We present a reconstruction of the three‐dimensional (3D) geometry and gold grade distribution of shear zone‐hosted, Au‐mineralized, quartz–tourmaline veins of the Sigma deposit (Abitibi belt). Host shears and veins form a network of anastomosing, steeply dipping structures associated with smaller subhorizontal extensional veins. Our reconstruction has been carried out using the exceptionally large geological database of the mine. From this database, we extracted the geometric position, thickness and gold grades of geometrically best‐defined steep veins contained in a representative subvolume of the deposit. These data allowed the 3D representation of 53 veins, which have been constructed by fitting surfaces through the geometrical data and by contouring thickness and gold grade. The geometry of the network is mainly characterized by: (i) a few large segmented veins, with sinuous and helicoidal shape, and typical vertical dimension of >100 m; (ii) a large number of smaller vertical veins, some of which splay off the steep veins with high dip angles; (iii) subhorizontal extension veins (joints) located at, or close to, the tips of steep veins. The absolute thickness of the vertically short veins is the same as that of the large veins, suggesting that they formed simultaneously, but only a few of them interconnect to form vertically continuous bodies. Patchy, vertically elongated zones of high dilation are present in the large veins, and are poorly correlated with Au‐rich zones. They presumably represent former high‐permeability zones of the network. The highest gold grades occur at the interconnections between the large veins and small splays or subhorizontal joints. This indicates the important role of vein interconnection for fluid flow and gold precipitation within the network. Combining the calculation of the volume of the network with the estimation of tourmaline abundance in the veins, we calculate that 2.1 × 10⁶ m³ of tourmaline and 3.2 × 10⁶ m³ of quartz precipitated during Au deposition.     

EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS ON STATE- LEVEL MANUFACTURING CAPITAL FORMATION*

ABSTRACT We quantify the effect of environmental regulations on regional capital formation in the manufacturing sector. Our model integrates environmental regulations into a choice-theoretic model derived from Tobin's q theory of investment. It is postulated that more stringent environmental regulations raise the firm's cost of production both directly and indirectly, thus reducing the firm's q value and lowering the rate of capital formation. The empirical results indicate that the effect of environmental regulations on net capital formation is modest. We do find that environmental regulations affect regions differently. More stringent environmental regulations will improve the relative position of manufacturers in the North-east, South Atlantic and West. Over one-fourth of the dollar losses in manufacturing capacity would occur in five states: Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan.     

Diet and death in times of war: isotopic and osteological analysis of mummified human remains from southern Mongolia

This study presents the results of an isotopic analysis of nine naturally mummified individuals—three adults, two adolescents, one juvenile, and three infants—recovered from the Hets Mountain Cave site in southern Mongolia, where they had been secondarily deposited. All of the individuals show evidence of violent perimortem trauma, but no skeletal indicators of nutritional or disease-related stress. Multi-isotopic data (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, δ¹⁸O, ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, and ²⁰ⁿPb/²⁰⁴Pb) were characterized in multiple tissues from each individual when possible, in order to reconstruct diet composition and residential origin at different points in life. Specifically, δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N in bone carbonate and collagen (N = 8) and hair keratin (N = 4) were coupled with enamel carbonate δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C (N = 3) and enamel ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, and ²⁰ⁿPb/²⁰⁴Pb (N = 3) to assess diet and residential mobility in relation to skeletal indicators of health and trauma. Results are consistent with a persistence of mixed C₃/C₄ pastoral subsistence and general stability of diet composition over the life course, in contrast to contemporary accounts of widespread famine and a dependence on grains imported from China throughout the region. However, results also suggest that at least some individuals may have migrated to this region of southern Mongolia from elsewhere during life, meaning that their dietary isotopic profiles may not represent local subsistence patterns near the Hets Mountain Cave site. Overall, these results speak to the utility of life course oriented multi-isotopic analysis in complementing more top-down historical analyses in understanding variation in subsistence, nutrition, and migration in regions undergoing significant political and economic turmoil.     

Injuries on a skull from the Ancient Bronze Age (Ballabio,Lecco, Italy): a natural or an anthropic origin?

This paper discusses the results of the analysis of a female skull from a collective burial dated to the Ancient Bronze Age in Italy (Ballabio, LC). A virtual restoration and 3D reconstruction was also produced from the digitalized skull to complete the damaged parts and to recreate the facial appearance of this young adult female from the Bronze Age. The skull shows clear evidence of post-mortem modifications, as some series of scraping marks on the external cranial vault cross the parietal bones longitudinally. The contemporaneous presence of taphonomic linear marks on the skull and periostitis on the frontal bone, as well as the provenance of the specimen from a secondary burial (a typical funerary habit documented in Italy during the Copper Age and Ancient Bronze Age), makes it difficult to interpret the case (scalping, surgery, or ritual practice linked to secondary burial). The advanced methods used to analyse the skull surface allowed us to discriminate intentional marks from modifications due to other taphonomic processes and to determine the timing of their formation (peri- or post-mortem). The possibility that the scraping marks are related to a ritual practice, conducted during the individual's life (with specific symbolic or social value) or after death or at the moment of secondary burial, is discussed.