Hispania and the Atlantic Route in Roman Times: new Approaches to Ports and Trade

This paper explores the role of Hispania in the Atlantic route in Roman times. We analyse the different Atlantic Iberian territories along this route, based on recent archaeological advances and discoveries related to trade as well as the shipping infrastructure. The aim is to explain the origin and evolution of a new maritime area that was completely integrated with the political and commercial structure of the Empire, with trade routes that followed the coastal areas of the Iberian Peninsula all the way to the Mediterranean.     

Neutron activation analysis of fine grey pottery from Conimbriga,Santa Olaia and Tavarede,Portugal

The concentrations of two major elements and thirteen trace elements in 73 selected sherds of fine grey ware from the Iron Age and Roman period, excavated at Conimbriga, Santa Olaia and Tavarede, Portugal, were determined by instrumental neutron activation analysis. These concentrations were used to calculate distance matrices which were then subjected to cluster analysis employing SAHN and k-means methods, as well as to principal components analysis, to group the sherds according to the overall similarity of their compositional characteristics. The results showed that equivalent groupings appeared regardless of the taxonomic method used. Two major clusters were recognized corresponding to two different sites, namely Conimbriga and Santa Olaia, suggesting that the ceramics from these sites were made locally. No significant differences in compositional patterns were observed between iron age and roman sherds from Conimbriga.     

Aztecs Before and After the Conquest

Aztecs: An Interpretation. By INGA CLENDINNEN. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Pp. xiii, 398.

The Slippery Earth: Nahua‐christian Moral Dialogue in Sixteenth‐century Mexico. By LOUISE M. BURKHART. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1989. Pp. xii, 242.     

AN ARCHAEOMETRIC STUDY OF MEDIEVAL GLASS FROM THE FIRST BULGARIAN CAPITAL,PLISKA (NINTH TO TENTH CENTURY AD)

Glass finds from the first Bulgarian capital, Pliska, have been analysed by instrumental neutron activation analysis. The analytical data, together with previous results from analysis of glass samples from the second Bulgarian capital, Preslav, were subjected to cluster and discriminant analysis. The local origin of part of the analysed samples was proven and some conclusions about the technology of production were possible.