THE PROVENANCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF NEAR EASTERN GLASS: OXYGEN ISOTOPES BY LASER FLUORINATION AS A COMPLEMENT TO STRONTIUM*

The ability to make rapid measurements on small samples using laser fluorination enhances the potential of oxygen isotopes in the investigation of early inorganic materials and technologies. δ¹⁸O and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values are presented for glass from two primary production sites, four secondary production sites and a consumer site in the Near East, dating from Late Antiquity to the medieval period. δ¹⁸O is in general slightly less effective than ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr in discriminating between sources, as the spread of measured values from a single source is somewhat broader relative to the available range. However, while ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr is derived predominantly from either the lime‐bearing fraction of the glass‐making sand or the plant ash used as a source of alkali, δ¹⁸O derives mainly from the silica. Thus the two measurements can provide complementary information. A comparison of δ¹⁸O for late Roman – Islamic glasses made on the coast of Syria–Palestine with those of previously analysed glasses from Roman Europe suggests that the European glasses are relatively enriched in ¹⁸O. This appears to contradict the view that most Roman glass was made using Levantine sand and possible interpretations are discussed.     

Relational Economies,Social Embeddedness and Valuing Labour in Agrarian Change: An Example from the Developing World

A relatively neglected area of research on agrarian and economic change is the role of indigenous concepts of labour value in the transition from subsistence to market production. In West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, the presence of a migrant population on an oil palm land settlement scheme (LSS) in close proximity to village‐based oil palm growers, provided an opportunity to examine changing notions of labour value through the lens of smallholder productivity. Voluntary settlers on the LSS are experiencing population pressure and are highly dependent on oil palm for their livelihoods. In contrast, customary landowners in village settings produce oil palm in a situation of relative land abundance. By examining differences in how these two groups practise and value commodity production, the paper makes four key points. First, concepts of labour value are not static and involve struggles over how labour value is defined. Second, the transition to market‐based notions of labour value can undermine labour's social value with a consequent weakening of social relationships within and between families. Third, Theories of Value developed in western contexts and used to frame development policies and projects in the developing world are often inappropriate and even harmful to the welfare of communities that have different registers of value. Fourth, in response to Point 3, and following Rigg (2007), there is a need for ‘theorising upwards’ using empirical data from the developing world to inform theory rather than applying to the developing world models of sociality and economy developed in western contexts.     

Speakers at War in the Late 14th and 15th Centuries

The significance of war in the development of the medieval English parliament is well known. The origins of the speakership are located in the context of the Hundred Years War, which began in 1337 and in which the English were still embroiled at the time of the Good Parliament of 1376. It was at this parliament that the Commons first chose a spokesperson, Sir Peter de la Mare, knight of the shire for Herefordshire. This article considers the military careers of de la Mare and his successors to the end of the Hundred Years War in 1453. Did the war have an impact on the choice of Speaker? Was a military man chosen for parliaments where military matters were to be discussed? We know the identity of the Speaker in 53 of the 64 parliaments between 1376 and 1453. Several served more than once, so that we are left with a group of 33 individuals to analyse. An overall trend is discernable. Up to 1407 all known Speakers were belted knights, and most had extensive military experience before they took up office. Only five of the 19 parliaments between 1422 and 1453 had Speakers of knightly rank: otherwise, Speakers with legal and administrative, rather than military, experience were chosen. In the years from 1407 to 1422 the speakership was occupied by a mixture of soldiers and administrators many of whom were closely connected to the royal duchy of Lancaster and to revival of English aggression towards France from 1415 onwards.