‘Beyond anything we have ever seen’: beheading videos and the visibility of violence in the war against ISIS

This article examines the role of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria's (ISIS's) beheading videos in the United Kingdom and the United States. These videos are highly illustrative demonstrations of the importance of visual imagery and visual media in contemporary warfare. By functioning as evidence in a political discourse constituting ISIS as an imminent, exceptional threat to the West, the videos have played an important role in the re‐framing of the conflict in Iraq and Syria from a humanitarian crisis requiring a humanitarian response to a national security issue requiring a military response and intensified counterterrorism efforts. However, this article seeks to problematize the role and status of ISIS's beheadings in American and British security discourses by highlighting the depoliticizing aspects of reducing a complicated conflict to a fragmented visual icon. The article concludes by emphasizing the need for further attention to how the visibility of war, and the constitution of boundaries between which acts of violence are rendered visible and which are not, shape the political terrain in which decisions about war and peace are produced and legitimized.     

ROMAN AND MEDIEVAL GLASS FROM THE ITALIAN AREA: BULK CHARACTERIZATION AND RELATIONSHIPS WITH PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES*

Compositional investigations were performed on 81 Roman and medieval glass fragments (first to 14th centuries ad ) from four Italian archaeological sites. The samples were soda–lime–silica in composition, with natron as flux for the Roman and early medieval glass samples, and with plant ash as flux for the late medieval ones. The varying colours are due to the differing FeO, Fe ₂ O ₃ , MnO and Sb ₂ O ₃ contents. Hierarchical cluster analysis identified six compositional groups related to age, which were compared with those found in the literature. In this way, technological continuity from the Roman to the early medieval period and the appearance of plant ash technology in the ninth century, 200 years in advance of the period previously believed, are demonstrated.     

A NEW SETTING FOR THE NORTHERN BORDER OF THE VENETI: METALLIC FINDS FROM THE VENETIC SITE OF MONTE CALVARIO,AURONZO DI CADORE*

In 2000 several bronze and lead objects were discovered at the Venetic‐Roman site (200 bc –ad 200) of Monte Calvario di Auronzo, in the Italian eastern Alps. They were mostly finished artefacts plus semi‐worked products. Analysis included SEM–EDS, EMPA, XRPD, TMS and AMS spectrometry. The compositional results of the finished artefacts suggest that the choice of the alloy had been made according to the decorative techniques to be used. A semi‐worked high‐leaded bronze object indicates the existence of a metallurgical production of cast artefacts at the site. TMS analyses of a lead ingot exclude local provenance, proving the existence of important trade routes.     

SEISMIC HAZARD ASSESSMENT IN FLORENCE CITY ITALY

A seismic hazard analysis of Florence city was performed in the frame of a project concerning the dynamic behaviour of cable-stayed bridges. Both a probabilistic approach and a methodology based on the use of a local macroseismic catalogue were applied. A local catalogue was expressly compiled for this purpose, to collect the macroseismic intensities actually observed at the site as a result of past earthquakes. This sort of catalogue is an independent tool to verify the assumptions of the probabilistic approach (seismic zoning, earthquake recurrence relation, attenuation model), though it can supply results in terms of macroseismic intensity only and reflects the effective seismic history at the site, without taking into account any variability. The Cornell' methodology was used to assess probabilistic hazard in terms of macroseismic intensity, peak ground acceleration, peak ground velocity, and pseudovelocity uniform response spectra. The local catalogue points out level VII of the Mercalli-Cancani-Sieberg scale (MCS) as the maximum intensity historically observed in Florence. The probabilistic approach leads to the consideration of intensity VIII MCS as the maximum credible for the city. The probabilistic analysis in terms of ground motion was performed using attenuation relations estimated for alluvium sites, since the geology of Florence area is represented by fluvial and lacustrine deposits of various thickness. Peak ground acceleration values with 90% non exceedence probability in 50 and 500 years are respectively 145 and 219 cm/s's for a shallow alluvium site, and 95 and 157 cm/s's for a deep alluvium site; the corresponding peak ground velocity values for sites located on alluvium are 6.41 and 11.76 cm/s. Uniform response spectra are provided for shallow and deep alluvium sites, according to frequency-dependent attenuation relations estimated from strong Italian earthquakes.     

INFLUENCE OF THE UNCERTAINTY IN THE SOIL-ROCK SPECTRAL RATIOS IN THE DEFINITION OF UNIFORM HAZARD SPECTRA AT SURFACE LEVEL

Based on traditionally accepted hypothesis and verified by existing data, an expression is derived to calculate response spectrum at the ground surface if the response spectrum at the basement rock is known. The fundamental assumptions are with regards to the form of variation of the exceedance rates of spectral accelerations in the basement rock, and based also on the usual (lognormal) distribution forms of the uncertainties associated with the spectral amplification function. The resulting approach multiplies the mean of the amplification function in order to consider in a rigorous way its uncertainty.     

THE PROVENANCE AND PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OF BRONZE AGE AND IRON AGE POTTERY FROM TELL MISHRIFEH/QATNA (SYRIA)*

This work deals with the archaeometric study of the Bronze Age and Iron Age pottery from Tell Mishrifeh/Qatna (central‐western Syria), where the complete cycle of ceramic production is well documented. Petrographic, chemical and diffractometric analyses were carried out on both potsherds and a clayey material found in a separation basin within the area of the workshops. Petrographic groups were defined and maximum firing temperatures and redox firing conditions were estimated, providing constraints on identifying the production technology and its evolution with time. The studied potsherds turned out to be locally produced, with only a few cases of possible similarities with those described for other localities along the Orontes Valley, and in a couple of cases with evidence of pottery exchange.     

SAND FOR ROMAN GLASS PRODUCTION: AN EXPERIMENTAL AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDY ON SOURCE OF SUPPLY*

This paper reports the results of an experimental study performed on Campanian littoral sand, together with a careful philological analysis of Pliny's text concerning the production of glass using the above sand in order to verify its suitability. Accurate chemical and mineralogical characterization of sand samples and experimental glasses was carried out, proving the unsuitability of sand for glass production in its original state. Taking into account both the results of the philological analysis of Pliny's text and the mineralogical assemblage of the sand, a new hypothesis regarding Roman glass‐making technology is proposed and tested here. The technology implies the production of ‘quartz‐enriched’ sand by means of selective grindings according to the different degrees of hardness and cleavage of the mineralogical phases. Melting experiments, carried out on treated sand and in the temperature range compatible with Roman technology, yielded a glass with composition similar to those of typical Roman glasses. Therefore, new perspectives on the sources of supply of raw materials, hitherto debated, are opened up.