The playwright who dramatised his own war record: a reassessment of William Douglas-Home’s accounts of his refusal to fight for the liberation of Le Havre

At a court martial in October 1944, William Douglas-Home was convicted of wilfully disobeying a lawful command because he claimed a moral justification to do so. Cashiered and jailed for his offence, he would return to the events that occasioned his refusal throughout a long career as a playwright. In his post-war accounts, Mr Douglas-Home developed a defence of his decision that depicted it as principled. He submitted petitions in which he sought to overturn retrospectively the court martial ruling. This essay argues that he concocted the accounts of his actions on which his efforts to revise the record were based.     

Relics of place: stone fragments of the Holy Sepulchre in eleventh-century France

This article considers stone pieces from the Holy Sepulchre brought to France in the eleventh century. Recent years have seen a growing awareness of architectural replications of the Holy Sepulchre built throughout the Latin West. Less attention has been devoted to its unmediated translation, namely, transporting its matter. Many French pilgrims who set out for Jerusalem before Urban preached crusade to the East in 1095 returned with stone fragments of the Holy Tomb to commemorate their visit and to consecrate architectural copies. Like the bodily remains of saints, these stone fragments acted as parts signifying the whole: they represented their place of origin and lent authenticity to local monuments. They could also act in unusual ways, attracting cults and prompting narratives, visual representations and staging in the church that announced their significance.     

汉代画像石“献食进浆”图像探讨

"献食进浆"图像由"正中端坐者""执串珠状物者"和"进浆者"组成。通过对这一画像组合的分类探讨,可以推知"正中端坐者"为西王母/东王公,"执串珠状物者""进浆者"为西王母的侍从,"串珠状物"为烤肉串,"浆"为酒;A类画像组合描述的应是西王母仙境的生活状态,而B类则是西王母"允人升仙"的场景。     

Note Concerning the Problem of Samson the Nazirite in the Biblical Studies

Apparently, some biblical scholars prefer to consider Samson only as a biblical character, rather than as a mythical hero too, and they think falsely that his title of Nazir has its explanation in the law text of Numbers.     

再葬画像石墓的发现与再研究

再葬画像石墓的出现,社会动荡、经济凋蔽是直接原因,丧葬习俗的改变是再葬画像石墓出现的重要因素。     

论汉画像石文字榜题和题记

在迄今全国发现的约1万多件(处)画像石中,刻有文字者约250多件(处),其时代多为东汉中晚期。画像石文字内容分榜题和题记两类,内容丰富,为研究汉代历史、文化、风俗等提供了第一手资料。     

五十年来的汉画像石研究

从图像内容与榜题的考释、史料价值的发掘、艺术功能的阐释、考古类型学的引入等四个方面,总结50年来汉画像石的研究成果,并对未来的研究进行展望。     

First Investigations of In Situ Electrical Properties of Limestone Blocks of Ancient Monuments

In situ rapid electrostatic investigations on calcareous stones of monuments provide information that strongly correlates with the geological characteristics of the stone and proves to be efficient for provenance identification and successive restoration. With a portable device, it is now possible to scan several thousand blocks on a face of a monument in a few hours. The evolution of the religious building construction practices between the 13th and the 17th centuries is studied. From the petrophysics point of view, the results clearly indicate a marked linear correlation between electrical conductivity and dielectric permittivity. This fact, which agrees with Maxwell–Wagner polarization modelling, confirms the part played by the clay content in the electric properties of the dry carbonate rocks constituting the monument stones. A first test using X‐ray scattering analysis shows the part played by the relative content of illite, which is correlated with a decrease of the resistivity.     

Ships on Hero Stones from the West Coast of India

Hero stones have been erected since early times to remember those who died in battle, and have been reported from various provinces of India. Most show land-battles, but those in the Archaeological Museum, Goa and Eksar in Mumbai show naval warfare. The Old Goa stones belong to the Kadambas who ruled Goa from 950–1300 AD. The Eksar stones to the reign of king Bhoja of Malwa in 1020 AD. Similar hero stones with boat motifs of the 18th to 19th centuries AD have been reported from Aramda in Gujarat. This paper examines these stones and assesses their significance for the maritime history of India.
© 2005 The Nautical Archaeology Society