Glass and metal analyses of gold leaf tesserae from 1st to 9th century mosaics. A contribution to technological and chronological knowledge

An archaeometric study was carried out on 40 gold leaf tesserae from mosaics in Italy dated 1st to the 9th century AD. Glass layers and gold leaf were both analysed by X-ray microanalysis. The main aim was the identification of the composition of the glass and of the gold leaf, in order to assess the variations in composition and nature of the tesserae in the examined period.     

The first English map of India

EUROPE

Somerset. By Arthur Mee. Illustrated. Map. Demy 8vo. Pp. ix+483. Price 10s. 6d.

Cambridge. By J. Stegmann. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. vii+120. Price 10s. 6d.

The Streets of London. By T. Burke. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. xii+152. Price 10s. 6d.

Curiosities of Town and Countryside. By E. Vale. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. viii+152. Price 10s. 6d.

The English Countryside. By Various Writers. Illustrated. Crown 8vo. Pp. 250. Price 6s.

Corn Country. By C. H. Warren. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. viii+136. Price 7s. 6d.

Red Hell. By J. Ameel. Demy 8vo. Pp. 316. London : Robert Hale Ltd., 1941. Price 12s. 6d.

The Way to an Island. By R. M. Rockley. Demy 8vo. Illustrated. Pp. xi+208. London : J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1941. Price 7s. 6d.

If I Laugh. By R. Downing. Demy 8vo. Pp. 224. London : George G. Harrap and Co. Ltd., 1941. Price 8s. 6d.

The Eastern March Lands of Europe. By H. G. Wanklyn. Demy 8vo. Pp. xxiii+356. London : Philip and Son Ltd., 1941. Price 12s 6d.

The Place Names of West Lothian. By Angus Macdonald, M.A., Ph.D. Demy 8vo. Pp. xv+179. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd Ltd., 1941. Price 15s.

Where the Shannon River Flows. By Richard Hayward. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. 327. London : George G. Harrap and Co. Ltd., 1940. Price 12s. 6d.

My Alpine Album. By F. Smythe. Illustrated. Imperial 8vo. Pp. 147. London : A. and C. Black Ltd., 1940. Price 12s. 6d.

Living Space. By Stoyan Pribichevich. Demy 8vo. Pp. ix+362. London : William Heinemann Ltd., 1940. Price 15s.

Lundy, Isle of Puffins. By R. Perry. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. 267. London : Lindsay Drummond, 1940. Price 12s. 6d.

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Africa Pilot. The Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty. The West Coast from Rio del Rey to Cape Hang Klip. The islands off the coast include St. Helena and Ascension. Ninth Edition, 1939.

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Independent Egypt. By Amine Youssef Bey. Demy 8vo. Pp. xxiv+272. London : John Murray, 1941. Price 15s.

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Mexico. A New Spain with Old Friends. By J. B. Trend. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. 185. London : Cambridge University Press Ltd., 1940. Price 12s. 6d.

Voice from the Wilderness. By R. W. Thompson. Demy 8vo. Pp. 360. London : Faber and Faber Ltd., 1940. Price 12s. 6d.

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Syria As It Is. By Helen Cameron Gordon. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. viii+211. London : Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1939. Price 10s. 6d.

Drinkers of the Wind. By Carl R. Raswan. Illustrated. Pp. 288. Demy 8vo. London : Hutchinson and Co. Ltd., 1940. Price 18s.

Canoe to Mandalay. By R. Raven‐Hart. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. 245. London : Frederick Muller Ltd., 1939. Price 12s. 6d.

Adventures in Siam in the Seventeenth Century. By E. W. Hutchinson. Map. Demy 8vo. Pp. xxvii+283. London : Royal Asiatic Society, 1940. Price 12s. 6d.

Briton and Turk. By Philip Graves. Demy 8vo. Pp. 260. London : Hutchinson and Co. Ltd., 1941. Price 12s. 6d.

Five Miles High. By the Members of the Karakoram Expedition. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. 319. London : Robert Hale Ltd., 1940. Price 15s.

Sons of Sindbad. By A. Villiers. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. xiv+346. London : Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1940. Price 20s.

Land of the Blue Poppy. By F. Kingdon Ward. Pp.192. A Penguin Sixpenny Edition of Kingdon Ward's Travels in Eastern Tibet.

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I Went to Tristan. By A. B. Crawford. Illustrated. Maps. Demy 8vo. Pp. 268. London : Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1941. Price 18s.

Shackleton's Boat Journey. By Commander F. A. Worsley. Crown 8vo. Pp. 191. London : Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1940. Price 2s. 6d.

Peaks, Packs, and Mountain Tracks. By W. S. Gilkinson. Illustrated. Crown 8vo. Pp. 120. London : Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd., 1941. Price 5s.

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The Scot Who was a Frenchman. By Marie W. Stuart. Impl. 8vo. Pp. 327. Edinburgh : William Hodge and Co. Ltd., 1940. Price 12s. 6d.

Contemporary Ancestors. By C. Young. Demy 8vo. Pp.190. London: R.T.S., 1941. Price 6s.

The Cambridge History of the British Empire. Vol. II. The Growth of the New Empire, 1783–1870. By various Authors. Impl. 8vo. Pp. xii+1068. London: Cambridge University Press, 1940. Price 50s.

Things Mortal. By Sir Frederick O'Connor. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. 260. London : Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1940. Price 10s 6d.

The Last Secrets. The Final Mysteries of Exploration. By John Buchan. Demy 8vo. Pp. 303. Edinburgh : Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd., 1941. Price 3s.

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Our British Empire: Its Structure, Its History, and Its Strength. By Stephen Leacock. Crown 8vo. Pp.280. London: John Lane (The Bodley Head) Ltd., 1940. Price 7s. 6d.

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MAPS

Bartholomew's Map of Europe Occupied by Germany. Price 3s. 6d.

Philip's The War in Maps. Price 1s. 6d. This is a handy atlas showing the various steps of German expansion from 1870 to the seizures in the present war. It is striking.     

Archaeometric investigation of Roman tesserae from Herculaneum (Italy) by the combined use of complementary micro-destructive analytical techniques

Vitreous tesserae from two mosaics in Herculaneum (Italy) dating from the 1st century AD have been investigated in order to gather information on Imperial Age opaque glass. The combined use of complementary micro-destructive analytical techniques, namely optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) allowed to define the nature of formers, fluxes, chromophores and opacifying compounds and to determine the type of raw materials employed for their introduction. The results confirmed the high technological level of Imperial Age glassmakers and clarified some details of the production processes. Experimental data have been obtained concerning formation of antimony-based opacifiers. The presence of tin-containing Ca- and Pb-antimonates has been ascertained in various green, yellow and turquoise tesserae. Moreover, unusual divergences from the established Roman age ‘low magnesia–low potash’ (LMLK) glass composition have been found for some red and green samples.     

SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION OF FAIENCE FRAGMENTS ATTRIBUTED TO THE TOWN MOSAIC AT KNOSSOS*

We analysed a faience fragment from Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, to determine whether it belonged to the Town Mosaic, excavated at Knossos. Three Town Mosaic fragments from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford were also examined. The objects were analysed using non‐destructive variable‐pressure scanning electron microscopy with energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectrometry. The Bristol object's composition and microstructures are similar to those of the Town Mosaic samples. Our results are also comparable to those from polished samples of Minoan faience (Tite et al. 2009 ), showing that VP SEM–EDX gives reliable results without invasive sampling. Silicaceous, copper‐rich microspheres were identified for the first time in two of the Ashmolean objects.     

Florence baptistery: chemical and mineralogical investigation of glass mosaic tesserae

A recent restoration of the mosaics of the Baptistery in Florence enabled the collection and analysis of a group of glass tesserae. Twenty-three tesserae, dated between the end of the 13th century and the first half of the 14th century, showing different colors were sampled and analyzed to identify the raw materials, colorants and opacifiers employed in their production.     

The mosaic of the crypt of St. Nicholas in Bari (Italy): integrated GPR and laboratory diagnostic study

The crypt of St. Nicholas in Bari, Southern Italy, is a building of cultural worldwide importance. Inside the crypt a mosaic develops on the apsidal floor and along a parietal seat placed along the apsidal masonry, in the form of cladding. A surviving portion of the mosaic pavement is also preserved in the right lateral chapel. Integrated non-destructive survey and laboratory analyses were undertaken for the diagnostic study of the mosaic. GPR prospection was successfully applied to the study of its conservation state, that is strictly related to the condition of the subsoil, in particular to the presence and distribution of water. The presence of water, whose rise interests also some portions of the masonry and water content distribution were identified by the results of electromagnetic wave velocity analysis in GPR data.     

Young children’s use of an augmented reality sandbox to enhance spatial thinking

ABSTRACT

Augmented reality (AR) technology is being introduced in educational settings for its ability to overlay virtual information onto physical environments. The AR Sandbox is a conventional sandbox with depth coloured representations projected onto the sand’s surface. This research investigates how 4- and 5-year-old Australian children use an AR Sandbox to enhance their spatial thinking through play. Participants were four children, their two educators and the first author as a participant-observer researcher. Data were collected over an 8-week period during 2015 and included observation, child conferencing, photography, educators’ perspectives, and the researcher’s perspectives. Vignettes are presented to demonstrate how children’s spatial thinking was enhanced through exploration and representation in the AR Sandbox. Children’s active and dynamic manipulation of the space of the AR Sandbox, along with a range of socio-cultural contexts and tools, assisted in enhancing their spatial abilities.