A MAGNETIC SURVEY OVER LA MAJA,AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE IN NORTHERN SPAIN

A Roman archaeological site in northern Spain (La Maja, province of La Rioja) includes pottery workshops, part of an important ceramic industry that developed from about the first century BC to the first century AD. A geophysical study was planned to determine the extent of the industrial complex in the vicinity of an excavated kiln. Magnetic observations were done on a grid of 30 × 36m, with a sampling interval of 1m. Two dipolar-shaped anomalies were found: one in the north-east and the other in the south-west of the area. Low-pass and band-pass filters were used in the Fourier domain to enhance the characteristics of the magnetic data and to remove noise and undesirable shallow features. Three-dimensional polygonal prisms were used to model the magnetic anomalies based on palaeomagnetic measurements performed over an uncovered kiln that helped to constrain the induced and remanent parameters of the magnetizing fields.     

The Reception of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement in Three Yorkshire Parishes, 1559–72

Abstract

This article explores how the Elizabethan religious settlement of 1559 was experienced at parish level, up to the year 1572. Churchwardens' accounts for the Yorkshire parishes of Masham, Sheffield and St Martin's, Coney Street, York, are used alongside ecclesiastical court records and other sources to build a picture of local responses to the settlement. The factors found to be significant include the degree to which the reforms demanded a change in previous community practices, and the pace and sequence with which sacred material objects were removed and installed. The latter are viewed as concrete aspects of religiosity which gave meaning to more abstract doctrines for both clergy and laity. The way in which authority was realised in the parishes, through coercion, collaboration, negotiation or conversion is also explored. Most significantly, the ability of lay parishioners to negotiate among themselves, and with external agents of authority during the process, determined the resulting style of local Protestantism.     

Relief Efforts Denied: The Civilian Public Service Training Corps and the Starnes Amendment, 1942–43

Abstract

The Civilian Public Service Training Corps was a programme for conscientious objectors to train for the relief and rehabilitation of the war-ravaged areas during World War II. Although the Historic Peace Churches (Brethren, Mennonite, Society of Friends) and the Selective Service already had a tentative programme in place, Congress eliminated the possibility of wartime relief with the Starnes Amendment to the Military Appropriations Act of 1943. The historical scholarship differs, but an examination of the parties involved reveals that Congress' rejection of the Training Corps stemmed from a number of reasons, which included a desire to use military funds for military purpose and antipathy toward First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her role in American politics.     

Constructing National Identity: The Image of the Medieval Grand Duchy of Lithuania in Lithuanian Art from the 1920s to the 1990s

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the ways in which the image of the medieval Grand Duchy of Lithuania, intended to awaken the national pride and contribute to the building of the national identity, was constructed by artistic means in the Republic of Lithuania during the 1920s and 1930s. It contains a brief discussion on the genesis of the image of the Grand Duchy, including the selection of appropriate historical heroes and events, and the main aspects of their interpretation. The article analyses some of the most striking and influential examples of the image of medieval Lithuania, such as the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the death of Grand Duke Vytautas the Great in 1930 and art works created for that purpose, the decoration of public buildings (for example, the Museum of War and the Officers’ Club in Kaunas, and Lithuania’s pavilion in the New York World Fair of 1939). It also looks briefly at the dissemination of the image of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in popular culture. The article also touches on isolated efforts by a number of intellectuals to warn of the dangers inherent in the extreme glorification of the past. The image of the medieval Grand Duchy of Lithuania, created in interwar Lithuania, was preserved during the period of Soviet occupation. After the restoration of Lithuanian independence in 1990, this image had a significant influence on the mentality and culture of Lithuanian society at the turn of the millennium. In this respect the situation in Lithuania could be treated as a case study, for a similar relation to the past can be encountered in other European post-Communist countries faced with the problem of creating a new identity.