Lead ingots from a shipwreck Off Poompuhar, Tamil Nadu, East Coast of India: evidence for overseas trade and their significance

Various types of lead ingots have been reported from a number of shipwrecks from different parts of the world. In 1991 exploration of a wreck off Poompuhar, Tamil Nadu, East Coast of India, at a depth of 19 m yielded a gun, rudder gudgeon, gunpowder boxes and a variety of lead ingots. The most significant ingots are those marked W: Blackett and D with a crown symbol on the obverse and 1791, 1792 and some merchant marks on the reverse. These are similar to Blackett lead ingots found in England, the Netherlands and Sumatra. Pb-isotopic analysis has revealed their source as the North Pennine lead mines of England. Further, the lead used was of high purity -93%. Records show that Blackett was a well-known lead-exporting company in England since 1694. The wreck off Poompuhar may be a Toni type cargo ship carrying traded lead ingots of different manufacturers.     

辽墓出土金属面具与网络起源的再探讨

在众多辽代墓葬中发现的随葬金属面具与网络极大地激起了人们研究的兴趣。目前学界关于契丹族金属面具与网络的随葬这种葬俗的起源还没有统一的定论,主要有以下六种学说,它们分别是萨满教说,下嫁到萧氏皇家女子专用说,佛教说,金缕玉衣说,树葬说以及东胡说。同时,笔者认为唐代西域胡人覆面缠裹的习俗对契丹葬俗形成是起了很大作用的。综上所述,辽代的金属面具与网络正是这些因素共同碰撞的产物。     

THE ROLT MEMORIAL LECTURE 2011

Abstract

The Pawtucket Dam in Lowell is a key site in the interpretation of the city’s industrial heritage and a potent symbol of corporate determination to alter the natural environment for textile production and profit. It is both a certified National Landmark and the most dramatic feature of a National Park, the first one to be located in an American industrial city. Without a great dam at Pawtucket Falls, Lowell would never have become a renowned example of manufacturing prowess and attractive urban design. Every dam built across the Merrimack River since 1825 at that site has been controversial. They have blocked fish migrations, overflowed farmland, backed water into the wheelpits of upstream mills, halted log drives, and made floods more destructive. The existing Pawtucket Dam of 1847 and 1875 is now the focus of a heated debate between preservationists and a hydroelectric power company that wants to alter it.     

‘Hold the Heathen Hammer High’: representation,re-enactment and the construction of ‘Pagan’ heritage

Viking Metal, Pagan Metal and their relatives represent subgenres of Black and Folk Metal characterised by their historical and mythological references, their incorporation of folk melodies alongside traditional music and instruments, and the use of contemporary material culture and dress. Like earlier folk-rock traditions, these subgenres have often steered an interesting course between the hedonistic tendencies which can accompany rock music (the ‘rock “n” roll lifestyle’) and an educational role: metal as heritage and specifically as heritage interpretation. In this paper, the authors explore these various connections through conversations with members of two prominent bands (Týr and Heidevolk) who gave research seminars at the University of York in 2012 and 2013. The connections between music making, landscape, performativity and narration are prominent in both cases, and form the basis of this study.     

Brief encounters: Tatham Mound and the evidence for Spanish and Native American confrontation

Skeletal trauma often has been utilized to examine facets of inter- and intragroup violence. Eighteen skeletal elements from Tatham Mound are considered in this study, which exhibit wounds similar to documented cases of trauma caused by edged metal weapons. Tatham Mound is a sixteenth century mortuary site in central Gulf Coast Florida and is located within the reconstructed zone of contact with the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. Macroscopic and microscopic analyses of skeletal elements are conducted in order to distinguish trauma due to edged metal weapons from other perimortem and post-mortem bone modification. The damage on elements from Tatham Mound is compared with documented cases of trauma from edged metal weapons as well as medieval European skeletal remains exhibiting trauma due to edged metal weapons. It is concluded that some of the observed cases are probably due to metal weapon wounds inflicted by the Spanish explorers.     

The Question of "Why It Is in Henan" and the New Direction of Chinese Scientific and Technological Archaeology

The ritual institutionalization demonstrated in the bronze production at Erlitou and further developed during the Shang and Zhou periods that formed a distinctive feature of bronze civilizations. While exploring the path of the earliest state formation, we could consider why Erlitou was chosen from the unveiling of the Bronze Age in China. Much attention had been paid to archaeological, chronological, geographic, and climatic information in the existing studies, but the relationship between bronze metal resources and the formation of the Erlitou state needed more attention. Viewing the Erlitou culture as the earliest state form in China and thus exploring the path of formation of early states was a return to the original theme of archaeology.