The Chinese identity of St Mark’s bronze ‘Lion’ and its place in the history of medieval Venice

Claiming the land or protecting the goods? The Duchcov hoard in Bohemia as a proxy for ‘Celtic migrations’ in Europe in the 4th century BCE

Copper-alloy belt fittings and elite networking in Early Medieval Central Europe

The Ordering of Time: From the Ancient Computus to the Modern Computer. By Arno Borst. Translated by Andrew Winnard. L'Economie Médiévale. By Philippe Contamine, Marc Bompaire, Stéphane Lebecq and Jean‐Lac Sarrazin. Women's Lives in Medieval Europe: A Sourcebook. Edited by Emilie Amt. Medieval Queenship. Edited by John Carmi Parsons. Letters of the Queens of England 1100–1547. Edited by Anne Crawford. The Early State and the Towns: Forms of Integration In Lombard Italy, AD 568–74. By Dirk Harrison. Medieval Scandinavia: From Conversion to Reformation, circa 800–1500. By Birgit and Peter Sawyer. Liudprand of Cremona, Relatio de legatione Constantinopolitana.Edited by Brian Scott. Land, Law, and Lordship in Anglo‐Norman England. By John Hudson. The Administration of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily. By Hiroshi Takayama. Medieval Political Theory ‐ A Reader. The Quest for the Body Politic, 1100–1400. Edited by Cary J. Nederman and Kate Langdon Forhan. The Rule of the Templars: The French Text of the Rule of the Order of the Knights Templar. Translated and introduced by J. M. Upton‐Ward. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen and Legend. By D. D. R. Owen. Everyday Life in Medieval England. By Christopher Dyer. Alfonso X, El Sabio, 1252–1284. By Manuel González Jiménez. Diplomatorio andaluz de Alfonso X. Edited by Manuel González Jiménez. Piers Gaveston: Edward II's Adoptive Brother. By Pierre Chaplais. A Plague of Insurrection: Popular Politics and Peasant Revolt in Flanders, 1323–1328. By William H. TeBrake. Chronicles of the Revolution, 1397–1400: The Reign of Richard II. By Chris Given‐Wilson. England, die Hanse und PreuBen: Handel und Diplomatie; 1377–1474, Quellen und Darstellungen zur hansischen Geschichte. By S. Jenks. Böhlau. War, Culture and Society in Renaissance Venice: Essays in Honour of John Hale. Edited by David S. Chambers, Cecil H. Clough and Michael E. Mallett. The House of Gold: Building a Palace in Medieval Venice. By Richard J. Goy. Venetian Ships and Shipbuilders of the Renaissance. By Frederic Chapin Lane.

Lead Isotope Analysis (LIA) has been applied most often as a means of provenancing copper at the macro scale. Here we use LIA at the regional scale to expose the relationship between long-distance communication and local metal management strategies. We conducted lead isotope and chemical analysis on 82 objects and ingots from Late Bronze Age hoards of the south Carpathian Basin, a node in long distance networks. From a social perspective, results indicate the presence of a community of practice of metalworkers that went beyond socio-political boundaries. Analyses of ingots demonstrate that communities imported copper from a variety of distant sources, but local circulation and specific mixing and recycling practices created a characteristic chemical signature unique to this region. Moreover, metalworkers' choices of copper sources were tailored to specific object types. From an analytical perspective, we demonstrated that the frequent mixing of copper from different sources with varying lead concentrations to make objects resulted in the masking of LIA signatures for some sources – we termed these ‘ghost fractions’ in mixtures – by others with more lead.

“On Not Eating Polish Bread in Vain: Resonance and Conjuncture in the Deeds of the Princes of Poland (1109-1113)” This article argues that the Deeds of the Princes of Poland, composed between 1109 and 1113 to celebrate the deeds of Boleslaw III (1102-1138) and of his dynasty, belongs to a class of princely histories and genealogies of the twelfth century. The author shows how the text draws on comparable writings and themes from western lands, the homeland of the author, while responding to the more immediate circumstances of a Polish prince mobilizing and fighting both defensively and aggressively. Moreover, the Polish example points with unusual clarity to the factors of dynastic setback and

China is one of the ancient civilization countries. Owing to the blind reclamation, the vegetation had been destroyed, causing soil erosion and desertification, and making the civilization center move to the Changjiang (Yangtze) River valley from the Huanghe (Yellow) River. This movement began in the Qin and Han dynasties (221 B.C.-220 A.D.) because at that time the large-scale reclamation was felled, the grassland was reclaimed into farmland, the vegetation was seriously destroyed in the loess and north of the Huanghe River, and the climate was getting colder; and the turn from north to south occurred in the Sui and Tang dynasties (581–907 A.D.) and completed in the Song Dynasty (960–1279 A.D.). However, at present the vegetation damage of the Changjiang River valley is very serious too and the silt carrying capacity of the Changjiang River is increasing sharply; thus the Changjiang River is in danger of becoming a second Huanghe River, so we must pay attention to the protection of ecological environment.

Through the use of MC–ICP–MS, this study analyses the lead isotope ratios of 19 Tang Sancai pottery glazes unearthed from the Gongyi and Huangbao kiln sites. According to their different lead isotope ratios, the two kilns can be grouped separately. The research also suggests that the Gongyi and Huangbao kilns are independent production centres of Tang Sancai in the Tang Dynasty. The data from the Huangbao kiln indicates that the lead in the glazes originates from the Northern China geochemical province, while the data from Gongyi kiln suggests its source as the Yangtze geochemical province. Furthermore, the results obtained for the Tang Sancai pottery indicate that the lead sources for glaze making of these two kilns were very consistent, which suggests that lead isotope analysis could be a helpful method to identify the kilns producing Tang Sancai artefacts.

Lead and copper isotopes of Roman Imperial copper coins (denominations as and quadrans) were analysed by MC–ICP–MS. We concentrated on well‐dated coins minted at the official mint of Rome under the Emperors Augustus and Tiberius (between 16 bc and ad 37). The lead isotope results were compared with published lead isotope data of ore bodies from the Aegaean, Cyprus, Italy and Spain, in order to fingerprint the sources of Roman copper. During the Augustan period the main copper supply, as judged from the copper coins, is from Sardinia and south‐east Spain, with minor contributions from Tuscany. Except for Tuscany, this continued into the Tiberian period, when Cypriot copper also appears. Augustan quadrantes and late Tiberian asses came solely from the Rio Tinto area in south‐west Spain. Copper isotopes were applied here for the first time to systematic archaeometric studies. They are supplementary to lead isotopes and allow further grouping and classification of the copper coins.

ObjectivesTo identify and characterize anthropogenic lead sources on a 17th/18th century Barbadian plantation and to test if lead isotope analyses can be used to identify the geographic origins of first‐generation African captives.Materials and MethodsWe carried out lead (Pb) isotope analyses on dental enamel samples from 24 individuals from the Newton Plantation Cemetery in Barbados, which had previously been analyzed for strontium (Sr) and oxygen (O) isotope composition (Schroeder et al., American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2009, 139:547–557) and Pb concentrations (Schroeder et al., American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2013, 150:203–209.ResultsWe are able to identify British Pb sources, and more specifically Bristol/Mendips Pb, as the most likely source of anthropogenic Pb on the plantation, highlighting the impact of the British Atlantic economy on the lives of enslaved peoples in Barbados during the period of plantation slavery. Furthermore, we find that there is only one clear outlier among seven individuals who had previously been identified as African‐born based on their enamel Sr isotope composition (Schroeder et al., American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2009, 139:547–557). All other individuals present a very homogenous Pb isotope composition, which overlaps with that of British Pb sources.ConclusionOur results indicate that while Pb isotope analyses can help identify and further characterize the sources of anthropogenic Pb in plantation settings, they might not be suited for identifying the origins of African‐born individuals in diasporic contexts.

The present study aims to compare quantitatively the similarities and differences of transmission processes extending from climate change to grain harvests and economies (macro-economy and fiscal balance) between the Han (206 BC–AD 220) and Tang (AD 618–907) dynasties of China. It is found that both the Han and Tang periods displayed close positive correlations among temperature, grain harvest, macro-economy and fiscal balance and conveyed a positive feedback–oriented transmission pattern with the upgrade of climatic impact level from grain harvest to economic system. Compared with the Han period, the overall linkages among indicators weakened during the Tang period, particularly for the correlation between grain harvest and fiscal balance. The mean temperature during the Tang period was slightly higher but had greater multidecadal variability, coinciding with better performance (and less variations) of macro-economy and fiscal balance (particularly for cold units) and higher variations of grain harvest. It displayed relatively little difference for the main pathways that could be interpreted as climatic impacts during the warm units between the Han and Tang periods, and both approximately 33% of the decades for warm units (100%) ending with fiscal balance/surplus were more likely to be associated with the impacts of temperature change. The difference mainly lies in cold units in the links of ‘cold → poor harvest’ and ‘poor harvest → macro-economic depression’ through the pathway of ‘cold → poor harvest → macro-economic depression/normal economy → fiscal deficiency’. Overall, macro-economy and fiscal system of the Tang period displayed less sensitivity to temperature change and agriculture production in cold period. Those patterns might be related with the unique socio-economic situations such as agricultural fragmentation, southward shift of economic resource and tax system reform during the later Tang Dynasty.

The purpose of this article is to explore the similarities and differences between Chinese and Western commercial law in terms of contractual systems, commercial dispute resolution mechanisms, and the process of commercial law formation and culture, and to explore the implications of traditional commercial law elements for contemporary legal practice by comparing the evolution of Chinese commercial law in the Tang and Song dynasties with that of European medieval commercial law. Using the interdisciplinary perspectives of law, philosophy and accounting, the article analyzes the cultural logic and economic motives behind Chinese and Western commercial law, and explores the causes of the diversity of global commercial law systems from a historical perspective.

This book presents a cultural history of graphic signs such as the sign of the cross, christograms, monograms, and other graphic devices, examining how they were employed to relate to and interact with the supernatural world, and to represent and communicate secular and divine authority in the late antique Mediterranean and early medieval Europe. It analyses its graphic visual material with reference to specific historical contexts and to relevant late antique and early medieval texts as a complementary way of looking at the cultural, religious, and socio-political transition from the late Graeco-Roman world to that of medieval Europe. This monograph treats such graphic signs as typologically similar forms of visual communication, reliant on the visual-spatial ability of human cognition to process object-like graphic forms as proxies for concepts and abstract notions—an ability that is commonly discussed in modern visual studies with reference to categories such as visual thinking, graphic visualization, and graphicacy. Thanks to this human ability, the aforementioned graphic signs were actively employed in religious and socio-political communication in the first millennium ad. This approach allows for a synthetic study of graphic visual evidence from a wide range of material media that have rarely been studied collectively, including various mass-produced items and unique objects of art, architectural monuments, and epigraphic inscriptions, as well as manuscripts and charters. As such, this book will serve as a timely reference tool for historians, art historians, archaeologists, epigraphists, manuscript scholars, and numismatists as well as the informed general public.

This illustrated book tells the story of Europe and the Mediterranean over the thousand years which saw the creation of Western Civilization. Written by scholars and based on the latest research, it offers an account of life in medieval Europe between the fall of the Roman Empire and the dawn of the Renaissance. The story covers a time of turmoil and change, from the empires of Charlemagne and the Byzantines to the newly formed nation states which fought the Hundred Years War. Great monasteries and cathedrals, the ambitions of the Crusades, chivalric knights, the realism of the new arts, economic and social growth, the catastrophe of plague, the growth of towns and cities, the development of commerce and banking: this remarkable period embraced them all. The six chapters of the book are divided between the Mediterranean world and northern Europe, illustrating how the centre of political and cultural life moved gradually northwards as the centuries progressed.

Applications of Anthropogenic Lead ArchaeoStratigraphy (ALAS Model) to Hydrocarbon Remediation

Studies in our laboratory and elsewhere require the analyses of stable lead (Pb) isotopes at sub-ppb levels as tracers of lead metabolism and therapeutic chelation treatment in animal models and humans. While analytical alternatives such as thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) provide excellent isotope measurement sensitivity and precision, TIMS is not well-suited for rapid throughput of large numbers of biological samples. Here we report the development of an inductively coupled plasma magnetic sector mass spectrometry (Finnigan MAT Element) method, possessing suitable lead isotope measurement sensitivity and precision for use in biologically stable lead isotope tracer studies in which the natural relative abundance of one or more isotopes (i.e., 204Pb, 206Pb, 207Pb, or 208Pb) has been enriched by >5%. Standard reference materials (SRMs) NBS 981 lead isotope standard and four different NIST biological SRM materials were spiked with bismuth-209 as an internal standard, and analyzed at lead concentrations of 1–10 ppb. The method consisted of 300 passes per sample for masses 201, 204, 206, 207, 208 and 209, with a total analysis time of about five minutes per sample. Concentrations for 204Pb, 206Pb, 207Pb, and 208Pb were determined by comparison to a certified lead concentration standard that had been isotopically characterized by TIMS. Analyses of lead concentrations in the NIST biological SRMs yielded a measurement accuracy (recoveries) of 96–101%, with a detection limit of 0.013 ppb total lead. Accuracy of isotope abundance analyses of NBS SRM 981 (n=12) was 99.92–99.99% of that expected for all four isotopes, with a measurement precision of 0.07–0.22% RSD. Thus, this method is ideally suited for the rapid, accurate, and precise measurements of lead concentrations and stable isotope abundances in lead isotope tracer studies in animals and humans, where one or more lead isotopes are enriched above natural levels.