ABSTRACT Mercury is the only natural liquid non-ferrous metal that occurs under normal temperature. Cinnabar, also known as Chensha 辰砂 and Dansha 丹砂 in ancient China, is a natural ore of mercury sulphide that exists in mercury mines and is the most common source ore for refining elementary mercury. The largest cinnabar deposit in China is at the Wanshan mercury mine in Wanshan Town, Guizhou Province, which was an important centre for the mercury production industry since the Tang Dynasty (AD 618–907). An archaeological field survey of the area identified 36 locations related to cinnabar mining and mercury production spanning the period from the Tang and Song Dynasties (AD 960–1279) to the late 20th century. This survey was the first comprehensive archaeological investigation and exploratory research of these materials, and provides a fresh insight into the evolution of the Wanshan mercury mine and its secondary development as a unique industrial heritage site.

ABSTRACT This article explores the installation of electric bells and internal communication telephones at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, by Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, well known for his fascination in all aspects of science and new technology. The installation process of these pioneering new technologies at Hatfield House, their location within the house, how they functioned and their probable impact on the household are investigated through surviving correspondence, receipts, plans and the physical evidence preserved within the house. When identified, recorded and interpreted, this evidence can contribute to our greater understanding not only of the early adoption of technology in the 19th century, but of the complex way that two separate but interdependent groups of people (employers and servants) lived, worked and communicated in a great country house, while maintaining distance, privacy and the division of rank.

ABSTRACT UNESCO’s inscription of ‘The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales’ as a World Heritage Site in 2021 added for the first time a cultural landscape of quarrying to the World Heritage list, the culmination of a 12-year bid process for Gwynedd Council as the promoting local authority. Its six Component Parts exhibit clear visual and functional relationships with the wider landscape of Snowdonia and the sea, but also significant differences in terms of extraction, processing, workers’ settlements and transport. These were described and analysed in a well-produced dossier informed by a comprehensive comparative study, which set out how Wales’ robust systems of landscape protection ensured their effective management, and made clear the strong political, business and community support which the bid enjoyed, based on clear goals and ambitions. Inscription makes clear that there is a strong case for other globally significant quarrying landscapes to become World Heritage Sites.

ABSTRACT The history and development of the early 19th-century Bryn Oer Tramroad in South-East Wales has been considered previously by Gordon Rattenbury and John van Laun, but archaeological monitoring and walkover surveys carried out during conservation works to the tramroad in spring 2022 have yielded new data. In particular, fresh evidence for the tramroad’s drainage system, turnouts and gateways has allowed a reassessment of the earlier studies, enabling a more complete narrative of the tramroad to be presented. The article is divided into four parts. The first part outlines the history of the canals to which the Bryn Oer Tramroad was connected, and the second discusses the historical context of the tramroad. The third part provides an archaeological evaluation of the tramroad, whilst the final part discusses the comparative importance of the tramroad within the context of late 18th- and early 19th-century transport networks in South-East Wales.

ABSTRACT This article sheds light on the story of one of the most important vestiges of railway heritage in Greece — the historic railway complex of the Piraeus-Athens-Peloponnese Railways Company (SPAP) — once the largest 1m gauge system in Europe, located in the Lefka district of Piraeus. Starting from its establishment in 1886, the article discusses the complex’s development and its progressive decline that led to its closure in 2005. Furthermore, it analyses the state of conservation at the time of the site’s most recent documentation in 2019 and the subsequent measures taken for its safeguarding. Lastly, it presents the current condition of the complex as well as its future perspectives. The aim of the article is dual. Firstly, it seeks to reveal the story of a valuable relic of railway heritage in Greece, largely unknown in Greece and abroad. Secondly, through the analysis of mixed-method research followed for the study of the complex under investigation, the article attempts to contribute to a deeper understanding of a modern, more comprehensive approach to railway heritage documentation and conservation.

"The Heritage of the Textile Industry, A Thematic Study for TICCIH, The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage." Industrial Archaeology Review, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), p. 1

"Technology, Economics and Canal Development; An Early Technical Book and What It Reveals." Industrial Archaeology Review, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), p. 1

"John Rennie ‘Engineer of many splendid and useful works’." Industrial Archaeology Review, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), p. 1

ABSTRACT Academic discussion of traditional zinc-smelting technology in China has been hampered by a paucity of physical data recovered from early production sites. In recent years, however, the discovery of former zinc-smelting sites in the municipality of Chongqing in south-western China has provided important evidence from archaeological excavations that contribute to the study of this topic. Taking the smelting furnace found at the Linjiangerdui site in Zhong County as an example, this paper introduces and discusses the form, use and maintenance of the zinc-smelting furnace of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368–1644), and makes a preliminary comparison with the smelting furnaces dating to the Qing Dynasty (AD 1636–1912) unearthed in Shizhu County and the mountainous Hunan Province in an attempt to elucidate the development and evolution of ancient Chinese zinc-smelting technology.

ABSTRACT Algeria is strewn with the remains of multiple industries, but the significance of this industrial heritage, especially that belonging to the time of French colonisation, is under-appreciated, and the structures have no legal protection. This article examines this problem, taking the square grain silos of Setif as a case study. Historical and techno-architectural approaches are used to develop an understanding of both the historical context and the colonial agrarian strategy that led to the creation of these Algerian docks and grain silos. The architectural features and construction of the Hennebique reinforced-concrete structures and the grain-handling procedures are described. The article seeks to unveil the important historical, architectural and utilitarian values that justify the protection of these heritage features, as a first step towards their preservation and management.