War Trophies Research Articles

Štukature iz zadnje četvrtine 18. stoljeća u Palači šećerane u Rijeci

This paper provides a detailed analysis, for the first time, of the stucco decorations in the representative salons on the second floor of the Sugar Refinery Palace in Rijeka. Despite being an extremely important group of secular stuccos, it has, until now, lacked a thorough iconographic and stylistic analysis and contextualization. Furthermore, no models or masters who produced them have been identified. The Sugar Refinery Palace, specifically its administration building, served as the headquarters of the Privileged Trieste-Rijeka Company, founded in Trieste in 1750 to establish sugar trade in the Habsburg lands. Administration and production were relocated to Rijeka in 1752, when the central industrial complex was organized, and the Administration building was erected. Following the devastating fire of 1785, the building underwent reconstruction, and it was raised in height while acquiring a new representative staircase. It was assumed that the architect behind the renovation was Andrea Menini from Treviso, and recently discovered archival data confirm his presence in Rijeka during 1786. The stone decoration, part of the restoration, also reveals the contribution of Sebastiano Petruzzi, the most prominent sculptor and builder in Rijeka at the time, and his workshop. Between 1786 and 1789, the period to which the frescoes in the western salon with architectural capriccios have been dated, the decoration of the central Ceremonial Hall and the two flanking salons on the western and eastern sides along the façade was executed. The central hall features Corinthian pilasters with beams and is covered by a cloister vault decorated with war trophies and four figural medallions. Although the exact iconography of these compositions has not been determined, it is assumed that they depict scenes from the lives of Roman emperors, possibly the reigns of two “bad” emperors - Domitian and Vitellius - who met violent death, and their “good” counterparts Vespasian and Titus. The overall decoration of this hall reflects late Baroque or Josephine Classicism characteristic of the enlightened Joseph II Habsburg’s reign (1780-1790), manifesting renewed enthusiasm for the art of ancient Rome, its rationality, simple austerity, and cold sublimity. Therefore, the decoration of this hall incorporates numerous models derived from ancient and Renaissance traditions, reshaped in the manner typical of the second half of the 18th century. Notably, the early neo-Classical style in Italy and in Habsburg Tuscany during the time of Joseph’s brother, Grand Duke Peter Leopold II, played a crucial role, with his Florentine residence in Poggio Imperiale, decorated by two stucco masters, brothers Giocondo and Grato Albertolli. In the lateral salons, the finely detailed decoration is still executed in the spirit of late Rococo and painted in soft pastel tones. The cornice under the vault features stucco cameos depicting famous ancient statues, such as Venus Callipyge or Cupid and Psyche, while the ceiling is adorned with war trophies collaged from various graphic templates of the time. Based on stylistic and formal analysis, the stuccos from Rijeka can be associated with the brothers Clemente (Montagnola, 1758 - Kaštel Lukšić, after 1810) and Giacomo (Montagnola, 1763-1838) Somazzi from the Swiss Canton of Ticino. They left a significant stucco oeuvre in numerous churches across Kvarner, the Croatian Littoral, and northern Dalmatia during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The stuccos from Rijeka would be their earliest and only preserved secular work. It is plausible that the brothers worked as part of a larger workshop in Rijeka before starting their career as independent masters in the last decade of the 18th century. It may have been the workshop of Sebastiano Petruzzi, where Clemente is mentioned as an associate and partner in Rab during 1790.

Айны в истории российско-японских отношений XVIII–XIX веков

The article summarizes the findings of the research on the role of the Ainu, the indigenous people of Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands and Hokkaido, in the establishment and development of Japanese-Russian relations in the 18th-19th centuries. The authors substantiate the need to use a wide range of sources in Japanese to study this issue. Periodization of the Ainu history in the context of Japanese-Russian relations is suggested in the article. The first stage (early 18th - early 19th centuries) is marked by the active participation of the Ainu in the Japanese-Russian relations. A comparative review of the documents of the Russian and Japanese expeditions allowed to identify at least four functions of the Ainu in this process: guides, interpreters, informants, and trade intermediaries. The article provides details of each function, including the significant role of the Ainu in the mapping and naming of geographical objects in the Sea of Okhotsk region during the Russian and Japanese expeditions. At the second stage (mid-19th - early 20th centuries) the Ainu are transformed from the subject of Japanese-Russian relations into a passive entity, and their lands - a subject of negotiations and war trophies. The authors study the question of the Ainu status during the Japanese-Russian negotiations on territorial demarcation in 1853-1875. Attempts by the Russians to separate the issues of Ainu citizenship and belonging to certain territories nevertheless did not spare the Sakhalin and Kuril Ainu from being forcibly relocated by the Japanese authorities after the Treaty of St. Petersburg in 1875.

Sources of the Literary and Intellectual Landscape of Central Asian Khanates: Jura Bik’s First Library

Bik, the ruler of the Kitab Domain under the Bukharan Emirate and later a general of the Russian army. The collection in question was confiscated as a war trophy following the capture of the city of Kitab by Russian troops in 1870 and donated by the first Governor-General of Turkestan, K.P. von Kaufman to the Imperial Public Library (now NLR) in St. Petersburg. An inventory of said collection (76 books), as well as the one assembled by the orientalist A.L. Kuhn during the same Shahrisabz expedition (24 books), was discovered in 2016 in the archives of the National Library of Russia. The current article briefly covers Jura Bik’s biography, provides a general outline of his collection, and sets out to identify the manuscripts listed in the mentioned inventory, based upon their published descriptions and the author’s own materials.

Multiregional Pb isotopic linear patterns and diagenesis: Isotopes from ancient animal enamel show Native American “foreign war trophies” are local ancestors

Skull burials are found all over the world and often are interpreted to be foreigners, sacrifices, or victims of warfare. The cause of ancient Native American skull deposits often leads to disagreement among scholars torn between warfare and ancestor veneration. Most previous research suggested a Caddo skull-and-mandible deposit (consisting of clusters of skulls and clusters of isolated mandibles) in southwest Arkansas, USA contained foreign victims of interregional warfare, representing at least 352 people (1253–1399 CE). While Sr isotopes are commonly used in archaeology to investigate such issues, they did not provide a conclusive answer to the geographic origin of the remains. This study advances the biologically available Pb method by constructing a large-scale multiregional Pb isotopic background with ancient animal tooth enamel and uses their associated linear patterns to evaluate human geographic origins. Evaluation of Pb contamination through diagenesis in human tooth enamel is evaluated and advanced using correlation analysis of trace elemental data from teeth and burial soil. A total of 180 animal teeth were processed from 28 ancient sites in the southcentral USA. Combining Pb isotopic linear patterning analysis with the Sr isoscape allows us to establish that the skulls and mandibles are local to southwest Arkansas and indicate or strongly suggest they are non-local to all other tested regions. This illustrates the importance of Pb isotopes in studies of human geographic origins. It also provides one cautionary tale that interpretations about violence related to detached skulls should be evaluated with appropriate methods and evidence and with a critical eye for other explanations. This study was conducted in collaboration with the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and provided both the descendant community and researchers with answers to the questions surrounding the remains, serving as one example of how stakeholders can come together and produce positive outcomes.

Threatening mobility: Cycling during World War II from a Ukrainian perspective

Although bicycles hardly figure in studies of World War II, their use was often a life-and-death matter. This article explores cycling in Ukraine as part of survival strategies and as an object of mobility policies under the Soviet and Nazi regimes. By analysing newspapers, interviews, diaries and rare archival documents, the article concludes that using a bicycle marked a privilege and at the same time put the rider under suspicion of collaboration with an enemy. During the Nazi occupation, the authorities used bicycles to maintain power over subjugated populations. Later, as the Soviet Army proceeded westwards, many civilians and military persons acquired bicycles, first as war trophies and then from the development of the Soviet bicycle industry in response to wartime experiences. The article proposes understanding World War II as a radical exercise in forcing and limiting mobility. In this context, survival implied an ability to transgress established borders.

"War trophy" as a legal category: issues of understanding in legal science

"War trophy" as a legal category: issues of understanding in legal science

Sounds of patriotism and propaganda: the case of the church bell of Mar-quillies (département du Nord, France)

ABSTRACT In late nineteenth-century France, church bells were an integral part of society, sounding the quotidian rhythms of life. During WWI, a shortage of metals for the war effort resulted in German authorities requisitioning church bells in Germany and occupied territories. While the sequestration of the only bell from the church L’Eglise Sainte-Geneviève in the village of Marquillies (France) occurred under this guise, this was an invented cover story in order to remove the bell as a war trophy to Berlin. Contravening the revised Hague Convention of 1907, the removal the bell occurred because, owing to texts inscribed onto the bell by both parties, it was a propaganda tool by the French community and German forces alike. As a unique political symbol of the tension in the Alsace-Lorraine region in the early twentieth-century, the bell serves as a case highlighting the political power of a communal religious icon.

A Cut Above the Rest: The Historic Perspectives of Circumcision and Anesthesia

Introduction: Circumcision is the oldest known recorded surgical procedure dating to at least 4000 BCE and held religious, cultural, and military significance. Preputial resection connoted contrasting meanings among different cultures; in some, circumcision was and remains an important transtion into infancy and then adulthood. In Bronze Age and early Egyptian cultures, however, circumcision was performed on vanquished enemies and improved upon the morbidity and mortality of phallic resectoin as a war trophy. The circumcision of Jesus was a significant subject for many Medieval and Renaissance artists who often portrated the event as an allegroical commentary on contemporary socio-political events. While there has been much literature, anthropological analysis, and art on circumcision, little is known about the anesthesia provided to those undergoing the procedure, especially those for whom the act was not a punitive militaristic procedure. We aimed to identify descriptions of the anesthesia provided to patients or victims undergoing circumcision and how the anesthesia may have evolved into the modern techniques used in the modern era. Sources and Methods: We performed a literature review via PubMed journal articles, texts, and historical discussions detailing the evolution of circumcision and accompanying anesthesia throughout history. Results: Earliest records of circumcision described religious rather than scientific rationale, marking a boy’s ascension to manhood. Documentation of the earliest practices of anesthesiology are relevant to urology through these traditions. Circumcision is first noted in Egyptian temple hieroglyphics dated to 4000 BCE, depicting young men restrained with a priest performing the cut wielding a knife. As early as 2500 BCE, circumcision in ancient Egypt was the first known surgical procedure utilizing anesthesia. A mixture rendered from calcium carbonate and acetic acid formed carbon dioxide on the prepuce resulting in the first rendition of cryo-analgesia. Egypt was not the only culture performing circumcision during this time period. Assyrian records dating back to 400 BCE describe a similar methodology, but also transcribed another primitive method of anesthesia. Assyrians utilized digital compression of the carotid arteries to produce anesthetic effects of both altered consciousness and decreased procedural pain. Carotid compression was commonplace enough that it influenced the language for which the carotid blood vessels are described in both Greek and Russian with translation as “The Artery of Sleep.” The Jewish tradition of brit milah utilizes a few drops of wine in the mouth of the infant, both as a form of analgesia and symbolic of the sealed covenant. It is hypothesized that the sugar interacts with the opiate receptors in the brain which is enhanced by the suckling action, providing comfort. Conclusions: Since their earliest documented history, anesthetic techniques have contributed to and been intertwined with the practices of circumcision.

A Critical Picture of Racism, Trophy Taking, and Forensics: Life Magazine May 22, 1944 “Picture of the Week”

Introduction: The 2020 American Urological Association (AUA) Retrospectroscope Award winning presentation investigated the history of war trophies. Included was Life magazine’s May 22, 1944 “Picture of the Week” showing a young American woman gazing at a skull sent by her boyfriend serving in the Pacific theater of WWII. The caption claimed the skull was from a Japanese soldier “picked up on a New Guinea beach.” The displaying of human remains so casually in a magazine brings up the ethical considerations behind how we use human remains in medicine, art, museums, and collections. Identification and interpretation of bony characteristics and injuries from skeletonized human remains can help demystify medical history, reconstruct battles, and bring identity back to the faceless. We investigated what forensic and paleopathology techniques can tell us about battlefield human remains including the Life skull. Sources and Methods: We reviewed the literature for information about the Life skull and characterization of physical traits and traumatic injuries that can be assessed from skeletal remains. Results: Taking ‘trophies’ from human remains has occurred throughout human history. Anatomical trophy taking by US troops in the Pacific during WWII was fueled by rampant jingoism and anti-Asian racism of the time. Battlefield methods to remove soft tissue from bone included boiling, skinning, scrubbing, lye, and ants. Similar techniques are used by modern medical examiners. The tropical Pacific climate and lack of burial would have hastened natural decomposition of a fallen soldier. The bony pelvis and the skull are the two most useful parts of the skeleton for assessment of human remains. The pelvis is the most reliable bone in the human body for determining sex, followed by the skull. The pelvis and skull also aid in the determination of age at death. Estimation of likely ancestry primarily relies on the skull but is a challenging and increasingly controversial practice. Skeletal remains may show evidence of trauma to the pelvis and skull, providing clues as to cause of death. Pelvic injuries are associated with high rates of mortality from hemorrhage and disruption of the genitourinary system, and evidence of genital mutilation may be present. Forensic methods suggest the Life skull is consistent with male sex. Ancestry, age at death and age of the remains are unable to be determined from the photo. Publication of the Life skull led to public disapproval and an Army memorandum condemning the practice of taking enemy remains. Conclusions: The pelvis and the skull provide useful, objective evidence when studying victims of past wars. Accurate determination of age at death, sex, and likely ancestry may be established from skeletal remains. Forensic methods and paleopathology can help restore the humanity lost by the faceless victims of war.

The Wa of Myanmar and China's Quest for Global Dominance by Bertil Lintner

Reviewed by: The Wa of Myanmar and China's Quest for Global Dominance by Bertil Lintner Jane M. Ferguson Bertil Lintner. 2021. The Wa of Myanmar and China's Quest for Global Dominance. Chiang Mai: Silkworm. 272 pages. ISBN 9786162151705 This slim, but richly detailed, volume represents a recent installment in veteran journalist and prolific author Bertil Lintner's foundational contributions to our understanding of the complex dynamics of Myanmar's politics, and especially those of its peripheries. The areas brought to focus here are the bordering highlands of Northern Shan State and the Southwest of China's Yunnan province, territories long off-limits to other empire-building projects. These edgy zones set the context for the travails of the United Wa State Army (UWSA), the most sizable and best-equipped non-state military in Asia today. The UWSA boasts commanding around twenty to thirty thousand troops, and including weaponry has more firepower than the Communist Party of Burma ever had in the region. [End Page 138] Lintner draws upon extensive experience and direct contacts, including having visited and interviewed Wa soldiers when they were part of the Communist Party of Burma during the late 1980s, and spent months in Wa areas getting to know commanders and villagers who communicated with him in the Shan language. Lintner has returned to the area more recently, at the UWSA's northern capital of Pangkham, the headquarters and boomtown for the Wa state, now an autonomous region at the Shan State–Yunnan border. Lintner carefully traces how ongoing wars, battles for economic access, and political sovereignty have embroiled these areas of Shan State for over seven decades. The book looks outward to how this particular situation has implications for Myanmar–China relationships, past and present, but also how their development and expansion have been intertwined with the Chinese government's changing ideological and economic orientations toward its Southeast Asian neighbors. The book itself consists of six chapters detailing the social and political terrain of the Wa, from mythical histories, colonial noninterference, the Communist Party of Burma, the mutiny against the latter and subsequent foundation of the UWSA, the UWSA's relationship to narcotics and changing global economies, and finally their relationship with contemporary politics and the changing geostrategic agenda of China. One section at the back, "Dramatis Personae" is useful to refer to while reading the body chapters of the book; quite a bewildering number of players are involved. Lintner discusses the history of the Wa area as a zone off-limits to state incorporation until only very recently; part and parcel to this, the Wa were frequently described as wild, even savage. Their headhunting practices perpetuated this stereotype, though it has been argued that [End Page 139] this was more a ritual of war trophies, not making the Wa intrinsically—let alone by "nature"—more brutal or violent than their lowland counterparts who engaged in fatal warfare themselves. Lintner's examination of the historical relationship between Wa communities and Cold War geopolitics is essential background for the current situation; the Wa people themselves were not committed to the ideologies of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB). In reality, the CPB had done little for the ethnic Wa troops and communities who had hardly any interest in the Party's ostensible ideological goals nor its inadequately configured agricultural plans for the area, and lack of concrete efforts to develop the region. In a tinge of irony, or perhaps as evidence that CPB ideology should not frame economic expectations, the years of the Burmese Socialist Program Party in Burma saw an increasing ramping-up of the black market in the periphery and a thriving economy for free trade in these CPB controlled areas (p. 102). From the late 1980s, Lintner saw the writing on the wall that the Wa troops themselves saw little to gain by working with the CPB, and following their 1989 mutiny, sought the relative benefits of working with the Chinese as well as establishing an autonomous region through a cease-fire agreement with the (then) Rangoon government. Through the buildup of weaponry and territory (especially following the vacuum left behind by Khun Sa's surrender of the Möng Tai...

Philippine anger and American conciliation: discourse and emotional diplomacy in the 2018 restitution of the Balangiga Bells

ABSTRACT This paper is a case study on the restitution of the Balangiga Bells by the United States to the Philippines, which has been a decades-long contested issue in the two countries’ relations. This research applies the concepts of restitution, emotional diplomacy and discourse. This paper presents an exceptional instance in which the return of war trophies was achieved through bilateral arrangements rather than multilateral action. The approach examined how Philippine anger and American conciliation were presented as the two countries worked towards the Bells’ restitution. This paper examined public statements made by officials expressing their governments’ official positions. The researchers viewed their remarks as forms of discursive articulation, and analyzed them following Wodak’s Discourse Historical Approach. The paper’s focus moved beyond the surface level meanings of government officials’ statements, but also considered how the articulations were shaped by the context in which they were produced.

On the organization of the war trophies departments of the Polish Army in Eastern Galicia and protection of the cultural and historical heritage during the Polish-Ukrainian war of 1918–1919

Based on the archival materials of the Military Historical Bureau in Warsaw, this article analyses of the organization process and the legal basis of the operation of the war trophies departments at the supreme headquarters of the Polish Army in Eastern Galicia. It also discusses the main steps made to preserve cultural heritage and the problems that appeared during military operations.

HF01-11 RETROSPECTROSCOPE UNDER THE MICROSCOPE: A FORENSIC EVALUATION OF THE 2020 AUA RETROSPECTROSCOPE AWARD WINNING PRESENTATION

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE:The 2020 AUA Retrospectroscope Award winning presentation investigated the history of war trophies. Included was Life magazine’s May 22, 1944 “Picture of the Week” showin...

The (Not-So) Ancient Practice of Anatomical Trophy Taking: An Emphasis on Penile Dismemberment

Objectives Since the first known hieroglyphics showing the war trophy taking of the penis, the capacity of anatomical amputation has always been a nightmarish aspect of wars. War trophies were a prodigious aspect of war in preliterate societies and ancient Greece. Herodotus wrote that Scythian warriors would present to their king the heads of enemies to claim their share of plunder. We performed a literature search to identify instances of war-associated phallotomy in its historical perspective. Methods A review of the literature from primary military and secondary sources was undertaken to assess the aspects of warfare specific to trophy taken, its origins, and impact. Results Egyptian warriors were famed for collecting as many enemy phalluses as possible in the battle of Khesef-Tamahu. There is some evidence that they spared those enemies who were circumcised. Anthropological studies point to the practice of phallotomy in some indigenous peoples of the Americas. There are biblical accounts of phallotomy that specify foreskin status which themselves were also used for royal presentation. Phallotomy also appears to have been documented in African, Arabian, and Meospotomian cultures but continued in some form into the Second World War. Conclusions The barbarity of war may be eclipsed by additional atrocities inflicted by victor over the defeated with the collection of anatomical relics. Such war ‘trophies’ included the penis as an ultimate attempt to humiliate the vanquished

The Fate of Displaced Medieval Manuscripts and Documents from the Hanseatic Cities

This review article sums up the available data on the fate of archival and library materials which were transported to the Soviet Union after WW2 from German cities Lübeck, Hamburg and Bremen. The main focus is on medieval manuscripts and documents. Despite the fact that these cities were in the British occupation zone, their archival and library fonds became Soviet war trophies since in 1942–1944 these documents had been evacuated to what would later comprise parts of the Soviet occupation zone. In August 1946, they were transported to Leningrad by train. Most medieval manuscripts and documents did not remain in Leningrad. In the early 1950s, part of the trophies was handed over to the German Democratic Republic, while a considerable amount of the Hanseatic material was returned to Germany in the 1980–1990s from the Soviet Union and from independent Georgia and Armenia; yet a large part of archival and library materials remained in the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, very little is known about the time and places of their subsequent movements as published documents cover only the period of 1945–1946. Thanks to recent discoveries some displacements can be traced down to the former Soviet cities Leningrad, Moscow, Tomsk, Tbilisi, Yerevan. The review lists German trophy medieval manuscripts and archival materials discovered and identified in Moscow (Moscow State University, Russian State Library, Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts), St. Petersburg (National Library of Russia) and Tomsk (Tomsk State University). Moreover, at least two medieval manuscripts are documented as being preserved in Yerevan.

Kolekcje biblioteczne i muzealne przemieszczone z Niemiec po II wojnie światowej w zbiorach Rosyjskiej Biblioteki Państwowej w świetle publikowanych katalogów Muzeum Książki

<p>W Muzeum Książki Rosyjskiej Biblioteki Państwowej w Moskwie znalazły się kolekcje biblioteczne i muzealne przemieszczone z Niemiec po II wojnie światowej w ramach restytucji za zniszczone dobra kulturalne na okupowanych przez Niemcy terytoriach ZSRR. Obejmują one zbiory Muzeum Książki i Pisma w Lipsku (Deutsches Buch und Schriftmuseum in Leipzig) oraz Biblioteki Krajowej Saksonii w Dreźnie założonej w XVI wieku przez elektora Augusta I. Od czasu zakończenia wojny aż do pierestrojki jako trofea wojenne były one otaczane największą tajemnicą. Po jej uchyleniu rozpoczęto nad nimi badania naukowe. Rezultatem tego jest seria wydawnicza „Коллекции Российской государственной библиотеки”, w ramach której opublikowano dotychczas cztery katalogi: 1. Каталог художесвеннчх переплетов собр ания Карла Бехера; 2. Каталог набивных тканей собрания Роберта Форрерфа; 3. Каталог инкунабулов и палеотипов собрания Генрихха Клемма; 4. Каталог переплетов Якоба Краузе и мастеров его круга (cz. 1, cz. 2, następna jest w opracowaniu). W prowadzonych analizach zawartości każdego z nich badacze poświęcają uwagę manuskryptom, inkunabułom, paleotypom oraz starodrukom. Omawiają też zawartość kolekcji tkanin z Lipska.</p>

Making skull cups: Butchering traces on cannibalised human skulls from five European archaeological sites

The presence of skull cups (bowls made from human calvaria) is considered evidence of the ritualistic treatment of human bodies. These artefacts are characterised by careful manufacturing which can be taphonomically observed in bone surface modifications (BSM) as cut marks and percussion marks. These BSM show morphological similarities across Upper Palaeolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age assemblages. This study is focused on the analysis of the frequency and spatial distribution of cut marks on skull cups from Gough's Cave (UK), Herxheim (Germany), and El Mirador Cave (Spain), as compared to the frequency and spatial distribution of modifications on human skulls (non-skull cups) from TD6.2 of Gran Dolina (Spain) and Fontbrégoua (France), with the aim of identifying a common pattern related to a symbolic background. Nearest neighbour analysis and Kernel analyses were used to identify the distribution pattern of anthropogenically induced modifications. The results indicate that the frequency and distribution of cut marks on human skulls modified into skull cups are unique and are most likely to be the result of meticulous cleaning of skulls. A similar frequency and distribution pattern of modifications was also observed on skulls from Fontbrégoua, possibly related to the collection of skulls as war trophies. No parallels with the treatment of skulls of Homo antecessor at TD6.2 of Gran Dolina were observed. We suggest that the treatment of human skulls for ritualistic purposes therefore results in a consistent pattern of modification.

Engines of Destruction: biographies of a museum’s war trophies

When the First World War commenced in 1914, Queensland Museum was 52 years old. A recognised cultural and scientific leader within the Queensland community, the Museum was supported by the State Government with a mandate to exhibit and research the State’s cultural and natural heritage. At the conclusion of the Great War, Queensland Museum records demonstrate that it was the recipient of four First World War trophies collected under the auspices of the Australian War Records Section. These trophies were initially displayed prominently at the Queensland Museum, however, they fell from favour and were later relocated. With the advent of the centenary of the First World War, these trophies are once again attracting attention through display and research. This paper explores cultural biographies of these weapons and aligns the treatment of these trophies with changing public attitudes to war commemoration thereby considering the role of the Museum in reflecting those attitudes.

War Trophies, War Memorabilia, and the Iconography of Victory in the British Empire

Cultural efforts to mobilise populations behind the war in Britain and its Dominions, Canada and Australia – especially through the exhibition of war trophies – solidified after the Armistice into state-supported institutions creating and promoting a culture of victory. This culture was most pronounced, and most centralised, in Australia. Wartime propaganda institutions grew into national war museums which effectively froze the victorious national war effort, and the moment of triumph, in three-dimensional form. The institutions, and the people who ran them, did not demobilise with the peace. These museums used substantially the same objects and techniques they had used in wartime to support the war effort to create a postwar narrative in which victory established a clear (and martial) national identity, and also justified the war itself. At the same time, the narrative of a British imperial victory was used to create claims of unity which denied the reality of divisions in society. Trophies wrested from wartime enemies were used as pride-inducing objects to fundraise for peace, and fashioned into war memorials that were at once sites of mourning and monuments celebrating military dominance. Visions of postwar peace and progress could not be disentangled from victory and the violence that enabled it.

THE CARNYX ON CELTIC AND ROMAN REPUBLICAN COINAGE

This paper explores the cross-cultural portrayals of an unusual and striking musical instrument, the carnyx, on the coinages of the Romans and the inhabitants of Iron Age Britain and Gaul. Fashioned as a snarling boar, the carnyx was a war horn used by the Gauls and Britons that not only captivated the minds of their artists, but also those of the Romans. This paper studies the cross-cultural phenomenon of its appearance in the coin iconography of the late second to late first centuriesbc. This simultaneous analysis of Roman, Gallic and British coinage reveals that while each culture had a shared belief in the carnyx’s military role, each culture also had its own interpretation of the object’s significance. To the Romans, it was a symbol of the barbarian, to be cherished as a war trophy after a Roman victory, but to those northern Europeans, it was a sign of pride and spiritual significance. An image’s meaning is, therefore, seen to transform as it crosses into a new cultural context.