1,721,105 research outputs found
Weight regulation in British Bronze Age gold objects: a reanalysis and reinterpretation
No full textSophisticated metrological systems were common in the European Bronze Age and mass-regulation has been argued for various classes of object, including gold artefacts. A recent study published in Antiquity used Cosine Quantogram Analysis to demonstrate mass-regulation in a small sample of gold objects from Britain, Ireland and France. Since then, substantial quantities of new data from British Bronze Age gold objects have been collated. Here, the author presents the results of Cosine Quantogram Analysis on nearly 1000 such objects—the largest sample analysed to date. The results demonstrate that, even though some regularities can be discerned, mass-regulation is no longer a tenable interpretation of gold objects from Bronze Age Britain
Bronze Age weight systems as a measure of market integration in Western Eurasia
No full textWeighing technology was invented around 3000 BCE between Mesopotamia and Egypt and became widely adopted in Western Eurasia within ∼2,000 y. For the first time in history, merchants could rely on an objective frame of reference to quantify economic value. The subsequent emergence of different weight systems goes hand in hand with the formation of a continental market. However, we still do not know how the technological transmission happened and why different weight systems emerged along the way. Here, we show that the diffusion of weighing technology can be explained as the result of merchants\’ interaction and the emergence of primary weight systems as the outcome of the random propagation of error constrained by market self-regulation. We found that the statistical errors of early units between Mesopotamia and Europe overlap significantly. Our experiment with replica weights gives error figures that are consistent with the archaeological sample. We used these figures to develop a model simulating the formation of primary weight systems based on the random propagation of error over time from a single original unit. The simulation is consistent with the observed distribution of weight units. We demonstrate that the creation of the earliest weight systems is not consistent with a substantial intervention of political authorities. Our results urge a revaluation of the role of individual commercial initiatives in the formation of the first integrated market in Western Eurasia
Bronze Age Combat. An Experimental Approach
No full textThe Newcastle-led Bronze Age Combat project presents its results from innovative combat experiments with replica Bronze Age swords, spears and shields. The original experimental methodologies used authentic replica weapons in extensive rigorous field experiments, and actualistic combat based on historical manuscripts. These allowed for replicate combat-related wear marks as found on original Bronze Age specimens. \i Bronze Age Combat\i0 provides a full account of the methodologies, replicas, experiments and results in unprecedented detail. By bringing together a range of experimental techniques, materials and expertise, this book is designed as a starting point and reference collection for further studies into Bronze Age combat research, metalwork wear analysis and experimental archaeology
Breaking News! Making and testing Bronze Age balance scales
No full textThis interdisciplinary paper (archaeology, macromolecular chemistry and material science) investigates theproduction and load-bearing capacities of Bronze Age balance scales.The existence of weighing equipment and practices in Late Bronze Age Europe has been proven beyond doubt.Although hundreds of balance weights from Central and Western Europe have recently been identified in thearchaeological record, balance scales are still extremely rare. Consisting of balance beams, suspension cords,scale pans and sometimes metal suspension loops, the only evidence found to date are 18 complete and frag-mented balance beams. Made of bone or antler, these balance beams are often perceived as extremely fragile andonly able to weigh-out minute loads. This, however, had never been tested. In order to understand exactly howBronze Age balances were made, of what materials and how much load they could bear, a number of replicabalance beams, suspension cords and metal loops were created. The load-bearing capacity was then tested withtwo standard material sciences testing methods: three-point bending tests and uniaxial tensile testing
Bronze Age Combat. An Experimental Approach
No full textThe Newcastle-led Bronze Age Combat project presents its results from innovative combat experiments with replica Bronze Age swords, spears and shields. The original experimental methodologies used authentic replica weapons in extensive rigorous field experiments, and actualistic combat based on historical manuscripts. These allowed for replicate combat-related wear marks as found on original Bronze Age specimens. \i Bronze Age Combat\i0 provides a full account of the methodologies, replicas, experiments and results in unprecedented detail. By bringing together a range of experimental techniques, materials and expertise, this book is designed as a starting point and reference collection for further studies into Bronze Age combat research, metalwork wear analysis and experimental archaeology
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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