This essay explores two texts in a fifteenth-century manuscript from Thetford Priory, Norfolk (now ms 329 in the Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge). The first is an account of Marian miracles leading to the building of the Lady Chapel in the thirteenth century, and the second is an account of the formation of its relic collection in the twelfth century, which would be housed inside a statue of the Virgin Mary. The destruction of Thetford Priory at the Dissolution lends them a special significance since they offer evidence of a minor Marian cult that would be otherwise lost to us. The texts also highlight the interactions of aristocratic patrons – the Bigod family – and their Cluniac foundation. This essay explores the texts for the first time, offers a transcription and translation of them and considers their place in the cult of the Virgin at Thetford and in England generally.

For thousands of years, humans have been entertained by board games. The earliest documented game boards date to at least 6000 BC in the Near East (Sebbane 2001), and we know the name, Senet, and rules of a board game from Egypt dating to 3500–3100 BC. Aspects of inequality are omnipresent in the dynamics of the competition and cooperation inherent in games. In this review, I assess the digital version of the board game Catan, which is also called Catan Universe, discussing how anthropological theories such as human behavioral ecology are recognizable in the digital game. Playing this game provides a unique way to test models of inequality.

This article focuses on Bramshill, Hampshire, one of the most important country houses of the early modern period. From 1605 Bramshill was the home of Edward la Zouche (1556–1625), 11th Baron Zouche – a major courtier during the reigns of Elizabeth i and James i – and was reworked in phases up to and just beyond his death. Based on rare-surviving documents from the 1630s as well as analysis of the house’s fabric, this article reconstructs Bramshill’s plan and interiors as they existed in the late Jacobean and Caroline years. It reveals the arrangement of two significant state apartments – for king and queen – and also the lodgings of the owner, his family and guests, as well as service areas. The rich source material additionally allows the furnishings to be analysed. By using Bramshill as an example, the article aims to shed light on English country houses of similar size and date. The early modern period is important as representing an apogee in the history of country house building – reflecting the ambition of owners such as Lord Zouche and the popularity of the royal progress. Visitors to Bramshill in the early seventeenth century included James i, Charles i and Queen Henrietta Maria.

The newly designed HVE gas interface enables the AMS measurement of carbon samples in CO2 form. The CO2, e.g. resulting from the sample combustion in an elemental analyzer, is adsorbed in a zeolite trap and subsequently transferred to a motor-driven syringe. Once diluted with He, the gas mixture is transferred into the ion source of the AMS system. A carbon ion beam is formed in the ion source and mass-analyzed by the AMS system, resulting in 13C/12C and 14C/12C isotopic ratios. The HVE gas interface features two traps and two syringes to maximize the sample throughput, which results in more than 10 samples per hour. The first performance results of CO2 gas sample AMS measurements that were performed with the HVE gas interface in combination with the HVE 210 kV AMS system are presented in this paper. The measurements show that the gas interface contribution to the 14C/12C background is in the 10–15 level and to the precision is at or below 1%.

Florence, Bibliotheca Riccardiana MS 996 is an interesting miscellany of late fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century texts. Among the manuscript's curious content is Dominici Cerbonii Tifernatis TERtheus Magus (‘The Triple God Magus of Domenico Cerbonio from Città di Castello’, fols 7r–10v). Evenly written in a neat humanistic cursive, with rubrication for the titles and a single marginal note (interpreted here as a stage direction), these folios form an account, in Latin prose and verse, of a necromantic ritual performed by members of the Roman Academy in which the shades of Cicero and Virgil are conjured from the pagan underworld to admire the Renaissance city. It is tempting to take this pagan rite as proof of the charges of heresy levelled at members of the Academy for which they were arrested and imprisoned in Castel Sant'Angelo on the orders of Pope Paul II Barbo (r. 1464–71) during Lent, 1468. However, this paper argues that the texts are evidence of a dramatic performance with scenery (or at least a theatrical backdrop) staged by the members of the reformed Academy as part of their annual celebrations of the Palilia (or Parilia) on Rome's birthday 21 April c. 1501.

The present analysis focuses on the material component of time, the devices used for measuring and counting it. The biological basis for subjective, experiential time is first reviewed, as are early strategies found cross-culturally for measuring and counting time objectively. These strategies include timekeeping by natural phenomena, using tallies to keep track of small periods of time, harnessing shadows for daily and annual time, and visualizing time with clocks and calendars. The conclusion then examines how such timekeeping devices might influence the conceptualization of time.

The Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP), recognized as the world's largest loess plateau, has been a subject of ongoing debate regarding the continuity of its sedimentary loess sequence due to its intricate depositional environment. In this study, we conducted dating on a 9.8-m-long Malan loess core obtained from the Sanmen Gorge in the southern CLP using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). The OSL dates indicate loess deposition between 52.4 and 11.3 ka, with no apparent hiatus on a millennial scale, and a sedimentation rate (SR) exhibiting six distinct episodes. Additionally, a comprehensive review of 613 OSL ages from 18 sections at 14 sites across the CLP was conducted. The results reveal loess deposition at most sites shows no apparent hiatus on a millennial scale over the past 60 ka, except for two specific locations. High SR episodes during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 across the CLP were attributed to heightened dust emissions from the source region and an enhanced dust deposition efficiency, while MIS 2 deposits were influenced by an intensified East Asian winter monsoon. Low SR episodes during MIS 1 at most sites were likely associated with reduced atmospheric transportation and pedogenesis. Spatially heterogeneous SR variations across the CLP might be influenced by local depositional environments.

The expeditions removing and excavating antiquities at the site of Xanthos in Lycia (1841–4) have been highlighted by scholars as setting a new precedent for whole-sale collection from a single site, and the support – through the national museum and the Royal Navy – of the British government for archaeological endeavours. Questions remain, however, regarding the failure of the first mission to remove the antiquities. According to the current narrative, the blame rests on the navy officer assigned to support Charles Fellows. Based on archival research, this article presents the concerns that Commander Thomas Graves had with the undertaking. His perspective sheds new light on how ill-planned the initial attempts were, and consequently how much was learned. The obstacles encountered in the first Xanthos expedition spurred developments in archaeological practice, introduced by people of non-academic professions.

Archaeological data often come in the form of counts. Understanding why counts of artifacts, subsistence remains, or features vary across time and space is central to archaeological inquiry. A central statistical method to model such variation is through regression, yet despite sophisticated advances in computational approaches to archaeology, practitioners do not have a standard approach for building, validating, or interpreting the results of count regression. Drawing on advances in ecology, we outline a framework for evaluating regressions with archaeological count data that includes suggestions for model fitting, diagnostics, and interpreting results. We hope these suggestions provide a foundation for advancing regression with archaeological count data to further our understanding of the past.

Cellulose of tree rings is often assumed to be predominantly formed by direct assimilation of CO2 by photosynthesis and consequently can be used to reconstruct past atmospheric 14C concentrations at annual resolution. Yet little is known about the extent and the age of stored carbon from previous years used in addition to the direct assimilation in tree rings. Here, we studied 14C in earlywood and latewood cellulose of four different species (oak, pine, larch and spruce), which are commonly used for radiocarbon calibration and dating. These trees were still growing during the radiocarbon bomb peak period (1958–1972). We compared cellulose 14C measured in tree-ring subdivisions with the atmospheric 14C corresponding to the time of ring formation. We observed that cellulose 14C carried up to about 50% of the atmospheric 14C signal from the previous 1–2 years only in the earlywood of oak, whereas in conifers it was up to 20% in the earlywood and in the case of spruce also in the latewood. The bias in using the full ring of trees growing in a temperate oceanic climate to estimate atmospheric 14C concentration might be minimal considering that earlywood has a low mass contribution and that the variability in atmospheric 14C over a few years is usually less than 3‰.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are major air pollutants that are ubiquitously produced by the combustion of organic materials, and it is extremely important to identify their pollution sources. In this study, molecular fingerprinting and compound class-specific radiocarbon dating (CCSRA) were performed on PAHs from canal sediments and air samples collected in Kolkata, India’s third largest city (population approximately 16 million), where PAHs pollution has been a serious problem. Average PAH (Σ12-parent PAHs) concentrations in air samples were 65.1 ng m–3 in summer and 70.9 ng m–3 in winter and in canal sediments were 32.7 µg g–1, which are classified as “very high-level” pollution. Molecular fingerprinting using methyl-PAH/PAH (MPAHs/PAHs) ratios and isomer pair ratios with molecular weights of 178, 202, 228, and 276 suggested that wood and coal combustion were the dominant sources of PAHs in the sediment, and that atmospheric PAHs were influenced by oil combustion in addition to them. The fraction of contemporary carbon (ƒC) of sedimentary PAHs (0.056–0.100), together with the extremely low MPAHs/PAHs ratio results, lead to the conclusion that the major source of the high concentration of PAHs in the canals is from coal combustion. On the other hand, the ƒC of atmospheric PAHs (0.272–0.369) was close to the share of biomass fuels in India’s domestic fuel consumption in 2011 (about 35%). Furthermore, the observed ƒC-discrepancy between atmospheric and sedimentary PAHs in the same urban environment was interpreted to give an insight into the loading pathway of PAHs to canal sediments in Kolkata.

A new vacuum line to extract CO2 from carbonate and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in water was established at Guangxi Normal University. The vacuum line consisted of two main components: a CO2 bubble circulation region and a CO2 purification collection region, both of which were made of quartz glass and metal pipelines. To validate its reliability, a series of carbonate samples were prepared using this system. The total recovery rate of CO2 extraction and graphitization exceeded 80%. Furthermore, the carbon content in calcium carbonate exhibited a linear relationship with the CO2 pressure within the system, demonstrating its stability and reliability. The system was also employed to prepare and analyze various samples, including calcium carbonate blanks, foraminiferal, shell, groundwater, and subsurface oil-water samples. The accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) results indicated that the average beam current for 12C- in the samples exceeded 40 μA. Additionally, the contamination introduced during the liquid sample preparation process was approximately (1.77 ± 0.57) × 10−14. Overall, the graphitized preparation system for carbonate and DIC in water exhibited high efficiency and recovery, meeting the requirements for samples dating back to approximately 30,000 years.

Studies with multiple radiocarbon dates often contain useful information on the relative locations of the dated levels. Such information can be used to obtain robust, integrated site chronologies, with at times more precise ages than those of the individual dates, where outliers can be identified and downweighted, and where the ages of any undated levels can also be estimated. Examples include trees with radiocarbon dates separated by exactly known amounts of yearly tree-rings, or sedimentary sites where ages further down the stratigraphy can be assumed to be older than ages further up. Here we present coffee, an R package for Bayesian models that apply chronological ordering for fossils and environmental events. Coffee runs natively within the popular and versatile R environment, with no need for importing or exporting data or code from other programs, and works with plain-text input files that are relatively easy to read and write. It thus provides a new, transparent and adaptable educational and research platform designed to make chronology building more accessible.

Illegal poaching brought elephant species to the brink of extinction; therefore, international trade in ivory has become regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES). However, the trade is still allowed for antique items, standing for ivory from a period before 1947 within the European Union. This could serve as a loophole for the laundering of modern ivory. In the described case of the Happy Fisherman statuette, the traded item was declared to be antique, but radiocarbon analysis proved a modern provenance, and the statuette was confiscated. The radiocarbon analysis was later confirmed by information from a Chinese newspaper found inside the statuette. Based on the findings, we strongly recommend careful consideration of each individual ivory piece offered for sale, with a thorough inspection of the items and related documentation carried out by a relevant CITES authority. Any exemption of the commercial ban should be granted only to those applicants who meet the criteria of proper evidence in the form of scientific analysis or reliable and trustworthy documentation.

This interdisciplinary study contributes to the understanding of the use of raw materials and pottery production techniques in Late Punic–Late Republican Malta, focusing on the Tas-Silġ sanctuary and the Żejtun Villa. Plates, bowls and cooking vessels were described typologically, and their fabrics were characterised using polarised light microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence. The aims were to classify these vessels into integrated and coherent fabric groups based on all analyses, to better understand the local production of vessels and to assess a possible local provenance.

Four integrated fabric groups were identified and represent local productions using distinct raw materials or production techniques. These groups can be distinguished typologically, macroscopically, petrographically and chemically. Multivariate techniques, including the chemical analysis of Maltese clays, were produced to enhance the fabric classification and discuss their raw materials. The raw materials identified are consistent with what is known in Maltese geology. One group is distinctive, and the results suggest the possible use of a previously unidentified raw material, Terra Rossa, found over the Upper Coralline Limestone. This new classification provides the basis for further studies of Late Punic–Roman sites in the Maltese islands and the future identification of imports and exports from the Maltese islands.