Journal articles on the topic 'Cleaning bronze'

The factors affecting the efficiency of ion cleaning of CuAl9Fe4 bronze substrates and 12X18H9T stainless steel applying the «Вихрь-К» pilot plant were investigated. The unit is equipped with an inverse magnetron sputtering system with a gas anode, partitioned by cathode assemblies and ensures the creation of radial plasma flows. It was investigated the composition and morphology of the substrates’ surface and the WC-type coatings formed on them, applying «СЭМ 106» scanning electron microscope. It has been established that the effectiveness of the ionic cleaning of the substrate surface is influenced by the magnitude of the potential, under which the target cathodes are in relation to the installation case. Under conditions of relatively high positive potential, purification does not occur at all. At the same time, at a low potential, the sputtering of the material of target cathodes is observed. Therefore, it became necessary to experimentally establish the mode of ion cleaning of CuAl9Fe4 bronze substrates and 12X18H9T stainless steel using an inverse magnetron sputtering system with a gas anode, partitioned cathode nodes, and radial plasma flows, ensuring high-quality cleaning of the surfaces of the substrates without spraying the cathodes. The mode is determined by the electrical resistance of the resistors, which are connected to the cathode nodes. The morphology and surface composition of various parts of the bronze and steel substrates, both after their ionic cleaning and with the deposited coating such as tungsten carbide, was investigated. It was established that, in contrast to coatings formed using this system with axial plasma flows, when using radial flows, there is no dependence of the surface morphology on the remoteness of the investigated coating area relative to the substrate edge. This may be due to the characteristics of the electric field and plasma flows in the vicinity of both target cathodes and metal substrates. Thus, when forming coatings of the WC type on metal substrates with the help of magnetron sputtering systems, there are certain advantages of applying radial plasma flows compared to axial flows.

It was studied the morphology of the WС coatings’ surfaces formed by the ion-plasma method on the substrates of БрАЖ9-4 tinless bronze and 12Х18Н9Т stainless steel. Initially, the substrate had the same roughness. The coatings were formed by spraying a lot of cathodes-targets made of BA brand tungsten and ОСЧ 7-3 spectral-pure graphite. The coating thickness was 8 ... 9 μm. The scanning electron microscope РЭМ 106 investigated the surface morphology of various areas of both the substrates and formed coatings. It is revealed the features of the morphology of the substrates and WC coatings’ surfaces determined by the composition of the substrate as well as the remoteness of the investigated area from its edge. It is noted that, regardless of the substrate material, the coatings consist of a multitude of grains, the sizes of which vary in the same limits of 0.5 ... 3 μm. However, in the case of a coating formed on a bronze substrate, grains with a size of 2 ... 3 μm quantitatively predominate. At the same time, the coatings formed on the steel substrate, the size of the predominant grains do not exceed 1 μm. At the edge of the bronze substrate, the grain size varies over a wider range of 0.5 ... 5 μm. The size of the predominant grains is 2 ... 5 μm. It was concluded that one of the main factors affecting the morphology of tungsten carbide coatings is the surface roughness of the substrate based on the analysis of the surface morphology of the substrates before and after their ionic cleaning. That roughness of the substrate arose during its ionic cleaning before forming the coating. Attention is drawn to the fact that the difference in the sputtering coefficients of the elements that form the substrate is of particular importance. This difference in coefficients predetermines the peculiarities of the surface morphology of the substrate after cleaning, which is confirmed by the literature data on the sputtering coefficients of the elements (Fe, Cr, Ni, Ti, Cu, Cu, and Fe) that are part of the applied bronze and steel grades. In addition, the concentration of the electric field at the edge of the substrate plays an important role in cleaning the substrate and coating formation

A double-ditched sub-rectangular enclosure measuring c.42 by 48 m was excavated. It was shown to have been a Late Bronze Age settlement, with a single central roundhouse opposite the only entrance, and with a rectangular structure in one corner. The site produced a typical range of Late Bronze Age artefacts. The site is low-lying, and environmental data from the waterlogged fills of a well indicate an open landscape of damp grassland. These factors together with the absence of waste from the earliest stages of crop-cleaning among carbonized plant remains from the enclosure, point to a primarily pastoral economy.A few Neolithic features and artefacts were also found but these are not considered to represent permanent settlement.

<p class="Abstract">This study aims to develop a low invasive and selective laser cleaning procedure for the removal of reactive corrosion products on Cu-based artefacts without damage the substrate. In a preliminary step, laser cleaning was performed on two typologies of artificially corroded copper reference samples. The effect of the variation of laser parameters as pulse duration and output power, was thus evaluated on an oxide layer, simulating a protective patina, and a hydroxychloride layer, simulating a reactive corrosion products layer to be removed. The optimized cleaning procedure was validated on an archaeological artefact, a bronze coin. Morphological, microchemical and microstructural characterizations were performed by means of optical microscopy, confocal microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-Ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy, before and after laser cleaning. The experimental findings show that laser cleaning, in optimized conditions, can reduce the thickness of the hydroxychloride layers slightly affecting the oxide layers. The difference in the interaction with laser radiation of these two layers seems to be mainly related to the difference in grain size and porosity. Notwithstanding these encouraging results, in order to define the real feasibility of the laser cleaning procedure, a further validation on real artefacts is mandatory due to the variation in thickness and composition of the corrosion products formed during long-lasting uncontrolled degradation processes.</p>

Checking the irreversible process of clean-up is a delicate task that requires a work of synthesis between theoretical knowledge and practical experience, to define an effective operating protocol on a limited patch area to be extended later to the entire artefact’s surface. In this paper, we present a new, quick, semi-automated 3D photogrammetry-based solution to support restorers in the open-air bronze artwork cleaning from corrosion and weathering decay. The solution allows the conservators to assess in real time and with a high level of fidelity in colour and shape, the ‘surfaces’ to be cleaned before, during and after the clear-out treatment. The solution besides allows an effective and valuable support tool for restorers to identify the original layer of the bronze surface, developed and validated during the ongoing restoration of the Neptune Fountain in Bologna.

The composition of the solder, which provides the necessary technological properties of the product, namely, electrical conductivity and mechanical strength of the junction was selected. The possibility of brazing beryllium bronze with a silver contact plate by furnace brazing using fluxes based on NaCl: CaCl2: CaF2 salts, respectively (24: 61: 15% mass) in the atmosphere was established. The possibility of brazing BrB2 beryllium bronze in the atmosphere using a research flux based on the eutectic of the NaCl – CaCl2 system (28…72% wt.) adding 15% CaF2 over a copper layer is shown. The technology for brazing beryllium bronze BrB2 with silver contact plates with silver solder PSr68 has been developed. The brazing process is combined with the hardening operation, which allows avoiding additional thermal operations; flux residues are removed during hardening and do not actually need additional cleaning operations; applied solder, flux components and technologies for applying a layer of copper are not scarce and relatively cheap, which can significantly reduce the cost of the product, subject to the requirements of the technical specifications. A technological process that makes it possible to refuse of using vacuum systems and toxic fluxes has been developed.

I am interested in the daily activities of the non-Blites to understand ancient Mesopotamian society.Analysing the activities performed within thehouses of the non-6lites is the first step in definingthe social and economic differentiation amonghouseholds and, in turn, a better understanding ofthe role of these households within ancient communities.1 analyse activity areas using a relativelynew method - micro-debris analysis - which analysessmall artefactual and ecofactual remains(Fladmark 1982; Rosen 1989; Matthews 1995).In my dissertation, 365 sediment samples (10litres each) were taken from over 20 structures.The rationale for sampling deposits and countingand weighing the small remains found withinthe earthen matrix is based on a model of depositionalforces. Site formation theorists suggestthat macro-debris left by daily activities are usuallydisturbed and often discarded far from theloci of the original activity. Whereas the large findsmay be scavenged, discarded, or curated in periodsof abandonment, smaller debris is often sweptinto corners or trampled into the surface of afloor. These small items are more likely thanlarge items to remain where they were droppeddue to the difficulty in removing small debriswith traditional cleaning methods (Schiffer 1983;Dunnell & Stein 1989). My research focused onthe analysis of artefacts under 1 cm in dimensionfound in occupational surfaces and featuresin order to define activity areas at severalEarly Bronze Age (c. 3100-1900 BC) sites insoutheastern Turkey

Coatings to be used for cultural heritage protection face peculiar challenges. In the last few decades, several projects addressed the issue of new treatments in the field of copper alloy artworks. Nonetheless, no one has yet been recognised as a more acceptable solution with respect to traditional choices, with their known limits. The lack of standard methods to test new coatings that can be effectively applied to artworks make it more difficult to compare different studies and open the way to practical use in restoration. Over the years, several issues have gradually been better focused, even though they are not yet widely considered in new coatings efficacy evaluation for application on copper alloy artifacts. They are mainly linked to the quite complex surface of this category of heritage objects and the role it plays on coating effectiveness. An overview of the variety of relevant surface properties is provided (presence of corrosion products and old protective treatments, cleaning methods, surface unevenness, just to name a few) with a special focus on the role of coating performance. Some methodological choices are discussed for the selection of mock-ups, testing techniques and weathering procedures, with peculiar attention to comparison with real artworks.

The information taken from David A. Scott’s book “Copper and Bronze in Art” was crucial for this research on copper corrosion products in Stuttgart. The examples discussed are: (1) the nature and variability of ‘Black Spots’ (or ‘Brown Fuzzies’), mainly copper sulfides, resulting from the action of sulfurous gases on copper containing materials at different relative humidities; (2) cupric hydroxide occurring during maritime corrosion or by cleaning, patination, and pigment synthesis (Bremen blue) when alkaline solutions are used; (3) the wondrous phenomenon of curly malachite, which does not imply any human involvement; (4) chalconatronite formed by the contact of metal to alkaline surface films on soda glass, providing sodium and carbonate ions; (5) the formation of copper formates in contact with glass by the action of electrolytes from the glass hydrolysis and the pollutant formaldehyde reacting to the formate; (6) syntheses and crystal structure determination by powder X-ray diffraction (no single crystals needed) of various basic copper acetates (‘verdigris’) with the aim to better differentiate between historic production methods.

The possibility of controlling the chemical purity of the surface of optical elements by the ellipsometric method has been analyzed. The rationale of the possibility of measuring the parameters of contaminating films on the optical surface of elements by the ellipsometric method has been given simplification has been shown of the process of determining the thickness of the contaminating film while expanding the possibility of its measurement on an optical element made of different materials. Ellipsometric studies of freshly polished and used metal mirrors made of copper and copper alloy (zirconium bronze), aluminum and its alloys AMG-6, AL-9, AL-24 have been carried out. Research has also been conducted on elements made of K-8 and K-108 (State Standard 3514-94) optical glasses, which are the most typical materials used for manufacture of optical parts for laser technique of visible and near IR-range, from single crystals of NaCl, BaF2 and sapphire (Al2O3). Parameters of contaminating films on the surface of these elements have been measured. It has been concluded that it is advisable to use the ellipsometry method during the input (before carrying out physicochemical cleaning) and during the output (after cleaning) control of the optical element to assess the contamination of the optical surface and also for the quantitative analysis of the concentration of contaminants on the optical surface of the elements while working off the technology of their physicochemical cleaning.

In October 2012, the Conservation Laboratory of the Institute of Archaeology at the NCU in Toruń received soil samples excavated from a kurgan in Grudna, Złotów commune, dated to the Roman period. No human remains were reported inside the grave chamber apart from some elements of grave goods: a glass bead, a clay spindle whorl, three iron nails, fragments of a bone pin, bronze and iron chest fittings, and a bronze vessel with a stamp of Pubius Cipius Polybius, who was active around the first half of the 1st century AD. In result of a cleaning treatment removing all soil impurities, tiny textile fragments were obtained, which were, interestingly, made of woollen fibres in sprang technique, while some of them imitated gauze (known in later periods) but were manufactured in a plain 1/1 weave. Technological analysis of the fibres revealed their high quality with average fibre thickness ranging from 8 to 18 μm. Insufficient material base for these textiles in Poland does not give a convincing answer to a basic question of whether it was an import or local production. Studies on the subject performed by European researchers, most notably J. Maik, indicate local or North European production. Hopefully, more light will be shed on this problem by further comparative studies.

The investigation of fires and burning within the archaeological record has a long history, and the applied methods are diverse. There have been several investigations of prehistoric archaeological sites, but Middle Bronze Age contexts (2000–1450 BC) of the Carpathian Basin have not been widely studied beyond studies of ritual burning or warfare. In this paper, we aimed to add further details to this topic in the household context via thin-section soil micromorphology and related phytolith and charred plant matter analysis. The combination of these techniques has been proven to be advantageous due to their high-resolution quality, but phytolith analysis of soil/sediment via thin sections (i.e., in fixed environment) has not been largely explored yet. In this study, these methods were used to investigate various burning events that affected a Middle Bronze Age Vatya house within the tell site of Százhalombatta-Földvár, Hungary. Three types of fire/burning events were investigated. One was related to hearth activity, another one to a presumed ‘cleaning’ of the house, and the last one to the termination of the building. In the first two cases, everyday life was under the microscope; the latter was more enigmatic, and probable intentional destruction was demonstrated.

Burnt mounds, or fulachtaí fiadh as they are known in Ireland, are probably the most common prehistoric site type in Ireland and Britain. Typically Middle–Late Bronze Age in age (although both earlier and later examples are known), they are artefact-poor and rarely associated with settlements. The function of these sites has been much debated with the most commonly cited uses being for cooking, as steam baths or saunas, for brewing, tanning, or textile processing. A number of major infrastructural development schemes in Ireland in the years 2002–2007 revealed remarkable numbers of these mounds often associated with wood-lined troughs, many of which were extremely well-preserved. This afforded an opportunity to investigate them as landscape features using environmental techniques – specifically plant macrofossils and charcoal, pollen, beetles, and multi-element analyses. This paper summarises the results from eight sites from Ireland and compares them with burnt mound sites in Great Britain. The fulachtaí fiadh which are generally in clusters, are all groundwater-fed by springs, along floodplains and at the bases of slopes. The sites are associated with the clearance of wet woodland for fuel; most had evidence of nearby agriculture and all revealed low levels of grazing. Multi-element analysis at two sites revealed elevated heavy metal concentrations suggesting that off-site soil, ash or urine had been used in the trough. Overall the evidence suggests that the most likely function for these sites is textile production involving both cleaning and/or dyeing of wool and/or natural plant fibres and as a functionally related activity to hide cleaning and tanning. Whilst further research is clearly needed to confirm if fulachtaí fiadh are part of the ‘textile revolution’ we should also recognise their important role in the rapid deforestation of the wetter parts of primary woodland and the expansion of agriculture into marginal areas during the Irish and British Bronze Ages.

Sheet metal forming normally requires the application of lubricants to protect the tool and the sheet against wear. The parts must be cleaned to remove the lubricants before joining and coating. This process step wastes energy and water resources. In the case of non-lubricated sheet metal forming, cleaning processes would not be necessary anymore and the process chain could be optimized regarding ecological and economical aspects. However, forming without lubrication leads to an intensive contact between the tool and the sheet. Thus, higher wear occurs and process reliability cannot be ensured for industrial mass production. High alloy steels are applied for mass-market products e.g. for appliances. Because of the higher strength, strain hardening and galling effects the austenitic steels are comparatively difficult to form. For dry metal forming of high alloy steels new tool concept must be developed to withstand the higher loads. In this work, a laser generated tool surface with a supporting plateau of hard particles (metal matrix composite (MMC-surface)) is presented. Spherical fused tungsten carbides were injected into the surface by laser melt injection. The metallic matrix of the composite was rejected by applying laser ablation. In consequence, the hard particles stood out of the matrix and were in direct contact with the sheet material. The surface of hard particles had a high hardness about 3000 HV and less metallic character. Cold working steel and aluminium bronze were tested as reference tool materials. Dry and lubricated forming experiments were carried out by strip drawing with bending and deep drawing of cups. Dry deep drawing of cups was not possible by using cold work tool steel. This can be traced back to the occurrence of wrinkles and cup base fracture at the same time. Applying aluminium bronze as tool material for dry metal forming resulted in high adhesive wear. Within this work the feasibility of dry metal forming of high alloy steel could be demonstrated by applying the MMC-surface whereby adhesive wear could be reduced.

The first two fieldwork seasons of the Kato Phana Archaeological Project took place in 1997 and 1998 as a collaborative venture between the British School at Athens and the Mytilene Ephorate of the Greek Archaeological Service. The work comprised archaelogical surface survey and mapping of the lower Kato Phana Valley, cleaning and planning of the sanctuary of Apollo Phanaios and geophysical testing of selected areas around the sanctuary site. This article first sets out the aims of the Project and describes earlier work at the cult centre (Geometric to Early Christian periods) by K. Kourouniotes and W. Lamb. This is followed by an account of the survey methodology and of the results gained: these include the location of Bronze Age findspots NE and SW of the cult centre and a dense concentration of sherds, tile and ancient masonry, ranging in date from the Archaic to Early Christion periods, radiating out from the sanctuary, particularly to the S and SE. To the NW, the survey also succeeded in identifying the ancient quarry site from which grey limestone blocks were cut for the sanctuary constructing. The paper concludes with an account of the geophysical testing carried out at Kato Phana, and looks forward to the next projected phase of the Project's fieldwork.

Abstract The paper displays the influencing factors, as well as the possibilities and challenges that come along with the process combination of selective laser melting (SLM) and heavy wire bonding. For the investigations, test samples were created from bronze powder on a SLM-machine. Then, 300 μm aluminum and copper wires were bonded on the SLM generated structures. Wire bonding capability is analyzed on untreated as well as on post-processed surfaces. The influence and effectiveness of various steps of post-processing such as cleaning, sandblasting and grinding are analyzed. Thus, interdependencies between both manufacturing process as well as the post-processing can be revealed. The effect of surface roughness and hardness of the assembly partner are investigated as well. To draw statistically backed conclusions, all tests are performed using DoE (Design of Experiment) studies. The primary characteristics besides the bond parameters that influence the wire bonding capability are focused in this paper. The process stability as well as the interconnection quality are evaluated by optical non-destructive laser microscopic analysis. Destructive pull and shear tests and metallographic cross sections are performed to evaluate the adhesion characteristics. The process stability and the yield obtained are important factors to describe the process and to evaluate the industrialization potential. By a profound understanding of all interdependencies between the two processes, a flexible manufacturing technology for power devices can be established.

An archaeomagnetic study requires samples to be oriented very precisely prior to the removal from the site and to be transported safely since most of the times the collected samples are very soft and fragile. In this study we present new techniques for sampling and consolidation of sediments and unconsolidated soils, which are useful tools for palaeomagnetic and archaeomagnetic investigations. An application of the above techniques has been performed in burnt soils (roastbeds) in an archaeological site near Eisenerz (Austria), which used to be a cooper-smelting place in Bronze Age (around 1450 b.c.) Several roast beds have been collected and consolidated in order to investigate the distribution and the stability of the magnetization of these materials. We obtained around 350 samples and the natural remanent magnetization and the magnetic susceptibility of all these samples have been measured with a 2G squid cryogenetic magnetometer and a GEOFYSIKA KLY-2 susceptibility meter, respectively. Plots of the natural remanent magnetization and magnetic susceptibility versus depth indicate different layers of heating and give some first evidences for the use of these soils during the smelting procedure. Higher values of the intensity of the magnetization as well as of the magnetic susceptibility represent the more intense heating layer. Magnetic cleaning (thermal and Af demagnetization) of pilot samples revealed the presence of a stable component of magnetization. It seems, therefore, that these types of materials are suitable for an archaeomagnetic investigation, since they are able to record and preserve all the necessary magnetic information and provide important knowledge concerning the recent history of the Earth's magnetic field.

Agriculture in Jutland during the Single Grave culture, Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age – as revealed by archaeobotanical analysesPlant macrofossils can, together with other archaeological finds, provide an insight into many aspects of past agriculture and society. They can be preserved in various ways (fig. 1).Carbonised plant macro-remains can give us information on some of the species handled and used by people in the past, but they do not provide a complete picture of the exploited flora as not all plants have an equal chance of becoming charred. To aid analysis of charred plant macrofossils, soil samples are often processed in a socalled flotation machine (fig. 2).Waterlogged plant macrofossils can provide a view of the vegetation around a particular site, but it can be difficult to determine which plants people exploited in the past and which simply occurred naturally. Waterlogged plant macrofossils are prepared for analysis by wet-sieving.The other forms of preservation (fig. 1) give only a very fragmented picture of the past flora as very special conditions lead to their preservation.The period extending from the Single Grave culture to the end of the Early Bronze Age covers about 1800 years of Danish prehistory (2800-1800 BC). To date, a total of 41 archaeobotanical analyses have been carried out from 35 sites from this period in Jutland (fig. 3), which provides a relatively poor chronological representativity. Seen geographically, there are many blank areas and other areas show a tendency towards a clustering of sites (fig. 3). This distribution is not an expression of the distribution of the prehistoric evidence but is exclusively a result of a bias in sampling.Arable agriculture was introduced to Southern Scandinavia around 4000 BC, and during the Funnel Beaker culture it was dominated by emmer, although naked barley, hulled barley, einkorn and bread wheat were also present from the beginning. Naked barley did, however, become more common during the course of the period towards the beginning of the Single Grave culture (fig. 4). At the same time, pollen evidence reveals that there was a general opening up of the landscape with a greater extent of grazing land and arable fields, the exception to this being in Djursland.During the Single Grave culture naked barley was the dominant crop (fig. 5), but not to such a great extent as was previously thought, becaurse wheat, in the form of emmer (fig. 7), also occurs in such quantities that it must have been a separately cultivated crop. This crop apparently having had a ritual significance, perhaps because it was used in beer making, can perhaps explain the dominant position of naked barley. This ritual element is also apparent in that naked barley was apparently used as a decorative element on certain pottery vessels (fig. 6).In the Late Neolithic, naked barley was no longer the clearly dominant crop (fig. 8), although it does dominate percentagewise with regard to the number of grains and chaff fragments (fig. 9), as wheat is now the dominant crop at seven out of the 13 sites. Naked barley was the dominant form of barley (fig. 10), while emmer was the predominant form of wheat, although there is also a large quantity of spelt in the material, and it is almost the numerical equivalent of emmer (fig. 11). The fact that wheat and barley became more-or-less of equal importance as crops is an interesting development. This suggests that, in the Late Neolithic, there was the adoption of more diverse agriculture in which a greater number of different crops were cultivated than previously. It also seems that several different cereals were cultivated at the same time at most sites. This was an important innovation as it reduced the risk of a total harvest failure.This development continued into the Early Bronze Age, when wheat became increasingly widespread at the cost of barley; various forms of wheat are dominant at seven out of 11 localities (fig. 12). Wheat is also now the dominant cereal type with 56% of all grains and chaff fragments. Naked barley was still the dominant form of barley, but hulled barley occurs at seven localities (fig. 13). With regard to wheat, it varies from locality to locality as to which type is dominant; emmer and spelt are each dominant at two sites and bread wheat is dominant at one (fig. 14). Overall, emmer dominates with 64% of all the identifiable wheat grains and chaff fragments, whereas spelt comprises 24% and the other wheat types are much less widespread (fig. 15). Agriculture in the Early Bronze Age was apparently very diverse, involving the cultivation of many different crops. At least two different crops were cultivated at all sites, probably to spread the risk of crop failure and to secure a good harvest.On the basis of the plant macrofossils and the other archaeological finds it is possible to gain an insight into various agrarian processes. There are no finds of the actual fields, but ard marks have been found dating all the way back to the beginning of the Funnel Beaker culture. Each farmstead probably had more than one field as the dominant cereal types were probably cultivated as monocultures. The fields were ploughed with the aid of a ard, probably a “crook ard”, which is the oldest known type in Denmark (fig. 16). The ard was probably drawn by oxen as seen depicted on the Litsleby rock carving (fig. 17). This is confirmed by finds of cattle foot bones from the Middle Neolithic showing characteristic deformities which indicate the exploitation of oxen as draught animals. We do not know when in the year the fields were ploughed but it is very likely that this took place in connection with preparation for sowing, and possibly also after sowing in order to cover the seed corn with soil. It is generally thought that up until the end of the Roman Iron Age all crops were sown in the spring. Based on the evidence from the weed flora, this seems also to have been the case during the period dealt with here. The weed seed assemblages also indicate that the arable fields were not manured or weeded.On the basis of similarities to modern sickles, it is presumed that cereals were harvested using, respectively, blade sickles (Single Grave culture), flat-flaked flint sickles (Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age) and bronze sickles (Early Bronze Age). However, no wear analyses have been carried out to date on sickles from these periods. In addition, use could have been made of so-called “threshing combs” (fig. 18), as known from the Late Funnel Beaker culture. Seeds of weeds of short stature seen in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age finds suggest that the cereals were harvested low on the straw.There are no records of threshing implements, but finds of threshed but not fully processed/cleaned naked barley from the Single Grave culture at Grydehøj suggest that use was made of flails, sticks or similar. After threshing, the grain was cleaned, a process possibly carried out in the same way as revealed by ethnographic 55 studies (fig. 19). In the finds so far, it was only possible to identify two waste products from cereal processing: the waste from the final hand-cleaning, by which impurities and glumes are removed (the glumes are most easily removed by loosening them from the lightly roasted grain with the aid of a quern or possibly a wooden mortar (fig. 20)), and the waste product arising from sieving naked barley with a fine-meshed sieve.There are three different find categories representing more-or-less fully processed cereal products – stored grain, offerings and material burnt by accident during cooking or roasting. The grain was probably stored in some form of container but unfortunately these are not often preserved. This is probably due to them being made from organic material, as seen at Peterborg Vest near Horsens (Late Neolithic) where the grain was stored in wooden containers, and during the Iron Age, from where there are finds of wooden containers and leather sacks. Pottery vessels are of course another possibility, but from the study period the only example is from Uglviggård. In the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age it appears that the grain was, as a rule, stored in the eastern part of the house.It is difficult to evaluate precisely the economic significance of arable agriculture relative to animal husbandry as the archaeological record tends to favour the former whereas pollen evidence gives better information on the latter. This disparity is probably due to prevailing conditions and the potential for preservation, as well as the fact that cereals (apart from rye) belong to a special group of plants that are “cleistogamous” (fig. 21), i.e. the plant’s flowers never open and, as a consequence, no pollen is released. At the present time it is not possible, therefore, to evaluate precisely the relationship between the economic significance of arable agriculture and animal husbandry. Wild plants were also exploited. There is evidence for the gathering of hazelnuts, apples, berries, various weed seeds and acorns.It is possible, on the basis of the finds of charred grain and seeds, combined with other archaeological finds, to obtain a relatively clear picture of the crops, arable agri culture and agrarian practices in the period extending from the Single Grave culture until the end of the Early Bronze Age. The shift that apparently began at the transition from the Late Neolithic – whereby arable agriculture became increasingly diverse, involving the simultaneous cultivation of several crops at every site - could suggest that arable agriculture became of greater importance relative to animal husbandry and perhaps, in particular, the exploitation of natural resources. At the same time, this strategy distributed risk and therefore provided a more stable subsistence base as the risk of failed crops was reduced. It is possible that this increased stability in the subsistence base could have contributed to laying the foundations for some of the increased surplus apparent in Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age society in the form of greater investment in prestige objects and the potential to support specialised craftsmen.The economy did not of course just comprise arable agriculture. Animal husbandry also played an important role, but the importance of this role relative to arable agriculture is unfortunately not revealed by the finds. Agriculture was supplemented by the gathering of various nuts, fruits, berries and edible plants. In addition, birds, land and marine mammals were hunted, and there was fishing for fresh- and salt-water fish and gathering of shellfish. In other words, there was a broad-based and diverse economy during all three archaeological periods.Marianne Høyem AndreasenMoesgård Museum

The difficult operating conditions of metallurgical equipment due to dynamic loads require special attention when designing components in the field of reliability and fail-free operation. In order to increase the reliability and durability of the spindle drive unit of the rolling stand of the hot rolling mill "1680", it is proposed to switch from "oil mist" type lubrication systems to "oil-air" type systems for bronze liners and bearings of the balancing mechanism. The oil-air lubrication principle has undeniable advantages in terms of component lubrication, flow distribution, and provides a volumetric flow of oil by injecting air into each bearing of the equipment, guaranteeing an accurate volume at each lubrication point, regardless of bearing back pressure, atmospheric pressure, temperature and oil viscosity . In order to optimize decision-making when designing new components and parts of metallurgical equipment, the vector of making reliable design decisions is increasingly shifting towards mathematical modeling of production processes and situations that arise during the performance of technological operations. It has been established that in order to determine the permissible value of the content of wear products in the form of metal shavings, one can use the general theory of recognition, which is an important section of technical cybernetics and deals with the recognition of images of any nature, namely, the "minimal risk" method. Recognition algorithms are partly based on diagnostic models that establish a connection between the state of a technical system and diagnostic signals coming from these systems. The performed calculations make it possible to accurately establish the limiting values of iron-containing impurities in the working fluid of the "oil-air" lubrication system and indicate that if the limit value x0 = 11 is exceeded, that is, if the content of iron-containing impurities in the working fluid is more than 11 g per 100 cm3, the object should be stopped for inspection and the working fluid should be cleaned by filtration. The possibility of determining the permissible value of the content of wear products in the form of metal shavings in "oil-air" lubrication systems using the general theory of recognition, namely the "minimal risks" method, which simplifies the process of setting the date of its cleaning by filtration, without burdening it with especially cumbersome formulas and calculations.

Cooking pits – in clusters or in rowsCooking pits can occur either arranged in one or more rows, following a roughly parallel course, or in clusters of up to several hundred closely-spaced examples with no apparent pattern in their location. This type of structure is known from Southern Scandinavia, Germany and Poland. Most cooking-pit systems belong to the Bronze Age, but occasional examples date from the Early Iron Age.The cooking-pit complexes are described according to the following characteristics: 1) location in the landscape, 2) proximity to water, 3) distance to contemporary settlements, hoards and graves, 4) uniformity of form and content and 5) paucity of finds (Heidelk-Schacht 1989).In recent years in Denmark, attention has become focussed on cooking-pit systems and many new examples have been investigated (fig. 1). There are at least 42 known sites (fig. 2) comprising a total of at least 4300 cooking pits. However, as most rows or clusters of cooking pits have not been fully excavated, the real number is much greater. There are virtually no da­table finds from the pits, as a consequence of which there is a tendency to date these features alone on the basis of their form and structure. Radiocarbon dates are the most important source when dating and many new sites, especially with uni-seriate arrangements of cooking pits, have been scientifically dated.In this article, the cooking-pit question is examined with a point of departure in a uni-seriate system at Frammerslev in Salling and a complex system at Brok­bakken, Bjerringbro.FrammerslevDuring Skive Museum’s investigations in 2002 and 2006, discoveries included a uni-seriate cooking-pit system and a 31 m-long row of postholes 200 m further to the east, parallel to the row of cooking pits. The row of cooking pits (fig. 3) lies on a plateau located on a large promontory. The promontory hosts several concentrations and a row of burial mounds, constituting a marked feature in the landscape, also in the Late Bronze Age. The row of cooking pits runs directly towards a burial mound in both directions. Six cremation graves were found in the burial mounds, indicating that they were also used for burial purposes in the Late Bronze Age. There is no settlement in the vicinity.The row of cooking pits comprises 33 pits located in extension of one another, forming a 67 m-long northeast-southwest oriented row (fig. 4). Towards the northeast, the row continues in a more scattered fashion with a further seven cooking pits. In the middle of the series there is a complex of at least four cooking pits ( fig. 4, no. 1), of which two are included in the row. Repeated re-cutting can be seen in the complex and this is the only site so far where repeated use can be documented. At Frammerslev, there are subsidiary cooking pits associated with the row – a feature also seen at Roerstensgård and Bækmarksgård.The other cooking pits in the Frammerslev row are circular or elongate-oval. On the basis of the deposits in the pits, a typology has been constructed (fig. 5).When the cooking pits are classified according to the presence or absence of a compact charcoal-rich layer at their base, as well as one or two overlying layers, two main types can be identified, one with three, and one with two sub-types:Type 1 includes cooking pits with a black, compact charcoal-rich basal layer. Type 1a has a basal layer of charcoal and over this a yellow to brownish-yellow layer with red-burnt areas and, uppermost, brown topsoil material with scattered fire-shattered stones and charcoal. There may be red-burnt soil at the edge of the pit. There are, accordingly, three layers within the cooking pit and the red-burnt layer over the charcoal is unbroken and follows the course of any subsidence in the pit. Type 1b has brown topsoil-like fill directly over the basal charcoal layer. There are, accordingly, only two layers in the cooking pit. Type 1c comprises a black charcoal-rich basal layer with a substantial content of fire-shattered stones in the same layer as the charcoal, by which it distinguishes itself from types 1a and 1b. Type 2 covers cooking pits lacking black charcoal layers and possibly also without fire-shattered stones. In the case of type 2a, the whole pit is filled with brown clay, possibly lacking, or with only occasional scattered, fire-shattered stones and with very little charcoal. There is no red-burnt subsoil associated with these pits. With type 2b, the basal layer comprises clay with a very low content of charcoal and occasional fire-shattered stones or yellow to brownish-yellow clay with many small pieces of fire-shattered stone but no charcoal and no red-burnt clay.As can be seen from the overview (fig. 6) of the cross-sections of the cooking pits, there is great uniformity within, respectively, types 1a and 2a.Cooking pits of type 1 were primarily hearths where the cooking stones were heated in situ and the subsoil has become coloured by the effect of the intense heat. Subsequently, the pit served its purpose as, presumably, a cooking place for the roasting of meat. While the stones were still hot the fire was extinguished by being covered by thin layers of soil being thrown in; in several cases these can be seen to have acquired a reddish colour due to the effect of the heat. In several of the cooking pits there are very small fire-shattered stones, presumably the result of repeated use. Finally, the pit was either intentionally covered after its last usage or stood open and, with time, became filled with soil-rich culture layers. Accordingly, the cooking pit represents a complete series of events.The cooking pits of main type 2, with no or few fire-shattered stones, no or only a little charcoal and lacking red-coloured subsoil, must be explained in a different way. Either fire was never lit in the cooking pit – in which case it is difficult to maintain the term cooking pit and the pit could perhaps represent a kind of preliminary phase to its actual use, or the pit has been completely cleaned out after use, resulting in only the overlying layers being present. This type represents perhaps the pre- and post-phases of the actual cooking-pit activity.By examining the distribution of types 1 and 2, a pattern emerges which can provide the basis for an interpretation of the uni-seriate structure at Frammerslev (see fig. 4). Cooking pits of type 1 are the deepest and lie on both sides of the large central pit. Cooking pits of type 2 lie further away at both the northeastern and southwestern ends. This distribution of types suggest that the most commonly-used features are the central ones and that the row grew successively out from this core. Two shallow pits of type 2 furthest to the north could perhaps be the beginning of the next stage.The cooking pits at Frammerslev have not been archaeologically dated on the basis of artefacts. Two cooking pits of type 1 have been radiocarbon dated (fig. 7). If account is taken of the greatest uncertainty, the calibrated dates are, respectively, 860-790 BC and 1070-830 BC, i.e. Late Bronze Age, periods IV-V.Uni-seriate structures are found on Funen and Zealand and in Central and Northwestern Jutland and have many common features. They have often a marked location in the landscape, several occur on or near the highest point, for example on larger or smaller promontories extending out into a wetland area. Virtually all the uni-seriate cooking-pit rows lie in the vicinity of a wetland. Five out of 11 uni-seriate cooking-pit rows point in the direction of a burial mound. It is difficult to judge whether the cooking-pit rows lie remotely relative to settlements and burial grounds; investigation of even greater areas would be required in order to establish with certainty the absence of contemporary sites in the vicinity. This situation is further complicated by the fact that the houses from this period appear to be located quite a distance apart.The uni-seriate cooking-pit structures are, as a rule, lacking in finds. Nine uni-seriate cooking-pit rows have been radiocarbon dated (fig. 9). The radiocarbon dates reveal that the cooking-pit systems were used in the Late Bronze Age, periods IV-V, especially in the years between 950 and 800 BC.Brokbakken I-IIIIn the period between 1990 and 2008, Viborg Stiftsmuseum carried out several arch­aeological investigations on a 20 hectare site at Bjerringbro. These excavations have been named Brokbakken I-III. By way of the excavations at Brokbakken it has proved possible to demonstrate that large and small concentrations of cooking pits can be found in the vicinity of a multi-seriate system of cooking pits.Brokbakken comprises a delimited promontory (fig. 10), bordered on three sides by 8-10 m high steep slopes and gullies running out towards the flat Gudenå river valley. To the southeast, the promontory slopes gently without any natural boundary. The concentration of cooking pits at Brokbakken II lies a little withdrawn from the edge of the promontory, facing out towards a small gulley. The multi-seriate system of cooking pits, Brokbakken III, lies along the edge of an extensive valley which, 1.5 km distant, runs into the Gudenå.Brokbakken I yielded a concentration of 30 cooking pits, especially of type 1b, together with refuse pits from the Late Bronze Age, periods IV-V.At Brokbakken II, there is a concentration of 85 densely-placed cooking pits, primarily of type 1c (basal layer comprising a mixture of charcoal and fire-shattered stones), as well as several smaller clusters (fig. 11). There are a few finds, including a collection of sherds (fig. 12) from a c. 23 cm high vessel. Radiocarbon dating of a cooking pit shows that, when the greatest uncertainty is taken into account, it was in use between 1130 and 840 BC (see fig. 7), i.e. in Late Bronze Age, periods IV-V.At Brokbakken III, a multi-seriate system of cooking pits was investigated in 1997. This comprised 110 examples arranged in three to four rows (termed rows F, G, I and J), forming a fan shape (fig. 13), as well as 42 cooking pits lying individually or in smaller or larger concentrations. The majority of the cooking pits are circular or oval and they vary in size.The cooking pits at Brokbakken III are built up according to the same basic principles as those at Frammerslev, and cooking pits of types 1b, 2a and 2b are present. Cooking pits with a compact layer of charcoal at the base are, conversely, absent, but these are presumably replaced by cooking pits of type 1c. Overall, it can be seen that the majority of the cooking pits, in all 55% of all those which were sectioned, belong to type 1b.When account is taken of the greatest uncertainty in the radiocarbon dates, the cooking pit alignments can be seen to have been in use in the period 1020-800 BC, i.e. Late Bronze Age, periods IV-V.Multi-seriate cooking-pit systems are known from 10 localities on Zealand, Funen and Bornholm, and in Jutland. They are located on hillsides or level ground with small elevations or on flat promontories extending out into wetland areas. The cooking-pit rows are found by bogs, lakes and watercourses. The multi-seriate cooking-pit systems have no fixed orientation and several structures follow a meandering or curved course. At the known localities, there are between two and 15-16 rows of cooking pits, and it seems that systems comprising three to four rows are commonest. Five structures have been dated to the Late Bronze Age, periods IV, V and VI.Concentrations of cooking pits with more than 25 cooking pits are known from 20 localities on Zealand, Møn and Funen and in Jutland (see fig. 2). The concentrations have very diverse locations – some are on or by marked hill tops or on an even plateau, while others occur on sloping terrain as well as on the floor of a valley. The cooking-pit concentrations lie in the vicinity of lakes, watercourses or bogs or close to open water.A cooking-pit concentration at Fårdalgård (fig. 19) lies in undulating terrain, virtually a promontory. On the plateau behind the cooking pits, settlement traces from the Late Bronze Age have been found. Further away, there are burial mounds and only 100 m away lies the find site for the famous Fårdal hoard. The latter is dated to the Late Bronze Age, period V, and the system of cooking pits can, as a whole, be dated on the basis of pottery to the Late Bronze Age; this also applies to other concentrations of cooking pits.ConclusionSystems of cooking pits must be seen in a wider context, where their topographic location and information on the area’s settlements, burial grounds and hoards are included in the evaluation. On the basis of topographic location, it is reasonable to suggest that uni-seriate structures could have had a different function from multi-seriate examples, and that the complexity is further increased if there are both rows and concentrations of cooking pits at the same site.Uni-seriate structures are often located high up in the vicinity of, or pointing towards, burial mounds containing finds from both the Early and Late Bronze Age. These structures should probably be interpreted in conjunction with the burial mounds, and be seen as cultic features employed in connection with burials or other ceremonies associated with the cult. Their physical form, a long row of cooking pits at Frammerslev, constitutes a clear eastern demarcation and the associated row of postholes is a clear western demarcation of the row of burial mounds. The group of burial mounds towards the north could be a form of transverse demarcation of the area. In this way, areas are created within the landscape, each of different significance – outside and inside – a totally ritual landscape.The multi-seriate systems and large concentrations of cooking pits are often conspicuously located in areas with watercourses, lakes or bogs or facing out towards open water. Several sites, such as Brokbakken I-III and Fårdalgård, are located on marked promontories extending out into large river valleys where offerings have been found in the vicinity. It seems obvious to imagine these large concentrations and numerous rows of cooking pits as the result of many people’s activities in connection with great gatherings and cultic ceremonies. The argument can be made for an supra-regional presence of people, and the site can, therefore, be interpreted as a gathering place for a larger area.Figure 20 shows the location of the cooking-pit concentrations relative to the main watercourses in Central Jutland: Gudenå, Skals Å and Nørre Å. There is about 30 km in a straight line from the concentrations of cooking pits in Lynderup to the cooking pits of both Brokbakken I-III and Munkebo. Within this area, with its meandering river systems, and the areas of land they delimit, there are several systems of cooking pits. Their location in the landscape suggests some form of territorial division. We can almost predict the location of the next structure in the landscape!Brokbakken I-III also demonstrates, at a superior level, a form of division of the landscape. High up on the promontory there are cooking pits and traces of metalworking delimited by the slightly lower-lying multi-seriate system of cooking pits. Below the promontory by the Gudenå there is an offering area. On the plateau nearest the promontory there are scattered traces of settlement and in the burial mounds further away the rich graves of important people. If this interpretation of the landscape is correct, the systems of cooking pits can have had a function as markers in the ritual landscape.The investigations of rows of cooking pits show that there are differences in the physical composition of the individual structures, but it is the fill layers which form the basis for a more subtle interpretation of their function. These layers could represent various stages of use and cleaning out. The investigation at Frammerslev shows that the rows of cooking pits were used several times, and it is possible to argue for successive expansion. A form of division into separate sections is also seen at several sites.On the basis of many ethnographic parallels and practical experiments, it has been suggested that the cooking pits were used to cook meat. If we accept that the cooking pits of type 1 were used for cooking, and that food for 10 people can be prepared in a single pit, the systems of cooking pits at Frammerslev could have been used to prepare food for 60-100 people, while those at Brokbakken III could perhaps provide for 800-1000 individuals.Inge Kjær KristensenMuseum SallingSkive Museum

AbstractThis paper presents an innovative poly(vinyl)alcohol-based film forming system, specifically devised for the controllable and selective cleaning of copper-based artifacts. Traditional cleaning procedures are commonly performed using mechanical and/or chemical methods. Unfortunately, both these methods present some limitations related to both the poor selectivity and invasiveness in case of the mechanical procedure, and to the scarce control over the involved reactions when dealing with a chemical approach. The innovative system proposed in this work allows combining the advantages of chemical and mechanical treatments thanks to the confinement of a complexing agent (EDTA) within a fluid, polymeric matrix, that is able to form a solid thin film upon drying. After treatment, the polymeric film can be completely removed from the artwork through a gentle peeling action. In this contribution, the film formation mechanism was investigated by means of thermal analysis and rheology; the role of plasticizers, volatile solvent fraction, and quantity of loaded EDTA is also discussed. Finally, the results of cleaning tests performed on artificially aged samples, and on a real case study, the “Fontana dei Mostri Marini” by Pietro Tacca in Florence, are presented.

New investigations of the magnificent cart from FredbjergThe magnificent carts of Dejbjerg type from the Pre-Roman Iron Age (fig. 6) appear to be related to the vehicles used by the elite in the Celtic oppidae in Late la Tène times. The Danish group of carts comprises six almost identical vehicles (fig. 3), presumably produced in Danish workshops during Martens’ phase IIB 2. Of these, two were deposited in graves (those from Langå and Kraghede) in phase IIB 2, two were abandoned on settlements in the Early Roman Iron Age and the final two were deposited in the bog at Dejbjerg, possibly late in the Early Roman Iron Age, as more than 100 year old antiquities.The Danish carts each included more than 300 metal fitting of iron or bronze, a similar number of nails and more than 100 wooden components. A replica was constructed using methods as near as possible to the original in collaboration between Odense Museums and the Iron Age Village of Næsby in 1983-88. The vehicle was built according to drawings and descriptions produced on the basis of investigations of the all the Danish examples. The project was then continued by the mus­eum in Skjern-Egvad in 1996-2002. It has given such extensive knowledge of the cart’s construction and its performance that it is now possible to interpret wear traces and repairs on the original cart components.In 1969, potsherds, quernstones and bronze fittings turned up on a newly ploughed moorland plot at Fredbjerg in Western Himmerland (fig. 1). The items were declared to be danefæ, i.e. treasure trove belonging to the Danish State, by the Keeper of National Antiquities and their discovery prompted the Prehistoric Museum at Moesgård to carry out an archaeological excavation. This revealed the remains of a longhouse with living quarters to the west and a sunken eastern end (fig. 2) in which the remains of a cart of Dej­bjerg type were found (figs. 4-8). North of the house – not far from the original find site for the bronze fittings, which probably derive from an ornamented yoke – were traces of smithing and bronze casting activities (figs. 11-12). The remains of the yoke and cart formed part of the metal depot from a workshop associated with the last phase of the house. This was dated on the basis of pottery to the first half of the Early Roman Iron Age. At least two further houses were located in the area but it is uncertain whether there was a village at the site. The best parallel to this find is seen in the cart fittings from the longhouse in the village at Dankirke, which burnt down in the first part of the Early Roman Iron Age.In addition to a number of iron fittings (figs. 4, 5, 8) the cart remains from Fred­bjerg comprise parts of the undercarriage and the body of the vehicle; these are of Dejbjerg I type. The boards of the undercarriage had fingered fittings with rectangular perforations (fig. 5). The very long axle bolts on the shafts indicate a heavy axle construction (fig. 4). A very long iron fitting probably derives from the cart’s front axle. The corner plates from the body of the vehicle were found together with an iron-reinforced handle (fig. 6). Fluted ornamental nails (fig. 7) show no evidence of the red enamel seen on corres­ponding nails from Dejbjerg II. In addition to above, there are the cast fittings for a pikestaff or goad (stimulus) (fig. 10) and two cast ring-headed pins of bronze (fig. 9); these presumably constitute parts of the harness. The remaining bronzes comprise animal figures, rods and punch-decorated sheet fittings (figs. 11-12) which probably plated a wooden yoke. There are no exact parallels to a yoke of this type but a number of leather decorated yokes from chariot burials dated to the Hallstatt period show a certain similarity to the punch-decorated fittings from Fredbjerg (fig. 13). The double ducks may have functioned as terrets (rein rings) on the yoke.The Fredbjerg cart has, therefore, both fittings and ornamentation in common with the other carts of Dejbjerg I type, as well as having a series of special, local feat­ures. This suggests that some of the cart’s cast and punch-decorated bronze fittings could have been based on the same models as the fittings seen on the other carts, whereas the other fittings may have been produced according to local models related to the zoomorphic ornaments such as fibulae, Holstein belts and North Jutish cast belts. Jens Martens links these to the first horizon of princely graves in his phase IIB 1 (fig. 15).As the Fredbjerg house was constructed in Martens’ phase IIB 2, and abandoned in the first part of the Early Roman Iron Age, the cart is slightly older than the house. The Fredbjerg cart was – like the other examples – produced in one or more Danish workshops by Celtic influenced craftsmen as a symbol demonstrating the power of the weapon-bearing elite, described by Tacitus in Germania (chapter 10) from 98 BC – perhaps on the basis of an older tradition. Shortly after the birth of Christ the elite came under the influence of Roman culture (and mythology) and the carts were broken up. Only a few were preserved and these apparently functioned in rites of the fertility cult (without weapons) associated with the cart cleansing cere­mony which Tacitus describes in the above-mentioned work (chapter 40), probably according to a later tradition. If it is true that Nerthus (Njord) and Freja/Frøj were linked with the cult’s rite, then it is possible that the carts discovered at Rappendam and Tranbær also resulted from fertility rites concerning pars-pro-toto cart sacrifices. In other words, the old fertility gods may have been worshipped from period II of the Pre-Roman Iron Age (like the Rappendam find) and onwards until the later part of the Early Roman Iron Age (like the Tranbær/Dejbjerg finds), when they were overcome and taken as hostages by the weapon-bearing Ases with Roman and Greek colleagues who were worshipped up into the Viking Age. Per Ole SchovsboNæstved

In 1973, the Kherson Expedition of the Institute of Archaeology of Ukraine under the leadership of A. I. Terenozhkin discovered a group of kurgans near the village of Lvove in the Kherson region. Five Scythian graves were investigated in the mound 11. Two of them belonged to the Amazons and have not been robbed. Some of the items from these kurgans are stored in the National Museum of Ukrainian History. After the restoration, they in fact have got a second life and a new attribution. The most interesting are things from burial 2: a pair of iron spring forceps, an iron knife with a bone faceted handle, and a bronze bowl. According to the Doctor of Veterinary O. P. Melnyk, these items are close to modern medical instruments. The bronze bowl with thin sides, a flat bottom and a corolla with a rigid ledge could serve for fast heating of water and sterilization of tools. Iron forceps could be used to take tools out of boiling water. The shape of the knife blade and its technological features are similar to modern hoof knives designed to care for the hooves of animals. A similar bowl was found in burial No. 4, while another bowl and a bronze knife were in the main burial 7 of the same kurgan. Moreover, the collection of the Museum contains a series of iron knives from kurgans near Pervomaivka village in Kherson region. Their design features, according to Professor O. P. Melnyk, allow us to see in them medical instruments. One of them by the shape of its blade resembles a modern scalpel. Judging by pieces of art, healing and zootechnics have reached a high level among the Scythians. Significant examples in this respect are the metal bowl from the kurgan Kul-Oba and the amphora from the kurgan Chortomlyk. The scene of the castration of a horse is depicted on an amphora. As reported by Strabo, the Scythians had a common practice to castrate horses, and the Amazons have been taking care of their horses on their own. Consequently, it is quite possibly that the Amazons carried out certain veterinary operations. In addition to castration, an equally important operation in horse breeding is the cleansing of hooves. The considered artefacts served as tools that could be used both in medicine, and in veterinary medicine. Thereby we can make a conclusion that the Scythian Amazons did not concede to men in medical practice as well.

The sixteenth-century Fountain of Neptune is one of Bologna’s most renowned landmarks. During the recent restoration activities of the monumental sculpture group, consisting in precious marbles and highly refined bronzes with water jets, a photographic campaign has been carried out exclusively for documentation purposes of the current state of preservation of the complex. Nevertheless, the highquality imagery was used for a different use, namely to create a 3D digital model accurate in shape and color by means of automated photogrammetric techniques and a robust customized pipeline. This 3D model was used as basic tool to support many and different activities of the restoration site. The paper describes the 3D model construction technique used and the most important applications in which it was used as support tool for restoration: (i) reliable documentation of the actual state; (ii) surface cleaning analysis; (iii) new water system and jets; (iv) new lighting design simulation; (v) support for preliminary analysis and projectual studies related to hardly accessible areas; (vi) structural analysis; (vii) base for filling gaps or missing elements through 3D printing; (viii) high-quality visualization and rendering and (ix) support for data modelling and semantic-based diagrams.

The article deals with problems of publishing little known artifacts made of wood from the explored archaeological sites. The results of studying the so-called “hexapods” kept in the collection of the State Hermitage Museum are discussed. These objects were found in the 1940s during the excavations of elite burial mounds at well-known sites of Pazyryk, Tuekta, and Bashadar of the Scythian period. “Hexapods” constitute whole and fragmented sets of six medium-length shafts, round in cross-section, with the length reaching 1.2 m, diameter up to 0.3 m, and conical thickenings at the ends. They were made with well-sharpened knife from thin trunks of coniferous trees (cedar pine). Round and square through holes were drilled with a chucking drill and cut with a chisel at the upper ends of the shafts at a small distance from the flat ends. Felt cape-covers and bronze vessels for burning incense were found together with the shafts. A comprehensive technical and technological analysis of these wooden items has made it possible to identify several variants of functional purpose which the sets of “hexapods” might have had: ritual and commemorative as a tent for shamanic rituals; “Scythian bath” for cleansing and ablutions, or medical tent for treating colds and lung diseases. Physical parameters of “hexapod” shafts (material, size, and shape) are provided. The type of wood with specific physical properties which preconditioned its choice for making the object was established from anatomical features of its cell structure. Tools, techniques, and methods of producing these objects have been identified.

A large two-aisled house at Nørre Holsted in southern Jutland – Analysis of a longhouse from Early Bronze Age period IIn 2011 and 2012, Sønderskov Museum investigated an area of 65,000 m2 at Nørre Holsted, between Esbjerg and Vejen. The investigation revealed a multitude of features and structures dating from several periods, including extensive settlement remains from the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age. Excavations have also been carried out in this area previously, resulting in rich finds assemblages. This paper focuses on the site’s largest and best preserved two-aisled house, K30, which is dated to Early Bronze Age period I (1700-1500 BC). This longhouse therefore represents the final generation of houses of two-aisled construction. It also contained charred plant remains, which provide information on arable agriculture of the time and the internal organisation of the building at a point just prior to three-aisled construction becoming universal. The remains indicate continuity in both agriculture and in internal organisation between the late two-aisled and early three-aisled longhouses. The two-aisled house at Nørre Holsted can therefore make a significant contribution to the long-running debate about this architectural change, which has often focussed on developments in farming: The increased importance of cattle husbandry is said to have been the main reason for breaking with the tradition of two-aisled construction.The Nørre Holsted locality comprises the top of a sandy plateau that forms a ridge running north-south. The slightly sloping plateau lies 38-42 m above sea level and the ridge is surrounded by damp, low-lying terrain that, prior to the agricultural drainage of recent times, was partly aquiferous. The site occupies a central position in the southern part of Holsted Bakkeø, a “hill island” that is primarily characterised by sandy moraine. People preferred to live on well-drained ridges with sandy subsoil throughout large parts of prehistory and this was also true in the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age. On the area uncovered at Nørre Holsted, remains were found of 16 two-aisled houses, of which three had sunken floors. Ten of these houses are dated to the Late Neolithic and three are assigned to the first period of the Bronze Age. During Early Bronze Age periods II and III, a total of 14 three-aisled longhouses stood on the sandy plateau. As can be seen from figure 2, the houses from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age lie more or less evenly distributed across the area. However, the buildings from the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age period I form a distinct cluster in the eastern part, while a western distribution is evident for the houses from Early Bronze Age periods II-III. The western part of the site lies highest in the terrain and a movement upwards in the landscape was therefore associated with the introduction of the three-aisled building tradition. Tripartition of the dimensions can be observed in both the two- and the three-aisled houses, with this being most pronounced in the latter category. The three-aisled Bronze Age houses from periods II and III, which represent the typical form with rounded gables and possibly plank-built walls, show great morphological and architectonic uniformity. Conversely, the two-aisled house remains are characterised by wider variation. The small and medium-sized examples, with or without a partly-sunken floor, represent some very common house types in Jutland. Conversely, the largest longhouse, K30, represents a variant that is more familiar from areas further to the east in southern Scandinavia.The largest two-aisled house at Nørre Holsted was located on the eastern part of the sandy plateau, where this slopes down towards a former wetland area (fig. 3). The east-west-oriented longhouse had a fall of 1.5 m along its length, with the eastern end being the lowest part at c. 38 m above sea level. Its orientation towards the wet meadow and bog to the east is striking, and it stood a maximum of 50 m from the potential grazing area. A peat bog lay a further 100 m to the east and in prehistory this was probably a small lake. Sekær Bæk flows 600 m to the north and, prior to realignment, this watercourse was both deeper and wider where it met the former lake area. Access to fresh water was therefore optimal and opportunities for transport and communication by way of local water routes must similarly have been favourable. It should be added that the watercourse Holsted Å flows only 1 km to the south of the locality.House K30 had a length of 32 m and a width of 6.5-7 m, with the western part apparently being the broadest, giving a floor area of more than 200 m2. The eastern gable was slightly rounded, while that to the west was of a straighter and more open character. The wall posts were preserved along most of the two sides of the building and the internal (roof-) supporting posts were positioned just inside the walls. Two transverse partition walls divided the longhouse, with its ten central posts, into three main rooms (fig. 5). These posts were the building’s sturdiest and most deeply-founded examples. Charcoal-rich post-pipes could be observed in section, and these revealed that the posts consisted of cloven timber with a cross-section of c. 25 cm. The central posts were regularly spaced about 3 m apart, except at the eastern and western ends, where the spacing was 4 m (fig. 5). The posts along the inside of the walls were less robust and not set as deeply as the central posts. There were probably internal wall or support posts along the entire length of the walls. These were positioned only 0.5 m inside the walls and must therefore have functioned together with these. Based on the position of these posts, the possibility that they were directly linked to the central posts can be dismissed. It seems much more likely that they were linked together by transverse beams running across the house – a roof-supporting feature that, a few generations later, moved further in towards the central axis to become the permanent roof-bearing construction. The actual wall posts or outer wall constituted the least robust constructional element of the longhouse.Remains of the walls were best preserved in the eastern part, and the wall posts here were spaced 1.5 m apart in the eastern gable and 2 m apart in the side wall (fig. 5). The wall posts had disappeared in several places, particularly in the central part of the building. Entrances could not be identified in the side walls, possibly as a consequence of the fragmentary preservation of the post traces. Two transverse partition walls, each consisting of three posts, were present in the western and eastern parts, with the latter example being integrated into a recessed pair of posts. The western room had an area of 59 m2 and contained two pits, while the eastern part was filled with charred plant material, consisting largely of acorns. The actual living quarters may have been located here, even though the larger central room, with an area of c. 85 m2, could just as well represent the dwelling area with its large, deep cooking pit (fig. 5). The eastern room had an area of 60 m2 and therefore did not differ significantly in area from that to the west.The entire fill from features that could be related to longhouse K30 was sieved. The objective was to retrieve small finds in the form of micro flakes and pottery fragments that are normally overlooked in conventional shovel excavation. The associated aims included ascertaining whether the flint assemblage could reveal the production of particular tools or weapons in the building. Unfortunately, not a single piece of pottery or any other datable artefacts were recovered. Only a few small flint flakes, which simply show that the finds from house K30 conform to the typical picture of a general reduction in the production of flint tools at the transition from Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age. The 11 flint flakes from the longhouse merely reflect the simple manufacturing of cutting tools. Consequently, no bifacial flint-knapping activities took place within the building, and there is a lack of evidence for specialised craftsmen. The great paucity of finds is typical of houses from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age which do not have a sunken floor. It is therefore important to look more closely at the charred plant material (plant macro-remains) concealed in the fills of the postholes and pits. In the case of house K30, the soil samples have provided a range of information, providing greater knowledge of what actually took place in a large house in southern Jutland at the beginning of the Bronze Age.The scientific dating of house K30 is based on barley grains from two roof posts and from a wall post in the eastern part. The three AMS radiocarbon dates assign the longhouse to Early Bronze Age period I, with a centre of gravity in period Ib (fig. 6). Plant macro-remains have previously been analysed from monumental three-aisled Bronze Age houses in southern Jutland. It is therefore relevant to take a look inside a large longhouse representing the final generation of the two-aisled building tradition. Do the results of the analyses indicate continuity in the internal organisation of these large houses or did significant changes occur in their functional organisation with the introduction of the three-aisled tradition?During the excavation of longhouse K30, soil samples were taken from all postholes and associated features for flotation and subsequent analysis of the plant macro-remains recovered. An assessment of the samples’ content of plant macro-remains and charcoal revealed that those from two central postholes and a pit contained large quantities of plant material (fig. 7), whereas the other samples contained few or no plant remains. It was therefore obvious to investigate whether there was a pattern in the distribution of the plant macro-remains that could provide an insight into the internal organisation of the house and the occupants’ exploitation of plant resources. The plant macro-remains can be used to investigate the organisation of the house because the house site lay undisturbed. The remains can therefore be presumed to date from the building’s active period of use. The plant remains lay on the floor of the house and they became incorporated into the fill of the postholes possibly as the posts were pulled up when the house was abandoned or when the posts subsequently rotted or were destroyed by fire. The plant macro-remains therefore reflect activities that have taken place in the immediate vicinity of the posthole in question.Only barley, in its naked form, can be said to have been definitely used by the house’s occupants, as this cereal type dominates, making up 80% of the identified grains (fig. 8). It is also likely, however, that emmer and/or spelt were cultivated too as evidence from other localities shows that a range of cereal crops was usually grown in the Early Bronze Age. This strategy was probably adopted to mitigate against the negative consequences of a possible failed harvest and also in an attempt to secure a surplus. Virtually no seeds of arable weeds were found in the grain-rich samples from the postholes where the central posts had stood; just a few seeds of persicaria and a single grass caryopsis were identified. This indicates that the crops, in the form of naked barley, and possibly also emmer/spelt, must have been thoroughly cleaned and processed. In contrast, the sample from pit A2500, in the western part of the house, contains virtually no cereal grains but does have a large number of charred acorn fragments (fig. 9). The question is, how should this pit be interpreted? If it was a storage pit, then the many acorns should not be charred, unless the pit and the remnants of its contents were subsequently burnt, perhaps as part of a cleansing or sterilisation process. It could also be a refuse pit, used to dispose of acorns that had become burnt by accident. In which case this must have been a temporary function as permanent refuse pits are unlikely to have been an internal feature of the house’s living quarters. Finally, it is possible that this could have been a so-called function-related pit that was used in connection with drying the acorns, during which some of the them became charred.From the plant macro-remain data it is clear that the occupants of longhouse K30 practised agriculture while, at the same time, gathering and exploiting natural plant resources. It should be added that they probably also kept livestock etc., but these resources have not left any traces in the site’s archaeological record – probably due to poor conditions for the preservation of bones. A closer examination of the distribution of plant macro-remains in house K30 reveals a very clear pattern (fig. 9), thereby providing an insight into the internal organisation of the building. All traces of cereals are found in the eastern half of the house and, in particular, the two easternmost roof postholes contain relatively large quantities, while the other postholes in this part of the building have few or no charred grains. This could suggest that there was a grain store (i.e. granary) in the vicinity of the penultimate roof-bearing post to the east, while the other cereal grains in the area could result from activities associated with spillage from this store, which contained processed and cleaned naked barley. No plant macro-remains were observed in the posthole samples from the opposite end of the building. The plant remains in this part of the house all originate from the aforementioned pit A2500, which contained a large quantity of acorns, together with a few arable weed seeds. The pit should possibly be interpreted as an acorn store or a functional pit associated with roasting activities or refuse disposal.The distribution of the plant macro-remains provides no secure indication of the location of the hearth or, in turn, of the living quarters. However, if the distribution of the charcoal in the house is examined (fig. 10), it is clear that there was charcoal everywhere inside house K30. This indicates that the longhouse was either burned down while still occupied or, perhaps more likely, in connection with its abandonment. A more detailed evaluation of the charcoal found in the various postholes and other features reveals the highest concentrations in the central room, suggesting that the hearth was located here, and with it the living quarters. This is consistent with the presence of a large cooking pit, found in the eastern part of this room. Perhaps this explains the presence of open pit A2500 in the western part of the house, which constitutes direct evidence against the presence of living quarters here. Another explanation for the highest charcoal concentrations being in the central room could also have been the entrance area, where there would be a tendency for such material to accumulate.Plant macro-remains have previously been analysed from large Bronze Age houses in the region, namely at the sites of Brødrene Gram and Kongehøj II, and plant remains from a somewhat smaller Late Neolithic house at Brødrene Gram were also examined. In many ways, K30 corresponds to the houses at Brødrene Gram (houses IV and V) and Kongehøj II (house K1). There is continuity with respect to the cereals represented in the Late Neolithic house at Brødrene Gram and the three-aisled Early Bronze Age houses at Brødrene Gram and Kongehøj II; naked barley and emmer/spelt are the dominant cereal types. There is, however, some variation in the cereal types present in the three-aisled Bronze Age houses, as hulled barley also occurs as a probable cultivated cereal here. It therefore seems that, with time, an even broader range of crops came to be cultivated when houses began to have a three-aisled construction. Another marked difference evident in the composition of the plant macro-remains is that the grain stores in the two-aisled houses contain only very few weed seeds, while those in the later houses are contaminated to a much greater extent with these remains. This could be due to several factors. One possible explanation is that the grain was cleaned more thoroughly before it was stored at the time of the two-aisled houses. Another explanation could be that there were, quite simply, fewer weeds growing in the arable fields in earlier periods, possibly because these fields were exploited for a shorter time and less intensively. This would mean that the field weeds were not able to become established to the same degree as later and fewer weeds were harvested with the cereal crop. As a consequence, the stored grain would contain fewer weed seeds relative to later periods. If the latter situation is true, the increase in field weeds could mark a change in the use of the arable fields, whereby each individual field was exploited for a somewhat longer period than previously.A common feature seen in all the houses is that they had grain stores in the eastern part of the building and storage was therefore one of the functions of this part. No secure evidence was however found of any of the houses having been fitted out as a byre. The three-aisled house IV at Brødrene Gram apparently also had a grain store at its western end – where K30 had its acorn-rich pit. However, while the western end of the Brødrene Gram house, and that of the other houses, is interpreted as a dwelling area, this room apparently had another function in K30, where the living quarters appear to have been located in the central room, as indicated by the cooking pit and the marked concentration of charcoal.Longhouse K30 differs from the later houses at Brødrene Gram and Kongehøj II in that these two three-aisled houses contain large quantities of chaff (spikelet forks) of wheat, possibly employed as floor covering, while no such material was observed in K30. However, it is unclear whether this is due to differences in the internal organisation of the buildings or to preservation conditions. Conversely, the use of possible function-related pits, like the one containing acorn remains in house K30, appears to have continued throughout the subsequent periods, as the Bronze Age house at Brødrene Gram also contains similar pits, the more precise function of which remains, however, unresolved. A high degree of continuity can thereby be traced, both in the crops grown and the internal organisation of the two- and three-aisled longhouses in southern Jutland. There was, however, some development towards the cultivation of a wider range of crops.In turn, this suggests that, in terms of arable agriculture and internal building organisation, there was no marked difference between the late two-aisled and early three-aisled houses – or, more correctly, between the large houses of Bronze Age periods I and II in southern Jutland. More secure conclusions with respect to continuity and change in the internal organisation of the buildings would, however, require a significantly larger number of similar analyses, encompassing several house types of different dimensions from a longer period of time and across a larger geographic area. Nevertheless, let us address the problem by including house sites in other regions, because this should enable us to gain an impression of the degree to which the picture outlined above for southern Jutland is representative of larger parts of southern Scandinavia.In several cases, both in the large two-aisled longhouses from Late Neolithic period II to Early Bronze Age period I and the large three-aisled longhouses from Early Bronze Age periods II-III, we see an internal division of the building into three main rooms. This tripartite division does, however, become clearer and more standardised with the advent of the three-aisled building tradition, which is a special characteristic of the longhouses of southern Jutland. Food stores were apparently often kept in the eastern parts of these houses. This is shown by the concentrations of charred grain found in these areas, and in some cases the larders must have been positioned immediately inside the eastern gable. Over time, traces of grain stores have been recorded from sunken areas in a number of house sites in Jutland. As a rule, these sunken floors constituted the eastern part of two-aisled houses of Myrhøj type, which were particularly common, especially in Jutland, during the Late Neolithic and the first period of the Bronze Age. One reason for lowering the house floor in this way was possibly a requirement for more space to store grain. It has been pointed out that a sunken floor gives greater head clearance in a room which, in turn, optimises the possibility of keeping the grain dry. In some cases, these sunken floors were almost totally covered by charred barley and wheat grains; surely the result of stored grain having fallen from an open loft during a house fire.In the Late Neolithic, arable agriculture apparently increased in importance as it became more intensive and diverse, with a wider range of crops now being cultivated. Agriculture in the Early Bronze Age was simply a continuation of the agricultural intensification evident in Late Neolithic arable agriculture. There was a possible difference in that fields were probably more commonly manured in the Early Bronze Age, though the first secure evidence for manuring dates from the Late Bronze Age. The plant macro-remains from the Early Bronze Age include significantly greater numbers of weeds, suggesting that individual arable fields had a longer period of use. Moreover, nutrient-demanding hulled barley came on to the scene as a cultivated crop. This has been demonstrated for example in the aforementioned longhouses at Brødrene Gram and Kongehøj II, both of which date from the Early Bronze Age period II. However, a large component of hulled barley has actually been demonstrated in remains from a Late Neolithic sunken house site at Hestehaven, near Skanderborg.Most Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age farms in what is now Denmark were located on nutrient-poor sandy soils, and this was also the case at Nørre Holsted. In itself, location on these soils suggests that soil-improvement measures were employed. Indirectly, it can also tell us something of the significance of livestock, if it is assumed that cattle supplied a major proportion of the material used to manure the arable fields. Domestic livestock is, however, virtually invisible in the Late Neolithic settlement record, compared with that from the three-aisled contexts of the Bronze Age. There are records from Jutland of about 15 longhouses with clearly evident stall dividers, but this total seems very modest relative to a total number of Bronze Age house sites of around 1000. It has long been maintained in settlement archaeology that the three-aisled building tradition was better suited to the installation of a byre. On the face of it, this seems plausible for animals tethered in stalls. But the byre situation is, however, unlikely to have been a direct cause of the change in roof-bearing construction, as highlighted by recently expressed doubts in this respect. Neither are there grounds to dismiss the possibility that byres were installed in two-aisled longhouses. There is an example from Hesel in Ostfriesland, northwest Germany, where a large two-aisled house, measuring 35 x 5-6 m, contained stall dividers in its eastern half. An example from Zealand can also be mentioned in this respect: At Stuvehøj Mark near Ballerup there was a two-aisled longhouse, measuring 47 x 6 m, with possible post-built stall dividers in its eastern half. It stood on a headland surrounded by wetland areas and, like longhouse K30 at Nørre Holsted, it had a marked fall from the west to east gable.Preserved stall dividers in Bronze Age houses are, therefore, still a rare phenomenon and phosphate analysis of soil has yet to produce convincing results in this respect. There must be another explanation for the change in building architecture. It is possible that the massive monumentalisation process of Early Bronze Age period II played a crucial role in this respect. As described in the introduction, the first three-aisled houses were built higher up in the terrain. A position on the highest points of the landscape is a recurring feature at many other localities with longhouses from Early Bronze Age periods II-III. This visualisation process involved consistent use of the timber-demanding plank-built walls and took place primarily in southern, central and western Jutland. Here, forests had to yield to the huge resource consumption involved in constructing three-aisled houses because it was here that the tradition of plank-built walls was strongest. This situation must be seen in conjunction with barrow building, where there was a corresponding and coeval culmination in the construction of large turf-built burial mounds. Was the three-aisled tradition introduced quite simply because it became possible to build both wider and higher? Period II has the largest longhouses found in Scandinavia to date and these could reach dimensions of 50 x 10 m. The buildings became much wider and the earth-set posts for the plank walls were in some cases founded just as deep as the roof-bearing post pairs, which could extend 50-70 cm down into the subsoil. This could, in turn, suggest that some longhouses had more than one storey. It should also be pointed out that the large-scale construction of longhouses and barrows came to a halt at the same time – in the course of period III, i.e. shortly before 1200 BC. It therefore seems likely that the three-aisled building tradition was introduced as an important step in the actual monumentalisation process rather than as a result of a need to adjust to new requirements for internal organisation. At the end of the Early Bronze Age and throughout the Late Bronze Age, the dimensions of three-aisled houses were reduced and the houses adopted a much less robust character. There was no longer a need for monumental construction. The significance and symbolism by the large buildings constructed in the Early Bronze Age period II and the first part of period III is though a longer and more complex story and it should not be studied in isolation from the barrow-building phenomenon of the time.Lars GrundvadMuseet på SønderskovMartin Egelund PoulsenMuseet på SønderskovMarianne Høyem Andreasen Moesgaard Museum

AbstractThe Leiden artist Hieronymus van der Mij is only known today as a portrait painter, e.g. from the twelve portraits in the Lakenhal in Leiden, one in the Rijksmuseum and the series of professors done for Leiden University. He also owed his fame in his own day primarily to his portraits, but as Jan van Gool pointed out in 1750 (Note I), he also had a penchant for painting 'antique and modern cabinet pictures'. The main reason why these have been forgotten is that over the years they have slipped almost unnoticed into the oeuvre of Willem van Mieris, not seldom with false signatures to boot. This article presents a short survey of the history and genre pieces discovered up to now as a basis for further research. A list of works known from descriptions in old sale catalogues, but not yet traced, is appended after the catalogue. Hieronymus van de Mij (1687-1761) was the son of the bronze caster Philip van der Mij. In February 1710 he was enrolled in the Leiden Album Studiosorum. He was a pupil of Willem van Mieris, the leading Leiden painter of the day, becoming a member of the Guild of St. Luke in 1724 and for some time serving as supervisor at the Leiden Academy. During his life he made a collection of prints, which was sold at his house after his death (Note 2). The history of his Diogenes' Drinking Bowl (Cat. No. 1, Fig. 1) is an example of the fate that befell most of his history and genre paintings. It came up as a work by him at sales in 1774 and 1783 (Note 3), but around 150 years later, on 23 April 1932, it was sold in Antwerp as a Willem van Mieris. It came up again under this name in Brussels on 3 March 1936 and finally appeared yet again in 1983 as by Frans van Mieris the Elder. It is not too surprising that it was attributed to Willem van Mieris, for the landscape and figures are entirely in his style, but closer inspection reveals awkwardness in the drawing and much more minute detailing than is to be found in Willem van Mieris' work, while the fine, drauglatsmanlike style makes a rather harder impression than Van Mieris' softer, more painterly manner. The same characteristics appear in a scene with The Young Bacchus (Cat. No. 2, Fig.2), which was sold in Cologne in 1938 as by Willem van Mieris and which may be the same as a picture of the same subject seen by Hofstede de Groot in Moscow, which was signed and dated 1716. The Bacchus is an advance on the Diogenes in that it is more broadly conceived and the drawing is firmer and more sure. A signed grisaille overdoor in the Lakenhal, showing an Allegory on Overseas Trade (Cat. No.3) Fig.3), is van der Mij's only surviving decorative painting. It again shows a rather hard linear style, especially by comparison with the much softer and more atmospheric grisailles by Jacob de Wit. A chimneypiece painting of the same subject sold at Zoeterwoude on 25 June 1784 may have come from the same house (Note 5). Genre paintings play an important part in Van der Mij's oeuvre. The earliest dated example, a Family Group at Buckingham Palace (Cat. No.4, Fig. 4), is one of his best works. It was also thought to be a Willem van Mieris until cleaning revealed Van der Mij's signature and the date 1728 (Note 6). It again shows his great dependence on his teacher and also his closeness to his contemporary and fellow-pupil Frans van Mieris the Younger, whose name was also linked with this picture in the past (Note 7). A closely related work with a nursing mother (Cat. No.5, Fig.5), which in 1942 was in the Bentink Collection at Kasteel Weldam and bore the signature of Willem van Mieris and the date 1735, must date from the 1730's) as must a painting of a Woman Holding a Beer Glass in Johannesburg (Cat. No. 6, Fig.15), which is wrongly attributed to Frans van Mieris the Younger. Another work wrongly attributed to the latter (Cat. No. 7, Fig. 6) is revealed as a Van der Mij by the stereotyped faces of the women, the glances and the gestures. A work signed by Van der Mij in full, which came up for sale in Amsterdam in 1950 (Cat. No. 8, Fig.3), is probably meant as a Four Ages of Man. The date is given in the sale catalogue as 1708, but must actually be 1738. Although the influence of Willem van Mieris is still detectable in the old woman, the two younger ones reflect the elegant style of the French painters of the first half of the 18th century. Two scenes in a sewing workroom sold in the same sale as by Willem van Mieris (Cat. Nos. 9 and 10, Figs. 8 andg) are clearly by the same hand as a signed Fruitseller and Young Man (Cat. No. 11, Fig. 16), which was in the hands of Katz at Dieren in 1962. The Leiden tradition, initiated by Gerard Dou, of having the spectator look through a window crops up in a rather unusual form in two pendants in a private collection in Bergamo (Cat. Nos. 12 and 13, Figs. 10 and 11) and in a more conventional and thus possibly happier manner in a signed and dated panel of 1757 sold in Munich in 1899 (Cat. No. 14, Fig. 17) and a Poulterer's Shop (Cat. No. 15, Fig. 12) at Kasteel Singraven at Denekamp, which is very close to it in style (and again bears a false signature of Willem van Mieris). Finally, there are two more genre scenes in landscapes: a Young Woman Feeding Grapes to a Parrot (Cat. No. 16, Fig.13) in a private collection in Sweden, an early work comparable to a painting of 1706 by Willem van Mieris in Dresden (Fig. 14, Note 9), and a Young Couple in a Lanelscape (Cat. No. 17, Fig. 17), which belongs to a later period and is somewhat further removed from Van Mieris, although it was nonetheless attributed to him in a sale of 1906 (Note 10).

The Ormslev Dolmen – a free-standing dolmen?Free-standing dolmens in the Funnel Beaker CultureThe Ormslev dolmen – which has the appearance of a free-standing dolmen – is situated near Ormslev Stationsby, west of Aarhus in Jutland (fig. 1). The chamber was excavated for the first time around 1870. In 1975 a second excavation was carried out by Torsten Madsen from Moesgaard Museum, because of the threat from ploughing to the surrounding area. This excavation concentrated on the area east and south of the dolmen, where stones and pottery had been ploughed up. The area north and west of the dolmen was too disturbed – the stone packing around the chamber had totally disappeared. The Ormslev dolmen was erected on a terrace in a sloping piece of land adjacent to an area that lay under water, as part of the Brabrand Fjord, during the Stone Age.The dolmen is situated on a small hillock with its entrance to the east. The chamber consists of six orthostats and two capstones in addition to two, or possibly four, entrance stones (fig. 2). The orthostat furthest from the entrance is 1.5 m in width, the opening about 0.5 m across, and the length of the chamber is 2.4 m. The ground plan of the chamber is thus best described as slightly trapezoid.In front of the chamber entrance – at a distance from it of 3-4 m – a 2 m wide, curving stone packing consisting of one to two layers of hand-to-head sized stones was found (fig. 3). At the time of the excavation this layer was approximately 9 m long, but originally it presumably continued in both directions. No kerbstones or traces of a stone circle were found.Under the stone packing different sorts of pits were found; IA, IB and IC without finds, HY and HZ containing potsherds. Three cooking pits (HV, HW and HX) were also found (fig 2).When the chamber was excavated in the 19th century the finds included a small clay vessel and two flint daggers, all of which can be dated to the early Bronze Age. During the excavation in 1975 some flint artefacts dating to the late Mesolithic and Neolithic appeared in the area outside the chamber. Most of the finds, however, consisted of pottery. In all some 950 potsherds – probably representing 35-40 vessels – were found. The pottery is very fragmented. The surface is in many cases eroded and only a small number of sherds can be pieced together into larger parts or almost entire vessels.The pottery can be divided into an early group dating from the early Middle Neolithic (MNA I-MNA II B perhaps MNA III) i.e. 3300-3000 BC and a late group which primarily dates from the latest part of the Funnel Beaker Culture (MNA IV-V) i.e. 2900-2800 BC, but which also contains a few later potsherds.The early pottery is primarily represented by pedestal bowls, funnel beakers, and carinated vessels. The best preserved vessel is a carinated vessel ornamented with vertical stripes and different motives made of rows of chevrons (fig. 4d)The funnel beakers are of different types, the most remarkable being a very coarsely tempered beaker ornamented with deep circular impressions at the rim and vertical stripes on the belly and at least two thin ritual funnel beakers ornamented with finely incised vertical lines (fig. 4g). Other sherds are decorated with whipped cord, incised or impressed lines and rows of chevrons, and two sherds are decorated with indented impressions. One of the pedestal bowls is decorated with a pattern of cross-hatched rhomboids, and there is a carinated vessel with “hanging” triangles on the shoulder (fig. 4)The late Funnel Beaker pottery consists of funnel-necked bowls, simple bowls and bucket-shaped vessels. The vessels are in several cases very coarsely tempered and have a simple decoration consisting of finger and nail impressions normally placed under or on the rim, as well as finger grooves and horizontal rows of impressions (fig. 5a). In addition two vessels are ornamented with the characteristic “hanging” triangles made of small, fine impressions (fig 5c). All the pottery dates from the latest part of the Funnel Beaker Culture except a sherd with an unusual decoration probably dating from the transition to the Single Grave Culture (MNB, fig. 5d) and a vessel with a distinct foot dating from the Late Neolithic. Fragments of five clay discs, one of them perforated, were also found at the Ormslev dolmen. The discs can possibly be assigned to the late Funnel Beaker Culture, although the dating is somewhat uncertain because of the high degree of fragmentation.The late Funnel Beaker pottery, apart from the distinct-foot vessel and the MNB-sherds, was found spread under or near the stone packing in front of the chamber as well as in the pits HZ and HY. A few early sherds were also found in this area. Most of the early sherds, however, were concentrated in the area just south of the chamber entrance.The pottery found under the stone packing represents a clearing of the chamber which probably took place in the Late Neolithic. The early pottery found south of the entrance, however, represents the sacrificing of vessels during MNA I-II; a common ritual during this period of time. Sherds from the possible transitional MNB vessel and the distinct-foot vessel are found among the early vessels by the chamber entrance. Their appearance in this layer, on the original surface, is striking, and it indicates that no significant sedimentation can have taken place from the MNA I to the Late Neolithic. Another explanation could of course be that the layer covering the early pottery was somehow removed before the later sherds were deposited, but it was not possible to confirm this during the excavation.All traces of the primary burials were gone at the time of the second excavation and the erection of the dolmen can thus only be dated through the earliest pottery – MNA I – which gives an ante quem date of the structure. The megalithic grave was used several times during the Middle Neolithic Funnel Beaker Culture, and as late as the early Bronze Age the dolmen was still used for burials. Most of the dolmens in Denmark have no visible traces, today, of having had barrows over them, and the earth around the chamber only covers the lowest part of the orthostats. Traditionally these dolmens have been explained as structures which have lost their covering mounds because of erosion caused by wind and weather, roots, animals and ploughing. However, the number of free-standing dolmens is much too high to be explained only by erosion or human interference. And as several other observations indicate that free-standing dolmens were in fact a regular type of grave during the Funnel Beaker Culture it is time to reconsider the previous general opinion. First of all the free-standing chambers are not evenly distributed over the country although there does not seem to be any reason for assuming regional differences in the process of barrow destruction. For instance in Djursland a large number of graves of this type can be seen in the landscape.Secondly, in Denmark only dolmens - primarily extended or polygonal ones - are free-standing while the passage graves are always found in barrows. It has been argued that if the destruction of barrows had been caused by natural processes it would be remarkable that it had not affected the passage graves. Although this argument carries conviction it must also be taken into consideration that a passage grave is a much more complex monument than a dolmen and that the differences in the degree of earth-covering therefore in part could be due to the differences in construction.Several dolmens today have absolutely no traces of earth-covering, and because of their situation and other circumstances it is reasonable to believe that they have always been free-standing. This is for instance the case regarding the largest round dolmen in Denmark, Poskær Stenhus, Djursland, and also Stenhuset at Strands, Djursland, which is placed on the top of a hill (fig. 6). Another example is the long-dolmen at Gunder­slev­holm, Sealand where the kerbstones stand neatly in such a way that if a barrow had once been removed from the dolmen the process would have had to involve thorough cleaning-up of the area between the kerbstones!Finally, free-standing dolmens are a phenomenon known all over Europe where megalithic monuments were built, e.g. the famous Irish portal-tombs (fig. 8). Moreover, the fact that the free-standing megalithic monuments in other countries, for instance England, seem, like those in Denmark, to have a regional distribution, indicates that the distribution itself is significant.The challenge is to prove that dolmens that appear today to be free-standing have in fact never been covered with a barrow. Only a small number of dolmens in Denmark have been scientifically excavated, and just a few of these have been free-standing dolmens; one of these being the Ormslev dolmen.The barrow is usually placed between the chamber and a circle of kerbstones, and the placement of the kerbstones is thus essential in the assessment of a free-standing dolmen. At the Ormslev dolmen it was not possible to find any traces of kerbstones – maybe because they have always been absent. Instead the disposition of pottery outside the chamber turned out to be of great importance. From the fact that late pottery was found within the stone packing and all the way to the entrance stones of the dolmen it can be seen that this area must always have been accessible and cannot have been covered with a mound. If there once was a barrow the kerbstones must therefore have been placed very close to the chamber, with the layer of sacrificed pottery lying outside the kerbstones. A barrow with such a small diameter would have required a solid circle of kerbstones with dry walling. No trace whatsoever of this was found. Finally it should be noted that there may actually not have been sedimentation to the south of the entrance. If this is the case the Ormslev dolmen cannot have been covered with a mound, as soil would then have been washed out and deposited outside the kerbstones. All things considered it is thus reasonable to assume that the Ormslev dolmen was never covered with a barrow.Other excavated dolmens have provided even better examples of free-standing dolmens. The best example from Denmark is one of the Tustrup dolmens in Djursland. From the stratigraphical observations as well as finds of pottery it can clearly be proved that it has never been covered with a mound. Paradoxically, in 1994 the dolmen was reconstructed in such a way that the area between the chamber and the 2 m high kerbstones was filled in with soil (fig. 7). The intention was to restore its “original” appearance as in the Stone Age!At the Sarup area on Funen a number of free-standing dolmens have been excavated. While some proved always to have been free-standing, others had been covered with earth at a later date. This situation can also be observed in cases of other dolmens in Denmark. The later building of barrows is perhaps to be seen in connection with the transition from the building of dolmens to the erection of the closely sealed passage graves. This distinctly marks a change in mortuary practice and it is possible that at the time when closed chambers became the prevailing way of building megalithic monuments some of the originally free-standing dolmens were covered with earth.Also outside Denmark excavations of meg­al­ithic monuments have proved that the chambers were originally free-standing, for instance the Trollasten dolmen in Scania, Sweden, or most of the megalithic chambers at the Carrowmore cemetery in North-western Ireland.All these indications, arguments, and not least well-documented examples of free-stand­ing megalithic monuments – in Denmark as well as in other parts of Europe – justify the conclusion that free-standing dolmens were a regular type of grave during the Funnel Beaker Culture. Nina NielsenAfdeling for Forhistorisk ArkæologiAarhus UniversitetMoesgård

The paper discusses an overview of disparate coin artefacts found incidentally in 2019 at a private territory in the village of Progress (Temryuk district, Krasnodar region) — 15 bronze coins in total and two bronze objects (a ring and a small shield). Besides the cleaning of the objects, X-ray and fluorescence spectrometry of the metal has been conducted. In addition, we received the information about the discovery of the stater of electrum stamped in Cyzicus.

ABSTRACTVast numbers of bronze coins have been, and continue to be, excavated from archaeological sites around the Greco-Roman world. While often of little value from a strictly numismatic point of view, these coins provide invaluable data within their respective stratigraphic contexts and are used to date occupational and architectural phases more precisely than by ceramics alone. Unfortunately, the build-up of corrosion and mineralization on these coins during their centuries of burial often obscures their legends. Rather than employing potentially destructive and time-consuming chemical or mechanical cleaning techniques to reveal these features, commercially available Micro-focus X-Ray CT systems are now sufficiently well developed to reveal original surface features and to permit identification by a trained numismatist without any cleaning at all.

Excavations in the 2014 season at the site Brigetio/Szőny-Vásártér were concentrated on unearthing the cellar which had been found in 2012 as well as taking observations in the vicinity of the previously excavatedmetal-workshop nearby. Most important results of the excavations are the complete cleaning and documentation of the cellar with collapsed wooden ceiling, as well as unearthing a large pit in the territory of the metal workshop containing a great amount of metal slags, bronze objects (including the head of a Germanic warrior) and even blue pigment raw material.

Предметом исследования и реставрации является фонарь матового стекла из коллекции музея-усадьбы Останкино. Он был частью убранства Этрусской гостиной Фонтанного дома графа Д.Н. Шереметева. Состояние сохранности плафона было удручающим, он был разбит на десятки фрагментов, живопись на стекле осыпалась. Для определения плана и материалов консервации и реставрации были проведены физико-химические исследования, устанавливающие технику росписи – необжиговыми красками на основе органической смолы. Далее была разработана методика укрепления, очистки и восполнения красочного слоя. После укрепления и очистки красочного слоя была проведена склейка предварительно подобранных фрагментов. Затем были восполнены утраты: небольшие – доливались по месту клеевым составом, большие – восполнялись путем снятия силиконовых форм и отливки в них восполнений. После восстановления всей формы фонаря были тонированы восполнения и клеевые швы, а также проведен монтаж предварительно очищенной бронзовой оправы. The subject of our research and restoration comes from a collection of the Ostankino Estate. This lantern is a part of decoration of the Etruscan living room of the Fountain House in St. Petersburg belonged to a count Sheremetev. The condition of safety of a lantern was disappointing, it was broken into several large and many medium and very small fragments. It consisted of 100 fragments. Many pieces were lost. On all surface of glass and a painting layer we could observe the strong pollution. The color layer was badly destroyed, the surface of the fragments was very dirty there was a widespread peeling of the paint scales, the painting was constantly crumbling at every touch. From the point of view of conservation and restoration operations it is interesting to know the old manufacturing technology of the lantern, namely technique of painting. Therefore at first we took samples of a paint layer and gave them on the analysis to our physical and chemical laboratory. The research was conducted by the following methods: microscopy in the reflected light, microchemistry, X-ray Fourier microspectroscopy. After that the technique of consolidation, cleaning and filling the gaps of a paint layer was developed. The joining process was initiated with the selection of fragments belonging to each other. Gluing started with the tiny fragments, until you get several large pieces of the lantern, let's call them blocks. Small loss on the already glued small blocks was then filled in place with an adhesive composition. The next stage was making of silicone molds of lost fragments. Large missing fragments were made using Araldite 2020. After reconstruction the whole form of the lantern, was completed tinting all the small losses, chips and adhesive joints by the developed technique. And the last step was the installation of pre-treated bronze frame.

Objectives. We describe clinically and epidemiologically an outbreak of gastrointestinal infection by Salmonella enterica ser. (serotype) Enteritidis in an urban infant school, which led to high morbidity and significant social alarm. The immediate communication, as well as the adequate study of the outbreak, in both aspects, allowed identifying the pathogen and establishing control measures in a reasonable period of time. Controversial aspects such as the indication of antibiotherapy or the moment of closing the center are discussed. Methods. We retrospectively collected clinical, analytical and epidemiological information and we reviewed the methodology of the outbreak study and its results. Results. A total of 57 children (3-45 months), were affected and had microbiological confirmation. Diarrhea and fever were the main symptoms. 74% went to the hospital and 37% were admitted (mean stay 3.3 days). Factors associated with admission were: dehydration, significant elevation of acute phase reactants and coagulopathy. Twelve patients received parenteral cefotaxime. There were 2 complications: 1 bacteremia and 1 readmission. The initial suspicion of the origin of the outbreak was food, but the analysis of the control samples was negative. Five workers were positive (2 symptomatic). Epidemiologic Surveillance concluded that the probable origin of the outbreak was an asymptomatic carrier and improper diapers handling. The center was closed for 8 days. Cleaning and disinfection measures were carried out, as well as instruction on diaper changing, and the carriers were followed. Conclusions. Clustering in time and space of cases should be reported immediately for early control of the outbreak. Children may present severe forms of Salmonella gastroenteritis.

This paper discusses the women of 19th century England. It also explores the different traditional roles of women and the ideologies of patriarchy. While discussing the works of different women writers of 19th century, the paper also focuses on the political and social issues of the Victorian Period. The nineteenth century was one of the most controversial periods in history. It was the age of change and revolution. There were many things happening in the society from industrialization to leap of faith. In this period there were many prominent writers who were working on digging out the evils of society, like Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, J.S Mill, and Charles Dickens. Jane Austen was a major woman writer of the 19th century. She portrayed the reality of the women of her times. There was assigned duties for women in those days. Women were not allowed to work outside the house. Either they stayed at home and indulged in the activities like cooking, cleaning and looking after the family, or they worked as governesses or companions to old ladies. Women, however, wanted to be self-sufficient. For this, they needed education and the right to participate in decision making. Many activists came forward to raise these questions. They also struggled for equality on political, social and economic grounds. This paper also highlights the efforts of the women philosophers and novelists who contributed to the struggle of women’s freedom.