Letteratura scientifica selezionata sul tema "Custom House Maritime Museum"

Abstract The Western Australian Museum’s iconic 5.2-m megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios) was relocated 20 km from Perth to the Maritime Museum in Fremantle for treatment in an exhibition gallery. A 70% ethanol solution was diluted to 16% before the glass lids of the fiberglass tank were removed to facilitate removal of the heavy shark. A custom-made stainless steel storage and exhibition tank containing 8,000 L of 30% glycerol solution was prepared inside the exhibition space prior to the arrival of the specimen. Portholes in the top sections provided access points to record the density of the solution using a digital densitometer. The density fell linearly with the logarithm of the immersion time. Equilibration was achieved after the solution showed no change in density for a period of 2 months. To increase the glycerol concentration, 2,000 L of the solution were decanted into storage tanks before the same volume of pure glycerol was added. This process was repeated four times to reach a final level of 62% during the 2.5-year conservation program. The color and flexibility of the shark improved and dehydration wrinkles from ethanol storage were significantly reduced.

In 2003 the National Maritime Museum acquired a group of documents compiled by Viscount Barrington while he was a commissioner on the Board of Longitude. These focus on the year 1765, when the Board sought two Acts from Parliament to explain its decisions and to extend its powers. Since its establishment in 1714, the Board had considered two main solutions to the problem of finding longitude at sea: the clocks of John Harrison and the lunar distance method of Tobias Meyer. Trials of both had shown that the Board needed to clarify what constituted a real solution. Barrington's papers revolve around a speech that he gave to the House of Commons during the passage of the Acts, and include accounts, correspondence and notes. These not only reveal the internal workings of the Board but also make clear for the first time the extent to which the commissioners were explaining their decisions and their existence to a sceptical Parliament.

Background Reduced representation genomic datasets are increasingly becoming available from a variety of organisms. These datasets do not target specific genes, and so may contain sequences from parasites and other organisms present in the target tissue sample. In this paper, we demonstrate that (1) RADseq datasets can be used for exploratory analysis of tissue-specific metagenomes, and (2) tissue collections house complete metagenomic communities, which can be investigated and quantified by a variety of techniques. Methods We present an exploratory method for mining metagenomic “bycatch” sequences from a range of host tissue types. We use a combination of the pyRAD assembly pipeline, NCBI’s blastn software, and custom R scripts to isolate metagenomic sequences from RADseq type datasets. Results When we focus on sequences that align with existing references in NCBI’s GenBank, we find that between three and five percent of identifiable double-digest restriction site associated DNA (ddRAD) sequences from host tissue samples are from phyla to contain known blood parasites. In addition to tissue samples, we examine ddRAD sequences from metagenomic DNA extracted snake and lizard hind-gut samples. We find that the sequences recovered from these samples match with expected bacterial and eukaryotic gut microbiome phyla. Discussion Our results suggest that (1) museum tissue banks originally collected for host DNA archiving are also preserving valuable parasite and microbiome communities, (2) that publicly available RADseq datasets may include metagenomic sequences that could be explored, and (3) that restriction site approaches are a useful exploratory technique to identify microbiome lineages that could be missed by primer-based approaches.

This decade can be noted for several distinct approaches to Māori architecture, reflecting a variety of nationalistic impulses. This paper offers a brief overview of the diversity of Māori architecture and ideas in this period. Pākehā, in the search for national identity, and also reflecting the interests of the global Arts and Crafts movement, were enthused by the local example of the carved and decorated whare whakairo, native timbers, Māori adzing techniques and local flora and fauna. This can be seen in the work of architects such as JW Chapman Taylor, as well as the symbolism and trademarks of popular culture, and the pattern of museum acquisitions. By the twentieth century Māori were seen as a culture that could soon become extinct and this is reflected in the images of artists such as Goldie ("The Calm Close of Valour’s Various Days"), Lindauer's interest in preserving ersatz records of tradition and custom, and Dittmer's interest in myth and legend. Parliamentarian Āpirana Ngata, a member of the Young Maori Party, was very influential in the revival of certain customary arts (seen in the later establishment of schools of Māori arts and crafts in Rotorua) but he and his colleagues promoted a form of these arts that while "encouraging national Maori unity" also suppressed the diversity of activity in modern figurative painting and tribal identity for instance. These approaches can be contrasted with the patterns of building by other Māori movements more opposed to the government and actively seeking the restoration of Māori lands, rights and mana. Rua Kēnana's settlement at Maungapōhatu in the 1910s and TW Rātana's hall and church building later in the century (his ministry began in 1918) eschew the use of any meeting house forms or customary motifs – they were turning to new forms and symbols to sustain Māori identity in the new century.

AbstractSix tapestries depict the resistance of Zeeland's Sea Beggars to the Spaniards during the Eighty Years' War. Between 1572 and 1576 the fight for freedom was waged in the Scheldt delta. In 1591 the Estates of Zeeland ordered the first tapestry, a representation of the battle of Bergen op Zoom, from Francois Spierinx, a weaver in Delft. When it arrived in 1595, the Estates decided to have a series of tapestries made for the Prinsenlogement, or royal apartments, in Middelburg Abbey. The five tapestries were woven in the De Maecht workshop in less than ten years. Four of them, representing naval engagements, were designed by Hendrick Cornelisz. Vroom: The Battle of Rammekens, The Battle of Lillo, The Battle of Zierikzee and The Battle of Den Haak. The fifth, the Arms Tapestry, was woven after a design by Carel van Mander. Lord Charles Howard of Effingham, Earl of Nottingham (1536-1624) ordered from Spierinx a series of ten tapestries depicting the English victory over the Spanish Armada. These tapestries, which had hung in the House of Lords since 1650, were destroyed in a fire at the Houses of Parliament in 1834. Vroom based his designs for the Armada tapestries on maps by Robert Adams, engraved by Augustine Ryther. Compared with the Armada series, the composition of the Zeeland tapestries is fluent and vigorous. Vroom had actually visited Zeeland and spoken with eye-witnesses such as Joos dc Moor. The silhouettes of the towns are rendered in detail. Lord Thomas Howard ordered The Last Fight of the Revenge, dated 1598, from the De Maecht workshop in Middelburg. This fairly unknown tapestry, in a private collection since 1934, was on show at the Armada exhibition in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich in 1988. It was erroneously presumed to have been woven by Spierinx in Brussels. Spierinx, however, came from Antwerp, and moved to Delft in 1591. In view of the dating and an art-historical comparison, an attribution to the Dc Maccht workshop is more likely. Hendrick Vroom designed The Revenge. It bears a marked resemblance to the Zierikzee and Den Haak tapestries in the Zeeland series; the border, too, is similar. Wool, silk, gold and silver thread were used. The latter were costly materials and rarely used in North Netherlandish tapestry production. The tapestry may have been ordered to commemorate Sir Richard Grenville's valiant action. On August 31 1591 Admiral Howard led his fleet to the Azores, off Pico island. His intention was to intercept a Spanish treasure fleet on its return voyage from the West. However, the English were taken by surprise by Armada ships. Howard ordered the retreat, but Grenville, vice-admiral and commander of the Revenge, ignored these orders. He engaged in battle with the attackers, was wounded and died on the Spanish flagship. The composition, a bird's-eye view, of the Revenge tapestry, bears a strong resemblance to the Zierikzee (1599-1603) and Den Haak (1600-1602) tapestries, both of which were woven under the supervision of Hendrick de Maecht, Jan de Maecht's successor. The borders of the tapestries woven in Middelburg echo Spierinx's Bergen op Zoom. The colours in the Bergen op Zoom tapestry are bright and soft, the figures are plastic and the surround merges harmoniously with the representation. Unfortunately this cannot be said of the Zeeland borders. Various alterations in the border of the Revenge mar the harmony and symmetry. The word 'Anno' and the year in the top corners are in the wrong order. In view of the woven rendering of the composition, the use of dark colours and the rather clumsy borders, The Last Fight of The Revenge is more likely to have come from Hendrick de Maecht's studio than from Jan de Maecht's. The latter's products are distinguished by the use of lighter colours and more accurate weaving, as is particularly evident in De Battle of Rammekens and to a lesser extent in The Battle of Lillo.

Bronze Age ceramics – A source of information on communication and social interaction in Bronze Age DenmarkIf not avoided completely, Bronze Age ceramics have generally been dealt with in terms of either Early or Late Bronze Age. Attempts to classify the ceramics within these periods according to ordinary typological conventions have mostly failed. It is therefore argued that Bronze Age ceramics should be viewed in a much broader chronological framework. It is also emphasised that ceramics should be seen in a social context and in relation to functional change. Therefore, all published ceramics from periods I to V from Jutland and Funen have been subjected to an investigation of the chronological and functional implications of groupings in form and attributes (figs. 1-2). As a result, it can be concluded that certain types of vessels that have not previously been classified are diag nostic for periods II-III and IV-V, respectively. Other types of vessels appear sporadically from period II and become frequent from period IV onwards, while yet further types are current during the entire Bronze Age (fig. 3). There is certain agreement with the Swedish A/B-phase partition in the investigated material, such that a Western Danish A-phase can be dated primarily to period IV (with a few exceptional occurrences in the Early Bronze Age), and the B-phase to periods V and VI (with a few occurrences in period IV) (figs. 4-5). Although the A/B-features are chronologically significant there seems to be some overlap between the two phases in Jutland and on Funen, which is also the case in Southern Sweden. It is therefore argued that future research on the subject is necessary and could provide better means of dating Late Bronze Age ceramics (fig. 6). The changing stylistic traits seen in the ceramics at the transition from Early to Late Bronze Age can be considered from a communicational point of view. In proposing this, the European context becomes very relevant. Different levels of similarity between the Continental and the Western Danish ceramics can be pointed out. Cases of very accurate copying and even possible import of foreign vessels are seen in both the Early and Late Bronze Age. But also a more general form of inspiration can be traced. In particular, three themes in vessel shape are omnipresent: Bi-conical vessels, quadri-partite vessels and carinated bowls. Also the tradition of face and house urns is a Pan-European phenomenon. Although some of these Lausitz-inspired vessel types occur sporadically in the Early Bronze Age, European influence on the Danish ceramics tradition seems to become radically more standardised and thorough from period IV onwards. By examining relationships between form and archaeological context it has been attempted to examine the functions of ceramics in a wider perspective. Probable practical functions are discussed briefly on the basis of settlement ceramics, archaeological field observations and general knowledge concerning form and function deduced from ethnographic studies. Attention is drawn to a certain combination of large vessels and smaller cups or bowls that can be recorded in settlement context. It is suggested that this “set” represents storage vessels and individual service. The function of ceramics in relation to burial practice is also discussed. Through comparison of ceramics from settlements and graves it can be stated that grave ceramics in both the Early and Late Bronze Age represent a wide range of vessel types. In contrast, certain types do not occur at settlements, for example, the three Lausitzinspired shape themes bi-conical, quadripartite vessels and carinated bowls in the Early Bronze Age, and face urns and house urns in the Late Bronze Age. Ceramics form a part of the formal transition from inhumation to cremation and urn graves. Apparently, proportional factors were dominant when it came to choosing a vessel for burial. Primarily small beakers were chosen for inhumation and, not surprisingly, large vessels were used as urns, combined with bowls placed upside down as lids. In cremation graves without urns, ceramics were used in much the same way as in inhumation graves. Also the earliest urn graves seem to reflect a transitional phase bet ween different uses of ceramics (fig. 7). The small vessels in the Early Bronze Age inhumation graves could be seen as being linked to a general drinking cult related to burial rites as has been suggested for cups made of other materials, e.g. bronze and gold. This possible drinking cult clearly has European implications. Additionally, it seems that vessels in Early Bronze Age inhumation graves were primarily a masculine privilege as was also the case with other kinds of containers. On the other hand, the earliest ceramic urns seem to have been reserved entirely for women and children as far as can be concluded from the sparse evidence. The latter brings to mind the fact that the earliest cremation graves on the Continent are likewise those of women. The combination of large vessels and bowls that can be seen in both settlement- and grave assemblages also seems to have its roots in Continental practising of the urn-grave custom (fig. 8). Bronze Age society is often regarded as an exogamic and patriarchal tribal system. Cases of women buried with a complete set of equipment originating from a different region to that in which they were interred are normally interpreted as evidence of intermarriage and alliances between distant tribes. Five very similar vessels have been found dispersed from Hammah, near Hamburg, through Northern Germany to the southwestern and eastern coasts of Jutland and as far as Thy in Northern Jutland. It is an interesting thought to see these as an expression of related women married into different regions passing on a certain ceramic tradition. It is proposed that potters in the Early Bronze Age were very much at liberty to express themselves in creating vessels, being limited only by the broad conventions implied in bodily rooted patterns shared by cultural groupings (so called Motor Habits). Early sporadic occurrences of certain vessel types from period II onwards can be seen within this framework. The changes, which ceramics underwent between periods III and IV, seem rather radical and must be explained in another way. Inspired by Pierre Bourdieu, an attempt has been made to connect different kinds of “symbolic capital” to the ceramics. It is argued that ceramics have more to do with the domestic sphere and the changes in burial customs than with prestige and political alliances in a classical sense. Ceramics and urn burials could also be connected with the female sex. It has previously been documented that there could have been a change in the status of the female gender during the Bronze Age (figs. 9-12). It is therefore stated that the development in pottery tradition, towards new vessel types and a higher degree of standardisation and possibly specialisation, should be seen in the light of a new role in society for the female gender, implying new ritual and social skills internally on the settlements, and in external communication. Using Michael B. Shiffer’s thoughts on communication and material culture, it is recommended to focus attention on the receiving part in a communication process. In this way the transformations in ceramic production between the Early and Late Bronze Age can be seen as an expression of changing associations in the mind of the receiver. Vessels in the Early Bronze Age might only have signalled individual factors, whereas ceramics in the Late Bronze Age were associated with certain Pan-European conventions connected to burial customs and women. The standardisation of the ceramic production and higher degree of similarity in vessel shape and ornamentation across large geographical areas might indicate a different kind of group identity, at least for female potters. Such identification can happen “down the line” between small local groups, or it can involve some sort of imagined community over larger areas. In addition, an attempt has been made to sketch a possible cognitive framework behind the perception and use of ceramics in the Bronze Age. It is suggested that Early Bronze Age use of grave ceramics reflects a tradition where the vessel is a container either for provisions on the journey to an after-world or for ritual consumption during burial. The urn in the Late Bronze Age, on the other hand, can be seen as a metaphorical house and/or likewise metaphorical body for the remaining part of a pluralistic soul, while the bowl could be a symbolic roof and/or head on the “urn house/body”. These deduced connotations may to some extent have formed common ground in large communities as variations on a theme. Finally it is stated that synthetic studies such as this are sometimes necessary in order to move in archaeological research, forward although not all data can be handled with equal profundity. This article aims to draw attention to the interesting aspects of a ceramic record, which deviates from the general typological development, and recommends keeping the potential of this source in mind when dealing with interpretations of Bronze Age society.Julie LolkMoesgård Museum

The Harre vig boathousesNew investigationsMedieval and prehistoric boathouses are especially known from Norway, where more than 800 structures from the 1st-16th century have been recorded. They normally appear in the terrain as U-shaped structures, built from stones and/or turf, and with the open end oriented towards a nearby coastline. The medieval constructions tend to be rectangular in plan, while older boathouses have curved sidewalls. Studies of the large boathouses (15-40111 internal length) has demonstrated that throughout time they can be connected to places of administrative importance, in the Middle Ages in terms of the leidang system. Especially in western Norway, there are several examples of historically known leidang-centres – skipreider – that manifests themselves also physically in terms of a Romanesque stone church and a large, medieval boathouse. This reflects the content of medieval Norwegian law, demanding that the leidang ship should be kept in a boathouse, a naust, and that the sail should be kept in a church.Much fewer archaeological boathouses are known from other Scandinavian areas, and in Denmark, only two examples have so far been attested. They both are situated at Harre Vig in northwestern Jutland, on the south side of the Lime Fiord (fig. 1).Harre Vig forms the inner, well-protected part of an inlet cutting into the district Salling on the south coast of the western Lime Fiord. The entrance to Harre Vig is narrow and the two structures were found close to it, on the foreshore beneath a moraine headland facing incoming ships from the Lime Fiord.Thorkild Ramskou from the Danish National Museum undertook the first archaeological investigation of the Harrevig boathouses in 1958. Limiting his excavation to a few trenches in the best preserved, northernmost of the two east-west oriented structures, he failed to produce any kind of dating evidence.The only artefact found was an iron nail of a type usually used in shipbuilding. His conclusions were, that the structures, of which the northern one measured 27.5 m in length and 10.5111 in width (internal dimensions 24x6m) more had the character of sheds with a temporary roofing than actual boat houses (fig. 2). Ramskou proposed that the structures should be seen in relation to gatherings of Danish fleets in the western Lime Fiord in preparations for expeditions to the west. Therefore, he dated the structures to the time before the closing of the western entrance to the fiord, more precisely to the Viking Age or the Early Middle Ages.In spired by the results of Norweg ian boathouse research, and as the result of the Centre’s involvement in a PhD project about Iron Age and Medieval boathouses in Northern Europe by Oliver Grimm, the Centre for Maritime Archaeology at the Danish National Museum in 2000 undertook a renewed investigation of the structures at Harre Vig. The aims were to find material suitable for an archaeological or scientific dating of the structures, as well as to throw more light over their construction.The work was planned and carried out with due respect to the unique character of the two protected monuments, and actual excavations were kept to a minimum (fig. 3). The construction of the walls was studied through a main trench across the structure, continuing in to a slightly elevated area to the north and a cut through the end wall. A cut th rough the seaward end together with one perpendicular to the coast to the north of the structure aimed at confinning that no end wall was hiding in a beach ridge clearly visible in the 3D- model of the site, and thought to be of later date than the structures (fig. 4). Finally, a trench was opened in the interior of the structure, to in vestigate if the presence of any interior wall constructions or roof supports could be demonstrated. Apart from mechanical removal of the turf, all trenches were dug with hand and in planum in order to obtain as much information as possible from the restricted areasexcavated.The trenches through the walls brought about new in formation about their construction, as it was demonstrated that they were partly buildt from material dug up from a trench immediately on theout side of the walls, partly from turf being cut from the close surroundings (fig. 5). The sections established allow for a reconstruction of the walls as between 1.1-1.5 m wide and 1-1.5 m high, probably of trapezoid shape. The cut through the seaward end confirms that there has been no wall construction here, and thus the internal width appears to be 5.6-6.2111 and the opening towards the sea 3.5 m wide. It was not possible to document the presence of any internal constructions, which indicates that a permanent roof may not have been present. Nor were any cultural layer found. The conclusion of Ramskou, that the structures were not boathouses proper, but constituted another type of shelters, probably only in short time use, was thus supported. Shelters without roofs, hróf, are known from Iceland in recent time, where they serve to protect the boats from the wind, rather than from rain and snow.The artefact finds were few. During a metal detector survey, four nail fragments were found, but their contexts were inconclusive. During the excavation six further fragments appeared, mostly from the filling in the northern wall, indicating them to be older than or contemporary to the construction of the wall. One of the fragments was the rove from a rivet, apparently broken up (fig. 6). The size compares to that of a big boat or a small ship, but could also be from a lightly built longship. Its design indicates it to be older than c. 1100. Furthermore five small, magnetic cinders were found, indicating iron working at the site (fig. 7). The possibility exists, however, that they are later intrusions. In the end wall, in a layer, which must have been formed during its construction, remains of a campfire were found. Together with it turned up also 25 small potsherds of what might have been the same globular vessel of local, early 11th century produces. Radiocarbon analyses of three samples of charcoal – one oak, two pine – from the camp fire gave very uniform dating values pointing to the period AD 1020-1040, but with some possibility for a dating in the first half of the 12th century (fig. 8). The dating evidence thus quite uniformly points to a dating around the middle of the l1th century.The dating and the new information on the height of the walls and the possible width of the opening allows us to judge, what kind of ship the shed may have housed. 11th century warships appear to be more slender than their predecessors are and than cargo carriers. The beam of the warships built at the time of the shelter was only 9-14% of their length. This corresponds well to the proportions of the shelter, the opening measuring 15% of the internal length of 24 m. Thus, we may assume that the shed has been able to house a longship of 24 m length, corresponding to 18-20 pairs of oars, or a crew of 40-50 people. The southern structure being similar in proportions to the northern and apparently contemporary, it may have housed a ship of similar size. In what context has it been necessary to keep ships for a highly mobile, amphibious force of up to 100 soldiers at Harre Vig?The nearby village Harre has not only given name to the inlet and other natural landmarks in the vicinity – it has also given name to the local administrative district, herred, although it is situation in the southern end of the district. The herred division can with certainty be related to the leidang from 1140 onwards, but this relationship may be older. Harre herred is known in written sources from 1230 on, Harre village from 1386. The Romanesque church of the village, situated with a wide view over the inlet, indicates the village to be of higher age than its first appearance in historical documents. Slightly unusual is that Harre parish also had another Romanesque church, now only preserved as a ruin (fig. 9). This church was placed close to Harre church, but even closer to the inlet.There are thus some great similarities between the situation known from the Norwegian skipreider with stone churches and large boathouses and that at Harrevig. It is puzzling, however, that the boat sheds at Harrevig are situated at some distance – 1.5 km – from the village (fig. 10).The location is, however, situated as far towards the openin g of the inlet as the landscape allows land transport, and the reason may have been simply to secure rapid deployment of the ships when need arose.That the choice was, after all not a wise one may be indicated by the apparent short time of use for the sheds.Jan Bill & Oliver GrimmNationalmuseets Marinarkæologiske Forskningscenter

AbstractIn October 2011 to December 2015, the Institute of Archaeology, Nanjing Museum conducted two terms of excavations to the Jiangzhuang Site located in the administrated areas of Xinghua and Dongtai Cities, Jiangsu Province. The main work was the large-scale uncovering of the settlement of the Liangzhu Culture located in the west zone of the site, the features recovered from which included burials, house foundations, ash pits, water wells, ash ditches, etc. In the cemetery of the Liangzhu Culture in the northeast of the west zone of the site, burials were densely arranged; most of the burials had burial receptacles, and the skeletons were well preserved, the burial positions of which included primary burials and secondary burials. The discovery and excavation of the settlement of Liangzhu Culture at Jiangzhuang Site revised the traditional viewpoint of the academic field that the north border of the Liangzhu Culture was limited by the Yangtze River and provided new materials for the comprehensive and in-depth researches on the civilization and society of the Liangzhu Culture. The large amount of human skeletons unearthed from the burials of the Liangzhu Culture will also effectively improve the indepth researches on the burial custom, social organization and relationship and racial attribution of the people of Liangzhu Culture.

AbstractResolving a robust phylogeny of an organismal group is often hindered by the limited availability of samples suitable for genomic or transcriptomic sequencing. Even for lineages of notable importance in evolutionary ecology, our phylogenetic comprehension remains largely unsatisfactory due to the challenges of acquiring samples across the clade. The long‐horned beetle genus Anoplophora Hope exemplifies such a group, globally renowned for two invasive pests—the Asian long‐horned beetle and citrus long‐horned beetle—which have inflicted significant damage to deciduous hardwood forest in North America and Europe. In contrast to the two temperate pests, the remaining 50 species in the genus inhabit subtropical forests of Southeast Asia, where most species are only infrequently encountered. Here, we present the first comprehensive phylogeny of Anoplophora using a PCR‐based target enrichment museomics approach. As a case study of employing PCR‐generated custom probes, we demonstrate the robustness and cost‐effectiveness of this in‐house method in successfully acquiring sequence data from historical specimens. Through extensive sampling of Anoplophora using museum specimens, we reveal a non‐sister relationship between the two temperate species and provide evidence for addressing taxonomic conundrums. Our biogeographical analyses indicate that the adaptation of the two temperate species occurred independently during the late Pliocene and Pleistocene after the establishment of temperate forests in East Asia in the late Miocene. Our findings highlight the importance of comprehensive phylogenetic inference in understanding the patterns and processes of these beetles' adaptation to temperate forests and lay the groundwork for investigating the genetic mechanism underlying life in the cold.

This paper focuses on two paintings in the Old Masters Collection at the Maritime and History Museum of the Croatian Littoral in Rijeka, which can be associated with the name of Bernardo Strozzi (Genoa, 1582 – Venice, 1644). The Head of a Bearded Man stands out for its quality and is almost identical to another work attributed to Strozzi, or his imitator, which has been offered at auctions of the prominent auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s during the past 15 years. The work sold in New York in 2010 most likely served as a workshop model, which is confirmed by the Rijeka painting, since unlike the original, it shows the old man’s cloak and his left hand in the lower part of the composition. Regardless of whether the auction version was cut off at some point or the Rijeka painting is, in fact, a patchwork of several studies by Strozzi, the high quality of the latter, its distinguished style and decisive brush strokes indicate that it was a quality work of the master’s workshop. The painting Saint James the Elder is a copy of Strozzi’s original that used to be part of a private collection in Milan and has recently been offered for sale at Christie’s auction house in New York. The author of the Rijeka painting is most likely a Lombard copyist from the 17th century. Although the provenance of Strozzi’s Saint James the Elder is unknown, the fact that the Rijeka copy, artistically relatively modest, shows the features of Lombard painting from the middle or second half of the 17th century indicates that this painting was probably privately owned in Lombardy soon after its creation, and has therefore remained completely unknown to the experts as well as the general public.

The Douglas Summerland Collection is a fictional "monographically based history"1. In essence this research is concerned with the current debates about history recording, authenticity of the photograph, methods of history construction and how the audience digests new 'knowledge'. The narrative for this body of work is drawn from a small album of maritime photographs discovered in 2004 within the archives of the Port Chalmers Regional Maritime Museum in New Zealand. The album contains vernacular images of life onboard several sailing ships from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including the DH Sterling and the William Mitchell. Through investigating the'truth' systems promoted by the photograph within the presentations of histories this research draws a link between the development of colonialism and the perception of photography. It also deliberates on how 'truth' perception is still a major part of an audience's knowledge base. 1. Anne-Marie Willis Picturing Australia: A History of Photography, Angus & Robertson Publishers, London. 1988:253

Abstract The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich belongs to a select group of institutions that house large collections of planispheric astrolabes. Only the collection at the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford is larger, while the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, the Istituto e Museo diStoria della Scienza in Florence, and the British Museum in London have comparable numbers of astrolabes in their collections. In terms of quality, however, the collection at the National Maritime Museum presents perhaps the finest balance between astrolabes of the Western and Eastern tradition.