Roman women in Lowland Scotland

Roman Provinces, Middle Ages and Modern Perio

The Silchester 'Nymphaeum'

A carved coping stone found on the site of a spring near the amphitheatre, Silchester and first reported in 1873 was re-discovered in 2014. The stone does not compare in its carved detail with coping stones from the amphitheatres at Chester and London nor with that recovered from the West Gate, Silchester in 1890, nor does its basal width correspond with that of the arena wall of the Silchester amphitheatre. It is likely to have formed part of a monumental basin similar to that found at Coventina’s Well, Northumberland and commemorating the location of a spring and its associated (unknown) deity. Similarity with the type and decoration of architectural stone used in the construction of the forum basilica suggests a Hadrianic-Antonine date

Numerical simulation of CO2 dispersion from punctures and ruptures of buried high-pressure dense phase CO2 pipelines with experimental validation

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) presents an option for significantly reducing the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) released into the atmosphere and mitigating the effects of climate change. Pipelines are considered to be the most likely method for transporting captured CO2 and their safe operation is of paramount importance as their contents are likely to be in the region of several thousand tonnes and CO2 poses a number of concerns upon release due to its unusual physical properties. To this end, National Grid initiated the COOLTRANS (CO2 Liquid Pipeline Transportation) research programme to consider the pipeline transportation of high-pressure dense phase CO2. Part of this work involved the development of a mathematical model for predicting the dispersion of pure CO2 following the venting, puncture, or rupture, of such a transportation pipeline during normal operational conditions. In this paper, we describe the use of a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) tool that can be used to numerically simulate the near-field sonic dispersion from such releases, above and below ground. The model is shown to qualitatively and quantitatively reproduce observed experimental results. Validated flows at the top of the crater formed by below ground releases presented here for a range of scenarios provide the basis for developing robust source conditions for use in CFD studies of far-field dispersion, and for use with pragmatic quantified risk assessment (QRA) models

Dairying, diseases and the evolution of lactase persistence in Europe

Update notice Author Correction: Dairying, diseases and the evolution of lactase persistence in Europe (Nature, (2022), 608, 7922, (336-345), 10.1038/s41586-022-05010-7) Nature, Volume 609, Issue 7927, Pages E9, 15 September 2022In European and many African, Middle Eastern and southern Asian populations, lactase persistence (LP) is the most strongly selected monogenic trait to have evolved over the past 10,000 years(1). Although the selection of LP and the consumption of prehistoric milk must be linked, considerable uncertainty remains concerning their spatiotemporal configuration and specific interactions(2,3). Here we provide detailed distributions of milk exploitation across Europe over the past 9,000 years using around 7,000 pottery fat residues from more than 550 archaeological sites. European milk use was widespread from the Neolithic period onwards but varied spatially and temporally in intensity. Notably, LP selection varying with levels of prehistoric milk exploitation is no better at explaining LP allele frequency trajectoriesthan uniform selection since the Neolithic period. In the UK Biobank(4,5) cohort of 500,000 contemporary Europeans, LP genotype was only weakly associated with milk consumption and did not show consistent associations with improved fitness or health indicators. This suggests that other reasons for the beneficial effects of LP should be considered for its rapid frequency increase. We propose that lactase non-persistent individuals consumed milk when it became available but, under conditions of famine and/or increased pathogen exposure, this was disadvantageous, driving LP selection in prehistoric Europe. Comparison of model likelihoods indicates that population fluctuations, settlement density and wild animal exploitation-proxies for these drivers-provide better explanations of LP selection than the extent of milk exploitation. These findings offer new perspectives on prehistoric milk exploitation and LP evolution.Peer reviewe

Community and the creation of provincial identities: a re-interpretation of the aisled building at North Warnborough

The aisled hall at North Warnborough has attracted attention as one of a handful of examples frequently included in surveys and analyses of this common architectural type as well as for arguments related to the gendered use of space. This article presents a new architectural analysis of this building and attempts to set it within its immediate and wider archaeological and geological landscape context. A theoretically informed interpretation of the social significance of this site is offered, which has broader implications for the studies of Romano-British architecture, rural settlement, and landscape