Corporate Branding and Collegiate Coats of Arms as Logos: Marked Ceramics and the University of Cambridge

Corporate branding and logos are typically conceived of as mid-20th-century phenomena. This study provides a greater time depth to these concepts, by considering ceramics used by the colleges of the University of Cambridge between the late 18th century and the current day. It also considers corporate branding and logos in terms of well-established institutions, which were already deeply associated with pre-existing symbols such as coats of arms. As well as being functional items collegiate ceramic tablewares fulfilled a range of symbolic functions, including both reinforcing overall group identity as well as internal status divisions

Throwing away everything but the kitchen sink? Large assemblages, depositional practice and post-medieval households in Cambridge

Developer-funded archaeologists investigating post-1750 sites in Britain frequently recover large assemblages of material, which appear to have been rapidly deposited in features by particular households or other groups. Such assemblages possess considerable interpretive potential, but this is yet to be fully exploited. This paper proposes a nuanced approach to the analysis of such assemblages, one that is critically aware of stratigraphic sequencing and historical deposition factors.The work at Grand Arcade was jointly funded by Grosvenor Developments Ltd and the Universities Superannuation Scheme, as the Grand Arcade Partnership

'To Clapham's I go': a mid-late 18th-century Cambridge coffeehouse assemblage

SUMMARY: The recovery of a large closely dated assemblage that can be unambiguously associated with a mid to late 18th-century Cambridge coffeehouse provides the first opportunity for a detailed consideration of material associated with these significant institutions. A cellar located off All Saints’ Passage in Cambridge, England, backfilled c. 1775–80, produced a substantial assemblage of over 500 objects; principally ceramics, but also including vessel glass, clay tobacco pipes, animal bone and other material. Marked items and assemblage composition allows this material to be unambiguously associated with Clapham’s Coffeehouse, run by William and Jane Clapham c. 1746/48–79. Relatively few archaeological assemblages related to these important 18th-century socioeconomic institutions have been recovered and the material associated with Clapham’s Coffeehouse possesses a distinctive ‘signature’, albeit one that is not necessarily generally applicable to other coffeehouses. There were a substantial number of ceramics associated with tea drinking. Coffee-drinking vessels were frequent but less common and there was relatively little evidence for chocolate drinking. A range of alcoholic drinks were also consumed and dining was common, with a particular emphasis on snacks, whilst smoking appears to have been uncommon. The assemblage is compared with other groups associated with coffeehouses, a series of groups from earlier inns in the vicinity and broadly contemporary domestic assemblages from Cambridge and inn groups from England. The archaeological evidence indicates that the materialities of coffeehouses were not significantly different to that of other establishments, such as inns, and challenges some currently held views of coffeehouses derived from documentary sources.The archaeological investigations at Corfield Court — known as St John’s Triangle at the time — were funded by St John’s College.The analysis of the material has been aided by generous grants from the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, and the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology

Ancient Yersinia pestis genomes from across Western Europe reveal early diversification during the First Pandemic (541–750)

The first historically documented pandemic caused by Yersinia pestis began as the Justinianic Plague in 541 within the Roman Empire and continued as the so-called First Pandemic until 750. Although paleogenomic studies have previously identified the causative agent as Y. pestis, little is known about the bacterium’s spread, diversity, and genetic history over the course of the pandemic. To elucidate the microevolution of the bacterium during this time period, we screened human remains from 21 sites in Austria, Britain, Germany, France, and Spain for Y. pestis DNA and reconstructed eight genomes. We present a methodological approach assessing single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ancient bacterial genomes, facilitating qualitative analyses of low coverage genomes from a metagenomic background. Phylogenetic analysis on the eight reconstructed genomes reveals the existence of previously undocumented Y. pestis diversity during the sixth to eighth centuries, and provides evidence for the presence of multiple distinct Y. pestis strains in Europe. We offer genetic evidence for the presence of the Justinianic Plague in the British Isles, previously only hypothesized from ambiguous documentary accounts, as well as the parallel occurrence of multiple derived strains in central and southern France, Spain, and southern Germany. Four of the reported strains form a polytomy similar to others seen across the Y. pestis phylogeny, associated with the Second and Third Pandemics. We identified a deletion of a 45-kb genomic region in the most recent First Pandemic strains affecting two virulence factors, intriguingly overlapping with a deletion found in 17th- to 18th-century genomes of the Second Pandemic. © 2019 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved

Ancient herpes simplex 1 genomes reveal recent viral structure in Eurasia

Human herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1), a life-long infection spread by oral contact, today infects a majority of adults globally1, yet no ancient HSV-1 genomes have yet been published. Phylogeographic clustering of sampled diversity into European, pan-Eurasian, and African groups2, 3 has suggested that the virus co-diverged with anatomically modern humans migrating out of Africa4, although a much younger origin has also been proposed5. The lack of ancient HSV-1 genomes, high rates of recombination, and high mobility of humans in the modern era have impeded the understanding of HSV-1’s evolutionary history. Here we present three full ancient European HSV-1 genomes and one partial genome, dating to between the 3rd and 17th century CE, sequenced to up to 9.5× with paired human genomes up to 10.16×. These HSV-1 strains fall within modern Eurasian diversity. We estimate a mean mutation rate of 7.6 × 10-7Introduction Results - Retrieved genomes are likely from typical infections - Demographic history of HSV-1 in a global context Discussion Material and Methods - Ethics statement - Sampling - Generation of aDNA libraries - Sequencing - aDNA authentication - Metagenomic screening - Targeted capture of HSV-1 - Alignment of viral data to the reference sequence - Genotyping - HSV-1 linkage disequilibrium and population genetic analysis - Compilation of comparative HSV data - Preparation of genome sequences - HSV-1 phylogenetic analysis and recombination filtering - Phylogenetic dating - Alignment of human data to the reference sequence and quality control - Genetic sex estimation, mtDNA, and Y haplotyping - Human variant calling and imputation of genotype

Health inequality in medieval Cambridge, 1200–1500 CE

Health inequality is not only a major problem today; it left its mark upon past societies too. For much of the past, health inequality has been poorly studied, mostly because bioarchaeologists have concentrated upon single sites rather than a broader social landscape. This article compares 476 adults in multiple locations of medieval Cambridge (UK). Samples include ordinary townspeople (All Saints), people living in a charitable institution (the Hospital of St. John), and members of a religious order (the Augustinian Friary). These groups shared many conditions of life, such as a similar range of diseases, risk of injury, and vertebral disk degeneration. However, people living on charity had more indicators of poor childhood health and diet, lower adult stature, and a younger age at death, reflecting the health effects of poverty. In contrast, the Augustinian friars were members of a prosperous, well-endowed religious house. Compared with other groups, they were taller (perhaps a result of a richer diet during their adolescent growth period); their adult carbon and nitrogen isotope values are higher, suggesting a diet higher in terrestrial and/or marine animal protein; and they had the highest prevalence of foot problems related to fashionable late medieval footwear. As this illustrates, health inequality will take particular forms depending upon the specificities of a social landscape; except in unusual circumstances where a site and its skeletal samples represent a real cross-section of society, inequality is best investigated by comparison across sites

The synthesis, structures and reactions of zinc and cobalt metal-organic frameworks incorporating an alkyne-based dicarboxylate linker

The reaction of zinc(II) nitrate and 4,4′-ethynylenedibenzoic acid (H2edb) in DMF at 80 °C gave the metal–organic framework material [Zn4O(edb)3(H2O)2]·6DMF 1 in which edb ligands connect Zn4O centres into a doubly-interpenetrated cubic network with a similar topology to observed with other linear dicarboxylates in the IRMOF series. Analysis of the nitrogen isotherm revealed the material to have a BET surface area of 1088 m2 g−1, which is approximately one-third of the value calculated from GCMC simulations, suggesting incomplete activation or pore blocking in the activated material. The reaction of cobalt(II) nitrate and H2edb in DMF gave [Co3(edb)3(DMF)4]·2.6DMF 2. The structure of 2 is based on Co3(O2CR)6 linear secondary building units that are linked by the edb ligands into a two-dimensional network. When 2 was placed under vacuum, a colour change from pale pink to deep blue was observed, which is consistent with loss of the coordinated DMF molecules. When treated with [Co2(CO)8], crystals of 1 turned dark red, and IR analysis is consistent with coordination of Co2(CO)6 fragments to the alkyne groups. However, the colour change was restricted to the external crystal surfaces. This is a likely consequence of partial framework collapse, which occurs following coordination of Co2(CO)6 to the alkyne groups. Coordination changes the preferred angle between carboxylate groups in the edb ligand, which in turn introduces strain into the network

Genetic history of Cambridgeshire before and after the Black Death.

The extent of the devastation of the Black Death pandemic (1346-1353) on European populations is known from documentary sources and its bacterial source illuminated by studies of ancient pathogen DNA. What has remained less understood is the effect of the pandemic on human mobility and genetic diversity at the local scale. Here, we report 275 ancient genomes, including 109 with coverage >0.1×, from later medieval and postmedieval Cambridgeshire of individuals buried before and after the Black Death. Consistent with the function of the institutions, we found a lack of close relatives among the friars and the inmates of the hospital in contrast to their abundance in general urban and rural parish communities. While we detect long-term shifts in local genetic ancestry in Cambridgeshire, we find no evidence of major changes in genetic ancestry nor higher differentiation of immune loci between cohorts living before and after the Black Death

Mycobacterium leprae diversity and population dynamics in medieval Europe from novel ancient genomes

Hansen’s disease (leprosy), widespread in medieval Europe, is today mainly prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions with around 200,000 new cases reported annually. Despite its long history and appearance in historical records, its origins and past dissemination patterns are still widely unknown. Applying ancient DNA approaches to its major causative agent, Mycobacterium leprae, can significantly improve our understanding of the disease’s complex history. Previous studies have identified a high genetic continuity of the pathogen over the last 1500 years and the existence of at least four M. leprae lineages in some parts of Europe since the Early Medieval period

Pathways to the medieval hospital : Collective osteobiographies of poverty and charity

Medieval hospitals were founded to provide charity, but poverty and infirmity were broad and socially determined categories and little is known about the residents of these institutions and the pathways that led them there. Combining skeletal, isotopic and genetic data, the authors weave a collective biography of individuals buried at the Hospital of St John the Evangelist, Cambridge. By starting with the physical remains, rather than historical expectations, they demonstrate the varied life courses of those who were ultimately buried in the hospital's cemetery, illustrating the diverse faces of medieval poverty and institutional notions of charity. The findings highlight the value of collective osteobiography when reconstructing the social landscapes of the past