Political manipulation in the 1385 change of dynasties in Portugal: an Iberian detail named Blanca

This article focuses on the role of Blanca (1319–79?) – the granddaughter of monarchs Sancho IV of Castile and Jaume II of Aragon —in the context of the legal process supporting the election of João I of Portugal in the 1385 Coimbra parliament. The topic prompts an inquiry into the different viewpoints on a little known character in the Iberian royal families. First, the methodology employed contrasts the information known about Blanca and the description that Portuguese documents dating from 1385 make of her. These are an inquest and the official election act of João, the first king of the second Portuguese dynasty. After this section, the article seeks to shed light on the impact which the events described in the latter document had on Blanca’s historical context between the end of the 1320s and the 1340s. The article ends with a fresh look at chroniclers’ portrait of Blanca. In short, this article assesses and contrasts several portrayals of reality over several periods in time: the short term in the 1385 parliamentary meeting, Blanca’s lifespan, and finally a long period during which she almost vanished from historiography.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved