Radius of curvature measurements and wood diameter: a comparison of different image analysis techniques

article in press in British Archaeological ReportThe study of wood diameter is needed for the understanding of wood supply management. This type of approach, which was launched in the 1990s, has improved considerably as radius of curvature measurement has gained in precision through the introduction of new equipment: stereomicroscope equipped with a camera, and image analysis software. This paper focuses on the first step of the wood diameter study: radius of curvature measurement. This measurement is unusable as it stands, but the data set can be integrated into models to provide better information on wood diameter. In addition to the circle tool technique based on tree-ring curvature, three new techniques are presented here, based on wood rays: Thales' theorem, trigonometry in a right-angled triangle, and trigonometry in an isosceles triangle. This study compares results on perfectly graduated targets and on wood samples for four radii of curvature measurement techniques, to assess their reliability and limits. Three parameters are examined: angle between two wood rays, distance between two wood rays, and radius of curvature

Julie Patarin-Jossec, La Fabrique de l’astronaute. Ethnographie terrestre de la station spatiale internationale

Thomas Pesquet est devenu depuis sa première mission une célébrité mondiale et l’« astronaute européen le plus expérimenté ». Sympathique, disposant de qualités physiques et scientifiques, « gendre idéal », il constitue une vitrine de la France et a tous les traits d’un héros populaire. Julie Patarin-Jossec entreprend dans cet ouvrage de dépasser cette vision idéalisée et de rendre visibles les différentes étapes de la fabrique des astronautes. Son ouvrage, issu des recherches menées dans le ..

Sandra Budy, Nikolaus Katzer, Alexandra Köhring, Manfred Zeller, eds., Euphoria and Exhaustion

L’étude du sport et de la culture physique soviétiques connaît aujourd’hui un regain d’intérêt et cet ouvrage en est la preuve manifeste. Ce volume rassemble les contributions d’un colloque qui s’est tenu à l’université Helmut Schmidt de Hambourg les 5 et 6 septembre 2008. S’inscrivant dans la lignée des travaux récents sur ce thème, il rassemble des historiens venus d’horizons différents, tant historiques que géographiques (Allemagne, Suisse, Ukraine…). Professeur à l’université de Hambourg,..

Malte ROLF, Soviet Mass Festivals, 1917‑1991

L’invention d’une nouvelle culture festive dans la Russie bolchevique, puis en Union soviétique, et l’institutionnalisation de rites et de traditions nouvelles est un phénomène désormais bien connu et arpenté. L’ouvrage de Malte Rolf, publié en allemand en 2006, traduit en anglais en 2013, éclaire un aspect de l’histoire des politiques symboliques. Il se propose d’étudier comment les fêtes politiques (1er mai, 8 mars, anniversaire de la révolution d’Octobre…) en Union soviétique sont devenues..

Gymnastics' centre of gravity: the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, its governance and the Cold War, 1956–1976

International audienceFounded as the Bureau Des Fédérations Européennes De Gymnastique in 1881, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) was officially created in 1922. However, despite having over 100 national associations affiliated by the end of the twentieth century, it was dominated by Europeans until relatively recently. In particular, the former communist bloc of Eastern Europe had a particular hold on gymnastics from the 1950s onwards. This article uses the FIG as a case study to highlight the institutional, political and ideological rivalries within international sport. It reveals such influences on the sportification of gymnastics and, in doing so, offers new insights into the history of the Cold War, including the USSR’s ascension to the international sporting scene, and its power surrounding the ‘South Africa ban’ due to its Apartheid policy. Thus, this work allows us to understand how the FIG’s policies were, from an early stage, embedded in a twofold dynamic of East–West and North–South. Our study is based on official and administrative documents from national associations and the FIG, and on press review from several European countries

Charcoal analysis and wood diameter: inductive and deductive methodological approaches for the study of firewood collecting practices

International audienc

Dendro-anthracological tools applied to Scots type pine forests exploitation as fuel during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the southern central pre-Pyrenees (Spain)

This work focuses on the reconstruction of fuelwood procurement during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the southern central Pre-Pyrenees (Spain). The study combines wood charcoal identification with the application of dendro-anthracological approaches in the archaeological sequence of Esplugón (9.4–6.8 kyr cal BP) (Sabiñanigo, Huesca). Scots type pine (Pinus sylvestris tp.) reaches in this record around 90% of exploited firewood in line with its abundance in the inner Iberia mountainous areas during the onset of the Holocene. The classification of pine wood fragments in anthraco-groups is based on the combination of different dendro-anthracological tools: i) pith location tool and wood diameter estimation based on the trigonomethric method tool (ADmodel), ii) the study of growth rate based on the annual tree-ring width measurements, and iii) a modern dendrological dataset. There are hardly any differences observed in firewood procurement between the last hunter-gatherers and the first farmers in the long sequences from rock-shelters with recurrent human occupations. First results from this site point to the exploitation of whole trees but a high use of small pine branches probably from the gathering of branch shedding