Economic and social development in the Cycladic Islands, 1000 - 480 BCE

This thesis seeks to understand how economic and social development occurred in the Cycladic Islands between the end of the Bronze Age and the Persian Wars, 1000 – 480 BCE. The longue durée of the examination sets the remarkable 8th to 6th century Iron Age development of economic and social institutions into a diachronic context. A comprehensive set of archaeologically attested evidence from each island and each site was evaluated. This work fills a gap in scholarship as a synthetic analysis of the Iron Age Cycladic islands has not been done previously. The examination begins with the preceding Late Bronze Age palace- based social and economic systems with specific attention paid to associated trade routes. Following the end of the Bronze Age, an apparently uniformly low level of population across the islands was barely able to scratch out an existence in the 12ᵗʰ and 11ᵗʰ centuries. Beginning in the 10ᵗʰ century, evidence suggests that over the following centuries, on many of the islands, significant economic surpluses and robust social systems were generated. On other islands, evidence of complex development is not apparent. The trade routes and social structures of the Early Iron Age appear to bear little resemblance to those of the Late Bronze Age suggesting something different developed in the aftermath. This examination traces those developments throughout the archipelago on an island by island basis, noting changes in the material culture, social structure, technological innovations, and evidence of entrepreneurial enterprise that, in combination, led to the creation of economic surpluses. An analysis of the contributions of phoros to the Delian League shows that individual islands were assessed at different levels. This suggests that a range of economic strategies were pursued by the islands’ inhabitants, some proving more successful than others. The development of successful economic enterprises is but one of a series of developments during the period and needs to be examined in a broad context that considers coterminous social development. The most successful economic strategies suggest a paradigm that perhaps can be applied to understand other societies’ rocesses of regeneration following societal collapses in other places and periods

Creating and curating an archive: Bury St Edmunds and its Anglo-Saxon past

This contribution explores the mechanisms by which the Benedictine foundation of Bury St Edmunds sought to legitimise and preserve their spurious pre-Conquest privileges and holdings throughout the Middle Ages. The archive is extraordinary in terms of the large number of surviving registers and cartularies which contain copies of Anglo-Saxon charters, many of which are wholly or partly in Old English. The essay charts the changing use to which these ancient documents were put in response to threats to the foundation's continued enjoyment of its liberties. The focus throughout the essay is to demonstrate how pragmatic considerations at every stage affects the development of the archive and the ways in which these linguistically challenging texts were presented, re-presented, and represented during the Abbey’s history

COVID-19 symptoms at hospital admission vary with age and sex: results from the ISARIC prospective multinational observational study

Background: The ISARIC prospective multinational observational study is the largest cohort of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. We present relationships of age, sex, and nationality to presenting symptoms. Methods: International, prospective observational study of 60 109 hospitalized symptomatic patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 recruited from 43 countries between 30 January and 3 August 2020. Logistic regression was performed to evaluate relationships of age and sex to published COVID-19 case definitions and the most commonly reported symptoms. Results: ‘Typical’ symptoms of fever (69%), cough (68%) and shortness of breath (66%) were the most commonly reported. 92% of patients experienced at least one of these. Prevalence of typical symptoms was greatest in 30- to 60-year-olds (respectively 80, 79, 69%; at least one 95%). They were reported less frequently in children (≤ 18 years: 69, 48, 23; 85%), older adults (≥ 70 years: 61, 62, 65; 90%), and women (66, 66, 64; 90%; vs. men 71, 70, 67; 93%, each P < 0.001). The most common atypical presentations under 60 years of age were nausea and vomiting and abdominal pain, and over 60 years was confusion. Regression models showed significant differences in symptoms with sex, age and country. Interpretation: This international collaboration has allowed us to report reliable symptom data from the largest cohort of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Adults over 60 and children admitted to hospital with COVID-19 are less likely to present with typical symptoms. Nausea and vomiting are common atypical presentations under 30 years. Confusion is a frequent atypical presentation of COVID-19 in adults over 60 years. Women are less likely to experience typical symptoms than men