Bullion production in imperial China and its significance for sulphide ore smelting world-wide

Gold and silver production was of major importance for almost all ancient societies but has been rarely studied archaeologically. Here we present a reconstruction of a previously undocumented technology used to recover gold, silver and lead at the site of Baojia in Jiangxi province, China dated between the 7th and 13th centuries AD. Smelting a mixture of sulphidic and gossan ores in a relatively low temperature furnace under mildly reducing conditions, the process involved the use of metallic iron to reduce lead sulphide to lead metal, which acted as the collector of the precious metals. An experimental reconstruction provides essential information, demonstrating both the significant influence of sulphur on the silicate slag system, and that iron reduction smelting of lead can be carried out at a relatively low temperature. These new findings are relevant for further studies of lead and precious metal smelting slags world-wide. The technological choices of ancient smelters at this site are then discussed in their specific geographical and social-economic settings

Copper and bloomery iron smelting in Central China: Technological traditions in the Daye County (Hubei)

This project investigates the copper and iron producing industries of Daye County, a substantial mining and smelting area in the Hubei Province (China) with activities well documented from the early 1st millennium BC. In particular, this study aims to characterise the engineering parameters of the primary smelting of copper and bloomery iron at eight metal production sites located in the proximity of the prominent ancient mine of Tonglushan, in an area of ~1300 km2 . The thesis is focused on the materials science analyses of surface collected technicalmaterial such as slags, furnace remains, and ores of eight archaeological sites located in close proximity of each other in the Daye County. The methods include optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), and wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF), to characterise their microstructure, mineralogy and chemical composition. The copper-smelting technologies reconstructed here – broadly framed in the Western Zhou period by ceramic typology – seemingly correspond to modest size workshops, thus different from the large scale production centres involving numerous workers, resources and infrastructures typically described in the literature. Moreover, and exceptionally for most of Eurasia, extensive evidence of large-scale production of bloomery iron at the core of the Chinese Empire is documented, with radiocarbon dates placing the activity in the 18th century AD, thus in the Qing Dynasty and over 2000 years after the production of copper. This finding challenges traditional generalisations whereby bloomery iron smelting is widely deemed to be a rarity in China, due to the early development of the blast furnaces; when identified, bloomeries are usually presented as isolated examples of limited scale, mostly in marginal areas to the Central Plains. The reconstruction of the various smelting processes in a relatively small region illustrates different technological adaptations to natural resources and socio- technological contexts, which are discussed using conceptual frameworks of technological choices and regionalism

Bloomery iron smelting in the Daye County (Hubei): Technological traditions in Qing China

China is widely accepted as the birthplace and shrine of the blast furnace, with bloomery iron technology largely believed to be scant before the Han Dynasty, and virtually inexistent afterwards. Challenging this traditional picture, this paper presents the material characterisation and reverse engineering of the primary smelting of bloomery iron at five metal production sites, located in close proximity of each other in the Daye County in Hubei Province, China, and in operation during the middle Qing Dynasty. A combination of materials science analyses–optical microscopy, SEM-EDS and WD-XRF–of surface collected technical material such as slags, furnace remains, and ores has demonstrated the established existence of bloomery iron at the core of the Chinese Empire. The five case studies present robust evidence of an overall broadly shared technical procedure based on the smelting of high grade ores in batteries of embanked furnaces, generating abundant slag but a limited metal output. The reconstruction of the various smelting processes in a relatively small region illustrates different technological adaptations to natural resources and socio-technological contexts, which are discussed using conceptual frameworks of rational economy and technological traditions.This paper is based on the PhD dissertation undertaken by David Larreina-Garcia at the UCL Institute of Archaeology, under the primary supervision of Marcos Martinón-Torres, carried out with the financial support of a UCL Impact Scholarship funded by UCL, the Institute for Archaeo-Metallurgical Studies (IAMS) and the Rio Tinto Group. Radiocarbon dates were obtained through the NERC/AHRC radiocarbon service (grant n° NF/2014/2/12)

Data for: Bloomery iron smelting in the Daye County (Hubei): technological traditions in Qing China

Full results (normalised) of WD-XRF data for bloomery slag samples, and precision and accuracy values of the machines monitored using certified reference materials (CRMs

Data for: Bloomery iron smelting in the Daye County (Hubei): technological traditions in Qing China

Full results (normalised) of WD-XRF data for bloomery slag samples, and precision and accuracy values of the machines monitored using certified reference materials (CRMs)THIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV

Using attribution theory to explain tourists' attachments to place-based brands

Assuming a holistic view of attribution, the paper presents hypotheses regarding the mediating role of brand related attributions in the relationships between tourists' experiences (pleasure, arousal, satisfaction) and their emotional attachments to place-based brands. Testing the hypotheses involves a sample of 3460 visitors to fifteen international regions and examining wine (e.g., regional umbrella brands such as Bordeaux, Rioja, Tuscany, Napa, and Western Hills) as the tested stimulus. Results suggest that brand related attributions fully mediate the influence of pleasure and satisfaction on brand attachments, whereas arousal has a direct effect; prior place attachment and place to brand associations enhance effects of the tourism experience. © 2011 Elsevier Inc.Ulrich R. Orth, Albert Stöckl, Roberta Veale, Joëlle Brouard, Alessio Cavicchi, Monica Faraoni, Mikel Larreina, Benoît Lecat, Janeen Olsen, Carmen Rodriguez-Santos, Cristina Santini and Damien Wilso

Having a great vacation and blaming the wines: an attribution theory perspective on consumer attachments to regional brands

Ulrich R. Orth, Albert Stöckl, Joëlle Brouard, Alessio Cavicchi, Monica Faraoni, Mikel Larreina, Benoît Lecat, Janeen Olson, Carmen Rodriguez-Santos, Cristina Santini, Roberta Veale and Damien Wilsonhttp://www.ams-web.org/cde.cfm?event=25627

VizieR Online Data Catalog: 3D shape of Orion A from Gaia DR2 (Grossschedl+, 2018)

VizieR On-line Data Catalog: J/A+A/619/A106. Originally published in: 2018A&A...619A.106GCatalog of the 682 YSOs, used to infer on the cloud's shape. We use Gaia DR2 parallaxes of these YSOs, which can be used as a good proxy for cloud distances in Orion A. (1 data file)

Earliest Known Human Burial in Africa

The origin and evolution of hominin mortuary practices are topics of intense interest and debate1–3. Human burials dated to the Middle Stone Age (MSA) are exceedingly rare in Africa and unknown in East Africa1–6. Here we describe the partial skeleton of a roughly 2.5- to 3.0-year-old child dating to 78.3 ± 4.1 thousand years ago, which was recovered in the MSA layers of Panga ya Saidi (PYS), a cave site in the tropical upland coast of Kenya7,8. Recent excavations have revealed a pit feature containing a child in a flexed position. Geochemical, granulometric and micromorphological analyses of the burial pit content and encasing archaeological layers indicate that the pit was deliberately excavated. Taphonomical evidence, such as the strict articulation or good anatomical association of the skeletal elements and histological evidence of putrefaction, support the in-place decomposition of the fresh body. The presence of little or no displacement of the unstable joints during decomposition points to an interment in a filled space (grave earth), making the PYS finding the oldest known human burial in Africa. The morphological assessment of the partial skeleton is consistent with its assignment to Homo sapiens, although the preservation of some primitive features in the dentition supports increasing evidence for non-gradual assembly of modern traits during the emergence of our species. The PYS burial sheds light on how MSA populations interacted with the dead. The earliest known human burial in Africa, that of a young child, is dated to around 78,000 years ago