Earning Legitimacy: Participation, Intellectual Property and Informed Consent

A booklet linking politics and practice aimed at museum practitioners and researchers working with museum

Oxygen Isotope Dendrochronology of the Newport Medieval Ship

Since the discovery of the Newport Medieval Ship in 2002, many studies have tried to establish a chronology for its construction and subsequent abandonment. Whilst conventional ringwidth dendrochronology has been able to identify the provenance and provide a terminus post quem for the ship, until now a felling date for timbers associated with the original construction of the vessel has proved elusive. This study reports results from the application of stable isotope dendrochronology to date timbers from the ship. Using a combination of dendrochronologically-dated timbers and stable oxygen isotopic data from dated and undated samples, we can provide an independent verification of the ring-width dendrochronology and to return the first felling dates for an assemblage of the ship’s framing timbers. Our results indicate that the ship was likely constructed shortly after the winter of AD 1457/8 with an operational lifetime of less than a decade. The study highlights the potential for the use of stable isotope dendrochronology for the precise, absolute dating of archaeological ship remains where ring-width dendrochronology alone has not proved effective

Selecting and Sampling Shipwreck Timbers for Dendrochronological Research: practical guidance

In this article, we provide practical and straightforward guidance for the selection and sampling of shipwreck timbers for dendrochronological research. We outline sampling strategies and present informative figures that illustrate how to proceed in a variety of scenarios that archaeologists regularly encounter. However, in order to fully exploit the potential of tree-ring research on these objects, we would urge archaeologists to involve dendrochronologists during the project planning phase to carefully plan and conduct adequate sampling of shipwreck assemblages

The Personal is still Political: Museums, Participation and Copyright

Copyright is a means of managing the interests of individual authors and those of the ‘public interest’. In a museum context, copyright is a technical practice which illuminates how museums imagine and manage their own organizational legitimacy – a settlement which has often operated through a ‘public interest argument’ (‘we need you to hand over control of your object/story for the benefit of all’). Drawing on interviews with people who work in museums and those who have taken part in a museum participation project, we focus on a digital storytelling project to show how copyright was deployed to make an in-practice argument for the how museums might legitimately relate personal story telling with the ‘public interest’. The project did this through three processes: coming into the public via managing informed consent through evoking future audiences, making an author through creating intentional decisions and ‘responsibilization’ and making an object by transforming a digital story into a ‘finished’ object which is, in turn, transferred into the museum collections. While those involved in the project recognized they had signed over the rights to their story and were, in most cases, broadly happy with this – ‘that’s what the form was for’, as one put it – the personal nature of the story itself (linked to personal memories, friends and family) and the sociality of the process of making it (in a group; through interactions with museum staff) was also emphasized. This sociality was expressed in the sense that participants would like to be told when a story is going to be re-displayed, be sent drafts of interpretation and be invited to the opening of the exhibition – a mode of relationship with the museum consistently described as ‘courtesy’. The article concludes by suggesting that the expectation of courtesy – though it might seem like a very modest claim – does something to museums and makes way for more nuanced asymmetries within the public interest argument. Rather than assuming that ‘the public interest’ lies in treating people (slightly coldly) in the same way, the lens of courtesy might suggest ways of both respecting the importance of the public ethos (for institutions to address themselves to ideas of fairness, inclusion and equality) yet might also work to socialize this impulse and reimagine a responsive public museum from the bottom up

Next generation ice core technology reveals true minimum natural levels of lead (Pb) in the atmosphere: insights from the Black Death

Current policies to reduce lead pollution in the air are based on the assumption that pre-industrial levels of lead in the air were negligible, safe or non-existent. This trans-disciplinary article shows that this is not the case, using ‘next-generation’ laser technology in climate science, in combination with detailed historical and archaeological records in as many as 7 languages, from all over Europe. We show that lead levels in the air have been elevated for the past 2000 years, except for a single 4-year period. This 4-year period corresponds with the largest known pandemic ever to ravage western Europe (the Black Death), resulting in a 40-50% reduction in population. This unprecedented historic population collapse was accompanied by dramatic economic collapse that halted lead mining and smelting, and related emissions in the air. This trans-disciplinary study is a collaboration led by Harvard University and the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine, and researchers from the University of Heidelberg (Germany) and the University of Nottingham (UK). It uses next-generation technology and expertise in history, climate science, archaeology and toxicology, brought to bear in a highly detailed contribution to planetary health, with crucial implications for public health and environmental policy, and the history of human exposure to lead

Inter-genus Oxygen Isotope Dendrochronology of the Newport Medieval Ship Keel

International audienc

From Boatyard to Museum: 3D laser scanning and digital modelling of the Qatar Museums watercraft collection, Doha, Qatar

This is the final version of the article. Available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.This article presents the results of a project to 3D laser scan and digitally model 14 watercraft from the Qatar Museums collection, comprising a range of regional vessels: most had not been surveyed previously. The project used the resulting point clouds generated 2D naval lines and orthographic records of the vessels in their current condition, and photorealistic 3D digital models for gallery display. This case study provides illustrative examples of the intermediate stages and final outputs. It assesses the pros and cons of 3D laser scanning as a survey technology for nautical scholars in terms of the time, cost, and skillset, as well as logistical considerations. It also compares the accuracy of traditional hand survey methods.We wish to thank QM for enabling and funding this research (Grant number SL-05894)

Oxygen stable isotope ratios from British oak tree-rings provide a strong and consistent record of past changes in summer rainfall

United Kingdom (UK) summers dominated by anti-cyclonic circulation patterns are characterised by clear skies, warm temperatures, low precipitation totals, low air humidity and more enriched oxygen isotope ratios (δ18O) in precipitation. Such conditions usually result in relatively more positive (enriched) oxygen isotope ratios in tree leaf sugars and ultimately in the tree-ring cellulose formed in that year, the converse being true in cooler, wet summers dominated by westerly air flow and cyclonic conditions. There should therefore be a strong link between tree-ring δ18O and the amount of summer precipitation. Stable oxygen isotope ratios from the latewood cellulose of 40 oak trees sampled at eight locations across Great Britain produce a mean δ18O chronology that correlates strongly and significantly with summer indices of total shear vorticity, surface air pressure, and the amount of summer precipitation across the England and Wales region of the United Kingdom. The isotope-based rainfall signal is stronger and much more stable over time than reconstructions based upon oak ring widths. Using recently developed methods that are precise, efficient and highly cost-effective it is possible to measure both carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) isotope ratios simultaneously from the same tree-ring cellulose. In our study region, these two measurements from multiple trees can be used to reconstruct summer temperature (δ13C) and summer precipitation (δ18O) with sufficient independence to allow the evolution of these climate parameters to be reconstructed with high levels of confidence. The existence of long, well-replicated oak tree-ring chronologies across the British Isles mean that it should now be possible to reconstruct both summer temperature and precipitation over many centuries and potentially millennia

Heritage and the Sea: Maritime History and Archaeology of the Global Iberian World (15th -18th centuries)

This two-volume set highlights the importance of Iberian shipbuilding in the centuries of the so-called first globalization (15th to 18th), in confluence with an unprecedented extension of ocean navigation and seafaring and a greater demand for natural resources (especially timber), mostly oak (Quercus spp.) and Pine (Pinus spp.). The chapters are framed in a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary line of research that integrates history, Geographic Information Sciences, underwater archaeology, dendrochronology and wood provenance techniques. This line of research was developed during the ForSEAdiscovery project, which had a great impact in the academic and scientific world and brought together experts from Europe and America. The volumes deliver a state-of-the-art review of the latest lines of research related to Iberian maritime history and archaeology and their developing interdisciplinary interaction with dendroarchaeology. This synthesis combines an analysis of historical sources, the systematic study of wreck-remains and material culture related to Iberian seafaring from the 15th to the 18th centuries, and the application of earth sciences, including dendrochronology. The set can be used as a manual or work guide for experts and students, and will also be an interesting read for non-experts interested in the subject.Volume 1 focuses on the history and archaeology of seafaring and shipbuilding in the Iberian early modern world, complemented by case studies on timber trade and supply for shipbuilding, analysis of shipbuilding treatises, and the application of Geographic Information Systems and Databases (GIS) to the study of shipwrecks.Volume 2 focuses on approaches to the study of shipwrecks including a synthesis of dendro-archaeological results, current interdisciplinary case studies and the specialist study of artillery and anchors.Peer reviewe

The Personal is Still Political: Museums, Participation and Copyright

Copyright is a means of managing the interests of individual authors and those of the ‘public interest’. In a museum context, copyright is a technical practice which illuminates how museums imagine and manage their own organizational legitimacy – a settlement which has often operated through a ‘public interest argument’ (‘we need you to hand over control of your object/story for the benefit of all’). Drawing on interviews with people who work in museums and those who have taken part in a museum participation project, we focus on a digital storytelling project to show how copyright was deployed to make an in-practice argument for the how museums might legitimately relate personal story telling with the ‘public interest’. The project did this through three processes: coming into the public via managing informed consent through evoking future audiences, making an author through creating intentional decisions and ‘responsibilization’ and making an object by transforming a digital story into a ‘finished’ object which is, in turn, transferred into the museum collections. While those involved in the project recognized they had signed over the rights to their story and were, in most cases, broadly happy with this – ‘that’s what the form was for’, as one put it – the personal nature of the story itself (linked to personal memories, friends and family) and the sociality of the process of making it (in a group; through interactions with museum staff) was also emphasized. This sociality was expressed in the sense that participants would like to be told when a story is going to be re-displayed, be sent drafts of interpretation and be invited to the opening of the exhibition – a mode of relationship with the museum consistently described as ‘courtesy’. The article concludes by suggesting that the expectation of courtesy – though it might seem like a very modest claim – does something to museums and makes way for more nuanced asymmetries within the public interest argument. Rather than assuming that ‘the public interest’ lies in treating people (slightly coldly) in the same way, the lens of courtesy might suggest ways of both respecting the importance of the public ethos (for institutions to address themselves to ideas of fairness, inclusion and equality) yet might also work to socialize this impulse and reimagine a responsive public museum from the bottom up