Stadens Ureenlighed

The uncleanliness of landfill culture in 18th-century Copenhagen After the discovery of an 18th-century landfill that contained a diversity of well-preserved objects discarded by Copenhageners, about 30 archaeological surveys have since been conducted at a site in the north-central part of the city. This coastal district, called Frederiksstaden, is now known for its prominent mansions and the home of the Danish royal family, but its function as a landfill is rarely mentioned as a phenomenon in stories about the area. From studying the excavated items, this article seeks to explore how they reflect the trash culture during Copenhagen’s Age of Absolutism, as well as to describe the landfill’s appearance and when the need for it arose. Using the archaeological source material as a base, the study also examined geotechnical, written, cartographic, iconographic and natural-scientific sources in order to achieve a more nuanced understanding of the landfill and to reflect on how the different sources relate to each other. This article argues that getting citizens to adapt to the new system of trash management was a long and challenging process; e.g., according to written sources, the landfill was only supposed to receive household garbage and sweepings from the city’s streets, but the archaeological evidence shows that human waste from latrines was also disposed of there. Other trash items found in the landfill exhibit signs of extensive reuse before having been discarded, which supports statements from other sources. The most obvious sources for information about the appearance of the landfill – specifically, 18th-century cartography and art – proved not to be worthwhile. Instead, archaeological evidence and written sources provided a better image of the swampy conditions that caused the terrain to even out over time – a process that began in this area during the second half of the 17th century. The need for a centrally-controlled framework to manage garbage seems to be connected to the development of a permanent settlement, the new system of matriculation, an emphasis on ownership and overall population growth, which included the fear and nuisance of disease. This resulted in using a coastal area as a landfill – an area where aristocratic mansions were also built during Copenhagen’s Age of Absolutism

Sko og skidt - i københavnernes fodspor i middelalder og tidlig moderne tid

I artiklen undersøges fodtøj i et affaldsperspektiv ud fra især arkæologiske fund af sko fra 1300-tallet til slutningen af 1700-tallet og det samtidige underlag i det offentlige rum. Formålet er at afsøge om fodtøjets udviklingshistorie var påvirket af de lokale gadeforhold herunder urenhed – med København som case

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century