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Material characterisation of the Neo-Assyrian writing boards from Nimrud
(2025-06)
Tamburini, Diego
;
Dyer, Joanne
;
Palmas, Francesco
;
Cartwright, Caroline
;
Taylor, Jonathan
The writing boards excavated from Nimrud (modern Iraq) represent the first material evidence of cuneiform writing on wax. Scientific investigations conducted in the 1950s identified the yellowish writing paste as a mixture of beeswax and orpiment (As2S3), with the boards possibly made from walnut (Juglans regia). Advances in analytical techniques and further archaeological discoveries of writing boards have renewed interest in these artifacts and their materiality. This study re-examines some board fragments in the British Museum using Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with in situ silylation (Py(HMDS)-GC-MS) and gas chromatography coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-QToF-MS) for the characterisation of the organic components of the wax paste. Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used for pigment and wood species identification, respectively. The results confirmed that the yellow paste is composed of beeswax mixed with orpiment. The wax components are particularly well preserved, and no organic additives were detected. GC-QToF-MS detected traces of wax even from areas of the boards where no visual evidence of wax survived. Charred vegetable matter, consistent with the use of a carbon black pigment, suggests that writing boards with a grey/black colour, relatively common in Greek and Roman practices, were also produced in the Middle East. The wood was confirmed to be walnut, which is native to Southwest Asia. As no ancient Near Eastern recipe for wax writing boards has come to light so far, the information gathered is key to better understand this ancient practice, ground this knowledge in scientific evidence and enhance the contextualisation of wooden writing boards in the Middle East and beyond.
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Tracing glass production in urban centers along the Silk Roads in the early Islamic period
(2025-02)
Meek, Andrew
;
Simpson, St John
;
Schibille, Nadine
For most of the 1st millennium CE, glass was produced in a few industrial centers in the eastern Mediterranean and traded throughout the ancient world in the form of raw glass and finished objects. The chemical variability of glass is therefore limited, allowing economic and cultural exchange networks to be traced from production to consumer sites. This system of production and trade changed toward the end of the millennium. Using elemental analyses of glass from Merv (Turkmenistan), we reconstruct the transformation of the glass industry in the 9th century. Our data show that raw glass no longer traveled in large quantities over long distances, but that primary productions multiplied in urban centers along the medieval Silk Roads. We propose that the old model of a globalized glass trade disintegrates by the 9th century in favor of a more flexible and diverse production model, reflected in a variety of localized compositional groups.
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Courtly experiments: early portrait etchings by Lucas van Leyden and Jan Gossart
(2024)
Horbatsch, Olenka
For a brief moment in the early sixteenth-century Low Countries, etching became a significant technique for elite commissions. I examine the two earliest etchings made in the Low Countries as a case study: the portrait of Maximilian I by Lucas van Leyden and the portrait of Charles V by Jan Gossart, both made for the Hapsburg-Burgundian court in 1520. The etching technique was integral to the success of the two portrait prints, for both artists as well as their patron. This is a localized instance of artistic emulation and competition within the emergence of a new technique and subject: the Netherlandish portrait print.
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Seeing is believing: The colour of silver alloys and the global silver circulation in the Chinese Ming and Qing dynasties
(2024-12)
Sun, Lin
;
Yang, Gongle
;
Guo, Rui
;
Ren, Xinxing
;
Pollard, Mark
This research investigates the correlation between colour perception and the circulation of silver in China during the Ming (1368–1644 CE) and Qing (1644–1911 CE) dynasties. The primary aim is to deepen our understanding of how silver alloys were perceived and experienced in this historical context while also situating our study within the broader context of the global silver trade. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, silver possessed immense historical significance as a precious commodity. We argue that copper had a more substantial influence on the final colour of silver alloys compared to lead. Furthermore, employing a colourimetric model, our Monteâ€ Carlo simulation demonstrates that over 70% of silver from Mesoamerica to China could be discerned by nonexperts using only their unaided vision, largely due to the elevated copper content. Crucially, our simulation experiment reveals differing effects of copper and lead on the colour of silver alloys. The latter demonstrates minimal change until reaching a threshold of 15%, signifying that lead is a suitable and costâ€ effective substitute for silver. These findings suggest that the detection of silver purity was less demanding than previously assumed, opening up opportunities for arbitrage.
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Human exploitation of a straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon) in Middle Pleistocene deposits at Pampore, Kashmir, India
(2024-10)
Bhat, Ghulam M.
;
Ashton, Nick
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Parfitt, Simon
;
Jukar, Advait
;
Dickinson, Marc R.
Stone tools in association with Pleistocene elephant remains were recovered from Pampore, Kashmir, India, in 2000 from channel deposits in the Pampore Member of the Upper Karewa Group of sediments, which are interpreted as Middle Pleistocene in age. In March 2019 the elephant remains were re-examined to establish taxonomy, cause of death and evidence of human intervention, alongside study of the stone tools and age of the site. This paper reports the results of this work. Most of the elephant remains, including skull and tusks, are from a large adult, but at least two other elephants are also represented. Taxonomic analysis shows that the adult belongs to the genus Palaeoloxodon, but with a mix of features not seen in typical Palaeoloxodon skulls from the Indian Subcontinent. Pathology of the skull indicates severe sinusitis, which may have contributed to the death. No cut-marks from butchery were found on the elephant bones, although three elephant bone flakes were identified, linking human intervention with elephants at the site. The small lithic assemblage is in fresh condition with some refitting artefacts, both suggesting minimal post-depositional movement. Most of the artefacts consist of flakes, flake tools and cores, but with several points and blades suggestive of an early Mode 3 prepared core technology. This might indicate a late Middle Pleistocene age for the site. Further dating evidence using amino acid racemisation on elephant tooth enamel is ongoing, but consistent with this age. The association of stone tools with humanly-modified elephant remains is rare, while prepared core technology is currently scarce further north or east in Asia in the late Middle Pleistocene. The significance of the discovery is discussed in the wider context of Middle Pleistocene elephant-human interaction.
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From hunterâ€ gatherers to food producers: New dental insights into the Nile Valley population history (Late Paleolithic–Neolithic)
(2024-05-11)
Martin, Nicolas
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Thibeault, Adrien
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Varadzinovà¡, Lenka
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Ambrose, Stanley H.
;
Antoine, Daniel
This study presents biological affinities between the last hunter-fisher-gatherers and first food-producing societies from the Nile Valley. We investigate odontometric and dental tissue proportion changes between these populations from the Middle Nile Valley and acknowledge the biological processes behind them.
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