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A comprehensive evaluation of collagen-based historical artifacts is crucial for the preservation and inheritance of cultural relics, necessitating interdisciplinary approaches that integrate scientific knowledge with practical expertise to develop effective conservation strategies. The present work was focused on a piece of historical leather armor housed in Turpan Museum, Xinjiang, China. SEM–EDS, XRD, ATR-FTIR, and NMR were carried out on this historical leather armor from macro and micro perspectives, mainly including morphology observation, composition analysis, structural assessment, which could provide both quantitative and qualitative insights into the deterioration of the historical leather armor. Additionally, the non-destructive sampling methods and the third-generation sequencing technology (TGS) were employed to identify a total of 13 bacterial species and 8 fungal species, and their metabolic pathways were predicted, providing guidance for preventive conservation and restoration strategies. By the present work, necessary fundamental knowledge might be provided for the effective preservation and inheritance of collagen-based historical artifacts.

Last year witnessed the conclusion of a long-fought dispute between a private party and a foreign government over an art collection with significant cultural value. It involved a treasure of ecclesiastical objects dating back to Medieval Germany that had once belonged to the royal House of Guelph and housed in the muralled medieval Brunswick Cathedral in Braunschweig, Germany. Ultimately, after over a decade of fighting, the controversy’s resolution did not involve an ownership determination by a U.S. court. Rather, the high court abstained from making a determination and instead declined to exercise jurisdiction over Germany. The lack of decision was not surprising, particularly in light of delicate foreign policy issues at play and the importance of keeping the judiciary out of international political disputes. The court’s unanimous decision was consistent with prior holdings, and so perhaps it was foreseeable that the court did not examine the merits of the ownership claims. However, a line of cases against Greece, Switzerland, and Italy did come as a shock, because they involved claims against foreign countries for asserting ownership interests in antiquities that were suspected of having been looted. Never before had governments been sued for their actions regulating the antiquities market and working to protect cultural artifacts.

The article analyses the works of Albert Żamett (Zameytt, 1821–1876), an artist from Vilnius, stored in the collections of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences and the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. Most of these works are from the Wroblewski collections. The diverse collection also includes such unique items as an album of studio drawings, a watercolour depicting the ruins of Trakai Castle, and a stage design project. These and other objects in the collection reflect different stages of Żamett’s creative activities and are very significant for the research on this artist’s legacy but have remained on the margins of scientific research up until now. In the article, the works of the Wroblewski collection are discussed in the broader context of Żamett’s work; some objects are published and introduced to scientific circulation for the first time. The publication discusses the artist’s relations with Jan Kazimierz Wilczyński, the publisher of Album de Vilna (The Album of Vilnius) and with patrons Benedict, Michał, and Eustachy Tyszkiewicz. The dates of some works are being revised (the painting Interior of the Palace in Gorodok – 1860, the drawing for the lithograph The Archaeology Hall of the Vilnius Museum of Antiquities – 1863). New data on various aspects of the artist’s creative activity in Vilnius are also presented. For example, it has not been noticed until now that Żamett used Sweykowski’s photography for the image of Eustachy Tyszkiewicz in the interior of the Archaeology Hall of the Vilnius Museum of Antiquities. It was also not known that Żamett led the reconstruction of the St Wladislaus Chapel in 1862–1863, during which the altar with the sculpture of the saint by Henryk Dmochowski, which has survived to this day, was installed. Unexpected information was also found in the press about the mural depicting Békés Hill, which Żamett painted in 1862 in Spohr’s confectionery on Vokiečių Street. With regard to the 1847 watercolour depicting the ruins of Trakai Castle, it was discovered that Żamett used the motif of Trakai several times and had painted several landscape versions of this theme using romantic lighting effects in some of them. The watercolour in the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences is probably the earliest and the only image of the ruins of Trakai Castle by Albert Żamett that has survived in Lithuania.

The Islamic State group strikes one valuable archaeological site after another, destroying priceless ruins and artifacts. While inflicting misery on the people of northern Iraq, supporters of the Islamic State group have also attacked one ancient site after another in the past 2 weeks, systematically taking sledgehammers and drills to artifacts. Reports say that the militant forces are using bulldozers to demolish ancient buildings. By last week the toll included the statues in the Mosul Museum, the classical site of Hatra, and the ancient Assyrian capitals of Nineveh, Nimrud, and Khorsabad, famed for their massive protective deities in the form of human-headed winged bulls. Assur, a 4500-year-old temple-studded Assyrian city where kings and queens were laid to rest for centuries, is likely the next target, say archaeologists, who are desperately trying to piece together the extent of the damage.

The witness-list to a charter of Edgar the Peaceable, now lost but quoted by William Somner, designated Eadgifu, Edgar’s grandmother, as in Cantia etiam gubernator. Although doubts about the authenticity of Somner’s source are now unlikely to be resolved, a study of Eadgifu’s life and comparison with contemporary cases of shire administration and female secular power show that, at least in theory, the claim that she was governor of Kent is more credible than it may seem.

Bu makale, Erken Bizans Dönemi'nde Kibris'in kuzey-doǧu kiyilarinda yeterince araştirilmamiş kirsal deniz alanlarina yeni bakiş açilari sunmaktadir. Ayni şekilde, Aphendika'daki az araştirilmiş kiyi alanina ve muhtemelen antik Hellenistik Urania ile özdeşleştirilebilecek olan Karpaz yarimadasinin doǧu kesimindeki doǧal liman koyuna odaklanmaktadir. Kayaya oyularak inşa edilmiş az sayida liman tesisleri ve kirsal ekonominin kalintilari olarak kabul edilebilen zeytinyaǧi üretimiyle baǧlantili aǧirlik taşlari ve pres yataklari, invaziv olmayan yöntemlerle yer ve havadan araştirilmiş ve belgelenmiştir. Bu esnada, liman körfezinden, siǧ sulardan ve körfezin yakin çevresinden toplanan önemli miktardaki yüzey parçasi, belgelenmiş ve tipolojik olarak siniflandirilirmiş, arkeolojik depoya kaldirilarak daha fazla tahribattan ve yok olmaktan kurtarilmiştir. Aphendrika'daki tarihi alanla ilgili daha önce yapilan birkaç sinirli çalişmaya, limanlari veya demirleme yerleri olan diǧer antik Kibris yerleşimlerinin analizine ve kendi saha analizlerimize dayanan makalede; limanin ve büyük ölçüde bilinmeyen yerleşiminin, kiyiyi yerel hinterlandina baǧlayan ve özellikle kiyi deniz trafiǧini çeken bir geçit emporionu olarak hizmet ettiǧi savunulmaktadir. Amfora spektrumú aǧirlikli olarak Doǧu Akdeniz olan alanda, Geç Roma Amforasi 1 hâkim olarak yer almaktadir. Ayrica, kaldiraç ve vidali preslerin izlerine siklikla rastlanmasi, limandan ihraç edilen üretim fazlasinin bir kaniti olarak yorumlanmiştir. Bu dönemde, kirsal ekonominin muhtemelen yerel seçkinler tarafindan kontrol edildiǧi düşünülmektedir. Kibris'in güney kiyisindaki Erken Bizans yerleşimleri için de benzer şekilde onaylanan bu seçkinler, 6. yüzyildan kalma iki kilise ve zengin bir kirsal mülkten kaynaklanabilecek tek bir mermer pilaster başliǧi araciliǧiyla somutlaşmaktadir. Son olarak, Aphendika'dan elde edilen sonuçlar, Kibris'in kuzey-doǧu kiyisinda, Gime ve Andreas Bumu arasinda, daha önce bilinen ve potansiyel olarak yeni antik liman veya demirleme yerlerine ilişkin bir harita, literatür ve fiziksel araştirmadan elde edilen verilere dahil edilmiştir. Potansiyel olarak yeni alanlarin belirlenmesi, adanin kuzey kiyisindaki denizcilik faaliyetinin, önceki araştirmalarda açiklanandan daha yoǧun olduǧu sonucuna yol açan, özel olarak geliştirilmiş gösterge niteliǧindeki kriterlere dayanmaktadir.

Revealing and understanding the mechanisms behind social inequality in prehistoric societies is a major challenge. By combining genome-wide data, isotopic evidence, and anthropological and archaeological data, we have gone beyond the dominating supraregional approaches in archaeogenetics to shed light on the complexity of social status, inheritance rules, and mobility during the Bronze Age. We applied a deep microregional approach and analyzed genome-wide data of 104 human individuals deriving from farmstead-related cemeteries from the Late Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age in southern Germany. Our results reveal individual households, lasting several generations, that consisted of a high-status core family and unrelated low-status individuals; a social organization accompanied by patrilocality and female exogamy; and the stability of this system over 700 years.

Archaeologists are familiar with the concept of assemblage, but in more recent years they have started problematizing it in interesting and innovative ways, beyond its common connotations of aggregation. Sociologists such as Manuel DeLanda and political philosophers such as Jane Bennett have been key influences in this move. These authors had adapted and modified the assemblage thinking of Deleuze and Guattari. In this article, an assemblage of sorts itself, I propose that we need to return to that original Deleuzian body of thinking and explore its richness further. Assemblages, temporary and deliberate heterogeneous arrangements of material and immaterial elements, are about the relationship of in-betweenness. I further suggest that sensoriality and affectivity, memory and multi-temporality are key features of assemblage thinking, and that assemblages also imply certain political effects. The omission of these features in the archaeological treatments of the concept may lead to mechanistic reincarnations of systems thinking, thus depriving the concept of its potential. Finally, I explore these ideas by considering communal eating and feasting events as powerful sensorial assemblages.