230Th dates for dedicatory corals from a remote alpine desert adze quarry on Mauna Kea, Hawai‘i

Antiquity ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 83 (320) ◽  
pp. 445-457 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick C. McCoy ◽  
Marshall I. Weisler ◽  
Jian-xin Zhao ◽  
Yue-Xing Feng
Keyword(s):  
High Altitude ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Early History ◽  
Uranium Series ◽  
Error Range ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium

AbstractThe authors show how sites in upland Hawai‘i may be dated using uranium series radiogenic measurements on coral. The sites lie in a quarry, inland and at high altitude, with little carboniferous material around, and radiocarbon dating is anyway problematic here for the first millennium. Freshly broken coral had been transported to these sites, remote from the sea – no doubt for ritual purposes. Giving a date in the fifteenth century with an error range of only five years, the method promises to be valuable for the early history of the Pacific.

Petrus de Domarto's Missa Spiritus almus and the early history of the four-voice mass in the fifteenth century

1991 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 235-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob C. Wegman
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Early History ◽  
The Third ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

In 1449, the records of the church of Our Lady at Antwerp mention a new singer, Petrus de Domaro (see Figure 1). He does not reappear in the accounts of 1450, and those of the subsequent years are all lost. Musical sources and treatises from the 1460s to 80s call him, with remarkable consistency, P[etrus] de Domarto, and reveal that he was an internationally famous composer in the third quarter of the fifteenth century.

Erotic asceticism: the razor's edge observance (asidhārāvrata) and the early history of tantric coital ritual

2016 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaman Hatley
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Contact ◽  
Early History ◽  
Sexual Practices ◽  
Women's Roles ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
Women’S Roles ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Diachronic Study

AbstractThis essay examines shifting representations of theasidhārāvrata(lit. “sword's edge observance”) across a range of Sanskrit literary and religious texts. Originally a Brāhmaṇical ascetic discipline, an observance (vrata) by this name is the earliest ritual involving sexual contact documented in the corpus of Śaivatantras. In its tantric adaptation, an orthodox practice for the cultivation of sensory restraint was transformed into a means for supernatural attainment (siddhi). Diachronic study of the observance in three early Śaiva texts – theNiśvāsatattvasaṃhitā, Mataṅgapārameśvara, andBrahmayāmala– reveals changes in ritual emphases, women's roles, and the nature of engagement in eroticism. Analysis of theasidhārāvratathus sheds light on the early history of tantric sexual rituals, which by the end of the first millennium had become highly diverse. It is argued that the observance became increasingly obsolete with the rise of Śaiva sexual practices more magical, ecstatic, or gnostic in orientation.

Malacca's Early Kings and the Reception of Islam

1964 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher H. Wake
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Early History ◽  
Current View ◽  
World War ◽  
Considerable Uncertainty ◽  
Conversion To Islam ◽  
History Of ◽  
Second World

The sources for the early history of Malacca are so meagre, and often so contradictory, that not only is the detail in some doubt but the whole framework of events rests on an uncertain foundation. Dates ranging from the middle of the fifteenth century back to the eighth have at various times been proposed for the foundation of Malacca, and considerable uncertainty has surrounded both the identity and sequence of the early kings and the time and manner of their conversion to Islam. As a result of evidence which has come to light within the last thirty years, notably the Suma Oriental of Tomé Pires and a partially deciphered inscription, from Sumatra, the current view of the early history of Malacca differs materially from that which was generally held before the second world war. Whereas it was then believed that there were four kings before Sultan Muzaftar Shah and that two or three of them were severally converted to Islam, it is now held that there were only three kings and only one conversion, and that this took place in the reign of the first king, about the year 1414. In view of the nature of the evidence upon which this latest interpretation rests it will be useful to review the king-list and the question of the conversion in some detail.

The Early History of the Sultanate of Angoche

1972 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. D. D. Newitt
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
Early History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Set Up

The sultanate of Angoche on the Moçambique coast was founded probably towards the end of the fifteenth century by refugees from Kilwa. It became a base for Muslim traders who wanted to use the Zambezi route to the central African trading fairs and it enabled them to by-pass the Portuguese trade monopoly at Sofala. The Portuguese were not able to check this trade until they themselves set up bases on the Zambezi in the 1530s and 1540s, and from that time the sultanate began to decline. Internal dissensions among the ruling families led to the Portuguese obtaining control of the sultanate in the late sixteenth century, but this control was abandoned in the following century when the trade of the Angoche coast dwindled to insignificance. During the eighteenth century movements among the Macua peoples of the mainland and the development of the slave trade in the Indian Ocean laid the foundations for the revival of the sultanate in the nineteenth century.

The Earliest Original English Seaman's Rutter and Pilot's Chart

1961 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 409-431
Author(s):  
Alwyn Ruddock
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Great Book ◽  
Early History ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Henry Viii ◽  
Low Countries ◽  
East Anglia ◽  
History Of ◽  
End To End ◽  
History Of Navigation

This article reports the discovery of two documents of considerable interest in the early history of navigation in England. When Henry VIII was planning to send ships of the royal fleet to Harderwijk in Guelderland in 1539, no pilot's book or chart of this part of the coast of northern Europe could be found in England. Therefore two experienced shipmasters, John Aborough of Devon and Richard Couche of Dover, were sent in haste to the Low Countries to make a survey of the coast and chart the route the king's ships would have to follow. Working with speed and secrecy, they compiled and brought back to the king a rutter giving sailing directions for Zeegat van Texel and the Zuider Zee and also a rough chart showing in detail the channels through the Haaks Banks, the entry to Marsdiep and the channel from thence to Enkhuizen. These two documents are the earliest original examples of such navigational directions drawn up by Englishmen which have so far been discovered. Both are reproduced in full and discussed in detail in this study.Among the Marquess of Salisbury's family archives at Hatfield House is a document of great interest in the early history of navigation in England. It is a seaman's rutter giving directions for the navigation of Zeegat van Texel and the Zuider Zee which was compiled by two English shipmasters in 1539 on direct orders from King Henry VIII. A narrow roll of manuscript fashioned by roughly sewing four strips of parchment end to end, being not quite 6 in. wide and nearly 3½. long when fully opened out, this appears to be the earliest original English rutter which can be found today. It is true that the well-known set of fifteenth-century ‘Sailing Directions’ published by the Hakluyt Society in 1889 were compiled at an earlier date. But these have only survived in a copy transcribed by a professional scribe, William Ebesham, among a number of treatises on heraldry, chivalry and similar matters contained in a volume called the Great Book, part of the library of a country gentleman of East Anglia, Sir John Paston. The parchment roll at Hatfield would appear, therefore, to be the earliest example of an original English rutter which has yet been discovered.

Early Time and Distance Measurement at Sea

1955 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. W. Waters
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Early Time ◽  
Time Of Day ◽  
Distance Measurement ◽  
Early History ◽  
Practical Reasons ◽  
Melting Pot ◽  
History Of

The discussion following Captain C. V. Sølver's claim to have discovered an early Norse bearing-dial incidentally raised the question of what was the ‘dyoll’ referred to in English ship inventories of the fifteenth century. There are various practical reasons for doubting the theory that it was a compass-dial, that is to say a sun-dial with an inset compass, which for a particular latitude would, when correctly orientated, indicate the time of day. However, the idea that the ‘dyoll’ indicated time rather than direction seems to fit the evidence, and G. P. B. Naish's note on fifteenth- to seventeenth-century ship inventories leaves little doubt that it was an instrument for measuring equal intervals of time, and probably a sand-glass. This conclusion, which to some extent casts the early history of the compass card once more into the melting-pot, prompts a number of questions. Some are stated here and are answered either wholly or in part. Others remain to be answered.

Eyeglasses and Concave Lenses in Fifteenth-Century Florence and Milan: New Documents*

1976 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Ilardi
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Early History ◽  
Glass Technology ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Optical Instruments ◽  
Early Use ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Time ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Personal Adornment

Five recently discovered documents reveal for the first time that eyeglasses with concave lenses for myopes were manufactured in Florence from at least the middle of the fifteenth century, about one hundred years before they were thought to be in use. This new evidence throws additional light on the development and early use of spectacles and on the early history of optical instruments and glass technology in general. These documents also reveal for the first time that Florence was the leading manufacturing center of high-quality eyeglasses and that spectacles had already become a prestigious item of personal adornment at least at the court of the dukes of Milan. This information should be of interest to historians of art and costume as well.

scholarly journals Torricelli and the Ocean of Air: The First Measurement of Barometric Pressure

Physiology ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 66-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
John B. West
Keyword(s):  
High Altitude ◽  
Related Problem ◽  
Barometric Pressure ◽  
Vertical Tube ◽  
Early History ◽  
Blaise Pascal ◽  
Physiological Effects ◽  
Robert Boyle ◽  
Deep Well ◽  
History Of

The recognition of barometric pressure was a critical step in the development of environmental physiology. In 1644, Evangelista Torricelli described the first mercury barometer in a remarkable letter that contained the phrase, “We live submerged at the bottom of an ocean of the element air, which by unquestioned experiments is known to have weight.” This extraordinary insight seems to have come right out of the blue. Less than 10 years before, the great Galileo had given an erroneous explanation for the related problem of pumping water from a deep well. Previously, Gasparo Berti had filled a very long lead vertical tube with water and showed that a vacuum formed at the top. However, Torricelli was the first to make a mercury barometer and understand that the mercury was supported by the pressure of the air. Aristotle stated that the air has weight, although this was controversial for some time. Galileo described a method of measuring the weight of the air in detail, but for reasons that are not clear his result was in error by a factor of about two. Torricelli surmised that the pressure of the air might be less on mountains, but the first demonstration of this was by Blaise Pascal. The first air pump was built by Otto von Guericke, and this influenced Robert Boyle to carry out his classical experiments of the physiological effects of reduced barometric pressure. These were turning points in the early history of high-altitude physiology.

Omen Watching, Mantic Observation, Aeromancy, and Learning to ‘See’: The Rise and Messy Multiplicity of Zhanhou 占候 in Late Han and Medieval China

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-131
Author(s):  
Stephan N. Kory
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Identities ◽  
Early History ◽  
First Century ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Medieval China ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
The Common ◽  
Heaven And Earth ◽  
Common Era

This article investigates the early history of a Chinese mantic practice unattested before the late first century CE known as zhanhou 占候 (lit., omen watching; divination through observation; divination of atmospheric or meteorological conditions). While early occurrences of the term primarily present it as a learned form of divination used to forecast human fortune through the interpretation of anomalous emanations of qi 氣 in heaven-and-earth (e.g., wind; clouds; rain; rainbows), zhanhou is also variously classified as an astrological, Five Agents, or military technique; and variously identified as a hemerological, medical, and contemplative-visualization practice by the end of the Tang. I not only contend that zhanhou’s inherent polysemy and its multiple identities helped broaden and perpetuate its transmission during the first millennium of the Common Era, but also that the same messy multiplicity makes its early history and development difficult—but not impossible—to trace and understand. Zhanhou closely resembles many earlier named forms of astrology and divination focused on the observation and interpretation of macrocosmic qi conditions or phenomena, but late Han and early medieval writers carved out a space for zhanhou. This was done through increasingly frequent use of the term, by explicitly distinguishing it from similar families of techniques (e.g., astrology; turtle and yarrow divination; yinyang; algorithmic mantic techniques), and by identifying and constructing networks and lineages of practitioners, both of which helped form and perpetuate zhanhou’s identity as a discrete technique (shu 術). The present study compares different definitions and translations of zhanhou, analyzes a handful of late Han occurrences, and illustrates the term’s increasingly widespread medieval circulation, chiefly through biographic narratives and technical texts.

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