scholarly journals A copper alloy light cannon from Grodno: an example of early firearms from Eastern Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Żabiński ◽  
Piotr Strzyż ◽  
Tomasz Goryczka ◽  
Krzysztof Aniołek ◽  
Ewelina Miśta-Jakubowska

AbstractThe paper discusses a recent find of a copper alloy light cannon discovered at the Old Castle in Grodno, Belarus. The research aim was to analyse the artefact in all its possible aspects, including archaeological and historical contexts, possible analogies, and the gun’s technology of manufacture. This latter was done against a broad comparative background of what is known on manufacturing technologies of late medieval and modern period copper alloy firearms. First, the archaeological and historical contexts of the discovery are dealt with. Then, the morphology and typochronology of the cannon are discussed and relevant analogies are proposed. Next, the technology of manufacture of the cannon is studied on the basis of metallographic examinations and EDS analyses of the metal’s elemental composition. It was found out that the artefact had been made of leaded copper. The cannon can be dated with reasonable certainty to the late 14th c., as implied both by the find context, the morphology and the chemical composition of the artefact. Its deposition can be related to fights over the Old Castle in Grodno in this period, waged by Teutonic, Polish and Lithuanian forces. It can tentatively be proposed that the cannon was manufactured in a Teutonic Order’s workshop, but further research is necessary to verify this supposition.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Żabiński ◽  
Piotr Strzyż ◽  
Tomasz Goryczka ◽  
Krzysztof Aniołek ◽  
Ewelina Miśta-Jakubowska

Abstract The paper discusses a recent find of a copper alloy light cannon discovered at the Old Castle in Grodno, Belarus. First, the archaeological and historical contexts of the discovery are dealt with. Then, the morphology and typochronology of the cannon are discussed and relevant analogies are proposed. Next, the technology of manufacture of the cannon is dealt with on the basis of metallographic examinations and EDS analyses of the metal’s elemental composition. It was found out that the artefact had been made of leaded copper. The cannon can be dated to the late 14th c., as implied both by the find context, the morphology and the chemical composition of the artefact. Its deposition can possibly related to fights over the Old Castle in Grodno in this period, waged by Teutonic, Polish and Lithuanian forces. It can tentatively be assumed that the cannon was manufactured in a Teutonic Order’s workshop, but further research is necessary to verify this supposition.


Author(s):  
Kseniya Kovaleva ◽  

Introduction. The paper discussed the results of the study concerning the chemical composition of 16 mirrors from the Golden Horde period originating from the settlements Selitrennoe, Vodyanskoe, Uvekskoe Khmelevskoe I, Shirokiy Buerak and stored in the State Historical Museum (Moscow) and Saratov Regional Museum of Local Lore (Saratov). Method. The visual inspection of the items was carried out using the traceology method, XRF and SEM/EDS were used as a method of determining the elemental composition. To compare the results, data on the chemical composition of mirrors originating from other medieval sites in Eastern Europe were used. Analysis and Results. All but one mirror, made with a stone casting mold, were cast using the impression method. Some of the mirrors show traces of post-casting processing. Several types of alloys have been identified. Most of the mirrors were made of tin-lead bronze (7 items) with an increased (more than 20 %) tin content, which correlates with the results obtained on samples from other settlements of the pre-Horde and Horde times. Other large groups are mirrors made from multicomponent (3 items) and tin bronze (4 items). One mirror each is made of tin brass and lead bronze with the addition of arsenic. Mirrors with arsenic in their composition are also known from other samples from a nomadic cemetery of the Golden Horde period and settlement monuments, which indicates a sufficiently active existence of a more archaic metal in the 14th century.


2021 ◽  
pp. 51-56
Author(s):  
Yu. B. Sazonov ◽  
D. Yu. Ozherelkov ◽  
R. Sh. Latypov ◽  
E. E. Gorshkov

Possibility of determination of the fragments and articles made of different grades of steel aluminium and copper alloys and their affiliation to the common melt was examined via the methods of photoelectric spectral analysis based on composition of micro-impurities. Chemical elements with micro-impurities were revealed; they allow to determine affiliation of metal fragments to one melt. Ultimately possible deviations of micro-impurities within one melt were obtained. The technique allowing to establish affiliation of fragments to the common melt based on their elementary composition of micro-impurities with minimal amount of measurements was suggested based on the obtained results. The minimal geometric size of a sample available for analysis was determined; it allows to classify the examined fragments to one melt based on the results of investigation of expanded elementary composition of micro-impurities. Practical opportunities of this technique were displayed on the example of the alloys with different chemical composition.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (15) ◽  
pp. 11545-11562
Author(s):  
Louise N. Jensen ◽  
Manjula R. Canagaratna ◽  
Kasper Kristensen ◽  
Lauriane L. J. Quéléver ◽  
Bernadette Rosati ◽  
...  

Abstract. This work investigates the individual and combined effects of temperature and volatile organic compound precursor concentrations on the chemical composition of particles formed in the dark ozonolysis of α-pinene. All experiments were conducted in a 5 m3 Teflon chamber at an initial ozone concentration of 100 ppb and initial α-pinene concentrations of 10 and 50 ppb, respectively; at constant temperatures of 20, 0, or −15 ∘C; and at changing temperatures (ramps) from −15 to 20 and from 20 to −15 ∘C. The chemical composition of the particles was probed using a high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS). A four-factor solution of a positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis of the combined HR-ToF-AMS data is presented. The PMF analysis and the elemental composition analysis of individual experiments show that secondary organic aerosol particles with the highest oxidation level are formed from the lowest initial α-pinene concentration (10 ppb) and at the highest temperature (20 ∘C). A higher initial α-pinene concentration (50 ppb) and/or lower temperature (0 or −15 ∘C) results in a lower oxidation level of the molecules contained in the particles. With respect to the carbon oxidation state, particles formed at 0 ∘C are more comparable to particles formed at −15 ∘C than to those formed at 20 ∘C. A remarkable observation is that changes in temperature during particle formation result in only minor changes in the elemental composition of the particles. Thus, the temperature at which aerosol particle formation is induced seems to be a critical parameter for the particle elemental composition. Comparison of the HR-ToF-AMS-derived estimates of the content of organic acids in the particles based on m/z 44 in the mass spectra show good agreement with results from off-line molecular analysis of particle filter samples collected from the same experiments. Higher temperatures are associated with a decrease in the absolute mass concentrations of organic acids (R-COOH) and organic acid functionalities (-COOH), while the organic acid functionalities account for an increasing fraction of the measured particle mass.


Author(s):  
N.N. Malushin ◽  
◽  
D.A. Romanov ◽  
A.P. Kovalev ◽  
L.P. Bashchenko ◽  
...  

Microhardness distributions, surface morphology, and elemental composition of a deposited layer of a heat-resistant alloy of the type P2M8U steel formed by plasma surfacing in a protective-alloying nitrogen medium are studied. It was established that the surfacing technology and surfacing material allows to obtain a high-quality deposited alloy without cracks, pores, slag inclusions and defects of macro- and microstructure. It has been established that the deposited material is pearlite grains at the boundaries and grain junctions of which are carbonitrides based on iron, tungsten, chromium, molybdenum, aluminum (Fe6 W6 NC and AlN).


Author(s):  
Shaul Stampfer

This chapter describes the literacy of the Jews of eastern Europe in the modern period. This is an interesting topic because, on the one hand, these Jews were heirs to a long tradition of literacy. At the same time, they lived in a multilingual world. In that society, Jews usually spoke Yiddish to each other; prayed in Hebrew; came into contact with bureaucrats who spoke the languages of rulers such as Russian or German; and dealt with customers and clients who spoke Polish, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, and Belorussian. Most of the latter were oppressed languages with limited possibilities for publication and literary expression. Thus, when considering the literacy of east European Jews, one has to consider literacy in their vernacular (Yiddish), in their literary language (Hebrew), and also in non-Jewish languages. Literacy in the first two categories is significant as a reflection of cultural patterns and exposure to the written word. Meanwhile, literacy in the last category is a reflection both of acculturation and exposure or openness to general culture and society.


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela G. Rincón ◽  
Ana I. Calvo ◽  
Mathias Dietzel ◽  
Markus Kalberer

Environmental contextUnderstanding the molecular composition and chemical transformations of organic aerosols during atmospheric aging is a major challenge in atmospheric chemistry. Ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry can provide detailed information on the molecular composition of organic aerosols. Aerosol samples collected in summer and winter at an urban site are characterised and compared in detail with respect to the elemental composition of their components, especially nitrogen- and sulfur-containing compounds, and are discussed with respect to atmospheric formation processes. AbstractOrganic compounds are major constituents of atmospheric aerosol particles. The understanding of their chemical composition, their properties and reactivity are important for assessing aerosol effects upon both global climate change and human health. The composition of organic aerosols is poorly understood, mainly due to its highly complex chemical composition of several thousand compounds. There is currently no analytical technique available covering a wide enough chemical space to characterise this large number of organic compounds. In recent years ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry has been increasingly used to explore the chemical complexity in organic aerosols from laboratory and ambient samples. In the present study ambient particles <1 µm were collected at an urban site in Cambridge, UK, from August to December 2009. The water-soluble organic fraction of the filters was separated from inorganic ions following a procedure developed for humic-like substance isolation. Ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry analyses were performed in negative and positive polarity. Data in the mass range of m/z 50–350 were analysed for their elemental composition. Summer samples generally contained more components than winter samples. The large number of compounds was subdivided into groups according to their elemental composition. Up to 80 % of the peaks contain nitrogen and sulfur functional groups and only ~20 % of the compounds contain only C, H and O atoms. In summer the fraction of compounds with oxidised nitrogen and sulfur groups increases compared with winter indicating a photo-chemical formation route of these multifunctional compounds. In addition to oxidised nitrogen compounds a large number of amines was identified.


2020 ◽  
Vol 80 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 170-192
Author(s):  
Andrey Vinogradov ◽  
Maksim Korobov

Abstract The newly found Gothic inscriptions from Crimea reopened the question of the Christian identity of the Crimean Goths in its interrelation with the Greek-Byzantine environment. The Mangup graffito I.1 and the Late Medieval inscription from Bakhchysarai both contain the acronymised formula ‘(Saviour) God Jesus’ which we think was a purposeful declaration of the Gothic community’s Orthodox Nicene allegiance. The expanded variant of Ps. 76:15 in the graffito of Mangup proves its liturgical character and the involvement of the Crimean Goths with Byzantine liturgical processes. The alternative counting of weekdays which from the 11th century onwards is epigraphically attesed in the Gothic eparchy in Crimea may have its origin in the Gothic church calendar of the 4th–5th century and have influenced neighbouring peoples of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.


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