Evidence of Viking trade and 'Danelaw' connections? Inset lead weights from Norway and the western Viking World

This article presents and discusses the use and itineraries of inset lead weights from Norway and the wider Viking world. The weights, which are mostly inset with decorated metalwork, coins and glass are likely to be of 'Insular-Viking' manufacture, which developed in the late 9th and/or early 10th century. While the Norwegian corpus has generally received attention for its 'Irish' style of metalwork and therefore Irish affiliation, this paper demonstrates how some of the material may rather have travelled to Norway via England. Here, they were extensively used in Viking milieus and the Irish-style insets were probably carried eastwards from Ireland by some of the historically attested groups who joined the Viking armies in England. The alternative route suggested for the weights which ended up in Norway has several implications, especially for providing potential evidence for integrated contact between the Danelaw area and Norway. The article also investigates fragmented mounts, a material phenomenon found in Viking and Norse contexts on both sides of the North Sea. While these mounts are often regarded as one group, the paper identifies different practices in the fragmentation of this material, based on morphological details. It is suggested that 're-fashioned' pieces, i.e. those carefully cut into pieces and reworked into dress ornaments can be separated from 'hack-bronze' – those that appear to have been fragmented in the same manner as hack silver and other metals intended for reuse as scrap or as bullion.

ANCIENT SCALE WEIGHTS MADE OF COINS

The study of scale weights of the ancient centers of the Northern Pontic region is of greater importance both for the study of metrology, monetary and weight systems of this region, and for understanding the general picture of trade and economic processes in ancient times. This paper presents small-sized weights made of bronze coins that are kept in the Scientific Repository of the Institute of Archaeology of the NAS of Ukraine. All of them are the chance finds from the territory of ancient sites of the Northern Pontic region. These findings were donated by V. A. Anokhin along with other finds of lead weights and bronze ingots. The collection contains weights in the shape of sub-square and sub-rectangular tiles of lead and bronze, round lead weights, weights made of bronze coins which are the chance finds from the territory of Olbia and its settlements, and other sites. During the processing this collection a small group of weights made of coins was distinguished. Among seven published weights six ones are made of Olbia coins and one of Panticapaeum. Each scale weight was studied in detail, basing of which the weight of each item was correlated with the existing monetary systems. Thus, it was possible to determine the metrological standards to which each particular instance belongs. The study of these findings showed that weights made of Olbian bronze coins belong to the Olbian metrological system as well as, in particular, the control scale weight which corresponds to 30 Olbian tetartemories, and the item made of bronze Panticapaeum coin refers to the Panticapaeum monetary system.

Screening for Elevated Blood Lead Levels and Related Risk Factors among Thai Children Residing in a Fishing Community

The present study explored environmental and behavioral factors associated with elevated blood lead (Pb) levels in 311 children (151 girls and 160 boys), aged 3–7 years, who lived in a coastal fishing community of the Pakpoon Municipality, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand. The geometric mean for blood Pb was 2.81 µg/dL, ranging between 0.03 and 26.40 µg/dL. The percentage of high blood Pb levels, defined as blood Pb ≥ 5 µg/dL, was 10.0% in boys and 13.9% in girls. Parental occupation in producing fishing nets with lead weights was associated with a marked increase in the prevalence odds ratio (POR) for high blood Pb (POR 17.54, 95%; CI: 7.093, 43.390; p < 0.001), while milk consumption was associated with 61% reduction in the POR for high blood Pb (POR 0.393, 95%; CI: 0.166, 0.931; p = 0.034). High blood Pb was associated with an increased risk for abnormal growth (POR 2.042, 95%; CI: 0.999, 4.174; p = 0.050). In contrast, milk consumption was associated with a 43% reduction in POR for abnormal growth (POR 0.573, 95%; CI: 0.337, 0.976; p = 0.040). After adjustment for age, the mean (standard error of mean, SE) values for blood Pb were 6.22 (0.50) μg/dL in boys and 6.72 (0.49) μg/dL in girls of parents with an occupation in making fishing nets with lead weights. These mean blood Pb values were respectively 2.3 and 2.5 times higher than similarly aged boys and girls of parents with other occupations. These data are essential for setting surveillance and programmes to prevent toxic Pb exposure, especially in children of coastal fishing communities in southern Thailand.

Galileo’s Trajectory

This chapter describes the history of Galileo’s discovery of the law of fall and the parabolic trajectory, beginning with early work on the physics of motion by predecessors like the Oxford Scholars, Tartaglia and the polymath Simon Stevin who dropped lead weights from the leaning tower of Delft three years before Galileo dropped lead weights from the leaning tower of Pisa. The story of how Galileo developed his ideas of motion is described in the context of his studies of balls rolling on inclined plane and the surprising accuracy he achieved without access to modern timekeeping. Motion was always on Galileo’s mind. He saw motion in his father’s stringed instruments, vibrating in rational resonances. He saw motion in the lantern high above in the Duomo di Pisa, swinging with fixed regularity.