Engineering of a contemporary version of the stone arches of the “Pont des Trous” in Tournai

<p>As part of the works on the Seine-Scheldt link, the Scheldt is to be expanded to CEMT class Va at the Tournai crossing. The main works comprise the widening of the Scheldt river and the central arch of the historic bridge called “Pont des Trous” – “Bridge of the Holes”. The choice of replacing the bridge has gone to a triple arch in stone masonry with a main span of 20 m for a height of 15 m and a thickness of 40 cm, closer from a sculpture. Due to its very small thickness and corresponding self-weight, accurate estimation, with wind tunnel tests by University of Liège, of the wind effects is of utmost importance for the verification of masonry and especially the joints openings. Nonlinear finite element calculations considering cracking and opening of joints, using Finelg software, show that the joints should be glued to ensure the stability. Finally, by political decision, this triple arch project was abandoned and replaced by a more conventional structure.</p>

Barrow with «moustache» Zhamahtas

The monument consists of two parts - burial construction with the diameter of about 14 m and ritual construction located on its east side with the diameter of 10 m from which two stone arches go to the east. The elements of the complex are badly damaged due to using the stones for building. There is a burial pit under the south construction with the dimensions 2,81,41,4 m, which contains disturbed human skeleton. The skeleton was put with his head to the west. There was found a bronze mirror with side handle near his hip bone. In the east construction a round pit with the diameter of 0,8, the depth of 0,4, was found, at the bottom of which there were poorly preserved fragments from the tubular bones of a animal. Horse teeth were revealed to the north of the pit, and 14 fragments of the stucco vessel lay on its eastern side. Two radiocarbon dates were obtained from bone samples from the western and eastern constructions in the laboratory of the Royal University of Belfast, Great Britain. Common intervals of the calibrated value showed that: human burial in the western structure - VIII-V centuries BC, the bones of animals in the eastern structure - III-VI centuries AD. Thus, human burial relates to Tasmola culture, which does not contradict the mirror of the Early Saka image found in the grave. Bones of animals under the eastern structure, iprobably, were left during the Hun period.

Materializing Morality

This chapter examines the salt merchants’ role in constructing chastity arches—stone structures honoring women who maintained chaste widowhood—in She county in Huizhou. In the High Qing era, the Manchu court systematically patronized the construction of monumental objects, such as stone arches, with the dual object of inculcating Confucian morality in their illiterate subjects and displaying their imperial legitimacy. The Huizhou salt merchants, seeing an opportunity to expand their influence, devoted themselves to chastity arch construction in the local community of Huizhou, thus publicizing the virtuous deeds that the court rewarded. While these merchants used their economic prowess to participate in the state’s cultivation project, their financial support of these arches was itself a product of the court’s salt monopoly policies. At the same time, these monuments gave these wealthy businessmen the opportunity to bolster their reputations, display their wealth, and lay claim to legitimate dominance in local society.

“Let People See and Be Moved”: Stone Arches and the Chastity Cult in Huizhou during the High Qing Era

This article examines the chastity cult in China during the High Qing (c.1680–1830) era. It focuses on the physical characteristics and the cultural implications of chastity arches built in Huizhou (Anhui) during the eighteenth century. Using both written texts and evidence from extant arches, this article explores how these monumental objects served as a forum through which the ideology of female fidelity was constructed and perceived by different constituents including the Manchu court, wealthy Huizhou merchants, and resident commoners. These three groups had different attitudes toward the value of these chastity arches, and thus, this study reveals a dynamic and contradictory picture of how the chastity cult was contested and negotiated in the local community of Huizhou during the late imperial period.