Search results for " 15th century"
showing 10 items of 24 documents
Building Bridges through Science
2017
WOS: 000415310800007 PubMed ID: 29144972 Science is ideally suited to connect people from different cultures and thereby foster mutual understanding. To promote international life science collaboration, we have launched "The Science Bridge'' initiative. Our current project focuses on partnership between Western and Middle Eastern neuroscience communities. Medical Research Council [MC_UP_1202/5]
History of bioavailable lead and iron in the Greater North Sea and Iceland during the last millennium – A bivalve sclerochronological reconstruction
2014
We present the first annually resolved record of biologically available Pb and Fe in the Greater North Sea and Iceland during 1040-2004 AD based on shells of the long-lived marine bivalve Arctica islandica. The iron content in pre-industrial shells from the North Sea largely remained below the detection limit. Only since 1830, shell Fe levels rose gradually reflecting the combined effect of increased terrestrial runoff of iron-bearing sediments and eutrophication. Although the lead gasoline peak of the 20th century was well recorded by the shells, bivalves that lived during the medieval heyday of metallurgy showed four-fold higher shell Pb levels than modern specimens. Presumably, pre-indus…
Yersinia pestis DNA from Skeletal Remains from the 6th Century AD Reveals Insights into Justinianic Plague
2013
Yersinia pestis, the etiologic agent of the disease plague, has been implicated in three historical pandemics. These include the third pandemic of the 19th and 20th centuries, during which plague was spread around the world, and the second pandemic of the 14th–17th centuries, which included the infamous epidemic known as the Black Death. Previous studies have confirmed that Y. pestis caused these two more recent pandemics. However, a highly spirited debate still continues as to whether Y. pestis caused the so-called Justinianic Plague of the 6th–8th centuries AD. By analyzing ancient DNA in two independent ancient DNA laboratories, we confirmed unambiguously the presence of Y. pestis DNA in…
Transgresión moral y enfermedad en los países nórdicos en la temprana Edad Moderna
2009
This article seeks to understand how people in the early modern age interpreted the nature of illness and the role that morality played in these interpretations. From this point of view illnesses were not only psycho-physical states or subjects for medical diagnosis but they were also subjects for narratives or stories through which people tried to understand what had caused their illness, and why it was happening to them. Illnesses were understood as strictly connected with the patient's character and were regarded as possible consequences of his personality. On the other hand, the interpretations also emphasised the ambivalence of a healer. Personal experiences and an understanding of one…
Poisoning histories in the Italian renaissance: The case of Pico Della Mirandola and Angelo Poliziano.
2018
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Angelo Poliziano were two of the most important humanists of the Italian Renaissance. They died suddenly in 1494 and their deaths have been for centuries a subject of debate. The exhumation of their remains offered the opportunity to study the cause of their death through a multidisciplinary research project. Anthropological analyses, together with documentary evidences, radiocarbon dating and ancient DNA analysis supported the identification of the remains attributed to Pico. Macroscopic examination did not reveal paleopathological lesions or signs related to syphilis. Heavy metals analysis, carried out on bones and mummified tissues, showed that in Pico's…
Il palazzo arcivescovile di Palermo, da Simone Beccadelli a Giovanni Paternò. Storia e ricostruzione della configurazione quattrocentesca
2021
In the fifties of the fifteenth century, the archbishop of Palermo Simone Beccadelli started the construction of a new archbishop’s palace in an area between the upper stretch of the ancient Cassaro road and the churchyard created along the southern side of the cathedral, whose arrangement had engaged his predecessors since the thirties of the same century. The architectural undertaking, driven by the primary need to create a residence suitable for the rank of the Palermo archibishop’s chair, therefore also assumes a strong urban significance, helping to define the same space of the churchyard and the monumental cathedral complex as a whole. If a first campaign of works would seem to be con…
The Residences of the Kings of Sicily, from Martin of Aragon to Ferdinand the Catholic
2016
In the context of the capital cities of the Aragonese Kindom, it would be necessary to examineand compare the cerimonial practices, behavioral codes, and uses made of the royal residences. At the same time it seems increasingly evident that, during the 15th century, the mobility of the royal court - as well as that of the aristocrats, merchants, and master builders - slowly shaped a modern, homogeneous common language which is currently defined as "Mediterranean Gothic". This paper analyzes the contribution of Sicily through the study of a number of significant buildings : the royal palace of Palermo and the Steri of Chiaromonte , the castle Maniace of Syracuse .
Syphilis 2001 a palaeopathological reappraisal
2002
The origin and subsequent spread of the treponematoses, especially that of venereal syphilis, has been the subject of considerable scientific attention. Various theories were put forth and palaeopathological specimens were used for their validation in recent times. One influential contribution was the paper by Baker & Armelagos in 1988. Numerous new findings and results on both sides of the Atlantic call for a new evaluation of the available osseous material. A review of the recent literature leads to the suggestion of a worldwide distribution of non-venereal treponemal disease since the emergence of Homo and to a first epidemic outbreak of venereal syphilis in Europe of the late 15th and t…
Ville e residenze extraurbane del Quattrocento a Palermo e in Sicilia
2016
With the exception of a few splendid residences inherited from the past and related to the Norman or Swabian courts -which areboth in use and fully operative- the documented cases of new constructions in the 15th century are rare. In a city such as Palermo,the great private gardens were internal to the walled circuit, which allowed for an elitist way of life and matching social behaviours.A compact group of towered buildings constructed during that century in several places throughout the island constitutes, however,a significant phenomenon. In these buildings, which were commissioned by distinguished clients (the Cabrera in Pozzallo, theVentimiglia in Monteleone, the Speciale in Ficarazzi)…
Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry characterization of historical varnishes of ancient Italian lutes and violin
2007
The organic constituents of historical vanishes from two ancient Italian lutes and a Stradivari violin, kept in the Musée de la musique in Paris, have been characterized using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Results have been compared with the chromatograms and mass spectra of recent as well as old naturally aged reference materials. The three historical varnishes analyzed have been shown to be oil varnishes, probably mixtures of linseed oil with resins. Identification of diterpenoids and triterpenoids compounds, and of the resins that may have been ingredients of the varnishes, are discussed in this paper.