Search

The paper examines three late nineteenth–early twentieth century Pacific Northwest coast objects—a Nuu-chah-nulth kuxmin (bird rattle), a Haida sGaaga (medicine man) figure, and a Kwakwaka’wakw or Wuikinuxv wooden model of a totem pole—from the collections of the Ehlers museum in Haderslev, Denmark. Drawing on multiple sources and epistemologies and structuring the study as a weaving of different narratives and perspectives, we investigate the identity of the objects, the materials and pigments used in their making, their function and value in the Indigenous contexts, as well as their significance as collectors’ objects. The article draws attention to the Native American collections at Danish museums, which have not attracted much scholarly attention, and illustrates a need and fruitfulness of a multi-epistemological approach in their studies.

Sus arvernensis is a Pliocene species that occupies a key position in the evolution of suids (Suidae, Artiodactyla, Mammalia) in Eurasia, and besides, it is considered important for biochronological correlations and paleoecological inferences. However, our knowledge on S. arvernensis is largely based on fossil remains from southwestern Europe. Here, we present a revision of the Hungarian fossil record of S. arvernensis. Up to now, the species was known from only two localities of Hungary, Gödöllő (central Hungary) and Süttő (northwest Hungary), and the latter occurrence has even been questioned. After the comparison with other relevant samples of S. arvernensis, of the Early Pleistocene S. strozzii, and of the extant wild boar S. scrofa (motivated by previous attributions and the chronology of the localities), the presence of S. arvernensis from Gödöllő and Süttő is confirmed, and more material of the species is described from Beremend (southern Hungary) and Kisláng (western Hungary). Collectively, the results of the revision carried out herein reveal a relatively widespread distribution of S. arvernensis in Hungary, hence providing an important link from the eastern to western European fossil record of the species. The specimens from Gödöllő and Süttő are slightly larger than the other material of S. arvernensis from France and Italy included in the biometric comparison, although the paucity of the material precludes to evaluate whether these differences are significant and to relate them to a chronological and/or geographical context. The occurrence of S. arvernensis in the Hungarian localities considered in this work is a biochronological indication of an age older than at least 2.6 Ma, since the species is not recorded after the Pliocene–Pleistocene transition. This in agreement with the age estimates available so far for some of the localities or provides new insights. At Süttő, in particular, the identification of S. arvernensis reinforces the view that travertine deposition started already in the Pliocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frederic William Lucas (1842–1932) was a solicitor, collector, author and Fellow of the Zoological Society of London and the Linnean Society of London. He exemplifies a collector of means with access to suppliers, and a deep and enduring interest in his collection interests. Despite the size and diversity of his zoological and ethnographic collection, Lucas has received little scholarly attention. His self-funded private museum included over 1,200 vertebrate specimens including the skulls of large game animals and articulated skeletons of domesticated mammals. There are also over 600 items of ethnographic material, together with some human remains. Over the period from 1909 to 1925 Lucas donated almost the entirety of his collection to the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery and the Booth Museum of Natural History, Brighton. Information about Lucas and the material he amassed is meagre and dispersed. However, examination of his collection and its associated archive together with what can be gleaned from other sources about Lucas and the social and intellectual environment in which he circulated, provides a useful means of advancing understanding of not only late nineteenth and early twentieth-century private collectors of natural history and ethnography, but also the provincial museums that received their collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author introduces into scientific circulation a collection of bronze celts kept in the Novosibirsk State Local Lore Museum. Found almost a hundred years ago, they have not yet become the subject of scientific research, and only two brief mentions in the press in 1941 and 1974 do not allow us to completely forget them. The circumstances of the find are unknown, and little can be said about the person who found it. It is difficult to speak about the type of the site where the objects were preserved: a hoard? A settlement? A ruined burial ground? A random accumulation? A metallurgical workshop? It is only indisputable that the location of the village Baturino (Kozhevnikovsky district of the Tomsk region) in the area where the Celts were found can be considered as one of the Upper Ob centers of distribution of metallurgical products in the Late Bronze Age.

Abstract Sus arvernensis is a Pliocene species that occupies a key position in the evolution of suids (Suidae, Artiodactyla, Mammalia) in Eurasia, and besides, it is considered important for biochronological correlations and paleoecological inferences. However, our knowledge on S. arvernensis is largely based on fossil remains from southwestern Europe. Here, we present a revision of the Hungarian fossil record of S. arvernensis. Up to now, the species was known from only two localities of Hungary, Gödöllő (central Hungary) and Süttő (northwest Hungary), and the latter occurrence has even been questioned. After the comparison with other relevant samples of S. arvernensis, of the Early Pleistocene S. strozzii, and of the extant wild boar S. scrofa (motivated by previous attributions and the chronology of the localities), the presence of S. arvernensis from Gödöllő and Süttő is confirmed, and more material of the species is described from Beremend (southern Hungary) and Kisláng (western Hungary). Collectively, the results of the revision carried out herein reveal a relatively widespread distribution of S. arvernensis in Hungary, hence providing an important link from the eastern to western European fossil record of the species. The specimens from Gödöllő and Süttő are slightly larger than the other material of S. arvernensis from France and Italy included in the biometric comparison, although the paucity of the material precludes to evaluate whether these differences are significant and to relate them to a chronological and/or geographical context. The occurrence of S. arvernensis in the Hungarian localities considered in this work is a biochronological indication of an age older than at least 2.6 Ma, since the species is not recorded after the Pliocene–Pleistocene transition. This in agreement with the age estimates available so far for some of the localities or provides new insights. At Süttő, in particular, the identification of S. arvernensis reinforces the view that travertine deposition started already in the Pliocene.

Статья посвящена тематическому обзору произведений изобразительного искусства Литературно-художественного музея книги А.П. Чехова «Остров Сахалин». Музейное собрание, которое формируется с 1980-х годов, включает в себя коллекции «Живопись», «Графика», «Письменные источники», «Фотоматериалы», «Нумизматика/фалеристика», «Предметы быта и декоративно-прикладное искусство», «Скульптура» и состоит из основного и научно-вспомогательного фондов. Более восьмисот произведений живописи и графики в фонде музея — это преимущественно работы сахалинских художников, а также потомков А.П. Чехова — его племянников, Сергея Михайловича и Сергея Сергеевича Чеховых. Идейная сторона в подборе экспонатов определяется спецификой музея, которая предполагает не только наличие в фондах частных коллекций с чеховскими архивами, предметами, принадлежавшими самому писателю и его семье, но и направляет внимание на всесторонний показ книги «Остров Сахалин». Однако произведения изобразительного искусства из этого собрания имеют художественную значимость и должны быть осмыслены в рамках искусствоведения. В данной статье с помощью иконографического метода выделены и описаны основные темы, сюжеты и мотивы произведений, которые дают представление о идейно-тематической направленности коллекции дальневосточного искусства в этом музее.

The socio-economical importance of geological heritage (geoheritage) makes it a geological resource. New minerals are reported regularly, and their type specimens and localities are ex-situ and in-situ constituents of geoheritage, respectively. The present study focuses on the contemporary dynamics of these specific resources. For this purpose, the information about new minerals reported during the past five years is analyzed. The attention is paid to the distribution of the new mineral specimens (holotypes and cotypes) and their type localities by country; the transboundary replacement of new minerals is also considered. It is established that the new minerals-related geoheritage resources are accumulated in dozens of countries. The ex-situ geoheritage (specimens in museum collections) is represented twice narrower than the in-situ geoheritage (localities as geosites). About half of new minerals are replaced to the other countries and often to the other parts of the world. The registered patterns are explained by the peculiarities of the contemporary mineralogical research. The outcomes of the present analysis permit to make recommendations for the development of the optimal geoheritage policy.

Museum specimens are an increasingly important tool for studying global biodiversity. With the advent of diffusible iodine‐based contrast‐enhanced computed tomography (diceCT), researchers can now visualize an organism's internal soft tissue anatomy without the need for physical dissection or other highly destructive sampling methods. However, there are many considerations when deciding which method of staining to use for diceCT to produce the best gray‐scale contrast for facilitating downstream anatomical analyses. The general lack of direct comparisons among staining methodologies can make it difficult for researchers to determine which approaches are most appropriate for their study. Here, we compare the performance of ethylic‐Lugol's iodine solution with aqueous‐Lugol's staining solution across several vertebrate orders to assess differential imaging outcomes. We found that ethylic‐Lugol's is better for visualizing muscle attachment to bone but provides overall lower contrast between soft tissue types. Comparatively, aqueous‐based Lugol's provides high‐contrast imaging among soft tissue types, although bone is more difficult to discern. We conclude that the choice of staining methodology largely depends on the type of anatomical data the researcher wishes to collect, and we provide a decision‐based framework for assessing which staining methodology (ethylic or aqueous) is most appropriate for desired imaging results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical montane insects are vulnerable to climate change if up‐hill range retractions reduce range sizes and increase extinction risk. Endemic species will be particularly at risk if they disproportionately occur at higher elevations, although threats may be ameliorated if they have morphological traits associated with improved thermoregulatory ability. We examine the vulnerability of endemic swallowtail butterflies on Sulawesi (Indonesia) to climate change by quantifying inter‐specific variation in traits associated with thermoregulation (body size and melanism) and whether species' traits are associated with the elevation of species' ranges.We collected data on size, melanism and elevation of 29 swallowtail butterfly species (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae) from 754 specimens at the Natural History Museum (United Kingdom) and the Zoologische Staatssammlung München (Germany).Endemic butterflies were less melanised (15 endemic species, mean = 81% melanised; 14 non‐endemic species = 89% melanised) but similar to non‐endemics in size (endemic, mean = 56 mm; non‐endemic = 53 mm) and elevation (endemic, mean = 352 m.a.s.l.; non‐endemic: 289 m). There was no evidence that species size or melanism patterns were related to elevation in either group.Few differences in elevation of endemic and non‐endemic species imply that endemic swallowtail butterflies are not disproportionately more threatened by climate‐driven mountaintop extirpation than non‐endemic species. Further work is needed to examine whether paler wings alter the ability of endemic species to thermoregulate and adapt to changing climates. In the absence of reductions in anthropogenic global greenhouse gas emissions, on‐going climate warming will continue to threaten tropical montane species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, data presented of birds of prey (Accipitriformes, Falconiformes) specimens deposited in the collection of the Šariš Museum in Bardejov (SMB), Slovakia. The work builds on previous studies highlighting the importance of the SMB museum collections, but also the importance of the museum on a global scale. In total, data of 437 individuals belonging to 22 species from 86 sites in eastern Slovakia were evaluated. Individuals were acquired in 1954–1985 (and two specimens of Buteo buteo in 1998), but mainly in 1962 (n = 63, 14.4%) and 1963 (n = 32, 7.3%). Moreover, one specimen of the Common Buzzard (B. buteo) had signs of „a dilution (isabel)" and one bird of the Western Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus) had signs of „melanism". The importance of the work also includes cataloguing, which provides important data on regional museums and their collections that can be significant not only regionally but also globally. Moreover, in the SMB collections there are also 20 specimens of 15 species of exotic Accipitriformes and Falconiformes [1 ex. – Accipiter striatus; 1 ex. – Buteo buteo; 1 ex. – B. ventralis; 1 ex. – Buteogallus gundlachii; 1 ex. – B. meridionalis; 1 ex. – Caracara plancus; 1 ex. – Elanoides forficatus; 5 ex. – Falco sparverius; 1 ex. – Geranoaetus polyosoma; 1 ex. – Gyps africanus; 1 ex. – Haliaeetus albicilla; 2 ex. – Ictinia plumbea; 1 ex. – Pandion haliaetus; 1 ex. – Rupornis magnirostris; 1 ex. – Vultur gryphus] originating mainly from Argentina and Cuba as well from Africa and Hungary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The socio-economical importance of geological heritage (geoheritage) makes it a geological resource. New minerals are reported regularly, and their type specimens and localities are ex-situ and in-situ constituents of geoheritage, respectively. The present study focuses on the contemporary dynamics of these specific resources. For this purpose, the information about new minerals reported during the past five years is analyzed. The attention is paid to the distribution of the new mineral specimens (holotypes and cotypes) and their type localities by country; the transboundary replacement of new minerals is also considered. It is established that the new minerals-related geoheritage resources are accumulated in dozens of countries. The ex-situ geoheritage (specimens in museum collections) is represented twice narrower than the in-situ geoheritage (localities as geosites). About half of new minerals are replaced to the other countries and often to the other parts of the world. The registered patterns are explained by the peculiarities of the contemporary mineralogical research. The outcomes of the present analysis permit to make recommendations for the development of the optimal geoheritage policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of herbarium investigation of the species belonging to the Sparganium erectum group are here presented. The study was based on the revision of specimens with ripe fruits preserved in the Herbarium Centrale Italicum (FI) of the Natural History Museum of the University of Florence and other local herbaria. The presence of Sparganium oocarpum, not yet recorded in Italy, has been confirmed by the evaluation and measurement of important diagnostic characters (shape of the fruit, length, and width of the fruit, length of the peduncle, length of the style) and by their statistical analysis. Finally, a new identification key for the four species belonging to S. erectum group, based on the Italian herbarium material studied, is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural history museums house the largest biodiversity collections in the world and represent an enormous repository of genetic information. Much of this information, however, has remained inaccessible until recently. Emerging technologies, such as techniques for isolation of historical DNA (hDNA) and target enrichment sequencing of ultraconserved elements (UCEs) that can utilize degraded DNA as input material, have the potential to unlock museum collections for genomics research. Here, we demonstrate that hDNA extracted from dried Pocillopora coral specimens, collected up to 90 yrs ago, can be used as input for UCE target enrichment sequencing. The resulting sequence data can be used in phylogenetic studies to resolve questions about taxonomic species identities, biogeographic distributions, and evolutionary histories. Our results provide a blueprint for research groups seeking to take advantage of untapped genetic information stored in natural history museum collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To quantify the seismic effectiveness of the most commonly used fishing line tie up method for securing museum collections and optimize fixed strategies for exhibitions, shaking table tests of the seismic systems used for typical museum collection replicas have been carried out. The influence of body shape and fixed measure parameters on the seismic responses of replicas and the interaction behavior between replicas and fixed measures have been explored. Based on the results, seismic effectiveness evaluation indexes of the tie up method are proposed. Reasonable suggestions for fixed strategies are given, which provide a basis for the exhibition of delicate museum collections considering the principle of minimizing seismic responses and intervention. The analysis results show that a larger ratio of height of mass center to bottom diameter led to more intense rocking responses. Increasing the initial pretension of fishing lines was conducive to reducing the seismic responses and stress variation of the lines. Through comprehensive consideration of the interaction forces and effective securement, it is recommended to apply 20% of breaking stress as the initial pretension. For specific museum collections that cannot be effectively protected by the independent tie up method, an optimized strategy of a combination of fishing lines and fasteners is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Birds fulfilled an essential role in ancient Polynesian cultures. They were prized for their bones and colourful feathers, fat, and protein; their cultural importance is further highlighted in Polynesian oral histories. This research investigates the dynamics of human‐bird interactions over time in the Marquesas Archipelago as known from archaeology, oral histories, ethnohistorical records, and museum collections. I analyse the range of avian taxa represented across the various datasets and their cultural uses. The results demonstrate that while some species are represented across one or more datasets, understanding the full extent of species' cultural roles and use requires more than one thread of analysis, particularly for those taxa with limited or no archaeological signature. Two forms of managed resource use emerge from this study. One is tapu (prohibition of use), and the second is the conservative use of birds as a resource such as restricted feather collecting. Red feathers, represented in museum objects and historical accounts, highlight multiple taxa being used for specific adornment types. The combined analyses provide insights into the loss and persistence of species, as well as aspects of Marquesan cultural management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Beaty Biodiversity Museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, holds a collection of 498 specimens of 275 bird species presented by Lionel E Taylor, who worked in South Africa for the Department of Forestry from 1902 to 1911. Most specimens are in very good condition, and many have date and locality information; about one-third were collected around Irene, outside Pretoria, in Gauteng province, where Taylor lived before relocating to Canada. Full details can be accessed from the museum's website. The history and composition of this collection is described here briefly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first handbook of the birds of Africa was completed in 1905 by Anton Reichenow (1847–1941). Based in the Berlin museum for almost 50 years, he described 152 African taxa that are still recognised as valid species today, and was considered by his contemporaries as a key figure in the development of African ornithology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ethnologie Française is the property of Presses Universitaires de France and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Documenting changes in the distribution and abundance of a given taxon requires historical data. In the absence of long-term monitoring data collected throughout the range of a taxon, conservation biologists often rely on preserved museum specimens to determine the past or present, putative geographic distribution. Distributional data for the Houston Toad (Anaxyrus houstonensis) has consistently been confounded by similarities with a sympatric congener, the Dwarf American Toad (A. americanus charlesmithi), both in monitoring data derived from chorusing surveys, and in historical data via museum specimens. In this case, misidentification can have unintended impacts on conservation efforts, where the Houston Toad is federally endangered, and the Dwarf American Toad is of least concern. Previously published reports have compared these two taxon on the basis of their male advertisement call and morphological appearance, often with the goal of using these characters to substantiate their taxonomic status prior to the advent of DNA sequencing technology. However, numerous studies report findings that contradict one another, and no consensus on the true differences or similarities can be drawn. Here, we use contemporary recordings of wild populations of each taxon to test for quantifiable differences in male advertisement call. Additionally, we quantitatively examine a subset of vouchered museum specimens representing each taxon to test previously reported differentiating morphometric characters used to distinguish among other Bufonids of East-Central Texas, USA. Finally, we assemble and qualitatively evaluate a database of photographs representing catalogued museum vouchers for each taxon to determine if their previously documented historic ranges may be larger than are currently accepted. Our findings reveal quantifiable differences between two allopatric congeners with respect to their male advertisement call, whereas we found similarities among their detailed morphology. Additionally, we report on the existence of additional, historically overlooked, museum records for the Houston Toad in the context of its putative historic range, and discuss errors associated with the curation of these specimens whose identity and nomenclature have not been consistent through time. These results bookend decades of disagreement regarding the morphology, voice, and historic distribution of these taxa, and alert practitioners of conservation efforts for the Houston Toad to previously unreported locations of occurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The temporary exhibition "Educational heritage. Textbooks, photographs and school accessories from the collections of the National Museum of History of Moldova" had been opened in museum room no. 4 between September 22, 2022 and July 4, 2023. It was organized on the European Heritage Days and its purpose was to develop and promote the educational heritage from the collections of the National Museum of History of Moldova. The temporary exhibition brought together about 453 museum pieces: school textbooks, books for children, schedules, photographs, collections of alumns' portraits in vignettes, writing utensils, school awards and uniforms, dated the 19th-21st centuries. The objects were exhibited in chronological order and divided into five conventional thematic compartments: the tsarist period (1812-1918), the interwar period (1918-1940), the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1924-1940), the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (1944-1991) and the period that following the proclamation of the independence of the Republic of Moldova. The exhibition began with a set of school textbooks published at the end of the 19th century and photos of graduates of some educational institutions in Chisinau such as Gymnasia no. 1 and Gymnasia no. 2 for boys, the Theological Seminary, the Diocesan School and the Gymnasia for Girls. The following compartment included textbooks and photos of famous schools in interwar Bessarabia, named after Queen Maria, Princess Elena, Natalia Dadiani, and others. Next comes a set of textbooks and books published in Romanian in the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1932-1938) and another set of textbooks printed in the so-called Transnistrian Moldavian language, as a result of the cancellation of the Latin script and the return to the official policy of denationalization and Russification promoted by the authorities in the districts to the left of the Dniester. Diverse in content, typographical design or ideological influence, the exhibited textbooks offered the visitor the opportunity to analyze and make certain conclusions regarding the state of education in Romanian Bessarabia and the Moldavian SSR, to compare and identify obvious differences between the two educational systems, Romanian and Soviet. Two other sections of the exhibition refer to education in the Moldavian SSR (1944-1991) and the period that followed the proclamation of the independence of the Republic of Moldova. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an analysis of the city museum policy used as a basis for a proposal for the construction of modern museums in Irkutsk. The article provides the results of the research activity of the working group “Architecture of new museums in the modern city” at INRTU and the conclusions about the expediency of building new museums in the centre of Irkutsk. The following projects made by students of Irkutsk architectural school as final qualifying works are considered: the project of reconstruction and expansion of the museum of regional studies on the basis of the historical building of the VSORGO Museum (Artem Zyubr), the project of the museum building for the geographical and historical collection related to the North American discoveries of travellers and merchants from Irkutsk (Nikita Sobolevsky), and the project of the new building for the Museum of Asian Art (Alisa Valeeva).

This article explores historical developments in ear adornment on the Marquesas Islands by examining their descriptions in historical sources—both written and pictorial—and ear ornaments in museum collections. From the first historical records onwards, Marquesan men and women were reported to have pierced earlobes, but the extent to which outsiders observed they wore ornaments in their ears changed over time. Four main types of ear ornaments are discussed and placed in a historical perspective. Large, oval-shaped wooden ones (kouhau) were worn by men of rank and S-shaped ear ornaments made of turtle shell (uuhei) were worn by women. Oval-shaped ear ornaments made from whale tooth (haakai) were worn by certain women and men in a ritual context. The last type, composite ear ornaments with a shell front (pūtaiana), of which a typology is presented, seems to have changed both in appearance and gender-use over time; initially they were worn by a few men, later on more men wore them, and finally, around the 1840s, they were worn by both men and women.

Museum legacy collections, often derived from large-scale archaeological excavations, can serve as paleoenvironmental archives of Late Pleistocene megafaunal composition and dynamics. Many of these collections, however, contain large quantities of highly fragmented and morphologically indistinct bones that cannot be identified to a specific taxon and are therefore of limited use to paleoenvironmental and archaeological analyses. Here, we explore the potential of Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) to identify fossil bone fragments and complement morphological identifications in legacy collections housed at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. To undertake this work, we collected fragmented bone specimens of Late Pleistocene megafauna from six archaeological sites in Colorado that are currently housed in the Department of Anthropology, and then performed pilot ZooMS screening. Our analysis successfully retrieved taxonomic information from 80% of the analyzed material, highlighting the potential of future ZooMS studies on museum collections to investigate human-megafaunal interactions in late Pleistocene North America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociality underpins major evolutionary transitions and significantly influences the structure and function of complex ecosystems. Social insects, seen as the pinnacle of sociality, have traits like obligate sterility that are considered 'master traits', used as single phenotypic measures of this complexity. However, evidence is mounting that completely aligning both phenotypic and evolutionary social complexity, and having obligate sterility central to both, is erroneous. We hypothesize that obligate and functional sterility are insufficient in explaining the diversity of phenotypic social complexity in social insects. To test this, we explore the relative importance of these sterility traits in an understudied but diverse taxon: the termites. We compile the largest termite social complexity dataset to date, using specimen and literature data. We find that although functional and obligate sterility explain a significant proportion of variance, neither trait is an adequate singular proxy for the phenotypic social complexity of termites. Further, we show both traits have only a weak association with the other social complexity traits within termites. These findings have ramifications for our general comprehension of the frameworks of phenotypic and evolutionary social complexity, and their relationship with sterility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines an ancient Egyptian coffin that was donated in 1867 to the Natural History Museum of Trieste and then moved to the Trieste Antiquities Museum in 2004. The coffin is a type dating to the Third Intermediate Period and belonged to an anonymous priestess. It is characterised by rather careless decoration and by extremely repetitive inscriptions that can hardly find parallels in the vast panorama of coffin production of the period. Its unique feature, though, is the large mummiform figure depicted on the bottom of the coffin box. The technical, decorative, and textual features hint at this coffin being part of a sort of 'ready-made' production by a Theban workshop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Kulturstudier is the property of Dansk Historisk Faellesraad and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article engages with current approaches to collecting born-digital objects in museums of art and design and reflects on the analysis of two case studies concerned with the respective acquisitions of a virtual reality artwork and a mobile app. The authors point to their non-standard preservation requirements and their unconventional objecthood to advocate for the value of adopting an experimental attitude to collecting. The case studies invite us to reconsider experimentation within the context of sensitive dialogic processes with creators and users who are unfamiliar with the conventions of museum collecting. Hence, the boundaries of experimentations are developed in relation to existing policies, organisational structures and practices, and defined by the stakes of multiple actors. To conclude, the authors argue that collecting institutions should prioritise building capacity and understanding needs and requirements for this emergent type of object, and embrace uncertainty over the imperative of long-term preservation in its fullest sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Kronika is the property of Kronika, Casopis za Slovensko Krajevno Zgodovino and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A box of invertebrates, mainly insects, some of which have labels dated between 1838 and 1841, was acquired by the author at a public auction in 2022. The box and the style of preservation is consistent with a collection assembled in the late 1830s. It is postulated that this small collection once formed part of the museum assembled by William MacGillivray at Marischal College, Aberdeen, Scotland, following his appointment as Regius Professor of Civil and Natural History in 1841. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The monitoring of indoor air pollutants is an important part of the management of heritage collections. In this work, acetic acid, formic acid, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and NO2 were measured with passive samplers along with temperature and relative humidity once per season in seven European institutions of different sizes with different types of objects. The measurements were carried out in a variety of locations, from modern and old display cases in exhibition rooms of different sizes to storage rooms and their enclosures for different types of objects. The results were evaluated based on the characteristics of the sampling locations and the extent to which the changing seasons affect pollutant concentrations were estimated. The dataset obtained from this study can be a valuable asset as a snapshot of the current state of the environment in European heritage collections.

Museum specimens have long served as foundational data sources for ecological, evolutionary, and environmental research. Continued reimagining of museum collections is now also generating new types of data associated with but beyond physical specimens, a concept known as "extended specimens." Field notes penned by generations of naturalists contain firsthand ecological observations associated with museum collections and comprise a form of extended specimens with the potential to provide novel ecological data spanning broad geographic and temporal scales. Despite their data-yielding potential, however, field notes remain underutilized in research because of their heterogeneous, unstandardized, and qualitative nature. We introduce an approach for transforming descriptive ecological notes into quantitative data suitable for statistical analysis. Tests with simulated and real-world published data show that field notes and our transformation approach retain reliable quantitative ecological information under a range of sample sizes and evolutionary scenarios. Unlocking the wealth of data contained within field records could facilitate investigations into the ecology of clades whose diversity, distribution, or other demographic features present challenges to traditional ecological studies, improve our understanding of long-term environmental and evolutionary change, and enhance predictions of future change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the application of Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) to osseous Longobard artifacts from the collection of the "Musei Reali di Torino" (MRT; Torino, Italy). Like most archaeological items made of worked bone/antler in museum collections, the raw material of such specimens is usually attributed to deer, often without accurate taxonomic attribution. Therefore, the main aim of the present investigation was to shed light on taxonomical aspects using biomolecular approaches. We first examined the collagen preservation of the artifacts, then we compared three sampling methods (invasive, eraser‐based, and bag‐based), and we evaluated the quality of the collagen fingerprint obtained. Overall, we found a good, albeit not optimal, biomolecular preservation status, even in heavily restored objects coming from the 19th‐century collections. Out of 37 specimens analyzed through matrix‐assisted laser desorption ionization–time of flight–mass spectrometry (MALDI‐TOF‐MS) and nanoHPLC‐tandem MS, 31 yielded usable data. The results confirmed the widespread use of cervid as the osseous raw material for comb‐making in Longobard times in Piedmont, but we also found that bovine bones (Bos but also other taxa belonging to family Bovidae, such as caprines) and equid bones were exploited—demonstrating opportunistic use of animal resources. As far as the method is concerned, the ZooMS peptide markers useful to distinguish between bovids and cervids (m/z 1580 vsm/z 1550) (Buckley et al., 2009) are more frequently detected when analyzing bone chips, that is, with the invasive sampling method, rather than collagen extracts obtained using non‐invasive techniques. Nonetheless, the eraser method (eZooMS) seems to be a good trade‐off between invasivity and quality of the information obtained: eZooMS sampling does not leave visible marks on the object and therefore can contribute to facilitating the routine application of biomolecular methods in the daily practice of museum conservation laboratories. Indeed, an important outcome of the present study has been the establishment of a close collaboration between museum and biomolecular specialists. Taken together, our results suggest that the Longobards had a preference towards locally available resources, although this work did not highlight a clear association between raw material (deer, cattle, and other bovids) and object typology (in the case of combs) or function, except for buttons. The overall information obtained by this study confirms the potential of biomolecular approaches for reconstructing the biography of museum objects with a long and complex life and demonstrates the value of zooarchaeological study of museum collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combating the current biodiversity crisis requires the accurate documentation of population responses to human‐induced ecological change. However, our ability to pinpoint population responses to human activities is often limited to the analysis of populations studied well after the fact. Museum collections preserve a record of population responses to anthropogenic change that can provide critical baseline data on patterns of genetic diversity, connectivity, and population structure prior to the onset of human perturbation. Here, we leverage a spatially replicated time series of specimens to document population genomic responses to the destruction of nearly 90% of coastal habitats occupied by the Savannah sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis) in California. We sequenced 219 sparrows collected from 1889 to 2017 across the state of California using an exome capture approach. Spatial–temporal analyses of genetic diversity found that the amount of habitat lost was not predictive of genetic diversity loss. Sparrow populations from southern California historically exhibited lower levels of genetic diversity and experienced the most significant temporal declines in genetic diversity. Despite experiencing the greatest levels of habitat loss, we found that genetic diversity in the San Francisco Bay area remained relatively high. This was potentially related to an observed increase in gene flow into the Bay Area from other populations. While gene flow may have minimized genetic diversity declines, we also found that immigration from inland freshwater‐adapted populations into tidal marsh populations led to the erosion of divergence at loci associated with tidal marsh adaptation. Shifting patterns of gene flow through time in response to habitat loss may thus contribute to negative fitness consequences and outbreeding depression. Together, our results underscore the importance of tracing the genomic trajectories of multiple populations over time to address issues of fundamental conservation concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to non‐urban environments, cities host ecological communities with altered taxonomic diversity and functional trait composition. However, we know little about how these urban changes take shape over time. Using historical bee (Apoidea: Anthophila) museum specimens supplemented with online repositories and researcher collections, we investigated whether bee species richness tracked urban and human population growth over the past 118 years. We also determined which species were no longer collected, whether those species shared certain traits, and if collector behavior changed over time. We focused on Wake County, North Carolina, United States where human population size has increased over 16 times over the last century along with the urban area within its largest city, Raleigh, which has increased over four times. We estimated bee species richness with occupancy models, and rarefaction and extrapolation curves to account for imperfect detection and sample coverage. To determine if bee traits correlated with when species were collected, we compiled information on native status, nesting habits, diet breadth, and sociality. We used non‐metric multidimensional scaling to determine if individual collectors contributed different bee assemblages over time. In total, there were 328 species collected in Wake County. We found that although bee species richness varied, there was no clear trend in bee species richness over time. However, recent collections (since 2003) were missing 195 species, and there was a shift in trait composition, particularly lost species were below‐ground nesters. The top collectors in the dataset differed in how often they collected bee species, but this was not consistent between historic and contemporary time periods; some contemporary collectors grouped closer together than others, potentially due to focusing on urban habitats. Use of historical collections and complimentary analyses can fill knowledge gaps to help understand temporal patterns of species richness in taxonomic groups that may not have planned long‐term data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the cultural collections at Det Kongelige Frederiks Universitet in Christiania (now Oslo) from the perspective of German-language tourists between the 1870s and 1914. It takes for its starting point the early history of tourism and museum collections as a story of the entanglement of the mobile and the immobile, of movement and stoppage. It argues that examining this entanglement provides insight into the complex processes of nation-building, which are formed in an interplay between tourist ascriptions and national self-images. Moreover, the museum objects’ spatial relations – the location and context in which they were exhibited – had a decisive impact on their perception and interpretation. Using guidebooks and travelogues as primary sources, the article discusses four of the most popular collections: the Viking ships, stave church portals, Sámi artefacts and objects brought back from the Gjøa expedition, in particular artefacts made by the Netsilingmiut/Nattilik. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Museologica Brunensia is the property of Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The purpose of the paper. The article deals with the chronology of the Cucuteni A-Trypillia B1 settlement 'Berezivska HES'. Scientific novelty. The article presents the ceramic collection from the object 'pithouse No. 6' of the 'Berezivska HES' site and the new AMS dates of the settlement. Conclusions. The 'Berezivska HES' settlement has been studied since the 1950s. Archaeological excavations continued during 1963-1965 and 1989-1999. A number of features were discovered, including platforms and deepened structures. Despite a long history of field research, most of the settlement study's results are unpublished. In addition, the issue of the settlement's chronology remains relevant. The article investigates the buried object 'pithouse No. 6' The remains of fire pits were found in it starting from a depth of 140 cm. Also, clusters of shells and finds of various categories were recorded: ceramic artifacts, anthropomorphic figures, lithic tools, stone and bone tools, etc. The ceramic complex corresponds to this region's Cucutenia A-Trypillia B1 stage and is typical of Sabatynivka-type settlements. According to AMS dating, the object 'pithouse No. 6' dates back to the period 4361-4054 cal BCE, which corresponds to the dates of other objects of the 'Berezivska HES' site and is synchronous with settlements of the Sabatynivka type in the Southern Buh river valley. Funding. The processing of archaeological collections and archival materials for writing the article took place within the framework of the project Berezivska HES site: processing, digitalizing, and publication of the archival documents and ceramic collection, which was supported by the scholarship of the German Archaeological Institute Documenting, Recording and Saving Ukrainian Archaeological Heritage. The new AMS-dates were obtained within the framework of the project CZ.02.2.69/0.0/0.0/18_053/001695 (Postdoc2MUNI). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rove beetles (Staphylinidae) are a diverse insect group, especially in the Neotropical region. At the same time, this fauna remains significantly understudied. During our visits to museum collections, we encountered numerous specimens of undescribed species representing the Neotropical genus Neolindus Scheerpeltz, 1933 which was earlier thought to be rare. To address the knowledge gap in the genus, we studied the museum material that resulted in descriptions of 21 new species. Our work involves the redescription of the genus, descriptions of the new species, and an updated identification key to 39 previously described and new species. The newly described species are Neolindus bicornis Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. elegans Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. longithorax Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. luxipenis Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. maya Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. minutus Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. napo Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. niger Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. ornatus Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. parahermani Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. paraplectrus Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. parasinuatus Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. parautriensis Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. pseudosensillaris Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. sauron Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. sibyllae Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. triangularis Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. tropicalis Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. utriensis Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., N. volkeri Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov., and N. yotokae Guzman, Tokareva & Żyła sp. nov. This research emphasises the importance of museum collections in advancing taxonomy and enriching biodiversity knowledge. With these contributions, the known number of species of Neolindus reaches 60, thereby enhancing data on the Neotropical rove beetles diversity. Additionally, we provide several new country records for the genus (Guyana, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Suriname), which widen its distribution, and new occurrence records for the described species of Neolindus, N. agilis Herman, 1991; N. apiculus Herman, 1991; N. basisinuatus Herman, 1991; N. campbelli Herman, 1991; N. cuneatus Herman, 1991; N. hermani Asenjo, 2011; N. irmleri Asenjo, 2011; N. lodhii Herman, 1991; N. procarinatus Herman, 1991; N. punctogularis Herman, 1991; and N. retusus Herman, 1991.

The first results of a herbariological study on the genus Callitriche L. at the Central Italian Herbarium (Herbarium Centrale Italicum) of the Museum of Natural History of the University of Florence are presented. This genus represents a critical group from a systematic and taxonomic point of view, as the diagnostic characters mainly consist in details of the reproductive structures that are difficult to observe and interpret. The herbarium specimens represent a material suitable for study only if they have anthers and especially ripe fruits. The study of these samples has brought to light the presence of material from newly reported locations for various Italian regions. In some cases, the reports derive from original new revisions, in other cases they are the result of the discovery and confirmation of previous revisions not incorporated by the modern Italian floras.

Museum legacy collections, often derived from large-scale archaeological excavations, can serve as paleoenvironmental archives of Late Pleistocene megafaunal composition and dynamics. Many of these collections, however, contain large quantities of highly fragmented and morphologically indistinct bones that cannot be identified to a specific taxon and are therefore of limited use to paleoenvironmental and archaeological analyses. Here, we explore the potential of Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) to identify fossil bone fragments and complement morphological identifications in legacy collections housed at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. To undertake this work, we collected fragmented bone specimens of Late Pleistocene megafauna from six archaeological sites in Colorado that are currently housed in the Department of Anthropology, and then performed pilot ZooMS screening. Our analysis successfully retrieved taxonomic information from 80% of the analyzed material, highlighting the potential of future ZooMS studies on museum collections to investigate human-megafaunal interactions in late Pleistocene North America.

The article is an essay on the formation and development of professional zoological research in Ukraine, with a focus on the study of terrestrial vertebrates, especially mammals, in particular during long-distance and long-term expeditionary trips and under conditions of stationary field research at biological stations. The heyday of such research is equated to the well-known renaissance of cultural processes of the late 19th and first third of the 20th century, but in field zoology such processes continued throughout the second third of the 20th century. The key features of the zoologists and field zoology of the Silver Age were constant (in fact, year-round) route excursions around the vicinity of large cities or various types of biological stations, as well as long-distance wagon-type collective expeditions, constant presence in nature with a gun more than with any type of trap, high specialisation on objects that could be obtained by shooting and were not small-sized and generally traditional hunting targets, linking the objectives of expeditions to material collection more than to observations (and, in fact, feedback, i.e. justification of expedition goals by the needs of collections accumulation). Special attention is paid to the traditional methods and volumes of material collecting. The changes in the practices of large expeditions and the factors of their extinction are considered. In particular, the latter is associated not so much with the disappearance of the need for material as with changes in the tasks of its analysis and the emergence of alternative, primarily live methods of studying certain species, as well as a departure from paradigmatic guidelines for describing and analysing the biotic diversity of regions and revising the taxonomy of groups and studying species variability using traditional systems of features, criteria, and approaches. The article analyses the value of the samples collected during the Silver Age and the tasks, motives and sources of enriching modern collections after the loss of the classical system of mass collection of morphological material.

The collection of Silurian heliolitoid corals revised in this study has been assembled by the first author (V.G.) for four decades. The material was collected predominantly from Silurian outcrops and borehole cores in the Middle Dnister area. Some of the specimens were found in Belarus and Moldova during field works and field trips. The scientific works were part of the projects elaborated by a collective of scientists from the Institute of Geological Sciences, NAS of Ukraine and Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. The working group consisted of geologists who graduated from the university in 1965 to 1970. Professors M. M. Klushnikov and O. L. Einor were our advisors. P. D. Tsegelnjuk was the oldest and the leader of the group. The collecting of specimens started in 1966 and now is ready to summarise the results. In the last fifty years, a large collection of fossil cnidarians from Silurian deposits has been assembled in the course of long-term geological field expeditions organised to study outcrops, cores of boreholes, and collect fossils. More than fifty outcrops and one hundred boreholes were studied in the territory of the Podillian region and the west slope of the Ukrainian Shield from Volyn to Snake Island. The collection comprises nearly ten thousand samples and 6000 thin sections of cnidarians. The total number of the studied samples belonging to Heliolitoidea is 139, of which 19 came from 9 outcrops and 120 from cores of 37 boreholes. The described samples represent 3 orders, 1 superfamily, 8 families, 2 subfamilies, 16 genera, 20 species (9 new), and 1 new subspecies. The authors consider that all the remains belong to fossil cnidarians. Fossil cnidarians are especially important from a facial point of view. The remains primarily indicate normal sea conditions in warm subtropical and tropical zones. In some cases, the identification of fossil cnidarians is easy, but usually we need to use the oriented thin sections. In the paper, only a small part of the collection is described following the system of Heliolitoidea developed by Olga Bondarenko. A studied collection is deposited in the Geological Department of the National Museum of Natural History, NAS of Ukraine under the number GD-1986.

In the 17th century, the first fragmentary information about the clothing of the Buryats appeared in the reports of service men and pioneer Cossacks; in the 18th-19th centuries, more detailed descriptions of clothing were found in the diaries of travellers, diplomats, and scientists. The social and property differentiation of Buryat society in the traditional clothing of the people was established with the introduction by the tsarist authorities of the provisions “On official insignia and clothing of commanding and honourable people” recorded in the “Rules established by the Selenga and Khorin main and honorary spiritual secular authorities in 1841”. The design of the headdress and its denze finial with a jinchi ball was one of the most important distinguishing marks of the table of ranks for civil and military ranks. The purpose of the study is to analyse the specifics of the decor of headdress finials as signs of the rank hierarchy of the Trans-Baikal Buryats in the second half of the 19th — early 20th century. Jinchi finials were made of coral, lazurite, shells, and turquoise; the use of materials and techniques for denze finials also varied. The author’s research tasks also include identifying the symbolism of the denze form and ornamental motifs, male and female decor options. With regard to the origins of the regulated Buryat costume, the author considers the Qing official headdresses with a ding top and round zhu beads, which differed depending on the official’s status. It is important to mention the Mongolian analogues of headdresses during the period of Manchurian rule, to note their similarity and difference from the Buryat ones. Pictorial sources from the collections of Russian museums presented the material for this research.

Museum exhibitions are of major importance in the formation of museum culture of students and high school students, providing unique opportunities for research, learning and exploration of various cultural, historical, scientific and artistic fields. The study carried out elucidates an experimental scientific research focused on the valorization of museum exhibitions in the formation of museum culture (FMC) of students and high school students by exploring information technologies. The purpose of this research is to conceptualize the FMC of students and high school students through the elaboration of the praxeology of the targeted process in an age of information technologies. Research hypothesis: FMC of students and high school students through the museum exhibition, will be possible by determining, revealing and validating the theoretical-applicative foundations of the given process. Theoretical methods were used: analysis, synthesis, comparison and interpretation of the obtained results and practical methods: questioning, observation, pedagogical experiment, etc. Discussing and verifying the obtained results we identified, that the activities carried out during the training stage generated a positive impact on the FMC of students and high school students reflected in the change of attitudes, behaviors and value contents. The research allowed us to find that the museum exhibition can become an effective strategy for the culturalization of students and high school students on the three essential dimensions: institutional, professional, social, ensuring the promotion of national and universal values in the context of lifelong learning/permanent education.

The article is an overview of the collections on the folk costume of the Tatars, stored in the funds of numerous museums in Russia and Tatarstan. It contains information about the traditional types of upper and lower clothing, shoes and jewelry of the Volga-Ural Tatars (Kazan, Kasimov, Mishars, and Kryashens), as well as similar information on the costume of Astrakhan and Siberian Tatars living on the territory of the Russian Federation. Particular attention is paid to women's costume which characterizes folk arts and crafts to the greatest extent. A significant part of the collections is well passportised, indicating the region of existence, gender and age, and local terminology. The materials of the collections reflect the ethno-local and regional features of traditional clothing. On provision of firm attribution, museum objects have advantages over other historical sources. Artifacts from the early to mid–19th century and of the earlier period – medieval “imperishable” metal jewelry, leather goods, etc. are of particular value. They serve as a reliable illustration for the reconstruction of pre-national costume variations, which are extremely in demand in modern museum, theater, and ritual practices. When using the synchronous-diachronic methods of comparative historical analysis, museum artifacts considerably contribute to the study of the history of the Tatar costume, which largely reflects the ethno- and cultural genesis of the people as a whole.