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Typologies, especially of spearheads, have been decried as inadequate by the archaeological community. They have prevented the synthetic study of ancient weapons and obscured cultural contacts, changes in form and distribution, and changes in fighting style. This thesis presents new typologies of spearheads and swords which are not based on aesthetics or the need to communicate a large amount of material succinctly in the limited space of a site report. Rather, these typologies attempt to perceive the functional characteristics of these weapon classes. The thesis surveys a range of sites in Daunia, Basilicata and Southern Campania applying these new typologies to large suites of weapons. From this assessment a number of conclusions have flowed regarding cultural contacts between indigenous Southern Italic groups and with immigrating groups of Villanovan and Greek origin. The assessment reveals the variety of weapon forms in use and tracks changes over time. These changes expose cultural transformations and alterations in fighting styles. The tracking of paraphernalia often associated with weapons in modern scholarship has also revealed some nuances in patterns of association with weapons which were not previously apparent.

The story of the passenger craft of Sydney Harbour, from First Fleet arrival in 1788 until the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932, encapsulates a unique historical era. Apart from the growing colony’s high dependence of on water conveyance that made this harbour one of the busiest in the world, opportunities presented by this rapid expansion drew adventurers and entrepreneurs from all over the world. Entertainment venues sprang up around the harbour and land was free to men with connections or valuable contributions, and cheap for those with money. Many ferry companies set up to service these ‘pleasure grounds’ and venues doubled as commuter runs for adjacent housing developments, providing avenues to other ventures and political careers. The world of the harbour’s passenger craft was flush with dynamic personalities, their grand visions, innovations and ambitions. A perfect arena, one would think, for literary expression. Not so. Perhaps the sheer physical glory of Sydney Harbour drew so much attention from the visual Arts that the narrative of the passenger craft got swamped in the wash. This project has set out to redress the paucity of literary expression on the topic. The exegesis is a report on the research and an overview of what literature has been written, with an introduction to the twenty-seven poetical sequences, each focusing on one aspect of the world of the passenger craft over those one hundred and forty-four years. The topic was initially inspired Australian artist, Peter Kingston’s, ferry paintings, the form takes inspiration from Dylan Thomas’ radio play, Under Milk Wood. It is designed for publication as both an illustrated literary edition and a simpler performance text suitable for Educational purposes. The subject encompasses History, Literature and Theatre, with every kind of performance vehicle, from the Greek Chorus and songs to individual characters and groups and is intended for high schools as an ideal play in which the whole class may participate.

Ornamental Hallucination proposes to reconstruct a polyphony of ancient Pagan symbols as feminist archetypes to disrupt hegemonic narratives. With the potential to transform reality it pronounces the importance that art has to reinstate the values of creativity and the imagination, envisioning new ways of looking at ourselves in the world, and the possibility for change. It outlines the power obsessed play of mass culture’s construction of manufactured consent by the barrage of twenty-four hours per day of advertising, news media and entertainment. Asserting that the ideas on the psychedelic experience, which sprang from the counter-culture of ‘the 1960’s’ is one way to liberate the mind from the trappings of hegemonic thinking. It claims that as artists are on the periphery of society, it is unlike any other discipline and therefore able to take on absurd theories as a way of critiquing the machinations of established thought. Ornamental Hallucination examines the revival of the feminine principle through a psychedelic framework that links us to nature, or as McKenna says, to Gaian consciousness, via ancient shamanic practices and the invention and construction of positive and mythically empowered feminine role models as a guide for the soul, breaking down binary thinking and reconnecting psychically to our ancestry, to our bodies and lived and shared experience. Using examples of my work, I trace a lineage with other feminist artists, linking them to the theme of the archaic revival. Pagan feminine symbols are interpreted for a contemporary lexicon placing art in ritualistic context and appointing it the role of historical corrective to the ills of cultural engineering. Ornamental Hallucination in its physiological dimension will comprise of four large freestanding ceramic sculptures, one candelabra wall piece, a wall painting and a performance with a costume made from ceramic, found objects, textile and cow horn. All ceramics are fired and painted in oil.

Evidence from Classical Athens is full of examples of animals and the impacts of their interactions with people across social, political, religious, and philosophical contexts. Within this body of evidence, the dog stands out for the scope of its presence across both the historical record and particularly within Athenian life. Men and women, children and adults, elite and ordinary citizens, citizens, metics, and slaves, urban and rural inhabitants, labourers, the poor, and the healthy and sick – dogs were there with them, on the land, in their thoughts, in their literature, on their art, and in their practices - hidden in plain sight. As such, dogs offer us multiple perspectives through which to examine Athenian society and the expressions of its individual and collective identities and experiences. The principal aim of this dissertation is to highlight the benefits of including human-animal relations in the histories we write. It approaches the period of Classical Athens through the lens of its different human-canine interactions and applies an interdisciplinary method that integrates classics, historical inquiry, classical archaeology, and archaeology with principles from Human-Animal Studies. This thesis asks how and why numerous real and figurative dogs featured in the ancient evidence and how this related to real-life human-canine interactions in Classical Athens. Exploring dogs as guards, military auxiliaries, companions, commodities, and philosophical subjects, this study demonstrates the significant historical value of dogs and the tangible insights they provide into different experiences of ancient Athenian life.

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is associated with hyperphagia and obesity, without effective pharmacological treatment. Exenatide, recently developed for treatment of type 2 diabetes, induces appetite suppression and weight loss with common side effects.The objective of the study was to investigate the initial safety and effectiveness of exenatide in adult PWS subjects compared with obese controls (OBESE).Eight PWS and 11 OBESE patients underwent standardized meal studies after a single sc injection of 10 μg exenatide or placebo in a single-blinded, crossover design.Glucose, insulin, C-peptide, glucagon, peptide YY (PYY; total)/PYY (3-36), glucagon-like peptide-1, and ghrelin (total) were measured fasting and postprandially. Appetite and satiety were assessed by visual analog scales. Energy expenditure (EE) was measured by indirect calorimetry. Side effects were screened during and for 24 h after the meal.PWS and OBESE patients were matched for gender, age, body mass index, and central/total body fat. In both groups, exenatide increased satiety and lowered glucose and insulin levels but increased insulin secretion rate. Side effects were absent in PWS but common in OBESE patients. During the meal, PYY (total) and ghrelin were elevated in PWS patients. Exenatide decreased PYY (total) and glucagon-like peptide-1, whereas ghrelin remained unchanged. Energy expenditure was unchanged by exenatide.Our pilot study demonstrates that exenatide is well tolerated in PWS patients. It increases satiety independently of measured appetite hormones, exerting glucose lowering, and insulinotropic effects similarly in PWS and OBESE patients. Larger prospective studies should investigate whether chronic exenatide administration will reduce hyperphagia and overweight in PWS patients without side effects.

Dissection can be considered a process of calculated dividing and a form of meticulous dismantling. As a method of analysis, it remains inextricably linked to explorations of the human body and the investigations staged to uncover its hidden depths. This research examines historical cultures of dissection and their relationship to contemporary art practice. It proposes that such a culture is characterised by an inherent cutting spectacle; one that remains grounded within a complex and pre-existing visual culture that has dissected, divided and dismantled the body and its image. Into theatre, Under the Knife: Cultures of Dissection and Contemporary Art Practice is the outcome of a practice-led research project comprising this written thesis and a diverse body of work that spans sculpture, assemblage, installation and painting. Across the development of both the textual and creative work, cutting has been employed as a methodology for the research, and forms a significant basis for the material and conceptual inquiry of the study. Over the course of this thesis historical source material, theoretical propositions and the work of contemporary artists are gradually and methodically dissected for examination. The paper that has then developed as a result of this process-led research proposes a series of significant intersections, and a framework of ‘cuttings and cross-cuttings’ to consider art practice as a form of anatomical enquiry. In suggesting these points of connection, and by intentionally traversing the historical and contemporary, new ground is proposed to consider a culture of dissection within contemporary art through an analyses of the seminal practitioners who maintain and continue to enact their own distinct practice of cutting. Whether undertaken as a light incision to permeate a surface, or a dramatic slash that severs, this research will attempt to reveal that cutting is a significant yet under-recognised gesture being used by contemporary artists. Much like the surgeon or anatomist who performs incisions in theatre, artists too inflict cutting gestures with strategic and decisive intent. The cutting gesture that embodies both dual creative and destructive possibilities acts also as a sign of authorship, a signature of authenticity from one who wields the knife.

Studies of place and landscape abound in the anthropological literature. This thesis aims at synthesising archaeological and anthropological approaches to explore how archaeological sites contribute to a sense of place and national identity in the Republic of Ireland. I take a multi-sited approach to discuss three archaeological places: the Hill of Tara, a prehistoric earthwork in County Meath, the Rock of Cashel, a Medieval ecclesiastical site in Country Tipperary, and Dublin city as a commemorative place for the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising. These sites provide a way to examine how archaeological places support intangible ideas of place that are also mediated through a phenomenological experience of tangible sites. In focusing on the way that narratives are woven into and of place, I examine how meta-narratives of the Irish nation are experienced, contested and integrated through archaeological places. In this thesis I contend that the temporal and material qualities of archaeological sites are core features that define the narratives told of place, and that narrative and place are mutually constitutive, each structuring the experience of the other.

This thesis has used the abandoned village site of Mwanihuki located on Makira in the Solomon Islands as a case study to explore the archaeological evidence associated with the initial occupation of the region and the emergence of later inter and intra-island trade and exchange systems. The main aims of the thesis were to establish the timing of initial occupation, understand patterns of settlement and subsistence, and explore evidence for the rise of the southeast trade and exchange system and Mwanihuki’s place in that network. Intensive fieldwork was conducted on Mwanihuki and surroundings, while also analysing and incorporating the legacy material into this research. Radiocarbon evidence revealed phasing that placed the study area into two broad cultural periods. The first was an ephemeral use of Mwanihuki from c. 3000 BP, which was contemporaneous with the Lapita cultural tradition, though aceramic. The second phase of the site demonstrated intensive occupation from c.800BP, which included construction of burial structures, anthropogenic refuse mounds, and a rich material culture. It is argued that these latter items are evidence of shell valuable production and together with the dense concentrations of chert imported from Ulawa indicate that by c500BP Mwanihuki was a significant node in the emergent inter-island trade system. This material culture, along with Mwanihuki’s prominent headland location and strong island inter-visibility all contributed to the transfer of material culture and social and economic complexity. The abandonment of the site c400BP and the retreat to the mountainous interior and defended settlements detailed in oral history appears to be a consequence of an initial contact with Spanish explorers in 1595 AD and the rise of inter and intra island hostilities.

This paper responds to Randall Collins' critique of R.W. Connell's 1997 paper, 'Why is classical theory classical' arguing that the the history of the discipline should in fact be redrawn.