SCR Bulletin – week commencing 28/10/2019

The city of Durham ultimately has its origins in the Anglo-Saxon monastery of Lindisfarne; it was on this tidal island that Cuthbert was celebrated and became a saint. The early medieval monastery on the island eventually moved and became the nucleus around which the later city of Durham would develop. In this lecture I will explore the archaeology of the early monastery drawing on recent fieldwork carried out by myself and students from the Dept of Archaeology.

Clays have been used since prehistoric times, for example for the fabrication of ceramics. Today, clays find numerous technological and industrial applications.

Clay minerals are fine-grained material, which become pliable when they interact with water. The minerals comprise silica, alumina, water and also iron, alkalis and alkaline earth elements. Clay minerals belong to phllosilcates and are divided into several groups based on their properties: the kaolin and serpentine groups, the talc and pyrophyllite groups, the expandable smectite and vermiculite groups, the illite group, the chlorite group, and the sepiolite-palygorskite. The earth mineral evolution is divided into 3 eras and 10 stages. Clay mineral formation began at stage 3, at the earliest part of the Hadean Eon due to alternation of ultramafic and basaltic rocks.

There are several ways of formation of clay minerals: (i) Aqueous alternation, (ii) Authigenesis, (iii) Diagenesis, (iv) Terrestrial weathering, and (v) Biomediated clay mineralization. These processes drive chemical composition and properties of the clay minerals.

Depending upon their chemical and physical properties, clay minerals can be applied to different areas. Investigation of clay mineral-water interaction is important to all aspects of geology, water science, soil science, geotechnical engineering, geomorphology, seismology, astrobiology and atmospheric science. Due to the high surface charges originating from isomorphous substitution in the crystal lattice, and from the presence of pH dependent surface edges or broken bond sites, clay minerals can absorb positively charged ions and organic components on their surface. In addition, some chemical elements in clay minerals can be potential sources of nutrients for bacteria. Clay mineral-bacteria interaction can play a major role in formation of new minerals. Such properties of clay minerals can also be used in some internal and external medical treatment.

Clay minerals are also good indicators for the study of past climatic conditions and sea level changes.

Today’s peace processes have become ever more complex – involving various stakeholders negotiating multiple issues on multiple levels. Indeed, peace mediation is increasingly moving away from brokering limited deals between small groups of military and political leaders behind closed doors. The calls for inclusivity demand that a broader range of actors have a say in shaping the future of their country.

Has the increased complexity and ambition of mediation fundamentally altered the nature of peace negotiations? Can we talk about ‘negotiations’ when peace processes are increasingly about crafting a new social contract and political system for the country rather than simply negotiating the division of power? And fundamentally, is it possible to design peace processes that go beyond elite power sharing deals between armed groups, and engage a broader range of national stakeholders, such as women and youth?

This public lecture is part of broader research project on Mediation for the 21st Century and combines both theoretical and empirical insights from recent peace processes in contexts such as South Sudan and Yemen to analyse today’s mediation praxis. Whereas much of mediation scholarship has been approached from the perspective of international relations or negotiations theory, this lecture views inclusive peace mediation through the lens of democratic theory. It is suggested that applying ideas of democratic representation and deliberation to the context of peace negotiations may help to shift the focus from normative to substantive matters: what and whose interests should be represented in mediation processes? How and under which conditions?

Before the Reformation in the C16th, Finchale was the starting point for many pilgrims from the North of Europe on their way to Santiago. St Godric of Finchale was one of the first English pilgrims historically documented. According to Reginald of Durham, St Godric undertook two pilgrimages to Jerusalem. On his return from his second one, he passed by Santiago de Compostela to visit the tomb of the apostle (most likely in 1102). Back in England, the bishop of Durham, Ranulf Fambard, let him live as a hermit in the grounds of Finchale. Priory. During the last seventy years of his life, St Godric was visited by pilgrims from Great Britain and the North of Europe, who came to ask for advice about doing the Camino. The Reformation put an end to these religious pilgrimages, carried out by a great amount of people (records show that in the C14th 17,400 pilgrims arrived in Santiago de Compostela from England). Now we have an officially stretch of the Camino Inglés, the route traditionally taken by English pilgrims, in County Durham.