#OA - OSM Town | Mapstodon for OpenStreetMap

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #DOI #History #Histodon #Histodons #UK #UnitedKingdom #Britain #India #EastIndiaCompany #C18th #Academia #Academics @histodon @histodons

**Company-State at Home: The East India Company and the Fiscal System in Eighteenth-Century Britain**

“_This article shows that fiscal capacity was not created only by government bureaucracies: the ‘company-state at home’ model presented here complements the narrative of the ‘fiscal-military state’ by showing that much fiscal revenue from trade was realized through the action of the English East India Company (EIC). Lacking the capacity to enact exhaustive laws, carry out complex calculations, or effectively manage a large bureaucracy, the English state relied on the administrative capacity of the EIC to collect customs on the East Indies trade._”

Karolina Hutková, Ernesto Dal Bó, Lukas Leucht, Noam Yuchtman, Company-State at Home: The East India Company and the Fiscal System in Eighteenth-Century Britain, Past & Present, 2025;, gtaf009, https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtaf009.

**Plazi Species** @plazi_species@mastodon.green · 3d

#FAIRdata
#science #OA #openaccess #biology #taxonomy #ecology #biodiversity #nature #wildlife #conservation #animals #herpetology #herps #amphibia #frogfriday #frogs #toads #leaflittertoads

#NewSpecies!
New leaf litter toad from #china just snuck in:

Leptobrachella albomarginata

Treatment: https://treatment.plazi.org/id/A6E5865D-1845-5D97-A499-0FDC6261F08A
Publication: https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.101.135560
#ZoosystematicsAndEvolution #LeptobrachellaAlbomarginata

**Plazi Species** @plazi_species@mastodon.green · 3d

#FAIRdata
#science #OA #openaccess #biology #taxonomy #ecology #biodiversity #nature #wildlife #conservation #fungi #mushrooms #mycology

#NewSpecies!
A newly discovered fungus from #china for #FungiFriday:

Mycena hongfengensis

Treatment: https://treatment.plazi.org/id/14E4D78C-D4A0-59D4-83D8-18071AFBDBD8
Publication: https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.115.144137
#MycoKeys #MycenaHongfengensis

**Bibliolater** @bibliolater@qoto.org · 4d

#OpenAccess #OA #Research #DOI #Article #Ancient #Culture #Archaeology #Archaeodons #IronAge #Mediterranean #Academia #Academics @archaeodons

**Tel Shiqmona during the Iron Age: A first glimpse into an ancient Mediterranean purple dye ‘factory’**

“_It is the only site in the Near East or around the Mediterranean—indeed, in the entire world—where a sequence of purple-dye workshops has been excavated and which has clear evidence for large-scale, sustained manufacture of purple dye and dyeing in a specialized facility for half a millennium, during the Iron Age (ca. 1100–600 BCE)._”

Shalvi G, Sukenik N, Waiman-Barak P, Dunseth ZC, Bar S, et al. (2025) Tel Shiqmona during the Iron Age: A first glimpse into an ancient Mediterranean purple dye ‘factory’. PLOS ONE 20(4): e0321082. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0321082.

doi.orgTel Shiqmona during the Iron Age: A first glimpse into an ancient Mediterranean purple dye ‘factory’Purple-dyed textiles, primarily woolen, were much sought after in the Ancient Near East and the Mediterranean, and they adorned the powerful and wealthy. It is commonly assumed that in antiquity, purple dye—extracted from specific species of marine mollusks—was produced in large quantities and in many places around the Mediterranean. But despite numerous archaeological excavations, direct and unequivocal evidence for locales of purple-dye production remains very limited in scope. Here we present Tel Shiqmona, a small archaeological tell on Israel’s Carmel coast. It is the only site in the Near East or around the Mediterranean—indeed, in the entire world—where a sequence of purple-dye workshops has been excavated and which has clear evidence for large-scale, sustained manufacture of purple dye and dyeing in a specialized facility for half a millennium, during the Iron Age (ca. 1100–600 BCE). The number and diversity of artifacts related to purple dye manufacturing are unparalleled. The paper focuses on the various types of evidence related to purple dye production in their environmental and archaeological contexts. We utilize chemical, mineralogical and contextual analyses to connect several categories of finds, providing for the first time direct evidence of the instruments used in the purple-dye production process in the Iron Age Levant. The artifacts from Shiqmona also serve as a first benchmark for future identification of significant purple-dye production sites around the Mediterranean, especially in the Iron Age.

**Bibliolater** @bibliolater@qoto.org · 5d

#OpenAccess #OA #Research #Article #Anthropology #Agriculture #Wealth #Inequality #Academia #Academics @anthropology

**Labor, land, and the global dynamics of economic inequality**

“_This study supports the contention that transitions from labor- to land-limited systems, rather than cultivation and/or herding per se, have contributed systematically to the long-term dynamics of economic inequality._”

A. Bogaard, P. Cruz, M. Fochesato, J. Birch, G. Cervantes Quequezana, S. Chirikure, E.R. Crema, G.M. Feinman, A.S. Green, H. Hamerow, G. Jin, T. Kerig, D. Lawrence, M.D. McCoy, J. Munson, S.G. Ortman, C.A. Petrie, & P. Roscoe, Labor, land, and the global dynamics of economic inequality, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 122 (16) e2400694122, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2400694122 (2025).

**Bibliolater** @bibliolater@qoto.org · 5d

doi.orgMaterial philology and Syriac excerpting practices: A computational-quantitative study of the digitized catalog of the Syriac manuscripts in the British LibraryThis study explores the literary practice of excerpting in Syriac manuscripts through a computational-quantitative analysis, contributing to the emerging field of Syriac material philology. The primary objective is to offer a “big picture” charting of Syriac excerpting as a non-authorial literary practice. Using digitized data from the British Library’s Syriac manuscript collection, the study analyzes nearly 20,000 excerpts, introducing the Excerpts Per Manuscript (EPM) metric to quantify and compare excerpting practices across manuscripts. The results reveal that most manuscripts contain fewer than 20 excerpts, but a small number show much higher levels of excerpting, highlighting the immense intellectual and literary activities implicated in their production. These high-EPM manuscripts appear across multiple genres, indicating that excerpting was a widespread and essential cultural activity rather than confined to specific literary types. The study also finds that manuscripts with the highest EPM values are concentrated between the 6th and 9th centuries CE, corresponding with a period of intense literary compilation in late antiquity. This pattern reflects the importance of excerpting in knowledge organization, aligning with broader trends in the canonization of texts within Christian, Jewish, and Greco-Roman traditions. The research emphasizes the limitations of earlier cataloging approaches, which obscure non-authorial practices by focusing on authors and texts. By reorienting data through computational analysis, the study provides new insights into the role of excerpting in Syriac manuscript culture. This approach demonstrates the value of digital tools in material philology, uncovering patterns that bridge genres and timeframes, and identifying high-EPM manuscripts as key sites of intellectual and cultural activity in the Syriac literary tradition.

**Material philology and Syriac excerpting practices: A computational-quantitative study of the digitized catalog of the Syriac manuscripts in the British Library**

“_The results reveal that most manuscripts contain fewer than 20 excerpts, but a small number show much higher levels of excerpting, highlighting the immense intellectual and literary activities implicated in their production._”

Maeir N (2025) Material philology and Syriac excerpting practices: A computational-quantitative study of the digitized catalog of the Syriac manuscripts in the British Library. PLOS ONE 20(3): e0320265. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0320265.

#OpenAccess #OA #Research

**Bibliolater** @bibliolater@qoto.org · 5d

#OpenAccess #OA #Research #Article #DOI #Religion #Society #Culture #Sociology #Academia #Academics @sociology

**Breaking Free of the Iron Cage: The Individualization of American Religion**

“_Our longitudinal analysis captures a dramatic shift in the American religious landscape, showing how people are breaking free from religious institutions and exploring more personalized forms of faith that resonate with their values._”

Schnabel, L., Horwitz, I., Hekmatpour, P., & Schleifer, C. (2025). Breaking Free of the Iron Cage: The Individualization of American Religion. Socius, 11. https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231251327442 (Original work published 2025)

**Bibliolater** @bibliolater@qoto.org · Apr 11

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #DOI #Geology #Geomorphology #Geophysics #Sedimentology #Flood #Mediterranean #Academia #Academics @geology

**Evidence of the Zanclean megaflood in the eastern Mediterranean Basin**

“_Our findings provide evidence for a large amplitude drawdown in the Ionian Basin during the MSC, support the scenario of a Mediterranean-wide catastrophic flood at the end of the MSC, and suggest that the identified sedimentary body is the largest known megaflood deposit on Earth._”

Micallef, A., Camerlenghi, A., Garcia-Castellanos, D. et al. Evidence of the Zanclean megaflood in the eastern Mediterranean Basin. Sci Rep 8, 1078 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-19446-3.

**Plazi Species** @plazi_species@mastodon.green · Apr 11

**Plazi Species** @plazi_species@mastodon.green · Apr 11

#FAIRdata
#science #OA #openaccess #biology #taxonomy #ecology #biodiversity #nature #wildlife #conservation #animals #asteroidea #starfishs #seastar #deepsea

#NewSpecies!
New deepsea starfish from #china just surfaced:

Freyastera jiaolongi

Treatment: https://treatment.plazi.org/id/C5234970-A9EB-5EAF-BD7B-BA2B0AC2AC29
Publication: https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.101.144918
#ZoosystematicsAndEvolution #FreyasteraJiaolongi

**Plazi Species** @plazi_species@mastodon.green · Apr 11

#FAIRdata
#science #OA #openaccess #biology #taxonomy #ecology #biodiversity #nature #wildlife #conservation #fungi #mushrooms #mycology

#NewSpecies!
A newly discovered fungus from #china for #FungiFriday:

Clavaria orientalis

Treatment: https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03C72319-8183-55D9-8A84-7886304EEAF3
Publication: https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.115.145774
#MycoKeys #ClavariaOrientalis

**Plazi Species** @plazi_species@mastodon.green · Apr 11

#FAIRdata
#science #OA #openaccess #biology #taxonomy #ecology #biodiversity #nature #wildlife #conservation #animals #herpetology #herps #amphibia #frogfriday #frogs #treefrogs

#NewSpecies!
New small tree frog from #china just snuck in:

Gracixalus weii

Treatment: https://treatment.plazi.org/id/F6ACF6E8-1322-5389-98DE-21A4293DF9F5
Publication: https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.101.133735
#ZoosystematicsAndEvolution #GracixalusWeii

**Plazi Species** @plazi_species@mastodon.green · Apr 11

#FAIRdata
#science #OA #openaccess #biology #ecology #taxonomy #nature #biodiversity #conservation #botany #wildflowers #flowers #wildplants #plants #wildlife #fabaceae

#NewSpecies!
Astragalus oyunicus
A newly discovered fabaceae from #mongolia!

Treatment: https://treatment.plazi.org/id/BE814C3F-EABD-52A7-AAEE-A539783EF3A3
Publication: https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.255.140805
#Phytokeys #AstragalusOyunicus

**Bibliolater** @bibliolater@qoto.org · Apr 10 *

Apr 10 *

**Computational analysis of US congressional speeches reveals a shift from evidence to intuition**

“_We find that evidence-based language has continued to decline since the mid-1970s, together with a decline in legislative productivity. The decline was accompanied by increasing partisan polarization in Congress and rising income inequality in society._”

Aroyehun, S.T., Simchon, A., Carrella, F. et al. Computational analysis of US congressional speeches reveals a shift from evidence to intuition. Nat Hum Behav (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02136-2.

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #DOI #Language #Linguistics #Psychology #Politics #USPol #USA #US #UnitedStates @psychology @linguistics

**Bibliolater** @bibliolater@qoto.org · Apr 9 *

Apr 9 *

#OpenAccess #OA #Nonfiction #Book #Ebook #Bookstodon #Academia #Academic #History #NeoAssyrian #Assyria #Empire @bookstodon

**Triumph and Betrayal: Assyria's Path to Empire, 935-745 BC**

“_This book re-examines the historical question of Assyria’s expansion, presenting a novel reconstruction of the early Neo-Assyrian period with the latest data (including new Assyrian kings), detailed regional studies synthesising the newest historical and archaeological findings, and interpretative essays outlining new historical factors._”

Edmonds, A. 2025. Triumph and Betrayal: Assyria’s Path to Empire, 935–745 BC. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111593715.

De GruyterTriumph and BetrayalWhile the study of Assyria as ‘the world’s first empire’ has never been more popular, the events of the foundational early Neo-Assyrian period (935–745 BC) remain only poorly understood and explained. This book re-examines the historical question of Assyria’s expansion, presenting a novel reconstruction of the early Neo-Assyrian period with the latest data (including new Assyrian kings), detailed regional studies synthesising the newest historical and archaeological findings, and interpretative essays outlining new historical factors. The resultant history is unprecedentedly complex, containing newly discovered succession conflicts, difficult compromises with neighbouring powers, local dynasties appointed to Assyrian governorships, self-serving high officials, and sudden reverses in policy. In place of circular structuralist arguments for the Neo-Assyrian expansion, it presents a new model emphasising internal political conflict, and competing visions for Assyria’s future. This book is intended for historians and archaeologists of Assyria, for whom it will provide a new basis for research, and also for scholars of neighbouring disciplines and laypersons interested in what happens to an ancient state before it becomes an empire.

**Bibliolater** @bibliolater@qoto.org · Apr 9

Apr 9

**Recurrent humid phases in Arabia over the past 8 million years**

“_Wetter conditions likely facilitated mammalian dispersals between Africa and Eurasia, with Arabia acting as a key crossroads for continental-scale biogeographic exchanges._”

Markowska, M., Vonhof, H.B., Groucutt, H.S. et al. Recurrent humid phases in Arabia over the past 8 million years. Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08859-6.

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #DOI #Geography #Arabia #Climate #Academia #Academic @geography

**Bibliolater** @bibliolater@qoto.org · Apr 9 *

Apr 9 *