How was trust created and reinforced between the inhabitants of medieval and early modern cities? And how did the social foundations of trusting relationships change over time? Current research highlights the role of kinship, neighbourhood, and associations, particularly guilds, in creating ‘relationships of trust’ and social capital in the face of high levels of migration, mortality, and economic volatility, but tells us little about their relative importance or how they developed. We uncover a profound shift in the contribution of family and guilds to trust networks among the middling and elite of one of Europe's major cities, London, over three centuries, from the 1330s to the 1680s. We examine almost 15,000 networks of sureties created to secure orphans’ inheritances to measure the presence of trusting relationships connected by guild membership, family, and place. We uncover a profound increase in the role of kinship – a re-embedding of trust within the family – and a decline of the importance of shared guild membership in connecting Londoners who secured orphans’ inheritances together. These developments indicate a profound transformation in the social fabric of urban society.

This paper outlines the ways in which the project is addressing the colonial legacy of Henry Wellcome as well as presenting the data from the first three field seasons at Jebel Moya, south-central Sudan. These data have substantially revised our chronological and socio-economic understanding of the site. Our excavations, initiated in 2017 and continued in 2019 and 2022, show a longer, more continuous occupation of the site than has been previously recognised. The faunal and botanical remains have implications for the spread of early domesticates in the eastern Sahel and for climate changes, and raise issues of resilience. There is confirmed human burial activity from at least the third millennium BC onwards, while the pottery continues to yield information about the variety of decoration and, for the final Assemblage 3, data on its usage. Overall, the continued importance of the site for the eastern Sahel is re-emphasised.

New excavations at the Jebel Moya cemetery in Sudan reveal previously unknown, continuous burial activity from the third millennium BC to c. 2000 years ago. Radiometric dates, archaeobotanical analyses and new approaches to the pottery sequence reveal a long-lasting and vibrant community in what was previously dismissed as a marginal environment in south-central Sudan.

This report presents the latest data from ongoing excavations at Jebel Moya, Sudan. This year saw the opening of five new trenches and continued excavation of an archaeologically rich trench. We have recovered four individual burials, a mud brick wall and a number of animal and archaeobotanical remains. The excavations also yielded a longer pottery sequence, showing clearly that the site was in use by at least the sixth millennium BC. This season confirms the long and complex history of Jebel Moya and provides the material for future studies on population health and subsistence. This season also saw an increase in community engagement and a more detailed study of the various historical trajectories that make up the biography of Jebel Moya.

Building upon Brass’ previous research on Jebel Moya, which included a comprehensive reanalysis of the pottery from Wellcome's 1911–14 expeditions curated at the British Museum, new research activities by the University College London–University of Khartoum–NCAM Expedition to the Southern Gezira project have included locating and examining for the first time the Late Mesolithic sherds from Jebel Moya curated at the National Museum in Khartoum. Representative samples from the sites of Shaqadud Midden and Shaqadud S21 at the British Museum have also been re-examined. The aims of these activities were threefold: to test the reliability and cohesiveness of and patterning in the Shaqadud collection through the expanded application of attribute analysis, to determine if Caneva's observations of décor patterns on Jebel Moya's Late Mesolithic sherds could be replicated and to obtain better visibility into the nature of its pottery assemblage from this time, and to use the resulting data to test the viability of the central Sudan being a fulcrum of cultural interchanges during the late sixth and early fifth millennium BC. We conclude that there was a piecemeal establishment of networks along which there was diffusion of ideas and animals, and perhaps low numbers of people, into the central and south-central Sudan.

New excavations at the Jebel Moya cemetery in Sudan reveal extensive evidence for Meroitic-era occupation, providing valuable data on contemporaneous diet, migration, exchange and population composition in sub-Saharan Africa.

The discussion on Maturity Guarantees, as applied to unit linked life assurance policies, has followed two quite distinct paths—the conventional or mainstream approach, as exemplified by Benjamin (1976) and endorsed by the Maturity Guarantees Working Party (MGWP 1980) on the one hand, and those who seek to reduce the risks associated with maturity guarantees by using an immunization strategy on the other (Brennan & Schwartz, 1976).