Disarticulated human remains were recovered from a first-century fort ditch at Vindolanda on the north-west frontier of the Roman Empire. Ancient DNA analysis revealed the skeleton to be that of a male individual and forensic taphonomic analysis suggested a primary deposition of the body in a waterlogged environment with no obvious evidence of formal burial. Occurrences of disarticulated human remains outside a cemetery context are often overlooked in Roman bioarchaeology. This discovery adds to the growing body of literature regarding alternative funerary practice in the Empire, highlighting that the concept of burial and disposal of the dead is more complex than ancient historical sources suggest. Details of the DNA analysis are provided in the Supplementary Material available at https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X1900014X.

Astronomy is rapidly approaching an impasse: very large datasets require remote or cloud-based parallel processing, yet many astronomers still try to download the data and develop serial code locally. Astronomers understand the need for change, but the hurdles remain high. We are developing a data archive designed from the ground up to simplify and encourage cloud-based parallel processing. While the volume of data we host remains modest by some standards, it is still large enough that download and processing times are measured in days and even weeks. We plan to implement a python based, notebook-like interface that automatically parallelises execution. Our goal is to provide an interface sufficiently familiar and user-friendly that it encourages the astronomer to run their analysis on our system in the cloud—astroinformatics as a service. We describe how our system addresses the approaching impasse in astronomy using the SAMI Galaxy Survey as an example.

The most recent work at Vindolanda has produced some startling results which both support and challenge our standing interpretations of some aspects of the frontier zone in Roman Britain. These include the timeline for the development of forts on the frontier, the foundation of extramural settlements and the relationship between fort and extramural settlement. The work raises questions not only about Vindolanda but more generally about the formation of the frontier itself and the interpretation of the archaeology of other sites.

For at least the first two centuries of empire, marriage for most soldiers during their years of active service was legally banned by the state. It is equally clear that the law forbidding iustum matrimonium did not stop some auxiliary soldiers from forming de facto relationships and creating families whilst in service. In some cases, families will have traveled with soldiers who were in service. Whether they dwelt within the forts or in extramural settlements, family members formed an integral part of the military community.

The purpose of this study was to determine if different language measures resulted in the same classifications of language dominance and proficiency for a group of bilingual pre-kindergarteners and kindergarteners. Data were analyzed for 1029 Spanish–English bilingual pre-kindergarteners who spanned the full range of bilingual language proficiency. Parent questionnaires were used to quantify age of first exposure and current language use. Scores from a short test of semantic and morphosyntactic development in Spanish and English were used to quantify children's performance. Some children who were in the functionally monolingual range based on interview data demonstrated minimal knowledge of their other languages when tested. Current use accounted for more of the variance in language dominance than did age of first exposure. Results indicate that at different levels of language exposure children differed in their performance on semantic and morphosyntax tasks. These patterns suggest that it may be difficult to compare the results of studies that employ different measures of language dominance and proficiency. Current use is likely to be a useful metric of bilingual development that can be used to build a comprehensive picture of child bilingualism.

The second Women in Astronomy Lunchtime Meeting was held on Monday 21 August 2006, with more than 250 participants. The meeting was hosted by the EC Working Group for Women in Astronomy, established at the 2003 IAU General Assembly, and was attended by the current President, the Presidents-Elect for this and the next General Assembly, the General Secretary and Vice-Presidents, many senior astronomers, as well as students and young astronomers. It was a particular pleasure to welcome and congratulate the incoming President, Dr Catherine Cesarsky, the first woman to hold the position.

A century and a half ago, casting a vote in the United States was an engaging social experience, as voters at the polls talked with friends, threw down shots of free whiskey, listened to lively entertainment, and generally had a good time (McGerr 1986). According to Altschuler and Blumin (2000, 75)We are grateful to Pam Lamonaca and Nicole Batdorf, who played a key role in organizing Election Day festivals, and Timothy Ryan and Marcos Luis, who helped in all phases of this project. We also thank Dan Winslow, whose ideas about raising turnout were an impetus for this project, and Dan Bergan and Beth Weinberger, who commented on earlier drafts. The studies described here were funded by generous grants from the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale, the Tufts Summer Scholars Program, and Working Assets, none of which bear responsibility for the content of this report.