Ideal Coconut Country: Commodified Coconuts and the Scientific Plantation in Pohnpei,Micronesia

ABSTRACT

Pohnpeians regard human beings, natural forces, and supernatural forces as equally important agents in the making of their island’s past. Pohnpei’s rapid transition from an island where families maintained only a small number of coconut plantings to one whose 20th century skyline was dominated by coconut palms should therefore draw our attention to the entanglement of human and nonhuman agents that facilitated the growth of the copra trade on Pohnpei at the end of the 19th century. This article focuses on the modern proliferation of coconut trees on Pohnpei, its link to a powerful scientific agricultural discourse, and the coconut’s attendant effects on Pohnpeian relationships and ecology. It argues that Pohnpeians and coconuts, commodified as copra, remade the land and one another as indigenous and foreign visions of the coconut collided.     

In Memoriam: Philip Mainwaring Johnston,F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A.

Abstract

It is increasingly recognised that religion was the mainspring of pre-Reformation domestic ritual in royal as well as episcopal and archiepiscopal households. This article sets out to examine the architectural consequences of this. It argues that from the mid-15th century a small group of high-status residential buildings was planned around the need for lavish liturgical display, particularly the introduction of a cloister. The patrons of such buildings were churchmen of the highest rank such as Henry Beaufort and Thomas Wolsey who, it is argued, had special requirements for their principal residences. These requirements subsequently went on to influence the plans of early Tudor royal palaces, culminating in the reconstruction of Whitehall Palace by Henry VIII in the 1540s.     

Six apostle spoons from Finland

Abstract

There are six apostle spoons known from Finland. The northern European phenomenon of apostle spoons began at the end of the 15th century and was associated with the custom of giving a newborn baby a spoon as a gift. Their popularity faded at the end of the 17th century. They were never as much in vogue and produced in as great quantities elsewhere as in England. The article discusses aspects of their production and the most characteristic feature, the apostle figures. The Finnish apostle spoons were most probably made at the end of the 17th century and their hallmarks and other features seem to indicate England or continental Europe as their area of origin. The distribution map of the apostle spoons reveals that they are from the coastal areas of the southern and particularly western Finland, but on closer examination a more complicated pattern emerges. It might be possible to connect their distribution with the economic rise of the Ostrobothnia region in the 17th century. However, the current state of apostle spoon research with its deficiencies does not allow satisfactory conclusions to be drawn.     

The Date of the Studius Basilica at Istanbul

Abstract

It was at Istanbul, more than thirty years ago, that I first had the privilege of meeting Sir Steven. It seems appropriate, therefore, that in honouring him on his approaching 75th birthday I should take as my subject a monument of that city.     

Medieval Architecture Illustrated from Illuminated Manuscripts

Abstract

Following examination of a number of post-medieval perceptions of Peak, or Peveril, Castle in Derbyshire, the topographical setting of the castle is discussed. It is suggested that late-12th-century literature can give clues as to the way in those who built and used the castle in the 12th and 13th centuries might have appreciated the site.     

Excavations at Houndhill,near Barnsley,Yorkshire

Abstract

A ‘cottage’ weaving industry was established at Houndhill, family seat of the Elmhirsts in Worsbrough, near Barnsley, during the mid-16th century. It ceased early in the 17th century but excavation has shown it was revived under new ownership in the late 18th century. During the 19th century the mill became a general farm store and was totally demolished in the 1930s to permit a garden extension. The excavation was planned to retain any remaining features for conservation as part of the historical interest of the residence.¹     

Native Enclosed Settlement and the Problem of the Irish 'Ring-fort'

Abstract

One of the most sustained monolithic traditions of Irish archaeology is the classification of a wide variety of earthen and stone enclosures (ráth and caisel) as 'ring-forts'. This is an impediment to understanding the significant changes that native enclosed settlement underwent through time since it encourages archaeologists to fit their evidence to the category rather than to assess each enclosed settlement on its own merits. It also conceals differences between various forms of enclosed settlements inhabited from the 7th to the 17th century AD, occasionally later. The proposal is therefore that the 'ring-fort' is a chimera and that the use of that term should be discontinued so that study of native enclosed settlement can be liberated from its insular base and used to explore social change in Ireland. A field study from the Burren, Co Clare is used in support of this argument.     

A graph-based analysis for generating geographical context from a historical cadastre in Spain (17th and 18th centuries)

Abstract

The cabreves are notarial documents prepared between the 13th and 19th centuries in the Catalan and Valencian regions of Spain. These historical records were published before the first cadastral maps and contain geographical information that could help spatially reconstruct historical landscapes. However, these documents have not been used to their full potential mainly because of their semi-structured and complex nature. In this article, we propose a new graph-based interactive methodology for partially reconstructing historical landscapes. We have successfully applied this methodology for reconstructing the historical landscape of the Barony of Sella in the 18th century and the methodology has also helped us locate “El Poblet,” a previously unknown archeological site abandoned after the expulsion of the Moriscos in 1609.     

Fishing in the Northern Isles: a Case Study Based on Fish Bone Assemblages from Two Multi-period Sites on Sanday,Orkney

Abstract

We describe six cervid bones — a distal humerus, three distal tibiae, and two astragali — from two Roman sites, São Pedro Fronteira and Torre de Palma, in the Alentejo of Portugal. They are identified on morphological and osteometric grounds as fallow deer, Dama dama. They represent the earliest Holocene evidence for this species in Portugal, and it is suggested that, like the camel, the Romans were responsible for its spread within their Empire. While remains of this animal have not so far been reported in any Moslem period assemblages, there is documentary evidence for the existence of fallow deer in Portugal in the 12th and 13th centuries AD, although the possibility that fallow deer disappeared with the end of Roman rule should be considered.     

Seventeenth-century Carpentry in Essex

Abstract

It is here argued that there was a decline in the standards of carpentry in the early 17th century. From the six buildings discussed, there is evidence of confusion over the main structural framework and in the minor details. The increasing use of iron bolts and brackets is another feature of this decline.     

On the Geography of the Wars Between the Saxons of Northumberland and the Northern Britons,from the Battle of Menao to that of Kaltraez

Abstract

The techniques of spatial analysis are deployed to gain insights into the ways in which smaller churches of the 11th and 12th centuries were designed to be used. A range of plan types is discussed, including churches with one, two and three cells, linear and cross-shaped plans, and ‘round’ churches. The resulting analysis of the forms of buildings is then placed in the historical context of ecclesiastical reform, and it is argued that some of the changes in church layout were designed to separate the clergy from the laity, mirroring their increasing legal and social differentiation. It is also argued that the ways in which clergy used space were similar in all types of church examined, and that they show continuity from early Christian buildings to the late 12th and 13th centuries, when rising belief in the transubstantiation of the Host led to the evolution of new forms of clergy space     

The 'Archaeology of the Days of Manasseh' Reconsidered in the Light of Evidence From The Beersheba Valley

Abstract

Recent scholarship based on typological studies suggests that the dating of the prosperous Beersheba settlement system should be raised from the 7th to the last third of the 8th century BCE. This change in timeframe offers a new understanding of demographics and presents a number of socio-historical implications. It sheds new light on the nature of Assyrian hegemony in the region during the late 8th century and the beginning of the 7th century and affects the understanding of Judean internal affairs, such as aspects of the reigns of Ahaz and Hezekiah, and the archaeology of the reign of Manasseh.     

Decomposition as Practice and Process: Creating Boundary Objects in Computational Humanities

Abstract

The emergent reflexive process, by which researchers in a computational humanities project work towards a viable organizational modality for interdisciplinary collaboration, is analyzed. Using the metaphor of decomposition, successful collaboration between computer scientists and humanities scholars can be seen to require a reflexive scrutiny — a decomposition — of the disciplinary research processes that are involved, thus allowing crucial differences with respect to typical ways of posing research questions, the role of data, and the rhythm of the research process to be highlighted. It is argued that the currently popular expectation towards data as a self-identical organizational unit tends to downplay the role of decomposition as practice and process. A European cyberinfrastructure initiative that tries to respect the specificities of scholarly practice in the humanities is critically assessed, reflecting in particular on the inherent tension between ‘mutual shaping’ of digital tools and their users on the one hand, and the policy interest in efficient, functionalist design principles on the other.     

A Study on the Evolution in Design and Calculation of Iron and Steel Structures over the Mid 19th Century in Western and Central Europe

ABSTRACT

The design of metallic structures in the 19th century is a subject topic of much admiration, as many emblematic structures that are currently withstanding the test of time have become part of our built cultural heritage. Knowledge on the assumptions and design procedures available at that time is of importance to structural engineering nowadays. It allows for the understanding, maintaining and safe extending of the service life of historical metallic structures. The goal of this article is to describe the evolution in the design and calculation of metallic structures during the second half of the 19th century, with focus on Western and Central Europe. Special attention is paid to the similarities and differences between the 19th century design rules and the current structural design standards. Based on a literature survey, the evolution in terms of load definition, calculation methods, material properties, and verifications are described. Different design aspects are illustrated through a case study: The Garabit viaduct in France.     

Waipi'o valley,a cultural kipuka in early 20th Century Hawaii

Abstract

How has it been possible for Hawaiians to persist and survive as a distinct and unique people while under direct rule by the United States of America during the 20th century? Here it is argued that just as kipuka, or oases of forest in otherwise barren lava fields, are the source for continual regeneration of the volcanic rainforest, isolated rural Hawaiian communities have served as ‘cultural kipuka’ for the regeneration of Hawaiian culture in the 20th century. To introduce this new framework of examining the history of the Hawaiian people, the history of change and continuity in the remote valley of Waipi'o is described.     

Facing the Greek junta: the European Community,the Council of Europe and the rise of human-rights politics in Europe

Abstract

In April 1967, a group of colonels seized power in Greece. Since Greece was a member-state of the Council of Europe and held an association agreement with the European Community, both organizations had to define their positions vis-à-vis the new military regime. Very soon, politicians in the parliamentary assemblies of both organizations started to cooperate with the aim of imposing sanctions on Greece. This article examines the inter-organizational dynamics between the European Community and the Council of Europe on Greece during the colonels’ regime. It argues that the European Community imported concrete policy positions and even normative ideas which had first emerged in the Council of Europe. In so doing, the Community prepared the ground for its future human-rights policies.     

Vernacular memorialization in the military: personal acts of remembrance at RAF Thorpe Abbotts

ABSTRACT

In September 2017, an archaeological excavation at RAF Thorpe Abbotts (also known as Station 139) uncovered 7 identification ‘dog’ tags belonging to airmen of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF). It is the thesis of this article that these were purposefully buried by individuals within the 100th Bomb Group (Heavy) as acts of remembrance. Alongside the dog tags were a number of other artefacts, including coins, bottles, and a canteen cup. These likely formed the material culture of self-developed grieving rituals established by the primary group responsible for the deposition of the dog tags.