Mechanical Performance of Historical Wrought Iron Rods

Historical masonry buildings are often reinforced with ferrous tie rods. Before the late 18th century, such rods were hot formed by using wrought iron deriving from either the bloomery or the finery process; thereafter, the puddling process was introduced and gradually became prevalent. Several such tie rods are still in service in cultural‐heritage buildings; their analysis can shed light on historical production processes and building techniques, and knowledge of their mechanical performance can be valuable for architectural conservation purposes. Four steel tie rods, which were retrieved from a 17th century masonry building in Turin, Italy, and are dated to the late 17th and early 19th centuries, are examined here, by means of chemical and microstructural analyses, tensile tests and fractographic examinations, and both the material fabrication procedure and its mechanical performance are discussed.     

Portugal dos Pequenitos as an urban laboratory for rehearsing national identity

Portugal dos Pequenitos (literally, ‘Portugal for the Little Ones’), a theme park built in Portugal as part of the Centenarian Commemorations of the Portuguese Nation of 1940, has been considered one of the most controversial pieces of Portuguese architecture in the 20th century. Designed between 1937 and 1962 by Architect Cassiano Branco, at the initiative of Bissaya Barreto, it features reproductions of uniquely typical Portuguese architecture built to a child's scale. It includes buildings from mainland Portugal, from the Azores and Madeira islands and from the colonial territories in Africa and Asia. The main aims of this paper are twofold: firstly, to frame Cassiano Branco's architecture in its specific context, in terms of historical contingencies and architectural controversies during the Estado Novo (New State) Portuguese dictatorship (1933–1974), and secondly, to assess the importance of Portugal dos Pequenitos as a laboratory for rehearsing an idyllic urban environment, applying hypothetical principles of national identity.     

Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Dutch-Asiatic shipping in the 17th and 18th centuries Volume 2, Outward-bound voyages from The Netherlands to Asia and the Cape (1595-1794) Volume 3, Homeward-bound voyages from Asia and the Cape to The Netherlands (1597-1795). J. R. BRUIJN, F. S. GAASTRA and I. SCHOFFER (Eds)
Pieter van Dam: Beschryvinge van de Oostindische Compagnie. F. W. STAPEL(Ed.)
La Stolonomie et son vocabulaire maritime Marseillais. Edition critique ďun manuscrit du XIVème siècle et étude historique, philolosique et étymologique des termes de marine levantins. J. N. FENNIS
Viking voyagers: then and now. ALAN BINNS
The Tigris expedition: in search of our beginnings. THOR HEYERDAHL
Progress in underwater science. J. C. GAMBLE and R. A. YORKE (Eds)
Underwater Association.
'Provident' and the story of the Brixham smacks. JOHN CORIN
West country coasting ketches. W. S. SLADE and BASIL GREENHILL     

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.     

Insect Assemblages and Local Environment in the Mediaeval Town of Uppsala, Sweden

Insect remains from a mediaeval settlement in the town of Uppsala, S. Sweden, were analysed. Eighty-one insect taxa were identified from samples dating from the 12th to the 15th century. The insect assemblages are totally dominated by beetles. Only a few remains of butterflies, true flies and a bumble bee were found. The insects imply that the settlement was situated in open landscape. The settlement most likely consisted mainly of farm buildings throughout the studied period. Crops such as wheat, barley and cabbage were probably cultivated, particularly during the early settlement phases. Later, at the beginning of the 15th century, stock rearing seems to have dominated. The results suggest that the climate, during Mediaeval time in southern Sweden, was similar to the present or characterized by slightly higher summer temperatures. A number of currently very rare species were also recorded.     

TOWARDS A QUANTITATIVE PETROGRAPHIC DATABASE OF KHMER STONE MATERIALS—KOH KER STYLE SCULPTURE

A comprehensive quantitative petrographic database of sandstones used by the Khmers for sculptural purposes would be a helpful tool for archaeologists, museum curators and others interested in pursuing research on early stone usage, geological source and provenance. Towards that end, this paper presents quantitative petrographic analysis of stone materials used in the production of some free‐standing sculptures and architectural elements in the Koh Ker style of the 10th century from the collections of the National Museum of Cambodia and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. These materials are compared to samples from the quarry of Thmâ Anlong near the foothills of the Phnom Kulen, Sieam Reap province. Primary and secondary detrital modes and key grain‐size parameters are used to identify three sandstone types. The free‐standing sculptures are carved from feldspathic arenite and feldspato‐lithic to litho‐feldspathic arenite. Finely carved lintels are worked from a quartz arenite, which is significantly richer in quartz grains and of a finer grain size. The geological source of the two other lithotypes will have to await detailed geological survey of the Koh Ker area accompanied by petrographic study of selected samples from documented quarries. The significance and potentiality of quantitative petrographic study of Khmer stone materials are shown in supporting and integrating archaeological investigations in South‐East Asia.     

广东侨乡聚落的景观特点及其遗产价值

广东侨乡聚落景观是 19世纪中期与西方开通之后逐步形成的。华侨的勤劳不仅带来了侨乡经济的繁荣 ,而且带来了侨乡思想观念的变化 ,建筑形式的刷新就是这种变化的写照。广东五邑等地侨乡出现的风格独特的碉楼民居、骑楼商业街、公共建筑及私家园林等 ,在中国传统建筑的基础上 ,大胆引进西方建筑元素和手法 ,创造出一组组式样独特的“另类”建筑景观 ,使历来沉稳、厚重的中国传统建筑增添了不少活泼、升腾之感 ,从而丰富了聚落天际线。这种侨乡聚落景观的形成 ,成为一种特定时代的特殊的历史见证 ,是一笔重要的历史文化遗产 ,应予积极保护     

Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Aspects of the history of wooden shipbuilding. Edited by J. S. M orrison ,. O le C rumlin -P edersen & G. VAN DER HEIDE
Science and civilisation in China. Vol. 4: Physics and physical technology. Part 3: Civil engineering and nautics. J oseph N eedham , with the collaboration Wang Ling and Lu Gwei-Djen
The number ones. R obert J. W ilson
Fenland barge traffic. J ohn K. W ilson
The RA expeditions. T hor H eyerdahl
Roar Linde 71—Hjortspringbåden som kulturaktivitet: (Roar Linde 71—The Hjortspring boat as a cultural activity). H arry K ahl ,. I ngelise N ielsen ,. F inn T erp & P eter V eje
The emergence of civilization. The Cyclades and the Aegean in the third millenium BC. C olin R enfrew
No star at the Pole. A history of navigation from the Stone Age to the 20th century. D avid & J oan H ay
The haven-finding art. A history of navigation from Odysseus to Captain Cook. E. G. R. T aylor
The Mortar wreck in Mellieha Bay. H onor F rost
Essai de classification des amphores décou-vertes lors de fouilles sous-marines. J.-P. J oncheray
Portus. Illustrazione dei porti di Claudio e Traiano e della citta, di porto a Fiumicino. O tello T estaguzza
The conservation of waterlogged wood in the National Museum of Denmark. B. B rorson C hristensen
Shipwrecks around Britain. A diver's guide. L eo Z anelli
More than skin deep. K endall M ac D onald     

论20世纪资本主义发展的历史定位

根据社会生产力和实践第一的检验标准来考察资本主义在20世纪的发展类型,可以发现,在20世纪,出现了美、日、德、英法、欧洲联盟、北美自由贸易区、东亚经济区、其他发展中国家、苏联东欧转轨国家等不同类型的资本主义发展模式。在发展和停滞的两重趋势中,20世纪资本主义的主要趋势仍然是发展。     

Middle east architectural traditions in golden horde mansion construction

The article deals with the largest mansion-type buildings in the Golden Horde towns of the Lower Volga region. These buildings had many rooms and walls made of hard-burned and adobe bricks. A large ceremonial hall was located at the center of the building; vestibule premises were located adjacent to the hall on the northern and southern sides; residential and utility rooms occupied the eastern and the western wings. Golden Horde mansions are compared with the palaces and mansions of China, Mongolia, and the countries of the Middle East. The infl uence of the architectural traditions of these countries led to the emergence of an original building type based both on a typical Western Central Asian layout, and principles of organizing space borrowed from Eastern Central Asia.     

The Roles of Pit Houses and Gendered Spaces on Viking-Age Farmsteads in Iceland

Abstract

THE SMALL SEMI-SUBTERRANEAN buildings (jarðhús) with slab-built ovens that have been found on many Viking-Age farmsteads in Iceland (late 9th–11th century) have been subject to wide-ranging interpretations, from short-lived, expedient dwellings to saunas, women’s workrooms, the houses of Slavic settlers and in one case a cult building. This paper tests these hypotheses by making a thorough revaluation of pit-house dates, architectural forms, internal structural features and artefacts, and presents new geoarchaeological evidence from the pit house at Hofstaðir, NE Iceland. This lends strong support to the interpretation that they were women’s workrooms, primarily for the production of woollen textiles. Their abandonment in the later 10th and 11th centuries may be interpreted in the light of changing religious beliefs and social structures, the growing importance of homespun cloth as a valuable export commodity, and the rise in status of the women who made it.     

English Peasant Buildings in the Later Middle Ages (1200–1500)

FROM A SYNTHESIS OF evidence for late medieval peasant buildings this article argues that their size, quality and complexity have frequently been underestimated. Documentary evidence from the West Midlands is used to define the main features of peasant buildings—agricultural buildings as well as houses—in the period 1350–1500. Similar characteristics are found in the same period in other regions, in the context of their own building traditions. The origins of durable vernacular houses must be sought in the 13th century with the move away from earth fast construction. A series of changes began long before the ‘Great Rebuilding’ of the 16th and 17th centuries, and connected with that process in an evolutionary pattern.     

Dwelling(s) in a north‐west Arabian oasis: decoding residential architecture at Taymāʾ

The definition of an ancient, autochthonous north‐west Arabian residential architecture is still a major void in the archaeology of the region. This preliminary case study is intended to shed some light on this “blind spot” by presenting and analysing the architectural complex E‐b9 from Taymā? (c. fourth/third century BCE until the first/early second century CE). A meticulous study of the architecture identified a modular concept as a key to understanding the complex. Furthermore, underlying patterns of household organisation can be deduced from the architectural remains resulting in the definition of potential household units. Those are indicated by a set of activity areas which are congruent with patterns of accessibility and the use of specific wall types. These findings provide insights into the organisation of households and daily life in the oasis of Taymā?, and may help to define local or regional traditions in the future.     

The Architecture of the Town Halls of the French Colonial Period in Algeria: The First Half of Nineteenth Century

The various civilizations which followed one another on the Algerian territory marked it by their presence. The architectural and urban production of each period displays its concepts and its styles, each rich with specific characteristics. The most representative buildings date to the Ottoman period and especially to French colonization. During the latter, and with the multiplication of the administrative offices, numerous public buildings represent different styles: Neoclassical, eclectic, neo-Moorish and art deco, each lying next to one another. Nevertheless, each building was intended to indicate its function. Numerous studies of the buildings erected during the first half of the twentieth century and particularly on the attributes of the neo-Moorish style were examined unlike the architectural output resulting from the Second Empire and relating to public civil architecture, due to the lack of monographic work. Our knowledge in this field thus remains to be improved and constituted. This paper is devoted to the town hall of Annaba, through which we will illustrate the attributes and architectonic specificities as well as the codes inherent in French public civil architecture in Algeria.     

Rehabilitation Techniques for Walls during the 18th Century in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia)

ABSTRACT

Although it may be thought that the rehabilitation of historical structures is a concern of modern engineering, studies on intervention processes from the past allow us to understand that this is a work carried out frequently and sometimes as a solution to low budgets for the construction of new buildings, or the need to offer quick practical solutions. The objective of this article is to show the way in which during the second half of the 18th century several important architectural and structural rehabilitation works were carried out in the walls of Cartagena de Indias, in view of the damage caused by the enemy attacks to the city as well as continuous impact by nature. By making use of primary sources (plans and original reports), the way in which two of the interventions were executed can be reconstructed: one on the Muralla Real, and another on the San José bastion, gathering information that helps explain their current state of conservation.     

Recently Discovered Remains of a Roman Bridge in the River Trent

Abstract

The early Donjon at Langeais is among the best-known early medieval buildings in Europe, but has not been systematically studied; this paper is based on a stone-by-stone record and archaeological analysis of the standing building, and presents an interpretation of its structural and functional history. Three major structural phases have been identified. Most of what remains is original (Phase I); the ruin can be reconstructed as a main block of two floors with two tower-like attachments to the east side, probably linked by a gallery. A date of c. 1000 is proposed, but does not allow definite attribution to Fulk Nerra. Considerations of comfort and convenience were more important to the original design than security, although the building had some defensive capacity, and could have been incorporated in a walled circuit; it may have been an entire residence of a type ancestral to the mature multi-storeyed residential donjon, or have been included in an assemblage of low-level buildings, representing an alternative form of domestic planning. In the later 11th or early 12th century (Phase II), the annexes were reduced and the building deprived of any defensive character by the insertion of ground-floor doorways. The 15th century saw the demolition of the west wall, followed by consolidation of the remains, and other modifications (Phases IIIa, IIIb and IIIc). A combination of archaeological observation, recording, remote sensing and historical research shows that the fortified area extended at least to c.200 m west of the donjon in the 11th century, and contained a collegiate chapel.     

On Medieval Earthenware Vessels

Abstract

Anglo-Saxon architecture was first securely identified in the early 19th century, after which its characteristics were progressively defined and discussed. At the beginning of the 20th century, Gerard Baldwin Brown assembled a corpus of the surviving structures, analysing their architectural styles and attempting to date them; this process was continued and refined by Harold Taylor, culminating in his three-volume opus (1965–78). Since then, many new discoveries have been made and detailed studies of individual buildings carried out, together with major excavations at Winchester, Wells, Gloucester, Jarrow, Wearmouth, Barton-upon-Humber and other locations. Research has also been directed towards the remains of painted decoration on stone and plaster, and on the small amount of carpentry surviving from the period. Consequently, the volume of evidence relating to Anglo-Saxon churches, their construction and decoration has increased enormously. In particular, there has been a growing realisation that these churches were not the ‘rude structures’ that they were dubbed by early antiquaries, but sophisticated in design and execution. Moreover, they were highly decorated internally, and probably externally too. This paper reviews some of the evidence gathered over the last forty years, mainly through archaeological investigation, both above and below ground. It concludes that we have hitherto underestimated the physical complexity and the architectonic and artistic qualities of Anglo-Saxon churches. It is now possible to reconstruct from ephemeral evidence a much greater understanding of the three-dimensional form and decoration of these buildings.