David Warren Sabean. Landbesitz und Gesellschaft am Vorabend des Bauernkriegs: Eine Studie der sozialen Verhältnisse im südlichen Oberschwaben in den Jahren vor 1525

In conventional approaches to computer analysis of historical sources, one must represent the data in structured formats in which content and context are discarded. Extensible markup language (XML), developed for data transfer on the Internet, permits preservation of the full text of irregular historical sources without sacrificing the ability to conduct systematic analysis. Related querying tools offer most functions of a relational database management system, including data transformation facilities for coding, standardizing, and aggregating nominal data. An XML database permits multiple interpretations of the data because the unit of analysis and the coding schemes are not defined at entry. In a case study of probate inventories, the author demonstrates how structured analysis of domestic interiors can be performed and introduces approaches to studying semistructured data.     

A Review of Optimal Input Methods: Fixed Field,Free Field,and the Edited Text

Abstract

With the growth in interest in collective biography as a historical technique, many predominantly qualitative historians find themselves faced with large amounts of information. These data, collected from a variety of sources, are often highly irregular, making statistical analysis extremely problematic. Current practice is to ignore these problems and proceed with quantitative analysis suitable only for much more regular data. It is argued that a more satisfactory approach is to ascertain and directly confront the difficulties of analyzing such information. The three central problems are identified as missing data, systematic bias, and the lack of a representative sample. Using a practical example, the author explores the relationship between gender, the family, and political socialization within the Communist Party of Great Britain and shows how each of the issues can be dealt with in turn. The author first distinguishes truly missing data from “negative information,” which commonly appears to be missing in historical sources. He then stratifies the data to remove systematic biases relating to the issue at hand. Finally, he divides the sample into different populations, on the basis of the sources from which individuals are known, and compares the results obtained to examine whether his conclusions appear to depend on quirks of populations contained in the sources. These ideas open a new range of sources to quantitative analysis and raise the possibility of allowing new types of evidence to count in historical inquiry.     

Collectivity,Hierarchy and Context: The Theoretical Framework for the Aggregation Problem

ABSTRACT

Ottoman historians have been severely limited by the availability and quality of primary sources from which historical prices can be compiled. This article stresses the potential of inheritance inventories for expanding the field of Ottoman price history and provides a detailed examination of the quality of the valuations in these sources. The results strongly suggest that inventory valuations are generally consistent and were closely related to the conventional prices of the time. Building upon these findings, it is reasonable to assume that the prices contained in Ottoman inheritance inventories can be reliably employed for historical research.     

Dacura: A new solution to data harvesting and knowledge extraction for the historical sciences

New advances in computer science address problems historical scientists face in gathering and evaluating the now vast data sources available through the Internet. As an example we introduce Dacura, a dataset curation platform designed to assist historical researchers in harvesting, evaluating, and curating high-quality information sets from the Internet and other sources. Dacura uses semantic knowledge graph technology to represent data as complex, inter-related knowledge allowing rapid search and retrieval of highly specific data without the need of a lookup table. Dacura automates the generation of tools to help non-experts curate high quality knowledge bases over time and to integrate data from multiple sources into its curated knowledge model. Together these features allow rapid harvesting and automated evaluation of Internet resources. We provide an example of Dacura in practice as the software employed to populate and manage the Seshat databank.     

Consumption of Chinese goods in southwestern Europe: a multi-relational database and the vicarious consumption theory as alternative model to the industrious revolution (eighteenth century)

This article discusses the application of new technologies, software coding and computer analysis in the social sciences and humanities, mainly in the field of economic history. In the last two decades, the use of new computer technologies among historians to develop theories and solve questions has fostered a vibrant historiographical debate. However, these new digital tools have largely been used as an end in themselves, rather than as a means to develop hypotheses and answer questions. This has prevented researchers from fully exploiting such technologies in their field. In this article, I discuss how I designed a new multi-relational database using the “Access” package and SQL language to test the “industrious revolution” hypothesis and present the “vicarious consumption” theory as an alternative model for analyzing the eighteenth-century circulation of Chinese goods in the Western Mediterranean region. It presents the cross-referencing method I used to analyze the historical information I collected, mainly from probate inventories and trade records. This method makes it possible to navigate through the data in a way that goes beyond the traditional use of “excel” tables.     

Coupling Hydrotoponymy and GIS Cartography: A Case Study of Hydrohistorical Issues in Urban Groundwater Systems,Porto, NW Portugal

The aim of this multidisciplinary study is to retrospectively examine hydrohistorical issues, namely hydrogeographic, hydrotoponymical and hydrogeological features, in order to assess the evolution of the Porto urban groundwater system (NW Portugal). To achieve these goals, the comparison of two main field inventories in a large urban region was performed by (i) historical mapping of sources and groundwater data from scientific reports spanning the late 17th century to the early 20th; and (ii) hydrogeologic and hydrotoponymical field inventory performed under current conditions. These field inventories permitted the location of springs, dug wells, fountains, public washing places and underground water galleries, which collected groundwater to supply the population of Porto until the early 20th century. This study also allowed the development of a hydrotoponymical classification for urban areas and a field hydrotoponymical inventory data sheet. This research integrated several techniques based on historical hydrogeography, hydrogeology and urban geosciences. The results of the field inventories were combined into both a database and a Geographical Information System (GIS) platform. This unified methodology allowed a cross‐check and analysis of several levels of information, namely hydrotoponymy, hydroclimatology, hydrogeology, structural geology and geomorphology. This perspective led to an assessment of the evolution of the quality of water resources in large urban areas over time. In addition, the role of hydrotoponymical features is presented in order to support the hydrogeological conceptual model for large urbanised areas.     

Voluntary Societies and the Urban Local Community: A Case Study of the Halifax Mechanics' Institution

Abstract

This article considers the structure of the Halifax Mechanics' Institution, located in one of the principal manufacturing and commercial towns in the nineteenth-century West Yorkshire, based on the local primary sources, printed sources and my original historical computer database. Although some established works have described Mechanics' Institution as one of the most active societies in the second quarter of the nineteenth century, the hitherto-research has paid little attention to an aspect of its urban public institution. The Mechanics' Institution dealt with disputes within the institution, established hierarchical structure among its members, made social relationships inside and outside the institution, and aimed to have interrelationships with other urban bodies. Such practices were of vital importance for strengthening the ties between the institution and the urban local community of Halifax in order to bring about stability and order in the urban society.     

New approaches to the characterization and classification of ceramics on the basis of their elemental composition

This study is a part of a larger investigation related to questions of the systemization of neutron activation analysis results. It considers the analysis of experimental data and focuses on the application of a multivariate statistical technique to the characterization and classification of ceramic artifacts in order to establish and assess their provenance. Central to the statistical methodology reported here is the determination of a specific characterization-classification function. This function provides a method of defining a group of archaeological ceramics on the basis of their elemental composition patterns. Conditional and expected probabilities calculated from the function are then used as a means of classifying unknown observations, indicating outliers, and detecting the existence of another group as yet unidentified. The utility of the function is demonstrated in a specific test case. The possibility of using the characterization-classification function to increase the portability of information and to reduce the need for centralized computer data banks is pointed out.     

Seismic Vulnerability of Building Contents for a Given Occupancy Due to Multiple Failure Modes

A methodology is presented for assessing the seismic vulnerability of inventories of contents to multiple failure modes. An ordering method to find out probabilities of failure of a conditional mode upon the survival of the other modes is applied. The procedure considers the statistical correlation of failure modes due to the dynamic response, such as sliding and/or overturning, of contents and also to non structural components. This methodology was applied to inventories of four types of occupancy (house, school, office, and hospital) located in Mexico City, considering that all contents are situated at ground level. Expected damage functions for these inventories show large differences between them, the house and school inventories being the least vulnerable, and the hospital inventory, the most vulnerable, even for low intensities.     

Geographically Weighted Discriminant Analysis

In this article, we propose a novel analysis technique for geographical data, Geographically Weighted Discriminant Analysis. This approach adapts the method of Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR), allowing the modeling and prediction of categorical response variables. As with GWR, the relationship between predictor and response variables may alter over space, and calibration is achieved using a moving kernel window approach. The methodology is outlined and is illustrated with an example analysis of voting patterns in the 2005 UK general election. The example shows that similar social conditions can lead to different voting outcomes in different parts of England and Wales. Also discussed are techniques for visualizing the results of the analysis and methods for choosing the extent of the moving kernel window.     

The Underdeveloped Historical Dimension of the Study of Community Power Structure

Abstract

This article presents a technique of standardising and coding textual birthplace and occupation strings in the censuses of England and Wales and Scotland, 1851–1911. While the approaches for the two text strings are different, they are both based upon the integration of computer technologies, mathematical methods, and expert knowledge. Both processes are described formally using Structured Analysis and Design Technique methodology. The classification of occupations is defined by two algorithms based on statistical decision theory in order to allocate codes from the original occupation strings. The method of standardising parishes is based on the comparison of original birthplace strings and reference data.     

Rooms and room use in Norwich housing, 1580–1730

Abstract

The search for ‘total history’, combined with improvements in flexible computer techniques, has focused fresh analytical attention upon multiform documentary records relating to everyday living and working conditions. Prominent among such sources, for the early modern period of English history, are probate inventories. Their richly detailed and intricate contents are now under renewed scrutiny for many purposes. This survey looks briefly at the general problems highlighted by one batch of urban inventories; and analyses detailed evidence relating to rooms and their use, in the housing of the city of Norwich, 1580–1730. Investigation of 871 surviving inventories yields information about the number of rooms per house (and their heating), plus a survey of room use, as inferred from location of furnishings. These findings illuminate conditions of urban housing, suggest a developing specialisation in room use, and illustrate the manifold complexities of room nomenclature. The study was undertaken for the Norwich Survey, to collate the documentary with the archaeological record. Although it did not prove possible to match inventories directly with surviving seventeenth-century buildings in Norwich, the general picture confirmed the archaeological evidence—especially in showing considerable reorganisation and subdivision of housing in the later seventeenth century.¹ The research upon which this article is based was carried out for the Norwich Survey, at the University of East Anglia. The computer scheme was devised by Ursula Priestley and Helen Sutermeister, who was still working on the project, with great stoicism, right up until her untimely death in May 1979. Subsequently, the project has been undertaken by Ursula Priestley; and the text drafted and edited jointly with P. J. Corfield—with an introductory note (P.J.C.), comments on the problems inherent in the source data (P.J.C. and U.P.) and analysis of rooms and room use (U.P.). Special thanks are due to Alan Jenyon at the University of East Anglia Computing Centre, for his interest and invaluable help; to Dr. J. F. Pound for advice on sources; to all the staff of the Norwich Survey, for the production of drawings and data; to Philip Judge for his original drawing of housing on Timberhill; and particularly to Alan Carter, the Survey Director, for his unfailing encouragement and good advice. Copyright to Figures 1 and 10 is retained by the Norwich Survey.     

GIS进入历史地理学研究10年回顾

地理信息系统进入中国历史地理学研究已经有10年历史,本文回顾了这10年间以CHGIS为主要代表的历史地理信息化建设的主要成果,显示出这一手段已经成为历史地理某些方向的常规方法,特别在历史河流地貌研究中发挥了很大作用,使历史时期河流的相对精细形态得以呈现。以黄河"京东故道"重建为代表的空间矢量数据获得方法为学界相关研究树立了典范,在矢量数据重建的基础上,"度-簇"结构和"分形"在分析所获得的历史空间矢量数据方面具有很大前景。     

The Use of Small‐Angle X‐Ray Diffraction Studies for the Analysis of Structural Features in Archaeological Samples

X‐ray diffraction or scattering analysis provides a powerful non‐destructive technique capable of providing important information about the state of archaeological samples in the nanometer length scale. Small‐angle diffraction facilities are usually found at synchrotron sources, although the potential of a laboratory source is also described. Specific examples of analysis using X‐ray diffraction of historic parchment, archaeological bone, a Central Mexico style pictograph and microdiffraction of calcified tissues are used to show the scope and versatility of the technique. Diffraction data is capable of giving fundamental structural information as well as quantifying the remodelling of structures influenced by environmental factors.     

Frequency table analysis: Examples from early bronze age axe decoration

This paper describes the use of log—linear models for the analysis of frequency tables and also introduces an alternative technique, “iterative proportional scaling” (IPS). The log—linear approach is illustrated using data on the reliability of reported decoration in a set of Early Bronze Age axes from southern Britain. The method, as implemented in the computer package GLIM, is then applied to data on the decoration of the faces and sides of those axes, divided into two chronological phases to form a three-dimensional table. The same table is analysed using IPS, and the relative advantages and the applicability of the two methods are discussed. The appendices give some practical information on the availability of programs and the computational steps involved in IPS.     

Using network expectations to identify multiple exchange systems: A case study from Postclassic Sauce and its hinterland in Veracruz,Mexico

Exchanges of material objects often play a pivotal role in the trajectories of political, social, and economic development for ancient societies, but the study can be challenging because of the complexity of exchange. Multiple forms of exchange co-exist in ancient societies including market exchange and social exchange such as gift-giving. A further complicating factor is that different exchange systems such as redistribution and central place market exchange can result in the same regional spatial patterning of artifacts. Recent innovations in identifying exchange systems use network expectations for spatial, contextual, and distributional information to help distinguish between social exchanges such as gift-giving versus market exchange using household inventories. I introduce a Monte Carlo computer simulation to evaluate network expectations for alternative exchange mechanisms, using a case study of decorated ceramics from 65 residential inventories from the center of Sauce and its hinterland during the Middle Postclassic period (1200–1350 A.D.) in southcentral Veracruz, Mexico. Using these new tools, I identify the coexistence of several exchange systems operating simultaneously. The methods developed here demonstrate the potential of using network expectations to refine existing methods to identify different exchange systems that can be applied to other complex ancient economies.     

《中国移民史》唐宋湖南移民实例考校

《中国移民史》列有109个唐宋湖南移民实例,本文对其中在史料和史实方面存在诸多问题的65例进行了考校,并归纳了其中存在的主要问题:一是对史料的理解与引用有误。这主要表现为一人误作二人,甲卷引作乙卷,姓名张冠李戴,牵强列入或列之无据,将移民与移民后裔相混淆,以及有关移民迁移的时间和地点等方面的问题。二是没有考察史料的史源。这主要表现在:引用后人史料,没注意到前人文献中已有相同的、甚至更为可靠的史料,没有甄别第一手资料和二手资料;没有考察相关史料,对引用史料中所提供的一些有关移民信息的线索没有追根溯源、旁征侧证。     

论“中国近代史”学科的形成

中国的中国近代史学科形成于 2 0世纪 3 0年代。从学术史的角度看 ,中国近代史学科的形成主要是由于 :(一 )新材料的发现 ,包括清内阁大库明清档案的发现及海外中国近代史资料的搜求 ,特别是清内阁大库明清档案的发现 ,直接改变了学者关于近代史的观念 ,导致了中国近代史研究的兴起 ;(二 )史学新思想、新方法的输入 ,可以说 ,中国近代史学科的形成 ,就是新史料运用新史学的实践的结果 ,具体表现在三个方面 :一是进步史观的输入导致了中国近代史“近代化叙事模式”的确立 ;二是重视史法的倾向导致了中国近代史编撰模式的转变 ;三是普遍史的倾向导致了中国近代史内容的更新     

章开沅教授与中国近现代史写作

选题是历史学论著写作成败的关键,要有创新并考虑研究的可持续发展。历史研究及写作需要史实的实证和史识的阐述来支撑。缺少史实的实证,历史就变成一个空架子,但要避免史料的堆砌。史料工作不是机械的工作,而是高层次的智力劳动。转引材料应该注明出处,以示尊重别人的劳动。至于史识,也即史学家的思辨,这有很高的甚至是很残酷的要求,真正的史学家(例如司马迁),能够达到历史哲学方面的理解,甚至是对宇宙生命的终极诉求,这也要求史学家应该有史学的参与意识。此外,文字表达是一件很重要而又很痛苦的事情,历史学家不应该原谅自己在文采方面的缺失,而应该提高文字表达能力,适当地强调史感,以达到设身处地地与古人对话、交流、沟通。总之,史料、史识、文采三者应该达到完美的统一。     

基于机器学习和图像形态学的彩色近代地图数字化——以近代上海地区地表水体信息提取为例

利用科学测绘技术绘制的近代地图作为一类珍贵的历史地理资料,不同程度上反映着过去的地表覆盖情况,数字化则是复原地图所载地表覆盖信息的重要途径。以《华东·上海》地图为例,实现并验证一种基于机器学习和图像形态学的彩色近代地图数字化方法。结果表明,该方法能够充分挖掘地图中的颜色信息和形态结构信息,以半自动方式快速准确地将彩色近代地图中的地表水体信息提取出来。该方法对数字化一类彩色近代地图具有参考价值,有望为精准复原近代以来地表覆盖变迁,深入理解人地关系变化提供数据和方法基础。