The Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet: History and Restoration

Abstract

The Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet (Grid Reference SK 326820), known historically as the Abbeydale Works, was built over a long period of time for the manufacture of edge tools. The earliest reference, 1676, described the site as a cutlery grinding shop. By 1714 it was established as an agricultural edge tool manufactory. The extant buildings date between 1785 and 1842. By the beginning of the nineteenth century the site was one of the largest on Sheffield's rivers, and a highly successful business in scythes, sickles, hay knives and other agricultural tools was developed until the Works closed down in 1933. This article traces the history of the site and also covers the period of restoration in the late 1960s, culminating in its opening to the public as a site museum in 1970. Some of the problems encountered during the restoration are discussed.     

Exploring the season of mound building through oxygen isotope geochemistry at the Garden Patch site,Gulf Coast Florida,USA

ABSTRACT

The American Southeast saw the development of large ceremonial village centers, the coalescence of households, and monumental architecture integrated into village layout during the Middle Woodland period (ca. AD 1–600). These shifts toward more sedentary lifeways occurred independently of, and prior to, the domestication of plants across the Southeast. This paper examines the seasonality of monumental construction at the Garden Patch site located on the central Gulf Coast of Florida. This site contains evidence for rapid mound construction that followed a predetermined site plan. Here, we present oxygen isotope analyses of archaeological mollusk shells (Crassostrea virginica) to evaluate the seasonality and periodicity of monument construction. We conclude that mound construction occurred during the cooler months of the year. Ultimately, this contributes to an anthropological understanding of the development of these early ceremonial centers in the Southeast.     

Establishment of conservation,design and construction criteria for protective shelters at Fort Selden State Monument,New Mexico

Abstract

Foit Selden State Monument, located in southern New Mexico, consists of the exposed adobe ruins of a military post that was occupied from 1865 to 1981. A management plan for the site is currently being developed in which an option being considered for preservation is the construction of a protective shelter.

The process of establishing conservation, design and construction criteria for a potential shelter at Fort Selden involves the assessment of technical issues and the evaluation of public support for the criteria and purpose of the monument. The conservation concerns are based upon accepted standards for conservation and construction criteria while the design and construction standards involve a higher degree of Public concern, particularly the public expectations exerted on a historic site in the United States.

The criteria for Fort Selden are currently being codified. This paper outlines the preliminary criteria as well as the process by which these criteria will be established and meshed with the public expectations of the site. The planning process is presented and the underlying philosophies of deciding to shelter, designing the shelter and constructing the shelter. Future evaluations of the shelter's success can be gauged against these original criteria and mindset.     

Reburial and protective covering of ancient mosaic pavements: The experience of the conservation department of the Israel Antiquities Authority

Abstract

Four case studies are presented illustrating different attempts to protect excavated ancient mosaics by reburial or protective covering, with varying degrees of success, at three archaeological sites in Israel: Tel Itztaba, a site excavated between 1991 and 1994 where planning for reburial at the outset of the excavation could have prevented considerable losses; Khirbet Minya (Horvat Minim), a site excavated in the 1930s, reassessed after four years of reburial; the Promontory Palace at Caesarea Maritima, a site excavated in 1978, partially destroyed by the sea, reburied and regularly monitored since 1994; and an experimental test site at Caesarea Maritima. These examples demonstrate the importance of planning, monitoring and maintenance for successful reburial, and allow an assessment of which materials and methods performed better than others.     

The conservation and management of mudbrick buildings at Tell Qasile,Israel

Abstract

Tell Qasile, in the area of the Eretz Israel Museum in north Tel Aviv, is the location of a small town founded in the twelfth century BCE. The site has significant importance for the study of various aspects of the Iron Age period in Israel. The buildings at the site were constructed of mudbricks on stone foundations. Conservation of buildings at the site was carried out using three methods: 1) building roofs (in roofed areas no other conservation was needed); 2) conserving mudbrick walls by plastering them in modern plaster made up in imitation of ancient building material; 3) full restoration of buildings up to roof level (carried out in one case). These methods were successful, and, due to the location of the site within a large museum compound, it is utilized for archaeological education, mainly of schoolchildren.     

The St Helens Iron Foundry

Abstract

Initial documentary research undertaken by Lancaster University Archaeological Unit (LUAU) in 1995 for 'The Hotties Science & Arts Centre Ltd.' (hereafter The Hotties) revealed the existence of a former iron foundry on part of the development site for the wider The World of Glass Project which will portray the technical development and heritage of the glass industry in St Helens. Between January 1996 and November 1997 LUAU were commissioned by The Hotties to undertake a range of archaeological works resulting in the excavation of a smithy complex. Known as the St Helens Iron Foundry, and latterly owned by the Daglish family, the site had an international reputation for the casting and building of steam pumping and winding engines for the mining industry. It was particularly successful during the mid-19th century producing locomotives and bridges for the expanding railway network. The foundry was in continuous production from 1798, until its decline and eventual demolition in 1939.     

Management Plans for Archaeological Sites: A World Heritage Template

Abstract

A failed attempt to produce a Management Manual for World Heritage Archaeological Sites and Monuments brought together a body of experts in 2002 at Ma'agan, Israel. This paper aims to make the general recommendations of the Ma'agan meeting more widely known among those concerned with the management of archaeological sites. The paper summarizes the outcomes of the meeting, including ideas on the structure of a management plan, the planning process, team building and public participation, site significance, conservation, monitoring, maintenance, presentation and interpretation, tourism and action plans; and includes a select bibliography.     

Corondó: palaeoenvironmental reconstruction and palaeoethnobotanical considerations in a probable locus of early plant cultivation (south-eastern Brazil)

Abstract

The site of Corondó, situated in Campos Novos, in the São Pedro D'Aldeia municipe (Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil), was dated between c. 4000 and 3000 years BP. The high prevalence of dental caries in its population suggests that it might have been a locus of plant cultivation, a hypothesis supported by the presence of diverse plant remains and by the high frequency of grinding artefacts at this site. Anthracological analysis aimed to identify the environment of the site. The charcoal spectrum suggests that it was situated in a restinga forest, near to the Atlantic forest and with the presence of mangrove and open restinga in the environment. Firewood supply was probably obtained by the random gathering of dead wood. The combination of anthracological results with data provided by archaeological and bioanthropological research indicated that the population which constructed this site (1) had a relatively stable sociocultural system; (2) carried out a range of individual activities that remained constant throughout the occupation period; (3) lived in a relatively stable environment.     

Samuel Pepys’s Navy Preserved In Situ?

Abstract

This paper will focus on the wreck of the Stirling Castle, which was one of four ships of the line to perish on the Goodwin Sands during the Great Storm of 27 November 1703. The Goodwin Sands lies off the south-east coast of Kent between Dover and Ramsgate. These sands are famously known as the ‘Ship Swallower’. This paper will discuss what has been learnt from the site’s investigations, the heritage management issues of preservation in situ, and offer a strategy for the future management of the site.     

The HMS Swift shipwreck: The development of underwater heritage protection in Argentina

Abstract

The aim of this article is to evaluate, with a critical perspective, the legal framework for heritage protection in Argentina, viewing it within an international context and focusing on the HMS Swift shipwreck – sunk in Puerto Deseado (Santa Cruz province) in 1770 – as a case study. Moreover, some initial proposals for a management plan are presented as a first step in thinking about the challenges of preserving underwater sites in Argentinian Patagonia.

Through this analysis some interesting points are outlined, including the reasons that make the Swift shipwreck a leading case in Argentina. It is the first interdisciplinary underwater archaeology project in the country comprising archaeologists who are also divers; it is supported by national authorities; and it is the first project of its kind to give underwater archaeologists experience in dealing with archaeological research and preservation in an environment of multiple conflicting interests.

The international relevance of the Swift case relies on the nature of underwater cultural heritage as an international resource. The project's history is located in an international setting, derived from ihternational trade and communication, in which many ships and their contents have been lost far from their origin or destination. At a national level the Swift is a wreck with significant historical and cultural value. It is in a unique state of preservation and its location near to the shore makes it highly accessible. Locally,HMS Swift will be relevant when Puerto Deseado's community starts to recognise it as a significant part of their own heritage and local people become involved in the preservation of the wreck.     

The Tenth Conference of the International Committee for the Conservation of Mosaics. Conservation: An Act of Discovery

Abstract

The Herculaneum Conservation Project has approached the conservation of a large-scale archaeological site (Herculaneum, Italy) suffering widespread forms of decay in two different ways: 1) with a site-wide campaign addressing conservation problems in areas most at risk and 2) with a case-study project for one urban block (Insula Orientalis I ) exploring some of the complex conservation challenges in more detail. One of these challenges is how to approach the repair of existing roofing and how to design new forms of protective shelter for those spaces that have never been covered. Short-, mid- and long-term solutions for the repair and substitution of existing roofing are being tested as part of the site-wide campaign, while in the case-study area more enduring solutions (new mid- and long-term) for new shelters are being trialled.     

A Bobcat Burial and Other Reported Intentional Animal Burials from Illinois Hopewell Mounds

Abstract

The Elizabeth site is a bluff-top mortuary mound group constructed and primarily used during Hopewellian (Middle Woodland) times. Recent reanalysis of nonhuman skeletal remains from the site reveals that an intentional burial previously identified as a dog (Canis familiaris) is actually an immature bobcat (Lynx rufus). As a result of this discovery, we reevaluated eight other purported animal burials from Illinois Middle Woodland mounds, including seven dogs and a roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja). The dogs all appear to be intrusive or unrelated burial events, but both the bobcat and the roseate spoonbill were definite Hopewellian mortuary interments. The roseate spoonbill was decapitated and placed beside a double human burial. But the bobcat was a separate, human-like interment wearing a necklace of shell beads and effigy bear canine teeth (Figures and ). To our knowledge, this is the only decorated wild cat burial in the archaeological record. It provides compelling evidence for a complex relationship between felids and humans in the prehistoric Americas, including possible taming.     

A Conservation Management Plan for Gordion and its Environs

Abstract

A Conservation Management Plan for Gordion and its Environs has been developed by a multidisciplinary team within a partnership between the University of Pennsylvania (both the School of Design and Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) and Middle East Technical University (Faculty of Architecture) in Ankara. The project has involved a new approach to the protection of cultural material at the site itself, as well as the survey and documentation of a 140 km² area, with Gordion as its centre, to include the village of Yass?höyük and five nearby villages, historic sites, höyüks, or settlement mounds, and tumuli, or burial mounds. The project utilized photographs and standardized forms in the documentation of public and private buildings and areas. Based on this survey, the values of the site and its environs were reassessed, and an action plan presented for all project stakeholders. One of the primary stakeholders is the local population, who must be made aware of the damaging effects of deep ploughing to the tumuli.     

Rare animals at a Mississippian chiefly compound: the Irene Mound site (9CH1), Georgia,USA

ABSTRACT

The Irene Mound site (9CH1) was a Middle and Late Mississippian site (ca. AD 1150–1450) situated on a bluff overlooking the lower Savannah River, Georgia (USA), a few kilometers upstream from the Atlantic Ocean. The 2.4 ha site consisted of a sequence of superimposed layers referred to as temple mounds, as well as a burial mound, a rotunda, a few residences, and other structures. It is interpreted as the residence of a chiefly lineage. The presence of animals rare or absent in other precolonial coastal assemblages distinguishes the Irene assemblage from others along the coast. Some of the animals exhibit atypical, even dangerous, behavior, others have elaborate feathers or fine fur, and many are notable coastal fishers. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) specimens in the assemblage are dominated by portions from the body. Irene may provide a zooarchaeological standard for assessing evidence of site functions and status in other coastal assemblages.     

In Situ Preservation of Wetland Heritage: Hydrological and Chemical Change in the Burial Environment of the Somerset Levels,UK

Abstract

In situ preservation is a core strategy for the conservation and management of waterlogged remains at wetland sites. Inorganic and organic remains can, however, quickly become degraded, or lost entirely, as a result of chemical or hydrological changes. Monitoring is therefore crucial in identifying baseline data for a site, the extent of spatial and or temporal variability, and in evaluating the potential impacts of these variables on current and future in situ preservation potential.

Since August 2009, monthly monitoring has taken place at the internationally important Iron Age site of Glastonbury Lake Village in the Somerset Levels, UK. A spatial, stratigraphic, and analytical approach to the analysis of sediment horizons and monitoring of groundwater chemistry, redox potential, water table depth and soil moisture (using TDR) was used to characterize the site.

Significant spatial and temporal variability has been identified, with results from water-table monitoring and some initial chemical analysis from Glastonbury presented here. It appears that during dry periods parts of this site are at risk from desiccation. Analysis of the chemical data, in addition to integrating the results from the other parameters, is ongoing, with the aim of clarifying the risk to the entire site.     

The Art of Contested Histories: In Pursuit of Venus [Infected] and the Pacific Legacy

ABSTRACT

European artists of the eighteenth century framed an exotic textual and visual narrative of the Pacific, drawing largely on knowledge gained from exploratory journeys of the 1760s and 1770s. Visual representations of the Pacific became socially fashionable and commercially successful. The French wallpaper manufacturer, Dufour, captured this commercial potential in a dramatic, panoramic wallpaper that told stories of European encounters with Pacific peoples: Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique (1804). Yet it was selective, defining the Pacific by moments of contact with Cook and other explorers. Lisa Reihana's In Pursuit of Venus [Infected] (2015–17) dramatically interrogates the eighteenth-century narrative of the Pacific, responding to Dufour's wallpaper in a complex, panoramic work. By attending to ways in which the factual and speculative are brought together in Enlightenment artefacts and Reihana's restaging of them, we explore how art might be put to use in the service of historical interpretation.     

The Chinese developmental state during the Cold War: the making of the 1956 twelve-year science and technology plan

Abstract

In 1956, the government of the People’s Republic of China made a 12-year plan for scientific and technological developments (‘The Long-term Plan for the Development of Science and Technology for 1956–1967’), often credited as a visionary blueprint for its nuclear weapons programs and industrialization. Yet, this study suggests that the plan was not the logical manifestation of a unified national leadership, but rather the result of political contestations and compromises among the Communist party-state leaders, especially between Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, and between the state and the scientific–technological elite. It further indicates that the making of Chinese science and technology policy was shaped by the cold war geopolitics, national developmental aspirations and transnational influences, especially from the Soviet Union and the USA.     

Excavations at Rainbow Quay,an 18th-century whale rendering plant,Rotherhithe, London

Abstract

An excavation was jointly undertaken by Thames Valley Archaeological Services and Pre-Construct Archaeology at Rainbow Quay, Rope Street, Southwark, London, (TQ 3650 7912), during July and August 1996. The proposed development of the site by Fairclough Homes (Southern) Ltd of some 0.82 ha., sandwiched between Greenland Dock and South Dock (see Fig. 1), provided an excellent opportunity to unearth and investigate a sequence of dock related structures dating from c. 1700, when the Howland Great Wet Dock (later known as Greenland Dock) was constructed¹ through to the 1970s when the docks were closed. The scope of this article is to describe the results of the excavation and in particular to discuss the usage of the site during the 18th and early 19th centuries. Of special interest were structures pertaining to the whaling industry, their demolition and subsequent replacement with warehousing facilities.     

REVIEW

Abstract

Kh. Qumran was visited by western explorers during the nineteenth century, long before the famous discoveries of the Dead Sea Scrolls nearby. The observations of these visitors supplement the preliminary reports of Roland de Vaux, who excavated the site in the 1950s. Do their transliterations of the name of the site (e.g. 'Goumran') indicate that the present site-name is inaccurate? Probably not, because a sound something like English 'g' was used by Bedouin guides for Arabic qāf. However, the origin of the name 'Qumran' remains obscure. One solution would be to see it as the Aramaic (Syriac) word qumrā, meaning 'belt', an apt name for the wadi that runs beside the ruin.