Urban Settlement Systems and Rural Sustaining Communities: An Example from Chan Chan's Hinterland

Abstract

The study of prehistoric cities has often been marked by research strategies that focus completely on urban centers and thus preclude the delineation of entire settlement systems by ignoring the interrelationships between cities and their rural sustaining communities. A major focus of recent research in the Moche Valley on the Peruvian North Coast has been on elucidating the nature of urbanrural relations between the prehistoric Chimú city of Chan Chan and contemporaneous sites located in its hinterland. Excavation at the village of Cerro la Virgen together with additional evidence obtained from other sites in Chan Chan's rural sustaining area has provided insights into Chimú lifeways in nonmetropolitan areas, as well as evidence suggesting a multifaceted plan for organizing lands outside the civic center of Chan Chan. The archaeological data indicate that an important aspect of the organization of rural argicultural zones was the restriction of settlement to villages circumscribed by the Chimú state.     

English villages in the Londonderry plantation

Abstract

The English adventurers who created a ‘plantation’ throughout much of Ulster in the first quarter of the 17th century did so by seeking to transform the cultural landscape. The flowering of English cultural institutions could be enhanced within the appropriate environment, reasoned the plantation planners, and the ‘planting’ of villages was perhaps the most fundamental element of the programme to create that environment. The Ulster plantation provides an excellent opportunity to define early 17th-century English standards for the creation of a domestic settlement abroad, and perhaps also at home.     

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.     

Farm mounds of the harstad area

The farm mounds of coastal North Norway are settlement accumulations produced by long period settlement on the same location. The majority seems to have come during medieval and later periods, but there are a few of early iron age origin.

There has been no total excavation of a farm mound, only minor trenches. This paper summarizes the efforts done on exploring the context and characteristics of farm mounds, based on surveys in one central part of North Norway, the Harstad area.

Questions like economical reconstruction and causes of accumulation are discussed.     

The Compulsory Exchange of Populations : Greek-Turkish Peacemaking, 1922–1930

Abstract

As a precedent in the resolution of Middle Eastern crises, the settlement of the embittered Greek- Turkish conflict of 1919–1922 constitutes a landmark. The swiftness and comprehensiveness of the settlement was hailed from the moment it was formally achieved by the Lausanne Peace Treaty of 23 July 1923. It has been rendered even more impressive since World War II by what, until recently at least, has seemed like the intractable Arab-Israeli dispute.     

Pottery and the Visual World at Early Iron Age Hascherkeller,Germany

Abstract

On most late prehistoric and early historic settlement sites all over the world, pottery is the most abundant material recovered by archaeologists. Analysis of pottery provides information about the chronological position and cultural affiliation of a site, as well as about techniques of manufacture, organization of production, trade relations, and patterns in the social structure of the community. Here, a new approach is presented that focuses on pottery as a principal factor in the visual world of the people who made and used it. Pottery from the Early Iron Age settlement of Hascherkeller in southern Germany is examined in the context of the physical and social world of which the community was a part. It is argued that the shapes, textures, and decoration of the pottery refer to other elements of the physical world. This approach offers a new way to understand how prehistoric people responded to economic and political changes through the purposeful fashioning of their material culture.     

The Excavation of a Brick Clamp at Shotesham St. Mary,Norfolk, 1969

Abstract

Rescue excavations in the small village of Llanmaes investigated an area of earthworks indicating the presence of several buildings. Medieval evidence was largely confined to finds. Three late 17th-century properties were examined; it is possible that they represent a planned development on the east side of the village green in response to population expansion in the Vale of Glamorgan. The buildings are of simple two-roomed plan, and would appear to be tenements of low status. One of the buildings produced evidence of smithying. A large group of metal finds of agricultural and domestic use was found, as was a closely-dated assemblage of wine bottles; a large midden deposit on the north edge of the site contained a very large group of post-medieval pottery. The buildings were abandoned by the end of the 18th century, presumably following rationalization of the local settlement morphology and farming. Thus the site represents a short-lived expansion in low-status rural housing at the time of the ‘Great Rebuilding’.     

Ödemiş-Dereuzunyer: Architectural Features of a Rural Settlement to Be Submerged by Dam Waters

ABSTRACT

The village of Dereuzunyer located in the Rahmanlar Valley of the Küçük Menderes Basin is a settlement that is a natural extension of a topography shaped by a joint contribution of culture and nature. It has preserved the authenticity and integrity of its traditional rural fabric and gives detailed information about the architectural approach, building technology, construction techniques, landscape features and traditional craftsmanship of past rural life. While some of the cultural assets in the settlement containing detailed information about the rural lifestyle of the past have survived to date despite the harsh natural conditions, the remainder have been neglected, become dilapidated, and fallen into ruin over time due to lack of maintenance by the local people because of rumors about the possible dam project and expropriations in progress. After completion of the Rahmanlar Dam in 2019, the cultural landscape values of Dereuzunyer will be lost irretrievably. This article aims to make a contribution to creating awareness about avoiding such losses, not only by introducing the non-renewable values of Dereuzunyer, by documentation of its historical development, its traditional architecture, its traditional building types, its construction techniques, and its plan and façade features, but also by promoting and interpreting its lost cultural heritage.     

Joined-Up Archaeology at Old Scatness,Shetland: Thin Section Analysis of the Site and Hinterland

Abstract

Excavations on the multi-period settlement at Old Scatness, Shetland have uncovered a number of Iron Age structures with compacted, floor-like layers. Thin section analysis was undertaken in order to investigate and compare the characteristics of these layers. The investigation also draws on earlier analyses of the Iron Age agricultural soil around the settlement and the midden deposits that accumulated within the settlement, to create a 'joined-up' analysis which considers the way material from the settlement was used and then recycled as fertiliser for the fields. Peat was collected from the nearby uplands and was used for fuel and possibly also for flooring. It is suggested that organic-rich floors from the structures were periodically removed and the material was spread onto the fields as fertilisers. More organic-rich material may have been used selectively for fertiliser, while the less organic peat ash was allowed to accumulate in middens. Several of the structures may have functioned as byres, which suggests a prehistoric plaggen system.     

Coconuts on the Move: Archaeology of Western Pacific

ABSTRACT

The coconut was one of the major food crops used by the ancient populations of the western Pacific. Although critical to the successful settlement and sustainability of Pacific populations, the history of the coconut is little known, its presence being recorded by only a handful of archaeologists. This paper will provide for the first time a review of the coconut in the archaeological record, charting its first uses and spread across the Pacific.     

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.     

Paired Mississippian Communities in the Lower Ohio Hinterland of Southern Illinois

Abstract

Millstone Bluff and Hayes Creek are principal sites in a late Mississippian complex in the upper Bay Creek watershed in southern Illinois. These and other settlements represent a 13th century expansion of Mississippian settlement away from large stream valleys into remote interior locations. Although contemporaneous and very close to one another, these sites are very different and have a complex history. These two sites were explored in six seasons of excavation and here we summarize that work, focusing on commonalities and differences in architectural patterning and community structure. These reveal that the two sites appear to have varied as a function of nature of initial settlement, adherence to a village layout, and respective roles in the larger settlement system.     

Al-Ghoryeen: An Early Bronze Age settlement in central Oman peninsula

Al-Ghoryeen, located 95 km southwest of Muscat, is a unique settlement dating to the Umm an-Nar period and is built upon a Late Hafit period settlement. It was found in 2004 and excavation began in 2018. Preliminary analysis of the results revealed two major occupation phases with an occupational gap in between. A change occurred between the earlier and later phases of the settlement system reflected mainly in the difference in building sizes and plan. We excavated either partially or completely a stone round tower and more than 10 domestic structures. The distribution of the architectural features including the round tower, domestic structures and burials showed some kind of organised settlement structure. The Hafit period settlement was tested in two trenches where ¹⁴C analysis dated the earliest occupation to the late Hafit period.     

Towards a Definition of the pre-Classical Phoenician Temple

ABSTRACT

Though our knowledge of Iron Age Phoenician cultic architecture is quite limited, the available data suggests that pre-Classical Phoenician temples followed a similar plan which displayed several unique architectural features. This plan originated from a long held, Bronze Age, Canaanite tradition which became especially prominent along the northern Levantine coast from the Middle Bronze Age II, appearing alongside other temple plans. This article aims to demonstrate that during the Iron Age and most of the Persian period, this temple plan became the predominant temple type in Phoenicia and its dependencies. It was only during the late Persian period, that a drastic change occurred, and this millennia-old plan was abandoned in favor of other temple types. Nevertheless, it appears that despite this seemingly radical change, the most notable feature of the traditional plan was preserved.     

Numerical Modeling of a Church Nave Wall Subjected to Differential Settlements: Soil-Structure Interaction,Time-Dependence and Sensitivity Analysis

ABSTRACT

Historic masonry structures are particularly sensitive to differential soil settlements. These settlements may be caused by deformable soil, shallow or inadequate foundation, structural additions in the building and changes in the underground water table due to the large-scale land use change in urban areas.

This paper deals with the numerical modeling of a church nave wall subjected to differential settlement caused by a combination of the above factors. The building in question, the church of Saint Jacob in Leuven, has suffered extensive damage caused by centuries-long settlement. A numerical simulation campaign is carried out in order to reproduce and interpret the cracking damage observed in the building.

The numerical analyses are based on material and soil property determination, the monitoring of settlement in the church over an extended period of time and soil-structure interaction. A sensitivity study is carried out, focused on the effect of material parameters on the response in terms of settlement magnitude and crack width and extent. Soil consolidation over time is considered through an analytical approach. The numerical results are compared with the in-situ observed damage and with an analytical damage prediction model.     

A Reinterpretation of the Occupational History of the Pendleton Ruin,New Mexico

Abstract

The Pendleton Ruin, an adobe pueblo of approximately 125 rooms in the “boot heel” of sw New Mexico, was excavated by Alfred V Kidder, C. Burton Cosgrove, and Harriet S. Cosgrove in 1933. It defined the Animas phase, dated between A.D. 1150 and 1450. In this paper, the occupational history of the Pendleton Ruin is reexamined, beginning with the excavators' assumption that the lack of trash accumulation indicated a brief occupation. Based on the published report, field notebooks, and collections, it is concluded that the site was occupied longer than thought. Evidence for at least one hiatus in occupation may explain how a long occupation is compatible with low artifact yields. Evidence also points to the construction of a platform mound along the northern side of a plaza. A reinterpretation of regional settlement and social organization, focused on the role and scale of settlement instability, is presented. Finally, the results present a case study of how reanalysis of excavated materials can be a useful archaeological practice.     

Distributional Survey of the Reinhardt Site (33PI880), Pickaway County,Ohio: A Strategy for Deciphering the Community Structure of a Fort Ancient Village

Abstract

There is currently a paucity of Fort Ancient sites with deciphered settlement structures. If settlement structure is reflective of social organization, then a larger sample of sites is needed to evaluate extant models of Fort Ancient social development. A distributional survey of the Reinhardt site, a Middle Fort Ancient habitation in the Middle Scioto Valley, Ohio is proposed as a model of efficient, multi-staged investigation that can aid in detection and interpretation of community structure. By combining an intensive surface collection and a 10 -×-20 -m grid of small volumetric shovel test units, I was able to discern a probable small plaza (circa 40 -m diameter) and a partial, relatively wide habitation ring (>30 m). I argue that this strategy can be usefully employed in a variety of situations to increase our understanding of variability in settlement organization in general, and specifically for the Late Prehistoric agricultural societies of the Middle Ohio Valley.     

A Dark-Age Settlements at Maxey,Northants

SUMMARY

A dark-age settlement was discovered at Maxey during gravel-quarrying and partly excavated before destruction to reveal at least seven rectangular buildings ranging from 30 ft. to 50 ft. in length and 16 ft. to 20 ft. in width. They were all of post-hole construction but there were instances of post-holes in trenches, post-holes joined by wall-trenches, and, once, a central beam-slot. Near by were smaller ancillary structures including pits surrounded by post-holes, perhaps storage-huts. Open hearths, pits of various types and boundary-ditches were also found. The pottery was of an unusual type, but the small finds suggest that both it and the settlement are of the middle Saxon period.     

An overview of Byzantine Period settlements around Comana Pontica in north-central Turkey

Abstract

The sanctuary of Comana Pontica in north-central Anatolia, dedicated to a local Anatolian deity, Ma, was a significant part of the Hellenistic kingdom of the Mithradatids which continued to be of some importance under the Roman emperors. During the Byzantine period, as a result of the introduction of, and adaptation to, Christianity in the region, significant changes in settlement pattern/organization at and in the vicinity of Comana took place. This article illustrates these changes through the architectural and archaeological material discovered during surveys and offers a preliminary interpretation of the settlement patterns around Comana in the Byzantine period.     

Report of the Portable Antiquities Scheme 2011

Abstract

Dutch East India Company (VOC) Fort Frederik Hendrik, the first European settlement on Mauritius, was established as a refreshment station for onward- and homeward-bound East Indiamen. The fort's archaeological remains offer a rich fund of information on a 17th-century stronghold and the population once in occupation. The material evidence reflects the fort's links with the Company's worldwide network of settlements, with both trade goods and people passing through. It also reflects cultural change and the settlers' endeavours to adapt to the local environment.