Village and community in early colonial New England

The long-standing correlation between community function and nucleated settlement form in early colonial New England is mistaken. Puritan communities were established, but new communities—often called villages in colonial records—were developed and survived quite well regardless of settlement form. As in England at the time, village meant community and community was a social web. Village status in New England provided a community with land and thus enabled the community to undertake settlement. But the social web that comprised community did not require nucleated settlement, and the dispersed settlement form that many colonists had known in England dominated the village landscape of early colonial New England.     

Two Models of Residential Conservation: communal life in an Australian box-ironbark forest

Grassroots community organisations offer simple ways of maintaining natural heritage values. Given the degradation of landscapes supporting fauna in many parts of the world, such organisations promise direct benefits for local communities and ecological biodiversity. Also, global warming, resulting in part from the removal of forest, will abate with the restoration of trees. The Bend of Islands (Victoria, Australia) boasts two organisations dedicated to the communal conservation of a landscape of remnant box-ironbark (eucalypt) forest. This woodland heritage is managed by residents to preserve its ecological values.The Round the Bend Conservation Co-operative (RBCC) is a land settlement co-operative. Members are committed to maintaining the local bushland in as natural a state as possible using minimal-impact environmental practices. The Bend of Islands Conservation Association (BICA) was established several years after the co-operative, but with the same environmental purpose. It covers a broader area, incorporating over 130 private land titles. This article describes the history and practices of RBCC and BICA and indicates their potential as models for the development of conservation principles and practices by other communities in similar landscapes.     

Prehistoric farming in the mfolozi and hluhluwe valleys of Southeast Africa: an archaeo-botanical survey

The Mfolozi and Hluhluwe Valleys of southeastern Africa are representative of a sub-tropical biome and have archaeological evidence for farming settlement spanning more than 1500 years. By collecting information on soils and plant communities within the same sample frame as archaeological data, the relative importance of environmental and anthropomorphic influences can be assessed. It is argued that, although climate and soils have determined the overall distribution of plant communities, human land use has had a considerable effect on the composition of both woodland and grassland. The nature of this interaction between man and environment provides inferential data on prehistoric economies and also aids the formulation of conservation policies in protected areas.     

The Purposes of Land Settlement in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, 1898–1914: Drawing Paths through the Weeds

This article examines the programme of land surveying and registration that was undertaken by the British-led administration of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in the period 1898–1914. The Legal Secretary, Edgar Bonham Carter, stated that programme was the most important project of his division in this period. Scholars have shown that the programme, known as land ‘settlement’, was used to build alliances with elites and to clarify title for European investors in the new irrigation scheme at Gezira. This article argues that, as such, the ambitions of land settlement were relatively limited. In many other colonies, and in Britain itself, politicians and administrators across the political spectrum saw the reform of private property in land as the key for addressing structural problems in agricultural labour. One might have thought that, the Sudan, land settlement might have provided a means of addressing the dependence on slave labour in agriculture. The article demonstrates that, except for a small number of administrators (including Bonham Carter), this was not the case. The general indifference to slavery itself carried through to an indifference to the transformative potential of land law. The article examines the proposals of this minority of administrators, and contrasts their views with the majority’s focus on land settlement as demonstration and opportunity to enhance state power.     

Pigs, presses and pastoralism: farming in the fifth to sixth centuries AD

The fifth to sixth centuries were a time of significant change in rural settlement, land use, production levels and productive technology in many regions. Archaeological and related discoveries suggest that in western Europe, specialized market- and state-oriented production gave way to mixed animal husbandry and diversified farming more suited to local terrains. This was accompanied by a widespread transformation of rural settlement. In contrast, the eastern Mediterranean experienced rural settlement expansion, intensification of land use, increased market-oriented agricultural production, and a significant change in oil and wine press technology. These changes seem to reflect the socio-political context in both east and west during this pivotal period.     

Locational decision-making on a Scottish estate prior to enclosure

Before the main burst of agricultural improvements, taking place in Scotland in the latter part of the eighteenth century, farming was carried out from fermtouns; these were groupings of farmsteadings and their fields. This paper seeks to determine the factors underlying the decisions that were taken in the location of the farmsteads and the different elements into which the agricultural land was divided. Isolated for examination are the distance-decay function and natural environmental factors, basically those of soil conditions. The importance of natural soil drainage conditions appears to decide the location of both intensively and extensively cultivated land while in many cases the farmsteadings also lie closest to the permanent arable land. Definite statements about the decision-making process cannot, however, be made due to our present rudimentary understanding of the stability of settlement sites and the true origins of the infield-outfield system.     

Deserted medieval villages and fields in Germany,a survey of the literature with a select bibliography

In Germany research into deserted settlements developed into an important branch of settlement history. It was realized that the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, following on a period of high-medieval expansion of settlement and cultivated land, were themselves a time of great decline. The theoretical explanation for this development is the late-medieval agricultural crisis, a concomitant of the late-medieval fall in population. We must distinguish between a high-medieval phase of settlement desertion associated with a concentration of population into larger villages and towns without a drop in absolute population figures, and a late-medieval desertion period when settlements and fields contracted because of loss of life due to famines and the Black Death. Different research methods have been used to locate deserted settlement sites, both from documentary evidence (Rückschreibung) and by doing field-work. By mapping the relict features of deserted villages and fields our knowledge of the evolution of settlement- and field-patterns was increased. In particular, the evolution of the three-field-system has been explained as part of the concentration of population into larger settlements. A classification of the desertion process has helped with the terminological clarification of the subject, although there remain areas of dispute. The introduction of the desertion quotient made it possible to map the distribution of the deserted settlements. In the light of most recent research based on medieval archaeology this map needs corrections. It is now obvious that the late-medieval desertion quotient was not only high in areas of marginal land quality but also in fertile areas with a long history of settlement continuity. In those areas vestiges of earlier occupations were literally ploughed into the ground. This example illustrates that future research on deserted settlements must be of an interdisciplinary nature.     

THE SETTLEMENT OF EUROPEAN RUSSIA DURING THE ROMANOV PERIOD (1613-1917)

This paper compares and contrasts Russian frontier experiences on the northern and southern parts of the European plain during the Romanov era (1613-1917). Both were “open” frontiers, in Turner's sense of a frontier as the “hither edge of free land,” but their environments and the settlement processes which affected them were very different. It is suggested that the character of a frontier society is decisively influenced by the process whereby settlers must adapt to their new environment, the features which attract them to that environment, and the character of the pre-existing inhabitants. The northern frontier formed part of what Meinig has called a “boreal riverine empire” with a harsh environment, to which paradoxically the Russians found it relatively easy to adapt, the great attraction of fur-bearing animals and reasonably benign relations with native peoples. By contrast, the southern frontier was a “frontier of exclusion,” following Lattimore's phrase, with hostile indigenes, a natural environment demanding special methods of adaptation, but with many more attractions than the north. Such contrasts gave rise to considerable differences in the settlement process, in the character of land allocation and in the type of society evolving subsequently, with long-term consequences for emerging human landscapes.     

Millenarism and agricultural settlement in the Holy Land in the nineteenth century

The pioneers of modern agricultural settlement in the Holy Land were Christians. Foremost among these were several Americans who came in the 1850s and 1860s to settle—ignoring warnings from local experts and from representatives of the United States government. The leaders of the settlers were inspired by millenarist ideas and by faith in the Return to Zion—rife among fundamental Protestant sects in the early nineteenth century. The personal accounts of these visionaries provide insights into what drove them to attempt to migrate to remote and backward Palestine and also throw light on the economic concepts and practical plans for implementing their schemes. Despite their failure, these attempts were very important in the history of agricultural settlement in nineteenth-century Palestine. The settlers maintained a wide range of international contacts through letters, pamphlets, sermons and publicity in the press in America, England, Germany and Palestine. In addition, many people who heard indirectly about these ventures, took an interest in their ideology and practice. Millenarist schemes influenced early preachers and founders of Jewish societies for agricultural settlement in Palestine. The Jewish forerunners of the Hovevi Zion and Zionist movements promoted remarkably similar ideas. Millenarist and Jewish visionaries alike spoke of the hour being propitious for the coming of the Messiah and favourable for settlement in the land of Israel. Both groups established schools to teach the lore of the land and to educate youth in agricultural pursuits. Many years after the disappearance of American settlers from Palestine, their story reverberated in Jewish polemic literature.     

SETTLEMENTS AND CHAMBERED TOMBS IN NEOLITHIC FRANCE

Summary. Chambered tombs of megalithic or dry-stone construction are a leading element in the archaeological record of Neolithic France, but appear to have been associated with only small, insubstantial settlement sites. This point is illustrated by reference to evidence from West-Central France, the Paris Basin, Southern France and Brittany. The tombs seem to have played an important rôle in the articulation of dispersed communities, particularly during periods when new land was being colonised. These findings suggest certain modifications to recent ideas about the origin and functions of the West European chambered tombs.     

The archaeological and linguistic reconstruction of African history : and (Eds), (Berkeley and London: University of California Press, 1983. Pp. xi + 299. $22.50)

Land disposal by southern African administrations to European settlers between 1860 and 1960 was pursued on a more extensive scale than in the previous two centuries. This reflected the increased ability of local governments to seize land occupied by the indigenes. African land rights received scant attention as most of the sub-continent was taken by conquest, thereby offering governments the opportunity to settle Europeans upon the land. By 1860 the local European settler communities had achieved control over their own land policies, which were framed under political pressure from the rapidly growing rural European population. Land settlement policies were, however, severely constrained by existing practices, which emphasized extensive pastoral farming to the detriment of the development of crop farming and plantation agriculture.     

Official land disposal policies and European settlement in southern Africa 1860–1960

Land disposal by southern African administrations to European settlers between 1860 and 1960 was pursued on a more extensive scale than in the previous two centuries. This reflected the increased ability of local governments to seize land occupied by the indigenes. African land rights received scant attention as most of the sub-continent was taken by conquest, thereby offering governments the opportunity to settle Europeans upon the land. By 1860 the local European settler communities had achieved control over their own land policies, which were framed under political pressure from the rapidly growing rural European population. Land settlement policies were, however, severely constrained by existing practices, which emphasized extensive pastoral farming to the detriment of the development of crop farming and plantation agriculture.     

Lake Nuga Nuga: a Levee‐dammed Lake in Central Queensland,Australia

Lake Nuga Nuga is a levee‐dammed lake in the dry sub‐humid tropics of the Fitzroy Basin in Central Queensland, Australia, that has expanded significantly since it was first mapped in 1866. ²¹⁰Pb dating of a sediment core from the lake indicates that the rate of sedimentation has been constant for the past 67 years at 3 mm yr^?1 despite widespread clearing and land use intensification in the catchment during that time. Pollen analysis confirms this and shows that there was little change in vegetation during the early settlement period (1863–1962), but the intensification of land use that started in the early 1960s brought about a dramatic change in the vegetation communities. This study demonstrates that while sediment production may be significantly impacted by land‐use activities, sediment delivery is primarily controlled by topography.     

Dynamics and patterns of the shrinking of Arab lands in Palestine

This paper seeks to sketch a number of geographical patterns pertaining to the ongoing process of confiscation of Palestinian-Arab land in Israel and the 1967 occupied territories. It points out a geographical pattern and process of “enclaving” and “exclaving”, a form of spatial apartheid and exclusionary zoning which was adopted during the pre-state period of Jewish settlement and has continued down to the present day. The centrality of land possession and its transfer to Jewish national and state ownership is shared by almost all political classes in Israel. Even during key points in peace negotiations over the past several years, land confiscation never ceased nor was interrupted. The present paper employs the term “shrinking” to underscore that land confiscation is a continuous process in Palestine/Israel. This of course has both political and social ramifications for the type of state Israel seeks to be, declaring its desire to live in peace and harmony with its own Palestinian citizens and Palestinians elsewhere once a peace deal has been reached. Seen from the perspective of land, its control and use, this paper argues that there is no other alternative in achieving peaceful resolution between Jews in Israel and Palestinians except a return to square one: redefining a new geography for Palestinian villages and towns in Israel and for those many hundreds of villages which were demolished and have since been obliterated.     

Holywell Lane: A Squatter Community in the Shropshire Coalfield

Abstract

The thirty or so cottages which lined Holywell Lane in the parish of Little Dawley, about 2 miles from the Iron Bridge, formed one of many squatter communities in the Coalbrookdale Coalfield. Documentary, oral, architectural and archaeological sources are here used to demonstrate the particular features of this kind of settlement, in its buildings, the long periods of tenure by some families, and the variety of occupations and by-employments of its inhabitants. It is argued that such open communities were an important influence on industrial development not just in the Shropshire coalfield, but elsewhere in Britain.     

A River Runs Through It: Landscape and the Evolution of Bronze Age Networks in the Carpathian Basin

The homogeneous and circumscribed character of the Carpathian Basin makes it an ideal setting for examining the interplay of topography and resource distribution in the development of Bronze Age social networks. Such networks include both systems of settlement and land use, and the patterns of interconnection between communities and regions that facilitate trade and exchange. Drawing on new excavations and increasingly common radiocarbon dates within the region, the alteration in these networks from earlier Copper Age and Neolithic patterns can be traced. It is suggested that the substantial river systems of the region provided the principal axes for the movement of goods during the Bronze Age and that control of these water routes was contested among neighboring communities and polities. It is further argued that contrastive overland trade connections also developed which, at least initially, transported distinct materials. Later, these overland connections undermined and superseded the pre-existing riverine systems.     

晋中平原地区农村聚落扩展分析

在实地考察的基础上，章从规模、速度、形态和类型等方面分析了晋中平原地区农村聚落扩展的特点，并深入探讨了影响农村聚落扩展的因素，认为聚落扩展主要是人口增长和家庭规模变化、社会经济发展与收入增加、交通条件改善、农村地区工业化及其他因素共同作用的结果。最后指出了由于聚落扩展而带来的许多难以解决的问题。     

Relations of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers of Pomerania (Poland) with Neolithic cultures of central Europe

Abstract

The appearance of the first farming groups on the North European Plain was the turning point for the Mesolithic foragers who had inhabited that region for almost 7000 years. Interrelations between these two very different communities are fascinating for archaeologists interested in the northern European Stone Age. Research at D?bki in Poland provides elements for a discussion of the Neolithic transformation along the southern Baltic coast. Pottery from the regions inhabited by Danubian societies has been found in a hunting-gathering context (), a fact that sheds light on relations between local Late Mesolithic communities and early farmers. Imports from the Linear Pottery Culture, the Stroked Pottery Culture, the Lengyel Culture, and the Ertebølle Culture are found associated with Late Mesolithic layers, while pottery of the Bodrogkeresztúr Culture is related with the local Funnel Beaker settlement. This imported pottery reflects long lasting contacts between Mesolithic and those Neolithic communities that promoted the neolithization of the coastal region.     

风险视角下的城市聚落形成模拟

幂次法则是普遍存在于自然科学和社会科学界的现象,而城市位序-规模法则是幂次法则在城市科学中的体现之一,然而特定城市规模分布一直缺乏完整的解释。本文尝试结合城市增长过程中土地开发行为的报酬递增规则与土地开发主体的风险认知行为,以城市增长的微观过程为切入视角模拟宏观城市聚落演化过程,进而探讨风险态度对城市聚落形态,尤其是对其规模分布的影响。研究结果表明：①即使城市聚落演化过程中存在多种风险态度,幂次法则在城市聚落的规模分布中仍保持着稳健性; ②现实世界中城市聚落规模分布的变异和稳定可能来自城市主体风险态度的多样性。     

“They want a different life”: Rural northern settlement dynamics and pathways to homelessness in Yellowknife and Inuvik,Northwest Territories

Visible homelessness in the Northwest Territories, Canada is often described as a recent phenomenon by policy makers and the popular media alike. Indeed, since the late 1990s, homeless shelters in Yellowknife and Inuvik report a steady increase in demand for beds and other support for homeless people. Homelessness in these two communities disproportionately affects Aboriginal northerners, however little is known about their individual pathways to homelessness. Moreover, homelessness in the Northwest Territories is often portrayed as an issue confined to larger “urbanizing” regional centres, yet many homeless Aboriginal northerners have originated from small, rural settlement communities. Despite this, little concern has been paid to how factors at the small community level intersect with more visible forms of homelessness in larger, urban centres, not to mention how these intersections shape a territorial geography of homelessness. In this article, I aim to uncover and explore the often hidden factors at the northern rural settlement level that ultimately contribute to more visible forms of homelessness in northern urban centres. I suggest that uneven and fragmented social, institutional, and economic geographies result in a unique landscape of vulnerability to homelessness in the Northwest Territories. This geography emerges through the production of particular dynamics between rural settlement communities and northern urban centres. In particular, four main factors represent these rural‐urban dynamics: 1) the attractions of opportunity in northern urban centres; 2) rural settlement‐urban institutional flows; 3) chronic housing need in the settlements; and, 4) disintegrating social relationships in the settlements. I explore the particular ways in which these factors influence rural‐urban migration among the homeless population and what roles this mobility plays in individual pathways to homelessness.