The Hull of Yenikapı Shipwreck YK 11: a 7th‐century merchant vessel from Constantinople's Theodosian Harbour

YK 11, a small, heavily repaired merchantman, was one of 37 Byzantine shipwrecks excavated at Yenikap? in Istanbul, Turkey. This 7th‐century hull, abandoned in the harbour as a derelict, was studied by archaeologists from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology. Originally built with mortise‐and‐tenon edge joinery, the ship had undergone a series of significant repairs over its lifetime. Repairs included the replacement of planking as well as framing. Although the repaired vessel exhibits evidence of both shell‐first and skeleton‐first shipbuilding techniques, detailed study of the hull remains indicates that the ship was initially designed and built as a primarily shell‐based vessel.     

The 5th‐Century BC Shipwreck at Tektaş Burnu,Turkey: evidence for the ship's hull from nail concretions

The Tekta? Burnu ship (440–425 BC) sank along a rough and desolate stretch of the Turkish Aegean coast. Archaeological excavation of the shipwreck site by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University resulted in the retrieval of hundreds of small fragments from the ship's wooden hull and its metal fasteners. Recent study of this artefact assemblage suggests that the coastal trader was built with pine planks and made‐frames, and assembled by a shell‐based construction method. Fasteners include pegged mortise‐and‐tenon joints and double‐clenched copper nails, and the ship may have had laced extremities consistent with other contemporaneous shipwrecks.     

The Yenikapı Byzantine‐Era Shipwrecks,Istanbul, Turkey: a preliminary report and inventory of the 27 wrecks studied by Istanbul University

Salvage excavations conducted in the Yenikap? quarter of the historic peninsula of Istanbul by the Istanbul Archaeological Museums 2004–2013 have brought to light the Theodosian Harbour on the Sea of Marmara. In addition to thousands of archaeological artefacts, a total of 37 shipwrecks dating from the 5th to the 11th centuries AD were uncovered, constituting the biggest collection of medieval ships uncovered at a single excavation site. The present article deals with 27 wrecks in the charge of the team from Istanbul University's Department of Conservation of Marine Archaeological Objects, consisting of 23 merchantmen and four galleys. The wrecks are presented with their general characteristics. The preliminary evidence from the Yenikap? wrecks regarding the development from shell‐based to skeleton‐based philosophy is discussed, and various building phases presented.     

Upper Paleolithic raw material economies at Üçağızlı cave, Turkey

This paper addresses variation in lithic raw material economy within the early Upper Paleolithic at Üçağızlı cave (south-central Turkey). The stratigraphic sequence documents some 12,000 years of the early Upper Paleolithic, entailing changes in lithic technology, raw material exploitation, and game use. Although the same lithic raw materials were exploited throughout the sequence to make quite similar ranges of products, there are marked changes in the ways raw materials from different source areas were treated, including patterns of transport and raw material consumption. The concept of technological provisioning is used to understand changing strategies for procuring and managing supplies of flint from different source locations. Shifts in raw material economy are argued to represent responses to changes in residential mobility and the scale/duration of occupations at the cave itself: data on cultural features and foraging strategies provide independent evidence for these shifts in land use. Results have implications for more nuanced approaches to investigating of lithic raw material economies and the significance of “raw material transfers.”     

Designing the 11th-century-AD vessel from Serçe Limanı, Turkey

A previous article investigated the methods used to design the 9th-century vessel from Bozburun, Turkey, and a basic methodology emerged which combined Richard Steffy's emphasis on the comprehensive deconstruction of a hull with the segregation of hull-construction into the phases of conception, design and assembly. This article tests this methodology by applying it to the 11th-century craft from Serçe Limanı, a vessel studied and reconstructed by Steffy. It discusses the resulting design-method, the similarities between this method and that used on the Bozburun vessel, and how we gain insight into changes in the maritime community which built these ships.
© 2010 The Author     

The Yenikapı 12 Shipwreck,a 9th‐Century Merchantman from the Theodosian Harbour in Istanbul,Turkey: construction and reconstruction

Shipwreck Yenikap? 12 was discovered in Yenikap?, Istanbul, Turkey in 2007 during rescue excavations carried out by Istanbul Archaeological Museums. The majority of the bottom of the shipwreck, found within the sediment‐filled Theodosian Harbour, is intact and part of the cargo was found in situ. According to the results of reconstruction studies, YK12 was a small merchantman working coastal waters, approximately 9.24m in length and 2.64m in breadth. The shipwreck is dated to the 9th century AD and was built with a mixed construction using the shell‐based method for the lower hull.     

A Late Antique Ceramic Assemblage at Burgaz,Datça Peninsula,South‐west Turkey,and the ‘Normality of the Mixed Cargo’ in the Ancient Mediterranean

By combining underwater survey with formal and compositional study of ceramics, recent work at Burgaz (south‐west Turkey) reveals a late 6th‐ or 7th‐century assemblage of wine and perhaps other agricultural products carried in LR1 and LR2‐related amphoras. Representing various south‐east Aegean and likely Cilician producers, the mixed cargo aboard this probable shipwreck offers insights into the complex dynamics of seaborne distribution at the end of Antiquity. This brief study also underscores the need for documentation in underwater survey of amphora forms and fabrics, particularly those from a period characterized by intensified and diversified production of supra‐regional ceramic types.     

Obsidian Sources in the Regions of Erzurum and Kars (North‐East Turkey): New Data

The obsidian sources on the Erzurum–Kars Plateau have not been extensively surveyed, and their geochemical signatures are still poorly understood. Yet a significant number of artefacts from archaeological sites in Georgia and Armenia have produced chemical compositions that are unrelated to any Turkish or Caucasian source analysed so far. Their origins may lie in these poorly known deposits. The objective of the collaborative project undertaken by the University of Erzurum and the French mission ‘Caucasus’ is to study the sources of obsidian in the Erzurum and Kars regions, in order to shed light on the intensity of exploitation of this material, and to highlight the exchange networks that may have existed between north‐eastern Turkey and the southern Caucasus. The analyses that we have carried out on the samples taken during this exploratory survey have enabled a definite extension of the territory of circulation of this obsidian to western Transcaucasia. The lack of knowledge concerning the diffusion of obsidian from the regions of Erzurum and Kars thus appears for the moment mainly related to insufficient geochemical characterization of the sources, confirming the importance of future surveys.     

Moulds,Graminhos and Ribbands: a pilot study of the construction of saveiros in Valença and the Baía de Todos os Santos area,Brazil

The survival of late medieval Mediterranean techniques to conceive and build ships and boats in Brazil was noted by John Patrick Sarsfield in the 1980s, but his study of the Valença shipwrights was interrupted by his untimely death in 1990. This paper summarizes Sarsfield's account of these shipbuilding techniques, examines that published by Lev Smarcevski (1996), and provides some preliminary results of the pilot stage of a project to further research traditional shipbuilding in Valença and the Baía de Todos os Santos region.     

Electoral Pluralism,Social Division and the 2016 Parliamentary Elections in Jordan

Representing one of the most stable regimes in the Middle East, Jordan has been undergoing a process of political liberalization since 1989. Due to the so‐called East Bank‐West Bank cleavage that followed by the influx of Palestinian migrants to Jordan, the country has also come to epitomize a divided society. Within this context, this paper aims to analyze the ongoing prospects for democratization in Jordan through an examination of four persistent debates shaping its electoral pluralism: those over social/identity division, electoral law as a regime‐survival mechanism, the role of the Ikhwan and the IAF's electoral boycotts, and electoral apathy. Finally, the impact of the Arab upheavals/revolts on restructuring the process of political reform — as well as opposition in the kingdom in the post‐2011 era — will be explored with reference to the changing dynamics of Islamist opposition.     

Between rocks and a hard place: prehistoric funerary practices at Wādī Ḍebayʿān,northern Qatar

Archaeological survey by the Qatar National Historic Environment Record Project (QNHER) in 2009, led to the discovery of a Neolithic flint scatter, a settlement and an ancient, raised shoreline associated with higher, mid‐Holocene sea levels at Wādī ?ebay?ān, north‐western Qatar (Al‐Naimi et al. 2010, 2011; Cuttler, Tetlow & Al‐Naimi 2011). The QNHER project is a collaboration between Qatar Museums and the University of Birmingham, which over the past five years has developed a national geospatial database for the recording of archaeological sites and historic monuments in Qatar. A significant aspect of the project involved archaeological survey and excavation in advance of major construction projects. Between 2012 and 2014 excavations at Wādī ?ebay?ān revealed a burial of a typology previously unknown in Qatar, the unmarked graves (Cuttler, Al‐Naimi & Tetlow 2013).     

The Determinants of Political Cleavages in Jordan,Tunisia, and Yemen: An Analysis of Political Attitudes Structure in the Arab World

This article investigates the determinants of political cleavages composing the structure of political attitudes in Jordan, Tunisia, and Yemen following the Arab Spring. Further, it tests whether political cleavages carry predictive weight on ordinary citizens’ electoral choices in general elections. Using the Sixth Wave of the World Values Survey, discriminant analysis was conducted to generate the dimensionality, type, and structure of political attitudes in the three nations. Findings suggest that the structure of political attitudes in Jordan, Tunisia, and Yemen is multidimensional: the Islamic‐Secular division, a conflict along economic policy visions and an emerging divisive dimension concerning political reform. Evidence indicates that political cleavages do not possess significant predictive power in determining voters’ choice at elections booths. This research also points to the significance of social transformation processes such as modernization and globalization in causing a shift in values among ordinary citizens in the Arab World. This research argues that in countries where the effects of modernization and globalization are higher, a weakening of the Islamic‐Secular division is witnessed. This research is important since it paves the way for further empirical analysis on political ideology in the Middle East. It shatters conjectures concluding that Arab polities are only divided by a single hierarchical dimension: Islamic‐Secular. It contributes to comparative research on the dimensionality of political ideology by showing that the Arab World is similar to the industrialized world in the dimensionality, nature, and structuration of political ideology.     

The importance of location and scale in rural and small town tourism product development: The case of the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre,Manitoba, Canada

This paper begins with a review of the literature on tourism in rural economies, to establish a framework for analyzing large‐scale tourism products in rural and small town regions. The review is followed by the development of a typology of large‐scale attractions in rural and small town regions, including parks, casinos, events, heritage, and cultural products. The typology leads into the example of the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre (CFDC) in Manitoba, Canada. Located in an agricultural region of south‐central Manitoba, the community of Morden is located 125 km from the provincial capital city, Winnipeg, which had a population of 811,900 in 2016. Morden is also located 35 km north of the border with North Dakota. Thus, while a small town in a traditionally rural region still dependent upon an agricultural economic base, Morden has been recently successful in diversifying its economy, including through manufacturing, services, hospitality, and tourism. In part, this success is due to a south‐central Manitoba location; however, it is also the result of innovative local leadership, including the prioritization of hospitality and tourism related to the CFDC. This paper describes the case study as an example of successful tourism development within an already economically and socially diversifying region.     

Examining the Impact of Turkey's Approach Vis‐à‐Vis Syria into Turkey's Iraq Policy

The tension between “international order” and justice has long been a focus of critical attention of many scholars. Today, with the rise of the humanitarian crises, the debate is once again visible, and Turkish foreign policy is one of the most important areas of observation of this tension. Indeed, the U.S.‐led invasion of Iraq in 2003 paved the way for Turkey to actively engage in regional affairs. Meanwhile, the need to bring human justice into world politics makes Turkish foreign policy decision makers operate on a much more humanitarian basis. Nevertheless, active humanitarian engagement poses an important challenge to traditional Turkish foreign policy as it is mainly based on the notion of “non‐interference,” as well as on the elementary components of international order, by raising suspicions on the intentions of the Turkish authorities. This article aims to explore the challenges Turkey has been facing since the U.S.‐led invasion of Iraq, and diagnose Turkish foreign policy vis‐à‐vis Iraq in the shadow of the Syrian civil war from Hedley Bull's framework of “order” and “justice.” It argues that Turkey's recent fluctuations in the Middle East could be linked to Turkey's failure to reconcile the requirements of “order” with those of “justice” and the Turkish governing party's (AKP) attempts to use justice as an important instrument to consolidate its power both in Turkey and in the Middle East.     

‘Born in an atomic test tube’: landscapes of cyclonic development at Uranium City,Saskatchewan

Drawing together insights from neo‐Innisian geography and environmental history, this paper explores the landscape and environmental changes engendered by ‘cyclonic’ patterns of development associated with uranium production at Uranium City, Saskatchewan. Strong postwar demand for uranium led to the establishment and rapid expansion of Uranium City on the north shore of Lake Athabasca as a ‘yellowcake town’, dedicated to producing uranium oxide concentrate to supply federal government contracts with the US military. In spite of optimistic assessments for the region's industrial future, the new settlement remained inherently unstable, tied to shifting institutional arrangements and external markets, and haunted by the spectre of resource depletion. The planning and development of the townsite at Uranium City reflected both neocolonial desires to open the north to Euro‐Canadian settlement and efforts by the state to buffer the stormy effects of resource dependency. Ultimately, however, quixotic government efforts to implant an outpost of industrial modernity in the Athabasca Region failed to forestall the inevitable winds of change, which left in their wake destructive legacies of social dislocation and environmental degradation, already evident with the near‐collapse of the uranium export market by the early 1960s.     

Double‐Thinking and Contradictory Arrangements in Iranian Law and Society

Although thinking double thoughts and living dual lives are not specifically Iranian traits, Iranians have, nevertheless, become more susceptible to them for historical reasons, which may be traced back to when Persians became Muslims. The gradual normalization of double‐thinking over the centuries has given rise to social and political patterns of behavior and institutional arrangements which oscillate between opposing regimes of truths and different sets of ethical concerns, often without merging them into a new process. Once double‐thinking is normalized at the level of society, it helps people to cope with the cognitive dissonance they experience in circumstances where it is difficult to change attitude and behavior. It also affects the organization of society by making contradictory arrangements appear normal. It promotes reflexive thinking and subversive action as much as it facilitates misrecognition of sociopolitical suppression and legitimization of symbolic violence. This state of affairs generates a form of modernity which appears, at least on the surface, to be comfortable with contradictory social arrangements, while deep down it remains ill at ease with its inner contradictions.     

Rethinking Justice: Struggles For Environmental Commons and the Notion of Socio‐Ecological Justice

This article introduces a notion of socio‐ecological justice based on theoretically informed empirical research on community struggles against run‐of‐river hydropower plants in Turkey. Framing this particular case as representative of a broader movement for environmental commons, and adopting an action‐theoretical perspective, it translates the emergent justice claims produced by grassroots environmental movements to the conceptual vocabulary of the theory of justice. Using Fraser's tripartite model as a starting point, it explores possibilities of expanding the borders of justice as a concept. Maintaining the intrinsic relationship between social and ecological phenomena, it calls for rethinking “sociality” and “social justice” in the light of a relational ontology of human and non‐human worlds. The notion of socio‐ecological justice, thus, extends the community of justice, framing the relational existence of human and non‐human ecologies as a matter of justice.     

Ulama in Islamic Law‐Making and Adjudication in Contemporary Egypt

The article examines the legislative and judicial tasks of Islamic jurists and how they carried it out in constitutional or general legal structure. While the Pakistani experiment was inspired by the Iranian model of jurists' involvement in legislatures, Egypt took a different path by not recognizing any official role for Islamic jurists with ambiguous recognition of Islamic jurisprudence. The legislative role could take the form of incorporating Islamic jurists into the legislature, establishing a committee partially made up of Islamic jurists, or handing over some legislative task to an Islamic jurisprudential institution. Despite the fact that Islamization was intended to respond to the people's requests, it employed autocratic and authoritarian mechanisms. The project attempted to replace the typical class of socially recognized jurists with appointed committees entrusted with Islamic codification. The experiment was challenged for its operation and its Islamicity but never introduced Shari'a courts or Islamic clerical legislation.