Settlement and Trade from AD 500 to 1800 at Angoche,Mozambique

Angoche was an important historic trading port on the northern Mozambique coast. A maritime archaeological survey was undertaken of the islands and mainland to study Swahili trade, clarify the sequence of settlement development and record the exploitation of resources during the medieval and post-medieval periods. Previous archaeological investigations have revealed local ceramics from the early second millennium AD and imports from the late fifteenth century. According to oral traditions and ancient sources, Angoche’s growth is associated with the arrival of coastal settlers from Kilwa in 1485. The survey revealed evidence for occupation dating from c. AD 500 and trading evidence from the late first millennium AD. Artefacts from the thirteenth to sixteenth century on the islands are similar to those found at Kilwa and Sofala, which shows a link to Kilwa earlier than the oral traditions and the name of one of the Angoche Islands ‘Quilua’, is Kilwa in Portuguese. The islands are well resourced in terms of rice, mangrove wood, seafood and farmland and offer sheltered inlets and access to the coastal trade route. The name of Angoche relates to a port of call and the presence of ninth-tenth-century- storage vessels from southern Iran supports this theory. Traded glass and ceramic artifacts and beads increase from the late medieval period revealing that Angoche became an important and wealthy entrepôt. The lack of coral limestone and reef coral, on the sandy Angoche Islands, indicates some building materials would have had to have been imported. Although many buildings would have been made of wood, some stone ruins are likely to have been demolished and burnt to make lime. The original stratigraphy of many sites has been destroyed by aeolian and marine processes but the survey has shown that valuable information on settlement location and ethnographic practices can still be recovered.     

Shipwreck Evidence from Kilwa,Tanzania

This article reports on the artefacts and environment of marine ballast and pottery sites identified through inter‐tidal and underwater survey around Kilwa, Tanzania, one of the most important medieval sultanates along the east African coast. An inter‐tidal site on the limestone fringing reef on the approaches to Kilwa Kisiwani Harbour and an underwater site within the harbour have been dated from associated pottery to c.8th–10th century and the 13th–16th century respectively. The presence of exotic basalt ballast is discussed as an indicator of wreck‐sites.     

Inter-Tidal Causeways and Platforms of the 13th- to 16th-Century City-State of Kilwa Kisiwani, Tanzania

Survey of the coastal and inter-tidal zone at Kilwa in Tanzania resulted in the discovery of a series of artificial causeways and platforms at the entrance to the harbour of Kilwa Kisiwani, an important port trading with East Africa and southern Asia from around the 13th century. These appear to be part of a phase of monumental stone building at Kilwa in the 13th to 16th centuries, and represent a prosperous, confident Kilwa, impressing foreigners arriving by sea. Although necessarily speculative, several possible interpretations of their functions are advanced including navigation, protective breakwaters, access to marine resources, or ceremonial use.
© 2007 The Author     

Architectural Aesthetics,Orientations, and Reuse at the Terminal Classic Maya Site of Ucanal,Petén,Guatemala

ABSTRACT

The Terminal Classic period (ca. a.d. 830–950/1000) in the Southern Maya Lowlands is known as a time in which investments in public architecture and vaulted masonry buildings began to wane. Masonry constructions have often been noted to be of poorer quality in comparison with previous phases. Moving beyond models of scarcity, this paper examines the aesthetics, meanings, and reorientations of architectural projects at the site of Ucanal, Petén, Guatemala during the Terminal Classic period. We highlight three processes that were central to the new architectural programs at the site: an emphasis on the aesthetics of wood, the reorientation of sacred space in residential contexts, and the fragmentation and reuse of buildings and monuments. Although these materials and processes are often associated with a loss of splendor, we suggest that they were part of an active architectural revisionism, one that remade history by reworking the old and reorienting the new.     

A survey of the Nabataean/Roman Site,Umm at-Tawabin,Ghor as-Safi,Jordan

Umm at-Tawabin is an extensive Nabataean/Roman site overlooking Wadi al-‘Arabah in southern Jordan. The site, as a whole, consists of a number of buildings, circular stone structures, a roadway and other features that are fortified, for the most part, by a lengthy wall and with a predominance of Nabataean and Roman surface pottery on the ground. Up until now, the site has only been documented in brief in a handful of survey reports since its discovery in the late nineteenth century and its chronology has since been the subject of some conjecture among scholars. With a grant from the Palestine Exploration Fund, the author has sought to better understand the occupational history of this undoubted historically important site through survey and by extension, a study of its surface pottery and architectural remains.     

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE ORIGINS OF VARIATION IN PERISHABLE ARCHITECTURE AT JONATHAN CREEK

Abstract

The Jonathan Creek site in Kentucky was excavated in the early 1940s in an effort to uncover the community plan of an entire Mississippian town and mound center. Although the project terminated prematurely, the remnants of 89 structures representing a diverse array of architectural foundation styles were documented. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of multiple attributes, such as posthole diameter and spacing, wall-trench width and depth, roof supports, and floor area, are necessary to adequately parse the variation in architectural style, construct inferences about the aboveground appearance of buildings, and suggest origins for the diverse construction methods used at the site. At least some of the distinctive differences in foundation preparation would have resulted in diversity in the appearance of finished buildings. Time is not wholly adequate to explain this diversity. Technological and functional choices made by the ancient builders account for some of this variation, while social, genealogical, and ethnic differences, and possibly distinctive ritual customs and traditions among the residents, explain other sources of variation.     

Modernist Unreinforced Masonry (URM) Buildings of Barcelona: Seismic Vulnerability and Risk Assessment

The main objective of this work is to assess the vulnerability and seismic risk of typical existing modernist unreinforced masonry (URM) modernist buildings and aggregates situated in the Eixample district of Barcelona, part of the architectural heritage of the city. The context of the analysis is the methodology proposed by the Risk-UE project. The buildings are characterized by their capacity spectrum and the earthquake demand is defined by the 5% damped elastic response spectrum, considering deterministic and probabilistic earthquake scenarios. A discussion addresses the basis of the seismic damage states probabilities and the calculated damage index. An important research effort has been focused on the buildings modeling. All the architectural elements and their mechanical properties have been studied and evaluated accurately. It has been evidenced that a detailed and complete knowledge of all the structural elements existing in this type of buildings influence directly their behavior and hence the calculations and the results. The analysis of the isolated buildings and of the aggregate building has been performed for both mentioned seismic scenarios. Finally, a complete discussion of the results is included.     

Revisiting Historic Buildings through the Senses Visualising Aural and Obscured Aspects of San Vitale,Ravenna

Applying new information technologies to Cultural Heritage enables us to discover the unexplored characteristics of visual and aural attributes of historic buildings. In this article a new technology to measure acoustic 3D Impulse Responses in historic interiors is described and applied to the sixth-century church of San Vitale at Ravenna, Italy. The virtual reconstruction of this important UNESCO World Heritage Site revealed otherwise obscured yet intentional details of its architectural design. The results of measuring the internal spatial parameters are used to recreate San Vitale’s historical components and to re-sound original music of the little known Ravennate rite.     

Do the Buildings Really Matter? Czech,Polish and Slovak Museums and Centres of Contemporary Art in Adapted Buildings

This paper discusses the connection between museums and centres of contemporary art operating in adapted buildings, on the one hand, and on the other, the history of the place where the buildings are located. I discuss seven discrete case studies, representing a variety of approaches to buildings and the areas in which they operate, in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. My analysis of each case study covers four main subject areas: (1) discussions connecting the building’s history with its new role; (2) the architectural features and appearance of the building; (3) references3 to the history of the site in the institution’s programme and communication; and (4) efforts to build bonds with local communities. In my conclusions, I argue that the identity of the institution may either be rooted in the history of the place presented and discussed in its programme, or be independent of the history of the building but nonetheless connected to the area in which it is located.     

Chemical composition of architectural plaster at the Classic Maya kingdom of Piedras Negras,Guatemala

Architectural plaster from elite masonry structures at the Classic Maya kingdom of Piedras Negras, Guatemala, is examined. Chemical composition is determined through X-ray fluorescence and compared statistically. Based on this sample, it was observed that any single masonry building was coated with plaster made from a single source of limestone and limestone-based aggregate, but that architectural plaster from different buildings across the site varied in chemical composition. It is concluded that this pattern is best accounted for by a model of rotational labor obligations to the state, with spatially distinct groups being responsible for manufacturing plaster for specific buildings.     

土库曼尼萨城的色彩：雕塑的彩饰和古代土库曼斯坦的建筑

帕提亚帝国（公元前二世纪）最有意义的遗址之一当属现今位于土库曼斯坦南部的旧尼萨城。从二十世纪到今天,土库曼斯坦,俄罗斯和意大利的探险队已经带回来了一些纪念性的东西和一些我们所熟知的这段重要历史和文化时期里的工艺品。尤其是意大利都灵的考古探险队从上世纪90年代就已经活跃在这个地区,与当地的博物馆合作挖掘了许多有纪念价值的藏品并对这个藏品进行了一些研究。对挖掘出的藏品的彩饰的初步研究已经进行了很久。因为很明显在很多情况下这些藏品是无法移动的,采样也很困难,所以我们决定直接在现场（Ashgabat国家博物馆）测量鉴定。我们用了许多实验性的技术,无破坏性、无伤害性的测量以及传统的方法（包括分层部分碎片的研究和衍射分析）。这个研究是关于从所谓的RoundHall和RedBuilding（1990—2006）出土的粘土塑像、陶瓦建筑元素、壁画以及石膏等。尽管意大利专家所收集到的数据还没有完全处理,但已经可以帮助我们更好的了解这些出土品的生产过程,让我们对古尼萨的工艺品制造者的“调色板”有了一个更清楚的认识。这篇文章的目的是展示这些初步的研究成果,并同时提出对古尼萨主要内部建筑重建的假设。     

Site Conservation in Morocco: The Emergence of a Practice at Aghmat

Abstract

It is still uncommon for foreign and national archaeological excavations in Morocco to include architectural or site conservators during the excavation and post-excavation periods. The few existing examples of conservation have all been carried out long after the site or the building had been excavated. The site conservation activities during the Aghmat excavations in summer 2006 illustrate how the presence of archaeological conservators, advising the archaeological team and implementing urgent interventions, has ensured a safe excavation and has contributed to the preservation of the physical integrity of the excavated buildings. The excavation of the imposing archaeological features of the medieval bath of Aghmat provided the first opportunity in Moroccan archaeology for Moroccan archaeological conservators to be involved in condition assessment, planning, and provision of conservation activities to preserve the bath.

The primary aim of this paper is to present the site conservation experience in the Aghmat project, which is the first such project to be initiated during an excavation, and to be conducted mainly by a Moroccan team; it aims also to highlight the conservation procedures adopted and to incite discussion.     

An architectural analysis of the Hot Bath and Cross Bath,Bath, 1997–2003

Abstract

These baths represent two very significant architectural pieces within a city famed for innovation in that field. The Hot Bath was designed by the internationally renowned John Wood the Younger, the Cross Bath by Thomas Baldwin, ‘principal creator of Bath’. As public buildings focused on bathing, their design needed to reflect changing social attitudes as well as the latest architectural fashion. An opportunity to study the buildings between 1997 and 2003 demonstrated how circulation and division within public buildings could be used to help manage ever-changing social demands, whilst maintaining at least some of the integrity of their historic, architectural vision.     

Mediæval Military Architecture in England

Recent survey of the late twelfth- to early thirteenth-century chancel of St Mary's church, New Shoreham (Grade I listed) has revealed traces of two consecutive medieval paint schemes on the architecture, dating from c. 1210. No previous research or publication has taken account of these remains, which indicate the original interior appearance of this large and historic parish church. Samples of the paint have been scientifically analysed, revealing the pigments used and their stratigraphic relationship across the survey area; the identification of carbon black on architectural features is particularly important. Comparison with other ecclesiastical buildings in England and on the Continent indicates that St Mary's chancel is a key example of a widespread decorative scheme of red-and-black architectural polychromy, reinforcing its significance as an exemplar of early Gothic style in medieval England.     

Preserving ‘the Enemy’s’ architecture: preservation and gentrification in a formerly Palestinian Jerusalem neighbourhood

This article relates to the preservation of Palestinian buildings in Jerusalem and raises the question why state-sanctioned institutions act to preserve Palestinian architecture built pre-1948, bearing in mind the context of a difficult past and an on-going conflict? The article addresses the manner in which Jerusalem’s authorised heritage discourse focuses only on preserving Palestinian buildings’ tangible aspects (architectural styles), and not on intangible aspects such as the narrative of their builders. The main argument is that while preservation is presented as a civilised practice, it is driven by the commodification of the buildings and sites and their valued ‘authenticity’. The common practice is to ‘preserve’ these buildings by developing them to create more housing units. This practice inevitably leads to gentrification. Moreover, even when intangible aspects of heritage are pushed aside, preserving these buildings comes with the ‘risk’ of them being used as memory sites for subaltern groups. The article focuses on one formerly Palestinian West Jerusalem neighbourhood, Baka, where gentrification was triggered by historic Palestinian homes and where the neighbourhood’s development continues to be linked with historic preservation.     

Architectural Energetics, Ancient Monuments, and Operations Management

Architectural energetics, subsumed within replicative archaeology, provides a means through which buildings are translated into labor-time estimates. To date, the majority of architectural energetics analyses have generated comparative measures of architectural costs, equating these with a vertical structure of political power and authority within and among societies. The present analysis expands the application of architectural energetics by subjecting construction labor costs to an analysis based on concepts central to the Theory of Constraints, which is widely applied in modern operations management. This modeling generates a hypothetical set of behavioral patterns performed by general laborers within a construction project and explicates a method which allows further exploration into the question of labor organization (i.e., allocation and articulation of workers), as well as perhaps other economic organization, in an archaeological context. The case example is Structure 10L-22, a large Mayan palace at the site of Copan, Honduras.     

In the Palace of the Fallen king: The Royal Residential Complex at Aguateca,Guatemala

Abstract

The Aguateca Archaeological Project extensively excavated two structures (M7-22 andM7-32) in the Palace Group of the Late Classic Maya (A.C. 600–830) center of Aguateca, Guatemala. Multiple lines of evidence, including site layout, architectural features, soil chemistry, objects stored in a sealed room, and abandonment processes, suggest that these were the buildings where the ruler and his family lived and worked. The use of space in these structures shows some similarities to those of the rapidly abandoned elite residences at Aguateca and of palace-type buildings at other Maya centers. The occupants of this royal complex retained a certain level of visibility, indicating the importance of the ruler’s body as the focus of theatrical display. After the royal family evacuated the center, an invading enemy ritually destroyed these buildings, attesting the symbolic importance of the royal residences. The center was almost completely abandoned after this incursion.     

湖北潜江龙湾放鹰台Ⅰ号楚宫基址发掘简报

湖北省潜江市龙湾放鹰台Ⅰ号台基东周楚宫殿基址自1987年至2001年历时几个春冬的发掘,发掘面积共350平方米。揭露出东周楚宫殿基址的一、二、三层台主体建筑及其附属建筑遗迹。出土了一大批建筑遗物和铜、陶质生活器皿。为多学科的研究楚文化及楚宫殿建筑艺术提供了丰富的实物资料。     

Standing buildings and built heritage

SUMMARY: This essay examines the available archive of articles on standing buildings published in Post-Medieval Archaeology. After setting out some general trends evident in a brief analysis of the number of buildings archaeology articles published over the last 50 years, their subjects and authors, this essay places these articles in three key wider contexts: the relationship of buildings archaeology to architectural history; buildings archaeology in Post-Medieval Archaeology in an international context; and the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology’s relative lack of engagement with modern buildings and contemporary built heritage.