Mombasa Island: A Maritime Perspective

Mombasa’s strategic position on the Swahili Coast and fine harbours were key factors in its emergence as a prosperous city state during the early second millennium AD. These same attributes drew the attention of rival powers in the struggle to control the lucrative Indian Ocean trade network, particularly during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Drawing from a rich legacy of cartographic and documentary sources created in the course of Mombasa’s turbulent history, this paper presents the results of a coastal archaeological survey undertaken in 2001 as part of a wider collaborative maritime project.     

Monuments in the Desert: A Maritime Landscape in Namibia

Eduard Bohlen II, wrecked in 1909 on the coast of Namibia in Africa, has an illustrious history, which is part of a larger maritime cultural landscape linked to the diamond mining industry. The ship, like many artifacts and sites, served many different purposes over time and the historical and archaeological record incorporates different levels of meaning, some of which may be nationally divisive or reconciliatory. The role of historical archaeologists is not only to document, interpret, preserve and manage grandiose elements of heritage that evoke stakeholder nationalism, but also to explore the mundane, unsavory aspects of the historical narrative. In 2010, a team from the Program in Maritime Studies of East Carolina University supported by the Maritime Archaeology Division of the Windhoek Underwater Club investigated a surf boat, diamond mining settlement and some of the remaining structure of Eduard Bohlen II, while posing mitigation and management questions about legacy of historical memory within Skeleton Coast Park.     

Maritime Cultural Landscape: A New Approach to the Cascais Coastline

Portuguese Archaeology only recently began to address the concept of maritime cultural landscape. In this article we intend to analyze the impact that this kind of approach has upon the study of a littoral characterized by a cliffed coast and a seafloor that is morphologically complicated by the estuary influences of the Atlantic Ocean and the Tagus River. The coast of Cascais, located near Lisbon, is the space that we wish to address with this epistemological paradigm. A large spectrum of sites composed of fortresses, lighthouses, harbors, anchorages, and shipwrecks permits a longue durée examination. The relationships and networks between humans and archaeological remains, directly and indirectly linked to the nautical past, are observed diachronically with a focus on the early Modern Period.     

Fieldwork Methodology in South American Maritime Archaeology: A Critical Review

In archaeology, data obtained from the analysis of material evidence (i.e., the archaeological record) from extensive excavations have been a significant means for the ultimate development of interpretations about human life in the past. Therefore, the methodological procedures and tools employed during fieldwork are of crucial importance due to their effect on the information likely to be recovered. In the case of maritime archaeology, the development of rigorous methods and techniques allowed for reaching outcomes as solid as those from the work performed on land. These improvements constituted one of the principal supports—if not, the most important pillar—for its acceptance as a scientific field of study. Over time, the growing diversity of sites under study (e.g., shipwrecks, ports, dockyards, and prehistoric settlements) and the underwater environments encountered made it clear that there was a need for the application of specific methodological criteria, in accordance with the particularities of the sites and of each study (e.g., the research aims and the available resources). This article presents some ideas concerning the methodologies used in South American investigations that have exhibited a strong emphasis on the analysis of historical shipwrecks (the sixteenth to twentieth centuries). Based on a state-of-the-knowledge review of these research projects, in particular where excavations were conducted, the article focuses on the details of the main strategies adopted and results achieved. The ideas proposed in this article can be useful as a starting point for future activities of surveying, recording, and excavating shipwrecks.     

史前蒙古人种海洋扩散研究——岭南树皮布文化发现及其意义

在人类衣服历史上,发源于中国的纺织丝布和楮树皮的无纺布,同样是具有世界性影响的重大发明。树皮布技术自南中国南向经中南半岛,席卷东南亚岛屿后,从海路上跨过太平洋岛屿进入中美洲。树皮布在中美洲更广泛被用作纸,具有记载文字的功能,对中美洲的历史影响至为深钜。     

The Flood Problems of Venice

Abstract

Although Venice has been flooded occasionally for centuries, it experienced its highest flood in 1966, with water 1.94 m above sea level. Since then there has been wide controversy, scientifically and politically, about the best measures to prevent a re-occurrence; these are here reviewed in some detail. Of the five civil engineering solutions proposed, only one, the Agiltec Project A and B, has ever been made public and the arguments for and against it are here presented; the Project as well as the other four solutions were rejected by the Government. The flood problems of Venice have now been submerged in the general Italian political turmoil and if government in action persists, the consequences may be tragic.     

东方威尼斯 水上文莱

<正>文莱全名文莱达鲁萨兰国,是被马来西亚包围着的国家,它并不是大多数中国旅行者的旅行目的地,但是在欧美游客中,它却有着极好的口碑和很大一部分推崇者。来文莱之前,我对它的了解仅限于寥寥的数行文字,知道它地处东南亚,是一个富庶的小国,有丰富的石油资源,并且至今拥有自     

Roman Navigation in Venice Lagoon: the Results of Underwater Research

Venice lagoon formed part of a network of inland waterways used for navigation in the northern Adriatic, an almost continuous system of lakes, river‐mouths and canals, at least partly pre‐Roman in origin. The fossae which cross the present lagoon are the continuation of a complex system of natural watercourses and artificial canals between Ravenna and Aquileia. Two Roman buildings discovered on the present San Felice canal could be interpreted as providing navigational assistance at points linking the sea and inland routes. © 2009 The Authors     

蒙特威尔第的剧作对威尼斯歌剧乐派的影响

威尼斯是座美丽的水城 ,城里河流纵横 ,舟楫如梭 ,发达的水上交通使得这座城市很早就成为繁荣的商业都市。威尼斯市民拥有雄厚的经济力量 ,为适应娱乐生活需要 ,1 6 37年建立了历史上第一座公开歌剧院——圣·卡西亚诺歌剧院 ,从此改变了歌剧仅在宫廷演出 ,供贵族享用的状况 ,也为歌剧的发展开拓了新的天地。不久 ,又陆续开设了几家剧院 ,同时演出。整个 1 7世纪上演了近四百部歌剧 ,成了早期意大利歌剧的中心地之一。威尼斯歌剧乐派的形成与蒙特威尔第是分不开的。克劳第奥·蒙特威尔第 1 5 6 7年出生在意大利北部克雷蒙那的一个医生家庭。…