Crossing the Indian Ocean before the Periplus: a comparison of pottery assemblages at the sites of Sumhuram (Oman) and Tissamaharama (Sri Lanka)

There is a long tradition of studies of the Indian Ocean trade focused almost exclusively on the trade between Roman Egypt and India. Less attention has been paid to the formative period of early historical long‐distance trade in the Indian Ocean. The aim of this paper is to discuss some aspects of the development of this trade, based on an analysis of the South Asian pottery found at two different settlements: Sumhuram in the Sultanate of Oman and Tissamaharama in Sri Lanka.     

From huey altepemeh to civitates christianae: Considering a Franciscan collective agency project on Indian cathedral cities in post-Tridentine Central Mexico (1567–1585)

In this paper, we suggest a new analytical approach on a less-known and poorly investigated topic about early Church history in New Spain: the will to develop an institutionalized regular diocesan machinery in order to rearrange a Franciscan missionary Indian project with Tridentine Catholic ecumenical outcomes. To achieve that, we both report and analyze a wide spectrum of European and New Spain archival, documentary, and bibliographical sources related to the main Indian settlements, urbanism, and populations; Seraphic authorities, and civil vice-regal and royal officers. Preliminarily, we hypothesize that Indian ciudades were assumed to be the principal laboratories of this Seraphic-led project to strengthen friars’ traditional preeminence in a highly disputed colonial Christian theatre.     

Ideology and British expansion in Bengal, 1757–72

Accounts of the early stages of British expansion in India have tended to emphasise its unplanned and opportunistic character; they have often seen the motors of expansion lying within unstable Indian states or in the need of the East India Company to meet the costs of fast-growing armies. Reviewing the evidence from Bengal between 1757 and 1772, this article argues that a distinctive kind of frontier patriotism generated in the East India Company's Indian settlements constituted an important ideological context for its conquests. Company servants routinely derided Indian rulers as Asiatic despots, or ‘faithless’ Muslims. Their sense of Indian rulers as degenerate and corrupt both fuelled military aggression, and also made some Britons suppose that the East India Company could effect rapid reforms in Bengal, drawing out previously untapped surpluses from the agrarian base. At the same time, the need to forge alliances within the old regime encouraged some Company officials to adopt a more conciliatory tone, and to imagine that viable systems of political order existed within the traditions of the Mughal empire.     

Settlement in Lumber-Industry Regions of the USSR

About 80% of the population in Soviet logging and rafting areas is non-urban and lives in 6000 lumbering settlements assigned to the rural category. The majority of these places are small, crude settlements without adequate services that exist for periods of about 20 years until the surrounding timber stands have been depleted. It is suggested that area planning and diversification of forest utilization can improve the settling pattern, working and living conditions and the provision of services through the concentration of population in larger, modern central settlements supplemented by mobile dormitory camps in timber-felling areas situated beyond an optimal commuting distance. Existing and proposed settling patterns are illustrated with particular reference to a logging area in the western Urals.     

Harvesting molluscs in the Eneolithic: a study of freshwater bivalve accumulations from the tell settlements of Borduşani-Popină and Hârşova (Romania, 5th millennium BC)

Freshwater bivalve shells are frequently identified in faunal assemblages from Neo-Eneolithic tell settlements along the Danube River valley in South-East Romania (5th millennium BC). Up until now, significant accumulations of freshwater bivalve shells have been identified only in household refuse areas of the settlements, where they form consistent shell layers. The origin and formation of such shell accumulations and, more generally, the role of bivalves in the animal economy of the prehistoric populations that inhabited the settlements, are poorly understood. Two freshwater bivalve shell accumulations were studied in household refuse areas of Eneolithic tell settlements, one at Bordu?ani-Popin? and the other at Hâr?ova tell. The occurrence of similar accumulations in the two settlements indicates generalized practices between the two communities. This first study of such accumulations addresses the relationship between bivalves and other animal species used in alimentation by the two Eneolithic communities, as well as the relationships between these communities, their environment, and the evolution of the settlements. Bivalves were harvested in the close vicinity of the settlements and large quantities were obtained only towards the end of the summer season. During this season there is an inverse relationship between high water levels in the river and the availability of bivalves for harvesting. Bivalves played an important role in the alimentation of the prehistoric populations – at Hâr?ova tell their contribution to alimentation in terms of energetic yield surpasses that of fish, at least for the short period of time represented by the stratigraphic sequence analysed. Bivalve shells were used, along with other types of household refuse, in construction techniques aimed at limiting soil humidity in the settlements and inside the dwellings.     

The culture history of Madagascar

Madagascar's culture is a unique fusion of elements drawn from the western, northern, and eastern shores of the Indian Ocean, and its past has fascinated many scholars, yet systematic archaeological research is relatively recent on the island. The oldest traces of visitors are from the first century AD. Coastal settlements, with clear evidence of ties to the western Indian Ocean trading network, were established in several places over the next millennium. Important environmental changes of both plant and animal communities are documented over this period, including the extinctions of almost all large animal species. Urban life in Madagascar began with the establishment of the entrepôt of Mahilaka on the northwest coast of the island in the twelfth century. At about the same time, communities with ties to the trade network were established around the island's coasts. From the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, social hierarchies developed in several regions of the island. During the succeeding two centuries, Madagascar saw the development of state polities.     

Variations in the Spatial Pattern of Settlement Locations: An Analysis Based on Proportional Hazards Models

Models based on hazard functions are used to analyze spatial trends in the distance intervals separating point locations. The proportional hazards model, which has been widely applied to analyze intervals of time, is used to investigate variation in the spacing of settlements in Nebraska. This model allows spatial trends in the intervals between settlements to be investigated under very general conditions regarding the interdependence of settlement locations and permits the coordinate locations of the intervals to be treated as spatially varying covariates. An empirical analysis reveals an East-West trend in the spacing of settlements.     

Paleoenvironment and anthracology: determination of variations in humidity based on anatomical characters in archealogical plant charcoal (Ambato Valley,Catamarca, Argentina)

Anatomical features related to water deficiency were analyzed in archaeological plant charcoal as a paleoenvironmental indicator. The end of the Aguada settlements in the Valley of Ambato (Catamarca, Argentina), which took place towards the end of the first millennium of this era, was used as the case study. Tools from Ecological Anatomy were applied to recreate paleoenvironmental scenery for the studied processes. The results of the analyses showed that this area must have been undergoing a period of arid conditions during the studied period.     

16—20世纪滇池流域的乡村聚落与人地关系——以柴河三角洲为例

本文选取滇池南缘的柴河三角洲为研究对象,试图在小尺度范围内复原明清以来柴河三角洲乡村聚落的发展、分布,并进一步揭示明清以降在人类活动加剧的背景下滇池流域的人地互动。研究发现,从明代中后期至清代,柴河三角洲在滇池水利开发、三角洲营田技术的运用以及南岸入滇河流自然沉积的共同作用下得以迅速沉积,最终形成于18世纪。聚落随着三角洲的沉积不断向滇池岸边拓展。受到土地开发过程和土壤肥力分布等因素的影响,聚落分布的密度则从三角洲上部到底端逐渐递减。     

Geoarchaeology and Archaeological Site Patterning on the Middle Gila River,Arizona

Abstract

Archaeological surveys and prehistoric settlement patterns are best interpreted when placed on a geomorphic map that defines the distribution and age of physical landforms. Survey data can thus be used to address questions of archaeological site visibility and synchronic and diachronic site patterning on the Gila River Indian Reservation, Arizona. A chronological series of alluvial and eolian landforms are defined on the reservation. The age of the landforms and underlying sediments has affected the preservation and visibility of the archaeological record. Further, late prehistoric Hohokam settlements (A.D. 700–1500) and their associated agricultural lands show a clear landform zonation and that the intensity of use of these landforms has changed over time.     

国内乡村聚落研究进展与展望

乡村聚落是乡村地理学的一个主要研究领域。本文在简述国外乡村聚落研究进展基础上,对国内乡村聚落研究进展进行了评述,同时也分析了研究存在不足,并展望了未来研究重点与方向。国内乡村聚落研究主要集中在聚落区位、规模、类型与分类、体系、空间结构以及空间演变等方面。未来研究的主要趋向应为:乡村聚落体系与职能的研究;城镇化、工业化过程中乡村聚落演变趋势预测研究;不同社会经济发展水平、不同尺度和不同地形下的乡村聚落研究;乡村聚落转型与重构研究;乡村聚落理论研究和跨学科多元化交叉研究。     

基于DPSIR模型的城市人居环境韧性评价——以长三角城市群为例

本文将韧性原理引入到人居环境中,首次对城市人居环境韧性进行定量研究.基于DPSIR模型构建城市人居环境韧性评价指标体系,综合运用熵值法、GIS空间分析法和地理探测器技术,以2006、2010、2014、2018年为研究时间节点,对长三角城市群26个城市的人居环境韧性时空演化特征及影响因素进行分析.研究发现:①长三角城市...     

论14世纪英国的聚落环境与黑死病传播

黑死病在14世纪的英国流行期间,既有遍及全国的普遍性,又体现出不同人群和地域之间的差异性。这种流行特点与当时英国的聚落环境密切相关。其中,聚落空间环境为鼠、蚤、人的紧密共存创造了条件,聚落社会环境则使得瘟疫可以在人与人之间迅速传播;同时,这两者还相互联系,依据不同的社会、自然条件,对瘟疫的传播形成影响。但无论是聚落空间环境,还是聚落社会环境,都是在特定的自然和社会条件下人类创造的一种生存和生活环境,因此瘟疫可以依托聚落环境而肆虐,亦可随着聚落环境的改变而受到控制。在这背后,则是人在与瘟疫博弈中获得主动的不懈努力。     

A Pre-Lapita Structure at Apalo,Arawe Islands,Papua New Guinea

Stilt structures in the inter-tidal zone or over shallow water on fringing reefs are widely accepted as a feature of settlements of the Lapita cultural complex in Near Oceania. Claims for similar structures in a pre-Lapita context at the Apalo site in the Arawe Islands, New Britain, Papua New Guinea, have been queried on several grounds. Re-evaluation of the Apalo evidence, together with 10 additional AMS radiocarbon dates, establishes human activity associated with some form of structure and possibly with a ground stone axe about 400–500 years before the Lapita pottery occupation. The paucity of occupational refuse suggests a non-residential structure perhaps associated with water transport. Comparisons with the older Dongan midden site in the Sepik-Ramu basin suggest stilt structures were probably used there as well. An apparent shift in depositional processes between the pre-Lapita and Lapita use of Apalo could reflect changed sea conditions arising from increased ENSO activity.     

The End of Town-life in Scythia Minor

The transition from 'town-life' to 'life-in-town' defined by several British archaeologists could be applied to 6th-century Scythia Minor. The economic crisis and the barbarian inroads caused an evolution from towns with a military function toward ruralized settlements, and finally to the extinction of these cities. The ruralization spread step by step over the entire province during the last third of the 6th century and at the beginning of the 7th. The dissolution of town-life did not always represent conversion to a rural economy. Some settlements preserved for a certain time the functions of the urban economy, but in different conditions. The coastal towns resisted better.     

Unruly topographies: unemployment, citizenship and land settlement in inter-war Wales

Between 1934 and 1939, over 5000 people, mainly ex-miners and their families, were settled in government-owned land settlements in England and Wales. This policy emerged as a response to mass unemployment, and complemented other schemes for the unemployed developed by the inter-war National Government. This paper will consider the geographical conditions that were imagined, realized and contested in these settlements. Acknowledging the hybrid and liminal nature of these spaces, the paper mobilizes new work in cultural and historical geography and draws out the heterotopic potential of the settlement programme.     

Riparian environment in shaping social and economic behavior during the first phase of the evolution of Late Neolithic tell complexes in SE Hungary (6th/5th millennia BC)

The period corresponding to the initial phase of cultural evolution in the Late Neolithic of SE Hungary (turn of the 6th and 5th millennia) is characterized by a major transformation recorded both in settlement structure and strategy, as well as material culture of the agrarian societies settled in the SE part of the Great Hungarian Plains. According to the available chronological data and archeology from the sites of multi-layered settlement complexes (tells) located on natural highs of the floodplain of the River Tisza, during the initial phase of its evolution representatives of the Tisza Culture were mainly confined to the SE part of the Great Hungarian Plains south of the Körös River. This period was followed by a relatively stable phase lasting about 150 years which hallmarked the greatest northward expansion of the culture. Some studies noticed strange features in connection with the first settlement complexes dated to the first period especially along the northern borderline of the culture’s distribution; i.e. a loose cluster of distinct settlement nuclei instead of concentration of settlements to a confined area characteristic of tells. Furthermore, by the end of the first phase, in the evolution of some settlements a northward shift of the houses away from the water was recorded. Most likely these reflect a socioeconomic response to some transformation in the local and/or regional riparian environment. As shown by our data gained from the paleoecological analysis of freshwater mollusks from a tell site, the referred pre-transitional period was characterized by pronounced floods causing major perturbations in the regional riparian environment. At the same time, the introduction of new subsistence strategies including shellfishing and fishing and the reordering of settlement structure was also recorded at several sites implying a successful adaptation to such most likely climate-induced perturbation, which is contemporary with the 5.1 ky event known in the literature.     

Small‐scale schooling and national development

In Greenland the conditions of the small settlement schools are very different from those of the large urban schools. And the opportunities (concerning further education and/or employment) for the young adults from the settlements are rather bad: Most of the young persons in settlements grow up to be unemployed and uneducated living on social welfare. Concerning the causes of the problems this paper calls attention to the importance of a multi‐factor theory operating on three levels: 1) Social factors in the settlement. 2) Factors in the school system. 3) Psychological factors.