Views into the Fragments: An Approach from a Microhistorical Perspective

The approach I call the “singularization of history,” which I have been developing in recent years within the methodological structure of microhistory, is the main subject of this article. It has the precise aim of defining the ways in which scholars can use sources to enter into the past in as detailed and varied a way as possible without becoming trapped within the received channels of the grand narratives. I will make an attempt to demonstrate what the Icelandic School of Microhistory (ISM) is all about and its connection to the scribal culture in the country, as well as the importance of ego-documents for microhistorical analysis. The central element in the analysis of this paper will be the sources themselves—their creation, their context within the events they describe, the opportunities they present for analysis, and in what kind of academic context they have become a subject for enquiry.     

An Experimental Approach to the Disaggregation of Samples from Peat Deposits

Abstract

Excavations carried out at Dudley Castle recovered an assemblage of animal bones dominated by horse from the vaulted cellar beneath the Great Hall. The deposit dates to c. 1710 and appears to have been the result of partial butchery of several aged horses. The possible interpretations are discussed and it seems likely that the deposit represents the leftover waste of a knacker.     

A Cost-Benefit Location-Allocation Model for Public Facilities: An Econometric Approach

This research develops and operationalizes a facility location-allocation model based on cost-benefit principles derived from welfare economics. Despite the theoretical advantages of cost-benefit location-allocation models, the difficulties associated with estimating household preferences for public facilities have heretofore prevented their application. This research demonstrates that the hedonic-pricing methodology can be effectively used to estimate preferences for public facilities. Specifically, household preferences for Baltimore public middle schools were estimated from the spatial variation in housing prices using the random bidding model. To provide an example of the methodology, the cost-benefit location-allocation objective function was maximized to simultaneously determine the optimal number, quality, and locations of Baltimore middle schools. The cost-benefit approach to facility location constitutes a major improvement over existing methods because it directly incorporates user preferences into the objective function and because the number and quality of facilities can be determined endogenously rather than being specified as a constraint a priori.     

旅游流的研究及旅游"双流"系统的构建

在市场经济下,旅游客源地与旅游目的地的空间相互作用,通过旅游者、旅游企业、地方政府和相关社会团体的行为,形成旅游者流和旅游业生产要素流,后者包括资金流、人才流、技术流、信息流和物质流,二者的合流统称为旅游流。本文首先对旅游流的相关研究作了综述,然后结合各种示意图,阐述了旅游流的结构,并在旅游流的概念基础上构建旅游“双流”系统。旅游流的概念有助于人们理解旅游活动,而旅游“双流”系统为区域旅游发展规划提供了一个新的概念模型。     

从旅游者需求探讨我国旅行社业发展的潜力和方向

本文从旅游消费者需求角度探讨目前我国旅行社的不足之处、产生原因及改进的一些建议,探讨我国旅行社业发展的潜力和方向。     

An Activity-Based Learning Approach for Key Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Concepts

This study presents the effect of active learning methods of concepts in geographical information systems where students participated in a series of interlocked learning experiences. These activities spanned several teaching weeks and involved the creation of a hand drawn map that was scanned and geo-referenced with locations' coordinates derived from virtual earth systems. These activities engaged students' attention, and the completion of the activities provided opportunities for formative feedback and summative assessments. The effect of the group of activities on students' learning was quantified through the collection of summative assessment data which was compared to performance in other assessment tasks.     

Multi-image Photogrammetry for Underwater Archaeological Site Recording: An Accessible,Diver-Based Approach

This article presents a discussion of recent advances in underwater photogrammetric survey, illustrated by case studies in Scotland and Denmark between 2011 and 2013. Results from field trials are discussed with the aim of illustrating practical low-cost solutions for recording underwater archaeological sites in 3D using photogrammetry and using this data to offer enhanced recording, interpretation and analysis. We argue that the availability of integrated multi-image photogrammetry software, highly light-sensitive digital sensors and wide-aperture compact cameras, now allow for simple work flows with minimal equipment and excellent natural colour images even at depths of up to 30 m. This has changed the possibilities for underwater photogrammetric recording, which can now be done on a small scale, through the use of a single camera and automated work flow. The intention of this paper is to demonstrate the quality and versatility of the ‘one camera/ambient light/integrated software’ technique through the case studies presented and the results derived from this process. We also demonstrate how the 3D data generated can be subjected to surface analysis techniques to enhance detail and to generate data-driven fly-throughs and reconstructions, opening the door to new avenues of engagement with both specialists and the wider public.     

A Review of Ceramics from Tanzania, Malawi, and Northern Mozambique, with Implications for Swahili Archaeology

Typological approaches to locally produced ceramics have played an important role in the archaeology of Eastern Africa. This paper engages with that history as it contextualizes the ceramic material recently recovered from the region around the site of Mikindani on the southern Tanzanian coast with known traditions from the Kenyan and Tanzanian coast, Malawi, and Mozambique. That comparison reveals the shifting connections and interregional relationships the inhabitants of the Mikindani region forged over the past two millennia with other communities in the Indian Ocean world and the African interior. Mikindani's ceramics are shown to provide important evidence of the deep connections between the region and the African interior to the southwest during the early second millennium, at the expense of connections with coastal Swahili sites further north. This pattern is unusual for a coastal site during the florescence of Swahili society and the typical expansion of Swahili involvement in the Indian Ocean world at that time. The typological comparison of the Mikindani material and other regional traditions thus allows us to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the typological enterprise, in terms of what information is brought to light and what information is obscured.     

Neighborhoods and Fertility in Accra, Ghana: An AMOEBA-based Approach

Fertility levels remain high in most of sub-Saharan Africa, despite recent declines, and even in a large capital city such as Accra, Ghana, women are having children at a pace that is well above replacement level and this will contribute to significant levels of future population growth in the city. Our purpose in this paper is to evaluate the way in which neighborhood context may shape reproductive behavior in Accra. In the process, we introduce several important innovations to the understanding of intra-urban fertility levels in a sub-Saharan African city: (1) despite the near explosion of work on neighborhoods as a spatial unit of analysis, very little of this research has been conducted outside of the richer countries; (2) we characterize neighborhoods on the basis of local knowledge of what we call "vernacular neighborhoods"; (3) we then define what we call "organic neighborhoods" using a new clustering tool-the AMOEBA algorithm-to create these neighborhoods; and then (4) we evaluate and explain which of the neighborhood concepts has the largest measurable contextual effect on an individual woman's reproductive behavior. Multi-level regression analysis suggests that vernacular neighborhoods are more influential on a woman's decision to delay marriage, whereas the organic neighborhoods based on socioeconomic status better capture the factors that shape fertility decisions after marriage.     

A Comparison of Three Methods for the Extraction of Phytoliths from Sediments

This paper compares three methods commonly used to extract fossil phytoliths from sediments. A basic procedure using heavy liquid flotation and oxidation is compared with two other procedures across a range of sediment types commonly encountered in archaeological studies. The three procedures are: (1) a heavy liquid flotation method (HLF); (2) a burning method (POW); and (3) another heavy liquid flotation method (HLFPol) similar to HLF, but adapted to allow the extraction of pollen and spores as well as phytoliths, within a single process. Comparisons of the resulting output using these three techniques for phytolith extraction show that different methods can produce different results, and therefore basic techniques should be modified according to the characteristics of the sediments for which they are used. While all the techniques showed similarities in assemblage results, there were problems associated with disaggregation and effective separation of light and heavy fractions, in particular with the POW procedure. The evidence suggests that morphotype selection occurred both within the physical sorting process and in the process of inverting slides to shed excess residue; in both cases it is difficult to suggest a solution to the problem. The results show clearly that the advantages gained by using the POW procedure are largely outweighed by the problems encountered with its use, and because of possible size/shape selection, it is not recommended for general extraction procedures. The heavy liquid flotation procedures, on the other hand, are shown to produce more concentrated residues with higher levels of clarity and less potential than the POW procedure for sample bias. The use of a non-toxic heavy liquid, sodium polytungstate, now allows the process to be used in relative safety. It is recommended that analysts use heavy liquid flotation procedures with chemical treatments specific to sediment requirements.     

Chemical Variability in Clays and Pottery from a Traditional Cooking Pot Production Village: Testing Assumptions in Pereruela*

This paper explores analytically the contemporary pottery‐making community of Pereruela (north‐west Spain) that produces cooking pots from a mixture of red clay and kaolin. Analyses by different techniques (XRF, NAA, XRD, SEM and petrography) showed an extremely high variability for cooking ware pottery produced in a single production centre, by the same technology and using local clays. The main source of chemical variation is related to the use of different red clays and the presence of non‐normally distributed inclusions of monazite. These two factors induce a high chemical variability, not only in the output of a single production centre, but even in the paste of a single pot, to an extent to which chemical compositions from one ‘workshop’, or even one ‘pot’, could be classified as having different provenances. The implications for the chemical characterization and for provenance studies of archaeological ceramics are addressed.     

State Archaeology and the Private Museum: An Integrated Approach to Archaeological Site Management for Local People in China

During the emergence of Chinese archaeology, the legislative system of cultural heritage in China included archaeological excavations and investigations as being the ‘exclusive right of state’. This mode of state archaeology has proved its worth by increasing the authority and quality of archaeological research and excavations, as well as enhancing the social values and benefits at the state level. The local communities, however, have hardly been embedded into the archaeological projects, nor have the archaeological projects been employed to improve local and regional economic development. This paper considers private museums as embodying regional values and beneficial to projects under the mode of state archaeology. With a case study outlining collaborations between archaeologists and local agents under the excavation and conservation of ancient kiln sites at the town of Zichuan, I argue that private museums could be relatively prominent platforms for public engagement in activities of state archaeology. It might contribute to a reconsideration of the following: indirect archaeological concerns, local economic benefits, identities and alternative interpretations of locality.     

出土瓷器所见辽金燕云地区政治及文化变迁

燕云地区是辽金时期瓷业发展迅速且瓷器风格显著的区域之一,墓葬及塔基遗址等出土了数量众多的瓷器产品,反映了当时独特的政治环境和文化面貌。通过梳理燕云地区出土的600余件辽金时期瓷器的资料可知,辽代燕云地区瓷业的兴起和发展,与其对唐末五代瓷业的承袭以及社会各阶层对瓷器的现实需求密切相关;瓷器产地和种类的变化体现出辽金时期朝代嬗变、南北对峙等政治环境对瓷业发展的影响;典型游牧民族器物的演变、消失,以及中原传统器类和制瓷工艺对燕云瓷业的影响,是辽金时期多民族文化互动交融的重要见证。     

Dating the Domestic Ceramics and Pipe Smoking Related Artifacts from Casselden Place, Melbourne, Australia

This paper compares the dates of manufacture obtained for the domestic ceramic and pipe smoking related artifact assemblages from Casselden Place, Melbourne. It has previously been argued that ceramic items, because of their potentially long use-lives, may be deposited many years after their date of manufacture and purchase. This is in contrast to pipe smoking related items, which tend to have very short use-lives. However, the results presented here demonstrate that there is no significant evidence for a time lag between the date of manufacture of the ceramic items and their incorporation into the archaeological record at Casselden Place.     

An Automatic Modal Identification Procedure for the Permanent Dynamic Monitoring of the Sanctuary of Vicoforte

ABSTRACT

The interest in automatic modal parameter extraction techniques has increased significantly in recent years because of the rising demand for Continuous Structural Health Monitoring (CSHM) of civil structures and infrastructures. The wider use of CSHM is related to its capability for early damage detection and therefore to its usefulness for planning maintenance and strengthening interventions. This article presents the main steps followed in creating a robust routine to run on an online basis the first-ever Continuous Vibration-Based Structural Health Monitoring (CVB-SHM) of a large masonry oval dome, i.e., the dome of the Regina Montis Regalis Basilica, also known as Sanctuary of Vicoforte. The procedure uses an output-only stochastic subspace identification method complemented by an automatic analysis applied to identification results, which are typically provided in terms of stabilization diagrams. In this study, the fully automatic procedure also includes a hierarchical clustering algorithm to separate authentic from spurious modes.     

Between Memory and Materiality: An Archaeological Approach to Studying the Nazi Concentration Camps

Abstract

By its very nature, historical narrative that is rooted exclusively in textual sources is destined to be more linear, more univocal, and less equipped to deal with the problematic. On the other hand, due to its unique abilities and approaches, historical archaeology thrives on the tensions inherent to any attempt to understand past and present experience. In this article I negotiate between two approaches to studying the concentration camps of the Third Reich—one canonical the other experimental. It is suggested that when studying the camps, we are faced with a series of tensions: between past and present, between remembering and forgetting, and between live human actors and the material record. This article explores two research paradigms: first, the traditional text-centric historical approach, and second, an approach that might be called 'historical archaeological'. I embrace the inherent tensions between the two approaches, and put forward some innovative ways for coming to terms with these places of internment.