Yogavidhi

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Sailing the Bremen Cog

The 14th-century Bremen Cog is the only near-complete representative of a type of large ship with a single square-sail which dominated North European waters for c. 200 years. The evaluation of sailing properties, seaworthiness, potential and characteristics of two replicas is made by professional seamen who have taken them to their limits. Their judgements need to be recorded now, or they will be forgotten especially as systematic tests and sea-trials have been limited and documentation lost. The replicas' captains' expert opinion on the Bremen Cog as a sea-going vessel is a rare case of long-term evaluation of a large-scale experimental-archaeology project.
© 2009 The Authors     

Digital Experiments to Improve Knowledge Based Economic Development--Strengthening Local Nodes

Technical advances in digital communications facilitate new applications, which are required also by global changes and are based on an intensive use of knowledge. This paper presents such an application and refers to the improving knowledge-based services of German economic agencies that use intensively the Internet and the Web. The presented work is carried out within a German project supported by the Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology BMWT. A key role within the project is a digital experiment involving the development of required economic, social and technical competences for the agencies' staff by using web-based qualification processes and virtual learning communities.     

The Production of Lead–Tin Yellow at Merovingian Schleitheim (Switzerland)*

A Merovingian crucible fragment, with internally adhering yellow glass, and yellow glass beads of the same region and period were investigated by non‐destructive XRF, optical microscopy and SEM‐EDS. Although the microstructure and chemical composition of the yellow pigment (lead–tin yellow type II, ‘PbSnO₃’) are almost identical in both the beads and the crucible, in the latter the pigment occurs in a much higher concentration. However, the glass base in the beads and the crucible is very different, indicating that the beads were not manufactured directly from the crucible. Instead, the crucible most likely served to produce lead–tin yellow, which was subsequently mixed elsewhere with a colourless soda–lime glass to produce yellow glass beads.     

Beyond the Discontinuity Paradigm: Towards a Pan-African Church History

The purpose of this article is to suggest: (1) That a particular model of writing African church history inherited from the historiography of European mission has influenced the way in which the trans-African history of Christianity in Africa has been presented. It is argued that this model has encouraged an episodic view of the Christian past, through its documentary emphasis on the last two centuries. (2) That this model was both implicit and unchallenged in the theological trends of the post-colonial period, with their programmatic emphasis on indigenization and inculturation. The work of the vast majority of African theologians, and hence of church historians outside Africa, envisaged a model of the 'discontinuous past' premised on the idea that Christianity was to be understood in terms of export and import or 'early' north African and 'later' southern African engagement. This model is here labelled the 'discontinuity paradigm'. (3) That a new model for the writing of church history in Africa should be attempted. An 'adaptive similarities' model is proposed which sees the history of the church in Africa against the template of analogous conversion–adaptation–fissiparation movements in the earlier periods of the church's existence. The essay proposes a pan-African church history 'project' which focuses its work on constructing this model from regional church history efforts (Sundkler) and which attempts to isolate the recurrent themes and patterns of African Christianity (the thematic–chonological matrix) as interpreted within the wider African context (the geographical–cultural matrix).     

The Difficult Place of Deserted Coasts in Archaeology: New Archaeological Research on Cooks Beach (Pukaki), Coromandel Peninsula,New Zealand

Sites which have been occupied semi-continuously in the past present some inherent difficulties for archaeology. Here we present new research from a coastal site on the North Island of New Zealand at Cooks Beach where anthropogenic vegetation changes are seen using microfossil analysis of obsidian tools, sediments and pit fill. The results indicate the initial presence of people in AD 1300–1400 followed by subsequent periods of disuse or abandonment and sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) cultivation. Around the time of initial settlement, obsidian from this location is found at sites across the country. After AD 1400 the area appears to be deserted for a century or more, after which we see evidence for the cultivation of sweet potato in AD 1500 as evidenced by extensive soil modification and numerous storage pits. There is no evidence of a permanent settlement at the site. The geographic distribution of Cooks Beach obsidian was constricted while the site was used for sweet potato cultivation, a pattern often attributed to increased warfare. It appears cultivation was abandoned after AD 1650 marking a second secession of use, a fact confirmed in AD 1769 when Captain Cook visited the area. We consider the possible drivers for the late abandonment of cultivation at Cooks Beach.