Archaeological Survey of the Ex-USS <Emphasis Type="Italic">Independence</Emphasis> (CVL22)

In August 2016, a multidisciplinary team conducted the first archaeological survey of the deep-water (829 m) wreck of the ex-USS Independence (CVL22) using the remotely operated vehicles Argus and Hercules. The survey provided 34 h of direct observation with video and still camera documentation of the wreck, which the previous year had been initially identified with a limited three-dimensional sonar survey of the site. The 2016 assessment added considerably to an understanding of changes to Independence after its use as a target vessel for the 1946 atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll, as a radiological laboratory, training facility, and finally as a receptacle for “nuclear waste” prior to its scuttling off California in January 1951. The location and detailed examination of the wreck, along with additional archival research, offers a more nuanced definition of the carrier’s role within the context of the Cold War between the USSR, its adversaries and the race to establish nuclear supremacy, as well as site formation processes and ongoing biological colonization of the wreck site. As well, no evidence of residual radiological contamination was noted during the mission.     

Mine blast vibration response spectrum for structural vulnerability assessment: case study of heritage masonry buildings

Ground-borne vibrations induced by mine blasting are typically of low amplitudes, which are not considered a major concern for modern engineered structures. However, historic structures are often considered more vulnerable due to inadequate knowledge regarding the state of construction materials and structural response. Specifically, the construction materials used might be fragile or have deteriorated to a stage that could be vulnerable to such vibrations. Simplistic rule based on peak ground motion parameter has been adopted worldwide for safety assessment, while the frequency characteristics of vibrations are not taken into account. Further, there is very limited study on response of heritage structures to near-field blasting. This article presents a practical structural vulnerability assessment method for mine blast-induced vibrations. In particular, a design response spectrum model is proposed based on close range measurements of nearby mine blasting, which is compared with an existing design spectrum model for far-field mine blasts and a typical design spectrum model for earthquake actions. The method is illustrated through a case study of heritage masonry buildings in Australia. The unique blast data presented and the generalized methodology would be useful to both structural engineers and blast engineers in considering potential effects of blasting on heritage structures.     

USS <Emphasis Type="Italic">Independence’s</Emphasis> Aircraft

Submerged aircraft are a newly emerging area of study in underwater archaeology. In August 2016, a multidisciplinary team conducted the first archaeological survey of the deep water (829 m) wreck of the ex-USS Independence (CVL22), a WWII era light carrier scuttled off San Francisco after its use as an atomic bomb test target and subsequently as a floating radiological laboratory and training facility. Using the remotely operated vehicles Argus and Hercules, the expedition documented and studied Independence including assessment of a sonar target thought to be an aircraft resting inside the sunken carrier’s forward elevator pit. The survey confirmed the presence of a plane, but previous assumptions as to the type and identity of this aircraft, based on archival records, proved erroneous. As well, the remains of a second, and possibly a third, aircraft were also encountered during the 2016 survey. These artifacts, through their context, both as naval warplanes on an aircraft carrier, and as test articles for seaborne nuclear weapons development, more precisely fit within the parameters of maritime archaeology. They join other archaeological evidence at the Independence site that helps define its significance within the context of World War II and the Cold War.     

Stories about building history told by wooden elements – case studies from Eastern Austria

The intention of this article is to show the benefit of an interdisciplinary approach within the various disciplines of building research (architectural archeology, art history, archive research, dendrochronology, etc.).

The exact determination of the age of historical timber is undoubtedly the most important contribution of dendrochronology to building research. The significance of dendrochronological dates is discussed in detail—problems of reuse, repair, drying time, and differences between felling and building dates are demonstrated. Several case studies in Eastern Austria showed a difference of two to four years between felling and building.

To answer questions of where the timber came from, dendroprovenancing was introduced to Eastern Austria. First results showed that it will be possible to differentiate the origin of timber between Eastern Austria and regions where rafts started towards Vienna, via the river Danube. The results showed that it is important to combine building archaeology and archival analyses with the dendrochronological results.     

History and Characteristics of Construction Techniques Used in Traditional Timber Ottoman Houses

The aim of this article is to make a comprehensive review of the traditional timber house constructions in Turkey, which constitutes the majority of the existing Ottoman architectural legacy. After a short historical background focused on the Ottoman territory, the first section explores regional differences in the housing tradition, developed according to local features and defined by architectural features, material characteristics, and availability of materials. Derived from these regional differences, in the second section diversity in traditional timber construction systems in Turkey is described with special emphasis on the Ottoman h?m?? system. In this part, besides the discussion of the h?m?? technique which spread over Ottoman lands from the Balkans to Syria, the timber masonry and frame systems of the Eastern Black Sea Region and Thrace are presented in detail with visual support.     

Organization of ceramic production at a fortified Early Bronze Age settlement in Moravia (Czech Republic) inferred from minimally destructive archaeometry

This paper explores how pottery production was organized at fortified sites of central Europe at the end of the Early Bronze Age. The organization of pottery production in terms of ethnography-based models was inferred jointly by non-destructive multi-elemental analysis, micropetrography and powder X-ray diffraction. This minimally destructive approach was used to explore the mode of pottery production at the fortified central site Blu?ina (Moravia, Czech Republic). Archaeometry-based indirect evidence indicates that tableware of a specific shape was produced using a specific technology at the site or in its close vicinity and that coarse ware was brought to the site from elsewhere. The results obtained were complexly evaluated and compared with ethnography-based categorizations to reveal the features of production organization of the Early Bronze Age pottery. Multidimensional analysis classified the production as intensified household labour and work of individual retainers, or nucleated corvée, depending on its scale and intensity.     

The shrinkage cracks and the diameter of the log: a experimental approach toward fuel management by Patagonian hunter-gatherer (Paredón Lanfré site. Río Negro Province,Argentin)

The anthracological study of Paredón Lanfré (Patagonia, Argentina) highlights the presence of radial cracks with a marked difference between the percentage of affected coniferous charcoal (Fitzroya cupressoides and Austrocedrus chilensis) compared to the angiosperms (e.g., Nothofagus antarctica and Nothofagus dombeyi). The aim of this work was to obtain experimental comparison data from two Patagonian conifers to understand the prehistoric combustion behavior of the region. These results showed a discrepancy between the average of shrinkage cracks made with green wood fires and those with dry wood fires. The study of the caliber of charcoal recovered from Paredón Lanfré showed significant differences between the samples of F. cupressoides and A. chilensis. The calculation of correlation between size and shrinkage cracks suggests for both species that the size is not related to the number of registered shrinkage cracks in charcoal studied. Therefore, the gauge would not be a variable which could influence the presence of shrinkage cracks in the charcoal. Consequently, the difference of average shrinkage cracks between the two specimens may result from another variable that remains to be identified.     

Leibniz’s Kehre: From Ultradeterminism to the Philosophy of Freedom

Abstract

This article examines the rift in Leibniz’s conception of determinism after being rebuffed by the Parisian theologian Antoine Arnauld in their correspondence of 1686. As, in addition, his study of surds infracted his confidence in the “complete concept,” Leibniz embarked on a new, dynamic doctrine of substance or “law of the series.” In the literature, this strategy has been widely (mis)understood as “tweaking” the system to allow some self-assertion of free will. But as this article will show, it amounts to a revolutionary conception that culminates in the unmasking of determinism as an insupportable, indeed incoherent doctrine. As all forms of determinism are profoundly entangled with human self-perception, the Leibnizian Kehre invites us to a new engagement with human freedom and autonomy and the disentanglement from a philosophical position for which neither a metaphysical nor an empirical proof can be given.     

Danto and the Pale of Aesthetics

Arthur Danto’s Transfiguration of the Commonplace is a new theory of art, seeking to catch the flavour and essence of its contemporary phenomenology. It is obliged, however, to pit itself in toto against aesthetic philosophy, leaning on the derivatives from deuteropraxis and institutional definition while committing itself to a concept of arthood extracted from exoteric ideas, which are held to comprise the artworks’ individuation and identity. This paper examines the principal notions in support of his contentions and contrasts them to the chief principles of aesthetic philosophy. In this juxtaposition, it transpires that conviction eludes Danto, as his suppression of aesthetic criteria yields unsuspected aporias from a disconjugate amalgam of inherence, ontology, epistemology and concept integration. Thus the leap from “mere real things” to the plateau of arthood is never accomplished, as it falters at the step where a perceiving subject has a stake in, and the power of authorisation, of this conception of art.     

Experimental Design and Experimental Inference in Stone Artifact Archaeology

Lithic researchers rely heavily on experimentation to infer past behaviors and activities based on stone artifacts. This paper explores the analogical nature of archaeological inference and the relationship between experimental design and inference validity in stone artifact experimentation. We show that actualistic flintknapping lacks vital aspects of scientific experimentation, and thus has inherent inferential issues of analogical adequacy and confidence. It is argued that a greater emphasis on hypothesis construction and variable control is needed in order to establish sound referential linkages upon which constructive analogic inferences about the past can be built.