Landscape as a Medium for Integration in Design Practice: The Case of Flanders,Belgium

The twenty-first century has seen a remarkable revival of interest in landscape by disciplines of spatial design, such as landscape architecture, urban design and architecture. Inspired by the principles of the European Landscape Convention (ELC), several authors have suggested extending the concept of landscape into a metaphor for inclusive multiplicity and pluralism in design and planning. However, the implementation of the ELC is rather complex as it deliberately contains no methodological or practical guidelines. In this paper, we explore whether or not the holistic approach towards landscape in the spirit of the ELC actually affects Flemish design in practice. To this end, we study interviewees' perspectives on the use of landscape in design and their experiences with it by means of a qualitative interpretive research design with multiple triangulation of data collection methods. First, we present the perspectives of the study on landscape as a medium to facilitate integration in design projects, by discussing four separate topics where this is the case. Second, we conceptualize the integration of landscape in spatial design as an expertise which can be obtained by spatial designers, regardless of their disciplinary background through awareness-raising, training and education.     

Foreign ceramic tradition,local clays: the Handmade Burnished Ware of Tell Kazel (Syria)

Late Bronze Age Handmade Burnished Ware (HMBW) from Tell Kazel was studied by thin-section petrography and neutron activation analysis in order to investigate its manufacturing technology and origin of production. Results show that the majority of the HMBW fabric groups point to a local area of production while a few petrographic loners might have been produced elsewhere in the Akkar Plain or imported. The manufacturing technique, in terms of clay paste recipe, forming and finishing techniques, is however new in the Tell Kazel pottery assemblage, hinting at the work of foreigners present at the site. The historical and archaeological contexts further suggest that these foreigners were some of the Sea Peoples and the stylistic and analytical data further reinforce the link between the northern Levant and the western Mediterranean.     

A ‘new’ palaeolithic dog from central Europe

Kesslerloch Cave in Switzerland is one of the major Magdalenian sites in Central Europe. During a recent reanalysis of the faunal remains, we identified a cranial fragment and teeth of the domestic dog. The large maxillar fragment was directly dated to 12.225±45 bp (KIA‐33350) or c. 14.100‐14.600 BP. The finds are metrically well below the natural variability of wolves from both Palaeolithic and recent times and even show slight morphological differences to the wild wolves from the site. We argue that the maxilla fragment must now be considered the earliest indisputable directly dated evidence of a domestic dog. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Non-destructive provenance study of cuneiform tablets using portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF)

Portable X-Ray Fluorescence (pXRF) apparatus of the last generation was tested to determine its potential for routine provenance determination of clay cuneiform tablets, which cannot be analyzed by “classical” intrusive methods. A group of tablets from Hattuša (Bo?azköy) and from el Amarna, which were previously provenanced using optical mineralogy (OM) and instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), was analyzed by pXRF and the results were used to establish the grouping according to their elemental concentrations. These groups were compared with the previous results retrieved by OM and INAA in order to confirm their validity. The results corroborate the high potential of the pXRF for non-destructive study of well-defined, ‘closed’ assemblages of clay-derived, delicate artifacts, such as cuneiform tablets, bullae, and fine-ware pottery. Consequently, a group of previously unexamined tablets from Hattuša was analyzed by pXRF and the results are discussed with implications on future research.     

The definition of culture in culture-based urban development strategies: antagonisms in the construction of a culture-based development discourse

Implementing culture-based development strategies is a recent trend in large and small cities all over Europe. The definition of culture and the objectives of cultural strategies are highly contested in the public debate. Analysing the newspaper debates on the establishment of the Cultiva foundation in Kristiansand, Norway, this article discusses how and why the discursive debate on the definition of culture creates different discursive positions in the public debate on culture-based development. In the different discourses on what these strategies should be, there are a number of antagonisms that contribute to defining the relationships and interfaces between the different discursive positions. The main lines of discursive conflict are between urban planners and/or policy-makers who follow a spatial logic that emphasises a comprehensive understanding of territorial planning and cultural workers and/or artists who follow a critical artistic creation logic that emphasises the values that exist in art and the potential of the cultural field for personal development, general education and social criticism.     

Tools for Predicting Damage to Archaeological Sites Caused by One-Dimensional Loading

Tools are developed to predict damage to archaeological remains caused by the construction of line infrastructure on soft soil. They are based on numerical modelling and laboratory testing supported by X-ray microcomputed tomographic observations, and micromorphological analyses of thin sections. They have been validated for one-dimensional (1D) loading at two sites in the Netherlands where soil has been placed on top of organic layers rich in ecofacts and overlaying Pleistocene sands.

Numerical prediction of the deformation of soft layers underneath an embankment remains a challenge for geo-technical engineers. Errors on surface settlement prediction reach ±15% of the measured total settlement.

Laboratory observations show that vulnerable artefacts can get crushed when packed loosely in pure assemblies under 1D loading equivalent to less than 5 m of sand. Fragmentation is assimilated to loss of archaeological value as it compromises recovery during sieving. Embedment in a sandy or a very compressible organic matrix has a beneficial effect on the resistance of ecofacts. Embedded ecofacts can resist a load of more than 12 m of sand. Flattening and re-orientation of soft plant remains occur during 1D loading without microscopic damage of tissues.