The Mediterranean Lateen Sail in Late Antiquity

The Mediterranean lateen sailing rig has been studied since the early-to-mid-20th century. Recently-published depictions of sailing vessels rigged with lateen and settee sails, dating to the late-antique period, allow some of the principle characteristics of that rig to be established. This allows comparison with lateen- or settee-rigged vessels from both earlier and later periods. The sailing rigs depicted on other vessels can be identified and the level of technical continuity between the late-antique and medieval Mediterranean addressed. Finally it is possible to assess the extent to which the lateen sail was established in the Mediterranean by late antiquity.
© 2009 The Author     

Quantifying Ship Shape in Archaeology: Evaluating 3D Geometric Morphometrics

The analysis of the archaeological remains of ships and boats, in particular hull shapes, have been central to wider analysis of performance, function, and significance within past societies. This article reviews established methods of quantifying shape in ship and boat archaeology—linear measurement ratios and form coefficients—and evaluates the utility of 3D geometric morphometrics (GM). The 3D shape of 30 vessels from north‐west Europe dating between 325 BC and AD 1915 are quantified to study how hull shape relates to a vessel's function and intended operating environment. A comparison of the three methods highlights the importance of analysing the complexity of a hull in a holistic manner and demonstrates that 3D GM outperforms the traditional methods.     

地方和景观考古

<正>导论:景观的两面景观考古学的概念由来已久。早在19世纪后期,皮特里弗斯将军(General Pitt Rivers)在英国Cranborne Chase周边的调查和发掘工作中就已经注意到了将考古发掘的成果融入到特定地区的区域背景中进行观察(Pitt Rivers 1987)。这种做法有时能够让考古学家避免过于关注单个遗址。到了20世纪,英国一个主要研究传统是将景观看作一种不断被改造的物质痕迹,即"真实世界的特征组合,包括纯自然的、半自然的和纯人工的存在",这些东西也就是我们现在所能够研究的(Roberts     

Of Vines and Policy Vignettes: Sectoral Evolution and Institutional Thickness in the Languedoc

We argue that the search for rural regimes in particular localities can be usefully advanced through the deployment of a sensitive and suitably nuanced conceptualization of institutional thickness. Empirical validation of this theoretical framework with reference to Languedoc viticulture offers substantial evidence of the interdependency between regime building maintenance and stability, and local institutional integrity. The theoretical framework developed here, based on the notions of consensus and concrete institutions , also provides an analytically rigorous approach for understanding the complex rescaling of the political economy of rural governance, not least by offering some indication of the scalar rationale for consensus compatibility and partnership building between elites situated at different politico-geographic scales. We contend that an understanding of this shared logic of action among local and extra-local administrative and political elites is crucial to the restructuring process unfolding in European rural regions.