Late-Medieval Horse Remains at Cēsis Castle,Latvia, and the Teutonic Order’s Equestrian Resources in Livonia

EXCAVATIONS AT the castle complex of Cēsis, Latvia, uncovered an unusual find of large quantities of horse bones, some of which were partially articulated, along with equestrian equipment. These were associated with a destroyed building at the edge of the southern outer bailey. The horses included large males, most probably stallions, and pathology on several of the recovered vertebrae suggests these individuals had been used for riding. The size of the horses was within the range for medieval war horses, and the associated tack also pointed to prestigious riding animals. Radiocarbon dating of the bones placed them firmly within the Teutonic Order's period of rule. We conclude here that these horses fulfilled a military role in the final decades of the Teutonic Order’s rule in Livonia in the late 15th/early 16th century and that the better-known equestrian culture of late-medieval Prussia was comparable in character, if not in scale, to that in Livonia.     

HYPOCAUST HEATING IN DOMESTIC ROOMS IN ROMAN BRITAIN

The development of hypocausts heating domestic rooms is traced from the late first to the later third century. A category of hypocausta sited adjacent to major rooms and heating them indirectly is referred to in letters of the Younger Pliny and is identified in Romano-British house plans of the first and second century. The function of domestic rooms with hypocausts and of other rooms in a limited number of houses is discussed.     

Reconstructing Kirkstead Abbey,Lincolnshire: The Charters,Earthworks and Architecture of a Lost Cistercian House

Kirkstead abbey, in the Witham Valley of Lincolnshire, is a little-known but highly significant Cistercian house, both for its early history and architecture, and for the fact that it was treated unusually on being one of the monasteries seized by the Crown for the treason of its president after the Lincolnshire Rising of 1536. Substantially ruined and poorly preserved above ground, recent study has questioned its traditional interpretation. Its standing remains are sparse but extremely informative; its site at least partly marked by earthworks; and its home estate can be reconstructed from a late 13th-century cartulary and a remarkable series of loose charters.     

Gender,Power and Crib Geography: Transitional spaces and potential places

D. W. Winnicott's notion of 'transitional space' is noted as a potentially important contribution to post-Englightenment thinking because it decenters reason and logic in favor of playing with and making use of as the qualities most characteristic of human being. Winnicott is also, perhaps, the one child development theorist whose speculations parallel most closely contemporary post-modern interests of geographers. His principal concerns are how children (and adults) bridge the gap between egocentricism and recognition of an external world and how they distinguish between self and other. Unlike Piaget, Freud or Lacan, Winnicott does not problematize the separation of the child and her external environment primarily in terms of objective distancing, naming, rationalizing or compartmentalizing. Rather, Winnicott describes the place of play and child development in terms of transitional spaces which, we argue, bear close resemblance to the ideas which surround Henri Lefebvre's trial by space. In part, our intent is to spatialize Winnicott's ideas and to give specific form to some of Lefebvre's abstract notions of how space is produced. Winnicott's ideas are particularly intriguing for geographers because transitional spaces are theorized as the spaces out of and from which culture arises. As with play (an object), in culture there is something to make use of (a tradition), but the child/adult also has the capacity to bring something of her inner self to the tradition. In addition to discussing the potential of a link between the work of Lefebvre and Winnicott, the paper discusses the value to geography of post-structural feminist Jane Flax's recent interrogation of Winnicott's ideas. Flax's concern is to rework Winnicott's ideas from a feminist perspective and apply them to an account of identity formation which focuses upon justice and the play of differences. Transitional spaces help conflate notions of self and place, but they are also places wherein liberatory notions of justice and difference may develop.     

Synoptic weather patterns and wave conditions,Surfers Paradise Beach,south-eastern Queensland, 1988

Wave conditions experienced along the beaches of south-eastern Australia are controlled by winds generated by synoptic scale weather systems over the Tasman and Coral Seas. A synoptic climatological approach provides a framework to establish relationships between these synoptic weather map patterns and daily wave conditions recorded at Surfers Paradise beach. This establishes frequently recurring synoptic weather map patterns (synoptic types) and wave conditions at Surfers Paradise associated with each type. Eight synoptic types, differentiated by isobar orientation and pressure gradient, are identified for a 12 month period. Moderate wave power conditions occurred most frequently and were produced by two anticyclonic types. Less frequent, low wave power conditions were produced by synoptic types with offshore, south-west to westerly surface airflow over the southern Coral and northern Tasman Seas. Synoptic situations dominated by a tropical cyclone or extra-tropical cyclone produced the highest, but least frequent wave power conditions. The results indicated that the synoptic climatological approach provides a viable framework to establish and examine links between weather systems and wave conditions.     

THE ROMAN VILLA AT BIGNOR IN THE FOURTH CENTURY

Summary. The plan of the Bignor villa is reassessed in the light of recent excavations by Frere. Changes of plan are recognized and discussed. The farm buildings are considered in detail modifying Applebaum's original interpretations.     

Comparing Regional Biodiversity Benefits of Investment Strategies for Land‐Use Change

The need for public investment to address loss of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes is well recognised, yet there is little analysis of the likely benefits of land‐use change for regional biodiversity or the cost effectiveness of different investment options. We estimated benefits for biodiversity and cost effectiveness of different investment scenarios over 50 years for a farming area in south‐eastern Australia. Declines in biodiversity were predicted under status quo land use. Implementing actions in the investment scenarios improved biodiversity status only slightly, compared with status quo land use. Future biodiversity status differed little between biodiversity‐focused investment and salinity‐focused investment. Biodiversity status equalled or exceeded current status only for investment scenarios with much more extensive revegetation than in catchment targets. Cost effectiveness of biodiversity improvement varied greatly between investment strategies. Biodiversity improvement was more cost effective when investment to meet catchment targets was focused on revegetation for salinity management rather than on high conservation value areas, because of lower opportunity costs for salinity management. With enhanced investment, the cost effectiveness of biodiversity improvement was greater when actions were in high conservation areas. Although improvements in biodiversity were small under the changed farming system scenarios, their cost effectiveness was higher than the other investment scenarios. Regional scale improvements in biodiversity in farming areas will require increased stewardship payments or other economic incentives for landholders.