Using Fractal Dimensions for Characterizing Intra‐urban Diversity: The Example of Brussels

The objective of this paper is to compare fractal‐based parameters calculated by different fractal methods for urban built‐up areas and to link the observed spatial variations to variables commonly used in urban geography, urban economics, or land‐use planning. Computations are performed on Brussels, Belgium. Two fractal methods (correlation and dilation) are systematically applied for evaluating the fractal dimension of built‐up surfaces; correlation is used to evaluate the fractal dimension of the borders (lines). Analyses show that while fractal dimension is ideal for distinguishing the morphology of Brussels, each estimation technique leads to slightly different results. Interesting associations are to be found between the fractal dimensions and rent, distance, income, and planning rules. Despite its limitations, fractal analysis seems to be a promising tool for describing the morphology of the city and for simulating its genesis and planning. The model is robust: it replicates the urban spatial regularities and patterns, and could hence fruitfully be integrated into intra‐urban simulation processes.     

Exploring Relationships Between the Global and Regional Measures of Spatial Autocorrelation

Abstract The objective of this research is to investigate dimensions of geographic variation in spatial dependency contained within large multilevel data sets. We calculate 1990 population density by census block group, county, and state for the 48 coterminous states and the District of Columbia of the United States, calculations of interest to a wide variety of spatial scientists. We explore relations between these levels and their variation across the nation. The empirical findings generated by this work furnish implications concerning the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP), spatial autocorrelation statistics, scale effects, and resolution.     

The United States and the Final Years of White Rule in Zimbabwe

Books reviewed in this article:
Gerald Horne, From the Barrel of a Gem: The United States and the War against Zimbabwe 1965–1980
Andrew DeRoche, Black, White, and Chrome: The United States and Zimbabwe, 1953–1998     

Dynamic optimization of horticulture among the Muscogee Creek Indians of the southeastern United States

This paper reviews archaeological applications of optimization theory applied to resource use. A model of agricultural corn production is derived for a single Muscogee Creek Indian town (CA 1725–1825) which was situated in the southeastern United States. The corn productivity model is based on soil depletion, soil variation, known locations of horticultural fields, population size, and nutritional requirements. The corn productivity model shows that corn production varied significantly between 1725 and 1825. The residents of the town shifted their horticultural gardens in order to maintain a nutritional minimum. The model was compared to the marginal value theorem and expectations derived from risk minimization models. Residents of Cussetuh abandoned their horticultural fields well before the instantaneous long-term average rate of production for the habitat. The model shows that the residents of Cussetuh were risk minimizers and were not maximizing the long term average rate of corn yield in their gardens.     

Reassessing the diet of Upper Palaeolithic humans from Gough's Cave and Sun Hole,Cheddar Gorge,Somerset, UK

Richards et al. (2000) reconstructed the diet of the human remains found in Gough's and Sun Hole Cave through isotope analysis. They concluded that these people consumed an entirely terrestrial-based diet. Their reconstruction was based upon comparison of the results from human bones with those from a very small number of associated animals. The diets of the Gough's and Sun Hole Cave human were different from the other six Upper Palaeolithic humans from the British Isles for which dietary information has been obtained through isotope analysis. The work of Richards et al. (2000) suggests that they were the only ones for whom marine or freshwater resources did not play a significant role in their diets. We test this through further analyses of faunal remains from Gough's Cave, Sun Hole and other contemporary sites (Kent's Cavern, Aveline's Hole, Kendrick's Cave). Despite the limited faunal sample, the original palaeodietary reconstruction is broadly consistent with our findings. The isotope values of the main protein sources consumed by the humans from both sites are consistent with those of red deer and bovines, and, for a single individual, with that of horse and red deer. Reindeer was postulated in the original reconstruction as a potential food source, but this seems very unlikely based on our isotope reconstruction and the archaeological remains.     

The use of SEM-EDS,PIXE and EDXRF for obsidian provenance studies in the Near East: a case study from Neolithic Çatalhöyük (central Anatolia)

In this paper we evaluate the relative analytical capabilities of SEM-EDS, PIXE and EDXRF for characterizing archaeologically significant Anatolian obsidians on the basis of their elemental compositions. The study involves 54 geological samples from various sources, together with an archaeological case study involving 100 artifacts from Neolithic Çatalhöyük (central Anatolia). With each technique the artifacts formed two compositional groups that correlated with the East Göllü Da? and Nenezi Da? sources. The non-destructive capabilities of these methods are emphasized (albeit with certain analytical limitations in the case of SEM-EDS), suggesting important new techniques for Near Eastern obsidian provenance studies.     

Intensive El Niño and the Iron Age of South-eastern Africa

Burnt daga structures in Iron Age villages serve as proxies for severe drought on the plateau of southern Africa. The distribution of burnt daga remains in two other rainfall areas, KwaZulu-Natal and the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone over Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi, establishes a sequence of simultaneous burnings that parallels the severe droughts recorded for the interior plateau. These widespread correspondences suggest a common cause. Another correspondence with natural proxy data from South America indicates that intensive El Niño events most likely caused the droughts.     

Integrating pedological and geophysical methods to enhance the informative value of an archaeological prospection – The example of a Roman villa rustica near Regensburg,Germany

Geophysical prospection techniques are widely used to visualize the buried past. Various methods such as magnetometry, electric resistance mapping and electric resistivity tomography and ground penetrating radar yield different results. The use of all three techniques in combination with aerial photography interpretation and pedological mapping is highly effective, but it requires a multi-layer approach. This paper presents such a multi-layer approach carried out at a site with buried remnants of a Roman villa rustica in southern Germany. The integration of the various results into a geographical information system leads to a geocodation of all outcomes and a final archaeological interpretation. Several buildings in different states of preservation, different kinds of ground floors both with and without hypocausts, perimeter walls and kilns could all be detected. The soil mapping results helped in the geophysical interpretation by outsourcing soil erosion and accumulation areas. It is shown that none of the employed methods could have supplied all the compiled information on their own, and the strengths and weaknesses of each method is discussed in order to point out the implications for archaeologists.     

Khao Sam Kaeo – an archaeometallurgical crossroads for trans-asiatic technological traditions

Recent archaeological investigations at Khao Sam Kaeo, on the Upper Thai-Malay Peninsula, have furnished evidence for a mid/late 1st millennium BCE cultural exchange network stretching from the Indian subcontinent to Taiwan. Typological, compositional and technological study of Khao Sam Kaeo's copper-base artefacts has identified three distinct copper-alloy metallurgical traditions, with reasonable analogies in South Asian, Vietnamese, and Western Han material culture. Furthermore, analyses of technical ceramic and slag suggest that Khao Sam Kaeo metalworkers may have been using a cassiterite cementation process to produce high-tin bronze ingots for export or onsite casting/forging. Not only would this industry constitute the earliest evidence for the exploitation of Peninsula tin resources, but we also offer a speculative argument for the source of Khao Sam Kaeo's copper-base production technology.