An approach to mapping buried prehistoric palaeosols of the Atlantic seaboard in Northwest Europe using GPR, geoarchaeology and GIS and the implications for heritage management

Widespread layers of well-preserved organically and archaeologically rich palaeosols dating to the Bronze Age and Iron Age are known from across the Atlantic seaboard of Scotland, including the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland. The survival of these soils has been facilitated by an overburden of Aeolian sand forming dunes above them. Whilst these soils display archaeological importance, they are constantly under threat from erosion through storm damage due to their exposed coastal position. This presents certain challenges with regard to heritage management, since their extents are largely unknown, normally only being identified when exposed by wind and storm erosion. Consequently, following such damage mitigation can only be reactionary in response to archaeological deposits being uncovered, and left open to threat, Without accurately mapping the extent of these important deposits, archaeological landscape management is compromised.This paper presents a case study aimed at enabling proactive management of these deposits through rapid three-dimensional mapping undertaken using a combination of borehole-calibrated GPR survey and GIS modelling. The results demonstrate how effective baseline data can be generated to highlight areas of greater or lesser risk thereby providing the potential for quantifying and predicting the effects of damage from future storm events.     

古代“辽泽”地理范围的历史变迁

从五代以后的文献记载来看,"辽泽"即指下辽河(沈阳石佛寺以南的辽河河段)平原沼泽地区,又指西辽河平原的沼泽湿地。西辽河平原在辽朝后期沙漠化严重,沼泽湿地萎缩,到元朝末年不再有辽泽之称,明清时期辽泽专指下辽河平原沼泽地区。下辽河平原辽泽在古代不断扩展,其核心地区在今北镇与辽中之间,从远古到清末一直是面积广阔的沼泽湿地,而辽河以东的沈阳西部至辽河地段、辽阳南部至牛庄地段的沼泽地主要形成于明清时期。清朝末年,沼泽面积大大缩小,辽泽不再见之于史籍。造成辽泽历史变迁的原因除了地形、气候等自然因素以外,人为因素也起到重要作用。     

Bilingualism and geographical knowledge: A case study of students at the University of Wales,Aberystwyth

This paper explores the role of languages in the constitution of geographical knowledge. We argue that the fact that people speak different languages is significant to the ways in which they engage with geography as a subject. We unpack some of the processes through which languages make a difference to geography through an empirical project based on students at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, where geography is taught bilingually through Welsh and English. Student geography is a particularly interesting arena to further this theme, because of students' mediating role in translating professional geography into the popular sphere, which in the case of students at Aberystwyth is also a different linguistic sphere. Our empirical work suggests that the use of Welsh creates a particular linguistic culture of geography, because of the shared experience of specific practices and politics in bilingual education. This makes a difference to the kinds of geography consumed and produced by bilingual students. Through a discussion of the linguistic identity of Welsh geography, we address some of the implications and limitations of this social formation. We conclude by arguing that a focus on language has the potential to open up new ways of talking about geography.     

西汉时期夷夏关系的嬗变与思考

西汉时期夷夏关系的嬗变是从汉初迫于军事劣势所形成的政治上的“夷夏并尊”到汉武帝时期凭借国力主动“纳四夷于华夏”。汉初,在“并尊”格局下,汉廷想要通过“用夏变夷”和使匈奴“渐染华风”来改变当时的政治困境,并未成功。汉武帝即位后,通过对夷夏关系的反思,采取了“纳之华夏”与“夷夏之防”两种政策。进而认为我国古代的政策一直是南北不同,但总的趋势是在夷夏一体的大格局不变之下,南边逐渐华夏化,北边保持华夷秩序。     

万里长城的地理界线意义

长城,不仅是中华民族古老文化的象征,而且是一条实际存在的重要地理界线。历代长城的布设都是以自然地理环境为基础,其走向与我国半湿润与干旱气候分界线基本一致。因此,长城也就成为我国农区和牧区分界线的标志。长城的延伸或回退,基本上反映了农区与牧区的扩张或收缩。从政治地理的角度来考察长城。可以认为,它是我国历史上各民族政治力量相互对峙、较量形成的"力"的平衡带,长城,一方面发挥了分隔两个政治单元的功能,它们延伸或收缩在一定程度上反映了两种力量对比的变化;另一方面,在先进与落后两种势力的对撞中.客观上却促进了相互间经济和文化的交流,促进了不同民族的融合。今日长城作为领土扩张和防御的军事设施作用已不复存在。但是长城在地理上的许多界限指标意义仍然存在,它依然是许多地理事物的敏感地区。     

地理哲学研究若干问题刍议

本文论述地理哲学研究的重要性,介绍西方地理哲学的发展概况和研究动态,分析我国地理哲学研究落后的主要原因,对如何开展我国地理哲学研究提出一些建议。     

空间地理规律对区域(中国)发展过程的影响

运用空间地理规律探讨历史区域的空间发展过程,在古代中国具有十分良好有利的客观条件。本文基于较大空间尺度和较长历史时限,针对区域地理诸多分异现象的发生和变化,系统阐述了这一规律的三个方面(纬度地带性规律、经度省性和垂直地带性规律),在不同区域或地带空间发展过程中突出的表现特点和影响形式。     

分析SARS:在我国的地理扩散和地理障碍

SARS疫情在我国的迅速传播已经对我国的社会和经济生活造成了重大的影响,也为我们观察和分析地理扩散提供了难得的机会。SARS的扩散显然是一种地理过程,这个过程的第一个特征是以等级扩散为发展方式的,第二个特征是必然在扩散中遇到障碍。第一个特征的存在使疫情在一段时间里在我国得以迅速的蔓延,但是当采取各种医疗、隔离和防护措施后,SARS的扩散在出现障碍的条件下受到抑制。文章描述了疫情扩散的方式,在我国形成的地理格局(以广东和北京为源地),认为这个地理格局的形成与我国流动人口的分布、人口流动的条件有关。同时指出,在疫情扩散的地理格局中,在中心城市形成的高度集中是一种令人担忧的现象。因为这样的集中已经对这些中心城市的包括"医疗中心"在内的行政、经济、交通等核心地的功能产生严重影响。为此,文章注意到我国一些没有发现疫情的地区的地理条件,认为存在着如地理距离(距离衰减)、地理环境、产业特征等地理障碍。通过对这些障碍的分析,文章最后提出了防治疫情及其继续扩散的措施。     

新疆草原文化区域系统研究

新疆草原文化是古代新疆草原游牧民族创造的一种游牧文化,其活动区域主要分布在天山及其以北的地区。本文试图从新疆草原文化形成的过程入手,探讨新疆草原文化系统的内涵、基本特征、草原文化的形成与地理环境的关系。     

Impure and Worldly Geography:1 The Africanist Discourse of the Royal Geographical Society, 1831–73

The written networks through which knowledge is produced and circulated offer a focus for a theoretically informed critique of the formation of modern geographical knowledge. Drawing on deconstruction and colonial discourse theory, this paper presents a reading of the Royal Geographical Society's (RGS) published record of nineteenth-century African exploration. This discourse posits a racially unmarked subject-position as the condition of scientific discussion. The Society's geographical knowledge is shown to have been formed through the effacement of alternative subject-positions and the appropriation of other ways of knowing. It is suggested that closer attention to the discursive structures of written networks of knowledge might inform a more nuanced understanding of the reproduction of disciplined knowledge.