Gravestones and Monuments in the Maritime Cultural Landscape: Research Potential and Preliminary Interpretations

Thousands of memorials around the world commemorate maritime disasters and death. In addition to commemoration, memorials provide insight into the conceptual landscape of maritime peoples. Types of maritime memorials, locations where they can be found, and the limitations of memorials as archaeological artefacts are discussed. Data from 18th- and 19th-century English and American maritime memorials are used to make preliminary interpretations regarding Anglo-American maritime beliefs. Based on this I argue that memorials are a valuable source of data for maritime cultural landscape studies, particularly for what they reveal about maritime belief systems.
© 2006 The Author     

Maritime Durées: Long-Term Structures in a Coastal Landscape

The interaction between humans and the maritime coastal landscape must be one of the central theoretical questions for maritime archaeology. How should an academic discipline, which is defined by its studies in a certain physical milieu, avoid the trap of environmental determinism and still be able to argue for the special influence of the maritime factor? And how should this long-term relation to the sea be interpreted and described? In this article, based mainly on material from the central Swedish Baltic Sea coast, three examples of long-term structures regarding the relationship between people and the sea are discussed. The structures, here called “maritime durees”, which almost all coastal habitants in the analyzed area seem to have had in common are linked to: exploitation of marine resources, communication over water and the mental presence of the sea. In conclusion the actual meaning of these long-term structures for everyday life and for cultural and social change are discussed in comparison to more short term structures: the changing historical circumstances and possibilities for people to choose different strategies.     

音乐景观意象对游客地方依恋的影响研究——以厦门鼓浪屿为例

本研究以典型特殊地方“音乐之岛”鼓浪屿上的音乐景观这类非单一知觉类型的特殊文化景观为研究对象,运用验证性因子分析及结构方程模型探讨音乐景观意象的知觉形成过程及其对地方依恋和满意度的作用,并运用耦合度模型进行音乐景观意象内部要素关系的探索。结果显示：①音乐文化景观意象存在“审美意义理解”、“功能涉入体验”、“音律情感评价”三个重要维度,并且已经到达比较高的耦合阶段;②三个维度间相互影响,共同协调提升,显著影响游客地方依恋,并提升游客满意度;③地方依恋在音乐文化景观意象的三个维度和满意度之间起到了显著的完全中介作用。     

北方有江南:一项景观史的研究

隋唐以降,"江南"不仅是地域概称,亦作为一种美称在北方地区广泛流行。根据各地被称为"江南"的缘由,可大致分为水利型、稻作型、文化型、富足象征型以及景观型。各种类型的"江南"并非泾渭分明,北方各地之"江南"多是几个类型的集合体,是为复合型"江南"。北方"江南"多位于自然条件优越之地,多数"江南"指代地域为一县之隅。"江南"本是对某地社会之赞美,但美称亦会转化为"实累",明代宁夏即为此例。综合来看,传统时代北方民众对"江南"美誉的认可,缘于江南地区的繁荣兴盛,其本质上体现的是对于富足美好生活的向往与追求,亦是传统时代北方民众对于"何谓江南"的理解。     

简析刘知白晚年泼墨山水画的主要意象

以传统的笔墨程式来表达山水意象,显然已经不是当下有胆魄、有思想的画家应有的艺术态度和文化担当了,因为中国画在现代文化境遇下一定要寻求自身的突破,无论是观念上还是技法的表现上,特别是面对我国不同境域山水（非传统意义上江南或北方）审美对象时,如何突破原有笔墨语言局限和惯常模式的束缚？如何在新的艺术情境下进行合理的“语言”转换时,有革新的画家更会直面历史与现实,在探索中披荆斩棘、奋然前行。而刘知白先生就是这么一位重要的画家,他晚年的破墨山水画在现当代山水画语言的开拓和图式革新等方面功不可没。而在他晚年的泼墨山水中,除了晴空下正常的山水之外,极具黔地山水特点的雨景、云景、雾景、月景等意象也尤为值得关注,本文正是结合这些意象,进一步探讨刘知白先生泼墨绘画的意象的丰富性和表现力。     

The Concept of Urban Hibernation

Today, as a result of fast-paced societal transformations, many small towns face severe developmental challenges and an uncertain future. Departing from the broader theory of developmental disequilibrium, we launch the concept of urban hibernation to explain the process of periodic small-town regress. The concept—along with its key stages and turning points—is presented to the background of urbanization processes encountered in Poland. At the same time, the focus on small towns offers an alternative and more context-sensitive explication to eclectic development models inherent to larger cities. As such, we argue that the concept of urban hibernation is apt to serve as a more precise research and planning tool in the context of small towns, and particularly in the critical moments of rise and recession. By applying a historical perspective, we address the importance of proper identification of the various and ever-changing city-forming factors, including their role for spatial planning at different scales. Urban hibernation should thus be considered as an intrinsic part of the geographic environment, which, due to the volatility of its socio-economic components, transcends the traditional rural–urban divide. Our conceptual contribution may thus serve as a background for a fuller understanding of the variability and dynamics of intra-urban structures.     

Measuring the performance of planning: the conformance of Italian landscape planning practices with the European Landscape Convention

The assessment of the performance of planning is debated. The evaluation of the conformance of a given national planning system with a set of principles is similarly received with critical and favourable remarks. A relevant case study consists of the conformance of European landscape planning practice with the principles of the European Landscape Convention (ELC). Italy incorporated in 2004 the principles of the ELC with the Code on Cultural Assets and Landscape (CL), which opened the way for new laws, tools, observatories and atlases. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the usefulness of an assessment exercise concerning the conformance with the ELC of planning practice in Italy. We scrutinize planning systems and tools established by peripheral administrations, according to a qualitative and comparative framework. We refine our analysis by focusing on 10 most recent cases and identifying critical issues in current landscape planning practice. The results are promising and show that landscape planning in Italy is increasingly in line with the ELC.     

‘Making Change’ in the memorial landscape to the Dakota–US War of 1862: remembrance,healing and justice through affective participation in the Dakota Commemorative March (DCM)

The Dakota–US War of 1862 led to the removal and exile of Dakota people from their ancestral homeland. Integral to this process was the forced march of 1,700 women, children and elders from the Lower Sioux Agency to Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Despite the siting of numerous memorials related to the war and its aftermath, few mark the forced march and its legacies. Since 2002, however, the seven-day Dakota Commemorative March (DCM) has been held biennially to remember and honour Dakota ancestors on the original forced march. Following a brief overview of extant place-based memorials at sites along its path, we draw on documentary sources to explore the significance of the DCM as a distinctive Dakota intervention in the commemorative landscape. Through a process we call ‘affective participation’ – an intense bodily, emotive and transformative engagement in an event – participants on the DCM not only seek to remember but also strive towards healing and justice in the present and the future. Our hope is to expand the focus of current geographical work on discrete site-based memorials to consider the social- and cultural-geographical significance of alternative (particularly Native) forms and scales of commemoration.     

Archaeological investigations and OSL dating of terraces at Ramat Rahel,Israel

Abstract

Dating terraces, the most prominent feature of the agricultural landscape in many parts of the world, is a problem for archaeologists. This study presents an interdisciplinary approach that combines archaeological survey and excavations with direct sediment dating of terrace fill using Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL). The study focuses on Ramat Rahel, a multi-period site located in the southern outskirts of modern Jerusalem, Israel, where, on a defined terraced slope chosen for a small-scale landscape archaeology project, three main phases of terrace construction and use were identified. The earliest phase dates to the Late Byzantine/Early Islamic period, the second to medieval times, and the last to the Ottoman period. The results enable a comprehensive reconstruction of the changing local landscape through time and demonstrate the validity of OSL, when combined with archaeological investigations, as a reliable method for terrace dating.     

New radiometric dates for precolumbian (2000–700 b.p.) earthworks in western Amazonia,Brazil

Abstract

In this paper we present new data on the precolumbian geometric ditched enclosures identified in Acre State, western Amazonia, Brazil. Remote sensing and ground survey have revealed 281 earthworks, located mainly on the edges of high plateaus overlooking the river valleys drained by the southeastern tributaries of the Upper Purus River. Excavations have shown that the few existing cultural materials are concentrated on the slopes and in the bottoms of the ditches, as well as on small mounds that were likely remains of houses, whereas the central, flat enclosed areas lack major archaeological features. New radiocarbon dates place the initial stage of earthwork construction as early as ca. 2000 b.p. We suggest that the building of these geometric earthworks may have been a regionally shared phenomenon, especially among the Arawak and the Tacana peoples, who used them for special gatherings, religious activities, and, in some cases, as village sites.