Development and the environment: Perception and opinion in St Andrews,Scotland

In 2003, three proposals were being mediated through the planning system in the peri‐urban environment of St Andrews, Fife: a large housing development, a rail link, and a Green Belt. Using questionnaires and semi‐structured interviews with key stakeholders, we investigate the ways in which diverse conceptions of ‘the environment’ shaped public reactions to these proposals, and evaluate the fit between these and the respondents’ stated environmental perceptions. 98% of local residents surveyed describe themselves as ‘concerned about the environment’. However, large majorities conceive of the environment as a local rather than a global phenomenon, and regard it primarily in terms of personal benefits (such as landscape aesthetics or traffic considerations). By exploring the environmental perceptions in the light of the planning proposals, the study supports the contention that the ‘local environment’ is a socially constructed phenomenon which can be fashioned and re‐fashioned according to local perceptions of threats and opportunities.     

The deserts of the Kashmir‐Tibetan frontier

Abstract

Semi-arid landscapes are vulnerable to cultivation, overgrazing and climate variability, although it is difficult to identify the relative significance of these three factors. In the South African Karoo, the ‘desertification debate' seeks to explain a change to more shrubby vegetation in heavily grazed areas. We examine these issues in catchments where farm reservoirs provide sediment stores with 137Cs, 210Pb, geochemical and mineral magnetic signatures. Rainfall data and stocking numbers are reported and current erosion rates are estimated. Sediment accumulation in the reservoirs increases between 1935 and 1940, probably due to rises in the frequency of rainfall events of >25mm day. Significant increases in sedimentation rates (×8) occur during rain-fed wheat cultivation. In an uncultivated catchment, sediment yields remain relatively high and reflect increases in erosion from hillslopes, colluvial storage, and cultivated land sources. Gully systems have acted as transport routes rather than sediment sources over the last ～70 years. Badland erosion rates average ca. 50t ha^?1 yr^?1. At Ganora, their development in the 1920s strongly influences peak sedimentation between 1970 and 1980. Any delay between badland initiation and increased sediment yield appears to be a function of landscape connectivity. Recovery following disturbance is occurring slowly and is likely to take >100 years. De-stocking and better management systems are reducing erosion rates but may be offset by increases in rainfall intensity.     

Tour to Austria and Yugoslavia 1955

EUROPE

The Third Statistical Account of Scotland. Vol. 6. The County of Dunbarton. Edited by Margaret S. Dilke and A. A. Templeton. 8½×5½. Pp.333. 28 figs. 21 plates and folding map at back, Glasgow: Collins, 1959, 42s.

Ayrshire at the Time of Burns. Edited by John Strawhorn. 8½×5½. Pp.380. Frontispiece. 14 figures and separate set of reproductions of Armstrong's Map of Ayrshire, 1775, 1 : 63,360, in 6 sheets each 21.8×19.9. Kilmarnock: Ayrshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, 1959, 30s.

Géographie Universelle Larousse. Tame premier, L'Europe Peninsulaire. Ouvrage publié sous la direction de Pierre Deffontaines avec la collaboration de Mariel Jean‐Brunhes Delamarre. 11½×8½. Pp.IX+420. 14 colour relief maps. 74 black and white maps. 11 full colour photographs. Numerous diagrams, tables, etc., Paris : Librairie Larousse 1958, 7,570 Fr.

Geological Excursion Guide to the Glasgow District. By D. A. Bassett. 8½×5½. Pp. XV + 104. 5 Plates and 16 Figures. Glasgow: The Geological Society of Glasgow, 1958, 7s 6d.

Scotland before History. An Essay by Stuart Piggot with Illustrations by Keith Henderson. 5½×8½. Pp. VIII + 112. Edinburgh : Thomas Nelson &; Sons, 1958, 15s.

The Port Traffic of the Oslofjord Region. By Tore Ouren. Publications of the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. Geographical Series, No. 6. 10½×7½. Pp.168. 53 figures. Bergen: J. W. Eides, Forlag, 1958.

Yugoslavia, Geographical Survey. By B. Z. Milojevic, translated by M. V. Isailovic. 9½×6½. Pp.114. 8 Plates. 21 maps. 10 drawings and diagrams. One folded, coloured end‐paper map. Beograd : Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, 1959.

The Island of Elba. A Report of Geographical Field Work carried out during April, 1958, by The Geographical Field Group. 9½× 8. Pp.IV + 113. 30 maps, and diagrams. Department of Geoography, Nottingham University, Duplicated, 1958.

Groundwork Geographies, The British Isles. By N. Jackson &; P. Penn. 8½×5½. Pp.VII+230. Numerous maps and diagrams and photographs. London: George Philip &; Son Ltd., 1959, 8s 6d.

Groundwork Geographies, Europe. By N. Jackson &; P. Penn. 8V2X5V2. Pp.VI+200. Numerous maps and diagrams and photographs. London : George Philip &; Son Ltd. 1959, 8s 6d.

Groundwork Geographies, The Southern Continents. By N. Jackson &; P. Penn. 8½×5½. Pp.VII+226. Numerous maps and diagrams and photographs. London : George Philip &; Son Ltd, 1959, 8s 6d.

AFRICA

A geography of Ghana. By E. A. Boetang. 6½×8½. Pp.XVI+205. 46 figs. 41 plates. Cambridge University Press : London, 1959, 21s.

AMERICA

Industrial Evolution of Columbus, Ohio. By Henry L. Hunker. 6×9. Pp.XXV+260. 24 tables. 14 maps and diagrams. Bureau of Business Research: Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A., 1958, $4.00

NEW ZEALAND

The Exploration of New Zealand. By W. G. McClymont. 8½×5½. Pp.VIII+125. 6 plates. 3 maps. 2nd edition. London : Oxford University Press, 1959, 21s.

GENERAL

Rivers and Man. By Robert Brittain. Pp.288, 5½×8. 2 maps. 2 drawings. 13 plates. London : Longmans, Green &; Co, Ltd., 1959, 21s.

The Challenge of Landscape, The development and practice of Keyline. By P. A. Yeomans, 9½×7½. Pp.271. 21 figs, and 32 Plates. Sydney : Keyline Publishing Pty Ltd, 1958.

World Political Patterns. By L. M. Alexander. 9X6. Pp.XII+516. 101 maps and 17 tables. Chicago : Rand McNally &; Co, 1957, 55s.

MAPS AND ATLASES

Atlas Général, Larousse. 20×29 cms (7×11). 431 maps and insets. 183 plans. 250 statistical tables. 30 historical notes, index of 55,000 names. 456 pages. Paris : Librairie Larousse, 1959.

Ordnance Survey Quarter Inch (Fifth Series) Special Sheet — Wales and the Marches. 1 : 250,000. S8i/sX32V?. Ordnance Survey, Chessington, 1959. Paper flat 3s 6d. Paper folded 6s. Mounted and folded 8s 6d. Outline edition 3s 6d.     

历史博物馆展览的景观化建构:构成、思维与途径

历史博物馆展览作为被观看的客体,以历史遗存为基础、以叙事为核心、以沉浸式体验为吸引观众达成展览目标的途径。历史博物馆展览中的景观意味着由文物展品与多种媒介物构成的具有一定叙事与意义表达的空间图示,并具有“器-象-道”三个层面。景观化可以广义地理解为将零散的元素组织成为具有意义指向的整体。“象”作为蕴含着“器”与“道”的感知整体,是营造体验、让观众形成第一印象的关键所在,因而景观化建构应以“象”为先,根据各自的基础条件运用不同的建构途径--利用天然的历史景观、重构历史场景、景观化的文物组合,从而有助于历史博物馆打造更具吸引力与更具传播效能的展览。     

From Nihewan to Zhoukoudian: Cultural Evolution Pattern in the Paleolithic Age of Northern China

Nihewan and Zhoukoudian are important areas where early humans and cultures originated and reproduced in northern China and even East Asia. Geologically, both site groups belong to the Haihe River valley; chronologically, the Nihewan sites date to ca. 1.7 million years ago, and the Zhoukoudian sites date to ca. 0.5 million years ago; and culturally, both are dominated by the small-flake-tool culture. Thus, it is speculated that the early culture in the Zhoukoudian sites came from the migrants from the Nihewan Basin who facilitated cultural diffusion in the area; in turn, it also affected the culture in the Nihewan area during the subsequent development. This paper proposes the development path of the Paleolithic culture in northern China, that is, early humans in this region roughly experienced three stages of subsistence from lake-dependent to cave-dependent and then to river-dependent.     

PUBLIC‐PRIVATE SUPPORT OF THE ARTS AND GERMAN CULTURAL POLICY

This paper provides a historical context for thinking about Germany’s recent embrace of sponsorship and private donations as a means of supporting education and the arts. The paper notes that the chief architect of a new national cultural policy, Michael Naumann, has justified a turn to public‐private collaborative arts funding with the argument that a market‐driven model of private responsibility for the arts stimulates greater citizen involvement in civic life and thus greater democracy. Yet Naumann has not reconciled this argument with Germany’s own history, in particular the fact that Germany’s Golden Age of private support of the arts coincided with the authoritarian German Empire (1871–1918). My analysis of this historical constellation, presented as a case study of one of Germany’s most important museum directors, Wilhelm Bode (1845–1929), argues that private support of the arts formed part of a larger strategy designed to wrest control of arts institutions away from traditional elites. My essay seeks to show that the rise of more responsive public forums was intended to make the fruits of German imperialism and economic domination available to more Germans, particularly middle class Germans. On this basis, the essay suggests two things. First, German imperialist society was less hierarchical and more broadly participatory than is often assumed, complicating its ability to figure as a negative foil today. Second, the harnessing of market forces to German culture was expected to deepen popular appreciation for chauvinistic conceptions of German nationalism that today seem to conflict with what German democracy might ideally be. With these points in mind, I contend not that sponsorship and private donations are incapable of promoting greater public involvement in the arts. Rather, the private sector might yield more democratic outcomes when publicly funded democratic institutions retain a strong voice in the direction of culture.     

The role of museums of contemporary art in the re‐telling of historical accounts in Lithuania and Latvia

Museums of History and Art provide accounts of the past and the transition of nations into their current situation. They follow a certain line of interpretation of past events which reflect the dominant belief system in a nation. These narratives told in this process leave room for interpretation. Which particular string of the available narratives is followed while neglecting the others, and is influenced by the current self‐understanding of a nation and its political considerations. Latvia and Lithuania, two Baltic Nations, were planning to set up museums of contemporary art in 2009 and in 2011, respectively. Due to the financial crisis at this time, however, both projects have been put on hold. Based on interviews with key personnel and experts, the paper shows how the museums in both countries interpret their Soviet past and align it with the new European master narratives.     

6. SPACE: A USELESS CATEGORY FOR HISTORICAL ANALYSIS?

Much fuss has been made of the “spatial turn” in recent years, across a range of disciplines. It is hard to know if the attention has been warranted. A confusion of terms has been used—such as space, place, spatiality, location—and each has signified a cluster of often contradictory and confusing meanings. This phenomenon is common to a range of disciplines in the humanities. This means, first, that it is not always easy to recognize what (if anything) is being discussed under the rubric of space, and second, that over‐extended uses of the cultural turn have stymied meaningful engagement with (or even a language of) materiality in discussions of space. This article shows how materiality has been marginalized both by a casual vocabulary and a vigorous a priori epistemological holism on the part of scholars, and how the spatial turn has been too closely linked to the cultural turn to allow it to develop its fullest explanatory potential. It demonstrates how historians might profitably theorize the significance of place and space in their work (borrowing techniques from geographers and anthropologists, and referring to the phenomenological tradition), and sets out some challenges for using space more effectively in explanatory systems. Inspired by environmental history, sociology, and science and technology studies, I propose a way of establishing space as different from conventional historical handling of materiality, and end by identifying some methodological problems that need to be solved if we are to proceed on a surer footing.     

In Situ Preservation and Monitoring of the James Matthews Shipwreck Site

Abstract

Over the past few decades, the archaeological community has been moving away from the more traditional methods of excavation and recovery of underwater cultural heritage towards a less intrusive management approach, essentially involving the preservation of sites in situ. This trend has been politically galvanized in Article 2, point 5 of the Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (), which states that ‘The preservation in-situ of underwater cultural heritage shall be considered as the ?rst option before allowing or engaging in any activities directed at this heritage’. Over the years, a number of different remediation strategies have been utilized in order to protect underwater cultural heritage sites in situ, and most of the techniques or combinations thereof involve reburial of sites. Reburial may be an appropriate means of stabilizing and decreasing the deterioration rate of a site, however, there needs to be a holistic approach to the study of the environment, before and after reburial, to gain a full understanding of the changes that are occurring on the site and determine the effectiveness of the technique.

In early 2000, the James Matthews, a copper-sheathed, wooden-hulled vessel wrecked in 1841 south of Fremantle, Western Australia, was identi?ed as being under considerable threat from increased site exposure due to a combination of natural near-shore sedimentary processes and industrial activity in the immediate area. An extensive on-site conservation survey was carried out to establish the state of preservation of the wreck and provide information regarding the physico-chemical and biological nature of the environment prior to the implementation of any mitigation strategy. In 2003 it was con?rmed that further exposure of the site was occurring and devising a management plan was of paramount importance.

Since this time a number of different reburial techniques have been trialled on the site and these include sand bags of differing material composition, polymeric shade cloth, arti?cial sea grass mats made from polyvinyl chloride bunting, and the use of interlocking medium density polyethylene ‘crash barrier’ units in a cofferdam arrangement to con?ne deposited sand. The geological, physico-chemical, and microbiological changes in the burial environments have been monitored over this time. Furthermore, the broader scale, near-shore sedimentary processes affecting the site are being assessed in order to establish the reasons behind the continuing sediment loss. In situ preservation of the iron ?ttings by cathodic protection has also been included in these ?eld trials. In this paper the results from these experiments will be summarized. This information will be used to ?nalize the design of the full-scale in situ preservation strategy for the site and assist in establishing a post-reburial monitoring programme that will measure the success of the adopted remediation technique.     

Marine Data,Access, and Interoperability: Two Case Studies of English National Records

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to discuss the long-term management of marine historic environment archives, focusing on the comparison of English Heritage’s National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) with the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) as case studies.

Within marine (and terrestrial) contexts, archaeological archives are unique records of survey, excavation, and associated research of the historic environment. They are a resource which allows understanding of the human past to be developed, reviewed, and reinterpreted as new data is gathered. As such, they are significant for research, development-led studies, education, outreach, and public enjoyment. At a time when there is a significant focus on data from the marine environment, both within the UK and more widely across Europe, this paper puts forward some initial recommendations to enable further interoperability between these two key national datasets.

Analysis of these datasets highlighted some interesting points, including the quantification and qualification of the scale of discrepancies between data providers (NRHE and UKHO), and how these can be overcome to allow comprehensive, reliable, and accessible data on which to base long-term planning, decision-making, and resource management. This will ensure a consistent approach, enabling the successful long-term management of historic environment archives, and making historic environment data readily accessible to the wider public.