An Exploratory Geophysical Survey at the Pyramid Complex of Senwosret III at Dahshur, Egypt, in Search of Boats

A geophysical survey at the pyramid complex of Senwosret III at Dahshur sought to determine the suitability of magnetometry and electromagnetic induction (EMI, or conductivity) for mapping the area where several ancient boat-burials were found in the 1890s. At least one boat reported at the time of excavation remains unaccounted for. Tests demonstrated that magnetometry does detect subsurface structures of stone, fired brick, and unfired brick under current site conditions. Data indicated areas of geological activity as well as unexcavated archaeological remains, though no definitive traces of boat burials. No excavation was undertaken but another survey season is planned.
© 2009 The Authors     

Climate change vulnerability and adaptation research focusing on the Inuit subsistence sector in Canada: Directions for future research

The last decade has witnessed a proliferation of research into the human dimensions of climate change in the Arctic. Much of this work has examined impacts on subsistence hunting, fishing, and trapping among Canadian Inuit communities. This scholarship has developed a baseline understanding of vulnerability and adaptation, drawing upon interviews with community members and stakeholders to identify and characterize climatic risks and adaptive strategies. To further advance this baseline understanding, new methodologies are needed to complement existing research if we are to capture the dynamic nature of how climate change is experienced and responded to, and fully engage communities as equal partners. Longitudinal studies, community‐based monitoring, and targeted adaptation research offer significant promise to advance understanding. These methodologies provide a strong basis for developing meaningful partnerships with communities, the co‐production of knowledge, and empowerment for adaptation: essential components of community‐based participatory research.     

From Civil War to ‘Civil Society’: Has the End of the Cold War Brought Peace to Central America?

Revisiting one arena of the Cold War—Central America—which dominated international headlines in the 1980s, this article explores its legacy on the region. It asks whether the ending of the Cold War and the peace accords which concluded the internal wars of Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala in 1990, 1992 and 1996, respectively, have brought sustainable peace, development and democracy. In particular, it explores the changing agenda of international financial and development agencies which have supported the postwar reconstruction of the region. The experiences of Nicaragua and El Salvador have shown that failure to coordinate the efforts at economic adjustment with those of peace-building compromised the possibilities of development and democratization, particularly for the poorest sectors of the population. Conservative elites who emerged intact from the war were able to consolidate their economic power, and resist and limit political reform, while handing responsibility for the poor and the former war zones to international agencies. The latter have shifted their agenda in the Guatemalan peace process, incorporating a strategy of 'civil society strengthening' in order to build capacity within society to create more accountable and democratic states.
The conclusion of the article explores the ambiguities of this strategy. On the positive side it legitimizes and protects the newly won but fragile freedoms of speech and association in the region; on the negative side, it risks turning a historical social and political dynamic into externally funded 'projects' with limited sustainability, whose outcome many international agencies tend to assume they can shape to their own expectations.     

Down at the old Ship and Ball — taverns,trade and daily life in the London Borough of Southwark

SUMMARY: Archaeological excavations in Southwark over the past 50 years have proved to be a very prolific source of evidence for the material culture of people living in this part of London from the 16th century onwards. This lecture, the fourth held by SPMA in honour of the late Geoff Egan, focuses on a remarkably rich and varied assemblage of 17th- and 18th-century artefacts excavated on a site in Tanner Street in 2012. Covering a wide spectrum of activities, occupations and levels of society, these include ceramics, glass, clay tobacco pipes, pewter, copper-alloy, wood, leather, bone and ivory, with objects as diverse as cloth seals, spoons, book mounts, wine bottles and glasses, bird feeders and a mallet for playing pall mall, and sources ranging from the English Midlands to the Far East.