Who goes there? Accounting for gender in the urge to explore abandoned military bunkers

This article enquires into the motivations of ‘bunkerologists’ – a term coined for analytic convenience by the author to describe those who research, explore and survey twentieth century military bunkers as a hobby. Specifically, it considers the gendered dimension of this predominantly male pastime. In doing so, the article examines the role of a range of cultural influences, including signification of militarism, inter-generational initiation and remembrance around themes of defence and labour, human-technology relations, conquest, and hermitic escapism. These factors all appear to have roles to play in disposing individuals towards participation in this practice. The analysis finds the source of many of these influences within a particular mode of English male socialisation, and masculinities related to it, prevalent in the late twentieth century. The analysis presented is also grounded in an auto-ethnographic exploration of the biographical roots of the author's own choice of this research topic and the effect of the research upon him and his family. Whilst the subject matter of the study may be regarded as somewhat arcane, the analysis of the role of socialisation within routes to participation in this predominantly masculine pastime may help to illuminate the motivational frameworks of other rarely studied, and seemingly introverted, ‘male’ hobbies such as train spotting, stamp collecting and sport fishing (angling).     

Admiral: a 19th‐century Tyne‐built paddle tug

This paper reports on the discovery in the Thames Estuary and the partial recovery and recording of the remains of a 19th‐century Tyne‐built paddle tug. The wreck is believed to be that of Admiral built in Newcastle in 1870 and sunk following a collision in the estuary in 1872. This unexpected discovery provided a rare opportunity to examine the archaeological assemblage of one these once‐familiar working vessels and revealed the continuities and innovations of a specific type of engine used on paddle tugs.     

基于屏幕跟踪的大学生在线旅游信息搜索行为研究

本文以大学生在线旅游信息搜索行为为研究对象,利用实验观察法（屏幕跟踪）,分析了在线旅游信息搜索行为特征及规律,并依据信息搜索行为理论,构建了大学生在线旅游信息搜索模式。研究发现,在规定情景任务的情境下,大学生在网络信息搜索中输入的关键词次数不高,且习惯于使用短语或具体景区的名称并加入限定词语进行搜索;该群体整体上偏好使用全文搜索工具进行信息搜索,且信息搜集量大;该群体对信息的关注度依次为“游”、“行”、“住”、“吃”、“购”,但对“娱”的关注几乎没有;研究还发现,关键词和搜索引擎的选择与其旅游经验和上网经验有正相关关系。     

The politics of donating technological artifacts: techno-nationalism and the donations of the world’s first jet engines

The Smithsonian Institution’s aviation collection includes two early jet engines, both of which were given to the museum by foreign donors. The first, a prototype of Britain’s first jet engine, which flew during World War II, was donated by the British state in 1949. The second, a replica of Germany’s first jet engine, which flew in late August 1939, was donated by Germany’s leading museum, the Deutsches Museum, in 1980. The two are today presented as equivalent artifacts, yet the paths followed by the two objects to the American museum were anything but equivalent. Recovering the political and historical contexts that informed each of these two donations shows how what was apparently the same action fulfilled two very different agendas. Unlike the British donation, which was calculated to support Britain’s (at that time solitary) claim to having invented the jet engine, the German donation supported a narrative of dual invention, which had become the internationally agreed standard story between 1949 and 1980. This dual-inventor narrative allowed the German museum to forward a more subtle goal than promoting a national inventor; that of depoliticizing and normalizing Germany’s aerospace tradition internationally despite the fact that German aviation had been a locus for German nationalism and National Socialist largess. Reflecting on these two donations raises questions about how technology – particular historical claims about technology made in museums – have contributed to the construction of national identities.     

Archaeological Investigations of York South Motive Power Depot

ABSTRACT

Results of a study of the southern portion of the railway lands adjacent to York Station are considered. An early straight shed and a rare combination of three roundhouses, variously built by the Great North of England Railway, the York and North Midland Railway and the North Eastern Railway at the York South Motive Power Depot, were investigated and preserved in situ beneath the new rail operating centre, the largest in the country. Originally constructed between 1841 and 1864, these remarkable engine sheds remained in railway use for up to 120 years. Documentary and archaeological evidence is considered and placed within a wider context to explain how these buildings were adapted as their functions evolved. This allows us to understand how the sheds remained in operation after comparable structures at other depots became obsolete.     

The Hemerdon China Clay Works,Devon: A History and Description of the Site and Working Methods

This article presents an overview of the Hemerdon China Clay Works, 6 miles north-east of Plymouth (Devon), active from c.1860 to 1942. Based on research commissioned in advance of an extension to Headon West Quarry, it describes the development of the clay works and the methods of clay extraction and processing. Archaeological survey recorded a broad range of structures, features, earthworks and artefacts. They included the remains of an engine house of c.1907, two large masonry bases (probably associated with the flat rod system that transferred power from the engine) and a rocker beam. The article also describes a group of mica drags and settling tanks built c.1907. Combining this evidence with that gleaned from documentary sources, notably the large-scale Ordnance Survey mapping, an exceptionally detailed narrative has been constructed of the work's development through time. It has a relevance beyond the particular, and will help the future interpretation and management of the china clay extraction sites that are so characteristic of the region.