Contribution to the geology of Failaka Island,Kuwait: Evidence from sedimentological and petrographic data from the NE part of the island

Kuwait–Georgian archaeological work at Failaka Island showed the need for geological study. Analysis of sediments related to drinking water-collecting cisterns was performed on a Late Islamic settlement (NE part of the island) in 2018. Field sedimentological, grain size and XRD analysis of the sediment profiles showed that the shallow (about 1 m deep) cone-shaped wells are dug in the loose, porous, cross-stratified calcareous coarse-grained quartz sandstones. Three upper layers of quartz sandstones in the profile have high infiltration rate and provide a rare yet ideal material for water retention. The fourth dense layer below, composed of very fine sand and silt fraction, tends to hinder water movement and forms a relatively impermeable water-resistant surface. Thus, the distribution patterns of clay content, grain sizes and porosity of the well-hosting sediments are favourable for freshwater infiltration and harvesting. An additional petrographic analysis was conducted on different types of rocks discovered on the archaeological site, used as building material and fragments of stone artifacts to identify their origin. It was established that archaeological building material is of local origin, whereas the source rocks for stone artifacts were imported.     

Cultural Resource Management and American Archaeology

Cultural resource management (CRM) work accounts for most of the archaeology conducted in the United States. A diverse and somewhat fragmented field, CRM has nonetheless achieved a degree of institutional and organizational maturity. CRM archaeology has produced important contributions to archaeological methodology and has established and refined knowledge of regional cultural-historical sequences and settlement and subsistence patterns. The current florescence of historical archaeology is attributable to CRM. Yet the maintenance of high quality in CRM is a pervasive and enduring problem. Academic institutions need to reestablish alliances with the CRM community. The future viability of CRM archaeology depends on factors both internal and external to the discipline: regulatory and statutory “reform,” agency funding levels, looting and other destructive forces, and Native American and other public involvement.     

Forts or agricultural estates? Persian period settlement in the territories of the former kingdom of Judah

ABSTRACT

The territories of the former kingdom of Judah were only sparsely settled during the Persian period, as exemplified by the extreme rarity of domestic structures unearthed in excavations. Viewed against this background, the large number of excavated forts and isolated administrative buildings from this period is remarkable, and they apparently outnumber the period's excavated dwellings. Not only is this an extremely unlikely situation, but various lines of evidence, pertaining to specific sites as well as to the phenomenon as a whole, render the possibility that all these structures were forts or administrative buildings re-examines implausible. Consequently, this article reexamines the phenomenon within the social landscape of the region in particular, and of the Achaemenid empire in general, in an attempt to embed those unique buildings within the broader demographic and political reality of this time. Given the location of many of the sites and the finds unearthed in them, and in light of the demographic reality in the region and of the broader Achaemenid imperial policy, the article suggests that most of the so-called forts were estates, created in the process of the resettlement of this previously devastated region.     

Return to Sangamo Town: Research-Based Investigations at the Charles Broadwell Home Site, 1825–1845

This article discusses the results of research-based excavations at the Charles Broadwell site, located in the extinct town of Sangamo Town in central Illinois. A large cellar feature produced a robust sample of consumer goods dating to circa 1825–1845. Of interest is the archaeological signature of a well-appointed home in this frontier community; the character of mass-produced goods and the visibility of consumer patterning; the visibility of folk goods and their affiliated practices; and the view of abandonment and reclamation processes visible in the fill of the cellar feature.     

Dynamical Assessment of the Work Conditions of Reinforcement Tie-Rods in Historical Masonry Structures

Tie-rods are essential structural elements, which have been employed for centuries in masonry historical buildings, either during the construction or in successive strengthening interventions, with the aim of containing dangerous horizontal actions. The actual work conditions of these tie-rods, which are strongly influenced by their load history, are difficult to be quantified theoretically, and an effective method for their measure is of great importance in order to ensure the efficiency of these elements during the time and the stability of the entire building. Common measurements are often carried out adopting models based upon significant simplifications, like, for example, hinges at the extremities. These assumptions, rarely represent the real work conditions for anchorages. In this work, a non-destructive testing method is presented, based upon sophisticated dynamical models that can take into consideration many of the circumstances neglected by the simplified models. Four case studies are extensively described, trying to embrace the most common situations in term of peculiar features of the building, structural configuration, and load history. The discussion of the results yields the safety margin of the rod with respect to the material failure and provides important indications about the overall stability of the whole building.     

Project SAMPHIRE: Crowd Sourcing Maritime Archaeology data off Scotland's West Coast

Perhaps the greatest barrier to effective management of underwater cultural heritage is the lack of data on the nature and location of offshore archaeological resources. This is a problem shared with terrestrial archaeology, but is particularly acute due to the limitations of survey techniques in the underwater environment. In Scotland <15% of known ship losses from the last 200 years have been located and the record is far less comprehensive for earlier periods, verging on a near total data gap. Most known archaeological sites in Scottish waters have been discovered through large-scale sonar survey of relatively low resolution and a considerable bias has been introduced in the archaeological record; this has favored the discovery and documentation of larger and more recent, often upstanding, metal shipwrecks. This article presents the methods and results from a three-year project designed to reduce this bias by demonstrating large-scale prospecting for maritime archaeology through a community-based crowd-sourcing approach. Project SAMPHIRE (the Scottish Atlantic Maritime Past: Heritage, Investigation, Research and Education Project) was geographically focused on the west coast of the Scottish mainland and was undertaken between 2013 and 2015, resulting in a large number of new archaeological discoveries, including shipwrecks, aircraft, and other material of a much more varied nature than what is typically found through large-scale hydrographic surveys.     

Modern roads as UNESCO World Heritage sites: framework and proposals

There has been noticeable development in the protection of linear infrastructure by UNESCO, whether on its cultural, technological or historical merits. However, with the exception of other means of transport incorporated within the field of industrial archaeology or recognised by the CIIC under the category of cultural routes, little or no consideration has been given to roads built from the mid-eighteenth century to the early part of the twentieth century. In view of this situation, this paper has the following aims. Firstly, to define the concept of ‘modern road’ and provide a brief analysis of the historical development and current situation of the same. Secondly, to assess the main contributions made to date regarding the heritage dimension of modern roads. Thirdly, to reconstruct the process of defining linear cultural landscapes, historic transportation corridors, cultural routes and heritage canals, railways and roads, in accordance with the considerations raised by ICOMOS and UNESCO. Finally, to contribute to the debate on the definition, characterisation and assessment of modern roads as world heritage assets, both intrinsically and in relation to established heritage categories.     

A Model for Assessing the Reuse of an Ancient Place of Performance: The Bouleuterion of Teos

Ancient places of performance are often considered for reuse as a means of promoting archaeological sites. Therefore, local authorities and decision makers have a difficult task of balancing the conservation and management of the sites with the carrying capacity. In this paper, the bouleuterion, a ‘rediscovered’ structure, at the Teos archaeological site, in Turkey is evaluated and presented as a preliminary case study with the hopes that these issues will be taken into consideration by the managing body in the creation of a management plan for the site. The evaluation is made by assessing socio-economic and intangible heritage significance, policies guiding changes at the site, a qualitative survey at the site and by defining the structure’s carrying capacity. The site’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats are used to create criteria and make proposals for its reuse. The study concludes that the bouleuterion cannot be reused as a venue in its present condition and makes recommendations for future use.     

Disciplined Mobility and the Emotional Subject in Royal Dutch Lloyd's Early Twentieth Century Passenger Shipping Network

This paper examines the disciplined mobility and emotional geographies of “between‐deck” passengers in Royal Dutch Lloyd's early Twentieth Century passenger shipping network. Specifically, it is concerned with the ways in which the network was established and with the efforts made to maintain it. It is found that such a disciplinary network furthers the firm's goal of shipping healthy and productive bodies for corporate profits and that transhipment facility Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam was integral to the performance and maintenance of such a transnational disciplinary network. The key consequence of such disciplined mobility was the creation of an emotional passenger‐migrant subject shaped in relation to the power of corporate, cultural and other authorities in maritime travel and migration. In identifying this historic network of disciplined mobility and its emotional subject, this paper seeks to reveal the emotional geographies relating to mobile subjectivities and the power relations associated with their historically significant travels.     

Open-Air “Adena” Paired-Post Ritual Features in the Middle Ohio Valley: A New Interpretation

Circular paired-post structures have been recognized as a quintessential trait of the “Adena” concept. Although once thought restricted to ritual contexts beneath burial mounds, work over the last 30 years has identified several open-air structures in contexts apart from burial mounds or ditches. Uncluttered by overlapping features, open-air examples present a unique opportunity to document the initial roles played by these features. Currently, no unequivocal evidence for mortuary processing has been found directly associated with open-air paired-post structures. This fact calls into question the prevailing belief that most of these features were used to process, or prepare, the dead. Instead, a more reasonable interpretation is that these structures were involved in rituals minimally related to, or entirely devoid of, mortuary activity.