Search results for "bepress|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Anthropology"
showing 10 items of 1982 documents
Ensuring the Conservative Process: The Roman Walls of Lugo Maintenance Plan
2016
In 2000 the walls of Lugo were added to the World Heritage List. In the Spanish scenario of UNESCO Sites this is the only one provided with a maintenance plan, which properly defines times for inspections and interventions, tools for the collection and management of data, human and financial resources. This plan has begun to ensure a conservation process which guarantees that this ancient artefact is used efficiently and safely over time. The walls are fully accessible and because of the dominant ramparts are used by citizens as a beloved and frequently used city park. This article aims to describe the strategy and the conservation process put in place on the Roman walls to preserve and kee…
Being-here. Placemaking in a world of movement
2019
How to write an ethnography about something as difficult to understand and translate into words as the existential importance of place for those who experience displacement?Annika Lems masters this...
Precise chronology of Polynesian temple construction and use for southeastern Maui, Hawaiian Islands determined by 230Th dating of corals
2015
International audience; Emergent archaic states in pre-contact Hawai'i used a ritual control hierarchy implemented through a system of temples to manage production, extract tribute, and reinforce the legitimacy of the ruling elites. Based on a limited sample of precise 230Th dates from coral offerings on Maui Island temples it had been hypothesized that this temple system rapidly expanded during the period from A.D. 1580–1640. We tested this hypothesis by obtaining an expanded sample of 39 new 230Th coral dates from temples in Kahikinui District, and one sample from the summit of a cinder cone that likely had ritual significance. Combined with seven coral dates previously obtained, this yie…
X-ray computed tomography investigations of Cucuteni ceramic statuettes:
2013
Deciphering the internal structure of prehistoric artefacts can provide spectacular insights that might help us understand the people who made them. In order to preserve the integrity of these relics of past civilisations, it is desirable to make such investigations using non-destructive techniques. Recent decades have witnessed a growth in the X-ray computed tomography (CT) applications in the study of cultural heritage objects. This paper presents and discusses tomographic investigations of two Cucuteni ceramic statuettes discovered in Romania. The study was made with a CT device specially designed for archaeometric applications.
The President of the gold diggers: Sources of power in a gold mine in Burkina Faso
2003
The article provides an example of how 'formal' and 'informal' modes of power and legitimacy, as well as material and symbolic leadership resources, may intersect and interrelate. It analyses the sources of power that a Big Man in West Africa mobilised in order to appropriate mining rights and to establish leadership in a gold mining camp. As an entrepreneur in an economic field directly regulated by state laws and authorities, he has to operate within these structures while at the same time subverting them by creating a 'system of personal power' that resembles Sahlins' classic model of the Big Man in Melanesia. Although he is elected to represent the gold diggers, his leadership position …
Applying the UDA‑ODA discrimination technique to a herpetological association: the case of the Middle Palaeolithic site of El Salt (Alcoi, Spain)
2022
AbstractEl Salt (Middle Palaeolithic; Alcoi, Spain) is a key site for understanding the disappearance of Neanderthals in the eastern Iberian Peninsula, a process that is observed along its stratigraphic sequence. To improve our understanding of the palaeoclimatic context in which this process took place, we applied the UDA-ODA discrimination technique to the fossil herpetological assemblages from Stratigraphic Units (SU) Xb (52.3 ± 4.6 ka) and V (45.2 ± 3.4/44.7 ± 3.4 ka). This method is based in the application of an ecological criterion, the maximum altitude of each species on each Iberian range, to discern and remove those areas that do not meet their ecological requirements (UDA) from t…
Music, gender and rituals in the Ancient Mediterranean: revisiting the Punic evidence
2012
Abstract Music, playing instruments and performing rituals are bodily activities and as such they can be studied stressing their corporeal features. Music and sounds are usually essential elements in rites, and bodies play an essential role in bringing together music and rituals. We explore these issues focusing on Punic terracotta figurines playing musical instruments recovered from the island of Ibiza (fifth to third centuries bc).
L’évolution récente des expositions temporaires sur le Moyen Âge en Italie: Public, thèmes, finalités
2011
This article proposes a reflection about Italian art exhibitions on Middle Ages all over the twentieth century in order to understand the reception of medieval history in Italy. The Italian case is compared with the other European countries and their own relationships with Middle Ages. The articles studies also the important changes in the cultural offer and in the museum function during the last decade of the twentieth century and analyses their major consequences on the exhibitions. Lastly the ‘status’ of the exhibited objects and their mise-en-scene are examined.
Compositional reference for the documented Archaic production of indigenous matt-painted pottery at Entella (Western Sicily)
2015
This contribution is focused on a specific class of indigenous Archaic pottery (sixth and fifth century BC) with matt-painted geometric decoration that was recovered in large quantities in the excavations at Entella, an indigenous site located in western Sicily. The site of Entella was strategically considerable in this part of Sicily, controlling the north-south routes running along the river Belice. Kiln structures were attested at Entella that, until today, it is the only Archaic site in the area with an unmistakable evidence of production of fine pottery. The present research is aimed at yielding a complete petrographic and chemical characterization of the table ware produced at Entella…
Teaching Archaeological Heritage Management: Towards a Change in Paradigms
2018
The concept of archaeological heritage management (AHM) has been key to wider archaeological research and preservation agendas for some decades. Many universities and other education providers now offer what is best termed heritage management education (HME) in various forms. The emphasis is commonly on archaeological aspects of heritage in a broad sense and different terms are often interchangeable in practice. In an innovative working-conference held in Tampere, Finland, we initiated a debate on what the components of AHM as a course or curriculum should include. We brought together international specialists and discussed connected questions around policy, practice, research and teaching/…