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Cultural Pervasiveness or Objective Violence?: Three Questions about KOS as Cultural Arbiters
Get PDFKnowledge organization and knowledge organization systems are pervasive in human experience, yet the effect of this pervasiveness is overlooked and little analyzed. Several authors have called for a theory of knowledge organization that embraces cultural and social realities alongside domain-centric ontologies. Examples of leading studies point to pervasive and occasionally oppressive discourses embracing race, sex and gender and economics. Three research questions are presented about how to study knowledge organization systems as cultural arbiters and how to incorporate temporality and atemporality into the methodology of subject ontogeny
THE INVISIBLE MOATS OF THE MUN RIVER VALLEY, NE THAILAND: THE EXAMINATION OF WATER MANAGEMENT DEVICES AT MOUNDED SITES THROUGH GROUND PENETRATING RADAR (GPR)
Get PDFThe Mun River valley is well known for its moat-bound mounded archaeological sites that are usually associated with Iron Age occupation (~500BC- AD500). The investigation of these sites has provided a wealth of information on the changing social and environmental conditions during prehistory. In recent years, research has identified a greater diversity of site morphologies in the region, many of which, importantly, do not appear to have moats surrounding them. This paper seeks to investigate whether the apparently ‘non-moated’ mound site of Non Klang (Nong Hua Raet village) was actually moated in the past, and if such, now in-filled features can be investigated through non-destructive Ground Penetrating Radar methodology. Additionally, while large external moats can be observed in the modern day topography at sites such as Ban Non Wat, excavation has demonstrated that further, invisible, water management features exist beneath the surface within the current mound boundary of the site. These are probably Iron Age precursors to the later more extensive and still visible moats. This paper seeks to answer several fundamental questions: What application can GPR have at mounded sites in Southeast Asia? Do invisible moats exist? How will this affect our understanding of the broader prehistoric landscape in the Upper Mun River Valley?
THE 2008-2009 EXCAVATIONS AT THE SAC LOCALITY, REBER-RAKIVAL LAPITA SITE, WATOM ISLAND, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Get PDFThe Reber-Rakival site on Watom Island is of particular significance, as it is the first place where what is now known as Lapita pottery was found, by a German missionary in 1909. It is also significant as a Lapita-era burial site, although there has been much debate about the exact relationship between the burials and the Lapita occupation. In 2008 and 2009 an Otago University/Otago Museum/Papua New Guinea expedition carried out new excavations at the SAC site in Rakival Village, in order to increase the sample size of both burials and ceramics, and to address some of the ogoing debates. The expedition found more burials, Lapita ceramics and associated artefactual material, and while it confirmed the relationship between the burials and the Lapita occupation, it also found that previous excavations had not reached the base of the site, and evidence of human occuption was found up to 0.8m deeper than previously known. Based on this work, a refined stratigraphic sequence is presented, with 7 layers replacing the old 4 zone model that has been used to date. This paper presents the description and interpretation of the SAC locatily at Watom, and provides a basis for other more specialist papers that are in preparation
TYPOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION AMONG LATE PALEOLITHIC FLAKED CORE TOOLS IN VIETNAM: AN EXAMINATION OF THE PA MUOI ASSEMBLAGE
Get PDFThis paper explores typological transformations among late Paleolithic pebble tools excavated from Pa Muoi site in the Northwestern mountainous region of Vietnam. The site contains approximately 1665 pebble choppers over an excavation area of 449 m2. An attribute analysis is undertaken to examine the time-ordering of dimensional and morphological changes as reduction proceeds
Epistemic Contrast in Medical and Legal Gender Classifications and their Influences on the Dewey Decimal Classification
Get PDFHjørland (2010) writes, “The relative strengths and weaknesses of different [epistemic] approaches are an important research question for the field of KO” (p. 40). Determining who has the authority to speak, along with examining the decisions those authorities make, can reveal the epistemological perspective or perspectives at play. Interrogating the epistemic stance underlying a classification can help understand ontological decision-making process of the institution that claims the classification. In classifying groups of people, formal gender classifications can marginalize people who do not identify with traditional understandings of sex and gender. Sex, or biological characteristics, and gender, the social aspects associated with a particular sex, intertwine, and their characteristics can be conflated. Though in practice both gender and sex possess a great deal of variation and fluidity, most of the world considers them binary or some version of trinary, particularly in formal institutions. Western classification reinforces this rigidity with its principles of mutual exclusivity and hierarchical force. A formal sex or gender classification represents the sanctioned outlook of a particular institution, which then can affect people’s lived experience
Producing Navigable Knowledge Organization with Knowledge Interaction
Get PDFKnowledge interaction combines concept theory, instantiation theory, and the taxonomy of knowledge elements to suggest that knowledge organization systems might be used effectively to integrate different dimensional representations of information objects. Understanding knowledge structurally as well as semantically can lead to a variety of implementations that might provide temporal interfaces for understanding relationships among information objects that are not obviously semantically related. An experimental test-‐bed would rely on the actual experience of working scholars. Preliminary results come from a case study of the works of one prolific New Testament scholar whose works are available in digital form. We see clearly the distance between the theological positions, sociological interpretive positions, and methodological positions, indicating three interacting intellectual poles in this scholar’s writing
FOLLOWING THE NON-MONEY TRAIL: RECONCILING SOME ANGKORIAN TEMPLE ACCOUNTS
Get PDFFew Angkorian temple inscriptions contain data on revenues and scheduling of resources in a manner that is both comprehensive and coherent. As a result, the operations of Angkor’s temples and āśrama are not well understood. Yet it must have been important for foundations to keep records to ensure their sustainability, particularly of offerings to deities and maintenance of personnel, in some cases numbering into the thousands. This paper uses an accounting approach to shed some light on the modes of support for workers of religious establishments. Prime uncertainties addressed in the process are varying scales of weights and measures for rice, and volumetric relationships between different forms of rice. Working back from stated quantities of rice and paddy, at times unrealistically precise, we deduce that the auditors adopted a ratio of 2 when calculating the conversion of paddy to rice, rather than the 2.5 commonly used in contemporary Indian texts. We also reevaluate the frequencies of two religious festivals, saṅkrānta and tithiviśeṣana. The metabolic requirements of different age groups and sexes in rice-eating communities, together with the rations prescribed in some of Yaśovarman’s āśrama allow us to estimate that a liḥ of rice weighed between 800 g and 900 g and from this to infer the age range for boys who were studying in those āśrama. The implications of the profiting of some and the under-provisioning for other sanctuary personnel are considered in conjunction with the institution of fortnightly scheduling seen in some religious establishments
HINDU BELIEFS AND THE MARITIME NETWORK IN SOUTHERN VIETNAM DURING THE EARLY COMMON ERA
Get PDFIn recent decades a large number of artifacts related to Hindu belief have been discovered in southern Vietnam. They have been found in various types of archaeological sites and clearly played different functions in the religious beliefs and daily lives of the people who created them. These valuable archaeological sources provide interesting information on the penetration of Hinduism into the area. This essay will address the following subjects: The distribution of these artifacts and the sites where they have been found; their connection to Hindu beliefs and their illustration of styles of Hindu art; and the role of maritime networks of trade in the development of Hindu beliefs during the state formation period in Southern Vietnam
