1,689 research outputs found
Historical fiction and archaeological interpretation
No full textThe transformation of the material traces of the past into archaeological narrative is a fundamentally creative act. But what happens when archaeologists engage with the work and methods of historical novelists and filmmakers? Do they risk transgressing the long-established and widely perceived borderline between fact and fiction? In this introductory chapter, we explore these questions through an analysis of the intertwining of archaeological research and fiction writing to demonstrate both the risks and the tangible benefits involved. In practice, we find a surprisingly long, if contested, history of archaeological engagement with fictive techniques, which transcends shifting theoretical orientations. The second half of the chapter reviews some of the varied expressions of the use of fiction in archaeological research (e.g. fictive vignettes, imagined journeys) and discusses these authors’ motivations and intended outcomes. Finally, we address some of the key objections and challenges to the use of fictive techniques, before outlining examples of the great potential of archaeological engagement with historical fiction
The Tiber Valley Project: The Database and Geographical Information System
No full textThis short contribution outlines the basic information technology at the heart of the Tiber valley project; the purpose of this article is to introduce the principles of the database and GIS and the methodologies followed. More detailed discussion of specific topics and results will be presented elsewhere (for instance, see Kay - Witcher 2005). The power of these technologies to integrate, visualise and analyse the wealth of archaeological data from the middle Tiber valley can be observed in many of the other papers in the present volume. Questo breve contributo descrive la tecnologia informatica di base utilizzata nel Tiber valley project; lo scopo di questo articolo è quello di fornire un’introduzione ai principi del database e del GIS e alle metodologie applicate. Una discussione più dettagliata delle caratteristiche specifiche e dei risultati sarà presentata altrove (si veda Kay - Witcher 2005). La capacità da parte di tali tecnologie di integrare, visualizzare ed analizzare la ricchezza dei dati archeologici restituiti dalla media valle del Tevere può essere verificata in numerosi contributi pubblicati in questo volume
The Fabulous Tales of the Common People, Part 1: Representing Hadrian’s Wall
No full textHadrian’s Wall is one of the most instantly recognizable ancient monuments in the UK. This paper explores the historical and contemporary visualization practices which have created this iconic image. Moving between the disciplines of archaeology, cultural geography, and heritage and tourism studies, the paper draws upon a variety of data sources such as paintings, photographs, models, and reconstructions to consider how the Wall is visually represented within contemporary public discourse. The paper focuses on digital photography and considers the ways in which images create and sustain particular readings of the Wall’s function and signifi cance. These contemporary representational practices demonstrate strong continuities, and earlier images are used to provide historical context. Emphasis is placed on the monument’s landscape setting in visual representations and the importance of this environmental context for readings of the Wall’s cultural and political signifi cance. The present paper deals primarily with representations of the Wall, but it is argued that these representational practices are also fundamentally embodied. The physical encounters of visitors and archaeologists will be considered in greater detail in the second part of this study (Witcher, forthcoming)
Ask Any Vegetable
No full textThis is a book about making animal forms out of common vegetables. As the eBay title for it proclaims: Very WEIRD! As the author writes in the foreword, Look long at an ordinary gourd of any sort and it will suggest many things to you (vi). This book is in this collection because of Fox and Crane on 24-25, Hare and Tortoise on 60-61, and Fox and Crow on 68-69. For the former scene, normal gourds were used to create the crane and the vase. For the fox an immature gourd was used; some clay was added, into which ears and eyes were stuck. A bit of cotton was pasted over the body to resemble fur, and the bushy tail was bult up of strands of corn silk. The fox's ears are feather-shaft ends (25). Did Aesop ever think that he would be getting into scenes made up of vegetables? The second scene is set in a forest whose trees are carrots. The rabbit is formed from a peanut, and the tortoise from a horse chestnut. The third scene represents some confusion or syncretism between FG and FC. The crow, which might be difficult to create, is cleverly left out of the scene. Prizes in the book go to the camel and leader on 36 (also on the front cover of the dust jacket), the resting sea lions on 53, and the sleeping student on 114. I would say that R.E. Eshmeyer was as crazy as I am, and that probably fits. He was also a man of the cloth.This is a hardbound book (hard cover)This book has a dust jacket (book cover)R.E. Eshmeye
Regional Field Survey and the Demography of Roman Italy
No full textThis article considers some of the key debates concerning the demography of Roman Italy from the perspective of archaeological field survey. First, it addresses the question of whether or not the results of survey archaeology reveal the supposed decline of the peasantry during the second century BC; specifically, it examines the republican settlement evidence of the South Etruria survey. Second, it considers a demographic model of the early imperial suburbium (Witcher 2005) and evaluates its working assumptions; in particular, it considers the significance of this suburban population for the wider debate about the size of the early imperial population of Italy as a whole — the ‘high’ vs. ‘low count’ debate. Finally, two models are developed to explore the implications of these high and low population figures for assessment of the significance of the archaeological evidence; they imply two very different reconstructions of the socio-economic organization of Roman Italy. In particular, the ‘high count’ population model assumes very low archaeological site recovery rates; in turn this suggests relatively unintegrated rural economies and limited consumption. In contrast, the ‘low count’ population model assumes high archaeological site recovery rates, indicative of a more integrated rural economy with extensive access to manufactured and imported goods. However, both models suggest that regionality is a critical consideration for the study of early imperial Italy
Looking Ahead: Forthcoming Events
No full textIn 2003, the Hadrian's Wall National Trail was opened, providing a 135 km (84 mile) public footpath along the length of the Roman frontier from Wallsend to Bowness-on-Solway. Each year, thousands of visitors walk the Trail from end-to-end and many more make day trips to visit specific locations within the wider World Heritage Site. In the second of two related papers (see Witcher, 2010), consideration turns from professional and popular visual representations of Hadrian's Wall to the ways in which visitors physically experience the monument and its landscape. The paper explores how embodied and sensory encounters produce and reproduce understandings which are charged with cultural and political meaning. Specifically, the elision of visitors and Roman soldiers through a process of embodied empathy/sympathy is outlined. It is argued that the way in which Western society assumes familiarity with an ancestral Roman Empire actively reduces the interrogative potential of encounters with the monument and limits visitors' ability to reflect on the significance of the Wall. The paper goes on to consider alternative modes of visual and physical engagement, drawing inspiration from virtual communities including geocachers who have used Information Technology such as Global Positioning Systems and Web 2.0 functionality to develop innovative modes of representation and encounter
Letter from R.E. Tracy, Supervisor, Sacramento-San Joaquin Area, to George H. Nakamura, May 15, 1944
No full textCorrespondence from R.E. Tracy to George Hideo Nakamura regarding a Government Bill of Lading.The Japanese American Archival Collection documents the people, places, and daily life of Japanese Americans, primarily those who lived in the once thriving community of pre-war Florin in the Sacramento region, as well as the conditions in American incarceration camps during World War II. The approximately 7,000 original items include personal and official letters, photographs, diaries, arts and crafts, newsletters, textiles, camps artifacts, yearbooks and other publications
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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