| 1. |
- Buckland, Philip, 1973-
(författare)
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The development and implementation of software for palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatological research : the Bugs Coleopteran Ecology Package (BugsCEP)
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis documents the development and application of a unique database orientated software package, BugsCEP, for environmental and climatic reconstruction from fossil beetle (Coleoptera) assemblages. The software tools are described, and the incorporated statistical methods discussed and evaluated with respect to both published modern and fossil data, as well as the author’s own investigations. BugsCEP consists of a reference database of ecology and distribution data for over 5 800 taxa, and includes temperature tolerance data for 436 species. It also contains abundance and summary data for almost 700 sites - the majority of the known Quaternary fossil coleopteran record of Europe. Sample based dating evidence is stored for a large number of these sites, and the data are supported by a bibliography of over 3 300 sources. Through the use of built in statistical methods, employing a specially developed habitat classification system (Bugs EcoCodes), semi-quantitative environmental reconstructions can be undertaken, and output graphically, to aid in the interpretation of sites. A number of built in searching and reporting functions also increase the efficiency with which analyses can be undertaken, including the facility to list the fossil record of species found by searching the ecology and distribution data. The existing Mutual Climatic Range (MCR) climate reconstruction method is implemented and improved upon in BugsCEP, as BugsMCR, which includes predictive modelling and the output of graphs and climate space maps. The evaluation of the software demonstrates good performance when compared to existing interpretations. The standardization method employed in habitat reconstructions, designed to enable the inter-comparison of samples and sites without the interference of differing numbers of species and individuals, also appears to be robust and effective. Quantitative climate reconstructions can be easily undertaken from within the software, as well as an amount of predictive modelling. The use of jackknifing variants as an aid to the interpretation of climate reconstructions is discussed, and suggested as a potential indicator of reliability. The combination of the BugStats statistical system with an enhanced MCR facility could be extremely useful in increasing our understanding of not only past environmental and climate change, but also the biogeography and ecology of insect populations in general. BugsCEP is the only available software package integrating modern and fossil coleopteran data, and the included reconstruction and analysis tools provide a powerful resource for research and teaching in palaeo-environmental science. The use of modern reference data also makes the package potentially useful in the study of present day insect faunas, and the effects of climate and environmental change on their distributions. The reconstruction methods could thus be inverted, and used as predictive tools in the study of biodiversity and the implications of sustainable development policies on present day habitats. BugsCEP can be downloaded from http://www.bugscep.com
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| 2. |
- Karlström, Anna, 1973-
(författare)
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Preserving Impermanence : The Creation of Heritage in Vientiane, Laos
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is about the heritage in Vientiane. In an attempt to go beyond a more traditional descriptive approach, the study aims at bringing forward a discussion about the definition, or rather the multiplicity of definitions, of the concept of heritage as such. The unavoidabe tension emanating from a modern western frame of thought being applied to the geographical and cultural setting of the study provides an opportunity to develop a criticism of some of the assumptions underlying our current definitions of heritage. For this particular study, heritage is defined as to include stories, places and things. It is a heritage that is complex and ambiguous, because the stories are parallel, the definitions and perceptions of place are manifold and contested, and the things and their meaning appear altered, depending on what approach to materiality is used. The objective is not to propose how to identify and manage such a complex heritage. Rather, it is about what causes this complexity and ambiguity and what is in between the stories, places and things. In addition, the study aims to critically deconstruct the contemporary heritage discourse, which privileges material authenticity, form and fabric and the idea that heritage values are universal and should be preserved for the future and preferably forever. In Laos, Buddhism dominates as religious practice. In this context, the notion of material impermanence also governs the perception of reality. Approaches to materiality in Buddhism are related to the general ideas that things are important from a contemporary perspective and primarily as containers for spiritual values, that the spiritual values carry the connection to the past, and that heritage is primarily spiritual in nature and has little to do with physical structure and form. By exploring the concepts of restoration, destruction and consumption in such a perspective, we understand that preservation and restoration are active processes of materialisation. We also understand that destruction and consumption are necessary for the appreciation of certain heritage expressions, and that heritage is being constantly created. With this understanding, this book is an argument for challenging contemporary western heritage discourse and question its fundamental ideology of preservationism.
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| 3. |
- Lindbom, Peter, 1959-
(författare)
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Vapnen i wreccornas tid, 150-500 e.Kr. : om de romerska auxiliarpilspetsarna och den västliga traditionens framväxt
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Lindbom, Peter. 2006. Weapons in the time of the Wreccas, 150-500 AD., Roman auxiliary arrow points and the development of the Western tradition, AUN 36, Uppsala, 290 pp., 70 figs., 19 maps, 37 tables. ISSN 0285-1347, ISBN 91-506-1869-5 Archaeologists agree that the different Germanic peoples were influenced by the Roman Empire and its well organised and effective army. A common assumption is that the German Barbarians were inferior and merely copied the superior Roman customs and material culture. In this thesis I argue that the Germanic peoples created a hybrid culture, where specific Roman concepts and innovations were borrowed and manipulated in order to fit into the context, of a new Germanic Warrior Society which gradually developed during the first half millennium AD. Using Post Colonial theory I show that these socio-cultural developments took an ambivalent form and were often manifested in sudden changes in material culture and as grave goods deposited according to local customs. Power struggles between old and new elite groups often resulted in armed conflict, with an opposition between the superior or dominant colonials and the subaltern indigenous peoples, a relation that is similar to imperialistic dominance by a colonial power elite.
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| 4. |
- Lindholm, Karl-Johan, 1970-
(författare)
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Wells of Experience : A pastoral land-use history of Omaheke, Namibia.
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The conventional view on the Kalahari in southern Africa expresses that the area is unsuitable for livestock herding. For this reason, it is argued that livestock herders avoided the Kalahari in the past and were only able to establish themselves in the later half of the twentieth century, when deep-reaching boreholes were introduced in the area. An effect of this concept was that the archaeological record of pastoralists in the Kalahari either was perceived as non-existent or received little attention from scientific enquiry.Based on an archaeological survey in the Kalahari of the northeastern part of Namibia, the purpose of this study is to construct an alternative approach to the archaeology of livestock herding. The aim is to contribute to a better understanding of the areas unrecorded land-use history. I depart from the notion that the main ecological constraint for dryland pastoralism is the availability of dry season water and fodder resources. For this reason, the fundamental basis for a pastoral land-use system is places that contain dry season resources. By reviewing recent ecological research, historical and anthropological accounts and previous archaeological research, I establish a link between livestock herders’ procurement of dry season key resources and the practice of digging wells. The link can be motivated from the pastoral ambition of accumulating livestock and high water requirements in the restrained dry season. On this basis, I suggest that artificial wells are useful indicators of pastoral land use in the Kalahari. The most crucial task for the study is to address the archaeological visibility of pastoral well sites. By a research approach integrating the theoretical understanding of pastoralism and a methodology including ecology, archaeology, history and the knowledge of the people who keep livestock in the region today, the archaeological survey revealed 40 well sites, including nearly 200 well structures that have all been used for watering livestock. However, it would be unfortunate if a study of pastoral wells would solely address the ecological foundation and the archaeological visibility of pastoralism. I suggest that the wells signify the labour of peoples with common or separate histories, with or without own herds, but probably talked about in relation to herds. I will also argue that the wells can be used for tracking and reconstructing a pastoral land-use system that predated the colonial era. Furthermore, the wells can be used to identify changes of the land-use that took place during the twentieth century, which involved that livestock herding was more or less abandoned in large parts of northwestern Kalahari. The study surmises that the critical historical perspective is valuable for development projects and conservationist interventions active in the region, especially in the light of the recent trends in the dryland ecology, which shows a larger appreciation for the indigenous understanding of the management of dryland ecosystems. With modifications, the developed approach can be applicable for land-use historical research elsewhere in southern Africa.
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| 5. |
- Macamo, Solange, 1959-
(författare)
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Privileged Places in South Central Mozambique : The archaeology of Manyikeni, Niamara, Songo and Degue-Mufa
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Throughout the 20th century, archaeologists in southern Africa have focused upon visible architectural features of stone built Madzimbabwe settlements as indicators of prestige and power. Manyikeni a stone built settlement in Inhambane province, S. Mozambique dated between 13th and 18th centuries AD is seen in this thesis as an example of the transformation of a landscape by human intervention. A concept of “privileged place” based on a wide range of archaeological and environmental evidence, oral and documentary historical sources is proposed. This concept includes strategic location e.g. in relation to water, soils for agriculture, pasture, resource areas for mining and trade opportunities. The 17th c. site of Degue-Mufa in the Zambezi valley is taken as an example with its privileged position indicated by finds such as local and Indian Ocean trade goods, and the 18th c. stone enclosure of Songo, a trading post with direct contact to the hinterland. Excavated materials and documentary sources illustrate how the meaning of privileged places changed over time. From the 16th c. the agricultural and pastoral places were gradually converted into market places (ferias).The prazo system of land tenure developed in the Zambezi Valley is discussed as a process of Africanization. A discussion of the significance of places for the slave trade is also provided.Privileged places are examined in a gender perspective. Hilltop vs. valleys site locations are considered in relation to Male vs. Female divisions. Power of men over women has been associated with the possession of cattle while women have been given a role as reproductive labor, even though women played a significant role in production through agricultural activities. These issues are discussed in relation to the 15th c. hill-top settlement of Niamara and the valley settlement of Magure in the highlands of Manica. Other privileged places with specific ceremonial significance are exemplified by M’Bire Nhantekwe, a Mutapa state capital in the Zumbo district of Tete province, Central Mozambique. The definition of privileged places aims to assist heritage managers and decision makers by furnishing adequate criteria for evaluating and developing archaeological sites, and the appropriate recommendations are provided.
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| 6. |
- Manyanga, Munyaradze, 1969-
(författare)
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Resilient Landscapes: socio-environmental dynamics in the Shashi-Limpopo Basin, southern Zimbabwe c. AD 800 to the present
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The general perception today is that the Shashi-Limpopo Basin in southern Africa is hot and dry and not conducive to human habitation. Today there is no doubt that the Shashi-Limpopo Basin has been home to many communities throughout the pre-historical period. A study of the changing ecological conditions in the Mateke Hills and the Shashi-Limpopo Valley as well as historical and present day land-usage offers an alternative explanation of how prehistoric communities could have interacted with this changing landscape. The archaeological record, historical sources and recent land-use patterns show that settlement location has always been orientated towards the rivers and circumscribed environments. The mosaic of floodplains, wetlands, drylands and circumscribed zones provided the ideal ecological setting for the development of socio-political complexity in southern Africa. The resilience of these semi arid savanna regions together with human innovation and local knowledge ensured that societies continued to derive subsistence even in the face of seasonal variability in rainfall and even climate change.
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| 7. |
- Sáenz, Virginia, 1952-
(författare)
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Symbolic and Material Boundaries : An archaeological genealogy of the Urus of Lake Poopó, Bolivia
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The thesis focuses on Bolivian Indians who are assimilated into ethnic groups as one of many consequences of the colonial past. An understanding of the complexity of this construction draws from disciplines such as Anthropology, Archaeology, History, Sociology, in an effort to expose the power relations behind the construction. Departing from written sources and the general belief that the area would lodge the most ancient of such Indians, the Uru from Lake Poopó, a specific location has been selected in the Oruro province of the mid Bolivian highlands. The province is named after this people. The identity of the Uru people has been established by reference to other Indians in the Bolivian Andes known as the Aymara or the Quechua. Colonial accounts written by the Spanish conquerors, including priests, soldiers and commoners, as well as modern sources are discussed and analysed. The fieldwork combines archaeological and anthropological methods. Finally, the importance of multidisciplinary approaches is discussed in an effort to contribute to an understanding of multi-cause phenomena in this case the constructed ethnic identity of the Uru people.
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| 8. |
- Sinclair, Paul, et al.
(författare)
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Excavations at Kuumbi Cave on Zanzibar 2005
- 2006
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Ingår i: The African Archaeology Network. - : Der es Salaam University Press. - 9976604734 ; , s. 248-
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Preliminary excavations at Kuumbi Cvae in south eastern Zanzibar are reported. Occupation of the site at greater than c. 22000 BP is associated with heavy duty stone tools and an array of large fauna. An hiatus in human occupation represented by animal remains of bats and leopards is followed by a series of occupations dated between c. 1800 and 5300 BP, associated with wild and domestic animal remains. Recent occupation of the site is represented by ceramics and glass beads.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Sinclair, Paul
(författare)
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The cultural connections of the Red Sea : What is the evidence for external trading contacts on the East African coast in the first millennium BC?
- 2007
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Ingår i: Natural resources and cultural connections of the Red Sea. - Oxford : Archaeopress. - 9781407300979 ; , s. 187-194
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Bokkapitel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- The aim of this paper is to identify potential sources of evidence for Ist millennium BC trade along the east African coast. Examples from Zanzibar and Mafia Islands off the coast of Tnzania, will be compared to material from southern Mozambique. I argue that recent scattered finds of early imports are best interpreted in relation to the regional cultural succession. Although some indicators support the idea of Red Sea contacts the South Asian possibilities have also to be considered.
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