RESUMEN
Seemingly empty spaces in various archaeological settings have left many unanswered questions. This paper focuses on the appearance, maintenance and possible function of a large empty area situated at the summit plateau of the Iron Age oppidum Bibracte in France. Multidisciplinary research of the infill of the ditch that delimited this area in the 1st century BC has provided evidence on the primary function and the formation processes of the structure itself, and for the reconstruction of the appearance, maintenance and function of the area it enclosed. The results allow us to gain insight into a variety of topics, including the role of trees, hygiene measures and waste management strategies at this urbanised hilltop centre. This paper demonstrates that multi-proxy analyses provide detailed insight into the function of archaeological features in a local environmental context and the potential of such approaches in archaeology.
Asunto(s)
Arqueología , Urbanización/historia , Arqueología/métodos , Diatomeas/clasificación , Francia , Sedimentos Geológicos/análisis , Fenómenos Geológicos , Historia Antigua , Humanos , Datación Radiométrica/métodos , Árboles/clasificación , Administración de Residuos/historiaRESUMEN
Despite the recent flurry of interest in various aspects of ancient urbanism, we still know little about how much traffic flowed in and out of ancient cities, in part because of problems with using commodities as proxies for trade. This article investigates another approach, which is to estimate these flows from the built environment, concentrating on transport infrastructure such as city gates. To do this, I begin by discussing a new model for how we would expect this kind of infrastructure to expand with population, before investigating the relationship between the populations of sites and the total numbers and widths of city gates, focusing on the Greek and Roman world. The results suggest that there is indeed a systematic relationship between the estimated populations of cities and transport infrastructure, which is entirely consistent with broader theoretical and empirical expectations. This gives us a new way of exploring the connectivity and integration of ancient cities, contributing to a growing body of general theory about how settlements operate across space and time.
Asunto(s)
Transportes/historia , Urbanización/historia , Ciudades/historia , Mundo Griego/historia , Historia Antigua , Humanos , Modelos Teóricos , Mundo Romano/historia , Ciudad de RomaRESUMEN
We exploit regional variation in suitability for cultivating potatoes, together with time variation arising from their introduction to the Old World from the Americas, to estimate the impact of potatoes on Old World population and urbanization. Our results show that the introduction of the potato was responsible for a significant portion of the increase in population and urbanization observed during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. According to our most conservative estimates, the introduction of the potato accounts for approximately one-quarter of the growth in Old World population and urbanization between 1700 and 1900. Additional evidence from within-country comparisons of city populations and adult heights also confirms the cross-country findings.
Asunto(s)
Agricultura , Antropología Cultural , Dinámica Poblacional , Solanum tuberosum , Urbanización , Agricultura/economía , Agricultura/educación , Agricultura/historia , Antropología Cultural/educación , Antropología Cultural/historia , Comparación Transcultural , Europa (Continente)/etnología , Historia del Siglo XVIII , Historia del Siglo XIX , Historia del Siglo XX , América del Norte/etnología , Dinámica Poblacional/historia , Salud Pública/economía , Salud Pública/educación , Salud Pública/historia , Cambio Social/historia , Solanum tuberosum/economía , Solanum tuberosum/historia , América del Sur/etnología , Urbanización/historia , Urbanización/legislación & jurisprudenciaRESUMEN
Tehran after the Second World War experienced a modernization drive and rapid population growth. In 1972, the Greek planner, Constantinos Doxiadis, who had already undertaken major housing and planning projects in Iran, was invited to prepare an action plan for the city, to guide the future investment for easing the city's problems. Doxiadis saw cities as nightmares, but advocated that a holistic scientific analysis and a naturalist approach to urban growth management could address their problems. In applying his ideas to Tehran, however, the limits of his ideas of scientific planning became evident, not only through contextual pressures, such as lack of time and data, but also through the planning consultant's approach, in which commercial considerations and the application of readymade solutions could shape the outcome. Rather than working with the context, Doxiadis followed the modernist tenet of breaking with the past, proposing the creation of West Tehran, an alternative to the city where all future growth should take place on a utopian basis. The radical nature of his proposals, his death, and a turbulent revolution aborted the impact of his action plan on Tehran, while faith in modernist scientific planning was widely being abandoned.
Asunto(s)
Planificación de Ciudades , Regulación de la Población , Cambio Social , Salud Urbana , Urbanización , Planificación de Ciudades/economía , Planificación de Ciudades/educación , Planificación de Ciudades/historia , Planificación de Ciudades/legislación & jurisprudencia , Historia del Siglo XX , Vivienda/economía , Vivienda/historia , Vivienda/legislación & jurisprudencia , Irán/etnología , Regulación de la Población/economía , Regulación de la Población/historia , Regulación de la Población/legislación & jurisprudencia , Cambio Social/historia , Factores Socioeconómicos , Salud Urbana/historia , Población Urbana/historia , Remodelación Urbana/economía , Remodelación Urbana/educación , Remodelación Urbana/historia , Remodelación Urbana/legislación & jurisprudencia , Urbanización/historia , Urbanización/legislación & jurisprudenciaRESUMEN
Wetland ecosystems are profoundly affected by altered nutrient and sediment loads received from anthropogenic activity in their surrounding watersheds. Our objective was to compare a gradient of agricultural and urban land cover history during the period from 1949 to 1997, with plant and soil nutrient concentrations in, and sediment deposition to, riparian wetlands in a rapidly urbanizing landscape. We observed that recent agricultural land cover was associated with increases in Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorus (P) concentrations in a native wetland plant species. Conversely, recent urban land cover appeared to alter receiving wetland environmental conditions by increasing the relative availability of P versus N, as reflected in an invasive, but not a native, plant species. In addition, increases in surface soil Fe content suggests recent inputs of terrestrial sediments associated specifically with increasing urban land cover. The observed correlation between urban land cover and riparian wetland plant tissue and surface soil nutrient concentrations and sediment deposition, suggest that urbanization specifically enhances the suitability of riparian wetland habitats for the invasive species Japanese stiltgrass [Microstegium vimenium (Trinius) A. Camus].
Asunto(s)
Agricultura/historia , Urbanización/historia , Humedales , Agricultura/tendencias , Ecosistema , Monitoreo del Ambiente , Sedimentos Geológicos/química , Historia del Siglo XX , Hierro/análisis , Nitrógeno/análisis , Fósforo/análisis , Poaceae/metabolismo , Población Suburbana , Urbanización/tendenciasRESUMEN
Energy use in urbanization has fundamentally changed the pattern and fluxes of carbon cycling, which has global and local environmental impacts. Here we have investigated organic carbon (OC) and black carbon (BC) in six soil profiles from two contrast zones in an ancient city (Nanjing) in China. BC in soils was widely variable, from 0.22 to 32.19 g kg(-1). Its average concentration in an ancient residential area (Zone 1) was, 0.91 g kg(-1), whereas in Zone 2, an industrial and commercial area, the figure was 8.62 g kg(-1). The ratio of BC/OC ranged from 0.06 to 1.29 in soil profiles, with an average of 0.29. The vertical distribution of BC in soil is suggested to reflect the history of BC formation from burning of biomass and/or fossil fuel. BC in the surface layer of soils was mainly from traffic emission (especially from diesel vehicles). In contrast, in cultural layers BC was formed from historical coal use. The contents of BC and the ratio of BC/OC may reflect different human activities and pollution sources in the contrasting urban zones. In addition, the significant correlation of heavy metals (Cu, Pb, and Zn) with BC contents in some culture layers suggests the sorption of the metals by BC or their coexistence resulted from the coal-involved smelting.
Asunto(s)
Carbono/análisis , Contaminación Ambiental/historia , Metales Pesados/análisis , Contaminantes del Suelo/análisis , Urbanización/historia , Carbono/historia , China , Ambiente , Historia Antigua , Metales Pesados/historia , Contaminantes del Suelo/historiaRESUMEN
Oxygen stable isotope ratios (delta(18)O) have been determined in carbonate in paired first and third molar teeth from individuals (N = 61) who lived in the town of Portus Romae ("Portus") and who were buried in the necropolis of Isola Sacra (First to Third centuries AD) near Rome, Italy. We compare these analyses with data for deciduous teeth of modern Roman children. Approximately one-third of the archaeological sample has first molar (M1) values outside the modern range, implying a large rate of population turnover at that time, consistent with historical data. Delta (18)O(ap) values suggest that a group within the sample migrated to the area before the third molar (M3) crown had completely formed (i.e., between 10 and 17.5 years of age). This is the first quantitative assessment of population mobility in Classical antiquity. This study demonstrates that migration was not limited to predominantly single adult males, as suggested by historical sources, but rather a complex phenomenon involving families. We hypothesize that migrants most likely came from higher elevations to the East and North of Rome. One individual with a higher delta(18)O value may have come (as a child) from an area isotopically similar to North Africa.
Asunto(s)
Emigración e Inmigración/historia , Fósiles , Diente Molar/química , Isótopos de Oxígeno/análisis , Población Urbana/historia , Urbanización/historia , Clima , Historia Antigua , Humanos , Ciudad de RomaRESUMEN
Two typical areas, including once commercial and residential quarters of Nanjing, China, were studied by investigating soil properties especially heavy metals of soils in various cultural layers formed in different Chinese Dynasties. The age of the soil profiles was dated by both archaeological and 14C chronological methods. The results showed that urban soils in the old commercial/workshop quarter of Nanjing were generally contaminated by heavy metals Cu, Zn, Pb, but their concentration levels varied significantly among the cultural layers formed in different dynasties. The substantial increase of heavy metals appeared in three historical periods, i.e., South Dynasty (222-589 AD), the earlier Ming (1368-1644 AD) and the late Qing (1644-1912 AD) in one area. The tremendous input and storage of heavy metals in soils was explained by the primitive smelting and the strengthened metal processing activities, which might be due to the requirement of weapon making or other industries, in the changing social conditions of the corresponding periods. Soils in the once noble political, cultural centers did not show significant increase of heavy metals. The difference in the distribution pattern of heavy metals revealed the contrasting history of the site uses. The change of contaminant level in soils is believed to be a reflection of various human activities in the city during the past 20 centuries.
Asunto(s)
Contaminación Ambiental/historia , Metales Pesados/historia , Contaminantes del Suelo/historia , China , Ciudades , Monitoreo del Ambiente/historia , Historia del Siglo XV , Historia del Siglo XVI , Historia del Siglo XVII , Historia del Siglo XVIII , Historia del Siglo XIX , Historia del Siglo XX , Historia Antigua , Historia Medieval , Humanos , Metalurgia/historia , Metales Pesados/análisis , Contaminantes del Suelo/análisis , Urbanización/historiaRESUMEN
The relationships between rural health care and community development were examined over time, for the case-study area of Huron and Perth counties in Southwestern Ontario. The underlying premises were that an historical-geographic study could provide both a perspective on the development of rural health services and explore the interdependent relationship between rural community and health care. The research concentrated on examinations of the 2 key elements of rural health care, namely the rural practitioner and the community hospital. Detailed reconstruction revealed that, over time, both physicians and hospitals moved from a marginal to a central position and identity within the community, in parallel with the stages of community development in the 19th and 20th centuries, with hospitals emerging as major foci of rural sustainability. In the last 2 decades, the strength of the area's rural community health system was successfully marshalled to offset the potentially negative aspects of provincial health care restructuring. This reinforced both the perception and the reality of the interdependence of health services and communities in the predominantly rural area.
Asunto(s)
Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria/historia , Hospitales Comunitarios/historia , Hospitales Rurales/historia , Relaciones Interinstitucionales , Servicios de Salud Rural/historia , Planificación en Salud Comunitaria/historia , Necesidades y Demandas de Servicios de Salud/historia , Investigación sobre Servicios de Salud/historia , Historia del Siglo XIX , Historia del Siglo XX , Historia del Siglo XXI , Hospitales Públicos/historia , Humanos , Programas Nacionales de Salud/historia , Ontario , Innovación Organizacional , Rol del Médico/historia , Cambio Social/historia , Urbanización/historiaAsunto(s)
Conducta de Ingestión de Líquido , Economía , Actividades Recreativas , Conducta Social , Socialización , Té , Actividades Cotidianas/psicología , Bebidas/economía , Bebidas/historia , China/etnología , Características Culturales , Países en Desarrollo/economía , Países en Desarrollo/historia , Conducta de Ingestión de Líquido/fisiología , Economía/historia , Economía/legislación & jurisprudencia , Historia del Siglo XVIII , Historia del Siglo XIX , Actividades Recreativas/economía , Actividades Recreativas/psicología , Cambio Social/historia , Té/economía , Té/historia , Urbanización/historia , Urbanización/legislación & jurisprudenciaRESUMEN
What patients believe about time has much to do with their notion of health and medicine. Synchrony of time sense between physician and patient shapes the objectives and the content of care and compliance; asynchrony leads to frustration and failure. Traditional time is circular, a regular repetition of events and ideas. Traditional time is driven by the environment in that planets, stars, and spirits appear to control the cycles of nature. There is no apocalypse, no salvation or damnation; rather, there is a continuous cycle of reincarnation that can be stopped or escaped only by extraordinary action. Traditional time leads to a static, stable world. In this view, changes are transient because things that were will be again; progress is fiction, a conceit of the proud. Renaissance notions of the perfectibility of humankind, the importance of individuality, and the possibility of progress originated with a sense of time as a straight line leading to "an end of time" and apocalypse, rather than a circle. The present Christian calendar is the product of 16th-century attempts to unify the calendrical expectations for the apocalypse held by diverse Christian sects and to rectify the discrepancies between the old calendar timing of Christian holy days and the natural seasonal cycles. Millenarian and scientific time have a future; traditional time is, in a sense, timeless.
Asunto(s)
Medicina , Tiempo , Cultura , Enfermedad , Salud , Historia del Siglo XX , Historia Antigua , Humanos , Medicina Tradicional/historia , Urbanización/historiaAsunto(s)
Lactancia Materna , Atención a la Salud , Mortalidad Infantil , Médicos , Cambio Social , Lactancia Materna/etnología , Atención a la Salud/economía , Atención a la Salud/etnología , Atención a la Salud/historia , Atención a la Salud/legislación & jurisprudencia , Dinamarca/etnología , Historia del Siglo XIX , Historia del Siglo XX , Humanos , Cuidado del Lactante/historia , Alimentos Infantiles/historia , Mortalidad Infantil/etnología , Mortalidad Infantil/historia , Recién Nacido , Partería/economía , Partería/educación , Partería/historia , Partería/legislación & jurisprudencia , Madres/educación , Madres/historia , Madres/legislación & jurisprudencia , Madres/psicología , Médicos/economía , Médicos/historia , Médicos/legislación & jurisprudencia , Médicos/psicología , Salud Pública/economía , Salud Pública/educación , Salud Pública/historia , Salud Pública/legislación & jurisprudencia , Cambio Social/historia , Condiciones Sociales/economía , Condiciones Sociales/historia , Condiciones Sociales/legislación & jurisprudencia , Urbanización/historiaRESUMEN
Greek and Roman ancient medical writers suggest hygienical rules which are strictly dependent on the orientation of towns, the direction of winds and the quality of waters. According to Vitruvius, architects and builders should have some medical knowledge, together with a strong new interest towards the improvement of enviromental conditions. Norba, a little city never built up again after the Sillan distruction in 81 B.C., and Civitas Artena, quitted in the first century B.C., have been studied as significant exemples of this architectural behaviour. The construction of Villae - big country houses nearby the city - was conditioned by economics, easily available water, sunshine light and proximity to fruitful soils.