Arguments in Stone
Bookmark this page

DEFS. VALUE: REINSTATION RESEARCH IN THE EUROPEAN CITY

• Manipulation of heritage – contemporary politicians used buried past to enhance their own ideology, merchants to enhance income
• Archaeological value – compete with property value, commercial value, amenity value, cultural value. Archaeological value: product of quality of deposits and relevance to preconceived research programme.
• Conservation, development planning and heritage management studies should take account of archaeological value – cannot operate without knowledge underground and agreed research programme.

AUTHORITY AND CULT: RESEARCH ON URBAN SPACE

• Aim: narrative history of towns, role of towns in different centuries.  3 types of pace, local, regional and maritime and three types of imperatives for change – ideological, economic and ecological.
• LOCAL SPACE – cult and ideology instrumental creating towns – but altering their geography at frequent intervals.  Republican Rome, early Christian Rome, Ephesus, Salona and Aosta.  Nuceli power now inside not outside walls – archaeologists should not look at modern municipality – temp. picture political map.
• RURAL HINTERLAND – containing ecological resources – rship between town and hinterland varies dramatically. Animal bones good source of info.
• Maritime space important detecting economic relations that define urban states and roles – e.g. Roman amphorae command economy 2^nd century, redeployment imperial resources in 4^th century

AMENITY V. ENTERPRISE: RESEARCH ON URBAN CONTINUITY

• Dark Ages do not favour towns – no due to a decline, scarcity of bullion, invading Germanic or Islamic peoples, or lack of economic vigour – 5^th and 8^th centuries sees a redistribution of wealth and investment following new political priorities – rather than decline and impoverishment.
• Privatisation urban space – public amenities to private estates – hard to distinguish from dereliction, burial humans in old p spaces or uncleaned streets seem symptoms depravation – reflect changes use – redundancy of private buildings. Rome, Brescia and Veroena.
• Outside Roman towns – power redeployed into small fortified hill-top settlements – new network in common hinterland – “baronial” power centres – found in old towns – former public buildings converted to “castles”
• North – investment redirected into burials, cult sites and beach-markets – new signals ideological and economic in character detectable from end of Roman period – Norway and Denamrk.
• Re-Romainised areas combine with beach-markets to furnish new “kingdoms” – 9^th century England 0 coalesced into signal state. Need for inter-settlement analysis

IMAGE OF WAR: RESEARCH ON URBAN SYMBOLS

• Post-processual welcome return of combined archaeological, architectural and art historical study.
• Perceived function of imperial Roman buildings well known; what about meaning?  Important for analysis of the urban mood – “imperial hulks” conversion to chapels, churches, fortresses
• Tombs and cemeteries: disposal of dead and manifesto for the living. History of propaganda from murals and objects of towns – Totila trying to destroy image of Rome, energy Charlemagne resurrecting politics of urbanism by Roman and Greek culture + replica fountain outside s.Peter’s.

Other Notes in this Category

1. Amenity Versus Enterprise
2. Archeaology of Islam
3. Arguments in Stone
4. Authourity and Cult
5. Conclusions
6. Contemporary and Future
7. Early Islamic and European Change
8. Introduction
9. Islamic Cities
10. Muslim Settlements

Didn't find this useful?

• Visit Coursework.Info for over 14,000 GCSE, A-Level and University Essays