NAVIGATION PATHS AND URBANISM IN THE BASIN OF MEXICO BEFORE THE CONQUEST

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Alexandra Biar
Keyword(s):  
Water Transport ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Systematic Investigation ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Sacred Sites ◽  
Transition Zones ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Basin Of Mexico ◽  
Cross Links

Abstract The island nature of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, is an under-studied aspect in our understanding of this unique urban space, located in the Mexican highlands of Mesoamerica. The island location induces cross-links from aquatic and terrestrial paths to create connectivity and continuity within the lacustrine cultural landscape of the Basin of Mexico during the Postclassic period (a.d. 900–1521). Although Cortés described this city as the “Venice of the New World,” no specific and systematic investigation of facilities related to water transport has been carried out. In this article, I fill this gap through a study of navigation routes which were conceived to facilitate the continuous movement of people and goods through the numerous canals crisscrossing the Aztec capital, and which are identifiable by means of anthropic markers that respond to functional needs. Transition zones (piers, quays, shoreline areas), coordination zones (ports), and activity zones (customs facilities, warehouses, bridges, sacred sites) are all related to the practice of water transport and intimately related to terrestrial roads. I identify and locate these areas using a multidisciplinary methodology based on archaeological data, ethnohistorical testimonies, and pictographic and iconographic documents.

scholarly journals Asymmetric water transport in dense leaf cuticles and cuticle-inspired compositionally graded membranes

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aristotelis Kamtsikakis ◽  
Johanna Baales ◽  
Viktoria V. Zeisler-Diehl ◽  
Dimitri Vanhecke ◽  
Justin O. Zoppe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Transport ◽  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Protective Layer ◽  
Systematic Investigation ◽  
Nanocomposite Membranes ◽  
Hydrophobic Polymer ◽  
Polyester Matrix ◽  
Transpirational Water Loss ◽  
Epidermal Cell Wall ◽  
Cuticular Layer

AbstractMost of the aerial organs of vascular plants are covered by a protective layer known as the cuticle, the main purpose of which is to limit transpirational water loss. Cuticles consist of an amphiphilic polyester matrix, polar polysaccharides that extend from the underlying epidermal cell wall and become less prominent towards the exterior, and hydrophobic waxes that dominate the surface. Here we report that the polarity gradient caused by this architecture renders the transport of water through astomatous olive and ivy leaf cuticles directional and that the permeation is regulated by the hydration level of the cutin-rich outer cuticular layer. We further report artificial nanocomposite membranes that are inspired by the cuticles’ compositionally graded architecture and consist of hydrophilic cellulose nanocrystals and a hydrophobic polymer. The structure and composition of these cuticle-inspired membranes can easily be varied and this enables a systematic investigation of the water transport mechanism.

The Last Decade in New Zealand Archaeology. Part II

Antiquity ◽  
1962 ◽  
Vol 36 (144) ◽  
pp. 271-278
Author(s):  
J. Golson ◽  
P. W. Gathercole
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Common Elements ◽  
Rare Type ◽  
Positive Evidence ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
The North ◽  
Culture History ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
The Common

Clearly this is a major problem in New Zealand culture history. One of the present writers has recently outlined the problem and assembled the archaeological materials available for its solution, using excavated evidence for the Moa-hunters and, in the absence of dependable archaeological data, inferring the Maori culture traits relevant to the comparison from a variety of sources, mainly descriptions, drawings and collections made by Europeans in the early days of contact. The result has been to isolate the common elements, point out the distinguishing ones, and define the areas of our present ignorance.The latter include, besides the question of agriculture already discussed, that of warfare. Though none of the evidences to be expected for this—weapons, defensive arrangements, or cannibalism—has been found in unequivocal Moa-hunter contexts, it must be admitted that the search has been restricted. Fortified sites (pa) are a prolific feature of the North Island cultural landscape, but very few have been properly excavated. The results of such investigations as have been made are hardly conclusive, and although the argument favouring Moa-hunter fortification in the Bay of Plenty cannot now be sustained, it would be well to keep the question open. The absence of weapons from Moa-hunter sites is a factor of some importance in this argument, but the Polynesian armoury was rendered almost exclusively in wood, and only stone or bone weapons of the patu type (FIG. 8) will be commonly found in archaeological deposits. Limited excavations on six undeniably fortified sites in the Auckland province have, however, failed to uncover a single weapon. The only piece of positive evidence for Moa-hunter weapons is the Horowhenua bone patu (FIG. 7) associated in a grave with a rare type of amulet, definitely known to the Moa-hunters though not necessarily distinctive of them.

scholarly journals Long-Distance Trade under the Aztec Empire: The Archaeological Evidence

1990 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael E. Smith
Keyword(s):  
High Volume ◽  
Political Control ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Basin Of Mexico ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Data Signal ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Exchange Activity

AbstractThis article presents archaeological data on Late Postclassic long-distance trade in central and northern Mesoamerica. Aztec trade goods from the Basin of Mexico (ceramics and obsidian) are widespread, while imports from other areas are much less common, both in the Basin of Mexico and elsewhere. The artifactual data signal a high volume of exchange in the Late Postclassic, and while trade was spatially nucleated around the Basin of Mexico, most exchange activity was apparently not under strong political control. The archaeological findings are compared with ethnohistoric sources to further our knowledge of the mechanisms of exchange, the effect of elite consumption on trade, and the relationship between trade and imperialism.

scholarly journals A Life Less than Ordinary: The Schooner Ocean (1821–1865)

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Pink ◽  
Julian Whitewright
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Full Extent ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Maritime Cultural Landscape ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Uk

AbstractThe East Winner Bank Shipwreck takes its name from the southern sandbank on Hayling Island near Portsmouth, UK. Examination of the wreck indicates a 19th-century carvel-built vessel. The sandbank is an active environment, meaning the wreck is rarely exposed to its full extent. Discussed here is work completed on the site before and during the social-distancing restrictions imposed by COVID-19. Documentary sources and previous detailed surveys suggest a possible identification for the wreck. The site appears to be an example of an everyday 19th-century coastal trading vessel, rarely explored archaeologically in the UK, with potential to contribute to discussions of the maritime technologies and maritime cultural landscape of regular folk. The investigation represents an excellent example of combining historical and archaeological data sets to further the interpretation of both sources, revealing details about the ship and its lasting impact on this stretch of coastline.

MULTIDIMENSIONAL IMAGES OF SPACE: REVIEW OF THE VII INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE "GEOGRAPHY OF ART"

2021 ◽  
pp. 194-215
Author(s):  
Olga Lavrenova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Scientific Conference ◽  
The World ◽  
Literary Geography ◽  
Literary Images ◽  
Multidimensional Images ◽  
Different Levels

The international scientific conference «Geography of Art» has been considering the interaction of art and space for many years. The first conference was held in 2009. In 2021, the seventh conference was held in a hybrid format, which allowed scientists from remote places and other countries to be invited. The role of art in shaping the cultural landscape, cartographic, artistic, and literary images of the world, and concepts of space in art were discussed. Art creates the meanings of geographical objects of different levels, «sculpting» the semantic form of urban space. «Genius and Place» is a theme that reveals how artists, writers, and poets re-create the meanings of the places they are associated with. Literary geography and local texts are one of the dimensions of this problem. As usual, the conference was characterized by a broad interdisciplinary approach.

scholarly journals Urban space, political identity and the unwanted legacies of state socialism: Bucharest's problematic Centru Civic in the post-socialist era

2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 515-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan Light ◽  
Craig Young
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
National Salvation ◽  
Romanian Revolution ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Nicolae Ceausescu

This paper explores the relationship between the urban cultural landscape of Bucharest and the making of post-socialist Romanian national identity. As the capital of socialist Romania, central Bucharest was extensively remodelled by Nicolae Ceauşescu into the Centru Civic in order to materialize Romania's socialist identity. After the Romanian “Revolution” of 1989, the national and local state had to deal with a significant “leftover” socialist urban landscape which was highly discordant with the orientation of post-socialist Romania and its search for a new identity. Ceauşescu's vast socialist showpiece left a difficult legacy which challenges the material and representational reshaping of Bucharest and constructions of post-socialist Romanian national identity more broadly. The paper analyzes four attempts to deal with the Centru Civic: developments in the immediate post-1989 period; the international architectural competition Bucureşti 2000; proposals for building a Cathedral of National Salvation; and the Esplanada project. Despite over 20 years of proposals central Bucharest remains largely unchanged. The paper thus deals with a failed attempt to re-shape the built environment in support of national goals.

Compositional and Stylistic Analysis of Aztec-Era Ceramics: Provincial Strategies at the Edge of Empire, South-Central Veracruz, Mexico

2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 541-559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thanet Skoglund ◽  
Barbara L. Stark ◽  
Hector Neff ◽  
Michael D. Glascock
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Stylistic Analysis ◽  
Documentary Evidence ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
South Central ◽  
Basin Of Mexico ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Provincial Capital

We use a provincial perspective combined with compositional and stylistic data and historic accounts to propose three provincial strategies for imperial interactions—bolstering, resistance, and emulation—and note a fourth, exodus. A sample of three Late Postclassic period (A.D. 1350–1521) pottery types differs in chemical composition between two localities in south-central Veracruz, Mexico. Sherds from the Aztec provincial capital of Cuetlaxtlan along the lower Cotaxtla River are compared to those from the Lower Blanco River where Callejón del Horno is located. The composition of stamped-base bowls, Texcoco Molded censers, and Aztec III-style Black-on-orange bowls is distinct in samples from the two localities, with only scant evidence of exchange. A few vessels of Aztec III Black-on-orange were imported from the Basin of Mexico to Cuetlaxtlan. The stylistic characteristics on Aztec III-style Black-on-orange vessels do not distinguish the two Veracruz localities, but there are differences between them and illustrated vessels from the Basin of Mexico. The Cuetlaxtlan province was subject to unusual imperial investments, which may account partly for the emulation of imperial styles. Despite documentary evidence of rebellions, another factor was local decisions to use a prestigious exogenous style.

scholarly journals Urban Culture of the Crimea during the Soviet time: symbolic dominants of cultural space

2021 ◽  
pp. 149-166
Author(s):  
Anna Vadimovna Kostromitskaya
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Cultural Construction ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Soviet Society ◽  
Cultural Space ◽  
Symbolic Space ◽  
Cultural Dialogue

The article describes the peculiarities of Crimean culture of the Soviet period through analyzing the key images and symbolic dominants of the cultural space of Soviet society and cultural landscape of the peninsula. The object of this research is the cultural landscape of Crimea as a system of unique cultural codes of symbolic nature; while the subject is the symbolic dominants of Crimean cultural space, most vivid markers of cultural space and meaningful structures of semiosphere of the Crimean cities. Methodological framework is based on the systematic approach that allows studying urban landscape as a set of interrelate elements, such as architecture, monuments, parks, toponymy, nature as a component of cultural landscape, information and communication specificities of interaction between the center and periphery. Analysis is conducted on the nature of the symbolic dominants of Crimean cultural landscape of the Soviet period based on the semiotic models of R. Barth, Y. Lotman, U. Eco, as well as research of the contemporary authors. It is established that symbolic space of the  Crimean cities reflects the “new cultural construction”, in which priority is given to infrastructural transformations; attempt of the cultural dialogue between the city and rural areas, the center and periphery; changes in the social and ethnic structures; image of the Soviet city is now based on the technics, technology, and man. The author identifies the symbolic dominants that resemble the specifics of the Soviet culture formed in the cities of the peninsula, which defined the novelty of this research. The acquired results reveal the current state of the Soviet text on the culture of Crimean cities as a part of cultural memory of the Crimeans, and can be valuable for determining the specificity and mechanisms of the use of urban space by modern urban community. The images of the “Soviet city” and “Soviet Crimea” depicted in the article can be implemented in the strategies for the development and advancement of territories

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