scholarly journals Mapping Karakorum, the capital of the Mongol Empire

Antiquity ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Jan Bemmann ◽  
Sven Linzen ◽  
Susanne Reichert ◽  
Lkh. Munkhbayar
Keyword(s):  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Road Networks ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Royal Palace ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Surrounding Landscape ◽  
Mongol Empire ◽  
The City ◽  
Topographic Surveys

ABSTRACT In the thirteenth century AD, the city of Karakorum was founded as the capital of the Mongol Empire. Relatively little archaeological attention, however, has been directed at the site and the phenomenon of steppe urbanism. The authors report new magnetic and topographic surveys of the walled city and the surrounding landscape. The resulting maps reveal the city in unprecedented detail. Combining the magnetic and topographical data with aerial photographs, pedestrian surveys and documentary sources reveals the extent, layout and organisation of this extensive settlement. Road networks and areas of variable occupation density and types of activities deepen our understanding of this important commercial hub and royal palace, which is conceptualised as a form of ‘implanted’ urbanism.

scholarly journals Los archivos catedralicios y su importancia para los estudios prosopográficos. El deán Don Aparicio Sánchez, en el archivo de la Catedral de Sevilla = Cathedral Archives and their Importance for Prosopographical Studies. The Case of Dean Aparicio Sánchez in the Archive of the Cathedral of Seville

2020 ◽  
pp. 365
Author(s):  
Isabel Montes Romero-Camacho
Keyword(s):  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Historical Evolution ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Chronological Period ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Relations Of Power ◽  
The City ◽  
Distinguished Member

Hoy por hoy, puede resultar una obviedad resaltar la importancia de los archivos eclesiásticos para la investigación histórica, sea cual sea su enfoque historiográfico, dada la riqueza y variedad de sus fondos. Uno de estos grandes archivos es, sin duda, el Archivo de la Catedral de Sevilla, cuya extraordinaria documentación no sólo se refiere a la institución capitular y a sus componentes, sino que es fiel reflejo de toda la sociedad sevillana y su evolución histórica, en un arco temporal que va desde la conquista de la ciudad y la restauración de su sede, en la segunda mitad del siglo XIII, hasta nuestros días. Nuestra intención en este trabajo es destacar la enorme contribución de los archivos eclesiásticos –y concretamente del Archivo de la Catedral de Sevilla- para los estudios prosopográficos, tomando como modelo la figura del deán don Aparicio Sánchez, la cual abordaremos desde distintos puntos de vista, como la carrera eclesiástica, el patrimonio o las relaciones de poder con la nueva sociedad sevillana, nacida de la conquista, de la que él mismo era un distinguido miembro.AbstractRegardless of the history topic, the importance of ecclesiastical archives for historical research is indisputable thanks to the wealth and variety of the records they hold. One of these salient archives is, without a doubt, the Archive of the Cathedral of Seville, whose extraordinary documentary sources refer not only to the institution of the Chapter House and its members, but it is also a faithful reflection of the whole of Sevillian society. The archive covers a large part of the historical evolution of Seville: a chronological period which extends from the Christian conquest of the city and the restoration of its episcopal see, in the second half of the thirteenth century, to the present day. The purpose of this study is to highlight the enormous contribution offered by ecclesiastical archives ­–and specifically the Archive of the Cathedral of Seville– for prosopographical studies. As a case study, we will focus on the figure of its dean, don Aparicio Sánchez, from different points of view, including his ecclesiastical career, his estate, or the relations of power within the new Sevillian society born of the Christian conquest, of which he himself was a distinguished member.

Forest path condition monitoring based on crowd-based trajectory data analysis

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Francisco Arcas-Tunez ◽  
Fernando Terroso-Saenz
Keyword(s):  
Information Acquisition ◽  
Road Network ◽  
Road Networks ◽  
Trajectory Data ◽  
Country Road ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Sport Activities ◽  
Path Condition ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
The City

The development of Road Information Acquisition Systems (RIASs) based on the Mobile Crowdsensing (MCS) paradigm has been widely studied for the last years. In that sense, most of the existing MCS-based RIASs focus on urban road networks and assume a car-based scenario. However, there exist a scarcity of approaches that pay attention to rural and country road networks. In that sense, forest paths are used for a wide range of recreational and sport activities by many different people and they can be also affected by different problems or obstacles blocking them. As a result, this work introduces SAMARITAN, a framework for rural-road network monitoring based on MCS. SAMARITAN analyzes the spatio-temporal trajectories from cyclists extracted from the fitness application Strava so as to uncover potential obstacles in a target road network. The framework has been evaluated in a real-world network of forest paths in the city of Cieza (Spain) showing quite promising results.

scholarly journals Reliving history: the digital reconstruction of the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (23) ◽  
pp. 106
Author(s):  
Damiano Aiello ◽  
Cecilia Bolognesi
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
3D Models ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Digital Reconstruction ◽  
Virtual Reconstruction ◽  
Combining Data ◽  
The City ◽  
Santa Maria

<p class="VARAbstract">Can we preserve cultural heritage and, consequently, the memory of the past? To answer this question, one should look at the digital revolution that the world has gone through in recent decades and analyse the complex and the dialectical relationship between cultural heritage and new technologies. Thanks to these, increasingly accurate reconstructions of archaeological sites and historical monuments are possible. The resulting digital replicas are fundamental to experience and understand cultural heritage in innovative ways: they have complex and dynamic relationships with the original objects. This research paper highlights the importance and the scientific validity of digital replicas aimed at understanding, enhancing and protecting cultural heritage. The study focuses on the virtual reconstruction of the constructive phases, from the mid-15<sup>th</sup> century to date, of one of the most emblematic Gothic-Renaissance buildings in the city of Milan (Italy): the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, famous worldwide for hosting Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper painting. This site proved to be an ideal case study because of its troubled and little-known history that led to numerous changes over the centuries. Thanks to a methodological approach based on the analysis of the documentary sources and three-dimensional (3D) modelling, it was possible to outline the chronological succession of the convent transformations; the way in which these overlapped the pre-existing structures was described starting from the Renaissance harmonious and organic interventions, to finally reach 18<sup>th</sup>-19<sup>th </sup>centuries inhomogeneous and incompatible additions. Finally, the research was completed by mapping the 3D models based on the sources used and their different levels of accuracy. The 3D models have thus become a valid tool for checking and verifying the reconstruction hypotheses.</p><p class="VARAbstract">Highlights:</p><ul><li><p>The study focused on the virtual reconstruction of the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, one of the most emblematicGothic-Renaissance buildings in the city of Milan.</p></li><li><p>By combining data from documentary sources, architectural treatises, period photos and digital survey, the mainbuilding phases of the convent, from the 15th century to date, were digitally reconstructed.</p></li><li><p>The 3D models are enriched with information about the accuracy of the digital reconstruction, creating 3D databasesthat can be easily consulted and updated.</p></li></ul>

scholarly journals Microclimate Evaluation of the Hradec Králové City using HUMIDEX

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaroslav Rožnovský ◽  
Tomáš Litschmann ◽  
Hana Středová ◽  
Tomáš Středa ◽  
Petr Salaš ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Radiation Balance ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Environment Analysis ◽  
Surface Areas ◽  
Air Temperatures ◽  
Green Areas ◽  
Urban Heat ◽  
Surrounding Landscape ◽  
The City ◽  
Very High

Abstract Urban environment differs from the surrounding landscape in terms of the values of meteorological parameters. This is often referred to as the urban heat island (UHI), which in simple terms means higher air temperatures in cities. The cause of these changes lies in the different active surfaces in cities, which subsequently results in a different radiation balance. The higher temperatures, however, also affect the living conditions in the city and during very high temperature periods can have negative effects on the health of the city inhabitants. The results presented in this paper are based on measurements taken over several years at locations near Hradec Králové, which is surrounded by different surface areas. Environment analysis was performed using the Humidex index. The obtained results show that replacing green areas with built-up areas affects temperatures in the city, when air temperatures are very high they significantly increase the discomfort of the inhabitants. Differences in the frequency of discomfort levels are observed especially during periods of high temperatures, at lower temperatures these differences are not significant. Higher frequencies of discomfort are observed at locations with artificial surfaces (asphalt, cobblestones, concrete) and in closed spaces. In contrast, locations with lots of green areas almost always have the value of this index lower or more balanced. The results should therefore be a valid argument for maintaining and extending green areas in cities.

Google Earth Revisited

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitris Kaimaris ◽  
Petros Patias ◽  
Olga Georgoula
Keyword(s):  
Digital Terrain Model ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Editorial Team ◽  
Research Activity ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Terrain Model ◽  
Digital Terrain ◽  
The City ◽  
Ongoing Research Activity

The interpretation of photos and the processing of Google Earth imagery which allowed the “random” discovery, as a result of a non-systematical research, of a numerous marks of buried constructions in the wide area of the city of Larisa (Thessaly, Greece) is presented in this project. Additional data as aerial photographs over time, satellite images and the digital terrain model of the same area has been used. From the numerous marks, this project mainly focuses on three positions where the positive marks (soilmarks or/and cropmarks), circular or/and linear, reveal on a satisfying level covered construction of great dimensions. The ongoing research activity of the editorial team along with this research highlights the advantages of using Google Earth imagery in an attempt to “random” mark of unknown covered constructions, or, in the frame of a systematic survey of aerial and remote sensing archaeology, as additional and not exclusive source of information.

Encounters in the Ruins: Latin Captives, Franciscan Friars and the Dangers of Religious Plurality in the Early Mongol Empire

2015 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 115-136
Author(s):  
Amanda Power
Keyword(s):  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Eurasian Steppe ◽  
Religious Plurality ◽  
Transient Population ◽  
Mongol Empire

Among the richest, and strangest, sites for religious encounter during the medieval period was the network of Mongol encampments on the Eurasian steppe. In the middle decades of the thirteenth century, a vast empire was administered from these itinerant cities. In consequence, they were crammed with a transient population of people drawn, summoned or seized from diverse societies across the continent. Within these cities, physical space, approved gestures and permitted actions were heavily ritualized according to shamanistic practice, but as long as these customs were respected, the Mongols encouraged an atmosphere of relative egalitarianism among the various faiths represented in the camps.

scholarly journals Negotiating Imperialism and Resistance in Late Bronze Age Ugarit: The Rise of Alphabetic Cuneiform

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-199
Author(s):  
Philip J. Boyes
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Near East ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Writing System ◽  
East Mediterranean ◽  
Local Language ◽  
Elite Culture ◽  
Spheres Of Influence ◽  
The City

Ugarit was a highly cosmopolitan, multilingual and multiscript city at the intersection of several major Late Bronze Age political and cultural spheres of influence. In the thirteenth centurybc, the city adopted a new alphabetic cuneiform writing system in the local language for certain uses alongside the Akkadian language, script and scribal practices that were standard throughout the Near East. Previous research has seen this as ‘vernacularization’, in response to the city's encounter with Mesopotamian culture. Recent improvements in our understanding of the date of Ugarit's adoption of alphabetic cuneiform render this unlikely, and this paper instead argues that we should see this vernacularization as part of Ugarit's negotiation of, and resistance to, their encounter with Hittite imperialism. Furthermore, it stands as a specific, Ugaritian, manifestation of similar trends apparent across a number of East Mediterranean societies in response to the economic and political globalism of Late Bronze Age élite culture. As such, these changes in Ugaritian scribal practice have implications for our wider understanding of the end of the Late Bronze Age.

scholarly journals Analysing Urban Development Patterns in a Conflict Zone: A Case Study of Kabul

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 3662
Author(s):  
Vineet Chaturvedi ◽  
Monika Kuffer ◽  
Divyani Kohli
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Urban Growth ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Image Features ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Maximum Pressure ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
The City

A large part of the population in low-income countries (LICs) lives in fragile and conflict-affected states. Many cities in these states show high growth dynamics, but little is known about the relation of conflicts and urban growth. In Afghanistan, the Taliban regime, which lasted from 1996 to 2001, caused large scale displacement of the population. People from Afghanistan migrated to neighboring countries like Iran and Pakistan, and all developments came to a halt. After the US invasion in October 2001, all the major cities in Afghanistan experienced significant population growth, in particular, driven by the influx of internally displaced persons. Maximum pressure of this influx was felt by the capital city, Kabul. This rapid urbanization, combined with very limited capacity of local authorities to deal with this growth, led to unplanned urbanization and challenges for urban planning and management. This study analyses the patterns of growth between 2001 and 2017, and the factors influencing the growth in the city of Kabul with the help of high-resolution Earth Observation-based data (EO) and spatial logistic regression modelling. We analyze settlement patterns by extracting image features from high-resolution images (aerial photographs of 2017) and terrain features as input to a random forest classifier. The urban growth is analyzed using an available built-up map (extracted from IKONOS images for the year 2001). Results indicate that unplanned settlements have grown 4.5 times during this period, whereas planned settlements have grown only 1.25 times. The unplanned settlements expanded mostly towards the west and north west parts of the city, and the growth of planned settlements happened mainly in the central and eastern parts of the city. Population density and the locations of military bases are the most important factors that influence the growth, of both planned and unplanned settlements. The growth of unplanned settlement occurs predominantly in areas of steeper slopes on the hillside, while planned settlements are on gentle slopes and closer to the institutional areas (central and eastern parts of the city). We conclude that security and availability of infrastructure were the main drivers of growth for planned settlements, whereas unplanned growth, mainly on hillsides, was driven by the availability of land with poor infrastructure.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document