Recovering Roman London

This chapter presents a short history of relevant archaeological research in London. It traces a long story of discovery that was born of seventeenth-century antiquarianism, stimulated by opportunities for discovery in rescue archaeology during Victorian rebuilding in the City of London, and came to maturity in England’s post-war development-led urban archaeology. This historiographic review explains how archaeological research has been organized in London, and how opportunities for study are a product of programmes of urban regeneration. The complex dialogue between archaeologists and developers has made a major contribution to the study and management of historic urban landscapes. It is explained that many hundreds of archaeological excavations have taken place in London over the last 400 years, but that many of the more important results remain relatively inaccessible.

Cartographies of catastrophe: mapping World War II destruction in Germany and Poland

Post-catastrophic damage cartography constitutes a serious research gap in the field of urban history. While fire and war damage maps have been made for centuries, qualitative analyses of these documents, especially from a comparative and transnational perspective, have appeared only recently. In response, this article tracks the coeval emergence of urban archaeology, heritage zoning and war damage mapping across Europe. Based on detailed studies of early post-war Munich and Warsaw, it demonstrates that damage mapping was as much about recording loss as it was about reshaping and reimagining Europe's historic city centres.

Necropolitical changes and repressive strategies on an Amazonian capitalistic frontier: Xambioá town, Tocantins, Brazil

This paper analyzes material changes undergone by the town of Xambioá, Tocantins State, Northern Brazil in a time of State terrorism. It argues that such changes were the product of the necropolitical approach materialized by a repressive system implemented and guided by the Brazilian Dictatorship along the lines of doctrines of national security. It focuses on the interaction between the town and the actions of repression undertaken against an Amazonian armed movement, the 1970s Araguaia Guerrilla, by which the Communist Party of Brazil aimed to bring down the military through a massive peasant uprising. For this urban archaeology of State terrorism, this work uses remote sensing, spatial syntax, and urban morphology, unveiling the material ruptures and terrorscapes that made up a new ontology established in the Bico do Papagaio region to instil fear, in order to control and silence residents.

Barcelona y/en el cine: un recorrido histórico

Este artículo indaga sobre distintos aspectos de la relación de Barcelona con el cine. En la primera parte, siguiendo el hilo de la película Vida en sombras (1949) del cineasta catalán Llorenç Llobet Gràcia, se evidencia el protagonismo de Barcelona como impulsora del desarrollo del cine y de sus progresos tecnológicos, y como centro de producción, distribución y exhibición cinematográfica. En la segunda parte se aborda el papel de Barcelona como escenario cinematográfico. Adoptando la perspectiva de la cinematic urban archaeology, se comentan, a través de una selección de películas, las transformaciones experimentadas por la capital catalana desde finales del siglo XIX hasta nuestros días. Las películas constituyen un observatorio privilegiado para estudiar la metamorfosis del paisaje urbano barcelonés y los cambios políticos, sociales y económicos más significativos sufridos por la ciudad durante más de un siglo: el imponente desarrollo urbano e industrial entre los siglos XIX y XX, la guerra civil española y la dura posguerra, el boom económico y la expansión urbanística incontrolada bajo el mandato del alcalde franquista José María de Porcioles (1957-1973), la restauración de la democracia y, finalmente, el renacimiento urbano de los años ochenta y noventa, impulsado por la nominación de la ciudad como sede de los Juegos Olímpicos de 1992.