Ruins Of Cities Research Articles

Spatial pattern and influencing factors of land border cultural heritage in China

This paper provides an analysis of China’s land border cultural heritage, aiming to offer guidance for its protection and development. The study compiled a comprehensive database of heritage sites and analyzed their mathematical characteristics based on quantity, type, and quality. The spatial pattern of the cultural heritage was described using kernel density analysis, spatial variability, and spatial correlation, while the driving mechanism was measured based on Geo-Detector model. The findings revealed that the land border areas of China have a total of 1227 cultural heritage, comprising two main types and 18 subtypes. National cultural heritage accounted for 22.74%, with ancient city ruins being the largest type of cultural heritage. The Southwest and Northeast regions of China exhibited high-high clusters and low-low clusters, respectively. Moreover, the study identified history of administrative succession, evolution of historical and cultural, altitude, distance from the city, population density, minority population ratio, urbanization process, and per capita GDP as significant factors impacting the spatial pattern of land border cultural heritage in China. Based on these findings, the study suggests that the government should invest more in border cultural heritage, improve transportation infrastructure in border areas, ensure dynamic inheritance and protection of cultural heritage, and promote the joint development of different types of cultural heritage. The research results will provide data support and decision-making reference for the sustainable development of cultural heritage in land border areas, and can provide a new perspective for the management of cultural heritage in similar areas.

The Formation of Yardangs Surrounding the Suoyang City Ruins in the Hexi Corridor of Northwestern China and Its Climatic–Environmental Significance

The yardangs surrounding the Suoyang City ruins are proven to be wind-eroded landforms developed in an oasis which was used for agriculture in history. According to OSL and 14C dating, as well as historical records of local human activities, we suggest that the formation of yardangs in the Suoyang City oasis probably started in the mid-Yuan Dynasty of China (AD 1291). After being abandoned, the Suoyang City oasis quickly evolved into desert land with yardangs and nebkhas under the background of desertification enlargement in a cold, dry climate in the Hexi Corridor. Although human factors are considered to have played an important role in the process of desertification, the effect imposed by climatic changes should not be ignored. Desertification constitutes a serious threat to human survival and development, we should reasonably develop and utilize water and land resources, effectively prevent and control desertification, and promote the harmonious development between man and nature in arid areas.

Historical Review of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappan Civilization in Pakistan

The ancient Indus civilization, also known as Harappan civilization is famous for the ruins of two ancient cities, Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, which remained unknown for thousands of years due to little written record in human history. It was not in the 1820s, when archaeologists excavated a large number of stone tools, bronzes, seals and agricultural remains in the two cities, that the world began to learn about the secret of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappan civilization. The total number of Harappan civilization sites may be as many as 2,000, but most of them are still buried underground, awaiting further excavation. Nearly 200 sites have been excavated or are being excavated, ranging from ancient couple tombs to ancient city ruins. Mohenjo-Daro, which means "hill of death" in the local language, is an ancient city of the civilization of the Indus valley located on the right bank of the Indus River, northern Sindh province, southern Pakistan. It was built around 2500 BC and was abandoned in 1900 BC. In the sites of both cities, archaeologists discovered the advanced scientific and technological achievements of the ancient Indus civilization, but they were puzzled by the loss of the civilization. This paper starts with the introduction of the ancient Indus civilization before moves to the discovery process of Harappa and Mohendaro. Literature review on the studies on Harappa and Mohenjodaro is presented with a brief analysis in the end. After giving an outline of the civilization, the paper tries to solve the mystery of the loss of civilization, but so far no agreed understanding of the cause has been reached. By reviewing the civilizations of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro, the paper presents to readers the ancient civilizations of Pakistan and enhance their understanding of human science, technology and culture in ancient times.

Building the capital city: Maria Ponti Pasolini, the Passeggiata Archeologica and the planning of Rome (1887-1917)

ABSTRACT This contribution focuses on what was an topical subject in Rome in the first half of the twentieth century: urban green areas and their relationship with monuments. Interest in this topic was probably inspired by the traditional approach popular in nineteenth-century England, one which several members of the Roman cultural elite who studied vegetation and gardens (Giacomo Boni and Maria Ponti Pasolini) had become acquainted with thanks to the close ties they had established with English professionals. Since the unification of Italy, Rome had raised the issue of the inseparable relationship that city ruins had with vegetation; in fact, the 1873 master plan already contained guidelines regarding the layout of urban gardens, preferably using an English style. These guidelines played a crucial role in city planning and in creating unique areas, such as the Passeggiata Archeologica (the Archaeological Park, also known as the Zona Monumentale). The paper will focus on these developments and on the work of the people involved in these projects such as, Giacomo Boni, Maria Ponti Pasolini and Gustavo Giovannoni, all members of the Artistic Association of Architectural Connoisseurs – the AACAR founded in Rome in 1890, in order to follow the urban development of Italy’s capital city.

Application of electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) in archaeological investigation of Chengsijiazi Ancient City ruins

The electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) has the characteristics of low cost, high efficiency, rich information, non-destructive exploration, and large detection depth. At present, it is being widely used in archaeological exploration. It can provide a more accurate result whether it is the preliminary survey delineation or the later detailed exploration. Chengsijiazi ancient city, located at the bank of Tao’er river, was built during the Liao and Jin dynasties. Except for the western wall destroyed by the river, the rest of the city walls were well preserved. The main target body of this survey is a part of wall foundation of an ancient building in the ancient city ruins. The ERT data are acquired along 55 survey lines and the horizontal differential field line method is introduced to interpret the inversion results of the measurement data. The horizontal differential field line method could more accurately describe the structure and boundary characteristics of the target body. The ancient building wall foundation is characterized by obvious high-gradient dense field line, so that we can accurately delineates the position of the wall base, which was excavated by archaeologists and has been verified.

Study on the international tourism development path of Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins Park

The successful application of the Liangzhu Ancient City Site as a World Heritage Site indicates that five thousand years of Chinese civilization has been widely recognized internationally. In the post-world heritage era, Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins Park should take the development of tourism as an important way to protect and inherit Liangzhu culture. On this basis, this article explores the path for the international tourism development of Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins Park, mainly discussing the path from the aspects of creating Liangzhu cultural IP, Internationalization of tourism marketing, Internationalization of tourism service, Internationalization of tourism products, Internationalization of heritage protection. The specific path of the international tourism development provides ideas for protecting the world cultural heritage of Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins Park and increasing world visibility and influences.

The Shang burials at the Yangjiawan Locality of the Panlongcheng Site in Wuhan

Abstract In 2013, the Department of Archaeology, School of History of Wuhan University and the Panlongcheng City Ruins Museum excavated seven burials of the Shang Dynasty at Yangjiawan Locality within the Panlongcheng Site in Wuhan City. All the burials were vertical earthen shaft burials. Some of the burials featured waist pits, human and/or animal sacrifices. The grave goods assemblage included artifacts made of bronze, jade, stone, pottery, gold and turquoise. Some of the unearthed objects were seen for the first time in the archaeology of Panlongcheng. The burials can be roughly dated to the terminal phase of the Panlongcheng Site. The Yangjiawan Locality yielded the densest distribution of burials in the Panlongcheng Site. It was an important cemetery of the early to the mid Shang Dynasty. The cemetery was in close proximity to a previously excavated large-scale architectural foundation of the Shang Dynasty. Together, these findings are important information for the understanding of the layout of the Panlongcheng Site.

Site characteristics of medieval city ruins in the Chu River Basin, Central Asia based on geomorphological map analysis

Site characteristics of medieval city ruins in the Chu River Basin, Central Asia based on geomorphological map analysis

City ruins can tug at purse strings

UNICEF has teamed up with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab to use artificial intelligence, to bring things closer to home in Raqqa, Syria. Using a technique called style transfer, the team created pictures of cities around the world as if they had gone through the war in Syria. Their algorithm uses Al to learn from images on what destruction of Syrian towns looks like and then transfers it to pictures of London, New York and elsewhere. Detalles

Biodeterioration of marble in an underwater environment

This study examines the deterioration of geomaterials used throughout history that today may be found lying on the ocean floor. Submerged archaeological sites including cargoes from shipwrecks or ancient city ruins have been a topic of interest from a perspective of in situ musealization, as a way of making underwater cultural heritage accessible to the public. In an experimental study conducted at an underwater archaeological site in the Bay of Cádiz (SW Spain), we subjected two types of marble (Carrara and Macael) to three conditions to which submerged archaeological objects are often exposed: full exposure to the water column, natural processes of burial and unearthing, or permanent burial. After an 18-month study period, the factor found to mostly affect these materials was their biological colonization. This factor was assessed by estimating total surface biocover and the rate of surface biocolonization, and also through the identification of skeletons and associated alteration forms by light microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Biofouling and bioerosion were the main causes of biodeterioration and dependent on the position of the marble specimens in the seawater. The response of both materials was similar, though dolomite crystals in the Carrara marble acted as a protective barrier against actively penetrating microorganisms. These investigations have allowed the study of tracers left by epilithic encrusting organisms and endolithic bioeroders on marbles intentionally exposed to seawater, providing new insights to the understanding of the biodeterioration processes occurring in cultural heritage stones, with significant implications when they are part of underwater archaeological remains.

Dzieje warszawskich Robinsonów jako problem badawczy

The History of the Robinson Crusoes of Warsaw as a Research ProblemThe presented text attempts to take a closer look at the little–known problem of the life of the Robinson Crusoes of Warsaw, hiding in the city ruins after the fall of the Warsaw Uprising. In this case, fundamental sources include personal accounts both by persons seeking refuge and those who met them as well as German documents. The article considers ways of depicting their life, the experience of hiding, and the manner in which the hideaways remembered those traumatic experiences and shared them.

The features of the earthquake damage patterns of ancient city ruins in the Negev desert, Israel

During the last decades the ruins of Roman-Byzantine cities in the Negev desert of Israel have been the subject of intensive archeoseismic studies. A set of earthquake damage patterns was determined and several large scale earthquakes were identified as having occurred during the 2nd to 7th centuries AD. The ruins of buildings of the small village of Halssa provided a recent study of earthquake damage patterns that evolved quite recently—during the last 110 years.

Relative Dating of Early Shang City Ruins Based on Rammed-Earth Building Techniques Employed in City Walls

To date, the Shang cities discovered around the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River include sites at Zhengzhou, Yanshi, Jiaozuo, Yuanqu, and Dongxiafeng. Among these, the Zhengzhou site includes an inner walled compound and an outer city wall, while the Yanshi site can be divided into a smaller and a larger walled compound. Generally speaking, scholars date all of these ruins to the period of the Erligang Lower Phase; the most controversy occurs with respect to the relative dating of the Zhengzhou and Yanshi city sites. It is impossible to reconcile the two sides of the debate completely by relying on the archaeological materials published to date and employing stratigraphy and typology to confirm which ruin is earlier and which is later. This work therefore seeks to open up a new avenue of investigation by considering the relationships between the above sites based on the techniques employed in constructing city walls of rammed earth.

Antioch: the lost ancient city

This lavish exhibition catalog brings to life Antioch, the magnificent city known for its Hellenic culture and luxurious way of life, once ranking with Rome, Alexandria, and Constantinople as one of the great metropolises of the Roman and early Christian world. Located in what is now southern Turkey, Antioch was the capital of Ancient Syria, a vital marketplace at the crossroads between East and West. It was here that St. Paul preached to the first gentile community to be called Christians and where a Greek-speaking Jewish culture flourished alongside Roman, Egyptian, and Near Eastern cults. A large middle-class shared in the wealth and culture of the city, and art abounded in numerous forms, especially in beautiful mosaics depicting scenes from mythology and everyday life. Featuring 118 objects excavated from the city's ruins, all reproduced in full color, Antioch: Lost Ancient City recreates the spatial sensation, visual splendor, and cultural richness of this urban center.Devastated by an earthquake in 526 C.E., as well as by fires, plagues and invasions by Persians, Antioch survived only in memory through ancient written accounts until the 1930s, when excavations revealed a wealth of finds from the private houses of its inhabitants, including a large cache of floor mosaics. In addition, archaeologists found several churches, a stadium, a circus, a theater, and several baths. This catalog displays and describes the excavated artifacts--mosaics, sculpture, glass, metalwork, coins--within their architectural and cultural contexts, thereby evoking the street life as well as the domestic lives of Antioch's citizens. Among the treasures are the mosaics The Drinking Contest between Dionysos and Herakles and The Judgment of Paris, the Antioch chalice, gold jewelry from Syria, bronze tyche figurines, and mosaics of river and sea deities. Antioch emerges as a compelling model of a melting-pot city, one that challenges our own notions of civic community and diversity.The contributors are Susan Boyd, Bernadette Brooten, John J. Dobbins, Anna Gonosova, Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Florent Heintz, Sandra Knudsen, Christine Kondoleon, Michael Maas, William Metcalf, James Russell, Sarolta Takacs, Cornelius Vermeule III, and Fikret Yegul.EXHIBITION SCHEDULE: Worcester Art Museum Worcester, MassachusettsOctober 7, 2000-February 4, 2001The Cleveland Art MuseumCleveland, OhioMarch 18, 2001-June 3, 2001The Baltimore Museum of ArtBaltimore, MarylandSeptember 16, 2001-December 30, 2001

Stakeholder interviews and tourism planning at Pamukkale, Turkey

This study examines the use of interviews to identify stakeholders’ views on the implementation of proposals contained in a tourism and conservation plan. The authors conducted interviews with stakeholders representing interests affected by the implementation of the Preservation and Development Plan for Pamukkale, a World Heritage Site in Turkey. The site contains dramatic travertine terraces and also ancient city ruins, with both threatened by tourism. Analysis of the interviews identified broad social representations and more specific views concerning the planning issues. Consideration is given to the value of stakeholder interviews for a continuous planning process, including for monitoring views on tourism and conservation issues, plan proposals and on progress in plan implementation. The findings could be of considerable help to Pamukkale’s planning authorities, although such stakeholder views may be ignored in the institutional context of Turkey’s centralised planning system.

The Collaborator's Penance: The Local Purge, 1944–5

Despite the neat treaties of diplomats and precise agreements of generals, wars like the Second World War end untidily. Amidst the ruins of cities and the wash of refugees, the cessation of international hostilities gives way to the settling of domestic accounts, which in 1944–5 was called the purge of collaborators. As common and as compelling as the purge was, historians have paid relatively little attention to it. The French purge, for instance, remains somewhat of an historical enigma, in part because of the archival laws that shield the judicial records, but also in part because of the apparently obvious nature of the purge. Who cannot sympathise, even if reluctantly, with the bereaved survivors who took vengeance on the collaborator who murdered their husbands or wives, fathers, daughters or beloved friends? But such easy sympathy has misled scholarly analysis into dividing the French purge into a legal purge of court action and a popular purge of vigilante violence.

Ancient city ruins in the deserts of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China

During the first century B.C. the Chinese built cities along the Hexi Corridor to protect the ancient Silk Road from raids by Huns. A Hun ruler reciprocated by founding his own city and later Chinese dynasties repeated the process. Urban populations were fed by cultivating oases and by harnessing melt-water streams to irrigate and reclaim areas of grassland. Where trees fell and cultivation broke surface layers of alluvium and clay, water and wind began to erode and expose underlying beds of sand. Blowing sand encroached upon the cultivated area and eventually drifted across the ruins of former cities. Sites of cities that once housed tens of thousands of people are now being explored scientifically. Research into the recurrent history of desertification throws light on present-day problems faced by one-sixth of the world’s population living in arid regions and by one-third of the earth’s land surface covered by deserts. By learning from past events we may be able to halt future advances of deserts.

Poe's "The City in the Sea": Source and Interpretation

ARLY critical approaches to The City in Sea assumed city is sunken and were largely confined to identifying Poe's sources. Two articles by T. 0. Mabbott, for instance, took that direction.' Roy P. Basler first noticed that city is not sunken but on a level with waters which surround it, and subsequent critics have taken Basler into account.2 But in Harvard Collected Poe, Mabbott unaccountably ignores Basler and sticks to his contention that The City in Sea is about Gomorrah. Legends, he says, have it that the ruins of Cities of Plain are close to surface at ordinary times, and in dry tops of walls and columns may be seen above water. Everything in poem fits this interpretation.' But everything does not fit interpretation. Poe's city cannot be sunken. There open fanes and gaping graves/Yawn level with luminous waves.' Clearly only very dry weather which could expose those graves would also evaporate Dead Sea. Gomorrah is not only suggested model for Poe's city. Killis Campbell thought it was Babylon, an idea which Mabbott finds unexpectedly inept, since ruins of Babylon are not near any sea, let alone in one, and since Poe could scarcely have called walls

Maya Stone Road Links Two City Ruins

Maya Stone Road Links Two City Ruins