Lower Town Research Articles

Board Games Reconsidered: Mancala in the Balkans

Two mancala (one of the oldest games in the world) boards, which were found in the Lower Town of the Belgrade Fortress in 2006, present so far unique archaeological proof that this game was played in the region of the Balkan peninsula. Considering the fact that the knowledge regarding mancala is still quite modest, in this paper, we have also examined the different aspects of this game: the question of its origin, which is linked to the beginning of the Neolithic Age on the territories of Africa and the Near East; the link with the methods of geomantic divination; the anthropological knowledge regarding playing mancala in traditional communities; the distribution and the directions of its diffusion, as well as the archaeological finds in the area Mediterranean.

First results on the city planning of Cyrrhus (Syria)

The site of Cyrrhus is located in the Afrin valley (North Syria) at the crossing of the roads between Antioch and inner Syria. The layout of the lower town of Cyrrhus is established on a rectangular grid fanning out from the Main Street (Fig. 1). This Hippodamian plan in the pure Hellenistic tradition seems to be more or less respected in the Roman and Byzantine periods. The grid pattern is centred on a colonnaded main street running north/south across the entire city. However, during the Rom...

The foreshore of the St Lawrence at the Îlot Hunt site in the 17th and 18th centuries: an open dump?

This paper investigates the state of the St Lawrence riverbanks along Québec's Lower Town in the 17th and 18th centuries. A detailed study of archaeological collections was undertaken to evaluate the impact of Euro-Québécois occupation on this natural environment. Soil samples were used to study plant macroremains, insects and parasites from the ancient shores. At first glance the data seem to indicate that the beaches were used as a dumping ground during the period. However, the study of these remains gives a more nuanced picture, testifying to the area's many public and private roles and the diverse interests it served.

Fort Saint-Louis and other 17th-century fortification works discovered recently in Québec City

Recent excavations in Québec City have greatly enriched our knowledge of the location, character and likely ordnance of its sequence of 17th-century fortifications. Champlain's first simple defence of the Habitation in Lower Town (1608–24) was intended primarily to protect the population against the Iroquois. The increasing scale and sophistication of his two successive Forts Saint-Louis on the cliff top above it (1620–26 and 1626–35), followed by the third (1636–90) and fourth (1691–94) Forts Saint-Louis, reflect the development of defences capable of engaging in European siege warfare, notably with France's eternal enemy, England.

An archaeological view of the French colonial port of Québec

In this paper the remains of the first harbour front discovered on the Îlot Hunt in Québec are discussed in relation to evidence found on other sites in the city's Lower Town. These remains throw light on the nature of the French colonial port, testifying to the initiatives of its merchants and the actions of its colonial authorities. Structures built during the British regime by merchants belonging to the Lymburner family provide an example of the kind of innovative facilities that inaugurated the disappearance (c. 1775–80) of the harbour front developed during the French colonial era.

The Intendant's Palace site: urbanization of Québec City's Lower Town

Several archaeological field studies have been carried out on the Intendant's Palace site since 1982. In the first ten years, research concentrated on the 17th-century brewery, the Intendant's Palace and the King's Stores. When Université Laval's field school returned to the site in 2000, it took a holistic approach rather than focusing on specific buildings. In so doing, it documented the urban evolution of this part of Québec City, which has yielded evidence of continuous occupation since the mid-17th century.

Amathonte hellénistique et romaine : l’apport des travaux récents

The contributions of excavations and recent French and Cypriot publications of the history of the site have proved very instructive concerning the periods considered. The construction of the port, that of the wall and even the incompletion of this work, the gradual establishment of the architectural framework of the agora (porticoes, fountain, Sanctuary of Bes), and the construction of the Sanctuary of the Aphrodite on the acropolis, the creation of a new sanctuary of the goddess in the lower town : all of this illuminates the importance of the Ptolemaic city on the chessboard of the Eastern Mediterranean. A remarkable epigraphic document which had been previously discovered attests to an episode of rivalry between Ptolemy VI and VIII, and to a well organized cadastral survey of the city. In the Imperial era, emperors replaced the sovereign Ptolemaic rulers besides the existing gods, and to them was added an Adonis Helios. But the urban framework would not have been significantly enriched if it hadn’t been for some constructions in the two sanctuaries of Aphrodite and by the addition of two small temples in the agora which unfortunately remain anonymous. Concerning the last two centuries of the existence of the city (VI – VIIth century), we are able to contrast the urban revival and the flowering of Christian worship. These changes in the last centuries of the city did not end the magical practices which had been entrenched in the mores of the population since the third century or perhaps before. The history, in particular the religious history, of a middle sized town existing during several successive empires, sharing their good fortune and bad times, has been thus enriched and diversified in sometimes unexpected ways.

Un mariage contesté: "L'union de la Cité et de la ville inférieure de Lausanne" (1481) (review)

Reviewed by: Un mariage contesté: "L'union de la Cité et de la ville inférieure de Lausanne" (1481) Jean-François Poudret Un mariage contesté: "L'union de la Cité et de la ville inférieure de Lausanne" (1481). By Clémence Thévenaz Modestin. [Cahiers Lausannois d'histoire médiévale, 38.] (Lausanne: Université de Lausanne. 2006. Pp. 313. €24,00 paperback.) Even though the qualifier "nuptials" appears in an account of the town of Lausanne in 1479, it is not a "marriage" but a political union that reveals both the ambitions of the people of Lausanne and their tense relations with Bishop Benoît de Montferrand. This union has been well known to historians since the seventeenth century. But this knowledge has been totally freshed, by the author, thanks to a systematic examination of all available sources, in particular the accounts books of the town of Lausanne. Clémence Thévenaz knows a way to make them talk. The registration of an inn's bill frequently allows us to identify the protagonists and the purpose of their meeting. Another asset consists in the full edition of fifty-eight supporting documents completed by bibliographic notes of the principal craftsmen of the union. Consequently we can say that this study constitutes a valuable contribution to the history of Lausanne. Until the union of 1480, Lausanne was divided into two communities each one with its own administration. The city (civitas) was administered by two syndics and one Council where the Chapter played a key role. As for the lower town (villa, villa inferior), it was governed by two syndics or "priors" and divided into four districts, each one represented by six delegates to the Council that thus counted twenty-four members. Above all there were constant tensions between the Bishop Benoît de Montferrand (1476–91) and his subjects of Lausanne who were the principal cause of the union. Puffed up with their rights, the bishop and his officers frequently violated the franchises. In March of 1478 the lower town's Council decided to carry out the union and to secretly meet the city's representatives. [End Page 350] From then on these two institutions collaborated closely in this project but did not prevail until July 9, 1480. If the event was celebrated the same day by a bonfire, this first act of union did not emerge without questions. Thus, the request to affix the seals of the "Official de Lausanne" and of the Metropolitan court of Besançon remained unanswered. A new request to affix the seals of the "official," the Chapter, and the Metropolitan court or at least one of them is made but unanswered. We can imagine the bishop forbidding his "official" to seal an act prejudicial to his rights. This new act of union, shorter but more complex than the first one, settled numerous questions that have not been answered yet, in particular the community's new denomination as, Civita [ti]s Lausannensis communitas, because the city is worthier than the township, the text says. It was to be governed by twelve counselors and two syndics or governors recruited one within the city and the other one within the lower city. This union was concluded for the future and will not have retroactive effects, which again brings up questions on the reach of the version of 1480 and of 1481. Although the author judges the first one to have been already a perfect agreement,we doubt, in law, that it could be considered as binding for the parties before obtaining the approval of the Chapter. If we keep in mind the marital metaphor,we could see in the act of 1480 a matrimonium initiatum and see in the act of 1481 a matrimonium perfectum! The bishop's anger rightfully increased, as the Chapter rallied. On the one hand, he should have been convened by the Chapter when it deliberated, and on the other, further to art. 64 of the "Plaict general," no innovations were permitted without consulting with the three orders, gathered in a secular court under the presidency of the prelate. Obviously, this led to many appeals to the Metropolitan court of Besançon, the...

The tsunami in Cadiz on 1 November 1755: A critical analysis of reports by Antonio de Ulloa and by Louis Godin

On the morning of 1 November 1755, the town of Lisbon was ruined by an earthquake, supplemented by a tsunami, inundating the lower town and harbour, and by a fire, lit by houses collapsing on kitchen fires, which raged for one week. At variance with Lisbon, the Spanish harbour town of Cadiz was considered as miraculously saved, despite the fears reported in the descriptions: “the sea-flood raised fears that the town might be submerged.” A classical estimate for the height of the tsunami wave there is 18 m. The study of a restricted selection of primary documentary sources demonstrates that the tsunami was much weaker. It is difficult to assess how the now classical records have been altered with reference to the original letters, but one of the reasons is that the secretaries of the scientific institutions only used to put in the print abridged, or worse, synthesized versions of the communications from members. The average ground level in Cadiz is 11 m above mean sea level. If the wave set-up had been about 19 m, the engulfment of Cadiz would have left its name to the 1 November 1755 earthquake and tsunami rather than to the destruction of Lisbon. In Cadiz, the impossibility to simulate waves higher than 10 m in the modelling experiments conducted in the last 12 years does not result from a flaw in the models: to the opposite, it has to be borne to the credit of M.A. Baptista and her scientific partners. They avoided the considerable risk to favour options that might bring a distortion towards output values, actually resulting from ancient misconceptions – just because such values appear to fit the data.

Excavations at Konar Sandal in the Region of Jiroft in the Halil Basin: First Preliminary Report (2002–2008)

Massive looting in 2000 drew the attention of Iranian archaeologists to the important Bronze Age archaeological sites in the region of Jiroft. The preliminary results of five seasons of excavation at two of the largest sites, Konar Sandal South and Konar Sandal North are presented here. Results of this work include the exposure of monumental architecture on the Citadel and domestic and industrial architecture in the lower town of Konar Sandal South. Radiocarbon dates, monumental sculpture, glyptic art and ceramics all indicate a date in the Bronze Age ranging from 2880 to 2200 B.C. The ceramics are compared to material from Bampur, Tepe Yahya and Tal-i Iblis.

An unknown Graeco-Roman temple from the lower town of Amathous

Au cours des récentes campagnes de fouille dans la ville basse d'Amathonte, nous avons trouvé les restes d'un temple remarquable, situé au sud près de l'ancien forum de la ville. Une inscription, sur une colonne qui faisait probablement partie de la maçonnerie, est une dédicace à Arsinoé, sœur et épouse de Ptolémée Philadelphe. Cette découverte indique que le sanctuaire est dédié à cette déesse de l'Égypte hellénistique qui devint très populaire à Chypre. D'autres objets égyptiens ou égyptisants découverts dans cette zone -dont une tête d'Horus Harpocrate en marbre et un serpent -donnent des indices supplémentaires d'une transformation de ce temple à la période romaine en un temple d'Isis et d'Horus Harpocrate.

Correlation between levels of some heavy metals in plants and sediments from a segment of Calabar River and associated creeks in Cross River state of Nigeria

Plants and sediments were collected at three sites along Calabar River (CR), Upper Town Creek (UCC) and Lower Town Creek (LCC). The CR is a major tributary of Cross River, Nigeria. The concentrations of 10 heavy metals were determined and results for Fe, Mn and Zn at almost all the sites showed that the levels of these metals exceeded the amounts present in non-polluted areas. Fe was found in the highest concentration at all three sites in both plants and sediments. Correlation analysis between levels of heavy metals in plants and sediments were also determined. The occurrence of higher concentrations of heavy metals in plants and coastal sediments at CR, UCC and LCC is an indication of anthropogenically induced pollution rather than contributions from natural sources.

Nouveaux documents sur le culte d'Aphrodite à Amathonte, I. Aphrodite, l'empereur Titus et le hiéron dans les stèles : un nouveau sanctuaire amathousien d'Aphrodite. Texte et illustration ?

A second example of an inscription referring to a sanctuary of Titus and Aphrodite, and a head of a statue attributable to Aphrodite which may be dated to the middle of the 2nd century BC were discovered 25 m. and 15 m. respectively from the north gate of the lower town of Amathus. The new text makes possible a sure reading of the old one and attests to the existence of a sanctuary called 'between the stelai', a formula that no doubt designates its boundaries and the stones themselves on which the inscriptions were carved. It draws attention once more to L. Bruttius Maximus and the imperial cult. The coincidence of the discoveries invites us to search in the immediate vicinity for a second sanctuary of the goddess, less celebrated than that on the acropolis, and which possibly took the place, in AD 79/80, of a hieros topos of the 2nd c. BC.

Review of periodical articles

Few – if any - would deny that cartography is one of the most essential disciplines within the multi-layered scope of urban history. Elizabeth Baigent pays tribute to the possibilities and problems posed by maps in her ‘Fact or fiction? Town maps as aids and snares to the historian’, Archives: The J. of the British Records Association, 29, 110 (2004), 24–37. By looking at a map of Gloucester, compiled in 1455, and two late medieval Bristol maps (one by Robert Ricart, the other by William Smith), she outlines their usefulness as well as the problems that the modern urban historian faces. Although medieval maps can clearly help to identify ‘lost’ streets, and to elucidate the town's social geography, it is essential to consider the purpose for which any individual map was drawn, the context in which it was published (and re-published) and not least the skills of the cartographer concerned. Cartography may be an essential tool for the urban historian, but there are many other tools and topics, and this year's medieval urban periodical literature again reflects the wide scope of the subject. This is especially true for the German language periodicals which tend to relate to traditionally powerful concepts rather than to recent departures. This trend largely reflects the nature of those periodicals concerned for they are almost entirely devoted to strictly local, or at most regional concerns. They are naturally home to brief essays on mainly local matters, particularly the commemoration of anniversaries of urban charters (e.g., Paul Wietzorek, ‘Zum Titelbild: 100 Jahre Stadtwappen Zons – 1904–2004’, Der Niederrhein. Die Zeitschrift des Vereins Niederrhein, 71, 1 (2004), 2–5; Paul Wietzorek, ‘Zum Titelbild: 750 Jahre Stadtrechte Grieth 1254–2004’, ibid., 71, 2 (2004), 54–5; Paul Wietzorek, ‘Zum Titelbild: 650 Jahre Stadt Dahlen (Rheindalen) 1354–2004’, ibid., 71, 3 (2004), 114–15), overviews of town histories (e.g. Eberhard Lebender, ‘Die Weizackerstadt Pyritz. Ein Gang durch die Geschichte – von der Bronzezeit bis zur Zerstörung 1945’, Pommern. Zeitschrift für Kultur und Geschichte, 42, 2 (2004), 8–17) and recent archaeological excavations (e.g., Sven Spiong, ‘Archäologische Ausgrabung an der Paderborner Stadtmauer’, Die Warte, 65, 123 (2004), 23–6; Sven Spiong, ‘Den Stiftsherren auf der Spur: Archäologische Ausgrabung nördlich der Busdorfkirche in Paderborn’, ibid., 65, 124 (2004), 9–10). Anna Helena Schubert's ‘Archäologische Untersuchungen im Bereich der “Untersten Stadtmühle” in Olpe’, Heimatstimmen aus dem Kreis Olpe, 75, 3 (2004), 195–202, is another example of local archaeological case studies. Olpe received its urban charter in 1311; in the German context such an urban charter necessarily involved fortification. Schubert is concerned whether the ‘lower mill’ which was situated outside the first urban wall was erected at the same time or at a later date than this wall, yet has to admit that despite extensive archaeological excavation this question has to remain – at least for the time – unanswered. English articles on local excavations are too numerous to be dealt with adequately in this short review. Two examples may suffice: Robert Cowie's ‘The evidence from royal sites in Middle Anglo-Saxon London’, Medieval Archaeology, 48 (2004), 201–8, looks at the evidence for palaces c. 650 – c. 850 that emerged from recent archaeological investigations in the Cripplegate area of the City and at the Treasury in Whitehall. Mary Alexander, Natasha Dodnell and Christopher Evans have published ‘A Roman cemetery in Jesus Lane, Cambridge’, Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 93 (2004), 67–94. 32 corpses were unearthed (three of them decapitated), and modest grave goods were found. This cemetery seems to have served a suburban settlement within the lower Roman town. Pottery assemblage indicates industrial activity. The excavation added significantly to our knowledge of the layout and scale of Roman Cambridge. Cambridge clearly remained a significant centre during the fourth century and sustained an economic and commercial role.

"The lower town of pre-classical Beirut"

"The lower town of pre-classical Beirut"

School, Stage, Salon: Musical Cultures in Haydn’s Vienna

Vienna’s reputation as a musical capital dates back to the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when it became synonymous with the names of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert. True, with the exception of Schubert, none of these composers—canonized since the nineteenth century as the creators of “Vienna classicism”—could claim the Habsburg capital as their birthplace. Haydn was born in a Lower Austrian village near the Hungarian border. Mozart was a native of Salzburg, which, despite its reputation today as quintessentially Austrian, was the capital of a semiautonomous archbishopric that did not become a Habsburg territory until 1814. And Beethoven was a native of Bonn. Still, there is no denying the importance Vienna would acquire as a musical capital in the course of the eighteenth century. Haydn may not have been a Wiener by birth, but he did spend most of his career either in the city or within a day’s drive, at the palace of his Esterhazy patrons. Vienna was more or less Mozart’s permanent home from 1781, when he was released from his service at the Salzburg court, to his death ten years later, and Beethoven resided in Vienna and its environs from 1792 until his death in 1827. In focusing on Haydn, the earliest representative of Viennese classicism, this essay addresses several broader issues related to the role of music in the culture of the Habsburg monarchy and to Haydn’s place in that culture. In particular, my article explores three key moments in Haydn’s career and development as a composer. These include, first, his boyhood years in the Lower Austrian town of Hainburg, where he acquired his earliest musical training in a modest parish school; second, the decade that followed his leaving the Choir School of St. Stephen’s in Vienna (1748 or 1749—Haydn scholars are still uncertain about the precise date), when he began his career as a composer; and finally, his participation in Viennese salon life during the 1770s and 1780s. These moments—cultural snapshots, as it were—highlight important stages

Le dépôt archaïque du rempart Nord d'Amathonte III. Les petits objets

Sabine Fourrier et al. The Archaic Deposit by the North Wall at Amathus, III. The Small Finds p. 67-118 The small finds discovered in a fill of the Archaic period deposited against the North Wall of the lower town at Amathus are described. The rich and varied material reflects the different functions of the palace that it came from. Many types are unknown or only attested among the finds from the palace on the acropolis. Certain categories, like the terracotta figurines or the marks incised on the vases, are especially well represented. In spite of their often fragmentary condition, these objects give an overall picture of the finds contained in the Archaic palace of Amathus.

Probable extirpation of a breeding colony of Short-tailed Albatross (Phoebastria albatrus) on Bermuda by Pleistocene sea-level rise.

Albatrosses (Diomedeidae) do not occur in the North Atlantic Ocean today except as vagrants, although five species were present in the early Pliocene. No fossil breeding sites of albatrosses were known previously. The timing of extinction of albatrosses in the North Atlantic was likewise unknown. Deposits that formed near present-day sea level along the southeastern shore of Bermuda contain remains of a former breeding colony and include intact eggshells and bones of embryos, juveniles, and adults of Short-tailed Albatross (Phoebastria albatrus), a critically endangered species now confined to a few islets in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. These deposits are correlated with the middle Pleistocene Lower Town Hill Formation, which at other sites have a radiometric age of 405,000 years ago. This equates with the marine isotope stage 11 interglacial, which culminated in a rise in sea-level to >+20 m. Bones of a juvenile Short-tailed Albatross were also found in beach deposits at +21.3 m from this same interglacial. We interpret the extirpation of albatrosses on Bermuda as probably resulting from lack of nesting sites protected from storm surges over the little emergent land that remained at the height of the marine isotope stage 11 sea level rise.

Heyward Shepherd: The Faithful Slave Memorial

During the 1920s and 1930s the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) and the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) received considerable publicity with their cosponsorship of a “faithful slave” monument in Harpers Ferry. Sitting in Lower Town Harpers Ferry in the midst of an urban landscape, the Heyward Shepherd Monument has different meanings to Southern heritage groups, the National Park Service, and the NAACP. Its tumultuous history shows the dynamic nature of commemorative landscapes, and it demonstrates how different interest groups interpret this landscape feature. The Heyward Shepherd Monument still stands in the national park and the National Park Service sees itself as the custodian of this cultural resource. While the UDC and the SCV see the monument as an important symbol of Southern heritage, the NAACP has lobbied to have it removed from the landscape.

Fortified settlement Veletin

Fortified settlement Veletin