Urban Archaeology Research Articles

The Archaeology of Early Cities: “What Is the City but the People?”

The archaeology of early urbanism is a growing and dynamic field of research, which has benefited in recent years from numerous advances at both a theoretical and a methodological level. Scholars are increasingly acknowledging that premodern urbanization was a much more diverse phenomenon than traditionally thought, with alternative forms of urbanism now identified in numerous parts of the world. In this article, we review recent developments, focusing on the following main themes: (a) what cities are (including questions of definitions); (b) what cities do (with an emphasis on the concentration of people, institutions, and activities in space); (c) methodological advances (from LiDAR to bioarchaeology); (d) the rise and fall of cities (through a focus on persistence); and (e) challenges and opportunities for urban archaeology moving forward. Our approach places people—with their activities and networks—at the center of analysis, as epitomized by the quotation from Shakespeare used as the subtitle of our article.

The earliest evidence of the Phoenician presence in Lisbon: the Sommer Warehouses interventions (Rua Cais de Santarém, Lisbon)

Archaeological excavations carried out at the ancient Sommer Warehouses, in Lisbon (Portugal), have allowed the identification of a complex phasing related to the Iron Age occupation, incorporating distinct construction phases. In this study, architectural, stratigraphic, and material data from the earliest moments of this occupation (phases II to IV) are analysed. Their chronology seems to span from the second half of the 8th century BC to the beginning of the following century. Elements of both defensive and port-related character were identified. The associated archaeological material is significant, including handmade ceramics and wheel-thrown vessels, with possibly an exogenous origin for the latter. This constitutes a body of evidence of great importance in the context of urban archaeology in Lisbon, allowing for a characterization of the early moments of Iron Age occupation.

Urban Heritage, and the Theory of Fragmentation: The Development of Archaeology in the City of Turku, Finland

ABSTRACT Despite the shift from object- to landscape-based approaches in urban heritage management, the analysis of heritage as objects is still viable, as the current archaeological theories of material culture do not see objects in the same manner as the object-based approach. To reveal the broader significance of urban archaeology for the cityscape, the relationship between the discipline and urban space is analyzed in the framework of fragmentation theory. The theory is based on prehistoric archaeology but modified to describe urban archaeology and its effects in the contemporary city. It is argued that fragments, regardless of their connection with the past and their central role in heritage work, also have autonomous potential to distract and act as agents disconnected from their original objects. The creative character of urban fragments should be explored further by archaeologists and heritage management. These ideas are scrutinized using the development of urban archaeology and heritage in the city of Turku in Finland as an example.

Underground City: Archaeology of the Warsaw Ghetto in its academic, memorial and social context

Archaeological research in ​​the former Warsaw Ghetto conducted in 2021-2022 was the first scientific investigation undertaken in the area in a systematic and planned way. Non-invasive research took place in four locations, followed by excavation campaigns in two selected sites and revealed the cellars of the pre-war buildings and lots of artefacts. Especially interesting was the immediate vicinity of the so-called Anielewicz bunker, where the commander of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943, Mordechai Anielewicz, fought his last battle. Very little is known about the bunker itself and the excavations have shed new light on the issue, possibly unearthing part of the bunker's extended structure. We have to be aware that in comparison to the typical problems of urban archaeology, the archaeology of the Warsaw Ghetto faces some specific issues. The post-war buildings in the area were constructed on the rubble of the ancient city, almost completely destroyed by the Nazis during World War II. Moreover, the former residential quarter of the murdered Jews carries a huge emotional load, and any archaeological find made here acquires symbolic significance. Thus the social reception of the research is extremely important.

Situating High-Definition Archaeology in Urban Archaeological Practice

Situating High-Definition Archaeology in Urban Archaeological Practice

Urban Religion through the Lens of Urban Archaeology

Cities and religion are among the most intensely studied topics in the classical world. Yet, they have hardly been studied in their broader relationship to each other. The concept of “urban religion” has proposed to change this and is advocating the “mutual formation of religion and urbanity” as a globally applicable tool. For the ancient world, archaeology is the most relevant discipline and its most important “lens” for any such study. In this article we develop this relationship by proposing and testing two concepts that further nuance the lived ancient religion approach, namely ephemerality and anomaly. Each two address the problem of producing better accounts of comparability and change when combining local case studies with an interest in transregional entanglement and comparability. This is demonstrated in a series of short case studies.

Towards a Growing Interest in the Urban Archaeology of Early Modern Towns in Finland

Research in historical periods has always had a strong tradition in Finnish archaeology. Past studies and archaeological fieldwork have mostly focused on medieval times; however, in the past 20 years, investigationsof early modern towns (1520–1721 AD) have taken place more often in Finland and have changed the tide.Most archaeological excavations in Finland are currently carried out owing to infrastructure and constructionprojects and can therefore be regarded as contract archaeology. First, this article aims to examine and providean overview of past research in Finnish urban archaeology focused on early modern towns. Second, currentresearch trends are discussed with an emphasis on the possibilities offered by multidisciplinary approaches.Recent research conducted in Turku serves as a case study to illustrate these developments. The article concludes by touching upon the persistent challenges faced by research, primarily stemming from the contractual nature of most archaeological investigations.

Fowler, William (2022) A Historical Archaeology of Early Spanish Colonial Urbanism in Central America, University Press of Florida (Gainesville), xxvi + 332 pp. $95.00 hbk.

Fowler, William (2022) A Historical Archaeology of Early Spanish Colonial Urbanism in Central America, University Press of Florida (Gainesville), xxvi + 332 pp. $95.00 hbk.

Sharing the knowledge: exploring cultural heritage through an ontology-based platform

AbstractThe exponential growth of data has made ontology modeling an up-and-coming research area for knowledge representation. One of the domains of interest is represented by Cultural Heritage, in which modeling of environments, such as archaeological parks, could lead to their protection and enhancement. In this scenario, the valuable dataset on the Naples Urban Archaeological Park (PAUN) is of particular interest. Due to its peculiarity, the database could benefit from innovative techniques for retrieving the information, representing a large part of the information contained within the DatabencArt platform, which collects data on Campania's cultural heritage. This paper aims to introduce an ontology-based approach to improve data retrieval, which could help expert users in the field (archaeologists, art historians, geologists, etc.). Scholars need to be able to easily compare the information. To this end, a semantic search is able to transform a vast amount of data into linked concepts. We mapped all concepts according to the ArCo ontology and equipped the DatabencArt platform with a semantic query layer, making the information accessible through ArCo ontology's properties. To evaluate the proposed approach, we designed an experimental campaign involving expert users to assess the results obtained in the system's queries through Sparql queries. The obtained results are promising.

Connecting Public and Urban Archaeology: Enhancement of Urban Archaeological Heritage Through Local Archeo Plans

The paper presents some definitions and tools developed as part of the ArcheoDanube project. The contribution, as well as the project, connects the fields of urban archaeology, public archaeology, management of archaeological sites and archaeological tourism. In doing so, of course, we come across basic concepts, some of which are still lacking clear definitions. This applies especially to the term »archaeological park«, which has several uses. After reviewing various definitions in recent international doctrinal documents, we propose one based on the excellent definition in the Croatian legislation. Following is a brief discussion of the specifics of archaeological tourism. Archaeological parks namely represent an important component in its development. Afterwards, we discuss the main topic of the paper: the Local Archeo Plan, which is one of the main products of the ArcheoDanube project. The Local Archeo Plan represents a new, broader form of management plan, specially designed for the specific situation of archaeological remains. Unlike conventional management plans for monuments or monumental areas, a Local Archeo Plan can be prepared for wider areas, e.g., a city, and offers us the possibility of dealing with the archaeological remains of different areas, with various solutions for presentation and interpretation, in the frame of a common outline. We then compare the Local Archeo Plan to similar plans in force in Slovenia and elsewhere and assess its relevance and usefulness in the development of archaeological destinations.

Virtual Reconstruction with the Augmented Reality Technology of the Cultural Heritage Components that have Disappeared: The Ayazini Virgin Mary Church

Augmented reality (AR) method could be used in the context of being able to provide for the transfer of the architectural and tectonic attributes related to the period to which a historical building belongs, and under conditions where the reconstruction activities could produce damage to the integrity of the building or in situations where the financial resources remain insufficient for making reconstruction. Ayazini Village was selected as the study area. Ayazini Village is connected to Afyonkarahisar Province and is a region that is an extension of the Phrygian Valley, which has a 6,000-year-old past. The Ayazini Region is composed of layers, which produced the First-Degree Archaeological, Urban Archaeological, and First-Degree Natural Site areas. The rock settlements, which form the tectonic structure of Ayazini Village, were produced with the cutting of the tufa rocks that are described as Ayazini rock. The interior spaces and building components of the rock settlements have been damaged or disappeared in time. It is thought from this aspect that there are difficulties in the context of materials, cost, and labor for the reconstruction activities of the areas where these interior spaces were damaged. Within the scope of the research, a virtual restoration model was applied in the interior space of the Virgin Mary Church located in Ayazini Village by using the AR technology. The Virgin Mary Church is a unique historical building remaining from the Byzantine Middle Period when Christianity was accepted. The interior space of the Virgin Mary Church was damaged as the result of natural disasters and human influences over time. In this context, within the scope of the virtual restoration model in this research, the sections of the arches set on the columns in the interior space of the church that were damaged were treated in the integration of the interior space with the sign-based AR technology and reconstruction. The surfaces of the lower parts of the columns that were damaged were mapped with a laser scanner. The parts of the Quick Response (QR) code columns, which were damaged, were presented in simulations. These simulations contain the modeling of the columns from the aspect of shape, color, and fabric. The columns bearing the arches located in the interior space of the church were simulated in a computer environment by determining the colors, fabric, shape, and construction characteristics through the original photographs and based on the data in the literature and with the color pixelization and fabric characteristic mapping of the surfaces. At the conclusion of all these procedures, the data was transferred to the mobile application called Augment. The QR code assigned provided for the aligning under the columns by using the on-site test method and a laser scanner. The smart equipment, through the Augment application, showed the original condition and experienced on-site simultaneously the damaged parts of the column that were completed with the arch by perceiving the QR code.

A Historical Archaeology of Early Spanish Colonial Urbanism in Central America

Book Review| March 27 2023 A Historical Archaeology of Early Spanish Colonial Urbanism in Central America A Historical Archaeology of Early Spanish Colonial Urbanism in Central America. By William R. Fowler. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2022. Photographs. Illustration. Maps. Figures. Tables. Notes. Bibliography. Index. xxvi, 332 pp. Cloth, $110.00. Laura Matthew Laura Matthew Marquette University Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Hispanic American Historical Review 10592077. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182168-10592077 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Laura Matthew; A Historical Archaeology of Early Spanish Colonial Urbanism in Central America. Hispanic American Historical Review 2023; 10592077. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/00182168-10592077 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search Books & JournalsAll JournalsHispanic American Historical Review Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright © 2023 by Duke University Press2023 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal Issue Section: Fifteenth–Seventeenth Centuries You do not currently have access to this content.

Arriving at a Good Port: Urban and Historical Archaeology in Three Cities of the Colombian Caribbean

Colombian urban archaeology has been growing since the 1990s, particularly in Caribbean cities such as Cartagena, Barranquilla, and Santa Marta. The investigations generally respond to the need to comply with protection regulations of archaeological heritage in restoration projects of Assets of Cultural Interest (BIC, the Spanish acronym for Bienes de Interés Cultural), located in historic centers or urban infrastructure works. The results have allowed for the reconstruction of various aspects of daily life in these cities since their foundation, but they have also uncovered data on previous occupations of those same spaces during the pre-Hispanic period. There is still a need to consolidate adequate work strategies adjusted to the needs and particularities of these contexts, which increasingly require the execution of this type of archaeology project.

Bombed Cities: Legacies of Post-War Planning on the Contemporary Urban and Social Fabric

Post-Second World War reconstruction is an important field of research around the world, with strands of enquiry investigating architecture, urban archaeology, heritage studies, urban design, city planning, critical cartography, and social geography. This thematic issue offers a critical statement on mid-twentieth century urban planning, starting from the period of the Second World War. We approach post-war reconstruction not only from the mainstream actualised perspective, but also considered by alternative visions and strategies, with an emphasis on empirically driven studies of post-catastrophic damage and reconstruction, implementing a range of different methodologies. In this editorial we identify two research strands on post-war planning of destroyed cities, one investigating the processes and practices of reconstruction and heritage conservation and the other assessing the legacies of planning decisions on the social and urban fabric of today’s cities. These two strands are interlinked; early planning visions and subsequent decisions were dominated by contemporary concerns and political values, yet they have been imprinted on today’s urban and social fabric of various bombed cities, affecting our urban lives. Thus, reconstruction strategies of destroyed cities should engage diverse voices in a broad dialogue through sensitive inclusion, as today’s planning decisions have the capacity to define the urban and social conditions for future generations.

Первые тайны городской археологии Екатеринбурга: исследования и открытия рубежа XX–XXI вв.

At the end of the 20th century, within the framework of the Research and Production Center for the Protection and Use of Historical and Cultural Monuments of the Sverdlovsk Region (NPC SO), an urban archaeology group was created. Despite the fact that the lack of regulation of the new direction in the federal legislation made the activities of the first researchers quite complicated, for over 20 years, the NPC SO has conducted hundreds of studies in the historical sites of the Sverdlovsk Region. On the territory of Ekaterinburg, the objects of the first research were iconic historical places: the estates of the Commanders of the Ural and Siberian works G.W. de Gennin, V.N. Tatishchev and N.G. Kleopin, Mining & Metallurgical Drugstore, merchants Rastorguyevs-Kharitonovs, engineer Ipatiyev, postmaster Laishevsky, and General Kachka, merchants Ryazanovs, Zaimka of the Old Believers, etc. Explorations were also performed on a number of churches and 12 necropolises (Zarechny, Uspensky, Monastyrsky, Bogoyavlensky, Second German and others), including the burial places of the Romanov Tsar family on the Koptyakovskaya Road. Surveys were carried out at the sites of old mills: Uktussky, Ekaterinburgsky (including the Mint), Verkh-Isetsky, etc. Inspections of quarries, mines, charcoal sites and other objects began. Field researches related to the history of revolutions and the Civil War were also carried out. In recent years, the sites of mass executions and burials of victims of political repressions have been studied.

The urban sediments of Karlsplatz, Vienna (Austria) as a reference section for the Anthropocene series

Anthropogenic strata form the layered urban archive in the underground of large cities. In a transdisciplinary project involving geosciences, isotope physics and urban archaeology, we looked for artificial isotopes and anthropogenic trace metals. The tested archaeological site Karlsplatz is situated in the city of Vienna (Austria). Archaeology and historical data sets provide age constraints around 1922, post-1945 and at 1959. A layer on top of the WW2 rubble that covers foundations of a 1922 building post-dates 1945, and pre-dates the levelling of the artificial park ground in 1959. The fine-grained sediment matrix of these layers is mixed with backfilled soil material. Samples were analysed for trace elements such as lead, copper and zinc, and prepared for chemical separation of actinides analysed by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS). Several artificial radionuclides, including the plutonium and uranium isotopes 239Pu, 240Pu and 236U, were found in the post-1945 layer, and the 240Pu/239Pu isotope ratio clearly points to the presence of atmospheric atomic bomb fallout material of the 1950s. Thus, the bomb-spike can be identified and used as a primary stratigraphic marker even in coarse urban anthropogenic sediments, exemplifying the correlation potential of these radionuclide markers and marking a correlative reference section for the Anthropocene series.

Urban archaeology in Kaifeng, a capital city of dynastic China: progress and insights

ABSTRACT Kaifeng is a well-known ancient capital in Chinese history. However, existing knowledge of its urban history derives primarily from historical documents rather than archaeology. In the last decade, archaeologists, including several authors of this article, have conducted many systematic excavations in Kaifeng city and unearthed large amounts of cultural material. Based on these materials, this article attempts to reconstruct the history of Kaifeng’s urban development beyond text, explores the local depositional features and summarizes experience of urban archaeology. Our investigation suggests that the urban space of Kaifeng has been continuously used for over 1000 years, while its city boundaries, political core zones and central axis have remained relatively unchanged; the flood deposits make it possible to conduct fieldwork under the ‘Pompeii premise’. Additionally, our experience suggests that an holistic design, an applied multi-disciplinary approach, and coordination with city administrators, constructors and residents are key to successful urban archaeology programs.

Interpretation and Presentation of Urban Archeology Kom El-Dikka Archeological site in view of Principle 1 of ENAME Charter

Interpretation and Presentation of Urban Archeology Kom El-Dikka Archeological site in view of Principle 1 of ENAME Charter

ARCHAEOLOGY WITH THE CITY

This paper reflex on the development of the concept of an Archaeology with the City, expanding the concepts of Archaeology in the City, of the City and for the City. Such new concept was developed within the scope Urban archeology projects in the City of São Paulo, in dialaogue with proposals from Sociomuseology, since most researches aimed at musealization of Archeology. Despite archaeology with the city being born from encounters between Urban archaeology and Sociomuseology, this path also brought up closer dialogues with Public and Collaborative archaeology, safeguarding the specificities of considering the city an Archaeological Site, as usual among archaeologists working with urban contexts. Thus, new challenges are posed to the practice of Archaeology with the City.

Aventinus Minor Project: Remote Sensing for Archaeological Research in Rome (Italy)

This paper presents the results of a preliminary survey in a central urban area of Rome, Italy. The results were obtained from both desktop and remote sensing surveys. The Aventinus Minor Project (AMP) is a community archaeological excavation project focusing on an understudied area in Rome with limited modern archaeological excavation: the Aventinus Minor or Little Aventine. The remote sensing (RS) anomalies revealed by the survey illustrate that this area is potentially rich in buried structures potentially correlated with ancient visible remains (i.e., the Servian Walls and Santa Balbina church). The application of RS approaches (such as NDVI, VARI, and GPR) and the creation of a GIS platform lays the foundations for a correct and georeferenced reporting of all collected data, providing a nuanced understanding of the urban archaeology in the dense topography of Rome.