Historical Geography

The spatial organization of Ottoman Selanik (Thessaloniki), according to Evliya Celebi

by Dimitris P. Drakoulis

33rd Congress of the Hellenic Association of Historical Sciences, 25-27 May 2012, Thessaloniki, Greece

A GIS Comparative Analysis of Bronze Age Settlement Patterns and the Contemporary Physical Landscape in the Jazira Region of Syria

by Tony Mathys

Most of the datasets presented in this thesis are available for free in ArcGIS shapefile format on the ShareGeo Open data repository at http://www.sharegeo.ac.uk/.

These datasets are available for everyone to use as it is important to encourage data sharing in support of research activities.

There are also some CORONA satellite images available on ShareGeo for the Syrian Jazira region. The plan is to eventually provide complete CORONA coverage for this region, though geo-referencing will not be precise as it's intended to be more for user orientation.

Acknowledgement should go to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), which makes CORONA imagery available via its EarthExplorer online data service at http://edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/NewEarthExplorer/
Many CORONA images are available to download for free from this service, though require processing and geo-referencing for use in a GIS or a software package for processing remotely sensed imagery.

Relevant to this, and the thesis, is the following paper presented which first introduced how CORONA satellite imagery could be applied to archaeological work in the Near East. Martin Fowler also wrote about the potential of CORONA in the Aerial Archaeology Research Group (AARG) news.

Mathys, Tony. “The Use of Declassified Intelligence Satellite Photographs in a GIS (IDRISI) to Map Archaeological Sites and the Surrounding Landscape in the Northeastern Region of the Syrian Jazirah. The University of Chicago Oriental Institute, NASA and St. Cloud State University Remote Sensing Applications in Archaeology Conference. St. Cloud, Minnesota, May 29-31, 1997.

Unfortunately, papers presented at this conference were not published.

My gratitude and thanks to Dr Sarah Parcak for citing this unpublished conference paper in her book (Satellite Remote Sensing in Archaeology), and to Dr Aled Rowlands and Dr Apostolos Sarris for citing it in their Journal of Archaeological Science article 34 (2007).

Regional unemployment and industrial restructuring in Poland

by Francesco Pastore

Co-authored with Andrew Newell.
Eastern European Economics, 2006, 44(3): 5-28.
(also available as IZA DP, n. 194, November 2000, University of Sussex DP, n. 63, May 2000, e CELPE DP, n. 51, February 2000)

This paper studies regional unemployment inequality in Poland. We find that regions experiencing greater change in... more This paper studies regional unemployment inequality in Poland. We find that regions experiencing greater change in industrial structure have higher unemployment rates. We also find that high-unemployment regions have higher inflow rates to unemployment rather than longer spells of unemployment. These findings suggest that regional unemployment varies importantly with job destruction in Poland. Econometric analysis of the determinants of employment to unemployment flows reinforces this impression. We use our estimates to assess the extent to which regional unemployment variation is due to economic restructuring. We show that this cannot be done unambiguously, and offer reasons why many previous attempts to separate out the effects of restructuring on unemployment have been unsuccessful.

Underground Tourists/Tourists Underground: African American Tourism to Mammoth Cave

by Katie Algeo

Soon to be published in Tourism Geographies

This paper uses structuration theory and the methods of historical geography to explore the conditions in which a Jim... more This paper uses structuration theory and the methods of historical geography to explore the conditions in which a Jim Crow-era hotel run by and for American Americans flourished at the edge of one of the nineteenth century's most popular tourist destinations, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. It identifies structures, legal and customary, that hindered African American travel, but also, in this particular region, other structures linked to early twentieth-century capitalism that allowed room for agency on the part of the hotel's proprietors. It demonstrates the importance of understanding networks of social relations when undertaking micro-scale structuration analysis and contributes to our understanding of a little-studied aspect of Jim Crow-era tourism, the use of temporal and spatial strategies to create separate places within white tourist destinations for African American tourists.

Soviet cartography set in stone: the ‘Map of Industrialization’

by Dominique Moran

Environment and Planning D: Society and Space

In this paper I take the example of the `Map of Industrialization', a huge stone mosaic map of 1930s USSR as a point... more In this paper I take the example of the `Map of Industrialization', a huge stone mosaic map of 1930s USSR as a point of convergence for discourses connecting Soviet propaganda and the depiction of Soviet space through cartography, the nature of maps as social constructs, the relationship between cartography and art in Soviet Russia, and the role of cartography in shaping the image of the Soviet nation-state. I trace the history of the Map and consider the Map as a work of art and as an instrument of the state, exploring these notions in the context of its history of exhibition in the USSR and overseas and of its periodic alteration. I conclude with a consideration of the changing discourses surrounding the Map in the post-Soviet era and link this discussion to broader themes of cultural memory, monuments,and the negotiation of national identity.

Lesniki and Leskhozy: Life and Work in Russia's Northern Forests

by Dominique Moran

Environment and History

This paper examines the history of forestry in the Russian North through a study area in the North Urals. The... more This paper examines the history of forestry in the Russian North through a study area in the North Urals. The relationships between the local leskhozy (forestry enterprises) and the lesniki (forestry workers) and the environment are contrasted. The paper explores four key aspects: exile, planned production, decline in rural population and environmental problems which characterised the Soviet period, and links these to conditions in the region post-1991, drawing on archival sources, contemporary accounts from the Soviet period and fieldwork in the study area.

Hewn from Stone: (Re)Presenting Soviet Material Cultures and Identities

by Dominique Moran

Journal of Social History

This paper is concerned with the 'production' of items of material
culture, including monuments, made from... more This paper is concerned with the 'production' of items of material
culture, including monuments, made from precious and semi-precious stone, in the early Soviet Union (1920s and 1930s). Selecting examples such as the stars which top the Kremlin towers, it engages with the issues of production of these items, in particular the significance of the materials from which they were made, and the (re)constructed identities of the craftsmen who made them. Drawing on contemporary press sources in order to access a particularly opaque public discourse surrounding these issues, the paper considers these items as embodiments of the labour of their makers, and interrogates the significance of that labour for the regime for which the objects were made. It concludes that through the act of production, Soviet workers re-produced and re-presented themselves in line with the imperatives of the commissioning state

Historical GIS as a Platform for Public Memory at Mammoth Cave National Park

by Katie Algeo

Co-authored with Ann Epperson & Matt Brunt. Won Best Article of 2011 for the International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research.

The Mammoth Cave Historical GIS (MCHGIS) fosters new understandings of a national park landscape as a historic farming... more The Mammoth Cave Historical GIS (MCHGIS) fosters new understandings of a national park landscape as a historic farming community and offers a web-based platform for public memory of pre-park inhabitants. It maps the 1920 manuscript census at the household level over a streaming topographic map and georeferences Civilian Conservation Corps photographs of dwellings for visualization and analysis of the area’s population on the eve of creation of Mammoth Cave National Park. A web interface to the MCHGIS permits broader dissemination of archival holdings. Public participation GIS techniques are adapted to initiate a virtual site of public memory to supplement the history presented by institutionally-held materials with those donated from private holdings.

The Puzzling Mr. Janin and Mammoth Cave Management, 1900-1910

by Katie Algeo

Published in the Proceedings of the Max Kämper Centennial Symposium & 9th Science Symposium: Cultural History and Research. Mammoth Cave, KY: Mammoth Cave National Park, pp. 11-21.

Albert Covington Janin was the key architect of tourism development at Mammoth Cave for two decades at the start of... more Albert Covington Janin was the key architect of tourism development at Mammoth Cave for two decades at the start of the twentieth century, yet little has been written about his tenure. This paper explores his background and accomplishments for the period 1900 to 1910 as an initial attempt to understand his contributions to Mammoth Cave. Material about  his activities in relation to Mammoth Cave is synthesized from primary sources in the archival collections of the Huntington Library (HL) of San Marino, California, and the Historical Society of Washington, DC (HSW).

Two peculiar Thracian coin issues: ΔΑΝΤΗΛΗΤΩΝ and ΜΕΛΣΑ

by Yannis Stoyas

Paper in: E. Paunov & S. Filipova (eds), HPAKΛEOVΣ ΣΩTHPOΣ ΘAΣIΩN. Studia in honorem Iliae Prokopov sexagenario ab amicis et discipulis dedicata, Sofia 2012 (forthcoming).

Two rare coins kept in the collection of the Welfare Foundation for Social & Cultural Affairs (KIKPE), Athens,... more Two rare coins kept in the collection of the Welfare Foundation for Social & Cultural Affairs (KIKPE), Athens, became the stimulus for other specimens to be sought and for questions to be raised, requiring further study on several levels.
The heavy bronze pieces of the Danteletai (head of Dionysos l. / warrior r. with curved sword and light shield, ΔΑΝΤΗΛ/ΗΤΩΝ) constitute a remarkable issue for the Thracian monetary affairs. First the variations of the ethnic name are discussed and then the iconography of the warrior (hair, sword, shield) is scrutinized, with ample literary references and correlation of archaeological parallels on occasion. Numismatic comparanda in stylistic terms are provided both for the reverse and the obverse, while the metrological data are assessed in context. The few glimpses at a known provenance lead obviously to a focal area highlighted between the northern bank of the upper course of Hebros and the Haimos mountain ridge; the role of ‘Emporion Pistiros’ (probably Adjiyska Vodenitsa, near Vetren) is also examined to an extent. All things considered, and viewed in historical perspective, a dating of this coinage in the middle of the third quarter of the 4th century BC (ca. 339–335 BC?) is thought to be quite probable.
The bronze coins with the legend ΜΕΛΣΑ (filleted bucranium / fish) present an even more difficult puzzle; for starters, known and not so known pieces were traced. Discussion follows at length on the filleted bucranium and the fish while searching also for stylistic comparanda. The challenge of the strange legend required some necessary commentary before giving a thorough inspection at the chances for a valid interpretation. Certain options —e.g. an attribution to “a Messa of the Apolloniates” that evolved later into Anchialos— are examined and are found lacking, especially under the light of overstrike evidence (two pieces, one on AE of Philip II, the other on AE of Cassander). The latter alongside with other kinds of evidence provide a terminus post quem in or after the last fifteen years of the 4th century BC. Then argumentation is pondered on the hypothesis that the legend should correspond to an unknown so far Thracian chieftain; this and some other possibilities towards certain civic issues are rejected. The key for deciphering this riddle seems to lie by the northern coast of the Keratios near Byzantion; close study of historical topography and other clues reveal that probably there is a connection between the site of Semystra and the ΜΕΛΣΑ coins. Several elements are taken into account: the filleted bucranium; the fish in Bosporos; hints in the Roman provincial coin series of Byzantion; the marshy reed growing on Keratios’ shore; Thracian mythical ruler Melias; Meltas, the last king of Argos; the Argive colonization at Keratios. All in all, this may be a case of syncretism materialized in a period of dire straits, due to the Celtic presence in Thrace after 278 BC; perhaps a sanctuary in the premises of Byzantion, dedicated to a heroic cult, proceeded to strike a brief coin issue, possibly in association of a religious festival or an important anniversary, at a moment of temporary shortage in small change (maybe some time in the years ca. 275-250 BC).

Mammoth Cave and the Making of Place

by Katie Algeo

Occupation, use, and symbolic construction of place in the Mammoth Cave region of Kentucky has resulted in five... more Occupation, use, and symbolic construction of place in the Mammoth Cave region of Kentucky has resulted in five distinct eras of place-making during the past two hundred years. The connectedness of Mammoth Cave to the larger national stage is revealed through struggles over control and development that wrought successive transformations upon the cultural landscape. The symbolic import of the world’s largest cave altered as, in turn, resource extraction, tourism, and environmentalism became the dominant ideology influencing development in the Mammoth Cave region. This paper positions the process of placemaking at Mammoth Cave within the changing scene of American society and culture.

The Urban Organization of Constantinople in the Early Byzantine Period

by Dimitris P. Drakoulis

Working Papers 8, Laboratory of Analysis and Visualization of Spatio-temporal Data, Department of Geography, University of the Aegean, Mytilene. 2011 (pages 1-48)

The paper is an attempt to study the urban organization of the Early Byzantine Constantinople, as this emerges from an... more The paper is an attempt to study the urban organization of the Early Byzantine Constantinople, as this emerges from an anonymous textual source of the 5th A.D., the Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae. It is a Latin text written in about 425 AD that divides the city into 14 regions, as they were constituted by emperor Constantine the Great (305-337). The text consists of a praefatio that praises the emperor Theodosius the II (408-450), the main body of about 1400 words that describes the various buildings and infrastructures contained in them and finally a collectio civitatis, a kind of summary of the buildings.
An analytical technique borrowed from the French school of structural linguistics has been used for extracting the words that denote space and functions. The isotopy of the spatial code, as is called, consists in marking all the words, phrases or sentences that refer to space, or have allusions to urban functions. There have been identified 32 different isotopies that can be typologically classified in the following seven main categories: residence, economy, administration, culture, defense, religion and networks. Each of them can be further divided into various subcategories. A Digital Terrain Model has been produced in order to clarify the description of the 14 Regions (Map 1). Additionally, the official map of the Istanbul City Guide has been used, in order to redesign a vector map that allowed the confrontation of the boundaries of the Regions with those of modern Istanbul’s administrative districts and neighborhoods (mahalle). The distinctive features of the spatial textual code have been individuated and described. The various land-uses that shape the socially organized and constructed space into urban functions and subfunctions have been systematically classified and correlated with their modern location, while also a zoning map has been designed. Finally, an attempt has been made to analyze some of these urban shells in order to show their Graeco-Roman heritage and their functional transformations in the Early Byzantine period.

Illegal evictions? Overwriting possession and orality with law’s violence in Cambodia

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. Forthcoming. Illegal evictions? Overwriting possession and orality with law’s violence in Cambodia. Journal of Agrarian Change.

The unfolding of a juridico-cadastral system in present-day Cambodia is at odds with local understandings of... more The unfolding of a juridico-cadastral system in present-day Cambodia is at odds with local understandings of landholding, which are entrenched in notions of community consensus and existing occupation. The discrepancy between such orally recognized antecedents and the written word of law have been at the heart of the recent wave of dispossessions that have swept across the country. Contra the standard critique that corruption has set the tone, this paper argues that evictions in Cambodia are often literally underwritten by the articles of law. Whereas ‘possession’ is a well-understood and accepted concept in Cambodia, a cultural basis rooted in what James C. Scott refers to as ‘orality’, coupled with a long history of subsistence agriculture, semi-nomadic lifestyles, barter economies, and–until recently–widespread land availability have all ensured that notions of ‘property’ are vague among the country’s majority rural poor. In drawing a firm distinction between possessions and property, where the former is premised upon actual use and the latter is embedded in exploitation, this article examines how proprietorship is inextricably bound to the violence of law.

Karta Zemlje Pavlovica (gradovi, utvrdjenja i trgovi)

by Milan Vojnovic

Unofficial Call For Papers: Geography, Ethnicity, and Medicine

by Molly Jones-Lewis

I couldn't fit this whole thing on my status update, so I'm posting it sneakily as a paper.  See the 'abstract' for more details.

Unofficial Call For Papers: Geography, Ethnicity, and Medicine

This is a preliminary call for papers to... more Unofficial Call For Papers: Geography, Ethnicity, and Medicine

This is a preliminary call for papers to form a panel proposal for the CAMWS 2013 meeting in Iowa City. Submission to this panel do not guarantee that the panel will be accepted to CAMWS, but those selected will be part of the proposal. We are trying to find individuals we don't already know who work in this area.

Within the emerging and dynamic field of ancient technical literature there is a wealth of information addressing the way ancients viewed the nature of race and ethnicity through emerging sciences like geography and medicine in the diverse cultures of the ancient Mediterranean. This panel seeks to provide scholars working in this area with a forum to explore the exciting possibilities of this new direction in ancient ethnicity studies as well as an opportunity to collaborate towards further work. We are especially interested in papers that show the interactions between one or more of the fields (geography, ethnicity, and medicine--think Airs, Waters, Places or Pliny the Elder type stuff, maybe), and welcome contributions from any time period, so long as the focus is on the ancient Mediterranean.

Abstracts ca. 100-200 words should be submitted to Rebecca Kennedy (kennedyr@denison.edu) and Molly Jones-Lewis (mollyayn@gmail.com) by July 6, 2013.

Mapping the ‘Doctrine of Vicarious Punishment’: Space, Religion and the Belfast ‘Troubles’ of 1920 – 22’

by Niall Cunningham

This is a copy of a paper I plan to deliver at the European Social Science History Conference at Glasgow University on April 14th, 2012.　　The caption on figure 10 shouldn't read decennial change in population, as the inter-censal period was subject to some alteration around this time. It is a DRAFT! I will adjust when I have time。

Between 1920 and 1922, the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland was the location of intense violence between Catholic... more Between 1920 and 1922, the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland was the location of intense violence between Catholic nationalists and Protestant unionists arising out of the broader political conflict engulfing the island. Approximately 500 people died within the city as a result of these tensions. There existed marked spatial variation in patterns of fatality during these original ‘Troubles’ which accompanied the creation of the Northern Ireland state. This paper will present findings from research into this period which makes use of Geographical Information Systems (G.I.S.) technology to analyse the spatial distribution and impact of political and sectarian deaths in the early years of the 1920s.

Africa and the Atlantic World 1450-1850 programme

by Richard Blakemore

What Place is this Time? Semiotics and the Analysis of Historical Reference in Landscape Architecture

by Martijn Duineveld

Kristof Van Assche, Martijn Duineveld, Harro De Jong & Aart Van Zoest

This paper revisits the potential contribution of semiotic analysis to heritage design. A case study analyzes lay... more This paper revisits the potential contribution of semiotic analysis to heritage design. A case study analyzes lay interpretations of a number of urban landscape designs, displaying different ways to refer to the invisible (archaeological) past. A total of 12 draft designs were produced referring to the past of three sites on the fringe of the Dutch city of Almere, and the various design options were discussed during in-depth interviews. A semiotic framework made it possible to grasp the structure and process of interpretation of the plans and their embedded historical references. It is demonstrated that categories of place routinely override categories of time in the interpretation of a historical reference and that designs (and therefore references) steeped in design tradition, or, more broadly, artistic tradition, are rarely understood by the potential users. Further, the study shows that the interplay of spatial, temporal and cultural context does not allow for an ideal strategy of historical reference, a design strategy that would work in every setting. Designing with heritage cannot be decoupled from context.

Towards a Mathematical Evaluation of the Significance of the Via Egnatia within the Transport Network of the Historical Region of Macedonia, in: Proceedings “Makedonija niz vekovite”, Skopje [in press]

by Mihailo Popovic

Die Rezeption der Religionsgemeinschaften des Osmanischen Reiches in der west- und mitteleuropäischen Reiseliteratur des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts. Prace Historyczne [in press]

by Mihailo Popovic