Explaining history to children: Otto and Marie Neurath’s work on the ‘Visual history of mankind’

This essay traces the development of Otto Neurath’s ideas that led to the publication of one of the first series of children’s books produced by the Isotype Institute in the late 1940s, the Visual History of Mankind. Described in its publicity material as ‘new in content’ and ‘new in method’, it embodied much of Otto Neurath’s thinking about visual education, and also coincided with other educational ideas in the UK in the 1930s and 1940s. It exemplified the Isotype Institute’s approach: teamwork, thinking about the needs of younger readers, clear explanation, and accessible content. Further, drawing on correspondence, notes and drawings from the Otto and Marie Neurath Isotype Collection at the University of Reading, the essay presents insights to the making of the books and the people involved, the costs of production and the influence of this on design decisions, and how the books were received by teachers and children.

Globalizing Mediterranean identities: the overlapping spheres of Egyptian, Greek and Roman worlds at Trimithis

This article furthers recent gains made in applying globalization perspectives to the Roman world by exploring two Romano-Egyptian houses that used Roman material culture in different ways within the city known as Trimithis (modern day Amheida, in Egypt). In so doing, I suggest that concepts drawn from globalization theory will help us to disentangle and interpret how homogeneous Roman Mediterranean goods may appear heterogeneous on the local level. This theoretical vantage is broadly applicable to other regions in the Roman Mediterranean, as well as other environments in which individuals reflected a multifaceted relationship with their local identity and the broader social milieu.

Models, moulds and mass production: the mechanics of stylistic influence form the Mediterranean to Bactria

Classical Greek and Roman influence on the material culture of Central Asia and northwestern India is often considered in the abstract. This article attempts to examine the mechanisms of craft production and movement of artisans and objects which made such influence possible, through four case studies: (1) Mould-made ceramics in Hellenistic eastern Bactria; (2) Plaster casts used in the production of metalware from Begram; (3) Terracotta figurines and the moulds used to produce them, from various archaeological sites; and (4) Mass production of identical gold adornments in the nomadic tombs from Tillya Tepe. The implications of such techniques for our understanding of the development of Gandhāran art are also discussed.

Odd deposits and average practice. A critical history of the concept of structured deposition.

This paper presents a critical history of the concept of ‘structured deposition’. It examines the long-term development of this idea in archaeology, from its origins in the early 1980s through to the present day, looking at how it has been moulded and transformed. On the basis of this historical account, a number of problems are identified with the way that ‘structured deposition’ has generally been conceptualized and applied. It is suggested that the range of deposits described under a single banner as being ‘structured’ is unhelpfully broad, and that archaeologists have been too willing to view material culture patterning as intentionally produced – the result of symbolic or ritual action. It is also argued that the material signatures of ‘everyday’ practice have been undertheorized and all too often ignored. Ultimately, it is suggested that if we are ever to understand fully the archaeological signatures of past practice, it is vital to consider the ‘everyday’ as well as the ‘ritual’ processes which lie behind the patterns we uncover in the ground.

‘Did Ronald McDonald also tend to scare you as a child?’: working to emplace consumption, commodities, and citizen-students in a large classroom setting

So-called ‘radical’ and ‘critical’ pedagogy seems to be everywhere these days on the landscapes of geographical teaching praxis and theory. Part of the remit of radical/critical pedagogy involves a de-centring of the traditional ‘banking’ method of pedagogical praxis. Yet, how do we challenge this ‘banking’ model of knowledge transmission in both a large-class setting and around the topic of commodity geographies where the banking model of information transfer still holds sway? This paper presents a theoretically and pedagogically driven argument, as well as a series of practical teaching ‘techniques’ and tools—mind-mapping and group work—designed to promote ‘deep learning’ and a progressive political potential in a first-year large-scale geography course centred around lectures on the Geographies of Consumption and Material Culture. Here students are not only asked to place themselves within and without the academic materials and other media but are urged to make intimate connections between themselves and their own consumptive acts and the commodity networks in which they are enmeshed. Thus, perhaps pedagogy needs to be emplaced firmly within the realms of research practice rather than as simply the transference of research findings.

Bronze Age perceptions of wetlands: recent archaeological work on the Humber estuary

This paper addresses the perception of different wetlands in and around the Humber estuary in the Bronze Age. Combining past and current research, it will be argued that the perception of intertidal wetlands was nearly diametrically opposed to the perception of riverine floodplains. This contrasting perception is reflected in the material culture of the Bronze Age, and may be explained through the particular manner in which landscapes changed following marine transgressions. This work was largely undertaken within the framework of the Humber Wetlands Survey, an integrated archaeological and palaeoenvironmental research programme funded by English Heritage since 1992

Science-based conservation and management in wetland archaeology: the example of Sutton Common, UK

This paper addresses the perception of different wetlands in and around the Humber estuary in the Bronze Age. Combining past and current research, it will be argued that the perception of intertidal wetlands was nearly diametrically opposed to the perception of riverine floodplains. This contrasting perception is reflected in the material culture of the Bronze Age, and may be explained through the particular manner in which landscapes changed following marine transgressions. This work was largely undertaken within the framework of the Humber Wetlands Survey, an integrated archaeological and palaeoenvironmental research programme funded by English Heritage since 1992

People on the move in Roman Britain

Levels of mobility in the Roman Empire have long been assumed to be relatively high, as attested by epigraphy, demography, material culture and, most recently, isotope analysis and the skeletons themselves. Building on recent data from a range of Romano-British sites (Poundbury in Dorset, York, Winchester, Gloucester, Catterick and Scorton), this article explores the significance of the presence of migrants at these sites and the impact they may have had on their host societies. The authors explore the usefulness of diaspora theory, and in particular the concept of imperial and colonial diasporas, to illustrate the complexities of identities in later Roman Britain.

POSTMARITAL RESIDENCE PRACTICE IN SOUTHERN BRAZILIAN COASTAL GROUPS: CONTINUITY AND CHANGE

The coastal plains of the States of Parana and Santa Catarina, in Southern Brazil, were first settled around 6000 B.P. by shellmound builders, a successful fisher-hunter-gatherer population that inhabited the coastal lowlands practically unchanged for almost five thousand years. Shellmounds were typically occupied as residential sites as well as cemeteries, and are usually associated with rich alimentary zones. Around 1200 B.P., the first evidence of ceramics brought from the interior is found in coastal areas, and together with ceramics there is a progressive abandonment of shellmound construction in favor of flat cold shallow sites. Here we consider if these changes were reflected in the postmarital residence practice of coastal groups, i.e., if the arrival or intensification of contact with groups from the interior resulted in changes in this aspect of social structure among the coastal groups. To test the postmarital residence practice we analyzed within-group variability ratios between males and females, following previous studies on the topic. and between-group, correlations between Mahalanobis distances and geographic distances. The results suggest that in the pre-ceramic series a matrilocal, postmarital residential system predominated, while in the ceramic period there was a shift toward patrilocality. This favors the hypothesis that the changes experienced by coastal groups after 1200 B.P. affected not only their economy and material culture, but important aspects of their sociopolitical organization as well.

Solar Collectors for Historic Homes : Linking consumption to perceptions of space

Reduction of household energy consumption is one of the top issues in contemporary discussions on sustainable consumption. This chapter concerns one way through which consumption of purchased energy for house heating can be reduced; by having a solar thermal system added to one's house. However, the fact that one of the components - the solar collector - usually is situated on the roof or the facade of a building, is a recurrent impediment to such installations. In certain contexts, these attributes may melt into the building, while in others, they may be perceived as problematic. The latter may particularly be the case when the appearance of the building is of major imiportance, as with houses deemed worthy of preservation for coming generations. This chapter draws upon a study carried out in Visby Town, a walled Hanseatic town and a World Heritage site on the island of Gotland, Sweden.