Archaeology of standing buildings Research Papers (original) (raw)

- by Marisa Marthari
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- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Cultural Heritage, Heritage Studies

Through a detailed discussion of the Laws of Stratigraphy developed by Edward Harris and study of the few existing examples, the suitability and use of the Harris Matrix system for the analysis of standing buildings has
been evaluated and found to be successful, albeit with modifications to compensate for the differences between archaeological and architectural stratigraphy. To illustrate the methodology, data produced by the detailed study and recording of the fabric of the church of St. Mary the Virgin in the Norfolk village of Sedgeford, has been used to create a Harris Matrix of the building’s structural history. A relative stratigraphic sequence having been
established, the next step in the ongoing work of the Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project will be to correlate the building’s Harris Matrix with the existing historical documentation in order to produce a
more detailed chronological history of the building.

This research examines the extent to which hospital buildings reflect changing approaches to medical treatment in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It uses Ashburton hospital as a case study, covering its initial construction in 1880, through subsequent periods of additions and remodelling up until the present day. The focus here is on four of the oldest buildings, and both historical information and buildings archaeology recording are used to define a room-by-room sequence of construction and modification events. Each event is analysed for attributes that reflect change over time at the hospital. The findings produced here are paired against evolving medical understanding and wider concepts of hospital building change to place Ashburton hospital within a global framework.

- by Dan Hicks
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- Historical Anthropology, Historical Archaeology, Architecture, Cultural Heritage

In the seventeenth- and early eighteenth centuries, fluits were the most common type of merchant ship used in Baltic trade. Originally a Dutch design, the majority of all goods transported between Sweden and the Republic was carried on board such vessels. Far from all voyages reached their destination. Down in the cold brackish water of the Baltic, the preservation conditions are optimal, and several of these unfortunate vessels remain nearly intact today. Although thousands of more or less identical fluits were built, surprisingly little is known about the arrangement of space on board, their sculptural embellishment and other aspects that formed the physical component of everyday life on and alongside these ships. Fluits were a fixture in early modern society, so numerous that they became almost invisible. The study of wrecks thus holds great potential for revealing vital components of early modern life. Inspired by phenomenological approaches in archaeology, this thesis aims to focus on the lived experience of fluits. It sets out to grasp for seemingly mundane everyday activities relating to these ships, from the physical arrangements for eating, sleeping and answering nature’s call, to their rearrangement for naval use, and ends with a consideration of the architectonical contribution of the fluit to the urban landscape.

- by Oliver Fries and +1
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- Archaeology of Buildings, Archaeology of Architecture, History of architecture, Church architecture

T. Schöfbeck: Unter einem großen Dach. Frühe Hallendachwerke in Norddeutschland bis zur Mitte des 14. Jahrhunderts, in: Mittelalterliche Architektur. Bau und Umbau, Reparatur und Transformation. Festschrift für Johannes Cramer, hrsg. von... more

Oliver Fries/Robert Kuttig
THE CHAPEL AT SCHALLABURG CASTLE. RESULTS OF THE
INVESTIGATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE BUILDING 2009–2015
Since 2009, the Schallaburg has been the object of investigations
of the history of the building by the authors in
parallel with building activity. The particular focus of this
research is on the chapel, in part built on the foundations
of an older religious building in the form of a rotunda. The
chapel dates from a high-medieval building period and was
constructed around 1100 or in the early 12th century. However,
the chapel is not part of the original elements of the highmedieval
castle. In order to build the chapel, a part of the
enclosing wall from the first phase of construction was demolished
and the chapel located on the wall such that the apse
of the approx. 7.20 by 11 metre hall protrudes beyond the
building line of the outer wall. In a subsequent high-medieval
building stage, a three-nave hall crypt was inserted in the
lower storey of the chapel, part of which was lost during
building work in the 19th century. In the years around 1500,
the chapel was extended towards the west with a gallery in
the upper storey and a gable top on ashlar consoles. In the
Counterreformation, efforts were made to establish the chapel
as a church in its own right. Today there is no trace of the
Baroque ornamentation, of which particular mention should
be made of the altar painting dated 1665 by the famous
painter and topographer Clemens Beuttler. During the renovation
of the Schallaburg between 1968 and 1974 under Wilhelm
Zotti, the remains of the altar table against the south
wall of the chapel were removed and the remains of the
tomb of Hans Wilhelm von Losenstein formerly dispersed
in Loosdorf parish church were reassembled and re-erected
in the upper storey of the chapel in 1974.

- by Ronald Kurt Salzer and +1
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- Archaeology, Architecture, Medieval Archaeology, Archaeology of Buildings

Using case studies from the author's professional work as an archaeological surveyor of historic buildings in southwest England, the thesis examines evidence for the historical use of salvaged materials in British buildings; compares it with accounts of the same in architectural, economic and cultural histories; and argues that the material is more common and of greater archaeological potential and historical significance than the limited anglo-centric literature would suggest. The thesis demonstrates that salvage was culturally endemic throughout England and probably the whole of Britain throughout the later Middle Ages and the early Modern periods and was facilitated by sophisticated markets, distribution networks and possibly customary 'linear' exchange; that, in addition to its iconographic and economic value, salvage was an important vector of technological and stylistic diffusion and development; and that salvaged architectural details – or spolia – were employed creatively by Catholic and other minority owners as expressions of cultural affinity and political legitimacy. That creative use reaches its ultimate expression in the 'ruins' of Bradenstoke Priory in Wiltshire , which were re-sculpted using salvaged materials by a succession of Catholic and latterly antiquarian owners during the late 17 th , 18 th and 19 th centuries, before partial demolition – for salvage – by William Randolph Hearst in 1929.

- by Oliver Fries
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- Art History, Architecture, Renaissance Studies, Architectural History

Historical archaeology may be characterised by an intricate relationship between written sources and material remains. In research focusing on shipwrecks, this often results in descriptions of the events associated with one particular ship. These are narratives written from a historical horizon, where written sources provide the explanation to material remains. The aim of this paper is to show that a combination of material remains and written sources may be used as a departure point for a discussion on social conditions on board merchant ships in a more general sense. The case used is the fluit or fluitship Anna Maria, launched in 1694 and which foundered in Dalarö harbour, Sweden, in 1709. The site is ideal for such a study partly as it has been surveyed archaeologically on several occasions since the 1960s and most recently in 2010, and partly because historical research has been carried out on the related written accounts. Taken together, this material enables a unique opportunity to reconstruct and study the everyday environment on board a large fluitship.

- by Niklas Eriksson
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- Archaeology, Maritime Archaeology, Historical Archaeology, Maritime History

The Agdal is a royal estate founded in Almohad times located South of Marrakech. Its walled perimeter contains 340 Hectares of orchards. This paper discusses the evidence obtained by an archaeological survey of the site carried out in early 2012. The archeological prospection of the Tasltante plain, where the Agdal is located, has also allowed a preliminary reconstruction of the peri-urban landscape of Marrakech in the XIXth Century.

In the year 2006, the hamman of Churriana de la Vega (Granada, Spain), a XVth Century Listed Building, was for the first time the subject of archaeological study. An archival and historiographical research was followed by the stratigraphic analysis and excavation of the building. The information recovered will hopefully be useful for future restoration projects.

"[pt] Em Portugal a inclusão de estudos detalhados dos edifícios a demolir no contexto de intervenções de Arqueologia preventiva / de salvamento permanece rara, reservando-se a leitura e interpretação dos conjuntos edificados quase exclusivamente para projectos específicos da área da Conservação e restauro, maioritariamente de edifícios com carácter monumental. Esta situação tem provocado perdas irrecuperáveis de informação fundamental para a história das cidades portuguesas. Uma intervenção de Arqueologia preventiva, prévia à execução de um projecto de construção com impacto significativo sobre a malha urbana actual da Baixinha de Coimbra ,constituiu uma oportunidade singular para o desenvolvimento de um projecto global de Arqueologia que articula a análise do edificado com trabalhos de escavação arqueológica. O projecto da Baixinha de Coimbra (actualmente em curso, mesmo no que respeita aos trabalhos de aquisição de dados no terreno) demonstra: (1) a relevância e o potencial informativo dos edifícios de arquitectura civil, quando encarados como objectos estratificados cuja compreensão surge indispensável para a reconstituição da história dos centros urbanos; e (2) o papel fundamental a desempenhar pela Arqueologia preventiva neste processo fundamental de construção de conhecimento sobre a história das cidades.
Neste sentido, insistimos sobre a necessidade urgente de constituição de colecções de referência de materiais e técnicas construtivas geográfica e cronologicamente contextualizadas e da imposição do princípio de «conhecer para intervir», elevando o conhecimento objectivo da história dos edifícios e da sua envolvente urbana à categoria de eixo fundamental das opções estratégicas dos programas de intervenção urbana, maxime no caso de centros históricos."

- by Oliver Fries
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- Archaeology, Architectural History, Archaeology of Buildings, Architectural Heritage

The Grižane castle is situated on the ridge of a steep slope dividing the regions of Gorski kotar and Vinodol, above the village of the same name. The today visible remains of the castle, situated on the eastern, highest, side of the ridge, consist of two round towers that are connected by the walls. Walls of the habitations are preserved on the western edge of the ridge, over a deep precipice.
The local freemen were mentioned in written sources in the Law Codex of Vinodol from 1288. It was in the possession of the Counts of Krk (later Frangipan) till the 16th century. Till the end of the 17th century it belonged to the Zrinski kindred. The Grižane is one of nine castles held by the Counts of Krk in Vinodol.
The area of Vinodol is geographically narrow and the issue of such a large number of castles starting from the 13th century is an open issue. The development of feudal estates in the Hungarian kingdom indicates that the estates were the main source for the castle’s maintenance, especially their size. With the later connections of numerous properties under one owner, in this case the Counts of Krk or Frankopan, the possibility was created for the increase of castles that did not drain funds from their respective estates but from income collected in the owner's treasury. The acquisition of Frankopan land on the routes from the continental possessions towards the sea brought great revenue from the trade and billing of bridge tolls and other customs and thus created a financial base for the construction of new forts. If we can look at the construction of a castle in this light, it proves its decay after the weakening of the power of Frankopan and Zrinski, but also in the time when the owner's interest is diminished, and the castle’s own estates do not have the means to maintain such buildings.

The works of a pumice quarry at Ftellos on Thera revealed the remains of some pre-eruption buildings. The first period of the excavation there lead to the discovery of a dug out building consisting of more than two rooms circular or polygonal in plan. The bulk of the pottery coming from this building belongs to Phylakopi Ic and Early Phylakopi II periods. It must have gone out of use before the LBA eruption because it did not contain the materials which were ejected during that eruption.
Such a type of building has not been found in the Prehistoric Cyclades until now. In construction it shows some similarities to the building of the Christiana islet which is also subterranean. Ftellos buildings were dug in the sandy pre-eruption earth from top to bottom and not from the side like the rock-cut tombs of Melos and the modern houses of Thera and Therasia. An inner stonewall was built to hold this sandy earth. The roof was probably constructed of branches covered with clay

- by Marisa Marthari
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- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Stratigraphy, Pottery (Archaeology)

Lead was a broadly used metal in ancient times, especially for construction purposes. The potential of construction lead analysis has never been considered so far, as most analytical methods prove restrictive to study large sets of samples. For this purpose, the development of a new lead analytical protocol using LA-ICP-MS was undertaken. It can determine quickly at the ppm level for the main trace elements contained in ancient lead alloys: As, Ag, Bi, Cd, Cu, Ni, Sb, and Sn. The method was then applied to a set of 172 lead sealings sampled on three major cathedrals of Gothic France: Bourges, Chartres and Metz. Results show that no particular lead quality was required for construction on these building yards and that the final composition of the lead depends on the definitive mixing of matters before pouring. Regarding this last point, for each monument, discrimination of different “melt batches” of lead through trace element analysis was able to highlight unprecedented chronological sequences, thus greatly improving our understanding of the building dynamics.

- by Alexandre DISSER and +3
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- Medieval Archaeology, Archaeology of standing buildings, LA-ICP-MS, Gothic architecture

This paper employs an approach based on understanding and interpreting the social practices embodied in architectural grammar. In the past, architectural grammar as described by Glassie, and developed by Harris and Johnson, has been seen as the static material residue of historical events, and neglectful of the non-visual senses. However, by extending the concept of grammar to include the phenomenological experiences of people who lived within specific architectural settings, we may reconfigure those repeated social practices that formed and transformed everyday life. In so doing, we can begin to envisage how ethnically aware social actors drew from the palette of choices available in their habitus in constructing and developing their community relationships, values and identities. The case study of later medieval Córdoba, a society in continuous transition, is presented, in which the sensory and phenomenological understandings of ethnically aware people are considered as they engaged in their everyday practices in domestic and religious architectural settings.
http://www.fourcourtspress.ie/books/2015/the-art-literature-and-material-culture-of-the-medieval-world/

- by Marisa Marthari
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- Archaeology, Classical Archaeology, Classics, Island Studies

Climate always has a prominent role when constructing and designing buildings. Yet climate history and architecture is still a rather unexploited field of research. This is quite surprising since people, before central heating was introduced in the Northern Hemisphere, were more vulnerable to climate change and unpredictable weather situations. This article discusses how a historical climate change like the Little Ice Age (c. 1500–1900) affected indoor climate and comfort in contempo-raneous buildings. The cooling period was particularly noticeable in Northern Europe from 1550 to 1720, when the inhabitants faced significantly longer heating periods than before. Since people did not have the same possibility to control the indoor climate as in our day, we can assume that many more architectural elements than heating sources interacted in order to create comfortable spaces. By illustrating with both theoretical and empirical examples, the purpose of this essay is to visualize how climate not only operated as a catalyst for technical innovations and architectural alterations but also as a tool by linking status to comfort during early modern period. The idea is to give some insights how to revitalize archaeological and architectural studies by integrating climate history as one dynamic variable when approaching historical buildings and remains.

- by Olof Brandt
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- Archaeology of Buildings, Archaeology of standing buildings
- by Gunhild Eriksdotter
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- History, Cultural Studies, Historical Archaeology, Early Modern History