1975 Archaeological Investigations at Old Ursuline Academy San Antonio, Texas

Archaeological investigations were conducted at Old Ursuline Academy (41 BX 235), presently the Southwest Craft Center, during the month of October, 1975. This work was necessitated by planned renovations to the dormitory building, one of the complex of nineteenth century buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places (Figs. 1, 2). The nature of the renovation would consist of excavating below the present floor of the dormitory basement so that air conditioning ducts and blower units might be installed; transformation of this basement from a storage place into a series of functional rooms and galleries; construction of a new entryway into the basement from the south (Figs. 2, 3); and the construction of a French drain along the south side of the dormitory to prevent flooding of the basement area (Fig. 2). Archaeological excavation units were located in those areas to be most severely disturbed by construction activities: two units in the dormitory basement and three units in the courtyard close to the south wall of the dormitory (Fig. 2). Preliminary analysis of the excavation data showed significant parallels with the 1974 Texas Historical Commission investigations (Clark 1974), permitting a clearance letter to be written almost immediately. Subsequent detailed analyses led to the postulation of a number of activity patterns and foci, with the conclusion that the dormitory courtyard portion of the site can provide a degree of scientific and historic data far in excess of the space that it occupies relative to the rest of the site

Swearing down the Law – A Debate

The following debate between Jérôme Bourgon and Paul R. Katz treats one of the most important issues in the study of Chinese social history in general and Chinese legal culture in particular, namely the striking similarities, or correspondences, between litigation and judicial rituals performed to resolve disputes or even deal with plaints filed by the dead

Swearing down the Law – A Debate (continued)

PK: The key difference in our views lies in the way we define the term “continuum”. This can be seen in the following two statements: a) “The term continuum causes us to believe that there is something like a continuity between earthly and underworld justice, or at least that both were included in a coherent framework”; b) “Continuum leads one to expect not mere coexistence but a real coherence or a continuous sequence in which adjacent elements are not perceptibly different from each other, although the extremes are quite distinct”. If I understand you correctly, you seem to be arguing in favour of identity transcending differentiation, while I am stressing continuity amidst difference. I think my definition better reflects the term’s etymology, including the Latincontinuus. The Latin term can mean both “continuous and uninterrupted” and “following one after another, successive, continuous”, including days, consulships, battles, itineraries, labours. In my book, I use the term to describe a continuous spectrum of judicial beliefs and practices, linked by the overarching “ideology of justice” but differing in time, agent, and intent. To me, the fact that the adjective describes very different consulships, battles, itineraries, and even days as successively linked (continuous) would seem to support my usage

Timothy Brook, Jérôme Bourgon, Gregory Blue, Death by a Thousand Cuts

Timothy Brook, Jérôme Bourgon, Gregory Blue, Death by a Thousand Cuts, Cambridge (MA), Harvard University Press, 2008, 230 p. Death by a Thousand Cuts nous offre une approche sensible et stimulante d’un des supplices pénaux les plus atroces au monde, à savoir le lingchi 凌遲, défini comme le fait « d’entailler et de découper en morceaux un condamné en un nombre stipulé de coups de couteau effectués dans un ordre prescrit » (p. 55). Le livre commence par un compte-rendu de l’une des dernières mi..

Timothy Brook, Jérôme Bourgon, Gregory Blue, Death by a Thousand Cuts

Death by a Thousand Cuts provides a sensitive and thought-provoking treatment of one of the world’s most horrific forms of penal torment, namely lingchi 凌遲, defined as the “methodical slitting and cutting apart of the condemned in a stipulated number of cuts performed in a prescribed sequence” (p. 55). The book opens with an account of one of the last known uses of this form of execution in 1904 (it was outlawed in April 1905), which involved a mass murderer named Wang Weiqin 王維勤 This is foll..

Archaeological and Historical Investigations in the Arciniega Street Area, Downtown San Antonio Texas

Early in 1976 the City of San Antonio Department of Planning and Community Development requested that the Center for Archaeological Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio, consider undertaking archaeological and historical investigations in the Arciniega Street area of downtown San Antonio. Sale of City-owner property--including all of New City Block (NCB) 901 and portions of NCB l55--was pending, and the Planning Department was desirous of assessing the nature and degree of cultural resources prior to completing the transaction. The proposed construction of a multi-story luxury hotel on the property would require subsurface archaeological excavations, and the property\u27s inclusion in the La Villita Historic District suggested the advisability of extensive historical research as well

Archaeological Mitigation at 41BX300, Salado Creek Watershed, South-Central Texas

The archaeological investigations reported in this volume represent the culmination of a series of cultural resource studies conducted in the area of site 41 BX 300 in south-central Texas. Plans by the Soil Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture, to construct a floodwater retarding structure on Elm Waterhole Creek, a tributary of Salado Creek, led to an initial survey at this locality by The University of Texas at Austin in the early 1970s. As plans for the construction moved forward, the Center for Archaeological Research at The University of Texas at San Antonio contracted with the Soil Conservation Service to carry out more intensive surveys and site evaluations. We began to learn more about site 41 BX 300, as well as other sites within the proposed construction area. For example, contact was made with an artifact collector who made available his materials from the site surface, and these were published by a graduate student associated with the Center. Finally, in 1978, as the construction got underway, a full-scale excavation, aimed at mitigating the inevitable loss of the site, was conducted by the Center under the aegis of the National Park Service. These excavations, directed by Paul Katz, provided an opportunity to examine certain facets of Middle Archaic, Late Archaic, and Late Prehistoric occupations recognized at the site. A variety of excavation and analytical techniques was implemented that had not previously been applied at other south-central Texas sites. The well organized and executed excavations, followed by an equally comprehensive laboratory phase, has provided a wealth of new data and interpretations. Some of the special studies attempted during this project proved to be of limited success or still remain preliminary. Even these, however, can serve as guides in terms of planning similar kinds of research in the future. In summary, this project combined the requirements of systematic cultural resource stud i es with a distinctive research orientation. As a result, we not only have a body of salvaged data that would have otherwise been lost, but also a body of information and interpretation that can be utilized in continuing archaeological research in the south-central Texas region

An Inventory and Assessment of Archaeological Sites in the High Country of Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas

This report will present the results of an archaeological survey conducted in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas, during the summer of 1976. The specific purpose of this survey was to compile an inventory of prehistoric resources in that portion of the Park known as the High Country, the only portion of the Park which had not yet been subjected to a comprehensive, on-the-ground archaeological reconnaissance. Data gathered during the survey were analyzed and interpreted in the light of existing cultural frameworks for the Park and surrounding region. Criteria of significance and criteria of effect were applied to all documented archaeological sites and other evidence of prehistoric activity, to assist the National Park Service in complying with the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and Executive Order 11593 of May 13, 1971

Timothy Brook, Jérôme Bourgon, Gregory Blue, Death by a Thousand Cuts

Death by a Thousand Cuts provides a sensitive and thought-provoking treatment of one of the world’s most horrific forms of penal torment, namely lingchi 凌遲, defined as the “methodical slitting and cutting apart of the condemned in a stipulated number of cuts performed in a prescribed sequence” (p. 55). The book opens with an account of one of the last known uses of this form of execution in 1904 (it was outlawed in April 1905), which involved a mass murderer named Wang Weiqin 王維勤 This is foll..