The History and Development of British Tramways and the Impacts That It Had

The thesis is about the general history of the British tramways and how they developed throughout England in the nineteenth century. It includes their general development; how it affected England economically; how it affected England demographically; and how it affected the surrounding neighborhoods in England

Human occupation of the northern Arabian interior during early Marine Isotope Stage 3

The early part of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 (ca. 60–50 ka) is a crucial period for studying human demography and behaviour in south-west Asia, and how these relate to climatic changes. However, the archaeological and palaeoenvironmental records for MIS 3 in critical areas such as the Arabian Peninsula remain poorly developed. Here, we present findings from the Al Marrat basin in the Nefud desert, which provides the first clear evidence for both increased humidity and human occupation of the interior of northern Arabia during early MIS 3. A Middle Palaeolithic assemblage, dated by optically stimulated luminescence to ca. 55 ka, was found stratified within a sequence of relict palustrine deposits indicative of shallow water body formation in the Al Marrat basin. Hominin presence in northern Arabia at this time coincides with the intensification and northward displacement of monsoon rainfall systems during a period of maximum insolation. These findings add to a growing corpus of palaeoenvironmental evidence, which indicates that the Arabian interior was neither arid nor unpopulated during early MIS 3, and that hydrodynamic responses to enhanced moisture availability facilitated demographic expansions into the Arabian interior

Sediment Micromorphology and Site Formation Processes During the Middle to Later Stone Ages at the Haua Fteah Cave, Cyrenaica, Libya

Understanding the timing, conditions, and characteristics of the Middle to Later Stone Age (MSA/LSA) transition in North Africa is critical for debates regarding the evolution and past population dynamics of Homo sapiens, especially their dispersals within, out of, and back into, Africa. As with many cultural transitions during the Palaeolithic, our understanding is based predominantly on archaeological and paleoenvironmental records preserved within a small number of deep cave sediment sequences. To use such sequences as chronological cornerstones we must develop a robust understanding of the formation processes that created them. This paper utilizes geoarchaeological analyses (field observations, sediment micromorphology, bulk sedimentology) to examine site formation processes and stratigraphic integrity during the MSA/LSA at the Haua Fteah cave, Libya, one of North Africa's longest cultural sequences. The depositional processes identified vary in mode and energy, from eolian deposition/reworking to mass colluvial mudflows. These changing processes impact greatly on the interpretation of the paleoenvironmental and archaeological records, not least in identifying potential colluvial sediment deposition and reworking in layers identified as containing the MSA/LSA transition. This study highlights the importance of developing geoarchaeological analyses of cultural sequences to fully unravel the limitations and potential of their contained archaeological and paleoenvironmental records.ERC, NER

Late Quaternary Paleoenvironments and Prehistoric Site Distributions in the Lower Jordan Valley : A Preliminary Report

A geo-archeological survey in the Lower Jordan Valley, Israel, revealed the existence of more than forty prehistoric locations in open air context. They provide a continuous record of Upper Paleolithic through Neolithic activity in this part of the Levant over the interval 20,000-6000 BP. The present report outlines the paleo-geographic settings of the prehistoric occupations. This is attempted through geomorphological and stratigraphie investigations which document the paleo-environmental sequence. Settlement distributions in the Lower Jordan Valley may be correlated with these paleo-environmental sequences.Une exploration géologique et archéologique dans la basse vallée du Jourdain en Israël a révélé l'existence de plus de 40 sites préhistoriques de plein air qui témoignent d'une occupation continue du Paléolithique Supérieur au Néolithique inclus, soit de 20.000 à 6.000 BP. On a tenté dans cet article de reconstituer le cadre paléo-géographique grâce aux études géomorphologiques et stratigraphiques effectuées. La distribution des sites dans la basse vallée du Jourdain peut être mise en relation avec le paléo-environnement.Schuldenrein Joseph, Goldberg Paul. Late Quaternary Paleoenvironments and Prehistoric Site Distributions in the Lower Jordan Valley : A Preliminary Report. In: Paléorient, 1981, vol. 7, n°1. pp. 57-71

Urban Geoarchaeology in the Mediterranean Basin (special issue of Geoarchaeology)

Most cities of the Mediterranean are the outcome of long‐lasting settlement, in some cases extending back thousands of years. Their individual histories are marked by stages of development, stability, recession, renewed growth, and in some cases abandonment and resettlement. The economic, political, and social dynamics that drive these processes may be related to environmental factors, such that in urban contexts, the archaeological and geological records are deeply interconnected. The development of methodological approaches suitable for the combined interpretation of geological and archaeological evidence in urban contexts represents one of the most promising branches of geoarchaeological research (Butzer, 2008). Some authors (Colombo, Riba, Reguant, Virgili, & Rivero, 2013) refer to this subdiscipline as “anthropostratigraphy,” based on the extension of the geoarchaeological method to the well‐developed field of “urban archaeology.” The expansion of our theoretical and methodological foundations into understanding human‐engineered landscapes is the focus of this special issue. Several of the articles developed out of the Urban Geoarchaeology session offered during the workshop titled “Opening the Past 2013. Archaeology of the Future: Predictivity, Open Data, Open Access, and Geoarchaeology” that took place in Pisa, Italy, in June 2013. The workshop represented the final step of the European Union funded MAPPA Project (Methodologies Applied to the Predictivity of the Archaeological Potential; https://www.mappaproject.org), aimed at developing a predictive map of archaeological potential for urban and periurban areas in Pisa, based on an original mathematical model. An interdisciplinary approach was the hallmark of this project, in which archaeologists, geologists, and mathematicians worked together under the leadership of Maria Letizia Gualandi. The theme addressed in the workshop was the reconstruction of buried urban landscapes. The individual (city‐specific) projects were funded by both academic research and heritage planning interests. Even though the thread of the contributions was regional, they offered, arguably, the most comprehensive overview of the range of ancient urban landscapes in the world, if only because the Mediterranean hub was either the source, or at the crossroads, of urban developments since the dawn of complex societies, or city states, in the mid‐third millennium B.C.E. Urban landscape reconstructions were generated on the strength of interdisciplinary approaches that coupled archaeological with geological methodologies including remote sensing, digital elevation and 3D modeling, computer and geographic information system‐based syntheses, and multispectral satellite imagery. Results showed that as early as the Greek and Roman periods, urban planners were cognizant of alluviation cycles, marine transgressions, and erosional patterns in designing and modifying infrastructure in support of changing urban settlement and land‐use patterns. The breadth of the conference papers and the convergence of theoretical and methodological objectives led session organizers to extend invitations to additional researchers in the greater Mediterranean area. The nine case studies provided in this special issue (Figure 1) are tangible examples of how specific cities of the Mediterranean adapted to natural catastrophes, economic concerns, and climate change, and its environmental ramifications, as well as administrative challenges during various periods in each city's evolution. The advent of urban planning and bureaucracies that created and reconfigured infrastructures, created landscape signatures both above and below ground that were geared to the interests of state‐based organization. Geoarchaeology may be the most useful approach in documenting and reconstructing such infrastructures because of the complex interdigitations of cultural, geological, and geomorphic features and sediment complexes