Abstract The aim of this research is to show how different groups of stakeholders are suffering as a result of heritage crime. Research primarily addresses Latvian situation (with international comparisons) in relation to archaeological sites as the most vulnerable, however, the findings can be applicable to other heritage objects and broader territory as well. Most of these stakeholders are currently limited in, if not denied, access to justice and rights for an effective remedy within the traditional criminal law system. Insufficient level of social awareness of socio-economic benefits and rights stemming from integrity, development, and use of archaeological sites together with existing legal constraints results in poor self-recognition by individuals and groups as victims of heritage crime. While suffered parties abstain from protecting their rights, there is lack of information and proactive action from public authorities including law enforcement. Current research analyses the nature and scope of immediate harm resulted from the damage of archaeological sites and the extended consequences of the heritage crime for the different stakeholders’ groups. It points at the inefficiency of standard retributive approach and evaluates benefits of restorative justice elements in reaching justice for heritage crime victims. The results could be used for better recognition of benefits, and therefore rights, stemming from intact archaeological sites, amending legal regulation, providing access to justice for suffered individual and collective parties, allowing recognition of mass victimisation and facilitating prevention of heritage crime.
{"title":"Victims of Heritage Crimes: Aspects of Legal and Socio-Economic Justice","authors":"Irina Olevska-Kairisa, Andris Kairišs","doi":"10.1515/opar-2022-0293","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2022-0293","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The aim of this research is to show how different groups of stakeholders are suffering as a result of heritage crime. Research primarily addresses Latvian situation (with international comparisons) in relation to archaeological sites as the most vulnerable, however, the findings can be applicable to other heritage objects and broader territory as well. Most of these stakeholders are currently limited in, if not denied, access to justice and rights for an effective remedy within the traditional criminal law system. Insufficient level of social awareness of socio-economic benefits and rights stemming from integrity, development, and use of archaeological sites together with existing legal constraints results in poor self-recognition by individuals and groups as victims of heritage crime. While suffered parties abstain from protecting their rights, there is lack of information and proactive action from public authorities including law enforcement. Current research analyses the nature and scope of immediate harm resulted from the damage of archaeological sites and the extended consequences of the heritage crime for the different stakeholders’ groups. It points at the inefficiency of standard retributive approach and evaluates benefits of restorative justice elements in reaching justice for heritage crime victims. The results could be used for better recognition of benefits, and therefore rights, stemming from intact archaeological sites, amending legal regulation, providing access to justice for suffered individual and collective parties, allowing recognition of mass victimisation and facilitating prevention of heritage crime.","PeriodicalId":19532,"journal":{"name":"Open Archaeology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47271463","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
F. Fontana, D. Visentin, Stefano Bertola, E. Cristiani, Noemi Dipino, E. Flor, A. Fontana
Abstract This article focuses on the Mesolithic record of northeastern Italy, one of the key European regions for studying the last prehistoric hunter-gatherer groups. Most specifically, it aims to compare the rich Early and Late Mesolithic evidence, trying to shed some light on the shift between these two periods. Such a topic is approached at a regional scale, that is to say, by comparing the overall record and trying to identify similarities and divergences concerning different aspects of past lifeways such as settlement strategies, technology, exploitation of faunal resources, ornamental traditions and burial rituals. Overall, by providing an updated regional synthesis, the presented data highlight aspects of continuity and discontinuity between these two periods and contribute significantly to the debate concerning the modalities in which this transition took place in Southern Europe.
{"title":"Investigating the Early-to-Late Mesolithic Transition in Northeastern Italy: A Multifaceted Regional Perspective","authors":"F. Fontana, D. Visentin, Stefano Bertola, E. Cristiani, Noemi Dipino, E. Flor, A. Fontana","doi":"10.1515/opar-2022-0284","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2022-0284","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article focuses on the Mesolithic record of northeastern Italy, one of the key European regions for studying the last prehistoric hunter-gatherer groups. Most specifically, it aims to compare the rich Early and Late Mesolithic evidence, trying to shed some light on the shift between these two periods. Such a topic is approached at a regional scale, that is to say, by comparing the overall record and trying to identify similarities and divergences concerning different aspects of past lifeways such as settlement strategies, technology, exploitation of faunal resources, ornamental traditions and burial rituals. Overall, by providing an updated regional synthesis, the presented data highlight aspects of continuity and discontinuity between these two periods and contribute significantly to the debate concerning the modalities in which this transition took place in Southern Europe.","PeriodicalId":19532,"journal":{"name":"Open Archaeology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41902646","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract In the Western Mediterranean Basin, the last hunter-gatherer societies fall within a chronological range between the 9th and 5th millennia cal. BCE, that is, between the cold oscillation of the Younger Dryas and the Holocene climatic optimum, before disappearing under the expansion of the first Neolithic societies. The variability in cultural expressions is very high, as shown by the variability in the lithic industries, a technical field which, from a historiographical point of view, is the preferred approach of archaeologists to address these issues. However, convergences in technical choices or typological features show the existence of major currents of diffusion and exchange between many of these Mesolithic groups. But the discussion of these cultural dynamics requires knowing precisely the absolute chronology of these groups and the detailed characteristics of their material productions. The aim of this article is so to re-examine the chronocultural organization of the Mesolithic of the Western Mediterranean, especially the first part of it, roughly from the middle of the 10th millennium cal. BCE to the middle of the 6th, on the basis of a critical revision of the absolute dates.
{"title":"The Time of the Last Hunters: Chronocultural Aspects of Early Holocene Societies in the Western Mediterranean","authors":"T. Perrin","doi":"10.1515/opar-2022-0275","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2022-0275","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In the Western Mediterranean Basin, the last hunter-gatherer societies fall within a chronological range between the 9th and 5th millennia cal. BCE, that is, between the cold oscillation of the Younger Dryas and the Holocene climatic optimum, before disappearing under the expansion of the first Neolithic societies. The variability in cultural expressions is very high, as shown by the variability in the lithic industries, a technical field which, from a historiographical point of view, is the preferred approach of archaeologists to address these issues. However, convergences in technical choices or typological features show the existence of major currents of diffusion and exchange between many of these Mesolithic groups. But the discussion of these cultural dynamics requires knowing precisely the absolute chronology of these groups and the detailed characteristics of their material productions. The aim of this article is so to re-examine the chronocultural organization of the Mesolithic of the Western Mediterranean, especially the first part of it, roughly from the middle of the 10th millennium cal. BCE to the middle of the 6th, on the basis of a critical revision of the absolute dates.","PeriodicalId":19532,"journal":{"name":"Open Archaeology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47966878","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract One of archaeology’s principal contributions to knowledge is its ability to track human actions and social conditions over long periods of time. I describe an approach to operationalizing this insight for the rise and fall of cities and other settlement over time. Cities that survive and thrive are considered successful, and urban success can be measured along three dimensions: persistence, population, and prosperity. Successful cities were those whose leaders, residents, and institutions found ways to adapt to a range of shocks and conditions, including the environment, local institutions, and regional political and economic forces. Urban success is therefore due to processes of urban adaptation that operated over long periods of time. I outline a conceptual and methodological approach to urban success and position the concept with respect to notions of adaptation and time scales in sustainability science and the social and historical sciences more broadly.
{"title":"Urban Success and Urban Adaptation Over the Long Run","authors":"Michael E. Smith","doi":"10.1515/opar-2022-0285","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2022-0285","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract One of archaeology’s principal contributions to knowledge is its ability to track human actions and social conditions over long periods of time. I describe an approach to operationalizing this insight for the rise and fall of cities and other settlement over time. Cities that survive and thrive are considered successful, and urban success can be measured along three dimensions: persistence, population, and prosperity. Successful cities were those whose leaders, residents, and institutions found ways to adapt to a range of shocks and conditions, including the environment, local institutions, and regional political and economic forces. Urban success is therefore due to processes of urban adaptation that operated over long periods of time. I outline a conceptual and methodological approach to urban success and position the concept with respect to notions of adaptation and time scales in sustainability science and the social and historical sciences more broadly.","PeriodicalId":19532,"journal":{"name":"Open Archaeology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49481456","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Newen Antug is a multicomponent (residential and funerary) archaeological site located in the Lácar basin south of Neuquén, Argentina, in the east Andean section of the binational basin of the Valdivia River. Two human skeletons were discovered during the excavation of the site. Based on radiocarbon dating and associated material contexts, the burials can be associated with the period of first contact between the indigenous people of the region with the Spanish. Based on the analysis of historical sources, bioanthropological studies, and forensic data, we postulate that these individuals were tortured victims of the war waged by the Spaniards against the indigenous inhabitants. The skeletal remains present various perimortem trauma. The left hand and distal end of the left forearm was absented in situ and which are discussed as being possible form of mutilations of the upper limbs. Individual 1♀ had a horse (Equus caballus) leg replacing or symbolising the missing left limb. The mutilation practice is recorded as part of the power devices characteristic of the Warfare Phase (1536–1655) of the conquest, when the Spanish were attempting to establish a pre-disciplinary machinery of their “Sovereign Power” in the south-central Chile. The findings reported here extend this process to Northeastern Patagonia in Argentina.
{"title":"First Archaeological Record of the Torture and Mutilation of Indigenous Mapuche During the “War of Arauco,” Sixteenth Century","authors":"Juan Francisco Cañadillas Sanchez, A. E. Pérez","doi":"10.1515/opar-2022-0307","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2022-0307","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Newen Antug is a multicomponent (residential and funerary) archaeological site located in the Lácar basin south of Neuquén, Argentina, in the east Andean section of the binational basin of the Valdivia River. Two human skeletons were discovered during the excavation of the site. Based on radiocarbon dating and associated material contexts, the burials can be associated with the period of first contact between the indigenous people of the region with the Spanish. Based on the analysis of historical sources, bioanthropological studies, and forensic data, we postulate that these individuals were tortured victims of the war waged by the Spaniards against the indigenous inhabitants. The skeletal remains present various perimortem trauma. The left hand and distal end of the left forearm was absented in situ and which are discussed as being possible form of mutilations of the upper limbs. Individual 1♀ had a horse (Equus caballus) leg replacing or symbolising the missing left limb. The mutilation practice is recorded as part of the power devices characteristic of the Warfare Phase (1536–1655) of the conquest, when the Spanish were attempting to establish a pre-disciplinary machinery of their “Sovereign Power” in the south-central Chile. The findings reported here extend this process to Northeastern Patagonia in Argentina.","PeriodicalId":19532,"journal":{"name":"Open Archaeology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44035524","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The spectacular finds at Turkey’s Göbekli Tepe have fired the imaginations of archaeologists and the general public alike. Reflecting on developments at and about the site since the 2011 publication of a critique of the site’s dominant interpretation as a hunter-gatherer cult centre, this article shows that some elements of that critique, including assertions about roofing and a residential population, have gained traction, while others have fallen on deaf ears. Göbekli Tepe has also become the locus of discussion and speculation in disciplines ranging from astronomy and religion to psychology and architectural history, while also inspiring pseudoscientific claims that associate the site with the Garden of Eden, a supposed technologically sophisticated pre-Holocene civilization or extraterrestrial visitors.
{"title":"Paradise Found or Common Sense Lost? Göbekli Tepe’s Last Decade as a Pre-Farming Cult Centre","authors":"Edward B. Banning","doi":"10.1515/opar-2022-0317","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2022-0317","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The spectacular finds at Turkey’s Göbekli Tepe have fired the imaginations of archaeologists and the general public alike. Reflecting on developments at and about the site since the 2011 publication of a critique of the site’s dominant interpretation as a hunter-gatherer cult centre, this article shows that some elements of that critique, including assertions about roofing and a residential population, have gained traction, while others have fallen on deaf ears. Göbekli Tepe has also become the locus of discussion and speculation in disciplines ranging from astronomy and religion to psychology and architectural history, while also inspiring pseudoscientific claims that associate the site with the Garden of Eden, a supposed technologically sophisticated pre-Holocene civilization or extraterrestrial visitors.","PeriodicalId":19532,"journal":{"name":"Open Archaeology","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136305899","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This article presents the research on the palaeoenvironmental changes that took place at the end of the Tardiglacial, in the early and middle Holocene, observed in sites of anthropic origin in central-eastern Cantabria. Through the comparative analysis of the economy, the settlement pattern, and the industries of the Azilian and Mesolithic settlements, we try to infer the repercussions they could have had on the last hunter-gatherers, in order to adapt to the modification of the territory, the change in the available resources, and the socio-economic consequences they could have had on the settlement. The radiocarbon record of central-eastern Cantabria and the Cantabrian region (Northern Spain) between 9.5 and 7.9 ka cal BP is analysed in order to assess the impact of the cold events that occurred in 9.3 and 8.2 ka cal BP, identified in the palaeoenvironment.
{"title":"Socioeconomic, Technological, and Cultural Adaptation of the Mesolithic Population in Central-Eastern Cantabria (Spain) in the Early and Middle Holocene","authors":"Pérez-Bartolomé Mercedes","doi":"10.1515/opar-2022-0291","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2022-0291","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article presents the research on the palaeoenvironmental changes that took place at the end of the Tardiglacial, in the early and middle Holocene, observed in sites of anthropic origin in central-eastern Cantabria. Through the comparative analysis of the economy, the settlement pattern, and the industries of the Azilian and Mesolithic settlements, we try to infer the repercussions they could have had on the last hunter-gatherers, in order to adapt to the modification of the territory, the change in the available resources, and the socio-economic consequences they could have had on the settlement. The radiocarbon record of central-eastern Cantabria and the Cantabrian region (Northern Spain) between 9.5 and 7.9 ka cal BP is analysed in order to assess the impact of the cold events that occurred in 9.3 and 8.2 ka cal BP, identified in the palaeoenvironment.","PeriodicalId":19532,"journal":{"name":"Open Archaeology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42224513","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Many Indigenous groups in North America have long-held practices of using migration and movement in response to environmental and social changes. Diasporic communities, composed of migrants maintaining significant connections to their former homelands, were likely once common in refuge areas of North America, but not always recognized by archaeologists. Many Puebloan peoples in the Northern Rio Grande region of the US Southwest used movement as a way to escape Spanish colonial control after AD 1600, yet retained connections to their homelands. This Puebloan diaspora had far-reaching consequences for Native peoples across the Southwest and neighboring regions like the Great Plains. Here, we briefly summarize how diasporas are defined globally and the ways in which these definitions could shift to help us model diasporas in North America. Using the Pueblo diaspora and a multi-generational Pueblo–Ndee (Apache) community in the Central Great Plains as example, we explore the intricacies of identifying diasporas for North America within the contexts of Indigenous resistance and adaptation.
{"title":"Movement or Diaspora? Understanding a Multigenerational Puebloan and Ndee Community on the Central Great Plains","authors":"Sarah Trabert, M. Hill, Margaret E. Beck","doi":"10.1515/opar-2022-0288","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2022-0288","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Many Indigenous groups in North America have long-held practices of using migration and movement in response to environmental and social changes. Diasporic communities, composed of migrants maintaining significant connections to their former homelands, were likely once common in refuge areas of North America, but not always recognized by archaeologists. Many Puebloan peoples in the Northern Rio Grande region of the US Southwest used movement as a way to escape Spanish colonial control after AD 1600, yet retained connections to their homelands. This Puebloan diaspora had far-reaching consequences for Native peoples across the Southwest and neighboring regions like the Great Plains. Here, we briefly summarize how diasporas are defined globally and the ways in which these definitions could shift to help us model diasporas in North America. Using the Pueblo diaspora and a multi-generational Pueblo–Ndee (Apache) community in the Central Great Plains as example, we explore the intricacies of identifying diasporas for North America within the contexts of Indigenous resistance and adaptation.","PeriodicalId":19532,"journal":{"name":"Open Archaeology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45789570","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
J. Romaniszyn, R. Staniuk, Patrycja Silska, Weronika Skrzyniecka, Małgorzata Talarczyk-Andrałojć
Abstract The article presents the results of research on the habitation model, chronology, and pottery production of the Silesian-Greater Poland Tumulus Culture at Czeladź Wielka settlement (Góra county). The site of the Czeladź Wielka is the first published settlement of the Tumulus culture from the area, providing the first evidence for developing a model of habitation change between the Early and Late Bronze Age. The typochronological analyses allowed positioning the finds in the Middle Bronze Age, while radiocarbon dating placed the site between the late sixteenth and fifteenth century BC. Quantification of technological traits were used to define the general characteristics of Tumulus culture pottery in the region showing the preference for coarse, undecorated, or textile-impressed ceramics. Spatial analyses indicate the presence of a clustered settlement pattern characterized by discard of ceramic material in cultural layer. The findings suggest continuity of certain cultural traits from the preceding Únětice and the influence of contemporary Trzciniec cultural circle.
{"title":"Middle Bronze Age Settlement in Czeladź Wielka – The Next Step Toward Determining the Habitation Model, Chronology, and Pottery of the Silesian-Greater Poland Tumulus Culture","authors":"J. Romaniszyn, R. Staniuk, Patrycja Silska, Weronika Skrzyniecka, Małgorzata Talarczyk-Andrałojć","doi":"10.1515/opar-2022-0316","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2022-0316","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The article presents the results of research on the habitation model, chronology, and pottery production of the Silesian-Greater Poland Tumulus Culture at Czeladź Wielka settlement (Góra county). The site of the Czeladź Wielka is the first published settlement of the Tumulus culture from the area, providing the first evidence for developing a model of habitation change between the Early and Late Bronze Age. The typochronological analyses allowed positioning the finds in the Middle Bronze Age, while radiocarbon dating placed the site between the late sixteenth and fifteenth century BC. Quantification of technological traits were used to define the general characteristics of Tumulus culture pottery in the region showing the preference for coarse, undecorated, or textile-impressed ceramics. Spatial analyses indicate the presence of a clustered settlement pattern characterized by discard of ceramic material in cultural layer. The findings suggest continuity of certain cultural traits from the preceding Únětice and the influence of contemporary Trzciniec cultural circle.","PeriodicalId":19532,"journal":{"name":"Open Archaeology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41795929","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kamil Kopij, Adam Pilch, Monika Drab, Szymon Popławski
Abstract Rhetoric was one of the cornerstones of Roman education and public speaking, the essence of being a Roman politician. The speakers attempted to captivate the audience with their style and convince them of their arguments. Studying the audience is therefore just as important as investigating the speakers and their speeches. The aim of this article is to estimate the number of people who could intelligibly hear a speaker delivering a speech from two speaking platforms located in the city of Rome: the podium of the Temple of Bellona in the Campus Martius (in the Late Republican and Late Augustan periods) and the Capitoline Temple. To do this, we built virtual reconstructions of both venues according to the current state of knowledge about them, taking into account the geometry of the space as well as the materials from which they were built. On the models thus prepared, we carried out acoustic simulations for three different levels of background noise (36, 49, and 55 dBA), resulting in Speech Transmission Index maps. The results became the basis upon which we estimated the size of the maximum potential crowds that could hear speech intelligibly, using two methods based on the behaviour of contemporary crowds. We further compared our results with those of previous studies that concern other speaking platforms in Rome.
{"title":"One, Two, Three! Can Everybody Hear Me? Acoustics of Roman <i>Contiones</i>. Case Studies of the Capitoline Hill and the Temple of Bellona in Rome","authors":"Kamil Kopij, Adam Pilch, Monika Drab, Szymon Popławski","doi":"10.1515/opar-2022-0330","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2022-0330","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Rhetoric was one of the cornerstones of Roman education and public speaking, the essence of being a Roman politician. The speakers attempted to captivate the audience with their style and convince them of their arguments. Studying the audience is therefore just as important as investigating the speakers and their speeches. The aim of this article is to estimate the number of people who could intelligibly hear a speaker delivering a speech from two speaking platforms located in the city of Rome: the podium of the Temple of Bellona in the Campus Martius (in the Late Republican and Late Augustan periods) and the Capitoline Temple. To do this, we built virtual reconstructions of both venues according to the current state of knowledge about them, taking into account the geometry of the space as well as the materials from which they were built. On the models thus prepared, we carried out acoustic simulations for three different levels of background noise (36, 49, and 55 dBA), resulting in Speech Transmission Index maps. The results became the basis upon which we estimated the size of the maximum potential crowds that could hear speech intelligibly, using two methods based on the behaviour of contemporary crowds. We further compared our results with those of previous studies that concern other speaking platforms in Rome.","PeriodicalId":19532,"journal":{"name":"Open Archaeology","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135507809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}