Encyclopedia of Caves and Karst Science

Encyclopedia of Caves and Karst Science

Author: John Gunn

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2004-08-02

Total Pages: 1971

ISBN-13: 1135455082

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The Encyclopedia of Caves and Karst Science contains 350 alphabetically arranged entries. The topics include cave and karst geoscience, cave archaeology and human use of caves, art in caves, hydrology and groundwater, cave and karst history, and conservation and management. The Encyclopedia is extensively illustrated with photographs, maps, diagrams, and tables, and has thematic content lists and a comprehensive index to facilitate searching and browsing.


Approaches to Archaeological Ceramics

Approaches to Archaeological Ceramics

Author: Carla M. Sinopoli

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 1991-06-30

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9780306435751

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More than any other category of evidence, ceramics ofters archaeologists their most abundant and potentially enlightening source of information on the past. Being made primarily of day, a relatively inexpensive material that is available in every region, ceramics became essential in virtually every society in the world during the past ten thousand years. The straightfor ward technology of preparing, forming, and firing day into hard, durable shapes has meant that societies at various levels of complexity have come to rely on it for a wide variety of tasks. Ceramic vessels quickly became essential for many household and productive tasks. Food preparation, cooking, and storage-the very basis of settled village life-could not exist as we know them without the use of ceramic vessels. Often these vessels broke into pieces, but the virtually indestructible quality of the ceramic material itself meant that these pieces would be preserved for centuries, waiting to be recovered by modem archaeologists. The ability to create ceramic material with diverse physical properties, to form vessels into so many different shapes, and to decorate them in limitless manners, led to their use in far more than utilitarian contexts. Some vessels were especially made to be used in trade, manufacturing activities, or rituals, while ceramic material was also used to make other items such as figurines, models, and architectural ornaments.


6th International Conference on the Conservation of Earthen Architecture

6th International Conference on the Conservation of Earthen Architecture

Author: The Getty Conservation Institute

Publisher: Getty Publications

Published: 1991-02-28

Total Pages: 492

ISBN-13: 0892361816

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On October 14-19, 1990, the 6th International Conference on the Conservation of Earthen Architecture was held in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Sponsored by the GCI, the Museum of New Mexico State Monuments, ICCROM, CRATerre-EAG, and the National Park Service, under the aegis of US/ICOMOS, the event was organized to promote the exchange of ideas, techniques, and research findings on the conservation of earthen architecture. Presentations at the conference covered a diversity of subjects, including the historic traditions of earthen architecture, conservation and restoration, site preservation, studies in consolidation and seismic mitigation, and examinations of moisture problems, clay chemistry, and microstructures. In discussions that focused on the future, the application of modern technologies and materials to site conservation was urged, as was using scientific knowledge of existing structures in the creation of new, low-cost, earthen architecture housing.


Social Dimensions of Climate Change

Social Dimensions of Climate Change

Author: Robin Mearns

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2009-12-02

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 0821381423

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While major strides have been made in the scientific understanding of climate change, much less understood is how these dynamics in the physical enviornment interact with socioeconomic systems. This book brings together the latest knowledge on the consequences of climate change for society and how best to address them.


Freedom Colonies

Freedom Colonies

Author: Thad Sitton

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2005-03-01

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0292706421

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In the decades following the Civil War, nearly a quarter of African Americans achieved a remarkable victory—they got their own land. While other ex-slaves and many poor whites became trapped in the exploitative sharecropping system, these independence-seeking individuals settled on pockets of unclaimed land that had been deemed too poor for farming and turned them into successful family farms. In these self-sufficient rural communities, often known as "freedom colonies," African Americans created a refuge from the discrimination and violence that routinely limited the opportunities of blacks in the Jim Crow South. Freedom Colonies is the first book to tell the story of these independent African American settlements. Thad Sitton and James Conrad focus on communities in Texas, where blacks achieved a higher percentage of land ownership than in any other state of the Deep South. The authors draw on a vast reservoir of ex-slave narratives, oral histories, written memoirs, and public records to describe how the freedom colonies formed and to recreate the lifeways of African Americans who made their living by farming or in skilled trades such as milling and blacksmithing. They also uncover the forces that led to the decline of the communities from the 1930s onward, including economic hard times and the greed of whites who found legal and illegal means of taking black-owned land. And they visit some of the remaining communities to discover how their independent way of life endures into the twenty-first century.


The Spanish Acequias of San Antonio

The Spanish Acequias of San Antonio

Author: I. Waynne Cox

Publisher: Maverick Books

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781893271340

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This well researched and documented book recounts the unique history of water and water distribution in early San Antonio, Texas. The founding of San Antonio in 1718 was due to the presence of two major sources of water --San Pedro Springs and the headwaters of the San Antonio River. From these Spanish engineers designed seven major acequia systems that followed sometimes barely perceptible land contours downward. The history and remarkable expertise of those early engineers is recounted here. Photographs and maps of early San Antonio and urban San Antonio add to the story. The manuscript was completed shortly before the renown local San Antonio archaeologist died at the age of 70 years.


The Prehistory of Texas

The Prehistory of Texas

Author: Timothy K. Perttula

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 486

ISBN-13: 9781585441945

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The first look at the prehistory of Texas by 16 professional archaeologist.


From the Pleistocene to the Holocene

From the Pleistocene to the Holocene

Author: C. Britt Bousman

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 2012-09-25

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 1603447601

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The end of the Pleistocene era brought dramatic environmental changes to small bands of humans living in North America: changes that affected subsistence, mobility, demography, technology, and social relations. The transition they made from Paleoindian (Pleistocene) to Archaic (Early Holocene) societies represents the first major cultural shift that took place solely in the Americas. This event—which manifested in ways and at times much more varied than often supposed—set the stage for the unique developments of behavioral complexity that distinguish later Native American prehistoric societies. Using localized studies and broad regional syntheses, the contributors to this volume demonstrate the diversity of adaptations to the dynamic and changing environmental and cultural landscapes that occurred between the Pleistocene and early portion of the Holocene. The authors' research areas range from Northern Mexico to Alaska and across the continent to the American Northeast, synthesizing the copious available evidence from well-known and recent excavations.With its methodologically and geographically diverse approach, From the Pleistocene to the Holocene: Human Organization and Cultural Transformations in Prehistoric North America provides an overview of the present state of knowledge regarding this crucial transformative period in Native North America. It offers a large-scale synthesis of human adaptation, reflects the range of ideas and concepts in current archaeological theoretical approaches, and acts as a springboard for future explanations and models of prehistoric change.


Historic Laredo

Historic Laredo

Author: Maria Eugenia Guerra

Publisher: HPN Books

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 113

ISBN-13: 1893619168

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An illustrated history of Loredo, Texas, paired with histories of the local companies.