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World Heritage Site (world + heritage_site)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Earth and Environmental Science	55%
Humanities and Social Sciences	33%

Kinds of World Heritage Site

unesco world heritage site

Selected Abstracts

The historic man-made soils of the Generalife garden (La Alhambra, Granada, Spain)

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2007
R. Delgado
Summary We studied the soils of the Patio de la Acequia garden of the Generalife, a palatial villa forming part of La Alhambra, a World Heritage Site in Granada, Spain. This garden, which is estimated to be around 700 years old, is the oldest historical garden in the Western World. The soils are man-made cumulimollihumic-calcaric (hypereutric, anthric) Regosols. Noteworthy amongst the main pedogenic processes, in relation to the human activities of cultivation, irrigation and tillage, are horizonation, melanization (the contents of organic carbon varied between 0.59% and 8.87%, and those of P205 extracted with citric acid between 723 mg kg,1 and 7333 mg kg,1, with maximae in the Ap horizons) and structure formation. The soil fabric, studied at the ultramicroscopic level using scanning electron microscopy, is of laminar and partition-walls' type in the lower horizons, depending on the microped zones. The partition-walls' fabrics found are different to those of the possible pre-existing sedimentary fabrics. These are numerous lithological discontinuities and at least two burials, leading us to deduce that there have been two main stages of filling with materials in the formation of these soils. The first is Arabic-Medieval (13th century), when the garden was created, its surface being some 50 cm below the level of the paved area of the present patio. In the deeper parts, the materials employed in the fill are similar to the in situ soils of the zone, unaffected by the buildings. The second stage is Christian (15th century to the present day). During this period the Medieval garden was gradually buried under a layer of materials from the nearby soils and/or sediments mixed with manure until the surface was only just below the level of the paved area of the patio. In this work we discuss the difficult classification of these relatively little studied soils. In spite of their being clearly related to human activity, they are not classified as Anthrosols in the FAO system (1998) because soil materials cannot be classified as anthropopedogenic or as anthropogeomorphic. [source]

A review of the importance of freshwater inflow to the future conservation of Lake St Lucia

AQUATIC CONSERVATION: MARINE AND FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS, Issue 7 2009
A. K. Whitfield
Abstract 1.Lake St Lucia, the oldest formally protected estuary in the world is under threat from historic and present manipulation of freshwater supplies to the system. 2.Constraints to the functioning of the ecosystem began in 1914 with the commencement of draining and canalization of the Mfolozi Swamp to open up the swamp and river floodplain for sugar cane cultivation. Warner's Drain was completed in 1936 and the sediment filtering capability of the swamp on river floodwaters was effectively removed. This resulted in exceptionally high sediment loads from the Mfolozi River entering directly into the St Lucia system and the river was therefore diverted southwards and provided with a separate estuary mouth. This deprived St Lucia of its single largest freshwater supply. 3.During the past 50,60 years, increasing freshwater abstractions from the Mkhuze, Mzinene, Hluhluwe and Nyalazi rivers have contributed to the increasingly severe salinity extremes experienced by Lake St Lucia. In the past decade, desiccation of large areas of False Bay, North and South Lake has occurred, due primarily to natural estuary mouth closure combined with a prolonged drought and unnaturally low freshwater inflows during the closed phase. These events have pushed the system into an extreme state that has not been recorded previously and would not have occurred if Mfolozi River water had been available to the St Lucia system over this drought period. 4.Forestry plantations have further exacerbated the freshwater supply situation, although recent removal of pine plantations on the eastern and western shores of the lake are likely to help restore groundwater flows to the system. 5.This review explores the possibility of relinking the Mfolozi River, once the Mfolozi floodplain swamp has been re-established, to the St Lucia system, thereby bringing urgently needed fresh water to this threatened World Heritage Site. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Geophysical prospection of the frontiers of the Roman Empire in southern Germany, UNESCO World Heritage Site

ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROSPECTION, Issue 3 2010
Jorg W. E. Fassbinder
Abstract The Roman Limes with a length of 550,km is the largest archaeological site of Europe as well as the largest monument of the Roman period. In July 2005 it was decided that the Limes and its interrelated archaeological sites, together with Hadrian's Wall in England, would be a component of a ,Trans-National World Heritage Site' taking the name ,Frontiers of the Roman Empire'. From that point it was necessary to minimize and/or to avoid archaeological excavation. Further research on such sites is mainly limited to the application of non-destructive techniques. Among other geophysical tools, magnetometry, based on the rock magnetic knowledge turned out to be a highly suitable method. Two examples that allowed verification and completion of old maps of the Reichs-Limes-Kommission will be shown here; these projects exemplify geophysical work on the Bavarian Limes. At the site of Oberhochstatt we discovered the exact location and determined information on the size and orientation of the fort that previous searches for a long time had failed to find. At Theilenhofen we were able to complete the map of the whole fort with all fortification ditches and the water supply, to verify the troop level and to confirm the former fort on which is superimposed the traces of the Roman vicus. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

GPR, ERT and magnetic investigations inside the Martyrium of St Philip, Hierapolis, Turkey

ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROSPECTION, Issue 3 2009
Luigia Nuzzo
Abstract Hierapolis, Denizli, Turkey, was one of the most important Hellenistic-Roman cities in Asia Minor. Located about 250,km east of Izmir, the area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its magnificent archaeological remains and the white travertine pool formations created by its peculiar geothermal setting. The Italian Archaeological Mission in more than 50 years of activity in Hierapolis has brought to light and restored important vestiges of the ancient city, helping to understand the urban layout in the various epochs of its development. In 2001,2003 geophysical surveys were performed by the University of Lecce in several areas inside the archaeological site of Hierapolis to support the archaeological excavations. This paper reports the results of the integrated geophysical surveys performed in 2003 inside the Martyrium of Saint Philip, a mausoleum built on the place where it is believed that the Apostle was martyred. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR), electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and magnetic gradient investigations were carried out in the central octagonal room, whereas the accessible lateral rooms were surveyed with GPR and occasionally ERT. The acquisition was performed along a series of closely spaced lines and the processed data were visualized as two-dimensional vertical sections (GPR), map view (magnetic gradiometry), depth slices or three-dimensional volumes (GPR and ERT) to allow an integrated interpretation of the geophysical results. The analysis of the geophysical datasets revealed a series of anomalies in both the central and lateral rooms that could be ascribed to the building foundations and to other possible archaeological structures, probably related to earlier stages of the sacred building and to tombs, as well as other anomalies (voids, fractures) of presumable natural origin. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Light detection and ranging (lidar) in the Witham Valley, Lincolnshire: an assessment of new remote sensing techniques

ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROSPECTION, Issue 4 2006
Simon Crutchley
Abstract Airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) allows the identification and accurate recording of upstanding features on the ground to sub-metre accuracy. The technique has previously been tested in areas of known high monument density such as the Stonehenge World Heritage Site with exciting results, but it is also proving useful in less spectacular areas. This paper will look at some recent work carried out by the Aerial Survey Team at English Heritage concentrating on an area in the Witham Valley, east of Lincoln in the east of England. The area has recently been covered by an archaeological aerial survey project as part of the National Mapping Programme; examining the lidar data for the same area has revealed some interesting results. Lidar clearly has potential for recording certain site types and especially in highlighting relationships between sites in the broader landscape, but there are limitations with the standard off the shelf data due to issues of spatial resolution. The study also makes clear the importance of not using lidar data alone, but ensuring that it is part of an examination of all readily available sources. Copyright © 2006 English Heritage. NMR. [source]

Geophysical prospection of the frontiers of the Roman Empire in southern Germany, UNESCO World Heritage Site

Traditional, transnational, and cosmopolitan: The Colombian Yanacona look to the past and to the future

AMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST, Issue 3 2009
JEAN E. JACKSON
ABSTRACT In this article, we analyze a crisis that resulted when a vehicular road was illegally cut through a corner of southern Colombia's San Agustín Archaeological Park, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage site, by a nearby reindigenizing Yanacona community and its neighboring campesino allies. In numerous meetings addressing the crisis, Yanacona leaders, performing on a transnational and cosmopolitan stage, have asserted and justified their position by creatively combining local and "authentic" discourses with significantly scaled-up heritage, developmentalist, and environmentalist ones. Yanacona articulate and adapt their ethnicity to an evolving global reification of diversity as well as fashion a symbolics of citizenship that critiques modernity but cannot be called "traditional."[reindigenization, heritage, performativity, state,indigenous relations, politics of culture, cultural tourism, Colombia] [source]

Front and Back Covers, Volume 24, Number 3.

ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Issue 3 2008
June 200
Front cover and back cover caption, volume 24 issue 3 Front cover Front cover: Front cover In this issue of ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Adrian Peace takes a critical look at the way in which neo-evolutionary theories and anthropological concepts are brought together in an award-winning campaign to sell more meat in Australia (his article is debated by four respondents on pp 23,25). Among others adopting a critical perspective, the animal rights movement was outraged at claims made about red meat as a ,natural', ,healthy' and ,essential' part of the average Australian diet. Just as a prominent film star was recruited to the ,Red Meat , Feel Good' campaign, the hugely popular Missy Higgins was deployed to front the response from the animal rights movement. The youthful and fresh-faced Australian singer-songwriter, cuddling the vulnerable white piglet, iconically represents an informed, intelligent and humane vegetarian approach to the future in the relationship between human and non-human animals. Higgins here makes a striking plea for ,enlightenment'. Enlightenment of a different kind is offered by the poster reprinted on the back cover, where an Indian transvestite celebrates the joy of a minority gender identity. Although the rights of both human minorities and non-human animals may be ,universal', they must be rendered in culturally specific terms in order to be politically effective. Back cover Back cover: modern enlightenment in ancient sacred sites ,Be enlightened!' In 2006 ,Shelly Innocence' launched a new phone service in Bodhgaya, Bihar, offering customers the opportunity to receive personal text messages of EnlightenmentÔ on their mobile phones. Large billboards with images of this virtual transgendered guru were erected outside the main temple to advertise the service. Not only is Bodhgaya a site of inspiration for millions of Buddhists around the world, but the seat of enlightenment has also come to mean very different things as this cosmopolitan pilgrimage town goes global. For many decades the state of Bihar, where Bodhgaya is located, has been one of the least attractive destinations for pilgrims, tourists and anthropologists because of its notorious reputation as one of the most impoverished and ,lawless' states in the country. However in recent years the Mahabodhi Temple complex in Bodhgaya has become the object of global attention as a UNESCO World Heritage site, setting in motion a series of initiatives to encourage tourism and city development plans. As a result of new conservation policies and demands on the built environment, the World Heritage designation has become invested with a diverse set of claims and meanings by various stakeholders and religious communities. As a site of dense historical, religious and political significance, Bodhgaya today is a unique locus where spiritual and digital worlds collide in the shade of the bodhi tree. [source]

International Organization as a Seal of Approval: European Union Accession and Investor Risk

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, Issue 4 2009
Julia Gray
Much of the literature on international institutions argues that membership regularizes expectations about members' future behavior. Using the accession of the postcommunist countries as a test case, this article argues that the EU can send strong signals to financial markets about the trajectory of a particular country. Examining spreads on sovereign debt from 1990 to 2006, this article shows that closing negotiation chapters on domestic economic policy,in other words, receiving a seal of approval from Brussels that previously existing policy reform is acceptable to the wider EU,substantially decreases perceptions of default risk in those countries. That decrease operates independently from policy reform that the country has taken and is also distinct from selection processes (modeled here with new variables, including UNESCO World Heritage sites and domestic movie production, that proxy for cultural factors). Thus, this particular international organization has played an important role in coordinating market sentiment on members, conferring confidence that policy reform alone could not accomplish. [source]