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Zugl.: Heidelberg, Univ., Diplomarbeit, 2005 / Titel auf der Beil.

Universität Heidelberg, Diplomarbeit, 2005.

The principal aim of the thesis is to investigate the mortuary practices of the late Iron Age period in south-eastern Britain, focusing on identification of the wider sequence of activity. It is evident that the deposition of the calcined remains and associated objects are just one element in a more complicated pattern of behaviour. A number of contemporary inhumation burials and mortuary-related features drawn from an increasing number of sites illustrate the wider practices in operation. The identification of pyre-related features and debris lies at the core of this study providing an opportunity to advance understanding of pyre technology as well as the mortuary rituals. This study provides an opportunity to advance late Iron Age mortuary studies in relation to the cosmological, political and ideological structure (Fitzpatrick 1997; Pearce 1997a; 1997b; 1999; McKinley 2000).

The origins of the project are outlined and definitions given for the subject and area of the study. The fundamental aims and objectives of the programme of research are set out together with the methodology adopted. Previously published classification systems for moated sites are outlined. Consideration is given to the advantages and disadvantages of these regimes alongside the aim of providing a basis for more uniform analysis of moated sites within Wales. The proposed classification system adopted for this study is set out. Type-sites from the study area, are identified and listed. Finally relevant sites within the study area are listed alongside their identified classifications, and the numbers within each classification are considered both in total and by each of the individual study counties. Aspects of topography relevant to the location of the moats within the study area are considered. Current understanding of the processes of climate change as they relate to their possible influence on moat construction is viewed alongside recent surveys relating to rainfall, drainage and relief within the surveyed counties. These factors along with relevant geological and soil surveys are shown in relation to the distribution of sites within the study area. An analysis of the distribution of these earthworks within administrative and political boundaries that existed during the fourteenth century is carried out. This relates these sites to the generally accepted period of the height of moat construction within Great Britain. In view of the varied administration and political allegiance within the March consideration is given to whether individual Marcher Lords or the Crown influenced moat distribution and design. The three earlier published surveys of moated sites in Wales are reviewed. This examination of work by Pratt, Spurgeon and the RCAHMW forms the basis for the following comparative study with the sites assessed in this three counties survey. A summary of the moated site gazetteer which comprises volume two of this work leads to the final concluding chapter of volume one. Conclusions drawn from the survey as a whole, are related to earlier work in this area and are followed by summaries of the specific conclusions drawn about these sites as they were found within their pre-1974 counties. Volume two of the thesis comprises a full Gazetteer of South-east Wales Moated Sites. The first three chapters are individual inventories of the moated earthworks identified within the three pre-1974 counties of Breconshire, Radnorshire and Monmouthshire respectively. Name and pre-1974 parish identify each location. Current district, Scheduled Ancient Monument reference, Archaeological Trust reference and an eight figure National Grid Reference are listed where available, together with the site altitude above Ordnance Datum and the site's survey classification. Individual sites are described alongside detailed plans and site aerial photographs where obtained. Each recently discovered site is labelled as such. Finally the thesis lists those sites that were investigated as part of this study, but found not to be applicable to the nature of it.

Concern for the maintenance of the Welsh language has increased since the middle years of the twentieth century and the demand for educational provision is a reflection of this. The use of education as a means to promote the status of a minority language in a bilingual community is a social phenomenon which is paralleled in other places and has considerable research interest. Minority groups often invoke the development of schools which work in the medium of their local language. Such programmes attempt to reverse language shifts which affect the status of minority groups adversely. They have a significant cultural and political dimension as the resulting schools offer a protected linguistic domain for children and young people and tend in consequence to increase the vitality of the given language. These matters have been widely researched in Wales and elsewhere, though few studies of the educational and social development of the bilingual child have considered the contribution of these programmes to the sociological status of the language concerned even though it is recognised that increased use of a minority language in natural daily communication is an effective empowerment of its users in the surrounding community. This study begins to address this omission. It examines a critical phase in the emergence of Welsh medium schools in the anglicised region of south eastern Wales between 1949 and, when the first Welsh medium schools was established in the old county of Glamorgan, and 1962, when the first secondary school was established. The establishment of the schools is discussed in relation to concurrent economic, social, and educational developments and the linguistic trends which permeated the local environment. The study considers the first stages of development in south eastern Wales which reflects aspects of a developing consciousness of the language issue which has become a significant feature of public debate some forty years later. It is noted that the movement began at a late stage of a complex historical process in the attempt to preserve the immediate family and cultural values and that it has since expanded to a wider section of the community. The eventual success of the Welsh medium school movement has contributed to subsequent changes in official and public attitudes to the Welsh language. While the political and legal changes embodied in the Welsh Language Act of 1994 lie well beyond the scope of this discussion, its argument suggests that the early phase of the schools movement embedded a factor which has contributed critically to the shaping of contemporary Welsh awareness.

Monitoring large forest areas is presently feasible with satellite remote sensing as opposed to time-consuming and expensive ground surveys as alternative. This study evaluated, for the first time, the potential of using freely available medium resolution (30 m) Landsat time series data for deforestation monitoring in tropical rainforests of Kalimantan, Indonesia, at sub-annual time scales. A simple, generic, data-driven algorithm for deforestation detection based on a consecutive anomalies criterion was proposed. An accuracy assessment in the spatial and the temporal domain was carried out using high-confidence reference sample pixels interpreted with the aid of multi-temporal very high spatial resolution image series. Results showed a promising spatial accuracy, when three consecutive anomalies were required to confirm a deforestation event. Recommendations in tuning the algorithm for different operational use cases were provided within the context of satisfying REDD+ requirements, depending on whether spatial accuracy or temporal accuracy need to be optimized.

Monitoring large forest areas is presently feasible with satellite remote sensing as opposed to time-consuming and expensive ground surveys as alternative. This study evaluated, for the first time, the potential of using freely available medium resolution (30 m) Landsat time series data for deforestation monitoring in tropical rainforests of Kalimantan, Indonesia, at sub-annual time scales. A simple, generic, data-driven algorithm for deforestation detection based on a consecutive anomalies criterion was proposed. An accuracy assessment in the spatial and the temporal domain was carried out using high-confidence reference sample pixels interpreted with the aid of multi-temporal very high spatial resolution image series. Results showed a promising spatial accuracy, when three consecutive anomalies were required to confirm a deforestation event. Recommendations in tuning the algorithm for different operational use cases were provided within the context of satisfying REDD+ requirements, depending on whether spatial accuracy or temporal accuracy need to be optimized.

South-East Asian region is the most dynamic region in the world. It is also known for having enormous number of RTAs, which became the main drive force for trade integration. Moreover, China is the leader in this region, changing fast and becoming either a pioneer or a threat for the neighbor countries. This paper uses a gravity model to estimate the influence of RTAs on the countries in the region and attempts to find out whether new agreements will deeper the trade cooperation or make the 'spaghetti bowl' effect even worse.

Hillforts have dominated interpretations of later prehistoric society, but these have been based on an uncritical acceptance of their military or symbolic role and a ‘big is best’ mentality. Using the exceptional archive from Broxmouth hillfort in East Lothian, the research presented in this thesis had the unique opportunity to examine the boundaries of that site in detail. Drawing on ideas that sites should not just be seen in their final form, episodes of enclosure creation, maintenance and abandonment are examined. Constructing a biography of Broxmouth has highlighted the relative infrequency of these creation events and how social relationships were intimately tied to the enclosure boundaries. These events are not isolated and investigating the contemporary landscape has shown that the coastal plain would have been densely settled, yet the bleak hills of the Lammermuirs appear to have been avoided. Mapping old routeways and pit alignments shows that this landscape may have been a draw for the practice of transhumance, primarily for sheep and cattle as demonstrated in the Broxmouth evidence. Combining GIS analyses with more experiential approaches, shows how some sites took advantage of the topographical surroundings and were instrumental in the practice of transhumance. Creation events at other sites also appear to be infrequent and examining further excavated sites in East Lothian has allowed the formation of a broad chronology of changing enclosure patterns. Contextualising Broxmouth has documented changes in how people interacted with their landscape, how social relationships were enacted and how these changed from the late Bronze Age, through to the Roman Iron Age. / Collaborative Doctoral Award from the Arts and Humanities Research Council; supplemented by Historic Scotland who was the primary funder of the Broxmouth Project; supplemented by Historic Scotland who was the primary funder of the Broxmouth Project.