This paper questions the validity of approaches to architectural analysis that depend upon visual methods and materials; and champions an experiential buildings analysis built upon the concept of the multi-sensory encounter. In part one the dominance and problems of two-dimensional building study is critiqued, and the limitations of formal spatial analysis are discussed. These problematic approaches are explored in relation to the modernist ideology of today's western world. Part two offers an analysis methodology that explores human agents engaging with a multi-sensory building encounter. The framework for analysis offered invites a broad, meaningful and innovative approach to building study.

Download: Goulding - Experience is Everything

The Huguenot refugees were a group of French Protestants who were forced into exile by religious persecution during the 16th to 18th centuries. Tens of thousands of Huguenot refugees came to England and established communities within several towns, including London. Their existence is well documented in historical texts and they have often been portrayed in literary fiction and the visual arts. The migration of the Huguenots has been credited with having had a profound social and economic impact on English society. However, despite contemporary portrayals of the communities as having being distinct in terms of dress, language, lifestyle, occupation, and geographical location, attempts to identify Huguenot occupation sites in London using standard archaeological methods have been largely unsuccessful. This paper discusses the characteristics of Huguenot identity and the problems faced by archaeologists in trying to identify Huguenot material culture. In addition, this paper discusses the wider implications for how archaeologists approach the subject of identity and suggests ideas for how these issues may be addressed.

Download: Parker - Huguenot Identity

The study of commemoration in the 16th and 17th centuries is characterised by dichotomies. It has long been recognized that the reforms of the 16th century did not effect a straightforward translation of religious beliefs among the population of England. However, memorials erected before the 1530s are consistently described in terms of their active role as intercessory media, whereas post-Reformation monuments are regarded as passive expressions of the wealth and standing of the deceased and their family. In the case of early modern Gloucestershire, it can be argued that the Reformations intensified an existing trend towards the use of the parish space for ideological display. Liberated from its sacral duties, the principal role of the memorial became that of a social intercessor for the living. The depiction of the deceased in life was matched by an increased social activation of the monument, as heraldry, inscribed lineage and the depiction of family members combined to emphasize the perpetual dominance of a particular lineage over the rest of the community.

Download: Owen - Social Intercession

The current paper seeks to investigate the organisation of production at three smelting sites in Serres and Drama, Macedonia of the Late Byzantine period. An integrated methodology comprising site survey, historical accounts and materials analysis is proposed as a means to approach issues of labour mobilisation and the social status of the workforce. Documentary evidence from Athonite monasteries refer to local iron production in the region while in various Decrees it is stated that two distinct modes of production have been applicable concerning mining operations. These could be described as large scale operations managed by the state and smaller scale private ones managed by landowners or more rarely by villagers who owned a communal village territory. To cope with their remote situations miners-smelters adopted either a strategy of opportunity to secure a maximization of their resource gain, or a strategy of resiliency to survive under sudden environmental or politico-economic change. The corresponding archaeological evidence shows an apparent distinction between small scale, production at Katafyto and Vathytopos against large scale at Angistro. Such a picture might reflect significant differences in the administrative systems under which the smelters worked. These cases represent remarkable examples of identity expression through organising communal undertakings and despite their differences in practice, all smelters shared a common low social status of people pursuing a profane activity.

Download: Nerantzis - 'Profane Activity'

Blakely, S. 2006. Myth, Ritual, and Metallurgy in Ancient Greece and Recent Africa.

Deger-Jalkotzy, S., and Lemos, I.S., eds. 2006. Ancient Greece: From the Mycenaean Palaces to the Age of Homer.

Bass, G.F., ed. 2005. Beneath the Seven Seas: Adventures with the Institute of Nautical Archaeology.

Tilley, C., Keane, W., Küchler, S., Rowlands, M., and Spyer, P., eds. 2006. Handbook of Material Culture.

Gibson, A., ed. 2006. Prehistoric Pottery: Some Recent Research.

Korsmeyer, C., ed. 2005. The Taste Culture Reader: Experiencing Food and Drink.

Issue 10 - Book Reviews