Cult
In modern English, the term cult has come to refer to a social group defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, or its common interest in a particular personality, object or goal. This sense of the term is controversial and it has divergent definitions in both popular culture and academia and it has been an ongoing source of contention among scholars across several fields of study, it is considered pejorative. In the sociological classifications of religious movements, a cult is a social group with deviant or novel beliefs and practices, although this is unclear. Other researchers present a less-organized picture of cults, saying that they arise spontaneously around novel beliefs and practices. Groups said to be cults range in size from local groups with a few members to international organizations with millions. An older sense of the word cult—covered in a different article—is a set of religious devotional practices that are conventional within their culture and related to a particular figure, associated with a particular place.
References to the "cult" of, for example, a particular Catholic saint, or the imperial cult of ancient Rome, use this sense of the word. Beginning in the 1930s, cults became the object of sociological study in the context of the study of religious behavior. From the 1940s the Christian countercult movement has opposed some sects and new religious movements, it labelled them as cults for their "un-Christian" unorthodox beliefs; the secular anti-cult movement began in the 1970s and it opposed certain groups charging them with mind control and motivated in reaction to acts of violence committed by some of their members. Some of the claims and actions of the anti-cult movement have been disputed by scholars and by the news media, leading to further public controversy; the term "new religious movement" refers to religions. Many, but not all of them, have been considered to be cults. Sub-categories of cults include: Doomsday cults, personality cults, political cults, destructive cults, racist cults, polygamist cults, terrorist cults.
Various national governments have reacted to cult-related issues in different ways, this has sometimes led to controversy. English-speakers used the word "cult" not to describe a group of religionists, but to refer to the act of worship or to a religious ceremony; the English term originated in the early 17th century, borrowed via the French culte, from the Latin noun cultus. The word derived from the Latin adjective cultus, based on the verb colere. While the literal original sense of the word in English remains in use, a derived sense of "excessive devotion" arose in the 19th century; the terms cult and cultist came into use in medical literature in the United States in the 1930s for what would now be termed "faith healing" as practised in the US Holiness movement. This usage experienced a surge of popularity at the time, extended to other forms of alternative medicine as well. In the English-speaking world the word "cult" carries derogatory connotations, it has always been controversial because it is considered a subjective term, used as an ad hominem attack against groups with differing doctrines or practices.
In the 1970s, with the rise of secular anti-cult movements, scholars began abandoning the term "cult". According to The Oxford Handbook of Religious Movements, "by the end of the decade, the term'new religions' would replace'cult' to describe all of those leftover groups that did not fit under the label of church or sect."Sociologist Amy Ryan has argued for the need to differentiate those groups that may be dangerous from groups that are more benign. Ryan notes the sharp differences between definition from cult opponents, who tend to focus on negative characteristics, those of sociologists, who aim to create definitions that are value-free; the movements themselves may have different definitions of religion as well. George Chryssides cites a need to develop better definitions to allow for common ground in the debate. In Defining Religion in American Law, Bruce J. Casino presents the issue as crucial to international human rights laws. Limiting the definition of religion may interfere with freedom of religion, while too broad a definition may give some dangerous or abusive groups "a limitless excuse for avoiding all unwanted legal obligations".
Religion scholar Megan Goodwin defined the term cult when used by laymen as being a shorthand that means a "religion I don't like". A new religious movement is a religious community or spiritual group of modern origins, which has a peripheral place within its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or part of a wider religion, in which case they are distinct from pre-existing denominations. In 1999 Eileen Barker estimated that NRMs, of which some but not all have been labelled as cults, number in the tens of thousands worldwide, most of which originated in Asia or Africa. In 2007 the religious scholar Elijah Siegler commented that, although no NRM had become the dominant faith in any country, many of the concepts which they had first introduced have become part of worldwide mainstream culture. Sociologist Max Weber found that cults based on charismatic leadership follow the routinization of charisma; the concept of a "cult" as a sociological classification was introduced in 1932 by American sociologist Howard P. Becker as a
Burham
Burham is a village and civil parish in the Tonbridge and Malling district of Kent, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,251; the village is near the Medway towns. The history of Burham can be traced to Roman times. AD43 saw the Battle of the Medway at the crossing point on the River Medway, where Burham is now, when the invading Roman legions, advancing west across Kent, were confronted by a massed army of the ancient British tribes; the Roman victory altered the course of history in Britain, the remains of Roman buildings have been found in Burham and the neighbouring village of Eccles. There has been a Settlement in Burham since Saxon times, "ham" being the Saxon word for "settlement" — the "Bur" part of the name comes from "burgh", or borough, referring to the borough of Rochester; the name "Burham" means "the village near the borough". In the 11th century Burham belonged to brother of King Harold, he was killed along with his brother at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
It is listed as having six sulings of land. There were two major farms, 15 "villeins" each farming 30 acres and 20 "borderers" each farming about 5 acres. There was a mill with woodland sufficient to support 20 hogs; the medieval church of St Mary stands on the riverbank. It is now cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust having been saved from dereliction by the Friends of Friendless Churches in the 1950s. About 1830 Burham became a "cement village" on the Medway, after the discovery of the manufacturing technique for Portland cement. By 1841 the village's population had grown to 380 and increased to a maximum of 1,725 in 1901. Today it is about 1,300. In July 1998, the Kent Air Ambulance helicopter, returning from an emergency call in Rochester, crashed in woodland near Burham, after hitting power lines. All three crew — the pilot and two paramedics — were killed
Ditch
A ditch is a small to moderate depression created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches are seen around farmland in areas that have required drainage, such as The Fens in eastern England and much of the Netherlands. Roadside ditches may provide a hazard to motorists and cyclists, whose vehicles may crash into them and get damaged, flipped over or stuck in poor weather conditions, in rural areas. Ditch is known as for sneaking off like waking up and escaping from bed during bedtime at night, escaping from school or jail and playing Ding Dong Ditch. In Anglo-Saxon, the word dïc existed and was pronounced "deek" in northern England and "deetch" in the south; the origins of the word lie in digging a trench and forming the upcast soil into a bank alongside it. This practice has meant that the name dïc was given to either the excavation or the bank, evolved to both the words "dike"/"dyke" and "ditch".
Thus Offa's Dyke is a combined structure and Car Dyke is a trench, though it once had raised banks as well. In the midlands and north of England, a dike is what a ditch is in the south, a property boundary marker or small drainage channel. Where it carries a stream, it may be called a running dike as in Rippingale Running Dike, which leads water from the catchwater drain, Car Dyke, to the South Forty Foot Drain in Lincolnshire; the Weir Dike is a soak dike near Twenty and alongside the River Glen. Drainage ditches play major roles in agriculture throughout the world. Improper drainage systems accelerate water contamination, excessively desiccate soils during seasonal drought, become a financial burden to maintain. Industrial earth-moving equipment facilitates maintenance of straight drainage trenches, but entrenchment results in increasing environmental and profound economic costs over time. Sustainable channel design can result in ditches that are self-maintaining due to natural geomorphological equilibrium.
Slowed net siltation and erosion result in net reduction in sediment transport. Encouraging development of a natural stream sinuosity and a multi-terraced channel cross section appear to be key to maintain both peak ditch drainage capacity, minimum net pollution and nutrient transport. Flooding can be a major cause of recurring crop loss—particularly in heavy soils—and can disrupt urban economies as well. Subsurface drainage to ditches offers a way to remove excess water from agricultural fields, or vital urban spaces, without the erosion rates and pollution transport that results from direct surface runoff. However, excess drainage results in recurring drought induced crop yield losses and more severe urban heat or desiccation issues. Controlled subsurface drainage from sensitive areas to vegetated drainage ditches makes possible a better balance between water drainage and water retention needs; the initial investment allows a community to draw down local water tables when and where necessary without exacerbating drought problems at other times.
In Colorado, the term ditch is applied to open aqueducts that traverse hillsides as part of transbasin diversion projects. Examples include the Grand Ditch over La Poudre Pass, the Berthoud Pass Ditch, the Boreas Pass Ditch. Barbagallo, Tricia. "Black Beach: The Mucklands of Canastota, New York". Archived from the original on June 25, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-04
Aerial archaeology
Aerial archaeology is the study of archaeological remains by examining them from altitude. The advantages of gaining a good aerial view of the ground had been long appreciated by archaeologists as a high viewpoint permits a better appreciation of fine details and their relationships within the wider site context. Early investigators attempted to gain birdseye views of sites using hot air balloons, scaffolds or cameras attached to kites. Following the invention of the aeroplane and the military importance placed on aerial photography during the First and Second World Wars, archaeologists were able to more use the technique to discover and record archaeological sites. Photographs may be taken either vertically, from directly overhead, or obliquely, meaning that they are taken at an angle. In order to provide a three-dimensional effect, an overlapping pair of vertical photographs, taken from offset positions, can be viewed stereoscopically; the advantages of aerial photographs to archaeologists are manifold.
Large sites could for the first time be viewed in their entirety and within their landscape. This aided the production of drawn plans and inspired archaeologists to look beyond the discrete monument and to appreciate a site's role within its setting. Photos are taken vertically for the purposes of planning and spatial analysis and obliquely to emphasize certain features or give perspective. Through the process of photogrammetry, vertical photos can be converted into scaled plans. Archaeological features may be more visible from the air than on the ground. In temperate Europe, aerial reconnaissance is one of the most important ways in which new archaeological sites are discovered. Tiny differences in ground conditions caused by buried features can be emphasised by a number of factors and viewed from the air: Slight differences in ground levels will cast shadows when the sun is low and these can be seen best from an aeroplane; these are referred to as shadow marks. Buried ditches will hold more water and buried walls will hold less water than undisturbed ground, this phenomenon, amongst others, causes crops to grow better or worse, taller or shorter, over each kind of ground and therefore define buried features which are apparent as tonal or colour differences.
Such effects are called cropmarks. Frost can appear in winter on ploughed fields where water has accumulated along the lines of buried features; these are known as frostmarks. Slight differences in soil colour between natural deposits and archaeological ones can often show in ploughed fields as soilmarks Differences in levels and buried features will affect the way surface water behaves across a site and can produce a striking effect after heavy rain. In cases like the Nazca lines, the features are meaningless from the ground but visible from the air. Pioneers of aerial archaeology include Roger Agache in Northern France, Antoine Poidebard in Syria, L W B Rees in Jordan O. G. S. Crawford in England and Sir Henry Wellcome in the Sudan, Giacomo Boni in Italy. Following in the footsteps of Henry Wellcome, kite aerial photography is now being used on archaeological sites outside the visible spectrum, from the near ultra-violet through to the near and thermal infra-red. Aerial archaeology is used in the processes of investigation in aviation archaeology.
Archaeological field survey Cropmark Markus Casey Shadow marks BibliographyBourgeois, J. and Meganck, M.. Aerial Photography and Archaeology 2003. A Century of Information. Archaeological Reports Ghent University 4. Ghent: Academia Press. ISBN 90-382-0782-4 Brophy, K. and Cowley, D.. From the air: understanding aerial archaeology. London: The History Press. ISBN 0-7524-3130-7 Riley, D. N.. Air photography and archaeology. Univ of Pennsylvania. ISBN 0-8122-8087-3 Wilson, D. R.. Air photo interpretation for archaeologists, London: The History Press.. ISBN 0-7524-1498-4 Emporia State University: Aerial Archaeology Aerial and Remote Sensing Archaeology Link and Reference Site Aerial Archaeology. AerialArchaeology.com focuses on near-earth imaging technologies such as kite aerial photography, remote-control powered parachutes and model airplanes and helicopters. *** Off-line April 20, 2010 *** ACE Foundation Kite Aerial Photographers - Archaeology Sir Henry Wellcome Aerial Archaeology in Northern France
Henge
There are three related types of Neolithic earthwork that are all sometimes loosely called henges. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank; because the internal ditches would have served defensive purposes poorly, henges are not considered to have been defensive constructions. The three henge types are as follows, with the figure in brackets being the approximate diameter of the central flat area: Henge; the word henge refers to a particular type of earthwork of the Neolithic period consisting of a circular or oval-shaped bank with an internal ditch surrounding a central flat area of more than 20 m in diameter. There is little if any evidence of occupation in a henge, although they may contain ritual structures such as stone circles, timber circles and coves. Henge monument is sometimes used as a synonym for henge. Henges sometimes, but by no means always, featured stone or timber circles, circle henge is sometimes used to describe these structures.
The three largest stone circles in Britain are each in a henge. Examples of henges without significant internal monuments are the three henges of Thornborough Henges. Although having given its name to the word henge, Stonehenge is atypical in that the ditch is outside the main earthwork bank. Hengiform monument. Like an ordinary henge except the central flat area is between 5 and 20 m in diameter, they comprise a modest earthwork with a wide outer bank. Mini henge or Dorchester henge are sometimes used as synonyms for hengiform monument. An example is the Neolithic site at Wormy Hillock Henge. Henge enclosure. A Neolithic ring earthwork with the ditch inside the bank, with the central flat area having abundant evidence of occupation and being more than 300 m in diameter; some true henges lack evidence of domestic occupation. Super henge is sometimes used as a synonym for a henge enclosure. However, sometimes Super henge is used to indicate size alone rather than use, e.g. "Marden henge... is the least understood of the four British'superhenges' (the others being Avebury, Durrington Walls and Mount Pleasant Henge".
The word henge is a backformation from the famous monument in Wiltshire. Stonehenge is not a true henge as its ditch runs outside its bank, although there is a small extant external bank as well; the term was first coined in 1932 by Thomas Kendrick, who became the Keeper of British Antiquities at the British Museum. Henges may be classified as follows: Class I henges, which have a single entrance created from a gap in the bank. Sub groups exist for these when three internal ditches are present rather than one. Henges are associated with the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age, with the pottery of this period: Grooved Ware, Impressed Wares, Beakers. Sites such as Stonehenge provide evidence of activity from the Bronze Age Wessex culture. Henges contain evidence of a variety of internal features, including timber or stone circles, pits, or burials, which may pre- or post-date the henge enclosure. A henge should not be confused with a stone circle within it, as henges and stone circles can exist together or separately.
At Arbor Low in Derbyshire, all the stones except one are laid flat and do not seem to have been erected, as no stone holes have been found. Elsewhere only the stone holes remain to indicate a former circle; some of the best-known henges are at: Avebury, about 20 miles north of Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain, in Wiltshire Knowlton Circles henge complex in Dorset Maumbury Rings in Dorset Mayburgh Henge in Cumbria The Ring of Brodgar in Orkney Thornborough Henges complex in YorkshireHenges sometimes formed part of a ritual landscape or complex, with other Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments inside and outside the henge. Earlier monuments associated with a henge might include Neolithic monuments such as a cursus, or a long barrow such as the West Kennet Long Barrow at Avebury, Wiltshire, or as in the case of Stonehenge, Mesolithic post holes. Monuments added after the henge was built might include Bronze Age cairns as at Arbor Low. Examples of such ritual landscapes are: Balfarg in Fife, Scotland Dunragit archaeological excavation site in Wigtownshire Heart of Neolithic Orkney, the UNESCO World Heritage Site on the Mainland, one of the islands of Orkney, Scotland Stonehenge and Associated Sites, the UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Wiltshire, England mentioned: Arbor Low, Knowlton Circles, Stanton Drew stone circles, Thornborough HengesBurials have been recorded at a number of excavated henges, both pre-dating the henge and as a result of secondary reuse.
For example: At Avebury, at least two disturbed inhumations were found in the central area Cairnpapple and North Mains both had burials that pre-date the henges, as well as post-date them At King Arthur's Round Table, Cumbria, a cremation trench lay within the monument At Woodhenge, a central burial of a child was interpreted by its excavators as a dedicatory offering At Maxey, phosphate surveys suggest that burials may have been present within this monument Efforts to delineate a direct lineage for the henge from earlier enclosures have not been conclusive. Their chronological overlap wi
Section (archaeology)
In archaeology a section is a view in part of the archaeological sequence showing it in the vertical plane, as a cross section, thereby illustrating its profile and stratigraphy. This may make it easier to interpret as it developed over time. Half-sectioning is the usual method whereby one half of a feature is excavated and the remainder left in situ. Large linear features may be sectioned at intervals along their lengths. Sectioning has fallen out of favour in some schools of practice because detail is missed in section, important to the phasing of the site. Examples of detail, revealed poorly "in section" include gravel or thin cobbled surfaces; the main problem with sections is the arbitrary location of their placement may "clip" or "just miss" contexts that reveal a different story form the one interpreted by the archaeologist. For instance thin liner features such as wheel ruts may be sectioned at an oblique angle giving the impression of a wider feature as the eye and brain tends to assume that features revealed in section have been cut at right angles to the orientation the feature was made.
Numerous other false readings of sections are possible to the unwary, this is why excavation "in plan" is now preferred. Sections are used in conjunction with two-dimensional excavation by plan to determine the origin of archaeological remains. For recording purposes sections are drawn at a scale of 1:10 or 1:20 with their height related to the site benchmark which in turn is related back to a level fixed at some agreed standard of sea level. Orientation should be recorded. If the section is instructive a photographic record may be made. Sections may be employed in excavation in temporary fashion as a form of stratigraphic control so as to ascertain the relationship between two or more contexts which may be better examined by the use of a section. Once a relationship is established contexts can be removed from site in the reverse order they arrived in accordance with the stratigraphic excavation and the creation of a Harris matrix for the sequence being investigated, it is up to the archaeologist on site to determine the best local on site strategy for excavating deposits, be it "in section" or "in plan".
In this regard the modern archaeologist uses sectioning as a tool for understanding the site stratigraphically during excavation rather than as an end goal in recording it. These caveats aside sections remain a powerful tool for archaeological investigation. A revival of digging in section with machines has occurred in recent years by a proliferation of limited time constrained development led excavations. Sometimes called digging by quadrant this special case is a procedure for excavating circular features mounds and, Deposits are excavated from four quarters of the feature, starting with two diagonally opposite quadrants and ending with the other two; the quadrants are offset, so that the outer balk of one is continuous with the outer face of its opposite, going through the center of the feature. After the recording of the sections, the balks may be removed and the rest of the feature excavated; the advantage of quarter sectioning is it allows a look at two complete cross-sections while still allowing excavation in plan thus allowing a better interpretation of the stratigraphy of the site.
The merits of this sectioning and balk creation are disputed. Archaeological association Archaeological context Archaeological illustration Archaeological plan Cut Excavation Feature Fill Harris matrix Relationship Single context recording Spit The MoLAS archaeological site manual MoLAS, London 1994. ISBN 0-904818-40-3. Rb 128pp. Bl/wh
