R. A. Buchanan

Bio: R. A. Buchanan is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Industrial archaeology. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 24 citations.

Current bibliography of urban history

Abstract: This bibliography is a continuation of and a complement to those published in the Urban History Yearbook 1974–91 and Urban History 1992–2002. The arrangement and format closely follows that of previous years. There is an index of towns on pp. 504–507. The list of abbreviations identifies only those periodicals from which articles cited this year have been taken.

What happened to Irish industry after the British industrial revolution? Some evidence from the first UK Census of Production in 19071

Abstract: SUMMARY This article examines Ireland's relative position within the UK industrial sector in the early twentieth century, by critically evaluating the Irish component of the First UK Census of Production. Firstly, Ireland's employment, net output shares, and net output per person are compared to the UK results. Secondly, by supplementing and adjusting the census evidence, a new estimate of the size of the industrial workforce is constructed, which is then used to produce a new estimate of Irish industrial output. From this it is possible to estimate the contribution of industry to Irish GDP, which can then be compared to its contribution in other European economies.

Industrial Archaeology and the Archaeological Community: Fifty Years On

Abstract: This paper is an expanded version of the annual Beatrice de Cardi lecture presented at the Council for British Archaeology's weekend meeting held in October 2009 to celebrate both their involvement in the discipline of industrial archaeology and the 300th anniversary of the first successful smelting of coke by Abraham Darby at Coalbrookdale in 1609. It discusses in depth the CBA's championship of the fledgling discipline of industrial archaeology in the early 1960s, together with the highly significant but frequently neglected developments in Northern Ireland. The paper then considers the development of industrial archaeology in public and professional archaeology in the second half of the 20th century and concludes that the definition of industrial archaeology adopted by the CBA in 1959 helped to pave the way for its considerable growth in that period.

Archaeological Applications of Low-Cost Integrated Sidescan Sonar/Single-Beam Echosounder Systems in Irish Inland Waterways

Abstract: Inland waterways, such as rivers and lakes have been foci of human settlement and use for millennia. However, underwater archaeological prospection or survey in these environments is often hindered by poor or no-visibility conditions. While this can be overcome using a range of well-established geophysical techniques, their application in inland waterways seems comparatively less common than in offshore environments. Possible reasons include the logistical challenges of surveying shallow confined, often inaccessible and uncharted waters coupled with a wider lack of awareness of the submerged archaeological potential of inland waterways. This paper demonstrates one method by which the logistical challenge can be circumvented, specifically the use of low-cost acoustic systems which combine a single-beam echo sounder and sidescan sonar. These systems have appeared within the last decade and are smaller and cheaper than their survey-grade counterparts. Although developed for the sport fishing community, as shown here, they can also be used for archaeological purposes. Their effectiveness for archaeological prospection is illustrated via three case studies from lacustrine and riverine settings in Northern Ireland and by reference to object detection and bathymetric mapping. The data presented indicate that the low-cost systems are capable of collecting data that is sufficient for archaeological purposes but they are best suited to shallow confined waters where their disadvantages (limited range and depth of operation, reduced image quality) are minimized.