ROBERT DREWS AND THE ROLE OF CHARIOTRY IN BRONZE AGE GREECE

Summary. Chariots figure prominently in two recent books by Robert Drews. He considers these fast, horse-drawn vehicles as having revolutionized warfare in Greece and the Near East in the second millennium B.C., with serious political and social implications. The present article, to a considerable extent based on earlier works by the authors, shows that several of Drews' assertions are untenable and that chariots played a much less significant role than he would have us believe.     

The Emergence of Chariots and Riding in the South Caucasus

Summary.   The beginning of the Late Bronze Age, i.e. the late fifteenth–early fourteenth centuries BC, saw the emergence of chariots in Transcaucasia, where rich barrows of this period yielded bronze chariot models. The latter correspond to the type of chariots widespread in the western Near East in the late sixteenth–early thirteenth centuries BC. Hence it can be inferred that, regardless of the ultimate origin of Near Eastern chariots, Transcaucasian specimens belong to the Near Eastern tradition. However, in Transcaucasia, in contradistinction to the Near East, the chariot was merely a prestige marker. The growing role of the horse indicative of horseback riding is attested by some Transcaucasian funeral complexes of the late second millennium BC, which correspond to those of the steppes of south Russia. It seems likely that the builders of these barrows were related to the Iranian population of the Russian steppes.     

虢国墓地车马坑出土的车及其相关问题

自20世纪50年代以来,三门峡虢国墓地已发现了50多辆随葬车.本文着重讨论这些车的性质问题和社会意义,认为其制造技术是非常先进的,这批车大部分为战车,反映了当时的车马使用等级制度.     

东周时期车马祭祀探论

车马祭祀可以上溯至殷商时期。西周时期,车马用于周王室的重大祀典。东周时期,祭祀礼制逐渐被破坏,各诸侯国僭越周礼规定,车马被广泛用于郊祀、宗庙祭祖、社祀、山川望祭、盟誓、方神等各种祭祀,祭法多采用沉和瘗埋的方式。随着社会的发展及祭祀观念的变化,最迟到战国中期,木偶车马被用于祭祀,成为秦汉以后车马祭祀的发展趋势。     

Chariotry and Prone Burials: Reassessing Late Shang China’s Relationship with Its Northern Neighbours

Journal of World Prehistory - In place of the traditional view that raids and invasion from the north introduced new weapons and chariots to the Shang (c. 1200 BC), we argue that archaeological...     

The Specter of Revolution: Reconsidering Japan's Decision to Surrender

Existing studies of the Pacific War tend to focus on the adverse military situation in explaining Japan's decision to surrender. Special emphasis has been placed on both the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet entry into the war. Although these are no doubt critical to understanding the end of the Pacific War, they fail to tell the whole story. This paper seeks to broaden the scope of the scholarly debate by focusing on Japan's domestic situation as a major factor behind the decision to surrender. It argues that a near-obsessive fear of social revolution among Japan's conservative ruling elite played an important role in prompting Japanese elites to make the decision to end the war.     

THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE TUTANKHAMUN-CLASS CHARIOT

Summary. The Tutankhamun-class chariot, the earliest high-performance machine, existed in its refined form for about five centuries. Eight complete vehicles have survived and support the argument that they surpass all monumental structures of the pharaohs in engineering sophistication. There is no evidence of chariot racing from that era, but these chariots have many technical features that imply a pedigree based on racing. Several elements hint of thoughtful invention, advanced physical modelling and experimentation, with results that sometimes drastically and favourably differ from our concepts of vehicle design. It is difficult for us to envision a substantially better chariot made with the ancient materials of construction even if we were to apply our most advanced formulas and methods. There are two major areas of chariot analysis from an engineering standpoint, and both are accessible to non-specialists. The complex suspension system of springs and shock absorbers has advantages in structural dynamics, ride quality and safety. An example of the latter is a dual-purpose anti-roll device. The chariots’ wheels have aircraft-like damage tolerance, and have fundamentally more perfect spokes and joints for carrying multi-axial loads than the wooden spokes of any classic car. This paper covers the essential technical features and historical perspectives of these chariots for archaeologists.     

Facilitating Interaction: Board Games as Social Lubricants in the Ancient Near East

This re‐evaluation of existing data on board games from the Near Eastern Bronze Age demonstrates their function as social lubricants in cross‐cultural interaction. Board games are situated theoretically as liminoid practices, which lie outside the bounds of normative social behaviour and allow for interaction across social boundaries. Utilizing double‐sided game boards, with an indigenous game on one side and a newly introduced game on the other, the games of senet, mehen and twenty squares provide evidence for social interactions. Cypriots had adopted Egyptian mehen and senet by the third millennium BC, and indigenized the games. This lies in contrast to the game of twenty squares, which had a particular role among elites in the Late Bronze Age interaction sphere. This anthropological discussion of evidence relating to gaming seeks to inspire further research on the role of board games in society.     

Development vs. Reform: Attempts at Modernisation During the Twilight of British Influence in Iraq, 1946–58

This study analyses British and local Iraqi elites’ efforts to avoid social revolution through promotion of economic development during the last years of the Iraqi monarchy. Discussing the complex set-up of domestic Iraqi elites and their ambiguous relations with British officials in Iraq, it argues that the structural composition of the Iraqi state itself is an important explanatory factor for the swift overthrow of the old regime in 1958. Using British archival records, this article analyses the politics of avoiding reform and promoting economic development to which Iraqi elites and the British were privy. It shows how economistic ideas of ‘modernisation’ and economic growth were believed to be the solution to Iraq's endemic problems of social unrest and politicisation of large parts of the population. Arguing that increased wealth through oil-fuelled development programmes would ultimately trickle down to all strata of the population and thus stave off the danger of revolution, the British failed to realise that Iraq's structural setup with its unscrupulous politicians and wealthy landowners at the apex of power, along with an all-permeating patronage system, effectively hampered any dispersal of what little new wealth was generated through these projects.     

九一八事变后日本决策层侵华国策的趋同

九一八事变后,日本内阁虽然确立不扩大方针,但自日本经营南满以来,维护满蒙权益成为历届政府、军部海外扩张及处理国际事务的压倒性决策要素,驱动决策层势必迎合军部和关东军的军事侵略行径,推动日本走向扩大战争。同时,以九一八事变为契机,日本国内军权膨胀,军权蔑视政权、军权凌驾政权的军国体制日臻完备,自下而上的国家改造运动,又从下层社会煽起军国热和排外热,加之财阀转向,主动投向军国主义怀抱,形成军财一体,终使日本完成举国一致、趋同侵华国策的异变过程。     

MORTUARY DISPLAY AND CULTURAL CONTACT: A CEMETERY AT KASTRI ON THASOS

Summary.   This article explores how the patterns of development within the local populations prior to Greek colonization, or even Greek contact, can elucidate the process of Greek colonization. Focusing upon the Thracian Early Iron Age cemetery of Kastri on Thasos, it suggests that past interpretations of such cemeteries as undifferentiated is due to the imposition of modern ideas of value. This article instead uses the criterion of diversity to suggest that the cemetery in fact has clear patterns of social differentiation in the first and last periods of use. Furthermore imports are restricted to graves of highest diversity in the last period of use (the early seventh century BC). This pattern is repeated over Early Iron Age Thrace, and is indicative of a social change within Thrace prior to Greek colonization which saw nascent Thracian elites seeking out imports from many areas in order to bolster their status.     

殷墟车子遗迹及甲骨金文中的车字

商代甲骨文、金文中“车”字的几种字形及有关的记载,对我们发掘、研究殷墟出土的车子遗迹很有帮助,如曲衡马车的发现、车试及不同形式车厢的清理、车辙的研究等,都是受到甲骨文、金文中“车”字资料的启发,而使发掘与研究工作取得了更好的效果。     

Teotihuacan

Teotihuacan in the northeastern Basin of Mexico was an unusually large and influential early city and state. This article reviews recent research trends in Teotihuacan from its founding and explosive growth ca. 100 BC into the largest city in Mesoamerica. Biogenetics provide details of how immigration fueled the city’s growth and shaped its multiethnic composition and link Teotihuacan to other parts of the central highlands and more distant regions. Urban theory highlights the importance of neighborhoods and how their composition changed. Collective aspects of irrigation, markets, warfare and the military, and ideology encouraged the development of Teotihuacan’s corporate governance. Although Teotihuacan politically dominated central Mexico, its control over the regional economy was not as centralized. Beyond its hinterland, Teotihuacan’s foreign relations were a mosaic of trade diasporas, diplomatic exchanges, pilgrimages, emulation, and strategic direct interventions of limited duration. As its foreign influence retracted, Teotihuacan faced challenges from its hinterlands and intermediate elites and factions that culminated in the burning and desecration of the urban center. The Epiclassic saw the change from Teotihuacan’s regional state to city-states and confederations. Although much reduced in size, Postclassic Teotihuacan retained an enormous legacy that subsequent states sought for their historical validation.     

先秦马车乘座方式与乘员

我国早在商代已掌握了造车技术,战国时期已达到高峰,出现了各种制作精美的车型,无论什么车型,其乘坐方式与乘员的多少,主要是根据车型及乘车时环境所决定。战车、礼车及车舆无前后室之分的车型,主要是跪坐与跽坐,站立乘车只是在郊游时才会出现,乘员一般为两人,而安车则主要是跽坐、盘膝而坐或卧乘。     

The knighthood in and around late medieval Brussels

This article focuses on the social and political features of the knighthood in one of the most densely populated areas of the Low Countries, the administrative district of Brussels, known as the ammanie, in the fifteenth century. A systematic identification of all knights (rather than a selection) enables us to correct Huizinga’s picture and that of other, more recent, historians of the late medieval nobility as a social group in decay. Moreover, this case study contributes to ongoing debates on the position and status of late medieval knighthood. First, the data make it possible to assess the impact of Burgundian policies on the social, political and military relevance of the knighthood of Brabant. Second, special attention is given to their feudal possessions, in particular lordships and fortified residences, in order to establish stratification within the knighthood. Finally, the status and position of bannerets within the Brabantine knighthood is highlighted since they played a crucial role as intermediaries between the duke of Brabant and the urban elites of Brussels.     

乡村旅游精英的权力维度及其阶段性呈现特征——以袁家村为例

精英的权力是社会分层和领导者研究领域的重点问题。随着乡村旅游的蓬勃发展,旅游精英成为带领农民致富的领路人,但旅游精英的权力却未获得足够关注。本文采用建构主义扎根理论方法,基于乡村旅游地居民的访谈资料和网络资料,探索旅游精英的权力维度如何呈现,并深入研究乡村旅游精英的权力是否会随旅游地生命周期呈现动态变化特征。研究发现：①旅游精英在乡村旅游发展中呈现六维权力：全局掌控权、制度制定权、空间生产权、声誉权、人情权与魅力权,进而以六维权力深入剖析了旅游精英带领村民致富的内部机理;②乡村旅游精英的六维权力处于动态演变中,在引入期、成长期、成熟期权力呈现特征显著不同。     

Locating the “People Without History” in Histories of the Ancient Near East

Three books discussed here illustrate multidisciplinary approaches to studying ancient civilizations and a range of methodological and theoretical perspectives. They suggest that in addition to the traditional focus on elites and urban origins, we should analyze nonelites and smaller scale communities. I concur that focusing on elites gives an incomplete and inaccurate picture of life and culture in the ancient Near East. Instead, these books shed light on the “people without history” in the ancient Near East. This “social history” must be integrated into economic and political models of past cultures to fully understand ancient civilizations.     

The Politics of Emergency

Military and humanitarian interventions have become commonplace in recent years, provoking some to suggest that the right to intervene in the face of an emergency has become a new global norm. Emergencies and interventions pose unique challenges for political and legal theories of sovereignty, legitimacy, and democracy. Political anthropologists and other social scientists have focused on critiques of sovereign power and military and humanitarian interventions, but more attention to the cultural aspects of how emergencies operate and to the positive and negative effects they might have on political and social life is needed.     

The Terrible Geographicalness of Terrorism: Reflections of a Hazards Geographer

Oppositional engagement with the phenomenon of terrorism by geographers could bring much needed scholarly clarity and balance to the militaristic dominant discourse on terrorism. The hazards subfield within the discipline of geography is germane to research on terrorism, as hazards geographers have been deeply concerned with environmental and technological extremes threatening human life and well‐being. A hazards perspective on terrorism could contribute towards defining terrorism, clarifying the contours of the terrorism discourse, root causes, and response. Insights gleaned from geographical research on social violence, technological and environmental hazards can be eminently applicable to researching various aspects of terrorism. The fundamental point is that terrorism is a deeply geographical phenomenon with potentially disastrous consequences for international peace. Beyond enhancing human safety, the geographical research agenda in terrorism will be part of the struggle to wrest control of the terrorism terminology away from the Western politico‐military elites, to keep them from using it to whip their real or imagined enemies.     

Drawing (on) women’s military experiences and narratives – Israeli women soldiers’ challenges in the military environment

This article utilizes arts-based methods as a feminist methodology for understanding women’s experiences in military service, according to theories of feminist security studies. It explores how non-combatant women in the army retrospectively narrate stressful situations that happened during their military service. Using arts-based methods, we examine how they derive meaning from their experiences in a masculine, military environment, affected by ongoing conflict. This article analyzes twenty images drawn by Israeli women who served in the army in the previous 2–4 years. The women drew a stressful event from their military service, explained the image, and elaborated on how they coped with the situation. A content analysis of the pictures and the narratives produced three themes: the responsibility for others in life threatening situations, the military as a first professional work experience and the interaction between military and gender hierarchies. In general, women soldiers experienced the army as complex as they encountered their first adult work space in which they learned responsibility and skills of the ‘adults’ world’. However, they were also exposed to a rigid hierarchy and to stressful security situations typical of army contexts. While non-combat women soldiers were allegedly protected from the violence of the army, they are also indirectly exposed to the danger inherent in an army context. This analysis goes beyond the hero narrative, and moves into taboo territories of young women’s narratives and experiences in the military.