THE LABYRINTT SYMBOL IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

1. Introduction
The labyrinth concept exists in multiple forms, and is attested as both artistic depiction and mythological motif in many ancient and modem cultures across parts of Europe, India, the south-western United States and South-America.Two distinct types of labyrinth symbol can also be identified in ancient Mesopotamia, the most common of which is a round, spiral-shaped design based on the appearance of animal intestines examined during extispicy.     

THE ANALYSIS OF SECOND MILLENNIUM GLASS FROM EGYPT AND MESOPOTAMIA,PART 1: NEW WDS ANALYSES*

A recent analytical study by SEM–WDS was carried out on 226 glasses from the Late Bronze Age, analysing each of the glasses for a total of at least 22 elements, the largest such analytical study conducted on these glasses. The aim of the analysis was first to identify which elements were brought in with each of the raw materials and, second, to accurately characterize those raw materials. Since different glassmaking sites in Egypt and the Near East would probably use at least some local raw materials and these raw materials will vary slightly from site to site, this has potential for provenancing the glass. Analysis showed new patterns in the compositions of glass from the various sites and led to new conclusions about the supply of raw materials and personnel for the glass workshops. This forms the basis for further work by LA–ICPMS to be presented in part 2 of this paper.     

有关咸丰年间北京钱铺方面史料

清代私商设钱铺发行私钞,早在乾隆年间(18世纪)已在个别城市出现,随商品经济的发展,银两、制钱作为交易媒介愈见不便,在一些地方城市相继出现私商钱铺。因其在解决民间商业交往活动方面有较大作用,民间乐于接受,势难禁止,遂得到清统治者的允准。乾嘉以后,政府对私商钱铺很少干涉,悉听其便,以顺民情。有关清代私商钱铺方面的史料,官方档案中所见不多,在1964年中国人民银行总行参事室金融史料组编辑的《中国近代货币史资料》(清代卷)中,仅收录了几件道光年间地方钱铺的史料,其中反映了民间钱票在各地普遍行使方面的情况,而道光以后的史料均付…     

THE SYNTAX OF OBJECTS AND THE REPRESENTATION OF HISTORY: SPEAKING OF SLAVERY IN NEW YORK

The representation of history continues to evolve in the domain of museum exhibitions. This evolution is informed in part by the creation of new display methods—many of which depart from the traditional conventions used to achieve the "museum effect"—in part by an increased attention to the museum-visitor relationship. In this context the ethical force of bearing witness, at times a crucial aspect of the museum experience, has emerged as a particularly compelling issue. In seeking to represent and address atrocity, injustice, and the abrogation of human rights, museums have the potential to become "sites of conscience" and to encourage "historical consciousness." Through a series of three exhibitions devoted to slavery, the New-York Historical Society demonstrated how such sites can be constructed and how objects can be deployed to represent extreme or "limit cases." In this review/essay I investigate and interrogate these exhibitions, looking closely at the use of objects as a source of "indirect testimony" (Marc Bloch) and at the "dialogical situation" (Paul Ricoeur) that might arise in an encounter among objects, exhibit narratives, and visitors. Thinking in terms of point of view, I look at the variety of rhetorical platforms from which objects speak in these exhibitions; thinking in terms of syntax, I look at the effects of ordering and of the radical juxtaposition of objects; thinking in terms of irony, I look at the provocations of double-voiced narratives and at how objects are used to support those historical sentences.     

THE EARLIEST USE OF CORUNDUM AND DIAMOND,IN PREHISTORIC CHINA*

The majority of prehistoric lithic artefacts were fashioned from rocks and minerals no harder than quartz, and there is no prehistoric evidence for the working of harder materials, such as corundum and diamond. The earliest physical evidence for the use of corundum (ruby, sapphire) is thought to be the abrasive grit recovered from Bronze Age Minoan quartz beads (c. 1700–1500 bc ), while diamond is thought to have been used no earlier than 500 bc , in India. Here we show that corundum was worked c. 4000–3500 bc during the Neolithic period in China, in the form of polished axes from the Liangzhu and Sanxingcun cultures. We also present physical evidence that later Liangzhu axes (c. 2500 bc ), made from the same previously undescribed rock whose most abundant component is corundum, were polished to a mirror‐like finish with a diamond abrasive. Our findings, which are the first to support the use of corundum and diamond in a prehistoric context, may also help to explain the trademark feature of the Neolithic in China, vast quantities of finely polished nephrite jade artefacts.     

青藏高原最早的新石器时代村落--昌都卡若遗址的考古发现

Along the eastern flank of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a range of lofty mountains.In a valley marked by the ceaseless flow of the Lancanjiang River is a prehistoric human settlement quietly observing the passage of time.Thousands of years have passed since the site was abandoned,and few know of its existence today.Indeed,it was only rediscovered in the 1970s,almost as if locals had to brush away the crusts on their eyes after a long night's sleep to even see it.Still,the event sent shockwaves throughout the archaeological field,and it is marked in history books as having been one of the most significant finds.     

江西发现第一次国内革命战争时期最早的农协货币

20 0 2年 3月 ,江西革命老区修水县一家农户在拆迁旧房时 ,从土筑结构的墙隙里发现一张修水县救济金融合作社于 192 6年发行的“当十铜元壹百枚”的农协货币 ,因墙土间隙不利藏存 ,且存放时间长 ,此币票面显得十分脏旧 ,并有多处被虫蛀馈成孔 ,对折处已完全断裂。所幸行名、面值、印章还完好 ,图案也只有七、八处虫眼。第一次国内革命战争时期江西农村普遍都成立了农协组织 ,至于江西农协组织是否发行过货币 ,在早期只闻修水发行过 ,但未见实物 ,《中国革命根据地货币》和《中国历代货币》等书也未有记载或提及 ,因此不敢肯定 ,现终于找到了…     

PREHISTORIC COPPER PRODUCTION IN THE INN VALLEY (AUSTRIA), AND THE EARLIEST COPPER IN CENTRAL EUROPE*

In recent years archaeological finds and scientific analyses have provided increasing evidence for a very early beginning of copper production in the rich mining area of the Tyrolean Alps. The earliest findings derive from an excavation of a multi‐phase settlement on the Mariahilfbergl in Brixlegg, which revealed evidence that a small amount of fahlores, probably of local provenance, was at least heated if not even smelted there in the Late Neolithic Münchshöfen culture (the second half of the fifth millennium bc ). However, most copper finds of this horizon consist of low‐impurity copper that most probably derives from Majdanpek in Serbia. This long‐distance relationship is corroborated by typological features that link some aspects of the Münchshöfen culture with the Carpathian basin. Thus it is not yet clear if, at Brixlegg, actual copper production took place or, rather, an experimental treatment of the local ores. The typical fahlore composition, with arsenic and antimony in the per cent and silver and bismuth in the per mille ranges, appears in quantity only in the Early Bronze Age. Many thousands of Ösenringe are known from many central European Early Bronze Age sites, with a chemical composition typical of fahlores. At Buchberg near Brixlegg, a fortified settlement with slags from fahlore smelting proves that the local ores were indeed exploited. The lead isotope ratios of Ösenringe from the Gammersham hoard in Bavaria, which consist of fahlore copper, confirm this and suggest that copper mining and production in the Inn Valley reached a first climax during that period. In the Late Bronze Age, copper was produced at an almost industrial level.