New excavations at the Barbar Temple, Bahrain

In 2004 excavations at the Barbar Temple dating to c. 2000 BC established that the function of the southeastern subterranean channel connected to the temple pool was to supply the pool with water and not to divert water away from the pool. North and west of the temple the oval terrace wall of its third phase was located. In the centre of the Northeast Temple the remains of a shaft-stairway leading down to a well-chamber was uncovered and shown to be furnished with two subterranean channels leading water into the chamber. South of the Northeast Temple a house with late pottery was excavated. Two stamp seals and two seal-impressed tokens were found.     

无法和谐的奏鸣曲——论同盟会、湖北集团和江浙集团之间政治关系的演变

辛亥革命期间,同盟会、湖北集团、江浙集团三方之间政治关系非常复杂。同盟会对两大集团的态度和策略是根据既定政治目标和局势变化而定的,两大集团对同盟会的态度和相互间关系是根据各自利益而定的。尽管大家都表示"革命",但是由于各自政治利益不同,三方之间弹奏的奏鸣曲无法和谐,辛亥革命只有失败。     

论李世贤进取浙江的战略得失

太平天国天京杨韦内讧后,从战略进攻转向战略防御。安庆是安徽首府、金陵门户,因此,死守安庆,巩固皖北根据地是大平天国战略关键、大平军的中心任务。如果李世贤乐平战后,坚守皖南,以徽州为据点,与安庆成犄角,可牵制部分清军兵力,减轻安庆压力不致失守,确保天京安全。李世贤进取浙江,远离安徽主要战场,犯了战略上的错误,得不偿失。     

浙江省宁波市奉化区尚桥墓地唐代墓葬发掘简报

2012-2013年,宁波市文物考古研究所等单位对浙江宁波奉化尚桥科技工业园物流中心建设地块进行了抢救性考古发掘,其中清理唐代墓葬19座,出土有"大中二年""大中元祀""唐明州"等字样的铭文砖,为研究区域内唐代丧葬文化提供了新的资料.     

A still worm from excavations at Carrick Castle,Argyll

Abstract

During 1993 excavations at Carrick Castle, Argyll, a rare item of distilling equipment was unearthed. Possibly dating to the 17th century, the copper alloy condenser or ‘worm’ is unique in design. Pollen analysis of an associated soil sample supports a use in the production of grain spirits. The technology of manufacture and historical context of the worm are examined in depth.     

Archaeological excavations at Bosutswe,Botswana: cultural chronology,paleo-ecology and economy

Excavations at the site of Bosutswe on the eastern edge of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana have uncovered over 4 m of deposit ranging in age from CE 700 to 1700. Our research has produced quantitative and qualitative measures of the material and ecological dimensions that structured the everyday actions and behaviors through which social identities were constituted, maintained, and transformed during the period when the polities of Toutswe, Mapungubwe, Great Zimbabwe and Khami rose to power. By examining the material dimensions that underlay shifting relations of production, exchange, and social stratification we are able to contextualize the social judgments that ascribed value to material goods and food ways, while specifying the ways these were used to create and naturalize social relationships and power differentials. Stable isotope analyses, combined with evidence of vitrified dung, further enable us to suggest changes in herd management strategies used by the inhabitants of the site to compensate for ecological changes brought about by long-term occupation, while at the same time enabling them to economically tie subordinates to them as social divisions became more rigidly defined after CE 1300. The cultural and economic changes that took place at Bosutswe thus directly impact our understanding of the social transformations that immediately preceded contemporary configurations of ethnicity in Botswana.     

London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition: 1990 excavations at Saar

Preliminary results are presented of the first season's excavations at Saar, Bahrain, by the London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition. Saar is a single-period settlement dating to the early part of the second millennium BC. A short introduction to the history of excavation at Saar is followed by an account of the 1990 excavations in the temple area and in three areas of town housing. The main pottery types are discussed and some general conclusions then drawn about the settlement.     

The Changing Vernacular: archaeological excavations at Temple End,High Wycombe,Buckinghamshire

Abstract

Excavations beneath and around the late Georgian Glinester House at Temple End, in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, revealed the presence of at least three major phases of building. Dating from the 16th century these structures appear to be a succession of farmhouses lying at the centre of wider farm complexes. While these buildings are located within the former lands of Temple Manor, from which the area and farm name derives, no evidence of a medieval manor complex was located within the excavation area. Rather the pattern of development is more indicative of wider transformations in vernacular housing and domestic life between the 16th and 19th centuries.     

London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition: 1994 and 1995 excavations at Saar, Bahrain

The long-term aim of the project is to excavate the entire central area of the Dilmun settlement. During the 1994 and 1995 seasons a further twelve buildings were excavated, most of them located along the main arteries of the settlement. A resistivity survey, followed by selective excavation, determined the size and extent of the site. A well excavated on the eastern flank provided valuable information about the level of Bahrain's aquifers in the Early Dilmun period.     

江苏泰州明代墓葬清理简报

近年来泰州市博物馆抢救性地清理了两处明代墓葬群,出土了一批精美的瓷器,为研究明代泰州的墓葬演变过程提供了宝贵的实物资料。     

Climate,vegetation and ecology during Harappan period: excavations at Kanjetar and Kaj,mid-Saurashtra coast,Gujarat

A multi-proxy study was carried out to address climate–culture relationship from two trenches one each from Kaj and Kanjetar (mid-Saurashtra coast) deposited in a lacustrine setting, since ∼1960 Cal BC and ∼2230 Cal BC, respectively. The salinity of aqueous soil solution (0.1 ppt) and fresh water thecamoebians in both the sites indicate fresh water depositional environment. But, an increase in salinity (0.2 ppt) in the top clayey sediment in Kanjetar is attributed to water evaporation through upward capillary action from moisture deficit exposed land. The fragments of ancient potteries and other artefacts recovered from the bottom sediment provide evidences of Sorath-Harappan colonization in the vicinity which was not an urban site. The abundant cyanobacterium remains, low terrigenous organic matter, aquatic pollen and low thecamoebians in bottom sediment indicates low precipitation and arid climatic conditions ∼2000 BC. During this period the dominance of evergreen and moist deciduous arboreals from both the sites do not show equilibrium with the prevailing dry/arid climate and therefore, the pollen assemblage here represents the remnants of wetter middle Holocene vegetation in the region. Phytoliths of drought-tolerant summer season crops also reflects here changes made in the agricultural strategy by Harappans in response to climate. The increase in deciduous arboreal pollen since the last ∼2000 years represents equilibrium with the dry/arid climate. But, enhanced limnic conditions recorded with the help of thecamoebians during this period is attributed to changes in wetland configuration induced by hydrostatic changes in the river mouth that was largely defined by the dynamics of sediment deposition through rain-fed rivers/streams in the region.     

蒋经国与《蒋经国传》作者江南刺杀案

记得1987年读研究生期间,听说有一位作江南(刘宜良)写了本《蒋经国传》,被台湾派遣的特务在美国暗杀了(其实,江南早已于1981年l0月15日被特务暗杀,但当时对此新闻并未注意。由于1997年中国友谊出版公司《蒋经国传》第2版发行的效应,故而,已不是“新闻”的此事又成了“新闻”)。     

Tropical African cultigens from Shongweni excavations,Natal

Plant material preserved in an arid cave at Shongweni, Natal, has been identified as the fruiting inflorescences of Eleusine coracana, Pennisetum typhoides and Sorghum bicolor. Pieces of outer wall of cucurbits have been identified as Citrullus lanatus and Lagenaria siceraria. All these are tropical cultivars exotic to the area. Radiocarbon dates from the relevant levels indicate that they date back to the third millennium BC. The implications of such an early date for the occurrence of these species as far south as Natal are discussed.     

What is past is prologue: excavations at the Econfina Channel site,Apalachee Bay,Florida, USA

Offshore submerged sites can retain valuable data concerning many questions of interest to archaeology, including what form coastal occupations may have taken during periods before the establishment of modern coastlines and late Holocene climate and ecological conditions. However, submerged offshore sites experience postdepositional forces entirely unlike those in terrestrial contexts, including erosion/deflation of sediments, and degradation of artifacts and/or features caused by the marine environment. Methodological and theoretical approaches to assessing submerged marine sites, versus terrestrial ones, must be adjusted accordingly to extract valuable data and interpretations from them. This study demonstrates the application of these different approaches at the Econfina Channel site (8TA139) in Apalachee Bay, Florida, USA. The site appears to contain significant evidence for coastally adapted occupation during the final part of the Middle Archaic period (～8600–5000?cal?BP), but we needed to address marine site formation processes before we could assess human activities at the site. Sedimentological and archaeological traces of human activities can be teased out using geoarchaeological methods, which differentiate between nonhuman postdepositional processes and the cultural material remains left behind by those who used the site before it was abandoned and subsequently submerged.     

The Eleventh- and Twelfth-century Waterfront and Settlement at Queenhithe: Excavations at Bull Wharf,City of London

Evidence for the development of London’s riverside settlement c. AD 1000–1200 was found on the east edge of an important dock known successively as Æthelred’s hithe and Queenhithe. A sequence of embankments and tree-ring dated revetments advanced the waterfront nearly 40 m into the Thames and small inlets provided access to the foreshore. Building and rebuilding took place on a row of properties, with up to a dozen buildings identified; after c. 1150, passages were created for two narrow lanes connecting Thames Street with the quays and foreshore. Important reused building and ships’ timbers and dated groups of metalwork and other artefacts were recovered from the waterfronts.