The South-China-Sea Tradition: the Hybrid Hulls of South-East Asia

The South-China-Sea Tradition is a hybrid vessel-type combining structural features of Chinese and South-East Asian origin. It only occurs from the late-14th to the late-16th centuries and mirrors the production period of Thai export ceramics. This article examines 16 South-China-Sea-Tradition wrecks with a view to determining a well-defined list of characteristics, the origin of those characteristics, and the most likely builders.
© 2006 The Author     

Mounds,Towns, and their Surrounds: An Archaeological,Historical, and Geophysical Approach to Burial Mounds,Residential Space,and Cultural Landscapes of the Late Woodland Springwells Site (a.d. 800–1400) at Historic Fort Wayne,Detroit

Historic Fort Wayne is located on the Detroit River in a landscape of heavy industry and marginalized urban neighborhoods (figure 1). Geophysical survey south of the Fort Wayne Mound—a Late Woodland Period burial mound enclosed by the Fort—indicates that pre-contact residential structures may be preserved at the site. Residential sites with mortuary monuments are uncommon in southeastern Michigan and represent an opportunity to better understand variation in Late Woodland settlement. Our approach combines existing archaeological research, historical records, and non-invasive geophysical survey in a culturally sensitive Native American site context presently unavailable for conventional archaeological excavation. We examine archaeological and historical records from Springwells and Late Woodland period settlements in the region to contextualize geophysical evidence from the site. The research prioritizes protection of Native American heritage sites in urban contexts together with ongoing archaeological interpretation of the Late Woodland cultural Landscape.     

The Protohistoric Time Period in Northwest Ohio: Perspectives from the XRF Analysis of Metallic Trade Materials

This paper presents the results of an experimental study into the usefulness of X-ray florescence (XRF) in identifying the composition of metal artifacts found at aboriginal sites in northwestern Ohio. In the late 1990s, we subjected 96 samples to XRF and documented our results. We then compared our data to that collected by more precise spectrographic methods to assess the effectiveness of the XRF method for this application. While not precise enough to source native coppers, we conclude that XRF is a cheap, nondestructive method for differentiating native copper from its European counterparts at sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Late Woodland sites.     

A bioarchaeological study of a Western Basin tradition cemetery on the Detroit River

Archaeological monitoring of construction in a Windsor city park on the Detroit River led to the discovery of an isolated cemetery containing the remains of eight individuals assigned to the Late Woodland Western Basin Tradition. At the request and consent of the contemporary First Nation community, tissue samples from five individuals were subjected to radiocarbon dating, mtDNA, and stable isotope analysis to confirm cultural affiliation and further understand the subsistence practices of these people. Radiocarbon dating placed the cemetery at the transition from the Younge phase (AD 900–1200) to the Springwells phase (AD 1200–1400). The stable carbon and nitrogen isotope results provide an unexpected but fuller understanding of Late Woodland Western Basin Tradition subsistence. All individuals were as enriched in carbon as those found on Iroquoian horticulturalist sites to the east, suggesting a very high reliance on maize. Nitrogen isotope values indicate that the protein component of the diet was comprised largely of high trophic level food sources, likely fish. An in situ osteological analysis identified a high number of carious lesions in the visible teeth, also suggesting a diet high in carbohydrates. The mtDNA findings support the antiquity of the Western Basin presence in Northeast North America through genetic links with the Hind Site, an Archaic site in southern Ontario. These results underscore the importance of such studies for providing novel insight into the archaeological histories and lifeways of this distinct Late Woodland tradition. This study also emphazises the need to work with descendant communities to provide them with information on the past that reflects their distinct heritage in the lower Great Lakes region.     

陕西咸阳出土东汉陶器表面彩绘成分研究

为掌握陕西省咸阳市渭城区周陵镇费家村南两座东汉墓葬M17和M19出土15件陶器表面彩绘成分及保存现状,通过XRF,XRD,FTIR和SEM-EDS等分析仪器进行检测。经分析检测发现:M17出土6件陶器表面使用铅丹作为颜料,部分铅丹已转化为白色碳酸铅(PbCO_3)。M19出土陶器表面分别使用朱砂和铁红颜料,同时确定在部分器物表面使用了髹漆工艺。在M19出土的3件器物口沿处发现二氧化锡层,通过扫描电镜能谱分析和文献研究,确定其应为单质锡氧化而来,且使用锡汞齐方法镀锡,为进一步认识和理解这批器物提供了基础。     

The role of interdisciplinary science in the study of ancient pottery

Abstract

In the context of the modern world, the term ceramics suggests a very versatile group of materials capable of being designed to have particular physical and chemical properties and to fulfil a wide range of functions, functions that traditionally have often been fulfilled by other types of material.¹ While suitably designed ceramics may hold the key to overcoming many of humankind's future technological problems, it is interesting to reflect on how much ceramics can also tell us about our past. Future technological innovations in ceramics will influence and be influenced by wider aspects of human culture; so too it may be expected that there was a similar relationship between ancient ceramics and the past societies that made them. In archaeology, ceramics hold an important and varied role as a key to understanding many aspects of the development of human civilisations. This paper aims to explore some of the ways in which ceramics have been studied by archaeologists, and to illustrate some of the many contributions interdisciplinary science has made to the study of ancient pottery.     

Local Ceramics from the Islamic Trade Center of Harlaa,Eastern Ethiopia: Markers of Chronology and Contacts

Locally made ceramics from Islamic sites in Ethiopia have been neglected in most archaeological studies, which tend to privilege imported Middle Eastern and Chinese/Southeast Asian ceramics. An assemblage of the local ceramics from the important trading site of Harlaa, in eastern Ethiopia (mid-sixth and fifteenth centuries AD), is the subject of this article. The study emphasizes the value of these ceramics as chronological markers, and for understanding regional and long-distance contacts, cultural innovations, processes of Islamization, and foodways.

     

Wadi Suq and Iron Age period ceramics from Sharm, Fujairah (U.A.E.)

The Wadi Suq period and Iron Age ceramics from Sharm are examined in terms of morphological, compositional and decorative features. The assemblage is typical of the second- and first-millennium BC ceramics of southeastern Arabia. The more unusual Iron Age 'imitation soft stone' ceramics are amply represented and the Sharm assemblage considerably expands upon this corpus of ceramics which has hitherto been less than abundant in the region. Comparisons with other second- and first-millennium sites suggest the tombs were largely occupied in the late Wadi Suq period, a pattern of occupation which again peaked in the Iron Age II period.     

Towards a Socialised Archaeology of Ceramics in Great Lakes Africa

This paper presents results of recent research in Kenya and Uganda on ceramics from the first and early to mid second millennia ad. Whereas previous research has tended to emphasise the role of ceramics as chronological tools, or as an index of past ethno-linguistic identity, this paper will emphasise the role of ceramics as functioning tools. Combining archive and published data with new results from fieldwork, the evidence presented here demonstrates continuity of settlement in the Victoria Nyanza region between first millennium Urewe users and second millennium Transitional Urewe and Entebbe ceramics, and the emergence of specialist lacustrine communities. The changing nature of ceramics over this time span is compared with evidence from historical linguistics to suggest a shift in social authority from the family home to the wider community in the second millennium, and the growing influence of economic wealth or individual leadership.     

基于XRF与TL技术相结合的古陶瓷产地判别研究

古陶瓷产地判别一直是古陶瓷研究工作的一个重点。为了拓展产地判别的科技研究方法,本研究针对南北方4个不同窑口(越窑、建窑、耀州窑、定窑)的古陶瓷样品,首次结合采用X射线荧光光谱分析(XRF)和热释光(TL)测试分析技术相互印证,测定4个窑口样品的胎釉元素组成和热释光特性,并建立相对应的数据库,相互印证判别古陶瓷样品的产地。数据库的统计分析表明:同一窑口的古陶瓷不仅在主量与微量元素化学组成具有一定的地域特征,其热释光的测量灵敏度也存在地域特征性;不同窑口的古陶瓷可以通过元素组成归类和热释光特性的不同加以区分,结合采用XRF与TL测试分析两种技术可以更准确地对古陶瓷产地进行分析判别。     

NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS OF COLONIAL CERAMICS FROM SOUTHERN HIGHLAND ECUADOR*

Sixty‐one ceramic samples collected in Cuenca, Ecuador, were analysed by neutron activation analysis in an attempt to establish their elemental compositions. The bulk of the samples were manufactured in the region of Cuenca, with others imported from Quito in the northern highlands of Ecuador, from Panama Vieja in Panama, and from Seville in Spain. Relative to the Cuenca ceramics, the Spanish samples were separable primarily by their high Ca contents; the Panamanian ceramics by their high Cs contents; and the Quito ceramics by their high Na contents. The ceramics made within the region surrounding Cuenca are much more difficult to separate, with Ba and other elements being potentially important.     

“石匠村”的意义——窦村的石工传统与南京传统建筑地方性的关系

当前保护古都风貌成为南京城市发展的重要工作,这主要是指保护和利用各个历史时期遗留下来的建筑遗产。而我们在传统建筑遗产保护工作中往往只重视对建筑物本身的保护,采取的方法也只局限在测绘、图纸分析、按图纸施工等层面,却忽视了其最初建造过程中传统工艺的保护。针对传统建造工艺与建筑地方性的关系的问题,对南京郊区的被称为“石匠村”的窦村所特有的石工传统与南京传统建筑地方性的关系进行的讨论。     

Die Petrografie himyarischer Keramik vom Jabal al ‘Awd,Jemen

Early Himyarite ceramics (first century BC–third century AD) from the Jabal al ‘Awd in Yemen are classified by visual criteria into a number of ware groups. Following classification the ceramics were investigated with petrologic methods (porosity and density). Mineralogical and physical properties were determined from thin sections according to cathodo‐luminescence spectra. The ceramics are divided into six ware groups, each of which has distinctive material properties and mineralogy.     

European trade ceramics on the Arabian Peninsula 1800–1960

European trade ceramics found across Arabia date from the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries and were made at factories mostly located within northwest Europe. After c. 1930, imitations of European ceramics are increasingly represented from factories in Japan and later China. Combining the information from archaeological excavations on the Arab coast of the Gulf and ceramics from museum and private collections, information from the archives of the British India Office and the Maastricht pottery order books for Arabia, a relatively detailed overview of this market for trade ceramics can be reconstructed. Three key points may be highlighted: First, the complex routes via which European ceramics arrived within Arabia, second, the significance of the link between producers and consumers on opposite sides of the globe, exemplified by specific designs and types of vessels manufactured for the Arabian market, and third, new layers of meaning that were given to such objects as they were incorporated into the homes, social fabric and the lives of people in Arabia.     

Mimetic Structuration: Or,Easy Steps to Building an Acceptable Identity1

Since their settlement two millennia ago the Comoro Islanders have been subjected to a diversity of external influences that have provoked significant and often radical social change. This article develops the concept of mimesis to explain how the Comoros have deal with these influences, incorporating and developing them to create cultural and social structures that may appear eclectic but which have equipped the islanders to negotiate these changes quite effectively. As a result of their mimetic praxis, Comorians confront and manage influences both internal and external with the minimum of social upheaval, maintaining a society that is both highly heterogeneous and remarkably enduring.     

Long-term clay raw material selection and use in the region of Classical/Hellenistic to Early Byzantine Sagalassos (SW Turkey)

A provenance study was carried out on coarse ceramics from the Classical/Hellenistic to Mid-Byzantine city of Sagalassos, SW Turkey. The ceramics were sampled from the excavations of the city, and clay raw materials were sampled throughout its ancient territory. Used techniques were optical microscopy and electron microprobe analysis on thin sections, geochemical analysis (fusion ICP/MS and mineralogical analysis (X-ray diffraction). The geochemical/mineralogical diversity in the ceramics is not as wide as for the clay raw materials. It seems that even at the restricted scale of this study, the resources were limited to the area around the ancient site. The differences between the ceramics are likely due to the use of different ophiolitic clay bodies being exploited for their production.     

Traditions in transition: Sanskritization and Yakkhafication in East Nepal

Based on fieldwork conducted amongst the Yakkha of East Nepal from 1989–90, this article looks at the similarities and differences in how “tradition” is approached by anthropologists and historians. It focuses on reflexivity, performance and process as key intellectual traditions within both anthropology and history, but takes issue with Hobsbawm’s suggestion that “tradition” is the stuff of “modern” societies while “custom” is a feature of “traditional” ones. It also argues for the “construction” rather than “invention” of traditions, by anthropologists as well as by people they study. In the case of the Yakkha, this construction can be seen in the changes in agricultural techniques over the past 150 years, the use of pellet bows by Yakkha men, and the celebrations of the ostensibly Hindu festival of Dasain. Only with hindsight can the ‘invented’ nature of the Dasain tradition be appreciated; even so, during the research period covered by this article, the rituals that epitomized ‘Sanskritization’ were simultaneously the subject of ‘Yakkhafication’, a process reflecting the negotiation, manipulation and subversion of Yakkha identity.     

A hierarchical taxonomic procedure for provenance determination: A case study of Chalcolithic ceramics from the central Zagros

This study develops a data analysis methodology for the exploration of the variance in chemical composition of ceramic artifacts due to their typological, location and temporal characteristics. This methodology then allows for the characterization of ceramics based on these characteristics and the sequential assignment of unclassified ceramics to a region, subregion or site, with further assignment to specific ware and chronological period. The procedure uses INNA data on the elemental composition of ceramics in order to derive a series of classification functions for each category within each level of the taxonomic hierarchy. The developed procedure is used to investigate a provenance problem involving Chalcolithic ceramics from the Zagros region of western Iran. The results show that the elemental composition of ceramics, when coupled with multivariate statistical techniques, represents a powerful means for distinguishing ceramic provenance.     

古陶瓷瓷釉元素成分数据库建立的基础研究

清代官窑瓷器元素成分数据库建立工作是上海博物馆古陶瓷科学分析研究的一个重要组成部分,该数据库的建立不仅为清代官窑瓷器专业研究提供技术支持,也可以为清代官窑瓷器的鉴定提供参考。本工作以清代官窑瓷器为主要研究对象,介绍了古陶瓷元素成分数据库建立工作中的相关基础研究,即数据库建立工作中测量点数的选取、测量条件的确认、测量方法精度的验证、清代官窑瓷器瓷釉元素成分含量的均匀性分布特点及含量分类标准等等。并对古陶瓷元素含量数据库建立工作中的相关问题展开了讨论。     

MINERALOGICAL ANALYSIS OF SUDANESE NEOLITHIC CERAMICS

The archaeologist must often determine if ceramics having similar designs and forms but from widely separated locations were locally made or are the result of diffusion. This paper describes a methodology of technological analysis of ceramics utilised to solve such a problem. Results of a mineralogical analysis of ceramics and a discussion of the cultural implications of the results is presented. It is concluded that this methodology is an essential tool in distinguishing sites and elucidating relationships within the Sudanese Neolithic.