An Independent Confirmation of the 4 ka Antiquity of a Beeswax Figure in Western Arnhem Land,Northern Australia

Critical to any chronology is reliability in the determination of age for a distinctive artefact that is related to other components in a series. Therefore, the independent testing and verification of the antiquity of an apparent anomalous measurement for an old beeswax figure in northern Australia is of fundamental interest in rock art studies. Replication of the radiocarbon dating process has confirmed that one exceptional figure in early X‐ray style at the Gunbilngmurrung site in western Arnhem Land is indeed c. 4–4.5 ka. The result also confirms the great antiquity of paintings over which the beeswax was applied.     

Red-Painted and Glazed Pottery in Western Europe from the Eighth to the Twelfth Century

THREE ALTERNATIVE MODELS for the production of floor tiles in the 13th-15th, centuries are discussed. Evidence is produced to support all three modes of production; itinerant, intermittent and settled. The significance of such variation is discussed.     

西方关于中国和埃及文明起源研究的启示

本文是笔者在访问英国伦敦期间收集、阅读西方学者有关文明起源方面论著的心得体会,包括介绍Robert J.Wenke、John H.Bodley、Gina L.Barnes、Stephan Seidlmayer和Sarah Allan等学者的论著,并结合我国学者的研究认为,西方关于中国和埃及文明起源研究以及我国青铜器研究的一些观点对于国内相关问题的研究有重要的借鉴和推动作用,也在很大程度上开阔了相关研究领域的视野.     

The Gender of Grace: Impotence,Servitude, and Manliness in the Fifth‐Century West

This essay attempts to stage an encounter between post‐Foucauldian approaches to masculinity in the ancient world on the one hand, and the reading of Augustine of Hippo's idea of Original Sin as a disjunction of the will, put forward in Robert Markus's Saeculum: History and Society in the Theology of Saint Augustine. Emphasis is placed on Book XIV of the City of God, where Augustine emblematises the result of Original Sin not –pace Foucault – through an image of irrepressible lust, but rather through that of the impotent male, humiliated by his inability to embody his desire.     

Poetry and Prayer: Women and Politics of Spiritual Relationships in the Early Twelfth Century

Writers such as the author of the Histoire , Richard of Devizes, Jordan Fantosme, earlier writers such as Orderic Vitalis and William of Malmesbury, or even the dubious Geoffrey of Monmouth, used gendered language to comment, criticise or alternatively applaud women's roles. Their views on women can be explained by the climate of clerical misogyny within which they wrote, their desire to please their patron and the convention of genre. There were many influences working on individual writers which can explain their views. William of Malmesbury was partisan to the Angevin cause; Orderic Vitalis wrote an ecclesiastical history which criticised the morals of secular society and castigated violently the enemies of the patrons of his monastery. The complex nature of the portrayals of both men and women therefore has to be studied in the light of such biases. Noblewomen participated in literary patronage, they inspired authors as models of virtue, were condemned for typically feminine vices, and as such exerted some influence over the shape of texts. They also commissioned texts, were connected with churchmen and such networks could be used for political purposes. Literary sources have been the subject of much theoretical discussion, yet they can be read alongside charters, the evidence of women's economic, administrative, religious patronage and individual initiative, which have in comparison been relatively neglected.     

The Origins of Tunnage and Poundage: Parliament and the Estate of Merchants in the 14th Century

By establishing the dates and political context of all early grants of the subsidy of tunnage and poundage, this study provides new evidence for the relationship between parliament and the so-called 'estate of merchants' during the third quarter of the 14th century. Until the 1370s, tunnage and poundage was granted by the king's council with the assent of groups of merchants; it was only at the end of Edward III's reign that grants of the tax began to be made in parliament, and only from the mid 1380s that it became fully integrated into the customs system. Throughout the period of experimentation, the subsidy was intended for a specific purpose: the defence of the coasts and of English shipping. This partly explains why the crown chose to discuss it with groups of mariners and merchants rather than with the Lords and Commons in parliament. The chronology therefore calls into question assumptions about the collapse of the estate of merchants in the 1350s and the take-over of its fiscal and political agenda by the burgesses in the parliamentary Commons. Through an analysis of petitions made in the name of the 'merchants of England', it can be shown that crown and parliament alike continued to recognize this group as a distinct political entity for the rest of Edward III's reign. The decisive shift came not in the 1350s but in 1382, when the merchants themselves acknowledged that the appropriate place to determine the crown's financial policies was, indeed, in parliament.     

中西传记史学的产生及其趋向之比较

中西传记的史学观念与中西所共有的原始宗教文化形式紧密相关,并在叙事史学的基础上得以产生。在古希腊罗马,由于自然崇拜、英雄崇拜和祖先崇拜在其文化结构中的矛盾运动,传记史学兴起后自成一体,与叙事史学并行不障;而中国则由于祖先崇拜长期占据优势,传记史学在叙事史学的基础上产生后,遂将叙事史学同传记史学结合起来,定为一尊,形成正统的史学体裁。比较研究中西传记史学的产生及其趋向具有重要的现实意义。     

20世纪美国残疾人就业权利的缘起、制度化与困境

在某种意义上,20世纪的美国历史也是一部残疾人的民权运动史。如果说经济大萧条初步唤醒了残疾人的就业权利意识,两次世界大战开启了美国伤残军人康复与就业援助的机制建设,第三次科技革命则加速了残疾人就业权利保障的制度化进程。从公共就业计划、残疾人社会保障保险计划、补充收入保障计划,到《1973年残疾人康复法》,再到《1990年美国残疾人法》,残疾人的就业权利经历了被漠视、依附于福利救济、向实现平等权利转变等阶段,给美国的政治、经济、社会、思想领域留下了诸多挑战和值得思考的问题。由于法律在解决社会问题上存有局限、残疾人对各种福利保障资助的依赖、根深蒂固的偏见等因素,美国残疾人争取平等权利之路仍任重而道远。     

The Origin of Soluble Salts in Rocks of the Thebes Mountains, Egypt: The Damage Potential to Ancient Egyptian Wall Art

Soluble salts are indigenous to the marine sediments of the Esna Formation and Thebes Formation in central Egypt. Natural weathering processes and human impact cause salt efflorescence in tombs and on walls of ancient Egyptian monuments in the Theban Necropolis, resulting in the disintegration of wall paintings and carved hieroglyphs. Determination and quantification of soluble salts and measurements of the porosity were done on tomb marls in order to understand the origin and damage potential of the salts in the royal tombs of the Valley of the Kings. The study shows that sodium chloride (NaCl) is the predominant salt species. Sulphates, anhydrite (CaSO₄) and gypsum (CaSO₄ . 2 H₂O) also occur in the limestone deposits of the Thebes Formation and the underlying shale deposits of the Esna Formation. Member I of the Thebes Formation, into which most of the ancient tombs were hewn, shows the highest amount of soluble salts (up to 6·2 wt-% dry). In addition, the porosity and permeability of the marls in Member I are high, enhancing water molecules and brine migration. Wetting and drying of the tomb surfaces in the past has affected solution, transportation and recrystallization of water soluble minerals, and has led to major destruction of wall paintings and ornamentations. This study shows that large amounts of salt minerals still remain in the wall rocks. Future humidity changes due to flash floods and tourists may favour salt crystallization in the ancient Egyptian monuments. The authors urge the authorities to undertake steps to prevent further destruction to save the magnificent cultural heritage found in the Thebes area.     

19世纪英国工人阶级子女童年生活转型原因探析

在19世纪,英国工人阶级子女的童年生活,逐渐由参加劳动转变为接受教育。这种转型根源于当时的社会、政治、经济生活所发生的深刻变化。思想文化界看待童年的观念变迁影响着人们对待儿童的态度。工业社会对劳动者的素质提出了新要求,改变了人们对待儿童的劳动和教育问题的传统态度;国家出于社会控制以及对民族未来的考虑,也在下层儿童的教育和劳动立法问题上采取越来越主动的态度;工人阶级家庭对于子女的教育和劳动问题的态度,也因为时代和社会的变化以及生活水平的提高而发生着改变。正是在这些因素的作用下,工人阶级儿童的生活重心逐渐由劳动转移到教育,这种转变不仅改变了几个世纪以来英国普通儿童的命运,也使得现代意义的童年生活初具模型。     

17-19世纪喜马拉雅地区的羊绒贸易和战争

近代以来,西喜马拉雅地区出品的羊绒披肩享誉世界。巨大的利益诱使莫卧儿人、锡克人、道格拉人、英国殖民主义者为争夺羊绒资源,垄断羊绒贸易相互倾轧。作为羊绒输出国,清政府却本着"修其教不易其俗,齐其政不易其宜"的治边理念置身事外,无视自身利益受损,为以后边疆危机的出现种下隐患。     

20世纪西方史学对兰克史学的批判与继承

兰克史学是19世纪西方史学的代表,被长期尊奉为西方史学的“样板”。20世纪以来,西方史学经历重大变迁,兰克史学的支配地位不复存在。在西方史学转型过程中,兰克史学既是当代西方史学学术批判的对象,也是学术继承的对象。文章系统考察了当代西方史学与兰克史学的批判与继承关系,认为兰克史学的一些合理思想和方法已融入当代西方史学,20世纪西方史学的变迁不是简单地否定传统,而是在突破传统中继承传统。     

Pirate Ports and Harbours of West Cork in the Early Seventeenth Century

In the early part of the seventeenth century in Ireland select harbours along the southwest coast of Munster acted as the North Atlantic headquarters for pirates, primarily made up of English mariners. The places picked by the pirates as their bases were spatially strategic and three harbours in particular dominated this West Cork landscape—Baltimore, Leamcon and Crookhaven. Complicit English officers facilitated this activity and pirates and their families settled on the estates of the local officials while others used this pirate landscape as a staging point for plundering adventures further afield. As a consequence, piracy in Irish waters at that time had a profound influence on local economies, social activities and, in some cases, political events. Indeed the tolerance shown to it in the early seventeenth century in the southwest may be explained by the fact that it facilitated the colonial effort ongoing under the Munster Plantation and thus, inadvertently, suited the purposes of official government.     

20世纪下半叶西方史学认识论的发展

20世纪下半叶,西方史学理论出现了重要的发展。20世纪上半叶相对论者对历史客观性观念的猛烈抨击推动了西方历史家们对历史客观性重新定位,并深入研究历史解释的性质和方式。从60年代起在西方人文社会科学中出现的“语言学转向”和结构主义的影响,一些历史学家转向历史认识论研究的更深层次,     

夏商西周文化对其西方和北方地区文化渗透的方向性与层级性

文化渗透与交流一直是考古学界关注的问题,通过对夏商西周文化之西方、北方地区诸考古学文化的综合研究,发现夏商西周文化对其西方、北方地区的文化渗透具有明显的方向性和层级性。时期不同,对不同方位的文化扩张和渗透力度也不一样;距离不同,文化渗透的内容、方式也不相同。     

16世纪西欧“价格革命”新探

对于16世纪“价格革命“的原因,过去往往局限于货币数量论,侧重美洲进口金银的影响。本文则通过对气候和人口、商业和市场、信贷发展几个因素的考察,提出了不同于以往的新的解释,指出价格革命有更复杂的背景和原因,这些多元因素与价格运动相互作用,影响了欧洲近代早期的经济发展道路。