Reconstruction of the Rib Vaults of the Hypostyle Hall in the Maniace Castle of Siracusa After the 1693 Earthquake

Built in the first half of the 13th century on behalf of the Emperor Frederick II, the Maniace Castle of Siracusa focuses its enigma in the hypostyle hall (which was composed of 25 quadripartite rib vaults) and the design criteria adopted for its implementation. Recent research and a careful rereading of the documentary “restoration project” after the earthquake of 1693 have offered new tools to understand the construction techniques and building procedures for the entire organism. It has been possible to demonstrate that the different material (white limestone and volcanic stone) used for the vaults is, in fact, a product of reconstruction. The constructive node, which historiography has taken for granted, is now crucial—the documentary evidence of the restoration after the earthquake compared with the materials found in situ provide interpretive keys to decode genesis and procedures of the huge structure built five centuries before.     

云南剑川兴教寺木构技术研究

云南剑川兴教寺的大殿和中殿为明永乐十三年(1415年)之遗构,作为全国现存唯一的阿吒力密宗寺院,兴教寺建筑群具有特殊的历史地位和社会文化价值。本文通过剖析兴教寺大殿及中殿的构件尺度及其构架结构特征,可见其木构技术所表达的"滞后"现象,既带有技术的独创性、体现云南木构殿堂建筑的地域特色,又保留了一些古老的中原木结构建筑技术手法,是研究云南现存早期殿堂建筑营造技艺的珍贵遗存。     

Reinforcement of the 18th Century Buttresses of Maniace Castle: Design and Execution

ABSTRACT

Maniace Castle, built on Ortygia island in Siracusa (Italy) in the first half of the 13th century and hosting a magnificent hypostyle hall (the Salone), a square area covered by 25 cross vaults supported by columns, was severely damaged by the 1693 earthquake and the explosion of the ammunition dump in 1704. The buttresses, built immediately afterward to counteract the thrust of the 10 surviving vaults, did not guarantee adequate seismic safety so that a metal scaffolding was installed in 2001 to prevent an overturning mechanism. This article discusses the design and execution of an external pre-stressing steel system to increase existing buttress strength and the seismic capacity of the Salone, starting with historical and constructional analyses and dealing with both analytical and technical aspects. The monitoring system installed to detect structural response during and after the working execution is shown, along with some of the data acquired so far.     

林州慈源寺建筑基础清理简报

2005年12月至2006年2月,河南省古代建筑保护研究所对林州慈源寺的大雄宝殿、三教堂和文昌阁三座建筑的基础进行了考古发掘清理,出土了一批佛像、瓷器、经幢、建筑构件等遗物,时代自隋一直延续至清代。     

汉代庙制问题探讨

西汉采用了每帝各专一庙的“独宫庙制”,并因时立制广设郡国庙,空前强化了宗庙的政权象征作用。从汉元帝时开始,依照儒家经典变革庙制,废置了郡国庙,并初步确立了按昭穆迭毁宗庙的庙制原则。东汉前期,创立了“同堂异室”的庙制形式,西汉诸帝和东汉诸帝分祭于高祖庙和世祖庙。献帝初平年间,虽然采纳蔡邕建议,实行了以“天子七庙”为核心的复古改革,但却没有改变“同堂异室”的庙制形式。     

雨花阁:乾隆朝宫廷佛堂建设主导思想论

乾隆帝崇信藏传佛教,修建了众多的佛堂,本文从雨花阁的修建原由、时间和供奉内容等方面进行分析,认为雨花阁是清宫的佛堂中心,其供奉虽然遵循佛教经典而陈设供奉,但却渗入了浓厚的皇权思想,包涵了清宫佛堂的两大供奉主题。它揭示了佛堂背后隐藏的乾隆皇帝建设佛堂的主导思想,奠定了众佛堂发展的基调。     

Change from within: Shia Seminarians' Responses to Contemporary Religious and Social Challenges

This article demonstrates how some contemporary scholars, operating from within the traditional Shiʿi establishment, have paved the way for new interpretations of Islam in general and Shiʿism in particular. To do so, the article focuses on three specific themes: the notion of the (im)purity of non-Muslims, rulings on apostasy and precepts related to women's rights. Following a brief explanation of the history of Shiʿism, the article addresses each of three aforementioned themes in turn. In each section, the article explains how the relevant theme was approached by earlier religious scholars, and how it has been treated differently by some contemporary reformist Shiʿi clerics. While not claiming the trends of thought instigated by some contemporary ʿulamāʾ are entirely homogeneous with liberal ideas about human rights, this article provides examples of Shiʿi legal standpoints being reformed to meet the challenges of the contemporary world.     

叔孙通与汉初儒学

儒学是中国传统文化中博大精深的思想体系,是在中国封建社会中处于支配地位的统治之学。但是,儒学并非是从创立之初就受到统治者的信赖而一举跻身庙堂的。汉朝是儒学“佩印绶带”的分水岭。汉以前,在一连串跻身庙堂的努力归于失败后,儒学开始自我反省。汉朝初年,儒学内部分化为齐学和鲁学,以崇尚权变为特征的齐学充分发挥“通变”思想,使儒学逐步适应了汉初政治形势的需要。叔孙通为人机警,善于认清形势,能适时地采取适当的行动,通过自己主观的努力以具体的事功让汉初统治者认识到儒学的价值,从而使儒学开始正式的登堂入室。叔孙通是汉初儒学的第一人。     

北京白塔寺内的御制唐卡

北京白塔寺,进入山门,慢步前行,便会看到一座以红墙围成的单独院落——塔院。这是一座幽雅寂静的小院,院内苍松翠柏、古楸参天、气象庄重。一缕缕轻烟淡雾,迷离飘渺,清香宜人,如置身于仙境之中。拾阶而上,迎面便看到一座金碧辉煌、华丽庄严的大殿《三世佛殿》,因在大殿正中的上方高悬一块清朝乾隆皇帝书写的御匾“具六神通”,故又称“具六神通殿”。     

NEOLITHIC AXES FROM ROMAN SITES IN BRITAIN

Finds of Neolithic axes are usually regarded primarily as evidence for Neolithic occupation in the area of the findspot. Neolithic axes from Roman contexts are also usually regarded in this way, often being classed as residual material. However, a study of axes from Roman sites in Britain has shown that they may well have been deliberately collected, in the Roman period, for religious or superstitious reasons. Many have been found on sites of a religious nature (an aspect well documented for temple sites on the Continent) and the beliefs associated with such axes may have been widespread.     

A New Star Shining over Bath

The paper is concerned with some previously neglected features of the pediment of the temple of Sulis Minerva. It is argued that the star (related to the sidus Iulium), oak-wreath (corona civica) and armillary globe as well as the victories and tritons were all well-established aspects of Imperial iconography and consequently the work can be regarded as a sort of ' State relief '. The Bath temple appears to be the only major surviving monument concerned with the events of AD 43 and may have been dedicated in the time of the emperor Vespasian by the Great King, Togidubnus, at the western limit of his realm to mark the victory of the Atrebates/Regni and the Romans over a common foe. As such it should be viewed alongside other evidence from Chichester, including a sculptured base, as an indication of his vigorous attachment to the Imperial family and to Roman culture.     

The Temple of Apollo and Diana in Rome

‘The temple of Apollo and Diana’ is Vitruvius' example of the diastylos type, with comparatively wide‐spaced columns. Since there were only two Apollo temples in Rome, and that of Apollo ‘Sosianus’ outside the Porta Carmentalis was of the pycnostylos type, Vitruvius must have been referring to the temple on the Palatine dedicated by Imperator Caesar (soon to be Augustus) on 9 October 28 BC. That conclusion is normally contested or ignored, on the grounds that it is inconsistent with the remains of the concrete core of the platform on which the Palatine temple stood. I argue that the archaeological evidence should not be treated as decisive, and that the identification of the Palatine temple as a joint dedication to Apollo and his sister, perhaps with back‐to‐back cellae, may help to resolve the recent controversy over which way the temple faced.     

郑、韩两都平面布局初论

本文通过对郑国、韩国故都新郑的城垣、城门及 城内各设施的考古勘查、发掘,结合文献史料,分析了郑国、韩国 两都城各自的特点,认为郑邦墓、仓禀、社稷、宫殿、太庙里南北直 线布局于都城的中央,而韩国灭郑并沿用其都城,对其城形制作 了很大的改变,在中央筑隔城,使韩都形成西宫城东郭城的布局。     

The Temple as a Symbol of Hindu Identity in America?

For overseas Hindu communities, the temple became an important symbol of ethnic regrouping. From the indentured expatriates of sugar colonies of the colonial era through the recent, highly educated, Asian Indian immigrants to America, the Hindu temple has served as a place of worship and, even more importantly, as a symbol of heightened cultural identity. Although the role of the temple in the Hindu regrouping in the diaspora has been previously examined, this paper reexamines this process in America in light of new data. Preliminary results indicate that the Hindu temple is not only an important religious focus for American Hindus, but also has generated links between Indian and expatriate Hindus in new ways. In fact, vigorous temple building activity among all Hindu diasporic communities could lead to a renaissance in temple building and possibly in Hinduism itself. We examine the Hindu temple as a component of the Hindu regrouping process in the postindustrial American context.     

都城隍庙考

明清时期的都城隍庙在建置中呈现出复杂局面。明代祀典中之京都城隍庙是文献资料中所见最早的都城隍庙,除此之外,几乎在不同层级的聚落都存在都城隍庙。这种局面的出现主要源于都城隍神自身的演化,其一,京都城隍神由都城隍神或称天下都城隍神发展而来,是后者的一种官方形态,都城隍神与京都无必然联系;其二,都城隍神的管辖范围不再固定为"天下",它可以是省,也可以是更小的地域。     

On the Glazing of the North Rose Window of Lincoln Cathedral

Upton Court (Pl. VIIA) is a timber-framed open hall house, dated by dendrochronology to c. 1330. The building appears to have been the work of Merton Priory, the holders of the manor of Upton from the twelfth century until the Dissolution. As originally built the house comprised an ailsed hall range and a jettied upper end cross wing. The open hall truss is of particular interest in that it is a hammer beam variant of unusual construction. The building was recorded by the Threatened Buildings Section of the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England prior to, and in the course of, an extensive programme of alterations and restorations.     

甘肃省永登县连城鲁土司属寺壁画的科学分析和时代研究

本项研究主要是运用光学显微镜、扫描电子显微镜和共聚焦显微激光拉曼光谱技术,分析了甘肃永登连城鲁土司属寺中的妙因寺、感恩寺和雷坛中的部分壁画。分析结果表明感恩寺和雷坛壁画基本保持了明代最初的绘制风格和内容。其中感恩寺主要壁画的绘画颜料和工艺特点鲜明,表明绘制该壁画的画工不同于绘制鲁土司属寺其他壁画的工匠;妙因寺万岁殿壁画存在后期改动和重绘的情况,其中万岁殿外回廊壁画主要部分的最初绘制时间要早于万岁殿大殿内壁画的最后绘制时间;而妙因寺塔尔殿壁画则绘制于19世纪后期。     

Urbanism and Residential Patterning in Angkor

The Khmer Empire (9th–15th centuries a.d.), centered on the Greater Angkor region, was the most extensive political entity in the history of mainland Southeast Asia. Stone temples constructed by Angkorian kings and elites were widely assumed to have been loci of ritual as well as habitation, though the latter has been poorly documented archaeologically. In this paper, we present the results of two field seasons of excavation at the temple site of Ta Prohm. Using LiDAR data to focus our excavations, we offer evidence for residential occupation within the temple enclosure from before the 11th century a.d. until the 14th century. A comparison with previous work exploring habitation areas within the Angkor Wat temple enclosure highlights similarities and differences between the two temples. We argue that temple habitation was a key component of the Angkorian urban system and that investigating this unique form of urbanism expands current comparative research on the diversity of ancient cities.     

吉林省扶余县陶西林场遗址发掘简报

陶西林场遗址是为数不多的保存较好的大型金代遗址.此次发掘,仅仅只是揭露了其中的一小部分,发现了众多的遗迹,出土了丰富的遗物.尤其檐瓦的纹饰种类更是在以往的发掘中少见,这为研究金代物质文化提供了又一批宝贵的资料.另外,在F2磉堆中出土的佛像残块,还向我们揭示了该遗址区域内或附近可能存在过寺庙,这无疑给我们探寻金代寺庙址及寺庙文化提供了宝贵的线索.     

Pelvic stress injuries in a small‐bodied forager

The assumption of natural selection for obstetric adequacy would predict the occasional discovery of skeletal evidence for inadequacy, yet such cases are rare. Here stress injuries to the pelvic ring are associated with an asymmetrical pelvis caused by partial agenesis of the right sacral costal process. The small, middle‐aged woman lived about 2000 years ago and pursued a physically vigorous life as a coastal forager on the South African Cape coast. The right sacral costal process (ala) is about 5 mm narrower than the left. This sacral hemiagenesis led to pelvic asymmetry, and concomitant instability. The six articular faces of the pelvis show the normal surfaces replaced by disorganised, porous new bone and extensive eburnation. The left pubic face shifted dorsally, making contact with the ventral aspect of the right pubis. The most distinctive aspect is the presence of osteitis pubis, or pubic symphysis stress injury, which is clinically associated both with difficult childbirth and with vigorous athletic activities. Adjustments to the altered pelvis include erosions and osteophytes at sites of ligament attachment, and prominent bilateral insertion areas on the tibiae for the stabilising iliotibial band. While habitual activities may explain some pelvic features, such as the bilateral bevelling of the acetabular borders, it is postulated that childbirth exacerbated the joint instability and the subsequent deterioration. This case joins a small literature on the condition of pubic symphysis stress injury, and illustrates the mechanisms through which natural selection for pelvic size and shape characteristics may have occurred. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.