古代民俗分类法和动物考古研究

古代的动物民俗分类法与人类的生计活动、社会文化息息相关,既是动物知识的抽象总结,也体现在实际行动中应用于生活的方方面面。动物考古利用科学分类法对出土的动物遗存进行鉴定,常常将鉴定结果直接代入到古人的分类中,却鲜少质疑两者是否契合。本文通过对比科学分类法和民俗分类法的不同,认为科学分类法并不能如实反映古代的动物民俗分类。研究古代的动物民俗分类要求我们跳出已有的研究思路、进一步结合遗址中的相关背景、并使用多种研究手段来解读考古材料,以此实现从主位视角再现过去社会中人与动物的相互关系。     

山西垣曲发现的石器

山西垣曲县华峰乡等地发现的一批旧石器,为探讨古代人类在垣曲的分布及生存环境、研究旧石器时代的文化面貌、了解该县境内细石器的分布和类型,提供了一些新的线索。     

花钱研究所得

<正>花钱源于汉代,是人们自娱自乐的一种玩钱,花钱中的字文图案千姿百态,各具姿容,称它为古代"铜版画"并不过分。具有较高的艺术价值和学术价值。花钱中的铭文和图像蕴藏着丰富的历史文化和神话故事。其丰富多彩的纹饰文化和铭文文化,可以说是我们了解古代社会的一个重要窗口。我们可从中看到各时期的政治经济、语言文化、社会风俗、宗教信仰等诸多内容,同样也可以看出它对中华文化传承的重要意义,因此,对花钱的研究,其实也是探索并弘扬中华传统文化的一种重要方式。     

关于体育考古学学科体系的理论思考——《南方文物》“体育考古”专栏主持辞

体育,是通过人类活动而产生的一种文化形态,是构成不同时代人类社会生活特征的一种身体运动的表现形式。中国古代体育文化,从其所处的历史环境和文化背景来看,它是与当时的社会政治和经济发展水平相适应的。同时,也是人类在自身发展过程中所产生的一种身体文化产物。当代,随着考古学的发展,与古代体育活动有关的文物资料被大批地发掘出来,从而使我们对古代体育文化形态的研究有了更为充实的依据。     

探析《说文解字》“马”部汉字中马的特征与文化

汉代许慎的《说文解字》中蕴含了大量的文化信息。《说文解字》“马”部一共收录了115个字,本文以其中与马的特征相关的50个字为研究对象,按照马的毛色、名字、优劣、年龄、性别和脾性、高矮进行了分类。其中与马的毛色相关汉字最多,一共25个;其次是与马的优劣相关的9个字,与马的名字相关的6个字,与马的性别和脾性相关的5个字,与马的年龄相关的3个字,与马的高矮相关的2个字。本文通过对马的特征相关汉字进行分类和研究,阐述在中国古代社会,马与人们生活的关系,以及马对古人生活的影响,从而了解古代社会相马文化与相马方法的相关文化内容。     

关于唐代“菱花镜”之管见

关于唐代“菱花镜”之管见冀和关键词唐代,菱花镜古代铜镜是我们祖国历史文化遗产中一枝绚丽灿烂之花。它那纷繁的造型、富丽的纹饰、内容丰富的铭文,无不带有时代的特征,“与当时的政治、经济、思想文化、社会生活及时代风尚有一定的关系……为我们认识和研究古代社会...     

前资本主义社会形态理论概念的考古视角新思考

<正>引子考古学的任务不仅有探索古代的物质文化与精神文化史,当仁不让地也包括探索古代人类社会历史。探索古代人类社会的指导理论有诸多的理论,我们认为历史唯物主义是正确的指导理论。斯大林指出:“历史唯物主义就是把辩证唯物主义原理推广去研究社会生活,把辩证唯物主义原理应用于社会生活现象,应用于研究社会,应用于研究社会历史。”⁽(1))斯大林将马克思主义社会进化论表述为原始社会、奴隶社会、封建社会、资本主义社会、社会主义社会(共产主义社会的初级阶段)⁽(2)),简称为“五大阶段论”。     

我国西南地区有肩石器的研究

我国西南地区新石器时代考古学文化内涵比较简单,它与该地闻名遐迩的旧石器文化和灿烂多姿的青铜文化相比,显然逊色得多。究其原因,一方面是我们田野考古工作开展得不够深入,缺乏典型遗址的材料;另一方面也与这一地区遗址文化层较薄,包含的遗物和遗迹都不甚丰富有关。因此,探讨西南地区的新石器时代文化,既要解剖典型遗址,又要重视一些散见遗物的整理与研究,这样,才能使我们在有限的资料中,对西南地区新石器时代文化有     

河北省博物馆馆藏古代陶瓷枕概述

<正> 陶瓷枕是我国古代陶瓷艺苑中的一朵奇葩,也是研究我国古代人们生活和民俗的重要实物资料。本馆收藏的古代陶瓷枕,涉及不同的年代、窑系、种类,从一个侧面反映着古代陶瓷生产和发展的轨迹。透过陶瓷枕所展示的古朴造型及装饰特征,能够使我们窥见陶瓷枕的历史、民俗史料价值和艺术风格,丰富我国古代文化艺术宝库。因此本文将馆藏陶瓷枕作以概述。     

犬岩画·犬·犬祭

在我国无数考古遗存中,岩画占有重要位置,它不但揭示了曾在我国居住过的各民族遥远古代的物质生活,同时也提供了我们远古祖先精神生活连续性的篇章。广泛分布于我国各地的岩画,反映了古代居民社会经济和文化生活中的许多侧面,由犬岩画反映的犬功能,便是一例。训练有素之犬,具有勇敢、机警、灵活、善跑和体力强健的特点,所以古代的猎牧民十分珍惜它。犬是人类最早驯化的家畜,历史学家康拉德·洛伦兹说:“狗是人的第一个结盟     

More than acorns and small seeds: A diachronic analysis of mortuary associated ground stone from the south San Francisco Bay area

The archaeological record of central California contains a rich variety of ground stone milling tools—from highly expedient cobble tools to large ornate mortars and finely finished pestles more than half a meter in length. Historical trends in research objectives, along with assumptions about the entirely mundane character of ground stone tools, have caused much of the variability and many “extra-utilitarian” aspects of these artifacts to be overlooked. This study analyzed grave-associated ground stone from the southern San Francisco Bay Area and employed use-wear analysis (macroscopic and microscopic) and morphological comparisons to investigate potential distinctions in form, manufacturing effort, use, and association over approximately 6000 years of prehistory. Ground stone morphologies, patterns of use-wear, and the way that ground stone was interred with people changed between the earliest and the latest periods analyzed in this study. During the Late Holocene, ground stone underwent a diversification of form and perhaps purpose. An overtly symbolic dimension associated with mortars and pestles seems to emerge with the addition of highly formalized and expensive flower-pot mortars, very long shaped pestles, and additional embellishments such as shell bead appliqué and painted designs. Large, costly, highly formalized, and embellished mortars exist alongside smaller, less costly, less formalized milling tools. Archaeological and ethnographic evidence supports the inferred association of certain mortars with feasting and ritual activities. Differences in the representation of some of these forms in male and female graves may reflect changes in the roles of women and men in community ritual and politics.     

论磨制石器工业的资源问题

资源研究是新石器时代以降磨制石器工业研究的一个重要的环节。本文从可用性和可获得性两个方面来分析磨制石器资源的特点。在磨制石器的生产中,原料的大小和形状成为非常重要的原料选取的根据。资源研究的立足点应该是生产型遗址,从生产型遗址出发可以获得比较确信的资源产地信息。     

Identifying stone tools used in mining,smelting, and casting in Middle Bronze Age Cyprus

Abstract

Metallurgical production sites are often difficult to identify in the archaeological record because ore beneficiation and slag processing in the past involved the use of ground stone tools that were similar to those used in other contexts to prepare cereals and foods. Analysis of the ground stone assemblage from a Middle Bronze Age copper mining and production site at Ambelikou Aletri in Cyprus provided an opportunity to distinguish industrial and domestic ground stone tools and to identify the types of tools used in different stages of metal production. A comparison of tool morphologies, raw materials, and wear and breakage patterns from Ambelikou Aletri with those from contemporary domestic contexts, suggests that distinctions in the nature and structure of industrial and domestic tool kits do exist and those distinctions have an important role to play in identifying mining, smelting, and casting sites in the future.     

Ground stone tool production and use in the Late Upper Palaeolithic: The evidence from Riparo Dalmeri (Venetian Prealps,Italy)

Abstract

The site of Riparo Dalmeri yielded numerous flint, bone, and shell artifacts, as well as faunal and botanical remains, which are evidence of the Late Upper Palaeolithic (or Late Epigravettian culture, ca. 16,000–12,000 cal b.p.) occupation of the Alps region. The importance of the site is related to the discovery of 267 stones painted with anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and geometric designs. Here we report on ground stone tools from Riparo Dalmeri investigated by means of an integrated technofunctional and experimental approach to reconstruct their production and use. The results support the hypothesis that the ground stone artifacts were employed in specialized activities (e.g., hide treatment, flintknapping) as well as in the production of some of the painted stone artifacts.     

Analysis of DNA from Ethnoarchaeological Stone Scrapers

Analysis of DNA residues on stone tools provides a direct method of determining what the tools were used on. However, little is known about the taphonomy of DNA on tools. The discovery of present-day, stone-tool using hide workers in Ethiopia therefore provides a unique opportunity to study the survival and authenticity of DNA residues on stone tools. We collected stone scrapers from contexts ranging from excavated to confirmed use, as well as unused scrapers to test for the presence of DNA residues. We amplified segments of the mitochondrial genome with PCR to determine which animal species a tool was used on. We were able to recover authentic DNA from scrapers of known use and from a subset of excavated scrapers. We did, however, also obtain DNA unrelated to the use of the tools. Thus, caution must be used when interpreting results of DNA analysis of stone tools.     

The Fluted Point tradition and the Arctic Small Tool tradition: What’s the connection?

This paper presents a comparative study of two colonizing populations in the Americas: the Fluted Point tradition (FPt) and the early Arctic Small Tool tradition (ASTt) with the aim of understanding the role of lithic technologies in the colonization process. The FPt and ASTt are seen as residentially mobile groups with comparatively little reliance on food storage and minimal transportation aids. At the same time they also produced very similar flaked stone technologies that differed greatly from all later groups, being characterized by standardized core reduction, excellence in manufacture, production of a wide range of often hafted tools, use of the highest quality toolstones and a reliance on flaked stone, as opposed to ground stone, tools. The main advantage of these technologies is that they are not only flexible but can be rapidly produced. It is suggested that the key variable accounting for these choices is the lack of efficient transportation aids. In colonizing situations, the limited transport capabilities force populations to: (a) rely more on less predictable search and encounter methods of resource procurement and in turn, residential mobility to position people with regard to resources and (b) place a high premium on efficient time allocation to meet the excessive demands needed to maintain social contacts and mating networks amongst very low density populations.     

良渚文化石器装柄技术的重要物证

新石器时代多数石器需要安柄使用,但木柄之类的有机质遗存极难保存。由于南湖等地具备特殊的埋藏环境,良渚文化带柄石器的实物竟有成批出土。本文首次公布这些珍贵的装柄石器实物资料,并系统介绍了良渚文化带柄石器出土的历史和现状,对带柄石器的安装和使用进行了初步探讨,相信对良渚文化石器的研究能产生推动作用。     

The Analysis of Stone Tool Procurement, Production, and Maintenance

Researchers who analyze stone tools and their production debris have made significant progress in understanding the relationship between stone tools and human organizational strategies. Stone tools are understood to be morphologically dynamic throughout their use-lives; the ever-changing morphology of stone tools is intimately associated with the needs of tool users. It also has become apparent to researchers that interpretations of lithic analysis are more productive when the unique contexts and situations for which lithic artifacts were made, used, modified, and ultimately discarded are considered. This article reviews the recent literature on stone tool production with an emphasis on raw material procurement, manufacturing techniques, and tool maintenance processes as they relate to adaptive strategies of toolmakers and users.     

The technology of Stone Age colonization: an empirical,regional-scale examination of Clovis unifacial stone tool reduction,allometry, and edge angle from the North American Lower Great Lakes region

There is now broad consensus that the appearance of Clovis in Northeastern North America (Great Lakes, New England) represents a colonization pulse into recently deglaciated landscapes. Due to the increased resource uncertainty that comes with colonizing unfamiliar landscapes, it was hypothesized that the majority tool component of Clovis assemblages, unifacial stone tools, should have been knapped on tool blanks possessing the design properties of longevity and functional flexibility to facilitate exploration mobility and guard against the absence of toolstone sources in the new landscape. These properties are optimized by large, flat flakes, possessing large surface area relative to flake thickness. Since discarded and, at times, exhausted unifacial stone tools do not preserve the original dimensions of the blank upon which they were created – necessary items for a true test of blank morphology selection – this study presents a set of predictions for inferring whether Clovis unifacial stone tool blanks were selected for the properties of longevity and functional flexibility based on evidence that Clovis people actually capitalized on those properties. Due to the nature of Clovis unifacial stone tools, tool size was of necessity used as a proxy for tool reduction, on the grounds that smaller tools are more likely to have been resharpened than larger tools, at least in the case of unifacial flake tools. The results showed that less resharpened tools possessed flatter, less spherical shapes than the more resharpened tools, which possessed more globular, spherical shapes, suggesting Clovis foragers exploited the retouch potential afforded by the larger, flatter blanks. Edge angles showed no relationship with tool reduction, suggesting that Clovis foragers exploited the functional flexibility afforded by flatter blanks by adjusting the edge angle to be either higher or lower as needed. These results are consistent with the notion that human colonizers, who did not know the abundance or location of stone outcrops prior to settling an unfamiliar territory, not only “geared up” before leaving a stone source, but geared up as efficiently as possible by carefully selecting the blanks they chose to carry. Broader implications for such careful unifacial stone tool blank selection are discussed.