Ancient DNA typing of archaeological pig remains corroborates historical records

The recent increase in both the abundance and taxonomic range of DNA sequence data in public repositories makes it possible to determine the maternal origin of lineages of faunal archaeological material by characterizing its mitochondrial DNA. Among the most commonly represented taxa are domesticated animals, for which extensive genetic characterization has revealed high levels of genetic diversity and (in at least some cases) strong phylogeographic clustering. Such information has significant implications not only for characterizing important aspects of the occupation history of archaeological sites, but also in providing novel insights into colonisation history and the scale and scope of trade and exchange networks. This can be done through studying the origins and dispersal of proxy organisms such as commensal and domesticated animals, as well as economically important wild fauna. To illustrate this approach, we compare historical records of maritime movement of people and pigs from two sites on Lord Howe Island, Australia, to phylogeographic results of DNA extracted from pig bones.     

Problematizing silences in intangible heritage: unsettling historical records of women in protests

Abstract

This paper addresses questions of women’s visibility in constructed histories, as well as levels of recognition concerning their participation in politics through historical narratives. In particular, historical narratives representing women in protest in the context of waterfront heritage zones associated with the shipbuilding industry are examined, based on examples of two public art projects: Strong Women of the Clydeside: Protests and Suffragettes from Govan’s Hidden Histories led by the artist t s Beall in the Govan area of Glasgow, Scotland and Shipyard is a Woman by Arteria Association and Metropolitanka in Gdansk, Poland.     

The Earliest States in China: A Long-term Trajectory Approach

The origins, development, and makeup of early state societies in China have long been a favorite topic of research, though there has recently been an upsurge of attention among archaeologists in China and abroad. Research has been dominated by the identification of the Erlitou site from the early second millennium BC as the center of the earliest state in China, sometimes identified with the Xia Dynasty. Recently, several scholars have employed neo-evolutionary criteria for the identification of Erlitou society as China’s earliest state in an attempt to provide objective criteria for the traditional historiographical narrative. Overarching social and ecological models of cultural change have been severely criticized by anthropological archaeologists, and many archaeologists studying the development of ancient societies prefer to focus on individual case studies or specific institutions rather than on the state. In contrast to recent archaeological scholarship that has called for its total abandonment, we find the “state” a useful concept for understanding local trajectories as well as cross-cultural comparisons. In this article we suggest a way of incorporating the warnings against simplistic overarching models while maintaining the notion of rapid sociopolitical change associated with state formation. Based on an analysis of the long-term trajectory, we identify, in north China, two phases of rapid transformations: the first, starting around 2500 BC, when several unstable regional states evolved and declined, and the second, around 1600 BC, when an intraregional state, usually identified with the historical Shang, rapidly evolved.     

经济交换中心与中国早期城市的起源

运用赛维斯理论中的一个酋邦兴起模式,详细解剖了位于澧阳平原的城头山城址及其所属聚落群,认为城头山城址作为当地的经济交换中心,其形成标志着中国早期雏形城市的产生。这种由经济交换中心进而发展成为早期城市的模式是中国早期城市起源的典型模式之一。     

考古学如何走近公众——读《最早的中国》

<正>近年来,考古学与公众的关系成为考古学家们热议的话题,越来越多的考古学家开始意识到"考古学知识的普及与文化的寻根正在变得更加重要"①,而且认为"考古学家在普及教育中有着义不容辞的责任"②。但是,考古学是一门专业性很强的学科,加上学科传统、研究重点以及理论方法的     

Thoughts on new approaches to combining the archaeological and historical records

For decades, archaeologists have looked for an appropriate means to integrate archaeological findings with the textual record. Often, in the past, the written word has been privileged over material remains. In this summary, which draws in part from the individual papers in this special issue, a new, more balanced approach that gives increased weight and greater independence to archaeological data is proposed. A series of implications and suggestions for current theoretical development in archaeology are advanced.     

关于历史记载和文学创作真实性的思辩

因为“历史“是记载,文学是“创作“,于是形成了一种“历史“比文学更具真实性的普遍观念.本文将历史记载的武则天和叶卡特琳娜二世与其文学形象进行了比较分析,认为,文学创作较之历史记载有着更为深刻的内涵和更加广阔的外延,因此,具有更高层次的综合性和真实性.     

贵州最早的骨制装饰品

贵州最早的骨制装饰品出自距今一万二千年至一万五千年前的普定白岩脚洞旧石器时代晚期遗址。装饰品有1件骨笄和1件穿孔兽牙。它们是贵州的首次发现,也体现了贵州远古人类最早的爱美意识。从装饰品本体携带的信息,探索其制作技能,反映出当时人类加工技术的复杂和进步,即对不同用途的装饰品采用不同的加工方式和对同一制品的制作技术逐步改良的处理能力。这既是思维进化指导行为的结果,亦是原始人类迈向更加文明时代的一大进步。     

中国最早的稻作与稻作农业起源中心

产生最早稻作的地方未必一定能成为稻作起源的中心,中国最早的稻作可能在华南北部诞生,中国稻作农业起源的中心首先是在长江中游,长江下游和淮河上游也可能是另外的两个中心。     

南社与民国方志建设

近代名学团体南社在民国时期的方志建设上贡献表现在：从积极鼓吹到全身心地投入,到现代方志编纂上的开拓创新,都积累了相当丰富的经验。其借鉴之处有两点：求真务实的“治志”之风;灵活高效的工作机制。     

2004年全国方志系统出版工作座谈会纪要

由中国地方志指导小组办公室主办、福建省地方志编纂委员会和方志出版社承办的2004年全国方志系统出版工作座谈会于2004年5月26日～30日在福建省福州市召开。18个省、自治区、直辖市的79位代表出席会议。中国地方志指导小组秘书长兼办公室主任秦其明、中国地方     

The Two Earliest Maps of Hull

Abstract

This article seeks to date more accurately the two earliest-known maps of Hull. From both internal and external evidence, it is suggested that both are military engineers’ plans of fortifications, one probably drawn in 1538/9, the other in 1541/2.     

Agent-based simulation of the spatial evolution of the historical population in China

This paper presents an agent-based simulation (ABS) and cellular automata (CA) coupled model to simulate the spatial evolution of the population of China over the past 2000 years. In the model, agents are used to simulate individuals who live in a geographic environment represented by the CA. The choice to migrate is influenced by climate change, potential agricultural productivity change, and waves of mass migrations. Using the simulation, we can observe the spatial evolution of the population, as well as the shift of the population center of gravity, and we can analyze the driving forces of these changing spatial patterns.     

Earliest hunters and gatherers of South America

Traditional syntheses of the archaeology of the late Pleistocene period in South America have focused primarily on the peopling of the continent by North American cultural groups and on identifying associations among regional sites. This focus has tended to ignore the widespread culture diversity of the period and the possible effects of different paleolandscapes on human migration and colonization, such as the presence of unglaciated tropical and temperate environments in the northern lowlands, the gateway to the interior. The earliest known cultural assemblages are characterized by various unifacial and bifacial lithic industries that may represent regional processes reminiscent of an Archaic lifeway. The major archaeological sites and associated artifact assemblages are examined in terms of regional and continental patterns of environmental and cultural change. Results suggest that the Pleistocene archaeological record of South America must be explained in its own terms and that the events and processes producing this record either occurred earlier than previously thought or are very different from those in North America.