Diachronic dietary reconstructions in ancient Thebes,Greece: results from stable isotope analyses

Although isotopic applications in Greece are rapidly increasing, there is rarely the chance to investigate diet changes within a population over time. This is mainly because large burial grounds are seldom excavated systematically. Nonetheless, this study presents the isotopic results of human and animal bone samples from graves dating from 3000 to 300 BC, recovered in Thebes’ extensive historic cemetery. The unique opportunity is provided to correlate dietary with historic changes, and observe whether sociocultural parameters affect dietary choices and how this presents isotopically. Results show significant temporal trends.     

Degradation of mud brick houses in an arid environment: a geoarchaeological model

A common assumption in Near Eastern tell archaeology is that the majority of sediments originate from degraded mud bricks. Little is known about the mechanism of mud brick wall degradation. Here we present a detailed macro- and microscopic ethnoarchaeological study of the degradation of a mud brick house and propose a comprehensive mechanism for tell formation processes in arid environments. The study took place in southern Israel by trenching a ca. 60 year old abandoned mud brick house, followed by extensive sediment sampling. Macroscopic observations showed that mud brick walls degrade by collapse of single bricks and/or collapse of intact wall parts, either inwards or outwards. In addition, infill sediments within the house and outside it, in close proximity to its walls, form alternating sedimentary layers of various colors and textures. The degraded mud brick material lost its distinctive macroscopic structure, which makes it impossible to accurately identify this material by field observations alone. Mineralogical and elemental analyses established the sources of the house infill sediments, namely mud bricks and wind blown sediments. Alternating layers mostly originate from mixing between degraded mud brick material and wind blown sediments. Micromorphological observations revealed microscopic mechanisms of mud brick degradation and include processes of mud slurry gravity flows, sediment coatings and infillings, wind abrasion of walls, small-scale puddling, and bioturbation. This study provides a working scheme for site formation of abandoned mud brick structures in arid environments. It provides a set of criteria by which it is possible to differentiate floors from post-abandonment sedimentary features and thus improves the reliability of activity area research.     

The idea of order in ancient Chinese political thought: a Wightian exploration

Is there any significant international thought in antiquity beyond the West? If there is, why has there as yet been no meaningful conversation between the expanding enterprise of theorizing International Relations (IR) today and ancient Chinese political thought? This extended version of my Martin Wight Memorial Lecture addresses these questions through a critical exploration of how a pivotal idea in ancient as well as contemporary international relations, namely, the idea of order, is deliberated in ancient Chinese political thought. Inspired by Martin Wight's profound scholarship so steeped in historical and philosophical depth, it investigates why and how alternative visions of moral, social and political order are imagined, offered and debated in ancient Chinese philosophical discourse. It examines the ways in which the moral and political pursuit of order as a social ideal is conducted in the anarchical society of states in ancient China. Through these historical and philosophical investigations, this article seeks to establish that ancient Chinese political and philosophical deliberations are rich in international thought and that classical thinkers in China's Axial Age are alive to us and contemporaneous with us philosophically as much as ancient Greek philosophers are. In establishing such a claim, the article calls for, and issues an invitation to, a conversation between the world of thought in ancient China and the theorization of IR as an intellectual ritual in search of a truly international theory.     

芦苇群落与古代江南湿地生态景观的变化

芦苇群落的变化是江南生态环境变化的重要指标。汉唐时期的水环境丰富,沼泽地甚多,芦苇群落分布广大。秋天的江南,大量的鸟类伴随芦花飞扬。到宋代,开发加强,沼泽地减少。在吴江长桥一带,出现了大量的淤浅,淤浅初期,芦苇丛生,后期则成为稻田。宋代的江南有丰富的芦苇、林地与飞鸟,环境优美。到明代,随着农业集约化进一步加强,太多的芦苇地消失,湖滩地不断发生着从芦苇转化成稻田的现象。在河道区域,淤积形成的洲渚之上有芦苇发生。芦苇群落对江南环境史上的景观构造,物种平衡,都有着积极的意义。     

中国古代城市的天文学思想

天学在科学史上是发展最早的学科之一。在人类还没有字以前,原始的农牧民族就已经注意到观察天现象。恩格斯在《自然辩证法》一书中写到：“必须研究自然科学各个部分的顺序和发展……首先是天学——游牧民族和农业民族为了定季节,就已经绝对地需要它”。     

关于伯奇的古代孝子图画

日前,承日本佛教大学黑田彰教授寄赠他的新作《伯奇赘语——孝子传图与孝子传》,文中论及中国北朝石刻、漆画等文物图像中关于伯奇的孝子故事,特别是在考证中引用了在日本流传的古代刻本《孝子传》材料,该《孝子传》中关于伯奇故事的叙述比中国现存古文献中记载的伯奇     

The Karaghiozis Performance in Nineteenth-Century Greece

Abstract

Out of the vacuum of the sparsely developed dramatic environment of nineteenth-century Greece grew a performance totally unrelated to the largely literary and western-European oriented theatre of Athens under the influence of the king and his court. It was a performance which, unlike the literary theatre, aroused the interest of the common man through its use of folk tales, anecdotes, songs, dialects, costumes and characters as the basis of its presentation. Originating in the Turkish folk form Karagöz, the Greek performance, called Karaghiozis, found its roots in an entertainment with which Greeks both on the mainland and in other parts of the Balkans and Middle East were already familiar.     

试论日本所编的中国古籍索引

日本汉学界对中国古籍索引①非常重视,结合有关学术研究编制了大量中国古籍索引.据不完全统计,日本出版的中国古籍索引约占世界各地所出版的全部中国古籍索引的80%,仅唐代文学古籍索引就达38种,其对中国古籍索引的重视程度可想而知.这是日本学者在中国古籍整理研究领域最突出的成果.     

Wheat in ancient Korea: a size comparison of carbonized kernels

Archaeobotanical research over the past decades has revealed that bread wheat of a compact form, called “Ezo wheat” in Japan, was present in the Far East Asian region (Primorye in the Russian Far East, the Korean peninsula, and the Japanese archipelago) during the early stage of wheat cultivation. In response to the previous observations, carbonized wheat grains from the sites in the southern part of the Korean peninsula were measured and their sizes were compared across these sites and with other sites in East Asia. The examination indicates that grains dated over the period of AD 100–600 were considerably smaller than the modern specimens but were plumper than the previously reported Ezo wheat. The new data sets suggest that wheat with plumper kernels was introduced to the region no later than the Three-Kingdoms period (ca. AD 300–668) and continued to be cultivated until the Joseon period (1392–1910).     

Circum-mortem damage to some ancient African hominid crania: a taphonomic and evolutionary essay

Close examination of three early hominid crania from Africa yields taphonomic information long after they were excavated, and can contribute information relevant to their dating and taxonomic status. The condition of the bone and breaks and markings are reviewed in the Florisbad, Saldanha and Broken Hill (Kabwe) crania, indicating animal biting while the bone was still fresh in the first and last of these specimens. However, the damage to the base of the Kabwe cranium indicates that there may also have been breakage by hominids, including scorings near the margin of the squamous suture. No tooth marks are observed on the Saldanha cranium, but a depressed fracture and other lesions indicate hominid damage to fresh bone. Postmortem weathering indicates cranial thickness even greater than the original measurements, which implies a more primitive evolutionary status for Saldanha than for Kabwe. This view is supported by other morphological evidence, and suggests a considerably earlier date for Saldanha and a classification asHomo erectus.

---

Résumé L'examen à fond de trois crânes d'hominidés anciens de l'Afrique fournit des données taphonomiques longtemps après la fouille, et peut livrer informations quant à leur date et à leur statut taxonomique. L'état de l'os et les cassures et d'autres traces sont étudiés dans les crânes de Florisbad, Saldanha et Broken Hill (Kabwe); dans ceux de Florisbad et de Broken Hill on constate que l'os a été mordu par des animaux lorsqu'il était encore frais. Cependant les dégâts à la base du crâne de Kabwe—y compris des stries près du bord de la suture squameuse—indiquent qu'il peut aussi avoir été cassé par des hominidés.Il n'y a pas de traces de morsures sur le crâne de Saldanha, mais on y observe une fracture aplatie et d'autres lésions qui indiquent que l'os frais a été endommagé par des hominidés. A cause des altérations survenues après la mort, on constate que le crâne original était même plus épais que les premières mésures l'indiquaient, ce qui implique un statut évolutionnaire plus primitif pour Saldanha que pour Kabwe. Cette idée, renforcée par d'autres indices morphologiques, suggère que Saldanha est beaucoup plus ancien que l'on ne croyait, et doit être classifié commeHomo erectus.

     

Transfer of population as a solution to international disputes: population exchanges between Greece and Turkey as a model for plans to solve the Jewish-Arab dispute in Palestine during the 1930s

The author explores the reasons for the failure of a plan for population exchanges that took place between Jews and Arabs in Palestine in the 1930s. Special focus is given to the success of previous exchanges between Greece and Turkey that took place during the 1920s and why this model failed in Palestine. The author concludes that "the Zionist plans which assumed that one could encourage voluntary transfer by creating attractive economic conditions in the target areas, did not take into account the factors of nationalism, ties to place of residence, religion, etc. These factors carried no less weight than the economic factor and they could effectively prevent any voluntary transfer of the Arab population."     

Applying a systems approach to the management of change in fieldwork

Abstract

Fieldwork is increasingly subject to a variety of external pressures. The management of change in fieldwork provision can be aided by an appreciation of the systemic nature of fieldwork. Social paradigms of team behaviour are particularly applicable to fieldwork, and to understanding some systems failures.     

中古时期一部重要的文献-《齐民要术》

《齐民要术》是中古时期一部重要的文献典籍,本文从《齐民要术》的作者、版本、内容、语言等方面介绍该书的情况,以期能够促进对于该书的文献整理和汉语史的研究工作。