Later Prehistory in South-East Scotland: A Critical Review

This paper reviews the progress of research over the past twenty years, with particular reference to enclosed and unenclosed settlement, agricultural patterns, domestic structural types and burial practices of the Iron Age in the south-eastern Borders. The concept of a 'trend towards enclosure' in the first millennium BC is reviewed and rejected, not least on the grounds of evidence from excavation for the dating sequences of major enclosed sites. In consequence a new overview of the later prehistoric settlement of the region is now possible, consistent with the accumulating archaeological and environmental data.     

Identity and Material Culture in the Later Prehistory of Central Europe

Examination of the archaeological evidence for the expression of identity in later European prehistory provides a new and promising approach to understanding change in this period. New views of the role of material culture in the communication of meanings, of the nature of identity, and of agency in the past provide a useful framework for approaching the evidence. Analysis of patterns of sameness and difference in style and decoration of manufactured objects indicates how people used their material culture to structure and to communicate their identities—on the level of the individual, of groups such as families and residential communities, and of larger entities commonly referred to as ethnic groups. This approach offers insights that complement social and economic models of change in later prehistory.     

Humans as Ritual Victims in the Later Prehistory of Western Europe

The paper presented here addresses the issue of how far current evidence permits the admittance of ritual murder or human sacrifice in the European Iron Age. It argues from two basic premises: firstly that the notion of human sacrifice is the more acceptable within the context of strictly hierarchical, slave-owning societies for whom human life was not, of itself, sacrosanct; secondly that, since there is a solid body of both literary and archaeological evidence for human sacrifice in antiquity, there is no intrinsic reason to deny its presence in later European prehistory. However, scrutiny of the data reveals that, if human sacrifice did take place in Iron Age Europe, it appears to have been both rare and special. More importantly, virtually all the evidence has a measure of ambiguity and is capable of alternative interpretation.     

The Early Later Stone Age in East Africa: Excavations and Lithic Assemblages from Lukenya Hill

The site of Lukenya Hill, Kenya, is one of the richest Later Stone Age (LSA) sites in East Africa. Its sequence documents the increasing manufacture of microlithic tools, one of the hallmarks of hunter–gatherer behavioral modernity (Bar-Yosef and Kuhn, 1999). This paper presents results of excavations at the LSA site of GvJm62, Lukenya Hill, and analysis of site formation processes on this inselberg rock shelter. It examines lithic assemblages from GvJm62 and four other Pleistocene-dated LSA sites at Lukenya Hill. Differences in raw material use, typology, and chronology indicate that there are three different kinds of LSA industries in the sampled sites at Lukenya Hill. Changes in technology, activities, and land use patterns can explain the differences among these three industries. The Lukenya Hill sequence is compared with other East African LSA industries.Le gisement de Lukenya Hill en Kenya est un des gisements les plus riches du type Paleolithique Superieure en Afrique de l'Est. La sequence demonstre l'éxistence et ensuite le fréquence des outils microlithiques. Cet article présent les résultats des fouilles du gisement de GvJm62 à Lukenya Hill et présent un étude des methodes de formation du gisement. On examine les outils lithiques de GvJm62 et quatre autres gisements à Lukenya Hill. Les differences des types des matières premiers, de la chronologie, et des types d'outils suggèrent qu'il y a trois types d'industrie à Lukenya Hill. On peut expliquer ces differences par changements en la technologie, les activités et les modèles de l'utilisation de la terre. La séquence à Lukenya Hill est comparée avec les autres industries Est Africain.     

Bodies in Motion: Narratives and Counter Narratives of Gendered Mobility in European Later Prehistory

Normative notions of sex and gender were prevalent in discussion of European prehistoric societies until the last quarter of the 20th century. The progressive work that challenged a binary approach, published particularly in the 1990s, created an anticipation for further nuanced interpretation. This paper argues that, in contrast to this expectation, there was a surprising return to narrating a past of binary sex and gender. Societal roles have continued to be imagined as formalised through structures based on biological sex, with men seen as active mobile agents, while women were passive and static homemakers. We argue that not only is this unhelpful, the archaeological evidence renders it incorrect. We highlight the inherent conflicts in the data to show that investigating sex and gender in the past is difficult with imperfect and complex archaeological evidence. It requires careful and deliberate consideration to avoid normative explanations. In conclusion, we propose that investigating mobility is a particularly effective topic for examining past gendered societal roles.     

论东汉中后期士人的群体心理

东汉中后期七人群体的形成是儒家经学的极盛这一特定历史时代的产物,是东汉中后期一个重要的社会群体。这一群体的成员通过心理和感情的交流,形成自己的群体心理,产生了心理相容、群体规范、群体凝聚、类化趋向等群体心理现象。它是我们研究东汉中后期社会状况与历史变迁的一个新的角度和方法。     

江淮东部原始文化的命名与青墩文化的内涵

江淮东部原始文化的命名在考古界一直存在不少争议,有“青莲岗文化”、“龙虬庄文化”等。青墩遗址的发掘是20世纪70年代江淮东部最大的一次并具有典型遗迹的考古发现,由于该发掘报告晚了10年发表,使它错过了独立文化命名的良机。但是,青墩遗址仍属于最早发现并能概括和代表江淮东部原始文化的稳定的基本内涵、特征和性质。     

豫东商丘地区考古调查简报

2002年底,郑州大学历史学院考古系对商丘地区24个古文化遗址进行了复查,并对民权县李岗遗址进行了试掘,获得一批仰韶文化、大汶口文化、龙山文化、岳石文化、先商文化、早商文化、晚商文化遗物,确认了不同时期遗址的分布,为进一步了解夏商时期商丘地区考古学文化面貌与特征、特别是先商文化和岳石文化在该地区的分布状况等,提供了新资料。     

豫东商丘考古调查与南亳问题

文献记载,商丘地区为汤都南亳所在地。本文根据对考古调查材料的分析,认为,邹衡先生从考古学角度否定南亳是有道理的,商汤亳都只有一处即郑州商城。     

论汉江东部地区史前时期的手工业专门化生产

从屈家岭化至石家河化早期,汉东地区手工业专门化兴起,为长江中游中心区的形成奠定了基础。     

Proto-Urban Establishments in Inner Asia: Surveys of an Iron Age Walled Site in Eastern Mongolia

Walled sites attributed to the Xiongnu steppe empire (2nd century b.c.–1st century a.d.) constitute the earliest investments in explicitly non-mortuary built environments among pastoralists of the Mongolian Steppe. These permanent constructions are important precedents to the medieval towns of subsequent steppe empires, yet very little of the complete layouts and surrounding remains of the large enclosures are understood. Our investigations of the walled site at Kherlen-Bars in eastern Mongolia are among the first surveys to fully document all aspects above and below ground across an entire Iron Age walled site area. In addition to detailed documentation of the large structures, our geomagnetic prospections and digital elevation modeling brought to light numerous small sub-surface and subtle-surface features that show such early walled sites, often deemed virtually empty, to be far more complex and diachronic in their formation processes and possible functions.     

History in Prehistory: The Oral Traditions of the Rarotongan Land Court Records

The records of the early 20th century Rarotongan land courts are an invaluable source of ethnohistoric information regarding pre-contact land tenure, social and political relations, and historical processes affecting tenure and relations. They are analysed here from the point of view of contextualising the archaeological record of the island. Pre-contact Rarotongan society is shown to have been fluid and flexible, although one notable trend is the gradual aggrandisement of ariki power. This trend continues into the missionary and early colonial periods, where political unity and ariki hegemony become established. European intervention was a single, though defining, episode in a long history. Although it transformed the political order, Rarotonga remained resolutely Rarotongan.