THE IMPACT OF SOLUBLE SALTS ON THE DETERIORATION OF PHARAONIC AND COPTIC WALL PAINTINGS AT AL QURNA,EGYPT: MINERALOGY AND CHEMISTRY*

The wall paintings of Al Qurna in Egypt were studied by means of XRD and ICP–AES in order to determine their mineralogical and chemical composition, and to evaluate the impact of soluble salts on their deterioration, including the identification of the building materials and pigments used. Soluble salts analysis showed that NaCl is the most common soluble salt in the bedrock, ground water and surface water samples. The building materials are affected by the ground water, while the wall paintings in the area are affected by the Upper Egypt climatic conditions, which were studied in order to detect their role in the deterioration cycle in the area.     

THE TINY PAINTINGS OF THE BUDDHIST WORLD——A RECORD OF LIU ENJUN AND HIS TSAKA PAINTINGS

<正>EDITOR'S COMMENTARY This special column consists of devoted fans of Tibetan culture. They have spent their life,their energy and their finances to eagerly collect and preserve unique Tibetan traditional culture while virtually also enjoying the spiritual and material happiness which those treasures bring to them.From now on,this journal is going to invite Chen Dan to contribute her detailed and delicate stories about collectors of Tibetan artifacts one by one,     

PETROGRAPHIC AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF POTTERY PRODUCTION OF THE LATE MINOAN I KILN AT HAGHIA TRIADA,CRETE*

Pottery from the Late Minoan I kiln at Haghia Triada in the Mesara Plain, southern Crete, was analysed by a range of techniques, comprising thin‐section petrography, scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, X‐ray fluorescence and neutron activation analysis. The project characterizes the ceramic fabrics and probable raw materials, correlates paste recipes with shape, reconstructs the firing conditions of the kiln and establishes a chemical reference group, taking into account post‐burial alteration and contamination. Comparison of the reference group formed with that from the neighbouring, broadly contemporary, kiln at Kommos shows an unexpected differentiation of the two kilns.     

SOLDIER, CIVILIAN AND MILITARY BRICK PRODUCTION

Summary.   Occasional claims have been made that some of the names on Roman military brick stamps could be those of civilian entrepreneurs tiling for the Roman army, most recently in the case of a stamp of Legio XX Valeria Victrix from Tarbock (Liverpool). This paper analyses these claims and investigates the evidence for interaction between the Roman army and civilians in brick production. The texts of the stamps and the archaeological context of the bricks and literary sources, which give information about the role of the army and civilian bodies in Roman provincial building, are taken into consideration.     

A MACROSCOPIC INVESTIGATION OF TECHNOLOGICAL STYLE AND THE PRODUCTION OF MIDDLE TO LATE ARCHAIC FISHHOOKS AT THE CHIGGERVILLE,READ, AND BAKER SITES,WESTERN KENTUCKY

Abstract

Manufacturing trajectories represent a series of choices made by artisans in the process of transforming a raw material into a useful object. In some cases these choices explicitly communicate a message; in others, patterned behaviors may result in a kind of technological style that can be used to make inferences about the manufacturer’s identities. Investigation of bone tools from the Chiggerville, Read, and Baker sites in the Green River region of western Kentucky has resulted in the identification of four distinct methods of manufacturing single-piece fishhooks. Additionally, small pointed implements may represent the barbs of composite fishhooks, indicating the use of a technologically distinct fifth style. These fishhook types are interpreted as evidence for the movement of individuals throughout the mid-South in the process of social interaction and exchange and support the hypothesis that Shell Mound Archaic groups in western Kentucky were complex hunter-gatherers.     

NEW PETROGRAPHIC EVIDENCE PERTAINING TO CERAMIC PRODUCTION AND IMPORTATION AT THE OLMEC SITE OF SAN LORENZO*

This paper reports the results of petrographic analyses of 41 new pottery thin sections from San Lorenzo. The resulting compositional data provide an important new context for evaluating the disputed status of carved vessels previously identified as imports to the site. By comparing local and Oaxaca highlands pottery, the disputed vessels are shown to be (a) compositionally distinct from San Lorenzo pottery and (b) similar to highland pottery. San Lorenzo was not just an exporter but also an importer of pottery vessels, a finding relevant to consideration of San Lorenzo's role in the production and exchange of ceramics in Early Formative Mesoamerica.     

ECONOMIC REGIONS,ADMINISTRATIVE REGIONS AND TERRITORIAL PRODUCTION COMPLEXES

Three types of integral economic regions are distinguished in the USSR: (1) economic regions at various levels, performing strictly economic functions; (2) administrative-economic (or simply administrative regions), which perform both economic functions and the functions of government administration; (3) territorial production complexes, which combine interlinked economic activities within a particular area from the economic-geographic point of view. Because of the differences in functions, there can be no complete identity between economic and administrative regions although their boundaries often coincide. Production complexes are not a substitute for economic regions because the complexes encompass only interlinked activities while economic regions encompass all economic activities. However, production complexes are elements that give rise to both economic and administrative regions. Economic planning in the USSR proceeds along three lines: (a) within the system of economic regions; (b) within the system of administrative regions; (c) within the system of sectoral or branch administrations, which are now being replaced by corporation-type industrial associations.     

GOD,CAESAR AND MAMMON AT CORONATION HILL

Australia is on the brink of a recession, and we have platinum, palladium and 350,000 ozs of gold locked up in Coronation Hill but we cannot go ahead and mine it because, all of a sudden, it has become a sacred site. It was not a sacred site fifty years ago. Barry Coulter, Treasurer of the Northern Territory, 27/8/86     

LOCATION,THEORY OF PRODUCTION,AND VARIABLE TRANSPORTATION RATES*

ABSTRACT. The question of what conditions insure independence between location and output decisions is investigated within the context of triangle space. Assuming that transportation rates vary with quantity and distance, it is shown that this independence is insured if the production function generates a linear expansion path and the following are all constant: transportation rate elasticities with respect to distance and quantity, and the price elasticity of demand for inputs.     

PRODUCTION,EXCHANGE, AND SOCIO-POLITICAL COMPLEXITY ON BRONZE AGE CYPRUS1

Summary. During the centuries 1700–1400 BC, the archaeological record of the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus shows a number of significant innovations: urban centres with public and ceremonial architecture, differential burial practices, writing, an intensification of metallurgical production and export, extensive trade relations with the surrounding cultures of the eastern Mediterranean, fortifications, ‘mass’burials, and increased finds of weaponry. Documentary evidence from Egypt, the Levant, and the Aegean sheds further light on these developments. These changes represent the transformation of an isolated, village-based culture into an international, urban-oriented, complex society. One of the key questions to consider is why these developments in Cyprus lagged so far (400-1200 years) behind those of the island's neighbours: Egypt, Crete, Syria-Palestine, and Anatolia. Using concepts from development economics and political anthropology, and models developed by archaeologists working on similar problems elsewhere, this study attempts to explain the process of change and innovation apparent in the Cypriot archaeological record of 1700–1400 BC.     

SNOW pH AND DUST LOADING AT SCHEFFERVILLE, QUEBEC

Problems of acid precipitation in association with industrial activity in areas such as the Great Lakes region are now well-known (e.g. Hornbeck et al., 1977), and the Canadian Network for Sampling Precipitation (CANSAP) has established monitoring stations across Canada. In communities in northern Canada, however, especially in winter, a considerable amount of SO₂ is liberated locally. It is therefore important to be able to separate local effects from the regional or continental ones, but most CANSAP stations utilize a single collector, the position of which may not be representative of the general conditions in the locality.
The Schefferville, Quebec, area presents a good opportunity to evaluate the local effects of a small area (˜ 1 km²) source in winteras no industrial activity other than ore-extraction takes place. The only gaseous contaminants liberated locally are derived from fuel oil, and the only particulates come from well-defined mine and dump areas.
Here we present measurements of snow pH and dust loading in the Schefferville area, consider the importance of local gaseous and particulate pollutants, compare these with pollutants from distant sources, and assess the significance of the pollution patterns.     

CERAMIC PRODUCTION,PROVENANCE AND USE—A REVIEW*

The contribution of the physical sciences to the reconstruction of the production technology (i.e., processing of raw materials, forming, surface treatments and firing methods) for earthenwares, stonewares, porcelains and stonepaste bodies are summarized. The organization of production and the reasons for technological choice are considered. Provenance studies based on both chemical analysis and thin‐section petrography are discussed, with the investigation of Minoan and Mycenaean pottery being taken as the case study. The approaches to determining how pottery vessels were used in antiquity are outlined. Finally, future developments in ceramic studies are briefly considered.