Middle paleolithic scraper reduction: Background,clarification, and review of the evidence to date

The hypothesis that the principal varieties of Middle Paleolithic scrapers reflect varying degrees of resharpening and rejuvenation, rather than discrete emic types, has generated considerably controversy over the past decade. While there have been certain misunderstandings surrounding the proposed models of scraper reduction, this controversy also reflects different approaches taken by prehistorians in interpreting lithic artifacts. Placing the notion of scraper reduction in the context of lithic processes generally known as the Frison Effect, this article presents the background and intellectual context of this interpretation and attempts to clarify the models themselves and their test implications. It also reviews and summarizes data generated by several independent tests of the hypothesis and presents new data bearing on this question.     

Missing the boat in lithic procurement: Watercraft and the bulk procurement of tool-stone on the Maritime Peninsula

Recent research has characterized the procurement of lithic raw materials for flaked stone technology as embedded in food procurement activities, and constrained by logistical factors such as mass, time, and energy. Many have assumed that these variables reflect the need for humans to both move themselves to resources, and carry materials with them. This paper explores the implication of these ideas through the development of particular research project in the Maritime Peninsula, in the Northeast of North America. Through this research process, I explore the complex interplay among raw materials, bulk procurement, water transportation, and regional patterning of archaeological lithic assemblages. I initially consider the role of embedded procurement as a structuring mechanism for the relationship between lithic raw-material diversity and catchment, but through a exploration of intersite and inter-feature variability, I consider the role of bulk procurement in this patterning. I conclude that canoes may significantly influence hunter–gatherer lithic procurement, in terms of the extraction of resources, and their reduction and use.     

Gyptis and the Archaic Greek Sewn‐boat Technique

The archaic Greco‐Massaliote wreck Jules‐Verne 9 is a fully sewn boat with all the elements (planking and frames) assembled by ligatures. The remains of some stitches found in place allowed the system of ligatures, which is particularly sophisticated, to be precisely reproduced. This assembly system made of sewing and lashings was used during the construction of Gyptis, the sailing replica of the Jules‐Verne 9 wreck. The experience permitted many questions to be answered about the assembly process, function, and maintenance of the boat.     

邱人龙生卒年考

纪晓岚《阅微草堂笔记》中有三则笔记提到了邱人龙,但历来注释家都没有介绍。本文通过《邱氏族谱》和福建永春地方志的材料,考证出邱人龙的基本生平事迹,同时还纠正了《邱氏族谱》中有关邱人龙卒年的错误记录,指出邱人龙的实际生卒年是1736—1785(6),而非如族谱所说死于1840年。     

羟基吡啶酮衍生物用作文物硫铁化合物脱除螯合剂的分析

硫铁化合物是出土出水文物中普遍存在,又危害很大的难溶盐,为此,本研究对温和条件下1,2-二甲基-3-羟基-4-吡啶酮脱除硫化亚铁可行性进行了研究。在此实验研究基础上,采用Gaussian09软件,在B3LYP/6-31G~*水平上对不同的羟基吡啶酮衍生物分子结构进行了分析。分析结果表明,羟基吡啶酮的单官能团氨羧化衍生物N-(α-氨基丁酸基)-3-羟基-4-吡啶酮有可能是一种比1,2-二甲基-3-羟基-4-吡啶酮更为有效的出土出水文物硫铁化合物络合脱除剂。     

The Marausa Wreck,Sicily: interim report on a boat built in the Western Imperial Roman tradition

In 1991, the wreck of a late 3rd–early 4th century AD Roman merchant vessel was discovered on the west coast of Sicily that had carried North African amphora, tubuli, and other ceramics. The hull was dismantled and raised in 2011, including a keel hook‐scarfed to stem and sternposts, 39 pegged mortise‐and‐tenon joined planks, 43 frames with an irregular pattern of floor‐timbers, half‐timbers, and futtocks fastened to the planking with treenails and copper nails, sister‐keelsons and evidence of two stringers, 36 ceiling strakes, and the base of a bilge pump. Many repairs are indicated. The fairly flat bottom and round bilges, mortise‐and‐tenons, sister‐keelsons and lack of a coherent framing pattern, place the boat in the Western Imperial tradition.     

The chrysobull of Alexius I Comnenus to the Venetians: the date and the debate

This article forms a rejoinder to the article on the chrysobull of Alexius I Comnenus published by Thomas F. Madden in the Journal of Medieval History, 28, No. 1 (2002), and discusses problems in the dating of the chrysobull arising out of the textual and palaeographic evidence.     

The chrysobull of Alexius I Comnenus to the Venetians: the date and the debate

Emperor Alexius I Comnenus granted to the Republic of Venice a generous chrysobull of privileges and property in return for the latter's support in Byzantium's war with the Normans. Despite more than a century of criticism, scholarly consensus continues to favour May 1082 as the probable date for this important chrysobull. Various attempts by scholars to offer alternate dates have not met with success or acceptance. The evidence for the date of the imperial charter can be divided into three categories: near-contemporary chronicles, contemporary archival documents, and textual/paleographic evidence. An examination of the evidence considered in its totality appears to confirm the traditional date of May 1082.     

Protocol for lapis lazuli provenance determination: evidence for an Afghan origin of the stones used for ancient carved artefacts kept at the Egyptian Museum of Florence (Italy)

Despite that the Badakhshan Province (Afghanistan) remains the most plausible hypothesis for the lapis lazuli used in antiquity, alternatives proposed in literature are worth to study to confirm or disprove their historical reliability. In this work, a protocol for determining the provenance of lapis lazuli rocks used for carved artefacts is described. Markers for the univocal attribution of the raw material to a source were identified analysing 45 rocks of known provenance (among which 15 georeferenced) from 4 quarry districts. To the best of our knowledge, this reference database is the widest in provenance studies on lapis lazuli. All the markers are recognisable by means of Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) techniques, in particular micro-proton-induced x-ray emission (PIXE) and micro-ionoluminescence (IL). These techniques are non-invasive and applicable in air, allowing to analyse artworks and rocks of practically any shape and dimension without sample preparation.The protocol was applied to determine the provenance of raw material used for carved lapis lazuli artefacts kept at the Egyptian Museum of Florence, the second most important Egyptian museum in Italy, second only to the museum of Turin. The collection in Florence has a great historical value and includes several lapis lazuli pendants, scarabs, small statuettes and amulets ascribable mainly to the first millennium BC. Following the protocol, 11 of these artefacts were analysed by means of IBA techniques. Results ascribe the raw material to the Afghan quarry district.