The Context and Significance of Copper Artifacts in Postclassic and Early Historic Lamanai,Belize

Abstract

We consider the archaeological contexts in which copper objects have been recovered at the ancient Maya site of Lamanai in northern Belize and the significance these objects had for the residents of the community during Postclassic (ca. A.D. 950–1544) and Spanish colonial (post 1544) times. More copper objects have been recovered from controlled archaeological contexts at Lamanai than any other site in the southern Maya lowlands area. Bells make up the majority of the assemblage during the centuries just prior to and during historical times, but high status objects such as rings and clothing ornaments found in elite burials dominate in the Early Postclassic period. All of these objects were imported from outside the Maya area. Utilitarian objects, including needles, axes, and fish books, are found in a variety of contexts during Late Postclassic and Spanish colonial times, as are bells and rings. Production materials, including prills, blanks, and pigs/ingots, in addition to mis-cast objects that are production failures, also appear during this time. Nearly all of the copper objects found at Lamanai are distinctly Mesoamerican in form and design, and based on metallurgical analyses it appears that manufacturing technologies were distinctly Mesoamerican as well. The presence of production materials and mis-cast piecesy along with the results of chemical compositional and microstructural analyses, support the idea that the Maya at Lamanai were engaged in the on-site production of copper objects by late precolumbian times.     

Andean Ores,Bronze Artifacts,and Lead Isotopes: Constraints on Metal Sources in Their Geological Context

With a focus on bronze production in the south-central Andes during the Middle Horizon, this study reports the first archaeological use of lead isotope analysis to investigate metallic ores and metal artifacts in the Andean zone of South America. Because the vast majority of metal deposits in the Andean cordillera formed in a convergent plate boundary setting, lead isotope compositions of most Andean ore sources are not unique. Lead isotope ratios of central and south-central Andean ores define four geographically distinct ore lead isotope provinces, oriented and elongated parallel or sub-parallel to the trend of the Andean cordilleras. Consequently, ore lead isotope ratios vary strongly from west to east along transects through the coast, highlands, and altiplano, but they exhibit much less variation from north to south. The strong west-to-east variation in ore lead isotope signatures allows discrimination between ore bodies, and ultimately between metal artifacts, as a function of macro-ecozone location: coast, junga-qiswa, puna, and altiplano. We present the most up-to-date database of ore lead isotope signatures for the south-central Andes including those determined for ores we sampled over an approximate 250,000-km² region within Bolivia, northern Chile, and northwest Argentina. Lead isotope signatures of Cu-As-Ni bronze artifacts from Tiwanaku (altiplano capital) and San Pedro de Atacama (desert oasis entrepôt) establish that altiplano and high sierra ore bodies provided the metal for both assemblages. Conchopata (Wari) arsenic bronze artifacts exhibit lead isotope ratios compatible with the Julcani (Huancavelica) copper sulfarsenide deposit.     

Rubbish, Relatives, and Residence: The Family Use of Middens

Secondary refuse deposits such as middens may be used for intrasite comparisons of consumption, status, ethnicity, or activities. Our analysis of residence and household discard patterns in the modern village of Dalupa in the Pasil River Valley in Kalinga Province, the Philippines, suggests that midden assemblages may be used to compare the refuse of extended families. We define three types of middens (household, local, and communal) on the basis of catchment zones and describe their spatial distribution. Almost all middens in Dalupa are dominated by contributions from one family group based on mother–daughter relationships, despite some deviation from ideal residence patterns.     

从黏土到人工制品:非洲早期铁器时代制铁技术的资源选择

在漫长的人类史中,铁器时代占有重要的地位,而早期铁器时代的炼铁技术则更值得研究和探索。本文是麻省理工学院的S.特里·乔尔兹写于上世纪80年代的一篇实验性研究文章。其中阐述了对于东非坦桑尼亚卡盖拉地区早期铁器时代炼铁所选用黏土的实验过程以及研究结果。作者长期在卡盖拉地区进行考察,并通过田野采集、实验分析和测试焙烧的方法对该地区早期铁器时代炼铁熔炉的材质选择进行了研究。结果表明,卡盖拉地区的史前炼铁工人对于建炉材质有着自己的认识,他们会选择耐火性较高的黏土来建造可能会承受极高温度的部分,如焙烧中心、风口末端,并且已经掌握了通过向黏土添加瘠性掺合料,从而提高黏土的耐火性并防止其在极端高温中膨胀、破裂、剥落。同时,他们在材料黏土的耐火性、稳定性和可获得性方面进行了权衡。他们并不完全依赖从远处沼泽地区采集的高品质黏土,而是更多地选择居住环境周围容易获得的沙质黏土和白蚁冢。通过向其中添加掺合料,这些材料同样在建炉过程中取得了良好的效果。本文的研究揭示出非洲早期铁器时代的炼铁工人对材料黏土的选择方式和依据,说明了他们非常重视综合考量,权衡技术控制、劳动效率和材料可获得性等诸方面因素,从而对于制铁资源做出了合理的折衷选择。     

Flaked-Stone Artifacts in Greece during the Historical Period

Abstract

The evidence for historical flaked-stone artifacts in Greece is summarized. In recent years a number of such artifacts have been recognized in stratified deposits of the early Iron Age, the Protogeometric, Geometric, and Classical periods. Historical flaked-stone artifacts were probably used for making agricultural tools and were low-cost substitutes for metal. The evidence indicates that an ancient Greco-Roman flaking tradition may bridge the gap between the latest Bronze Age tradition and the gun-flint and threshing sledge flint knappers of recent times. An economic model of innovation is used to explain the use of stone tools after the introduction of metal.     

Identifying Shell Middens With Historic Aerial Photos: An Example From California's Santa Cruz Island

Using 1929 aerial photos of western Santa Cruz Island, we identified numerous potential shell midden locations, followed by confirmation of site locations via field reconnaissance. Heavy grazing by sheep, cattle, and pigs closely cropped island vegetation in the early twentieth century, exposing shell middens now often covered with thick vegetation. We discuss the potential and limitations of early aerial photos as aids to archaeological site identification and management in island and coastal settings. Although results varied from island to island, we found historic aerial photos to be extremely useful for documenting previously unrecorded sites on Santa Cruz Island, ranging from historical EuroAmerican sites to Island Chumash sites dating to as much as 7250 cal BP. These methods may also be applicable to other islands around the world subject to heavy livestock grazing in the past, especially where introduced animals have been removed and recovering vegetation now obscures archaeological sites.     

辽代的琥珀工艺

琥珀的研究在欧美颇有规模 ,而在国内 ,一直没有引起学术界的关注。辽代墓葬和遗址出土的丰富的琥珀制品 ,为研究中国古代的琥珀工艺提供了契机。本文试图以科学发掘出土的辽代琥珀制品为依据 ,对其类型、使用、题材、工艺、原料来源、琥珀饰品大行于辽等原因进行初步的探讨。围绕辽地琥珀来源而将引发的中西方文化交流 ,以及辽代琥珀工艺所揭示的契丹族独特而多元的文化艺术的研究 ,都将是饶有兴味的课题     

解析上海出土文物中的藏传佛教因素

元代以来,藏传佛教广泛在西藏以外地区传播,带来了独特的宗教理念和宗教艺术。江南地区寺塔林立,在上海佛塔"天宫"、"地宫"出土的佛教文物中,诸多藏传佛教文化元素,从较早的元代一直延续到清代。这些文物是藏传佛教在江南地区传播的实证,对其性质的分析研究,可以了解元明清时期汉藏文化的融合方式和特点。     

Miscellaneous Artifacts From Casselden Place, Melbourne

The miscellaneous artifacts from Casselden Place derive from an urban working-class community in nineteenth-century Melbourne, Australia. They include a broad range of items associated with work, recreation, education, fashion, food consumption, health, and other facets of everyday life. In this paper the miscellaneous assemblage is examined in light of research questions relating to health and hygiene, leisure and work, and access to luxury items amongst the working-class of the mid to late nineteenth century.     

吉林辉南邵家店发现的旧石器

吉林省辉南县邵家店旧石器地点发现于2003年8月,次年6月又对其进行了复查.该地点位于辉发河流域邵家店村东北的山坡上.两次调查共获得石制品57件,包括石核、石片、使用石片、刮削器、琢背刀和尖状器等.原料以黑曜岩和石英为主.石制品的原生层位全部破坏,皆山坡上采集.石制品具有中国北方主工业鲜明的特点,属于中国东北中部的小石器为主体的工业类型.根据石器类型分析,遗址的年代可能属于更新世晚期,即旧石器时代的晚期.     

A Twenty-First Century Archaeology of Stone Artifacts

Archaeologists today, as in the past, continue to divide their stone artifact assemblages into categories and to give privilege to certain of these categories over others. Retouched tools and particular core forms, for instance, are thought to contain more information than the unretouched flakes and flake fragments. This reflects the assumption that information to be gained from stone artifacts is present within the artifact itself. This study evaluates a continued interest in the final form of stone artifacts by first considering ethnographic accounts of stone artifact manufacture and use in Australia and then by utilizing the patterns observed in these accounts to investigate assemblage patterning within an Australian archaeological case study. Reading the ethnographic accounts provides no indication that Aboriginal people valued more or less complex artifacts, in uniform ways, in every situation. In fact, the opposite is true. Stone artifacts were always valued in some sense but which ones, and in which ways, depended on the situations the people who needed the artifacts found themselves in. Aboriginal people were quite capable of making and using expedient and informal artifacts in complex ways. The significance of these observations is considered for stone artifact studies in general and in relation to a case study from western New South Wales, Australia.     

Major Fallacies Surrounding Stone Artifacts and Assemblages

While lithic objects can potentially inform us about past adaptations and behaviors, it is important to develop a comprehensive understanding of all of the various processes that influence what we recover from the archaeological record. We argue here that many assumptions used by archaeologists to derive behavioral inferences through the definition, conceptualization, and interpretation of both individual stone artifact forms and groups of artifacts identified as assemblages do not fit squarely with what we have learned from both ethnographic sources and analyses of archaeological materials. We discuss this in terms of two fallacies. The first is the fallacy of the “desired end product” in stone artifact manufacture, which also includes our ability to recognize such end products. The second fallacy has to do with the notions that lithic assemblages represent simple accumulations of contemporary behaviors and the degree to which the composition of the depositional units we study reliably match the kinds of activities that took place. Although it is beyond the scope of this paper to offer a comprehensive set of new methodologies and theoretical perspectives to solve these problems, our goal here is to stress the importance of rethinking some of our most basic assumptions regarding the nature of lithic objects and how they become part of the archaeological record. Such a revision is needed if we want to be able to develop research questions that can be addressed with the data we have available to us.     

Bronze and Iron Age Amber Artifacts in Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina

Abstract

The question as to whether or not Yugoslavia played a role in the Bronze Age amber trade to Greece has traditionally been answered negatively because of the scarcity of amber finds in that country. Amber finds that have come to light as a result of more intensive exploration after World War II have been thought to be of local origin by some Yugoslav scholars. Spectroscopic analysis of 35 archaeological amber artifacts from the Yugoslav provinces of Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina of the Bronze and Iron Age shows 31 of them to be of imported Baltic amber. The finds are discussed in their archaeological and geographic contexts as a first step towards re-assessing the place of the Eastern Adriatic area in the southward movement of amber.     

浙江出土青铜器研究

本文在对浙江出土先秦青铜器作分区研究的基础上,就不同地区青铜器的铸造技术作了考察,发现在不同时期分别运用了浑铸法、分铸法两种成型技术为主的工艺。再结合这些器物的出土情况,明确其相对年代,并对不同期段青铜器的流动情况作了探索。     

Artifacts that speak for themselves: Sounds underfoot in Mesoamerica

Previously overlooked in archaeological research, natural sounds emitted from the underground affect humans and culture. In this paper, it is suggested that noises generated by subterranean ground movement, water, wind, and wildlife are a reason why residents in Mesoamerica perceive caves, waterholes, limestone sinks, and mountains as sacred. Too, a mental grasp of the sounds, conceptualized as anthropomorphized voices and music, may have been employed as an ideological basis for authority in Maya society. Support is shown using examples of ethnohistory, ethnography, and archaeology. Called for is the systematic collection and study of underground sounds, as artifacts, to define the noises as possible use determinants in ritual venues and settlement sites. Their potential importance as early warning devices for destructive agents in the natural environment suggests that an understanding of the noises and their regard by residents in the region could contribute to theory-building in anthropology, particularly in issues of human-environment relations, and sociocultural development.     

New Stone Artifacts Discovered by Xardai Co Lake

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玉柄形器名“瓒”说——辅证内史亳同与《尚书·顾命》“同瑁”问题

玉柄形器是夏至西周时期中原地区比较常见的具有某种宗教祭祀色彩的重要礼器。根据考古学、古文字学和历史文献学资料,玉柄形器应定名为"瓒",它是三代祼祭用玉之一,将鬯酒灌注于玉瓒美食,贡献给祖先神灵歆享,应是祼祭的核心内容,也是"祼"字的本义。     

绍兴印山汉墓出土的器物

绍兴印山汉墓的出土的陶器、硬陶器和釉陶器,是浙江乃至长江下游地区王莽至东汉早中期墓葬较为典型的随葬品,对进一步了解汉代浙江经济水平,有着重要价值。     

吉林省和龙西沟发现的旧石器

2006年6月发现,该地点位于和龙市龙城镇西沟村西南,距西沟村约800米的Ⅳ级侵蚀阶地上。在地表采集石器102件,包括石核、石片、石叶、断片、断块、废片、1类工具、2类工具和3类工具。原料以黑曜岩为主,占69.61%,其次是石英、石英岩、凝灰岩、板岩等。属于以小石器为主体的工业向以细石器为主体的工业过渡的类型。推测该地点年代为旧石器时代晚期。     

中国先秦时期热处理滑石器初探

热处理用于改善材料性能以及获取所需色泽,彰显了古人的智慧与技术.除石器工具的热处理之外,象征性器物的热处理也是旧石器时代末期以来的一项重要人类行为.滑石因硬度较软,很早被中国先民用作装饰品和礼仪器,但很少用作珠饰.青铜时代早期至西周时期,滑石珠饰大量出现,部分经过了热处理.与近东和南亚地区相比,热处理滑石珠饰在器型、功...