Evaluating Fish and Meat Salting at Prehistoric Zhongba,China

Abstract

Cultural deposits at Zhongba, one of the most important archaeological sites in the Three Gorges Dam reservoir area in central China, provide a comprehensive perspective on diachronic changes from the late Neolithic through the end of the Bronze Age, or from ca. 2500 to 200 B.C. (calibrated radiocarbon years). Excavations produced large quantities of pottery, stone tools, small finds, and animal bones, which document the changes in the organization of specialized salt production and associated activities. The occurrence of large numbers of animal bones at a salt production site suggests that the salting of fish and mammal meat may have taken place there. This study provides one of the first detailed discussions of a faunal assemblage from this region of the world, allowing for preliminary tests of the “preservation hypothesis” through analyses of prevalence, diversity, and part representation of various taxa. Some, but not all, of the expected patterns consistent with the hypothesis of fish and meat salting were identified. It is clear that the increase in the importance of fish and in the diversity of mammals at Zhongba coincides with the increase in the scale of salt production.     

Excavations at Prehistoric Sites on the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project,Northwestern New Mexico

Abstract

The results of a large excavation project in the San Juan Basin of NW New Mexico are summarized in this article. Discussion is limited to prehistoric and protohistoric sites, 22 of which were excavated. The majority of the remains are small, surface aceramic sites that are believed to relate to the Archaic Cultural Complex. These sites reflect a specialized adaptive strategy focusing on seasonal mobility and the exploitation of resources occurring at or adjacent to sand dunes. The lithic assemblages from these sites generally are homogeneous and reflect opportunistic usage. Occupation of the project area during the Anasazi phases was limited. A considerable protohistoric Navajo occupation is apparent, with one excavated site suggesting a very specialized economic orientation emphasizing antelope procurement. The research focus of the project was on comprehensive lithic analysis and on paleoeconomy. Several methodological considerations are discussed, as is the necessity for developing a unified research perspective that will produce comparable data for the region.     

1990年迁西县史前遗址调查

1990年,河北省考古人员对唐山市迁西县进行了考古调查,发现了东寨、洒河桥、南岭等几处重要的史前遗址。通过对遗址遗物的分析、研究,并结合以往该地区的考古发掘,大致列出了该区域史前文化的序列。     

从房县七里河诸遗址看史前东夷族的西迁

以房县七里河诸遗址为代表的汉水上游地区新石器时代晚期的原始文化,在物质文化面貌上与黄河中游地区及长江中游地区均有较大的差异,在许多社会习俗方面十分接近大汶口文化。因此该文化应是史前东夷族的一支,经过两次西迁到达今之汉水上游地区。     

中国史前城址的区域与类型研究

本文以大量的考古发掘及调查资料为依据,结合历史地理学与环境考古学资料,对中国史前城址进行了较为系统的整理和分类。将５０余座城址分别划归六个地区,并从地理位置、面积、平面形状、筑城技术、年代及考古发现等方面对各城址进行讨论,总结了各地区史前城址的特点。根据城址位置,将其分为四种类型：缓岗类、台地类、山城类、水城类。以城址的分类为基础,总结出中国史前城址在选址方面普遍遵循的原则,地势稍高,邻近水源与河、湖岸边,周围自然生态环境比较优越。     

关于胶东半岛贝丘遗址环境考古学研究的几点思考

中国社会科学院考古研究所胶东半岛贝丘遗址研究课题组自１９９４年到１９９７年在胶东半岛进行环境考古学研究［１］。我们的研究目的是通过环境考古学的调查和发掘,用考古学、地学和生物学的资料阐述这个地区的自然环境演变是如何制约古代人类生存的,而古代人类又是如...     

长江流域史前古城的初步研究

一长江流域现已发现的史前城址（一）长江中游的史前城址长江中游现已发现的史前城址主要有湖南澧县城头山、湖北石首市走马岭、江陵阴湘城、荆门马家垸、天门石家河等。据报道湖南澧县鸡叫城,也是一座史前古城。据悉,长江中游地区现已发现的史前城址还有四、五座［１］...     

甘肃张家川史前文化遗址及相关问题考

张家川第三次文物普查于2008年4月份与早期秦文化联合考古队同时展开,本文主要结合这次普查有关资料,对几个重要的遗址加以介绍。笔者通过实地调查,并结合前两段次普查的有关资料,阐述了对张家川是史前文化遗址的一些认识。     

Archaeological Tree-Ring Dating at the Millennium

Tree-ring analysis provides chronological, environmental, and behavioral data to a wide variety of disciplines related to archaeology including architectural analysis, climatology, ecology, history, hydrology, resource economics, volcanology, and others. The pace of worldwide archaeological tree-ring research has accelerated in the last two decades, and significant contributions have recently been made in archaeological chronology and chronometry, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, and the study of human behavior in both the Old and New Worlds. This paper reviews a sample of recent contributions to tree-ring method, theory, and data, and makes some suggestions for future lines of research.     

宁绍地区史前文化遗址地理环境特征及相关问题探索

本从宁绍地区各个遗址不同时期遗存的海拔数据对比入手,试图找出距今7000至4000年间遗址环境变迁的规律,并从化生态学角度去分析、解释、推断诸如河姆渡化“缺环”说、宁绍地区7000年前古化地理环境、宁绍地区史前化遗址环境与聚落形态特征的关系等问题。     

苏州阳山俞墩土墩墓发掘简报

2012年3月,苏州市考古研究所对苏州阳山俞墩进行了发掘,共发现墓葬7座、器物群1处及大量的随葬器物。7座墓葬时代跨度涵盖了马桥文化、西周、春秋几个时期,包含了竖穴岩坑墓、竖穴土坑墓、石床型土墩墓等墓葬形制。其中,M7属于马桥文化时期,为苏州首次发现;M6为西周中晚期的竖穴岩坑墓,是土墩中心位置的大型墓葬,可能为高等级的贵族大墓。     

西周青铜器断代研究的两个问题

利用不断出土青铜器铭文,最大限度地“复原”西周的历史,自20世纪以来,一直是古史学界的强烈愿望。但是正如郭沫若先生1931年在《两周金文辞大系考释·序》里所说:“夫彝铭之可贵在足以征史,苟时代不明,国别不明,虽     

Seasonal Variation in Fishing Strategies at Two Iroquoian Village Sites Near Lake Simcoe,Ontario

Abstract

In this paper we present an analysis of fish bones from the Barrie and Dunsmore sites, two pre-contact Iroquoian longhouse villages located between Lake Simcoe, and Georgian Bay of Lake Huron, Ontario. We use a combination of fish biology, habitat and spawning data to interpret when and where different fish species were obtained. After identifying co-occurrences of species in major features at each site, we suggest the existence of three fisheries complexes. There is some overlap in species composition between these complexes. In an attempt to distinguish between them, we also investigate probable technique and time of capture through fish bone size distribution. We use our findings to identify inter- and intra-site differences in fish procurement.     

关中地区史前动物考古学研究的几个问题

关中地区动物考古学研究起步较早,而且成果突出,如半坡遗址和姜寨遗址出土的动物遗存研究报告在我国动物考古学史上有着里程碑性的意义①.目前该地区已积累的动物考古学基础资料比较丰富,专门作过动物骨骼鉴定研究报告的史前遗址就有临潼白家村②、零口村③、姜寨④、康家⑤、西安半坡⑥、扶风案板⑦、宝鸡北首岭⑧、关桃园⑨、福临堡⑩等,这些材料涵括了本地史前文化发展的各个阶段.     

Dating the A Cemetery at Kish: A Reconsideration

Abstract

The site of ancient Kish consists of a series of mounds about eight miles east of Babylon in the flood plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. On several of the eastern mounds extensive remains of the Sumerian (Early Dynastic = ED) period in the early 3rd millenium B.C. were excavated in the 1920s. Among these remains was a cemetery in which were found many examples of a distinctive kind of pottery, the so-called “goddess-handled jars,” which have come to be associated with the last phase of the period and thus to serve as a criterion for dating sites where these occur.

It will be argued here that such jars were actually manufactured over a longer span of time within the Early Dynastic period and that they are therefore a less precise instrument for dating than has been believed. In my view their absence from some sites is to be explained not by chronology but by regional differences. If this argument is correct, then the dating of a number of Early Dynastic sites will have to be re-examined with greater attention to regional considerations that have often been overlooked in the past.     

Evidence of Prehistoric Scalping at Vosberg,Central Arizona

Four crania recovered during the 1970 Arizona State University field school season at a prehistoric site in Vosberg, Arizona show parallel clusters of cut marks characteristic of scalping with a stone knife. These victims were identified during a general survey of the Vosberg skeletons for evidence of trauma and pathology. The discovery of these four victims in the same atypical burial context provides clues to the nature of the scalping custom in the American Southwest prior to European contact and brings the total number of prehistoric scalping victims reported from the Southwest to 15 individuals. Perimortem depressed fractures in two of the crania, and the presence of a stone arrow point within the chest of one of the skeletons, indicates that the scalping of these individuals was the result of violence rather than medicinal or ritual treatment.