Iron technology of the ancient megalithic communities in the Vidarbha region of India

The megalithic period in India is notable for the emergence and development of iron metallurgy and the appearance of new burials known as megaliths. A number of iron objects from megalithic sites in the Vidarbha region of India, dating to the first half of the 1st millennium BC, have been examined for their microstructures and carbon distributions. The artifact assemblage consists mainly of edged or pointed tools and weapons, along with some domestic implements. Results show that the technology applied in their manufacture is characterized by the use of low carbon iron of bloomery origin and the application of surface carburization as the primary means of steelmaking. The functional parts of the objects examined were made mostly of steel with their mechanical properties finely adjusted through a combination of quenching and tempering. Of particular importance are certain fan-shaped plates which we believe were produced and circulated as intermediaries to meet a wide range of consumer needs. It appears that the Vidarbha megalithic communities shared a fully developed and well-standardized iron technology of substantial flexibility. While exceptions to this general trend were found in some unfinished or used objects, these do not suggest the presence of an inferior technological status. This paper raises questions as to the origin of such a developed technology, and will discuss the probable spreading of several key technical ideas which bear striking similarities to those noted in the early iron traditions of Korea.     

Bronze technology of the ancient megalithic communities in the Vidarbha region of India

Metallographic examination was carried out on forty-nine copper and bronze objects from five megalithic sites located in Vidarbha, India. The artifact assembly consists of horse ornaments, kitchenware, bangles, rings, small bells and the hilt of an iron dagger. Results show that the technology involved is characterized by the use of bronze alloys containing approximately 10% tin based on weight and the application of forging as a key method of fabrication. No deliberate addition of lead was observed. Arsenic was detected, but very rarely and only as an insignificant minor element. The consistent selection of such specific alloys indicates that the megalithic communities in this particular region had established a fully developed and standardized bronze tradition optimized for the production of forged items. Their advanced technological status was also noted in a special technique applied to two forged high-tin bronze bowls. Such a unique bronze tradition, dedicated to sheet metal technology, was most likely a practical choice made by these people to take advantage of the changing role of bronze. Specifically, with the introduction of iron, bronze seems to have become a more prestigious material that could serve as an indicator of the appearance of a more rigid socio-economic stratification within the megalithic communities of the Vidarbha region.     

First ancient bovine DNA evidence from India: difficult but not impossible

Ancient DNA isolation from the tropical countries has been shown to be very difficult in the past. Here for the first time we have been successful in isolating ancient DNA from Indian cattle samples. We were able to obtain DNA and sequence the partial mitochondrial D-loop in 3 of the 15 bovine fossil samples ranging in age from 2000 BC to 1000 AD, and were able to further identify the most recent sample as being of Bos indicus origin. Our results on ancient DNA extraction from India will encourage other researchers in this field to carry out further studies of ancient DNA from Indian bovine samples. Our results represent the first successful extraction and amplification of bovine ancient DNA from India, and thus may pave the road for a better understanding of demographic and historical processes of cattle domestication that has taken place in this region.     

禅古寺壁画

禅古寺位于青海省玉树县结古镇南西航村所在的禅古山腰,始建于公元12世纪都松钦巴初创噶玛噶举派时期。“禅古”意为“花石头”．得名于寺院附近的一块花色磐石。该寺分上下二寺,相距70米．初有下寺．后有上寺。寺院的墙面上绘有大量壁画．多数为宗教题材,在庙堂内东西墙壁上还有两组大型壁画,画面内容主要是文成公主进藏时受到隆重欢迎的情景。     

大昭寺壁画

大昭寺,位于拉萨卧塘平原的中心。始建于公元七世纪中叶,藏语称“觉康”,意为释迦牟尼佛殿,全称是“日阿萨出朗祖拉康”,意为“羊土幻异寺”,其别名又称“四喜奇幻寺”。传说初建大殿时,天众,龙众,歌众,夜叉四者皆大欢喜,故得名。其建筑是以天竺那兰陀寺和毗讫罗摩尸罗寺为模式所建。雕塑。壁画。雕梁彩绘是大昭寺建筑艺术的一大特色,为大昭寺披上了绚丽的浓艳盛装。     

Lost priests in ancient Mangaia

Abstract

Politics and religion in Polynesia are one and same, both concerned with appropriating and controlling sources of mana. William Wyatt Gill collected priestly lists from various Mangaians, but only published those from the reigning ariki, Nūmangātini. The lists show significant variations, suggesting that some priests disappeared partly because of their gender, but more especially due to political considerations, notably rival claims to legitimacy and authority among the various lineages and kin groups who competed for these titles. These variations highlight how particular accounts make different claims on the past, and how the Christian missions minimised the significance of sacred women who possessed great mana. By publishing Nūmangātini's version, Gill fits the missionary preference for supporting the political establishment, and echoes New Zealand's Stephenson Percy Smith, who embraced Hoani Te Whatahoro Jury's interpretation of the Māori migration, thereby marginalising knowledge claims of others.     

古诗之美

古诗之美,美不胜收：耐人寻味的语言美;复杂丰富的情感美;鲜活生动的形象美;深刻含蓄的思想美。只要我们时时修身炼性,扫除心灵的尘埃,我们就会心如明镜,发现古诗之美。     

Pests in an ancient Egyptian harbor

Our investigations combine detailed identification and interpretation of plant remains and associated fauna and their mode of arrival in one of the rock-cut galleries, Cave 3, at the site of Mersa/Wadi Gawasis on Egypt’s Red Sea coast. The site served as a staging area and harbor from which Middle Kingdom pharaohs launched seafaring expeditions to the land of Punt in the early second millennium BC. Quantities of wood, including ship timbers, fastenings, debris related to ship dismantling and reworking, and charcoal were excavated and analyzed. Evidence of marine mollusk infestation (shipworm) was abundant in Cave 3, as were the remains of insect pests of stored foods. We also report on a unique find of a plaster “spill” that preserved the floor of Cave 3 as it was when people worked in the gallery ca. 3800 years ago. The plaster spill created a sealed deposit of plant and insect remains with a diagnostic ceramic fragment, allowing us to securely associate insect remains and “hollow” spikelets of emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum) recovered from the gallery. An impression of the beetle Trachyderma hispida and its associated exoskeleton fragments provide new evidence of this species as a potential pest not yet reported from an archaeological grain storage site in Egypt. The finding of Tenebroides mauritanicus from the same deposit is the earliest known association of this pest with stored grains. These unique finds shed new light on the risks associated with preserving food supplies, combating pest infestation, and dealing with marine organisms on land and at sea in the pharaonic harbor.