The Earliest Neolithic Cultures of Northeast China: Recent Discoveries and New Perspectives on the Beginning of Agriculture

Although north China has long been recognized as one of the nuclear centers of agriculture, it is surprisingly absent from most recent publications on the beginnings of agriculture. New discoveries made in this region during the last 15 years are important contributions to our understanding of the transition to agriculture. Moreover, through these discoveries we can challenge the common view of north China as a homogeneous area of agricultural development. Through the introduction of the Xinglongwa (ca. 8000–6800 B.P.) and the Zhaobaogou (ca. 6800–6000 B.P.) cultures, the earliest sedentary societies in northeast China, I attempt to progress beyond generalizations, such as the useful model of the Chinese Interaction Sphere, and examine more thoroughly the developments in one subregion of north China. The data presented are used to address important issues associated with the transition to agriculture as well as to point to new avenues for future research in this field.     

Holocaust Archaeology: Archaeological Approaches to Landscapes of Nazi Genocide and Persecution

Abstract

Debate concerning the events of the Holocaust is well embedded in the historical discourse and, thus, clearly defined narratives of this period exist. However, in most European countries the Holocaust has only recently begun to be considered in terms of its surviving archaeological remains and landscapes, and the majority of known sites are still ill-defined and only partially understood from both spatial structural points of view. Additionally, thousands of sites across Europe remain unmarked, whilst the locations of others have been forgotten altogether. Such a situation has arisen as a result of a number of political, social, ethical, and religious factors which, coupled with the scale of the crimes, has often inhibited systematic search. This paper details the subsequent development and application of a non-invasive archaeological methodology aimed at rectifying this situation and presents a case for the establishment of Holocaust archaeology as a sub-discipline of conflict studies. In particular, the importance of moving away from the notion that the presence of historical sources precludes the need for the collection of physical evidence is stressed, and the humanitarian, scientific, academic, and commemorative value of exploring this period is considered.     

Archaeological Survey of Dynamic Coastal Landscapes and Paleoshorelines: Locating Early Holocene Sites in the Prince Rupert Harbour Area,British Columbia,Canada

We present and test a predictive archaeological survey model that targets early Holocene paleoshorelines in the Prince Rupert Harbour area using LiDAR bare earth digital terrain models and a 15,000-year reconstructed history of relative sea level change. Despite a century of archaeological research in the study area, no sites dating earlier than 6000 cal b.p. had been identified prior to our research. Our field survey identified three early Holocene sites associated with paleoshorelines 7–10?m above current sea level (masl). These locations demonstrate repeated use through the Holocene even as shoreline position changes. We discuss these new data in relation to the early Holocene archaeological record from the rest of the northern Northwest Coast and suggest that the region was ubiquitously occupied by this time and that the lack of recorded early Holocene sites in some areas is likely a result of survey and preservation bias, rather than historical reality.     

Early Neolithic diets at Baijia,Wei River valley,China: stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of human and faunal remains

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values are presented for faunal and human bone collagen from Baijia, in the Wei River valley region of Shaanxi Province, China. The remains have a calibrated age range of ca. 5709–5389 BC, and correspond with the early Neolithic Laoguantai Period. Stable isotopic results indicate that human diets included millet and probably aquatic foods such as fish and shellfish. Bovid samples are tentatively identified as water buffalo, and have a mean δ¹³C value of −14.6‰, which reflects some millet consumption. Whether bovids were grazing on wild millet, or had diets directly influenced by humans, is not known. The single Sus sample from Baijia had a diet dominated by C3 plants and is thus unlikely to have been a domesticated animal. Overall, the stable isotope results presented here conform to the current concept that the people of the Laoguantai culture were millet farmers, who had subsistence strategies that included hunted wild foods.     

从复数“中国”到单数“中国”——试论统一多民族中国及其疆域的形成

由于中国古代少数民族及其政权多自称“中国”,以及当时一些政权虽没有自称“中国”,但为后来的“中国”所继承,并仍被称为“中国”等原因,致使中国古代自秦统一以后仍然存在复数“中国”的现象。经过秦汉、魏晋南北朝、隋唐、辽宋夏金的发展,到了元朝统一全国,复数“中国”开始过渡为单数“中国”,明朝时期稍有反复,到了清朝统一全国,作为单数概念的“中国”最终确定下来,统一的多民族的“中国”及其疆域最终形成和确立下来。     

Human adaptation and socioeonomic change in northeast China: Results of the Fuxin Regional Survey

Northeastern China is one of the centers of early development of agriculture and sedentary life, as well as of the subsequent development of social complexity and distinct cultural attributes. While the outlines of this trajectory are clear, its important details are still elusive. Like all other regions of northern China, there is little data on the all-important transition from nomad hunter-gatherers to sedentary agriculturalists. The Fuxin Regional Survey was designed as the first step in accumulating new data and addressing the geographic and ecological contexts of these socioeconomic processes. Among the most remarkable results of this survey is the identification of early ceramics, which possibly predate the transition to agriculture. The systematic collection and analysis of stone tools was done in a way never before done in this region. Analysis of our findings, using GIS and other methods, sheds new light on the local trajectory of human adaptation in this area.     

Stable isotope dietary analysis of prehistoric populations from the Minusinsk Basin,Southern Siberia,Russia: a new chronological framework for the introduction of millet to the eastern Eurasian steppe

We report the results of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of 354 human and faunal samples from five archaeological cultures of the Minusinsk Basin, Southern Siberia – Afanasyevo, Okunevo, Andronovo, Karasuk and Tagar (ca. 2700–1 BC) – a key location in Eurasia due to its position on a northern corridor linking China and central Eurasia. The results indicate that the diet of Eneolithic to Middle Bronze Age (Afanasyevo to Andronovo) populations was primarily C₃-based, with C₄ plants only becoming an important component of the diet in the Late Bronze Age Karasuk and Early Iron Age Tagar cultures. Freshwater fish seems to have been an important constituent of the diets in all groups. The findings constitute the earliest concrete evidence for the substantial use of millet in the eastern Eurasian steppe. We propose that it was probably introduced from Northwestern China during the Karasuk culture at the start of the Late Bronze Age, ca. 1500 BC. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for the nature of pastoralist economies on the steppes.     

Early Chinese Migrants to Australia: A Critique of the Sojourner Narrative on Nineteenth-century Chinese Migration to British Colonies

This paper critically assesses the issues surrounding nineteenth-century Chinese migration to British colonies, especially Australia. The issues discussed in the paper include the origin of the term “sojourner” and its relationship to Western colonialism, and the origin of the term huaqiao (overseas Chinese) and its relationship to Chinese nationalism. By being critical of the narrative of the “sojourner” for its cultural essentialist approach to Chinese migration, the paper highlights two important aspects of Chinese migration patterns and behaviour that are often neglected by the sojourner narrative: socioeconomic circumstances at the origin of migration and Western colonialism at the destination of migration. The paper argues that the Chinese publications by the migrants and what happened in Hong Kong at that time demonstrate the consequences of the combination of these two aspects of history. The paper finally observes that the little understood behaviour of the Chinese peasantry migrants appears to be post-modern and transnational.     

从三分到归一:唐朝前中期岭南政治地理格局的变迁

岭南僻处南疆,地理复杂。隋末大乱之时,地方势力纷纷割据,唐初和平统一岭南后,采取羁縻政策,以原有势力为基础设管州的"都府"。而在都府之上,朝廷以广州、桂州、交州为中心置"统府",以点控面,有效地维护了岭南地区的稳定。但是这种层层管理的"统府三分格局",到高宗乾封二年发生突变,随着邕府和容府的建立,原统府消失,遂形成并立的"五府格局"。可是,最迟8世纪初,唐朝设立岭南五府经略使,统一管理整个岭南的军事。在此前后,岭南选补使、岭南按察使、岭南采访使等陆续出现,在人事、监察、民政等领域,对岭南道全境实施管辖权。因此,"盛唐"的岭南道,表现出明显的"归一"趋势。     

从泰山到东海抑或是从东海到地下——关于北宋中期以前买地券中一类常见用语的讨论

在讨论中国东南地域之江西地区(兼及湖北部分地区)墓葬出土的北宋中期以前买地券中"东海"、"水中鱼"、"高山鹿"等常见用语的含义以及唐宋时期"张坚固"、"李定度"身份之变化的基础上,可以初步得出这样的推论:如果说从前秦到唐初的数百年里在新疆吐鲁番地区还有可能存在着"东海"信仰的话,那么在两宋时期的江西、湖北地区,昔日有关"东海"的观念和记忆正在逐渐消退,到了南宋,已基本消失于人们的脑海中,连同隐没的还有这一观念可能代表的某种有关死后世界的信仰,与它们一起湮灭的还有水中鱼、高山鹿和天上鹤这些居住于东海边的神灵;张坚固、李定度的新身份或许意味着一种新的冥世信仰。     

From Blind Spot to Media Spotlight: Propaganda Policy,Media Activism and the Emergence of Protest Events in the Chinese Public Sphere

Abstract

In recent years, popular protest in China has emerged from a state of near-invisibility. Drawing on a diachronic analysis of news media coverage, this paper traces how a number of major protest events gradually entered the Chinese media’s spotlight and came to be portrayed in an increasingly protester-sympathising fashion over the course of the Hu-Wen administration. It argues that these changes were triggered by structural transformations of the Chinese public sphere, but underlines that deliberate policy choices by the political leadership served as a crucial agent of change. Facing proliferating unrest and an increasingly unimpeded flow of information, the central authorities have gradually shifted propaganda policy from a suppressive to a more proactive approach. They have thereby created critical opportunities for Internet users and investigative journalists to push the envelope further towards protester-sympathising accounts. The development is significant as there are good reasons to surmise that increased media coverage has exacerbated the dynamics of popular contention. Theoretically, it deserves to be noted that non-inevitable choices by an authoritarian leadership have led to an outcome in which media coverage of citizens who challenge the state on the streets has become substantially more frequent and positive than before.     

The Role of Land Management in Shaping Arid/Semi‐arid Landscapes: the Case of the Catholic Church (CICM) in Western Inner Mongolia from the 1870s (Late Qing Dynasty) to the 1940s (Republic of China)

Land management has made a strong impact on the landscapes, especially in arid environments. Based on historical data, this paper evaluates the role of Catholic churches in the shaping of the Sanshenggong area in western China in the 1870s. Sanshenggong, an arid/semi‐arid region located in western Inner Mongolia, was an important Catholic region in the west Ordos Plateau after the 1870s. After the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae) (CICM) obtained land from the Maharajah of Alashan Banner, the Belgian priests converted local Chinese (Hans) to Catholicism by lending land, houses and farm implements. By 1949 most people living there had been converted. As a result of intensive land management by the Catholic mission, the arid/semiarid landscape, formerly used as grazing lands, was changed to more intensive agricultural use. This case study exemplifies the practices and the important role an authoritarian religious organisation played in shaping oasis landscapes in arid and semiarid areas.     

建国初期社会救助体系的构建与评析--以1949～1953年的广州市为个案

建国初期,中共在广州构建了一个过渡性的社会救助体系,在短短的4年内,广州市通过它救助了大量的失业者和城市贫民,基本上遏制了由于新旧转轨带来的社会危机,为新政权即将展开的社会主义各项建设奠定了基础.在救助理念和救助过程上,它体现了以往社会救助的一些特点,同时也反映了我党的诸多特色,诸如鲜明的意识形态性、广泛的群众参与性和严格的组织纪律性,隐隐约约闪烁着以统一调配为主要特征的计划时代社会政策的影子.     

从“良渚全考古”到“良博全展示”——以良渚博物院2018年改陈策展为例

良渚考古工作历经八十余年,考古内涵不断丰富,考古价值不断提升,已进入到"良渚全考古"时代,是边发现、边研究、边保护、边利用、边传承的模式。2018年良渚博物院改陈,进入"良博全展示"阶段。现有的展览全面展示良渚考古成果,全面呈现良渚文化内涵,全面阐释良渚文明价值,全面解读良渚遗存信息。良渚的展示除了依靠文物本身或图文所呈现和传递的信息,还采用过程性展示、功能性展示、复原性展示、对比性展示、演变性展示、场景性展示等多种手段,多角度、全方位地解读和展示遗物,力图将良渚文物的故事讲清楚、讲明白。