THE ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION OF TIN IN SOME ANCIENT METALS AND THE RECYCLING PROBLEM IN METAL PROVENANCING

A recent suggestion that some ancient metallurgical processes might give rise to large changes (> 0.5%) in the isotopic composition of tin gave hope that it might be possible to identify ancient bronze samples which had undergone recycling and mixing processes. This paper describes a method for the analysis of the isotopic composition of tin by thermal ionization mass spectrometry and applies it to analyse a number of ancient bronzes and tin metal objects from the Bronze Age Mediterranean. No observable isotopic fractionation of tin was found above $0.1% in the ratio¹²² Sn/¹¹⁶. Consequently, either recycling of bronze in the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean was not so common as supposed, or the isotopic composition of tin is not fractionated by anthropogenic metallurgical processes to the extent predicted by the Bradford group.     

SOURCES OF THE QUARTZITE OF SOME ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SCULPTURES

This article reports the results of analysis of samples collected from some Egyptian quartzite artifacts. such as statuary, dating from the New Kingdom. Most of the artifacts are located in Upper Egypt, but the results of analysis suggest that, until the middle of the fourteenth century B.C., the quartzite came from a more distant quarry near Cairo rather than from the quartzite quarries located near Aswan in Upper Egypt.     

THE WILD GOAT and FIKELLURA STYLES: SOME SPECULATIONS

Summary: It is suggested that the Wild Goat style began and was formed at Miletus and later was adopted with variations by other East Greek cities, and that when around 600 BC the North Ionian school developed a successful incising style, the old style persisted elsewhere, probably till the advent of Fikellura about 560 BC. Fikellura, it is argued, was a sudden creation, without a long transitional stage.     

WEST AFRICAN METALS AND THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN

Summary. Contact between the Mediterranean in Roman or earlier times and the Sahara and lands beyond has commonly been examined from the northern angle with rather negative results (as for instance in Mortimer Wheeler's Rome Beyond the Imperial Frontiers, 1954). Although West African archaeology is still at an infant stage, it is now becoming possible to examine the issue from a southern, inner African, angle. (The multi-volume Cambridge History of Africa, 1975-, and the less consistent UNESCO General History of Africa, 1981-, document some of the progress made in reconstructing the African side of the story.) And, while substantial trans-Saharan communications did not develop till late in the first millennium A. D. with camel-caravans, stimulated especially by the gold of Far-West Africa, evidence is emerging of earlier exploitation of other metals, perhaps connected with horse (and cart?) transport. At two localities on the southern Saharan edge there was copper mining and smelting around the mid-first millennium B.C., with likely trade of the product to the Mediterranean. The case for Nigerian tin at the same period—raised by Taylor in the previous volume of this Journal (1, 317–24)—is less clear, but would make sense in this context. That the same period saw the spread of iron technology in these sub-Saharan regions is doubtless more than coincidence.     

INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY FOR THE ANALYSIS OF ANCIENT METALS*

Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is a relatively new analytical technique, growing in popularity, that offers many advantages over previously available instrumentation for the measurement of both the elemental and isotopic composition of metallic antiquities. The application of this method of analysis to archaeological metalwork is discussed and the technique compared with other methods of analysis commonly used in archaeometallurgy. Particular attention is drawn to the potential pitfalls and difficulties associated with ICP-MS and the need for extremely careful sample preparation and instrument operation.     

人地关系研究范型：哲学与伦理思辩

人地关系研究应当具有科学范型,观念形态层次的范型就是哲学与伦理思辩,人地关系的哲学与伦理思辩经历了天命论、地理环境决定论、或然论、征服自然论、反人类中心论后,人地关系协调论正在成为全球的共识。本文对各种人地关系思想作了概括的阐述和评价。     

中国古代方位观念初探

中国古代方位观念是我国灿烂的古代文化的一个方面,反映着我国古代人民对自然的认识。本文以"东"南"西"北"中"五个主要方位为例,对中国古代的方位观念作了初步探讨。     

ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNIFIED STATE IN ANCIENT EGYPT

The annalist Manetho, a native Egyptian scholar-priest who lived in the 3^rd century BC during the reign of Ptolemy II （285-246 BC）, wrote a history of Egypt in Greek and divided the history of ancient Egypt into 30 （or 31） dynasties. He began with the unification of Egypt, making a Thinite king of Upper Egypt, whom he knows as Menes, the founder of the First Dynasty （ca.3100-2890 BC）. Menes is said to have built his capital at the junction of Upper and Lower Egypt, in a strategical key position. The new capital was called the ＂White Wall＂, it became later known as Memphis. There a great temple was built, dedicated to the god Ptah, who remained the patron deity of the city throughout its long history. Up to now no monuments of the First Dynasty have been found that would bear the name of Menes. Therefore, modem archaeologists hold that Menes should be identified with Narmer, the king whose relics have been unearthed at Hierakonpolis. Some scholars even doubt that Menes was a true historical figure, after all.     

试论中国的乡村古聚落文化旅游资源

本文在掌据丰富的乡村古聚落文化及其分布的基础上,着重对我国乡村古聚落文化的特点及其成为旅游资源的优势和开发利用的原则等问题发表了笔者的意见,以便与读者讨论研究。     

中国古代休闲活动发展演变规律探析

从夏朝建立到第一次鸦片战争开始近四千年之久中国古代社会,休闲受社会制度、生产力发展、科技水平、文化宗教等影响下,休闲活动在不断发生变化。本文从休闲社会阶层、休闲内容、休闲空间等方面分析中国古代休闲活动发展演变,总结了其演变规律及其原因。最后从休闲阶层、休闲内容和休闲空间三方面总结了中国古代休闲特点。     

贵州镇远 太极图上的古城

<正>镇远古镇位于舞阳河畔,四周皆山。源远流长的舞阳河一路流淌过来,透明的河水,把苍穹的湛蓝和两岸的苍翠融合在一起,泛着翡翠般的绿光。到了镇远后,在中和山脚,青龙洞前来了一个神龙摆尾,将古城一劈两半,构成一个天然的太极图,南北两端的府城和卫城成了太极图上的阴阳两点。     

秘鲁时间的迷城

秘鲁,是野生动物的天堂,鸬鹚、火烈乌、鲣乌、鹈鹕、海鸥、仿佛是色彩魔方里的一块块拼图,用鲜艳的羽毛讲述着绚丽的自然之谜,而数以万计、不同种类的动物在这谜一般的土地上生息繁衍,谜一般地和睦共处了千万年。