THERMOLUMINESCENCE AND GLAZE STUDIES OF A GROUP OF T'ANG DYNASTY CERAMICS

The application of the recently developed thermoluminescent method of pre-dose dating to thirty-seven glazed ceramics, purporting to have been manufactured during the T'ang Dynasty in China (a.d. 618–906), is reported. The modern origin of eight of these pieces is established. The remaining twenty-nine authentic pieces are discussed with respect to the accuracy of dating possible for such wares. The criterion for authenticity judgement commonly used for this material, that of glaze crackleur, is discussed critically and shown to be of only limited reliability.     

THE ASSESSMENT OF RADIONUCLIDE DISTRIBUTION IN SILEX BY AUTORADIOGRAPHY IN THE CONTEXT OF DOSE RATE DETERMINATION FOR THERMOLUMINESCENCE DATING

A combination of two autoradiography methods was applied to investigate the radionuclide distribution patterns in a range of different silices. We obtained greyscale images (β‐radiation) and α‐track patterns for qualitative assessment, and used a statistical approach to quantify the degree of uniformity of the radiation fields. It was found that almost all samples are poor in potassium, thorium and uranium, and that locally high concentrations are present only in dark‐coloured veins and inclusions. Statistical analyses reveal evidence of radionuclide clustering in more than half of the 21 specimens. Concerning thermoluminescence dating of burnt lithics, such gradients should be taken into account to improve precision and accuracy in cases where the external radiation is not strongly dominating for the sample under consideration.     

THERMOLUMINESCENCE DATING OF MATERIALS WHICH EXHIBIT ANOMALOUS FADING

This article reports a generalised and systematic approach to the thermoluminescence (TL) dating of samples which suffer from anomalous fading. We hypothesise that the TL signal from each mineral phase is composed of a stable and an unstable portion. The decay of the unstable TL is accelerated thermally, until only stable TL remains. The dating is then carried out on this stable signal. The results, on four known-age, coeval samples, exhibiting gross anomalous fading (25-50% loss over a few days), indicate that many, if not all, samples may successfully be dated with this approach.     

北魏中后期纪年墓等级规制研究

<正>目次一地面封土与陵园建筑二墓道及过洞天井三墓室结构四随葬品组合五墓主身份六结语北魏由拓跋鲜卑建立,墓葬体现了多民族文化融合的特征。随着考古材料不断积累,纪年墓的资料日渐丰富,为探讨北魏中后期墓葬等级、丧葬制度提供了直接证据。目前发现的北魏墓葬近两千座,经考古发掘的不到一半,其中纪年墓信息较完整者有七十四座（附表）。纪年墓主要分布于平城和洛阳地区,墓葬年代则集中于北魏中晚期,其中最早的为太延元年（435年）破多罗太夫人墓,最晚是永熙三年（534年）李仲胤夫妇墓。本文主要通过墓葬地面封土、墓道规模、墓室结构、随葬品组合、墓主身份等反映的文化因素讨论北魏中后期墓葬的等级规制,     

THERMOLUMINESCENCE DATING OF A CRUCIBLE FRAGMENT FROM AN EARLY TIN PROCESSING SITE IN TURKEY

Archaeological exploration in the Taurus mountains at Göltepe in south-central Turkey has uncovered a site indicating the presence of extensive tin ore mining and smelling operations The most recent find of smelting crucible fragments allowed for a thermoluminescence-hased age determination spanning a late fifth to early third millennium BC date. This result is consistent with a number of radiocarbon dates derived for charcoal also found at the site. The importance of this site relates to the possible tin production and subsequent trade with southwestern Asia which would have provided this otherwise scarce ingredient to bronze technology in that area. This date is directly for crucible material and thus confirms the antiquity of tin smelting at Göltepe.     

THERMOLUMINESCENCE DATING OF BURNT FLINT AND QUARTZ: COMPARATIVE RESULTS

Thermoluminescence dates obtained from burnt flints and quartz recovered from the same sites are compared. For the Upper Perigordian level at la Vigne Brun (Loire, France), four quartz specimens and three flints yielded average ages of 27 400 ± 2300 and 26 900 ± 2200 years respectively, which are 15% greater than the radiocarbon age obtained for the same site (Evin 1982). For the neolithic site of la Vallée aux Fleurs (Loir et Cher, France), the respective averages of three flints and three ceramic sherds were 6830 ± 560 and 6570 ± 520 years.     

AN ARTISTIC LIFE CREATED BY A PAIR OF SKILLFUL HANDS

正The cold season isjust about to arrive in Lhasa.A tallllbetan man is standing upon the golden roof of the Jokhang Temple to look out into distance.His name is Tsegya,a man with a deep affection for this very roof.This is the place where his karma connects him to his produced mandalas.Tsegya told me that     

SEISMIC RESPONSE CONTROL OF A CABLE-STAYED BRIDGE BY VARIABLE DAMPERS

Cable-stayed bridges exhibit unique responses under a strong motion. It is partly due to the complexity in their damping mechanism. Recently, the benchmark problem of a cable-stayed bridge was developed to clarify the effectiveness of various seismic control strategies. Due to the new development of magnetorheological dampers, the application of variable dampers in bridges becomes possible. In this study, the effectiveness of the nonlinear viscous damping force scheme and the two-step friction damping force scheme are investigated. It is found that the nonlinear viscous damping force scheme is effective to control the response of the cable-stayed bridge with less demand for the damping force capacity of a damper. In addition, the two-step friction damping force scheme shows the improvement over conventional friction damping because the energy dissipation of a damper can be increased.     

A MULTIVARIATE METRICAL STUDY OF CERAMICS MADE BY THREE POTTERS

The probability that similarly shaped ceramics by different potters will show individual characteristics is tested on control samples by multivariate metrical analysis and demonstrated. The method of analysis could profitably be applied to kiln-site material of any culture where it might give some estimate of the size of the workshop involved, or to large samples of any "identical' hand-made ceramicS.