The Present Condition of the Monuments of Egypt and Nubia

Studies of early Anglo-Saxon social identity have been largely based on information obtained from the skeletal remains and grave assemblages from inhumation burials. As a result, the social identity of populations that practiced the alternative mortuary rite, namely cremation, is often overlooked. This paper will provide new evidence for the social identity of cremation practicing groups based on a comprehensive study of the Elsham and Cleatham cemeteries, both located in North Lincolnshire. The demographic attributes of the burial populations will be scrutinized alongside their associated grave furnishings. In addition, the spatial distribution of burials will be assessed as a means of establishing whether certain social groups were segregated at these cemeteries. Based on the results presented in this paper, it is clear that the often binary differences in grave provisions afforded to men and women in the inhumation rite play only minor roles in the manifestation of social identity among cremating groups in eastern England. Instead, stages in the lifecycle, kin associations and perhaps even ideological beliefs seem to have been emphasized by the treatment of the cremated dead.     

西方关于中国和埃及文明起源研究的启示

本文是笔者在访问英国伦敦期间收集、阅读西方学者有关文明起源方面论著的心得体会,包括介绍Robert J.Wenke、John H.Bodley、Gina L.Barnes、Stephan Seidlmayer和Sarah Allan等学者的论著,并结合我国学者的研究认为,西方关于中国和埃及文明起源研究以及我国青铜器研究的一些观点对于国内相关问题的研究有重要的借鉴和推动作用,也在很大程度上开阔了相关研究领域的视野.     

探访吴哥古迹 惊艳神秘废墟

<正>提起柬埔寨,许多人首先想到的就是吴哥,似乎它就是柬埔寨的代名词。这个像谜一样的国家,虽然饱经岁月沧桑的洗礼,却有着让人无法抵挡的动人魅力,从古至今不曾改变。吴哥拥有一片富饶美丽的沃土:东南亚最长的湄公河从这里蜿蜒流过;千姿百态的热带原始丛林令人目不暇接;而著名的吴哥古迹,则使地少人稀的国家闻名于世。它是柬埔寨的灵魂,是历史留给后人的奇迹。去探访世界遗     

Monuments on a migrating Nile

River courses migrate, but many Egyptologists plot the present-day River Nile on maps of the valley in archaeological times. This may have misled interpretations of ancient monuments and settlements. We show a river migrating rapidly on historical timescales in the Luxor region, sweeping > 5 km across the valley at rates on the order of 2–3 km per 1000 years. Satellite elevation data (SRTM), processed by a novel method, and Landsat imagery are used to trace ancient river levees and extend trends present in 200 years of archive maps thousands of years into the past. This supplements observations by Ptolemy (121–141 AD) and places local geo-archaeological studies in a wider spatial and temporal context. Satellite data are demonstrated to be a relatively quick and easy constraint upon ancient river courses, and a basis for investigations along the Egyptian Nile, even in logistically inaccessible regions.     

Monuments and nationalism in modern Mexico

A key feature in the cultural repertoire of Mexican nationalism has been the excavation and reconstruction of the archaeological sites and monuments of the pre‐Hispanic past. They afford tangible witness to the foundations of Mexican history and the putative existence of the Mexican people in the civilisations of Mesoamerica. Although in the colonial period creole patriots identified the Aztec empire as their classical past, it was not until the Mexican Revolution that archaeological sites and monuments were integrated into the nationalism that accompanied and characterised that movement. The chief author of this cultural turn was Manuel Gamio, a professional archaeologist and liberal nationalist, whose extensive writings thus demand attention. But although he emphasised the grandeur of the pre‐Hispanic civilisation, he advocated the complete incorporation of the contemporary Indian peasantry into the Mexican nation.     

The Roman quarries at Antinoopolis (Egypt): development and techniques

The aim of this research was the survey and the study of the many quarries located in the first spurs of the Gebel el-’Adila, close to Antinoopolis (Middle Egypt). These quarries are an excellent opportunity for observation and research concerning the “landscape archives” and preserve traces of man’s activity, representing a real cultural heritage. The paper gives a short geological setting of the area and reports our recent study (2006 onward) on traces, typologies, methods and development of the quarrying activity in the area, focussing on the Roman period. The working traces allowed us to define the working tools used for quarrying, the organisation of the works and of the quarry exploitation, as in the area many remains of the quarry organisation network are extant or recognisable, such as: service posts, sledge-ways, docks.     

Interconnected Epistyles of Marble Monuments Under Axial Loads

The restoration of destroyed connections of epistyles joined together by means of metallic connectors is among the most difficult problems encountered by scientists working for the conservation/restoration of monuments made of marble. The complexity of the geometry and the interaction of three completely different materials (metal-filling material-marble) constituting the connection render the study (either experimental or analytic) extremely complicated. In this direction a numerical analysis is presented here in order to deeply understand the response of a typical ancient connection subjected to axial loads as well as to quantify the influence of some geometric parameters on its response. The parameters studied include the length of the connector, the width of its flanges, the depth of the groove (mortise), the existence or not of relieving space and the filling material’s volume. The numerical model was calibrated and validated according to the results of an earlier experimental study realized on the worksite of the Parthenon Temple. It was concluded that the interventions required to relieve the stress field by changing the size of the connector are disproportional to the respective positive effect on the response of the connection. Moreover it was proved that the most beneficial parameter is the relieving space.     

Interpreting the Neolithic: The Monuments of North Yorkshire

Recent interpretations of the British Neolithic either consider the shared beliefs of this period or the short-term engagement of individuals with their material surroundings. This paper argues that, while both approaches provide exciting agenda, they fail to address the marked regional differences which exist within the range of monuments, and indeed have actually shifted Neolithic studies away from a consideration of such variability. A comparison of the monuments from North Yorkshire with similar evidence elsewhere in lowland England illustrates the value of an approach which concentrates on long-term trends in the continuity or transformation of social structures. It is proposed that the absence of causewayed enclosures and the early development of single-grave burials demonstrate a distinct social trajectory which continued with the construction of the later henges. The monuments are therefore seen to reflect long-term continuities in the social history of North Yorkshire.     

Multiple bone tuberculosis in a child from predynastic Upper Egypt (3200 BC)

Tuberculosis, one of the most ancient human diseases, was present in ancient Egypt and has been observed since predynastic times. Excavations in the predynastic to early dynastic necropolis of Adaima, Upper Egypt (3500–2700 BC) led to the discovery of a number of remarkably well‐preserved skeletons of children. The skeletal remains of a 4.5–5‐year‐old child dated from Nagada III A2 (3200–3100 BC) displayed various lesions on the post‐cranial skeleton: spondylitis on the thoracic (T12) and lumbar (L1) vertebrae, partial lytic destruction of the right radio‐ulnar joint, lytic lesions on the scapula and a clavicle, dactylitis on the short bones of hands and feet, enlargement (spina ventosa) and periosteal new bone formation on the long bones. Radiographs show well‐defined radiolucent (cyst‐like) lesions in the metaphysis and the diaphysis of long tubular bones (ulna, radius, femur, tibia, fibula). The lesions recorded during macroscopic and radiological analysis strongly suggest a case of multiple bone tuberculosis. The occurrence of this case of tuberculosis in a child provides a picture of a period where tuberculosis must have been endemic throughout the population living during the origins of urban settlement in Upper Egypt during the predynastic period. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Middle Holocene Shell Mound of El Gouna on the Red Sea (Egypt)

Abstract

In the El Gouna (Hurghada) area on the Red Sea of Egypt, a Middle Holocene shell mound from around 5800 B.P. (uncalibrated radiocarbon years before A.D. 1950) has been tested by a restricted excavation. Collection of shellfish on the Red Sea shore provided subsistence opportunities for Middle Holocene groups coeval with the Early Predynastic Tasian of the Nile Valley. The El Gouna site demonstrates for the first time that prehistoric shell mounds exist near the Egyptian Red Sea shore.     

刘碑寺造像碑研究

刘碑寺造像碑,是河南现存最大的造像碑,清代金石著录对其多有介绍,但仅限于造像铭文,其精美的造像未有著录和专文介绍,不被世人关注。本文主要对刘碑寺造像碑的现状、造像内容进行详细介绍,并对造像题材、风格以及艺术成就进行探索研究。     

Roman Period fetal skeletons from the East Cemetery (Kellis 2) of Kellis,Egypt

Much can be learned about the religious ideology and mortuary patterns as well as the demographic and health profiles of a population from archaeological human fetal skeletons. Fetal skeletons are rare, however, largely due to poor preservation and recovery, misidentification, or non‐inclusion in general burial populations. We present an analysis of 82 fetal/perinatal skeletons recovered from Kellis 2, a Roman Period cemetery dated to the third and fourth centuries AD, located in the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt. Most of the fetal remains were individually wrapped in linen and all were buried among the general cemetery population in a supine, east–west orientation with the head facing to the west. Gestational age estimates are calculated from diaphysis lengths using published regression and Bayesian methods. The overall similarity between the fetal age distributions calculated from the regression and Bayesian methods suggests that the correlation between diaphysis length and gestational age is typically strong enough to avoid the ‘regression’ problem of having the age structure of reference samples adversely affecting the age distribution of target samples. The inherent bias of the regression methods, however, is primarily reflected in the gestational age categories between 36 and 42 weeks corresponding with the expected increase in growth variation during the late third trimester. The results suggest that the fetal age distribution at Kellis 2 does not differ from the natural expected mortality distribution. Therefore, practices such as infanticide can be ruled out as having a significant effect on the observed mortality distribution. Moreover, the Kellis 2 sample is well represented in each gestational age category, suggesting that all premature stillbirths and neonatal deaths received similar burial rites. The age distribution of the Kellis 2 fetal remains suggests that emerging Christian concepts, such as the ‘soul’ and the ‘afterlife’, were being applied to everyone including fetuses of all gestational ages. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Palaeopathology of Iufaa and other persons found beside his shaft tomb at Abusir (Egypt)

Pathological changes of the lector priest Iufaa are compared with those revealed on the skeletons of his two relatives Imakhetkherresnet and Nekawer, and of an unrelated male Padihor. They were discovered in 2001 in the vicinity of Iufaa's monumental shaft tomb, dating from late 26th dynasty (before 525 BC). The complex was found unmolested by robbers. Congenital anomalies, osteoporosis, degenerative joint changes, post‐traumatic changes and maybe the first palaeopathological evidence of a rare benign neoplasm (neurilemmoma) were recorded. The findings add interesting new facts to the lives of these historical persons. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.