试述中原印纹陶及其与南方印纹陶的关系

几何形印纹陶是我国南方地区古代物质文化中的一个重要特征。但是,在中原地区的商周遗址中,也伴出一些拍印有各种几何形或其它图案的陶器。对中原商周文化中这种印纹陶早年就曾引起同志们的注意,并对其胎质、造型、特点及其与南方印纹陶的关系诸问题进行了有益的探索。近年来,随着印纹陶资料的日趋丰富,有的同志在过去基     

船形木斗功用再探讨

船形木斗仅少量出土于铜绿山古铜矿遗址和瑞昌铜岭商周铜矿遗址两处铜矿遗址。本文从器物形制、年代、出土环境和数量、使用方法等角度探讨了船形木斗的功用,进一步论证了船形木斗作为探矿工具的观点。我国古代的矿工至迟从商代就掌握了现代意义上的"重力选矿法"。船形木斗的出现和使用是古代矿工聪明才智和实践经验积累的结晶。     

鲁北—胶东盐业考古调查记

本文通过对鲁北莱州湾和胶东半岛16个县市和出有盔形器的遗址进行了调查,对盔形器的形态演变、分布区域、使用功能等进行了初步研究,并与国内外有关遗址和类似器物作了比较分析,确认菜州湾沿海包含大量盔形器的遗址是商周时期的制盐作坊,而盔形器则是制盐的特殊用具.     

试论重庆万州中坝子遗址夏商周时期文化遗存

万州中坝子遗址是三峡地区一处以商周时期化为主的重要遗存。经过近年来的发掘,清理出商周时期的灰坑、墓葬、水田等多处遗迹现象,同时获得一大批陶、石、骨、铜器等遗物。根据陶器组合及型式变化和地层关系,本将中坝子遗址商周时期化遗存分为二期四段。通过对比,其年代与鄂西地区的中堡岛三期类型、川西地区的三星堆二期化大致相当。另外,因中坝子遗址位于古代巴人活动的中心区域,对该遗址的研究也为探索早期巴化提供了十分重要的资料。     

陕西洛南河口绿松石矿遗址调查报告

河口矿业遗址位于陕西省洛南县洛河沿岸。2010~2015年,北京科技大学与陕西省考古研究院对河口遗址周边进行了数次调查,发现了10处古代开采绿松石的洞穴遗址。这批洞穴规模较大,采集到的遗物较为丰富,主要为石器和陶片。遗址中采集的石锤为一种古代的采矿工具,洞穴内发现的蓝色矿石经过定性分析,确认为绿松石,因此判断这批洞穴为古代开采绿松石的矿业遗址。从发现的陶片、开采工具的年代以及碳十四测年等资料判断,其开采年代始于新石器时代晚期到青铜时代早期,延续到春秋时期。唐宋时期仍有使用,但不能确定是否与矿石开采有关。河口古代绿松石矿业遗址的发现,为研究我国早期绿松石的开采、使用、流通及来源提供了重要信息。     

商周冠式初探

冠,是中国古代冕服制度中的一个重要组成部分,人们以往了解其形制多依靠有关的文献。自本世纪以来,随着中国文物考古事业的发展,商周时期大量遗址被揭露,有关人像雕塑的出土文物日益丰富,促进了对商周冠式的认识和了解。     

四川成都城乡一体化工程金牛区5号c地点考古出土植物遗存分析报告

通过题目读者不难发现,前两篇植物考古的文章都涉及到在四川地区开展的浮选工作,其主要研究内容是通过对浮选结果的分析,探讨四川地区的早期农业生产特点。金牛区5号C地点是成都金沙遗址的一个发掘点,年代在商周时期。通过对该地点浮选出土的农作物遗存和其他植物遗存的分析发现,金沙遗址古代先民的农业生产显示出了一种稻作农业与旱作农业并存的特点,但是稻作农业具有明显的优势。营盘山遗址和金沙遗址金牛区5号C地点所表现出的在农业生产特点上的差异值得学术界的关注,其原因应该是多方面的,例如,两处遗址所处地区的不同生态环境、遗址年代的早晚差异、遗址内涵表现的不同文化传统以及与其他文化相互交流等因素。这两篇文章对今后深入探讨四川地区的古代农业生产的特点和变化,乃至当地古代文化的发展和相互交流都具有重要的参考价值。     

福建武夷山市葫芦山遗址2014年发掘简报

2014年对葫芦山遗址的再次发掘,初步揭露出一处新石器时代晚期至商周时期的聚落址.第一期遗存的陶窑(Y1)形制保存较为完整,年代距今约5000年,是我国东南地区大致同时期的考古学文化中罕见的完整陶窑.第二期遗存发现了大量的灰坑、灰沟与柱洞,存在较为复杂的打破关系,还发现了较为丰富的炭化植物遗存.本次发掘为研究闽北地区崇阳溪流域古代文化与古代生业提供了一批重要资料.     

柘皋河流域商周时期古遗址形态特征初步研究

结合相关文献资料对柘皋河流域商周时期遗址野外考察,辅以高分辨率遥感资料等对流域内遗迹形态要素、平面特征、微地貌形态等分析,经钻孔获取遗迹点垂直剖面资料分析,采集相关含碳土样进行测年分析,从形状、位置、面积、微地貌、内部结构特征、土质特征、与古水系关系等指标来分析柘皋河流域商周晚期遗址点形态特征,探究遗址点形态特征的形成原因。     

读何兹全先生《中国古代社会》

《中国古代社会》一书,是著名史学家何兹全先生数十年来在中国古代社会经济史领域辛勤探索的结晶,是全面、系统地阐述魏晋封建说的一部著作。它对商周到魏晋南北朝时期的社会形态进行了纵向的研究和横向的剖析,精辟地论述了中国古代社会的由来、发展和向中世纪的转变。它不仅在学术上具有重要的价值,而且在研究方法上也多有建树。现就读书所得,谈谈我自己的粗浅体会。首先,何先生以高度的理论勇气和创新精神,在《中国古代社会》中建构了一个严密完整的魏晋封建说体系,使魏晋封建说更臻成熟、更加理论化了。这个体系包括:(一)商周     

Insights from a tribological analysis of the tribulum

Since the 1980s, “strange” microwear traces were found to occur on flint blades from sites in the Near East from the late Neolithic and occurring in great abundance by the Early Bronze Age. Although these were considered by archaeologists to be sickles because they had visible gloss on their edges, their use-traces could not be reproduced in harvesting experiments carried out in the field. Subsequently, several lines of evidence were used to study the blades, including not only direct observation of microscopic wear traces, but also Near Eastern cuneiform texts from the third and second millennium BC describing agricultural instruments and analogy with ethnographic and experimental reference material. We found that these tools and their traces best matched traces on flint used to arm the underside of a tribulum (threshing sledge) for threshing grain and cutting straw. We built a replica of the tribulum described in cuneiform texts from the Bronze Age, using copies of the Bronze Age blades, and used this instrument in experiments.     

Experiments with Lithic Tools: Understanding Starch Residues from Crop Harvesting

Stone knives were used widely in Neolithic East Asia, presumably in the harvesting of grain crops, but their function has not been clearly understood due to the lack of study of residues from these tools. To address this issue, starch grain analysis was employed to study the residues on the surface of ancient stone knives and large amounts of starches were recovered. The sources of these starches, however, were not well understood, because harvesting of crops involves the cutting of stems rather than direct contact with starchy seeds. To determine whether harvesting could deposit these types of residues, we designed a simulation experiment using stone flakes to harvest ears of wheat, rice and foxtail millet, then analysed the residues on both the flakes and in the plant tissues. A large number of starch grains were found in the stems, including both typical morphotypes from seeds and newly described types that occur only in stems, which can be used as indicators of harvesting. Our study demonstrates that starch grains from residues on the surfaces of archaeological stone knives can indicate not only that the tools were used to harvest ears, but also the type of crops harvested.     

Plant exploitation of the last foragers at Shizitan in the Middle Yellow River Valley China: evidence from grinding stones

China is one of the few centers in the world where plant domestication evolved independently, but its developmental trajectory is poorly understood. This is because there is considerably less data from the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene documented in China than in other regions, such as the Near East and Mesoamerica, and previous studies on Paleolithic subsistence in China have largely focused on animal hunting rather than plant gathering. To resolve these problems the current research investigated the range of plants used by late Paleolithic hunter–gatherers in the middle Yellow River region where some of the earliest farmers emerged. We employed usewear and starch analyses on grinding stones to recover evidence for plant use in a hunting–gathering population at a late Paleolithic site, Shizitan Locality 9 in Jixian, Shanxi (ca. 13,800–8500 cal. BP). The usewear analysis shows that all artifacts preserved a range of usewear patterns best matching multiple tasks and indicating multi-functional use. Starch remains recovered from these tools indicate that the Shizitan people collected and processed many types of grass seeds (Panicoideae and Pooideae subfamilies), acorns (Quercus sp.), beans (Phaseoleae tribe) and yams (Dioscorea sp.). The Shizitan people represented some of the last hunter–gatherers in the middle Yellow River region. Their broad spectrum subsistence strategy was apparently carried on by the first Neolithic farmers in the same region, who collected similar wild plants and eventually domesticated millets. The trajectory from intensified collection of a wide range of wild plants to domestication of a small number of species was a very long process in north China. This parallels the transition from the “broad spectrum revolution” to agriculture in the Near East.     

不成熟粟、黍的植物考古学意义——粟的作物加工实验

我们在一个现代村落进行了一次传统方式的粟的早期作物加工实验,结果显示在收割的粟中含有相当比重的不成熟粟,这些不成熟粟经过脱粒和扬场等加工程序后,与其它作物加工的副产品一起被去除(作为燃料或者禽畜饲料)。类似的作物加工副产品也可以推测存在于黍的加工过程中。这一研究为植物考古样品中不成熟粟、黍的鉴定提供了一个参考标准。不成熟粟、黍是中国新石器和青铜时代植物考古样品中常见的组成部分,根据此次实验结果,我们提出了一些可供参考的鉴定标准,并用来自山东和河南的植物考古样品举例说明。我们认为种子形态而不是种子大小在粟的鉴定过程中起决定性作用。那些整体形状呈圆形,胚区呈窄卵形,胚区长约占种子长5/6的种子,即便很小,很扁,甚至像被"挤压"过,都可以鉴定为粟。尽管不成熟粟根据其成熟程度可以区分为不同的类别,但由于他们都集中在早期作物加工废弃物内,因此他们在解释作物加工方面的意义是相同的。另外,这一研究还肯定了在植物考古研究中不成熟粟类作物和成熟粟类作物的比例可以用来探讨作物加工对考古遗址中以粟类作物为主的植物遗存的形成过程的影响。     

Organic geochemical analysis of archaeological medicine pots from Northern Ghana. The multi-functionality of pottery

Sherds from pots found layered under a granite boulder in the Tong Hills of the Upper East Region of Northern Ghana seem, based on their deposition context to have been used for the preparation of medicines. Organic geochemical and isotopic analyses of these sherds and a modern day analogue reveal an n-alkanoic acid composition that is consistent with their being used in the preparation of plant derived substances. Isotopic analyses of the modern medicine pot indicate a contribution of n-alkanoic acids derived from plants that use C₄ carbon fixation, most likely maize, sorghum and/or millet suggesting that this pot was used for cooking C₄ based plant substances, perhaps, based on current analogy, staple porridge type food. The modern medicine pot could thus have had a prior use. The absence of C₄ plant residues in the archaeological sherds suggests that either staple foodstuffs differed radically to today, or, more likely, were not prepared in vessels that were to be used for medicinal purposes.     

The Making of Fired Clay Bricks in China Some 5000 Years Ago

Fired bricks are a hard and durable masonry material that has played a major role in the emergence of early human urban civilization. In China, fired clay bricks have been widely used as a building and flooring material since the Qin Dynasty (476?206 bc ), although a few lines of evidence show that fired clay bricks might have been invented as early as 5500 years ago in eastern central China. However, these burnt clumps of clay appear not to be bricks in the strict sense, and our knowledge about the origin of fired clay bricks in China still remains fragmentary. Archaeological excavations at a Middle Neolithic cultural site in northwestern China reveal that the making of fired clay bricks began some 5000 years ago. Our findings also open a window into the process of prehistoric brickmaking in East Asia.     

Clues to Stone Tool Function Re-examined: Comparing Starch Grain Frequencies on Used and Unused Obsidian Artefacts

The identification of plant residues observed on prehistoric stone artefacts has often been used to inform on tool function without adequate consideration of potential contamination due to post-depositional processes. The paper redresses this balance by proposing a methodology which combines use-wear and residue analyses with systematic testing of depositional context to distinguish residues formed during tool use from accidental contamination. A case study involving obsidian artefacts from an open site in Papua New Guinea is used to illustrate the new approach. Starch grains, a class of residue which has had little attention outside Australia, were chosen as the focus of study because of their abundance at this site. The frequency of starch grains extracted from residues on stone artefacts was compared with those in sediments adhering to and adjacent to the artefact. A use-wear study conducted as a blind test provided an independent measure of whether the artefacts had been used. The frequency of starch grains was shown to be significantly correlated with used artefacts and not correlated with unused artefacts or the sediments. The case study demonstrates the importance of testing for contamination and also illustrates the benefit of studying starch grains as a class of plant residue.     

The Japan-Australia security declaration and the changing regional security setting: wheels,webs and beyond?

The March 2007 Japan-Australia Security Declaration has garnered more than its share of hyperbole. Described variously as an historic milestone for peace or an agreement designed to encircle China; the declaration's actual strategic consequences are somewhat unclear. The purpose of this article is to provide a critical analysis of the security declaration and to assess its impact in the context of the changing patterns of the region's security setting. Some have argued that it marks a small but qualitatively significant shift in the essential features of the regional security architecture. The article assesses this claim and argues that while the declaration is of some diplomatic importance, and clearly contributes to improving cooperation in disaster relief and other humanitarian operations, it is of little strategic significance to the broader patterns of East Asian security over the short to medium term. Each side's operational constraints, their different strategic priorities, most obviously their perceptions of China, as well as the continued military predominance of the US, means that the agreement will be of little immediate significance for East Asian security. That said, it remains an important development for the respective parties and is a leading edge indicator of broader forces for change that are increasingly present in East Asia.     

Investigating crop processing using phytolith analysis: the example of rice and millets

The application of crop processing models to macro-botanical assemblages has traditionally been used to interpret past husbandry practices and organisation of labour involved in crop-processing. Phytoliths offer an alternative method of analysis because they are durable in most environments, regardless of whether plant parts are charred, and the identification of plant types and plant parts allows them to be used in much the same way as macro-botanical remains. Indeed macro-remains and phytoliths are complementary datasets for examining the input of plant parts, such as crop-processing waste, into archaeological deposits. We outline crop-processing models in relation to macro-remains and then develop the framework for their application to archaeological phytolith assemblages. Rice and millet processing models are explored in relation to patterns expected in both macro-remains and phytoliths. The utility of these models is demonstrated with archaeological evidence from the site of Mahagara, an early farming site in North-Central India. The results indicate a way to employ phytoliths in archaeology which complements the fragmentary evidence available from plant macroremains.     

The Exploitation of Plant Resources by Neanderthals in Amud Cave (Israel): The Evidence from Phytolith Studies

The depositional environments of Amud Cave indicate that phytolith assemblages retrieved from the cave's sediments are an integral part of the Middle Palaeolithic sequence. As such, they provide direct evidence for plant use. The Amud Neanderthals emphasized both wood and grass exploitation. Ligneous parts of trees and shrubs were used mainly for fuel. Herbaceous plants were used for bedding, possibly fuel, and for food. There is clear and repetitive evidence for the exploitation of mature grass panicles, inferred to have been collected for their seeds. These findings suggest that, as with the pattern recently discerned for faunal resources, a broad spectrum of plants has been exploited from at least the end of the Middle Palaeolithic. Phytolith analysis now provides a tool for testing models explaining subsistence and mobility patterns during the Levantine Middle Palaeolithic and for better understanding the role of vegetal resources in shaping these patterns.