历史是文化——历史研究的人类学转向

历史研究的人类学转向是西方后现代主义历史编纂学的重要理论来源之一。历史研究的人类学转向的本质在于20世纪六七十年代发生的人类学的文化转向,它引起象征和符号人类学的文化取向代替结构—功能主义人类学的社会取向,从而导致历史学在理论、方法与写作实践等方面的一系列深刻变革。本文探讨了历史研究的人类学转向的过程,象征和符号人类学的兴起,以及象征和符号人类学的理论与方法,试图从一个侧面揭示西方后现代主义历史编纂学的演进过程及其理论诉求。     

古DNA分析技术在考古学研究中的应用

保留在古代生物遗骸中的遗传物质DNA是一种重要的遗传学资源,古DNA分析技术在考古学中的成功运用已成为一个新兴的考古学研究领域,将现代分子生物学技术应用于考古学的研究中而形成的一个新兴的分支学科——分子考古学,即指利用分子生物学研究技术,对出土的古代可研究对象进行分子水平的分析和研究。分子考古学在解决人类的起源与迁徙、动植物的家养和驯化过程、及农业的起源和早期发展等重大考古学问题上都具有重要的意义。本文时古DNA分析技术及其在考古学上的应用进行了综合论述,特别是对吉林大学边疆考古研究中心考古DNA实验室在近年来所取得的新进展做了系统的回顾和总结,以期为考古学和人类学的研究提供有益的参考     

人类学与志书编纂的互动——方志学跨学科研究的一个例证

人类学进入中国以来,不断借鉴和利用志书,与志书编纂形成密切关系。中外不少人类学学者通过借鉴和利用志书开展研究,并取得重要成果。在理念、资料、体例、方法等多个方面,志书编纂对人类学产生了较大影响。同时,方志界也一直在向人类学吸取养分。然而,方志界总体上对人类学的理论和方法还比较陌生,人类学尚未进入多数方志同仁的视野。本文拟对人类学与志书编纂的互动关系作一个系统论述,逐步加深方志学的跨学科研究程度。     

人种学及古DNA分析在成都金沙遗址及相关诸遗存研究中的应用

人种学与古DNA分析 ,是体质人类学范畴中的重要研究方法 ,将它们互相印证 ,为考古学相关问题的解决提供了新的思路。本文介绍了这两种方法在成都金沙遗址及相关诸遗存研究中的应用。     

人类学对历史学的方法启示

人类学在中国经历近百年的发展,成就斐然,对历史学提供了诸多理论及方法上的启示,但也面临学科被泛化的局面。当越来越多的学科被冠以"人类学"头衔时,人类学究竟是什么也随之成为问题。在操作层面,人类学从心理学那里借取的"移情"以及从语言学那里借取的将研究者作为"参与者"的"主位"角色强调,对学者确定研究立场裨益良多,对历史研究尤具启发意义。但学者毕竟是象牙塔中人,能在多大程度上"移情"或"参与"研究对象,值得怀疑。另外,人类学者重视"田野作业",对历史研究提供了行之有效的方法。然而不可忽略的是,"田野"亦有类"文本",存在人为制作的成分。这些因素迫使人类学者在方法上做新的探索。人类学面临的困境和人类学者在理论方法上的探索,为历史研究提供了有益的学术借鉴。     

武术人类学研究的若干思考

新时期以来逐渐兴起的武术人类学研究,对相关方法与理论进行了持续探索,业已成为民族传统体育学的重要研究进路。在当今全球化语境中,学者需在悉心揣摩田野调查方法、探索民族志文本撰写的基础上,拓展研究思路,聚焦中国武术的核心议题,体现人类学研究对于武术文化自觉的研究价值,促进武术人类学研究的规范化、体系化、本土化建设,为推进中华民族伟大复兴与人类命运共同体建设做出应有贡献。     

应用人类学纵横谈——访谢剑博士

谢剑先生,湖南沅江人,台湾大学文学士及文学硕士,美国匹兹堡大学人类学博士.现任教于香港中文大学人类学系.并从事中国少数民族及海外华侨社团的研究.谢先生著述颇丰,以中、英文发表的论文分别达数十篇.主要著作有《香港惠州人的志愿社团》、《中译人类学辞典》、《昆明东郊的撒梅族》和《应用人类学》等.庚午年末,趁谢先生回内地作学术交流之机,笔者以“人类学的应用与中国人类学者的责任”为题向他进行了采访,下面就是这次采访的笔录(△——记者,○——谢先生).△很高兴有此机会采访您,今天我想主要就人类学的应用诸问题向您请教.○首先,我要做一个说明:应用人类学是我专业的一个部分,我主要是从事社会人类学和心理人类学的教研.对于人类学的应用虽有所涉猎,但所知道的范围也不是很广,仅就自己所了解与认识到的作一交流.这不仅仅是谦虚.△我请教的第一个问题是:西方应用人类学是怎佯发展起来的?○人类学在西方,特别是在英国以至西欧,发展最早,迄今这门学科至少有150年的历史.在它的发展过程中,存在一个奇怪现象,就是一直是以理论人类学为主,对应用方面、实践方面不是那么着重.不但不着重,而且传统观点认为:搞应用人类学就丢失了人类学家的资格和味道.故此,应用人类学长期以来是停滞不前的.     

在分裂中走向融合——作为空间策略的桥溪民居分家析产研究

一、选题的意义在建筑学与人文社会科学联系日趋紧密的今天,探讨学科交叉融合的有效途径以推动研究的深化已成为学科发展的主要方式之一。在华南乡村地区这一共同的研究对象领域,人类学和建筑学乡土建筑研究均有着长期的研究和丰富的成果,为探索学科间的交叉借鉴提供了基础。但建筑学如何自觉引入人类学的理论模式和研究方法,     

民俗与历史学的人类学化

历史学的人类学化或“人类学转向”,是半个世纪以来历史学与人类学、社会学长期互动并相互促成研究视野与方法转变的一个方面。六十年代以来,在所谓“后现代”思潮中对传统学科体系和研究规范进行全面反思与重建的大背景下,作为人文社会科学阵营中“科学性”一向受到怀疑的两门学科——历史学与人类学,开始逐渐向对方靠拢。历史学的人类学化和人类学的历史学化分别成为各自学科转型的主要趋势之一,两     

书讯

正《历史学与人类学:20世纪西方历史人类学的理论与实践》陆启宏著,复旦大学出版社2019年版。20世纪的西方史学经历了从传统史学走向新史学的进程。新史学"打破学科之间的围墙",孕育出了多姿多彩的史学景观,"历史人类学"也就在这一学术背景下应运而生。该书系统地回顾与梳理了20世纪西方学者对历史人类学理论的研究与应用情况,作者以人类学的历史化和历史学的人类学转向为基础进行讨论,对历史人     

Archaeology without gravity: Postmodernism and the past

Interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the past and the present have become commonplace: anthropologists now situate cultures in their historical contexts, while historians pursue particularistic ends within politicoeconomic or ideational structures. Archaeologists have cast their nets even more widely, not only toward anthropology and history, but to fields ranging from molecular biology to hermeneutics. Postmodernist approaches maintain that archaeologists should be looking at the past from multiple perspectives and listening to its multivocality. Archaeologists, in fact, not only develop different ways of understanding the past, but actually develop alternative pasts. This paper argues that multiple paths to alternative pasts enhance archaeological understanding and, at the same time, stimulate the development of archaeological theory.     

Literature in the German science of the soul: Johann Gottlob Krüger’s Dreams

The early history of anthropology in eighteenth-century Germany wove together contributions from medicine, metaphysics, and a host of other disciplines in an attempt to develop a holistic ‘science of man.’ This paper examines a literary text written by prominent figure in that movement, Johann Gottlob Krüger’s Dreams (Träume) (1754). The collection of parables staged as dreams in this book presents specifically literary cases against the sufficiency of either philosophy or physiology for the study of human life as a whole. Through close readings of a number of these dreams and related texts, this paper shows how Krüger’s Dreams advocates an approach to anthropology that recognizes the importance of literature for an interdisciplinary study of human life. More than simply recognising literary writing as another means of studying human life, the vision of a new anthropology implied in this book draws on literary devices to counter the overconfidence and partisanship of existing philosophical and medical theories of human nature.     

Culture,Information, and Inheritance: New Perspectives on Old Questions

Two books under review investigate the relationship between biological and cultural transmission of information. This perspective offers a promising basis for a definition of culture with broad applicability in contemporary anthropology. Lamb and Jablonka stress the complexity of biological transmission and the importance of behavioral and symbolic variation to evolutionary biology. Richerson and Boyd present a rigorous model-based approach to the analysis of cultural transmission. The approach reduces cultural phenomena to simple models for methodological purposes. Modeling cultural transmission has value for anthropology but cannot replace approaches drawn from social theory and from detailed contextual studies.     

Using microscopy to improve a diagnosis: an isolated case of tuberculosis‐induced hypertrophic osteopathy in archaeological dog remains

The use of histology to estimate age, understand taphonomic history and diagnose disease in human skeletal and mummified remains is a well‐known method. Even though non‐human animals experience stress and disease similar to humans, microscopy is rarely applied to faunal remains to obtain a diagnosis. Histological results from a 16^th‐century Iroquoian dog which had previously been diagnosed by macroscopic and molecular methods with tuberculosis‐induced hypertrophic osteopathy (HPO) are presented here. Comparisons indicate that canid microscopic skeletal manifestations of HPO are reminiscent of human alterations caused by this condition. In addition, the microscopy reveals an aggressive form of HPO that was chronic in nature which could not be identified by either macroscopic or molecular methods. By providing an extension to the original diagnosis, the impact of a chronic case of tuberculosis is discussed. This study helps to emphasise the utility of palaeohistopathology in both biological anthropology and zooarchaeology, as it allows for a deeper discussion of the manifestation of HPO and the impact of tuberculosis on both dogs and humans. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What's in a name? Anthrozoology,human‐animal studies,animal studies or…? (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

Human interactions with other animals feature regularly in the pages of Anthropology Today, and academic research focusing on the human‐animal relationship is undergoing something of a boom in the social sciences and humanities generally. This comment, prompted by Caplan's paper ‘Death on the farm’ in the last issue of AT, considers the place of human‐animal interactions in anthropology through a discussion of the terminology and methodologies employed by scholars within this area. It is argued that such a discussion is instructive because, as the etymology of the term suggests, anthropology is ultimately concerned with ‘understanding humans’. The ways that we, as researchers, choose to distinguish between humans and other animals, and the ways that we choose to represent our informants' interactions with other animals, can provide considerable insight into how all concerned think about what it means to be human.     

青藏高原旧石器时代晚期至新石器时代初期的考古学文化及经济形态

目次一绪言二旧石器时代晚期的随机性食物搜寻经济三中石器时代的季节性食物搜寻经济四结语一绪言史前的概念在不同的民族和地区有着不同的时间界定〔1〕。就本文所涉及的青藏高原而言,传统上将其界定在从距今三万年左右旧石器时代晚期出现的人类遗迹开始,直到公元7世纪中叶,即松赞干布建立的吐蕃王朝这段时期〔2〕。从时间上看,这是一个     

Three-dimensional laser scanning: potential uses for museum conservation and scientific research

Recent technological advancements have made a tremendous impact in the fields of biological anthropology and archaeology. Although advancements in DNA analysis have overshadowed other areas of progress in the subfields of biological anthropology, bioarchaeologists are now utilizing many other new forms of technology in their work. In particular, three-dimensional (3D) laser scanning offers a sophisticated method of documenting and studying prehistoric human skeletons. In recent years, portable laser scanning devices capable of creating high resolution images have become available, enabling researchers to scan and archive skeletal collections from archaeological sites and museum collections around the world. 3D laser scanners are inexpensive, simple to operate, and completely non-destructive to human skeletal material. A major benefit is that they offer a cost-effective method of creating a digital record of skeletal collections for museum archives. Since published research using 3D methods typically focuses on sophisticated analyses used to analyze 3D data that are difficult for the novice user to follow, in this paper we provide a simple and straightforward overview of 3D scanning methods aimed at non-specialists. We discuss how these methods can be used to preserve and document osteological material in museums, develop research ideas in the subfields of biological anthropology, and increase the potential for scholarly collaboration.     

Risk-senstive adaptive tactics: Models and evidence from subsistence studies in biology and anthropology

Risk-sensitive analysis of subsistence adaptations is warranted when (i) outcomes are to some degree unpredictable and (ii) they have nonlinear consequences for fitness and/or utility. Both conditions are likely to be common among peoples studied by ecologicll anthropologists and archaeologists. We develop a general conceptual model of risk. We then review and summarize the extensive empirical literatures from biology and anthropology for methodological insights and for their comparative potential. Risk-sensitive adaptive tactics are diverse and they are taxonomically widespread. However, the anthropological literature rarely makes use of formal models of risk-sensitive adaptation, while the biological literature lacks naturalistic observations of risk-sensitive behavior. Both anthropology and biology could benefit from greater interdisciplinary exchange.     

Physical Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology in Europe: History,Current Trends and Challenges

This paper provides an overview of the development and current practice of physical anthropology as relating to the treatment of archaeological skeletal remains in Europe. The evolution of physical anthropology as a discipline is covered in detail from the 18th century onwards, and current trends in education and research are also discussed. Additional topics include a synthesis of the legislative framework for studying human skeletal remains in over 40 European countries while also addressing challenges, future trends and emerging ethical questions. This overview is the product of an extensive review of the literature partnered with information received via questionnaires completed by colleagues working in nearly 50 European countries. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Animal DNA in PCR reagents plagues ancient DNA research

Molecular archaeology brings the tools of molecular biology to bear on fundamental questions in archaeology, anthropology, evolution, and ecology. Ancient DNA research is becoming widespread as evolutionary biologists and archaeologists discover the power of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify DNA from ancient plant and animal remains. However, the extraordinary susceptibility of PCR to contamination by extraneous DNA is not widely appreciated. We report the independent observation of DNA from domestic animals in PCR reagents and ancient samples in four separate laboratories. Since PCR conditions used in ancient DNA analyses are extremely sensitive, very low concentrations of contaminating DNA can cause false positives. Previously unidentified animal DNA in reagents can confound ancient DNA research on certain domestic animals, especially cows, pigs, and chickens.