试论当前中国民族学研究面临的主要问题

民族学研究以“三个代表”重要思想为指导,在研究和解决民族问题中获得发展,在当前所面临的主要问题是。促进各民族共同进步,发扬民族学研究面对民族实际的优良传统,既注重物质明研究,也注重精神明研究。为巩固和发展社会主义民族关系服务,研究各民族在发展过程中涉及到的政治、经济、化、教育等社会各个方面的影响,研究民族发展过程中产生的新情况新问题。民族学研究的最后日的是为党制定和完善民族政策。     

湿度对骨质文物的影响及最佳存放湿度的研究

系统考察了在不同湿度下,老化400天后骨样的抗弯强度、色差值、显微形态、元素含量、尺寸和重量各项指标的变化,找出了湿度对骨质物影响的规律,从而确定60％湿度为骨质物的最佳存放湿度。     

On the circumstances surrounding the preservation and analysis of very old DNA

Herein, I discuss the limits and circumstances of DNA preservation in old fossils. The stability of DNA in physiological solution suggests that DNA should be degraded at the latest within 50 000–100 000 years and has convincingly been found in fossil bones of this age. I argue here that particular fossilization conditions can cause exceptional DNA preservation over much longer periods, in an unexpected state. A working hypothesis is proposed stating that DNA can ‘hibernate’—that is, be preserved over long periods—only if it is hidden within molecular ‘niches’ where it is not governed by the rules of aqueous solution chemistry, and that such ‘geological’ DNA cannot be purified using procedures that assume that it behaves like ‘biological’ DNA.     

On national dress and the problem of authenticity in Ulysses

This article considers James Joyce’s representation of Irish dress, arguing that his ambivalent treatment of it accurately reflects his fractious relationship with the Irish Revival movement. The article begins with a discussion of the metaphor of performance and relates this to issues around “authenticity”. From here, it discusses Douglas Hyde’s thoughts on dress, as presented in “The Necessity for de-Anglicising Ireland”, contextualising these within a brief history of nineteenth and early-twentieth-century Irish dress history, and recognising the important work of women in this. Assessing Joyce’s depictions of Irish dress, especially in “Scylla and Charybdis”, “Cyclops” and “Circe”, this article argues that Joyce sees Irish dress as a contingent and fragile cultural performance.     

Re-examining the chemical evaluation of diagenesis in human bone apatite

Isotopic analysis of human bone is becoming an increasingly important tool for the archaeologist in divining past life-ways. The isotopic ratios within bone are often assumed to be preserved as in life, but diagenetic change can alter the ratios, invalidating the results of isotopic analysis. Diagenesis can be evaluated in a number of ways, but most often spectroscopic techniques are utilised as the most efficient and easiest to understand methods for the archaeologist. Many isotopic studies do not report the possibility of diagenetic change, and if it is reported it has often been quantified using a single method of chemical analysis, FTIR spectroscopy. This study set out to test the value of FTIR analysis using human remains from the prehistoric site of Ban Non Wat, Northeast Thailand, and to compare the results with the non-destructive technique of FT-Raman spectroscopy. The study shows that FTIR spectroscopic analysis gives far less detail on the condition of bone than Raman spectroscopy, which does not merely indicate recrystallisation has occurred, but also shows clearly whether or not collagen is present, allows identification of ionic substitions which have occurred and identification of secondary minerals which have formed. Raman spectroscopy, combined with LA-ICP-MS analysis also revealed that soil composition and groundwater flow are the conditions which most affect diagenesis at Ban Non Wat.     

In situ preservation of archaeological bone: a histological study within a multidisciplinary approach

To make preservation in situ a serious option for the management of archaeological sites, research has to be done on the factors affecting conservation of different archaeological materials, including bone. A European project has been started which deals with bone degradation in a multidisciplinary way. The goals of the project are to develop techniques to describe the preservation of archaeological bone, to make a classification of soil environments according to their preservation potential and to detect what factors in the environment of the bone affect its conservation. One technique used in this project to determine the state of preservation of archaeological bone is histology. The relevance of this technique for archaeological heritage management research is discussed.     

Induced metal-ion exchange in excavated human bone

Excavated human bone was exposed to aqueous solutions containing high concentrations of a single added metal ion in order to examine the extent of introduction of contaminating materials during burial. Variables included pH, temperature, ion concentration, state of bone (whole or crushed), structure of buffer, and counterion. Calcium and sodium showed little increase, and even a decrease in some cases. Strontium, zinc, lead, and magnesium showed large increases probably through heteroionic replacement of calcium. Manganese, aluminum, and potassium showed increases, particularly under neutral conditions, probably through infiltration into voids and defects.     

State of preservation of polymorphic plasma proteins recovered from ancient human bones

Protected by the mineral matrix, bone proteins are capable of surviving inhumation periods of several hundreds or thousands of years in soil. While the preservation of the bone matrix protein, collagen I, is the prerequisite for a variety of archaeometric approaches, such as radiocarbon dating and the reconstruction of palaeodiet by stable isotope analysis, little is known about both the rate and state of preservation of non‐collagenous proteins. We succeeded in the isolation, electrophoretic separation (SDS‐PAGE, IEF) and immunological detection (radial immunodiffusion, IEF immunoblotting and ELISA) of plasma proteins preserved in archaeological human bones. However, sample preparation and electrophoretic methods had to be adapted to the specific demands of these aged proteins, since they are not only degraded and fragmented but also cross‐linked to other organic components, either indigenous to the bone or to contaminants from the burial environment. Complex decomposition phenomena are responsible for the altered mode of migration of aged proteins through a gel. After isoelectric focusing, the ancient proteins mainly concentrate below pH 4.45 in the pH‐gradient. Thus, highly negatively charged protein components have a better chance of preservation in bone after death. Isoelectric focusing with subsequent immunoblotting of ancient protein samples revealed protein patterns which showed marked charge‐modifications in comparison with those of modern human plasma proteins due to protein degradation (e.g. α₂‐HS‐glycoprotein and α₁‐antitrypsin). Nevertheless, in combination with different immunological analyses, previous results concerning the selective enrichment of α₂‐HS‐glycoprotein in bone compared with other plasma glycoproteins could be confirmed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

八旗牛录起源时间问题再探

牛录是八旗制度的基层军政组织,努尔哈赤政权的建立、发展,与之息息相关。因此,牛录起源的具体时间,早为中外学术界所关注。由于现存献有阙,诸位学莫衷一是。本另辟蹊径,从努儿哈赤政权基层军政组织的起源人手,重新探讨牛录的起源问题。认为八旗牛录制度的形成,并非是在某一具体的时问点,而是经过了“狩猎之牛录”、“部落之牛录”、“八旗之牛录”三个发展阶段,最终确立。     

Bone preservation,decay and its related conditions in ancient human bones from Kuwait

By means of scanning electron microscopy, four out of a series of twelve inhumations from the Hellenistic Period were examined for traces of the decay process. The changes represented the result of erosion and biological decomposition of human bones on a small island in the northern part of the Persian Gulf over a period of ca. 2200 years. Special emphasis was given to bone preservation and blood cell survival, and to bone changes due to physicochemical erosion and fungus, bacterium, insect and plant-root activity. Related soil and climatic conditions were taken into consideration. The observations should be evaluated to understand the unusual state of preservation of the bones and to avoid possible misinterpretation of pseudo-pathological bone changes as ante-mortem pathology.     

On the urns of a dilemma: radiocarbon and the Peterborough problem

Radiocarbon dates are presented for distinctive types of British Late Neolithic pottery, identifying questions which cannot yet be resolved.     

Exceptional preservation of a prehistoric human brain from Heslington,Yorkshire, UK

Archaeological work in advance of construction at a site on the edge of York, UK, yielded human remains of prehistoric to Romano-British date. Amongst these was a mandible and cranium, the intra-cranial space of which contained shrunken but macroscopically recognizable remains of a brain. Although the distinctive surface morphology of the organ is preserved, little recognizable brain histology survives. Though rare, the survival of brain tissue in otherwise skeletalised human remains from wet burial environments is not unique. A survey of the literature shows that similar brain masses have been previously reported in diverse circumstances. We argue for a greater awareness of these brain masses and for more attention to be paid to their detection and identification in order to improve the reporting rate and to allow a more comprehensive study of this rare archaeological survival.     

Accessory navicular: A heritable accessory bone of the human foot

The accessory navicular is a supernumerary bone of the human foot located medial to the navicular tuberosity and represents a secondary center of ossification that has failed to fuse to the main body of the navicular. Three forms of the accessory bone have been identified: Type I is an independent ossicle that is often embedded within the tibialis posterior tendon; Type II is a triangular accessory bone that attaches to the navicular tuberosity by means of a cartilaginous or fibrocartilaginous bridge; and Type III represents a fused Type II, which forms a hook‐like protuberance extending from the tuberosity. The Type II accessory navicular is the most common of the three forms and is the most readily identifiable in skeletal material since it causes the navicular tuberosity to become abnormally flattened and porous. The purpose of this study was to describe the various manifestations of the accessory navicular in dry bone, to present and compare frequency data for several skeletal populations, and to consider questions of laterality and sex bias in trait expression. In total, the skeletons of 497 Danes, 460 Euro‐Americans, 300 African Americans, 100 Japanese, and 205 Europeans were examined for the presence of the Type II accessory navicular. Overall frequencies for the five groups ranged from 2% in the African American sample to 5% in the Japanese sample. Since several family pedigrees have documented the accessory navicular as being an inherited skeletal defect, the relatively low frequency found in the present study makes this trait a potentially useful indicator of genetic relatedness within archaeological cemeteries. In addition, the trait was found to occur more often unilaterally than bilaterally and there was nearly equal incidence among males and females. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

祁门县明清时期民间民俗碑刻的调查与研究

经过两年多时间的田野调查,我们在素有“九山半水半分田,包括道路和庄园”的祁门县境内,先后发现有132块明清时期的民间民俗碑刻。它或立在村头水口,或立在事发地点,或立在祠堂庙宇,起到告之、提醒和警示作用。这些碑刻以其独特的存在形式反映了明清时期徽州府祁门县民间的生活习俗、宗教信仰、宗族条规、山民喜好,如封山、修路、做桥、建祠、续谱、教育、风水等活动,为研究徽州民间民俗提供了第一手资料。     

On the brain and human status

Earl W. Count. Being and Becoming Human: Essays on the Biogram. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. Behavioral Science Series, 1973. xv + 349 pp. Tables, bibliography, and index. $14.95 (cloth; $6.95 (paper).

Harry J. Jerison. Evolution of the Brain and Intelligence. New York: Academic Press, 1973. xiv + 482 pp. Illustrations, figures, tables, index, and bibliography. $25.00.     

Creative preservation: The development of an artistic approach to the preservation and presentation of the past

Abstract

The article proposes “Creative Preservation” as an artistic approach to contemporary questions concerning the preservation and presentation of archaeological sites. By examining critically the role of cultural heritage today, it attempts to search for alternative perspectives and to retrieve forgotten sensibilities such as Diderot's “Poetics of Ruins”. It first examines concepts of time and authenticity, especially in archaeological sites, as interpreted by various authors from Poincare, von Schiller, Bergson and Simmel to Choay and Jokilehto.

Dedicated to immaterial qualities of places, “Creative Preservation” suggests the refinement of “images of authenticity” in an attempt to penetrate and to communicate with deeper levels in the complex reality of ancient places – actual and specific locations which anchor and root memory in material.

A first realization of this approach is presented in the form of the spiral viewpoint recently constructed at the northwest part of the archaeological site of Ramat Rachel near Jerusalem.