大冶香炉山遗址采集炉渣初步研究

对湖北省大冶市香炉山遗址采集的20个炉渣样品进行了扫描电镜检测,发现了炼制锑青铜、锡铅青铜、生铁的炉渣。重点对锡铅青铜的冶炼流程进行了推断,认为该遗址首先使用伴生有铅镍砷等元素的铜矿石进行还原冶炼,再添加锡料生产以锡铅为主要合金元素并含有镍砷的青铜,先后排出不含锡和含锡的两种高铁型炉渣。香炉山遗址出现的青铜生产证据,预示着大冶地区可能存在着相当规模的有别于中原的早期青铜产业,对探讨鄂东南地区早期冶金技术与当地文明的演进关系具有重要意义。     

张掖西城驿遗址冶铸遗物研究

对甘肃张掖西城驿遗址出土的32个炉渣、29个矿石、5个炉壁附渣进行了扫描电镜观测。认定绝大部分炉渣是氧化矿石直接冶炼红铜的,少量炉渣是冶炼含砷、锑等合金的;绝大部分矿石是含有少量硫化矿物的铜氧化矿石,少量矿石含有砷、锑、铅等矿物;在一块炉壁附渣中检测出锡、砷、锑、铋合金元素,表明其对应的冶炼产品为青铜。上述现象集中体现在二期中段出土遗物中,表明至少在这一时段该遗址已经能够使用普通的铜氧化矿石冶炼红铜,再配入含有锡、砷、铅、锑、铋的矿石炼制青铜合金。     

吉林白城双塔墓地出土铜器的科学分析

双塔遗址位于吉林省白城市洮北区德顺蒙古族乡双塔村,它处于东北大平原北部的松嫩平原。出土遗存可分三个时期,分属不同的考古学文化。其中第三期遗存属晚期青铜时代,二期文化,时代初步推断为战国至西汉时期。双塔遗址出土较多的陶器、铜器、骨器,为探讨松嫩平原青铜时代文化发展状况提供资料。本文采用显微观察、金相检测、扫描电镜能谱分析等方法,对该遗址出土的63件金属器物中的58件进行了科学分析。分析表明,器物材质包括铜合金及铅,铜合金类型以铜砷合金、铜锡铅合金、铜锡铅砷合金为主。制作方式多为铸造成形,部分器物经热锻、冷加工及受热处理。表明当时的居民已经能够根据器物类别的使用功能和加工方式,有意识的配制出综合机械性能较好的合金,并能重复做出质量较高的器物,表现了较好的铜器制作水平。     

云南剑川海门口遗址第三次发掘出土铜铁器的分析及其年代

为研究云南剑川海门口遗址出土铜铁器的制作技术及其年代,本文对第3次发掘出土的17件铜器和3件铁器进行了成分分析,部分器物进行了显微组织观察。结果表明海门口遗址出土铜器的合金元素有铜、锡、铅、锑、砷等多种成分,当时已有较多的合金配比知识,加工方式多样化,处于较为成熟的青铜时代。2件铁器出土于第6层,1件铁器出土于第5层,出土于第6层的1件铁器进行了金相观察,为人工冶炼的块炼铁,是铁器时代的产物。剑川海门口出土的铜器与周边地区青铜文化出土的铜器也有密切的联系,结合碳十四数据,本文初步推断剑川海门口第3次发掘出土铜铁器的年代应处于春秋到战国时期。     

城坝遗址M45出土一组乐器的分析研究

本文对四川渠县城坝遗址出土的錞于、钲、钟一组青铜乐器做了相关分析,研究发现:这组乐器属铜锡铅三元合金,錞于、钟含有微量砷;均采用范铸法分批、分部件浇铸而成,各部位合金比例不尽相同,錞于的合金比例差别较大。通过微痕信息观察,器身上的部分巴蜀符号为刻划成型而非铸造;器物用途可能仅为陪葬品而非实用器。     

城坝遗址M45出土一组乐器的分析研究

本文对四川渠县城坝遗址出土的錞于、钲、钟一组青铜乐器做了相关分析,研究发现:这组乐器属铜锡铅三元合金,錞于、钟含有微量砷;均采用范铸法分批、分部件浇铸而成,各部位合金比例不尽相同,錞于的合金比例差别较大。通过微痕信息观察,器身上的部分巴蜀符号为刻划成型而非铸造;器物用途可能仅为陪葬品而非实用器。     

甘肃玉门火烧沟四坝文化铜器的科学分析及相关问题

本文对甘肃玉门火烧沟遗址出土的67件铜器进行了科学分析,结果显示:其材质以红铜和锡青铜为主,有少量砷青铜、铅青铜、铅锡青铜等;成型工艺有铸造和锻造两种,前者略多;耳环多为锡青铜,热锻成型;而铜锥、铜斧等工具则多为红铜,制作以铸造为主。现有研究成果显示,河西走廊地区四坝文化铜器技术的发展早期阶段以红铜和青铜为主,砷铜或含砷青铜占有一定比例,晚期阶段以锡青铜为主。依据新的考古发现和年代框架,河西走廊地区早期冶金技术的出现和早期发展,显示了来自欧亚草原地区的影响,但不同时期文化交流路线以及影响的广度和深度并不相同。     

安徽南陵出土部分青铜器研究

安徽省南陵县是长江下游地区最早而且规模最大的冶炼中心之一,其古代矿冶遗址可上溯至西周晚期。本研究对南陵出土的不同年代和类别的青铜器样品进行了金相检测及合金成分定量分析。结果表明,只有容器存在铜铅二元合金和铜锡铅三元合金,但是热锻淬火的容器却不含铅,含锡量恰好位于适合该工艺操作并具有良好性能的区间。兵器、工具、车马饰均为铜锡二元合金,说明当时的工匠对于合金成分配比与性能的关系有明确的认识。越式鼎腹部样品具有热锻淬火马氏体组织,同样的金属结构还见于汉代铜锣等乐器、峡江地区战国中晚期青铜剑、江都大桥镇南朝青铜器窖藏出土的多件青铜容器,而镇江地区出土吴国青铜戈则具有铸造淬火组织,工艺稍有差别。这些器物中发现高锡青铜淬火组织不是偶然的,高锡青铜热锻淬火技术至少可以上溯至春秋战国时期,用以改善高锡青铜的机械性能。     

殷墟1004号王墓出土青铜胄研究

对商晚期都城殷墟遗址的1004号王墓出土的7件青铜胄进行了热电离质谱(TIMS)铅同位素比值分析和电感耦合等离子体发射光谱(ICP-OES)成分分析,数据显示铜胄的合金类型可分为两类——锡青铜和铅锡青铜,且其二者的铅同位素比值均处于高放射性成因铅范围。此研究结果为探索金属矿料的产地来源及此著名王墓的年代等问题提供了重要线索。     

北京延庆西屯墓地出土汉代铜器的科学分析

延庆西屯墓地出土的汉代铜器对于了解北京地区汉代铜器文化特征、制作技术以及与周边地区的相互关系,具有十分重要的意义。为进一步揭示该批铜器包含的科学信息,本文对其进行了科学分析检测。结果显示,西屯墓地出土铜器的材质以铜锡铅三元合金为主,仅两件铜盆检测为铜铅二元合金、一件铜带钩为铜锡铅砷四元合金,且三类材质的合金化程度较低。除铜镜外,铜器的合金成分与器物类型之间没有明显关系,可见其青铜技术逐步衰退。多数铜器为铸造而成,根据器物的需要,还在局部采用热锻、热锻后冷加工等加工方式,说明当时的工匠已经能够根据需要应用相关技术。     

Telling small stories: spaces of knowledge and the practice of geography

This article examines how the practice of learning geography, and the arenas in which knowledge-making takes place, can be usefully positioned within changing histories of the discipline. It contends that networks of action – understood through the intersection of social sites, subjects and sources – present a conceptual framework and narrative focus for the re-consideration of specific episodes from geography's past. The interventions made here are informed and illustrated by a 'small story' about the doing of geography. Based on different personal accounts, the story revives a series of events, encounters, dialogues and images dating back to the winter of 1951 at Glenmore Lodge, Scotland. This educational institution in the Cairngorm mountains offered children from urban areas the opportunity to learn field studies and the skills of 'outdoor citizenship'. Initially, the focus falls on Margaret Jack, a 14-year-old field-course participant. Her learning experiences are traced through personal letters, a diary and a field journal dating from that time, and her recent recollections of this event. Margaret's account dovetails with the story of her field studies instructor, Robin Murray. Robin's role is traced through his learning experiences as a geography undergraduate at Aberdeen University, and the recent recollections of Catriona Murray, his wife.     

Das Wissen der Schulden. Recht,Kulturtechnik und Alltagserfahrung im liberalen Kapitalismus

The Knowledge of Debt: Law, Media Technique, and Everyday Experience in Liberal Capitalism. Performing an object such as ‘the economy’ hinges on practices of formatting knowledge. The article proposes to look at such instituting moments in connection with social conflicts over the legitimate rules of exchange. This is exemplified by way of recounting the story of the codification of Swiss bankruptcy law in 1889. In order to homogenize the legal procedures of debt collection and bankruptcy, two subject categories were instituted: ‘merchants’ and ‘non-merchants’. These different categories were thought to account for the diverging temporalities and spaces of credit exchange in everyday economic life. The introduction of the commercial register, a media-technical apparatus, enabled a formal distinction between ‘merchants’ and ‘non-merchants’. However, this boundary was contested and proved to be porose.     

Two radiocarbon dates for freshwater shells from hierakonpolis: Archaeological and geological interpretations

Shells of two species of freshwater bivalve (Unio willcocksi Bullen Newton and Etheria elliptica Lamarck) from the predynastic Gerzean (Nagada II) Decorated Tomb at Hierakonpolis, Egypt have given dates of 5000±90 bp for the tomb, and 12,900±120 bp for an episode of Nile terrace accumulation (correlated here with the Sahaba-Darau aggradation event). The archaeological and geological significance of these results is discussed, together with an outline of problems associated with radiocarbon dating of shell. Comparisons are made with the few other radiocarbon dates available for the Predynastic period in Egypt and possible reasons for the presence of shells in the tomb are considered.     

Some chronological implications of a fossil molluscan assemblage from a neolithic site at Brook,Kent, England

The later post-glacial history of a valley in the chalk escarpment near Brook, Kent, is described, based on molluscan stratigraphy, archaeological evidence and radio-carbon dating. Differences in size and colour banding, respectively, of fossil and living representatives of two species of land snails, Pomatias elegans (Müller) and Cepaea nemoralis (L.), are correlated with climatic change during the post-glacial period. The problems of the use of fossil shells of these species as samples for radiocarbon dating are discussed.     

China's Dynamic Industrial Sector: The Internet Industry

A Singapore-based economic geographer explores and analyzes the spatially uneven evolution of the Internet industry in China, arguing that the country's immense regional disparity in the provision of Internet services is best explained by the interplay of place- and path-dependence. The author demonstrates how the highly uneven regional endowments in relevant industrial and entrepreneurial resources have led to the substantial and persistent regional imbalance within China's emerging "new economy." His initial survey of the country's 100 leading Internet content providers (firms), identified from a listing of ca. 11,700 commercial websites, is selectively augmented to reflect an increase of over 70 million Internet users in 2007, reaching a total of 253 million in June 2008, and thus overtaking the United States as the world's largest Internet market. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: L10, L86, O30. 6 figures, 1 table, 53 references.     

The 1911 International Exposition in Rome: architecture, archaeology, and national identity

This paper discusses the 1911 International Exposition in Rome and illustrates how this patriotic celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Italian Sate utilized symbolic landscapes of architecture and archaeology to promote nationalist sentiments of italianità and romanità centered on the young capital of Rome. Through modern art exhibitions at the Valle Giulia, scientific conferences at the Castel Sant’Angelo, archaeological exhibits on the Roman Empire in the Baths of Diocletian, and regional Italian pavilions in the Piazza d’Armi, exposition officials offered a complex representation of Italian national identity that was modern yet ancient, cosmopolitan yet bucolic, European yet regional, and imperial yet developing.     

The Rise and Fall of Alexander the Great – The Need for Medical Analysis: Reply to Commentaries

Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C. from an unknown cause. By elucidating the nature of his death, we can better interpret various aspects of Alexandrian history. Alexander’s death may have ensued from the sequelae of a congenital scoliotic syndrome. It would therefore be of significance to note that one of the greatest leaders in history who conquered much of the then known world may have been suffering from a physical disability.     

LEAD ISOTOPE ANALYSES OF ISLAMIC POTTERY GLAZES FROM FUSTAT,EGYPT*

Lead isotope analyses have been undertaken on a group of Islamic lead‐glazed pottery artefacts from Fustat, Egypt, spanning the period from the eighth to the 14th century ad , that had previously been the subject of a comprehensive typological, chronological, petrographic and technological study. Comparison of the lead isotope ratios for the glazes with those for lead ores from Egypt, Iran, Tunisia, Anatolia, Greece, Sardinia and Spain provided information on the possible sources of the lead used in the production of the glazes. The results show that the lead used in glaze production by the Islamic potters at Fustat was most probably obtained from distant ore sources in Iran or Tunisia, Sardinia, Spain and the Taurus Mountains. Different ore sources were favoured in different periods and, to a limited extent, for different types of pottery, but at no time did the Fustat potters use the potentially more accessible Egyptian ore sources.     

Australian Cenozoic Bryozoa, 2: Free-living Cheilostomata of the Eocene St. Vincent Basin,S.A., including Bonellina gen. nov

Schmidt, R., March 2007. Australian Cenozoic Bryozoa, 2: Free-living Cheilostomata of the Eocene St. Vincent Basin, S.A., including Bonellina gen. nov. Alcheringa 31, 67-84. ISSN 0311-5518.

Free-living bryozoans are diverse in the Eocene sediments of the St. Vincent Basin, South Australia. They include Bonellina pentagonalis gen. et sp. nov., Otionellina sp. cf. O. exigua (Tenison Woods), Otionellina sp. cf. O. cupola (Tenison Woods), Tubiporella magna (Tenison Woods), Celleporaria nummularia (Tenison Woods), and an indeterminate species only found as moulds. This diversity and abundance is highest in the sediments representing the initial transgressive marine facies, where they occur in ‘sand fauna’ bryozoan assemblages (e.g. with Melicerita and Siphonicytara). Free-living bryozoans decrease up-section and are absent from latest Eocene sediments, indicating a significant environmental shift.

Rolf Schmidt [rschmid@museum.vic.gov.au], Museum Victoria, Melbourne, Vic 3001, Australia; received 18.3.2005, revised 14.12.2005.