从《七佛说法图》谈壁画的保护研究

故宫博物院绘画馆中陈列的《七佛说法图》堪称元代寺观壁画中的珍品,但由于受各种因素的影响,已经出现了不同程度的损坏,迫切需要采取有效的措施予以保护。本文通过对壁画现状的调查和监测,总结出导致壁画受损的主要因素,从而有针对性地提出了保护方案。同时,结合数字化技术对壁画保护的前景进行了展望。     

Food and the middle ages

The study of food in the middle ages attracted much interest among antiquarians from the eighteenth century on. New perspectives came with the growth of social and economic history. Over the last two decades, re-evaluations of historical sources, along with contributions from other disciplines, especially archaeology, the archaeological sciences, anthropology and sociology, have changed the possibilities for this area of research. The study of cooking, of cuisine and its cultural context, as much as food production and the material conditions of life, is now central to developing our understanding of consumption. This paper explores new possibilities for the study of taste and demotic cuisine, food and virtue, the association of women with food, and the role of food in society and in cultural change.     

The Arctic in the middle ages

The rather sparse and dubious data about Arctic regions known to Antiquity were taken over, mostly via Pliny, by the middle ages and reinforced and expanded in significant ways. This paper, which was delivered as an Inaugural Lecture at the University of Groningen in November 1982, reviews the activities and reports of medieval explorers, colonists and traders in or about the Arctic and considers the handful of medieval writers who display some real knowledge about Arctic regions. The generality of medieval writers on history and geography knew little or nothing. Even so, it is shown that here and there references are made to many of the features which are thought of as typically Arctic in the modern popular consciousness, with the exception of igloos and muskoxen. Commercial connections with the Arctic through Novgorod and Bergen are examined, and some account given of contacts with Iceland and the disappearance of the Norse settlement in Greenland. Polar bears and white falcons in western Europe, both of nearly indisputable Arctic origin, are discussed, attention is drawn to the very inadequate portrayal of the Arctic on medieval maps, and the paper closes with a glance at Olaus Magnus's account of northern peoples published in 1555.     

The Arctic in the middle ages

The rather sparse and dubious data about Arctic regions known to Antiquity were taken over, mostly via Pliny, by the middle ages and reinforced and expanded in significant ways. This paper, which was delivered as an Inaugural Lecture at the University of Groningen in November 1982, reviews the activities and reports of medieval explorers, colonists and traders in or about the Arctic and considers the handful of medieval writers who display some real knowledge about Arctic regions. The generality of medieval writers on history and geography knew little or nothing. Even so, it is shown that here and there references are made to many of the features which are thought of as typically Arctic in the modern popular consciousness, with the exception of igloos and muskoxen. Commercial connections with the Arctic through Novgorod and Bergen are examined, and some account given of contacts with Iceland and the disappearance of the Norse settlement in Greenland. Polar bears and white falcons in western Europe, both of nearly indisputable Arctic origin, are discussed, attention is drawn to the very inadequate portrayal of the Arctic on medieval maps, and the paper closes with a glance at Olaus Magnus's account of northern peoples published in 1555.     

Introduction: recent approaches to pottery and society in the Southeast

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the themes of this special edition of Southeastern Archaeology on modern pottery studies and summarizes the articles included in this edition. Southeastern archaeologists increasingly are applying new theoretical constructs and techniques to ceramic studies. These new techniques, in conjunction with traditional typological analysis, allow archaeologists to approach the study of past peoples from a broader perspective.     

Feasts and gifts: sharing food in the middle ages

This essay introduces a special issue of the Journal of Medieval History on feasting and gifts of food from the early middle ages through to the early modern period. It discusses the tensions between hierarchy and community, largesse and luxury in the feast, and the continued importance of communal eating throughout the medieval period.     

The British Isles and Great Moravia in the early middle ages

The work of the Irish or Iro-Scottish missioneries on the continent of Europe in the sixth to eighth centuries is well known. An attempt is made here to show how the characteristic design of early Celtic churches found its way partly via Bavaria, where for example the Irishman Virgil became bishop of Salzburg in the mid-eight century, into Moravia, along with other Iro-Scottish cultural influences, a century or so before the well-known Christianizing mission launched into that area from Byzantium by the two brothers SS Cyril and Methodius, in 863.     

A conception of the self in the later middle ages

This paper presents a conception of the nature of the individual self in the late middle ages, involving the stance from which the ‘I’ beholds the world (in this case, one newly more autonomous from the corporate/ecclesiastical world view), and the manner in which the self (‘I’) apprehends itself (in this case, self-apprehension involves sensing that one's essentially public face is ‘being seen’ as standing out from the group by others, as well as knowing oneself via ‘reflections’ from others). A theme of ‘seeing’ the world from a more autonomous standpoint while ‘being seen’ as a more separated psychic entity is discerned, which is in keeping with an emphasis on vision in this age, discerned by other researchers. The paper bases its case partly on examination of the arguments and evidence cited by other researchers who have studied the self or individuality in the later middle ages.     

Why praise Jews: satire and history in the middle ages

Modern readers, including highly sophisticated, professional historians, have not always understood that medieval praise of jews, in its rare occurrences, never signifies categorical approval of Israelites. Instead, such praise functions as a condemnation, sometimes explicit, sometimes implicit, of Christians whose behavior is not even equal to that of the lowest members of society. The elaborate story told by Richard of Devizes about the murder, towards the end of the twelfth century, of a young Christian by a Jew at Winchester provides a clear illustration of the problem.     

Boston and Grimsby in the middle ages: an administrative contrast

Study of the Lincolnshire towns of Boston and Grimsby throws light on the question of borough status in the middle ages. Both towns shared the basic liberties which made urban life possible in the middle ages: personal and tenurial freedom, freedom from tolls and other economic privileges such as the right to hold fairs and markets. Although contemporaries had no clear definition of ‘the borough’ and boroughs were not a distinct legal category, historians have profitably employed this concept to draw attention to these fundamental tenurial and economic liberties. However, the privileges held by individual boroughs varied enermously. Royal boroughs, such as Grimsby, tended to be marked by an administrative independence where the community of burgesses were free to elect their own mayors and bailiffs, and paid salaried officials from a common purse. In many seignorial boroughs, including Boston, the burgesses enjoyed less self government. Here the town's overlords maintained a more active interest in administration through their control of the town courts and their appointment of officers. Nevertheless there is little evidence for conflict between lords and burgesses at Boston (as there was in many monastic boroughs) and the town flourished. Urban liberties were the essential pre-condition of town life but there was no necessary correlation between urban growth and town franchises. Boston was a wealthier and more populous town than Grimsby and yet enjoyed less administrative independence. The extent of urban liberties reflected lordship rather than economic importance.     

Boston and Grimsby in the middle ages: an administrative contrast

Study of the Lincolnshire towns of Boston and Grimsby throws light on the question of borough status in the middle ages. Both towns shared the basic liberties which made urban life possible in the middle ages: personal and tenurial freedom, freedom from tolls and other economic privileges such as the right to hold fairs and markets. Although contemporaries had no clear definition of ‘the borough’ and boroughs were not a distinct legal category, historians have profitably employed this concept to draw attention to these fundamental tenurial and economic liberties. However, the privileges held by individual boroughs varied enermously. Royal boroughs, such as Grimsby, tended to be marked by an administrative independence where the community of burgesses were free to elect their own mayors and bailiffs, and paid salaried officials from a common purse. In many seignorial boroughs, including Boston, the burgesses enjoyed less self government. Here the town's overlords maintained a more active interest in administration through their control of the town courts and their appointment of officers. Nevertheless there is little evidence for conflict between lords and burgesses at Boston (as there was in many monastic boroughs) and the town flourished. Urban liberties were the essential pre-condition of town life but there was no necessary correlation between urban growth and town franchises. Boston was a wealthier and more populous town than Grimsby and yet enjoyed less administrative independence. The extent of urban liberties reflected lordship rather than economic importance.     

The British Isles and Great Moravia in the early middle ages

The work of the Irish or Iro-Scottish missioneries on the continent of Europe in the sixth to eighth centuries is well known. An attempt is made here to show how the characteristic design of early Celtic churches found its way partly via Bavaria, where for example the Irishman Virgil became bishop of Salzburg in the mid-eight century, into Moravia, along with other Iro-Scottish cultural influences, a century or so before the well-known Christianizing mission launched into that area from Byzantium by the two brothers SS Cyril and Methodius, in 863.     

Water wizards: reshaping wet nature and society

The article investigates how humans ‘networked’ wet nature and how this affected the shaping of Dutch society. First, it takes a grand view of Dutch history and describes how wet network building intertwined with the shaping of the Dutch landscape, its economy and its polity. Second, it investigates the specific challenges of wet network building—integrating potentially conflicting uses of water into one design—for the case of the national fresh water supply network (1940–1971). Finally, it discusses ecological damage, emerging new risks and cultural patterns related to wet network building.