Use of robust methods to determine quadratic surfaces: application to heritage

3D surveys of archaeological elements and the construction of virtual models enable us to reconstruct historical sites. They provide useful data to select specific building processes.Photogrammetry and Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) are the most common techniques to obtain synthetically heritage models. These techniques provide massive data which can only be managed by replacing them by primitive shapes, thereby obtaining more simple models and the explicit geometry of the element. Statistical and robust methods are used for this substitution, thereby avoiding the common errors due to measuring. Of these methods, the most widely used are the least-median-of-squares (LMedS) and the RANSAC method.Another computation method consists in recursive processes based on evolutive-type algorithms to adjust the model to the data captured.This paper describes two surface computation methodologies to determine the modelling of a column shaft located in temple G of the archaeological park of Selinunte (Sicily).     

Sourcing copper ores for production of bronzes excavated at Shuangyantang,a Western Zhou (1046–771 <Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">bc</Emphasis>) site in Chongqing (Southwest China): evidence from lead isotope analysis

Energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) and lead isotope analyses were applied to 12 Western Zhou (1046–771 bc) bronzes unearthed from the Shuangyantang site in Wushan County, Chongqing (southwest China), to investigate their chemical compositions and possible mineral source(s). The results showed that (1) the investigated bronzes were mostly bronzes with low, common lead and (2) their lead isotopic values almost all fall into a relatively narrow range, suggesting possibly the use of raw materials from a common copper mine. The comparison between lead isotopic values for Shuangyantang bronzes and those already published for copper mines and other bronzes produced and used about at the same times leads us to believe that the Shuangyantang bronzes probably used the same copper ores as used in bronzes from the Peng and Jin states in Shanxi Province. However, it would not be possible at this point to come up with a clear idea of where exactly these copper ores may come from. Candidate copper mines might be the Tonglvshan mines in Hubei Province, the Zhongtiaoshan mines in Shanxi Province, or the Dajing copper mines in Inner Mongolia.     

试论西部非物质文化遗产保护立法的社会价值

西部非物质文化遗产保护的地方性立法,以协调西部经济开发与文化保护、非物质文化遗产传承人利益与社会公共利益、商业开发与原真性保护等诸多关系为宗旨,是完善西部开发法律保障体系的重要举措,必将对西部少数民族文化权利维护、经济社会可持续发展及文化多样性格局的形成产生积极影响。     

THE EFFECTS OF ZONING IN SPATIAL COMPETITION

ABSTRACT This paper considers a location model to illustrate the effect of zoning on competition. A planner is in charge of designing a city in a circular space where firms and consumers are located on different sides. With this type of market configuration, equilibrium in location under concave transport costs is proved. Then, a welfare function with different weights attached to consumer and firm surpluses is introduced to highlight zoning regulation as an influential competition policy tool. Depending on the regulator's political profiles and the demand, it is shown that zoning can lead to strong, weak, or moderate competition.     

Sourcing ceramics with portable XRF spectrometers? A comparison with INAA using Mimbres pottery from the American Southwest

Seventy-five intact Mimbres and Jornada pottery sherds from the American Southwest were analyzed by portable XRF and instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). Examination of the data demonstrates that INAA and portable XRF results for elements common to both analyses can be used to construct similar compositional groups. When individual compositional groups are compared to one another, it is apparent that unambiguous separation of compositional groups is challenging by portable XRF given (1) the limited number of key discriminating elements that can be measured relative to INAA, and (2) the relative analytical precision and accuracy of portable XRF for measurements of intact heterogeneous ceramics. We conclude that sourcing intact ceramics by portable XRF is challenging and that bulk analytical measurements, such as INAA, remain a better approach for sourcing archaeological pottery.     

Compression and digestion as agents of vertebral deformation in Sciaenidae,Merlucidae and Gadidae remains: an experimental study to interpret archaeological assemblages

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory - Fish taphonomy from archaeological sites provides considerable useful information about human behaviours and environmental contexts as potential food...