山东新石器时代环境考古信息及其与文化的关系

本文通过对鲁中南山前平原西部９处史前文化遗址动植物遗存的综合分析,获得了有价值的史前环境信息。作者还根据史前遗址的分布复原了史前海岸线与鲁西地貌;介绍了对胶东半岛贝丘软体动物的研究状况;并对上述史前环境信息与文化的关系作了探讨。     

考古学次生堆积的研究与探索

一、问题的提出 随着当代考古学的目标从器物描述扩展到对人类行为的信息提炼,对考古遗址中文化堆积改造和遗址形成过程的了解,便成为田野工作的一项重要方面。虽然,对过去社会文化和人类活动的了解取决于考古学家对遗址的仔细发掘和采样,但是发掘和采样在多大程度上反映了历史的真实面貌,则是一个很大的未知数。因为,考古遗址从形成开始,不但受到人类活动的改造,而且在使用时和废弃后的漫长岁月里,还会被堆积后的自然和人类动力破坏得面目全非。所以,如果要科学地认识考古学文化,仔细分辨人类和自然对考古遗址的改造和扰动就必…     

炽盛光佛变相图中的土星形象演变

梳理土星源流可以发现,在佛教图像志中的土星神格形象受到印度神话中焰摩天形象的影响。随着密教经典的传播和佛教中国化的不断深入,土星形象不断发展演变。在炽盛光佛变相图中,土星形象由早期佛前"牵牛者"、中期佛前"燃香者"到晚期的"迎佛者",由"形似婆罗门"演变为着汉式服饰的老者形象,由执板册到手持香炉形象的演变。梳理出其在各时期的形象特征、演变情况,探究土星形象演变的社会历史因素及其在此过程中功能的转变可知,土星形象的变化与时代背景、美学思想、儒释道合流、民间审美等多种因素相关。     

再论西汉诸侯王墓车马殉葬制度

《考古》2002年第1期刊登有郑滦明先生所著《西汉诸侯王墓所见的车马殉葬制度》一文(以下简称《制度》),对我曾经论及西汉诸侯王墓所葬三辆真车马的性质定为魂车的观点提出了质疑     

The Experimental Study of Palaeolithic Heat‐Treatment Technology: A Case from the Shuidonggou Rock Resources,North‐West China

The application of heat‐treatment technology on lithic raw materials is an important feature of early modern human behaviour. The evidence of heat‐treated stone artefacts discovered at Localities 2 and 12 of the Shuidonggou Late Palaeolithic site, North‐West China, provides an important example for studying this technology among ancient humans in Asia during the Late Palaeolithic. The mechanism and effects of heat treatment on raw materials and the role of this technology in producing stone tools were studied by means of a simulation experiment and related analytical methods. These facilitated an in‐depth analysis of the heat‐treatment activities of the Shuidonggou occupants and their implications for cognitive ability and survival strategies of human populations at that time.     

云冈石窟楼阁式中心柱的涅槃象征

云冈石窟中心柱的柱体结构与其它石窟中心柱的柱体结构有很大差异,这种差异体现在:云冈石窟的中心柱不再呈现出源于印度的覆钵式塔型,而是将中国传统的楼阁式塔与长方形柱体巧妙的结合在一起,本文则是探讨这种独特的中心柱柱体结构的佛教象征涵义。     

The truth and evils of opium: The anti-opium activities of British Missionary to China John Dudgeon (1837–1901)

In order to purify the environment in which they planned to convert, from the 1860s onwards British Missionaries in late Qing China started to carry out anti opium campaigns. It was these campaigns that became the life work of British Medical Missionary John Dudgeon. Dudgeon was of the opinion that it was the ferocious opium trade that was destroying the morals, traditional culture, society, and economy of the Chinese, turning China into the West’s greatest market and in turn affecting China’s own economic benefits. Based on his surveys made on the wards, from a medical perspective, Dudgeon announced that “an opium-smoker’s family become extinct in the third generation.” Dudgeon drew up the “Dudgeon Plan” in the hope that Sino-British governmental cooperation could bring about the end of the opium trade. Nevertheless, these campaigns met with stiff opposition and suppression, and lost support from the Missionary Society. John Dudgeon’s plan was ultimately a failure.     

Zooarchaeological perspectives on the Chinese Early and Late Paleolithic from the Ma’anshan site (Guizhou,South China)

Ma’anshan is a Paleolithic cave site in the Guizhou province of southern China. The total area of the excavations is ca. 48 m², and the cultural deposit is divided into two layers representing the Chinese Late Paleolithic and the later part of the Early Paleolithic. The upper layer dates between 19,295  BP and 31,155 BP by AMS technique, and the lower layer is dated to around 53,000 BP by U-Series technique. Thousands of bone fragments were recovered from the two layers. Species abundance, bone surface modifications, skeletal element representation, and mortality patterns were studied in an investigation of assemblage formation history and patterns of prey selection and meat consumption by hominins. Interpretations of the faunal data are strengthened by reference to experimental studies and ethnoarchaeological data. The zooarchaeological data indicate that the later occupants of Ma’anshan Cave hunted mainly medium and small game animals, while the earlier occupants tended to prey upon larger animals. In the later period, hominins also made fuller use of the carcasses. The breadth of the meat diet increased with time, due to the inclusion of quick small animals (bamboo rats and birds) in the later period. The differences between the two faunal assemblages are consistent with the chronologic boundary currently drawn between the Chinese Early and Late Paleolithic ca. 30–27 ka BP, based on technological and other evidence.     

The Late Upper Paleolithic occupation of the northern Tibetan Plateau margin

The pre-Neolithic history of the Tibetan Plateau is virtually unknown. Test excavations of Late Paleolithic sites, described here, provide preliminary evidence that the initial occupation of the plateau's extreme environments was by small groups of foragers probably traveling from lower elevation plateau margins. These foragers occupied very short-term camps focused on the procurement and extensive processing of small-to-medium mammals. Five separate occupations date to 13–15,000 Cal yr BP, but limited survey data suggest mid-elevation locations may have been temporarily occupied as early as 25,000 years ago. Full-time, year-round occupation of the plateau probably did not take place until the early Neolithic advent of domesticated animals.