Dating of modified femora of extinct dwarf Hippopotamus from Southern Madagascar: Implications for constraining human colonization and vertebrate extinction events

Two significant events in the late Holocene history of Madagascar were (a) the arrival of people, and (b) the loss of nearly two dozen species of land vertebrates in the socalled “subfossil extinctions”. The consensus is that the faunal losses occurred shortly subsequent to human arrival, but the timing of these events is poorly constrained. The minimum age for initial human presence on the island may now be set at approximately 2000 bp, on the basis of AMS ¹⁴C dates for human-modified femora of extinct dwarf hippos from SW Madagascar. Assuming that this date also marks the beginning of deleterious human interactions with the subfossil fauna, and assuming that this fauna became completely extinct by 900 bp, the width of the anthropogenic “extinction window” may have been as long as c. 1000 a. This estimate, nearly twice the length of previous ones, is close to the unadjusted minimum for the duration of the terminal Pleistocene extinction event in the Americas. Whether or not this length of time comports with theoretical expectations of a “blitzkrieg” pattern of losses is uncertain, but greater refinement in dating the end of the subfossil extinctions is unlikely to produce radically shorter estimates of duration.     

关于夏商周碳十四年代框架

中国历史教科书将翻开新的一页,因为新的夏商周三代年表公布了,它将中国有确切纪年的历史向前推进了 １２２９年。 由历史学、天文学、考古学和Ｃ测年技术等学科的２００多位专家参加的我国建国以来社会科学领域规模最大的科学研究项目—夏商周断代工程,历经４年多的时间,终于实现了既定的目标,建立了三代年表。这标志着我国在年代学方面的研究又迈上了新的台阶。 夏商周三代年表从西周共和元年的公元前８４１年到公元前２０７０年跨越中国早期的三个朝代,总年数长达１０００多年,中间涉及了许多重要的年代定点和时段。其复杂性、其…     

新疆多岗墓地出土人骨的碳氮稳定同位素分析

拜城多岗墓地是新疆西部发现的墓葬数量较多的墓葬群之一,墓葬情况复杂,葬俗葬式多样,是早期铁器时代的研究资料。本文对于采集到的该墓地41具人骨进行碳氮稳定同位素分析,探讨多岗居民的饮食状况;并结合墓葬类型、随葬品种类,男女性别以及考古学分期等对不同条件人们的食物差别进行考察,为该区域早期铁器时代居民的饮食结构研究提供依据。分析结果显示,多岗居民δ15N平均值为12.56‰,表明食物中有较多的肉类;而δ13C分析平均值为-14.77‰,相应植物类食物中C4类植物为40%左右。参考周边遗址的出土遗存,其C4类植物应为粟或黍。     

Hardwood ash nixtamalization may lead to false negatives for the presence of maize by depleting bulk δC in carbonized residues

Among the multiple proxies for detecting maize in precontact economies is the use of δ¹³C analysis of carbonized residues from ceramic cooking vessels. Although maize horticulture was widely established in Eastern North America (ENA) by A.D. 1000, there are carbonized residues from ceramic assemblages after this date that lack the elevated δ¹³C values indicative of the presence of maize. This may be due to the true absence of maize, or other factors including the masking of maize. Prior experimental research by Hart et al. demonstrated that the addition of C₃ plants or consumers to two part mixes with maize can mask maize presence even when maize is the dominant ingredient. Here we investigate the effect of alkali processing of maize (nixtamalization) on δ¹³C using the widespread ENA process of boiling maize kernels with wood ash, a C₃ product, to create hominy. Our experiments test whether or not the process of hardwood ash nixtamalization can mask the presence of maize in adhering carbonized residues by depleting δ¹³C values, and whether there is a reciprocal δ¹³C enrichment effect on the hardwood ash employed in nixtamalization. Overall, there is substantial δ¹³C depletion of residues when maize is cooked with hardwood ash, and hardwood ash cooked with maize shows the reciprocal enrichment. Therefore, the depleted values after the adoption of maize may be false negatives due to the nixtamalization process.     

董其昌《山水》册与《董范合参图》轴辨伪

上海博物馆藏董其昌《山水》册(共十开),为天启四年(1624)元旦所作,实并非董氏真迹。据考,该年四月董其昌才抵京。同时,该册对题均节录自董氏及明清书画著录著作与晚清文学笔记中,其第二开对题,与故宫博物院藏董氏癸酉(1633)夏五所作《董范合参图》轴题跋相同。再考《山水》册笔法,嫩弱飘浮,墨色平淡,与典型的董其昌风格相差甚远,更无其生拙秀逸之气;而《董范合参图》轴,用笔亦尖劲细碎,全幅墨气滞涩,艺术水准远不及故宫博物院藏董氏十二年前所作《仿古山水图》册,亦无法企及董氏卒前一年所作的《关山雪霁图》卷。可见,《山水》册和《董范合参图》轴非董氏本家之作。     

Two Careers across Two Cultures

Beginning with my recollection of hearing C. P. Snow's ‘Two Cultures’ lecture, I sketch my experience of building two academic careers in succession, first in one of the natural sciences and later in the history of such sciences. I outline both the difficulties and the rewards that I encountered in crossing the alleged gulf between the sciences and the humanities, but also emphasise the diversity of cultures that I experienced within each. I describe my own encounter with the academic culture of continental Europe, within which the concept of a monolithic singular ‘Science’ could be dismissed as an ‘anglophone heresy’, and viewed from which the Two Cultures debate could seem both provincial and redundant.     

Introduction: Some Significances of the Two Cultures Debate

The notion of the existence of two opposed cultures, one literary and one scientific, has a long pedigree going back to nineteenth century. However, it was C.P. Snow's formulation of the idea in 1959 and F.R. Leavis's 1962 critique, which brought it to the fore in cultural discourse, where it has more or less remained ever since. The papers in this special double issue of Interdisciplinary Science Reviews examine the debate and its legacies from a variety of perspectives, while this introduction seeks to contextualise the issues raised and draw some contemporary lessons.     

生活与逻辑的交汇——詹姆斯·C·霍尔特论大宪章

英国当代著名史学家詹姆斯·C·霍尔特以研究大宪章知名,他的《大宪章》一书是20世纪大宪章史学的杰作,被认为是20世纪后半叶大宪章研究领域最重要的一部著作。霍尔特的大宪章研究在方法上的突出特色,是将法律或原则还原为生活,通过比较,即通过对大宪章与欧洲中世纪其他同类文件的对比研究,以及对英王国与欧洲其他王国的对比研究,从实际生活过程解说大宪章的产生和特点。他致力于去除辉格派史学传统带来的那些时代错乱的历史解释,从生活与逻辑的交汇点阐释大宪章的内容和性质,依据大宪章的内在特点与时代发展的关系说明大宪章的历史与神话的联系。     

A Bayesian AMS C chronology of the Classic Maya Center of Uxbenká, Belize

Archaeologists require precise chronologies of cultural change to understand the nature and timing, and causes and effects, of ecological and social transformations. The Uxbenká Archaeological Project (UAP) has made chronology building a main goal, employing epigraphic data, artifact seriation, and high-precision AMS ¹⁴C dating. With more than 60 ¹⁴C dates with measurement errors below ±25 ¹⁴C yr, primarily on single charcoal specimens, Uxbenká may be the most intensively dated Classic Period site in the tropical Maya Lowlands. Here we take the next step, combining this rich chronometric dataset with associated stratigraphic information in OxCal's Bayesian framework to generate a high-resolution chronology of Uxbenká's early development and expansion in southern Belize. We show how archaeologists may take advantage of complex architectural stratigraphy to constrain broad calibrated ranges during the Classic Period, and to estimate dates for observed construction events that can not be directly dated (e.g., clearing/leveling plazas, laying plaster floors, renovating/rebuilding structural elements). Our analysis confirms the antiquity of the ceremonial Stela Plaza (Group A), where first construction is estimated between 60 cal BC and cal AD 220 and is associated with a Pre-Classic structure obscured by later construction and reorientation of the group to a N-S alignment ca. AD 150–310. The analysis also indicates initial leveling and construction at plaza Group B from cal AD 60–310 and Group D from cal AD 20–240, both earlier than previously assumed. Though Late Classic contexts are not as well represented by direct dates, architectural modifications are documented at all three plaza groups after AD 550, including the extensive plastering, laying paving stones, and construction of facades on existing structures. The resulting chronology revises our previous thinking on the mode of settlement and development of Classic Maya society at Uxbenká and indicates specific areas of investigation to elucidate events in the Late and Terminal Classic at the site, including political and social fragmentation and the abandonment of the urban core late in the Classic Period.     

Influence of Masonry Strength and Openings on Infilled R/C Frames Under Cycling Loading

The influence of masonry infills with openings on the seismic performance of reinforced concrete (R/C) frames that were designed in accordance with modern codes provisions is investigated. Two types of masonry infills were considered that had different compressive strength but almost identical shear strength. Infills were designed so that the lateral cracking load of the solid infill is less than the available column shear resistance. Seven 1/3 – scale, single–story, single–bay frame specimens were tested under cyclic horizontal loading up to a drift level of 40%. The parameters investigated are the opening shape and the infill compressive strength. The assessment of the behavior of the frames is presented in terms of failure modes, strength, stiffness, ductility, energy dissipation capacity, and degradation from cycling. The experimental results indicate that infills with openings can significantly improve the performance of RC frames. Further, as expected, specimens with strong infills exhibited better performance than those with weak infills. For the prediction of the lateral resistance of the studied single-bay, single-story infilled frames with openings, a special plastic analysis method has been employed.