Were Olduvai Hominins making butchering tools or battering tools? Analysis of a recently excavated lithic assemblage from BK (Bed II,Olduvai Gorge,Tanzania)

A new interpretation of early stone-tool use by hominins at Olduvai depicts them as involved in battering activities (using pounding tools) rather than making cutting butchering tools as is commonly inferred in most other Plio-Pleistocene sites where lithics appear associated to faunal remains. The bulk of this interpretation is based on the recognition of the stigma of percussion activities in anvils and detached by-products. Renewed excavations at BK after more than half a century of the beginning of the digging at the site by M. Leakey have produced a new and unbiased lithic assemblage. The taphonomic study of the faunal assemblage has shown that BK is an anthropogenic site where carcass butchery practices were repeatedly performed over a vast amount of time. The present analysis of the lithic artefacts supports this interpretation by showing that the obtainment of flakes was the principal aim in stone knapping. We argue that a number of technical traits observed in the lithic collection of BK can be best interpreted as the result of bipolar loading rather than the by-products of battering activities. Since BK has provided the second largest collection of hominid-modified bones from Olduvai, it is concluded that detached pieces produced in the course of bipolar reduction might have played an active role in bone modification and that active rather than passive percussion behaviors might have been responsible for the formation of the lithic assemblage. The functionality of the Oldowan stone tools are discussed under the light of the new study.     

新石器时期中原地区谷物加工技术初探

本文从考古发现的石磨盘、石磨棒中的石磨棒的形制入手,讨论了石磨棒的使用方式,指出滚压是史前粟脱壳加工的有效方式,揭示了中国先民7000年前就已经熟练运用滚压技术的事实。     

吴越细绳纹类青铜礼器成形技术研究

吴越青铜器发展到春秋中晚期,出现了一批极富地域文化特色的青铜器,器表饰有细绳纹和细薄而峻深的纹饰,或在纹饰间布满细芒刺突起的棘刺纹。本工作通过对吴越青铜器陶范铸造技术的探索和吴越细绳纹类青铜礼器的复原试验,以期揭示出这类细绳纹类青铜礼器的成形技术。实验过程是以绳索为模,在湿陶范内埋入绳索,当陶范入窑焙烧时,绳索焚烧后形成绳索状凹槽,浇注青铜液后则成为具有突起状绳纹装饰的青铜器。焚烧绳索形成纹饰,是一种在平面上形成三维纹饰的技艺,能在青铜器表面形成规整的绳纹,可能为东周时期吴越地区古代工匠铸造细绳纹类青铜礼器的一种方法。     

A comparative study of wall paintings at the Cypriot monastery of Christ Antiphonitis: one artist or two?

The central church of the monastery of Christ Antiphonitis near Kalogrea, within the district of Kyrenia in Cyprus, is decorated with wall paintings that date from the last decades of fifteenth century. Two large and elaborate scenes, the Last Judgement and the Root of Jesse, had been preserved in the church until the Turkish invasion (1974) after which they were cut into tetragonal pieces, separated, and sent by looters to Germany for selling at illicit markets. The German Police returned thirty-two of the pieces to the Archbishop Makarios Foundation in Nicosia.     

南阳发现的汉代钱范及相关问题探讨

20世纪60年代以来,南阳以汉宛城遗址为中心出土了数批汉代钱范,这些钱范反映了汉代铸钱技术的发展和南阳郡的铸钱业概况.     

周一汉毛织品的染色工艺探讨

为探讨1985年新疆且末县扎洪鲁克墓群和洛浦山普拉墓群出土的一批周一汉毛染织品的染色工艺,用能量色散x射线荧光仪和色度仪对这批毛染织品分别进行了元素分析和反射光谱的测定。结果表明,这批毛染品均使用植物染料染色,分别采用四种染色工艺：直接染色、媒染染色、复染染色和套染染色。其中,蓝色毛织品为直接染色;红色毛织品采用了媒染、复染工艺,绿色毛织品由蓝色与黄色套染而成。进一步的研究表明,红色毛织品是用铝盐作媒染剂染色而成,铝盐含量与毛织品的色度呈相关性。说明能量色散X射线荧光分析仪和色度仪的使用是分析古代毛染品染色工艺的有效手段。     

传统金箔制作工艺调查研究

传统的金箔制作工艺是传统金属工艺的重要组成部分。制作金箔的主要和唯一方法是锻造,自商代起一直沿用至今。早期由于未采用隔层材料,只能逐片锻打,厚度也不可能太薄,随着隔层材料的使用,特别是至迟在明代使用的乌金纸,使金箔的厚度大大降低。从最早的逐张锻打发展到目前的一次锻打1000-2000张,生产效率有了极大提高。工序也有了进一步发展细化。科技的发展和大规模的工业化生产,对传统工艺产生了极大的冲击,因此对传统工艺的保护成为当务之急,有效的途径之一是对传统工艺进行调查和研究,为此对南京金线金箔总厂的传统金箔制作工艺进行了调查,从合金的成分、熔炼、打制和切割工具、隔层材料、制作工序等方面对金箔的传统制作工艺流程作了记述。     

中国古代焊接技术初步研究

我国古代的多项金属技术都很早就取得了较高成就，但由于多方面原因，人们对我国古代焊接技术的发明、发展状况还是了解较少。本文主要依据考古实物的科学分析和文献研究，对此试作一初步探讨。...     

法门寺地宫出土唐髹漆平脱秘色瓷碗髹漆工艺初探

在1987年的法门寺地宫考古发掘中,出土一对髹漆平脱秘色瓷碗,是秘色瓷与金银工艺、髹漆工艺完美结合的珍贵文物。为了对其髹漆工艺进行了探讨,本研究利用显微观察、扫描电镜能谱分析和红外光谱分析等方法,对髹漆残块、银扣残块样品进行检测分析。在此基础上,提出了其髹漆工艺的流程。研究结果可为文物保护修复、科学技术史和艺术史研究提供可靠参考。     

孔雀蓝釉技术源流考辨

孔雀蓝釉是中国陶瓷低温釉体系中重要的环节,正是由于孔雀蓝釉的配制,我国低温釉出现了以氧化钾作为熔剂的技术手段,为后来景德镇釉上彩的彩料配制奠定了技术基础。孔雀蓝釉的技术来源尚没有清楚的认识,学者大多推测中国孔雀蓝釉的生产受到了伊斯兰陶孔雀蓝釉的影响。但现有对金元时期我国孔雀蓝釉的检测表明有多种配方共存的情况,这一现象说明当时孔雀蓝釉的生产并没有统一技术。笔者通过对孔雀蓝釉出土文物的时间与产地特征,以及对琉璃瓦生产工艺演变的考察,认为我国孔雀蓝釉是在低温铅釉琉璃的助熔剂"黄丹"的制作工艺演变过程中增加硝形成的,到元代中期以后配方探索才逐渐完成,形成了以硝为主要助熔剂的制作工艺。