Is X-ray diffraction able to distinguish between animal and human bones?

The possibility of determining the human or animal origin of bones from the lattice parameters of their inorganic bioapatite phase, when subjected to a high temperature treatment using the powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique, has been explored on a wide number of specimens. Forty-two animal bones were treated in a furnace at 1100 °C for 36 min and compared to 53 cremated human bones from a range of ancient necropolises. The X-ray diffraction patterns of bioapatite were simulated using both monoclinic P21/b and hexagonal P63/m structures to verify any occurrence of phase transformation and any difference in the lattice parameters due to the model. It was determined that the differences between the a-axis and c-axis of the monoclinic and hexagonal lattice were unimportant. Some outlying values were revealed to be caused by the presence of chlorine ions diffused into the apatite structure increasing its average unit cell values. Nevertheless, our results clearly show that in terms of lattice parameters the variability of human specimens are completely overlapped by the non-human variability making the use of XRD in order to distinguish animal from human bones questionable.     

Scientific investigation of the paint and adhesive materials used in the Western Han dynasty polychromy terracotta army,Qingzhou, China

A royal tomb of early period of the Western Han dynasty (206 B.C–8 A.D) was excavated by archaeologists in Qingzhou County, Shandong Province in 2006. Over 2000 polychromy terracotta soldiers, horses, chariots, servants etc. were unearthed from the tomb. All the terracotta figures are one quarter or one sixth as large as the livings, most of them were painted with well designed patterns. In order to gain complete information about the materials and techniques used for the polychromy on the terracotta army, five samples from the painted areas were taken. In addition, one sample from the area to adhere one leg to the ploychromy horse body was also obtained. The analytical techniques applied include XRF, FTIR, Py-GC/MS and GC/MS. Chinese purple, cinnabar, lead red and ochre were used as pigments, while animal glue was identified as binding medium and adhesive in the polychromy terracotta army in the Han Dynasty. The results definitely will provide new evidence about the materials and technologies used in Han Dynasty. Especially, the binding medium identified is different in comparison with Qin Shihuang's terracotta army (259–210 BC).     

山东青州香山西汉墓彩绘陶俑胶接材料研究

本文利用x射线荧光、红外光谱、热裂解气相色谱质谱（Vy-GC-MS）和气相色谱质谱（GC-MS）,对山东青州香山西汉墓出土彩绘陶俑紫色、红色和褐色彩绘层中使用的胶接材料,以及取自马腿与马身粘接处的胶接物进行了分析。分析结果显示彩绘颜料以及马腿粘接物中的有机物均为动物胶。此研究结果为同一时期此类陶质彩绘文物的胶接材料研究提供了很好的借鉴。     

应用热裂解气相色谱质谱技术对六种蛋白质类胶结材料的分析与鉴别

利用在线甲基化水解-裂解气相色谱质谱(THM-Py-GC/MS)技术对古代壁画、彩绘等文物中常用的骨胶、皮胶、鱼鳔胶、蛋清、蛋黄和猪血等六种蛋白质类胶结材料进行分析,采用盖蒂保护研究所开发的RAdICAL系统对谱图进行解析,总结了每类材料的特征裂解产物。研究表明,吡咯类化合物,特别是吡咯、二吡咯二酮和哌嗪二酮类化合物可以作为骨胶和皮胶的识别组分,鱼鳔胶的识别组分除了上述吡咯类化合物之外,还包括胆固醇类化合物。吲哚类、血/蛋清标记物、磷酸三甲酯、脯氨酸类化合物是蛋清的识别组分。除了含有蛋清的4种识别成分之外,猪血的识别成分还包括胆固醇类化合物。蛋黄的识别组分是磷酸三甲酯、蛋黄标记物和胆固醇类化合物。最后利用主成分分析法(PCA)对福建省泉州市安海县龙山寺千手观音佛像上脱落的膜状残片的数据和六种蛋白质类胶结材料的数据进行解读,确定了膜状残片的蛋白质类有机材料为动物胶(骨胶或皮胶)和蛋清,证明PCA是一种有效的降维和可视化方法。本研究利用PCA技术对THM-Py-GC/MS数据进行分析解读,且结果可信,为之后该技术的发展提供新的契机。     

Knives for the Slaughter – Notes on the Reform and Governance of Indigenous Reindeer Slaughter in Norway

Abstract

Drawing on historical records and ethnographic fieldwork, the present article examines the history of the so-called curved knife, or krumkniv, as a window on the governance and regulation of indigenous Sámi reindeer slaughter in Norway. Originally developed by scientific activists in the 1920s, in the context of a series of experimental field trials held at a farmstead in Røros, the knives were designed to combine efficiency and ease of use with the elimination of visible animal pain, thus bringing indigenous slaughter in line with the shifting aesthetic and moral concerns of the time. The innovation was highly successful, and the knives rapidly adopted as essential tools of the herding trade – to the point where today, most users disregard their origins. Moving forward to the early 21st century, the situation had shifted almost entirely: animal welfare activists now decried the same knives as a barbaric anachronism, while herders defended them as part of their cultural heritage. Historical narratives of moral progress articulated with other discourses to produce a homogeneous present moment of the state, a moment that threatened to exclude herders from participation in the ongoing nation-building project – constituting them instead as objects of intervention and reform, targeting the successes of previous reform. Herders, meanwhile, challenged such negative constructions by defining the knife as an indigenous tradition, invoking the international commitments of the state to preserve their cultural heritage. Comparing these two historical moments, the article draws out how the technical minutiae of slaughtering practice could operate both as an instrument of social engineering, and as an arena within which complex, large-scale issues – to do with matters such as social inclusion and participation, the value of history, the function and obligations of the state – could be settled, contested and redrawn.     

关于加快青海生态畜牧业发展的思考

在实现科学发展,建设生态文明的大背景下,如何实现畜牧业可持续发展与草地生态保护相协调,既减轻草场压力又提高畜牧业经济效益,最终实现牧民增收与生态保护的双赢,是摆在我们面前需要解决的一项紧迫任务。本文从分析青海省草地畜牧业发展现状及存在问题入手,指出当前制约畜牧业发展根源在于落后的生产经营方式,并结合正在开展的生态畜牧业建设试点工作,提出了青海省发展生态畜牧业的思路和政策措施。     

The late adoption of cattle and pig husbandry in Neolithic Central Turkey

This paper summarizes and interprets zooarchaeological evidence for cattle and pig domestication in Neolithic Central Anatolia. Biometric and demographic data indicate that domestic cattle first appear in the region in the late seventh millennium cal BC while domestic pigs are not evident until the mid fifth millennium. This places the origins of cattle and pig husbandry in Central Anatolia considerably later than in neighboring regions. Reasons for this delay in the spread of productive animal husbandry practices are explored.     

Do faunal remains reflect socioeconomic status? An ethnoarchaeological study among Central African farmers in the northern Congo Basin

Zooarchaeological analyses often draw inferences on socioeconomic status from the composition of bone assemblages associated with houses and other structures in residential sites. In this paper, we test how well faunal assemblages reflect socioeconomic differences among contemporary farmer households in two rural villages in the Central African Republic. Independent measures of wealth are tallied and ranked for six households in each village, including complete inventories of the types and numbers of material goods and the sizes of residential structures and agricultural fields. These data are compared against the associated food bones collected from household trash middens and activity areas, including skeletal abundances, large mammal body part representation, and taxonomic diversity. In most instances larger and more taxonomically diverse faunal assemblages are associated with houses of means and the faunas do, in fact, reflect differences in socioeconomic status. However, faunal “wealth” may be linked to factors unrelated to social or economic inequalities, notably the presence of active hunters. Our analyses suggest that small animals provide useful and important data in assessing socioeconomic means, and comparative studies of wealth in archaeological contexts should not be based on bones alone.     

四川大邑县高山古城遗址出土新石器时代动物骨骼遗存

通过对四川大邑县高山古城遗址2015、2016年出土动物骨骼遗存做了比较详细的鉴定、测量、统计和分析,可以肯定为家畜的仅有猪和狗。从出土动物骨骼的NISP、MNI统计来看,家猪的比重均占绝对优势,NISP占比达93.78%,MNI占比为86.49%;家猪上、下第三臼齿的长度、宽度较小,均处于家猪第三臼齿的长、宽参数范围内;从猪的年龄结构来看,以月龄10~20个月为主,也与一般农耕聚落家猪的宰杀年龄结构相符。鉴于以上三个方面的观察,可以推断高山古城先民饲养家猪的技术比较成熟且稳定,饲养家猪也是先民肉食资源最主要的获取途径。而狗所占的比重不高,占NISP、MNI的比重分别为3.76%和5.41%,可能多用做狩猎伴侣或其他。结果表明宝墩文化时期的高山古城先民以饲养家猪作为获取肉食资源的主要途径,当时的家畜饲养技术比较成熟稳定,而稻-粟混作的农业体系无疑为家畜的饲养奠定了坚实的基础。     

The Beasts At Large – Perennial Questions and New Paradigms for Caribbean Translocation Research. Part II: Mammalian Introductions in Cultural Context

Looking to clarify outstanding questions about human-animal dynamics in the pre-Columbian Caribbean, archaeologists have recently renewed investigation into the sociocultural context of mammal translocations to the islands. In this second instalment of a three-article series, I examine Amerindian ethnophoresy, that is, the process of anthropogenic species dispersal and its associated cultural practices, drawing on archaeological, ethnographic, and ethnohistoric evidence. Building on the ethnozoogeographic baselines established in Part I, I consider the tangible and intangible roles of introduced mammals, with particular attention given to subsistence, status, symbolic and ritual dimensions. I discuss enduring speculation over the management and incipient domestication of these species and its broader significance. Collectively, these topics are important because they inform explanation of the cause, extent and consequences of non-native animal introductions and allow us to understand translocation as an adaptive response to the natural and cultural environment. I conclude that resolution of the managed/domesticated status of non-native animals, in particular, constitutes the most critical research area in Caribbean ethnophoresy since this bears directly on the environmental impact and ecological legacy of mammal introductions in the region. This last topic is addressed in Part III of the series.