Subsistence and the isotopic signature of herding in the Bronze Age Hexi Corridor,NW Gansu,China

Dietary patterns at two Bronze Age sites in the Hexi Corridor are investigated by the analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in faunal bone collagen. The findings are compared with archaeobotanical remains from one of the sites which include high proportions of millet (Panicum miliaceum and Setaria italica) as well as the western derived cereals wheat (Triticum aestivum), barley (Hordeum vulgare) and oat (Avena sativa). The isotopic data indicate domestic omnivores (Canis and Sus) had diets dominated by millet. Minimally offset δ¹⁵N values between herbivore and omnivore fauna suggest low consumption of animal protein by omnivores. Diets of herded animal (Bos and Caprinae) included only low proportions of C4 foods, suggesting that these animals were not regularly foddered with millet plants, and that their grazing areas were mostly beyond the agricultural zone. The wide range in δ¹⁵N values amongst herbivore fauna (4.1‰–11.8‰) suggests grazing occurred in a variety of ecological zones, and this would be consistent with the occurrence of long-distance transport of livestock in the region.     

XRF analysis of glass beads from the Mycenaean palace of Nestor at Pylos,Peloponnesus, Greece: new insight into the LBA glass trade

In recent years there has been a growing interest in Mycenaean glass among archaeologists and scientists. Scholars have traditionally thought that all Mycenaean glass was imported either in finished form or as ingots and simply shaped or worked at the Mycenaean sites. Chemical studies of other Mycenaean glass (50 and 43) support the hypothesis that glass was imported into Mycenaean Greece, but there is also indication for glass production in mainland Greece at the palace of Thebes (Nikita and Henderson, 2006). There is no evidence for glass making or working at the Palace of Pylos, yet there is an abundance of glass beads there. The aim of this paper is to identify the technology and source for the glass of these beads and thus to ascertain how Pylos was connected to the broader Mycenaean and Mediterranean economies. The composition of the glasses was determined by means of portable XRF analysis and compared to that of other Late Bronze Age glasses from Egypt, Mesopotamia and mainland Greece. Four blue beads coloured with cobalt and one blue bead coloured with copper have Ti and Zr compositions consistent with an Egyptian origin of manufacture while five other beads show Ti and Zr concentrations consistent with a Mesopotamian origin (Shortland et al., 2007). Based on the dearth of Egyptian and Mesopotamian imports in Pylos, the presented data support the hypothesis that Pylos was receiving via internal Greek trade routes foreign-produced glass, which may have been worked abroad or in Greece.     

楚王(今頁)探讨

一楚系铜器中,有关楚王(今頁)的讨论曾是学界的一个热点问题。楚王(今頁)先前仅见于楚王(今頁)钟。此钟为钮钟,螺形枚,篆间与钮上饰斜角对夔纹,鼓部饰象鼻对夔纹。正面证间、     

Geography and Economic Preferences as Cultural Markers in a Border Town: The Faunal Remains from Tel Beth‐Shemesh,Israel

We present a zooarchaeological analysis of the faunal remains at Tel Beth‐Shemesh, a site located in the Shephelah region of Israel, which has been dated to the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age I. The site, identified as the biblical city of Beth‐Shemesh, was a Canaanite border town between Philistine and Israelite settlements and of great importance in our attempts to understand the social and cultural transformations that occurred in the southern Levant during those periods. This study contributes to a more accurate understanding of the cultural identity of the site's inhabitants by exploring the cultural differences between populations as reflected in their different dietary preferences. We analysed the subsistence economy at the site, the general exploitation patterns, herd management strategies and consumption practices, all of which are based mostly on domestic livestock. We determined the cultural identity at the site mainly by comparing the representation of pig remains with that found at other sites in the region, and offer various explanations for the differences. The comparisons revealed clear differences between Tel Beth‐Shemesh and other known nearby Philistine sites. This site appears to have possessed a self‐contained production and consumption economy with similarities in the general pattern of animal exploitation between the two periods. These similarities constitute evidence for the continuation of the local population and of its culture at the site during the period of turmoil that swept the region during the transition to the Iron Age. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Worked Human Femur from Gohar Tepe,Iran

A simple tool made from a gracile human femoral shaft was retrieved from a small animal bone assemblage found in a Late Bronze Age stratum at Gohar Tepe, Iran. The specimen has been identified as a chisel or gouge for which no analogous examples are known in the Near East. Studies examining similar tools from other regions suggest that such a tool may have been used for wood processing or pottery smoothing. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

城固出土5件商代青铜兽面饰的无损分析及初步研究

为对陕西城固出土的青铜兽面饰的保护修复提供科学依据,同时进一步揭示其所蕴含的制作技术和相关考古学信息,采用X光探伤仪、超景深显微镜、X荧光能谱仪及显微共聚焦激光拉曼光谱仪对5件商代青铜兽面饰进行了无损分析,分析结果显示,2件为锡青铜,3件为铅锡青铜,兽面饰表面铜锈以孔雀石CuCO₃·Cu(OH)₂为主,局部见赤铁矿Fe₂O₃、纤铁矿γ-FeOOH和钙质层CaCO₃。分析结果为这组青铜兽面饰的保护修复提供了科学依据。根据检测结果,对兽面的铸造工艺、补铸痕迹、铜料配比、小孔的制作工艺等方面进行了讨论,并与殷墟及老牛坡出土同类型器物进行了类比,从而得出了这一地区兽面饰的工艺、风格与该地区铜器整体风格一致的结论,为从材料与工艺层面认知“城洋铜器群”提供了坚实的数据基础。     

Images of buried graves in Bayat,Afyon (Turkey) from high-resolution magnetic data and their comparison with preliminary excavations

Dedemezari necropolis, the site of our study, is located in the west of Turkey near Afyon. Archaeologists think that it belongs to the Middle Bronze age. A high-resolution magnetic survey identified buried material highly accurately. In particular, anomalies, which are transformed by the analytic signal method, clarify the observed magnetic anomalies. Magnetic surveying was applied in three different areas in this study. The map of analytic signal-transformed anomalies presented good results on preliminary excavation in trenches A and B. Two types of graves are found in the study area. One is made of clay and the second is carved in the rocks. Shapes of the buried graves are mainly cylindrical and elliptical. Most of the magnetic anomalies are elliptical and reflect the shape of the buried materials. Future excavations in Dedemezari necropolis will be able to be carried out more easily due to the known locations of the buried graves.     

再论“失蜡工艺不是中国青铜时代的选择”

本文从技术史的理论角度论述了“没有需求就没有发明(No need,no invention)”、“没有需求就没有发展”等技术产生发展的客观规律,指出,中国古代(青铜时代)在发达而成体系的青铜范铸技术环境里是不可能孕育发展出“熔模铸造体系”的,并以曾侯乙尊盘的铸造工艺及相关的模拟实验结果作进一步的论证;同时,对中国古代“失蜡工艺”起源于商周青铜器“焚失法”的观点提出质疑,并指出,“失蜡工艺”是在佛教传入中国之后,为铸造“西洋风格”的佛像传入我国。     

模拟青铜器样品在典型电解质溶液中的电化学行为研究

为了具体探讨青铜器不同相组织的腐蚀状况,采用电化学测量技术研究模拟青铜器样品在五种典型电解质和模拟土壤溶液中的腐蚀行为。实验结果表明,在氯化钠、硫酸钠、磷酸钠、氢氧化钠、碳酸氢钠以及模拟的土壤溶液中,青铜器组织中的α相比δ相及(α δ)共析体组织更容易发生腐蚀。介质的pH值以及不同离子对青铜器不同相组织的腐蚀行为影响很大。     

Meaning in the making: The potter’s wheel at Phylakopi,Melos (Greece)

It is now commonly accepted that technology is, to its very core, a social product through which we can explore cultural choices. This cultural dimension of technology will be examined with reference to the introduction and use of the potter’s wheel at Phylakopi on Melos (Greece) during the Late Bronze Age. At this site, the co-existence of two different manufacturing techniques was so deeply embedded that, despite the presence of hybrid vessels, many aspects of the pottery production had become linked to either a local (hand-built) or Minoanising (wheel-thrown) tradition. It will be argued that the traditional hand-building technique was associated with individual and rooted facets of the Melian identity (such as kinship, social class, or gender). Reasons for the initial stimulus for adoption of the potter’s wheel are considered to lie in its potential for competitive social practice through association with exotic, symbolically laden technologies, craft products and consumption rituals. The gradual application of the technology to ever more complex vessels, on the other hand, corresponds to the apprenticeship sequence outlined by Roux and Corbetta and may indicate an incomplete learning process or a certain lack of practice opportunities among local potters.