The nature of third-millennium settlement: The example of al-Tikha (Rustaq) an Umm an-Nar site on the Batinah coast of Oman

al-Tikha is a mid to large Umm an-Nar (c. 2700–2000 BC) settlement situated near Rustaq at the back of the Southern Batinah coastal plain in the Sultanate of Oman that was discovered (or rediscovered) in 2014. The site is unique because its layout and spatial organisation are very largely (possibly completely) visible on the surface. This includes two separate areas of stone-built housing, a large pottery scatter of varying density, three or four typical Umm an-Nar round towers and a small cemetery consisting of at least four tombs, along with a few other features. The layout of the site is described and discussed in detail, in particular, in relation to what it might tell us about the nature of Umm an-Nar settlement and social organisation more generally. The location of the site within a pattern of repeating Umm an-Nar settlement along Wadi Far (Wādī al-Farʿī) is also described and discussed.     

X-CT结合AR技术在出土青铜文物修复中的应用

随着计算机断层扫描(CT)技术的精度不断提升,高精度的工业级CT系统集现代化射线检测技术、自动化控制技术和计算机处理技术于一身,并在青铜文物保护与修复领域体现出日益明显的优势。本工作通过南京出土春秋青铜鼎的修复案例,将高精度工业级CT技术运用到传统青铜文物修复中,并将检测影像数据与视觉增强现实(AR)相结合,为文物修复方案的制定提供了更为准确的依据,为修复实施提供了更为直观与便利的操作环境,也是对传统青铜器修复技艺的发展进行的新探索。     

Comments on archaeology into the 1990s

This article focuses on the complexity of Early Bronze Age weapon depositions. While some of the deposited weapons have been disabled by intentional breakage, others seem to be more or less unused. A plausible explanation for the variability is that the surrender of lethal weapons to land or water was a means of coping with their power or agency – their individuality. We suggest that weapons, in their capacity as extensions of warriors’ bodies, may have substituted for humans in ritual depositions. The metalworkers also come into play, due to their capacities in the processes of making weapons and shaping weapon technologies. Although we consider the three depositions that we discuss to relate to rituals on the occasion of warfare, we are not aiming for a uniform explanation. In the same way as the patterned human behaviour of a ritual is a means of subsuming individual events into a greater order, so a focus on general patterns may subsume the complexity of the past by ignoring the many different events leading to, e.g., the deposition of metalwork. Far from seeing these perspectives as contradictory, we try to use three well-documented individual cases to shed light on the variability within the pattern.     

Microscopic study of Chinese bronze casting moulds from the Eastern Zhou period

Piece mould casting technology, as a hall mark of the central plains of China during the Bronze Age, has attracted scholars' interest globally. Bronze ritual vessels found in this area were produced in large quantities and generally cast with the moulds composed of three or more sections. This enormous industry certainly required workers to have had professional knowledge to ensure the success of every single cast. Mould making technology was one of its most important parts. This research looks into the microstructure of bronze casting moulds of the Eastern Zhou period, which was a rarely studied topic in previous research. Through comparison with local pottery, it is shown that casting moulds in this period were produced with quite specialized sand-rich material, and clay was only a minor component. It is then discussed how this unique material can be beneficial to the bronze casting process and how this technology was integrated as a crucial part of the Chinese bronze casting system. These analyses might be able to portray mould makers in the ancient bronze foundries as a group of specialized people with their own traditions and professional knowledge.     

Variety in cereal cultivation in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages in relation to environmental conditions

The objective of this paper is to assess the relationship between the cereals cultivated in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages (ca. 1250–400 BC) within the area of the present-day Czech Republic, and their environmental settings. The various charred caryopses of cereal species represented in the archaeobotanical assemblages from 35 archaeological sites differ, especially in the proportion of wheat and barley. The cereal assemblages were compared regarding site altitude, weather conditions, soils and soil productivity. The most important environmental variable influencing the choice of a particular crop seemed to be altitude which is correlated with other variables such as the length of growing season, mean annual temperature, soil quality etc. Although the ecological requirements of cereals cultivated in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages are not known, they presumably thrived under similar conditions to present-day species/varieties, and the strategy of past crop husbandry was based on similar principles as today, e.g. flexible adaptation to local environmental conditions, in an effort to achieve optimal yields and reduce the danger of crop failure.     

Palaeolimnological impacts of early prehistoric farming at Lough Dargan,County Sligo,Ireland

This study provides a unique method of inquiry for archaeological investigation with an aim to assess the intensity and effects of Neolithic and Bronze Age farming practices at Lough Dargan, northwest Ireland, through a multi-proxy analysis of a lake sediment core. Chironomid (non-biting midge fly) subfossils and lake sediment geochemistry (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N and C:N ratios) were used to assess changes in limnological conditions through time. The limnological data were compared with macroscopic charcoal concentration and pollen data to examine the potential influence that early farmers had on a freshwater lake system within a prehistorically active catchment. Results from the chironomid analysis show that the first substantial period of agricultural activity in the early Neolithic (c. 3730–3190 BC) resulted in a temporary shift to more eutrophic lake conditions. There is evidence of animal husbandry with substantial levels of animal waste reaching the lake, leaving an imprint in the geochemical record of increased δ¹⁵N values and decreased δ¹³C values and C:N ratios during this time. The chironomid community reverted back to its pre-impacted state c. 3190 BC in response to a period of reduced farming (c. 3390–3000 BC) which eventually led to a distinct lull in activity, with possible cessation of farming from 3000 to 2700 BC. A return to eutrophic conditions coincided with the gradual return of agriculture, with more permanently altered lake conditions dominating from 2400 BC, even during a 250-year period of reduced human activity commencing at c. 1440 BC. Increased sedimentation rate, along with increases in δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N and C:N, the presence of chironomid taxa indicative of erosion, more eutrophic lake conditions and high concentrations of macroscopic charcoal all point to more intensive land use practices during the Bronze Age. Palaeolimnological data exhibited an immediate response to intensified farming during this time, and were especially responsive to pastoral farming due either to scale of activity or proximity to the lakeside. The success of this study demonstrates the effectiveness of palaeolimnological analysis in the investigation of prehistoric farming. This approach will help inform Neolithic and Bronze Age land-use practice and human–environment relations in the region, and highlights the potential for chironomid-based archaeological research.     

New models of North West European Holocene palaeogeography and inundation

This paper presents new 500 year interval palaeogeographic models for Britain, Ireland and the North West French coast from 11000 cal. BP to present. These models are used to calculate the varying rates of inundation for different geographical zones over the study period. This allows for consideration of the differential impact that Holocene sea-level rise had across space and time, and on past societies. In turn, consideration of the limitations of the models helps to foreground profitable areas for future research.     

殷墟车子遗迹及甲骨金文中的车字

商代甲骨文、金文中“车”字的几种字形及有关的记载,对我们发掘、研究殷墟出土的车子遗迹很有帮助,如曲衡马车的发现、车试及不同形式车厢的清理、车辙的研究等,都是受到甲骨文、金文中“车”字资料的启发,而使发掘与研究工作取得了更好的效果。     

故宫博物院藏宋代铜凤凰的修复保护与研究

文物修复保护及研究是一项涵盖多学科、多因素的系统性工作,不同文物中所包含的历史信息、文化价值和病害情况等都有其独特性。对文物的观察和研究,既能够发现、研究其中有价值的问题,又能够决定如何具体开展文物修复保护工作。本文以故宫博物院藏的一件宋代铜凤凰修复保护及研究工作为例,以时间发展和问题递进两个方面为顺序,对铜凤凰进行了信息调查、元素成分、形态结构、制作工艺等方面的综合研究,科学地、具体地、整体地分析在此项工作过程中所遇到的问题,根据实际情况提出与之相适应的解决方案并加以实施,对问题的发现过程与形成因素给出尽可能详细的解释,直观呈现对这件文物完整的修复保护及研究。在整个工作的过程中,思考使用问题导向思维作为文物修复保护中开展工作的底层逻辑,使所做工作都尽可能做到知其然也知其所以然。     

From Traditional Farming in Morocco to Early Urban Agroecology in Northern Mesopotamia: Combining Present-day Arable Weed Surveys and Crop Isotope Analysis to Reconstruct Past Agrosystems in (Semi-)arid Regions

ABSTRACT

We integrate functional weed ecology with crop stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to assess their combined potential for inferring arable land management practices in (semi-)arid regions from archaeobotanical assemblages. Weed and GIS survey of 60 cereal and pulse fields in Morocco are combined with crop sampling for stable isotope analysis to frame assessment of agricultural labour intensity in terms of manuring, irrigation, tillage and hand-weeding. Under low management intensity weed variation primarily reflects geographical differences, whereas under high management intensity fields in disparate regions have similar weed flora. Manured and irrigated oasis barley fields are clearly discriminated from less intensively manured rain-fed barley terraces in southern Morocco; when fields in northern and southern Morocco are considered together, climatic differences are superimposed on the agronomic intensity gradient. Barley δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values clearly distinguish among the Moroccan regimes. An integrated approach combines crop isotope values with weed ecological discrimination of low- and high-intensity regimes across multiple studies (in southern Morocco and southern Europe). Analysis of archaeobotanical samples from EBA Tell Brak, Syria suggests that this early city was sustained through extensive (low-intensity, large-scale) cereal farming.