Doubts about How the Middle Horizon Collapsed (ca. A.D. 1000) and Other Insights from the Looted Cemeteries of the Lower Ica Valley,South Coast of Peru

This paper presents new information from funerary contexts in the lower Ica Valley, on the south coast of Peru, spanning two millennia from the end of the Early Horizon to the Late Intermediate Period. Although severely looted, these sites can still yield valuable information. We discuss their architecture and material culture in the context of radiocarbon dates. Among other findings, these cast new light on the poorly understood transition from the Middle Horizon to the Late Intermediate Period, for which a paucity of archaeological data from ca. a.d. 1000–1250 has long been taken as evidence of an environmentally- or socially-induced demographic collapse. Yet the data we present here suggest that the basins of the lower Ica Valley were likely occupied continuously over this period, and that the echoes of Wari influence here may have lasted longer than previously thought.     

Geochemical and mineralogical analysis of stone anchors from west coast of India: provenance study using thin sections,XRF and SEM-EDS

Stone anchors have been recovered along the Indian coast as a part of the maritime archaeological studies at the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa. Study of stone anchors provides clues to understand the ancient maritime trade contacts of India with other countries. These anchors resemble those found in the Mediterranean Sea, Persian Gulf and Red Sea Coast. Underwater explorations at Bet Dwarka, Dwarka, Goa, Visawada and Somnath have yielded stone anchors of widely varying shapes, sizes and weights ranging between 16 and 410 kg. Sixteen (10 Indo-Arabian, 4 Ringstone and 2 Single hole type) of the total of 269 stone anchors have been studied to determine provenance of rock through petrographic analysis using thin section studies, X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), and Scanning Electron Microscope – Energy Dispersive Spectrometer (SEM-EDS).     

浅议西部地方党报的创新发展

本文从当前我国西部地方党报发展的现状入手,分析西部地方党报在新时期发展过程中所面临的诸多困难和挑战,提出创新是西部地方党报摆脱困境,实现自我生存和发展的主要任务,并从办报理念、转变观念、新闻策划、版面改革、管理模式,以及向内地先进报业集团学习、加强队伍建设等方面进行了深入探讨,认为唯有不断创新,我国西部地方党报才能有一片广阔的发展天地。     

幕末日本的海洋国家论

确切地说,幕末日本海洋国家思想的发展以1778年俄国商船来蝦夷要求通商为契机。与幕府的锁国海防相对,林子平、本多利明、佐藤信渊等思想家也纷纷提出了海防思想及海洋国家论,其特点以开国海防与开拓海防为主。锁国海防、开国海防与开拓海防,成为幕末海洋国家论的有机构成。     

The Roman Lighthouse at Akko,Israel

During Roman rule Akko, in Israel, was a major Levantine seaport. Historical, numismatic and archaeological evidence shows that often Roman maritime‐associated activities, in the Levant and elsewhere, included the building or maintenance of lighthouses. No clear indications of a Roman lighthouse in Akko are known. Re‐examination of navigational considerations, coastal archaeological surveys, underwater investigations and numismatic evidence supports the proposition that a Roman lighthouse existed there. It is suggested that the lighthouse was situated on an islet near the harbour entrance. © 2011 The Authors     

Palaeolithic Human Subsistence in Mount Carmel (Israel). A Taphonomic Assessment of Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic Faunal Remains from Tabun,Skhul and el‐Wad

Detailed archaeozoological studies of Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic (250–40 kya) faunal assemblages from Tabun, Skhul and el‐Wad caves, located in Mount Carmel (Israel), are presented here, expanding on the previous palaeontological analyses carried out by Garrod and Bate in the 1930´s and by Garrard five decades later. Despite the well‐known excavation bias of the older excavations, this study makes greater use of modern taphonomic techniques and statistical procedures, providing new palaeoeconomic insights into the subsistence behaviour of modern humans, Neanderthals and their predecessors in the Levant. The results show that anatomically modern humans (AMH) were more efficient at hunting and foraging in terms of human mobility as well as an incipient prey specialisation. In addition, different uses of the Tabun cave through time have been identified. Tabun B, initially considered as a palaeontological accumulation, was also occasionally accessed by Neanderthals in order to exploit naturally trapped ungulates, and there were sporadic and logistic occupations in Tabun D, one of the oldest Middle Palaeolithic assemblages in the area. Contrastingly, Tabun C showed a comparatively more residential use, which coincided with the new mobility capabilities of AMH. Whereas the intensity of human occupation at el‐Wad varied through time, levels G and F showed very brief occupations in comparison with levels D and E, which showed abundant evidence of human activity. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

晚清中外船碰问题探论

两次鸦片战争之后,随着"条约制度"的形成,中国的江海航运权逐渐为外人所攘夺.由于西方航运势力的东侵,中国的江海航运呈现出多样化趋势.在此历史背景下,中外船只碰撞问题不可避免地产生了,而由船碰所生的中外交涉、华洋诉讼诸问题,则复杂多端.但中外各方,尤其是晚清政府所采取的应对措施以及颁布的一系列防碰章程,却成为中国近代海商立法之滥觞.     

西部民族地区构建和谐社会视阈中的宗教关系及其发展态势

党的十七大报告提出,要正确认识和处理“宗教关系”,并把“宗教关系”列为当前和今后我国社会政治生活领域需要特别关注和务必处理好的重大关系之一。西部地区少数民族人口众多,信教群众占人口比例大,宗教在西部地区有着极其浓厚的文化积淀。因此,加强民族团结、促进宗教关系和谐的任务重大。本文试图就西部民族地区构建和谐社会视闽中的宗教关系及其发展态势作一探索。     

A Review of Swahili Archaeology

The Swahili people have been viewed as of Persian/Arabic or Cushitic-speaking origin. Scholars have used historical and archaeological data to support this hypothesis. However, linguistic and recent archaeological data suggest that the Swahili culture had its origin in the early first centuries AD. It was the early farming people who settled on the coast in the last centuries BC who first adopted iron technology and sailing techniques and founded the coastal settlements. The culture of the iron-using people spread to the rest of the coast of East Africa, its center changing from one place to another. Involvement in transoceanic trade from the early centuries AD contributed to the prosperity of the coastal communities as evidenced by coastal monuments. More than 1500 years of cultural continuity was offset by the arrival of European and Arab colonizers in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries AD. Le peuple Swahili a souvent été consideré comme un peuple dont la langue avait pour origine le Perse/Arabe ou le Cushite. Les chercheurs ont utilisé des donées historiques et archéologiques afin de supporter cette hypothese. Cependant l'étude linguistique de cette langue, ainsi que de nouvelles découvertes archéologiques suggérent que la culture Swahili trouve son origine au début de l'ère chrétienne. Ils furent les premiers fermiers à s'installer le long du littoral, fondant des villages côtiers, vers les premiers siécles de notre ère, les premiers aussi à adopter les techniques du fer et les techniques de navigation. La culture du fer s'étendit rapidement au reste des côtes d'Afrique de l'Est, son centre se déplaçant d'un endroit à un autre. Leur implication dans le commerce océanique contrbua à la prosperité de leur communautés côtières, mise en évidence notamment par les monuments le long du littoral. Plus de 1500 ans de continuité culturelle pris fin à l'arrivé des colonisateurs Européens et Arabes de dixseptième et dixhuitième siècles.