‘To Form a Correct Estimate of their Nothingness when Compared with It’: British Exhibitions of Military Technology in the Abyssinian and Ashanti Expeditions

This paper examines the portrayal and reception of novel military technology as constructed spectacle in the popular coverage of the British Abyssinian (1868) and Ashanti (1873–74) expeditions. A series of cases are explored in which commanders attempted to frighten and subdue African allies and enemies through the mere presentation of technology, as are the interpretations and subsequent representations of African reactions which were made by British officers and journalists.     

People with history: An update on historical archaeology in the United States

Historical archaeology has expanded greatly in the past decade. This essay discusses some of the trends and themes that have become important in historical archaeology in the United States since 1982. The first section briefly assesses the field. The second discusses capitalism as one theme that may serve to unify research. Cross-cultural research, integrative analyses, and the concepts of power and ideology are central to this theme. The third section is a brief case study concerning the historic Cherokee. The conclusion comments on the institutional state of historical archaeology.     

Nomads of the Desert West: A shifting continuum in prehistory

The Desert West, a term first employed by Jesse D. Jennings to describe the geographic region where Desert culture evolved, is used to frame a discussion of adaptive diversity that focuses on the time period 1250 to 750 B.P. Variable pathways into and out of sedentism are explored and subsistence intensification, exchange, ideology, and warfare are discussed in relation to an adaptive mosaic of nomads and agriculturalists. I argue that a conjoint prehistory of the Great Basin and the Southwest is both possible and desirable and is needed to illuminate general social processes and major episodes of culture change affecting groups in the Desert West.     

Into the Spiral of Problematic Perceptions: Modern Anti-Semitism and gebildetes Burgertum in Nineteenth-Century Germany

This article attempts to relate modern anti-Semitism to theincreasingly close interactions of Jews and non-Jews in an ageof political emancipation and social integration. It arguesthat the changing mutual perceptions of Jews and Protestantsin the German educated bourgeoisie are of central importancein this regard. In nineteenth-century Germany, literature movementssuch as realism, and various human sciences such as anthropology,Protestant theology or philology provided ample material fordiscussing the Jewish character. These fields suggest four waysof perceiving Jews: the Jew as parvenu, as Talmudist, as materialistand as nomad. Indeed, bourgeois Jews themselves contributedto these literary and scholarly debates. Their discussions werefrequently shaped by the attempt to confront anti-Jewish misconceptions.Moreover, they propagated their own interpretation of the Jewishcharacter: the figure of the humanistic Jew. This Jewish interpretation,which identifies a universal mission, proves to have a twofoldnature: it is not only a counter-attack against anti-Semiticpolemics, but also a particular result of the peculiar Jewishadaptation of bourgeois culture. As the article argues, however,this humanistic perception of Jewish identity caused concernon the Protestant side, which led to further polemics and thusfurther Jewish defence. The resulting spiral of problematicperceptions was the consequence of the growing social intimacyof bourgeois Jews and Protestants in nineteenth-century Germany.Modern anti-Semitism, it is thus argued, can be interpretedas a specific form of rejection of ambivalence and the establishmentof neat binary codes in the confusing closeness of Jews andnon-Jews.     

地域文化与国家文化——三晋文化与山西文化关系辨析

战国时代在"争于市朝"的政治策略下,韩、赵、魏的发展重点先后离开山西,同时使三晋文化带有强烈的经世致用和急功近利的色彩。处于政治冲突中心的国家所承载的文化往往直接体现时代的风貌,与山西在历史变迁中自然形成的地域差异和自身文化特质有本质的区别。将三晋文化视为山西文化的直接源头甚至发展巅峰的观点是值得推敲的。     

河南新乡县后高庄遗址发掘报告

2003年5月,新乡市文物考古研究所发掘了新乡县后高庄遗址,发现属于龙山文化早期和先商文化两个时期的文化遗存,其中龙山文化早期灰坑9座,先商文化灰坑1座,出土了一批富有特征的罐类器物群,为研究中原古代文化提供了新的资料。     

二里头遗址出土木炭碎块的研究

结合考古发掘,在二里头文化一、二期之交和四期采集一些炭化碎块,并对这些炭化碎块的结构在体式显微镜和扫描电子显微镜下进行鉴定、分析和拍照,得出这些炭化碎块分别属于7个树种,即槲栎、麻栎、麻栎属的一个种、侧柏、油松、朴树和另一种阔叶树。通过对地层中分散的木炭分析,初步认为二里头遗址周围分布有大量的阔叶树栎林、杂木林和少量的松柏针叶林;当时的气候是温暖湿润的,但具体到不同的文化时期可能也存在着温湿度差异,二里头文化四期与一、二期之交气候相比较,前期的生态气候好于后期;通过对灰坑里的木炭分析,显示不论在二里头文化一、二期之交,还是在二里头文化四期,古人喜欢把栎木作为薪炭材。     

上宅新石器文化遗址环境考古

上宅遗址所在的平谷盆地是中国环境考古策源地。上宅遗址的发现与发掘,一定程度上填补了北方草原文化与中原文化间的空白。以无彩陶,陶器不具绳纹和鸟首形镂空器等特殊器物为特征,构成一支具鲜明特点的沟河流域新石器时代中期早段文化,称之为上宅文化。上宅遗址依山傍水,聚居于河旁黄土台地,形成于全新世气候最适宜期。与邻区同期文化形成环境类似,其聚落形成环境具代表性。     

20世纪70年代末以来的中国文化体制改革

20世纪70年代末以来,我国文化体制改革经历了三个阶段:1978～1991年为改革的酝酸和初步展开阶段,在这个阶段,改革的任务虽已提出,但由于思想不够解放、改革措施不配套等原因,成效不彰;1992～2001年为改革的稳步推进阶段,在这个阶段,改革适应发展社会主义市场经济的需要,取得了较大成绩,但对于文化体制改革重大意义和文化建设战略地位的认识仍不够充分;2002年至今为改革实现重大突破阶段,这个阶段的改革在党和政府的高度重视下,在改革试点取得成功的基础上全面提速,实现了一系列重大突破。     

Inconspicuous Consumption: Non-Display Goods and Identity Formation

In the study of ancient material culture, archaeologists have primarily focused on the use of objects for display and communication. This social function of material culture could only have developed on the basis of individual cognitive capacity for the use of goods as materializations of symbolic behavior. To explore the deeply held relationship of identity to material culture, this paper focuses on goods that are utilized away from the gaze of others. Using examples from the ethnographic present such as pharmaceuticals, underwear, and hygiene products, I develop the idea of “reflexive identity” to describe how people use material objects in private to define themselves prior to and independent of their social roles as perceived by others. The act of daily identity creation and affirmation through goods, particularly those that are inexpensive and disposable, indicates the extent to which human cognition and psychological sense of self are inextricably linked to the handling of material culture. The archaeological application of a reflexive identity enables us to understand how ordinary goods are a fundamental component of identity formation prior to and independent of individuals’ engagement with others.