Late Prehistoric High-Altitude Hunter-Gatherer Residential Occupations in the Argentine Southern Andes

Test excavations were conducted at Risco de los Indios (RDLI), a site at 2480 masl with 29 residential features and a well-developed midden containing abundant floral, faunal, lithic, and ceramic materials. Analyses indicate the site was intensively used ca. 500 cal b.p. as a residential base for groups focused on hunting guanaco, supplemented by locally-available wild flora and fauna as well as domestic beans transported from the lowlands. Ceramic and obsidian artifacts indicate these groups were highly mobile and in contact with groups on the eastern and western margins of the Andes. These patterns compare favorably to those seen in the region’s other high altitude villages. It appears that the development of these patterns began with population increase and economic intensification in the lowlands ca. 2000 cal b.p. and that the move to slightly lower elevation settings like RDLI may have been conditioned by the onset of the Little Ice Age.     

Local indicators for categorical data: impacts of scaling decisions

When the geographic distribution of landscape pattern varies, global indices fail to capture the spatial nonstationarity within the dataset. Methods that measure landscape pattern at a spatially local scale are advantageous, as an index is computed at each point in the dataset. The geographic distribution of local indices is used to discover spatial trends. Local indicators for categorical data (LICD) can be used to statistically quantify local spatial patterns in binary geographic datasets. LICD, like other spatially local methods, are impacted by decisions relating to the spatial scale of the data, such as the data grain (p), and analysis parameters such as the size of the local neighbourhood (m). The goal of this article is to demonstrate how the choice of the m and p parameters impacts LICD analysis. We also briefly discuss the impacts spatial extent can have on analysis; specifically the local composition measure. An example using 2006 forest cover data for a region in British Columbia, Canada where mountain pine beetle mitigation and salvage harvesting has occurred is used to show the impacts of changing m and p. Selection of local window size (m = 3,5,7) impacts the prevalence and interpretation of significant results. Increasing data grain (p) had varying effects on significant LICD results. When implementing LICD the choice of m and p impacts results. Exploring multiple combinations of m and p will provide insight into selection of ideal parameters for analysis.     

Optically stimulated luminescence dating of Southern High Plains archaeological sites

The Southern High Plains of North America is rich in archaeological sites, but many are not well constrained chronologically, owing to a lack of material for radiocarbon dating. A program of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, applying mainly single-grain analyses, was therefore initiated. Many samples have independent age estimates from radiocarbon to check the OSL results, but OSL age estimates are also provided for those sites that otherwise lack secure chronological control. Sediment samples for OSL were obtained primarily from Paleoindian and Archaic localities, though include deposits of more recent age. Through the analysis of single grains, equivalent dose—the numerator of the age equation—is evaluated independently on numerous grains. The distribution of these values is relatively broad for some samples, and this is attributed to post-depositional mixing. Mixing is also evident in some samples with more narrow distributions. Selecting portions of the mixed distributions for age determination allows more accurate dating for some samples, but the nature of the distributions limits the resolution on others, conclusions that cannot be as easily drawn from multi-grain analysis. Where independent age control is available, most OSL results broadly conform; however, some samples show discrepancies that are not readily explained, but may relate to association or dose rate problems. This underscores the desirability of obtaining where possible suites of chronological evidence.     

翠松与金钟山寺

金钟山位于安顺市若飞东路103号七十三医院内,古木参天,山上原有寺,文革中毁记。对于金钟山建寺的年代,有人认为始于元朝中期,有人认为始于明代中期。根据《安顺府志》和(续修安顺府志》等史料,结合近日发现的《翠松塔碑记》和《重修金钟山路碑记》,参照翠松行迹,对金钟山建寺加以考察,毫无疑问,翠松是金钟山开山立寺之僧人,建寺的时间应在康熙三十八以后,翠松建寺的功绩不容忽视。     

试论十六国时期契吴山的地理位置

鄂尔多斯高原环境变迁问题是学术界争论不休的问题, 有的学者认为早在更新世后期鄂尔多斯高原上的沙漠就已经存在, 而另外一些学者则根据十六国时期大夏国主赫连勃勃对契吴山的赞美及其他史料, 认为现今是沙漠的地方在先秦甚至是至北魏时期还是水草丰美的草原或森林景观。在这些争论中, 关于契吴山的真实地理位置则成为论述这一问题时的焦点。大多数学者认为契吴山应在大夏政权都城统万城以北, 而另有学者对此持有异议, 认为契吴山当在云中地区。本文从记载统万城的四种文献的史料来源、铁弗匈奴的族源及赫连夏政权的民族构成、史书中所记统万城当时的城市环境及自然景观三个角度, 论述契吴山及契吴城当在统万城以北。     

让高中语文课堂成为学习的乐园

如何才能让语文课堂充满激情,绽放出生命的光彩,进发出智慧的火花,使课堂成为学生向往的乐园？笔者认为,语文教学应添点“油”,加点“醋”,让其“五味俱全”。这样,语文课堂才会独具魅力,充满生命活力。     

张家川马家塬战国墓地M21墓葬中铁器表面纺织残留物的鉴定

马家塬战国墓地是研究西戎文化以及秦戎文化交流的重要考古遗址。在M21墓葬发现了一些附着于铁器表面的矿化纺织品残片。这些矿物外壳保留了比较完整的纺织品形态,是研究早期纺织技术的宝贵资料。为此,本研究采用扫描电子显微镜(SEM)和高效液相色谱-质谱联用技术(HPLC-MS)对矿物纺织品残片的纤维原料进行了鉴定与分析:1)矿物外壳内部的纤维空洞结构形态与桑蚕丝的纤维形态特征相同;2)样品中检出了3组蚕丝蛋白的特征多肽片段。研究结果表明,M21墓葬中的纺织品残片的原料为蚕丝纤维(Bombyx mori)。丝绸的发现表明中原的丝绸成品或者纤维原料已经进入西戎地区,西戎与中原文明的交流更加密切。使用丝绸包裹铁器则表明西戎文化已经受到了一些中原风俗的影响。这一发现填补了马家塬遗址中纺织品研究的空白,不仅为研究秦戎地区的织造工艺和文化交流提供了重要资料,也为矿化纺织遗存中的桑蚕丝残留的鉴定提供了技术支持。     

Within-development density and housing prices in Singapore

This paper measures how much more households pay for less density in their immediate surroundings. Using transaction and administrative data and exploiting the introduction of a regulation that restricted the number of housing units for certain land lots, we find that households discount density: a 10% increase in within-development density decreases the price per square meter by 5%. Further, the mean price per square meter of the average development increased by 1%–3% after the regulation was introduced, while the amount of built-up space remained constant. The increase in total revenue suggests developers may underestimate the externality caused by density.     

The Medieval lead-glazed pottery from Nogara (north-east Italy): a multi-methodological study

The present work focuses on the archaeometric characterisation of 10th–11th-century lead-glazed pottery from Nogara (Verona, north-east Italy), with the main aim of defining the production technology of both glaze and clay body, through a multi-methodological approach.