Shell Middens, Ships and Seeds: Exploring Coastal Subsistence, Maritime Trade and the Dispersal of Domesticates in and Around the Ancient Arabian Peninsula

The Arabian Peninsula occupies a critical position at the intersect of several major Old World landmasses. Inland aridity and a major coastal perimeter have long made maritime activities critical to Arabia’s cultural trajectory. A wealth of recent studies, not previously synthesised, suggest not only that the peninsular littoral offered a rich resource base for thousands of years of human occupation in the region, but also that Arabia witnessed some of the world’s earliest seafaring and maritime exchange activities, and played a role in Bronze Age maritime trade that has often been underestimated. Maritime activities were closely linked to developments in agriculture, which not only fuelled trade and exchange, but were also impacted on by the dispersal of domesticates along early maritime corridors. While regional specialisation has to some degree prevented consideration of the maritime prehistory of the peninsula as a whole, it is clear that there are interesting parallels, as well as important differences, between cultural trajectories in different parts of the peninsula.     

Historic preservation in Nazi Germany: place, memory, and nationalism

While numerous studies have examined the post-war contestation surrounding commemorative sites associated with the legacy of Nazi Germany, relatively little attention has been dedicated to the ways in which the Nazi regime itself sought to create places of memory congruent with the movement's political and cultural goals. Indeed, party leaders sponsored a variety of disparate, and at times contradictory, programs to re-orientate some of Germany's most prominent historic places to better serve the needs of the regime. To expand our understanding of this process, this article examines the practice and rhetoric of historic preservation in Bavaria during the Nazi period with a focus on the preservationist program sponsored by Bavarian President Ludwig Siebert. Nazi propaganda promised to rejuvenate and protect Germany's architectural heritage for the public good, but the regime's actual priorities and policies led to widespread confiscation, damage, and eventually destruction.     

Rice fields and modes of rice cultivation between 5000 and 2500 BC in east China

Recently, rice fields dated between 5000 and 2500 BC were found at the Tianluoshan sit in east China. The early rice fields dated between 5000 and 4500 BC are the oldest rice fields known. The discovery has provided data of recovering reclamation, cultivation, and the ecological system of rice fields in the Neolithic age. People opened up marshes of dense reeds with fire and wooden or bone spades, in order to create rice fields. In the rice fields, there was not only rice, but a lot of weeds as well. The excavations proved that little or even no weeding or irrigation was adopted. However, tilling soil by wooden and bone tools was evidenced. The average yields are estimated to have been about 830 kg for the early period and 950 kg per hectare for the later period. The cultivation system was low-level. Although the Tianluoshan people cultivated rice, they still obtained a great deal of food by gathering and hunting.     

Producing liminal space: gender,age and class in northern Ontario's tree planting industry

Drawing upon qualitative data, this article examines how tree planters in northern Ontario, Canada engage with liminality in terms of gender, class, age and space. In doing so, it provides insight into concepts of gender liminality and the variegated experiences of males and females in liminal space. The article focuses on four aspects of the liminal engagement. First, the spaces of tree planting are liminal as they are marked by homelife and worklife, but dominated by neither. Second, gender performances are liminal, as males perform masculinities seldom necessary or appropriate – yet often valorized – in their permanent communities, while females (who make up nearly half of the workforce) are offered opportunities to work and succeed in a traditionally male industry. However, success often requires that they adopt certain masculine traits. Third, most tree planters are in the interstitial age of ‘youth’, somewhere between adolescence and adulthood. Finally, tree planters are generally members of affluent urban middle-classes, yet the work they perform is more readily associated with rural or peripheral working-classes.     

紫外荧光成像技术在馆藏壁画保护研究中的应用

应用光学成像技术对文物进行科学诊断与分析,是一种非接触的、非破坏性的、直观和快速的方法。本文介绍在馆藏壁画修复材料、修复痕迹及修复评估方面,通过利用紫外荧光成像技术的实验研究,实现了对馆藏壁画修复加固材料、修复痕迹的鉴别和诊断,对馆藏壁画加固、清洗效果的有效评估,此技术在对壁画进一步保护修复中发挥重要作用。     

崇庆寺宋代彩塑的病害调查与分析思考

为了科学保护山西省崇庆寺宋、明时期的彩塑文物,作者深入调查了该寺彩塑的现状与病害,分析检测了泥塑土的配比、成分与彩绘颜料,并对比分析了该寺不同时期彩塑的材质及工艺特点。结果表明,宋代彩塑的病害类型、严重程度等较其它时期的彩塑明显要少和轻。这一现象启示我们探讨这批彩塑的造型设计、制作技艺、材料选择等具有重要的现实意义。     

我国古代女主临朝的特征及原因探析

“在中国封建社会,曾多次出现过女主临朝,女主临朝具有重用外戚、手段残酷、宠幸宦臣的特征;而女主临朝的原因大概有皇帝体弱多病、昏庸荒淫,嗣君年幼、不能亲政,后妃本人具有政治才能等。     

孙殿起《贩书偶记》的史料价值

从表面上看,《贩书偶记》只是书商出身的文献家孙殿起先生在经营古书时编录的一部图书目录,但它在著录图书之时,对与各图书相关的重要信息或多或少地作了一些抄录,这些信息包括撰者的生平传记、著述情况、书籍本身的刊刻、序跋等等,尽管零零总总,却有着十分重要的史料价值。     

从生命体验结构涌出的诗歌创作——《人傍山斋残稿》序

《人傍山斋残稿》所收之诗,皆能吐属心声,抒发性灵,触景感发,多为佳句,不期而至之中,似有神助,实则仍来源于诗人之生命体验结构,离不开对生活物态之细腻微妙观察。足证真诗者,皆精神之所为;而诗歌之语言,实即生命体验之艺术升华。     

“曾侯卿相种，才业固邦彦”——曾怀事迹论略

靖康之变后,北宋的世家大族大多因战争衰落,而晋江曾氏家族则在南宋迅速复兴。曾怀是曾氏家族在南宋复兴的关键人物。长期从事基层理财工作的实践为其积累了大量经验,在宋孝宗朝其理财能力得到充分展示。而曾怀个人的努力,使其家族声誉在南宋得到充分彰显。