Prehistoric Seal Hunting on Lake Baikal: Methodology and Preliminary Results of the Analysis of Canine Sections

A number of archaeological sites on Lake Baikal revealed evidence of Neolithic and Bronze Age seal hunting. A collection of 35 canines from four sites was used to develop a methodology for analysing growth increments of canine dentine for the purpose of examining aspects of prehistoric seal hunting. Results from this preliminary analysis indicate that seal hunting at these sites was a seasonal activity confined to spring and early summer. Baikal seals were probably hunted in early spring for their meat, blubber and furs, and later in the season for their meat and skins.     

史前太湖流域社会复杂化进程初步研究

通过对太湖流域不同文化时期社会经济、社会关系以及宗教信仰三个方面考古资料的分析,将太湖流域社会发展分为均质、平等社会,初步分化社会和复杂分层社会三个阶段。     

明清时期福州西湖水环境变迁及其治理研究

明清时期,福州西湖水环境总体趋劣。明代西湖水源较为充足,水质状况良好;万历以降,受民间占垦等社会因素影响,湖域面积缩减,水质日渐趋下;清代中后期,福州城内水道淤浅,江潮渐绝,西湖水源趋向单一。明清时期西湖水环境的变动,除了受区域气候干湿变化、山地森林水土保持以及湖泊含沙量的影响之外,还与人为的水地之争密切相关。由于人地关系紧张,加之水资源权属不清、新垦湖田税赋征收模糊等,获取湖利的必然性刺激了民间占湖为地的行为。地方官府也曾采取如修闸筑坝护堤、追返侵地还湖、清理粪秽淤泥等治理措施,并取得阶段性成效,但受区域人口、土地资源与生存环境等社会经济因素的影响,西湖历经多次治理仍积弊难除。     

Network analysis of tourist flows: a cross-provincial boundary perspective

In contrast to the extensive research regarding tourist flows on the international, intranational, interregional, intercity, intracity and tourism-spot scales, little attention has been paid to the cross-provincial boundary perspective. In view of the fact that China's provincial administrative boundaries have a long history and a profound influence on the society, culture and economy of neighboring provinces, this study focuses on tourist-flow networks in China that cross ‘provincial’ boundaries. Tourist-flow data from a questionnaire survey and travel-agency-recommended routes were acquired, and the social network analysis method and boundary effect analysis were adopted for the first time to study the cross-boundary tourist flows. Lugu Lake in China was selected for the case study. The spatial distribution and impact factors of cross-boundary tourist flows are discussed, and a scientific basis for future collaborations among cross-boundary tourism destinations is provided. The following conclusions are reached. (1) The spatial structure of cross-boundary tourist-flow networks is complex. There is a core–periphery structure, and each node assumes different roles and functions. (2) Cross-boundary tourist flows are significantly influenced by the boundary-shielding effect, and the properties, direction and extent of the effects are diverse and depend on accessibility, resource endowments, resource heterogeneity and the extent of regional integration. (3) Cross-boundary tourist flows are affected by a boundary-mediating effect, and structural holes play a critical role in the boundary-mediating effect and drive the integration of regional tourism.     

Holocene land-use evolution and associated soil erosion in the French Prealps inferred from Lake Paladru sediments and archaeological evidences

A source-to-sink multi-proxy approach has been performed within Lake Paladru (492 m a.s.l., French Prealps) catchment and a 6-m long sediment sequence retrieved from the central lacustrine basin. The combination of minerogenic signal, specific organic markers of autochthonous and allochthonous supply and archaeological data allows the reconstruction of a continuous record of past human disturbances. Over the last 10,000 years, the lacustrine sedimentation was dominated by autochthonous carbonates and the watershed was mostly forest-covered. However, seven phases of higher accumulation rate, soil erosion, algal productivity and landscape disturbances have been identified and dated from 8400 to 7900, 6000 to 4800, 4500 to 3200, 2700 to 2050 cal BP as well as AD 350–850, AD 1250–1850 and after AD 1970. Before 5200 cal BP, soil erosion is interpreted as resulting from climatic deterioration phases towards cooler and wetter conditions. During the Mid-Late Holocene period, erosion fluxes and landscape disturbances are always associated with prehistorical and historical human activities and amplified by climatic oscillations. Such changes in human land-used led to increasing minerogenic supply and nutrients loading that affected lacustrine trophic levels, especially during the last 1600 years. In addition, organic and molecular markers document previously unknown human settlements around Lake Paladru during the Bronze and the Iron Ages.     

Holocene paleoshorelines,water levels and submerged prehistoric site potential of Rice Lake (Ontario,Canada)

Rice Lake, located in the eastern Great Lakes of North America, has a high density of prehistoric (11–0.5 ka BP) terrestrial archaeological sites. It has been speculated that a large number of sites are submerged on the lakebed, as lake levels have risen >9 m since the arrival of Early Paleoindian peoples (∼11 ka BP). In order to better understand the submerged landscape and its archaeological potential, a detailed bathymetric survey and sediment-coring program was conducted across a 30-km² area of northeastern Rice Lake. Changes in Holocene water levels and shoreline positions were reconstructed by integrating core data with a digital elevation and bathymetric model (DEBM) that accounted for differential isostatic uplift and basin sedimentation. The DEBM was used to generate a series of maps showing changes in the lake paleobathmetry and paleogeography and areas of prehistoric archaeological potential.     

In Situ Preservation of Wetland Heritage: Hydrological and Chemical Change in the Burial Environment of the Somerset Levels,UK

Abstract

In situ preservation is a core strategy for the conservation and management of waterlogged remains at wetland sites. Inorganic and organic remains can, however, quickly become degraded, or lost entirely, as a result of chemical or hydrological changes. Monitoring is therefore crucial in identifying baseline data for a site, the extent of spatial and or temporal variability, and in evaluating the potential impacts of these variables on current and future in situ preservation potential.

Since August 2009, monthly monitoring has taken place at the internationally important Iron Age site of Glastonbury Lake Village in the Somerset Levels, UK. A spatial, stratigraphic, and analytical approach to the analysis of sediment horizons and monitoring of groundwater chemistry, redox potential, water table depth and soil moisture (using TDR) was used to characterize the site.

Significant spatial and temporal variability has been identified, with results from water-table monitoring and some initial chemical analysis from Glastonbury presented here. It appears that during dry periods parts of this site are at risk from desiccation. Analysis of the chemical data, in addition to integrating the results from the other parameters, is ongoing, with the aim of clarifying the risk to the entire site.     

The Greek-Albanian Archaeological Project on Maligrad: Shaping the Cultural Heritage in the Tri-National Zone of the Great Prespa Lake

Abstract

This paper aims to analyse the collaboration of the Greek-Albanian Archaeological Expedition with the local community of the tri-national district (FYROM-Greece-Albania) of the Great Prespa Lake, in South-eastern Albania, conducted by the Institute for the Transbalkanic Cultural Cooperation (Greece) and the Institute of Archaeology of Tirana (Albania). It is argued that local cultural heritage, including the heritage of the archaeological past, can play a significant reconciliatory role in an extremely delicate national and environmental landscape throughout the work of all the bipolar participants: locals and ‘foreign experts’.     

Paleodiet reconstruction of Bronze Age Siberians from the mortuary site of Khuzhir-Nuge XIV,Lake Baikal

Paleodiet reconstruction using stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen was carried out on individuals from the Bronze Age cemetery, Khuzhir-Nuge XIV on the western shore of Lake Baikal, Russian Federation. The cemetery contained 79 graves with 89 individuals and was in use between approximately 2700 and 2000 cal. B.C. with the exception of one burial, dated to around 4000 B.C. Archaeological and ethnographic evidence indicates that hunting and fishing were the main subsistence activities while gathering was less important. δ¹³C from collagen and carbonate apatite was analysed, along with δ¹⁵N from collagen. Bone mineral preservation was evaluated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N of collagen are positively correlated and reflect varying reliance on terrestrial mammals, fish, and seals from Lake Baikal. Lake Baikal biota exhibit considerable variation in δ¹³C at the base of the food web thus; there is variation in human δ¹³C (−20.1‰ to −16.2‰) despite the fact that there are no C₄ plants in the region. δ¹⁵N results (range 10.3‰–16.5‰) indicate that fish, and possibly seals, made up some of the diet for everyone, but in varying amounts relative to terrestrial herbivores. δ¹³C from carbonate is not correlated with δ¹³C from collagen, a situation that has been found in remains from other coastal sites. A mixed diet from both terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems is the most likely explanation. Analysis of mortuary variables within the cemetery reveals three distinct clusters of graves with variations in burial treatment among the clusters. δ¹⁵N values are significantly different among these clusters, suggesting an association between diet and mortuary customs.