A Late Iron Age settlement in Wādī Banī Ḫālid: First season of the joint Omani-Italian archaeological project

This paper introduces the first results of the joint Omani-Italian archaeological project at Wādī Banī Ḫālid (northern Šarqiyyah governorate, eastern al-Ḥaǧar), where a dense Iron Age and ancient Islamic occupation was detected. The aim of the project is the definition of the Iron Age settlement patterns along the eastern al-Ḥaǧar landscape and its relationship with both the coastal areas and the al-Ḥaǧar inner piedmont sites of central Oman. In fact, this project follows previous studies of the coastal environment between Muscat and Raʾs al-Ḥadd, where several seasonal fishermen villages were investigated, and their connections with inner permanent sites, such as Lizq, recognised during the Early Iron Age II (1300–600 BCE). Therefore, Wādī Banī Ḫālid stands as a peculiar case of an Iron Age territorial unit, a natural scenario made of a narrow alluvial valley which provided natural conditions for the development of a complex culture. Moreover, the material culture emerged after a first excavation campaign proved that the main occupational phase of the imposing fortified settlement WBK1 is the Late Iron Age (late first millennium BCE to third–fourth centuries CE), thus hopefully allowing new questions to be posed for the definition of Late Iron Age cultures and the chronology in central Oman, which is mostly known based on the excavation of funerary evidence. For this reason, the first part of the paper focuses on the results of the first season in Wādī Banī Ḫālid, and the second part discusses the links between Wādī Banī Ḫālid and the south-eastern Arabia general framework during the Late Iron Age.     

蛛丝马迹 纤毫再现——从皖南土墩墓看商周时期古代先民的经济生活

皖南地区的土墩墓及其出土文物反映了当时社会的生产、生活面貌,耕作农业有所发展、纺织等手工业初露端倪、原始青瓷生产日渐成熟、青铜冶铸业颇具规模并形成自身特色、社会分工日益细化。这些都是了解和探寻商周时期皖南先民经济生活状况的重要参考,具有重要的研究价值。     

战国时期铅钡硅酸盐制品相互关系的新思考

铅钡硅酸盐是中国古代费昂斯和玻璃制品的典型成分类型。本文首先明确了铅钡硅酸盐制品包含铅钡釉陶、铅钡釉砂、铅钡玻璃以及硅酸铜钡颜料四大类,并重点讨论前三者,强调不宜用“铅钡玻璃”指代铅钡硅酸盐制品。其后,文章整体梳理了战国时期铅钡硅酸盐制品的出土范围和存续时间。在此基础上,重新讨论了铅钡釉陶、铅钡釉砂、铅钡玻璃的关系问题,提出铅钡釉陶和铅钡釉砂都不是铅钡玻璃的先驱,三者在战国早期的出现更像是铅钡这种全新助熔剂在不同材质上的应用。     

明清时期汉水下游地区的地理环境与堤防管理制度

明清时期国家对于汉水下游的水利管理制度经历一个变迁的过程,与这一区域的水利问题的日益突出密切相关,垸田的发展以及带来的问题是主要的因素。钟祥至沙洋的汉江干堤极易溃决,并且关系到整个下游地区的安全,因此在人力组织、资金筹集、岁修维护上,国家的政策表现出明显的倾斜性,相对于沙洋以下的区域,给予了充分的重视。沙洋以下,天门、潜江、沔阳等州县所在区域主要以垸田为主,国家将这一区域的堤防修筑与维护主要交由地方来进行。垸堤岁修维护采取堤甲制的组织形式,由垸民完成,一方面没有固定的资金,另一方面在正常年景之下,垸民可以获得基本的物质生存,因此垸堤的维护面临相当的困难。