The provenance of some glass ingots from the Uluburun shipwreck

The discovery of a Late Bronze Age trading vessel at Uluburun near Ka? off the Turkish coast offers exciting possibilities for our understanding of Bronze Age trade. On board the ship was a large consignment of glass ingots that were assumed to originate either from Mesopotamia or Egypt. This paper presents the results of major and trace elemental analyses of three deep blue and turquoise glass ingots from the Uluburun wreck, and for the first time securely demonstrates that their composition is consistent with an Egyptian origin. The compositional similarity of the glass ingots to glasses from the Mycenaean world suggests that Egypt was exporting to that region via trading ships such as that from Uluburun.     

Pollen analysis of core DS7-1SC (Dead Sea) showing intertwined effects of climatic change and human activities in the Late Holocene

The Dead Sea sediment holds the archives of a complex relationship between ever-changing nature and ancient civilisations. Here the detailed pollen analyses of core DS7-1SC (off-Ein-Gedi) are presented for the first time. The record covers the last 2500 years. The facies changes from halite (when no freshwater flows in the Dead Sea) to laminites (when rainfall provides sufficient inflow for the Jordan and subsidiary rivers) a couple of times through the record. The pollen diagram (supported by the facies change) shows a wetter Roman-Byzantine period, which allowed intensive arboriculture and a wetter period at the end of the XIXth and beginning of the XXth centuries, the latter in good relation with historical and instrumental data. Based on radiocarbon chronologies on several pollen diagrams along the western Dead Sea shore, the transition to drier climates and the transition to pastoralism are suggested to take place between a few decades before the Islamic period and close to this transition.     

Semitella,an Italian Bell-Beaker (Final Copper Age) animal burial ground

The Italian Bell-Beaker (Final Copper Age) has been widely studied, yet little is known about its archaeofaunas. Reported are the results of the analysis of the archaeofauna from Semitella, which is one of the largest and most important Bell-Beaker sites in Italy. The site yielded an intentionally buried bovine skeleton and contained many pits, scattered throughout the excavated area. These pits may have originally contained the corpses of the animals whose bones are represented in the sample. The hypothesis is that Semitella was a sort of cemetery for animal carcasses, or a dumping ground where carcass discards and animal cadavers were thrown or buried. A careful taphonomic and zooarchaeological analyses were therefore mandatory. The study confirmed the hypothesis. It in fact revealed a poorly diversified, selected fauna, dominated by domestic taxa, matched to a strikingly low incidence of bone surface modifications, which is the expected state of bones that have been rapidly subtracted to biostratinomic agents. The accumulated evidence indicates that Semitella was a dumping and/or a burial ground for animal corpses in the surroundings of a nearby settlement. The assemblage's final arrangement is the result of floodings that removed the disarticulated skeletal parts scattering them downstream. What remains unresolved is whether, or not, the burials were connected with ritual practices.     

X-ray powder diffraction analysis of Late Holocene reservoir sediments

X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) analysis of clays from anthropogenic Late Holocene reservoir sediments can provide a paleoclimatic proxy. Illite and smectite are climate sensitive clay minerals and their relative amounts correlate with climatic episodes. Relative percent composition of clays in Late Holocene reservoir sediment is diagnostic of different mineral source areas and their hydraulic transport processes, which are climate controlled. Climosequences of clay minerals from Late Holocene reservoir sediments are correlative with magnetic susceptibility records and provide a relatively simple and cost-effective tool for gaining insight into paleoclimate.     

清末民初广州城市的环卫制度与环境整治

清末民初是中国历史上一个重要的转型时期,广州城市环卫制度的构建随着这一时期政治制度的变革而展开,经历了从清末新政以前的缺失,到新政以后至1920年代逐渐形成的过程。与此同时,广州城市环境卫生的整治,在形成中的环卫制度指导下,向制度化、规范化的方向转变。从此以后,广州市的环境整治由民间的无序行为,走向以政府或政府指导下有序的法治化轨道。清末民初广州市的城市环卫制度与环境整治方式的改变,对民国时期乃至新中国初年的广州城市环境卫生的管理均产生了重要的影响。     

宝鸡建河墓地出土战国时期秦人骨的稳定同位素分析

<正>为配合陇海铁路宝兰复线陕西宝鸡段工程,2001年陕西省考古研究院先后两次发掘了宝鸡建河墓地,取得了重要收获。其中秦墓的发掘,是目前为止在陕西境内最西端、甘肃境内最东端的渭河北岸有关秦人踪迹的重要发现,为今后寻找秦人自西向东逐渐迁徙的足迹,乃至对秦文化的研究提供了可靠翔实的第一手科学资料。     

日本锁国新论

终江户一代,日本实施了锁国政策,但这种锁国并非常规理解的紧闭国门,拒绝与外界进行一切交流的锁国。事实上,日本不仅保持着与中国、荷兰、朝鲜等国的联系,而且通过中国人与荷兰人获得外部情报,并通过推广兰学接触西方科学成果。正是这种非常规的锁国,一方面维护了日本国内两百多年的和平与稳定,有效地阻止了西方殖民主义的侵略,维护了民族独立;另一方面将学习吸收外来文化的选择权牢牢掌握在自己手中。     

汉武帝早期的南郡人口

在分析汉代免老、新傅、罷癃等制度后,认为在南郡的人口结构中:新傅、免老人数均存在严重的不平衡现象,各侯国人口的发展存在较大差异,其原因有待进一步探讨。据木牍,《秩律》各县的排名隐约遵循口数原则。     

春秋郢都无城说

楚郢都故址所在,至今尚未解决,被学界认为有可能为楚郢都故址的江陵纪南城、当阳季家湖古城和宜城楚皇城,作为春秋早期楚始都之郢的可能性都不大。春秋郢都故址至今未能找到,应是被"城"所蔽。结合文献分析及考古实证,可知春秋郢都并没有城,没有城垣遗迹,只是一个大遗址。     

安徽淮北相城战国至汉代大型排水设施发掘简报

相城战国至汉代时期大型排水设施位于今安徽省淮北市相山区,2009年3～6月进行基本建设时发现,淮北市博物馆对其进行了抢救性发掘。该遗址面积较大,相关遗迹极具规模,发现的大型排水设施与临淄齐国故城大型排水设施的建筑材料、构筑方法、设计理念有许多共同之处,但又具有自身特点,在我国古代城市建筑遗迹中较为罕见,具有重要意义,为研究战国至汉代相城的历史及中国古代城市发展提供了重要的参考资料。