A probable case of metastatic carcinoma from the late prehistoric eastern Tennessee River Valley

There are few described cases of metastatic carcinoma from the prehistoric eastern United States and none primarily differentially diagnosed from the southeast. A mature adult female exhibiting several large lytic cranial lesions suggestive of neoplastic disease was identified in a late prehistoric Mississippian Period (AD 1200–1600) context. Burial 371 is from Ledford Island, a Mouse Creek phase (AD 1400–1500) site from the Chickamauga Reservoir of southeastern Tennessee. It is the only case in this reservoir (total adult n = 843). The radiographs of the otherwise asymptomatic postcranium yielded radiolucencies in both proximal femora, both medial clavicles, the sternum, the surviving humeral metaphysis and fragmentary innominate. The locations are all consistent with metastasized carcinoma. The identity of the possible primary lesion is argumentative. Age, sex and the mixed nature of the osseous response are consistent with carcinoma of the breast but not to the exclusion of bronchogenic, thyroid, or kidney cancers. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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。     

汉刻重宝——建初买地摩崖

绍兴富盛跳山东汉建初买地摩崖是现存浙江境内有确切纪年的汉代摩崖,也是我国现存最早体积最大的买地券,被列为我国的汉刻重宝。通过追溯摩崖发现经过和结合相关史料,凸显此摩崖在金石学、社会政治经济学和书法艺术上的价值和地位。     

冷战期间西方边疆理论的发展

文章对二战后至冷战结束前的西方边疆理论进行了探讨,认为冷战期间的边疆理论所反映的是这一历史阶段国家对自身利益界限的理解和认识,其发展是人类社会生产力提高和世界形势变化的结果。     

论清末民初语言的“日化”现象——以鲁迅作品为例

清末民初盛行通过日译本转译西方著作,汉语中引进了大量的日语词汇和句法。笔者认为,比起一直以来通用的“欧化”的说法,把此现象称为“日化”更为贴切。本文以鲁迅作品中的具体“日化”语言实例为证,论证了“日化”的语言事实。对于“日化”语言一直以来遭忽视的现象,笔者从政治、经济、文化心理、汉字等方面分析了原因。     

Palaeolithic radiocarbon chronology: quantifying our confidence beyond two half-lives

It is now three decades since Waterbolk introduced evaluation criteria to ¹⁴C chronology. Despite this, and other subsequent attempts to introduce quality control in the use of ¹⁴C data, no systematic procedure has been adopted by the archaeological community. As a result, our databases may be significantly weakened by questionable dates and/or questionable associations between dated samples and the archaeological phenomena they are intended to represent. As the use of chronometric data in general becomes more ambitious, we must pause and assess how reliable these data are. Here, we forward a set of evaluation criteria which take into account archaeological (e.g. associational, stratigraphic) and chronometric (e.g. pre-treatment and measurement) criteria. We intend to use such criteria to evaluate a large ¹⁴C dataset we have assembled to investigate Late Glacial settlement in Europe, the Near East and North Africa, supported by the Leverhulme Trust. We suggest that the procedure presented here may at least form the basis of the development of more rigorous, scientific use of ¹⁴C dates.     

国民政府时期的西北考察家及其著作述评

国民政府时期,在民族危机和“开发西北”的呼声下,一大批考察家来到西北。在极其困难的条件下,他们用力所能及的方式对这块土地进行了深入细致的考察,对当时西北的一些突出社会问题进行了详细记载和独到的剖析,在当时社会上引起了很大反响,为人们认识西北、开发西北起了很重要的先导作用。同时他们坚韧不拔、肯吃苦的献身精神,很值得我们学习和继承。     

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.