Measuring prehistoric mobility strategies based on obsidian geochemical and technological signatures in the Owens Valley,California

We compare the organization of obsidian flaked stone technologies in two different time periods at CA-INY-30, a village site in southern Owens Valley, eastern California. Previous archaeological studies suggest a reorganization in settlement patterns between the Newberry (ca. 3500–1500 BP) and Marana (ca. 650-contact) periods, from a highly mobile to a more residentially sedentary one. New geochemical data, based on laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analyses of obsidian artifacts associated with discrete house floors, support this basic settlement model, but reveal new detail in how people moved across the landscape and accessed, extracted, reduced and used obsidian resources. In the earlier Newberry period, there is no relationship between flake size and distance-to-source, and the falloff curve relating frequency of obsidian against distance is more gradual, as expected, but contrary to our expectations, source diversity is not higher. These factors suggest extremely high mobility, but also selective extraction of particular sources. Newberry obsidian may have been acquired by groups of hunters who embedded quarrying within long-distance trips to distant hunting grounds, and subsequently transported bifacial cores to base camps. By contrast, Marana patterns show strong relationships between flake size and distance from source and steeper fall-off curves, suggesting groups acquired their obsidian primarily from closer sources, likely via exchange networks. At the same time, geochemical diversity, especially among smaller resharpening flakes, is higher in the Marana period, highlighting the wide-ranging conveyance systems through which obsidian moved.     

Dental morphological evidence for biological continuity between the A-group and C-group periods in lower Nubia

Data are presented on non-metric dental morphological traits in skeletal samples from the Lower Nubian A-Group (ca. 3100–2500 BC) and C-Group (ca. 2000–1500 BC) cultural periods. In order to examine possible biological differentiation between these two periods, their trait frequencies were analysed using the mean measure of divergence statistic. Results indicate biological continuity, consistent with in situ evolution, although the problem of small samples requires that these results be accepted with caution. Although the diffusion of ideas or material culture into the area through military and trade contacts is likely, any archaeologically observable cultural differences between these two phases are more consistent with local cultural evolution than with the importation of a new cultural system through the migration of a foreign population into the area. The timing of a population replacement in ancient Nubia that has been identified by other scholars should now be sought either before the A-Group period or after the C-Group.     

New Perspectives on Sincu Bara, a First Millennium Site in the Senegal Valley

The 67-ha site of Sincu Bara was discovered and extensively excavated in the 1970s. Three primary aspects of its archaeological interest were its vast size, its location in the Middle Senegal Valley, where some of the earliest regional polities in West Africa arose, and the extensive and diverse assortment of copper-based metal artifacts it produced. Deposits with brass appeared to be associated with radiocarbon dates as early as the fifth century AD. It appeared that most of the deposits related to a single, long-lasting occupation by people who arrived with sophisticated copper-based metallurgy in the fifth century and remained at least until the eleventh century, without discernible modification in their material culture. Results of new excavations in 1991–1992 indicate that this interpretation must be substantially modified, since considerable change in material culture, including the introduction of copper-based metals between AD 800 and AD 900, has now been documented. This article summarizes the data from these new excavations and suggests that earlier interpretations were based largely on material from disturbed, severely mixed deposits, which gave a false picture of homogeneity through time.Les soixante sept héctares constituant le gisement du Sincu Bara étaient découverts et fouillés dans les années soixante dix. Son intérêt archéologique est lié aux trois aspects: sa grande superficie, sa location dans la vallée moyenne du Sénégal où les premières unités politiques de l'Afrique de l'Ouest existaient, et finalement, la diversité des objets métalliques en cuivre que le site a livrée. Il apparaît que la plupart des dépôts appartient à une seule occupation de longue durée par un peuple qui est arrivé pendant la cinquième siécle AD, en possession de la connaissance de métallurgie à base de cuivre et qui montrait au moins jusqu'au onzième siécle peu de modification dans leur culture materielle. Les résultats des fouilles de 1991–1992 montrent que cette interpretation doit être modifiée, car il y a eu du changement considérable dans le matèriel, comme l'introduction des métaux à base de cuivre entre AD 800–900. Dans cet article, nous avons résumé les résultats des nouvelles fouilles et nous suggérons que les anciennes interpretations ont été largement fondées sur du matériel perturbé, des dépôts mixtes qui donnaient une image fausse de l'homogenité pendant cette période.     

贺兰口岩画附近典型危岩体稳定性分析

通过前期现场调查,分析了贺兰口岩画的主要病害,提出岩画附近的危岩体是其中威胁较大的一类地质病害。根据现场勘察将贺兰口岩画附近不同状态的危岩体分为坠落式、滑塌式和倾倒式三类失稳模式。经过室内试验得到了岩石矿物组成、密度、气孔率、吸水率、单轴抗压强度等物理性质,并且利用Hoek-Brown准则、贯通率法以及岩石表面回弹值估算了危岩体与主控结构面的强度参数,例如单轴抗拉和抗压强度、变形模量、内摩擦角和黏聚力,然后利用不同失稳模式的计算方法进行稳定性分析。结果表明部分危岩体处于不稳定状态中,需要进行加固。     

Monastic literate practices in eleventh- and twelfth-century northern France

This article aims to apply the concept of literate practices to the production of written artefacts in northern France during the late eleventh and twelfth centuries. It is argued that the increasing impact of the written word in society was not a straightforward process but one that suffered setbacks and whose nature depended on how it was applied at a micro-level. Using the vantage point of the archives of a number of Benedictine monasteries in the valley of the Scarpe, a small river currently situated near the current Franco-Belgian border, it is shown how the monks responded to the uncertainties of their age by exploring the advantages of producing and receiving large numbers of documents, all of which were created, used and stored in functional and specific, but changing, contexts.     

Re‐sampling for Soil‐caesium‐137 to Assess Soil Losses after a 19‐year Interval in a Hunter Valley Vineyard,New South Wales,Australia

Soils in a lower Hunter valley vineyard, New South Wales, Australia, were sampled and analysed for caesium‐137, an indicator of soil erosion status, in 1984–1985 and 2004. From the time of the vineyard's first establishment in 1971 to 1985, estimated soil losses were 250 tonnes (equivalent to 64.2 t ha^?1 yr^?1). Re‐sampling in 2004 showed that soil losses were 48 tonnes in the 19 years since 1985, equivalent to 9.7 t ha^?1 yr^?1. The decline in erosion rates may be explained by a change in land and soil management from intensive cultivation to one of no cultivation (sod culture) in 1998, and a lower annual rainfall and fewer rain‐days per year in the period from 1986 to 2004.     

清代淮河流域旱涝灾害的人为因素分析

本文根据历史文献的记载,对清代淮河流域的水旱灾害进行了量化分析,得出了此时期旱涝灾害发生的基本情况。淮河流域的旱涝灾害有的是纯自然力所为,但更多的是人们利用自然的失当所致。本文主要从人为活动因素即人类的不当行为入手,对清代淮河流域旱涝灾害发生的原因作一初步考察。     

嫩江流域青铜时代生业方式研究

本文详细地分析了嫩江流域青铜时代的遗址墓葬的地理分布及周围环境、遗址自身特点、生产生活用具的分类及数量、动物骨骼及各种贝类遗存等方面的资料,得出该地区的生业方式是一种复合型的——定居、狩猎、捕捞、采集、畜养、手工业以及少量的交换经济,这几种经济方式相互补充,共同构成了一种有别于青铜时代中原地区以农业经济为主的新的生业方...     

Understanding local innovation systems in peripheral tourism destinations

Tourism destinations in peripheral areas are often large regions established by centralised government agencies to encourage collaboration between dispersed communities and foster innovation. Relatively little research attention has been paid to the impact that centrally defined destination boundaries have on whether and how small communities contribute to innovation at a regional level. This paper examines the case of Burra, a small town in rural South Australia. It analyses the networking, collaboration and knowledge exchange behaviour of tourism stakeholders in the context of the state-government-defined ‘Clare Valley’ tourism region. Data were drawn from a web-based social network analysis, in-depth interviews, historic document analysis and field observations. The study found that the local tourism system had limited aspirations and capabilities to collaborate with other towns in the region. Lack of regional engagement was only partially due to intra-regional competition and resistance to regional boundaries. More significant barriers included a local culture of operating in isolation, an embedded reliance on public sector leadership to manage systemic interactions, an aging system with limited ambition to change and an inability to harness in-migrants and externally based stakeholders to stimulate knowledge transfer. Changing the imposed destination boundaries would have limited impact on the operation of the local system. The paper concludes that effective regional destination development in peripheral areas needs to be better informed by more detailed understandings of local tourism systems and their capacities to engage.     

Environmental Change Since the Woodland Period in the Mid-Ohio Valley: Results from Patton Bog Sediment Core Palynological Analyses

Palynological analyses of sediment cores from Patton Bog in southeastern Ohio recorded environmental changes from ca. 1000 B.C. to the present, representing the first pollen core analyzed from this region. Pollen data show an increase in prairie species, implying periodic expansion of grassland environments during the Woodland period coeval with the initial collection and eventual domestication of Eastern Agricultural Complex seeds. It is suggested that these environmental changes influenced human decisions concerning plant domestication and diet in the mid-Ohio Valley.