Clays of Contention: An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Factionalism and Clay Composition

This ethnoarchaeological study examines sociopolitical constraints on traditional pottery production in Paradijon, southern Luzon, the Philippines. Factionalism divided the potting community as it became involved in elite competition and dictated that the two potting factions acquire clays from sources controlled by elite alliance partners. This study examines patterning in instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) data in relationship to the involvement of independent craft specialists in elite competition. Patterning of INAA data at community and regional levels is found, illustrating the middle-range links between sociopolitical behavior of potters and patterns in clay composition. INAA patterning among clay preparation areas appears dependent on whether a preparation area is in public or private space. Regionally, primary markets express INAA signals from both factions, whereas secondary markets reflect potter participation of a particular faction.     

景德镇明代洪武瓷的化学组成研究

明代洪武时期,景德镇开始设立御窑烧造宫廷用瓷,因此,对这批洪武瓷的研究一直是人们关注的问题。采用能量色散X荧光分析方法对景德镇和南京出土的数件洪武瓷样品作胎釉成分无损测试。结果表明,明洪武不同品种瓷器采用的釉料不同;官窑洪武青花瓷和蓝釉瓷的色料采用了低锰高铁特征的钴料;洪武瓷胎料使用了二元配方。     

Plants as material culture in the Near Eastern Neolithic: Perspectives from the silica skeleton artifactual remains at Çatalhöyük

Investigating plants used for building and craft activities is important for understanding how environments surrounding archaeological settlements were exploited, as well as for considering the social practices involved in the creation and use of plant objects. Evidence for such plant uses has been observed at many Near Eastern Neolithic sites but not widely discussed. Survival may occur in a number of ways, including as impressions in clay, and as charred or desiccated macroremains. Another, less well-known, way in which plant artifacts can be found is as silica skeletons (phytoliths). Formed by the in situ decay of plants, their analysis may tell us about taxa exploited, and locations in which plant artifacts were used or discarded. At Çatalhöyük, an abundance of silicified traces of plants used in building materials and for craft activities survive, and are found in domestic and burial contexts. Their analysis demonstrates the routine use of wild plants, especially from wetland areas, for basketry (mats, baskets and cordage) and construction, as well as the secondary use of cereal husk chaff in certain types of building materials. The numerous finds suggest that plant-based containers played an important role as an artifactual class, even after the adoption of early pottery.     

青海地区青铜器的成份分析及来源

本文通过对青海地区青铜器的成份分析及其铸造方法的分析,对该地区发现的青铜器来源问题进行了探讨。     

The Rehabilitation of an Uncomfortable Past: Everyday Life in Vietnam during the Subsidy Period (1975–1986)

In 2006, the Museum of Ethnology organized a special exhibit on everyday life in Hanoi during the “subsidy period”, the term increasingly used to describe the decade of high socialism that began in 1975 with the reunification of a divided Vietnam and ended in 1986 with the official introduction of market reforms known as ??i m?i (Renovation). The representational strategies, which linked the collectivism of the past with the individualism of the present, prompted a nationwide discussion regarding the significance of a moment that previously had no clear name or place in official accounts due to the severe hardships it produced. The details presented demonstrate how the rehabilitation of this decade has expanded the political boundaries of what state institutions can present as having historical and ethnographic value in Vietnam as well as opened new avenues for comparative studies with (former) socialist states elsewhere.     

Tracing the origin of blue and white Chinese Porcelain ordered for the Portuguese market during the Ming dynasty using INAA

The existing documentary history of Chinese porcelain ordered for the Portuguese market (mainly Ming dynasty.) is reasonably advanced; nevertheless detailed laboratory analyses able to reveal new aspects like the number and/or diversity of producing centers involved in the trade with Portugal are lacking.In this work, the chemical characterization of porcelain fragments collected during recent archaeological excavations from Portugal (Lisbon and Coimbra) was done for provenance issues: identification/differentiation of Chinese porcelain kilns used. Chemical analysis was performed by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) using the Portuguese Research Reactor. Core samples were taken from the ceramic body avoiding contamination form the surface layers constituents. The results obtained so far point to: (1) the existence of three main chemical-based clusters; and (2) a general attribution of the porcelains studied to southern China kilns; (3) a few samples are specifically attributed to Jingdezhen and Zhangzhou kiln sites. In a chronological point of view, for the studied samples we assist to an increasing improvement of the production procedure from late 15th till the 17th centuries of the Chinese porcelains sent to Portugal, especially enhanced by the association of late porcelains with refining processes of the original raw material, consistent with removal of more heavy minerals. In the case of some samples a kiln attribution was possible, but for the majority of the samples we haven't found yet the specific kilns.     

The role of arsenic in Chalcolithic copper artefacts – insights from Vila Nova de São Pedro (Portugal)

The Castro of Vila Nova de São Pedro (VNSP) is an emblematic settlement located at Azambuja, Portuguese Estremadura. It was occupied during the third and second millennia BC, predominantly during the Chalcolithic period. A diversified collection of 53 copper-based artefacts (most part in a fragmentary condition), belonging to an extensive metallic collection recovered during excavations carried out in VNSP, was studied using micro-EDXRF spectrometry, optical microscopy and SEM-EDS. Additionally, Vickers microhardness measurements were performed to establish the effectiveness of the thermomechanical treatment in the hardness of the artefacts. Results show that the Largo do Carmo, artefact collection is mainly composed of copper or arsenical copper, being 37% of the artefacts made of copper alloyed with arsenic (As > 2%). A statistically significant association was found between copper alloyed with arsenic and artefacts classified as tools/weapons (arrowheads, daggers and knives). In several cases, the presence of arsenic rich phases in the microstructure, resulting from an inverse segregation phenomenon, shows no evidence of chemical homogeneity control during the artefact manufacture. Microstructural analyses also show that the majority of this group (73%) was shaped with forging plus annealing operation cycles and 23% of the artefacts received a final cold hammering after the forging and annealing. An association between the presence of a final forging treatment and artefacts presenting higher arsenic contents was also identified. Nevertheless, no direct correlation was found between the arsenic content of the alloy and its hardness. Also no direct correlation was found between the hardness and a final forging operation. However, it was observed that a harder forging was applied to the cutting edge of the artefacts and consequently a high hardness in this area was obtained despite the arsenic content of the alloy. Concerning arsenical copper alloys, all evidences point out that the potential for obtaining a harder material was not recognized by the ancient metallurgists and the selection of the alloy was possibly made based on colour.     

Reasoned use of chemical parameters for the diagnostic evaluation of the state of preservation of waterlogged archaeological wood

Waterlogged archaeological wood undergoes decay processes that depend on both the burial conditions and the constituting species, and which cause the depletion of the structural components of wood cells. To quantitatively assess the state of preservation of the decayed material, specific parameters are usually measured by means of both chemical and physical analyses. In this paper an innovative approach in the use of the data obtained from these kinds of measurements is developed. A series of 132 archaeological wood samples of different wood species, burial times and states of preservation, and coming from different sites in Italy, was analysed. Their residual chemical composition, maximum water content and basic density were measured, and a reasoned use of these parameters was carried out through their elaboration, with the aim of both evaluating eventual incongruence or anomalies in the raw physical and chemical data (which has never been accomplished so far) and directly comparing in a reliable way the analytical results obtained from archaeological samples with very different states of preservation. This approach allowed defining the effective values of chemical parameters related to wood decay according to a same reference basis of calculation among the various data. By this way, it was possible to state that lignin can be also attacked by the agents causing biotic decay, and that in hardwoods its decay is more related to the burial conditions than to the wood species. Instead, the mechanism of polysaccharide depletion is diversified: conifers showed a uniform behaviour whereas hardwoods were more species-dependent. Moreover, in addition to the chemical composition, also anatomical factors influence the carbohydrate rate of decay in waterlogged wood.     

Bronze technology of the ancient megalithic communities in the Vidarbha region of India

Metallographic examination was carried out on forty-nine copper and bronze objects from five megalithic sites located in Vidarbha, India. The artifact assembly consists of horse ornaments, kitchenware, bangles, rings, small bells and the hilt of an iron dagger. Results show that the technology involved is characterized by the use of bronze alloys containing approximately 10% tin based on weight and the application of forging as a key method of fabrication. No deliberate addition of lead was observed. Arsenic was detected, but very rarely and only as an insignificant minor element. The consistent selection of such specific alloys indicates that the megalithic communities in this particular region had established a fully developed and standardized bronze tradition optimized for the production of forged items. Their advanced technological status was also noted in a special technique applied to two forged high-tin bronze bowls. Such a unique bronze tradition, dedicated to sheet metal technology, was most likely a practical choice made by these people to take advantage of the changing role of bronze. Specifically, with the introduction of iron, bronze seems to have become a more prestigious material that could serve as an indicator of the appearance of a more rigid socio-economic stratification within the megalithic communities of the Vidarbha region.