China in Fiji: displacing traditional players?

A widely held perception in Oceania is that China has taken the opportunity of Western sanctions against Fiji's military-led regime to expand its influence in Fiji. Observers and media in the region were alarmed by the sudden increase of China's pledged aid to Fiji shortly after the 2006 military takeover. They are concerned that China has a well-calculated strategy of displacing traditional Western players in Fiji, most notably Australia and New Zealand. Such concern is not well founded. While China does have multiple interests, including strategic interests, in Fiji, there is no clear evidence to suggest that China aims to displace the traditional players there. China's growing influence in Fiji is part of China's global rise. Both Australia and New Zealand are committed to Fiji and the South Pacific as a whole. Given its substantial interests in Australia and New Zealand, it is not in China's interest to increase its influence in Fiji at the cost of its relations with these two traditional players.     

日本在连云港的统制与经营述论

七七事变前,日本即关注连云港的重要战略地位,并作了大量实地考察。徐州会战后,日本海军陆战队与华北方面军分别攻占连云港及周边的海州地区,并围绕连云港的支配权展开激烈争夺,几经调解,双方达成共同使用连云港的协议。这种双方共管体制的弊端不断显现,随后港口管理遂移交华北交通株式会社负责,实行"路港一体化"的运作方式,并接受华北方面军的指导和监控。日占期间,重点统制经营的连云港在华北港口布局中占据重要地位,煤炭、铁矿石等基础工业原料是港口主要出口物资,煤炭输出更在港口总吞吐量中占据绝对优势。     

A comment on Steele’s (2010) “radiocarbon dates as data: quantitative strategies for estimating colonization front speeds and event densities”

We show that Steele’s (2010) criticisms of Hamilton and Buchanan (2007) and Buchanan et al. (2008) do not hold water and demonstrate that his re-analyses of Hamilton and Buchanan’s (2007) and Buchanan et al'.s (2008) datasets are flawed. In the process, we highlight some important issues for researchers interested in using radiocarbon dates to reconstruct population movements and demography. Most notably, we explain why OLS regression is preferable to RMA regression when estimating diffusion velocity, and demonstrate that the summed probability distributions yielded by CalPal are more reliable as guides to past demographic change than those produced by Calib and OxCal.     

Addressing seasonal site use through ancient DNA species identification of Pacific salmon at Dionisio Point,Galiano Island,British Columbia

We use ancient DNA analysis to identify Pacific salmon vertebrae to species in order to provide an important line of evidence that helps to establish the timing of seasonal residence at a Pacific Northwest Coast village site. Ancient DNA results from House 2 at Dionisio Point allow a characterization of the salmon fishery. Ten of eleven randomly selected smaller-sized salmon vertebrae were positively identified as sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) while only a single pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) was identified. Of the 322 whole salmon vertebrae identified from House 2 occupation deposits during zooarchaeological analysis, 58 percent measure less than 8.0 mm and 70 percent are less than 8.5 mm in maximum transverse diameter. Together with documented aspects of the material record from Dionisio Point, most notably the vertebrate fauna from House 2, the indication that sockeye was the primary focus of the Dionisio Point salmon fishery suggests the site was inhabited during the spring and summer. This approach to the identification of season-specific site occupation has the potential for application over much of the Northeast Pacific.     

河北临城县补要村遗址北区发掘简报

2007～2008年对补要村遗址进行了发掘。遗址北区的仰韶文化晚期遗存具有自身特色,与周邻的雪山一期文化、仰韶文化大司空类型存在明显差别。中、晚商时期遗存年代序列完整,自洹北商城阶段延续至殷墟第四期,对进一步完善冀中地区中晚商时期考古学文化的编年体系、了解当时的社会性质具有重要价值。     

Experimental assessment of maize phytolith and starch taphonomy in carbonized cooking residues

Many taphonomic studies of plant microfossils, specifically phytoliths and starch, are concerned with post-depositional movement, contamination, and morphological changes due to environmental fluctuations or plant processing. Additionally, the identification of phytoliths and starches archaeologically are based on their presence or absence. This paper examines whether it is possible to identify maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) phytolith and starch abundance associated with different processing behaviors as replicated through experimentally produced cooking residues. If successful, identification of likely associated processing and taphonomy of these microfossils will allow for a more refined interpretation of plant use as it relates to timing and plant form and processing.     

Determining the Provenance of native copper artifacts from Northeastern North America: evidence from instrumental neutron activation analysis

The emergence of archaeological interest in native copper in the mid-1800s developed in concert with explanations that privileged the Lake Superior area over other potential sources of copper. Most scholars have thus assumed that when copper artifacts first appeared in Northeastern North America, they arrived as finished implements or were locally made from Lake Superior raw materials. Procurement models that point to Lake Superior as the sole source of native copper have been widely accepted in the absence of systematic large-scale testing. This article evaluates the dominant model for native copper procurement and presents trace element data derived from instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) to determine whether hunter-gatherers in the Northeast utilized one dominant source of copper or in fact exploited a number of geological deposits. I specifically report on the chemical characterization of copper from 13 discrete geological deposits and 18 archaeological sites dating to the Late Archaic (ca. 5000–3000 B.P.) and Early Woodland (ca. 3000–2000 B.P.) periods to suggest that the dominant model for native copper procurement is oversimplified.     

凿池而饮:明清时期北方地区的民生用水

本文利用地方志,田野调查收集的水池碑刻、口述资料,对明清时期北方地区的水池进行了研究,认为开凿水池集蓄自然降氷是解决缺水地区民生用水困难的有效形式,水池人文景观构成北方行聚落显著的外部特征。治所和乡村在应对缺水环境时存在一定的制度差异性,传统政府职能在解决民生用水问题方面有其局限性。在水资源缺乏的环境下,用水秩序构成北方乡村社会秩序一个重要方面。     

Advances in Polynesian Prehistory: A Review and Assessment of the Past Decade (1993–2004)

The pace of archaeological research in Polynesia has intensified in recent years, resulting in more than 500 new literature citations over the past decade. Fieldwork has continued in such previously well-studied archipelagoes as Tonga and Samoa in Western Polynesia, and Hawai’i and New Zealand in Eastern Polynesia, and has expanded into previously neglected islands including Niue, the Equatorial Islands, the Austral Islands, and Mangareva. The emergence of Ancestral Polynesian culture out of its Eastern Lapita predecessor is increasingly well understood, and the chronology of Polynesian dispersal and expansion into Eastern Polynesia has engaged several researchers. Aside from these fundamental issues of origins and chronology, major research themes over the past decade include (1) defining the nature, extent, and timing of long-distance interaction spheres, particularly in Eastern Polynesia; (2) the impacts of human colonization and settlement on island ecosystems; (3) variation in Polynesian economic systems and their transformations over time; and (4) sociopolitical change, especially as viewed through the lens of household or microscale archaeology. Also noteworthy is the rapidly evolving nature of interactions between archaeologists and native communities, a critical aspect of archaeological practice in the region.

Building Capacity in Pacific Island Heritage Management: Lessons from Those Who Know Best

In recognition of the need to build capacity in heritage place management in the Pacific in 2004, UNESCO funded the development of the CD-ROM training program Conserving Pacific Places. The program attempted to address the lack of sustainable long-term outcomes from previous training programs ‘field-tested’ by Pacific Island heritage managers. This not only provided feedback on modifications to the Australian training model required to make it appropriate and useful in the Pacific Island context but gave voice to shared regional issues and concerns in Pacific Island heritage conservation through the writing of the Smith (2004).