How flakes shatter: a critical evaluation of quartz fracture analysis

Despite its worldwide use as a stone tool raw material, quartz is known to be a difficult material for archaeologists. The main reason for this is the tendency of quartz flakes to fragment during detachment, which complicates the use of traditional lithic analyses. In this article we present an experimental study of quartz flake fragmentation. We evaluate the method called fracture analysis that has been developed and used explicitly for the study of quartz assemblages. The method assumes high predictability of quartz flake fragmentation, but our experiments show that there is significant variation in fragmentation that fracture analysis does not take into account. Our results indicate that this variation is partly explained by indenter hardness, the relative thickness of the detached flake, as well as individual knapper-related factors. These results undermine the applicability of quartz fracture analysis in its current form. In addition, we discuss the effects of flake fragmentation on the technological organisation of prehistoric quartz users and suggest that it has affected reduction strategies as well as blank and tool dimensions. We also suggest that there should be mobility-related differences in archaeological assemblages in terms of the quality of the quartz raw material and that the curation of quartz should be low in relation to better quality raw materials used parallel with it.     

西周至南北自制玻璃概述

我国玻璃起步较晚,大体始于西周初或先周(殷末),主要是蓝色、浅蓝色或绿色玻璃珠管,与玉、玛瑙配合制成“杂佩”。其时玻璃的主要成分为二氧化硅,并含有少量铅、钡,故称为铅钡玻璃,与西方钠钙玻璃不同而独树一帜。春秋战国时期,西方蜻蜓眼玻璃珠输入我国,从此,以仿羊脂白玉美若明月的“隋侯珠”为代表的自制玻璃与外来玻璃并存。西方(大月氏)吹制玻璃术于汉魏传入我国之后,也出现了自制的空心玻璃器皿。     

E-learning for Geography's Teaching and Learning Spaces

The authors embed their advocacy of educational technology in a consideration of contemporary pedagogy in geography. They provide examples of e-learning from a wide range of teaching and learning contexts. They promote the idea that considering best practice with reference to educational technology will increase the versatility of teaching geography in higher education. On the basis of reviewing the pedagogic options associated with e-learning using a variety of technologies, and their promotion of versatility in the use of e-learning approaches, they find and illustrate the new spaces that have become available to teachers and learners of geography.     

On the Origins of Pottery

Renewed research interest in the origins of pottery has illuminated an array of possible precipitating causes and environmental contexts in which pottery began to be made and used. This article is an attempt at synthesizing some of these data in hopes of stimulating further research into this intriguing topic. Following a review of theories on the origins of pottery, discussion proceeds to a survey of geographic and cultural contexts of low-fired or unfired pottery, highlighting the role(s) of pottery among contemporary hunter-gatherers and summarizing data pertaining to varied uses of pottery containers. It is argued that objects of unfired and low-fired clay were created as part of early prestige technologies of material representations beginning in the Upper Paleolithic and are part of an early software horizon. Clay began to be more widely manipulated by nonsedentary, complex hunter-gatherers in the very Late Pleistocene and early Holocene in areas of resource abundance, especially in tropical/subtropical coastal/riverine zones, as part of more general processes of resource and social intensification (such as competitive feasting or communal ritual). Knowledge of making and using pottery containers spread widely as prestige technology and as practical technology, the kind and timing of its adoption or reinvention varying from location to location depending on specific needs and circumstances.     

我国旅游业技术创新水平的区域空间分布特征——基于专利数据的统计分析

本文基于专利的统计数据,分别采用绝对指标、相对指标和特化系数来评价我国旅游业技术创新水平的空间分布特征。研究结果表明,采用绝对指标评价的旅游业技术创新水平呈现“东高西低”的格局;而采用相对指标（单位人口的旅游业专利申请数量）评价的结果表明,东部地区仍处于领先地位,但与绝对指标评价结果相比,西部地区的排序明显升高;东部地区旅游业发明专利特化系数较高,如北京、天津、上海、广东、海南均在1．1以上,但是全国大多数省市的旅游业专利还属于实用新型和外观设计特化类,说明我国旅游业技术创新结构并不完善。     

现代测绘技术在古建烫样数字化项目中的应用

烫样是研究清代皇家建筑的珍贵文物,为配合文物信息数字化工作的开展,针对烫样数据的采集和处理方法进行了深入研究。在综合考虑多种数据采集方法的特点及烫样数字化记录的难点后,选择使用手持式三维扫描仪与多视角三维重建技术相结合的方式来进行烫样的基础数据采集,并通过实践总结出了一套完整的数据采集和处理工作流程。与此同时,针对成果可能的应用方式做了些许尝试,且为数据的后期维护与进一步利用拟定了数据管理系统的建设方案。     

新华日报馆所用纸张(1938—1947)的分析研究

新华日报馆系全面抗战至解放战争初期中共中央在国统区设立的出版发行机构。本次工作以重庆红岩革命历史博物馆收藏的报馆出版物为研究对象和基础资料,以超景深三维显微系统、扫描电子显微镜、X射线能谱仪及pH测定仪对纤维构成、填料种类、造纸技术及纸张酸度进行检测分析。结合相关史料,发现报馆用纸受政治经济环境、造纸工艺、用纸策略影响,兼用机制纸和手工纸:早期(1938年1月11日《新华日报》创刊至同年10月24日)多用机制白报纸;中期(1938年10月25日报馆迁渝至抗战胜利前)渐用川渝改良土纸;晚期(抗战胜利后至1947年2月报馆被封闭)继用土纸。本研究可为新华日报馆出版物及同类文物的保护利用提供参考。     

3S技术在遗址探查中的应用

常规遗址探查方法,普查难度大,影像上不能直接识别小型遗址.为此,应用3S技术(遥感技术(RS)、全球定位系统(GPS)、地理信息系统(GIS))在遗址探查中的作用和优势,提出了基于地物空间关系知识、多源信息复合探查的思路.应用结果以巢湖柘皋区为例,将该区遥感图像中提取的古河道信息层和数字化后的地形图上标注为独立物(其中包括已知、疑似遗址点)层叠合,在地理信息系统中总结已知遗址点的分布规律,筛选出疑似遗址点,并将其GPS定位信息与近期巢湖文物管理部门野外实测记录对比,提取的疑似遗址点中包含了普查记录的遗址.3s技术的应用表明,该方法可为考古普查工作节省大量时间、人力和物力.     

拉曼光谱在纸质文物研究中的应用

纸张的老化程度一直是纸质文物保护中的重要研究方面,以往多采用目测法和经验来推断纸张的老化程度。纸张物理强度、聚合度等能表征老化状态的理化性能测试由于需要大量的样品而无法用于文物检测。近年来随着显微共聚焦拉曼光谱、近红外傅里叶变换拉曼光谱、表面增强拉曼光谱等技术的发展,作为一种原位、无损、微区的分析方法,拉曼光谱被越来越多地应用到了纸质文物的相关分析研究中,为纸质文物的保护修复提供科学依据。结合国内外文献,对拉曼光谱在纸张老化、碳黑颜料以及其他颜料上的应用和研究现状进行了梳理归纳。随着拉曼光谱应用的不断深入,以及与其他分析技术、化学计量学等的结合,未来将在纸质文物研究中发挥更多的作用。     

微波技术在砖石质文物含水率检测中的应用

水是造成砖石质文物劣化的主要因素之一,因此探明其在文物内部的分布、运移规律是开展保护研究的重要基础。微波技术在检测材料内部的水分含量方面表现出较好前景,但在文物保护领域还未普遍应用。基于此,本研究首先介绍了微波技术的理论基础和相关仪器,并选取山西省的长春玉皇庙为对象,针对砖石材料的内部含水率开展了室内样块检测和现场墙体检测。结果表明,微波技术能够较为准确地揭示出文物内部的空间含水率分布规律,这对于研究其病害成因等具有重要作用。此外,与其他多种无损检测技术相比,微波技术检测材料含水率的优点更多,值得文物工作者进一步研究与应用。