Subadult Age at Death and Health Status at Niah Cave,Borneo (1500–200 bc)

Southeast Asia's transition to rice agriculture is often used as an exception to the general pattern of health decline at the agricultural transition. Niah Cave is the largest known Southeast Asian Neolithic cemetery, providing valuable information about subadult health during the agricultural transition in this region. This study examines the health status and mortuary treatment of subadult skeletal remains (Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI) = 49) from the Neolithic cemetery of Niah Cave, Sarawak, Malaysia (1500–200 bc ). This study found that few cases of cribra orbitalia (4.6%) and porotic hyperostosis (14%). However, nonspecific infections may have been a risk factor for subadults as over half (65%) died with active cases of periosteal reactions on their long bones. Differential diagnosis determined that possible factors for this include parasite load, rickets and scurvy. Mortuary practices indicate that subadults may have been treated differently in phases 1 and 2 but were grated similar mortuary treatment in phases 3 and 4. This study suggests that changes in mobility patterns may have placed subadults at risk for increased parasite load and vitamin deficiency, while the role of subadults within the community may have changed over time. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Revisiting Qumran Cave 1Q and its Archaeological Assemblage

Qumran Cave 1Q was the first site of Dead Sea scroll discoveries. Found and partly emptied by local Bedouin, the cave was excavated officially in 1949 and published in the series Discoveries in the Judaean Desert (Volume 1) in 1955. Contents of the cave are found in collections worldwide, and in different institutions in Jerusalem and Amman. While the scrolls are the most highly prized artefacts from this cave, in archaeological terms they are part of an assemblage that needs to be understood holistically in order to make conclusions about its character and dating. This study presents all of the known items retrieved from the cave, including those that are currently lost, in order to consider what we might know about the cave prior to its emptying and the changes to its form. It constitutes preliminary work done as part of the Leverhulme funded International Network for the Study of Dispersed Qumran Caves Artefacts and Archival Sources [IN-2015-067].     

莫高窟第172窟北壁建筑图像的三维数字化呈现

莫高窟第172窟北壁的建筑图像是敦煌壁画中最具盛唐建筑风格的典型代表作。本研究以探索敦煌壁画中二维建筑图像三维数字化呈现的方法为目标,以第172窟北壁中央的前殿图像为例,综合利用史料文献和实证材料,进行基于有限数据资料与结构逻辑推导的推测性研究,并集成运用图像处理软件(Adobe PhotoShop、Adobe Illustrator)和三维建模软件(SketchUp、Rhino),建立了第172窟北壁中央前殿的三维彩色模型,实现了壁画中的建筑图像从二维到三维的虚拟转变,相对科学、客观地再现了壁画中的建筑形象。通过3D打印等快速成型技术和虚拟投屏等展示利用手段,深度挖掘技术成果价值,扩展了壁画遗产的价值阐释与展示深度,带给观者超现实的空间体验。     

Manganese Black Pigments in Prehistoric Paintings: the Case of the Black Frieze of Pech Merle (France)

Different black pigments of natural origin (mineral or organic) have been examined by means of several analytical methods (colour measurements, elemental analysis and structural analysis). The results, after being compared with each other, then served as reference points in the study of the ‘Black Frieze’ of the cave of Pech Merle (Lot). After that, colour measurement was investigated in situ on the paintings as a means of displaying small differences (in hue or chroma) between the black colours. The aim of this study was to verify several hypotheses concerning the techniques used by the painters of Pech Merle, and specifically by the one(s) of the Black Frieze. A first objective was that of identifying the nature and, if possible, the origin of the black pigments used in these figures. A second objective was that of determining in which parts of the frieze one or the other (or one and the other) had been used; and the final objective was to provide new technical information that might help us better to understand how the Pech Merle frieze was produced, whether by a single painter and in one episode, for the most part, or, on the contrary, in several episodes and by a succession of different painters.     

游客量对炳灵寺第128窟微环境影响初步研究

通过对炳灵寺石窟第128窟连续一年的微环境监测数据分析,结合游客参观统计,探究了游客量对炳灵寺第128窟微环境的影响;其中CO₂浓度与游客量呈正相关,窟内外温差越大,其衰减越快。洞窟温度升高与游客量呈一定程度正相关,温度增量主要为正值,负值与气象条件相关,温度的衰减与温度增量及窟内外温差正相关。窟内相对湿度变化较为复杂,监测期间游客参观对相对湿度影响在-5%～10%范围内,以降低窟内相对湿度为主。研究结果表明,目前的开放模式有助于CO₂浓度衰减,可适当扩大每批次参观人数至10人左右,以应对大客流状况;注重旅游旺季特别是5月、9月下旬至10月中旬时间段洞窟内相对湿度变化的监测,做好游客管理和洞窟相对湿度控制应对措施。本研究对于炳灵寺石窟第128窟及其他相似洞窟的旅游开放管理具有一定指导意义。     

Burned bone in the Howieson’s Poort and post-Howieson’s Poort Middle Stone Age deposits at Sibudu (South Africa): behavioral and taphonomic implications

Despite a growing awareness of the wide range of information that can be provided by detailed analyses of burned bone from archaeological contexts, such analyses are still relatively uncommon. This paper focuses on the behavioral and taphonomic implications of burned bone from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) site of Sibudu Cave (South Africa), reporting on the analysis of a large sample (>377,000 fragments) of bone recovered from the Howieson’s Poort (HP) and post-HP MSA deposits at the site. Faunal remains were initially sorted into burning categories based on changes in color; microscopic analyses focused on the optical properties of the bone matrix (degree of preservation of the bone structure, reflectance and fluorescence) indicated that the color is a valid indicator of thermally altered bone in the Sibudu assemblage. The association of burned bone with hearths, the intensity of burning damage, and the sheer quantity of thermally altered bone suggests that the bone was not burned primarily as a result of natural fires. We propose that the high incidence of burned bone primarily reflects two types of site maintenance activities: first, the discarding of bone into fire as a means of disposing of food waste (as also argued by Cain [2005, Using burned animal bone to look at Middle Stone Age occupation and behavior. J. Archaeol. Sci. 32, 873–884], for a smaller sample of material from the post-HP and late MSA deposits at the site), and second, the incidental burning of bone on/near the surface during the periodic burning of plant-based bedding. In considering the taphonomic implications of the burned bone, we demonstrate that calcined bone is in fact more heavily fragmented than unburnt or moderately burned bone. Furthermore, cortical preservation was negatively correlated with the intensity of burning damage, which has implications for the study of surface modifications. These results indicate the importance of conducting thorough taphonomic analyses prior to making comparisons between units that show differing degrees or intensities of burning damage.     

The first record of palaeopathology from the zooarchaeological record of late Pleistocene,southwest Tasmania

Several bones from the Late Pleistocene archaeological site, Kutikina Cave, in southwest Tasmania, show pathological conditions. The majority of these specimens represent Bennett's or red‐necked wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus), with a single specimen of the Common wombat (Vombatus ursinus) recorded. While there has been extensive work in this region of Australia since the early 1980s, this is the first record of palaeopathology from the late Pleistocene of Tasmania, and the first from a human accumulation of predominately macropod material. The palaeopathology raises several questions concerning the mobility of these animals which might have increased their susceptibly to predation, while some of the effected elements are fragmented, suggesting that people utilised these bones despite their deformities. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

梁“中大通二年”纪年摩崖的发现——栖霞寺千佛岩61号佛龛南梁纪年题名石刻

2000年在栖霞寺千佛岩窟区61号佛龛门楣上寻访到纪年题名石刻,此次发现提供了开凿于齐梁间的千佛岩石窟的准确竣工年代,纠正了过去石窟竣工于梁天监十年的说法,并为鉴定同类时代的佛龛提供了重要依据。     

Middle Pleistocene bird consumption at Level XI of Bolomor Cave (Valencia, Spain)

The consumption of small prey dates back to the Plio-Pleistocene chronologies in some African sites. However, the systematic acquisition and consumption of small prey in the pre-Upper Palaeolithic times is still a highly debated topic in Europe. Although the utilization of leporids has been recorded in several pre-Late Pleistocene European sites, the evidence of bird consumption is not as common for these periods. Nevertheless, Level XI (MIS 6) of Bolomor Cave has clear diagnostic elements to document the acquisition and use of birds (Aythya sp.) for food in the form of: (1) cutmarks on bones of both the front and hind limb; (2) presence of burning patterns on the extremities of the bones (areas of the skeleton with less meat); and (3) human toothmarks on limb bones. The capture of birds is classified as quick-flying game in the archaeological sites. The acquiring of fast-running (mostly lagomorphs) and quick-flying small prey requires a sophisticated technology and involves obtaining and processing ways different from those used for large- and medium-sized animals. From this perspective, the aim of this paper is to examine possible patterns in the processing sequence of birds from Level XI of Bolomor Cave and to improve the data on their butchery and human consumption in the Middle Pleistocene of Iberian Peninsula.     

Prehistoric hand stencils at Fern Cave, North Queensland (Australia): environmental and chronological implications of Raman spectroscopy and FT-IR imaging results

Raman spectroscopy and FT-IR imaging analyses of cave wall pigment samples from north Queensland (Australia) indicate that some hand stencils were undertaken during a dry environmental phase indicating late Holocene age. Other, earlier painting episodes also took place during dry environmental periods of the terminal Pleistocene and/or early Holocene. These results represent a rare opportunity to attain chronological information for rock art in conditions where insufficient carbon is present for radiocarbon dating.