Studies on amerindian dogs, 1: Carbon isotopes in relation to maize in the diet of domestic dogs from early Peru and Ecuador

Work initiated purely as a dating project in support of a craniometric and morphological investigation of domestic dogs from early Peru has proved to have much wider implications. The stable carbon isotoperatios (¹³C/¹²C) of hair samples from ten dogs show that maize formed a significant part of their diet. Radiocarbon dates for these remains have confirmed that they belong to the period well after the cultivation of maize was first established. Stable carbon isotope measurements can thus be used to test for the presence of maize as a dietary constituent at earlier sites even where there is otherwise only indirect evidence for its cultivation. Collagen from animal or human bone is a suitable alternative to hair for this purpose and the method has been successfully applied to collagen dating to c. 3000 BC from the Valdivia culture site of Real Alto, Ecuador, as well as to a series of early Peruvian dogs.     

内蒙古塔尔梁五代墓葬壁画材料和制作工艺研究

塔尔梁墓葬壁画墓位于内蒙古呼和浩特市南部的清水河县。为了解该壁画的材料和制作工艺,通过显微镜、扫描电镜及能谱仪(SEM-EDS)、X射线衍射仪(XRD)和拉曼分光光谱仪对揭取时脱落的5个试料的颜料层、白灰层和地仗层的材料进行了分析。结果表明,红色颜料的主要成分为三氧化二铁,黄色为水合氧化铁,黑色与灰色中包含石墨构造碳黑;白灰层的主要成分为碳酸钙。地仗层主要成分为石英、方解石以及长石等粘土矿物,且在地仗中发现石灰籽粒,由此推测地仗制作时加入了石灰。地仗出土时多空洞,并发现了植物硅酸体,根据形态综合判断制作地仗时拌入了麦草与麦壳。根据材质分析结果,壁画的制作工艺为:加入了石灰的拌草泥层地仗上涂抹较薄的石灰浆,之后在上面作画。研究结果可为内蒙古五代墓葬壁画制作工艺的研究提供科学依据和同类科学分析提供参考。     

古代织品染料的分析

从染草中提取出各种植物染料,然后进行古样品的模拟染色。以薄层色谱法为主要测试手段,并结合化学分析以及高效液相色谱。紫外光谱等近代方法对染料进行分析与鉴定,建立起一套行之有效的天然植物染料分析和鉴定的方法,并成功地用于古代样品的分析,揭示了三千年前古样品染料色素的成分。     

The phytolith archaeological record: strengths and weaknesses evaluated based on a quantitative modern reference collection from Greece

The phytolith record from archaeological strata is a powerful tool for reconstructing aspects of past human behaviour and ecology. Considerable insights into the problems and potentials of this record can be obtained by studying phytoliths in modern plants. We prepared a phytolith reference collection of modern plants mostly from northern Greece that includes quantitative information on phytolith concentrations (number of phytoliths per gram dry organic material) and morphological assemblages. Here we analyse this reference collection with the aim of evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the archaeological phytolith record. The reference collection comprises 62 different plant taxa. Of them, 28 are trees, 1 conifer, 10 shrubs and 1 herb, 3 domesticated annual legumes and 19 monocotyledons. We demonstrate quantitatively the extent to which woody species, legumes and fruits of dicots contribute only small amounts of phytoliths to the sediments per unit tissue dry weight, while leaves of trees and shrubs produce significant amounts of phytoliths and grasses are prolific phytolith producers. We compare the data of this reference collection with a similar reference collection from another Mediterranean ecosystem (Israel). The comparison indicates that some aspects of phytolith production are probably genetically controlled, whereas others are environmentally controlled. We note that despite the fact that woody species produce few phytoliths per gram of tissue, their record can be most informative when taking into account other properties of the sediments. We also note that jigsaw puzzle-shaped phytoliths normally form in plants that grow in humid conditions, but may form in arid environments when the plants are irrigated. This study clearly shows the extent to which some plants can be under-represented and others over-represented in the phytolith record. Knowing the extent of this bias can greatly improve our interpretation of the phytolith record.     

The Bronze Age landscape of the Bjäre peninsula,southern Sweden,and its relationship to burial mounds

Palaeoecological analyses from a small fen deposit, combined with pollen analysis from buried soil profiles under prehistoric burial mounds, have been used to investigate the timing and vegetation change associated with the Holocene development of a cultural landscape in southern Sweden. Traditional pollen analysis is complemented with plant macrofossil analysis and soil pollen analysis from within and in close proximity to the burial mounds in the coastal Bjäre peninsula, well known for its high density of well-preserved Bronze Age monuments. The vegetation development is linked to the construction of the burial mounds. A marked increase of cultural impact on the landscape is recorded during the Neolithic–Bronze Age transition and estimates of landscape openness suggest that by the onset of the Bronze Age, forest cover was only 20–40%, falling to 10% in the immediate vicinity of the burial mounds themselves. The coastal strip appears to have been affected by human activity to a greater extent and at an earlier date than sites from further inland in southern Sweden and the Bronze Age burial mounds were most likely designed to be visible in a largely deforested landscape.     

植物覆盖技术保护潮湿地区土遗址探讨

潮湿地区降雨量大,土遗址普遍风化严重,室外保护难度大,表面防风化技术还不成熟。基于土遗址表面普遍生长有茂盛植被的现象,充分发挥植物对遗址的保护作用,减少不利影响,采用植物覆盖技术保护遗址十分必要且可行。本工作通过调查植物对遗址影响和植物覆盖技术保护实践的分析,论证了植物覆盖技术的可行性,提出针对封土、墙体等不同遗址,充分考虑遗址风化程度和保存状态,选用适合植物物种实施植物覆盖技术,植物物种选择应首选当地适宜优势物种,应充分评估植物对土遗址的不利影响。研究结果表明,植物覆盖技术保护遗址十分必要且可行。     

Defining an indicator package to allow identification of ‘cesspits’ in the archaeological record

This paper summarises the insect, plant macrofossil and other environmental evidence from a large number of deposits, thought to be cesspits, at a range of archaeological sites. A potential ‘indicator package’ (sensu Kenward and Hall, 1997), consisting of a range of biological materials and archaeological artefacts, is outlined which should allow a more accurate identification of cesspits in the archaeological record enhancing further studies of the rich evidence often preserved in them.     

Fruit stones from Tiao Lei's tomb of Jiangxi in China,and their palaeoethnobotanical significance

Fruit stones were discovered in Mr. Tiao Lei's Tomb (around 300 AD) at Nanchang, China. The morphology and anatomy of the fruit stones were investigated. They are identified as belonging to three species, namely, Chinese plum (Prunus salicina Lindley), red bayberry (Myrica rubra Sieb. et Zucc.), and Chinese date (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.). These stones suggest the possibility of orchards in the local area, and the fresh or processed drupes of these three species probably played important roles in the tomb owner's life.     

Improved methodology for extraction and amplification of DNA from single grains of charred wheat

Comparisons were made between two commonly used methods for the extraction of ancient DNA from charred plant remains. Using artificially charred wheat seeds, we show that silica-binding is the most efficient method for extraction of DNA. We describe a improved silica-binding procedure, including pre-incubation with N-phenacylthiazolium bromide and increased washing of bound DNA, which yields amplifiable DNA from seeds heated at 200 °C for up to 8 h, conditions which promote the formation of Maillard products which often copurify with aDNA and inhibit subsequent PCRs. We believe that this method will be effective in ancient DNA extraction with most types of charred archaeobotanical material. Both cold- and hot-start PCR procedures gave good amplicon yields with extracts prepared in this way, but cold-start PCRs also resulted in synthesis of short artefact products. Addition of bovine serum albumin to PCRs, an inert carrier substance thought to enhance amplification efficiency by binding contaminants, had no advantageous effect and in fact reduced amplicon synthesis.