Mineral weathering in forest soils and its relevance to the preservation of the buried archaeological resource

There is more woodland in Britain now than for many centuries and considering many international climate change mitigation policies, woodland cover, both in Britain and internationally, is being promoted. However, neither the management of existing woodlands nor their expansion should be at the expense of important archaeological evidence. Due to the large number of known archaeological sites, the large areas of land with uninvestigated archaeological potential and the expanding woodland cover, suitable mitigation strategies need to be developed to allow preservation in situ of important sites. An understanding of how woodland soils and the buried archaeological resource interact is, therefore, essential. This paper utilises ongoing environmental research into the mineral weathering rates in forest soils and considers its application to artefact preservation. The study concludes that soil water pH, its movement, and the saturation of dissolved ions in the soil solution are major factors determining both mineral and artefact longevity. A simple guide to artefact longevity based on these properties is proposed and a geochemical model for predicting loss is tested. These tools could be applied to any soil or individual horizon irrespective of land-use.     

Southwest Scottish Crannogs: using in situ studies to assess preservation in wetland archaeological contexts

This paper presents the results of in situ monitoring of waterlogged burial contexts in southwest Scotland. The sites investigated are Iron Age crannogs (lake dwellings) which have a proven waterlogged archaeological component, and which are being assessed as part of a national program of study by the Scottish Wetland Archaeology Programme (SWAP) team. A monthly monitoring program commenced in July of 2004. To date, monitoring of water levels, pH, and redox potential, has been undertaken for a period of 17 months in order to encompass any seasonal variability at the sites studied. The results have proven robust in that an ‘ideal’ site for in situ preservation has been identified from the five sites investigated, and the monitoring has highlighted external variables and seasonal impacts that have the potential to influence the long-term in situ preservation at the remaining sites studied. In general, these results have expanded upon our knowledge of the potential for the preservation of existing archaeological remains within such contexts. This study represents the first stage of monitoring aimed at developing a holistic understanding of in situ conditions at the crannog sites studied in southwest Scotland.     

Phosphatic mineralization of seeds from archaeological sites

Recent investigations of botanical material from archaeological sites have provided seeds and plant remains exhibiting a crystalline or semi-crystalline appearance. X-ray diffraction and partial chemical analysis have revealed that the particular plant materials had been replaced by calcium phosphate. Using systematic sampling and retrieval techniques a significant body of data has been accumulated. Most mineralized botanical evidence has been recovered from faecal deposits, in particular cess pits and garderobes, and has provided an important source of information about aspects of diet of past populations.     

关于会展业的发展条件及其动力体系的初步探讨

会展业是一个前期投入高,周期长的新兴产业,近年来,我国会展业也迅速发展,会展业的研究受到人们普遍关注。本首先分析发展会展业应该具备的基本条件,并根据这些条件与会展业的关联性提出了会展业发展的动力体系模式,章结尾运用这一模式对我国会展业进行分析,并提出我国发展会展业的一些对策。     

Remains of the day-preservation of organic micro-residues on stone tools

Here I report on the decay processes of microscopic organic residues left on stone tool surfaces after their use. Residue analysis on ancient stone tools facilitates reconstruction of past activities. This study enables predictions about the circumstances under which ancient residues preserve. Experimental tool sets with modern residues were buried for a year in separate deposits at Sterkfontein, Sibudu (South Africa) and Zelhem (the Netherlands) whose pH and geomorphology varied, they were then analysed using light microscopy. Biological weathering mainly causes residue decay. In unstable environments rich in microbes and micro-organisms, residues decay quickly. From an archaeological perspective this means that sites that are stable, desiccated, waterlogged, extremely acidic or alkaline and extremely cold or hot sites. Different residue types have different preservation optima and this may lead to a preservation and perhaps interpretation bias. The preliminary predictive models presented in this paper could aid in the considered selection of sites and samples.     

Historicizing counterurbanization: In-migration and the reconstruction of rural space in Berkshire (UK), 1901–51

This article uses census data for Berkshire to argue that large-scale counterurbanization began much earlier than is generally recognized in some parts of southern England. This was not just movement down the urban hierarchy, which as Pooley and Turnbull have demonstrated was a long-term feature of England’s settlement system, but in some cases at least amenity-driven migration to rural areas of the kind increasingly recognized as a core component of recent counterurbanization. Despite a reduction of acreage Berkshire’s rural districts saw a 54% rise in population between 1901 and 1951. The sub-regional pattern of growth is assessed to gauge whether ‘clean break’ migration to the remote west of the county (which remained effectively out of commuting range from London throughout the period) was taking place, or whether counterurbanization was confined to the more accessible eastern districts. However, whilst population did increase in both west and east, it was in fact the central districts that grew most impressively. Three case study parishes are investigated in order to gauge the nature and consequences of counterurbanization at a local level. Professional and business migrants figure prominently, seeking to preserve and promote the rural attributes of their new communities, without however cutting their ties to urban centres. It is argued that migration to rural Berkshire in the first half of the twentieth century cannot adequately be described either as a form of extended suburbanization or an anti-metropolitan ‘clean break’. Rather, early counterurbanization marks the first stage on the long road to a post-productivist countryside, in which countryside becomes detached from agriculture, there is socio-economic convergence between town and country, and the ‘rural’ increasingly becomes defined by landscape and identity rather than economic function.     

文物真三维数字建模技术在秦始皇兵马俑博物馆中的应用——以一号坑陶俑为例

随着高新技术的发展,文保应用研究中引入了三维扫描技术。通过对秦兵马俑一号坑陶俑的扫描实例,介绍了一套利用三维激光扫描技术建立文物真三维模型的基本流程及方法,并通过文物真三维数据管理系统对模型进行展示、分析与研究。文物真三维数据模型的建立,使全面观察研究、再现和重建遗迹及文物成为可能,为文物的数字化展示、数字博物馆的建立、文物鉴赏以及文化遗产的保存提供了新思路。     

Geochemical indicators of preservation status and site deterioration at Star Carr

This paper presents the results of a project aimed at investigating the deterioration of organic remains at the Mesolithic site of Star Carr. Analyses of pH, Electrical Conductivity and Redox Potential are reported from borehole transects across the unexcavated part of the site. A comparison of field and laboratory measurements is made, leading to the characterisation of different preservation zones and identification of ‘vulnerable’ sediments at the site. These data are augmented by geochemical analyses of contemporary borehole sequences and adjacent historic monoliths. Analysis of surface water and groundwater has also been undertaken to assist in the interpretation of the site hydrology and geochemistry. The relationship between ‘natural’ geology and preservation potential, and the evidence for a ‘halo’ preservation effect in virgin sediments adjacent to previous archaeology trenches is investigated.     

中英界碑的现状与保护

中英界碑包括陆路界碑、海关关碑和海域界碑,是英殖民主义者侵略和瓜分中国领土的历史见证.中英街上的陆路界碑是英国"展拓香港界址"并在"新界"北部地区实施勘界后,至今保留下来的最具有历史价值的文物.由于时间长久和自然、人为等因素的影响,中英街界碑遭受了不同程度的损伤和破坏.为了研究界碑的保护方法,对中英街上1～8号界碑的地理分布情况,风化、生物病害、表面污染与变色、机械损伤等病害主要类型和形成病害的相应原因进行了详细的调查、分析和研究,针对界碑保存现状和病害特征提出清洗、表面防护、防水、排水和环境整治等有效方法对界碑进行保护,以恢复其原有面貌,延长其保存寿命,使之更好地发挥爱国主义教育作用.中英街界碑的保护方法对中英海关和海域界碑的保护具有借鉴作用.     

Transport Infrastructure in the Mountains: Why and How to Protect Landscape with Human Activity as Part of its Heritage

In mountain areas without permanent settlements, human activity is entirely dependent on spatial interaction. For centuries, local and regional traffic has followed livestock trails and footpaths. Mainly during the 20th century, new public and private roads changed this situation significantly in large parts of Norway. While mountain summer farming decreased, hydropower development and leisure use became dominant. Protected areas have been established to preserve possibilities for outdoor recreation and ‘wilderness’. However, seasonal farming activity is still an important upholder of cultural heritage. In the investigated area in western Norway, parallels between accessibility and human activity on mountain summer farmsteads have been identified with the abandonment of dairy production between ca 1905 and 1973, recent use by landowners and hikers’ use of publicly accessible tourist cabins. Increased differences in accessibility and protection status have resulted in diversification of human activity in different locations. Custom and tradition represent different principles according to which cultural landscape can be maintained—with emphasis on dynamics or invariance, respectively. Recent landscape protection focuses primarily on tradition. The necessity of easy access to maintain the living cultural heritage in addition to ‘wilderness’ areas, however, requires taking both concepts into account, most probably treated as geographically separate.