Specialization and social inequality in Bronze Age SE Arabia: analyzing the development of production strategies and economic networks using agent-based modeling

This paper investigates the role of specialized production strategies in the development of socio-economic inequalities in Bronze Age south-eastern (SE) Arabia, and particularly, the ways in which a localized, internal exchange economy may have produced stress and instability in the SE Arabian socio-economic system. While archaeological research has established that the communities of SE Arabia participated in a widespread Bronze Age exchange system that included areas of the ancient Near East, South Asia, and Central Asia, it is unclear to what degree this interaction fostered the broad-scale socio-economic changes seen in the Early Bronze Age of SE Arabia. Here we present the results of an agent-based model that suggest the nature of the internal exchange economy in SE Arabia itself may have precipitated the social conditions necessary for change by allowing individuals to profit disproportionately. We thus emphasize the importance of local production strategies in generating socio-economic change, in addition to the well-established economic and cultural contacts with the wider Bronze Age world.     

Psychological components of middle paleolithic technology: The proceduralization of lithic core reduction

Exploring the evolution of human cognition has been as methodologically problematic as it has been a vital area of study over the last couple of decades. In particular, the integration of archaeology and psychology, while fundamental to many such studies, has suffered from a difficulty by many researchers to effectively link models from the cognitive sciences with the archaeological data ( [Wynn, 2009] and [Wynn and Coolidge, 2010] ). In the current study one psychological process, proceduralization is used to examine the technological strategies that underpin the sequential nature of lithic core reduction. This is done via the application of sequential lithic information analysis (SLIA), a method developed by the author for the concurrent study of qualitative and quantitative sequential information. In the present context SLIA helps elucidate both the micro- and macro-level dynamics that underlie the reduction of a sample of Middle Paleolithic refitted Levallois cores from the site of Taramsa-1, Upper Egypt. The results of this study provide an explanation for the variability recognised within the Levallois technology and also speak to the existence of certain aspects of modern cognition by ca. 70,000 years before present.     

Technical microwear and residues in identifying bipolar knapping on an anvil: experimental data

The functional study of the stone tool artefacts from the Middle Pleistocene site of Isernia la Pineta (Molise, central Italy) revealed microtraces that display certain features that did not fit in with what we know as use-wear traces. The suspicion that these microtraces may be technical traces derived from bipolar flaking, which is prevalent at this site, led us to initiate an experimental programme to check our hypothesis. The experiments conducted allowed us to identify residues associated with bipolar flaking on an anvil and to characterise the microscopic traces derived from this production technique. Our results proved very useful in identifying the artefacts produced by bipolar flaking, as well as in determining the basic lithological features of the anvil. Moreover, these experiments allowed us to assess the possible interferences that these kinds of technical traces can cause when performing the functional analyses of lithic assemblages produced by the bipolar technique.     

Quartz-tipped arrows older than 60 ka: further use-trace evidence from Sibudu,KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa

This paper discusses the results of a detailed functional study of 16 microlithic backed tools made on quartz, and newly excavated at Sibudu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The layers associated with the artefacts have OSL ages of 61.7 ± 1.5 ka, 63.8 ± 2.5 ka and 64.7 ± 1.9 ka and represent the Howiesons Poort Industry at the site. I show that more than 50% of the pieces could hardly have been used in any way other than to tip arrows in a transverse position. This outcome supports previous inferences that some of these small stone tools, and perhaps a bone point from the same context, signify the use of bow and arrow technology during the Middle Stone Age. In addition to transversely hafted arrow tips, there is also evidence that some of the tools could have been hafted diagonally. Such tools could have been used equally successfully as arrow tips or barbs, or as barbs for hand-delivered spears. The variation in hafting configuration for these geometric shapes signifies hunting technologies that were flexible and most likely adapted according to need, preference, season and/or prey type.     

The early neolithic pottery of the volga-ural region (based on the materials of the elshanka culture)

This article deals with the technologies of pottery-making used by the population of the Volga-Ural region during the Early Neolithic. The analyzed assemblage includes 344 specimens of ceramics (conventionally regarded as separate vessels) from 12 sites of the Elshanka culture (end of the 7th–6th millennium BC). The research method elaborated by A.A. Bobrinsky is based on binocular microscopy, use-wear analysis, and physical modeling. The origins and evolution of the Early Neolithic ceramic traditions in the Volga-Ural region and the role of their admixture are discussed.     

浅谈多媒体在高中数学教学中的合理应用

教师运用现代多媒体信息技术对教学活动进行创造性设计,发挥计算机辅助教学的特有功能,把信息技术和数学教学的学科特点结合起来,可以使教学的表现形式更加形象化、多样化、直观化,有利于充分揭示数学概念的形成与发展,数学思维的过程和实质,展示数学思维的形成过程,使数学课堂教学收到事半功倍的效果。     

高掺粉煤灰水泥的生产和应用

古交地区有矸石煤坑口电厂三座,总装机300万千瓦,年排放粉煤灰400余万吨。生产高掺量粉煤灰水泥是减少粉煤灰污染提高水泥厂效益的有效途径。2010年,我们在山西-煤气化集团水泥粉磨站进行了高掺粉煤灰水泥的试验,生产高掺量粉煤灰水泥5万吨,吃干灰2万吨,试验的成功对全市推广商掺粉煤灰水泥极具示范意义。     

浅谈初中信息技术课教学模式和方法

初中计算机教学主要目的是激发学生学习和使用计算机的兴趣,巩固学生学习计算机的热情,让学生初步掌握计算机的基本操作技能并应用于实践,注重培养学生的信息素质和创新思维以及自学能力,为达此目的在教学中应根据学生实况采取灵活多样的教学模式和方法。     

陶寺遗址出土泥质陶器的中子活化分析与研究

本文采用中子活化分析技术对陶寺遗址出土的74件泥质陶器样品进行了分析研究,结果显示出土于遗址不同功能区的泥质陶器在原材料的使用或制作工艺上存在差异性,这或许表明了不同阶层的人所使用的泥质陶器也是有差别的,已经有了贫富贵贱之分。     

日本古代楼阁式木塔的类型学研究

日本现存8～12世纪所建造的楼阁式木塔11座,目前为止,针对这些遗构的实测和基础考察已基本完成,相应的文献研究、木结构技术研究也已经有一定的成果。不过,仍有5座塔的建造年代尚未明确,并且这些楼阁式木塔在形态上是怎样演进的——有关这方面的研究还有待深入。此文对这11座木塔的木构架进行类型学研究,在精确上述5座塔的建造年代的同时,也梳理了日本楼阁式木塔在这5个世纪里的形态演变和各个年代的形态特征。