Beyond the Visual: Considering the Archaeology of Colonial Sounds

Many historians and archaeologists have focused on trade goods in the French colonies, yet few have examined how these items were animated in colonial contexts. Here, the issue of colonial performance as it related to trade goods (such as hawk bells, brass tinklers, glass beads) is examined and it is argued that the power of these objects was more than purely visual. Case studies from French Louisiana are presented to discuss the intersection of bodies and objects, of the exotic and the erotic towards understanding the sounds that emanated from colonial communities and households.     

Oldowan behavior and raw material transport: perspectives from the Kanjera Formation

The archaeological record of Oldowan hominins represents a diverse behavioral system. It has been suggested that exploitation of lithic resources by Oldowan hominins was simplistic and represented mostly use of local sources of stone. Here we investigate the raw material selection and transport behaviors of Oldowan hominins reflected in the stone artifact assemblages from the Kanjera South Formation, South Rachuonyo District, Kenya. Using geochemical methods (ED-XRF) artifacts are linked to primary and secondary source outcrops throughout southwestern Kenya. These data show that hominins selected raw materials for transport at frequencies that are significantly different from their availability on ancient landscapes. Furthermore, a substantial proportion of the assemblage represents transport over relatively long distances (>10 km). Our study further suggests that in the early stages of stone tool use hominins used a wide variety of raw materials and selected these materials at some distance from their eventual discard locations. Early hominin behavior may have incorporated an understanding of raw material source distributions across a more extensive landscape than has been previously documented. This supports the growing perspective that Oldowan technology represents a more complex behavioral pattern than is usually associated with the beginnings of hominin tool use.     

A method for estimating edge length from flake dimensions: use and implications for technological change in the southern African MSA

This paper presents a method for estimating edge length from flake dimensions. Comparison of estimated values with data from measured flake edges demonstrates the robusticity of the method. Building on the work of Braun (Braun, D.R., 2005. Examining flake production strategies: examples from the Middle Paleolithic of Southwest Asia. Lithic Technology 30, 107–125; Braun, D.R., Harris, J.W.K., 2003. Technological developments in the Oldowan of Koobi Fora: innovative techniques of artifact analysis and new interpretations of Oldowan behavior, in Mora, R., de la Torre, I. (Eds.), Oldowan: Rather More than Smashing Stones. Treballs d’ Arqueologia 9, pp. 132–144) this estimate is used to generate an edge length to mass value for complete flakes—taken to be a proxy for flaking efficiency. It is shown that this value is useful in tracking the onset, variability and decline of a well known technological phase—the Howiesons Poort of South Africa. The results suggest that the Howiesons Poort was a time in which flaking efficiency was emphasised. Furthermore, comparison of upper limits of edge to mass values for different raw materials may provide an insight into changes in raw material selection.     

Raw stone material supply for Upper Pleistocene settlements in Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos,Spain): flint characterization using petrographic and geochemical techniques

Microscopy, mass spectrometry and X-ray diffraction methods were used to analyse 415 samples of natural and archaeological flint from Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain) in order to define the different types from Neogene and Cretaceous formations in the study area, infer their genetic context and ascertain the supply sources used by hunter-gatherers who exploited this area in the Upper Pleistocene. A statistical classification model was also designed using linear discriminatory analysis and support vector machines which permitted the differentiation of the flint on an age basis.     

Pliny the Elder and Sr–Nd isotopes: tracing the provenance of raw materials for Roman glass production

In Roman and Byzantine times, natron glass was traded throughout the known world in the form of chunks. Production centers of such raw glass, active from the 4th to 8th century AD, were identified in Egypt and Syro-Palestine. However, early Roman primary glass units remain unknown from excavation or scientific analysis. The ancient author Pliny described in 70 AD that besides Egyptian and Levantine resources, also raw materials from Italy and the Gallic and Spanish provinces were used in glass making. In this study, the primary provenance of 1st–3rd century AD natron vessel glass is investigated. The use of combined Sr and Nd isotopic analysis allows the distinguishing and characterizing of different sand raw materials used for primary glass production. The isotope data obtained from the glass samples are compared to the signatures of primary glass from known production centers in the eastern Mediterranean and a number of sand samples from the regions described by Pliny the Elder as possible sources of primary glass. Eastern Mediterranean primary glass has a Nile dominated Mediterranean Nd signature (higher than −6.0 ? Nd), while glass with a primary production location in the western Mediterranean or north-western Europe should have a different Nd signature (lower than −7.0 ? Nd). Most Roman glass has a homogeneous ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr signature close to the modern sea water composition, likely caused by the (intentional) use of shell as glass raw material. In this way, strontium and neodymium isotopes now prove that Pliny's writings were correct: primary glass production was not exclusive to the Levant or Egypt in early Roman days, and factories of raw glass in the Western Roman Empire will have been at play.     

陕西志丹县马头山道教真身泥塑年代的测定分析

14C测年技术作为一种测年技术已广泛地应用在考古学、地质年代学、古气候学、古地理学等许多方面。为了解陕西志丹县马头山道教真身泥塑的年代,采用加速器质谱14C技术对道教真身泥塑的谷秸进行了测试,测试结果表明该真身泥塑制作年代在17世纪中叶至18世纪末的可能性较大。     

清雕漆描金宝座材料与工艺研究

为了了解清雕漆描金宝座的材料和工艺,对胎体制作切片进行了显微镜观察,确定了其种属;采用傅里叶红外光谱分析法分析了红漆,图谱与桐油很相近,由此可确定调漆工艺中加入了桐油。另外,结合文献,初步复原了此宝座的髹漆工艺。此研究对宝座以后的保护及清代家具及漆器的制作工艺具有参考价值。     

清代瓷质祭礼器略论

本文通过对故宫博物院藏瓷器实物的考察,并结合《皇朝礼器图式》、《备物昭诚》等内府彩绘本清代典制书籍,考述了礼书记载的各式瓷质仿古礼器在乾隆时期确有生产,且嘉庆、道光、咸丰、同治、光绪朝都有补做。同时,因清代礼制规定国家诸祀和内廷诸祀的行礼场所和受祭对象不同,导致瓷质祭礼器的生产制度、造型与种类也有所差别。     

田山花袋《一个士兵》的疾病意义读解

《一个士兵》以日俄战争中的辽阳会战为背景,描写了一名患有脚气性心脏病的普通士兵由发病到死亡的过程。小说没有选择残酷的战争场面,而选择了疾病与人的对决。本文从疾病这一角度切入,关注小说中有关脚气病、身体的言说,探讨国民的身体在“富国强兵”的社会背景下如何成为国家管理的对象,以及属于国家的身体在遭遇疾病之时如何回复其私有性。     

Raw material quality and Oldowan hominin toolstone preferences: evidence from Kanjera South,Kenya

The role of raw material quality in Oldowan technology has not been fully explored. There are numerous studies suggesting Oldowan hominins preferred certain types of stone for artifact manufacture. Previous studies of the artifact assemblage from the early Pliocene Oldowan locality of Kanjera South (South Rachuonyo District, Kenya) show that raw material selection and transport was an important aspect of Late Pliocene hominin adaptations. Yet the exact properties of stones that hominins were selecting remain enigmatic. Two potentially important features of artifact raw material are durability and fracture predictability. We investigate fracture predictability through mechanical tests of stone and investigations of the affect of stone properties on fracture patterns in archaeological collections. We investigate stone durability with actualistic studies of edge attrition combined with further mechanical tests of various lithologies. Oldowan hominins at Kanjera appear to have selected raw materials based on their durability. The ability for a stone to fracture consistently does not appear to be as important in hominin toolstone preference as previously assumed. Hominins that produced the assemblages at Kanjera South appear to have incorporated an extensive understanding of various attributes of raw material in the transport and production of stone artifacts. When combined with previous research on the transport patterns at Kanjera, the results of this study provide evidence for a more complex raw material acquisition strategy than has previously been suggested for Late Pliocene Oldowan hominins.