朝鲜半岛及日本细形青铜武器的原料产地

对朝鲜半岛及日本出土细形青铜武器的原料产地问题作了尝试性探讨,以了解朝、日及中国大陆古代青铜原料的流通状况。利用青铜器及铅矿物中所含铅的四种稳定同位素的比值,在三维坐标系中观察其分布规律,并结合统计学方法探讨青铜器所含铅与铅矿地域特征的关联。通过比较分析中国大陆、朝鲜半岛及日本列岛出土的部分青铜器及铅矿物标本的铅同位素比值,指出上述三地某些青铜器原料中的铅可能有共同的产地,而朝、日当地铅矿的开采似不早于公元7世纪,故朝、日细形青铜武器的铅原料可能来自中国大陆。     

时序“矛盾”与“增删五次”及版本传抄——《红楼梦》中时序“矛盾”考辨之四

现存《红楼梦》(《石头记》)所有的版本,都只是过录本。这些:过录本,完全有可能不是抄自一种版本,而是拼凑抄的,即都不是据曹雪芹的原稿抄录的(更不是曹雪芹的原稿),这样也就难免出现矛盾现象了。因此,《红楼梦》中存在的“矛盾”现象,不一定都是曹雪芹造成的,而有些是在后来的传抄过程中造成的。同时,还有一些是由于曹雪芹在“披阅十载,增删五次”的过程中,“修改未尽”而留下的“痕迹”。另外,也与作者的注重写意有关。     

Revisiting the lead isotopic compositions of the Shang bronzes at Hanzhong and the new hypothesis of Qinling as the source of highly radiogenic lead

The provenance of the highly radiogenic lead (HRL) contained in Chinese Shang bronzes has attracted great scholarly attention in recent years. A new study of the Hanzhong Shang bronzes has put forward a hypothesis that the HRL metal may come from the adjacent Qinling Mountains. This article reanalyses the lead isotope ratios and alloy compositions of the Hanzhong bronzes. Combining the analytical results, the modern ore data and the slags from Guanzhong area, we propose that there is no direct evidence to identify Qinling as the provenance of HRL metal (especially lead). Whilst over 80% of the Hanzhong bronzes contain HRL, the indigenous artefacts containing both HRL and special alloying elements (As, Sb, Ni) account only for minor portions. This fact cannot verify that HRL originates from Qinling, and even makes it difficult to prove that most of the Hanzhong bronzes use local metal resources. An alternative argument might be that the HRL used in Hanzhong derived from the Shang dynasty. The use of HRL reflects a unified system for allocating metal resources centred on the Shang kingdom, which has great significance for further understanding of the resource circulation patterns among different bronze cultures and locations during the Shang period.     

Other ways to examine the finances behind the birth of Classical Greece

Although the birth of Classical Greece is often attributed to the constitutional reforms of Cleisthenes (508/507 BCE), the achievement of an economically minded government under the Peisistratid tyrant Hippias (527–510 BCE) potentially paved the way by advancing Athenian silver for exportation in international trade. It is proposed here that new silver technology, which initiated the transition from acquiring silver from ‘dry’ silver ores to silver-bearing lead ores, was introduced to Greece during the time of the Peisistratids (561–510 BCE). Massive exploitation of silver-bearing lead ores at Laurion in Attica, which later financed the construction of a war navy, appears evident in the lead pollution records of Greenland ice, lead isotopic analyses of sixth-century BCE Attic silver coins and late Iron Age Levantine hacksilver, and is reflected in the numbers of lead votive figurines at sanctuaries in Sparta. Against the backdrop of the threat of war with Persia and an imminent Spartan invasion which resulted in the overthrow of Hippias (510 BCE), it is considered that a political transition occurred because Greece was both geologically and politically disposed to adopt this labour-intensive silver technology which helped to initiate, fund and protect the radical social experiment that became known as Classical Greece.     

Chemical profiling of a 130-year-old manuscript reveals the early use of synthetic lead white correction fluid in ancient China

In practice, correction fluid to mask text errors has been continuously in demand since papers began to be predominantly used since the late fourth century AD in ancient China. However, research on the trajectory of correction fluid composition has been largely overlooked and has not been revealed currently. In this study, a multianalytical approach was used to investigate a thin whiteout layer, used as correction fluids applied in 1890, on a book page from the famous Imperial Encyclopedia (1726 bronze-type repaint version). The results showed that the white layer was composed of hydrocerussite ((PbCO₃)₂·Pb (OH)₂) in mixture with plant oil and a tiny portion of calcium carbonate, which had been applied to conceal the originally printed Chinese characters upon which they were rewritten in preparing photographic negatives for reprinting using photolithography. The analysis results also suggest that lead white was likely domestically made using a local lead ore source by the wet synthetic process. Considering the prolonged use of orpiment (As₂S₃) as a correction fluid ingredient in Chinese tradition, a trajectory to lead white suggests not only advances in pulping and papermaking technology but also a shift in cultural habits and aesthetic psychology in the late Qing Dynasty.     

周-汉毛织品上红色染料主要成分的鉴定

对一批西周-汉毛织品上的红色染料进行了分析研究。从毛织品上提取、分离得红色染料一主要成分,经质谱(EIMS)、紫外可见吸收光谱(UV)、H核磁共振谱(HNMR)、C核磁共振谱(CNMR)分析鉴定,其主要成分为紫茜素。所有毛织品红色染料的高效液相色谱分析结果与标准品茜草素、紫茜素一致,只是两成分之间的含量不同,因而判断这些毛织物上的红色染料均来源于茜草属植物。     

Organisational Capacity for Engaging with Indigenous Australians

Community capacity building is a common goal for programmes and policies involving Indigenous peoples, but it relies heavily on organisational capacity to work effectively in intercultural settings. This paper reviews the organisational capacity of the senior leaders of Australian Red Cross and institutional efforts to build a culturally appropriate and respectful organisation. It reports results from a survey of the organisation's leadership team and follow‐up interviews undertaken in 2010, reviews the challenges facing the organisation in working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, and considers institutional progress in building internal capacity to lead change in working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. The paper concludes with discussion of wider implications of this research.     

Anomalies in Red and Blue II: Towards an understanding of the roles of setting, values, and demography in the 2004 and 2008 U.S. presidential elections

Counties identified as anomalous in the 2004 US presidential election - large metropolitan counties and majority-minority counties that voted Republican and non and small-metropolitan counties that voted Democratic, are the subject of a qualitative analysis to assess why they were exceptions to the conventional wisdom of a Red and Blue America polarized along metropolitan-non-metropolitan and modern versus traditional dimensions. Contacts with professional colleagues, and with media and partisan representatives, and visits to selected counties provided valuable insights and helped us to assess the extent to which the county votes in 2008 reinforced or changed the broad Red and Blue dimensions derived from 2000 to 2004.     

关于红军长征史研究中的若干问题

本文对红军长征史研究中的若干问题,如"长征"一词最早是什么时候提出来的?红军长征的原因是什么?红军长征是不是"战略转移"?红一方面军是什么时候开始长征的?遵义会议是不是确立了毛泽东在党内军内的领导地位?陈云的《(乙)遵义政治局扩大会议》手稿是不是传达提纲?"四渡赤水"是不是"真如神"?关于张国焘的"密电"问题,其他几支红军的长征,红军长征的路程究竟有多长?三大主力会师后究竟有多少人?应该怎么理解长征精神等,提出了自己的看法.     

Retracing Magna Graecia's silver: coupling lead isotopes with a multi-standard trace element procedure

This study presents the results of compositional and lead isotopic analysis of coinage issued by the Greek colonies of Syracuse, Metapontum, Taras and Thurium in the fifth to third centuries bce . The data suggest that each colony in Magna Graecia, regardless of its motherland roots and despite ongoing conflicts between the cities, had access to the same silver, and that this supply was stable overall throughout their period of minting and issuing coinage. The paper retraces the silver sources of the colonies and points out a potential supply route for the metal. It includes a method development for a multi-standard quantification approach for laser ablation-inductively coupled-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analysis of silver.