论磨制石器工业的资源问题

资源研究是新石器时代以降磨制石器工业研究的一个重要的环节。本文从可用性和可获得性两个方面来分析磨制石器资源的特点。在磨制石器的生产中,原料的大小和形状成为非常重要的原料选取的根据。资源研究的立足点应该是生产型遗址,从生产型遗址出发可以获得比较确信的资源产地信息。     

The colour of the facades in Siena’s historical centre: I. Glazings (calcium oxalate films s.s.) and other finishes on the stone materials of the Cathedral’s main facade

This paper focuses on the long-debated topic of the so-called calcium oxalate films: their origin and meaning but also their age and original appearance. The restoration of the main facade of the Siena Cathedral provided a unique opportunity to this end, thanks to the possibility of an extensive and detailed sampling and (as rarely happens) a sufficiently accurate historical knowledge of the construction vicissitudes. This work, mainly based on a polarising microscopy study (coupled with X-ray diffraction and SEM-EDS analyses) of over a thousand thin and ultra-thin sections of 400 microsamples, demonstrates that the current relicts of films are the result of alteration and decay of ancient treatments. In most cases, these were linseed oil-based glazings (the use of this substance is confirmed by historical documents) and pigments. Their role was essentially aesthetic; their use dates the beginning of the fourteenth century and continued at least until the eighteenth century.

The Still Bay points of Blombos Cave (South Africa)

We present the results of a technological and morphometric analysis of all the Still Bay points (n = 371) recovered from the 1993 to 2004 excavations at Blombos Cave. We have been able to reconstruct the manufacturing sequence of the bifacial points from initial shaping, by direct internal percussion, to finished morphology, by direct marginal percussion. Identifications of impact fractures and manufacturing breaks are based on comparisons with experimental and archaeological bifacial points of verified function, i.e. Paleoindian points from bison kill sites, replicates of Solutrean points mounted as spear-heads or arrowheads and shot into adult cattle, and experimental replication on local raw materials. Our analysis shows that: (a) only a minority of the points are finished forms, and that a large number of pieces are production failures, a situation known at bifacial point production sites of later ages; (b) morphometric and impact scar analyses should take into account this process and distinguish finished points from preforms and unfinished points; (c) there were at least three different kinds of raw material sources and that there is a marked increase in the frequencies of silcrete with respect to the M2 and M3 phases at Blombos; (d) three kinds of evidence prove that some of the points were hafted axially and used as spear tips; (e) production of bifacial points was a primary activity at the site but the hypothesis of intergroup exchange of Still Bay points cannot be sustained on the basis of present evidence; and (f) the Still Bay phase appears to initiate a trend to relatively rapid changes in specialized hunting weaponry and that this innovation is congruent with other innovations such as bone tools, shell beads and engraved ochre of the M1 and M2 phases at Blombos.     

Rocks of ages: propagation of hot-rock cookery in western North America

Cook-stone technology's Old-World roots were established by 30,000 B.P. and reappeared in the New World by 10,000 B.P., after millennia of direct-fire cooking. Hot-rock cookery, which is necessary for foods that require prolonged cooking, facilitated land-use intensification by affording greater utilization of nutrients in available foods on a given landscape. This technology gradually diversified during the early Holocene in western North America. By 4000 B.P. its initial intensification was underway; final intensification began by 2000 B.P. and typically peaked during the last 1500 years. Propagation of hot-rock cookery exemplifies pre-Columbian food crises and signals carbohydrate revolutions wherein more high-cost foods feed growing populations. As modeled, cook-stone griddles, earth ovens and steaming pits with rock heating elements are more costly facilities, insofar as fuel is used to heat rocks that, in turn, extend cooking time and temperature. More expensive still is stone boiling, given that fuel heats rocks that, in turn, heat water that cooks the food. Even more expensive in terms of energy expended is the manufacture of heating elements in the form of stone, ceramic, and metal cooking containers, all of which afford further evidence of land-use intensification.     

What Is a Hunter-Gatherer? Variation in the Archaeological Record of Eastern and Southern Africa

This article reviews the recent history of the archaeology of African hunter-gatherers, focusing on debates around the origins of modern humans and the destiny of hunter-gatherers with the advent of food production. African archaeologists are developing an increasing appreciation for the diversity of African hunter-gatherer societies. Understandings of hunter-gatherers based primarily on ethnography are being successfully challenged and extended.     

Production sequences of ostrich eggshell beads and settlement dynamics in the Geelbek Dunes of the Western Cape, South Africa

The archaeological record attests to the significance of ostrich eggs as a valuable resource for the people of the Later Stone Age. People over a broad geographic range used ostrich eggs to provide nourishment, storage and ornamentation. This paper focuses on the production, use and discard of ostrich eggshell beads recovered from open-air sites in the Geelbek Dunes of the Western Cape, South Africa. We present a comprehensive production chain for analyzing the manufacture of beads and introduce the concept of a heuristic production value for evaluating the degree of completion reflected by an assemblage. The pattern of fabrication and the distribution in size allow for a detailed analysis of the beads that points to specific behavioral patterns involved in their production. This analysis yields information about the duration and intensity of site use, as well as the individual members and cultural affinities of the groups who made the beads. We document the intentional use of fire to blacken the majority of the beads as an aesthetic choice. Combined with the results from AMS radiocarbon dating, the majority of the beads from Geelbek provide insight into the socio-economic identity of their manufacturers: small groups of hunter–gatherers who inhabited and used specific locations on the strandveld near Langebaan Lagoon.     

元代景教石刻的复制工艺

石刻文物的复制工艺较为复杂,尤其是石刻大器,从制作模具到翻制器物均无成规可循。此次复制元代景教石刻,经过多次实验,从材料的选择、配方及工艺流程都取得了新的经验。     

考古学所见长江三峡夏商周时期的渔业生产

本通过对考古发现的长江三峡渔具和鱼类遗骸的统计分析,将该区域内夏商周时期的渔业生产分为东、西两大区域,并对两区的鱼具及鱼类进行归纳、分析和比较,指出研究先秦渔业,对认识三峡古代化、中国渔业史和鱼类生态,具有重要的意义。     

The fire stones carry: Ethnographic records and archaeological expectations for hot-rock cookery in western North America

Ethnographic data from Kalispel elders in the 1930s attest to use of wild root foods, rock-filled earth ovens, steaming and boiling pits, and hot-rock griddles during the 1800s in forested montane regions of the interior Northwest. Cabeza de Vaca’s narrative of his 1528–1536 travels across the Gulf Coastal Plain of Texas and deserts of northern Mexico illustrates the importance of root foods, earth ovens, and stone boiling in aboriginal Southwest North America. These and other accounts, results of actualistic experiments, and knowledge of cooking requirements afford reliable bases for generating archaeological expectations about fire-cracked-rock assemblages representative of diverse cook-stone facilities.     

Methods for calculating brine evaporation rates during salt production

Salt is recognized by archaeologists as an important commodity due to the biological need for sodium and other cultural uses. Numerous studies have described the various techniques used in converting brine to crystallized salt, but few, if any, have attempted to quantify the physical processes of evaporation in pre-industrial societies. Apart from the few areas where salt mining is possible, nearly all forms of salt production require evaporation of water to concentrate brine and ultimately produce salt crystals. This study quantifies three of the most common evaporation techniques and provides insight into the production rates of salt and fuel requirements. Methods of calculation are provided for determining evaporation through (1) direct solar heating of brine, (2) applied external heat to a vessel, and (3) an immersed heated object (e.g., stone). These results provide physical constraints on the evaporation process and provide investigators with techniques for estimating efficiency and total production of prehistoric and historic saltworks.