Architectural Aesthetics,Orientations, and Reuse at the Terminal Classic Maya Site of Ucanal,Petén,Guatemala

ABSTRACT

The Terminal Classic period (ca. a.d. 830–950/1000) in the Southern Maya Lowlands is known as a time in which investments in public architecture and vaulted masonry buildings began to wane. Masonry constructions have often been noted to be of poorer quality in comparison with previous phases. Moving beyond models of scarcity, this paper examines the aesthetics, meanings, and reorientations of architectural projects at the site of Ucanal, Petén, Guatemala during the Terminal Classic period. We highlight three processes that were central to the new architectural programs at the site: an emphasis on the aesthetics of wood, the reorientation of sacred space in residential contexts, and the fragmentation and reuse of buildings and monuments. Although these materials and processes are often associated with a loss of splendor, we suggest that they were part of an active architectural revisionism, one that remade history by reworking the old and reorienting the new.     

Khalsa: The Town with a ‘Golden Fountain’: The Rise and Fall of an Arab Town North of the Huleh Valley

This article deals with the history of a frontier Arab town—Khalsa—which was the centre of the Huleh Valley and the connection between Galilee, Southern Lebanon and the Golan Heights during the British Mandate in Palestine (1918–48). This article aims to explore the changes and transformations that occurred in the town and the Huleh Valley in general, and tries to show that, during that period, this remote and peripheral area underwent many social and economic changes. It also demonstrates that these changes not only occurred in the central areas in Palestine but also reached the northern parts. In addition, this article tells the ‘story’ of how this Arab town, which has not been addressed in earlier studies, grew rapidly, and why it collapsed quickly in the 1948 war. It examines what the role of its leader, Kamil Hussein, was and how his relationship with the Bedouin tribes and the Jewish settlements and leaders in the valley affected the results of the war. The story of Khalsa is, to some extent, a case study on the macro-level of what was happening in the Holy Land in the three decades of British rule.     

The use of radiocarbon-derived ΔC as a paleoclimate indicator: applications in the Lower Alentejo of Portugal

Values of δ¹³C are frequently reported with radiocarbon dates from organic materials. In C₃ plants δ¹³C values have been linked to changes in water use efficiency as a response to arid conditions. By calculating ¹³C discrimination (Δ¹³C) from ¹³C isotopic composition (δ¹³C), archaeologists can gain potentially valuable inference into past climate conditions. Values of Δ¹³C reflect the process of discrimination against heavier ¹³C isotopes of carbon by comparing the δ¹³C of samples to that of the atmosphere, and can be calculated when records of atmospheric δ¹³CO₂ are available. The present study examines a 1300 year history of radiocarbon-derived Δ¹³C from the Lower Alentejo of Portugal using charcoal recovered from excavations of a series of medieval habitation sites in the study area. To calculate Δ¹³C, the posterior means generated from Bayesian change-point analysis of δ¹³CO₂ records were used. Archaeological data were then compared to contemporary ecological studies of Δ¹³C of the same taxa against instrumental records of climate. Values of Δ¹³C fell within mean ranges for the taxa through a period of population growth between the 7th and 10th centuries AD. During the height of the Medieval Warm Period in the 11th century AD Δ¹³C values frequently fell to low levels associated with arid conditions. At this time environmental degradation and erosion were documented. Values of Δ¹³C increased for a brief period in the early 12th century AD before the rural Lower Alentejo was largely abandoned for nearly two centuries. Another period of aridity occurred in the 16th and 17th centuries AD. Radiocarbon-derived Δ¹³C is a potentially useful paleoclimate proxy for archaeologists provided that results can be paired with observed Δ¹³C variation in studies that pair these data with instrumental climate records.     

重庆巫山土城坡墓地Ⅲ区东汉墓葬发掘报告

土城坡墓地位于巫山县旧城区北部,是一处依山傍水的高台地。2005年元月,武汉市文物考古研究所联合巫山县文物管理所对墓地台顶南部大操场及附近地区(Ⅲ区)进行发掘,发掘面积约3571平方米,清理古代墓葬57座。本文主要报道的是Ⅲ区东汉时期4座墓葬的发掘材料。     

Running the big city: the Dutch prewar mayoralty under construction

This article discusses the development of the mayoralty in the Netherlands during the first decades of the twentieth century. It will be argued that during the interwar years the mayors' position was in transition, with mayors developing new ways to exert public influence – a development that until now has been associated with the postwar mayor-managers. A case study of mayors in Amsterdam – in particular interwar mayor Willem de Vlugt (1921–1941) – Rotterdam and The Hague during the interwar years will show how changes and shifts in the local and national political constellations and power relations as well as socioeconomic developments both curbed and opened up possibilities for the mayor to adjust his position. At the same time, it will be shown how the mayoralty itself was transformed through the emergence of mayors whose personal and political background differed from their early twentieth-century predecessors.     

地理学的基本规律

地理学有三个基本规律:一,地域分异规律,包括纬度地带性、经度地带性、垂直地带性和非地带性;二,地域综合规律,包括距离衰减规律和区域系统规律;三,地域发展规律,包括地理环境周期性发展和人地关系发展阶段性.这些规律既涉及自然过程,又涉及社会过程,许多重大的历史事件,如文明古国的出现,东亚经济起飞,我国开放政策,在地域上都受地理学基本规律的影响.     

The role of black Barbudans in the establishment of open-range cattle herding in the colonial Caribbean and South Carolina

Some significant problems remain in understanding the establishment of open-range cattle herding in the Caribbean and North America, especially regarding the role of blacks in that process. Research to date has identified the Greater Antilles, especially Spanish Cuba and British Jamaica, as the sole Caribbean sources of settlers who established the herding systems of, respectively, Mexico and South Carolina. Yet an open-range cattle herding system also occurred in the British Lesser Antilles, which provided many of the settlers for the South Carolina colony. Archival and field research in Antigua and Barbuda provide the basis for comprehensive reconstruction of that system's material culture and herding ecology, demonstration of the role of blacks in its operation, and comparison with other relevant systems to consider whether the British Lesser Antilles might also have been involved in the process through which open-range cattle herders established themselves in South Carolina during the late seventeenth century.     

汉“元朔五年弩”鐖郭铭文述疑

中国古代使用年号纪年的起始时间,历史文献记载十分模糊,作者推测是在汉武帝太初元年;此前武帝建元至元封诸年号,都应出于事后追记,主要用于史官记述往事。这一点也许还需要进一步检验,但《史记·封禅书》清楚记载中国历史上首次用年号来追记以往的史事,系首倡于汉武帝元鼎三年,武帝初年建元、元光、元朔、元狩这几个年号,即拟定于此时。因此,后代流通的带有上述年号的器物,均应出自赝造。本文即基于上述认识,对近年出现的所谓汉元朔五年弩鐖郭铭文加以辨析,逐一指证其荒谬。     

民国时期北平城市粮食市场区位分布及其等级研究

民国时期北平城市人口众多,粮食需求颇费。北平火车站附近的粮栈作为第一级市场将粮食输入到北平城内,一级销售商携带粮食样品在第二级粮食交易市场进行商品交换,第三级市场销售商在二级交易市场确定货源后,将粮食供应全市人民,最终覆盖整个北平城。第一级粮食市场承担代替外地粮商销售买卖的功能,多集中在车站附近;二级粮食市场确定了一级市场的货源后,进一步将粮食供应系统扩大;三级销售市场的主要表现形式为米庄和陆陈行,其特点为数量大、规模小、覆盖范围广,有效地将粮食输入给最终消费者。粮食供给直接关系到民生问题,本文围绕粮食这一主题,探讨了民国时期北平城市粮食市场的总体运作原则、粮食商业的运行模式以及每级粮食供应商的特点与粮食流通方式,指出北平粮食市场的三个级别间的相互联系。