Knowledge,Know-how and Raw Material - The Production of Late Neolithic Flint Daggers in Scandinavia

In this paper, the craftsmanship of the Late Neolithic flint daggers in Scandianvia is investigated. The purpose of the investigation is to map the degree of skill invested in each production stage of the daggers and then relate the degree of craftsmanship to social factors. This is achieved by applying an operational-chain approach to the dagger production system, and by comparison with anthropologically and historically documented crafts in traditional societies. It is concluded that the daggers required knowledge of complicated recipes of action as well as a well-developed muscle memory that can only be acquired through practice. Thus, the craft is interpreted as demanding some form of an institutionalised apprenticeship system that could guarantee that it could be reproduced for at least 24 generations. It is further suggested that the flint dagger technology was consciously organised to keep the recipes of action of the technology exclusive to certain segments of the society.     

Book Reviews

Tommy Gärling, Thomas Laitila and Kerstin Westin (eds), Theoretical Foundations of Travel Choice Modeling
Gunnar Törnqvist, Renässans för regioner. (Renaissance for regions)
Golledge, G.R. and Stimson J.R., Spatial Behavior-A Geographic Perspective     

Integrated geological,petrologic and geochemical approach to establish source material and technology of Late Cypriot Bronze Age Plain White ware ceramics

Late Cypriot Bronze Age Plain White Wheelmade ware samples from several Cypriot excavation sites and the northern Canaanite coast were studied to ascertain their production centres and details of their manufacturing processes and post-depositional alteration. The investigation of the ceramics, using combined geoscientific analytical techniques (XRF, ICP-MS, XRD and EPMA) allowed four groups of pottery to be distinguished based on their common raw-material sources and/or technological analogies. Sediments that were sampled in East Cyprus (eastern Mesaoria Plain) for comparative purposes indicated that most of the investigated ceramics were produced from raw materials available around the ancient settlement of Enkomi. Appraising technological variations and discriminative raw-material characteristics, several pottery producing workshops in ancient Enkomi (Eastern Cypriot coast) have been identified that merchandised their commodities on Cyprus and, in all probability, also overseas.     

基于造纸原料分析中国手工造纸术的传承特点

对古代中国主要造纸原料发展脉络进行了梳理,并分析目前我国手工纸造纸原料现状,最后对古今中国传统手工造纸原料进行比较研究,可知当今中国传统手工纸在原料种类、比例、处理方式等方面与古代相比较,还是发生一定的变化,正是由于这样一些变化,导致手工纸质量参差不齐,很难保持其原有的特性。     

Ideas no longer written in antler

In the course of the Upper Paleolithic, antler debitage techniques seem to have followed a linear evolution. The earliest one, fracturing by cleaving, appeared during the Aurignacian and is considered by some specialists to be ineffective. According to them, it was not until the invention of the groove and splinter technique during the Gravettian that antler debitage became efficient. Nonetheless, during the Solutrean, fracturing once again became the most common technique, but by splitting. Based on a study of 102 Solutrean pressure tools and experimentations, we reach the conclusion that splitting is a very effective technique that can produce blanks with the same qualities as those made by the groove and splinter technique. The splitting technique was nonetheless excluded in previous studies. We explore the reasons for this and the particularities of the different antler debitage techniques evidenced in the Western Upper Paleolithic.     

Millet and sauce: The uses and functions of querns among the Minyanka (Mali)

The central role of grinding activities in the dietary practices of traditional agricultural populations can be approached from an ethnoarchaeological point of view. The comparison of ethnographic references raises the question whether the function and the socioeconomic context in which grinding slabs are used allow to assess issues related to conclusions drawn from archaeological contexts. Our discussion is based on the analysis of the manufacturing of grinding slabs, their use cycles and their social status in several Minyanka villages (Mali), providing useful references when examining the way in which archaeologists explain and interpret technological, functional and spatial observations. The typological and technical evolution and variability of querns results from a combination of several factors determined by the available raw materials, the skill of shaping techniques, the organisation of manufacturing and the transference of the function of grinding tools. But these factors alone cannot explain the encountered range of variation. Our study thus emphasises the very role of cultural aspects within these temporal and regional developments, and the impossibility of dissociating the use of a quern from its socio-economic context.     

滕州前掌大墓地“于屯”村IIIM308出土铜器的科学分析

“于屯”村北墓区为前掌大“史”氏族团“分裂”而来的“鸟”氏支族墓区,其中IIIM308和IIIM309为“鸟”氏支族具有特殊身份的高级贵族夫妻异穴并葬墓。本文对IIIM308出土8件铜礼器进行材质分析及制作工艺考察,8件铜礼器的材质以铅锡青铜为主,皆为浑铸成型,采用了金属垫片、加强筋等工艺措施来保证铸造质量。9件“鸟”字铭文铜器,“鸟”字铭文形状可分为两组,可能系两个不同铸造作坊或前后两批次铸造。     

咸阳龚西战国秦墓出土铜壶制作工艺研究

咸阳龚西战国秦墓出土的青铜器为研究战国时期秦青铜容器的铸造技术提供了重要实物资料。本文对龚西战国晚期秦墓M8出土的两件铜壶,通过表面观察结合X光摄像考察其制作工艺痕迹,利用金相显微镜、扫描电镜能谱分析等手段开展成分及显微结构分析,揭示两件铜壶壶身及表面装饰的制作工艺、材质特征。结果显示,两件铜壶均为铸造,器底和铜环预先铸好后置于范中,与器身铸为一体。器身和器底均为铅锡青铜(铜锡铅三元合金),但成分有一定差异,镶嵌的装饰金属片为高铅青铜。铜壶的器底分铸工艺和高铅青铜镶嵌工艺为古代青铜器制作工艺研究提供了重要的新材料。     

Innovations, Competitiveness and Local Embeddedness: A Study of Machinery Producers in Sweden

This paper is about technological relations and firm performance in the Swedish machinery industry. Taking its point of departure in the proliferating literature on the localized nature of learning and innovation processes, the paper sets out to answer three empirical questions: To what extent are firms integrated in localized production systems based on buyer-supplier relations? At what geographical level–local/regional, national or international–are the most important technological relations found? Is there a correlation between localized technological relations and the technological performance of firms? The results indicate that few firms display localized buyer-supplier relations. Rather, the industry is highly internationalized, with the most important customers and competitors located outside Sweden. In terms of technologically important relations, the domestic arena seems to be more important. The majority of the most important technological relations link the machinery producers to other actors in Sweden. Three out of four firms may be classified as predominantly local/regional or national in their technological relations, or technology profile. This survey therefore supports the notion that there exists both local/regional and national innovation systems. Finally, however, despite the fact that most firms are fairly locally embedded in their technology relations, there is no evidence that such embeddedness shows up as superior firm performance, in terms of technology level or innovative capacity.     

安吉上马山汉代江东类型原始瓷工艺研究

安吉上马山汉代土墩墓墓群出土众多江东类型高温釉原始瓷器,SEM-EDS (能谱-扫描电镜)分析显示,其中部分样品的胎体外表面施有含钾、铁含量较高的红色层,可能是化妆土的前身,并且在红色层之上还局部施有钙釉。经过与江西地区早商以来一些遗物在外貌以及陶衣成分上的对比,发现上马山的这些原始瓷也许在源流上与江西地区的早期窑业有关。而当东汉末年,越地传统单层高温钙釉器物逐渐兴起,并发展成为最早的成熟青瓷,这种化妆土技术便于越地消失了。