Blutspuren. Zur Bedeutung des Blutes in der Kriminalwissenschaft um 1900

Traces of Blood. The Significance of Blood in Criminology at the Turn of the 19th Century. In late 19th and early 20th century, criminology became institutionalized as an independent branch of science. Methodologically it focused on the ‘exact’ methods of the natural sciences, but also it tried to integrate the methods of the humanities. This mix of methods becomes visible in the treatment of blood, which on the one hand was an object of then brand new methods of scientific analysis (identification of human blood by the biological or precipitin method), and on the other hand was analyzed as a product of the magic and superstitious mentalities of criminals. The methodical tension resulting from this epistemological cross‐breeding did not disturb the criminologists, for whom the reconciliation of opposite ways of thinking and researching seemed to be possible. In this encyclopaedic analysis of blood early criminology tried to combine the anthropological exploration of vampirism with the chemical and microscopic detection of antibodies and haemoglobin, thus mirroring the positivistic optimism that was then prevalent.     

金沙玉器制作工艺的初步观察

2001年发现的成都金沙遗址现已出土了2000余件玉器,数目可观,种类繁多。大量的玉器造型规整,制作精细。最为重要的是许多器物上都留下了与制作工艺有关的痕迹,其中更有一些半成品和玉料,这就为我们研究古玉制作工艺提供了极其重要而又丰富的实物材料。     

Some Insights on the Aterian in the Libyan Sahara: Chronology, Environment, and Archaeology

The Aterian has a huge geographic extension covering all North Africa, although it was not supposed to exist in the mountain ranges of the central Sahara. Its chronological context is not yet definitively determined and it is still difficult to say whether the Aterian tools are technological, typological, functional, or chronological markers. Recent surveys and excavations at Uan Tabu and Uan Afuda, two rock-shelters located in the central Tadrart Acacus, provide the first chronological, environmental and archaeological indications on this Late Pleistocene human occupation in the area. The lack of organic matter led us to perform OSL and TL analyses on sand. L'Atérien a une énorme extension géographique qui couvre tout le Nord de l'Afrique, tandis qu'on ne pensait pas qu'il existait dans les montagnes du Sahara central. Son contexte culturel n'est pas définitivement déterminé et il est encore difficile de dire si les instruments atériens sont des indicateurs téchnologiques, typologiques, fonctionels ou culturels. Reconnaissances et fouilles récentes à Uan Tabu et Uan Afuda, deux abris situés dans l'Acacous central, fournissent les premières indications sur la chronologie, l'environnement et l'archéologie de l'Atérien dans la région. L'absence de la substance organique, nous a porté à faire des déterminations OSL et TL sur les sables.     

The evolution of strength,elasticity and rupture behaviour of birch tar made with ‘double-pot’ techniques during tar cooking

Birch tar was the first adhesive produced by humans. Its study has consequences for our understanding of human evolution and the development of specialised craftsmanship. One of the better-documented birch tar making methods is the ‘double-pot’ technique, where two containers are used, one containing bark, the other collecting the tar. Birch tar made with double-pots has low viscosity and bad adhesive properties. To obtain a usable adhesive, it must be reduced in volume by cooking. We investigate the evolution of tar’s mechanical properties during cooking. We use lap-shear tests to investigate strength, stiffness and failure behaviour. We found that tar must be cooked for 90 min to acquire adhesive properties. When cooked for longer, strength and stiffness increase over a 30 min lasting time span. Cooking for even longer, beyond this 30 min window, produced a substance that could no longer be used as an adhesive. The implications are that tar cooking requires a high level of skill because specific signs indicating the desired properties must be recognised during the process. Tar cooking constitutes a supplementary investment in time and resources and appears to be associated with a certain degree of risk.     

环十二烷在彩绘织物湿洗中的临时性封护工艺研究

彩绘颜料与织物通过粘合剂相结合的方式决定了彩绘部分的不稳定性,大多彩绘织物都因此经不起湿洗.为此,本实验对环十二烷在彩绘织物湿洗中对彩绘部分的临时性封护加固处理的可行性、效果和安全性进行了研究.通过正交实验法,筛选出了环十二烷的最佳施加工艺条件:双面、刷涂、一遍、环十二烷加热至62℃,并对与环十二烷升华速率相关的环境条件进行了对比研究.实验证明,环十二烷对织物强度以及纤维的微观分子结构等方面没有明显影响,环十二烷在彩绘织物上的应用是安全的.实验启示,本实验的研究思路不仅适用于彩绘织物,对其它类型纺织品文物甚至其它文物如纸张、字画、壁画等的保护修复也有借鉴意义.     

Basketry accessories: footwear,bags and fans in ancient Egypt

Ancient Egyptians had —by the New Kingdom— developed many basket making and matting techniques. These techniques were not only used for making all types and sizes of baskets and mats, but were also adopted for making other accessories such as bags, fans and different types of footwear, that seem to have been heavily used. Materials and techniques of nine objects consisting of 2 sandals, 2 shoes, 2 bags, 2 fans and a model of a mat at the Agricultural Museum in Giza were carefully studied.     

Hardwood ash nixtamalization may lead to false negatives for the presence of maize by depleting bulk δC in carbonized residues

Among the multiple proxies for detecting maize in precontact economies is the use of δ¹³C analysis of carbonized residues from ceramic cooking vessels. Although maize horticulture was widely established in Eastern North America (ENA) by A.D. 1000, there are carbonized residues from ceramic assemblages after this date that lack the elevated δ¹³C values indicative of the presence of maize. This may be due to the true absence of maize, or other factors including the masking of maize. Prior experimental research by Hart et al. demonstrated that the addition of C₃ plants or consumers to two part mixes with maize can mask maize presence even when maize is the dominant ingredient. Here we investigate the effect of alkali processing of maize (nixtamalization) on δ¹³C using the widespread ENA process of boiling maize kernels with wood ash, a C₃ product, to create hominy. Our experiments test whether or not the process of hardwood ash nixtamalization can mask the presence of maize in adhering carbonized residues by depleting δ¹³C values, and whether there is a reciprocal δ¹³C enrichment effect on the hardwood ash employed in nixtamalization. Overall, there is substantial δ¹³C depletion of residues when maize is cooked with hardwood ash, and hardwood ash cooked with maize shows the reciprocal enrichment. Therefore, the depleted values after the adoption of maize may be false negatives due to the nixtamalization process.     

Micromorphological Study of Concotto Surfaces Protected by the Avellino Eruption in 3945 ± 10 cal. BP at the Early Bronze Age of Afragola Village in Southern Italy

ABSTRACT

The term Concotto refers to fragments or patches of hard heated clay that derive from living surfaces, walls, and ovens. Concotto fragments are found throughout the Italian peninsula and date from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. Current studies express contradictory opinions about whether or not the Concottos on living surfaces represent intentionally constructed surfaces or the secondary products of the contact between hot embers and sediments. This study uses micromorphological analysis to investigate the function and composition of Concotto surfaces from several domestic structures at the Early Bronze Age village of Afragola in southern Italy. Afragola is an exceptionally preserved agricultural village that was covered by almost 1?m of volcanic ash during the Vesuvius eruption in 3945?±?10 cal. BP. The Concottos at Afragola are hard, red surfaces that are typically associated with burned materials. Micromorphological analysis reveals that the Concottos were intentionally made by laying down patches of clay and then heating them to create a hard, flat surface. This study explores the potential uses of the Concotto as cooking surfaces during the Early Bronze Age of southern Italy.     

商周时期南北方铜矿开采技术比较研究--以鄂赣交界地带和辽西地区为例

本文选取了鄂赣交界地带和辽西地区的4座晚商至西周早中期的古铜矿遗址,分别从探矿技术、开采技术、开采工具、相关配套设施和选矿技术等方面对南北两区域古铜矿的开采技术进行全面比较,并试图从两地的自然环境、矿物品质以及生产组织方式等不同方面来解释出现这种差异的原因。     

Reconstruction of the Rib Vaults of the Hypostyle Hall in the Maniace Castle of Siracusa After the 1693 Earthquake

Built in the first half of the 13th century on behalf of the Emperor Frederick II, the Maniace Castle of Siracusa focuses its enigma in the hypostyle hall (which was composed of 25 quadripartite rib vaults) and the design criteria adopted for its implementation. Recent research and a careful rereading of the documentary “restoration project” after the earthquake of 1693 have offered new tools to understand the construction techniques and building procedures for the entire organism. It has been possible to demonstrate that the different material (white limestone and volcanic stone) used for the vaults is, in fact, a product of reconstruction. The constructive node, which historiography has taken for granted, is now crucial—the documentary evidence of the restoration after the earthquake compared with the materials found in situ provide interpretive keys to decode genesis and procedures of the huge structure built five centuries before.