An Ongoing Tradition: The Use of Russian Metal Dishware in Ob Ugrian Rites

The article focuses on foreign elements in the traditional cultures of northwestern Siberia. The sources of this study are silver and copper saucers mostly bearing representations of hunting scenes, which were manufactured by Russian craftsmen in the 18th–19th centuries for the needs of alien ethnic groups. Ways in which the saucers were used in Ob Ugrian rituals are described along with the specific features and attributions of these objects. The use of Russian metal dishware is viewed in the context of the long cultural tradition of using metal vessels, made in other ethnic environments (Iran, western Central Asia, Volga Bulgaria, Kama region, etc.) as well as in the religious and ritual practices of the Khanty and Mansi.     

西方“学者传统”的科学观述评

西方科学发展史上学者传统的科学观把对知识和真理的追求视为科学的目标和动力,认为科学是与经济利益无关的一种纯学术活动。这种科学观一方面激发了科学家投身科学、献身真理的勇气,倡导了一种纯洁的学术风气;另一方面,它又忽视了科学与社会生产之间的联系,对科学本身的发展和人类文化的丰富性、多样化是不利的。     

Western technical traditions of pottery making in Tang Dynasty China: chemical evidence from the Liquanfang Kiln site,Xi'an city

This study is based on the SEM-EDS and LA-ICP-AES analyses of a sample of twenty-nine Tang sancai sherds unearthed from the Liquanfang site, Xi'an city. The results indicate that ceramics with yellowish bodies are calcareous and those with red bodies were made of ferruginous clays. The use of calcareous clay in Tang sancai bodies is otherwise unknown in Chinese history, which suggests that the technique of Tang sancai making at this site might have been influenced by ceramic technology from the Near East or Central Asia. The paper therefore argues that the traditional approach of treating calcareous clay as the main characteristic of pottery made in the ancient Near East or Central Asia is not necessarily accurate. It is likely that some calcareous Tang sancai ceramics were made in the capital city of the Tang dynasty.     

Environmental Change Since the Woodland Period in the Mid-Ohio Valley: Results from Patton Bog Sediment Core Palynological Analyses

Palynological analyses of sediment cores from Patton Bog in southeastern Ohio recorded environmental changes from ca. 1000 B.C. to the present, representing the first pollen core analyzed from this region. Pollen data show an increase in prairie species, implying periodic expansion of grassland environments during the Woodland period coeval with the initial collection and eventual domestication of Eastern Agricultural Complex seeds. It is suggested that these environmental changes influenced human decisions concerning plant domestication and diet in the mid-Ohio Valley.     

Branch age and diameter: useful criteria for recognising woodland management in the present and past?

When prehistoric archaeological sites yield non-carbonised wood, one of the ways to test for management practices consisting of pollarding and coppicing is analysis of branch diameter and age. However, the interpretation of such data is often based on assumptions. To test whether it is in fact possible to identify past woodland management on the basis of age/diameter analysis in archaeological wood assemblages, this paper presents models that predict the expected age and diameter distribution of branches from unmanaged and managed trees. The models have been tested using data on modern-day Alnus glutinosa, Fraxinus excelsior and species of the genus Salix. Branches of modern-day unmanaged and managed trees with a diameter up to approx. 2 cm (not an absolute limit) have a comparable age. Branches with a diameter of approx. 2–6 cm from unmanaged trees are older than similar branches from managed trees. The age distribution in the latter also ends abruptly. The age/diameter data from the modern-day trees indicate that the models can be used to discern management in the past, if branches up to approx. 2 cm in diameter are avoided and if, critically, taxon, sample size, growing conditions, natural disturbance/opportunistic wood collection and the possibility of diameter selection are taken into account. Archaeological datasets mainly from prehistoric sites are then reinterpreted by means of comparison with the models. Indications of management in prehistory as demonstrated by age/diameter are scarce but available. There is thus a clear need for further research in this field. Practical suggestions are provided for improving the quality of future research on woodland management practices by means of branch age/diameter analysis.     

Heritage and rural gentrification in Spain: the case of Santiago Millas

Although gentrification has been mostly understood as an urban phenomenon, the permanent establishment of urban dwellers in rural areas is becoming a widespread trend across the world. Despite its relevance to postindustrial societies, rural gentrification has been largely overlooked by heritage scholars, and has been explored very little in the context of Spain. In this article, I examine the relationship between heritage and rural gentrification through the case study of Santiago Millas, a village located in the Maragatería region of Spain. Based on long-term ethnographic engagement with different actors (newcomers, local residents, and public officials), I examine a specific instance of the globalizing phenomenon of rural gentrification, highlighting the key role heritage plays in this phenomenon, including (1) the impact on local governmentalities based on heritage discourse; (2) the refurbishing of houses and changes in the social spaces of villages; and (3) the transformation of social life and rituals into metacultural discourses of heritage. I emphasize the urgency to carry out more research in order to improve our understanding of the complex and multifaceted phenomenon of rural gentrification from a heritage perspective.     

Treponemal Disease,Tuberculosis and Subsistence‐settlement Pattern in the Late Woodland Period West‐central Illinois

In later pre‐Columbian prehistory (post AD 1000), the adaptation and intensification of maize agriculture and its correlate of aggregate village settlement (i.e. Mississippianization) is temporally and geographically variable. In the Midwest, consequential to the florescence of the major ceremonial centre of Cahokia (AD 1050–1300), the Mississippi River Valley alluvial plain in Illinois, known as the American Bottom, became a core area of this subsistence‐settlement change. Much archaeological research has traced aspects of this transition in the Lower and Middle Illinois River Valley, but little is known outside of these areas. A skeletal sample from the remote hinterland area of the Upper Mississippi River in west‐central Illinois was examined for arguable paleopathological correlates of sedentism (treponemal disease) and Mississippianization (tuberculosis). The Schroeder Mounds (AD 900–1100) adult skeletal sample (N = 53) exhibited a high frequency of treponemal disease (13.2–15.1%). This result is consistent with paleopathological literature linking a 9+ % pre‐Columbian North American prevalence with sedentism, challenging archaeologically based inferences that the hinterland was occupied by mobile forager‐horticulturalists. A hallmark of Mississippianization is the presence of diagnostic cases of tuberculosis. No cases were observed in the Schroeder sample, suggesting a pre‐Mississippian subsistence‐settlement pattern. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

穿行在历史与现实之间的地缘学术思想——《贵州：学术与思想的世界》前言

贵州学术思想的发展,不但与中央王朝凭借国家力量开发和经营帝国西南疆域的历史进程一致,而且也与以儒学为主体的大传统文化向滇黔两省的扩散传播同步。它既有赖于士大夫社会的形成,也有赖于知识精英的产生,最终则经、史、子、集四部均各有大量撰述,直接以地缘文化的形式丰富了祖国的学术文化宝库。任何具有价值的理解或诠释都必然包含着历史与现实的沟通,传统学术思想通过亲切而具体的创造性衔接亦可成为未来文化继续发展的动力资源。     

口碑史料厘定

口碑史料是史料的四大类型之一。现代概念上的口碑史学在中国尚未真正建立起来 ,史学界对口碑史料的认识相当模糊。为纠谬补苴 ,使口碑史料与其他类型的史料彻底区别开来 ,笔者主张把口碑史料定义为 :由历史研究者亲自采访得来的、仅供自己使用的口耳相传的史料。它应包括口述回忆、口头传说和专用口语三部分。