Recovery of DNA from archaeological insect remains: first results,problems and potential

We report the recovery of short fragments of PCR amplifiable ancient DNA from exoskeletal fragments of the grain weevil Sitophilus granarius (L.) extracted from Roman and medieval deposits in Northern England. If DNA preservation in archaeological insect remains is widespread then many applications in the spheres of evolutionary studies and archaeology can be conceived, some of which are outlined.     

Possible isotopic fractionation of argon in source obsidians and archeological artifacts from Kulkuletti, Ethiopia

Despite uniform geochemistry ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of 0.6, 1.25, and 1.3 Ma on obsidians from a source flow (Worja) and from archeological artifacts at the sites of Kulkuletti (near Gademotta, Ethiopia) have been interpreted to suggest that they derive from different source flows of different ages. A further suggestion is that the magmatic source of the obsidian flows was chemically homogeneous between 1.3 Ma and 0.6 Ma. Chemical analysis of these obsidians indeed suggests that they derive from a single flow. Reexamination of the argon isotopic data reveals that argon isotopes may have been fractionated within the flow, so that the assumption of an atmospheric ⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar ratio of 295.5 is inappropriate to use for computing ages. Three groups of data are apparent, and internally all yield ages near 1.3 Ma if the intercept value for ⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar from an isotope correlation plot is used for computation instead of using the atmospheric ratio. The Soret thermal diffusion effect provides a possible mechanism of fractionation of argon within the obsidian flow that is of approximately the right magnitude to explain the observations by in-diffusion of already fractionated atmospheric argon.     

农村土地流转的空间差异及成因分析——以陕西关中三县为例

以西安市长安区、渭南市澄城县、宝鸡市岐山县为考察点,采用问卷调查法和SPSS软件对三县土地流转现状进行实证分析,以查明不同区域土地流转差异情况和造成土地流转差异的影响因素。结果表明,由于经济发展水平不同,三县区土地流转达成比例相差较大,流转规模、流转方式有很大不同,流转价格更是有较大差别,经济发达地区有较强的土地"非粮化"现象,土地流转更接近市场行为。非农收入水平、农户的受教育程度、各类土地流转中介和管理机构的完善程度、农户的社会保障程度等对土地流转有显著影响,且影响方式均为正向,并且对流出率的影响超过对流入率的影响。     

新石器时代中国玉器的区域特征

新石器时代我国辽河流域、黄河流域与长江流域三个地区的玉器,在材质、造型和纹饰方面表现出强烈的区域性特征:辽河流域的玉器多采用岫岩玉为原料,长江流域的玉器则多用透闪石一阳起石制成,而黄河流域多见绿松石制成的器物;辽河流域的玉器纹饰简单风格朴实,长江流域的玉器器形和纹饰都很特别,黄河流域则多生产工具且光素无纹.此外,玉器反映了新石器时代中晚期辽河流域内渔猎经济和宗教在社会中居于主导地位,长江流域中下游地区则可能进入了王权、军权和神权一体化的方国阶段,而世俗权力的独大在黄河流域普遍存在.世俗权力在这一地区社会政治生活中占据了主导地位.     

武王克商年代考

国家"夏商周断代工程"初步确定商周断代在公元前1046年,他们依据的前提是"当年岁星是在鹑火星次",比实际情况--"当年岁星是在天鼋星次",多了6个星次.所以,他们的推算方法虽然是正确的,但是因为所依据的前提错误,结果不对.依据对月象词、星象词和西周时期历法的认识,以岁星(木星)的运行规律可知,牧野之战发生于公元前1039年夏历的三月四日.我们判断,武王伐商是当年的二月一日壬辰,二日癸巳早晨从周地出发,二月戊午师逾孟津,二月晦日越五日甲子在牧野与商纣王战斗.     

信息化社会图书馆员素质的培养

图书馆在国家的科学教育和研究体系中占据重要地位,为教育和科学研究提供服务图书馆员的素质是由图书馆的性质、职能、规律和特点所决定的。在信息化社会,图书馆的应用技术呈现出更广阔的应用平台,要求图书馆员积极应对新技术和新的工作方式转变的挑战;读者的需求向多元化方式转变,也要求图书馆员不断提高服务质量和履务方式。因此,图书馆员的素质是图书馆适应信息化社会发展的关键。鉴于此,本文就图书馆员应当具备的素质以及如何提高自身素质提出了一些基本思路。     

Ritual practices and collective consumption of animal products at the Iron Age rural settlement of Mas Castellar de Pontós (Girona,Spain) (5th–4th centuries BC)

Abstract

Animals have played an important role in certain ceremonies or rites in the past. During such activities, animals may have been alive, dead or been used as raw material. The disposal of detritus from these practices can lead to the formation of faunal assemblages with a particular taxonomic and anatomic composition. At the Iron Age ‘Mas Castellar de Pontós’ site (Girona, Spain), associations of archaeological materials excavated from Pit feature FS362 were suggestive of deposits arising from collective ceremonial consumption. Analysis of the 1309 mammal remains recovered from this feature is used to determine the nature and dynamics of the ceremony. At the same time, the relationship of these faunal remains with the other archaeological materials recovered in the pit will allow light to be shed on the significance and importance of these ceremonies in the framework of the social and political relations that governed the life of the inhabitants of this settlement.     

Delayed Asian Transitions to Adulthood

Korea witnessed a steady increase in women marrying younger men from 8.5 per cent in 1993 to 14.3 per cent in 2009. This study examines those women marrying younger men in Korea through an empirical analysis using a large and reliable data set of more than 5 million observations collected from marriage register reports from 1993 to 2009. The results indicated that an increase in Older-Women/Younger-Men Marriages (OWYMMs) in Korea was mainly due to a steady increase in the woman’s age at marriage and show that women with a higher level of education and/or income than men were more likely to choose the OWYMM. That is, the incidence of OWYMMs was related more to the gap in the level of education or income between spouses than to the absolute level of education or income of individual spouses. In this sense, the results provide empirical support for exchange theory.     

Factors affecting female age at marriage in South Asia

In contrast to East and South-east Asia, changes in marriage patterns have played a small role in reducing fertility in South Asia. While age at marriage for women has risen, it remains early, with the exception of Sri Lanka, and change has been slow. Except in Sri Lanka, the region has shown few signs that there will be a sizable population that will never marry. South Asia's marriage patterns reflect its cultural context and lesser socio-economic change but their precise effect is not simple or always predictable. The paper examines these issues in Bangladesh, where age at marriage is very early, and Sri Lanka, where it is much later. The study areas, Dhaka city and south-western Sri Lanka, are ones of great economic and social change. A particular examination is made of the way in which changes in the arrangement of marriage affect age at marriage.     

养心殿正殿外檐窗罩海墁彩画年代考证及其工艺特征

故宫博物院养心殿正殿保留了明代嘉靖年间至清代末期多种类型的彩画遗迹,其中正殿东暖阁后檐东西明瓦窗罩和梅坞西窗罩绘制了海墁彩画,与整体区域的和玺彩画、旋子彩画风格迥异。作者通过实地勘察、科学检测分析并结合历史文献,考证了养心殿正殿外檐窗罩海墁彩画遗存的工艺和材料特征及其确切年代,揭示了彩画所折射出的皇帝、太后的审美喜好。