"中国"与"天下"的重合——古代中国疆域形成的历史轨迹

“The Central Kingdom” is pregnant of political implications as well as of geographical and cultural significance. It was believed that whoever controlled Zhongguo (the Central Kingdom or China) would be the legitimate ruler over Tianxia (the realm under heaven or all under heaven). It was the contention for “the Central Kingdom” among the varieties of dynasties, notably those established by the Han-Chinese and the various ethnic groups in the northern borderland, that lead to the alternation of disintegration and unification of the territory. It was not until the Qing Dynasty that the unified “Central Kingdom” composed of a variety of ethnic groups turned into the ideal “realm under heaven” with “the Central Kingdom” at its core, which naturally put an end to the formation of territory in ancient China. Translated by Chen Dan from Zhongguo Bianjiang Shidi Yanjiu 中国边疆史地研究 (China’s Borderland History and Geography Studies), 2007, (3): 1–15     

江苏镇江花山湾古城遗址2010年发掘简报

江苏镇江花山湾古城遗址位于镇江市区东北花山湾的丘陵土岗上,城垣依山加筑夯土而成,1984、1991年曾先后两次对该城址进行了考古发掘。2010年,镇江博物馆再次对其进行了考古勘探和发掘,发掘面积114平方米,分为东城垣和城内2个发掘区域,在东城垣发现了1处城门遗迹,推断其为史料记载的唐宋罗城"新开门",并判断城门始建于唐代晚期,宋代加筑,南宋时废弃。     

古镇遗产分类及资源型古镇的保护性利用模式初探

古镇是人类主要聚落形态之一,按其成因和社会功能可把古镇分为聚落型村镇、区域贸易中心型集镇、资源型或资源—产业型集镇、军事重镇型集镇和文化景观型集镇等。资源型古镇通常是在对某地自然资源进行开发利用的过程中发展起来的场镇,它的发展历程直接折射出区域社会变迁及其关联的社会背景,构成地方文化和历史记忆的重要载体。对资源型古镇的保护性利用旨在服务当地,在内容和形式上旨在使古镇的"形"与"神"与其生存空间达到高度的融合与统一,从而准确传达古镇所蕴含的历史信息及遗产价值。     

重返“古苗疆走廊”——西南地区、民族研究与文化产业发展新视阈

元明时期新开辟的从湖广经贵州通往云南的"东路"驿道,不仅是维系内地与西南边陲往来的主要交通命脉,并且也直接影响了明清时期西南边疆地区政治版图的变化。本文首次提出了"古苗疆走廊"这一概念,初步探讨了这条走廊对贵州省的建省、明清时代"苗疆"地区的"国家化"过程以及民族关系等所带来的影响,并对"古苗疆走廊"的地域及族群文化的特点等进行了初步整理和分析。就今后推进"古苗疆走廊"作为"世界文化线路遗产"申报的可能性问题,也提出了初步的看法。     

Neolithic Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) from the Island of Gotland show early contacts with the Swedish mainland

Previous research probing early migrations and contacts in the Baltic Sea area is characterized by the analysis of different chronologies and subsistent strategies on all sides of the Sea. Several studies performed on artifact typology, ceramics, grave rituals and physical anthropology ended with varying results. Although the question of human origins remains inconclusive, in this study, we rely on the phylogeography of an animal associated with humans to elucidate findings regarding prehistoric human migration and contacts.Hedgehogs, along with other fauna on Gotland, were brought over to the island by humans. We examined hedgehog mitochondrial DNA from the Pitted Ware Culture (Middle Neolithic). The genetic signatures of the animals on the island were investigated to determine the animal’s origin.From the 23 bones originally examined, twelve bones from all five locations studied yielded reliable results and resembled published extant Erinaceus europaeus sequences from Sweden, Norway and Denmark. We postulate that a western heritage for the Neolithic hedgehogs on Gotland indicates early human contact with the Swedish mainland.     

Aspects of ancient Greek trade re-evaluated with amphora DNA evidence

Ancient DNA trapped in the matrices of ceramic transport jars from Mediterranean shipwrecks can reveal the goods traded in the earliest markets. Scholars generally assume that the amphora cargoes of 5th-3rd century B.C. Greek shipwrecks contained wine, or to a much lesser extent olive oil. Remnant DNA inside empty amphoras allows us to test that assumption. We show that short ∼100 nucleotides of ancient DNA can be isolated and analyzed from inside the empty jars from either small amounts of physical scrapings or material captured with non-destructive swabs. Our study material is previously inaccessible Classical/Hellenistic Greek shipwreck amphoras archived at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities in Athens, Greece. Collected DNA samples reveal various combinations of olive, grape, Lamiaceae herbs (mint, rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage), juniper, and terebinth/mastic (genus Pistacia). General DNA targeting analyses also reveal the presence of pine (Pinus), and DNA from Fabaceae (Legume family); Zingiberaceae (Ginger family); and Juglandaceae (Walnut family). Our results demonstrate that amphoras were much more than wine containers. DNA shows that these transport jars contained a wide range of goods, bringing into question long-standing assumptions about amphora use in ancient Greece. Ancient DNA investigations open new research avenues, and will allow accurate reconstruction of ancient diet, medicinal compounds, value-added products, goods brought to market, and food preservation methods.     

Cats of the Pharaohs: Genetic Comparison of Egyptian Cat Mummies to their Feline Contemporaries

The ancient Egyptians mummified an abundance of cats during the Late Period (664 - 332 BC). The overlapping morphology and sizes of developing wildcats and domestic cats confounds the identity of mummified cat species. Genetic analyses should support mummy identification and was conducted on two long bones and a mandible of three cats that were mummified by the ancient Egyptians. The mummy DNA was extracted in a dedicated ancient DNA laboratory at the University of California - Davis, then directly sequencing between 246 and 402 bp of the mtDNA control region from each bone. When compared to a dataset of wildcats (Felis silvestris silvestris, F. s. tristrami, and F. chaus) as well as a previously published worldwide dataset of modern domestic cat samples, including Egypt, the DNA evidence suggests the three mummies represent common contemporary domestic cat mitotypes prevalent in modern Egypt and the Middle East. Divergence estimates date the origin of the mummies' mitotypes to between two and 7.5 thousand years prior to their mummification, likely prior to or during Egyptian Predyanstic and Early Dynastic Periods. These data are the first genetic evidence supporting that the ancient Egyptians used domesticated cats, F. s. catus, for votive mummies, and likely implies cats were domesticated prior to extensive mummification of cats.     

Ancient DNA,a Neolithic legging from the Swiss Alps and the early history of goat

Ancient DNA from a Neolithic legging (1st half of the 3rd millennium BC) found at Lenk, Schnidejoch (2750 m a.sl.) in the Swiss Alps has demonstrated, that modern distribution of genetic variation does not reflect past spatio-temporal signatures. The legging was made from the skin of a domestic goat (Capra hircus), belonging to the caprine haplogroup B1, which is marginal in Europe today, but represents a third highly diverse goat haplogroup entering Europe already in the Neolithic. Population expansion of lineage B therefore happened more than 4500 years ago, but their members were at some point almost completely replaced by goats of today's common A and C haplogroups.     

Mitochondrial DNA from 3000-year old chickens at the Teouma site,Vanuatu

Chickens were part of the Lapita cultural complex, transported into and through the Pacific by prehistoric colonists; as such they can be used as a proxy for tracking prehistoric migration and interaction. The Lapita site of Teouma in Vanuatu is well known for the recovery of complete dentate stamped pots and a cemetery containing the largest collection of Lapita period skeletons ever found. Chicken bones recovered from these excavations provide the first ancient DNA sequences from any commensal organism directly associated with a Lapita context. The ancient mtDNA sequences obtained from two Teouma chicken bones are compared with previously published archaeologically derived ancient DNA sequences to extend our understanding of the spread of chickens in Pacific prehistory. The results also show that the haplogroup E signature was present in very early populations of chickens transported into Remote Oceania. This study also adds to the suite of available data relating to isotopic signatures for commensal animals during the early settlement of Vanuatu and may reveal a different diet for Teouma chickens than those from other early prehistoric assemblages in the Pacific.     

Genetic characterization of an archaeological sheep assemblage from South Africa’s Western Cape

The Neolithic Revolution, constituting a shift from food acquisition to food production, came to Africa as it did to most of the rest of the world: through processes of transmission rather than through de novo innovation. In contrast with other regions the pastoral management of cattle, sheep and goats was widespread in Africa thousands of years before settled agricultural communities or the use of domesticated plants were in evidence ( 46, 35 and 10). We report here the discovery of haplogroup B in the first genetic analysis of an African archaeological sheep assemblage.