青海喇家遗址出土人骨的现场保护

为保护青海省民和县喇家村史前灾难遗址现场,对4座房址中出土的21具人骨进行了原地的加固和保护。根据人骨的保存状况及其埋藏环境的调查情况,在加固材料对比实验的基础上,选取三甲树脂的二甲苯和丙酮(溶剂体积比6：4)的混合溶液,采用多次缓慢滴注的办法进行加固处理。结果表明,滴渗法对脆弱的骨头具有良好的加固效果。     

Identifying activity areas in archaeological soils from a colonial Virginia house lot using phytolith analysis and soil chemistry

Environmental archaeology methods can uncover both house lot organization and economic adaptation practices when applied systematically in conjunction with traditional archaeological research. This is the first study to employ both phytolith analysis and soil chemistry to interpret activity areas on an archaeological site. The patterning in the phytolith and soil chemistry analyses from the site of Rich Neck Plantation, Williamsburg, Virginia, reveals a set of six activity areas in and around the 17th century house lot, demonstrating a degree of economic diversification generally attributed only to 18th century colonial economic and social transformations.     

说花园庄东地甲骨卜辞的“丁”——附:释“速”

最近公布的殷墟花园庄东地甲骨卜辞中,多次出现一位当时还活着的、称为“丁”的人物,从卜辞内容可以看出其地位甚高。本文主要通过指出这批卜辞中与历组一类占卜同事的一组卜辞,肯定了“丁”就是当时的商王武丁。以“丁”称呼时王武丁,究竟应该如何解释尚待进一步研究。同时,也可以进一步推定这批卜辞的时代,当为武丁晚期而非整理者认为的“武丁前期”。此外,这批卜辞中多次出现的一个整理者隶定作“”的字,应释为“速”,意为“召”、“召请”。旧有殷墟卜辞中一个或释读为“眚”、“软”、“喘”等的字,应释为“” ,读为咳嗽之“嗽”。     

Stone Age fishhooks – how were they dimensioned? Morphology,strength test,and breakage pattern of Neolithic bone fishhooks from Ajvide,Gotland, Sweden

The late Stone Age Pitted Ware site at Ajvide, Gotland, in the Baltic Sea, Sweden, has revealed a large deposit of fishbone and approximately 400 bone fishhooks, complete and incomplete. Cod (Gadus morhua), which is one of the most abundant fish species in the bone assemblage, was probably caught with hook and line fishing. To investigate the fishhooks' field of application, a morphological and morphometric study was performed on 384 available hooks. Two sets of replicas made of four selected original fishhooks were submitted to a strength test. A breakage study of the incomplete hooks in comparison with the strength-tested hooks was carried out in order to distinguish fresh breaks from dry breaks. It seems that a certain morphology for fishhooks was preferred at Ajvide, indicating they were produced by skilled craftsmen for special usage. The strength test showed that the hooks had a weight bearing capacity more than the average size of cod caught at Ajvide. Using results of these tests, we predicted that the mean breaking strength of 46 intact Ajvide hooks was 96.6 ± 26.1 (s.d.) Newtons (equivalent to 9.85 ± 2.7 kg). The design of fishhooks changed somewhat over time, being slightly larger in the oldest layers of the site. The breakage patterns of the hooks show that the bow was the most common area of breakage. The design and weight bearing capacity of the hooks point to a specialized cod fishery from boats in deep water.     

殷卜辞月食资料的整理与研究

本文对二十世纪有关殷卜辞月食资料的研究背景、资料整理及所取得的成果做了认真分析,尤其注重鉴别研究方法的得失。     

Induced metal-ion exchange in excavated human bone

Excavated human bone was exposed to aqueous solutions containing high concentrations of a single added metal ion in order to examine the extent of introduction of contaminating materials during burial. Variables included pH, temperature, ion concentration, state of bone (whole or crushed), structure of buffer, and counterion. Calcium and sodium showed little increase, and even a decrease in some cases. Strontium, zinc, lead, and magnesium showed large increases probably through heteroionic replacement of calcium. Manganese, aluminum, and potassium showed increases, particularly under neutral conditions, probably through infiltration into voids and defects.     

Bone frequencies: differential transport, in situ destruction,and the MGUI

Human transport of bones with high food values, and destruction of bones with low density values are the traditionally invoked explanations of the frequencies of bones in archeological contexts. The manner in which these two explanations have been used suggests archaeologists assume the explanations to be independent of one another. The transport explanation is operationalized as the modified general utility index (MGUI) of Binford, and the destruction explanation is operationalized with measures of bone density. Statistical correlation of the MGUI with bone density, while weak, indicates that many high utility bones have low density values while many low utility bones have high density values. Because low density bones tend to be destroyed more readily than high density bones, inferences of human utility strategies derived from bone frequencies and based on the MGUI may be inaccurate. The utility strategies suggested by three archaeofaunas are compared to bone density, and two of these faunas are shown to potentially be the result of differential destruction and not human transport as measured by the MGUI.     

试论殷墟花园庄东地卜辞的行款

殷墟花园庄东地卜辞的行款表面上看较为复杂,但实际上仍遵循着一定的规律。这种规律表现为:卜辞基本守兆,在卜兆上方由内向外契刻,至兆干后再沿兆干外侧下行。由于卜辞字数不同,有的未至兆干即止,有的刻至兆干下方后再内行或外行。此外,相关卜兆的数量与排列方式、卜甲上卜辞条数的多寡、卜甲上可供刻字的空间等因素也会影响到卜辞的行款。了解、掌握花园庄东地卜辞行款与卜兆之间的密切关系,将有助于进一步认识王卜辞与其它非王卜辞的行款规律,对深入探讨商代后期的占卜制度也有裨益。     

Sorting the butchered from the boiled

Is it possible to identify cooked, rather than burnt, bone? Mild heating (≤100 °C,1 h) – typical of cooking – does not lead to detectable changes in any biochemical parameter of bone yet measured. If it is only possible to detect charred bone, how is it possible to detect cooking in the archaeological record? In a previous paper (Koon et al., 2003, J. Arch. Sci.), we used a Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) based approach to investigate changes in the organization of the bone protein, collagen, as it is heated, using bone from heating experiments and short term burials. The work revealed that mineralized collagen, despite requiring aggressive treatment to gelatinise the protein (e.g. 90 °C, 240+ h), readily accumulates minor damage. We believe that the presence of mineral matrix stabilises the collagen enabling the damage to accumulate, but preventing it from causing immediate gelatinisation. Once the mineral is removed, the damage can be observed using appropriate visualization methods.     

Introducing δSr analysis in archaeology: a demonstration of the utility of strontium isotope fractionation in paleodietary studies

Isotopic methods are widely used in archaeology to investigate paleodiet. Here, we present a new method to identify trophic level in archaeological human populations and to investigate paleodiet. We demonstrate that strontium isotope compositions (reported as δ^88/86Sr) vary in a mass-dependent manner with increasing trophic level and can elucidate paleodiet in archaeological human populations. We present new mass-dependent strontium isotope data from tooth enamel and bone from individuals buried during the Late Intermediate Period (c. AD 1000–1300) in the large cemeteries of Chiribaya Alta, Chiribaya Baja, San Gerónimo, and El Yaral in the Ilo and Moquegua Valleys of southern Peru. We compare these data to radiogenic strontium isotope data (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) and light stable isotope data (δ¹⁵N_col and δ¹³C_col) from the same individuals to investigate geologic variability in strontium sources as well as marine food consumption among the Chiribaya. Our results demonstrate the utility of measurements of strontium isotope fractionation as a new tool for archaeological investigation of paleodiet. Importantly, this new technique can be used to generate paleodietary (δ^88/86Sr) and paleomobility (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) data from the same specimen, minimizing destructive analyses of invaluable archaeological material, and provides a new way to examine paleodiet through hydroxyapatite, which is particularly important when collagen is poorly preserved.