Of Ships and Deer: early Western Mediterranean ship graffiti reappraised

Re‐analysis of the Hal Tarxien prehistoric ship graffiti, the incised figure on a pottery sherd, from the Neolithic site of Grapceva cave on a Croatian island, known as the ‘Hvar boat’, and the Villanovian‐Etruscan bronze razor from Bologna allow the last two to be reinterpreted as animals rather than ships, and the first to be dated to the Bronze Age Cemetery phase of the site. These findings require the earliest ship graffiti in the western Mediterranean to be reconsidered.     

Seal dies from the National Museum of Slovenia: Non-destructive analyses of medieval and early modern copper alloys

A representative group of seal dies made of copper alloys from the collection of the National Museum of Slovenia was investigated by energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (EDXRF). Chronologically, the artefacts date from the early 13th century to the present. Non-destructive EDXRF screening of elemental fingerprints of Cu, Zn, Pb, Ag, Sn and Sb was performed on 95 seal dies, and the obtained elemental data set was further processed by chemometric tools such as principal component analysis (PCA). The relationships between the elemental composition of analysed seal dies, type of alloy applied and their historical context—date, location of manufacture and, possibly, social rank of the owner—were examined in detail.     

两周金文中的繁地与西周早期的东土经略

两周金文中的繁与繁阳,是全然不同的两个地名:繁为东土地名,似在今山东汶、泗之间,繁阳则为南土汝水流域地名,在今河南新蔡一带。甗铭文所记周王命令出使于繁,班簋铭文记录穆王令毛公掌管繁、蜀、巢诸地,均与西周早期王朝东土经略有关。汶水流域是中原王朝东拓的交通要地,具有重要战略意义,也是今人梳理商周东土拓殖史的要点之所在。     

The Question of "Why It Is in Henan" and the New Direction of Chinese Scientific and Technological Archaeology

The ritual institutionalization demonstrated in the bronze production at Erlitou and further developed during the Shang and Zhou periods that formed a distinctive feature of bronze civilizations. While exploring the path of the earliest state formation, we could consider why Erlitou was chosen from the unveiling of the Bronze Age in China. Much attention had been paid to archaeological, chronological, geographic, and climatic information in the existing studies, but the relationship between bronze metal resources and the formation of the Erlitou state needed more attention. Viewing the Erlitou culture as the earliest state form in China and thus exploring the path of formation of early states was a return to the original theme of archaeology.     

A Compositional and Microstructural Study of Eighth‐Century BC Bronzes from Moita Da Ladra (Tagus Estuary): How Did the Spread of the Phoenician Metallurgy Take Place in Western Iberia?

Metals from a votive deposit at Moita da Ladra (Tagus Estuary) dating to the eighth century bc were studied by micro‐EDXRF, optical microscopy and Vickers testing to investigate the adoption of Phoenician innovations by indigenous communities. Artefacts are made of bronze alloys with suitable tin contents (11.6 ± 2.3 wt%) and very low iron impurities (<0.05 wt%), and were often manufactured using the long post‐casting sequence. Comparisons with indigenous and Phoenician metallurgies from western Iberia revealed a conservative technology suggesting that the spread of Phoenician innovations was very slow. In this region, the adoption of a diversified copper‐based metallurgy and reduction furnaces only seems to occur during the Post‐Orientalizing Period, c. sixth to fourth centuries bc .     

论“苏州片”失蜡铸造工艺的特色及其价值

"苏州片"是我国传统失蜡铸造的代表性工艺,以其法制作的仿古铜器,以精绝、乱真闻名于世,研究者与苏州艺人经数年的密切合作,成功复原此工艺。"苏州片"仿古铜器工艺蜡料配方独特、制范技艺考究、制作过程精细缜密,不仅具有历史人文价值,而且具有一定的经济、科技价值。传统手工艺要揭示其科学内涵,保护传承的同时注重创新,紧跟时代特色,走向产业化,才能在现代社会赢得生存空间。     

仙人好楼居:襄阳新出相轮陶楼与中国浮图祠类证

湖北襄阳东汉—三国蔡越墓出土的相轮陶楼,在建筑形制上为汉式陶楼和印度式相轮塔刹的结合,在装饰母题上同时兼有汉地神仙瑞兽与印度—犍陀罗式有翼天人的图像,明显带有佛教初传时期汉、印文化杂糅的特点。本文在讨论陶楼形制的过程中,分别联系同期北方墓葬中出土的陶楼明器和汉晋之际江南地区的佛饰堆塑重楼魂瓶进行类比分析,证明这两类墓葬明器都与文献记载的"浮图祠"相关联。在佛教初传汉地时,由"仙人好楼居"的汉式重楼过渡到高层佛塔,浮图祠是初期的标志,襄阳蔡越墓陶楼或可看作是浮图祠的标准器。浮图祠用作明器进入墓葬,反映了汉地民间埋葬方式因佛教传入而起的新变化,并在随后长江中游六朝砖墓的建造中留下了印记。     

明代西安下马陵方位变迁考——兼论董仲舒墓所在地之争

拙文详考了明代西安下马陵从城南胭脂坡处演变为地处城内今和平门内西侧的过程,并且指出,正德初年陕西提学王云凤曾组织民力修筑城南下马陵和董子祠。嘉靖三年(1524年)陕西巡抚王珝与巡按御史喻茂坚首设城内董子祠,因其处原有墓,遂被时人认作董仲舒墓。笔者认为今之董墓所在之争在无可信证据前提下展开,并无意义。     

中国早期青铜器的起源与传播

中原地区虽然从新石器时代就零星地发现青铜器残片,但青铜文化真正兴起则到了公元前2千纪的前半叶,中国北方早期青铜文化发生的时代晚于中原地区。相比之下,新疆地区则在公元前3千纪末开始,就出现了发达青铜器群;甘青地区青铜器群出现的年代也早于中原地区和中国北方地区。新的发现与研究表明,中国早期青铜器有从西北向中原内地和中国北方地区传播的趋势。这些发现大大拓宽了中国早期青铜器起源与传播研究的视野。     

秦始皇帝陵出土二号青铜马车彩绘夔龙纹复原方法研究

为对秦始皇陵出土的彩绘铜车马采取非接触且科学可靠的方法开展研究,选择使用高光谱成像技术,以非接触方式无损地获取文物表面信息。通过对信息的处理与分析,实现对于文物表面彩绘纹样的发现与复原工作。针对秦始皇帝陵出土的二号青铜车马彩绘纹样的受损情况,提出了结合高光谱成像技术与计算机图像技术的数字复原方法。主要是利用了高光谱成像技术“图谱合一”的优势:一方面利用其在近红外区域的高光谱成像结果检测并复原出彩绘纹样难以识别的图案边缘信息;另一方面利用高光谱数据中的光谱信息,将铜车马彩绘纹样上未知矿物颜料的光谱同实验建立的矿物颜料标准光谱库进行拟合,识别出铜车马上彩绘所采用的颜料种类(雄黄1、石青5、石绿1、黄丹、铅白等),从而获得色彩信息。实验结果显示该方法可以得到较为完整的铜车马彩绘纹样的数字复原图像,并为今后对于铜车马更深入的研究和应用提供有利支撑。