关于利用历史文献信息进行环境演变研究的几点看法

针对如何更好地利用我国丰富的历史文献记录,开展历史时期环境演变研究,本文提出四点看法:从地球系统科学与全球变化研究的前沿中寻找研究的主题,在诸多不确定中寻找确定性答案,构建历史文献信息共享的环境演变研究平台,培养文理兼备的复合型人才。     

老虎山文化的扩张与对外影响

大约以公元前2200年为界, 老虎山文化可分为前、后两大期.前期稳定发展,对外影响有限;后期向南强烈扩张,其陶双鋬鬲、卜骨和细石器镞更流播至黄河中下游广大地区.老虎山文化后期对外扩张的加强和这一时期气候日渐干冷有关.     

文物商店改制问题探析

在回顾国有文物商店历史成因、分析文物商店困境的基础上提出了对其改制的必要性,进一步分析了国有文物商店改制的特殊性以及国有文物商店改制必须要处理好的四点关系。     

明清时期江淮西部地区干湿状况研究(1450-1911)

对明清江淮西部地区的旱涝史料进行梳理,对逐年州县旱涝灾害资料等级进行量化处理,并通过计算旱涝平均等级值和10年滑动平均值,重建1450—1911年该区域的干湿变化时间序列。结果发现,该区1450—1911年间共出现6个干湿阶段: 1450—1490年,以轻度干旱为主;1491—1545年,旱涝灾害频发,干湿波动较为明显;1546—1625年,旱涝灾害少发,干湿比较平稳;1626—1710年,以中度干旱为主,极端干旱事件发生频率显著增加;1711—1860年,气候湿润;1861—1911年,干湿波动偏湿润。不同的干湿阶段对江淮西部的湖泊也造成了一定的影响,干旱时期,湖盆积水减少,湖周萎缩;湿润时期,降雨增加,湖泊的蓄水量增加。     

Americanist Stratigraphic Excavation and the Measurement of Culture Change

Many versions of the history of Americanist archaeology suggest there was a stratigraphic revolution during the second decade of the twentieth century—the implication being that prior to about 1915 most archaeologists did not excavate stratigraphically. However, articles and reports published during the late nineteenth century and first decade of the twentieth century indicate clearly that many Americanists in fact did excavate stratigraphically. What they did not do was attempt to measure the passage of time and hence culture change. The real revolution in Americanist archaeology comprised an analytical shift from studying synchronic variation to tracking changes in frequencies of artifact types or styles—a shift pioneered by A. V. Kidder, A. L. Kroeber, Nels C. Nelson, and Leslie Spier. The temporal implications of the analytical techniques they developed—frequency seriation and percentage stratigraphy—were initially confirmed by stratigraphic excavation. Within a few decades, however, most archaeologists had begun using stratigraphic excavation as a creational strategy—that is, as a strategy aimed at recovering superposed sets of artifacts that were viewed as representing occupations and distinct cultures. The myth that there was a stratigraphic revolution was initiated in the writings of the innovators of frequency seriation and percentage stratigraphy.     

略论晚清汉学的兴衰与变化

晚清时期,兴盛于乾嘉年间的清代儒学主流学派－汉学－尽管走上衰落的道路,但这种衰落并非直线性地下降,而是经历了一个较长的曲折变化的过程。自鸦片战争到中日甲午战争长达半个多世纪的时间里,汉学依然是中国学坛人多势众、著述丰富、分布广泛的强势学派,居于学界“老大”的地位。晚清汉学家们秉承乾嘉宿儒治学传统,在经学、小学、音韵学等领域开展深入研究,取得显著成就,甚至在某些方面直驾乾嘉而上。晚清汉学因处于与乾嘉汉学完全不同的社会环境,形成“实”、“通”、“变”的历史特征,并随着中国传统社会发生根本性的变化而实现着自身的新旧更替。晚清汉学既沿袭了传统儒学的许多消极因素,也包含着其中的积极成分,对中国近代社会文化产生了复杂而多重的影响。     

Low-Fired Earthenwares in the African Diaspora: Problems and Prospects

Local earthenware associated with enslaved African populations in the Americas, variously called Colono-Ware, Afro-Caribbean Ware. Yabbas, and Criollo ware, has received considerable attention from researchers. What unifies this disparate group of ceramics is not method of manufacture, design and decoration, or even form and function but the association or potential association with African diaspora populations. The ceramics incorporate some skills and techniques possibly brought by African potters to the Americas, as well as skills reflecting European and Native American traditions, and local adaptations in form, function, and manufacture. Analogies linking African ceramic traditions to American industries have at times been employed uncritically and have relied on generalized characteristics to infer overly specific meanings. With particular reference to low-fired earthenwares from Jamaica, this paper examines the historical and cultural context of these ceramics and the methodological and theoretical problems faced in their interpretation.     

Stylistic Change as a Self-Organized Critical Phenomenon: An Archaeological Study in Complexity

Archaeologists can learn from models of evolution as a self-organized critical phenomenon. Self-organized critical systems are large, interactive systems that organize into a critical state where minor events can trigger chain reactions. Such systems demonstrate power-law distributions in the size of changes, or avalanches, that occur. The theory of self-organized criticality is important in that it implies that the evolution of complex systems may be driven more by interactions between agents than by external events or natural selection. Stylistic changes may be examples of avalanches of interconnected events. Evidence for self-organized criticality is shown for stylistic evolution in historical pottery styles from New York State and is used to evaluate the nature of a prehistoric pottery typology from the Southwest.     

The Effect of Terrain on Entheseal Changes in the Lower Limbs

One of the main factors involved in entheseal changes (EC) aetiology may be related to the physiological limits of biomechanical loading fixed during bone development, such that higher load during childhood and the adolescent growth spurt leads to a lower frequency of EC during adulthood. In this sense, it is possible that ECs may be related to overloading beyond an individual's normal physiological limits as established during childhood and adolescence. This meta‐analysis tested this aetiological possibility by studying the influence of terrain on the entheses of the lower extremities. The hypothesis is that individuals who inhabited rugged terrain have lower EC than those living in flat terrain. This is because biomechanical loads associated with rugged terrain will lead to a higher normal capacity (defined during skeletal development) mitigating the probability of overloading compared to those living in flat terrain who will therefore have a higher frequency of ECs. To test this, papers reporting EC frequencies in the lower limbs were analysed alongside the local terrain. Terrain was defined into two categories: flat or rugged based on altimetry profile, i.e. the average elevation gains and losses along four specific paths (North‐South, East‐West, Northwest‐Southeast, Southwest‐Northeast). Odds ratios were calculated to compare rugged and flat terrain. The overall results are consistent with the hypothesis that overloading is a factor in EC aetiology. However, when the analysis is conducted by sex and side, this general trend does not always occur. Limitations such as the lack of standardized age ranges could be affecting the outcome, i.e. older individuals have a higher frequency of ECs. The findings of this analysis suggest that the theoretical assumptions associated with the cause of ECs require further testing and evaluation. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Human Response to Climate Change during the Umm an‐Nar/Wadi Suq Transition in the United Arab Emirates

Stable oxygen isotope ratios in archaeological human dental enamel represent an under‐utilised tool in the examination of changing climatic patterns in the ancient world. In the Oman Peninsula at the end of the third millennium bc , rapid aridification was accompanied by a breakdown in interregional trade relations; however, the human response to these changes is poorly understood. At the Bronze Age necropolis at Shimal in the United Arab Emirates, dental enamel from individuals interred in both Umm an‐Nar (ca 2700–2000 bc ) and Wadi Suq (ca 2000–1300 bc ) tombs underwent oxygen, strontium and carbon isotope analyses to examine how local inhabitants of southeastern Arabia responded to both environmental and socioeconomic change. While individuals from Shimal exhibit a clear shift in mean δ¹⁸O_c(VPDB) values from the Umm an‐Nar (−3.5 ± 0.6‰, 1σ) to the Wadi Suq (−2.4 ± 0.9‰, 1σ), corresponding ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and δ¹³C_ap signatures display homogeneity indicative of continuity in Bronze Age lifeways. Together, these data highlight the ability of local communities to successfully adapt to their changing environs (in lieu of societal collapse or a shift to a more mobile lifestyle) in an effort to maintain their way of life. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.