Reconstructing Diet of the Early Qin (ca. 700–400 BC) at Xishan,Gansu Province,China

Here we report the bone collagen carbon and nitrogen isotopic results of humans (n = 33) and animals (n = 58) to reconstruct the dietary practices of an early Qin population dating to the Zhou Dynasty (Late Western–Early Eastern period ca. 700–400 BC ) at the Xishan site in Gansu Province, China. The humans have a very large range of δ¹³C (−23.3‰ to −7.1‰) and δ¹⁵N (4.3‰ to 10.9‰) values which reflects extraordinarily diverse diets and included individuals with predominately C₃ as well as those with exclusive C₄ diets. This wide span of isotopic results produced a subtle linear trend (R² = 0.62) in the human data, which paralleled the animals across the C₃ and C₄ environmental gradient. However, the majority of the individuals had a predominately C₄ diet based on millet with δ¹⁵N results only slightly elevated above the animals, except for the pigs and cattle. This is evidence that many of the animals were likely used for their secondary products, labour or as sacrificial offerings and that pork and beef were the main sources of animal protein for the population. High status individuals had elevated δ¹⁵N values (10.2 ± 0.6‰) compared to medium (8.9 ± 0.3‰) and lower status (8.8 ± 0.8‰) individuals, possibly related to increased animal protein in the diet. Differences related to gender were also found with females having elevated δ¹³C (−11.2 ± 1.9‰) and δ¹⁵N (9.4 ± 0.8‰) values compared to the males (δ¹³C = −14.1 ± 4.2‰; δ¹⁵N = 7.9 ± 1.9‰), but these results necessitate caution given the large number of individuals that could not be sexed. The results of this study support the view that the early Qin people were a more sedentary society focused on millet agriculture and animal husbandry, and that they were influenced by the pre‐existing populations of the central Gansu region. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Investigating Dietary Patterns with Stable Isotope Ratios of Collagen and Starch Grain Analysis of Dental Calculus at the Iron Age Cemetery Site of Heigouliang,Xinjiang, China

Here, we present δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N results for the dietary reconstruction of nomadic pastoralists from the Iron Age (ca. 1000 bc –8 ad ) site of Heigouliang. The human (n = 27) δ¹³C values range from −19.6‰ to −17.0‰ with a mean value of −18.5 ± 0.5‰, and the δ¹⁵N results range from 11.5‰ to 13.8‰ with a mean value of 12.4 ± 0.6‰. The results indicated that animals, like sheep, were part of the predominately C₃ terrestrial diet, but two individuals have values greater than −18‰ that is indicative of some input of C₄ foods in their diets. Because of a lack of faunal samples and to supply complementary information concerning plant consumption, teeth from four individuals were analysed for dental calculus microfossils. Starch grains were found to correspond to Triticeae and Poaceae, possibly including wheat (Triticum aestivum), barley (Hordeum vulgare), highland barley (H. vulgare L var. nudum), foxtail millet (Setaria italica) and/or common millet (Panicum miliaceum). At the population level, no dietary differences were detected between burial owners and sacrificial victims, but variations were found when specific tombs were analysed. In particular, individuals with bone trauma associated with armed conflict also had distinct isotopic signatures possibly suggesting that some of the sacrificial victims could have been captured warriors that were sacrificed for the burial owners. While limited, the results are some of the first from an Iron Age population from Xinjiang and contribute to our understanding of the dietary patterns of this region. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

清代妇女嫁妆支配权的考察

嫁妆跟随妇女由娘家到婆家,成为她们在新家庭中的“私产”。清代,大多数妇女拥有对自己嫁妆的独立占有权和支配权,并利用嫁妆为家庭、家族乃至社会作出贡献。妇女在支配嫁妆的同时,逐步加大其对家庭事务的影响,赢得家庭和家族成员的尊重,确立起她们在新家庭或新家族中的地位。     

Values and assumptions underpinning policy for children and young people in England

This paper provides an account of current ideas about English childhood that seem to underpin policies ‘for’ children. New Labour values the future adulthood of children more than their childhoods, and stresses children's responsibilities over their rights. Generally, child protection and provision for children has higher status than children's participation. Children are excluded from participation in social life. Traditional psychological formulations remain powerful in their stress on childhood as a preparatory stage of life, where children are socialised into conformity with the norms of social life. However, the last 15 years have seen greater respect for children's own views and experiences, for their rights and for the idea that childhood is socially constructed. But the idea that children are contributors to society is still rarely recognised and they continue to suffer from low social status accordingly.     

新中国妇女地位的历史巨变

新中国废除了一切歧视、压迫妇女的法律,并赋予女子同男子平等的法律地位,妇女的地位发生了翻天覆地的变化,主要表现为:妇女的政治地位明显提高;妇女获得了经济独立权;妇女受教育水平不断提高;妇女的婚姻家庭地位明显提高;妇女的特殊权益受到保护。虽然受社会发展水平的制约和旧观念的影响,中国妇女的状况还有许多不尽如人意的地方,我们仍然相信未来中国妇女的地位将会更上一层楼。     

‘Flying Fräuleins’: the construction of single migrant women in discourses on migration in Australia and West Germany in the 1950s and 1960s

The migration of single women of German descent to Australia in the 1950s and 1960s attracted attention from both sides of the world. A closer look at the historical records reveals contradictory opinions of officials from both countries towards the role and desirability of unmarried women as potential migrants. Widows, divorcees and women with dependants therefore faced difficulties in pursuing their aim of migration to Australia. However, many of them assessed available migration opportunities and proactively called upon innovative channels to continue their endeavours. The public construct of ‘the single woman’ neglected the existence of a broad spectrum of diverse female life models present in the early post-World War II German society and official policies refused to recognize the agency of these women. This article explores the diversity present in the lives of women that were interested in migrating to Australia, discloses the mechanisms behind the images propagated in public and analyzes the consequences of this for the women in question. The analysis will show that the migration agreement was deeply influenced by gendered notions of what constituted desirable and undesirable migration flows.     

Dietary patterns and social structures in medieval Sigtuna, Sweden, as reflected in stable isotope values in human skeletal remains

Stable isotopes (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N) have been studied in human burials from the medieval town Sigtuna in Sweden. Dietary patterns of 80 adult individuals were analyzed on three cemeteries representing the phases of establishment, prosperity and decline of the town. All analyzed individuals were radiocarbon dated. One of the cemeteries, Church 1, represents a population of higher social status than those at the other two cemeteries.The δ¹³C values are homogenous and showed that the protein intake was mainly of terrestrial origin in the whole population. δ¹⁵N values varies more and they may indicate a higher input of vegetables in the diet at one of the cemeteries, the Nunnan block.Already in the initial phases of Sigtuna a social hierarchy had been established which is reflected in dietary patterns. Apparently more animal protein was consumed among the high status population of the town. Furthermore, differences in dietary patterns between the sexes were noted. In all phases the females show more clustered values indicating a more homogeneous diet than that of the males.     

Examining social isolation by gender and geography: conceptual and operational challenges using population health data in Canada

In 2003, the Canadian Federal/Provincial/Territorial Task Force on Seniors identified social isolation as an important issue for further study and policy development given that socially isolated persons are considered to be more vulnerable to both inappropriate use of the health care system and poorer health outcomes. In order to provide adequate support to this vulnerable population, it is critical to untangle the complex web of relationships that influence the need for care, and the health status and service utilization patterns of socially isolated older adults. Using data from the 2000–01 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), this article explores social isolation as a multidimensional social construct examining in particular the axes of gender and geography to try to tease out some of this complexity and its relationship to health status and service utilization. When individual characteristics like gender are considered together with broader contextual variables like place of residence, a more comprehensive and layered portrait of vulnerability among socially isolated persons begins to emerge with insights into their unique patterns of health and service use. For example, home care may be an extremely critical resource for keeping older women in their homes and out of hospital. On the other hand, among socially isolated older men, those living in rural communities may be particularly ‘invisible’, neither benefiting from home care nor having strong social supports. It seems plausible then that both men and women may be in need of special interventions or targeted programmes to help them to remain, or to become, more socially integrated in their communities as they age in place. In addition, this article addresses some of the limitations of using both a quantitative analytic approach and the CCHS dataset itself in grappling with such complexity.     

出土陶器现场保护研究的现状

对出土陶器的现场保护,主要包括出土陶器的提取方法和技术,对酥脆陶器和彩绘陶器的预加固处理,简单的清洗及运输中的保护与缓冲包装技术.     

Lest the Lowliest Be Forgotten: Locating the Impoverished in Early Medieval Ireland

In early medieval Ireland (ca. a.d. 400–850), every person's rank in society was codified in documents and visibly apparent by their material possessions. Early Irish literature is overwhelmingly concerned with the negotiation of status, but it is focused primarily on the rights and responsibilities of the nobility and wealthy farmers. Those of lower status are often ignored, and it has been difficult as archaeologists to agree on what constitutes a lower class site or artifactual assemblage. This paper addresses these arguments and challenges the belief that the lowest members of medieval Irish society are invisible to archaeology due to their impoverished existence.