Late pre‐Islamic burials at Mleiha,Emirate of Sharjah (UAE)

The history of two monumental grave buildings (nos. 4 and 5), excavated in area P of the late pre‐Islamic city of Mleiha, has been studied in detail. Like all other tombs excavated up to the present day in Mleiha, their chambers had been emptied in ancient times. They were found devoid of human remains and grave‐goods. In the upper parts of the grave fills, however, skeletal remains were encountered. One of the skeletons was radiocarbon dated to AD 623–656, the time of the Islamisation of south‐east Arabia. A radiocarbon date of 384–233 BC for a wooden beam from the same tomb showed that it was built during the late pre‐Islamic period (PIR‐A). These dates and stratigraphic observations made clear that the interments were intrusive. The surrounding sediments were deposited by flooding. Directly underneath the skull of the dated skeleton, a layer of sandy loam was encountered, showing mud cracks. To understand the relationship between the burial and these deposits, micromorphological analyses of the surrounding sediments were conducted. The microstructural organisation of the sedimentary components implied that the skull was interred as part of a burial, and not deposited by natural processes.     

Intra-group interactions and inter-group violence: Sikh mobilization during the partition of India in a comparative perspective

Theories of ethnic conflict posit ethnic mobilization by elites as a necessary condition for ethnic war. What is less well understood is why ethnic mobilization succeeds in some instances, but not in others. This article examines this question using a case that is yet to be systematically explored from this perspective: Sikh mobilization during the partition of British India in 1947. During the period February–July 1947, there were two clear instances in which a section of Sikh elites tried to mobilize group members. While the first attempt at mobilization in March failed to elicit sufficient mass participation, the second attempt, in July, was more effective and created the preconditions for the violence that ensued in August. What explains this variation in mobilization outcomes? We contend that this difference can be traced back to key changes in elite strategy from March to July. In March, mobilization failed because the Sikh elites who were committed to the path of violence left the onus of the mobilization on a small group of extremists and mass sentiments, ignoring serious intra-community differences based on class and caste inequalities. By contrast, in July, they emphasized the issue of land dispossession and gave credible indications of their resolve to use violence to defend individual rights to land. These actions produced greater compliance because of the specific capacity of anti-land dispossession politics to blur intra-group social inequalities and heighten inter-group tensions based on land dispossession.     

Early Dilmun and its rulers: new evidence of the burial mounds of the elite and the development of social complexity,c. 2200–1750 BC

This paper deals with the social organisation of early Dilmun in Bahrain based on evidence from the burial mound record. Complete aerial photography survey and mapping have documented the extensive mound fields of Bahrain in their entirety and revealed a new and rare type of burial mound encircled by an outer ring wall. From the spatial distribution and appearance of these ‘ring mounds’ it is argued that they cover the time span 2200–1750 BC. It is further argued that the ring mounds reflect the entombment of a prominent segment of early Dilmun society and thus testify to the presence of a social elite as early as the late third millennium BC. The paper offers evidence supporting the view that fundamental changes in the size of the ring wall and the encircled mound occurred over time, culminating in the colossal ‘royal’ mounds near Aali village. The increase in size of the special mounds and the exclusive appearance of the type in the Aali cemetery after the emergence of ten concentrated cemeteries around 2050 BC are correlated with the already available evidence of increasing social complexity in Dilmun. Three clusters of ring mounds in Aali are argued to reflect the appearance of one or more ruling lineages that were ultimately to found the colony on Failaka, Kuwait, and rule not only Bahrain but also the adjacent coast of Saudi Arabia.     

试论四川地区战国墓中的青铜工具

四川地区战国墓葬所出土的青铜器中最具特色的是巴蜀风格的容器与兵器。此外 ,在这些墓葬中普遍随葬青铜工具的现象也是不可忽视的。四川地区的战国墓葬中一般均有青铜工具出土。 (详见表一 ) ① 即使不出青铜工具 ,也会出土一些铁质工具。如大邑五龙乡土坑墓就出土有铁斧、铁环首刀等 ② 。四川地区战国墓中出土的青铜工具 ,不仅数量多、分布广 ,而且种类丰富。现根据已有资料 ,对战国时期四川地区青铜工具的型式演变、年代分期、功用及相关问题谈一点初步认识 ,以求正于各位同仁。一、青铜工具的型式四川地区的战国墓中出土的青铜工具主要…     

湖北秭归望江古墓群发掘简报

湖北秭归望江墓群是三峡库区一处以晚唐北宋为主并可早到六朝前期的墓群。墓群以小型土坑墓为主,并有少量土洞墓,中型墓均为砖室或石室墓。瓷器是望江墓群的主要随葬品,器形包括碗、罐、壶等十多种,并有青、青白、黑、白等多种釉色,分别来自湖南长沙窑、武昌青山窑及四川地区的窑场,表明中唐以后迄宋代,三峡地区经济有了很大发展,与外界的经济化交流已很频繁。     

19世纪中叶的中日近代世界秩序体认

19世纪中叶前后,以西力东侵为背景,中日两国的精英分子对剧烈变动的世界作出了不同的回应。在日本,以洋学家和开明政治家为主体的“开放力量”,初步意识到人类文明“一体化”格局,其国际视野不断扩大。确立了近代外交观念。而同时期的中国官僚士大夫则沉浸于传统世界秩序观之中,难以形成系统的开放思想。直到两次鸦片战争后,方才出现明确的对外开放观念。这说明在对近代世界秩序体认的问题上,两国存在着较大的时间差。     

巴达维亚甲必丹制度与华侨包税制关系探析——以玛腰陈永元为个案

以玛腰陈永元为个案,阐述了巴达维亚甲必丹制度与包税制度的源起与演变及包税事业的经营,并通过探讨陈永元长期经营承包税收的原因,对两个制度之间的相互关系进行分析研究。     

Taboo and sensitive heritage: labour camps,burials and the role of activism in the Channel Islands

In this article we propose the concept of taboo heritage as a way to describe a legacy of war so sensitive that it never undergoes heritage creation. Attempts at creation, such as heritage listing, renovation or excavation, are blocked by local authorities. We also examine the transition from taboo heritage to sensitive heritage, the next step along the ‘heritage continuum’, which we propose can only occur through the combined efforts of the passage of time, the role of activists and official authorisation. We take as our case study two of the British Channel Islands of Jersey and Alderney, occupied by German forces from 1940 to 1945. Labour camps were built in both islands, where the dead were also buried locally. We explore how the existing legacy of these events is still taboo heritage in Alderney, but has achieved partial progress in the transition to sensitive heritage in Jersey.     

Regional restructuring of industrial sport: The case of elite hockey player production in British Columbia

Although ice hockey has been characterized as a “people's sport,” since the 1980s neoliberalism has stimulated elite hockey to take on industrial characteristics, driven by: the commodification of sport; a growing scale of hockey performance; the branding of teams and cities; a strategic coupling with media; and the privatization of training and facilities. In British Columbia, elite hockey players are being produced in new regional settings. Formerly, many elite players came from smaller resource-hinterland towns offering strong local support. With neoliberal commodification of the sport, the Lower Mainland has emerged as the main centre of elite player production in British Columbia. This has occurred very rapidly as costly private training programs located mostly in larger metropolitan areas have become the main source of young players aspiring to elite status. High-performance training companies and private hockey academies offer costly routes to elite player status, with new class relations that exclude low-income families. A range of internal and external scale economies lead to these new facilities being concentrated in larger conurbations, particularly in Greater Vancouver.     

Non‐osseous calcaneonavicular coalition in the Portuguese prehistoric population: report of two cases

This paper reports articular surface defects detected in three foot bones. These were exhumed from Portuguese collective burial places, Hipogeu de São Paulo II (artificial cave, Almada) and Necrópole da Serra da Roupa (shelter, Columbeira) dated to the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods. Other aetiologies were presented, but non‐osseous calcaneonavicular coalition proved to be the most probable explanation for the unusual morphology detected in two calcanei and one navicular bone. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.