Death in the line of duty: late medieval burials at the site of Lepenski Vir,Serbia

Four late medieval burials were excavated at the site of Lepenski Vir in the Iron Gates Gorge, Serbia. One of the individuals, Lepenski Vir 62, exhibits evidence of a sharp‐force trauma on the left parietal, consistent with a combat wound. None of the other contemporaneous individuals show any evidence of trauma or other pathology on the few preserved bones. We argue that the skeletons belong to soldiers involved in the border warfare on the Danube which was quite common at the end of the 14^th and the first half of the 15^th century between Serbian, Hungarian and Turkish forces. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

清代木船业的衰落和中国轮船航运业的兴起

晚清中国的巨变之一,是西力东渐后中国社会经济结构引发的一系列变化。西方轮船在中国水域中的出现和强力竞争,导致中国传统木船业衰落。西方轮船同时是外国列强在中国获取势力范围的外在表现。在内忧外患双重压力下,中国自己的轮船航运业冲破重重阻碍终于得以诞生,这是中国社会大机器工业时代开始的象征,也是中国社会发生重大变革的表现之一。     

湖北大悟夏家河遗址发掘简报

夏家河遗址位于湖北省大悟县高店乡夏河村,2008年11月~12月,为配合郑(州)武(汉)高速铁路建设,湖北省文物考古所对该遗址进行了抢救性发掘。遗址包含新石器时代和西周两个时期的文化遗存。新石器时代遗存发现有石家河文化晚期的瓮棺和房址,出土器物有鼎、钵、高领罐、缸、擂钵等。西周时期遗迹多为灰坑、烧土堆积和房址,从鬲、罐、盂、豆等器物组合和形态来看,相当于西周晚期。     

Monks,dinars and date palms: hagiographical production and the expansion of monastic institutions in the early Islamic Persian Gulf

Recent archaeological studies have documented an expansion of monastic institutions in the Persian Gulf after the Islamic conquest, between the middle of the seventh and the end of the eighth centuries. Although the literary sources have often been invoked to support an earlier dating for the diffusion of coenobitic monasticism in the region, our principal source for the phenomenon — the History of Mar Yonan, hitherto misdated to the fourth century — confirms recent archaeologically informed interpretations. The narrative, moreover, provides an insight into the social and economic structures of monasticism in the seventh‐ and eighth‐century Persian Gulf as well as the ideological conflicts that attended the emergence of those structures.     

清末民初的“纪年”变革与国家建构

清末,中国传统时间思维受到西方线性时间观念的冲击而发生根本变革,纪年变革就是这种变化最为直接的表现。知识分子将纪年视为建构＂现代国家＂的重要方面,并为争夺纪年所具有的政治资源展开激烈论争。民国建立之后,革命党人将建构新纪年体系视为革新政治的重要标志,并在社会上大力播扬新纪年的意义,此做法却受到了普通民众的抵制。时间观念及与之相伴的生活习俗与现实政治之间的复杂关系是近代社会变革的重要论题。     

晚清时期英国在华租借地历史文化国际学术研讨会综述

在山东威海举办的“晚清时期英国在华租借地历史文化”国际学术研讨会上,来自世界各地的专家学者,以香港、威海两地特定时期的历史文化问题为主题,对近代英国在华租借地的历史事件、历史人物及相关研究进行了多方位的考察和讨论,丰富了晚清时期英国在华租借地研究的成果。     

洛阳市西工区八一路东周车马坑

2004年10月,洛阳市文物工作队在洛阳市西工区八一路发现和清理了一座车马坑,坑内残存二车一马,出土了陶、铜、铅、玉、蚌等质地的遗物27件套。依据出土器物的形制特征,该车马坑的年代应为春秋晚期。     

幕末日本的海洋国家论

确切地说,幕末日本海洋国家思想的发展以1778年俄国商船来蝦夷要求通商为契机。与幕府的锁国海防相对,林子平、本多利明、佐藤信渊等思想家也纷纷提出了海防思想及海洋国家论,其特点以开国海防与开拓海防为主。锁国海防、开国海防与开拓海防,成为幕末海洋国家论的有机构成。     

Two Late Roman Wrecks from Southern Cyprus

Two scattered Late Roman shipwrecks were discovered in the course of underwater survey at Cape Zevgari and Avdimou Bay off the southern coast of Cyprus. Each was transporting a primary cargo contained in amphoras, in one case either local or from nearby Syria or Cilicia, and the other certainly from the southern Levantine coast. The two wrecks offer insight into regional maritime exchange networks within the socio-economic context of late antique commerce around the island. Both sites also contribute to a greater understanding of the utility of systematic shallow-water survey to shipwreck archaeology.
© 2007 The Author     

Economic Change in the Prehistoric Hexi Corridor (4800–2200 bp), North‐West China

It is widely known that the Hexi Corridor in North‐West China lies at a hub of trans‐Eurasian cultural exchange. Its role became increasingly important during the late prehistoric period, particularly as the ancient Silk Road began to be used. While the profound transformation of local cultural characteristics in the late Neolithic and the Bronze Age is well documented, the detailed economic dynamics of cultural evolution have not yet been clearly illustrated. In this paper, we report on significant new zooarchaeological and faunal isotopic data from the Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in the Hexi Corridor. The primary objective is to systematically reconstruct the prehistoric economic context of this area by combining these new data with previous archaeological studies and radiocarbon dates. We argue that the primary economic activities of local inhabitants changed dramatically in the prehistoric Hexi Corridor. This was marked by agricultural production at c.4800–4000 bp , agro‐pastoral production at c.4000–3000 bp and animal husbandry at c.3000–2200 bp , respectively. The major subsistence strategies of these three periods show considerable variation. It is very likely that these transformations of economic patterns in the prehistoric Hexi Corridor were primarily triggered by transcontinental cultural exchange and, to a lesser extent, by climate change.