Multiple Histories: Three Journeys through Academic Records,Medieval Yemen,and Current Anthropology's Encounters with the Past

This chapter sets out to reconsider the interrelation and non-identity between tribal and kinship relations in South-Western Arabia's history through three cumulative methodological steps that are in part inspired by renewed debates on kinship in anthropology, but also by the École des Annales and other historians such as David Sabaean. A first step identifies different legacies of interactions between history and anthropology in the Euro-American academic record after 1945, and specifies their relevance for today. In a next step, prevailing relations between tribal structures and kinship relations will be assessed through a long-distance comparison between the medieval constellations in the Zaydi highlands of Yemen and elsewhere in Asia for an eleventh century time horizon. Thirdly, the outcome of this comparative analysis should then provide some indicators for a fresh assessment of existing source materials through anthropological perspectives, with special emphasis on gender, kinship and hierarchies. The argument concludes with a discussion of “multiple histories”, and how to approach and write them.     

A reexamination of the reasons for the closure of the Dunhuang Library Cave

Abstract

Cave 17 or the cave library is located on the northern wall in the hallway of Cave 16 in Mogao Caves, Dunhuang. The murals on the cover layer of Cave 16 are closely connected with the reason why the cave library was sealed. The transformation tableaux of the thousand Buddhas on the cover layer of Cave 16 seems to reflect the thought of the Final Dharma, which could be dated in the late Guiyijun period when Dunhuang was ruled by the Cao family. In 1052, the trend of the Final-Dharma thought flourished in the Liao Dynasty. With the frequent communications between the Guiyijun regime and the Liao, this trend came to Dunhuang and merged with the original thought of the Final Dharma in this region, which tremendously impacted the Buddhist community in Dunhuang. So the local Buddhist community made the transformation tableaux on the mural of Cave 16 and also transformed Cave 17 for storing Buddhist texts as a response to the coming Final Dharma. These activities seem to have led to the eventual sealing of Cave 17.     

中晚唐两制草诏格局的形成及演变

中晚唐两制草诏的区别较鲜明地体现在用纸材质上,从学士院成立之初翰林学士张垍用黄麻写诏,到代宗大历年间以内制白麻任命李栖筠为御史大夫,是翰林学士院草诏制度的一大变化。在早期的白麻内制中,命相制书是最早且较稳定地归属学士院起草的文书类型。至德宗贞元时期,涉及节度使的除命以及赦文德音、招讨宣慰等重要政务处分的诏令起草,开始较为稳定地归属学士院。宪宗元和时期及其以后,通过对元稹、白居易文集等集部文献中所收诏敕予以归类,可大体展现此期两制分工的整体面貌,其中外制黄敕在各品级官僚群体的除授上皆有行用,而内制白麻的行用则大体被限定在常参官以及五品以上外官的除授范围之内。     

李家崖文化年代再议

李家崖文化典型器类与晚商早期商式铜、陶器的共存关系表明,李家崖文化的年代上限应为殷墟一期,该文化早期与朱开沟文化晚期部分器物形制接近,也表明两种文化之间年代紧密衔接。李家崖文化晚期出现的弧裆鬲与仿铜风格的鬲、鼎分属先周文化和殷商文化因素,据此可推定李家崖文化的年代下限为西周早期,相关文献中关于"鬼方"等北方部族的描述也与上述认识契合。     

胡家草场汉简与尹湾汉简数术文献中的“刑德行时”

荆州胡家草场12号汉墓出土竹简《五行日书》按端、令、罚、刑、德五时占测为事、初病、生子诸事项的吉凶。这篇文献与尹湾汉墓出土的《刑德行时》大体属于同一文献的不同版本,两相比照,有助于加深对其文本源流、内涵的理解和认识。     

洛阳新发现唐天宝三载石幢考释

2016年8月,洛阳匾额博物馆前施工时挖出一件唐代石幢的幢身,据其刻铭可知,该石幢立于唐天宝三载(744年),为彭城县尉张悌所立,其上所刻经文为《佛说业报差别经·施灯明功德品》。经考证,该石幢应为唐代佛寺灯台的幢形灯身。此外,张悌为比丘尼之"养男"的身份也为同类刻铭中少见,为研究唐人的日常生活提供了重要的实物材料。     

贵州遵义市播州杨氏土司墓葬形制研究

纵观播州杨氏土司墓葬的发展,其规模、结构、雕刻均有由繁至简的发展趋势,对昭穆制的遵循从严格走向了松散。腰坑葬俗是宋元明时期播州境内比较盛行的丧葬习俗,墓志亦是播州杨氏礼制遵循和身份等级体现的一个方面。墓前神道或拜台有自南宋中期的繁复到宋元明之交的简单到明末又归于复杂的发展轨迹,体现出时代的特征和墓葬装饰自内向外的转变。     

河南焦作聂村商代晚期墓地人骨研究

通过对河南焦作聂村商代晚期遗址出土的人骨进行观察、测量和数据统计分析,结果表明,聂村商代晚期墓地所出人骨的死亡年龄主要集中在中年期,颅骨种族特征与古中原类型的殷墟中小墓(2)组最近似,成年男性居民平均身高为165.41厘米。在聂村商代晚期人骨上还发现筛状眶与多孔性骨肥厚、骨性关节炎等骨骼病理,两性在龋病患齿率上存在显著差异,女性明显高于男性。