The Pre-Roman Iron Age in Britain and Ireland (ca. 800 B.C. to A.D. 100): An overview

Those communities that lived in Britain and Ireland ca. 800 B.C. to A.D. 100 represent particularly well-researched examples of the complex agrarian, nonurban, societies with high population densities that characterize the Pre-Roman Iron Age across temperate Europe. This paper provides a critical introduction to the extensive recent literature on the Pre-Roman Iron Age in Britain and Ireland. Evidence from the large number of salvage excavations and surveys, the application of a wide range of analytical techniques, and important changes in interpretative frameworks are transforming understandings of this period. After reviewing these developments, a chronological account of the period is outlined which attempts to integrate these new results. This suggests that current interpretations of social processes across Iron Age Europe in terms of state formation, urbanization, and core-periphery relations with Mediterranean civilization need revision.     

丽水胡椒坑畲族祖图

畲族是中国现存的较古老的民族之一,具有悠久的历史和独特的传统,其中各支族自行绘制的祖图是最富特色的民族文化遗存之一。本文以丽水联城镇胡椒坑村现存的绘制于清光绪四年(1878)的祖图为例,介绍完整的一套畲族祖图所包含的主要内容,以及它在祭祀仪式上的使用情况等相关问题。     

In Praise of the Ordinary Man: Popular Media,Social Hierarchy and Identity in a North Indian Text

This article recounts a story found in a popular genre of religious literature known as vrat katha[ritual storytelling]. The narrative is of an “ordinary” low-caste man and his everyday struggles. It tells of the social and economic suffering experienced by the poor man upon encountering god (called Trilokinath/Vishnu) and receiving his blessing, mediated through a series of miraculous events. However, the transformative power of the events and fortunes that follow is undermined by a Brahmin who refuses to acknowledge the poor devotee, rebuffing his ritual gift [prasad] as polluted and considering him untouchable. The ambiguous nature of the gift and the ideology and practice of devotion [Bhakti] present an intriguing and complex picture of Hinduism, revealed in the multiple social roles and social contexts in which subalterns operate in the course of their day-to-day lives.

?I offer a critical reading of this fascinating story. What seems like a straightforward, standardised ritual text is analysed in terms of its competing and sometimes subversive views of “dominant” Hinduism. By examining the tensions and ambivalence in the text I argue for a more nuanced rendition of subaltern power and agency which cannot be reduced to that of resistance and opposition alone.     

谈士山盘铭文的“服”字义

本文从唐兰先生旧说出发,讨论新见士山盘铭文“服”字含义,认为其相当于《左传》、《国语》中所见的“职贡”一词,具体包括职事与贡赋两个方面。另外提出士山盘铭之方国“履”应即金文所见的“眉敖”之“眉”。最后指出士山盘铭对于探讨西周恭王时期的政治和先秦服制都具有重要意义。     

Landscapes of the Ghost Dance: A Cartography of Numic Ritual

Recent historical and ethnographic research indicates that the study of ritual behavior could be greatly enhanced by combining parameters of place and landscape use with interpretation of material culture. This strategy is especially useful for identifying the archaeological record of ritual among societies that incorporated topographic features and natural resources into their liturgical order. In this article we apply a behavioral framework to the study of Numic ritual technologies. By intergrating ethnographic and historic data on the geography, practice, and material culture of the nineteenth-century Nevada Ghost Dance, we demonstrate how this framework helps to determine the configuration of a ritual place and its position relative to other ritual and nonritual places.     

Two decapitations from Roman Towcester

Two young adult males from a Roman cemetery at Towcester show unambiguous evidence of decapitation In one, the skull had been placed over the lower legs, and in the other, the skull was in its correct anatomical position. The significance of this variation and the reasons for decapitation are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.