Pressurised pastoralism in South Gobi, Mongolia: what is the role of drought?

The desert-steppe region of southern Mongolia is susceptible to drought and extreme winter weather ( dzud ) that in combination form Mongolia's worst natural hazard. Low precipitation and high climatic variability in this dryland environment impact the landscape and affect pastoralism, the dominant rural lifestyle. Using the Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI), this paper identifies drought occurrence in South Gobi Province, Mongolia. It then examines the relationship of drought with climate factors, interaction with vegetation (derived from Normalised Difference Vegetation Index - NDVI - data), and local human and livestock populations, and the dzuds of 1999–2001. Results show that drought is recurrent in the region, reaching extreme intensity most recently in 2005–2006. In contrast with the prevailing concept of drought impacting dzuds , the study did not find a connection between drought and dzud in South Gobi Province. Though repeated events, these natural hazards occur independently in the region. Climatic variables show increasing temperatures (>1°C), fluctuating precipitation patterns and a decline in vegetation cover. The principal long-term correlation of drought is with human population rather than natural factors, dzud or livestock numbers.     

ASSESSING NATURAL CLAY COMPOSITION IN THE VALLEY OF OAXACA AS A BASIS FOR CERAMIC PROVENANCE STUDIES

The Oaxaca Clay Survey was initiated to provide baseline data on clay composition within the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, to assist in provenance determination of prehistoric ceramics. Natural clays were sampled from 135 locations throughout the valley, and analysed using INAA in combination with ceramic petrography. Observed geographical trends in trace‐element and mineralogical composition confirm that while parent material (surficial geology) strongly affects clay composition, a continuum of variation exists within the valley. The study develops and tests a continuous spatial model of clay composition that provides greater resolution in ceramic sourcing than bedrock alone. By establishing a regional framework for Oaxaca Valley clays, the survey will support significant advances in our understanding of pottery production and exchange within the valley, and provide a more robust means for monitoring exchange between the valley and neighbouring regions.     

遭遇与机遇:19世纪末中国农村手工业的曲折经历--以直鲁农村手工纺织业为例

19世纪末,直鲁农村手工纺织业在外国棉制品的冲击下经历了一个严重衰落的低谷,也迎来与国内发达地区并驾齐驱、与机器棉制品比肩竞争的发展转机,这一曲折经历包含着极为复杂交错的层面。一些学者关于洋布、洋货未能打入华北内地、甚至纠缠于“帝国主义是现实还是神话”的看法值得商榷;“封建、落后”的农村经济在突来的冲击面前所表现出的强韧性和对抗能力,在机遇面前所显示出的与时俱进的品质以及对新技术和新生产方式的持续容纳能力也同样值得关注。     

榆林25窟一佛八菩萨图研究

在吐蕃统治敦煌时期所开凿的洞窟中,榆林25窟是相对较特殊的一个,窟内南北两壁的观无量寿经变与弥勒经变延续了盛唐洞窟中经变画的构图、风格,而正壁残存的一佛八菩萨图在造像样式上与窟内其他图像则有一定的差别。从正壁残存的主尊、菩萨名号题记中可以发现,唐代不空译《八大菩萨曼荼罗经》能够与之相对应,但是该经对八大菩萨身形的描述与榆林25窟的图像有一定差别。此图像与藏经洞中的部分绢画具有类似的风格特征,其中一部分有藏文题记,表明它们与居住在敦煌的吐蕃信众有密切的关系,而藏经洞中发现的藏文抄写的《八大菩萨曼拏罗经》可以证明此地的吐蕃信众确实信奉这一经典。一佛八菩萨的图像在吐蕃本土拉萨及青海地区屡有发现,其中西藏昌都与青海玉树的两处摩崖石刻由高僧益西央开凿,年代均在九世纪初,这些遗迹说明一佛八菩萨图像在吐蕃本土的流传情况。在这几处图像与榆林25窟的一佛八菩萨的比较中可以发现,吐蕃流行的八大菩萨图样并不十分固定,但其构图和风格是基本接近的,而榆林25窟所采用的图像可能来源于吐蕃地区。     

A MULTI‐ANALYTICAL APPROACH FOR THE CHARACTERIZATION OF COMMODITIES IN A CERAMIC JAR FROM ANTINOE (EGYPT)*

This paper describes a multi‐analytical chemical study performed on the original, almost totally conserved, content of a small ceramic jar from the Antinoe archaeological site (fifth to seventh centuries ad, Roman Egypt) and now belonging to the archaeological collection of the Istituto Papirologico ‘Girolamo Vitelli’ (Florence, Italy). Scanning electron microscopy with an energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectrometer (SEM–EDX), Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) were all used to characterize the inorganic components of the archaeological material. The organic substances were analysed using FTIR, direct exposure mass spectrometry (DE–MS) and gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The inorganic component essentially consisted of halite (NaCl). Among the NaCl crystals, lamellar elements were identified. They were chemically characterized by carbonato‐apatite and showed a concentric morphology typical of the scales of small fish. The most prevalent organic constituents of the sample were monocarboxylic acids, α,ω‐dicarboxylic acids, and cholesterol and its oxidation products. The organic material composition was consistent with the occurrence of lipids of animal origin. In addition, diterpenes related to pine pitch were also identified. The overall results suggest that the material recovered in the small ceramic jar found in Antinoe is a residue of fish‐based pickles such as garum, muria, allex and liquamen, which were commonly used in Roman times.     

Regulatory Alchemy: How the Water Cycle Becomes Capital in the California Desert

A proposed project will take water from an aquifer in the California desert to the coast. Lacking final approvals more than 30 years after it started, the project remains a plan despite sizeable opposition. What is its secret? In this paper, I examine the imaginaries of the underground aquifer underneath the lands of Cadiz Inc, the project proponent. While local theories insist the company is at the centre of a Chinatown conspiracy, I argue that the company stays alive through regulatory alchemy, a term that reveals the magic at the heart of scientific and regulatory approval processes. I examine narratives of the aquifer in environmental compliance and financial reporting in order to reveal how regulatory processes become the conditions of profit-making, building on debates in critical legal geography and political ecology.     

Results of micrometallographic analysis of metalworking tools in graves of metallurgists in Moravia/Czech Republic

The number of finds relating to metalworking, without evidence of mining and processing facilities, is very limited. In Final Eneolith graves of specialized metallurgists that have occurred, they contain a metal-founding or metalsmithing toolkit, whose origins were from eastern Europe (the Maykop, Yamnaya Culture). Such metallurgical tools may have reached central Europe as part of the so-called Yamnaya Package before the onset of the Bee Beaker Culture (BBC); and unlike the Pontic region, these two types of metallurgy separated here. There are found an accumulation of metallurgists' graves in Moravia, where the complete metalworking toolkit is deposited in a predefined place in richly furnished male graves with a distinctive funerary architecture that exhibit a clear relationship to the grave goods. EDX-analysis detected a high content of metals (Cu, Ag, Au, Au–Ag alloy) on all working surfaces of stone tools, grinders, and boar tusks used for the final treatment of their metal products. This makes us believe that the used artefacts were laid as symbolical objects in the graves of these craftsmen who perfectly knew these advanced technologies. Due to their knowledge, their social significance gradually rose and finally reached the level of social elites, who were usually buried in a spectacular manner, including the quantity of grave goods (Überausstattung) and the pars pro toto deposition in one part of the finds.     

历史文化村镇旅游流季节性特征比较研究——以西递、周庄为例

本文以西递和周庄为例,对历史文化村镇旅游流季节性特征进行比较。研究表明,两地在旅游流季节分布不均匀性、季节分布模式和季节划分方面均存在一定差异。对基尼系数和季节性强度指数的分析表明,两者在描述旅游流的季节性变动特征方面具有可替代性,且前者在一定程度上优于后者。另外,旅游地发展阶段也会对旅游流季节性特征有一定影响。论文建议旅游流季节性特征可作为旅游地发展阶段的一项评估指标。     

樽奁考辨

文献中,樽与奁这两种器物常常被混淆。"奁"是主要用来存放与梳妆相关的器物,战国时为单层,汉代的时候出现双层奁同时流行多子奁。奁以圆形为主,带盖,常集彩绘、嵌扣、贴金银箔等多种工艺为一体。"樽"则为战国时期出现的日常实用酒器,分盆形和筒形两大类,胎骨多为铜胎或木胎,分为有盖和无盖,底下常有三足。