Technological,Functional and Contextual Aspects of the K2 and Mapungubwe Worked Bone Industries

Mapungubwe (AD 1220–1290) is generally regarded as the first urban centre in southern Africa, functioning as the seat of power for an extensive but short-lived polity. More than 80 years of excavations here, and at its nearby predecessor K2 (c. AD 1000–1220), resulted in a substantial assemblage of material remains from elite and commoner contexts. This assemblage includes a large collection of worked bone objects, such as needles, awls, tubes and objects of personal adornment. Of particular interest are the bone arrowheads and link-shafts, of which a significant number of specimens were found complete and intact. Such quantities of well-preserved worked bone objects are unique in the archaeological record of the region. The worked bone assemblages from these two sites provide a rare opportunity to study multiple components of the production process as well as the use context of bone objects. In this paper, we characterise the K2 and Mapungubwe worked bone industries through various morphological, technological, use-trace and contextual approaches and discuss the significance of these aspects in terms of raw material selection and manufacture and archaeological use context. In particular, this study shows the complexity of these worked bone industries over time.     

‘Life in Happy Land’: using virtual space and doing motherhood in Hong Kong

This paper examines how a group of Hong Kong working mothers use the internet in performing and realizing their paid work and domestic role identities. The internet is a technology-enabled space and also what Michel de Certeau calls a ‘practiced place’, where its nature and functions are necessarily determined by the actions and practices of agents. Through participant observation and the analysis of a sample of chatroom and forum messages from a user-driven Hong Kong-based parenting website called Happy Land, I examine the relationship between this virtual space and its users. I find that the website has developed beyond its technology-mediated nature into a community of face-to-face friendships and social and emotional support. In effect, this virtual space plays a role in the social reproduction of the contemporary dual-earner family by enabling working mothers who use the website to perform roles in production and reproduction respectively.     

考尔雅典女神，雅典卫城682——尊希腊古典晚期雕塑的重建工作

在15世纪的意大利,人们发现了大量的古代雕塑遗存,基本上都是大理石雕塑残片。出于对大理石的迷恋、对雕刻工艺的欣赏、对人体雕塑生动表现的着迷,当时的贵族热衷于收集这些残片并试图拼对与重建这些残破的雕塑。但是几乎没有发现任何颜色的残存,他们甚至不会去探究彩绘他们更赞赏大理石洁白无瑕的表面。19世纪早期,建筑学家们考察了西西里一些古代庙宇的彩绘残存,随后有关一些著名希腊神庙（如帕台农神庙）彩绘的重构工作在全欧洲引发了热烈的讨论。但是对于这些雕塑涂施彩绘的强烈质疑声一直持续到十九世纪八十年代,直到雅典卫城发掘工作的开展才证实了古代大理石雕塑彩绘的事实。出土时,很多破碎的雕塑残片上都残存有鲜亮的彩绘,但通常在出土几个小时后就由于干燥而剥落了,只有依稀的彩绘痕迹残存,以及工作人员的描述和水彩模画。今天,翻开现代有关古代雕塑的书籍,你会发现大量彩色照片,但总是显现白色大理石表面。有关雕塑的工艺、功能和历史发展的意义的讨论已经很多了,但是很难得到一个完整的古代雕塑彩绘的例子。不仅仅是雅典卫城的雕塑曾经涂饰彩绘,经过重建工作这一时期有大量彩绘的例子。本次工作即是采用古代颜料与模具,尽可能完整的重建了一尊古代雕塑。     

The Netherlands in the constellation of the eighteenth-century Western revolutions

In the constellation of the eighteenth-century revolutions, the French events have always occupied a dominant position. Consequently the other European upheavals have been considered as being provoked or strongly influenced by France. Yet, the Dutch revolutions in the 1780s and 1790s provide some important nuances to this interpretation. Before the French took over the Bastille, there was already a Dutch revolution with devoted Patriots, speaking about rights of man and constitutions. The Patriots had to flee abroad in 1787. In 1795, thanks to the French Army, they were able to return to their drawing boards, eager to think anew their government and society. This paper investigates how they did it and whether the American and French precedents were so influential after all in the construction of the Batavian Republic.