On the earliest contacts between Dubrovnik and England

According to tradition, King Richard I of England visited Dubrovnik (Ragusa) in 1192. Much of the evidence for this visit comes from a dispute at the end of the sixteenth century concerning the rights of the abbot of Lokrum. Medieval evidence can also be taken into contribution, notably the comments of the English chronicles of the early thirteenth century and the surviving documentation for the career of a Ragusan archbishop who later became bishop of Carlisle. The author concludes that King Richard's visit was a reality.     

新发现鲁迅致曹靖华书简及《河南卢氏曹先生教泽碑文》手稿

《河南卢氏曹先生教泽碑文》是鲁迅为曹靖华之父曹植甫撰写的一篇碑文,碑文原稿连同附带的一封书信一直没有被外界发现和披露。近日碑文和书信手稿首度现身公众视野,从其内容、特征和相关记载分析,可以确定为鲁迅手书原稿无疑。这两件手稿的发现,为我们对比研究《教泽碑文》的原稿、清稿、初刊本、文集本、全集本等诸多版本提供了重要依据,解决了1986年所立碑文石刻文字的底本问题,同时也廓清了包括曹靖华本人在内对这篇碑文手稿回忆的不准确之处。     

清至民国时期归化城土默特水利经费筹措方式研究

清代归化城土默特水利经费主要由民间社会自行筹措.清末斗捐等附加性税收和赈款开始用于水利事务,但均无定章准则.民国时期绥远省当局以1920年代旱灾为契机,在地方水利事务中承担了更多职能,其制定水利章程,并以报荒地款和工赈贷款等方式筹措水利经费.水利设施日常维护和管理经费则出自受益人交纳的水租.同时,水租有逐渐进入地方财政系统之中的动向.清至民国时期归化城土默特地区水利经费筹措方式的历史演变,反映了近代地方行政和财政体系的建立过程.     

Variation in human bone bioerosion during the Late Eneolithic/Bronze Age in Moravia (Czech Republic): A novel approach to BSE-SEM image quality and quantity assessment

Human bones from Late Eneolithic graves and Bronze Age settlement pits in Moravia (Czech Republic) were studied to reconstruct their post-mortem histories based on the distribution of their microbial destruction. Backscattered electrons in a scanning electron microscope (BSE-SEM) were used for visual assessment of bioerosion. Visual data from the histological analysis were transformed into quantitative data using the Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis (WEKA) toolkit. The results show that the presence of bioerosion is different between the two groups of samples. The bones from settlement pits display extensive bioerosion whereas the bones from graves display no or arrested bioerosion. The absence of bioerosion in graves is most probably linked with tomb burials of Corded Ware Culture. Given the tombs are frequently not preserved archaeologically, the state of bone bioerosion may serve as an indicator of their existence.     

SECRETS OF THE DRAVA: BRONZE AGE METALWORK IN CONTINENTAL CROATIA

The article presents a group of Bronze Age artefacts recovered from the Drava river wetlands in continental Croatia, examining their typological and chronological markers, and assessing the technological characteristics of the material through spectrometric and use-wear analyses. We discuss the context of the finds, types of items retrieved and deposition locations, and how these fit into the patterns of European Bronze Age metal deposition practices. Compositional and metalwork use analyses indicate that most of the items were in use prior to their deposition and display solid metallurgical skill. Chronologically, typologically, compositionally, and conceptually, the items align with the depositional trends seen in the wider region and beyond.     

A geometric morphometric relationship predicts stone flake shape and size variability

The archaeological record represents a window onto the complex relationship between stone artefact variance and hominin behaviour. Differences in the shapes and sizes of stone flakes—the most abundant remains of past behaviours for much of human evolutionary history—may be underpinned by variation in a range of different environmental and behavioural factors. Controlled flake production experiments have drawn inferences between flake platform preparation behaviours, which have thus far been approximated by linear measurements, and different aspects of overall stone flake variability (Dibble and Rezek J Archaeol Sci 36:1945–1954, 2009; Lin et al. Am Antiq 724–745, 2013; Magnani et al. J Archaeol Sci 46:37–49, 2014; Rezek et al. J Archaeol Sci 38:1346–1359, 2011). However, when the results are applied to archaeological assemblages, there remains a substantial amount of unexplained variability. It is unclear whether this disparity between explanatory models and archaeological data is a result of measurement error on certain key variables, whether traditional analyses are somehow a general limiting factor, or whether there are additional flake shape and size drivers that remain unaccounted for. To try and circumvent these issues, here, we describe a shape analysis approach to assessing stone flake variability including a newly developed three-dimensional geometric morphometric method (‘3DGM’). We use 3DGM to demonstrate that a relationship between platform and flake body governs flake shape and size variability. Contingently, we show that by using this 3DGM approach, we can use flake platform attributes to both (1) make fairly accurate stone flake size predictions and (2) make relatively detailed predictions of stone flake shape. Whether conscious or instinctive, an understanding of this geometric relationship would have been critical to past knappers effectively controlling the production of desired stone flakes. However, despite being able to holistically and accurately incorporate three-dimensional flake variance into our analyses, the behavioural drivers of this variance remain elusive.     

Late Middle Palaeolithic occupations in Ciemna Cave,southern Poland

Recent excavations in Ciemna Cave in the Pr?dnik valley near Ojców, southern Poland have brought to light new stratigraphic and techno-typological evidence concerning Late Middle Palaeolithic groups and their cultural affinities. In 2007, excavations began in the hitherto-unexplored main chamber of Ciemna Cave, with the goal of clarifying the results of previous work in other parts of the cave. During excavation the rocky floor of the cave was reached. About 1000 stone artifacts have been collected to date. Three cultural traditions have been documented: Mousterian, Taubachian, and Micoquian. Within the Micoquian tradition, three cultural levels were observed, which enriches the previous understanding of occupational phases at the site. These findings permit revision of the traditional terms “Pr?dnik industry” and “Pr?dnik technique.”     

Orientation of the Romanesque churches in the region of Val d’Aran,Spain (11th–13th centuries)

This study examines an ensemble of Romanesque churches in the region of Val d’Aran in the Spanish Pyrenees, built between the 11th and 13th centuries. Seven topographical studies performed between 2014 and 2015 examined these churches systematically using terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) as a data‐acquisition technique. The data obtained allowed for a geometrically accurate analysis of the orientation of these churches based on four Romanesque liturgies: Gemma animae (c.1120), by Honorius of Autun; Rationale divinorum officiorum (c.1150), by Jean Beleth; Mitralis de Officio (1190), by Sicard, Bishop of Cremona; and Prochiron, vulgo rationale divinorum officiorum (1291), by Guillaume Durand.     

A contribution to the study of post-depositional alterations of pottery using TL dating analysis

In luminescence dating, the potassium concentration significantly contributes to the dose rate value in the age estimation. Within this study, fine-grain thermoluminescence dating has been applied on sherds of calcareous pottery of known age, excavated at a Roman site in Mallorca, Spain. For those of the samples that showed signs of severe potassium leaching, according to chemical and mineralogical examination, the thermoluminescence analysis provided overestimated dates. By using the known archaeological age of the samples, a corrected dose rate value can be estimated which provides the potassium concentration averaged for the burial period. Finally, a step-like model can then be used to estimate the fraction of the burial period after which most of the alteration effects took place.