The dry tank: development and disuse of water management infrastructure in the Anuradhapura hinterland,Sri Lanka

We identify and offer new explanations of change in water management infrastructure in the semi-arid urban hinterland of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka between ca. 400 BC and AD 1800. Field stratigraphies and micromorphological analyses demonstrate that a complex water storage infrastructure was superimposed over time on intermittently occupied and cultivated naturally wetter areas, with some attempts in drier locations. Our chronological framework, based on optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) measurement, indicates that this infrastructure commenced sometime between 400 and 200 BC, continued after Anuradhapura reached its maximum extent, and largely went into disuse between AD 1100 and 1200. While the water management infrastructure was eventually abandoned, it was succeeded by small-scale subsistence cultivation as the primary activity on the landscape. Our findings have broader resonance with current debates on the timing of introduced ‘cultural packages’ together with their social and environmental impacts, production and symbolism in construction activities, persistent stresses and high magnitude disturbances in ‘collapse’, and the notion of post ‘collapse’ landscapes associated with the management of uncertain but essential resources in semi-arid environments.     

DG拍出NG范儿

罗伯特要她背稍稍往后仰一点,然后轻声说：“好的,就这么呆着。”光线最理想不过了,他说“多么透亮”……于是在围绕她转时,快门坚决地按了一下。     

The Evolution of Pottery Production During The Late Neolithic Period at Sialk On The Kashan Plain,Central Plateau of Iran

The prehistoric sherds recovered from the North Mound of Tepe Sialk were investigated using XRF, XRD and SEM/EDX analyses. These studies showed the occurrence of a gradual evolution in pottery‐making from the Sialk I to Sialk II periods, eventually leading to the production of bulk red pottery at the final phase of Sialk II. The relative similarity of compositions, homogeneous microstructures and the presence of high‐temperature phases demonstrated a high degree of specialization in the selection of raw materials and control of the firing temperature and atmosphere among the potters of Sialk in the sixth millennium bc , peaking at the final phase of Sialk II.