The emergence of agropastoralism: Accelerated ecocultural change on the Andean altiplano, ∼3540–3120 cal BP

In the fourth millennium BP, there were major environmental and cultural changes on the Andean altiplano of South America, but the chronology remains vague. A recent synthesis describes a slow, gradual transition from hunting and gathering to agropastoralism. This proposal is tested by refining the date of the onset of more humid and stable conditions, around 3550 cal BP, based on a Bayesian model of 26 dates from Lake Wiñaymarka and an updated calculation of the lacustrine offset. This is compared to Bayesian models of 191 dates from 20 archaeological sites, which incorporate a number of recently processed radiocarbon dates. A synthesis is presented of 15 full coverage surveys, a summed probability distribution, and a Bayesian model of the transition to ceramics, which together support a scenario of a very rapid demographic increase. Fourteen models from archaeological sites are cross-referenced in a composite model, which identifies a brief, altiplano-wide emergence of agropastoralism with starting and ending boundaries of 3540 and 3120 cal BP, respectively. This starting boundary correlates strongly with the onset of improving environmental conditions, indicating synchronous cultural and environmental change. The suite of accelerating cultural changes included a marked reduction in mobility, a demographic surge, increased subsistence diversity, the adoption of ceramics, farming and the integration of camelid herding into a remarkably resilient economic strategy still in use today. This is a highly relevant but yet to be used comparative case study for the variable tempos of ‘big histories’, and ecocultural interactions that generate rapid, emergent episodes of wide-spread and enduring cultural change.     

14C and Maya Long Count Dates: Using Bayesian Modelling to Develop Robust Site Chronologies

Bayesian statistics has now demonstrated its strong utility in archaeology, specifically through software that conditions radiocarbon data. Only recently has this technology been applied within Maya archaeology, however, in part because the Maya calendar provides a much greater resolution in dating archaeological events than is possible with radiocarbon data. The Long Count in particular allows for the assignment of some events relative to each other, accurate to the day. In this paper, a new approach is presented to incorporate robust records of both in the same Bayesian analysis through the OxCal software. The results do call for a reconsideration of the earliest radiocarbon studies in the Maya area from the 1960s, as well as the latest attempts to corroborate the currently popular calendar correlation known as the GMT. This new study demonstrates the value of the approach and corroborates the 1σ accuracy of the GMT, while at the same time opening up the possibility of revision by 20 or more years.     

再论“张昂监造”贡瓷的烧造年代——兼与李放先生商榷

1997年底,江西省文物考古研究所在景德镇湖田窑豪猪岭宋代地层发掘出土了一块外底刻有“迪功郎浮梁县丞臣张昂措置监造”铭的青瓷瓶底。对这块瓶底刻铭的考证,关系宋代景德镇湖田窑的贡瓷地位与年代问题。本文从这块刻铭瓶底的出土地层及其共存遗物、历史文献中有关张昂的史料记载、宋代官制中关于迪功郎官阶的设置、关于县丞职位的设置等方面对张昂以迪功郎官阶出任浮梁县丞一职的时代展开全面探讨,得出张昂在景德镇监造贡瓷的时代约在北宋政和六年(1116)至重和元年(1119)短短三年之内的结论。     

试说甲骨中的异代使用问题

通过对几版藏于卡内基博物馆的甲骨的分析,发现它们反面的钻凿与正面刻辞的时代相异,提出殷墟甲骨中可能确实存在异代使用的现象。只是这些后刻的刻辞并非真正的卜辞,而是后来习刻者练习契刻的作品。这一问题的探讨对我们了解当时的甲骨保存制度、甲骨契刻技术的传承都是有益的。     

Comparison of fluoride and direct AMS radiocarbon dating of black bear bone from Lawson Cave,Missouri

Abstract

After a 20-year hiatus (1955–1975) during which few archaeologists discussed fluoride dating, the method again received attention in the 1980s and 1990s when some argued for its validity. As a dating method, fluoride dating depends on the rate at which fluorine ions replace hydroxyl ions in osseous tissue. The rate of replacement is influenced by the properties of the skeletal part (SP), sediment chemistry (K), and sediment hydrology (H), and the replacement rate influences estimates of time. Calibrated AMS radiocarbon assays of 10 black bear (Ursus americanus) femora from a natural-trap cave in central Missouri are weakly correlated with fluorine concentrations, determined by neutron activation analysis in the 10 femora. Despite minimal variation in SP, K, and H, results indicate fluoride dating can be considered a valid dating method only in cases when the chronological validity of its results are confirmed with independent chronometric data. As similarities in fluorine amounts across specimens increase, provenience information and bone orientation data as well as fine resolution data on K and H become critical to the application of fluoride dating.     

Rejoinder to Lepper Concerning Serpent Mound

In this article we address comments made by Bradley Lepper concerning our previously published article, “Radiocarbon Dates Reveal Serpent Mound is More than Two Thousand Years Old” (Romain, Herrmann, Monaghan, and Burks 2017). Further we offer commentary on the new radiocarbon dates provided by Lepper (this volume).     

Relative and absolute dating of the human skull and skeleton from Galley Hill,Kent

Over a period of some 100 years it has gradually been accepted that the human skeletal remains found in the late nineteenth century in ancient gravels at Galley Hill, Kent are not those of early man, but are of much more recent date. This conclusion was finally verified by means of relative (N, F) and absolute (¹⁴C) dating. Here we present the results of further analysis of the remains from Galley Hill for their uranium content by a method having general application to the relative dating of fossil human and other mammalian bone.     

Radiocarbon evidence indicates that migrants introduced farming to Britain

Archaeologists disagree about how farming began in Britain. Some argue it was a result of indigenous groups adopting domesticates and cultigens via trade and exchange. Others contend it was the consequence of a migration of farmers from mainland Europe. To shed light on this debate, we used radiocarbon dates to estimate changes in population density between 8000 and 4000 cal BP. We found evidence for a marked and rapid increase in population density coincident with the appearance of cultigens around 6000 cal BP. We also found evidence that this increase occurred first in southern England and shortly afterwards in central Scotland. These findings are best explained by groups of farmers from the Continent independently colonizing England and Scotland, and therefore strongly support the migrant farmers hypothesis.     

Spatiotemporal dynamics of the Clovis–Folsom transition

Despite the importance of the Clovis–Folsom transition for understanding the history of western North America, its spatiotemporal dynamics remains unclear. Here we report a three-part study in which we investigated the transition using radiocarbon dates from Clovis and Folsom sites. In the first part of the study, we used dates from Folsom site-phases to determine when and where Folsom originated. In the second part of the study, we employed Clovis and Folsom dates in analyses designed to determine whether Folsom spread via demic diffusion or cultural diffusion. In the third part of the study we investigated the velocity of the Clovis–Folsom transition. The analyses suggest that Folsom first appeared around 12,800 calBP in the northern High Plains and spread north and south from there. They also suggest that the spread of Folsom was, at least in part, the result of population expansion. In addition, the analyses indicate that the spread of Folsom was relatively fast for a prehistoric diffusion but well below the maximum velocity that has been estimated for such events. These findings, in turn, have implications for the hypotheses that have been put forward to explain the Clovis–Folsom transition. They refute the idea that the Clovis–Folsom transition resulted from an extraterrestrial impact over northern North America at 12,900 ± 100 calBP but are consistent with the alternative proposal that the transition was a response to climate-driven environmental change.     

克拉克瓷研究

克拉克瓷作为明末清初的一种中国外销瓷,对世界陶瓷文化和陶瓷贸易产生了重要影响。本文从克拉克瓷名称的含义、特征、分期、窑口和时代等五个方面较为全面地对克拉克瓷的历史作了研究。着重地介绍了外国目前对克拉克瓷的研究成果,并对克拉克瓷的生产范畴和断代提出了自己的观点。