Late pleistocene human adaptations in eastern North America

Eastern North America in late Pleistocene times was characterized by two major environmental regions: a periglacial tundra or open spruce parkland and an extensive complex boreal/deciduous forest in the unglaciated, lower latitudes. These environments selected for different adaptive strategies on the part of human foraging groups—known archaeologically as Paleoindians. Those in the tundra and tundra-forest region were highly mobile, possibly specialized hunters, exploiting caribou; those in the forest were generalists, exploiting a variety of subsistence resources with a less mobile settlement system. There is little evidence in either area for hunting of Pleistocene megafauna. These differences in adaptive strategies are reflected in the record of sites and isolated fluted points scattered throughout the region, as well as aspects of tool technology, function, and patterns of stone use.     

汉代漆器的剖析

通过制备并分析一系列模拟漆膜样品。建立了有助于鉴定汉代漆器成分的剖析方法。经裂解气相色谱、差热分析、色谱一红外联用等现代分析技术对出土的汉代漆器残片样品的综合分析,证实在西汉漆器制造中已使用桐油或其它的添加剂,并依据剖析的结果,对某些汉代漆器的原材料差异作了初步探讨。     

Sapwood estimates in the interpretation of tree-ring dates

Many timber finds lack some or all of the outer, sapwood rings formed in the years just before felling. In order to estimate felling date once the outermost remaining ring has been dated, it is necessary to estimate the number of sapwood rings originally present. Methods doing this for oak are reviewed in the light of an intensive study of living trees at one site and an extensive study of 175 samples from living trees in North Wales and northwest England. Some methods reported in the literature are found to be invalid. A method reported by Hollstein (1965) is most reliable, with modifications for known variations in sapwood number with position in the tree. At present the best available estimate is that a value of 30 sapwood rings be used (95% confidence limits: 19–50).     

Norse Animal Husbandry in Liminal Environments: Stable Isotope Evidence from the Scottish North Atlantic Islands

ABSTRACT

This paper employs δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N analysis of bone collagen to explore animal management at large Norse settlement sites in the liminal environments of the Scottish North Atlantic Islands. The Norse period was a time of social, cultural and economic change; the need to feed an expanding population and the demand for trade meant that domestic stock were a crucial resource. Our results indicate that rearing animals in these challenging insular environments required careful management. At all sites, the diet and movement of domestic cattle and sheep were highly similar and carefully controlled and, despite many of the analysed settlements lying close to the coast, there was no use of shorefront grazing or fodder resources. In contrast, pig rearing strategies varied across the island groups. In the Western Isles pig diets were diverse, indicative of household or ad hoc management, whilst on Orkney all pigs consumed a more restricted diet based primarily on terrestrial protein. A comparison of red deer with domestic stock on the Western Isles indicates that both groups were exploiting similar grazing niches.     

桂平博物馆馆藏东汉双耳铜甑铸造工艺及其保护修复研究

广西桂平博物馆藏东汉铜甑对于研究广西地区青铜器冶铸技术的发展具有重要的研究价值。但器物长期保存于潮湿环境中,矿化严重、保存状况较差,亟须保护修复。本研究应用X射线影像观察、金相显微镜、扫描电镜及能谱分析、模拟实验验证等方法研究了器物的铸造工艺、合金成分以及锈蚀产物成分。结果表明该器物为整体铸造成形,器物铸造时使用了轮制技术、刮板造型工艺以及铸后刻纹的工艺,箅部范块制作过程是用器身模翻制器身范后脱模,将器身模的圈足部分切下,然后在圈足泥模上刻出箅部型腔。在此基础上,遵循最低限度干预原则,力求将传统的文物修复手段与现代修复理念相结合,通过除锈、修补等保护修复措施后,不但提高了器物的整体稳定性,而且达到了可以展陈,发掘文物潜在价值的要求。     

从三分到归一:唐朝前中期岭南政治地理格局的变迁

岭南僻处南疆,地理复杂。隋末大乱之时,地方势力纷纷割据,唐初和平统一岭南后,采取羁縻政策,以原有势力为基础设管州的"都府"。而在都府之上,朝廷以广州、桂州、交州为中心置"统府",以点控面,有效地维护了岭南地区的稳定。但是这种层层管理的"统府三分格局",到高宗乾封二年发生突变,随着邕府和容府的建立,原统府消失,遂形成并立的"五府格局"。可是,最迟8世纪初,唐朝设立岭南五府经略使,统一管理整个岭南的军事。在此前后,岭南选补使、岭南按察使、岭南采访使等陆续出现,在人事、监察、民政等领域,对岭南道全境实施管辖权。因此,"盛唐"的岭南道,表现出明显的"归一"趋势。     

States of Insecurity

Under Communism, Albania and North Korea rejected de-Stalinisation, clung to leader cults, and, after the acrimonious break between Moscow and Beijing, championed ‘self-reliance’. Often mentioned in passing, the Albanian–North Korean parallel has seldom been analysed. This article highlights three aspects that shaped the Communist regimes' insecurity: the social dynamics of war and early threats; the challenge presented by de-Stalinisation in 1956; and the momentous Sino–Soviet split in the early 1960s. Like the boisterous language of Marxism-Leninism and the drive to engineer a non-capitalist society, insecurity was also built into the Communist international system. Clinging to Stalinist methods, then, was also a reflection of the self-destructive potential of calls for reforming the Communist system, which threatened to tear the Eastern bloc apart. Tirana and Pyongyang pursued different paths to ‘self-reliance’, yet they could not help speaking a similar language and facing similar problems. North Korea ultimately joined the Non-Aligned Movement but achieved little success in the Third World. The irony is that tiny, isolated Albania, which shunned the Movement, ultimately ended up non-aligned: violently critical of Moscow, Beijing, and Washington, and distrustful of practically everyone else.     

元代徽州路的军功家族

文章利用《汪氏渊源录》和《回岭汪氏宗谱》以及相关元代文集为主要参考资料,研究了元代徽州路的军功家族群体,尤其是其中的典型个案———婺源回岭汪氏。作者认为婺源回岭汪元龙、汪元圭兄弟在宋元易代之际,因为归附蒙元及“保障乡里”之功走上致身荣显的仕宦之路,他们不仅自身建立了可观的权势,而且有效地将之世代传承,以与元朝统治相始终,最终使婺源回岭汪氏家族成为“朱紫满庭”的“新安巨室”。在元代的徽州,类似的军功家族分布广泛,人数众多,深具影响。他们的出现,与元代统治者重视“根脚”的政治铨选原则紧密相关,与那些在蒙元征服战争中出现的“汉军世家”具有相似的来源和特点。     

明代年例银制度形成探论

明代年例银制度是经过长期演变逐渐形成的一项军事供给制度。宣德十年(1435)首先出现京运银,历经景泰、天顺时期,京运银两中有一笔银两开始向"岁例"发生制度性转变的趋势;成化、弘治之际,"常数"、"岁运"、"岁例"、"年例"、"年例银"等名称的出现是这笔京运银两制度化发展的结果,标志着明代年例银制度的初步形成;嘉靖十六年(1537)年例银一年一发的规定以及年例银会计预算制的出现,意味着明代年例银制度的完全确立。年例银制度的形成和确立,改变了明代国家的军事供给体制,是明代军事财政史上的一个重大变革。     

高句丽与汉魏晋及北族政权的朝贡关系

1—5世纪初,无论是统一王朝时期,还是王朝分裂、政权频繁更替时期,高句丽对中原王朝和北族政权都采取积极朝贡的姿态,朝贡活动呈现出单向、双向、多向的变化,先后向十多个王朝和政权进行朝贡。随着政治形势和朝贡对象的变化,高句丽朝贡活动的目的及其与朝贡对象的关系也有一定的变化。