Ancient DNA,a Neolithic legging from the Swiss Alps and the early history of goat

Ancient DNA from a Neolithic legging (1st half of the 3rd millennium BC) found at Lenk, Schnidejoch (2750 m a.sl.) in the Swiss Alps has demonstrated, that modern distribution of genetic variation does not reflect past spatio-temporal signatures. The legging was made from the skin of a domestic goat (Capra hircus), belonging to the caprine haplogroup B1, which is marginal in Europe today, but represents a third highly diverse goat haplogroup entering Europe already in the Neolithic. Population expansion of lineage B therefore happened more than 4500 years ago, but their members were at some point almost completely replaced by goats of today's common A and C haplogroups.     

Seismic Waves in Heterogeneous Crust-Mantle Layers under Initial Stresses

This article investigates the propagations of SH-waves and Rayleigh-type waves in a pre-stressed heterogeneous half-space and also Love-type waves in a pre-stressed heterogeneous layer overlying a pre-stressed heterogeneous half-space. Wave-velocity relations for SH-waves, Rayleigh-type waves, and dispersion equation for Love-type waves are derived. The results reflect that initial stress and inhomogeneity decrease the phase velocity of the SH-waves and Rayleigh-type waves. The phase and damping velocities of Love-type waves decrease with wave number, initial stress of the upper media, and inhomogeneity of the lower media, whereas they increase with initial stress of the lower media and inhomogeneity of the upper media.     

试析冷战后美俄地缘政治空间竞争

冷战结束以来,美俄间以主权国家利益为核心的地缘政治竞争一直在进行着。美俄间的地缘政治空间之争主要表现在美国主导下的北约东扩和在独联体地区的渗透。而俄罗斯为了防止其在欧亚大陆战略生存空间被挤压和近邻地区被分化,采取了一系列的反对、抵制措施,以防地缘政治空间被进一步削弱并力图为俄罗斯未来重新崛起保留一定的地缘政治空间。作为战略博弈优势方的美国的地缘政治政策主导着美俄关系演进的进程和张力。     

中国申报世界遗产的现状与策略研究

中国自然、文化资源丰富,是拥有世界遗产类别最齐全的国家之一。中国是遗产大国,但不是遗产强国。中国政府非常重视世界遗产的申报,取得了一定的成绩,但是就实际情况来看,这还不够。通过分析我国的申报世界遗产现状,以预备清单为依据分析申报潜力,进而分析我国世界遗产申报的利益相关者、申报中的亮点与不足,并结合国外申报工作的先进经验,深入探讨我国申报世界遗产新思路     

The role of waterways in the spread of the Neolithic

The causes and implications of the regional variations in the spread of the incipient agriculture in Europe remain poorly understood. We use population dynamics models to study the dispersal of the Neolithic in Europe from a localised area in the Near East, solving the two-dimensional reaction-diffusion equation on a spherical surface. We focus on the role of major river paths and coastlines in the advance of farming, to model the rapid advances of the Linear Pottery (LBK) and the Impressed Ware traditions along the Danube–Rhine corridor and the Mediterranean coastline, respectively. We argue that the random walk of individuals, which results in diffusion of the population, can be anisotropic in those areas and hence lead to an effective advection. The standard reaction-diffusion equation is thus supplemented with an advection term, confined to the proximity of major rivers and coastlines. The model allows for the spatial variation in both the human mobility (diffusivity) and the carrying capacity, reflecting the local altitude and latitude. This approach can easily be generalised to include other environmental factors, such as the bioproductivity of landscapes. Our model successfully accounts for the regional variations in the spread of the Neolithic, consistent with the radiocarbon data, and reproduces a time delay in the spread of farming to the Eastern Europe, Britain and Scandinavia.     

明清时期碧霞元君信仰的地域扩展

碧霞元君由汉唐泰山玉女这一文学意象发展而来,宋元时期在道教的逐步吸纳和国家认同的共同推动下,其完成了从民间俗神到道教神仙的转变。明清时期碧霞元君不仅多次得到帝王致祭、赐额,成为国家“准正祀性”神灵,其信仰也从泰山一隅扩展到全国大部分地区,庙宇亦由山东等地向全国近20个省区扩展,形成了不同的核心、扩展、边缘区。碧霞元君信仰地域的扩展,与“岳镇海渎”之祭及朝廷推崇;其神职及信奉民众均多;流动官员、士商、移民的传播及道教的推动等诸多因素有关。     

Detection of diffusion and contact zones of early farming in Europe from the space-time distribution of 14C dates

The spread of early farming in Europe is revisited using a sample of 3072 audited 14C calBC dates from 940 georeferenced early Neolithic sites. The surface expansion of early Neolithic has been reconstituted using the kriging technique of spatial interpolation. Centres of renewed expansion, of contact zones, and the main routes of expansion have been highlighted by means of a vector map, representing the gradient. The expansion of the agricultural system on the map, was not uniform and regular across Europe as a whole, but proceeded in leaps. With the scale of detection of the 500-year isochrones, several leaps are identifiable: at 8000 calBC crossing the Taurus barrier, 6700–6100 calBC crossing the southern Adriatic barrier, 6100–5600 calBC crossing the Central European agro-ecological barrier and 5000–4000 calBC expanding on the other, marginal zones. Using a vector map, 10 points of renewed expansion and nine contact zones, were detected. The whole does not correspond to a process of homogeneous diffusion, approximately steady, but a process marked by phases of geographical expansion and stasis.     

Attributing Scientific and Technological Progress: The Case of Holography

Holography, the three‐dimensional imaging technology, was portrayed widely as a paradigm of progress during its decade of explosive expansion 1964–73, and during its subsequent consolidation for commercial and artistic uses up to the mid 1980s. An unusually seductive and prolific subject, holography successively spawned scientific insights, putative applications and new constituencies of practitioners and consumers. Waves of forecasts, associated with different sponsors and user communities, cast holography as a field on the verge of success—but with the dimensions of success repeatedly refashioned. This retargeting of the subject represented a degree of cynical marketeering, but was underpinned by implicit confidence in philosophical positivism and faith in technological progressivism. Each of its communities defined success in terms of expansion, and anticipated continual progressive increase. This paper discusses the contrasting definitions of progress in holography, and how they were fashioned in changing contexts. Focusing equally on reputed ‘failures’ of some aspects of the subject, it explores the varied attributes by which success and failure were linked with progress by different technical communities. This important case illuminates the peculiar post‐World War II environment that melded the military, commercial and popular engagement with scientific and technological subjects, and the competing criteria by which they assessed the products of science.     

中国旧石器时代遗址中赭石的功能

赭石的使用是现代人行为的标志之一,是除石制品之外更能反映现代人认知能力等深层次精神世界的载体,但是国内对该类物质的研究还比较少。本文主要参照西方学者的研究成果,讨论中国遗址中赭石的功能,认为赭石在旧石器时代的中国地区主要被用作颜料、兽皮防腐和药物,同时它还被用于原始宗教活动。与旧大陆西侧遗址中的赭石相比,除了相似的使用功能,西方的古人类利用赭石的时间更早,所以本研究推测中国地区古人类对赭石功能的认识可能源于西方并在现代人迁徙的过程中流入中国地区。这些证据指示着中国地区的现代人由北向南的迁徙路线。