The story of Comanche: horsepower,heroism and the conquest of the American West

Marked by the Census Bureau’s closure of the frontier; the symbolic end of American Indian resistance at Wounded Knee and powerful articulations on the ‘winning of the West’ from Frederick Jackson Turner and Buffalo Bill Cody, the early 1890s was a critical moment in the history of the American West. It also saw the death of one of the region’s most famous cavalry horses, Comanche, who succumbed to colic in 1891 aged twenty-nine. Famously billed as ‘the only living thing to survive the Battle of the Little Bighorn’, this article uses Comanche as a locus around which to examine the history of warhorses in the military culture of the American West, and, more broadly, to point towards a growing scholarship on war and the environment that emphasises the usefulness of such themes as spatiality and inter-species exchange in embellishing our understanding of the experience, impact and cultural memory of war. Not only does Comanche’s lifespan (c.1862–1891) usefully coincide with the federal government’s final conquest of the West but his equine biography serves as valuable testament to the use of horses in the US military as both practical and symbolic agents of American expansionism.     

Frontiers of Disease: Human Desire and Environmental Realities in the Rearing Of Horses in Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century South Africa

Abstract

Horses have played an important economic, military and cultural role in South African history. However, disease has always posed a threat to their survival. Horsesickness, a viral infection transmitted by midges from the genus culicoides, is endemic in much of the country but has historically assumed epizootic proportions in certain years. In the lowveld and Zululand nagana (trypanosomosis), spread by tsetse flies, has killed both horses and cattle and affected the distribution of human settlement and agricultural activities. In addition, much of South Africa is very arid, yet has rich floral taxa. Several plants, such as Senecio spp. are highly toxic to horses, but in times of drought and fodder shortages, equines are faced with the choice of starvation or potentially succumbing to toxicosis by eating poisonous weeds. This paper considers the environmental impact of these three types of horse diseases in South Africa and explores the scientific and ecological investigations undertaken since the late nineteenth century to try to control them. Research into horse diseases brought together the laboratory and the field and raised important questions about the part played by environmental factors, as opposed to just germs, in the distribution of livestock infections and the ability of farmers and scientists to tackle them effectively.     

徐州市狮子山汉兵马俑坑防水加固保护

徐州狮子山汉兵马俑遗址自1984年12月发掘以来,俑坑一直未进行很好的防水加固保护,致使汉兵马俑长期处于饱水状态,甚至浸泡在水中。汉兵马俑受潮后,出现了陶俑涨开、泛碱,彩绘脱落,陶质酥解、粉化等病害。2007年,南京博物院联合宜兴太湖防渗修缮加固工程有限公司对狮子山汉兵马俑俑坑进行了防水加固保护,通过各项技术措施的实施,俑坑达到了不改变原状和防渗的技术要求,使汉兵马俑免遭水的侵害。     

再论西汉诸侯王墓车马殉葬制度

《考古》2002年第1期刊登有郑滦明先生所著《西汉诸侯王墓所见的车马殉葬制度》一文(以下简称《制度》),对我曾经论及西汉诸侯王墓所葬三辆真车马的性质定为魂车的观点提出了质疑     

河南三门峡市后川战国车马坑发掘简报

2002年秋,三门峡市文物考古研究所配合城市基本建设在市区北部,原后川村西侧发掘出一座车马坑,发 现8马3车。根据车马坑形制及木车结构特征推测,该坑年代为战国早、中期。     

秦始皇陵一号坑兵马俑的指纹元素散布分析

秦始皇陵兵马俑举世闻名,但其原料产地至今还是一个谜。本文选取秦始皇陵一号坑的陶俑和陶马样品20个,秦始皇兵马俑博物馆附近黏土样品20个,耀州瓷胎样品1个。用中子活化分析(NAA)测量样品中32种微量元素的含量,从这32个元素中挑选出8种指纹元素的含量进行散布分析。结果表明一号坑兵马俑样品与秦陵附近的垆土关系密切,与黄土关系稍远,与耀州瓷胎关系甚远。由此推断,一号坑兵马俑的原料来源可能是骊山地区的黏土,烧制兵马俑的窑址也可能在秦始皇陵附近。     

先秦马车构造技术探讨——关于重心平衡的问题

先秦马车在构造技术上力求解决车辆重心的平衡与协调,尤其是为促进牵引力与重心力之间的平衡及保持重心的稳定而发展起来的构造与组装技术,进一步提高了车辆的各项性能,技术的进步使得马车各部分构件及整体形制渐趋合理。     

秦兵马俑一号坑后五方遗物清理简报

为了保护一号坑内的金属遗物,秦始皇兵马俑博物馆考古队对秦兵马俑一号坑内东北部后五方暴露的遗物进行了清理与提取,主要有兵器、车马器和杂器三大类共173件组,为秦俑秦文化的历史学和考古学研究提供了新资料。     

论张家山汉简《津关令》之"禁马出关"--兼与陈伟先生商榷

陈伟先生对《津关令》“涉马诸令”原简次序的重新编排,涉及到如何认识汉代律令的本格式,也涉及到对“计献马”、“马价讹过平论”等内容的不同理解。结合相关资料,西汉初“禁马出关”之令起始于汉高祖刘邦时期,吕后时的《津关令》是其延续发展,但在汉帝时被明令停止执行。汉景帝时此政策又以“马弩关”令的形式出现,一直实行到汉昭帝时并最终取消。从整个实行过程的背景来看,这里的“关”主要指的是函谷、临晋、武关等内关,其扼制对象是关东的诸侯国,不涉及境外的敌对民族政权。