Post-Pleistocene Archaeology and Geomorphological Processes on the Namib Desert Coast of South Western Africa

ABSTRACT

The Namib Desert coast is rich in potential food resources, but its extreme aridity imposed severe limits on human settlement in the past. It appears that intensive use of the coast began in the Middle Holocene, although there is evidence of intermittent occupation from the Middle Pleistocene. Coastal sites were closely linked to the desert interior and movement between the two was mainly via the linear oases of ephemeral river systems. Contact was at first sporadic but regular trade with merchant vessels was established in the mid-eighteenth century AD. Coastal geomorphological processes determined the location and accessibility of marine resources used by hunter-gatherer and nomadic pastoral communities. At the same time, marine, fluvial, and aeolian processes have influenced the visibility and survival of archaeological evidence on the coast.     

完善青海省农牧区社会保障制度促进社会和谐发展

完善社会保障制度,是社会安定的重要保证,是关注民生、构建和谐社会的首要问题。加快富裕、文明、和谐新青海建设进程,必须切实解决青海省农牧区社会保障制度中存在的问题,制定相应的对策。     

内蒙古和林格尔县新店子墓地发掘简报

1999年,在内蒙古和林格尔县新店子墓地发掘墓葬56座,出土大批铜、石、陶、骨、金器等。墓葬形制可分竖穴土坑、洞室、偏洞室三种,绝大多数存在殉牲现象。墓葬年代为春秋晚期至战国早期。此墓地与岱海、鄂尔多斯地区的同时期考古遗存既有共性,又有一定区别。墓地居民可能从事一种较为发达的游牧经济。     

对搞好农牧区“广播电视村村通”工程的几点认识

“广播电视村村通”工程是农牧区广播电视事业发展的载体,是解决边远山区农牧民群众看不到电视、听不到广播难题的“民心工程”。要因地制宜,探索建立农牧区广播电视公共服务体系,搞好“广播电视村村通”工程建设。     

论“雪域牧耕文明板块”在中国疆域底定过程中的地位

青藏高原特有的高山地带适宜游牧、河谷地带有利农耕的自然条件,带来了该地域定居农业与游牧社会二元分割的态势。因二者势均力敌、彼此难以统合对方,造成该地域在前近代除了吐蕃王朝暂短统一外,大部分时间处于分裂割据状态。此既是藏传佛教趁势崛起之缘由,亦为元、清两朝政治力量始终对该地域起着决定性影响的深层机理。同时,由于藏传佛教通过宗教的力量将雪域高原的文明一体性延续下来,妙用文化的力量参与并深刻地影响着古代中国疆域构建历程,使得该地域在中国疆域底定过程中起着不可替代的作用。     

内蒙古清水河县西咀墓地发掘简报

西咀墓地仅发现3座墓葬,皆为洞室墓,墓葬因破坏严重,殉牲情况不明。从墓葬形制和随葬品特征来看,与以往发掘的新店子墓地、阳畔墓地文化面貌接近。是一处与西北杨郎文化存在交流的东周游牧文化墓地。     

Stable isotope dietary analysis of prehistoric populations from the Minusinsk Basin,Southern Siberia,Russia: a new chronological framework for the introduction of millet to the eastern Eurasian steppe

We report the results of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of 354 human and faunal samples from five archaeological cultures of the Minusinsk Basin, Southern Siberia – Afanasyevo, Okunevo, Andronovo, Karasuk and Tagar (ca. 2700–1 BC) – a key location in Eurasia due to its position on a northern corridor linking China and central Eurasia. The results indicate that the diet of Eneolithic to Middle Bronze Age (Afanasyevo to Andronovo) populations was primarily C₃-based, with C₄ plants only becoming an important component of the diet in the Late Bronze Age Karasuk and Early Iron Age Tagar cultures. Freshwater fish seems to have been an important constituent of the diets in all groups. The findings constitute the earliest concrete evidence for the substantial use of millet in the eastern Eurasian steppe. We propose that it was probably introduced from Northwestern China during the Karasuk culture at the start of the Late Bronze Age, ca. 1500 BC. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for the nature of pastoralist economies on the steppes.     

The Early Bronze Age funerary archaeological landscape of western Ja'alan: results of three seasons of investigation

This paper presents the results of three seasons of investigations in the western part of Ja'alan in the southern al‐Sharqyiah Governorate in the Sultanate of Oman. The results highlight the importance of this part of Ja'alan during the Early Bronze Age (EBA), particularly the Hafit period and provide us with important information about the funerary archaeological landscape during this period. The results also reveal important aspects of landscape utilisation and occupation during this time and add to our knowledge of the cultural and economic facets of the earliest Bronze Age societies. The distribution of tombs in the landscape suggests that they were constructed by nomadic or semi‐nomadic pastoral groups that shifted from one location to another in search of grazing for their livestock. The availability and seasonality of natural resources such as water, pasture and game made it necessary for them to mark their tribal territory with their funerary structures.     

The late prehistory of xinjiang in relation to its neighbors

Recent research by Chinese archaeologists has identified many late prehistoric (2000-400 B.C.) oases, pastoral settlements, and cemeteries in eastern Central Asia (Xinjiang province of China). The synthesis presented here organizes the data into 10 archaeological cultures, defined on the basis of ceramics, burials, small finds, and architecture. The archaeological cultures reveal two periods, corresponding to the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. The oases cultures formed a core area before the Chinese Han period and maintained close contacts with nearby highland pastoralists in Siberia and western Central Asia. The evidence for interaction between Xinjiang and the complex cultures in China and western Central Asia is evaluated with regard to the origins of the early Xinjiang cultures.