Changing models of settlement,economy, and ritual activity: Recent research in late prehistoric central Europe

Recent research in central Europe is changing our understanding of the role of centers in economic and social systems of late prehistoric times. Increased attention to smaller, more typical settlements shows that they engaged in economic activities similar to those at the large, fortified complexes. Abundant new evidence pertaining to ritual activity indicates that ritual was often integrated into daily life at settlements. The evidence from the exceptionally rich data on late prehistoric central Europe can be of substantial value for developing models applicable to contexts in other parts of the world.     

污染大气中浑仪,简仪的带锈防护

浑仪、简仪（以下简称两仪）在高PH、大气污染和日晒雨淋环境中的腐蚀是一种动态加速腐蚀过程。采用合成的双唑胺铜缓蚀剂和有机硅改性的甲基丙烯酸树脂,并分别复配成协同缓蚀剂群和含有增效稳定剂的封护剂。采用这两种材料和脱水后再防护的工艺,使带锈防护后的浑仪、简仪的腐蚀低于无污染大气中的速率。用电化学方法评价了防护技术的可行性,根据腐蚀与人工老化试验结果讨论了防护材料性能与腐蚀环境和带锈防护的关系,采用XPS分析方法探索了双唑胺比BTA更适用于两仪防护的原因。     

Settlement and social change in central Europe, 3500–1500 BC

The chronology of the period is briefly considered in the light of the dendrochronological results which have appeared in recent years. Patterns of settlement history in different parts of the area are then examined, and it is suggested that in some of them the late fourth millennium was a period of population decline which was not reversed until the Early Bronze Age, 1000 years later. Detailed information about specific local occupation patterns is provided by recent work on the circum-Alpine lake villages. Changes in cultural patterns during the period, especially the appearance of the Corded Ware, are discussed and explanations of them reviewed. It is argued that changing patterns of gender relations were a major feature of the period, linked to processes which eventually led to the development of small-scale chiefdoms. The development of copper and bronze metallurgy and its connection to these processes are discussed.     

On Skin and Bone: Samoan Coconut Oil in Indigenous Practice

ABSTRACT

International promotional material on coconut oil commonly references its centuries of use as a beauty and health aid by Pacific Islanders. However, this gesture towards Indigenous Pacific use of coconut oil is rarely accompanied by substantive information. This paper explores the topical application of coconut oil in three Indigenous Samoan practices: fofō, or massage by taulāsea and other forms of customary healers or medical attendants; samaga, the anointing with coconut oil of the newly inked pe‘a or malu to mark the completion of these customary tattoos; and liutofaga, the ritual ‘washing’ of the bones of a deceased relative with coconut oil prior to reinterment. This paper argues that there are interrelated practical, medicinal, and spiritual dimensions to Samoan uses of coconut oil, and that these are usefully understood through reference to Samoan conceptions of sociospatial relationship, or vā.     

试论前掌大墓地女性墓葬随葬兵器现象

滕州前掌大墓地中随葬兵器的墓葬较多,特别是女性墓葬中随葬兵器的现象较之于其他地区更为多见亦罕见于海岱地区。产生这种现象的原因可能与商末周初时女性社会地位较高和前掌大地处战事频繁的东夷重地有关,也许正因如此,前掌大墓地的女性生前可能参与作战。     

岭南铜提筒与江东原始瓷筒形器的比较研究——兼论百越文化视野下的提筒形器

岭南地区秦汉时期的铜提筒在当地越文化中具有代表性。江东地区西周春秋时期的墓葬或遗址中常出土一类带提耳的原始瓷筒形器,其造型独特,纹饰繁复,在尺寸、器形等方面与铜提筒多有相似之处。从浙江德清火烧山原始瓷窑址出土的一批标本器入手,对这一类筒形器重新进行类型学分析,然后就其主要的功能性因素与岭南铜提筒进行比较研究,可以明确二者的相关性,进而归纳出此类提筒形器在春秋以后南方各地出现的规律。该形制可能并非被动传播的文化因素,而是百越文化背景下各地的统治阶层在特定的社会历史环境中,为凝聚族群认同,维护统治利益,而对文化因素和器物形制作出主动选择和"策略性操控"的产物。     

Middle Bronze Age Arsenical Copper Alloys in Southern Portugal

In the Iberian Peninsula, the copper metallurgy from the Chalcolithic to the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) was mostly characterized by low arsenic contents. A collection of 53 MBA artefacts from southern Portugal was analysed by micro‐EDXRF, optical microscopy, SEM–EDS and Vickers to investigate the metal composition and manufacture. No technological distinction was found between artefacts from domestic and funerary contexts, which were radiocarbon‐dated to 2000–1500 cal bc . The arsenic contents of almost 100 MBA artefacts from this region, including the above‐mentioned set, have a Gaussian distribution with a high average (3.9 wt% As). Possible explanations are discussed for this distinctive metallurgy at the south‐western end of the Iberian Peninsula.     

Experimental Pesah or,How do you Eat a Lamb while Holding a Staff in your Hand?

The Passover festival has been the ritual expression of Jewish cultural identity ever since the Old Testament got the form it has today. This article looks at the ways cultural identity was expressed in antiquity, critiques the traditional prioritising of the story of exodus over its biblical ritual expression in understanding ancient Jewish identity and explores various Pesah sacrifice instructions in Exodus 12 as an implicit polemical ritual discourse engaged in constructing a ritual of cultural distinction. The article pays close attention to the tension between the invented and the real of the instructions, and attempts to identify the possible cultural other against whom some of the Exodus instructions were constructed.     

Analysis of Heavy Metals in Smoke Deposits in the Limewash of the Royal Artillery Factory of Seville (17th Century): Contributions to the Location of the Furnaces

The Royal Artillery Factory of Seville in Spain originated from pre‐existing private bronze foundries dating from the 16th century. The paper analyses the stratigraphy of wall cladding in the areas traditionally known as the ‘Old Foundry’ and the ‘New Foundry’, through its characterization by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectrometry (SEM‐EDX), micro‐X‐ray fluorescence (μ‐XRF) and micro‐X‐ray diffraction (μ‐XRD), in order to analyse the metal deposits that have accumulated since the 17th century. The data obtained allowed the verification of the available historiographical information and the location of the original bronze smelting furnaces. The analysis of patinas deposited on the overlapping layers of lime also confirmed that neither the raw materials nor the composition of the alloys used presented any substantial changes.     

湘江流域西周时期的铜器窖藏

本文对湘江流域出土的西周时期的铜器窖藏做了介绍,讨论了窖藏的时代,对与铜器窖藏相关的学术问题进行了探讨。