贵州最早的骨制装饰品

贵州最早的骨制装饰品出自距今一万二千年至一万五千年前的普定白岩脚洞旧石器时代晚期遗址。装饰品有1件骨笄和1件穿孔兽牙。它们是贵州的首次发现,也体现了贵州远古人类最早的爱美意识。从装饰品本体携带的信息,探索其制作技能,反映出当时人类加工技术的复杂和进步,即对不同用途的装饰品采用不同的加工方式和对同一制品的制作技术逐步改良的处理能力。这既是思维进化指导行为的结果,亦是原始人类迈向更加文明时代的一大进步。     

Limb bones asymmetry and stress in medieval and recent populations of Central Europe

Monitoring the degree of asymmetry in different parts of the human body can contribute to population studies, as it may be connected indirectly with the social structure, living conditions, and also with biomechanical stress affecting the person. Analysis of asymmetry may also assess preferential use of the right or left of the body during specific activities. This study is based on the measurements of bones of the upper and lower limbs of skeletons derived from the remarkable medieval cemeteries of Mikulčice‐Kostelisko (78 male, 132 female) and Prušánky (66 male, 69 female) (9th–12th centuries AD), and a series of skeletons representing a recent population from Bohemia (143 male, 157 female). The objective was to assess directional asymmetry (DA), fluctuating asymmetry (FA) and antisymmetry (AS) of the dimensions of the evaluated bones, and to use these data to compare the characteristics of the medieval and recent populations. DA was recorded in most dimensions. In the upper limb, the humerus exhibited the greatest expression of asymmetry, and, with the exception of the clavicle, DA was always more pronounced on the right side. Conversely, DA was less prevalent in the lower limb bones. It was more pronounced on the transverse, sagittal and circumferential dimensions of the diaphyses and epiphyses than on the length, and in most cases it was on the left side. The FA values were very low, and almost negligible in relation to the size. Nevertheless, FA was markedly more frequent on the lower than on the upper limb. In contrast to the medieval population, the recent population had higher FA and DA values. Thus, we propose that people from this medieval population were subjected to lower developmental stress than the recent sample. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Early Aptian (Early Cretaceous) freshwater bivalves from the Australian–Antarctic rift,southeast Victoria

The brissid echinoid Schizobrissus insignis (Duncan &; Sladen, 1883) is described from the Fulra Limestone (late middle Eocene), in Kachchh, India. Formerly assigned to Peripneustes or to Meoma it is shown that the species possesses a complete subanal fasciole throughout ontogeny, a characteristic feature of Schizobrissus. Eocene species of Schizobrissus and Meoma show several morphological similarities, but diverged during the late Paleogene and early Neogene.     

茂县及岷江上游地区在古蜀文明形成中的重要作用与地位

"古蜀文明"即"三星堆文明",形成的时间大致在公元前1600年～前1500年之间。三星堆文明形成时期的代表性文明因素主要有3种:一是以三星堆城址城墙为代表的本土文明因素,二是以具有二里头文化特征的文化遗存为代表的中原文明因素,三是以具有齐家文化特征的文化遗存为代表的甘青地区文明因素。后二者是通过早在公元前3500年前后就已经形成的岷江上游地区的文化通道,由陇西南进入成都平原地区,并促使成都平原本土文化发生巨变,产生了三星堆文明,开始了古蜀文明的历程。三星堆文明的形成过程反映了岷江上游地区在古蜀文明的形成这一重大历史事件中,发挥了无可替代的桥梁作用。     

Partitioning chi-square for the analysis of frequency table data: an archaeological application

Archaeologists often wish to compare observed frequency distributions with expectations generated by a model. We describe a technique of partitioning chisquare which yields information about goodness of fit to a model and about homogeneity among populations simultaneously, and which is often superior to other commonly used methods of evaluating frequency data. The technique is demonstrated with data from the Upper Paleolithic rockshelter Le Flageolet I. The results suggest selective raw material use by the Aurignacian occupants.     

First records of Geinitziidae (Insecta: Grylloblattida) from the Upper Triassic of Argentina (Mendoza)

Lara, M.B. & Aristov, D., August 2016. First records of Geinitziidae (Insecta: Grylloblattida) from the Upper Triassic of Argentina (Mendoza). Alcheringa 41, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518

A new grylloblattid (Permoshurabia argentina sp. nov.: Geinitziidae) is described and illustrated from the Upper Triassic of Argentina. The material represents the first record of this family from Argentina and expands the geographic distribution of this group during the Triassic.

María Belén Lara [lara.maria.belen@live.com.ar], Area Paleontología (Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral-Universidad Nacional del Nordeste-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas), Casilla de Correo 128, 3400 Corrientes, Argentina; Danil Aristov [danil_aristov@mail.ru], Borissak Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya str. 123, Moscow, 117997, Russia.     

Unified Theory of Cosmogram Decorations on Potteries of the Upper Midwest: Part I. Early Woodland Period

Early Woodland Liverpool (Black Sand variant) pottery decorations consist of belts, rectilinear panels, and/or punctates encircling the vessel. Vertically arranged thematic motifs reflect the structure of the cosmos in its simplest form: Below realm, Earth’s disk, Above realm. This article postulates that the Early Woodland decorative tradition was an enduring symbolic system shared by women making pottery in the upper Midwest. Cosmograms in pottery motifs trace three universal metaphors of the Woodland era belief system: (1) Cooking vessels were feminine spirit-beings; (2) the Woodland culinary vessel shaped like the female form represented her biological destiny as the reproductive vessel for humankind and cooking was a ritual action (“prayer”), a metaphor for the creation of new members of society; (3) the cooking pot was a mandala of cosmograms expressing daily life, ritual practice, and cosmology. These themes carry through subsequent studies on Middle Woodland Havanoid and Late Woodland corded or trailed pottery in an upcoming book.     

SEISMIC WAVE ATTENUATION FOR VRANCEA EVENTS REVISITED

New aspects of the frequency-dependent attenuation of the seismic waves travelling from Vrancea subcrustal sources toward NW (Transylvanian Basin) and SE (Romanian Plain) are evidenced by the recent experimental data made available by the CALIXTO'99 tomography experiment. The observations validate the previous theoretical computations performed for the assessment, by means of a deterministic approach, of the seismic hazard in Romania. They reveal an essential aspect of the seismic ground motion attenuation that has important implications on the probabilistic assessment of seismic hazard from Vrancea intermediate-depth earthquakes. The attenuation toward NW is shown to be a much stronger frequency-dependent effect than the attenuation toward SE and the seismic hazard computed by the deterministic approach fits satisfactorily well the observed ground motion distribution in the low-frequency band (<1Hz). The apparent contradiction with the historically-based intensity maps arises mainly from a systematic difference in the eigenperiods (type and size) of the buildings in the intra- and extra-Carpathians regions, thus the existing macroseismic data, based on buildings of small dimensions, i.e. with high eigenfrequency (5–10 Hz), can hardly be representative of the real hazard for new and large dimension, tall buildings, with eigenfrequency above 1 Hz.     

Pronounced bilateral asymmetry of the complete upper extremity: a case from the early Neolithic Baikal,Siberia

An adult male skeleton from the early Neolithic cemetery of Shamanka II on the south coast of Lake Baikal (Siberia, Russia) presents one of most striking examples of upper limb bilateral asymmetry documented without obvious indicators of skeletal pathology or trauma to the afflicted arm. The condition is noteworthy not only for its severity, with asymmetry values as high as 89.5%, but also for its involvement of the whole upper extremity, from clavicle to manual phalanges. The lack of any demonstrable hypertrophy on the unaffected left arm, and the clear evidence of extensive hypotrophy/atrophy on the right, leave little doubt that this asymmetry has a pathological or traumatic basis rather than a functional (activity‐induced) one. It most likely reflects paralysis or paresis of the entire right arm resulting from complete brachial palsy incurred prior to the attainment of skeletal maturity in that limb. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

淮河上游新石器时代的绚丽画卷──舞阳贾湖遗址发掘的主要收获

舞阳贾湖遗址的发掘,可称是８０年代以来我国新石器时代考古中最重要的收获之一,尤其值得指出的是它对淮河上游新石器时代文化诸多方面的研究都具有极高的学术价值,其丰富的遗存为我们展现了一幅八千年前淮河上游地区先民生活的绚丽画卷。