A lesson from Bass Strait on connectivity conservation

Isolation effects on the distributions of plant species in fragmented forests appear to be weak over tens to hundreds of years and strong over geological eras. The 250 km wide, 6.5 millennia old Bass Strait, and other millennium-scale disjunctions in the range of Eucalyptus regnans forests, were used to determine the effects of intermediate periods of isolation on plant species occurrence and composition. Three of six floristic communities were found on both sides of Bass Strait. The residuals from multiple regression models using climatic variables on the latitude vector were not explained by latitude, indicating negligible isolation effects from Bass Strait. However, there was a lesser compositional effect of disjunctions within land masses than between land masses, suggesting some effect of the larger barrier. No species that commonly occurred with E. regnans and were largely confined to wet forest exhibited absences from any region where the climate and soils were within their range. If areas isolated from each other for millennia can maintain their vascular plant biota, the expenditure of conservation funds on creating corridors to connect large areas separated by anthropogenic landscape modification might require more justification than it is currently afforded.     

南诏大理国金属佛像制作工艺初探

为研究南诏大理国金属佛像的制作工艺,对部分金属佛像进行了科学分析,表明制作各种铜佛像时,主要使用失蜡铸造工艺,已使用多种金属元素作为材质,阿嵯耶观音像和其他铜像是以含砷的铜合金为特征,金质佛像的材质主要用金银合金,铸造小铜佛像则采用复杂的合金成分配比。根据铭文和绘画资料分析,这些金属佛像主要是大理本地的工匠制作。     

南方多雨区域石窟寺防渗效果评价研究——以飞来峰造像二期保护工程为例

南方多雨区域石窟寺的防渗加固是石窟造像保护的重要措施。近年来随着国力的增强,一大批文物保护工程已经实施。但是,对于石窟寺加固保护后效果的跟踪研究却较少。全国重点文物保护单位——杭州飞来峰造像原佛龛裂隙渗水较为严重,已对文物造成破坏和威胁。自2005年以来,飞来峰造像区域已完成了两期保护工程,实施了危岩加固、裂隙灌浆、地表防渗等工程措施。跟踪评价工程的防渗效果,对于后续保护工程和类似石窟造像的保护具有重要参考价值。本研究结合工程资料,实地观察测量渗水情况和分析渗出物成分,试探性对飞来峰造像二期保护工程的防渗效果进行定量化评估。该工作可以为南方多雨区域石窟寺防渗工程的效果评估提供借鉴。     

佛光寺东大殿实测数据解读

结合山西省古建筑保护研究所2004年、清华大学2005—2006年对五台山佛光寺东大殿的手工测绘和三维激光扫描测量,本文借鉴前辈学者对于佛光寺东大殿原始设计尺寸权衡的论述,在今天毫米级精度的测量数据的基础上,得出以下结论:东大殿所用营造尺长298毫米,中五间开间1丈7尺,标准柱高同之;斗拱材宽7寸;斗拱下昂斜度等于总举斜度,基本斜度可描述成“平出47分~(?),抬高21分~(?)”,总举为此基本斜度的11倍,稍间、进深各间尺寸因此定为1丈4尺8寸;中平槫到柱头的高度等于总举高。通过上述的分析与结论,本文强调提高古建筑测绘数据全面性和精度的重要意义及深远的科研前景。     

巩义出土的唐代题字俑

巩义出土一批唐代题字俑,数量众多,具有一定的地域性。题字内容多为表明俑的名字、身份等,有的题字带有巫诅、避邪镇墓等性质。     

明清时期江淮西部地区干湿状况研究(1450-1911)

对明清江淮西部地区的旱涝史料进行梳理,对逐年州县旱涝灾害资料等级进行量化处理,并通过计算旱涝平均等级值和10年滑动平均值,重建1450—1911年该区域的干湿变化时间序列。结果发现,该区1450—1911年间共出现6个干湿阶段: 1450—1490年,以轻度干旱为主;1491—1545年,旱涝灾害频发,干湿波动较为明显;1546—1625年,旱涝灾害少发,干湿比较平稳;1626—1710年,以中度干旱为主,极端干旱事件发生频率显著增加;1711—1860年,气候湿润;1861—1911年,干湿波动偏湿润。不同的干湿阶段对江淮西部的湖泊也造成了一定的影响,干旱时期,湖盆积水减少,湖周萎缩;湿润时期,降雨增加,湖泊的蓄水量增加。     

The Big Buddha of Hong Kong: an accidental Buddhist theme park

ABSTRACT

The Tian Tan Buddha is the core of a tourism site on Lantau Island, Hong Kong, around which a cable car ride, the Po-Lin monastery and its museum, and the village of Ngong Ping have come to comprise an eclectic set of tourism nuclei that ‘accidentally’ became the ‘Buddhist theme park’ of Hong Kong due to the spatial juxtaposition in an isolated site of these disconnected and even dissonant components built at different times by different jurisdictions. The first objective of this article is to explore the developmental process of a religious site into a theme park of sort through a lengthy process filled with contestation and manipulations. The history-dependent and erratic nature of this process validates the notion of ‘accidental’ theme park used here. It is shown that over time, the Big Buddha went from being a Buddhism-themed leisure site to being generally perceived and promoted as essentially a theme park through a process of partial Disneyization. The second objective is to examine how the ‘theme park’ is perceived by its visitors, more precisely how they see it after their visit and what first-time visitors expect from it beforehand. The first enquiry, performed through the analysis of TripAdvisor reviews, indicates that ex-post, the visitors typically describe having experienced a visit to a theme park. The second enquiry, performed by interviewing first-time visitors about to access the site, suggests that while many first-time visitors expect to visit a theme park as well, others, mainly Western tourists, are expecting a more cultural experience. The findings of the two inquiries are compared to each other and to the image of the site promoted by the local tourism authorities. The subdued political message of the Big Buddha and the degree to which it is discerned by visitors are also discussed.     

试论马桥文化与中原夏商文化的关系

夏商时期位于东南太湖地区的马桥文化,同中原夏商文化在文化内涵上存在着许多相关性,但在更深层次的思想、制度乃至政治关系上,马桥文化则还未纳入中原夏商王朝的势力范围内。尽管如此,夏商时期的马桥文化正处于太湖地区从良渚时期较为封闭的对外关系、到吴越文化时期全方位同外界进行交流的中间结点上,因此在太湖地区早期古文化对外关系的发展过程中,马桥文化处于一个承上启下的位置。     

刘碑寺造像碑研究

刘碑寺造像碑,是河南现存最大的造像碑,清代金石著录对其多有介绍,但仅限于造像铭文,其精美的造像未有著录和专文介绍,不被世人关注。本文主要对刘碑寺造像碑的现状、造像内容进行详细介绍,并对造像题材、风格以及艺术成就进行探索研究。     

洛阳新辑石刻所见唐代中原之佛教

本文所辑洛阳地区新近出土的九件石刻文物,总体上反映了中古时期当地佛教寺院参与社会人文事态的广泛.此中显示的龙门地区出土石刻文物的密集,则折射出盛唐前后这一地区佛教人文活动的繁盛.