A Review on Diagnostic Phytoliths for the Application in Paleovegetation Reconstruction and Environmental Archaeology in East Asia

Phytoliths are extensively utilized as an archaeobotanical indicator in paleovegetation reconstruction and environmental archaeology. Over the past two decades, numerous phytolith morphotypes, particularly those exhibiting diagnostic morphological features and over representative of source plants at the genus and species levels, were discovered and reported. These advancements have significantly contributed to phytolith-based vegetation reconstruction on different timescales, enhanced our understanding of prehistoric plant utilization, and elucidated cultivation and domestication processes of key crops in ancient agriculture. However, there are still inconsistencies and misunderstandings regarding the morphological characteristics of diagnostic phytoliths in various plant groups. This review highlighted the standardization in the classification and description of phytolith morphotypes, and summarized the advancements in phytolith morphology research over the past two decades. Morphological illustrations of diagnostic phytoliths from various plant groups, particularly key crops and their relatives from dryland and rice agriculture in East Asia, were presented as references for phytolith identification and application. Finally, this review proposes future directions for phytolith morphological studies, emphasizing the comprehensive consideration of anatomical structure and morphometric parameters, as well as the need for extensive research on modern plant phytoliths and control experiments on phytolith growth.

Morphological Change of Starch Grain Based on Simulated Experiment and its Significance of Agricultural Archaeology——Taking Wheat as an Example

[Objective] The aim was to research and identify starch grain microfossil found in archaeological sites in China, and to find appropriate procedures for the starch grain analysis experiment.[Method] Wheat starch grain size distribution was analyzed, and some simulated experiments were carried out, like mortar grinding, ultrasonic treatment, hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide immersion, drying treatment, and so on. [Result] The mean size of wheat starch grains had increased in the growth process. Mortar grinding would make wheat starch grains larger than untreated sample. Long time of ultrasonic treatment can also make the starch grain size larger. 10% HCl and 6% H2O2 would have little effects on morphological feature of wheat starch grains. Low temperature heating did not cause starch grains to be gelatinized. [Conclusion] These experiment results can improve the accuracy of starch grain microfossil identification in the archaeological site. Starch grain analysis may be a utility and effective analytical tool in studying the origin of agriculture and the dispersal of crops in China.

ANALYSIS OF REMOTE SENSING ARCHAEOLOGY ON TRAFFIC FUNCTION TRANSFORMATION OF TONGJI GRAND CANAL IN SUI AND TANG DYNASTIES

In China, most directions of river flowing are from west to east. During historic period, since the water traffic played an important role, it was very important to form a cross-horizontal net of water carriage route. Canals should be dug so as to make up the lack of north-south river. Tongji Grand Canal, dug in the first year of Daye (605 A.D.) in the Sui Dynasty, was the important component of north-south system of Grand Canals in China. It promoted economic and social development of the Sui, Tang and Song dynasties (605 A.D.-1279 A.D.). As Tongji Canal (i.e. Tongji Grand Canal) flowed across the Huaibei Plain, which is aggraded by abundant mud and sand deposit resulted from the Huanghe (Yellow) River flooding, many traces (such as old channel) and human culture heritages were buried under mud-sand. Tongji Canal was silted up, and disappeared in the Jin Dynasty (1115 A.D.-1234 A.D.). From then on, there were many different stories about the flowing route of the canal in historical literature. Based on space-bone and air-bone remote sensing imagery, we attempt to search the old channel of Tongji Canal, and supplement historical record. The paper discusses transformation process of Tongji Canal’s traffic function, and resumptively summarizes the reasons of the transformation, which results from synthetic function of physical geographical, political, economic, and social conditions.

Progress in Environmental Evolvement and Environmental Archaeology Study in the Yangtze Delta （China）

A review was conducted on the environmental evolvement and environmental archaeological research since the 1980s in the Yangtze Delta. Former environmental evolvement and environmental archaeological research results can be summed up into 4 aspects： 1） Formation and evolution of the Taihu Lake; 2） Transgression and sea-level changes in the Holocene epoch; 3） Reconstruction of the pre-historical environment; and 4） Impacts of environmental variations on the rise and fall of human civilization （formation of the cultural interruptions）. Based on this review, some limitations in the present research methods and possible outcomes are pointed out in this paper.

Archaeology and Heritage Resource Management in Siuyu, Singida Region (Tanzania)

This paper was produced as a part of our ongoing research endeavors in Singida destined to provide a better understanding of early humans’ cultures, and to promote the conservation of cultural and natural heritages of the region. The overreaching goals of this research are to holistically reconstruct the archaeology of Singida by studying cultural processes over time and space. Equally important is to promote tourism in the Singida eastern axis and, to salvage the heritage assets of the region from total disappearance as evinced by the activities of modern day civilization, broadly, to shed more light about the past life ways, and the subsistence behaviours of our ancestors. Our recent archaeological reconnaissance conducted in January 2016 in Siuyu ward discovered rock paintings and a rock shelter with archeological potential (Ngaghe rock shelter), containing a large scatter of Later Stone Age (LSA) archaeological artifacts that are crucial to the unravelling of the prehistoric human behaviours in Singida. Preliminary results from our research revealed that Singida region is an ideal place for undertaking research on early human bio-cultural evolution from LSA times to the present. Data from this study will be utilized to re-write the history of Singida region, to make sure that it is sustained for future generations. Despite their rarity, uniqueness, scientific and aesthetic values, these heritage assets are neither protected by village nor regional by-laws. Before deliberate conservation measures are put in place, it is very important to have good records of the areas that are attractive to tourism, and their current state of preservation. These sites were undocumented by the previous researchers, and in certain circumstances are unknown even to the local people of the Siuyu ward. Although the archaeology of Singida east is much “terra incognita”, this article is timely, for promoting archaeo-tourism and raising public awareness on the archaeology of Singida. Additionally, this work provides a stimulus to the authorities to take action by introducing effective conservation measures for the sustainability of these priceless non-renewable resources.

An Important Discovery in the Field of Archaeology

A copper cannon belong to Western Hsia Dynasty(A.D.1032～1227)had been unearthed incity Wuwei in Province Gansu.This cannon is confirmed as an oldest metallic tubular firearm inthis world so far.In history Wuwei had been an area under Western Hsia government’s jurisdiction.

《PALAEOANTHROPOLOGY AND PALEOLITHIC ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA》

This excellent volume fills a much needed gap in making available to western scholarsmany of the important developments in paleoanthropology in the People’s Republic of China.Discoveries in other parts of the world such as Europe and particularly Africa have often over-shadowed the valuable contributions stemming from work in China since the end of the CulturalRevolution.The editors of this volume must be congratulated for their efforts and particularlyfor providing in Chapter 1,a review chapter,an extensive and very useful bibliography.

Buddhist Archaeology in Xinjiang:Findings and Significance of Mo'er Temple Archaeological Site

After three years of archaeological excavation on Mo'er Temple Site in Kashgar,Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China,archaeologists have found a massive Buddhist temple complex,and have unearthed a large number of ancient relics,including Buddha statues made of gypsum,bronze coins,pottery,woodware,animal skeleton,grains,and fruit kernels.This article is a preliminary collation and summary for these crucial findings,including the initial establishment,development,evolution,and final abandonment of Mo'er Temple,Mo'er Temple's general layout and its architectural structure,and features of cultural exchange on the Silk Road that Mo'er Temple reflects.These new discoveries prove that Mo'er Temple is a solid evidence of the coexistence and spread of multiple religions in Xinjiang in the history.It demonstrates that Chinese civilization is both unified and diverse,inclusive and understanding;and may serve great importance to researches and studies on the evolutionary history of religions in Xinjiang.

Reflections on Studying Huang Di Nei Jing in the West

Huang Di Nei Jing(《黄帝内经》The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic) has been the source text of Chinese medicine knowledge and innovation for over two thousand years. Despite this key relevance, many of its ideas and practices have proven difficult to understand and implement fully into clinical practice. Cultural and language differences can be compounded with these challenges but may also present new opportunities for advancement and insight when studied by researchers outside of the originating culture. This article introduces the method of Classical-Text Archaeology and delves into the author’s two-decade journey of researching this text, with a discussion on cultural differences and issues of medical scholarship.

Domain-Specific Formal Ontology of Archaeology and Its Application in Knowledge Acquisition and Analysis

Inherent heterogeneity and distribution of knowledge strongly prevent knowledge from sharing and reusing among different agents and software entities, and a formal ontology has been viewed as a promising means to tackle this problem. In this paper, a domain-specific formal ontology of archaeology is presented. The ontology mainly consists of three parts: archaeological categories, their relationships and axioms. The ontology not only captures the semantics of archaeological knowledge, but also provides archaeology with an explicit and formal specification of a shared conceptualization, thus making archaeological knowledge shareable and reusable across humans and machines in a structured fashion. Further, we propose a method to verify ontology. correctness based on the individuals of categories. As applications of the ontology,we have developed an ontology-driven approach to knowledge acquisition from archaeological text and a question answering system for archaeological knowledge.

Environmental archaeology of the Dachang region in the Daning Valley,the Three Gorges reservoir region of the Yangtze River,China

Environmental archaeology of archaeological sites on both sides of the Dachang section in the Daning River,the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River,shows that riverbed evolution has a great influence on the distribution of archaeological sites during the prehistorical and historical period,and it restricts human activity and the development of ancient culture.Field investigation,dating data,paleocurrent analysis of 100 gravels on the riverbed and archaeological excavation reveal that the riverbed of the Dachang section developed in the Shuangyantang region during the early stage,after about 30 kaBP it shifted westward gradually and reached the present place.Along with the westward shift,the focus of ancient culture changed for several times.In the Western Zhou Dynasty's period,the east riverbank of the Daning River was the main residential area.During the Han Dynasty,along with the westward shift,the living space of ancient people was no longer confined to the east riverbank and the focus of culture moved westward.Then the Zhangjiawan site became the main dwelling district.In the late Han Dynasty, the villages were flooded and the ancients had to immigrate to a high place.Tombs of the Han and the Jin Dynasties outcropped on the flood plain of the east bank because their surface sediments were eroded by several flood events and the westward shift of the riverbed.

Terahertz pulse imaging in archaeology

The work presented in this paper was performed at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, on objects from their permanent collection： an ancient Egyptian bird mummy and three ancient Sumerian corroded copper-alloy objects. We used a portable, fibercoupled terahertz （THz） time-domain spectroscopic ima- ging system, which allowed us to measure specimens in both transmission and reflection geometry, and present time- and frequency-based image modes. The results confirm earlier evidence that THz imaging can provide complementary information to that obtainable from X-ray computed tomography （XRCT） scans of mummies, giving better visualisation of low density regions. In addition, we demonstrated that THz imaging can distinguish mineralized layers in metal artifacts.

Archaeology of Southeast China and the Search for an Austronesian Homeland

Widely recognized as the ultimate homeland of the Austronesians,Southeast China’s archaeological records bear direct implications for understanding the chronology,seafaring and the impetus of the proto-Austronesian expansions.The available evidence demonstrates that as early as 8300 BP,the ancestors of the Austronesians started to explore the offshore islands in Southeast China.By 5000 BP,with the breakthrough of long-distance seafaring skills,a substantial population started to colonize the island of Taiwan.Maritime subsistence pattern and the seafaring served as the primary impetus for the earliest Austronesian dispersals.

Lai Guolong,Excavating the Afterlife: The Archaeology of Early Chinese Religion.Seattle: University of Washington Press,2015

Lai Guolong’s book is a new attempt at understanding early Chinese religion by integrating archaeological, art historical, anthropological, philological, and historical methods. Lai has successfully demonstrated that careful rereading of artifacts and texts from excavations, as well as received texts, supported by balanced use of comparative materials from other cultures and anthropological and religious theories.