The Lost-Wax Process in the Pre-Qin Period: A Bronze Appendage with Hollow Snake Patterns from the Tomb of Duke Ning of Xu

This paper discusses the most recent case of the lost-wax process,namely,a bronze appendage with hollow snake patterns excavated in 2002 at the tomb of Duke Ning of Xu(許公寧)(a state in the Spring and Autumn period)in Ye County,Henan Province.Various physical and chemical analyses indicate that this artifact was cast as a whole in 547 BCE or slightly later in a high tin bronze alloy using the lost-wax process.No traces of cast joints or soldering were found.This research provides further proof that the lost-wax process was a significant technical development achieved by casters in the Pre-Qin period.

Manufacture technique of bronze-iron bimetallic objects found in M27 of Liangdaicun Site, Hancheng, Shaanxi

Analysis of the fabrication technology of a bronze knife with an iron blade and a bronze Ge with an iron blade, two copper-iron bimetallic wares, unearthed in M27 of Liangdaicun Site, Hancheng of Shaanxi, is performed in this paper by using metallographic, EPMA and AMS-14C dating methods. The micro-structures of the two samples are typical wrought bloomery iron containing a substantial amount of carbon, which is also called carburized steel, made from bloomery iron by cementation in the solid state. The objects can be dated back to the early Spring and Autumn period. This study provides new evidence for understanding the beginning of iron smelting in China. Most of the early known iron wares of the period between the late Western Zhou Dynasty and the early Spring and Autumn were unearthed in the region at the junction of Henan, Shanxi and Shaanxi, at the middle reaches of the Yellow River, suggesting that this region may likely be one of the earliest centers of iron smelting technology in China and deserves further archaeological research. As early iron products were also discovered in the area of the upper reaches of the Yellow River and in Xinjiang, appropriate attention also should be paid to the relationship between these two areas in terms of the origin of iron smelting.

Human activity during the late Pleistocene in the Lop Nur region, northwest China： Evidence from a buried stone artifact

The Lop Nur region, in the east part of Tarim Basin, was an important transportation junction between west and east,north and south Eurasia. However, previous studies on prehistoric human activity have concentrated mostly on the Bronze Age,whereas that during the Stone Age remains largely unresearched. Here, we present a new direct evidence of human activity in the late Pleistocene, recorded on a grinding stone buried in a lacustrine sediment section of the Lop Nur region. The grain size distribution of the sediment section indicates that the site was probably in the center of a lake with weak hydrodynamic environment. Therefore, the stone artifact can only be carried to here by people instead of river and it was never move as soon as left here. Results of radiocarbon dating, the evident stratigraphic relations between the stone artifact and the sedimentary formation, indicate that the human activity could extend to approximately 13 ka BP. Furthermore, the results of starch-grain and use-wear analyses suggest that ancient humans gathered seeds of Triticeae, roots, and tubers and used the grinding stone to simply process selected plant as plant foodstuffs during this period. It implies that the environmental conditions in the river delta of the Lop Nur were inhabitable during the late Pleistocene.

An empirical study on integrated platform for public library services in rural China:Based on "Pingqiao Model" in Xinyang,Henan province

Having been excluded from the category of public libraries in China for a long time,the functions and facilities of rural libraries were scattered in diverse cultural projects,thus presenting a separately constructed and multiply managed situation,in which rural libraries were low in efficiency,weak in professional quality,and difficult to continue their development.It is urgent to promote the construction of integrated platform for services in rural libraries.Pingqiao District in Xinyang has constructed 18 standardized rural libraries in villages and towns in accordance with the concept of public libraries,and tried to integrate the functions of public library previously decentralized in projects of rural public cultural services into these rural libraries,which has led to the initial formation of an integrated platform of services in rural libraries.Although there still exist some dilemmas in the system and the mechanism and difficulties in professional development,the experience suggests that the public library system in rural China will develop in the following directions,that is,led by the developmental concept of advanced culture,adhering to the principles of government leadership and overall urban-rural development,then to construct a regional library network service system,in which municipal libraries are positioned as the core of the system,the libraries at the county level as the center,the libraries in villages,towns and agencies as the sections,the libraries in community streets and farmers’ reading rooms as the branches,and book mobiles as the supplements.