农业的起源、传播与影响

农业是文明形成和发展的基础。约1万年以前,农业在西亚、中美洲和东亚地区几乎同时独立出现。西亚的两河流域被认为是小麦、大麦、燕麦等作物的起源中心;中美洲则是玉米、马铃薯和花生等农作物的诞生地;中国拥有两套独立的原始农业系统,分别是起源于长江中下游地区的稻作农业和黄河中游地区的粟-黍旱作农业,孕育了中华农耕文明。西亚的小麦农业、东亚的稻作和粟-黍农业逐步传播到世界上大多数地区,促进了早期农业全球化。15世纪末,新航路的开辟和众多贸易路线的出现加快了欧亚大陆和美洲大陆农作物的传播和融合,加速了农业全球化进程。农业的发展改变了人类改造和适应环境的能力;促进了人类定居,导致人群结构的重大变革,出现劳动分工和商品交换等,为人类提供了稳定的食物供应及储存,推动了人口的增长。农业起源和发展极大地增强了人类活动的强度和范围,深刻地影响着全球生态和气候环境。     

第四纪甲虫研究方法及意义

第四纪甲虫的研究在国外已开展多年,形成了一套完整的方法,而在我国几乎为一空白。第四纪甲虫研究方法一般包括如下几个步骤：野外采样,实验室分离,标本保存,标本鉴定,结果分析。第四纪甲虫研究的意义主要表现在如下三个方面：重建古气候、恢复昆虫地理史和第四纪考古。     

The exploration of marginal spaces in Central-West Patagonia and the role of discontinuous occupation of forests and highlands

Regions with low population density, which are geographically marginal with respect to the most frequently occupied areas, are theoretically more prone to discontinuities in human occupation. This is the case in Central-West Patagonia (Chile, South America), where the discontinuities have had different characteristics and extents, some even lasting millennia. This work proposes that, given the prolonged and repeated periods of abandonment of some areas in Central-West Patagonia, its exploration is not to be considered a unique, one-time process; rather, it occurred more than once throughout its history. Because ascertaining each exploration is complex, this process can be investigated by focusing on spaces that represent the incorporation of new areas as human groups were enlarging their ranges of action. With this objective, updated archaeological data are presented in two different types of environments of the region: forests and highlands. These environments were marginal sectors that were not utilized as frequently or intensely as the valleys and where the archaeological record would be expected to preserve the actions associated with exploration contexts. The preliminary nature of data precludes defining exploratory contexts, but it is distinct in orienting its search in time and space.     

Coetzee on South Africa's Past: Remembering in the Time of Forgetting

As an intellectual figure in South Africa, J. M. Coetzee has consistently engaged with the politics of the past, particularly the contemporary ethical ramifications of the colonial past, alongside the more recent and bitter history of oppression under apartheid. As archaeologists, we aim to excavate these engagements through his novels and essays, particularly his long-standing concerns with the Khoekhoe communities of the Cape. In South Africa today, the tensions between remembering and forgetting are palpable and, in the aftermath of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), we suggest that not all forgetting can be cast as therapeutic. Throughout his complex relationships with the nation's history, Coetzee foregrounds the colonial past and reiterates the ethical responsibilities of remembering so that the patterns of the past are not repeated.     

Zigzagging: theoretical insights on climbing strategies

Human and animal trails on steep hillsides often exhibit dramatic switchbacks and shortcuts. Helbing et al. have recently examined the emergence of human trail systems on flat terrains while Minetti and Margaria established the effect of gradients on human metabolic efficiency. In this paper we use these ideas to develop a semi-quantitative theoretical model of the behaviour of humans moving on a terrain with relief. The model determines the direction of movement by minimising metabolic cost per unit of distance in a desired direction. The structure of the theory resembles the Landau Theory of Phase Transitions, much used in theoretical physics. We find that both hairpin bends (switchbacks) and shortcuts appear as efficient strategies for downhill walkers, while uphill walkers retain switchbacks. For weakly inclined slopes, the best strategy involves walking directly uphill or downhill. For sufficiently steep slopes, however, we find that the best strategy should undergo a transition to a broken symmetry solution corresponding to the switchback trail patterns typical of rugged environments. The critical slope at which this transition takes place should be less steep for uphill and downhill walkers. The theory should be amenable to empirical investigation. Amongst other applications, this model will enable us to generalize the work of previous authors to real landscapes, eventually permitting the reconstruction of ancient patterns of movement in archaeological landscapes.     

Brief communication: identification of the authentic ancient DNA sequence in a human bone contaminated with modern DNA

We present a method to distinguish authentic ancient DNA from contaminating DNA in a human bone. This is achieved by taking account of the spatial distribution of the various sequence families within the bone and the extent of degradation of the template DNAs, as revealed by the error content of the sequences. To demonstrate the veracity of the method, we handled two ancient human tibiae in order to contaminate them with modern DNA, and then subjected segments of the bones to various decontaminating treatments, including removal of the outer 1-2 mm, before extracting DNA, cloning, and obtaining a total of 107 mitochondrial DNA sequences. Sequences resulting from the deliberate contamination were located exclusively in the outer 1-2 mm of the bones, and only one of these 27 sequences contained an error that could be ascribed to DNA degradation. A second, much smaller set of relatively error-free sequences, which we ascribe to contamination during excavation or curation, was also located exclusively in the outer 1-2 mm. In contrast, a family of 72 sequences, displaying extensive degradation products but identifiable as haplogroup U5a1a, was distributed throughout one of the bones and represents the authentic ancient DNA content of this specimen.     

People of the ancient rainforest: late Pleistocene foragers at the Batadomba-lena rockshelter, Sri Lanka

Batadomba-lena, a rockshelter in the rainforest of southwestern Sri Lanka, has yielded some of the earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in South Asia. H. sapiens foragers were present at Batadomba-lena from ca. 36,000 cal BP to the terminal Pleistocene and Holocene. Human occupation was sporadic before the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Batadomba-lena’s Late Pleistocene inhabitants foraged for a broad spectrum of plant and mainly arboreal animal resources (monkeys, squirrels and abundant rainforest snails), derived from a landscape that retained equatorial rainforest cover through periods of pronounced regional aridity during the LGM. Juxtaposed hearths, palaeofloors with habitation debris, postholes, excavated pits, and animal and plant remains, including abundant Canarium nutshells, reflect intensive habitation of the rockshelter in times of monsoon intensification and biome reorganisation after ca. 16,000 cal BP. This period corresponds with further broadening of the economic spectrum, evidenced though increased contribution of squirrels, freshwater snails and Canarium nuts in the diet of the rockshelter occupants. Microliths are more abundant and morphologically diverse in the earliest, pre-LGM layer and decline markedly during intensified rockshelter use on the wane of the LGM. We propose that changing toolkits and subsistence base reflect changing foraging practices, from shorter-lived visits of highly mobile foraging bands in the period before the LGM, to intensified use of Batadomba-lena and intense foraging for diverse resources around the site during and, especially, following the LGM. Traces of ochre, marine shell beads and other objects from an 80 km-distant shore, and, possibly burials reflect symbolic practices from the outset of human presence at the rockshelter. Evidence for differentiated use of space (individual hearths, possible habitation structures) is present in LGM and terminal Pleistocene layers. The record of Batadomba-lena demonstrates that Late Pleistocene pathways to (aspects of) behavioural ‘modernity’ (composite tools, practice of symbolism and ritual, broad spectrum economy) were diverse and ecologically contingent.