Republic of Palau (Country) (Geographic Keyword)
76-100 (684 Records)
The bird design, as a distinctive and time-honored decoration in the Chinese culture, has its unique national forms and artistic glamour, which had also condensed and accumulated rich and profound connotations. Being an indispensable part of the ancient Chinese civilization, the head-ware of ancient Chinese women had evolved continuously in the transmission of cultural heritage. Which, reflecting not only the changes in people's aesthetics, but more importantly, the ever-developing ideology and...
The Bronze and Iron Age Sites Saridjar and Karim Berdy, Tajikistan (2017)
The Late Bronze Age site of Saridjar was discovered during a survey of the northern Yakhsu valley in 2010. Excavations in 2012, in 2013, 2015 and in 2016 prove that we are dealing with a 200 x 200 m large settlement with at least three construction phases. The proportion of the hand-made ceramics in all levels varies between 80 and 90%. Only occasionally wheel-made ware appears. Andronovo pottery of the Federovo phase is present in small numbers. At Karimberdy nearly all the pottery was...
Building a Virtual Bridge Connecting Indian Himalayan Archaeology with a Virginia University and the World (2017)
The Virtual Curation Laboratory at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, Virginia, and the Archaeology Department of Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna (HNB) Garhwal University, in Garhwal (Srinagar), India, have partnered to create three-dimensional (3D) models of artifacts and sculptures from the trans-Himalayan region of northern India. Many of these items are on display in the HNB Garhwal University Museum of Himalayan Archaeology and Ethnography. This partnership seeks to preserve these...
Building Resilience with Traditional Knowledge in Samoa (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Analyses of lidar datasets have allowed archaeologists to expand the study of archaeological landscapes to study extensively human-modified environments at regional scales with more advanced geospatial methods. In Sāmoa, lidar reveals networks of ditches, terraces, and other earthen- and stone-monumental architectural features which extend from the coast...
Buried in the Sand: Investigations at Ucheliungs Cave, Palau, Micronesia (2017)
Remote Oceania was one of the last major regions colonized by humans prehistorically. While there has been an increasing amount of archaeological and genetic research in the region in recent years, many parts are sorely un- or understudied. This is particularly true of Micronesia, where many questions remain as to how and when these early inhabitants settled and adapted to the area. The Palauan archipelago, which comprises hundreds of smaller uplifted limestone "Rock Islands," hosts identified...
Burning Questions: An Anthracological Approach to Culture, Ecology, and Imperial Expansion at Angkor, Cambodia (2017)
Compared to archaeological research in other parts of the globe, the analysis of wood charcoal assemblages, or anthracology, remains an underutilized methodology for investigating aspects of the human past in Cambodia. This paper argues for the importance of anthracology as a viable scientific methodology by foregrounding its interpretive potential in addressing a diverse suite of micro- and macro-scale questions pertaining to human-environment dynamics and cultural practices over the longue...
"Call Any Vegetable": Culinary Practices in Neolithic and Metal Age Mekong River Delta (2017)
Almost nothing is known about the early development and diversity of Vietnamese cuisine, which potentially has its origin more than 2,000 years ago. This research investigates the culinary practices in southern Vietnam during the Neolithic and Metal Age (3000 BC-AD 500) by analysis of food residues recovered from earthenware pottery. To identify former food contents, organic residue analysis was conducted on sampled pottery vessels recovered from two Neolithic sites (Rạch Núi and An Sơn) and two...
Carbon and Nitrogen isotopic analysis on human and animal bones of Nanwa site, Henan Province, China (2017)
The Nanwa site（1680BC-Song Dynasty; located in Dengfeng city, Henan Province, China, provided a valuable opportunity for the Xia Dynasty and the Chinese civilization investigation. We could provide effective evidence for the food resources utilize pattern and agricultural economy development. Stable isotopic carbon, nitrogen analysis of 14 animals and 22 human bone collagen from the Nanwa site indicated that, wild animals (-19.9‰, 4.4‰, n=1) have a C3-based terrestrial diet. Domesticated pigs...
Carnelian Beads in Korea and Japan (c. 100-700 CE): Style, Technology and Trade patterns (2017)
This regional study of carnelian beads in Korea and Japan (c. 100-700 CE) provides new perspectives on patterns of regional and long-distance trade and exchange. Possible source areas for carnelian will be presented along with the major stylistic and technological features recorded from carnelian beads. Preliminary analyses confirm the existence of intra-regional exchange between polities on the Korean peninsula and the Japanese archipelago proposed by earlier scholars. Long distance exchange...
Casting metals for the Qin First Emperor and his underground empire (2017)
Among the most spectacular finds at the Mausoleum of China’s First Emperor (259 - 210 BC) are the Terracotta Army built to protect him in the after life, and the two sets bronze chariots designed and buried to facilitate his travel in his underground empire. Thousands of terracotta warriors are equipped with casting bronze weapons, including swords, lances, halberds, spears, crossbows, and arrows, and the quantity and quality of bronze weaponry provide an extremely rare opportunity to...
Centralized Power/Decentralized production? Angkorian Stoneware and the Southern Production Complex of Cheung Ek, Cambodia (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Paradigms Shift: New Interpretations in Mainland Southeast Asian Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Historically, international archaeological research in mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA) has been typically site-focused and ‘origins’ oriented (e.g., agriculture, metalworking). Theoretical framing has been inductive, frequently emphasizing the role of migration in culture change. More recently, interest in the...
Cereals in Southeast Asian Prehistory (2017)
Rice is the most important crop in Southeast Asia today. The evidence is that rice was equally important in Southeast Asia’s past. From the Neolithic period to the Middle Ages, rice has been discussed as food, a ritual item, a farming system, a culinary tradition, a tradable commodity and the basis of power. However, was it always the staple crop in Southeast Asia? The archaeobotanical studies conducted in Central Thailand by Weber revealed that in some instances and places, millet was more...
The Challenge of the Grid: A Conceptual Frontier in Angkor? (2018)
For a quarter of a century, the concepts of an open city and a low density urban megalopolis have largely broadened our understanding of Angkor (Cambodia), which was based on the morpho-chronological vision of a succession of perfectly geometric walled cities. As the researches progressed, the identification of the elements that make up the archaeological landscape of the Great Angkor has been developed, mixing temples, palaces, settlements, reservoirs, road networks, hydraulic systems and...
Challenges, Opportunities, and Kuleana: Historic Preservation in Hawaii (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Braiding Knowledge: Opportunities and Challenges for Collaborative Approaches to Archaeological Heritage and Conservation" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Working and consulting with the community is built into Hawaii’s historic preservation laws and statutes. I work for the History and Culture branch of the State Historic Preservation Division, and my main role is mitigating effects to human skeletal remains, iwi...
Changing Angkorian Stoneware Production Modes: Bang Kong Kiln and Thnal Mrech Kiln (2018)
Stoneware ceramic production began in the 9th century CE in the Angkorian core region, and its cross-draft kiln technology, paste types, and vessel forms changed during its multi-century tradition. This paper compares kiln morphology, ceramic technology and vessel form from two Angkorian kiln sites: the 9th-11th century Bang Kong site, and the 10th-12th century Thnal Mrech. The sites are located in discrete geological regions: one in the Phnom Kulen hills (Thnal Mrech), and the other on the...
Changing landscapes of the Paleolithic/Neolithic transition in Taiwan (2017)
Toward understanding the Paleolithic/Neolithic transition in Taiwan, a paleo-terrain approach allows reconstruction of the ancient landforms and habitats of where people lived. Those ancient contexts help for us to situate the activities of people using their landscapes in different ways at intervals of 7000, 6000, 5000, and 4000 years ago. This approach needs to account for significant change in tectonic movement of land masses, slope erosion and re-deposition patterns, fluctuating sea level,...
Characterization of early imperial lacquerware from the Luozhuang Han tomb, China (2017)
This paper focuses on presenting the characterization of materials from fragmented pieces of an imperial lacquer plate in the Luozhuang Han tomb, which dates to the early Western Han dynasty. Various non-invasive and minimally invasive techniques were performed, including optical and electron microscopy, XRF, Raman spectromicroscopy, FT–IR, XRD and THM-Py–GC/MS. The lacquerware pieces consist of a five-layer structure, which includes (from the top): a red pigmented layer, two lacquer finish...
Characterization of Neolithic Jade Objects from Shimao and Xinhua, Shaanxi Province, China, Using Handheld Portable Techniques (2017)
50 jade objects from the Late Longshan period, excavated from the Shimao (25) and Xinhua (25) Neolithic sites, were characterized mineral groups using handheld X-Ray Fluorescence (hhXRF) and handheld specular reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (hhFTIR). The objects were found to belong to three types of minerals. 22 objects found in Shimao (88%) are nephrite (19 tremolites and 3 actinolites), two are calcite and one antigorite. From Xinhua, 9 objects (36 %) are nephrite...
Chaîne Opératoire in Jade Study (2019)
This is an abstract from the "New Thoughts on Current Research in East Asian Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Since Wu Da-cheng’s Catalogue of Ancient Jades in the Qing Period, research of Chinese jades has largely focused on analyses of their social and ritual significances. In latter half of the 20th century, excavations in Liangzhu, Hongshan, and Xinglongwa culture sites discovered many prehistoric jades. These important discoveries...
China Vegetation Atlas (2001)
his atlas is another summary result of the publication of "Chinese Vegetation" and other monographs by the vegetation ecology workers in China for more than 40 years. It is a basic map of the country's natural resources and natural conditions. It reflects in detail the distribution, horizontal zonality, and vertical zonal distribution patterns of 11 vegetation types, 54 vegetation types of 796 and subgroups, and reflects more than 2,000 plant dominant species in China. This Atlas consists of...
Chronological Modeling of Early Settlement on Yap, Western Micronesia (2021)
This is an abstract from the "When the Wild Winds Blow: Micronesia Colonization in Pacific Context" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The initial human settlement of Yap, a group of four small islands in western Micronesia, is one of the least understood colonization events in Remote Oceania. Unlike Polynesia, where multiple lines of evidence such as linguistics, genetics, and material culture analyses coalesce around a coherent narrative of initial...
The Church of Todos los Santos and its associated cemetery in the Spanish colony of San Salvador, Heping Dao, Taiwan (17th century) (2017)
Archaeological excavations in the setting of the former Spanish colony of San Salvador, founded in 1626 in current Hoping Dao, northern Taiwan, have uncovered remains of a European building that can be identified as the Convent or Church of Todos los Santos, founded while the Spanish colony was active and possibly preserved afterwards under Dutch rule. Several burials have also been excavated, which constitutes a formal cemetery associated to the church. The human remains in the cemetery of...
Climate Amelioration and the Rise of the Xiongnu Empire (2017)
Climate has been debated by historians and archaeologists as one possible contributing factor for the emergence and collapse of complex societies. Recently, connections have been proposed between an ameliorating environment, surplus resources, energy, and the rise of Chinggis Khan’s 13th-century Mongol Empire. If favorable climate and increased rangeland productivity do indeed play a critical role in the politics of pastoral nomads, then we should be able to observe this in other cases too. This...
Climate Change (Global and SE Asia) (2018)
We have developed millennial length reconstructions of regional hydroclimate using multiple collections of tree cores from throughout Southeast Asia. Several published records of seasonal hydroclimate from Vietnamese cypress represent the most robust and well-replicated tree ring records from the global tropics, and allow for detailed analyses of the regional hydroclimate for multiple seasons. We demonstrate zonal changes in the mean climate over the past millennium with strong linkages to the...
Climate Change and the Middle Holocene "missing millennia" in the Southeast Asian Archaeological Record (2018)
Archaeological research in mainland Southeast Asia is a relatively recent endeavor, but as the region’s culture history has become more fully known, a gap in evidence called the "missing millennia" has emerged. The gap falls during the middle Holocene c. 6000-4000 BP when few sites have dated deposits. Yet from evidence dating before and after those millennia, important changes must have occurred, including changes in settlement systems, lithics and ceramic technologies, the appearance of cereal...