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A view from the countryside: radiocarbon chronology for Zaolinhetan of the pre-Zhou culture in early dynastic China
No full textThe conquest of the Shang Dynasty at Anyang around 1046 BCE by the Zhou is one of the major events for not only Chinese Bronze Age but also early interaction between the pastoralist groups from the Eurasian Steppes and agriculture ones in the Central Plains of China. It is well-known from historical texts that the pre-Zhou people lived in the ancient Bin region (豳), the exact location of which is unclear, but most likely in the Jing River valley. At some point the leader Gugong Danfu (古公亶父) moved from Bin to the capital Qi (Zhouyuan), which preceded the Zhou invasion of Anyang. We have produced a new high resolution radiocarbon chronology for Zaolinhetan, a small settlement in the pre-Zhou heartland. This shows not only an exceptionally long chronological span for the site, but also a different phasing compared to the traditional pottery typology, which raises new questions regarding the regional variation of pottery typologies. Intriguingly, the analysis also reveals a rapid abandonment of Zaolinhetan around 1100 BCE, at the same time many larger sites, such as Zhouyuan, which later became the capital of the Western Zhou dynasty, were significantly expanding. We argue that the drastic decline of Zaolinhetan as revealed by the substantial number of radiocarbon dates and probably also the movement of pre-Zhou political center from Bin to Qin, was part of bigger picture that involved a range of social and environmental factors
British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan (BMSAES) Issue 27
No full textIssue 27 comprises two articles focusing on the collection of ancient Egyptian artefacts at the British Museum. The first one publishes for the first time a group of mummy bandages inscribed with the Liturgy of Opening the Mouth for Breathing. This text is only known from a few other sources, and none on bandages. This study introduces the text written on these unique documents, as well as their owner, a man named Hor. It also investigates the possibly close relationship between these documents and the other versions of this text.
The second article delves into the acquisition by the British Museum in 1823 of the first collection of antiquities formed by Henry Salt (1780-1827), British Consul in Egypt. This extensive ensemble of objects and mummies was crucial in shaping the Museum’s Egyptian collection, which until then had been relatively small. This article publishes for the first time in their entirety many of the archival documents relating to this acquisition, including a list of the main objects drafted by Salt, with commentary and identifications of items in the collection, as far as these are possible. This paper aims at making these documents available in the hope that future research will build on this information
Permits, contracts and their terms for biodiversity specimens.
No full textWe present two different typologies of legal/contractual information in the context of natural history objects: the Biodiversity Permit/Contract Typology categorises permits and contracts, and the Typology of Legal/Contractual Terms for Biodiversity Specimens categorises the terms within permits and contracts. The Typologies have been developed under the EU-funded SYNTHESYS+ project with the participation of experts from outside the consortium. The document further addresses a possible technical integration of these typologies into the Distributed System of Scientific Collections (DiSSCo). The implementation in the DiSSCo data model is outlined and a concrete use case is presented to show how conditions, e.g. the Typology of Legal/Contractual Terms, can be introduced into the DiSSCo Electronic Loans and Visits System (ElViS). Finally, we give an outlook on the next steps to develop the typologies into a standard that supports compliance with legal and contractual obligations within the wider community of natural science collections
Seed Imbibition and Metabolism Contribute Differentially to Initial Assembly of the Soybean Holobiont.
No full textSeed germination critically determines successful plant establishment and agricultural productivity. In the plant holobiont's life cycle, seeds are hubs for microbial communities’ assembly, but what exactly shapes the holobiont during germination remains unknown. Here, 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing characterized the bacterial communities in embryonic compartments (cotyledons and axes) and on seed coats pre- and post-germination of four soybean ( Glycine max) cultivars, in the presence or absence of exogenous abscisic acid (ABA), which prevented germination and associated metabolism of seeds that had imbibed. Embryonic compartments were metabolically profiled during germination to design minimal media mimicking the seed endosphere for bacterial growth assays. The distinction between embryonic and seed coat bacterial microbiomes of dry seeds weakened during germination, resulting in the plumule, radicle, cotyledon, and seed coat all hosting the same most abundant and structurally influential genera in germinated seeds of every cultivar. Treatment with ABA prevented the increase of bacterial microbiomes’ richness, but not taxonomic homogenization across seed compartments. Growth assays on minimal media containing the most abundant metabolites that accumulated in germinated seeds revealed that seed reserve mobilization promoted enrichment of copiotrophic bacteria. Our data show that seed imbibition enabled distribution of seed-coat-derived epiphytes into embryos irrespective of germination, while germinative metabolism promoted proliferation of copiotrophic taxa, which predominated in germinated seeds.
[Formula: see text] Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license
Chinese plates fit for an Acehnese queen
No full textAll over Southeast Asia is found a particular type of coarse Chinese export porcelain traditionally known as ‘Swatow’ ware but now more accurately identified as originating from Zhangzhou, dating from the late Ming period, from the end of the 16th to the early 17th centuries. One characteristic type of large Zhangzhou dish had a central circle with eight smaller circles around it, all filled with inscriptions in Arabic script. The marked visual similarity with the great seal of Aceh, which over a period of 250 years always gave the name of the sovereign in a central circle surrounded by eight small circles containing the names of illustrious forebears, gave rise to the tradition that these Zhangzhou calligraphic plates were specially ordered from China by the rulers of Aceh in the shape of their seal. A close chronological examination belies this widely held belief, as the Zhangzhou plates were largely produced before the Acehnese ‘ninefold seal’ was created in the mid 17th century, most likely in the reign of Sultanah Tajul Alam Safiatuddin Syah (r.1641–1675). Indeed, conversely, the presence of these prestigious and striking Chinese plates in Aceh may even have contributed to the rich visual repertoire of significant ninefold forms from which the royal Acehnese seal was born.
Di seluruh Asia Tenggara ditemukan jenis porselen kasar Cina yang secara tradisional dikenal sebagai buatan ‘Swatow’, tetapi kini diketahui berasal dari Zhangzhou, dari akhir periode Ming, pada akhir abad ke-16 hingga awal abad ke-17. Salah satu jenis khas piring Zhangzhou berukuran besar memiliki lingkaran tengah dengan delapan lingkaran kecil di sekelilingnya, semuanya berisi tulisan dalam aksara Arab. Gambaran ini sangat mirip dengan pola stempel atau cap raja Aceh, yang selama kurun waktu 250 tahun selalu mencantumkan nama penguasa dalam lingkaran tengah yang dikelilingi delapan lingkaran kecil berisi nama-nama leluhur termasyhur. Kemiripan ini melahirkan kepercayaan bahwa piring berkaligrafi Arab dari Zhangzhou ini dipesan khusus dari Tiongkok oleh raja Aceh menurut bentuk capnya. Namun, penelusuran kronologis yang cermat memungkiri keyakinan yang dianut secara luas tersebut karena sebagian besar piring Zhangzhou ternyata diproduksi sebelum ‘cap sembilan’ Aceh dibuat pada pertengahan abad ke-17, kemungkinan besar pada masa pemerintahan Sultanah Tajul Alam Safiatuddin Syah (memerintah pada 1641–1675). Sebaliknya, kehadiran piring-piring Cina yang bernilai tinggi dan mencolok ini di Aceh bahkan mungkin telah berkontribusi terhadap kekayaan repertoar visual berupa sembilan lingkaran yang melahirkan cap kerajaan Aceh
Did crops expand in tandem with culinary practices from their region of origin? Evidence from ancient DNA and material culture.
No full textGrain-cooking traditions in Neolithic China have been characterised as a ‘wet’ cuisine based on the boiling and steaming of sticky varieties of cereal. One of these, broomcorn millet, was one of the earliest Chinese crops to move westward into Central Asia and beyond, into regions where grains were typically prepared by grinding and baking. Here, the authors present the genotypes and reconstructed phenotypes of 13 desiccated broomcorn millet samples from Xinjiang (1700 BC–AD 700). The absence in this area of sticky-starch millet and vessels for boiling and steaming suggests that, as they moved west, East Asian cereal crops were decoupled from traditional cooking practices and were incorporated into local cuisines
A preliminary study of genetic diversity in populations of Montrichardia Crueg. (Araceae) estimated with molecular markers.
No full textThe two species of (Araceae) are perennial herbs of great ecological, economic, and ethnobotanical importance that form populations by clonal growth and sexual reproduction. Here, genetic diversity was studied within a drainage system distant from Amazonia. Five populations were sampled from the Rio Parnaíba Delta (northeast Brazil) and two outside it. The eight ISSR primers selected generated 342 marker bands. The non‐Delta populations ( ) were grouped together by cluster analysis and Bayesian simulation but the Delta populations ( ) were only grouped weakly. Ordination and Bayesian simulation grouped populations into three pairs along an east–west axis. All population pairs were significantly different (pairwise , ≤ 0.001). Between‐population variance (AMOVA, 39.9% variance, < 0.001) was much greater than between‐species (12.2%, < 0.034), but within‐population variance was greatest (48.0%). Within the Delta, geographical distance between populations did not predict genetic similarity, but relative within‐population diversity appears to be influenced by habitat differences. There is genetic evidence, but relatively weak, for recognizing the Delta populations as and the non‐Delta ones as ; Paulino Neves (Maranhão) appears to be the easternmost record for this species. The strong between‐population differences previously reported for are corroborated
Growth, Enzymatic, and Transcriptomic Analysis of xyr1 Deletion Reveals a Major Regulator of Plant Biomass-Degrading Enzymes in Trichoderma harzianum.
No full textThe regulation of plant biomass degradation by fungi is critical to the carbon cycle, and applications in bioproducts and biocontrol. Trichoderma harzianum is an important plant biomass degrader, enzyme producer, and biocontrol agent, but few putative major transcriptional regulators have been deleted in this species. The T. harzianum ortholog of the transcriptional activator XYR1/XlnR/XLR-1 was deleted, and the mutant strains were analyzed through growth profiling, enzymatic activities, and transcriptomics on cellulose. From plate cultures, the Δxyr1 mutant had reduced growth on D-xylose, xylan, and cellulose, and from shake-flask cultures with cellulose, the Δxyr1 mutant had ~90% lower β-glucosidase activity, and no detectable β-xylosidase or cellulase activity. The comparison of the transcriptomes from 18 h shake-flask cultures on D-fructose, without a carbon source, and cellulose, showed major effects of XYR1 deletion whereby the Δxyr1 mutant on cellulose was transcriptionally most similar to the cultures without a carbon source. The cellulose induced 43 plant biomass-degrading CAZymes including xylanases as well as cellulases, and most of these had massively lower expression in the Δxyr1 mutant. The expression of a subset of carbon catabolic enzymes, other transcription factors, and sugar transporters was also lower in the Δxyr1 mutant on cellulose. In summary, T. harzianum XYR1 is the master regulator of cellulases and xylanases, as well as regulating carbon catabolic enzymes
‘Honest George’: George Thomason and London during the Civil War and Revolution
No full textPart of the fascination with Thomason is that he was more than merely a prominent bookseller who collected a vast collection of civil war pamphlets and newspapers. He was also an active participant in public life, in terms of the workings of the Stationers’ Company and in terms of political and religious machinations in London. This chapter utilizes a wide range of contemporary sources, including material from the Thomason Tracts, to trace his involvement in the political and religious affairs of the civil wars, down to the establishment of the republic in 1649. It reveals him to have been a zealous and highly partisan member of both his guild and the civic community, and this not only helps to contextualize his massive collection of contemporary printed material, but also to highlight how print became central to the ways in which he and others participated in the civil wars