Search

This paper explores two contrasting modes of transmission of divinatory knowledge in contemporary Taiwan and mainland China. One is built on the academic model which emphasizes written communication and the other one on the teacher to student relationship which favors oral transmission. In Taiwan, faced with the declining quality of teaching and the multiplication of schools of thought, divinatory arts specialists tried to reform their knowledge and teaching methods to make them fit with the scientific requirements of contemporary society. This endeavor which had already been launched in mainland China in the Republican era, resulted in Taiwan in a boom of popular handbooks and a standardization of training. Then, I qualify this evolution through a case study conducted in mainland China which, on the contrary, highlights the importance of personal relationship and orality in the transfer of mantic techniques. In this context, methods and know-how are taught through predestined affinities, initiatory journeys and legends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The radionuclides 26Al and 10Be in situ produced in quartz near the ground surface by secondary cosmic rays can be used for dating the sediment burial. This paper introduces the principles, preconditions and limitations of the recently established dating method. In China its first trial application is to the site of Peking man. The weighted mean of six significant results of samples from layers 7–10 is 770±80 ka. This date provides strong support to an earlier and longer human presence at the site than once estimated. This method has also been applied for the first time to two Lower Paleolithic sites in the Cher Valley, central France, Lunery “la Terre-des-Sablons” and Brinay “la Noira”. The preliminary results attribute ages of 750±240 and 730±210 ka to the two sites, largely consistent with the previous age estimates based on geological and geomorphological studies and on ESR dating. With its well-founded basis in physics, its independence from other dating methods and its timescale filling a “blank period” in radioisotopic dating, the 26Al/10Be burial dating will be widely applied and contribute substantially to the establishment of a reliable timescale for the earliest human occurrence and evolution in China and in Europe. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: As one of the most important Lower Pleistocene sites of the Nihewan basin in North China, Donggutuo (DGT) site is well known for its fine retouched small tools and characters of flake industry. However, new excavations still reveal some new discoveries and educe some new issues to us. For example, the “DGT core” introduced in this article is a new discovered typotechnology and indicates new economic strategy of the local people, which was never known before in this area at the time of 1.1Ma B.P. The paper provides general background and statistic analysis of DGT industry including special method applied to the “DGT core” and discusses possible influence of environmental change for the emerging of the “DGT core”. The “DGT core” shows a germinated microlithic tradition and reflects a cultural diversity of early humans in the Lower Paleolithic in North China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The origin and evolution of modern Homo sapiens has been the subject of an intensive debate between exponents of two competing hypotheses, multiregional origins and “recent out of Africa”. This paper presents a synthesis of the chronological studies on seven hominid sites in China based on the U-series dating, five of them of intercalated speleothem calcites and other two of fossil materials. The results show that modern humans were present in China about 100ka ago, much earlier than previously estimated, and that the so-called “temporal gap” of human presence in China between 40 and 100ka is most probably nothing but an artifact caused by systematic errors of the dating methods. Further multidisciplinary studies on hominid sites in China may provide important evidence for resolving the hotly debated issues concerning the origin of modern humans. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]