シリア北西部におけるオリーブ栽培センターの興亡 : テル・マストウーマ遺跡の調査から

Northwestern Syria has been a center of olive cultivation since the Early Bronze Age. This report offers an explanation of the rise and fall of olive cultivation based mainly on the palaeoecological studies of Tell Mastuma site in Idrib Prefecture. Mass production of olives started in the latter half of the Early Bronze Age at Tell Mastuma. Olive cultivation brought the economic and political apogee of Tell Mastuma. However, the prosperity of Tell Mastuma was suddenly destroyed in the Late Bronze Age and the site was abandoned for more than 700 years. This catastrophic break was induced by a brought. The brought was the main factor in the weakening of the political and economical power and the subsequent cultural hiatus at Tell Mastuma. In the beginning of the Early Iron Age, the climate became wetter. People came back to Northwestern Syria and Tell Mastuma was reoccupied. Olive cultivation once again brought prosperity to Tell Mastuma during the Roman Period

トルコ・コンヤ盆地からの６０．８５ｍ柱状堆積物の層相

In 1991, a 60.85 m continuous core was collected from the Konya basin (37°45′13.3″N and 32°43′5.4″E) which is located in the western part of the Anatolian Plateau Turkey, where there ware a number of important ancient civilizations. The core sediment consists of a continuous lacustrine accumulation of homogeneous silty clay and clay with shell bands, sand streams and organic-rich accumulated layers. It also contains visible gypsum crystals suggesting the existence of dry climatic condition in the past. Three ash layers were also recognized at 7.72-7.77 m, 12.15-12.20 m and 51.5 m in depth. The preliminary radiocarbon datings of the shells collected from 6 m depth are older than 40 environmental record such as interglacial-glacial cycles occurring about every 100,000 years during the past million years. This report is a sedimentological description of the core samples form the Konya Basin

日本列島における最終氷期のモンスーン変動と旧石器文化

Southwest monsoons dramatically fluctuated during the Last Glacial Age, resulting in changes of humidity which influenced Japan\u27s culture and environment. Wet climates during the Interglacial and Interstadials were closely linked to the active southwest monsoons, while dry climates during the cold Stadials were partly caused by the southwest monsoons being dormant. The development of accumulation terraces was also directly influenced by the fluctuations of the southwest monsoons. Several transitions in Japanese Paleolithic culture appear to have been greatly affected by the fluctuations of the southwest monsoons. For example, the Late Paleolithic culture, characterized by knife-shaped tools, adapted to the dry climate which was due to the conspicious dormancy of the southwest monsoons during the maximum glacial period

鬼界カルデラの噴火が屋久島の完新世の植生変遷史に及ぼした影響について

Pollen analytical study of the Hananoego moor in Yakushima revealed the drastic influences of the volcanic eruption on the Holocene vegetational history in Yakushima. Dense forest mainly composed of Cryptomeria japonica, Buxus, Quercus Cyclobalanopsis, Symplocos and Trochodendron aralioides grew surrounding the Hananoego moor before the eruption of the Kikai caldera volcano. This forest, including the giant Japanese cedar (Yakusugi), was destroyed by the vast pyroclastic flow deposit from the Kikai caldera volcano which erupted 6300 years B.P

文明の精神

It is said that there exist two spheres in all civilizations; the material culture which is physically visible, and the spiritual culture which is internalized, and I believe the more important of these two is the“internalized spirit,” or the “spiritual culture,”which may be rephrased as “the dignity of the civilization.” The principle of civilization that the Japanese have nurtured since the time of the Jomon period was at one of the highest spiritual levels among all other principles that have been created by other countries in the world. However,it appears that,since the Meiji period,we the Japanese have been blinded by the energy of the material culture of the western world and have lost sight of that spiritual height. Fragments of that spiritual culture can still be found deeply embedded within the hearts of those that were born before the period of high economic growth. What is required now is to create a new principle of civilization that incorporates those spiritual heights and to move onward to an age of the civilization of life, in which the institutions, organizations, and devices are embodiments of that spirit

梅棹忠夫先生を偲ぶ

On the 3rd of July,2010,Professor Tadao Umesao passed away at the age　of 90　years. Of his great and countless number of contributions to the　establishment of comparative cultural　studies that he left behind with us as his legacy, I would like to share with you today the major themes that have characterized his works along with my impression of his life and sentiments upon his passing.1) Ecological view of the history of civilization, which gave the Japanese courage and hope2) Prediction of the destructiveness and invasiveness of agro-pastoral cultures3) The mountains, which were at the roots of Umesao’s philosophy of ethnology4) Elimination of authoritarianism5) A model for living in the aging society6) Our age is in need of a genius surpassing Professor Umesa