From Ancient Seeds to Scraps of Clothing, Rats’ Nests Are Full of Treasures
Material gathered and preserved in a pack rat’s midden helps researchers open new windows on the past
Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/archaeological-treasures-hidden-rat-nests-180973544/#EA1bGQjrAbG5ZcUt.99
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter
Though that hooly writ speke of horrible synne, certes hooly writ may nat been defouled, namoore than the sonne that shyneth on the mixne [midden].
[c 1390 Chaucer Parson's Tale l. 911]
🌳 Thomas Hardy wrote that people could identify a tree by its susurration, the sound of leaves in the wind.
Writer Bob Gilbert listens and hears how poets and musicians capture this
midden は何か: a heap (= large pile) of animal waste, or waste material thrown away by human beings in the past: .
A midden is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, sherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occupation.
貝塚，也稱作貝丘，是史前時代人們捕食的貝類堆積遺址。1877年（明治10年）美國人莫斯調查大森貝塚，首次在日本引起注意，從此開始日本文化的研究。貝塚是海岸附近部落的垃圾場，也有在湖泊周圍形成的。歐洲中石器時代和日本繩紋時代早期都有發現，彌生時代和古墳時代偶有發現。由於保存了不易腐爛的骨角器和動物遺體等，並在短時間內形成很厚的貝層，因此便於了解文化的變遷。根據貝的種類，可分為純鹹、以鹹為主、半鹹半淡、以淡為主、純淡等各種貝塚。根據外形，可分為馬蹄形、半月形、環形和小貝塚等類型。
沒有留言:
張貼留言