炎黄二帝与华夏族发端

汉民族的前身是华夏族，华夏族发端是以炎帝、黄帝为首的姜姬部落联盟。炎黄二帝开辟了以中原为主的共同地域，创造了以粟作农业为主的共同经济生活，开启了以英雄祖先崇拜为特征的共同心理素质，数千年来被尊奉为“华夏始祖”。     

中国早期美学的探微——从青铜日用器看美学

原始社会晚期由母系氏族公社过渡到父系氏族公社,确立了男性在人类社会中的主要地位,建立在血缘关系基础之上的氏族公社逐渐发展为具有较大规模的部落联盟组织,部落联盟的大酋长有各个部落共同推举.     

“黎民”和“百姓”的演变

几千年前,中华民族的始祖炎帝和黄帝时代,部落间经常进行兼并战争,最后形成了以黄帝族为主、炎帝族和夷族为辅的部落联盟,其中黄、炎、夷三个部落的联盟是由大约100个氏族构成的,因此属于这100个氏族的人统称“百姓”。而在战争中抓到的九黎族俘虏就称作“黎民”。百姓     

有蟜氏故里考

古代文献中有"昔少典氏娶于有蟜氏女,生黄帝、炎帝"的记载。其说见于《国语·晋语四》,这是古代文献中有关黄、炎二帝母族有蟜氏的最早记载。根据文献资料和考古发掘的相互印证,有蟜氏故里应在今洛阳境内,具体的讲在今小浪底镇西北、横水镇北,黄河南岸的平逢山周围是其活动范围所在。孟津妯娌遗址其时代距今5000年左右,处于仰韶晚期向龙山早期的过渡阶段,即古史所载的黄帝时代,为确定有蟜氏故里地望提供了考古依据。     

白子国宾居部落浅探

对大理古代白子国的研究已取得很大进展，但争议颇多。根据对诸多史料的分析研究，认为白子国是西汉到唐初建立的，以大理弥渡白崖为中心，以白崖张氏酋长为首的部落联盟。宾居部落是这个部落联盟的一个重要组成部分，而且是距今约4000年前的白羊村部落的后代迁移而来，为白族族源为土著说提供了又一例证。     

蚩尤与炎黄逐鹿中原考

中原位于中国的腹部地区，得中原者得天下，逐鹿中原成为古时王者的梦想。根据史籍资料记载，5000年前左右，在中原大地上先后发生了三场较大规模的部落战争。即：蚩尤逐炎帝出九隅之战、黄帝与炎帝阪泉之战和黄炎与蚩尤涿鹿大战。     

中华始祖母华胥考——太昊伏羲氏和女娲氏生母的主要史迹探寻

华胥氏族公社兴起于新石器时代初(1万年前),为上承神话人物盘古氏、人皇、天皇、地皇的众多母系氏族公社之一,世代袭号称华胥氏.传至8 050年前时,居住在华胥渚(今陕西蓝田县华胥镇孟岩村)的氏族内生了一个聪明伶俐的女儿.她长大成人后因能为族人谋福利,被推举为公社首领,后发展为部落.华胥生太昊伏羲氏和女娲氏于成纪(今甘肃天水市秦安县),誉称为"人祖",被中华民族尊奉为"始祖母".去世后葬于华胥渚,战国后人民修陵建庙予以祭祀.     

最大的尖角龙墓地

尖角龙（学名Centrosaurus）是角龙科恐龙的一属,是种草食性动物,生活于上白垩纪的北美洲,距今约7500万年前。     

植物最早登陆是在中国

植物登陆是生物史上最重大的事件之一。 地球已有46亿年的历史，但直到距今约36亿年前，海洋里才出现了最低等的植物——仅有细胞膜和原生质、没有细胞核的蓝藻；到了距今大约25亿年前，出现了具有细胞核的藻类；距今约16亿年前，多细胞的藻类出现了。     

蛇进化成为如此细长的体型,是在陆地上实现的,还是在海里?

蛇是什么时候和怎样出现在地球上的呢?现生的各种蛇中,最先分化出来的种群是有后肢残留的。这也就是说,蛇的祖先有脚,而且四肢的退化顺序是前肢先消失,然后后肢消失。蛇与巨蜥的亲缘关系最为接近,且同属于"有鳞类"(1)。有鳞类动物多生活在距今约2亿年前的时代,在距今大概1亿年前,蛇类出现了。有关蛇的起源有两种说法,即陆地起源说和海洋起源说(见插图),但目前还没有最终的结论。进化的结果是,蛇在陆地上和海洋里均有分布。它们拥有了能提高游泳能力     

Modelling the recent common ancestry of all living humans

If a common ancestor of all living humans is defined as an individual who is a genealogical ancestor of all present-day people, the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) for a randomly mating population would have lived in the very recent past. However, the random mating model ignores essential aspects of population substructure, such as the tendency of individuals to choose mates from the same social group, and the relative isolation of geographically separated groups. Here we show that recent common ancestors also emerge from two models incorporating substantial population substructure. One model, designed for simplicity and theoretical insight, yields explicit mathematical results through a probabilistic analysis. A more elaborate second model, designed to capture historical population dynamics in a more realistic way, is analysed computationally through Monte Carlo simulations. These analyses suggest that the genealogies of all living humans overlap in remarkable ways in the recent past. In particular, the MRCA of all present-day humans lived just a few thousand years ago in these models. Moreover, among all individuals living more than just a few thousand years earlier than the MRCA, each present-day human has exactly the same set of genealogical ancestors.     

中国传说时期的管理思想萌芽

中国的先民经过漫长的进化，发展到智人时期，又从英雄时代演进到文明时代。在这个过程中，不论是神话传说中的人物，还是有史籍记载的先驱者，都有管理活动的实践，也就有管理思想萌芽的出现。他们的代表人物是盘古、女娲、伏羲、神农、黄帝、炎帝、唐尧、虞舜等。     

三峡乡土建筑——土家吊脚楼

三峡地区土家族吊脚楼，是三峡及周边地区土家族人们世代居住的一种独有的建筑形式，它延续了几千年前南方先民开创的十栏式建筑特点，同时又融合了三峡地区山区地理特征，在大汀、溪沟边用干栏式支撑起吊；山中坪坝用石块、土垒筑起吊；山麓边依山就势斜撑起吊。充分展现出土家族先民的聪明才智，其优秀的建筑表现手法和顺应自然，利用自然来达到天地人社会和谐的建筑理念，为我们留下了一笔丰富优秀的文化遗产。     

Astronomical pacing of methane release in the Early Jurassic period

A pronounced negative carbon-isotope (delta13C) excursion of approximately 5-7 per thousand (refs 1-7) indicates the occurrence of a significant perturbation to the global carbon cycle during the Early Jurassic period (early Toarcian age, approximately 183 million years ago). The rapid release of 12C-enriched biogenic methane as a result of continental-shelf methane hydrate dissociation has been put forward as a possible explanation for this observation. Here we report high-resolution organic carbon-isotope data from well-preserved mudrocks in Yorkshire, UK, which demonstrate that the carbon-isotope excursion occurred in three abrupt stages, each showing a shift of -2 per thousand to -3 per thousand. Spectral analysis of these carbon-isotope measurements and of high-resolution carbonate abundance data reveals a regular cyclicity. We interpret these results as providing strong evidence that methane release proceeded in three rapid pulses and that these pulses were controlled by astronomically forced changes in climate, superimposed upon longer-term global warming. We also find that the first two pulses of methane release each coincided with the extinction of a large proportion of marine species.     

Inference of human population history from individual whole-genome sequences

The history of human population size is important for understanding human evolution. Various studies have found evidence for a founder event (bottleneck) in East Asian and European populations, associated with the human dispersal out-of-Africa event around 60 thousand years (kyr) ago. However, these studies have had to assume simplified demographic models with few parameters, and they do not provide a precise date for the start and stop times of the bottleneck. Here, with fewer assumptions on population size changes, we present a more detailed history of human population sizes between approximately ten thousand and a million years ago, using the pairwise sequentially Markovian coalescent model applied to the complete diploid genome sequences of a Chinese male (YH), a Korean male (SJK), three European individuals (J. C. Venter, NA12891 and NA12878 (ref. 9)) and two Yoruba males (NA18507 (ref. 10) and NA19239). We infer that European and Chinese populations had very similar population-size histories before 10-20?kyr ago. Both populations experienced a severe bottleneck 10-60?kyr ago, whereas African populations experienced a milder bottleneck from which they recovered earlier. All three populations have an elevated effective population size between 60 and 250?kyr ago, possibly due to population substructure. We also infer that the differentiation of genetically modern humans may have started as early as 100-120?kyr ago, but considerable genetic exchanges may still have occurred until 20-40?kyr ago.     

Reassessing the first appearance of eukaryotes and cyanobacteria

The evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis had a profound impact on the Earth's surface chemistry, leading to a sharp rise in atmospheric oxygen between 2.45 and 2.32 billion years (Gyr) ago and the onset of extreme ice ages. The oldest widely accepted evidence for oxygenic photosynthesis has come from hydrocarbons extracted from approximately 2.7-Gyr-old shales in the Pilbara Craton, Australia, which contain traces of biomarkers (molecular fossils) indicative of eukaryotes and suggestive of oxygen-producing cyanobacteria. The soluble hydrocarbons were interpreted to be indigenous and syngenetic despite metamorphic alteration and extreme enrichment (10-20 per thousand) of (13)C relative to bulk sedimentary organic matter. Here we present micrometre-scale, in situ (13)C/(12)C measurements of pyrobitumen (thermally altered petroleum) and kerogen from these metamorphosed shales, including samples that originally yielded biomarkers. Our results show that both kerogen and pyrobitumen are strongly depleted in (13)C, indicating that indigenous petroleum is 10-20 per thousand lighter than the extracted hydrocarbons. These results are inconsistent with an indigenous origin for the biomarkers. Whatever their origin, the biomarkers must have entered the rock after peak metamorphism approximately 2.2 Gyr ago and thus do not provide evidence for the existence of eukaryotes and cyanobacteria in the Archaean eon. The oldest fossil evidence for eukaryotes and cyanobacteria therefore reverts to 1.78-1.68 Gyr ago and approximately 2.15 Gyr ago, respectively. Our results eliminate the evidence for oxygenic photosynthesis approximately 2.7 Gyr ago and exclude previous biomarker evidence for a long delay (approximately 300 million years) between the appearance of oxygen-producing cyanobacteria and the rise in atmospheric oxygen 2.45-2.32 Gyr ago.     

Neanderthals in central Asia and Siberia

Morphological traits typical of Neanderthals began to appear in European hominids at least 400,000 years ago and about 150,000 years ago in western Asia. After their initial appearance, such traits increased in frequency and the extent to which they are expressed until they disappeared shortly after 30,000 years ago. However, because most fossil hominid remains are fragmentary, it can be difficult or impossible to determine unambiguously whether a fossil is of Neanderthal origin. This limits the ability to determine when and where Neanderthals lived. To determine how far to the east Neanderthals ranged, we determined mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences from hominid remains found in Uzbekistan and in the Altai region of southern Siberia. Here we show that the DNA sequences from these fossils fall within the European Neanderthal mtDNA variation. Thus, the geographic range of Neanderthals is likely to have extended at least 2,000 km further to the east than commonly assumed.     

纵论美国的中国移民

在移居美国的中国移民中,有一个群体不可忽视,他们就是中国移民.长期以来,尽管新老移民的动机不同,目的不同,但他们都对美国的发展做出了不可磨灭的贡献.本文简要谈论一下中国移民的今昔概况.     

两千年前人与当代人上颌第二前磨牙牙釉质厚度的测量观察

通过对两千年前人与当代人上颌第二前磨牙牙釉质厚度的比较,探寻牙釉质厚度的变化及牙齿不同部位牙釉质厚度的差异.运用Micro-CT对两千年前人及当代人各10颗上颌第二前磨牙进行扫描,三维重建后测量不同部位牙釉质的厚度.结果上颌第二前磨牙牙釉质厚度,当代人颊尖、舌尖、颊尖区咬合侧、舌尖区咬合侧均大于两千年前人,P<0.05;中央窝处牙釉质厚度,当代人明显大于两千年前人,P<0.01;上颌第二前磨牙不同部位牙釉质厚度比较,舌尖区牙釉质厚度大于颊尖区牙釉质厚度,P<0.01;近中邻面牙釉质厚度大于远中邻面牙釉质厚度,P<0.05;舌面牙釉质厚度大于颊面牙釉质厚度,P<0.05.两千年前人与当代人在牙釉质厚度分布上没有区别.说明牙釉质厚度可能呈现出不断增厚的趋势;此外,同一牙位功能尖区牙釉质厚度大于非功能尖区牙釉质厚度.     

Early human use of marine resources and pigment in South Africa during the Middle Pleistocene

Genetic and anatomical evidence suggests that Homo sapiens arose in Africa between 200 and 100 thousand years (kyr) ago, and recent evidence indicates symbolic behaviour may have appeared approximately 135-75 kyr ago. From 195-130 kyr ago, the world was in a fluctuating but predominantly glacial stage (marine isotope stage MIS6); much of Africa was cooler and drier, and dated archaeological sites are rare. Here we show that by approximately 164 kyr ago (+/-12 kyr) at Pinnacle Point (on the south coast of South Africa) humans expanded their diet to include marine resources, perhaps as a response to these harsh environmental conditions. The earliest previous evidence for human use of marine resources and coastal habitats was dated to approximately 125 kyr ago. Coincident with this diet and habitat expansion is an early use and modification of pigment, probably for symbolic behaviour, as well as the production of bladelet stone tool technology, previously dated to post-70 kyr ago. Shellfish may have been crucial to the survival of these early humans as they expanded their home ranges to include coastlines and followed the shifting position of the coast when sea level fluctuated over the length of MIS6.