Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Australia, 2007.

Since 2000, important advances have been made worldwide in the dendrochronology of wood associated with past human activity and cultural heritage. This review summarizes this recent progress in regions with a longstanding tradition of using tree-ring methods, such as Europe and the USA, as well as others such as Asia where developments have been particularly rapid in recent years. The oldest wood generally originates from archaeological sites and the largest amount of wood for research comes from historical structures such as monumental and vernacular architecture. In addition to construction wood, wooden doors, ceilings, furniture, objects of art (such as panel paintings and sculptures), Medieval books, musical instruments and boats can also be utilized. Dating is the first and crucial step of the research and is often difficult even in regions where dendrochronology has a long history of use. In addition to absolute dates, dendrochronology has provided extra information that has enhanced historical knowledge from other sources. Behavioral and environmental inferencing and dendroprovenancing are becoming major areas of research in regions with well-developed networks of reference chronologies and active cooperation among laboratories. The online Bibliography of Dendrochronology and information from conferences have been indispensable in this compilation, because much work related to dendrochronology in cultural heritage is still published in ‘‘gray’’ literature, making it difficult to access.

在對人文科學的考查中，傅柯發現到人文科學其實埋藏了很大的偏差，而這個偏差的主要來源，是傳統的主體哲學的觀點。「主體」(subject)與「人」(man)之間的關係沒有明確地釐清，以致於在這個狀況之下所形構的人文科學，不是一個能表現「人」的科學，而是製造了一個科學的人。即使狄爾泰(Wilhelm Dilthey)已經試圖從自然科學當中，分離出關於人的科學；康德(Immanuel Kant)也承認了人作為經驗實體的有限性，但他們就是不能提供人的科學一個實在的基礎。針對這個人的科學的客觀基礎，傅柯試圖提供一個唯物的認定，而這個實在的根據，就在事物的秩序。事物的秩序被表達在一歷史的過程，這個歷史過程中隱含了三個不同時期的知識型(episteme)，這三個時期就包含了兩個斷裂。斷裂是在現實中發生，所以它所提供的是現實的客觀基礎，而不是觀念的基礎。從人文科學在歷史演變中的轉變看來，傳統的對待方式，是將人的知識的問題孤立出來，然而這個方式只是一種主觀的作法，並沒有一個客觀的基礎，傅柯認為必須將人文科學放到歷史的演變中，才有實在的根據。在對人文科學史的演變的分析中，傅柯說明三個知識型之間的轉變。問題的源起是要說明「相似」(resemblance)，在文藝復興時的認知方式是相似，古典時期為要說明「相似」如何「相似」，而提出「表象」(representation)作為說明的方式，因為兩者間的相同，故可以互相代表。「表象」預設了能夠表達的能力，為了要表象「相似」，而出現科學的人，所以人才變成現代的主題。為了避免掉入傳統的窠臼，傅柯提出新的處理人文科學的方法。這個方法的產生與法國當代哲學思潮之間，有許多的互動關係，像是巴舍拉(Gaston Bachelard)與岡居朗(George Canguilhem)的科學史研究方法，或是索緒爾(Ferdinand de Saussure)與李維史陀(Claude Levi-Strauss)的結構的客觀形式，都帶給傅柯很大的啟發。傅柯把他的探究方法稱為考古學，他借用並轉化了結構主義的語言(langue)概念，去處理「言說」(discourse)的領域，言說的特徵在於它具有歷史性，不是一種形式概念，言說的基礎在於知識型，因為知識型擁有「歷史的先驗」(historical a priori)。言說與知識型兩個概念構成了整個考古學的重心，透過這兩個概念的分析，與傳統概念間的對比，考古學顯示了不同於過往的兩個特性：考古學之下的人文科學消解了主體的限制；它同時揭露了一種沒有真理形式的知識觀。

This thesis interrogates the relationship of archaeological models and indigenous understandings of origins in the East Kimberley region of Northern Australia and the Aru Islands of Eastern Indonesia. Archaeological models of prehistoric migration construct these places as part of the same landmass in the recent human period and at times of lower sea levels. Yet, the indigenous groups who currently inhabit these places assert and rely upon their localised understandings of autochthony and mythological creationism. The existence of these competing models has led me to examine the degree to which the practice of archaeology in these locations constructs human prehistory in a way that necessarily disempowers the indigenous cosmology there. Below I examine the construction and content of these different stories about the same place to show how it is that they are essentially competing, conflicting and contradictory claims to truth. I show how each of these asserted cosmological positions emerge from the various cultural systems that sponsor and perpetuate them and I pay special attention to the role of institutionally authorised experts within each of the cosmological positions described. I also seek to demonstrate the ways in which the distribution of expert knowledge plays a core role in a naturalised social order and the ongoing construction of cultural identity in their respective communities. I then interrogate the relationships that these differing forms of knowledge have with each other - paying close attention to the specifics of context in which they are evoked. I conclude that the examination of how these competing claims to truth are distributed in space reveals their influence in the ongoing construction of identity in their respective communities.

The goal of the thesis is to find the way how to apply use-wear analysis as well as functional analysis to archaeological assemblages of selected artefacts from Central European archaeological contexts, namely lithics (chipped stone artefacts) and obtain the greatest potential from the analysis. Thesis consists of: current state in the field of functional studies research worldwide, method of use-wear application in connection with material science knowledge, especially tribology. Use-wear analysis is applied to the selected lithic artefacts from Paleolithic to Eneolithic Periods. The results of this work are based on the following microscopic approaches: low power approach (LPA), high power approach (HPA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). There are described and stated differences in potential of above mentioned approaches in connection with specific archaeological artefacts (assemblages of artefacts). The question answered in the conclusion is how to apply the above mentioned methodological approaches in application to various archaeological materials (period, number, context etc.) to obtain the greatest informational potential from the material analysed. Work is concluded with specific terminology from the field of tribology and use-wear analysis...