Environmental Change Since the Woodland Period in the Mid-Ohio Valley: Results from Patton Bog Sediment Core Palynological Analyses

Palynological analyses of sediment cores from Patton Bog in southeastern Ohio recorded environmental changes from ca. 1000 B.C. to the present, representing the first pollen core analyzed from this region. Pollen data show an increase in prairie species, implying periodic expansion of grassland environments during the Woodland period coeval with the initial collection and eventual domestication of Eastern Agricultural Complex seeds. It is suggested that these environmental changes influenced human decisions concerning plant domestication and diet in the mid-Ohio Valley.     

重庆市武隆区土坎遗址东汉墓葬发掘简报

2006年2月至5月,重庆市文化遗产研究院联合武隆区文物管理所对武隆区土坎遗址进行了首次考古发掘,共清理墓葬26座,除M19为明代墓葬外,其余25座为战国至东汉时期墓葬。其中,东汉中晚期砖室墓2座、石室墓1座,均为带甬道的单室墓,随葬品基本组合为釜、罐、钵以及各类明器,在墓葬形制、器物组合等方面与峡江地区的同时期墓葬基本一致。这次发掘进一步充实了乌江下游东汉时期墓葬资料,凸显了乌江作为古代文化交流与传播的廊道作用,对研究渝东南地区汉文化面貌具有重要参考价值。     

Hunter–gatherer foraging ranges, migrations, and travel in the middle Holocene Baikal region of Siberia: Insights from carbon and nitrogen stable isotope signatures

Foraging ranges, migrations, and travel among Middle Holocene hunter–gatherers in the Baikal region of Siberia are examined based on carbon and nitrogen stable isotope signatures obtained from 350 human and 203 faunal bone samples. The human materials represent Early Neolithic (8000–6800 cal BP), Late Neolithic (6000–5000 cal BP), and Early Bronze Age periods (∼5000–4000 cal BP) and come from the following four smaller areas of the broader region: the Angara and upper Lena valleys, Little Sea of Baikal’s northwest coast, and southwest Baikal. Forager diets from each area occupy their own distinct position within the stable isotope spectrum. This suggests that foraging ranges were not as large as expected given the distances involved and the lack of geographic obstacles between the micro-regions. All examined individuals followed a similar subsistence strategy: harvesting game and local fishes, and on Lake Baikal also the seal, and to a more limited extent, plant foods. Although well established in their home areas, exchange networks with the other micro-regions appear asymmetrical both in time and direction: more travel and contacts between some micro-regions and less between others. The Angara valley seems to be the only area with the possibility of a temporal change in the foraging strategy from more fishing during the Early Neolithic to more ungulate hunting during the Late Neolithic–Early Bronze Age. However, the shift in stable isotope values suggesting this change can be viewed also as evidence of climate change affecting primary productivity of the Baikal–Angara freshwater system.