Carrot (Daucus carota L.) in Medieval Kraków (S. Poland): a cultivated form?

A large quantity of what appear to be processed fruits of Daucus carota L. were found in Rynek G?ówny (the main market square) in Kraków in a medieval organic layer dated to the 14th century AD. The fruits possess only slight traces of spiny secondary ridges, a characteristic feature of fruits used for sowing. Comparative measurements of the fruit dimensions also show them to be significantly different to other finds of D. carota in medieval Kraków. This therefore is perhaps the first archaeobotanical evidence indicating the cultivation of carrot in medieval Poland. Unprocessed carrot fruits, wild and cultivated forms being indistinguishable, are found in Europe from the Neolithic period onwards.     

Identifying bilateral pairs of deer (Odocoileus sp.) bones: how symmetrical is symmetrical enough?

Identifying bilaterally paired bones in zooarchaeological collections rests on the assumption that left and right skeletal elements from the same organism will be symmetrical. Bilaterally paired bones in an individual are, however, typically asymmetrical to some degree, demanding that the question “How symmetrical is symmetrical enough to identify a bilateral pair?” be answered with control data. The degree of symmetry chosen, or tolerance, will influence both how many true pairs in an archaeological collection are not identified (type I error) and how many false pairs are identified (type II error). Bivariate measures of 60 pairs of astragali and 48 pairs of distal humeri of deer (Odocoileus virginianus and O. hemionus) indicate that both sorts of error are frequent even when a conservative level of tolerance (≤average asymmetry) is used. Simulation of an archaeological collection indicates that as sample size increases, frequencies of both kinds of error increase. Application of the matching criteria and tolerance level to an archaeological collection underscores that the analytical requirements of identifying paired bones are steep.     

Can salmonids (Oncorhynchus spp.) be identified to species using vertebral morphometrics?

Remains of anadromous Pacific salmon and trout (genus Oncorhynchus) are common in archaeological sites from California to Alaska; however, morphological similarity generally precludes species identification, limiting the range of questions that salmonid remains can address in relation to past human use and ongoing efforts in conservation biology. We developed a relatively simple, rapid, and non-destructive way to classify salmon and trout vertebrae from archaeological contexts to species using length, height and the ratio of length to height. Modern reference material was obtained from all seven anadromous Oncorhynchus species native to the west coast of North America. A minimum of ten adult Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), chum (Oncorhynchus keta), coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch), pink (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha), and sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) and cutthroat (Oncorhynchus clarki clarki) and steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were skeletonized and vertebra length and height were measured. Morphometric analyses compared species classification success based on Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), Classification and Regression Trees (CART), and randomForest, with CART performing the best. Classification analyses used all seven species individually, but because of considerable overlap among several species we also conducted analyses on four species groupings. We assigned Chinook salmon and cutthroat to their own groups based on their dissimilarities from each other and the other species. The remaining species were divided into two group complexes (a) chum, coho, and steelhead; and (b) pink and sockeye. When we grouped species according to similar morphology, CART overall success rates increased, ranging from 92 to 100%. Individual species with the highest successful classification rates using CART were Chinook salmon and cutthroat, from 92 to 100%, respectively. We applied our classification to an assemblage of ancient (1000–3000 year old) salmonid vertebrae from the Swiftwater Rockshelters excavations on the upper Wenatchee River in Washington State, U.S.A.     

Introduced taro (Colocasia esculenta) and yams (Dioscorea spp.) in Podtanean (2700–1800 years BP) deposits from Mé Auré Cave (WMD007), Moindou,New Caledonia

Plant microfossil analysis was carried out on deposits bearing Podtanean (2700–1800 years BP) ceramics from Mé Auré Cave, Moindou, New Caledonia. Starch residues of introduced Colocasia esculenta, Dioscorea esculenta and one or more, undifferentiated Dioscorea species were identified. The latter include Dioscorea alata, D. bulbifera, D. nummularia and D. pentaphylla. The data provide the first direct evidence of prehistoric horticulture in New Caledonia.     

Can morphospace shed light on cave bear spatial-temporal variation? Population dynamics of Ursus spelaeus from Romualdova pe?ina and Vindija, (Croatia)

Cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) behavioural ecology, as evidenced through population dynamics, is crucial for improving our understanding of why this species went extinct. Despite the fact that the bones of this species have been recovered in very large quantities, allowing for extensive study, fundamental questions regarding its life-ways remain unanswered. We present research using geometric morphometrics (GMM) on molars to investigate population structure based on morphological variation over space and through time. This preliminary work deliberately restricts the geographic catchment area for sampling, allowing for a meaningful appraisal of scale of variation within a spatially conservative framework. Our results demonstrate no significant morphological variation evident temporally and a small but statistically significant degree of shape variation geographically despite the proximity of the study localities. These findings suggest that an accurate quantitative exploration of morphospace may be an important source of evidence on environmental and climatic shifts and the resulting influence on animal morphology.     

Species specific marine radiocarbon reservoir effect: a comparison of ΔR values between Patella vulgata (limpet) shell carbonate and Gadus morhua (Atlantic cod) bone collagen

A number of recent studies of the UK coastal environment have assessed the ¹⁴C marine radiocarbon reservoir effect (MRE) via quantification of ΔR values for several periods throughout the Holocene using marine mollusc shells. However, none have employed fish bone as the marine sample, and the importance of being able to use this material as a reliable dating tool is evident when considering the boom in the British fish trade during the first millennium AD, the so-called ‘fish event horizon’, and the corresponding volume of fish remains that appear in the archaeological record from this time. This study compares ΔR values derived using the multiple paired sample approach employing burnt cereal grain (Hordeum sp.) as the terrestrial sample and either fish bone [North Sea cod (Gadus morhua)] or marine shell [limpet (Patella vulgata)] as the marine sample. The results show a general trend of increasing ΔR for the fish bone compared to shell, however, the differences are not statistically significant when the standard error for predicted values is used as the measure of variability in the ΔR values.     

Can't find a pulse? Celtic bean (Vicia faba L.) in British prehistory

Archaeobotanical research on prehistoric crops in Britain has primarily focussed on cereals and the potential importance of alternative crops, such as pulses, has often been overlooked. This paper reviews evidence for Celtic bean (Vicia faba L.) in British prehistory, using a database of archaeobotanical assemblages from 75 sites. Celtic bean is rare in the Neolithic – Early Bronze Age and it only becomes frequent from the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1500 cal BC) onwards, particularly in southern England. Though there is a paucity of evidence at many sites, it is suggested that this reflects a preservation bias and in some areas at least, Celtic bean formed an important element of past agricultural systems.     

Growth responses of Norway spruce (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Picea abies</Emphasis> (L.) Karst.) to the climate in the south-eastern part of the Českomoravská Upland (Czech Republic)

The research was conducted in selected 80- to 110-year-old spruce stands in the south-eastern part of the Českomoravská Upland at altitudes from 350 m a.s.l. to 465 m a.s.l. The regional standard tree-ring chronology shows very low increments for years 1974, 1976 and 1992. After 1992, there is a sharp rise in increments with a climax in 1997. Afterwards, increments gradually decrease, reaching minima in 2003 and 2008. The years with low increments were also confirmed by the analysis of negative pointer years when over 80% of the analysed trees responded by a sharp decrease in increment, mainly in years 1976 and 1992. We can usually find values of monthly precipitation or monthly temperature average which can explain or help explain these falls in the radial growth. The correlations of diameter increments with average monthly precipitation gain only positive statistically significant values, namely for the months of May, June, July and August of the particular year. The correlations of diameter increments with average monthly temperatures gain only negative statistically significant values, namely for the months of June, July and September of the previous year and January and August of the particular year. In the examined area there is a significant negative correlation between average temperatures and monthly precipitation in July, August and September. The results of the habitual diagnostics show that with respect to the climatic conditions the health condition of the monitored stands is relatively good. On average, the defoliation does not exceed the values ascertained in different territories of the Czech Republic.     

A Tamed Brown Bear (Ursus arctosL.) of the Late Mesolithic from La Grande-Rivoire (Isère, France)?

A pair of mandibular rami from a brown bear (Ursus arctosL.) was found at the rock shelter of the Grande-Rivoire in the Castelnovian level. Both exhibit a peculiar deformation affecting the bone between the first and second molars and the roots of these teeth.The perfect symmetry of this deformation, the absence of pathological features, and the misplacement of the teeth suggest that a thong had been placed around the mandible while the animal was young; the mandible then grew around the thong.The interest of this find is that it both demonstrates the taming of a bear and the complexity of the relationships between humans and animals during the late Mesolithic.     

Reaping the rewards: the potential of well designed methodology,a comment on Vardi et al. (Journal of Archaeological Science 37 (2010) 1716–1724) and Goodale et al. (Journal of Archaeological Science 37 (2010) 1192–1201)

The recent articles by Vardi et al., “Tracing sickle blade levels of wear and discard patterns: a new sickle gloss quantification method” (Journal of Archaeological Science 37 (2010) 1716–1724), and Goodale et al., “Sickle blade life-history and the transition to agriculture: an early Neolithic case study from Southwest Asia” (Journal of Archaeological Science 37 (2010) 1192–1201), are two papers that seek to address interesting archaeological questions through the development of new approaches to measuring the duration of stone tool use. Here comment is made on the fashion in which research design and analytic procedures contribute to limit the capabilities of each of the techniques presented. Whilst the authors support the investigation of novel techniques, in order for the results of any use-wear analysis to be accepted as reliable the methods employed must be demonstrably sound.     

Reporting oppression: mapping racial prejudice in Anti-Caste and Fraternity, 1888–1895

This paper presents a close reading of the reports of racial oppression that appeared in issues of two periodicals, Anti-Caste and its successor Fraternity, between 1888 and 1895. Edited in Street, Somerset, these periodicals created an extensive political geographical imagination by mapping international cases of racial prejudice. Although critical of the British empire, neither Anti-Caste nor Fraternity demanded the destruction of the British empire. In a tactic similar to that used by early Pan-Africanists, the papers’ narratives desired an end to the expansion of the British empire and an increase in the respect for and conditions of those who were ruled ‘under the British Flag’. However, Anti-Caste’s focus upon racial inequality across the United States as well as the British empire enabled it to create a distinctive critique of racial prejudice across the English-speaking world. Its criticism of the imperial project combined with support for human brotherhood allowed the paper to develop a framework for debates on racial prejudice that drew together criticisms of labour laws in India, the removal of people from their lands in Southern Africa, the racial segregation of public transport in the United States and the restriction of Chinese labour in Australia.     

Condemned to metallum? The origin and role of 4th–6th century A.D. Phaeno mining campresidents using multiple chemical techniques

The Byzantine period (4th–7th centuries A.D.) site of Khirbet Faynan (Phaeno) was a state-run mining camp described in ancient sources as a destination for Christian martyrs and others prosecuted by the administration who were condemned to the mines (damnatio ad metallum). However, other evidence suggests that Phaeno had a much broader role and population in antiquity than that described by ancient writers. Here, strontium and oxygen isotope data on the level of migration into Phaeno were compared with elemental data on lead and copper skeletal levels to illuminate the varied exposure of local vs. non-local individuals to contaminated environments (presumably from working in mining and smelting operations). Dental enamel ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and δ¹⁸O data from 31 individuals excavated from the Southern Cemetery identified one individual born in a region with different strontium isotope values in the bedrock yet similar oxygen isotope signatures as Faynan. Most of the primarily locally-derived Faynan residents displayed skeletal copper and lead levels exceeding those seen in comparative samples, confirming that growing up and residing in the polluted environment of Faynan led to notable bioaccumulation of heavy metals and its resulting health effects. In addition, ten individuals had extremely elevated lead and copper levels in their skeleton resulting from more intensive exposure to contaminated environments, possibly through smelting and mining activities. These data confirm the relatively localized nature of this imperial operation and that this predominantly locally-derived population had different activities that put them ask varied risk for contamination by heavy metals.     

Archbishop Scrope's Manifesto of 1405: ‘naïve nonsense’ or reflections of political reality?

In 1405 Richard Scrope, archbishop of York, rebelled against Henry IV and was executed. He has been seen by historians as being easily led into rebelling against the king by other rebels and also as rather a fool. Although it survives in no contemporary copy, a Manifesto containing 10 charges against Henry's government was attributed to the archbishop by contemporaries. Contemporary chroniclers and historians alike have disparaged this document as having little to do with political reality and as such reflects the simple-mindedness of its author; Archbishop Scrope. This article discusses six of the charges (grouped in pairs) contained in various versions of the Manifesto that centre on Henry IV's alleged abuses of government, specifically: 1 and 2) that the king had oppressively taxed both his lay and clerical subjects; 3 and 4) that the king had replaced experienced government officials with new men who had lined their pockets and that the king had subverted the appointment to the office of sheriff; finally 5 and 6) that he subverted the selection process for knights of the shire and subverted their rights to ‘act freely’ in parliament. The article demonstrates that the archbishop's charges were not ‘naïve nonsense’ but reflected political reality and resonated with those who read them.     

A comparative study of wall paintings at the Cypriot monastery of Christ Antiphonitis: one artist or two?

The central church of the monastery of Christ Antiphonitis near Kalogrea, within the district of Kyrenia in Cyprus, is decorated with wall paintings that date from the last decades of fifteenth century. Two large and elaborate scenes, the Last Judgement and the Root of Jesse, had been preserved in the church until the Turkish invasion (1974) after which they were cut into tetragonal pieces, separated, and sent by looters to Germany for selling at illicit markets. The German Police returned thirty-two of the pieces to the Archbishop Makarios Foundation in Nicosia.     

Two cases of leprosy from Žatec (Bohemia), dated to the turn of the 12th century and confirmed by DNA analysis for Mycobacterium leprae

The leprosy known today primarily from tropical areas was a relatively common disease in European Middle Ages. This article describes two skeletons bearing palaeopathological indications of leprosy from a cemetery at ?atec in North-West Bohemia (Czech Republic). The archaeological context clearly shows that these individuals were buried prior to the second decade of the 12th century, and most probably in the second half of 11th century. This rules out the possibility that these individuals might have contracted the disease in connection with the Crusades, in which a Bohemian contingent under Prince Vladislav II participated from 1141 to 1142. Molecular genetic methods were applied to detect specific DNA fragments of the causative agent of leprosy, Mycobacterium leprae. The nasal concha of one individual yielded DNA that could be directly sequenced after isolation and amplification. The vertebral body of the second individual, on the other hand, did not provide DNA of sufficient quality for direct sequencing and only weak amplification was detectable. The morphological and genetic analyses both indicate that leprosy existed prior to the Crusades in medieval Bohemia, albeit that its prevalence was probably not as great as in northern or western Europe.     

Provenance of marble sculptures and artifacts from the so-called Canopus and other buildings of “Villa Adriana” (Hadrian's villa – Tivoli,Italy)

The results of a minero-petrographic and isotopic study carried out on the marbles of statues and architectural elements belonging to several buildings on the “Hadrian's Villa” site (the so-called Canopus, the Peschiera, the Sala dei Pilastri Dorici and the Serapeum) are presented here as part of an ongoing archaeometric project which considers the determination of the provenance of all the marble decorations of the Villa complex. Analytical data indicate the prevailing presence of marmor lunense and the use of Pentelic and Thasian marbles for architectural elements in a few parts of the Sala dei Pilastri Dorici, the Peschiera and the Serapeum; no significant use is made of Proconnesian marble, probably the most inexpensive of the time. Analysis of sculptures from the Canopus showed that those of the Tiber and Nile gods were made of Parian marble, the Caryatids and Telamons of Pentelic marble and the Amazons of the precious white Dokymaean marble.     

Shipwreck and salvage in the tropics: the case of HMS Thetis, 1830–1854

In 1830, the British frigate HMS Thetis was wrecked at Cabo Frio, on the Brazilian coast. A British naval force was subsequently despatched to undertake a major salvage operation which lasted for well over a year. The substantial textual and visual archive associated with the case of the Thetis raises wider questions about the entanglement of naval, scientific, artistic, financial and legal concerns in an age of British maritime expansion. If the loss of such a ship brought into question the capacity of the British to act at a distance, it also provided an opportunity to mend and strengthen the networks of power and knowledge. The sources of error exposed by the disaster were to be subject to investigation by numerous authorities, including hydrographers keen to refine their charts and sailing directions and Fellows of the Royal Society seeking to advance the claims of science, as well as the Admiralty itself, in the judicial setting of a court martial. We focus here especially on narratives of the wreck and the salvage of the Thetis, and the significance of their repeated tellings of the story after the event; and on the evidential and representational status of the visual images of the scene in sketches, maps, charts, diagrams, engravings and paintings.     

Lead isotope analyses of gold–silver ores from Roşia Montană (Romania): a first step of a metal provenance study of Roman mining activity in Alburnus Maior (Roman Dacia)

The Ro?ia Montan? ore deposit (Apuseni Mountains, Romania) is Europe’s largest Au–Ag deposit. It also corresponds to the Roman Alburnus Maior mining site, known by historians and archaeologists due to the discovery of dozens of Roman wooden wax tablets during the underground works carried out during the 18th and 19th centuries.     

Dynamic spectra of pulsation events at L ∼ 1.9 and L ∼ 3.3

High resolution dynamic spectra of 12 pulsation events are compared at NCK (L ∼ 1.9) and KVB (L ∼ 3.3), lying on the same meridian. Common features of the pulsation activity at the two stations include periods, period shifts and switches on and off. These parameters are investigated for the sample of pulsation activity and demonstrate that the two stations record activity from both a common and from different sources. Shell resonances are discussed in relation to the common source of activity.     

A Review of: “Theodore L. Sourkes. The Life and Work of J.L.W. Thudichum (1828–1901).”

This article explores the short history of “neuroscience” as a discipline in its own right as opposed to the much longer past of the brain sciences. It focuses on one historical moment, the formation of the first British “neuroscience” society, the Brain Research Association (BRA), renamed in 1996 to the British Neuroscience Association (BNA). It outlines the new thinking brought about by this new science of brain, mind, and behavior, it sketches the beginnings of the BRA and the institutionalization of neuroscience in the British context, and it further explores the ambiguous relation the association had towards some of the ethical, social, and political implications of this new area of research.