AMS C dating of early human occupation of southern South America

The time of appearance of a persistent and demographically-viable hunter-gatherer population in late Pleistocene southern South America must be determined by evaluating evidence from as large as possible a sample of candidate archaeological sites in the region. We co-ordinated the AMS dating of multiple bone and charcoal samples from previously-excavated strata at the following sites: Arroyo Seco 2, Paso Otero 5, Piedra Museo, and Cueva Tres Tetas (all in Argentina), and Cueva del Lago Sofia 1 and Tres Arroyos (both in Chile). With one possible exception, we did not obtain new results to confirm earlier observations of pre-Clovis-age cultural activity at any of the sites considered in this study. The possible exception, Arroyo Seco 2, is considered in detail elsewhere [Politis G., Gutierrez M.A., Scabuzzo, C. (Eds), in press. Estado actual de las Investigaciones en el sitio 2 de Arroyo Seco (región pampeana, Argentina). Serie Monográfica INCUAPA 5. Olavarría]. However, our results for the samples which were the most preferred indicators of cultural events (hearth charcoal and cut-marked bone) confirm that people were in the southern cone of South America at or soon after 11,000 BP (13,000 cal BP). Considered alongside recent age estimates for the Clovis culture in North America, these results imply the contemporaneous emergence of a consistent and archaeologically-robust human occupation signal at widely-separated locations across the Western Hemisphere. Such findings suggest that Palaeoindian demic expansion may have involved more than one terminal Pleistocene dispersal episode.     

Mass spectrometric U-series dating of Laibin hominid site in Guangxi, southern China

The Laibin hominid represents one of the rare finds of modern Homo sapiens in China, rare for its relative completeness and well-established stratigaphic provenance. This paper presents the results of mass spectrometric U-series dating of intercalated calcite samples from the Laibin site. The capping flowstone and the calcite vein, which sandwich the hominid fossil-containing deposits, date to 38.5 ± 1.0 and 44.0 ± 0.8 ka, setting respectively the minimum and maximum ages to the fossils. The second flowstone layer is 112.0 ± 1.4 ka old, indicating that the cultural sequence may possibly extend to somewhere between 44 and 112 ka. Securely dated Laibin finds should be of importance in reconstructing human physical and cultural evolution in the region.     

Optical dating of alluvial deposits at the orogenic front of the andean precordillera (Mendoza,Argentina)

Well constrained numerical ages of alluvial fan sediments are key to understanding the chronology of alluvial episodes and tectonic activity at the front of the Andean Precordillera. We tested the application of radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating in the distal part of an alluvial fan five kilometers north of Mendoza. For OSL dating a large number of aliquots (n > 70) — each composed of ∼50 quartz grains — were measured in order to obtain reliable burial ages despite scattered dose distributions. Owing to a feldspar contamination in all samples, an infrared stimulation was inserted before each OSL measurement, which reduced the feldspar OSL signal successfully. By using the minimum age model we obtained stratigraphically consistent burial ages of alluvial deposits in a depth profile. The uppermost ∼1 m of sediment is composed of debris flow deposits buried 770±76 years ago. Three plant remnants used for radiocarbon dating from the same layer, however, yielded ages younger than 350 years, which are interpreted to underestimate the depositional age. Underneath the debris flow, a major unconformity cuts a series of distal alluvial fan sediments with interstratified floodplain deposits, which are composed of sandy and calciterich silt layers, respectively. Three samples from this unit which were distributed over one meter of sediment thickness yielded statistically concordant OSL ages of 12.3±1.2 ka, 12.3±1.2 ka, and 11.7±1.1 ka. The deposition of these sediments during the latest Pleistocene coincides with a phase of cool and humid climate, which occurred before the alluvial fan propagated farther into the foreland. The overlying debris flow sediments are associated with alluvial fan incision during the arid Late Holocene.     

Optical dating and sedimentary record from the terrace depositional profile of the Warta River (Central Poland)

Results of OSL dating and sedimentary studies from the profile of the low alluvial terrace of the middle Warta River are presented. The samples were dated using the single-aliquot regenera-tive method. Dating was used to establish a timing of the Weichselian Late Glacial events in the river valley environment. Stable conditions on the floodplain are expressed by the deposition of organic-rich series radiocarbon dated at 12 900-12 600 cal BP and 11 600-10 770 cal BP. Samples for OSL dating were collected from the mineral material deposited during the intensification of flood events during the Weichselian decline. The results obtained for the alluvia range from 12.78 ± 0.62 ka b2k to 14.33 ± 0.74 ka b2k. Sedimentological criteria allowed to distinguish between particular flood events. Overestimation of OSL ages is probably a result of rapidity of environmental changes in that time.     

Dendrochronological dating of a wooden causeway in Finland

A mean ring‐width chronology for Scots pine in eastern Finland has been compiled based on living trees and dendrochronologically dated historical timber constructions. As an application of this master chronology, a young archaeological site near the town of Hämeenlinna, southern Finland, was dated. A previous assumption of the age of this site was that it could even be medieval. The construction was not older than 160 years, the road having been built after 1828, the year of growth of the outermost tree rings of the samples. A new pine chronology for southern Finland extending to the year AD 1539 is presented and it is now applicable for precise dating purposes in this area.     

Nuts in the Netherlands: Attalea and other nuts from archaeological contexts,dating from the 16th to 19th century AD

Abstract

This paper describes the use of palm nuts for the manufacture of artefacts in the Netherlands. From the 17th to 19th century buttons were made of nuts of the Brazilian palm tree Attalea cf. funifera. Finds from 17th century shipwrecks suggest that the palm nuts of this species were directly imported from Middle or South America. Coconuts were used for carving, for example for the manufacture of coconut beakers. In the 19th century buttons were also made of 'vegetable ivory' or tagua nut.     

Life Sciences in the Netherlands: Weakness in a Strong National Policy

The Netherlands is an example of a European country in which the commercialization of knowledge is hampered by a somewhat risk-averse culture at universities and a shortage of venture capital for early growth of start-up firms. This article addresses the policy programme in the Netherlands to improve the situation for the life sciences since the early 2000s. The target number of newly established firms could easily be achieved and the programme was able to improve the business climate for new firm establishment. However, the programme could not improve conditions for growth of new firms because it could not achieve a comprehensive turn in the business climate, due to the short cycle-time of the programme (4–5 years). In addition, the programme did not take advantage of existing critical mass in the largest cluster or from any other competitive strength of particular clusters. These circumstances were influencing a relatively large number of small and vulnerable firms. The article concludes with a set of insights from which lessons can be drawn.     

Two Late Neolithic human skeletons,a recent discovery in the Netherlands

Recently, two Late Neolithic skeletons belonging to the Single Grave Culture (ca. 4500 BP) were discovered in the province of North-Holland. It is the first time that such complete and well-preserved skeletons of this age have been found in The Netherlands. Both skeletons were subjected to an extensive and close examination in order to gain more information about these two individuals and their way of life. Application of different methods resulted in the determination of the sex (a male and a female), the age at death and the stature of the skeletons. Pathological features could be established in the female skeleton by means of radiography. The male skeleton was incomplete owing to animal scavenging. The tooth marks on the bones were studied in an attempt to discover the circumstances of death. In order to obtain information about the diet of the two individuals, the dental microwear and the remains of plaque and calculus were investigated. This investigation demonstrates the importance of physical anthropological studies with regard to the reconstruction of life in the past.     

南下约会武夷山

<正> 去武夷山看看,是我向往已久的事情。2005年12月9日,应秦皇岛海燕国际旅行社之邀,采访中国老年旅游联合体年会,终于得以成行。从秦皇岛到上海,再从上海搭乘开往厦门的K197次旅客列车,一路还算顺利。巧啦,8号卧铺车箱里唯一的一个外国人,就睡在我对面的下铺。我猜测,这个英俊的小伙子一定是来中国留学的学生或是某个学校的外教。列车刚一启动,     

Seasonal dating and the valve-pairing technique in shell-midden analysis

Three-dimensional excavation of 23 artifact fragments and 4382 shells was carried out in the shell layer of an abandoned dwelling pit. Principal component analysis using three locational variables was used for drawing the central axes and the regression plane of the shell layer. Valve-pairing carried out on the clam Meretrix lusoria indicated that 380 pairs could be established among a total of 2089 unbroken valves. Preservation of shells was estimated at 70% by comparing the number of shells found in the shell layer with the clam population size which was in turn calculated by a probability formula using paired valves among samples. In addition to these data, the distance separating pairs gave some idea of the movement of shells. Seasonal dating by daily growth line counting showed that the shell layer could be subdivided into at least three main seasonal layers and that the period of accumulation was approximately 500 days.     

Pedogenetic dating of loess strata

Loess is an aeolian Pleistocene sediment of periglacial or arid origins, deposited without internal stratification in parcels representing geological periods. The contents of total as well as individual carbonates are comparatively uniform within a specific stratum, but the relative carbonate contents differ significantly between the various glacials as represented by loess facies. There is a consistent increase in the content of dolomite with decreasing age of stratigraphic units, which has traditionally been attributed to postdepositional alteration, notably the gradual removal of the calcite fraction by weathering. The explanation of pedogenetic enrichment in the course of aeolian recycling of glacial and glacio-fluvial deposits could convincingly account for the stepped profile of the dolomite's depth functions. The implication is that such recycled sediments can be attributed to specific cryocratic phases simply by their characteristic dolomite fraction, i.e. they can be dated. In order to test this hypothesis against the competing weathering hypothesis, strata of the Gudenus Cave in Lower Austria were subjected to carbonate differentiation analysis. The results are presented, analyzed and discussed. It is shown that the dolomite contents of the unweathered strata provide a clear trend that is even more pronounced than that found at open-air sites.     

Analyzing and dating the structure of the Phaistos Disk

This paper offers an analysis and dating of the structure of the “Phaistos Disk”, made from clay, imprinted with undeciphered symbols, grouped in roughly 30 boxes per disk side, and found in the ruins of the Phaistos Palace on the Greek Island of Crete by Luigi Pernier in 1908. The author suggests that the disk side A containing a petal in the center box shows astronomical eclipse information, which belong to a complete Saros cycle beginning ?1377 and valid for the Phaistos Palace location only.     

An improved OSL chronology for the Still Bay layers at Blombos Cave,South Africa: further tests of single-grain dating procedures and a re-evaluation of the timing of the Still Bay industry across southern Africa

This paper presents a series of new single-grain optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages for the Still Bay at Blombos Cave, South Africa, and compares them to previously published OSL, thermoluminescence (TL) and electron-spin resonance (ESR) ages for this site. Details are provided about the measurement and analytical procedures, including a discussion of the characteristics of the OSL signals of individual quartz grains. This forms the basis for further investigations into the sensitivity of the equivalent dose (D_e) estimates to a range of different analytical approaches, including changes in the size of the test dose, the choice of signal integration interval, the subtraction of an appropriate background, and isolation of the most light-sensitive (‘fast’) component of quartz OSL. We also report the results of an inter-operator test of D_e determination using seven new samples from Blombos Cave, and demonstrate the reproducibility of results obtained for two samples that had been dated previously at another laboratory and were measured and analysed again in this study. Together, these tests validate the robustness of the Blombos Cave single-grain OSL age estimates to a variety of alternative OSL dating procedures. We have incorporated, for the first time, these ages for Blombos Cave into a data set of all single-grain OSL ages for Still Bay and Howieson's Poort sites across southern Africa, and have used a statistical model to re-evaluate the timing and duration of the Still Bay industry. We calculate the most plausible start and end dates of the Still Bay as 72.2 ka and 71.3 ka, respectively – amounting to a duration of 0.9 ka – and estimate (with conventional 95% confidence) that this industry began no earlier than 75.5 ka, ended no later than 67.8 ka and lasted no longer than 6.6 ka.     

Northumbria's southern frontier: a review

Northumbria's southern frontier was arguably the most important political boundary inside pre‐Viking England. It has, however, attracted little scholarly attention since Peter Hunter Blair's seminal article in Archaeo‐logia Aeliana in 1948, which later commentators have generally followed rather uncritically. This essay reviews his arguments in the light of more recent research and casts doubt on several key aspects of his case: firstly, it contests his view that this boundary was fundamental to the naming of both southern and northern England and its kingdoms; secondly, it queries the supposition that the Roman Ridge dyke system is likely to have been a Northumbrian defensive work; thirdly, it critiques the view that the Grey Ditch, at Bradwell, formed part of the frontier; and, finally, it argues against the boundary in the west being along the River Ribble. Rather, pre‐Viking Northumbria more probably included those parts of the eleventh‐century West Riding of Yorkshire which lie south of the River Don, with a frontier perhaps often identical to that at Domesday, and it arguably met western Mercia not on the Ribble but on the Mersey. It was probably political developments in the tenth century, and particularly under Edward the Elder and his son Athelstan, that led to the Mercian acquisition of southern Lancashire and the development of a new ecclesiastical frontier between the sees of Lichfield and York on the Ribble, in a period that also saw the York archdiocese acquire northern Nottinghamshire.