Possible evidence of bone tool shaping by Swartkrans early hominids

Ever since Dart (J. Phys. Anthrop. 7 (1949) 1) interpreted certain bones from Makapansgat as tools, scientific consensus has fluctuated as to whether some bone objects from early hominid sites should be interpreted as artefacts, or the result of non-human taphonomic processes, which are known to produce pseudo-bone tools morphologically similar to human modified or used artefacts. Here we present possible evidence of bone tool shaping from Swartkrans (Members 1–3; ca. 1.8–1.0 Mya). Four horncores and the proximal end of an ulna used as tools in digging activities also have facets covered by parallel spindle-shaped striations characteristic of grinding. Identification of these traces as possibly resulting from deliberate shaping or re-sharpening of the bone tools is based on the characterisation of the use-wear pattern and other taphonomic modifications observed on the Swartkrans bone tools. This interpretation is also supported by the study of the remainder of the horncores from Swartkrans, horncores from other southern African Plio-Pleistocene sites (Sterkfontein, Makapansgat, Gondolin), modern horncores affected by pre- and post-mortem modification, ethnographic, LSA, African Iron Age and experimental bone tools shaped by grinding. These data suggest that early hominids had the cognitive ability to modify the functional area of bone implements to achieve optimal efficiency.     

The craniology and relationships of four species of Bos II. Basic craniology: Bos taurus L. Proportions and angles

This paper is the second of a series on the craniology of four species of Bos. It is a further study of the skulls of British domestic cattle which are used in an attempt to establish a basic craniology for the genus. Part 1 (Grigson, 1974) dealt with nomenclature, material, history, age assessment and absolute size. This paper deals first with cranial proportions and then with cranial angles.The results show that the proportions of the skull depend on its size and, to a lesser extent, on its sex, cows having relatively narrow skulls, with short horncores, but sometimes longer horns than bulls. Cranial angles seem to be independent of size or sex, but are influenced slightly by age, and also, in some cases, strongly by breed.     

Historical and zooarchaeological evidence of horn-working in post-medieval London

Abstract

The 1641 list of members of the Horners' Company, parish registers and apprentice rolls provide information on the location of the horn-working industry in east London, on family relationships and on how horners' careers may have developed. Sawn cattle horncores distinguish horn-working deposits from butchers' and tanners' waste. Horn waste was used as a cheap substitute for brick to line pits in workshops of other trades and in houses and to line field drains in the nearby countryside.     

Size and shape of the Eurasian wild boar (Sus scrofa), with a view to the reconstruction of its Holocene history

Abstract

A large assortment of skulls and skeletons of recent wild boar (Sus scrofa) from across the world has been used to collect tooth and bone measurements that can be compared to those from archaeological specimens. The data provide useful information for a reconstruction of the Holocene history of the species. The evidence collected so far highlights the great variability of the species and provides a baseline to be used for the interpretation of ancient material. It is shown that not only the size, but also the shape of teeth and mandibles can help in highlighting patterns of variability in wild boar from different areas. A number of geographic trends are identified in the variation of S. scrofa across its range, mainly concerning the differentiation of insular forms, and the existence of South–North and West–East clines. Other factors such as hybridisation with domestic stock, feralisation and human-induced movement of animals may also play an important role. A comparison with ancient material emphasises the existence of similarities as well as differences between modern and ancient populations. Although some of the geographic trends identified on the basis of the analysis of modern material seem to date back to early Holocene times, the morphological history of the species appears to be complex, and in more than one area fluctuations in body size seem to have occurred.     

Tree-ring chronologies for the 6th to 16th centuries for oaks of southern and eastern England

The background to the problem of providing useful oak chronologies for the variable environmental conditions that apply in southern and eastern England is outlined. The reference chronologies published here embrace three new principles. Firstly, the samples, nearly 300, on which they are based are almost entirely of boards or planks that are of radial section (from oaks aged on average about 250 years) that form part of panel paintings or chests. Secondly, to take account of the differences in the growth pattern with the vigour of growth, separate chronologies for sequences of different ring-width have been formed. Thirdly, on account of the difficulties in extending, with the samples available, an English chronology by the method of overlapping, eight separate chronologies, each about 300 years long, have been created. Matching has been based on German methods, i.e. computer comparisons (with more than one reference chronology) supported by visual comparison of charts. Agreement values in about half a million positions were calculated.These reference chronologies, expressed as ring-widths, are suitable for application to oaks that have grown within a region of considerable size that covers both sides of the North Sea. For panels used as a support for paintings of the 15th and 16th centuries, they have dated 85% of 130 English (London area) ones and about the same percentage of 25 Flemish ones. Rather earlier, sequences for oak boards used in places as far apart as York, Norwich, Oxford and Winchester have been matched. In the 10th to 12th centuries, the ring-width chronology derived for the London area shows good agreement with those for the hilly regions of Germany and that for Schleswig, as well as dating floor planks from Viking houses in York. A floating chronology, 322 years long, dataed to the 6th to 9th centuries by several radiocarbon analyses, has been formed from long sequences of rings from timbers excavated at Old Windsor and Portchester: this has matched material from Southampton and is linked with a mean curve for the well at North Elmham (Norfolk) and the strakes of the Graveney ship.     

Reading menageries: using eighteenth-century print sources to historicise the sensorium of menagerie spectators and their encounters with exotic animals

Histories of exotic animal collection and display in Britain during the long eighteenth century have not been conventionally concerned with the sensory or bodily experiences of menagerie spectators. Olfactory, haptic and aural impressions – as well as the affective responses of laughter, disgust, anger and sympathy, are conspicuously absent in attempts to historicise animal collections. This paper principally argues that these often historically intangible and transient sensory experiences with animals were culturally significant acts or readings that produced meaning. To understand how spectators utilised their senses as an interpretive tool in reading menageries the article draws upon eighteenth-century understandings of the senses and bodily comfort. The manipulation of exotic animal bodies in menageries during the long eighteenth century had significant implications for British spectators. It is argued that their specific notions of Britishness in relationship to these captive animals from foreign climes articulated elite cultural notions of gender, climate and national character. In writing a sensory history of exotic animals in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Britain the author contextualises the reading of contemporary print material with the concomitant experience of the material animals to which this print matter referred. What emerges is a reminder that the act of reading should not be isolated from the production of knowledge through other embodied experiences since such a dichotomy is arguably problematic for historians.     

Reindeer antlers and what they can tell us about the reindeer population

The form and size of reindeer antlers are due to the animals’ age, genetic constitution, and nutritional condition.

The antlers are shed once a year at different seasons depending on the animals’ age, sex, and, for females, whether they are pregnant or not.

Finds of subfossil antler‐fragments from Heisantj?nn and Sumtangen on Hardangervidda show that the hunting has taken place early in the autumn and that is has been selective for the males.

This article is based on studies of the reindeer, Rangifier tarandus L. on Hardangervidda today, and on a subfossil bone material.     

The pectoral fin spines of European catfish Siluris glanis; cultural artifacts or food remains?

The urban archaeological site of Nicopolis ad Istrum in north central Bulgaria, which has multiple periods of use and abandonment, has produced a large and varied ichthyofauna. A number of bones of the European catfish Siluris glanis have been identified and have been interpreted as both food remains and bone artifacts. It was found that a percentage bias in the distribution of S. glanis bones from the Roman period of occupation called for further analysis. The investigation attempts to identify the reason or reasons for the apparent overrepresentation of the pectoral fin spines of this species. Taphonomic factors are considered along with butchery and an actualistic study of butchery on modern S. glanis material. Studies from north Africa are used to illustrate the possible function of the spines. The conclusions drawn are that a high proportion of the pectoral fin spines were brought into the site, possibly as personal artifacts. Their use is open to debate; no clear functional use can be determined from the archaeological material, although it cannot be ruled out that they were used for medicinal purposes or as charms.     

Isotopic evidence for Middle Horizon to 16th century camelid herding in the Osmore Valley,Peru

Archaeological and zooarchaeological data indicate that camelid pastoralism was a subsistence and economic mainstay of Middle Horizon and more recent cultures in the Osmore region of southern Peru. However, it is not known whether camelids were primarily herded in highland puna pastures or near lower elevation sites in the middle valley or along the coast. This research examines the elevation of archaeological camelid herding in the Osmore Valley using stable isotope analysis. Stable carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) isotope ratios were measured on 28 archaeological camelid bone samples from the Middle Horizon sites of Cerro Baúl and Cerro Mejía, the Late Intermediate site of Yaral and the late pre‐Hispanic to Colonial period site of Torata Alta. Twenty‐three archaeological camelids have δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values similar to five modern camelids maintained in highland puna pastures. In contrast, three camelids from the high status Wari site of Cerro Baúl, and two from Yaral have unexpectedly high δ¹³C and/or δ¹⁵N values outside the expected range for camelids pastured in highland puna habitats. The results may be explained by differences in foddering practices, altitudinal herding range or climatic conditions. Strontium isotope ratios (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) were also assessed to infer pasture elevation using the camelid remains from Cerro Baúl (n = 11). One individual in this sub‐sample exhibits a non‐local ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr value indicative of an origin in the highland puna region east or south of Lake Titicaca. It was not possible to further distinguish between camelids herded in lower to middle elevation habitats outside the Lake Titicaca basin using ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values. This study suggests that multiple isotope proxies may be used to identify animals primarily pastured in lowland coastal versus highland puna (> 4000 masl (meters above sea level)) habitats, but are less useful at distinguishing between animals pastured in lower to middle elevation settings. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sense and sensitivity: Appraising the Titanic

Abstract

The first substantial exhibition of material retrieved from the wreck of the Titanic was mounted by the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, in October 1994. Extended for a second six‐month run the following April, this was to be the most popular exhibition the museum had ever staged, helping to attract some 720,000 people through the turnstiles during the year. It also generated an unprecedented level of media attention, particularly in the period leading up to the opening, placing a wide ranging (but ultimately soft) focus on the museum's motivation for proceeding into the deep waters of apparently delicate subject matter. Indeed, the controversy of the exhibition —a phenomenon partly created, developed and sustained by the media itself — not only formed a backdrop to the planning, design and installation of the show; to some extent the displays, their effects and their meanings became dependent on the context of argument and rhetoric in which they were generated. In the curators’ attempts to reconcile appropriately the often‐competing demands of the museum market of professional ethics, economics, and contemporary standards of taste and morality, it may be asked whether the National Maritime Museum was passenger or pilot in the stormy waters it encountered through this project. Moreover, what was the true nature and consequence of the unrest: a minor local difficulty or a museological issue of some significance? This article is an attempt, despite the probable partisanship of its author, to explore with some of the objectivity of hindsight these questions and the circumstances in which they arose. ¹     

Long-term relationships between sunspots,Ca-plages and the ionosphere

Smith and King (1981) recently found a relationship for Slough values of foE and foE2 using relative sunspot number (R) and area of photospheric faculae (A_F) from Greenwich publications. Since Greenwich stopped publishing the area of photospheric faculae, it is suggested in this paper that the area of Ca-plages (A_P) may be substituted for A_F for calculating foE and foF2. The values of foF2 calculated using the relationship given by Smith and King, with A_P and A_F separately, are found to have a good correlation (r=0.988). Similar equations showing the relationship between the foF2 values, sunspot numbers and Ca-plage area have been obtained for a few Indian stations. It has been found that in the regression equation, while the coefficients of the sunspot number and the Ca-plage area do not change significantly from one station to another, the constant term shows a latitude variation similar to the geomagnetic anomaly.     

Re-evaluating the Quoit Brooch Style: Economic and Cultural Transformations in the 5th Century ad,with an Updated Catalogue of Known Quoit Brooch Style Artefacts

QUOIT BROOCH STYLE MATERIAL, produced from the early 5th century onwards, has been primarily considered from a stylistic point of view, leaving much scope for further investigation. In addition, the known corpus of material has been much expanded through newly excavated and metal-detected finds. In this article, I bring together the known extant material for the first time, and document important evidence relating to contextual dating, gender associations, manufacture (including new compositional analyses of c 75 objects), repair, and reuse. The article questions previous interpretations of Quoit Brooch Style material as relating to Germanic mercenaries and/or post-Roman political entities. It interprets the earliest material as a part of wider trends elsewhere, in England and in continental north-western Europe, for the production of material imitating late-Roman symbols of power. It presents new evidence for connectivity with continental Europe via the western-Channel route in the 5th century. A detailed investigation of individual artefacts shows that many Quoit Brooch Style objects were reused, and sometimes subject to extensive repair and modification. This provides new insights into the 5th-century metal economy; for instance, acute problems in the availability of new metal objects in south-eastern Britain in the middle years of the 5th century. Compositional analyses contribute further to our understanding of metal supply in the 5th century and relationships with the post-Roman West. Insights are provided into wider cultural transformations in the 5th century and the gradual loss of value that occurred for Roman-style objects.     

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.     

An Account of a Small Nineteenth-Century Lead Mining Company on Alston Moor

Abstract

Thanks to the efforts of Hunt, Raistrick & Jennings and others, working on the records of the Beaumonts, the London Lead Company and the Greenwich Hospital, the affairs of the large and successful mining companies working on the Northern Pennine Orefield are well known. However little has been written of the numerous small mining enterprises that flourished on Alston Moor in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Because of this, the finding of a bundle of documents concerning the running of a small, and unsuccessful nineteenth-century mine is of considerable interest. Greenends was at one time the residence of the Waltons, who had interest in the local mines and the documents probably owe their survival to the fact that Jacob Walton of Greenends was the agent for the company concerned, the Nentsberry Green Lead Mine Co., from 1839 to 1841. Included in the bundle were rough accounts, bills and letters for the periods 1822-9 and 1839-41, as well as an account book for 1829-39. In the back of the Account Book are further detailed accounts of mine costs for the period 1830-3. Using the new information in conjunction with Greenwich Hospital documents etc., a fairly detailed picture of the Nentsberry Green Lead Mine Company has been constructed.     

A Basque Shipyard Design Method of the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries,and its Relationship to Non‐graphic Hull Design of the 15th Century

The aim of the article is to show that the Mutiozabal shipyard in Orio, Gipuzkoa, Spain, was using the tools and procedures of non‐graphic hull‐design methods into the latter 19th and early 20th centuries. These procedures allow a hull to be designed with a very simple set of tools: a template of the master‐frame and some simple graduated gauges or graminhos. The plan of a 65‐Burgos‐foot ¹ (18.11 m) trading boat is used as the basis of the study. The nature of the templates and graminhos is shown in detail, as well as their use.     

Early Middle Ages Houses of Gien (France) from the Inside: Geoarchaeology and Archaeobotany of 9th–11th c. Floors

ABSTRACT

At Gien (France), indoor floors from early Middle Ages occupation (8th–10th c. AD) are very well preserved, providing a new reference for archaeological investigation in northern France. This site is located on an outcrop, 20 m above the Loire valley, where a 15th c. castle stands now. The medieval occupation combines high-status houses with crafting and agricultural areas. They constitute a new urban nucleus, which grew 2?km east from an ancient Roman settlement. During the rescue excavation, four buildings of different status were sampled and studied using an integrated approach, combining stratigraphy, micromorphology, chemical, macro-remain and phytolith analyses. Micromorphological investigations helped to identify 74 built floors, from 0.5 to 150?mm thick, made with transformed local clay or imported silty earth. Mineral floors were covered by vegetal ones, consisting of crop processing refuse. These litters include an abundance of phytoliths and some seeds, both produced by cultivated cereals, which were processed in situ, such as Triticum durum, Secale cereale and Hordeum vulgare. The refuse above the mineral and vegetal floors were trampled. They were produced not only by domestic activities, such as cooking and eating, but also by metallurgic activities and animal husbandry. The investigation of a contemporary pit indicated that, despite the large amount of refuse, floors were well maintained and regularly rebuilt. The spatial distribution of waste indicated that a single space could be dedicated to several activities, which were not necessarily separated by new floors. Moreover, the total absence of bioturbation allowed the study of a stage of dark earth formation, by comparing it to the contemporaneous mechanical disturbance of a part of the strata which occurred when building new floors. All these results give new evidence of the richness and the complexity of the early Middle Ages town, in addition to help identifying the activities which could take place in early castral areas.     

In Search of the Social: Steamboats, Square Wheels, Reindeer and Other Things

This paper examines the concept of the ‘social,’ particularly from an archaeological perspective, and explores how it relates to the ways in which we seek to understand the processes of technological innovation and change. It is demonstrated that the concept ‘social’ is far from well defined and that enquiry is bedevilled by artificial polarization between subject-centred approaches and object-centred particularism. Through the medium of early United States steamboat technology a different approach is forged through the melding of people and things with the idea of viewing artefacts as active social actors along with people. Ultimately, it is argued that maritime archaeologists should be more bullish in their approaches to material things—instead of adopting social theories ‘wholesale,’ we should insist that they include the things we study: boats, material objects, people, artefacts, landscapes and animals.     

Neonatal Mortality,Young Calf Slaughter and Milk Production during the Early Neolithic of North Western Mediterranean

The North‐Western Mediterranean witnessed a rapid expansion of farmers and their livestock during the Early Neolithic period. Depending on the region, cattle played a more or less important role in these communities; however how these animals were exploited for their milk is not clear. Here we investigate calf mortality to determine indirectly whether cattle dairying was practised by Early Neolithic stock herders. Age‐at‐death (AtD) frequencies for calves from two sites: Trasano (Italy, Impressa culture: 7–6^th millennium BC) and La Draga (Spain, Cardial culture: 6^th millennium BC) were estimated from dental eruption and development stages, and measurements of un‐fused post‐cranial material. Adult age classes are well represented in the dental AtD frequencies and were interpreted as the result of the slaughter of prime beef and retired lactating females. For calves aged less than 12 months, there was no statistical difference in the AtD frequencies based on dental and post‐cranial material indicating that the data is a good representation of the mortality patterns of calves, either natural or deliberate. At both sites there was a strong mortality peak at 3–6 months in all AtD profiles. At La Draga, this peak was clearly differentiated from a peak at 0–1 month, which can be interpreted neonatal mortality possible a consequence of the birthing season coinciding with the end of winter during more humid climatic conditions that at present. The deliberate slaughter peak around 3–6 months is discussed, and we propose that stock herders controlled the mortality of infant classes, possibly in response to variable external environment pressures while maintaining animal productivity. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Traditional and computed tomographic (CT) techniques link modern and Cenozoic fruits of Pleiogynium (Anacardiaceae) from Australia

Computed tomography (CT) and traditional techniques were used to study the internal morphology of modern fruits of Pleiogynium timoriense (DC.) Leenh., and phosphatized and silicified fruits that were considered to belong to the genus. The results demonstrate that phosphatized fruits from the Oligocene–Miocene Dunsinane site at Riversleigh and silicified fruits from the Oligocene Glencoe Site, which are both in Queensland, are referable to Pleiogynium. The Riversleigh material (Pleiogynium wannanii Rozefelds, Dettmann & Clifford sp. nov.) is very similar to extant P. timoriense (DC.) Leenh. Both possess locules that, in the vertical axial plane, are asymmetrically reniform and enclosed by a two-layered endocarp, the inner layer woody and resistant to decay, the outer of fibres and parenchyma, surrounded by a mesocarp of fibres and sclereids and a parenchymatous exocarp. The outer mesocarp is sculpted by meridionally arranged, elongate depressions (germination apertures) situated at the dorsal surface of each locule; erosion of the mesocarp and outer endocarp provides passage for emergence of the embryo’s radicle on germination. The silicified material from Glencoe (P. parvum Rozefelds, Dettmann & Clifford sp. nov.) is smaller in all its parts and has locules that are ovate in the vertical axial plane. Discrete, cap-like, opercula are not evident in the fruit wall of the fossil and extant fruits studied. The presence of Pleiogynium, and associated taxa, indicates the existence of rainforest communities at Glencoe, and mixed open forest/rainforest at Riversleigh during Oligocene–Miocene times. The multilocular, fossil fruit described as Pleiogynium mitchellii Collinson, Manchester and Wilde from the Eocene deposits at Messel Quarry, Germany, is not considered to belong in the genus, as evidence of elongate depressions on the dorsal surface of the fruit stones has not been demonstrated conclusively, and its internal morphology/anatomy differs significantly from that of Pleiogynium.