Neogene crinoids of southeast Asia: preservation,systematics and significance

Donovan, S.K. &; Helwerda, R.A., August 2016. Neogene crinoids of southeast Asia: preservation, systematics and significance. Alcheringa 41, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518.

The Cenozoic record of fossil crinoids is poor. In part, this is because the stalked taxa have moved into deep water (>100–150 m water depth) since the Cretaceous, but also results from the propensity for the crinoid endoskeleton to disarticulate soon after death. Despite this, we report two new, small crinoid faunas of moderate diversity from the Pliocene of East Kalimantan and the Philippines. Included taxa are columnals of the isocrinid Metacrinus? sp.; a bourgueticrinid cup and columnal, Democrinus? sp.; and cirral and brachial ossicles (isocrinids and comatulids). The preservation of these Pliocene crinoids is not conducive to classification to the level of species, although some taxa are easier to determine than others, but the precise reason for this dearth of complete specimens remains uncertain. Because of our knowledge of extant crinoids, this Cenozoic ‘gap’ has been poorly appreciated. Rather than denigrating the Pliocene crinoids documented herein for being fragmentary and difficult to accurately determine, we instead report them as a rare set of data points, filling, in part, the Cenozoic ‘gap’.

Stephen K. Donovan [steve.donovan@naturalis.nl] and Renate Helwerda [renate.helwerda@naturalis.nl], Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Postbus 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands. Received 03.05.2016; revised 16.06.2016; accepted 21.6.2016.     

Molluscan death assemblages from uplifted Holocene terraces,Mahia Peninsula,New Zealand,interpreted from present-day intertidal ecology

Beu, A.G., August 2016. Molluscan death assemblages from uplifted Holocene terraces, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand, interpreted from present-day intertidal ecology. Alcheringa 41, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518.

Macrofossils from cover beds of marine terraces at Table Cape, Mahia Peninsula, uplifted coseismically ca 250, 1400, 1850 and 3500 years ago are compared with the fauna living on the nearby 200-m-wide intertidal rock platform. The inner platform is dry at low tide, apart from shallow pools containing Diloma aethiops and abundant but unexpected specimens of Zeacumantus subcarinatus and Cominella glandiformis exposed to the sun; all are common fossils in the terrace cover beds. The outer platform is carpeted densely with the alga Hormosira and shelters a diverse fauna, again all common fossils in the terrace cover beds. Sand and gravel containing shell fragments and supporting Zostera sea-grass turf unexpectedly covers ca 5% of the platform in low areas along the east coast. The fossil fauna is listed from 47 samples from two trenches excavated east–west and north–south through the terrace cover beds. Death assemblages of 158 molluscs, including 24 new records as fossils, and 11 taxa in other phyla delimit sediment derived from four shell accumulation sites identified around the present cape: storm beach, high-tidal strand line, hollows in the rock platform and Zostera flats. Up to 32 of the 47 samples (68%) possibly were deposited in Zostera flats; the rest were sand beach accumulations deposited at and near the high-tidal strand line. All fossils common in the cover beds lived on the rock platform. Differences between the deposits in the two trenches result from two factors. Protection along the east coast by protruding tephra beds and an outer rampart armoured with the macroalga Durvillaea prevented erosion of Zostera-supporting sediment which, therefore, was retained after each uplift event. The exposed eastern position of Table Cape also caused sediment to be transported predominantly westwards, onshore on the east coast but away from Table Cape along the north coast.

A.G. Beu [a.beu@gns.cri.nz], Paleontology Department, GNS Science, PO Box 30368, Lower Hutt 5040, New Zealand.     

岭南地区汉代陶囤研究

岭南地区汉墓出土陶囤的作用是存储未脱壳的粮食,其根据盖顶的不同可分为两型,岭南地区陶囤最早见于西汉中期,当时仅出土于南海郡,根据墓葬和其自身特点,可将岭南地区陶囤年代从西汉中期至东汉晚期分为五期。     

Archaeology in the Pacific Islands: An appraisal of recent research

The Pacific Islands or Oceania, typically subdivided into Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, have witnessed a virtual explosion of archaeological research, as indicated by this review of the past 5 years' literature. Most recent work centers on one or more of six major themes. Two themes are concerned with the movement of people into the Pacific region: the discovery of Pleistocene-age sites in island Melanesia and the search for early assemblages evidencing Austronesian dispersals. Substantial efforts have also focused on reconstructing prehistoric economic behavior and on assessing the impacts that colonizing human populations had on isolated and fragile island ecosystems. In the realm of social archaeology, Oceanic studies have contributed to understanding the long-term dimensions of interisland exchange and to the rise of complex, hierarchical sociopolitical systems, especially chiefdoms.     

Scales of Analysis, Scales of Value: Archaeology at Bush Hill House, Barbados

The excavations at Bush Hill House were sponsored because of its association with a notable historical figure, yet the archaeologists were more interested in what we saw as the “bigger” picture: colonialism; slavery; the Atlantic World. This paper addresses both the micro scale—individual deposits and individual people—and the macro scale—placing this site within the larger world of the British Atlantic of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. Not surprisingly, both scales, when considered explicitly, offer insights into past social worlds and archaeologists’ means of discovering them.     

精英、舆论与外交:华盛顿会议期间的国民外交代表

1921年底,余日章和蒋梦麟作为国民外交代表参与华盛顿会议。他们对中国政府代表团进行舆论监督,力促政府代表早日提出山东问题。当会外谈判成为现实后,他们又力促政府代表早日解决山东问题;并利用各种渠道构建一个舆论宣传网络,努力维护中国的国家形象,揭露日本侵略中国权利的实际情形。余日章、蒋梦麟在华盛顿会议期间的国民外交活动堪称1920年代初期中国精英利用公众舆论影响政府外交的一个典型。     

Raptor pellets as zooarchaeological material for paleoparasitological studies in Patagonia

Raptor pellets from Cerro Casa de Piedra archaeological sites, Patagonia, have yielded consistent evidence of parasitism and possible zoonoses in ancient times. Pellet samples analyzed were dated at 2740 ± 100 and 3.990 ± 80 years before present and have produced evidence of three intestinal parasite genera. Eggs of two nematodes Trichuris and Calodium, and one cestode, taeniid, were found. Its significance for rock shelters paleoepidemiology of the Holocene is discussed. This study increases the evidences that raptor pellets can be used as source of paleoparasitological information in archaeological sites.     

美国独立战争精神在中国抗战时期的传播

美国独立战争作为争取民族独立解放、追求民主自由的象征,在近代中国的传播是在鸦片战争之后。抗日战争时期,中国人民又一次从华盛顿及其领导的美国独立战争寻求民族独立与解放、民主与自由的思想资源。尽管不同的阶段、不同的党派、不同的群体,有自己不同的观照视角与价值指向,但如何争取民族独立与解放,求得民主与自由,是这一时期美国独立战争精神在中国传播的主旋律。     

Alone against the waking dragon: Britain's failure to secure international cooperation in China, 1925–1926

This article examines the notion of international cooperation in affairs concerning China in the 1920s from the point of view of a major foreign power at that time, Britain, as it sought to find a suitable response to the huge outburst of nationalistic and anti‐imperialist feelings in China in the summer of 1925. It aims to show that the “December Memorandum” issued by Britain in December 1926 was not a sudden liberal turning‐point in British policy towards China as is commonly viewed, but must be properly understood in the context of the events preceding it. This misplaced faith in the notion of international cooperation by a major foreign power, Britain, would have far‐reaching consequences for the future of Chinese nationalism.