New Method for Sex Prediction Using the Human Non‐Adult Auricular Surface of the Ilium in the Collection of Identified Skeletons of the University of Coimbra

Sex estimation in non‐adult skeletons is crucial in bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology. It was not extensively considered in the past, mainly because it was stated that the dimorphic osteological features were difficult to identify before adulthood. Over the past few years, this statement was disproved, and the study of numerous dimorphic non‐adult skeletal traits was approached. This paper presents a new methodology that evaluates the auricular surface of the non‐adult ilia. Several morphological and continuous variables were recorded for 34 individuals (21 females and 13 males) aged between 7 and 18 from the Coimbra Identified Skeletons Collection (University of Coimbra, Portugal). The results show low intra and inter‐observer errors for all the variables, which renders the methodology replicable. Two ratios related to the shape of the anterior area of the auricular surface offer the most dimorphic data (proportions of cases correctly assigned: 0.82 and 0.88; sexual allocation probabilities: 0.85 for both variables). A discriminant function and a logistic regression were developed, which correctly classified the 82.35 and the 88.23% of the individuals, respectively. Moreover, two qualitative variables, referred to as the overall morphology and the apex morphology , also show statistically significant differences between males and females (proportions of correct assignation: 0.82 and 0.76; sexual allocation probabilities: 0.79 and 0.76). These variables can be incorporated in a multifactorial approach together with other indicators already available in the specialised literature in order to help improve the accuracy of the results obtained. This methodological procedure has to be applied with other identified samples, including younger individuals, so as to test whether the trends presented in this context are maintained and are useful in populations from a different geographical provenience. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Macropodines from the Pliocene Otibanda Formation,Papua New Guinea

Newly collected material of macropodines from the Otibanda Formation, P.N.G., includes previously unknown elements from described taxa, as well as material of a new and plesiomorphic macropodine, Watutia novaeguineae gen. et. sp. nov. Known only from adult upper and lower cheek tooth rows, this species shows a close similarity to undescribed macropodines of Tertiary age from northwestern Queensland and Hadronomas puckridgi from the Miocene of the Northern Territory, Australia. The upper molar row assigned to Dorcopsis sp. by Plane (1967), but regarded to be more closely related to Dendrolagus by Woodburne (1967), is here interpreted to be closer in morphology to species of Dorcopsis than Dendrolagus.     

Sexual dimorphism in limb bones of ibex (Capra ibex L.): mixture analysis applied to modern and fossil data

Estimating sex ratios of fossil bone assemblages is an important step in the determination of demographic profiles, which are essential for understanding the palaeobiology and palaeoethology of any particular species, as well as its exploitation patterns by humans. This is especially true for ibex (Capra ibex), which was a main source of food for hominids during Pleistocene times. Classical methods for determining sexual dimorphism and sex ratio, such as analyses using uni‐ and bivariate plots, are based on an arbitrary fixing of limits between sexes. Here we use a more robust statistical method termed mixture analysis (MA) to determine the sex of postcranial remains (long bones, metapodials and tarsals) from ibex. For the first time, we apply MA to both a modern and a fossil sample of one species, by using metric data taken from (i) a collection of present‐day ibex skeletons and (ii) a Palaeolithic sample of the same species. Our results clearly show that the forelimb (humerus and radius) is more dimorphic than the hindlimb (femur and tibia) and is therefore better suited for sexing ibex. It also appears that metapodials should be used carefully for estimating sex ratios. On the basis of these results, we propose a classification of bone measurements that are more or less reliable for sexing ibex. The results of MA applied to the ibex fossil bones from the Upper Palaeolithic site of the Observatoire (Monaco) lead us to the conclusion that this assemblage consists of a majority of males. The quantitative estimations calculated by the MA make it possible to compare the size of Pleistocene and modern ibex for the whole set of variables used in this study. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Shellfishing and the Colonization of Sahul: A Multivariate Model Evaluating the Dynamic Effects of Prey Utility,Transport Considerations and Life-History on Foraging Patterns and Midden Composition

ABSTRACT

Archaeological evidence of shellfish exploitation along the coast of Sahul (Pleistocene Australia-New Guinea) points to an apparent paradox. While the continental record as a whole suggests that human populations were very low from initial colonization through early Holocene, coastal and peri-coastal sites dating to that time are dominated by small, low-ranked, littoral taxa to the near-complete exclusion of large, higher ranked, sub-littoral species, precisely the opposite of theory-based expectations, if human populations and predation rates were indeed as low as other data suggest. We present a model of shellfish exploitation combining information on species utility, transport considerations, and prey life-history that might account for this apparent mismatch, and then assess it with ethnographic and archaeological data. Findings suggest either that high-ranked taxa were uncommon along the Pleistocene coastlines of Sahul, or that abundant and commonly taken high-ranked prey are under-represented in middens relative to their role in human diets largely as a function of human processing and transport practices. If the latter reading is correct, archaeological evidence of early shellfishing may be mainly the product of subsistence activities by children and their mothers.     

Pleistocene frogs from the Darling Downs,southeastern Queensland,and their palaeoenvironmental significance

Systematic collecting from fluvial late Pleistocene deposits from the Darling Downs, southeast Queensland, Australia, has led to the recovery of the first fossil frogs from the region, ail from the Myobatrachidae, a family of ground dwelling and burrowing frogs. The most common species recovered, Limnodynastes tasmaniensis, is extant on the Darling Downs. The fossil taxa include species whose extant populations inhabit arid zones(Limnodynastes sp. cf. L. spenceri), montane forests (Kyarranus spp.), and open woodlands (Neobatrachus sudelli), and indicate the existence of a mosaic of habitats during the Pleistocene. The absence of the Hylidae (tree frogs), a family common throughout the Darling Downs today, may be explained by a taphonomic bias that favours non-arboreal forms. Alternatively, hylids may have been rare or absent on the Darling Downs during the Pleistocene.     

Biochemical Differentiation of Archaeological Equid Remains: Lessons from a First Attempt

Abstract

The difficulty of distinguishing different taxa of equids from one another on the basis of skeletal morphology has led to the search for alternative means by which archaeologically recovered bones may be separated according to species or hybrid. The recently evolved biomolecular technique of protein radioimmunoassay (RIA) offers much promise in this regard because it identifies specimens using constituent proteins that differ from species to species and that tend to blend in selectively bred crosses. The method works for ancient bones only when sufficient amounts of the appropriate proteins survive.

Bone samples were assayed from wild, hunted onagers recovered from Neolithic levels of Ali Kosh Tepe in lowland SW Iran and from possible hybrids recovered from Bronze Age Levels of Godin Tepe in highland western Iran. Although insufficient albumin remained with which to accomplish the intended goal of species identification, the pattern of collagen retention provided important information on the relationship between taphonomy and protein survival.

The authors encourage excavators to reserve parts of their archaeological fauna for RIA if the depositional context suggests favorable conditions for preservation of the ancient proteins.     

The southernmost records of Anhingidae and a new basal species of Anatidae (Aves) from the lower–middle Miocene of Patagonia,Argentina

New bird fossils from the Santa Cruz Formation (lower–middle Miocene), Santa Cruz Province, Patagonia, Argentina, are described. They represent an indeterminate species of the extinct anhingid Macranhinga and a new genus and species of basal Anatidae Ankonetta larriestrai. The record of the giant darter Macranhinga constitutes the southernmost record for the family, and expands the known stratigraphic range of the genus, previously restricted to the upper Miocene. Based on an analysis of the fossil anhingid record from South America, we hypothesize that giant darters disappeared from South America in the early Pliocene due to climatic deterioration, regression of marine and freshwater environments, the arrival of placental carnivorous mammals, and also probably by competition with phalacrocoracid cormorants. The new anatid Ankonetta is based on an incomplete but informative tarsometatarsus, with superficial similarities to extant Dendrocygna. A brief overview of several fossil ducks from the Patagonian Cenozoic concludes that most pre-Pliocene examples belong to non-anatine taxa, indicating that plesiomorphic ducks were the dominant anseriforms in those times, a pattern also evident on other continents.     

Analyses of measurements taken from adult femurs of a British population

The femur remains an important bone in palaeoanthropology and this paper reports various analyses of measurements taken from long-cassette radiographs of adult femurs of a reference population from the south of England (n=81, males 33, females 48). Discriminant analysis confirmed that the male femur is usually larger than the female femur, and that a femur may be sexed with some confidence. Discriminant scores have been derived to permit estimates to be made, from the whole or a part of a femur, of the probability of the male gender. Outcomes from a principal component analysis suggest: that the female proximal femur is a morphological unit; that neck length and shaft length are dissociated and there is no common factor representing linearity; and that the male bicondylar width is anomalous, a finding that is confirmed by other analyses. An estimate of the robusticity of the complete female, but not male, bone may sometimes be made from a proximal fragment. The robusticity of the complete bone may be made confidently from the shaft for both genders. The two width variables relating to a distal fragment cannot be used to predict the robusticity of the complete bone for either gender. A method of defining the position of the waist in terms of displacement in deciles down the shaft is described. The position of the waist seems to have a bimodal distribution. The positive association between age and distal displacement may be due to remoulding of the shaft with age or to a cohort (generational) effect. There is a weak correlation between a small neck–shaft angle and the distal displacement of the waist, two archaic phenotypic traits. Ten statements in the literature relating to the femur have been examined and tested; six are confirmed and four are unconfirmed, and it is suggested that there is a need for further studies relating to the morphology of the femur.     

Fauna and biostratigraphy of the Cambrian (Series 2, Stage 4; Ordian) Tempe Formation (Pertaoorrta Group), Amadeus Basin,Northern Territory

A new faunal assemblage is reported from the Tempe Formation (Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4; Ordian) retrieved from the Hermannsburg 41 drillcore, Amadeus Basin, central Australia. Two trilobite taxa, including one new species Gunnia fava sp. nov., four brachiopod taxa, including the age-diagnostic Karathele napuru (Kruse), Kostjubella djagoran (Kruse) and Micromitra nerranubawu Kruse, together with a bradoriid, helcionellids, hyoliths, echinoderms, chancelloriids, sponges and problematic tubes are described. The fauna has close links to those of the neighbouring Daly, Georgina and Wiso basins and suggests that the Tempe Formation correlates with the Australian Ordian stage (either the Redlichia forresti or Xystridura negrina assemblage zones). The Giles Creek Dolostone in the eastern Amadeus Basin, previously regarded as coeval with the Tempe Formation, has recently been reported to be of early Templetonian age in its type section. The described taxa from the Tempe Formation confirm that these two sedimentary units are not contemporaneous and that regional stratigraphic schemes should be amended.     

Paleocene flora from Seymour Island,Antarctica: revision of Dusén’s (1908) angiosperm taxa

The Paleocene flora from Seymour Island, Antarctica, is one of the most diverse floras of this age in the Southern Hemisphere. First collected on the Swedish South Polar Expedition (1901–1903), it was described by Dusén in 1908 as having 87 leaf taxa. Forty-seven angiosperm taxa were described and/or illustrated. Many species are based on single specimens, and the flora has not been re-examined in its entirety since it was first described. This study is the first reassessment of the flora updating the original research using current methodologies, and permitting evaluation of the flora in the context of modern ideas on plant evolution and palaeogeography. This paper continues the revision of the material first studied by Dusén; a previous paper described the ferns and gymnosperms; here we describe the angiosperms. The revision is based on the original collections held at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, together with the first major new collections held at the British Antarctic Survey. Among the taxa recognized by Dusén, we recognize only three entire-margined and 11 tooth-margined angiosperms. This revision to 14 species notably lacks the two tropical elements originally described from the flora, Mollinedia seymourensis and Miconiiphyllum austral. Hence, its status as a ‘Mixed Flora’ comes into question and influences climatic interpretations based on Gondwanan floras. Anne-Marie Tosolini^? [a.tosolini@unimelb.edu.au], Department of Earth Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK, and Environmental Geoscience, Latrobe University, Victoria, 3086, Australia; David Cantrill [david.cantrill@rbg.vic.gov.au], National Herbarium of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, Private Bag 2000, Birdwood Ave, South Yarra, Victoria, 3141, Australia; Jane Francis [j.francis@earth.leeds.ac.uk], Department of Earth Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. ?Present address: School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia. Received 5.5.2012; revised 13.12.2012; accepted 7.1.2012.     

Early Miocene bivalves from the Cape Melville Formation,King George Island,West Antarctica

Seven species of marine bivalves, including six new taxa, are described from the Cape early Miocene Melville Formation which crops out on the Melville Peninsula, King George Island, West Antarctica. The bivalve assemblage includes representatives of the families Nuculidae, Ennucula frigida sp. nov., E. musculosa sp. nov.; Malletidae, Neilo (Neilo) rongelii sp. nov.; Sareptidae, Yoldia peninsularis sp. nov.; Limopsidae, Limopsis psimolis sp. nov.; Hiatellidae, Panopea (Panopea) sp. cf. P. regularis; and Pholadomyoida (Periploma acuta sp. nov.). Species studied come from four sedimentary sections measured in the upper part of the unit. Detailed morphologic features of nucloid and arcoid species are exceptionally well preserved and allow for the first time reconstruction of muscle insertions as well as dentition patterns of Cenozoic taxa. Known geological distribution of the species is in agreement with the early Miocene age assigned to the Cape Melville Formation. The bivalve fauna from Cape Melville Formation is the best known from Antarctic Miocene rocks, a time of complex geologic, paleogeographic and paleoclimatic changes in the continent. The new fauna introduces new taxonomic and palaeogeographic data that bear on the question of opening of sea gateways and distribution of Cenozoic biota around Antarctica.     

Prehistoric wooden bows and arrows in the Turpan Basin,Northwest China: Wood selection and utilization in a mosaic landscape

In the present study, we analyzed seven wooden bows and 13 arrows excavated from the cemeteries of Subeixi Culture (13th century BCE–AD second century) in the Turpan Basin, northwest China. A total of six taxa, viz. Morus sp., Salix sp., Picea sp., Lonicera sp., Betula sp., and Tamarix sp. were identified. Some of these taxa have been generally accepted to be suitable for bow-and-arrow production. All these taxa were local in origin but distributed in different ecotonal zones, including oases, saline-alkali lands, and mountain areas. Previous archaeological studies have confirmed that the Subeixi populations lived an agro-pastoral life. By analyzing the possible provenance of these wood samples, it can be hypothesized that these ancient agro-pastoralists moved between the Turpan Basin and the Tianshan Mountains on a seasonal basis.     

Chonetoidea (Brachiopoda) from the Lopingian (Late Permian) of South China

Ten species of the superfamily Chonetoidea from the Lopingian (Late Permian) of South China are described or revised. A review of all recorded Chonetoidea species from the Lopingian (Late Permian) of South China indicates that some 22 species of five genera can be recognised. Species of Tethyochonetes and Neochonetes are characteristic in the lithofacies dominated by mudstone, siltstone or siliceous rocks in the Lopingian and some argillaceous limestone and clay rock facies near the Permian-Triassic boundary. New taxa are Neochoneles (Zhongyingia) subgen. nov., Neochonetes (Huangichonetes) subgen. nov. and Tethyochonetes flatus sp. nov.     

The Efficiency of Flotation Compared with Other Methods for Recovering Assemblages of Terrestrial and Aquatic Gastropods from Archaeological Deposits,with Reference to the Site of Pico Ramos (Basque Country,Spain)

ABSTRACT

We analysed assemblages of shells of land snails and small aquatic and wetland gastropods from a late Mesolithic-early Neolithic deposit in the cave of Pico Ramos (Basque Country). Shells were recovered by hand during excavation and all excavated deposit was processed by flotation, with a 250 μm mesh to recover floating material and a 1.0 mm mesh to recover the heavy fraction. The total assemblage comprised 5780 individuals (MNI) among 33 taxa, the sieved sub-assemblage having the highest proportions of these (2841 MNI in 31 taxa) and the hand-picked sub-assemblage the lowest (698 MNI in 11 taxa). Eleven taxa were absent from the flotation sub-assemblage, although the recovered MNI (2241; 39% of the total MNI) was high. The palaeoecological implications of the results are considered. Adult and large-sized juvenile shells of the edible land snail Cepaea nemoralis are abundant in the hand-picked sub-assemblage, but it is the absence of small-sized juvenile shells in the flotation and wet-sieved sub-assemblages that permits the inference that the species was collected for consumption. Wet sieving is therefore essential, both for interpreting hand-picked samples and in particular for the recovery of representative assemblages of land molluscs.     

Microflora of the H.Y.C. Pyritic Shale Member of the Barney Creek Formation (McArthur Group), middle Proterozoic of northern Australia

The H.Y.C. Pyritic Shale Member of the Barney Creek Formation (ca 1 500 my old; northern Australia) contains several stratiform base metal sulfide deposits of economic significance. Black cherts within these mineral deposits preserve a diverse assemblage of bacterial and algal microfossils. The assemblage differs from most other Precambrian biotas so far described in that it was deposited in deep water, it is not associated with stromatolites or algal mats, and it is dominated by filamentous bacteria, most of which are pyritized. Analysis of the assemblage suggests that the depth of the depositional basin exceeded that of the photic zone, that the bacteria inhabited the basin floor where they maintained anoxic conditions through heterotrophic degradation of detrital organic matter, and that the algae inhabited overlying near surface waters. Most of the algal fossils have been assigned to the Cyanophyta, although two of the described species are potentially referable to the eukaryotic green or red algae. Differences between this assemblage and other biotas described from the McArthur Group suggest that a workable system of biostratigraphic zonation for the Group is feasible.

Fossils in the H.Y.C. assemblage are here referred to 21 species and 16 genera, of which 14 species and 6 genera are new. The new taxa are: Bacteria, Biocatenoides incrustata sp. nov., B. pertenuis sp. nov., Ramacia carpentariana gen. et sp. nov., Coleobacter primus gen. et sp. nov., Ferrimonilis variabile gen. et sp. nov.; Chroococcales (Cyanophyta), Nanococcus vulgaris gen. et sp. nov., Bisacculoides tabeoviscus gen. et sp. nov., B. vacua gen. et sp. nov., B. grandis gen. et sp. nov.; Nostocales (Cyanophyta), Oscillatoriopsis schopfii sp. nov., Cyanonema inflatum sp. nov., C. minor sp. nov.; Incertae sedis, Clonophycus elegans gen. et sp. nov., Globophycus minor sp. nov. In addition, the new combination Gunflintia septata (Schopf) is proposed.     

A new Late Famennian lungfish from New South Wales,Australia, and its bearing on Australian-Asian terrane relations

A new genus and species of lungfish with toothplates, Adelargo schultzei, is described from the Hunter Siltstone (Devonian, Late Famennian) near Grenfell, New South Wales. Materials assigned to Adelargo schultzei gen. et sp. nov., include a portion of the left side of the skull comprising B, I (postparietal) and J (parietal) bones, pterygoid and prearticular toothplates, a parasphenoid with a long posterior stalk, vertebrae, ribs, anal fin supports and scales. Toothplates are similar to Dipterus, although morphology of the skull, parasphenoid and postcranial elements is more derived. Biogeographic relationships of the Grenfell fauna were based on the presence of the antiarch group Sinolepidoidei, also present on Asian terranes during the Late Devonian. A small number of lungfish scales have been described from Asian sinolepid localities of this age, but differ from those of Adelargo schultzei, and other faunal similarities between these areas appear limited. Paucity of eastern Australian Devonian taxa on the North and South China blocks implies that strong biogeographic relationships between eastern Australia and Euramerican localities during the Late Devonian were not the result of Asian migration routes, but the closer proximity of these areas.     

Palaeontology of the Cerros Bayos section,Roca Formation (Danian), La Pampa Province,Argentina

Palynofloras from an outlier of Tertiary sediments in the One Tree Hill area north of Adelaide are nonmarine and correlate with similar assemblages from Middle Eocene North Maslin Sands from Maslin Bay and Golden Grove. Although there are similarities with time-equivalent Lower Nothofagidites asperus Zone palynofloras in the Gippsland Basin, a number of species in the South Australian palynofloras do not extend below the Late Eocene in the Gippsland sequences. This indicates earlier appearances for these species in southcentral Australia. The sediments overlie a highly weathered bedrock palaeosurface, indicating that a phase of significant weathering occurred prior to the Middle Eocene. A number of selected taxa are illustrated and their distribution in the palynofloras is discussed. Two new species, Proteacidites mildenhallii and Proteacidites parrawirrensis, are described and one species, Rhoipites byfieldensis, is emended.     

Cenozoic Elaeocarpus (Elaeocarpaceae) fruits from Australia

Fossil Elaeocarpus species with spherical fruits are redescribed and compared with extant species. Information on the distribution of E. mackayi (F. Muell.) Kirchheimer and E. spackmaniorum Rozefelds is provided. Additional notes on the morphology of E. spackmaniorum Rozefelds are also included; and collections from Guildford, in Victoria, are considered conspecific. Elaeocarpus occultus sp. nov. is described from the Haddon deep leads in Victoria; it has a spherical inner mesocarp, bastionate ornamentation, foraminae in the mesocarp wall and mesosutural ridges, which represent a combination of characters unique within extant Australian Elaeocarpus species. The fossil fruit record of Elaeocarpus is systematically significant because it demonstrates that the genus was morphologically diverse by the Miocene in Australia. Biogeographically, the genus also had a different, or more widespread distribution in Australia during the Cenozoic.