“A Twist in the Tale” of a Surgeon and his Patient: An Australian First in Seizure Localization

In 1894 at St. Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, George Adlington Syme removed a meningioma from a patient with symptomatic focal epilepsy. The operation stands as the first surgery based on seizure localization in Australia. It is also the country's first documented successful resection of an intracranial meningioma. It followed William Macewen's landmark cerebral localization case on the boy John McKinley by 18 years and Victor Horsley's first epilepsy case on Hughlings Jackson's patient James B. by a mere 8 years. Syme's patient, Constable John G., survived the operation by some 23 years, dying from a gunshot wound to the head in 1917. Newly discovered inquest papers reveal that the coroner's judgment that the death was accidental completely fails to address the more credible scenario of suicide. The story makes for a fascinating epilogue to an important landmark in Australia's neurosurgical history.     

An evolutionary model of social change in the Middle Ohio Valley: Was social complexity impossible during the late woodland but mandatory during the late prehistoric?

We present an evolutionary model of social change in the Middle Ohio Valley during the Fort Ancient period (AD 1000–1650), primarily relying on an application of Winterhalder’s (1986) and Kelly’s (1995) evolutionary ecology model of cultural responses to environmental variability. We predict changes in social organization, political complexity, and patterns of stylistic similarity. As the environmental background for our model we employ recently published moisture data. By iteratively applying the synchronic Winterhalder–Kelly model we are able to predict a sequence of general trends that agree with much current interpretation of Fort Ancient development. Specifically, the model leads us to expect increasing village size, the development of regional traditions, and the development of leadership roles and a region-wide style Horizon around AD 1400. However, our model provides the ability to make testable predictions that deviate from the accepted cultural history and predicts that the Middle Ohio Valley and the groups referred to as Fort Ancient were far from homogenous.     

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.     

The European Sky-God.

Traditional beliefs and customs concerning pregnancy and childbirth are still numerous and vivid in Romania and among Romanian inhabitants in neighbouring countries. Fieldwork on this theme carried out over several decades has resulted in a large body of material showing the special position of a pregnant woman in traditional Romanian society. This paper deals specifically with Moldovan birth tradition and concentrates on society's view of the pregnant woman and her unborn child as indicated by the large variety of beliefs and traditions aimed at protecting her and her child. It is evident from this material, that both the prospective mother and society are expected to be aware of, and to engage with, traditional precepts concerning the healthy development of the foetus and the achievement of an unblemished birth. It is also clear that the role and influence of the former untrained midwife in the magical protection of the mother and her child are still part of cultural memory in Moldova. The idea that a pregnant woman has the ability to bring rain in times of drought seems to emanate from a traditional perception of her as embodying fertility powers linked or analogous to the earth's germinative capacity.     

The use of OSL dating in unstructured sands: the archaeology and chronology of the Hutton Sands at Canteen Kopje (Northern Cape Province, South Africa)

Archaeological research at the site of Canteen Kopje, Northern Cape Province, South Africa, has focused on the rich Earlier Stone Age assemblages recovered from the Younger Vaal Gravels. This paper presents the results of excavation and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of the overlying Hutton Sands. We discuss the evidence for colonial period interaction between diamond miners and indigenous groups at the site, as well as the presence of an earlier phase of terminal Middle Stone Age/early Later Stone Age occupation. The OSL analyses demonstrate the potential distortion of OSL ages due to substantial bioturbation and its effect on the dating of archaeological sites situated in unconsolidated sands.     

Notes and News

Abstract

This paper seeks to cast some light on a so-called Green Man ivory knife handle from Perth and on the cultural context from which it sprang. It was made and lost or disposed of during the 14th century and, although its full life-story includes its archaeological recovery and subsequent curation in Perth Museum, its main importance lies in what it can tell us of medieval people. Exploring its material and production, its function as a handle, its iconography and its cultural background reveals this importance. Bringing these strands together gives us a snapshot of medieval cognition, focusing, on the way elements of seasonal ritual were consumed in the medieval burgh of Perth.