The Middle Stone Age human remains from Diepkloof Rock Shelter (Western Cape,South Africa)

In the course of recent excavations at Diepkloof Rock Shelter (South Africa), three human remains were found in the Middle Stone Age layers. These human remains are two pedal phalanges (intermediate and distal) from a fifth ray, which belong to the same individual, and a deciduous first lower molar. The layers in which they were found represent the end of the Howiesons Poort and the beginning of post-Howiesons Poort occupation, and are radiometrically dated to MIS 3, between 45 and 65 kyr ago. They are thus very close in time to the assumed period of anatomically modern humans (AMH) dispersal out of Africa into Eurasia, a period for which very few remains are available in the African fossil record. Here, we describe these new remains and compare their morphology and dimensions to samples of African and Eurasian Pleistocene and Holocene humans. Our results show that the human remains from Diepkloof Rock Shelter fall well within the range of variation of AMH. The phalanges are of very small size and indistinguishable from those of recent humans. In addition, our analysis of the dm₁ underlines a large size variation at the end of the MIS 4/beginning of the MIS 3 in the Western Cape. The discovery of human remains at Diepkloof Rock Shelter, albeit limited to three small bones, enriches a poorly represented chronological period of the African hominin fossil record.     

German modernity,barbarous Slavs and profit‐seeking Jews: the cultural racism of nationalist liberals

This paper examines emblematic texts by two important protagonists of post‐1848 liberalism in Germany, Gustav Freytag and Heinrich von Treitschke, focusing on their treatment of Jews and Poles. The paper analyses the social content of their statements and argues that the elements of anti‐Semitism and anti‐Slav racism that they contain were motivated by the specific kind of nationalist liberalism that frames their affirmation of the process of modernisation. This affirmation was directed against the Poles on the one hand, seen as backward Easterners who had to be pushed into civilisation by Prussian–German colonialism, and, on the other hand, the Jews, largely perceived as representing the wrong kind of modernity against which benign (supposedly German) modernity had to be protected. At the same time, the image of the Jew in Freytag and Treitschke also participates in that of the backward Easterner, permitting to see undesirable, allegedly Jewish aspects of modernity also as distortions resulting from an alien and ancient culture. This analysis has consequences for theorisations of both liberalism and nationalism: it suggests that the racism and anti‐Semitism of nationalist liberals were intrinsically related to core aspects of the liberal world‐view rather than being merely contingent opinions held by particular individuals. It also indicates that the nationalism of many German post‐1848 liberals was ethnic as well as liberal. In this way, the paper contributes to the growing body of literature discussing the illiberal aspects of liberalism as well as the shortcomings of the long‐established conceptual dichotomy of ethnic vs. liberal nationalism.     

Relation between radiocarbon,archaeological dating and sediment properties on the example of colluvial deposits (NE Poland)

This study focuses on the analysis of the structural and textural features of the colluvial (deluvial) deposits in the Suwałki Lake District (NE Poland) and their absolute age. The colluvium has a thickness of up to 150 cm. The dates of the peat under colluvium or lowermost fossil humus-rich horizons point to the ages from 5405±80 BP to 480 BP. Deposition of material at the footslope is a result of a denudation triggered by human action (surface water erosion and tillage erosion) and usually corresponds with the settlement stages. The ¹⁴C dating of deposited sediment sometimes indicated to older dates of colluvium then the archaeological evidence available for examined sites. Locally, the overlying fossil humic horizon was older then the lowermost one. The textural features of the colluvial deposits such as: the content of fine fraction, weak sorting and relationship between the mean grain-size (Mz) and the sorting index (σ₁) were used to recognize sediment redeposited from the upper part of the slope. Basing on the mineral composition and electrical conductivity of fossil humus horizon it is possible to say whether the soil was degraded or aggraded. These features of the humus-rich horizons occurring between colluvial sediments can be used to explain discrepancy between the radiocarbon dating and archaeological evidence.     

Beyond Metrics: Reappraising York’s Hungate “Slum”

Much of the excitement generated in Britain since 2007 by the York Archaeological Trust’s excavations of the city’s Hungate neighborhood, which Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree characterized as a “slum” in his pioneering poverty survey of 1901, derives from the unexpected volume and variety of material evidence uncovered about life in a poor community within a modern industrial city. Such material evidence and its often uncertain relationships to other historical data can enhance analysis by complicating understanding of the past, rather than echoing conventional wisdom. Findings from Hungate can thus contribute to nuanced understandings of urban social disadvantage not only at the neighborhood level in this one particular British city, but at the larger scales of analysis that encompass the growth of cities and interacting urban regions in Britain and around the world during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These understandings have contemporary relevance for a world in which over half of humanity now lives in urban areas, as misconceptions about “slums” continue to undermine efforts to reduce urban inequality.     

Constraints on the precision of SAR in equivalent dose estimations close to saturation in quartz

Difficulties in evaluating accurate equivalent doses for Late Quaternary sediments from the south coasts of Greece arose in the course of SAR measurements. Large scatter among apparent equivalent doses perplexed the evaluation of accurate mean estimates in circumstances where very large doses were involved. Besides, dose recovery experiments revealed that when intersection of the natural signal occurs onto the saturating segment of the growth curve, a distinct relationship between D_e and growth curve shape occurs. At very low slope angles, SAR tends to overestimate the recovered dose. The mechanism which controls the spread in equivalent dose estimation is investigated.     

Construction of a quartz OSL standardised growth curve (SGC) for aeolian samples from the Horqin dunefield in northeastern China

It has been suggested that the standardised growth curve (SGC) method can be used to de-terminate D_e accurately and reduce the measurement time. However, different opinions regarding the applicability of the SGC method exist. In this paper, we report the construction of quartz OSL SGC for 35 aeolian samples from different parts of the Horqin dunefield in northeastern China, and then test their applicability for D_e determination. Our results suggest that: 1) up to a regeneration dose of 80 Gy, the SGC of the Horqin dunefield can be fitted using the exponential plus linear equation, with the r² value of 0.97, and all the regeneration dose points closely stick to the fitting line, implying that all samples share a very similar dose-response curve; 2) for samples with Des ranging from 1 to 50 Gy, the ratios of SAR D_e to SGC D_e fall within the range of 0.9–1.1, and the average ratio of SAR D_e to SGC D_e is 1.01±0.01, close to unity. Therefore, the construction of SGC is correct, and the SGC is an effective procedure for accurate D_e determination for samples from the study area.     

Geoarchaeological studies on Roman time harbour sediments in Cologne — comparison of different OSL dating techniques

Due to the construction of a new North-South subway in Cologne, Roman time harbour sediments were exposed and were sampled for luminescence dating. A very good independent age control was given by the precise knowledge of the chronology of Roman activity and by radiocarbon ages of charcoal samples. Hence, different methodological approaches within luminescence dating were applied for Holocene heterogeneously bleached fluvial samples and were compared to the known ages. For one sample, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating was applied to coarse-grained quartz using a single aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) protocol. After D_e-measurements, different statistical approaches were tested (i.e. arithmetic mean, median, minimum age model, finite mixture model, leading edge method and the Fuchs and Lang approach). It is demonstrated that the Fuchs and Lang approach along with the leading edge method yielded the best matching OSL ages with respect to the known ages.     

The age of the subfossil trunk horizon in deposits of the Warta River valley (central Poland) based on <Superscript>14</Superscript>C dating

The present study focuses on investigations carried out in the Late Vistulian succession of the Warta River deposits (central Poland) in which a horizon of subfossil trees was excavated. Prelim-inary conclusions on time record and past environmental conditions of a forest existence determined from radiocarbon dating, pollen analyses and geological evidence appear promising with view of tree-ring chronologies.