Organic-walled microfossils from the Early Cambrian of South Australia

Microfossils which are hollow, possess a two-layered vesicle wall, and occur as single elements or, more rarely, as compound forms, have been recovered from the Early Cambrian Heatherdale Shale, on the Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia. The microfossils, which range in size from 4 to 14.5 μm, are informally and tentatively assigned to the genus Sphaerocongregus Moorman 1974. Superficially they resemble forms assigned to Pyritosphaera Love 1958 and its probable junior synonym, Bavlinella Shepeleva 1962. Topotypes of these genera, however, have yet to be studied using SEM techniques, and their morphologic details remain uncertain. The organic composition of the present microfossils is supported by energy-dispersive X-ray analyses. Samples of the Heatherdale Shale were also analysed using pyrolysis techniques; the organic matter is, however, over-mature with respect to petroleum generation, and no geochemical assessment of original kerogen type is possible.     

The Atlantic Empires in the Eighteenth Century

Spanish America; John J. Tepaske     

A Physiologist’s War: Captain T. Graham Brown RAMC (1915–1919)

During the five years before the outbreak of the First World War, Thomas Graham Brown (1882–1965) conducted research into the control of locomotion that gained him a deserved and long-lasting reputation as a neuroscientist and, in 1927, was recognized by election to the Fellowship of the Royal Society. In 1915, with the First World War raging, he agonized about continuing his research or joining the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC). Told by his father to seek a commission, he served two and half years in Macedonia with the British Salonika Force. Whilst in Greece, he kept a daily diary. The entries from June 1916 to May 1917 are extant. They are unpublished and provide the background to the narrative to follow. Casualties with traumatic injury to the brain and spinal cord afforded him the opportunity to carry out careful observations, particularly concerning sensory localization, which resulted in novel findings and his observations on shell shock led to him being called as an expert witness to the national inquiry into the nature and treatment of the condition. In 1920, Graham Brown was appointed to the Chair of Physiology in Cardiff, which he held until 1947.     

Using mineral magnetism to characterise ironworking and to detect its evidence in peat bogs

An experimental approach has been used to establish whether medieval ironworking activity could be identified in peat bogs using mineral magnetic measurements. The research project comprised three elements. First, magnetic susceptibility and remanence properties were obtained for materials from an experimental iron smelt, in a furnace of medieval design, and from material collected during the excavation of the medieval bloomery at Llwyn Du in Coed y Brenin, Snowdonia. Materials sampled and measured included charcoal, aerial dust, roasted bog ore and furnace dust. A second experiment determined whether small amounts of aerial dust released from the furnace could be detected in accumulating peat samples. This was achieved by sprinkling small quantities of dust on to a constructed ’peat core’ that had no detectable magnetic signature prior to the addition of the dust. The application rates used were within the range expected to fall on a peat bog located close to a medieval furnace. Thirdly, mineral magnetic measurements were made on a peat core collected close to the Llwyn Du bloomery. The results confirm that roasted bog ore, aerial dust released from and dust accumulating in the furnace after a smelt, are magnetically detectable. The aerial dust and roasted bog ore produced enhanced susceptibility and remanence signatures in the constructed ’peat core’ experiments. Peaks in IRM_(0.88T) and HIRM were measured in the Llwyn Du peat monolith and appear to correlate with a time when the medieval bloomery was operational. The results presented here suggest that it is possible to identify evidence of past ironworking in peat bogs using mineral magnetic measurements and that the signatures remain well preserved in the peat record even after burial for several hundred years.     

Fellowship and Citizenship as Models of National Community: United Church Women's Fellowship in Ranongga,Solomon Islands

From humble beginnings in the 1960s, the United Church Women's Fellowship (UCWF) is now viewed as one of the most effective organizations on the island of Ranongga (Western Province, Solomon Islands). This essay considers reasons for the success of women's fellowship in Ranongga, focusing on the distinctive position of women in gendered local and translocal forms of social organization. Far from being isolated from the outside world, Ranonggan women have long been engaged in drawing outsiders into local communities. I explore this theme in narratives of Christian conversion and of the beginning of women's fellowship; I also consider the practices of local and national women's fellowship groups that work to constitute unified communities out of diverse groups of people. My discussion of Ranonggan women's fellowship illustrates local dynamics of community‐making that do not map easily on to dominant models of nation‐states and ethnic groups. I ask whether the UCWF provides an alternative model for thinking about larger‐scale political formations, particularly in the Solomons. This question is especially relevant considering the significant contribution that women's Christian organizations have made in efforts to reconstitute a national community in the context of the ongoing political crisis in Solomon Islands.     

Differential diagnosis of a prehistoric biological object from the Koster (Illinois) Site

This paper details the differential diagnosis of a biological artifact recovered from a burial within the Koster Middle Archaic site in Illinois. The burial was excavated from the Middle Archaic 3, Helton Phase component (∼5800–4900 BP). The artifact was a calcified nodule of unequivocal biological origin recovered from the pelvic region of an adult (50+ years) female. Morphological and radiographic analysis of the object resulted in the consideration of 19 possible diagnoses; all but four could be eliminated. Possible interpretations of the object as a lithopaedion, calcified lymph node, amputated ovary or simple ovarian cyst are examined in detail. Of these, calcified lymph node or amputated ovary remain most probable. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.