Molecular and osteometric sexing of cattle metacarpals: a case study from 15th century AD Beja,Portugal

In the course of a zooarchaeological survey of Holocene sites in southern Portugal, a substantial size increase of cattle bones was noted following the Christian reconquista of the 11th–13th centuries AD. A size increase in the course of time within a lineage of domestic livestock is usually considered to represent animal improvement. However several other factors including sex may influence the average size of a sample of mammal bones – cattle exhibit considerable sexual size dimorphism, with bulls being larger than cows. A histogram of the distal widths of a large (n = 44) sample of cattle metacarpals from 15th century Beja (Alentejo, Portugal), revealed a bimodal distribution. It was assumed that the large measurements belonged to males and the small to females. In order to rule out the possibility of a post-Moslem change in the sex ratio of cattle, a sub-sample of 21 cattle metacarpals from Beja was selected and we used genetic markers to identify the sex of the animals to which these metacarpals belonged. The ancient DNA sex of all specimens agreed with the previously assumed sex as determined osteometrically. We conclude that the two nearly separated peaks for the metacarpal distal width measurements do indeed indicate sex. A similar bimodal distribution was obtained from another large but earlier sample of cattle metacarpals from Moslem Alcáçova de Santarém (9th–12th century AD). Although these have not been molecularly sexed and since osteometric sexing has now been validated, we conclude that both small (female) and large (male) peaks are smaller than the 15th century ones and that there was an overall size increase or improvement of cattle in this region. Why the Christians improved cattle is unclear, but a selection for larger beeves for meat is one possibility as is the selection of more robust cattle for power. The spread of the quadrangular or chariot plough in Iberia is known to have occurred at this time. We then use the genetically sexed metacarpals to determine which measurements provide reasonable distinction between the sexes. Both the distal width (BFd; as already noted by Svensson et al., 2008; in Swedish medieval cattle) and the width of the lateral condyle (WCL) offer the best distinction. We also used them as a reference ‘collection’ to sex the medieval and post-medieval cattle metacarpals from Launceston Castle in England. This re-visit of the Launceston data corroborates other evidence indicating increased specialisation (milk and veal) in post-medieval cattle husbandry in England.     

Phytolith taphonomy: a comparison of dry ashing and acid extraction on the breakdown of conjoined phytoliths formed in Triticum durum

Durum wheat plants grown under optimum irrigation conditions in Jordan were processed in three different ways: 1) using a dry ashing method, 2) using acid extraction and 3) using both these methods, first dry ashing and then acid extraction. The aim was to determine if the laboratory processing method employed has an impact on the number of conjoined phytoliths recovered. This is important because it has been proposed that the number of conjoined phytoliths, or multi cells, can be an indication of water availability in arid and semi-arid regions (Rosen and Weiner 1994). The results showed that the processing method does have an impact on the resulting assemblage, with dry ashing producing a greater number of multi-cells than acid extraction. It is proposed that either the more violent oxidation of organic matter during acid extraction causes the breakup of conjoined phytoliths, or that the silica dehydrates during dry ashing resulting in a slight fusion between the individual phytoliths and hence more conjoined forms.     

India's Middle Classes and the Environment

The focus of most analyses of environmental struggles and discourses in colonial and postcolonial India is on rural and forest areas, and on subalterns versus elites. Recently, however, there has been increased interest in urban environmental issues, and, to some extent, in India's (variously defined)‘middle classes’. This article reviews a range of literatures — environmental, social‐cultural and political — in order to draw out themes and arguments concerning the relationships between India's middle classes and the complex meanings and materialities of the environment. Three issues are explored in detail: civic indifference and the public sphere; environmental activism; and Hinduism and ecological thinking. The article emphasizes the importance of recognizing diversity and dynamism within the middle classes in relation to the environment. It argues the need to develop situated understandings of what constitutes ‘the environment’ amongst different middle class groups; and underlines the ways in which environmental issues reflect and are often emblematic of wider social and political debates.     

Production of the Roman Cement in Italy: characterization of a raw material used in Tuscany between 19th and 20th century and its comparison with a commercialized French stone material

An experimental approach in order to investigate the possibility that some Italian limestones were used for the production of Roman Cement is proposed. Three types of Pietra Alberese, a marly limestone used since Roman times for the production of “lime” in Tuscany (Italy), were selected. By burning of these stones, specimens of binders were realized. The characteristics of these binders were compared with the binder obtained by burning a French marly limestone commercially used for the production of Roman Cement.

All samples of carbonate stones were preliminarily characterized from the chemical, mineralogical, and petrographic point of view. The colorimetric coordinates were measured on both rock samples and hardened binder samples. The analysis carried out shows that Pietra Alberese with an high content of clay minerals develops a similar microstructure with respect to that developed by the French marly limestone used for the production of Roman Cement.     

Innovative application of portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) to identify Göktepe white marble artifacts

An efficient and non-destructive method to classify white marble artifacts by using a hand-held, portable XRF analyzer (pXRF) is here reported. The identification is based on the uniquely high strontium content of this marble and has been verified by testing 32 artifacts, most of which had already been provenanced, using conventional micro-destructive analyses. Besides strontium, other potential provenance indicators, such as manganese and iron, were analyzed and their concentration values obtained after empirical calibration of the instrument by using 17 quarry samples of known composition. The results show that Göktepe/non-Göktepe discrimination is almost always possible (30 artifacts) and that additional analyses are required only when the Sr value is at the lower edge of the Göktepe field (2 artifacts). The success of the method, however, resides in the particular composition relative to trace elements of Göktepe and is not easily extended to other marble varieties. Main reasons are related to insufficient accuracy at low concentration values, intrinsic trace variability of marble artifacts, surface effects that may produce not representative results. Interest in the method therefore is tightly linked to the exceptional importance of Göktepe as a sculptural marble, in which case, detailed data, obtained with a fast and totally non-destructive method, may provide relevant information concerning chronology, workshops, and places of production of the artifacts.     

International sustainable development policy: (re)producing sexual norms through eco-discipline

This article contends that the global thrust towards population management, legitimised by the concept of sustainable development, works to construct identities along the lines of gender and sexuality. This article focuses on the operation of what Foucault termed, biopower, as operational through and (re)productive of the United Nation's (UN) population/sustainable development discourses. I argue that the said disciplinary narratives and apparatuses such as the construction of environmental threat and the monitoring and regulating of populations, in the service of sustainable development, work to construct gendered identities and ‘naturalise’ heterosexual relationships. To demonstrate this, this article focuses on key UN documents directed at informing international environmental/population policy, namely Agenda 21 and the International Conference on Polulation and Development's Programme of Action.     

Archaeometric study of natural hydraulic mortars: the case of the Late Roman Villa dell’Oratorio (Florence,Italy)

This paper shows the results of a multidisciplinary study carried out on the mortars from the Late Roman Villa dell’Oratorio (fourth-sixth ad), an aristocratic mansion built in the lower Valdarno (Florence, Italy). Thirty-one bedding mortar and plaster samples were analysed through optical microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray powder diffraction and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy for determining the chemical, mineralogical and petrographic characteristics, while their main physical properties were measured by geotechnical procedures. The collected data indicates that the analysed mortars are made up of very fine to coarse river sand aggregate mixed with white to yellowish-white natural hydraulic lime binder mainly consisting of mixtures of prevailing calcite and hydraulic compounds. With regard to the origin of the raw materials, the aggregates were recognized to be selected Arno river sands, and the binders are the burning product of a local marly limestone (ex Alberese). Therefore, the mortars of the Late Roman Villa dell’Oratorio are one of the first uses of natural hydraulic lime in the lower Valdarno.     

On bad terms: Problems and solutions within zooarchaeological bone surface modification studies

The identification of butchery marks in the zooarchaeological record has consistently been debated. Much experimental work has been done to understand the causal agents behind some bone surface modifications, but recent controversies show that there is still no consensus. Terminology is not consistent between researchers, and there is ambiguity in how characteristics of marks are described and interpreted. There is also a lack of understanding of what causes individual variables within marks made by different agents, which is compounded by mark morphologies being described in terms that imply their causality. This paper examines these two problems in light of historic and current trends in the taphonomic literature, and recommends ways to describe marks that will facilitate more effective communication between researchers. It is proposed that greater standardisation within zooarchaeology is needed in seven key areas, and that this is the best avenue for moving into a new phase of taphonomic research.     

Immunological evidence of Plasmodium falciparum infection in an Egyptian child mummy from the Early Dynastic Period

A 15–18 months old child mummy, presently housed in Turin's Museum of Anthropology, was discovered in Gebelein (Upper Egypt) during excavations carried out by the Missione Archeologica Italiana, most likely in 1914.