Prehistoric hunters and gatherers of Brazil

Although carbon-14 dates prior to 13,000 B.P. have been obtained from several sites east and south of Amazonia, their reliability is uncertain. By about 11,000 B.P., however, two lithic traditions were widespread. The Uruguai tradition, characterized by bifacial stemmed projectile points, was associated with open vegetation in the south; the Itaparica tradition, emphasizing well-formed unifacial artifacts, had dispersed over the eastern tropical parklands. An enormous amount and variety of rock paintings and/or engravings are associated with the latter. Around 7000 B.P., two new traditions emerged to exploit new habitats. The Humaitá tradition, characterized by large bifacial tools and an absence of stone projectile points, expanded over the broad-leaved forests in the south, leaving the open landscapes dominated by the projectile point-using Umbu tradition. The sambaqui (shell midden) tradition, also emphasizing large bifaces, developed along rugged portions of the southern coast. By 4000 B.P., groups along the coast of Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo were using domesticated or semidomesticated plants, perhaps sweet manioc. Maize was being grown in Minas Gerais by about 3500 B.P. Carbon-14 dates from numerous sites indicate, however, that the hunter-gatherer way of life persisted in many places long after the advent of pottery-making horticulturalists. The existence of large temporal and spatial gaps even in regions with considerable investigation makes it difficult to reconstruct the process of evolution reflected in these archaeological complexes. Correlations between cultural traditions and environmental fluctuations indicate, however, that adaptation to changing conditions was a significant challenge faced by prehistoric Brazilian populations.     

Reeditando al completo el teatro mayor de Cervantes

This is a review essay on the supplementary volume of the edition of Miguel de Cervantes’s Comedias y tragedias, coordinated by Luis Gómez Canseco and published by Biblioteca Clásica de La Real Academia Española in 2015. Composed of articles and annexes written by reputed Cervantists and aided by an abundant bibliography, this supplementary volume offers excellent introductory studies to each of Cervantes’s dramas—including La conquista de Jerusalén recently attributed—and constitutes a great tool to teach a monographic course on Cervantes’s major theater.     

First fossil fish (Teleostei,Siluriformes) from the Late Pleistocene of Santa Fe Province,Argentina

Vallone, E.R., Vezzosi, R.I. & Cione, A.L. February 2017. First fossil fish (Teleostei, Siluriformes) from the Late Pleistocene of Santa Fe Province, Argentina. Alcheringa 00, 000–000. ISSN 0311-5518.

The record of fossil fish from the Pleistocene of Argentina is poor. Here we describe the first ichthyofauna from Late Pleistocene riverbank beds in the Salado River of Santa Fe Province, Argentina. The material consists of isolated pectoral and dorsal fin spines, together with skull fragments. Four species-level taxa referable to three families can be identified: Pterodoras granulosus (Doradidae), Pimelodus cf. maculatus and Pimelodus cf. albicans (Pimelodidae) and cf. Hypostomus sp. (Loricariidae). Specimens attributed to Pterodoras granulosus and Pimelodus maculatus represent a minimum age for origin of these taxa. The Salado River assemblage includes the richest record of Pleistocene catfishes yet documented from southern South America.

Evelyn Romina Vallone [evelynvallone@conicet.gov.ar] and Raúl Ignacio Vezzosi [vezzosiraul@gmail.com], Laboratorio de Paleontología de Vertebrados, CICYTTP-CONICET, Materi y España, (3105) Diamante, Entre Ríos, Argentina; Alberto Luis Cione [acione@museo.fcnym.unlp.edu.ar], División Paleontología de Vertebrados. Museo de La Plata. Paseo del Bosque s/n, (1900) La Plata, Argentina.     

Spatial distribution of US employment in an urban efficiency wage setting

We analyze whether efficiency wages operate in urban labor markets, within the framework proposed by Ross and Zenou, in which shirking at work and leisure are assumed to be substitutes. We use unique data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) that allow us to analyze the relationships between leisure, shirking, commuting, employment, and earnings. We confirm that shirking and leisure are substitutes, and present an estimate of this relationship, representing the only empirical test of the relationship between a worker's time endowment and shirking at work. Our findings point to the existence of efficiency wages in labor markets.     

Mitología e ingenio en el Poema heroico de San Ignacio de Domínguez Camargo

This article examines the mythological motifs in the Poema heroico de San Ignacio, by the Colombian poet Hernando Domínguez Camargo, not only as material extracted from a prestigious culture (i.e., classical culture), but as a starting point for the elaborations of wit, which is the main objective in the aesthetics of the wit.     

Roman Glazed Ceramics in the Western Mediterranean: Chemical Characterization by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry of Ceramic Bodies

Several objects of Roman lead-glazed ceramic, found inHispania(Spain), were sampled and analysed in order to characterize them to study the spread of glazed ceramic in the western Mediterranean. Chemical analyses were carried out by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry.Studies of the chemical composition of the ceramic bodies indicate that ceramics from two different production centres reachedHispaniaduring the Roman period: a non-calcareous fabric, coming from Lyon workshops, and calcareous bodies with bicoloured glazes from another main production centre, which is suggested to be Italy. Other objects, of central Gaulish or eastern origin, have also been found in the western Mediterranean, but only occasionally.     

Defining the Lead Isotopic Fingerprint of Copper Ores from North‐West Spain: The El Milagro Mine (Asturias)

This study is focused on the El Milagro mine (Asturias, Spain) and is part of a large‐scale effort on the measurement of the lead isotopic composition of Spanish copper ores from prehistoric mines in the provinces of Asturias and León, from which no data were available until recently. Lead isotopic values are compared to the published lead data from the El Aramo mine in the same region. The results show that both mines have a very similar lead isotopic composition, apart from some highly radiogenic samples in the El Milagro mine, which are clearly different from those previously reported for the Iberian Peninsula.     

An Industrial-Archaeological Approach to the Mineral Loading Docks in Rande Strait,North-Western Spain

During the 20th century, the need for raw material promoted a commercial transportation trade of iron ores from the deposits in north-western Spain, where Vigo city was considered one of the most important ports. The global energy crisis in the 1970s, as well as the strong competition from other exporting countries, dented the prolific activity of companies dedicated to the extraction and trading of iron ore. The main goal of this article is the evaluation of one particular element of the mining and industrial heritage — two old mineral loading docks in Ría de Vigo in the Rande Strait, linking the municipalities of Redondela and Moaña. Their development as a tourist resource would add to the cultural and economic activities already developed in the area.