Social context of the unchambered megalithic long barrows in Middle Pomerania,Poland

This paper is an attempt at defining the social functions of the unchambered megalithic long barrows found in the ?upowa group of the Funnel Beaker Culture (TRB). The authors assume that their aim can be achieved by employing a cultural ecological approach, which leads to a determination of the following variables: exploitation efficiency of the local population, local territory, and size of that population. The values determined for these variables imply that only a small, limited number of the deceased members of the group were buried in the long barrows discussed. Thus, it is possible that burial functions were not the only and most important ones. The authors try to define the remaining functions of the long barrows.     

Hunter–gatherer migrations,mobility and social relations: A case study from the Early Bronze Age Baikal region,Siberia

A large data set of geochemical data (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, ¹⁴C, δ¹³C, and δ¹⁵N) was obtained for a middle Holocene Early Bronze Age Khuzhir-Nuge XIV cemetery (∼4650–3950 cal. BP) in the Baikal region of Siberia. This material is analyzed at the individual level and in the context of demographic data and spatial arrangements within the cemetery revealing a number of new insights about hunter–gatherer adaptive strategies in the region. During the Early Bronze Age, the Little Sea area of the Baikal region witnessed entire hunter–gatherer families migrating there from other parts of the Cis-Baikal, such as the Angara and upper Lena valleys. While all larger spatial units discernible at Khuzhir-Nuge XIV, such as the East, Centre, and West Sectors, scattered graves, and rows of graves, included individuals of local and non-local birth, it is evident that the area of origin was an important cultural variable well marked in the various smaller spatial arrangements such as the rows, sub-sectors, and groups of graves. The two different diets identified among the analyzed group of people (Game-Fish-Seal and Game-Fish) show interesting spatial distribution patterns. While both diets are present in the East and Centre Sectors, the West Sector is composed only of individuals characterized by the GFS diet. All locals subsisted on the GFS diet, while the non-locals featured a mix of individuals with either GFS or GF diet. It appears that status was not linked to the area of origin, for individuals of both local (GFS) and non-local diet (GF) were buried within the “rich” East Sector, however, in spatially separate arrangements suggesting further that the area of origin was an important social distinction among these high status individuals. The similarity in diet catchment patterns and diets for individuals interred in the same graves and row, and the differences between some rows, suggest existence of distinct foraging ranges used by separate social units, such as families.     

Micro-sampling of human bones for mobility studies: diagenetic impacts and potentials for elemental and isotopic research

The nature of long bone formation and the pathways of interaction between bone samples and the burial environment suggest that portions of the bones disconnected from the arterial system are resistant to diagenetic alteration. Preliminary work on femurs from Early Bronze Age hunter-gatherers in Cis-Baikal, Siberia shows that the nature and progression of chemical changes in the bone matrix due to microbial attack can be analyzed using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Intra-osteon variability in elemental concentrations and strontium isotope ratios (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) indicate the presence of unaltered portions of bone within diagenetically modified bone and suggest that useful data remain accessible. These biogenic signals can potentially be useful for mobility research in broad terms and the smaller timescales within an individual's lifetime (months, years), accessible therein. Laser ablation micro-sampling of femur specimens showed that intra-osteon elemental composition of Ba, Re, and Cs varied within and was correlated between multiple osteons of a single bone. Portions of chemically unaffected bone were identified within, and effectively discriminated from diagenetically altered bone tissue. Areas showing visual alterations and erratic or uncorrelated Ca and Sr elemental results also had anomalous Sr isotope ratios, suggesting diagenetic alteration in those places. Compositional and isotopic analysis of intact portions of bone supports the hypothesis that hunter-gatherer groups in Cis-Baikal made numerous major movements during their lives. Microscopic analysis of long bones clarifies aspects of biodeterioration and correlations between trace elemental results and diagenetic alteration. Micro-sampling of intact portions of bone expands the scope of available materials for research on mobility and other aspects of human past behavior.     

Prehistoric dietary adaptations among hunter-fisher-gatherers from the Little Sea of Lake Baikal,Siberia, Russian Federation

Dietary adaptations of prehistoric hunter-gatherers from Neolithic and Early Bronze Age cemeteries in the Little Sea region of Cis-Baikal (the region to the west and north of Lake Baikal) are explored using stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen. Stable isotope data, including stable carbon isotopes from bone carbonate, are presented for 22 individuals from the site of Kurma XI, dated to approximately 6500 B.P. to 4000 B.P. Data are compared to previously analyzed individuals from the larger Early Bronze Age cemetery, Khuzhir-Nuge XIV (Katzenberg et al., 2009 JAS) and to smaller sites located along the shore of the Little Sea, including sites on Olkhon Island. An extensive collection of fauna, both prehistoric and modern, from the Little Sea and neighboring regions is also analyzed for stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen. Clear distinctions are found in modern fish recovered from the Little Sea, in contrast to those from the open waters of the lake and from the neighboring Angara and Lena rivers. Considerable variation is seen in stable carbon isotope ratios from fish while stable nitrogen isotope ratios are not as variable, regardless of habitat. Isotope source modeling is used to assist in reconstructing past dietary adaptations. While there is ample evidence from other studies for cultural change over this temporal span, diet appears to have been relatively stable.     

Taphonomy of Corumbella werneri from the Ediacaran of Brazil: sinotubulitid tube or conulariid test?

Walde, D.H.-G., Weber, B., Erdtmann, B.-D. & Steiner, M. 20 June 2019. Taphonomy of Corumbella werneri from the Ediacaran of Brazil: sinotubulitid tube or conulariid test? Alcheringa 43, 335–350. ISSN 0311-5518

The problematic late Ediacaran tubular fossil Corumbella werneri is revised based on two-dimensional compressions, and new three-dimensionally preserved specimens from the Tamengo Formation of the Corumbá Region in Mato Grosso do Sul, west-central Brazil. These fossils represent some of the oldest skeletonized metazoans and were originally described from diagenetically compacted tubes that prompted conflicting interpretations as either Ediacaran coronate scyphozoan exoskeletons, or conulariid tests. Our new material from Corumbá permits a morphological and taphonomic revision of C. werneri, which we suggest was probably a calcareous sinotubulitid. Corumbella werneri closely resembles the late Ediacaran Sinotubulites from South China, as well as the Silurian worm tube Eoalvinellodes, which has similar exterior ornamentation. Ultrastructurally, the tubes of C. werneri exhibit a coarse sparitic microtexture, which we attribute to diagenetic alteration. Partial flexibility also supports interpretation as an originally weakly calcified, or entirely organic exoskeleton. We therefore reject placement of C. werneri as a conulariid scyphozoan, and instead, advocate possible relationships with marine annelids.

Detlef Hans-Gert Walde [walde.detlef@gmail.com], University of Brasília, Institute of Geosciences, Brasília-DF, Brazil; Bernd Weber [bweber@zedat.fu-berlin.de], Freie Universität Berlin, Institut für Geologische Wissenschaften, Malteserstr. 74–100, D-12249 Berlin, Germany; Bernd-D. Erdtmann [berni1739@gmail.com], 1165 N Mountain View Road, Apache Junction, AZ 85119, USA; *Michael Steiner [Michael.Steiner@FU-Berlin.de], Freie Universität Berlin, Institut für Geologische Wissenschaften (Haus D), Malteserstr. 74–100, D-12249 Berlin, Germany.     

Psalm 1 als Tor zur Tora JHWHs. Wie Ps 1 (und Ps 2) den Psalter an den Pentateuch anschliesst

Wahrend Bezugnahmen von Ps 1 auf Passagen aus dem Korpus der “Nebiim” allgemein anerkannt sind, gilt dies nicht in demselben Masse im Blick auf die “Tora” (Pentateuch). Dass dem aber so ist, will dieser Essay nachweisen. Die Analyse der Eroffnungsverse zeigt, dass der Tora-Bezug namentlich uber Anspielungen an Passagen aus dem Deuteronomium hergestellt wird. Ein besonderer Stellenwert kommt dabei Dtn 6,4-9 (v.a. V. 7) zu—ein Text, der wie kaum ein anderer im Fruhjudentum bekannt war und damit als Verstehenshintergrund von Ps 1,1-2 entsprechend wiedererkannt werden konnte. Affinitaten ergeben sich ferner zu Dtn 17,14-20 und Dtn 33,29, die noch verstarkt werden, wenn die Verklammerung (Makarismus- Inclusio) des weisheitlichen Ps 1 mit dem koniglichen Ps 2 mitbedacht wird. Mit Ps 1(-2) als bewusst gesetzter “Bucheroffnung” wird nicht nur eine Lesesteuerung in den Psalter hinein (Innenraum), sondern zugleich eine Anbindung an bereits vorliegende autoritative Schriftgestalten bezweckt (“Aussenraum”). Insofern kann in kanontheologischer Perspektive hinsichtlich Ps 1 vom “Tor zur Tora JHWHs” gesprochen werden, da er nicht nur die Funfbucher Davids (Psalter) einleitet, sondern diese zugleich an die Funfbucher Moses (Pentateuch) zuruckbindet.     

Dealing with Sustainability Trade-Offs of the Compact City in Peri-Urban Planning Across European City Regions

The compact city has become a leading concept in the planning of peri-urban areas. The compact city concept is often advocated as “sustainable” because of claims that include lower emissions and conservation of the countryside. The literature shows, however, that there are certain trade-offs in striving for compaction, especially between environmental and social aspects of sustainability. In this article, we describe expressions of the compact city concept in the planning practice of several European urban sample regions, as well as policies and developments that contradict the compact city. We look at examples of positive and negative impacts of the compact city that were observed in the sample regions. Further, we discuss attempts by planners to deal with sustainability trade-offs. Being aware that developments in the peri-urban areas are closely connected to those in the inner city, we compare the sample regions in order to learn how the compact city concept has been used in planning peri-urban areas across different contexts in Europe: in Western, Central and Mediterranean Europe, and with growing, stable or declining populations. We conclude with recommendations with respect to balance in applying the compact city concept.     

Queuing up in Post-War Britain

This article traces a history of the queue in post-war Britain,both in relation to its changing social organization and itsshifting symbolism. In the immediate post-war period, with thecontinuation of rationing and shortages, the queue was exploitedfor its political capital by Conservative politicians like WinstonChurchill, who equated queuing with meddling socialism. As queuingceased to be an explicitly political issue in the 1950s and1960s, it began to be linked implicitly with the issue of national‘decline’, which dominated political discussionand social commentary from the late 1950s onwards. The queuesin banks and post offices, in particular, were seen as a symptomof the ‘British disease’ of badly trained, poorlymotivated employees and mediocre management. In the 1970s and1980s, the ‘dole queue’ also became part of a politicizedmythology of decline, although much of its imagery was borrowedfrom the 1930s. In the Thatcher era, queuing was increasinglytransformed by queue management theories and technologies. Beingprimarily market-led, this queuing revolution was an unevenphenomenon. In low-status public spaces, such as bus stops,people were still left to improvise their own queue discipline;and organizations like banks used queueless services to focuson valued clientele. The changing nature of the queue thus revealsmuch about the relationship between quotidian routine, politics,and the market in the post-war era. ^* J.Moran{at}livjm.ac.uk