Death by gunshot: Biocultural implications of trauma at Mission San Luis

Contrary to the popular myth known as the Black Legend, very little evidence of traumatic injury and death of Native Americans at the hands of Spaniards in the southeastern USA has been uncovered in the archaeological record. This paper reports on the circumstances of death of an individual from Mission San Luis de Talimali (AD 1656-1704), located in northern Florida. A determination of biological affinity of the victim is not possible based on currently available skeletal and contextual evidence. Presence of .44 calibre lead shot in the region of the lumbar vertebrae indicates that the individual probably died from a gunshot wound or complications that followed. To our knowledge, this is the only instance of death in this manner known from Spanish Florida. Bioarchaeological evidence indicates that death resulting from the use of firearms was apparently minimal in this region of colonial America, and other factors—including infectious disease, malnutrition, and forced relocation—were of far greater importance in explaining the precipitous decline and depopulation of native groups in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, at least in Spanish Florida.     

SWEDEN AND L'ACADÉMIE DES SCIENCES

This article discusses the scientific relations between Sweden and France in the 18th century and how the Swedes had access to the new international scientific community that was building up with the new science academies. Contemporary honours accorded to the Swedes indicate who acquired entrance to the European scientific elite and why. International recognition was often tied to personal relations, patrons and foreign travels. P.‐L. M. de Maupertuis' expedition to the Arctic Circle in 1736–1737 was an influential event. But also other Swedes than the academy elite were present in French translations. A common denominator behind the interest accorded to both groups often seems to be related to the northernness of Sweden as a unique place for performing experiments and observations. New explanations (apart from the often appealling exoticism) are sought from the experimental and encyclopedistic nature of 18th‐century science and the implications of the widespread climate discource.     

Irving John Selikoff and the strange case of the missing medical degrees

Between the early 1960s and his death, Irving John Selikoff (1915-1992) was the dominant figure in the field of asbestos and health. He was particularly important in helping to establish a causal association between relatively low and spasmodic exposure to asbestos dust on the part of insulation workers and excess mortality rates. Through scientific and other activities, he played as large a part as anyone in destroying the American asbestos industry. This article traces Selikoff's medical education across three continents between 1936 and 1945. This education was relatively brief, patchy, and in some respects substandard. Selikoff never obtained the M.D. degree he repeatedly claimed he possessed. Questions are raised about how he attained such high professional recognition given his very modest educational attainments. Reflections are offered about whether asbestos regulation and litigation might have been different if Selikoff's evasions had come to light before now.     

Geological setting, nature of ore fluids and sulphur isotope geochemistry of the Fu Ning Carlin-type gold deposits, Yunnan Province, China

Carlin‐type gold deposits in southern China are present in Palaeozoic to Mesozoic siliciclastic and carbonate rocks. The border region of Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi Provinces contains gold deposits on the south‐western margin of the Pre‐Cambrian South China Craton in south‐eastern Yunnan Province. The Fu Ning gold deposits host epigenetic, micron‐sized disseminated gold in: (i) Middle Devonian (D₁p) black carbonaceous mudstone at the Kuzhubao gold deposit and (ii) fault breccia zones at the contact between Triassic gabbro (β ) and the Devonian mudstone (D₁p) at the Bashishan gold deposit. The deposits are associated with zones of intense deformation with enhanced permeability and porosity that focused hydrothermal fluid flow, especially where low‐angle N‐S striking thrust faults are cut by NW striking strike‐slip and/or NE striking normal faults. Major sulphide ore minerals in the Fu Ning gold deposits are pyrite, arsenopyrite, arsenic‐rich pyrite, stibnite and minor iron‐poor sphalerite. Gangue minerals are quartz, sericite, calcite, ankerite and chlorite. Hypogene ore grades range from 1 to 7 g t^?1 Au and up to 18 g t^?1 Au at the Kuzhubao gold deposit and are generally less than 3 g t^?1 Au at the Bashishan gold deposit. Sub‐microscopic gold mineralization is associated with finely disseminated arsenic‐rich pyrite in the Stage III mineral assemblage. Two types of primary fluid inclusions have been recorded: Type I liquid–vapour inclusions with moderate‐to‐high liquid/vapour ratios, and Type II inclusions containing moderate liquid/vapour ratios with CO₂ as determined from laser Raman analysis. Temperature of homogenization (T_h) data collected from these primary fluid inclusions in gold‐ore Stage III quartz ranged from 180 to 275°C at the Kuzhubao gold deposit and 210 to 330°C at the Bashishan gold deposit. Salinity results indicate that there were possibly two fluids present during gold deposition, including: (i) an early fluid with 0.8–6.5 wt.% NaCl equivalent, similar to salinity in shear‐zone‐hosted gold deposits with metamorphic derived fluids; and (ii) a late fluid with 11.8–13.4 wt.% NaCl equivalent, indicating possible derivation from connate waters and/or brine sources. CO₂ and trace CH₄ were only detected by laser Raman spectrometry in gold‐ore‐stage primary fluid inclusions. Results of sulphur isotope studies showed that δ³⁴S values for pyrite and arsenopyrite associated with gold‐ore mineralization during Stage III at the Kuzhubao and Bashishan gold deposits are isotopically similar and moderately heavy with a range from +9 to +15 per mil, and also fall into the range of δ³⁴S values reported for Carlin‐type gold deposits. Sulphur isotopes suggest that the Fu Ning gold deposits were formed from connate waters and/or basinal brines. Fluid geochemistry data from the Fu Ning gold deposits suggest a Carlin‐type genetic model, involving fluid mixing between: (i) deep CO₂‐rich metamorphic fluids, (ii) moderately saline, reduced connate waters and/or basinal brines; and (iii) evolved meteoric waters.