A reconsideration of the date of the Kanam jaw

In March 1932, during Dr L. S. B. Leakey's expedition to the southern shore of the Kavirondo Gulf of Victoria Nyanza, part of a fossil human mandible was discovered by Juma Gitau in an erosion gully in the early Pleistocene Kanam Beds at Kanam West. Since the Kanam jaw showed a well-defined chin, generally regarded as signifying Homo sapiens, it was for long placed in a “suspense account” and repeatedly doubts have been expressed as to whether it really did come out of the Kanam Beds.The composition of the jaw was tested at a number of points, both the bone (corpus mandibulae) and the dentine of the teeth and comparison made with analyses of mammal bones and teeth from the Kanam Beds at Kanam West. For convenience the results may be summarized as follows.     

Grey Literature,Academic Engagement,and Preservation by Understanding

Archaeological practice in the UK produces considerable amounts of reportage that is never intended for formal publication. This grey literature forms a resource which has, historically, been poorly used by academic archaeologists, and problems of access have been blamed for this. This paper argues that this problem does not lie with accessing the resource, but has been of awareness, attitude, and understanding. Structures are now in place which can allow the comprehensive interpretation and reinterpretation of fieldwork results by any archaeologists who choose to do so.     

Characterisation of Chinese Tang sancai from Gongxian and Yaozhou kilns using ICP-MS trace element and TIMS Sr–Nd isotopic analysis

Tang sancai is one of the most important types of Chinese ceramics. To determine the provenance of Tang sancai is important to study ancient trade and other issues. In this paper we compare ICP-MS trace elements and TIMS Sr–Nd isotopes of visibly similar Tang sancai from two major production centres Gongxian and Yaozhou. The variation in contents/ratios of many of >40 trace elements is small for samples from Gongxian, yet is considerably bigger for that from Yaozhou. However, the variation in ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd isotopic ratios is very small for samples from both places. Gongxian and Yaozhou samples have distinctive Sr–Nd isotopic and trace element features despite their similarity in major elements, and these analysis data can be interpreted with geochemistry, indicating that Sr and Nd isotopes have great potential in ceramic provenance studies. The distinct characterisation of these samples provides valuable criteria for identifying provenance of Tang sancai of uncertain origin. Two modern fakes are also analysed, and they can as well be distinguished from antique Tang sancai using above criteria.