Early Holocene palaeoseasonality inferred from the stable isotope composition of Unio shells from Çatalhöyük,Turkey

Seasonal δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O data are presented from 14 Unio sub-fossil shells unearthed at the archaeological site of Çatalhöyük in central Turkey, spanning the occupation period ca. 9150–8000 cal years BP. The shells likely lived in the small lakes/wetlands around the site before being gathered and taken to Çatalhöyük. Wet-dry seasonal cycles are clearly apparent in the δ¹⁸O_shell profiles with low winter values reflecting winter precipitation and high δ¹⁸O in the summer resulting from evaporation. The most striking trend in the δ¹⁸O data is the drop in maximum summer δ¹⁸O ca. 8300 years BP, which we infer as indicating lower summer evaporation and hence a reduction in seasonality. Previous palaeoclimate records from the area have suggested cooler and more arid conditions, with reduced precipitation, around this time. While the drop in summer δ¹⁸O values could be due to reduced summer temperatures reducing summer evaporation, but there was little change in winter δ¹⁸O, perhaps suggesting winter growth cessation or reduced influence of winter climate change on δ¹⁸O. This shift in seasonal climate could be linked to solar-forced climate change beginning ca. 8600 years BP, and enhanced by the regional expression of the 8·2k event. Changing water balance over the occupation period is likely an important contributory factor behind observed cultural changes at Çatalhöyük in the Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic period. Our results might be considered to support the fission-fusion farming hypothesis as we provide additional evidence for wet winter/early spring conditions during the Early Holocene which likely caused flooding of the Çar?amba Fan. The changing water balance after ca. 8300 years BP (i.e. reduced seasonality and potentially reduced local summer evaporation) is also coincidental with the proposed end of this farming system due to multi-decadal drought.     

Comparison of 3D Landmark and 3D Dense Cloud Approaches to Hominin Mandible Morphometrics Using Structure‐From‐Motion

The objective of this study is to compare landmark‐based assessment of hominin mandible morphological variation with that from a high‐density point cloud, using 3D models constructed from structure‐from‐motion (SfM) surface capture techniques. Surface models of nine hominin mandible casts were created using SfM photogrammetry. The morphology of these models was described using traditional geometric morphometrics based on identification of landmarks. This was compared to the morphological variation described by the differences between high‐density point clouds, which do not rely on anatomical landmarks, using an iterative closest point algorithm. The landmark‐based approach grouped the anatomically modern human and Neanderthal mandibles with reasonable success. The high‐density point cloud approach also grouped these successfully, but was able to incorporate information from a specimen that was insufficiently preserved to be included in the landmark data set. This improved the accuracy of the grouping. The use of high‐density point clouds from surface capture to analyse hominin mandible morphology allows for greater amounts of information to be included and offers a potential method to identify shape affinity that is as successful as landmark‐based geometric morphometrics.     

The Capetian apanages and the nature of the French kingdom

The Capetian apanages have traditionally been studied from the perspective of the developing national monarchy. This approach is anachronistic; its premises are drawn from a later century, and even within the Capetian period it groups together with little differentiation the attitudes and intentions of five generations of kings.The context for the early Capetian apanages is the successional customs of the nobility, which the kings knew well from having seen them practised by their baronial neighbors. The determining concepts behind these measures were not those of the crown and the royal domain, but rather the societal ones by which, through the succession, the individual members of the family were ordered in relation to the family's lands.Only in the last quarter of the thirteenth and the first quarter of the fourteenth centuries did the kings and the Parlement impose the series of rulings which molded Capetian practice into a distinctively royal pattern. For most of the period under consideration, the territorial kingdom was treated as an aggregate of separable holdings, most of which were the private inheritance of the ruling family.     

死亡的日本人和牵牛花-腾冲挽歌

中午骄阳似火,凉爽的小树林特别诱人.腾从毛茸茸的矮种马上跳下来让商队马帮在这里宿营.爬过前面的一座大山就到达缅甸的伊洛瓦底江河谷了,而目的地印度还像传说中有一百个太阳的地方那样遥远.在仅仅只有一个太阳的这里休息看来是很好的.腾在天气和旅行方面是很在行的.他喜欢眼前这条小河谷的景象:泉水清澈,土地肥沃,物产丰富,地势开阔.四周的高山像冲刷过那样干净,给人一种舒适安全的感觉.