Early seafaring activity in the southern Ionian Islands,Mediterranean Sea

This paper summarises the current development in the southern Ionian Islands (Kefallinia and Zakynthos) prehistory and places it within the context of seafaring. Archaeological data from the southern Ionian Islands show human habitation since Middle Palaeolithic going back to 110 ka BP yet bathymetry, sea-level changes and the Late Quaternary geology, show that Kefallinia and Zakynthos were insular at that time. Hence, human presence in these islands indicates inter island-mainland seafaring. Seafaring most likely started some time between 110 and 35 ka BP and the seafarers were the Neanderthals. Seafaring was encouraged by the coastal configuration, which offered the right conditions for developing seafaring skills according to the “voyaging nurseries” and “autocatalysis” concepts.     

U.S. Civil Society Assistance to Egypt: Thinking Long Term

The interim Egyptian government's excoriation of U.S. support for nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the country has sparked a crisis that some analysts have called the worst deterioration of United States–Egypt relations in history. As Cairo's smear campaigns against the civil society community foment public mistrust among many Egyptians of NGO activity and foreign funding, U.S. policymakers and practitioners face new challenges in supporting civil society work in Egypt. For a number of reasons, however, Washington's assistance to Egypt should and almost certainly will continue, even if the environment for civil society activity in the country does not improve. Grantors and implementers must think seriously, therefore, about long‐term strategies for assisting civil society development in Egypt, which will require at least some coordination with a government that may be suspicious of U.S. efforts. By standing firm on red lines, improving public messaging in Egypt, carefully fostering local ownership of projects, remaining strictly neutral in identifying grantees and diversifying partnerships, distinguishing between short‐term foreign policy objectives and long‐term efforts to assist civil society development, and using varied democracy assistance tools appropriately, the United States can assist NGOs in Egypt in a way that gives them—and democracy—the best chance for success.     

New exposure of loess deposits in Boyanychi (Ukraine) — Results of thermoluminescence analyses

The loess site at Boynychi (the Volyn Upland) is of essential importance for the stratigraphy of Middle and Upper Pleistocene in Central Europe. The profile was recently dated by Fedorowicz and Prylypko in 2007 (parallel dating), and by Kusiak in 2009. The Upper Vistulian loesses are much thicker in the exposure from 2009 than in the earlier examined one (2007). The list of results obtained in the Gdańsk, Kiev and Lublin laboratories, respectively, can be divided in two. The first group contains the results obtained for the Horohiv and Korshiv pedocomplexes and for the loess from the penultimate glacial, which separates these pedocomplexes. The results from all laboratories are very similar and rather well describe the real age of dated deposits. The second group contains the widely differing results of dating of the Vistulian loesses. The TL ages obtained by Fedorowicz and Prylypko are considerably older than those obtained by Kusiak in the new exposure. The latter ones excellently correspond to the geologic-stratigraphic interpretation of the profile. Two incompatible series of TL dating results indicate that local variability of loess accumulation conditions in different stages of their formation may have resulted in incomplete luminescence zeroing of mineral material before deposition.     

Cretaceous aggregate and reservoir effect in dating of binding materials

Lime mortars may contain carbon from different origins. If the mortars are made of totally burnt lime, radiocarbon dating yields the true age of building construction. The presence of carbonaceous aggregates gives the so-called dead carbon effect, which may generate older ages. Another source of carbon is charcoal present in mortars. An attempt has been made to apply the radiocarbon method to mortars of archaeologically estimated age from the Dead Sea region. Petrographical analyses of these samples show the carbonaceous character of the binder and large amounts of limestone aggregate. Determination of the mineral composition of the mortars and comparison with the geology of the surrounding, allows the provenance of the raw materials to be identified. They probably represent the Cretaceous rocks of the Judea Group. Separate radiocarbon dates were made on bulk mortar samples, binder, charcoal fragments and separated fractions from mortars. In the case of binder-aggregate mixture the reservoir effect correction has been applied.     

Geographies of Isolation: How Workers (Don’t) Access Support for Problems at Work

Abstract: This paper is concerned with the social and spatial processes adopted by workers who face problems at work. Using interview data with minority ethnic workers in three local communities in London, the paper explores the mechanism people use to seek help and advice and what resources are available from local community organisations. Key findings suggest that many workers, both unionised and non‐unionised find themselves isolated and unable to access the support they need.     

Multitemporal analysis for preservation of obsidian sources from Melka Kunture (Ethiopia): integration of fieldwork activities,digital aerial photogrammetry and multispectral stereo-IKONOS II analysis

An integrated analysis of recent satellite imageries and dated aerial photos demonstrated to be a good investigation tool (Gallo et al., 2009) for the identification of new sites and for the assessment of landscape changes of wide archaeological areas in Ethiopia.     

Was it the deer or the fox?

Herbivores, as taphonomic agents, can modify and consume bones and antlers for no nutritive purpose. This unusual behavior is due to a nutritional dysfunction (osteophagia) that allows them to supplement a lack of minerals in their diet through ingestion of minerals contained in bones. When chewing, herbivores change skeletal element morphology and produce a characteristic forked shape. At an incipient stage of modification, herbivore chewing may mimic that of carnivores. In this paper, we provide diagnostic criteria to distinguish bone modification made by herbivores from that produced by other taphonomic agents, mainly carnivores.     

Mesopleistocene loess deposits in the Mamalyha 2 profile of Ukraine — interlaboratory comparison of the thermoluminescence dating results

The history of the interlaboratory comparison of TL dating results in Poland started in the 1980s. At that time the Lublin, Warsaw and Silesian laboratories made the first attempts at TL dating of the same loess samples from the Odonów profile. However, the cooperation ceased for many years due to great differences in the obtained TL age estimates. The next interlaboratory comparisons were made in the years 2000–2009 for the loess samples from several Polish (Dybawka, Tarnawce, Dankowice, Biały Kościół) and Ukrainian (Boyanychi, Halych, Velykyj Hlybochok, Yezupil) profiles. Most of the compared dates, obtained for the loess deposits from the Upper Pleistocene and younger part of the Middle Pleistocene, were consistent. This encouraged us to undertake the Gdańsk-Lublin interlaboratory cooperation in dating of 200-700 ka old loess deposits. Nine samples were taken from the Ukrainian profile Mamalyha 2 in 2009 for this purpose. The TL dating results indicate that comparable dates are obtained in two laboratories for loess deposits younger than 300 ka BP. The TL signal obtained in the Gdańsk laboratory for the samples older than 300 ka BP was saturated so such samples should not be dated by the multi-aliquot regeneration method. The results obtained in the Lublin laboratory for these deposits (489–682 ka) confirm that it is possible to date loess deposits older than 500 ka. It probably results from the use of total-bleach method with preheating at 160°C for the equivalent dose determination.     

Ground cereal food preparations from Greece: the prehistory and modern survival of traditional Mediterranean ‘fast foods’

Archaeobotanical remains of ground cereals from prehistoric northern Greece are discussed in this paper within the context of ethnographic and textual evidence for similar food preparations encountered in countries of the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The archaeobotanical remains consist of ground einkorn and barley grain, stored in this form, from the sites of Mesimeriani Toumba and Archondiko respectively, located in the region of central Macedonia, northern Greece. The results of published pilot studies involving macroscopic, experimental, and scanning electron microscopic examination of these archaeological finds seem to suggest that these products correspond to preprocessed cereals, stored in this form. It is also likely that some at least of these finds were produced from boiled and subsequently ground cereal grains. This practice identified in the prehistoric material is similar to various forms of processing cereals still widely encountered in rural areas of modern Greece and other circum-Mediterranean countries. These products are known in Greece under the names of pligouri (bulgur) and trachanas. Through a combined examination of archaeobotanical, ethnographic, and textual evidence it is argued that the idea of pre-processing cereals for piecemeal consumption throughout the year is of considerable antiquity in this part of the world. Drawing information from food science research on similar, modern traditional preparations of the same geographical region, the paper highlights the advantages of pre-processing cereals for later consumption, which offers insights into likely prehistoric subsistence practices. Parboiling cereal grains or mixing grains with milk products in the summer would have made excellent use of seasonally available ingredients by converting them into nutritious and storable foodstuffs, which could then be consumed as part of daily meals with very little additional cooking effort and fuel. This ease of conversion into a filling meal may justify us considering them as ‘traditional fast foods’.