The effect of charring and burial on the biochemical composition of cereal grains: investigating the integrity of archaeological plant material

Stable isotope analysis of charred archaeobotanical cereal grains has the potential to provide direct evidence of crop growing conditions in the past and to refine palaeodietary predictions. If isotope values of archaeobotanical material are to be considered robust, it is necessary to characterise the compositional changes associated with their charring and burial. This study used a suite of analytical techniques, including FT-IR and solid state ¹³C NMR, to characterise changes in the biochemical composition of modern einkorn grains with heating at 230 °C for 2 h, 4 h, 8 h and 24 h, encompassing conditions that replicate their undistorted ancient counterparts. The biochemical composition of archaeobotanical charred einkorn grains was also investigated by FT-IR and solid state ¹³C NMR in order to assess the changes in composition which occur during burial. Results of FT-IR and solid-state ¹³C NMR show that heating of modern einkorn grains resulted in Maillard reactions between cereal proteins and starch, forming high molecular weight melanoidins, which contain both alkyl and aromatic carbon. Loss of low molecular weight carbon and nitrogen-containing volatiles resulted in a slight but non-systematic increase in the δ¹³C values and a systematic increase of 0.8‰ in the δ¹⁵N values of the charred einkorn grains. Solid-state ¹³C NMR shows that the ancient charred einkorn grains consisted entirely of aromatic carbon and retained a similar proportion of nitrogen to their modern 24 h charred counterparts, despite a significantly lower concentration of amino acids. This indicates that the amino acid nitrogen in the ancient charred grains was retained in the stable melanoidins whose polymeric structure makes them resistant to subsequent degradation.     

Explaining the monopoly in shell-bead production on the Channel Islands: drilling experiments with four lithic raw materials

Significant political and economic developments among the Chumash of southern California were catalyzed in part by the emergence of an intensive, specialist-driven shell-bead industry during the second millennium CE on the Santa Barbara Channel Islands. The production of millions of beads depended in turn on the availability of lithic microdrills of standardized form and materials. Channel Islanders quarried a particular stone type, a blocky Monterey Formation chert, from multiple outcrops situated close to the eastern shores of Santa Cruz Island. Rich archaeological assemblages document the lithic and shell byproducts of these intertwined production systems, each of which endured for several centuries (CE 1150–1819). Islanders invariably chose Island chert for making microdrills: hundreds of thousands of specimens recorded to date are of this material. Furthermore, nearly every microlith in all of Chumash territory (post CE 1150) was produced on the islands; the large populations on the mainland did not participate in microlith making or bead making after CE 1150–1200. We argue that this pattern had its roots not only in the patchiness of key resources and shifting regional social relationships, but also in the physical properties of available raw materials. Here we experimentally assess the properties of Santa Cruz Island chert alongside three important mainland raw materials—Grimes Canyon fused shale, Coso obsidian, and Vandenberg chert—that potentially could have been tapped to make microliths. We test the proposition that Island chert outperforms other lithic materials in drilling efficiency and drill use life. Our experimental results from 108 drilling trials reveal sharp distinctions in performance characteristics across the four materials. We infer that the process by which Islanders became the more-or-less exclusive manufacturers of shell-bead currency in southern California was facilitated by both the efficacy and physical properties of the Island cherts and the propitious locations of the outcrops.     

Combined archaeomagnetic and thermoluminescence study of a brick kiln excavated at Fontanetto Po (Vercelli,Northern Italy)

A combined archaeomagnetic and thermoluminescence study was carried out as part of a rescue archaeological excavation on a kiln discovered during the installation of methane gas pipelines beneath a rice field, along the southern border of Fontanetto Po village (Vercelli province, Italy). A total of 23 independent brick samples have been collected, oriented in situ with an inclinometer; the use of magnetic and sun compass was not possible due to the existence of metallic tubes beneath the kiln and a plastic cover above it. Standard archaeomagnetic procedures have been used for the determination of the archaeomagnetic inclination and absolute geomagnetic intensity. Stepwise thermal demagnetization shows a very stable characteristic remanent magnetization and the calculated mean inclination of the 23 samples is I = 65.3° with α₉₅ = 2.4° and k = 156. Archaeointensity experiments have been performed using the classical Thellier method as modified by Coe, with regular partial thermoremanent magnetization (pTRM) checks. The cooling rate and remanence anisotropy effects upon thermoremanent magnetization (TRM) have been investigated in all the specimens. A total of 19 archaeointensity determinations (at specimen level) that correspond to linear NRM–TRM plots were used for the calculation of the site mean archaeointensity that is 46.4 ± 2.9 μT. Archaeomagnetic dating results show two possible dating intervals for the last 1000 years, calculated at 95% confidence interval: a first one from 1511 to 1614 AD, and a second one from 1768 to 1872 AD. Thermoluminescence (TL) study has been also performed on two brick samples from the kiln's internal wall, using conventional laboratory procedures. According to the thermoluminescence results the kiln's last usage lies between 1796 and 1914 AD. This age is in good agreement with the second dating interval obtained by the archaeomagnetic analysis. The combined archaeomagnetic and thermoluminescence results suggest that the last firing of the kiln could have occurred between the end of the 18th century and the beginning of 20th century.     

First record of Acesta (Bivalvia: Limidae) from the Cretaceous of Australia

The cosmopolitan, Jurassic to Recent, bivalve Acesta (Limidae) is documented from Australian Cretaceous (upper Albian) rocks in the lowermost section of the Mackunda Formation of Queensland. These specimens from Landsborough Downs, Flinders Shire, represent an endemic new species, herein named Acesta (Acesta) backae n. sp. Acesta (A.) backae n. sp. was a shallow-water suspension feeder that inhabited the Cretaceous Australian epicontinental sea of the Great Artesian Basin. Although hinge details of Acesta (A.) backae n. sp. are wanting, this new taxon is most closely allied with Acesta? sp. of the Miria Formation of Western Australia and can clearly be discriminated from other Cretaceous Austral forms.     

Macropodines from the Pliocene Otibanda Formation,Papua New Guinea

Newly collected material of macropodines from the Otibanda Formation, P.N.G., includes previously unknown elements from described taxa, as well as material of a new and plesiomorphic macropodine, Watutia novaeguineae gen. et. sp. nov. Known only from adult upper and lower cheek tooth rows, this species shows a close similarity to undescribed macropodines of Tertiary age from northwestern Queensland and Hadronomas puckridgi from the Miocene of the Northern Territory, Australia. The upper molar row assigned to Dorcopsis sp. by Plane (1967), but regarded to be more closely related to Dendrolagus by Woodburne (1967), is here interpreted to be closer in morphology to species of Dorcopsis than Dendrolagus.     

New morphological information about Cretaceous sauropod dinosaurs from the Eromanga Basin,Queensland, Australia

New observations on various sauropod postcranial elements from Queensland provide insights into the taxonomic composition of northern Australia's sauropod fauna and the structure of sauropod vertebrae. An incomplete sauropod humerus from a site near Blackall, Queensland, represents the southernmost occurrence of sauropod fossils in the Eromanga Basin, and indicates a possibly new taxon. The internal architecture of at least one of the vertebral centra of Austrosaurus mckillopi comprises bony disks parallel to the posterior articular face and bony lamellae perpendicular to the anterior articular face reinforcing the structure against axial forces. The lack of pneumaticity proximally in dorsal ribs indicates that A. mckillopi may not be a titanosauriform. Material (QM F6737) from the Winton Formation includes probable osteoderms, the first known from Australian sauropods, and some of the oldest known. Comparison of this specimen with named Winton Formation sauropods suggests that it represents a distinct taxon.     

Permian corals of Timor (Rugosa and Tabulate): history of collection and study

The modern history of collection and study of corals in the Permian strata of Timor began in 1911,with a German expedition (J.Wanner, leader) and a Dutch expedition (H. Molengraaff, leader) to collect Permian and Triassic fossils in the colony of Netherlands Timor, and with a survey by the Swiss geologist F. Weber the same year in Portuguese Timor, the eastern portion of the island. Later expeditions led by Jonker (1916) and Brouwer (1937), both of the Netherlands, greatly increased already huge collections of fossils and additionally, understanding of the island's geology. Monographic studies of these coral collections by Gerth (1921), Koker (1924), Schindewolf (1942), Hehenwarter (1951) and Schouppé & Stacul (1955, 1959) have much enhanced the systematic value of these fossil corals, both Rugosa and Tabulata. Locality information and maps containing collecting localities are somewhat scattered (Wanner 1931, Burck 1923, Marez Oyens 1940, Van Bemmelen 1949), but are summarized here. A list of all valid species names(109 Rugosa, 25 Tabulata) is appended to this paper, with type localities and horizon. Serious problems of nomenclature are avoided in this paper by accepting genus names used in Hill (1981), modified by later systematic studies, such as that of Fedorowski (1986), but some unknown number of names in the list of species are to be synonymized, especially since 31 of them are based on a single specimen (e.g. Niermann 1975). The biostratigraphy of these faunas is uncertain, in great part due to the greatest number of corals having been collected from a tectonic mélange sequence in the Baun to Basleo structural region, and additionally because of the purchase of huge numbers of fossils from the indigenous people of Timor, with accompanying uncertainties regarding locality and horizon data. The coral fauna of Permian age from Timor needs serious restudy to insure its stratigraphic and palaeontologic value, but future study will require new field collection of specimens from the relatively complete stratigraphic sequences in the northern ‘Fatu’ belt of outcrops. The huge numbers of individuals of some coral species provide great opportunities for understanding population structure in these faunas.     

Late Palaeozoic South American pectinids revised: biostratigraphical and palaeogeographical implications

Neves, J.P., Anelli, L.E., Pagani, M.A. & Simões, M.G., 2014. Late Palaeozoic South American pectinids revised: biostratigraphical and palaeogeographical implications. Alcheringa 38 ISSN 0311-5518.

A revision of the late Palaeozoic South American pectinid Heteropecten multiscalptus (Thomas) and the establishment of Heteropecten paranaensis sp. nov. have important implications for the relationship between faunal realms within South America. Late Palaeozoic bivalve faunas occur in three distinct realms in South America: a Central Gondwanic Realm with endemic taxa showing affinities to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Namibia, a cold Perigondwanic Realm, and a warm Extragondwanic Realm with tethyan-like affinities similar to faunas of the American Midcontinent. In South America, faunas east of the southern Andes belong to the first two realms and previous interpretations of bivalve faunas suggested biocorrelations with those of the Extragondwanic Realm because they shared the taxon Heteropecten multiscalptus (Thomas). A revision of the Peruvian and Brazilian material does not confirm this. Instead, a re-analysis suggests that two species are present, rather than one: Heteropecten multiscalptus in the Cerro Prieto Formation, Amotape Mountains (Peru; Extragondwanic Realm), and Heteropecten paranaensis sp. nov. in the upper part of the Itararé Group, Paraná Basin (Brazil; Central Gondwanic Realm). Thus, the correlation between the late Palaeozoic faunas of the Central Gondwanic and Extragondwanic Realms in South America can no longer be supported. Heteropecten paranaensis sp. nov. lived in a siliciclastic-dominated, cold, epeiric sea of Brazil and Argentina, and is morphologically similar to some Australian species, whereas the Peruvian H. multiscalptus thrived in the warm seas of the Extragondwanic Realm.

Jacqueline P. Neves [nevesjp.unesp@gmail.com], Instituto de Geociências e Ciências Exatas, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Rio Claro campus, SP, Brazil, 13506-900; Luiz E. Anelli [anelli@usp.br], Instituto de Geociências, Universidade de São Paulo, 05508–080, Brazil; M. Alejandra Pagani, [apagani@mef.org.ar], CONICET-Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio (MEF), U9100GYO, Chubut, Argentina; Marcello, G. Simões [profmgsimoes@gmail.com], Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Botucatu campus, SP, 18618-970, Brazil. Received 19.7.2013; revised 12.11.2013; accepted 19.11.2013     

A new Llanvirnian Isograptus from the D. murchisoni Shales of Abereiddy Bay,Wales

Isograptus ovatus davidensis subsp. nov. is described from the D. murchisoni Shales of Abereiddy Bay, Wales. This discovery gives further support to the correlation of the murchisoni Zone with the upper part of the Darriwil Stage of Victoria.