The identification of cultivated pearl millet (Pennisetum) amongst plant impressions on pottery from Oued Chebbi (Dhar Oualata,Mauritania)

The majority of the neolithic pottery from Dhar Tichitt and Oualata bears abundant plant impressions on its surface. The present study involves direct examination of these impressions and comparsion with a control series in the laboratory. The criteria for differentiation between impressions made by wild and cultivatedPennisetum are clearly defined. In the pottery from Oued Chebbi (Dhar Oualata), the existence of many many impressions of pearl millet (Pennisetum), including both wild and cultivated strains, is confirmed. It is concluded that the area around Dhar Tichitt and Oualata belongs to a non-centre zone of origin (Harlan 1975) and that,ca 3000 bp, its inhabitants knew how to use cultivated strains in an area where wild strains were also found in some abundance.

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Résumé La céramique néolithique des dhars Tichitt et Oualata présente une abondance d'empreintes végétales en surface. La présente étude—basée sur la lecture directe des empreintes sur la céramique—s'appuye sur une série de référence fabriquée en laboratoire. Les critères de différenciation, dans le genrePennisetum, des empreintes de formes sauvages et de formes cultivées sont clairement précisées. L'existence, dans les céramiques de Oued Chebbi, de nombreuses empreintes de mil du genrePennisetum et, parmi celles-ci, de formes cultivées, est affirmée. Les différentes analyses d'empreintes permettent de penser que le secteure des dhars Tichitt et Oualata appartient à la zone d'origine non-centre définie par J. Harlan (1975) et qu'aux alentours de 3000 ans bp, ses habitants savaient exploiter des formes cultivées dans un cadre où les populations de forme sauvage avaient une certaine abondance.

     

Unraveling a Neanderthal palimpsest from a zooarcheological and taphonomic perspective

Practically all archeological assemblages are palimpsests. In spite of the high temporal resolution of Abric Romaní site, level O, dated to around 55 ka, is not an exception. This paper focuses on a zooarcheological and taphonomic analysis of this level, paying special attention to spatial and temporal approaches. The main goal is to unravel the palimpsest at the finest possible level by using different methods and techniques, such as archeostratigraphy, anatomical and taxonomical identification, taphonomic analysis, faunal refits and tooth wear analysis. The results obtained are compared to ethnoarcheological data so as to interpret site structure. In addition, activities carried out over different time spans (from individual episodes to long-term behaviors) are detected, and their spatial extent is explored, allowing to do inferences on settlement dynamics. This leads us to discuss the temporal and spatial scales over which Neanderthals carried out different activities within the site, and how they can be studied through the archeological record.     

Evaluating Crash Risk in Urban Areas Based on Vehicle and Pedestrian Modeling

This article presents a method for investigating the spatial distribution of vehicle and pedestrian traffic crashes relative to the volume of vehicle and pedestrian movement in urban areas. This method consists of two phases. First, vehicle and pedestrian traffic volumes on the street network are modeled using a space syntax configurational analysis of the network, land use data, and observed traffic data. Second, crash prediction models are fitted to the traffic crash data, using negative binomial regression models and based on traffic volume estimates and street segment lengths. The method was applied in two areas in Tel Aviv, Israel, which differ in their morphological and traffic characteristics. The case‐studies illustrated the method's capability in identifying hazardous locations on the network and examining relative crash risks. The analysis shows that an increase in vehicle or pedestrian traffic volume tends to be associated with a decrease in relative crash risk. Moreover, the spatial patterns of relative crash risks are associated with the design characteristics of urban space: areas characterized by dense street networks encourage more walking, and are generally safer for pedestrians, while those with longer street segments encourage more driving, are less safe for pedestrians, but safer for vehicles.     

Recent archaeological research at Saruq al‐Hadid,Dubai, UAE

In September 2014, the University of New England (UNE), Australia, began a three‐year programme of archaeological fieldwork and post‐excavation analyses focused on the site of Saruq al‐Hadid. In this paper, we present the initial results of our current field and laboratory research particularly related to site stratigraphy and formation processes, relative and absolute chronology, and the preliminary results of various programmes of post‐excavation analyses including archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological, ceramic and archaeometallurgical studies. These studies provide new data to build into the archaeological understanding of Saruq al‐Hadid that has, to date, focused largely on intensive excavation.