Biofilm growth in human skeletal material from ancient Mesopotamia

Investigators have long recognised the effects of microbial activity on archaeological bone. These investigators, however, have focused on single or groups of microbes rather than on complex microbial aggregates such as biofilms, a focus that has affected our understanding of archaeological bone biodeterioration. In this paper, we report on the investigation of a biofilm in archaeological human bone from the site of Tell Leilan, Syria (2900–1900 BCE). Scanning electron microscopy indicated that the biofilm is characterised by single cells and microcolonies of bacteria and fungi, as well as calcite crystals that were all embedded within extracellular polymeric substances. Using culture techniques and DNA sequencing, we isolated and identified several microbes from the biofilm including Amycolatopsis sp., Penicillium chrysogenum, Aspergillus sp., Chaetomium sp., and Cladosporium sp. Having characterised the Leilan biofilm, we are now closer to understanding the complex process of bone biodeterioration in archaeological bone collections.     

Memory,Trauma, and the French-Algerian War: Michael Haneke's Caché (2005)

This article examines Michael Haneke's 2005 film Caché and its treatment of the October 1961 massacre in light of recent scholarship about memory and trauma. It argues that the film demands of its viewers a complex, critical position, requiring us not merely to passively re-witness the traumatising events of 17 October, but to take on as spectators a more active role in the work of remembering. The article examines narrative and visual elements in the film in order to demonstrate how Caché illustrates and questions how film and other media forms contribute to the working through of collective trauma and, in so doing, function as potential ‘sites of memory’.     

Mitochondrial DNA diversity in a Transbaikalian Xiongnu population

Xiongnu was a confederation of nomadic pastoral tribes (~200 bc–100 ad) that founded the first nomadic empire in Central Asia. According to archeological and historical data, the tribes played a key role in ethnic and cultural processes in Central Asia and adjacent regions of Eurasia. Genetic studies of the Xiongnu published to date have focused on remains from burial grounds in present-day Mongolia, in the southern part of the ancient Xiongnu area. However, paleoanthropological materials from numerous Xiongnu cemeteries and settlements in Transbaikalia (the southern region of Eastern Siberia, Russia) in the northern part of the Xiongnu Empire have not been examined genetically. Here, we analyzed mitochondrial DNA variation in a Transbaikalian Xiongnu population based on ancient DNA obtained from skeletal remains (n = 18) at four burial grounds to complement available Xiongnu genetic diversity data. We detected 16 mitochondrial DNA haplotypes belonging to seven East Eurasian haplogroups (A, B5, C, D4, G2a, N9a, and Y) in the Transbaikalian Xiongnu series. We observed substantial similarity between Transbaikalian and Mongolian Xiongnu series with respect to main haplogroup composition and frequencies. We observed several mitochondrial DNA clusters (N9a, Y, B5, and A16) and 11 of 16 haplotypes that were previously undetected in the Xiongnu gene pool. We also observed high similarity between the Xiongnu and contemporary indigenous populations of eastern Central Asia, particularly Mongolian-speaking groups. These findings extend our knowledge of Xiongnu genetic diversity.     

Pressure groups and Australian health policymaking in the 1980s

In March 1983 the new Labor government was in a position to implement its health policies, including its promised revival of the community health program. Although funds were allocated, substantive issues of policy remained. Various parties at interest could agree on general principles but differed on operational meanings, means, and priorities. Seventy‐five groups whose leaders were interviewed devised an array of organizational strategies to influence policy development. These included reworking their own priorities and internal structures, developing media strategies, and changing their relations with outside organizations. The more successful groups, at least in the short term, tended to be older and larger.     

Ceramic style analysis in archaeology and ethnoarchaeology: Bridging the analytical gap

A refitting study with a sample of sherds from Broken K Pueblo indicates that at least some of the “patterning” in the assemblage identified by Hill (1970, Anthropological Papers of the University of Arizona 18) results from unrecognized whole vessels and large conjoinable sherds. It is argued that contemporary stylistic analyses are based on many of the same analytical methods employed in the Broken K study and that research findings of ethnoarchaeology are rarely applied in the analysis of prehistoric ceramics. Despite archaeologists' increasing awareness of formation processes, spurred by ethnoarchaeological research, analytic methods that identify and take into account the effects of these processes on archaeological ceramic assemblages are underdeveloped. Suggestions are offered to resolve this problem, for both archaeological and ethnoarchaeological ceramic analysis, that may permit archaeologists to discover in prehistoric assemblages the same types of relationships identified in systemic assemblages.