Reconstruction of diets based on the Δ15N values of individual amino acids at three sites in Sichuan,China

This study analyzes the nitrogen isotope composition of individual amino acids in collagen extracted from human bone samples from the Gaoshan, Yingpanshan, and Xinyicun sites in Sichuan, where the isotope baseline is unavailable or incomparable with the isotopic data derived from human remains. It aims to understand the food compositions of the inhabitants at these sites, spanning the period from the late Neolithic to the middle Bronze Age, during which time agriculture and domestication of animals were introduced to the region and became increasingly important. The δ¹⁵N values of two amino acids, phenylalanine (δ¹⁵N_Phe) and glutamic acid (δ¹⁵N_Glu), indicate that the peoples on the Chengdu Plain mainly consumed terrestrial foods. The contribution of aquatic resources to their diet was limited. A possible explanation for the low dependence on aquatic foods is that the developed agriculture and domestication of animals offered sufficient foods. Such subsistence economies and dietary patterns were shaped in the early Baodun period (ca. 2,500–2000 BCE) at the latest and did not seem to change when transiting to the Bronze Age. This study also assesses the significance of these subsistence practices in supporting the social development of the Chengdu Plain.     

Mortuary behaviour reconstruction through palaeoentomology: a case study from Chachapoya,Perú

This paper explores the contribution that applied forensic entomology can make to our understanding of prehistoric mortuary behaviour. Samples of insect remains were recovered from a mummy bundle that has been attributed to the Chachapoya people who occupied the northern highlands of Perú from ca. AD 800 to ca. AD 1532. The insects were identified to the family level and used to create a hypothetical timeline of post‐mortem interval before the construction of the mummy bundle. The individual in question suffered from a number of blunt force insults to the head, followed by two and possibly three trepanation events. We speculate the initial insect colonisation to have taken place almost immediately following injury and subsequent surgery, occurring before the individual's death. Insect succession patterns and timing estimates for the appearance of periosteal reactive bone suggest that the individual was wrapped shortly following death. The application of such modern forensic techniques holds vast promise for addressing issues concerning Chachapoya mortuary behaviour and, further, these results can expand our understanding of mummy studies in general. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reinventing Imperata: Revaluing Alang‐Alang Grasslands in Indonesia

This article takes a new look at the economic value and cultural significance of Imperata cylindrica grasslands in Indonesia, drawing particularly on fieldwork in Bali, Lombok and West Timor, where the focus is on the use of alang‐alang grass for roof thatch. The development of tourism has resulted in the commodification of thatch in Bali and Lombok for quality roofing and insulation. With its visual impact reinforcing its traditional cultural significance, the thatched roof has become a tourist artefact, its resulting high price elevating Imperata to the status of temporary cash crop and lucrative export. In West Timor, on the other hand, the grass has become a scarce commodity for roofing traditional houses. While it lacks the high prices of Bali‐Lombok, in Timor the cheapness of thatch in this time of economic crisis has increased its value over alternatives. This article explores the valuing and revaluing of Imperata within various agro‐ecological and economic niches, and provides case studies of some of the highly adaptive and opportunistic responses of local people to land‐use change. While the Bali case represents an extreme example of the grass as commodity, the more significant view of its value is the place it continues to occupy, in a subsistence or contingency sense, in many rural economies.