Isotopic values of diet of Blastocerus dichotomus (marsh deer) in Paraná Basin,South America

The marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus, Illiger, 1815) is the largest contemporary South American deer, and its habitat includes the floodplains and wetlands of eastern South America. Throughout the Holocene these deer were widely used by indigenous societies, from the southern banks of the Amazon River to the Río de la Plata River, and from the Andean foothills to the Atlantic Ocean. However, despite the enormous ecological and archaeological importance of this ungulate in the region, our knowledge of the isotopic values of their diet is almost nonexistent. This paper is the first systematic approach to the study of the isotopic values of this mammal's diet, using archaeological and present-day samples from interconnected watersheds of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers in east-central Argentina. The results obtained from 24 measurements indicate an average value of ?21.09 ± 1.46‰ in δ¹³C collagen, with a low coefficient of variation (6.92%). The data indicate a marked preference for consumption of plants with a C₃ photosynthetic pathway. Most of the observed variability in the isotopic values corresponds to the period 900–1430 ¹⁴C years BP, a time range during which the values show higher consumption of C₄ plants. This it could be related with a period where temperature and associated humidity increased, synchronous in the area with the Medieval Climate Anomaly.     

Taphonomy of ungulate ribs and the consumption of meat and bone by 1.2-million-year-old hominins at Olduvai Gorge,Tanzania

The phenomenon of equifinality complicates behavioral interpretations of faunal assemblages from contexts in which Pleistocene hominins are suspected bone accumulators. Stone tool butchery marks on ungulate fossils are diagnostic of hominin activities, but debate continues over the higher-order implications of butchered bones for the foraging capabilities of hominins. Additionally, tooth marks imparted on bones by hominins overlap in morphology and dimensions with those created by some non-hominin carnivores, further confounding our view of early hominins as meat-eating hunters, scavengers or both. We report on the manual/oral peeling of cortical layers of ungulate ribs as taphonomically diagnostic of hominoid/hominin meat- and bone-eating behavior that indicates access to large herbivore carcasses by hominins at the site of BK, Olduvai. Supporting these inferences, we show that certain types of rib peeling damage are very rare or completely unknown in faunas created by modern carnivores and African porcupines, but common in faunas modified by the butchery and/or consumption activities of modern humans and chimpanzees, during which these hominoids often grasp ribs with their hands, and then used their teeth to peel strips of cortex from raggedly chewed ends of the ribs. Carnivores consume ungulate ribcage tissues soon after kills, so diagnostic traces of hominin butchery/consumption on ribs (i.e., peeling and butchery marks) indicate early access to ungulate carcasses by BK hominins. Tooth marks associated with the peeling and butchery marks are probably hominin-derived, and may indicate that it was not uncommon for our ancestors to use their teeth to strip meat from and to consume portions of ribs. Recognition of rib peeling as a diagnostic signature of hominoid/hominin behavior may also aid the search for pre-archaeological traces of hominin meat-eating.     

Empirical Formulation for Estimating the Fundamental Frequency of Slender Masonry Structures

The fundamental frequency of a structure enables better assessment of its seismic demand for an efficient design and planning of its maintenance and retrofit strategy. The frequency is independent of the type of external loads, however, depends on structural stiffness, mass, damping and boundary conditions. In the case of slender masonry structures such as towers, minarets chimneys, and pagoda temples, it is influenced by mass and stiffness distribution, connection to adjacent structures, material properties, aspect ratio and slenderness ratio. In this present article, the data collected from various literature reviews on the slender masonry structures regarding dynamic, geometrical, and mechanical characteristics have been correlated to identify the major parameters influencing the fundamental frequency of such structures. The database has been used for developing an empirical formulation for predicting the fundamental frequency of such structures. The comparison between the experimental fundamental frequencies and the estimated fundamental frequencies are carried out in order to define reliability and accuracy of these empirical formulae.     

Vulnerability Index: A New Approach for Preventive Conservation of Monuments

A new approach is developed for vulnerability analysis of monuments based on a matrix model and the relationships with static and structural factors, climatic conditions, air quality, urban planning and social agents for preventive conservation of cultural heritage in urban centers.

The objective is to provide tools for decision-makers in the current recession to allow them to prioritize strategies for cultural heritage preservation in a town, where territorial policies are applied and regions where restoration budget is distributed. This new tool allows to classify monuments in order to prioritize restoration and is useful in deeper analysis associated to risks assessment.

The degradation of building materials and structures is mainly due to deterioration caused by structural instability, weathering, pollution, and anthropogenic damage. The vulnerability approach of each monument (vulnerability indexes) was calculated, based on a Leopold matrix that depends on intrinsic variables and the life of the monuments. For the very first time, the influence of different deterioration agents has been balanced with a Delphi forecast based on architects’ opinions.

The result is a new pre-Artificial Intelligence tool that enables users to reproduce human reasoning to study relations between vulnerability factors, risk factors, and the historical parameters of the monuments.     

‘It is not fair that he is treated as a commoner’: lower-level native lords in the repartimiento of Macha (Charcas) under colonial rule, 1540–1619

This article studies the impact of colonial rule on Andean hierarchies of power, underlining the role of lower-level native leaders who enabled paramount lords to organize labor services, levy tribute, and govern Andean polities. Using the repartimiento of Macha (Charcas) as a case study, this article examines the impact of external colonial authorities' actions against the backdrop of rising internal tensions within Andean polities. Segmented polities such as Macha faced increasing tensions, giving rise to new mediating roles for lesser-ranking native leaders, placing the subordinate lords' fight for status at the center of debate. This article starts by exploring the first interrelations between lesser-ranking lords and colonial authorities under the encomienda system through the late 1560s. It then turns to the impact of Viceroy don Francisco de Toledo's reforms in the early 1570s, which simplified and standardized native hierarchies of power within each repartimiento while also fragmenting local Andean elites between tribute-paying lords and those exempted of from it. Finally, the article examines the reactions of lower-level native leaders in the face of new constraints regarding tribute exemption and related obligations in the early seventeenth century, as exemplified by indio principal don Diego Chambi.     

Radiometric dates and micromorphological evidence for synchronous domestic activity and sheep penning in a Neolithic cave: Cueva de El Toro (Málaga,Antequera, Spain)

We present radiocarbon dates and preliminary micromorphological information from the Neolithic cave site of Cueva del Toro (Antequera, Málaga, Spain). This site has yielded a rich early and late Neolithic archaeological record. The late Neolithic assemblage reflects specialized handcraft activity including in situ ceramic manufacture, textile production, and food processing along with sheep and goat penning, suggesting that the cave occupants and their domestic animals shared the same living space. Until now, dating of the stratigraphic sequence was incomplete, and the function of the combustion activities carried out at the cave remained unclear. New absolute dates from the main late Neolithic domestic activity area, corresponding to the most intense Neolithic occupation of the cave, allow us to place the entire sequence between 5320 and 5170 BP (or 4250–3950 to 2σ Cal BC). Micromorphological results show that many combustion features from this site represent recurrently burnt episodes on sheep/goat stabling deposits all along the sequence, corroborating human-goat/sheep cohabitation. This practice had not been previously documented in southern Spain for such early dates. Our results exemplify the importance of characterizing archaeological deposits at a microstratigraphic scale of observation.     

EMPIRICAL STUDIES IN INDUSTRIAL LOCATION: AN ASSESSMENT OF THEIR METHODS AND RESULTS*

ABSTRACT This paper surveys recent evidence on the determinants of (national and/or foreign) industrial location. We find that the basic analytical framework has remained essentially unaltered since the early contributions of the early 1980s while, in contrast, there have been advances in the quality of the data (more firm and plant level information, geographical disaggregation, panel structure, etc.) and, to a lesser extent, the econometric modeling. We also identify certain determinants (neoclassical and institutional factors) that tend to provide largely consistent results across the reviewed studies. In light of this evidence, we finally suggest future lines of research.     

Renewable Electricity in the EU: Are We Meeting the Targets?

This paper analyses differences in the degree to which European Union countries have achieved the renewable electricity (RES-E) targets set by the European Commission for each Member State for 2010. After defining an RES-E target achievement (TA) indicator, both conventional and novel techniques are used to examine the main features of its distribution, including the degree of inequality, external shape and intra-distribution dynamics, for the 1996–2006 time period. The analysis demonstrates that disparities in TA have been strongly reduced and that intra-distribution mobility was very high.