ESR dose response of Al center measured in quartz samples from the Yellow River (China): Implications for the dating of Upper Pleistocene sediment

The ESR dating method requires to describe the evolution of the ESR signal intensities vs. increasing gamma doses, then to extrapolate the equivalent dose of radiation received by the sample since its deposition using mathematical fitting. The function classically used to describe the growth curves of ESR aluminium signal in quartz was recently discussed and challenged for Lower Pleistocene sediments. In the present work, some alluvial sediments sampled in Upper Pleistocene fluvial terraces of the Yellow River system (China) permit us to test the application of another extrapolation function (linear + exponential) recently proposed for Lower Pleistocene sediments. The equivalent doses obtained here for the recent deposits of the Yellow River system and the corresponding ages are promising and indicate the potential of ESR to date quartz deposits from Upper Pleistocene times.     

Notice of an Example of Decorative Coloured Brickwork in the Neighbourhood of Rouen

The Mycenaean world of the late Bronze Age was one of domination and expansion. Such expansion can be seen in the distribution of Mycenaean ceramics in the eastern and western Mediterranean basin. In contrast to the west, Mycenaean culture in the east came into contact and perhaps conflict with well established cultural traditions and civilizations which had achieved a marked degree of sophistication. These native cultural traditions effectively limited the external growth of the Mycenaean world to the coastal fringes of the Near East. However, the impact of Mycenaean culture is evident, especially in the adaptation and imitation of ceramic styles and motifs typically classified as Mycenaean. Such influence is readily seen in south-western Turkey as Mycenaean cultural traditions penetrated inland to distant inland sites in the lower Maeander river valley.     

Geoarchaeology of Ancient Aulis (Boeotia,Central Greece): human occupation and Holocene landscape changes

This article presents the results of a coring operation which brought to light new evidence for the evolution of the coastal plain of Aulis (Boeotia, Central Greece) in the Holocene. Thanks to Homer, Aulis is best known as the gathering point of the Achaean fleet before it sailed to Troy and a sanctuary of the goddess Artemis. Ancient sources and archaeological evidence suggest the presence of an ancient marine bay, potentially used as a harbor. In the course of investigation, we drilled two cores, to a maximum depth of 4.20 m in the marshy lowlands and performed mollusc and micro-paleontological identifications, laser grain size analyses, and magnetic susceptibility measurements in order to reveal the facies evolution of the area. We obtained a chronostratigraphy sequence through a series of seven AMS ¹⁴C radiocarbon dates. Our study shows that the area was affected by a shallow marine incursion from the first half of the 6th millennium BC and gradually turned into a succession of shallow marine/lagoon environments from ca. 5000 cal. BC to the 2nd Century AD, and into a confined lagoon environment during the Roman and Byzantine periods.     

Miocene molluscs and barnacles from Mont Rond,Kerguelen Islands

A sedimentary deposit discovered at Kerguelen Islands in 1988 is interbedded in the Cape MacLear cliffs, near Mont Rond (Ronarc'h Peninsula). The age of this oceanic deposit is considered to be lower to middle Miocene as indicated by isotopic dating of both the underlying and overlying basalts. This deposit yields a fauna essentially consisting of molluscs (bivalves, gastropods) and crustaceans (cirripedes). This fauna exhibits some similarities to Miocene to Recent austral faunas (New Zealand, Argentina) as a result of the establishment of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. However, it has no species in common with the extant Kerguelen fauna. The Mont Rond fossil assemblage is best compared with either of two types of extant communities developed on a bare sandy sea floor where infaunal species are dominant, but most likely to an opportunistic one in depths from approximately 10 to 80 m.     

Past,present and future revitalization trends in Canadian mid-size city downtowns

The article is a critical review of the literature investigating the impact suburbanization has had since the mid-20th century on the downtowns of Canadian mid-size cities and the strategies deployed to revitalize these districts. It demonstrates that large city downtowns are more likely than their mid-size city counterparts to enjoy conditions favourable to their success, hence the need to devise revitalization efforts tailored to the reality of mid-size city downtowns. The article identifies revitalization strategies adopted over the last decades, which mostly failed to reverse the decline affecting these downtowns. It then concentrates on the present, and likely enduring, revitalization model, which emphasizes hospitality, recreation, culture, services, and walkability. The article refines the understanding of the differences between mid-size and large city downtowns by concentrating on their specific dynamics and explores future revitalization options for mid-size city downtowns. It discusses the present and likely enduring absence of alternatives to the present revitalization model and highlights its equity downsides as it challenges the downtown low-income resident living environment.