Bridewealth,dowry, property,and economics

Jack Goody and S. J. Tambiah. Bridewealth and Dowry. Cambridge Papers in Social Anthropology 7. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1973. ix + 169 pp. Tables, figures, notes, and bibliography. $11.50.     

Multi-method luminescence investigations on quartz grains of different sizes extracted from a loess section in Southeast Romania interbedding the Campanian Ignimbrite ash layer

In this study we present luminescence investigations of four samples of loess bracketing the Campanian Ignimbrite/Y5 tephra at the Rasova-Valea cu Pietre site, on the eastern bank of the Danube River, southeastern Romania. Investigations involved SAR-OSL dating on aliquots of fine (4–11 μm) and medium-grained (63–90 μm) quartz, as well as single grain analyses on 125–180 μm quartz. Luminescence dating results coupled with glass-shard chemical fingerprinting assign the depositional age and origin of the ash layer to that of the Campanian Ignimbrite/Y5 tephra, dated elsewhere using ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar to 39.28 ± 0.11 ka. Fine-grained (4–11 μm) quartz SAR-OSL analyses yielded ages of 44.4 ± 4.5 ka below the ash, and 41.4 ± 4.2 ka above the ash layer. Single grain analysis on coarse-grained quartz, however, demonstrates that coarse material from these samples exhibits low sensitivity and responds poorly to internal checks of the SAR protocol in comparison with the finer sediment. This observation highlights the need for more extensive investigations into the luminescence properties of quartz as well as into the origin of quartz contributions from different primary sources in the Lower Danube loess steppe.     

First chronometric dates (TL and OSL) for the Aurignacian open-air site of Româneşti-Dumbrăviţa I,Romania

Currently, absolute dates for the emergence of the Early Upper Paleolithic and the timing of the earliest dispersal of anatomically modern humans (AMH) into Europe are sparse. This is especially true for regions adjoining the Eastern Mediterranean and Central Europe with its dense clusters of sites along the Austrian and German Danube Valley. This article makes a first step toward filling this gap and, for the first time, presents absolute ages for the open-air site of Române?ti-Dumbr?vi?a I (Banat, SW Romania) located close to the Oase Cave where some of the oldest AMH fossils were found. A set of heated artefacts recently excavated from the Aurignacian layer GH3 was dated by thermoluminescence (TL) and gives early chronometric dates for this technocomplex in Romania.