Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction from Faunal Remains: Ecological Basics and Analytical Assumptions

Paleozoologists have long used taxa represented by ancient faunal remains to reconstruct paleoenvironments. Those ancient environments were the selective contexts in which hominin biological and cultural evolution took place. Knowing about those particularistic selective environments and how organisms responded to them is increasingly seen as critically important to identifying both how biota will respond to future (to some degree anthropogenically driven) environmental change, and biological conservation and management applications that will ensure sustainability of ecological resources and services. Reconstructing paleoenvironments requires knowledge of species’ ecological tolerances, geographic ranges, habitats, environments, and niches. It also requires assumptions that extant species had the same ecological tolerances in the past as they do today and that changes in taxonomic composition or abundances reflect environmental change rather than sampling or taphonomic factors. Greater knowledge of ecological processes as well as increased analytical sophistication in paleozoology is providing increasingly rigorous and detailed insights to paleoenvironments.     

Adaptations and Dispersals of Anatomically Modern Humans in the Changing Environments of North Africa: the Contribution of Microvertebrates

There is limited available data on the environmental context of the arrival of the first anatomically modern humans (AMH) in North Africa, and subsequent Paleolithic and Neolithic occupations within this region. Microvertebrates such as rodents, shrews, amphibians, and squamates are known to be good indicators of climate and landscape changes. They also represent continental paleoecological records that can be directly related to human occupations. Moreover, faunas and humans have been subjected to several dispersal waves through similar routes, and some rodents may present anthropophilous behavior. Therefore, by understanding the dispersal pattern and pathways of these microvertebrates, it is possible to propose scenarios for human dispersal events. In this study we took the rich microfaunal assemblages from the Témara region, Atlantic Morocco (El Harhoura 2 and El Mnasra Caves), and placed them within a broader synthesis, in order to highlight the role of microvertebrates in providing a better understanding of the human-environment relationship during the Late Quaternary in North Africa.     

清代宫廷建筑的管理制度及有关档案文献研究

本文介绍了清代宫廷建筑的管理机构与官员状况、宫廷建筑工程的各项管理制度,并列举了内阁、军机处、宫中、内务府、工部等处的部分档案,这些档案内容涉及紫禁城宫殿楼阁、苑囿行宫、陵寝、坛庙寺观、盛京皇宫及与宫殿建筑有关的河道、沟渠、园林、道路等的兴建和维修状况。这些清代档案是我们现今研究清代宫廷建筑的第一手资料,也是我们保护维修现存宫殿建筑的可靠依据,有着重要的史料价值。     

Einstein et «Zweistein»

As the sobriquet «Zweistein» suggests, within the theoretical physics community Wolfgang Pauli came to be regarded as second in eminence only to Albert Einstein. Over a period of thirty-five years, they interacted both intellectually and personally. This paper focuses on four interrelated topics of their discussions. 1) The theory of relativity: at the age of twenty, Pauli prepared the definitive survey of relativity, a survey which he revised near the end of his life and which remains invaluable to physicists and historians of physics. 2) Unified field theories: although initially sympathetic to Einstein's search for a unified theory of electromagnetism and gravitation, and having made important contributions to the subject, Pauli came to regard such efforts as fruitless. 3) Foundations of quantum mechanics: Pauli's negative evaluation of Einstein's program grew out of their sharply differing evaluations of the role that quantum mechanics would play in the future, development of theoretical physics. 4) Quantum gravity: Pauli recognized that, until the achievement of a successful reconciliation of quantum mechanics and general relativity — an achievement that still eludes us — Einstein's challenge to quantum mechanics could not be laid to rest.     

Make-Believe rituals: Reflections on the relationship between archaeology and education through the perspective of a group of children in Rio de Janeiro,Brazil

Este ensayo reporta sobre investigaciones entre un grupo de ni?os escolares brasile?os que fueron entrevistados para ver como ellos consideraban la arqueología, como su conocimiento del pasado afecta su comprensión del presente, y como su experiencia del presente les informa su vista del pasado.

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Résumé Ce papier présente des recherches menées parmi un groupe d'écoliers brésiliens afin de savoir comment ils voient l'archéologie, comment leur connaissance du passé affecte leur compréhension du présent et comment leur expérience du présent renseigne leurs vues du passé.

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[T]he miracle that we would hope for from the bottom of our hearts, the school as a preserved universe, island of purity—in which all disparities and social struggles would come to a stop, this miracle does not exist: the school is part of the world. (Snyders 1977:18)     

Archaeology on both sides of the iron bars

La conmemoración anual de la llegada de Colón a América como se experimenta en Argentina proporciona un foco para la definición de preguntas acerca de la comprensión de la arqueología como conocimiento. Para los grupos Indígenas es el aniversario del último día de la independencia de las poblaciones aborígenes. Los arqueólogos deben cuestionarse su posición cuando estudian el mundo y los objetos indígenas. Las interpretaciones de los “pioneros” arqueólogos argentinos son discutidas junto con el concepto de “la ruptura metafísica” sobre la que la arqueología construye su objeto, esa ruptura entre el mundo indígena subjetive y el mundo del conocimiento arqueológico. En el siglo XXI quedan preguntas pendientes acerca de la arqueología que, si es vista como una práctica descolonizadora, debe implicar su propio proceso de descolonización. Proporciona la Arqueología de Un Mundo el contexto para continuar esta tarea descolonizadora?

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Résumé La commémoration annuelle de l'arrivé de Christophe Colomb en Amérique, comme c'est le cas en Argentine, donne l'occasion de se concentrer sur des questions de définition concernant la compréhension de l'archéologie comme source de connaissance. Pour les groupes autochtones, cette journée est la dernière de leur indépendance. Les archéologues devraient se demander comment ils se positionnent quand ils étudient le monde et les objets autochtones. Les interprétations des “pionniers” argentins de l'archéologie sont discutées en lien avec le concept de “d'écart métaphysique” sur lequel l'archéologie construit son objet: cet espace entre la réalité du monde des autochtones et des archéologues qui revendiquent la connaissance à travers la méthode scientifique. Au 21ième siècle, il y a encore des questions à demander concernant l'archéologie, qui même si elle est per?ue comme une pratique décolonisatrice, doit inclure le processus de décolonisation d'elle-même. One World Archaeology procure une contexte pour continuer cette tache de décolonisation?