An Archaic Human Ulna from Chagyrskaya Cave Altai: Morphology and Taxonomy*

Excavations at the Chagyrskaya Cave site in Gorny Altai have revealed a Mousteroid industry along with fragmented human remains. This study focuses on a left ulna from stratum 6a. Its size, proportions, symptoms of disease, and indicators of muscular activity, point to Neanderthal affinities. The bone is large, linking the individual with certain Near Eastern Neanderthal males such as Shanidar. Symptoms of what might be diagnosed as Forestier disease suggest likewise.     

Comparison of fluoride and direct AMS radiocarbon dating of black bear bone from Lawson Cave,Missouri

Abstract

After a 20-year hiatus (1955–1975) during which few archaeologists discussed fluoride dating, the method again received attention in the 1980s and 1990s when some argued for its validity. As a dating method, fluoride dating depends on the rate at which fluorine ions replace hydroxyl ions in osseous tissue. The rate of replacement is influenced by the properties of the skeletal part (SP), sediment chemistry (K), and sediment hydrology (H), and the replacement rate influences estimates of time. Calibrated AMS radiocarbon assays of 10 black bear (Ursus americanus) femora from a natural-trap cave in central Missouri are weakly correlated with fluorine concentrations, determined by neutron activation analysis in the 10 femora. Despite minimal variation in SP, K, and H, results indicate fluoride dating can be considered a valid dating method only in cases when the chronological validity of its results are confirmed with independent chronometric data. As similarities in fluorine amounts across specimens increase, provenience information and bone orientation data as well as fine resolution data on K and H become critical to the application of fluoride dating.     

3D imaging of Skoteino Cave,Crete, Greece: Successes and difficulties

Abstract

Interpreting cave use, especially from antiquity, requires the perception of subterranean space in all dimensions (floor to ceiling to lateral extent) including spatial variability resulting from geological factors. Subterranean conditions, coupled with variable atmospheric conditions, create a special environment not readily conveyed by conventional mapping techniques limited to two-dimensional floor plans. Skoteino Cave in north central Crete, Greece was used as a ritual and refuge site in the Bronze Age and later. Mapping of the cave attempted to depict and interpret prehistoric and historical use of this space by employing two mapping techniques: EDM total station mapping and terrestrial/point cloud laser scanning. Comparisons with earlier methods used to map cave show the advantages and disadvantages of various mapping schemes. To date, this was the first use of three-dimensional (3D) scanning to explore the complex shapes and space of a subterranean archaeological site on Crete (and the second such use in Greece), and this use demonstrates its own consequent successes and difficulties.     

Uranium series dating reveals a long sequence of rock art at Altamira Cave (Santillana del Mar,Cantabria)

The rock art in Altamira Cave was the first ensemble of Palaeolithic parietal art to be identified scientifically (Sautuola, 1880). Due to the great thematic, technical and stylistic variety of the art in the cave, which constitutes one of the most complete Palaeolithic art ensembles, Altamira was listed as World Heritage by UNESCO in 1985. Uranium-series dating has recently been applied to figures on the decorated ceiling in the cave. Several motifs are partly covered by thin layers of calcite precipitates, whose formation process is datable by this method. The results provide the date when the calcite formed, which gives a minimum age for the underlying depictions. These results confirm that the parietal art at Altamira was produced during a prolonged period of time, at least 20,000 years (between 35,000 and 15,200 years ago), and that part of the ensemble corresponds to the Aurignacian period.     

广元千佛崖莲花洞彩绘颜料拉曼光谱分析

为了解广元千佛崖莲花洞造像的制作工艺与彩绘颜料成分,利用体视显微分析、金相显微分析、激光拉曼光谱分析技术对其进行物相和成分分析。分析结果表明,莲花洞造像彩绘直接绘制在岩石雕像表面,无底层。彩绘颜料分为多层,最多有三层,说明历史上至少有两次重绘。红色颜料为赤铁矿、朱砂;蓝色颜料主要为青金石与石青;绿色颜料为石绿、碱式氯化铜;白色颜料为硫酸铅。同时也表明,拉曼光谱分析彩绘颜料成分组成简便、快速、对样品要求量小,对样品无损分析,符合文物材质分析的要求,并可得到准确的信息。造像彩绘制作材料及工艺的分析结果为莲花洞造像彩绘保护研究提供了科学依据。     

Presence of xiphodont crocodilians in the Tertiary and Pleistocene of Australia

The presence of two types of xiphodont crocodiles is reported for the first time from Australia. Crocodiles with this xiphoid type of tooth morphology were previously unknown anywhere in the world since the Miocene except for isolated xiphoid teeth noted by Plane (1967) from a Pliocene deposit in New Guinea.     

Life and Death in Neolithic Southeastern Italy: The Strontium Isotopic Evidence

There is a strong relation between people's structured identities and their chemical biographies: these can reflect the way individuals choose to reside and/or move. The strontium isotope ratio (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) of skeletal remains is considered a useful proxy to assess residential mobility and social practices in past populations; however, so far, it has only occasionally been applied to prehistoric contexts in the Mediterranean. In this paper, we present ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr data of human and animal samples from several Neolithic sites in the Apulian Tavoliere (southeastern Italy), namely, Grotta Scaloria, Passo di Corvo, Masseria Candelaro and La Torretta/Poggio Imperiale. Data obtained from dental enamel reflect the local origin of the individuals and allowed us to differentiate function and meaning of the sites examined. In particular, within a generally homogeneous background of Sr signatures, the range of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr at Scaloria Cave is greater than at the other sites, with variation likely to be related to funerary practices. We interpret this as the evidence of the ritual use of the cave, which implied the gathering of people of different origin. The relative variation of the Sr signature among individuals, either intersite or intrasite can be tentatively associated with mobility during life as well as with social practices, such as access to foods from geologically different environments. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hayonim Cave: a TL-based chronology for this Levantine Mousterian sequence

The thermoluminescence dating method was applied to 77 heated flints from the Mousterian layers of Hayonim Cave in order to provide a precise TL-based chronology for this important Levantine sequence. A detailed dosimetric study was performed by using 76 dosimeter capsules and revealed strong spatial dose-rate variations. In parallel, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry enabled the identification of various mineral assemblages in the sediments of the cave and to localize the boundaries of these assemblages. By comparing these two data sets, it is shown that low dose-rate values (∼500 μGy/a) are systematically recorded in areas where the calcite-dahllite (CD) assemblage is preserved, whereas higher values (up to 1300 μGy/a) are associated with the leucophosphite, montgomeryite, variscite and siliceous aggregates (LMVS) assemblage. The dosimetric and mineralogical information was combined in order to assess, where possible, the dose-rate experienced by each flint during its burial. Some of the flint samples analyzed were too close to mineral assemblage boundaries and were therefore discarded. This rigorous selection led to TL ages ranging from 230 to 140 ka for the lower part of the Mousterian sequence (layers F and Lower E), which contains lithic industries characterized by blade production using the laminar method.     

云冈20窟佛坐像对太和期单尊佛像的影响

云冈20窟佛像的图样来源属于犍陀罗-凉州系统佛像,其坐像的衣纹形式在昙曜五窟中别具一格。至云冈第2期即太和时期,以20窟佛坐像为范本的石窟佛像和单尊铜石佛像盛行一时,确立了太和时期独具特色的佛像形式。