Intra-skeletal variability in trace elemental content of Precolumbian Chupicuaro human bones: the record of post-mortem alteration and a tool for palaeodietary reconstruction

This study applies an intra-skeletal sampling strategy to examine post-mortem alteration of archaeological human bone from west Mexico, and to reconstruct ancient diet. Human bone from the Chupicuaro culture (Mexico, Preclassic period) constitutes an ideal material with which to examine subsistence strategies because the specific hydrothermal environment in which the population lived would have provided certain food components (hydrothermal waters and carbonates) with distinct signature in Ca, Mg, F, Li, Sr, Mn, V and U values. Four to ten samples were taken from the long bones of six skeletons. Bone trace element content (Ca, P, F, Mn, Mg, Na, Li, V, Zn, Rb, Sr, Ba, Y, La, Ce, Nd, Th, U) and bone alteration parameters (crystallinity, organic matter and secondary calcite content) were analysed at the intra-skeletal level. Stable isotopic signatures (bone δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O_carbonate) and histological analyses were also performed on a single bone from each individual. Results indicate that all of the skeletons were affected by post-mortem mineralogical, structural and geochemical transformations. Biological bone δ¹³C values seem preserved for most of the individuals but an increase in crystallinity accompanies depletion in bone δ¹⁸O values. The combination of bone alteration parameters with bone elemental content shows that in this very specific context, a widespread dissolution-recrystallisation is unlikely. Of the hydrothermal tracers, Sr, F and Li were of particular interest because their retention in living tissues is related to the amount ingested. The intra-skeletal Li content does not reveal any pattern but Li depletion is not excluded. In contrast, Sr and F show a progressive intra-skeletal diagenetic enrichment likely due to gradual diffusion–adsorption processes. The bones with the lowest concentrations in these elements are assumed to yield the best representative ante-mortem values. The signal extracted from each skeleton, a very unusually high bone Sr, F and Li content, is interpreted as reflecting the consumption of the local hydrothermal products, which are also enriched in these elements.     

Local gender contract and adaptive capacity in smallholder irrigation farming: a case study from the Kenyan drylands

This article presents the local gender contract of a smallholder irrigation farming community in Sibou, Kenya. Women's role in subsistence farming in Africa has mostly been analyzed through the lens of gender division of labor. In addition to this, we used the concept of ‘local gender contract’ to analyze cultural and material preconditions shaping gender-specific tasks in agricultural production, and consequently, men's and women's different strategies for adapting to climate variability. We show that the introduction of cash crops, as a trigger for negotiating women's and men's roles in the agricultural production, results in a process of gender contract renegotiation, and that families engaged in cash cropping are in the process of shifting from a ‘local resource contract’ to a ‘household income contract.’ Based on our analysis, we argue that a transformation of the local gender contract will have a direct impact on the community's adaptive capacity climate variability. It is, therefore, important to take the negotiation of local gender contracts into account in assessments of farming communities' adaptive capacity.     

Construction and Interpretation of a 60‐year Flow Record for the river Tay at Kenmore

The backward extension of a river flow record for the River Tay, based on daily water level observations from 1937–76, has created the third‐longest sensibly continuous daily flow record for any Scottish river based on direct observations. The paper describes the derivation of the record, and assesses the variability of the Tay discharge over the 60‐year period covered. Unprecedented winter, spring and flood flows in the late 1980s/1990s are reported, in the context of improving the understanding of hydroclimatic variability.     

Identification and assessment of secondary refuse aggregates

Secondary refuse contains a wealth of information on the people who generated it. This article identifies some means by which archaeologists can identify and characterize secondary refuse aggregates — localized, high-density deposits of artifacts that have been discarded away from their place of use. A variety of studies of archaeological deposits — from prehistoric and historical archaeology, ethnoarchaeology, and modern material culture studies — provides hypotheses and a comparative database for discussion. I suggest that socioeconomic and demographic factors operating in a society greatly affect the composition of secondary refuse aggregates and propose some hypotheses regarding the directions and magnitudes of these relationships.     

Forty-Two Degrees South: The Archaeology of Late Pleistocene Tasmania

Over the past 18 years the results of archaeological field research in many parts of Australia have challenged the view of late Pleistocene archaeological unity and homogeneity. Debates are increasingly focused on issues of identifying regional behavioral variability and away from a normalization of Australia's prehistory. Prior notions of cultural transformations from simple (late Pleistocene) to complex (late Holocene) social behaviors, technological homogeneity, and the timing of colonization are being increasingly scrutinized. One such area that has become a spearhead of this challenge is Tasmania, which continues to demonstrate its ability to confront preconceptions about the nature of past human behaviors.     

Modeling life expectancy and surplus production of dynamic pre-contact territories in leeward Kohala, Hawai‘i

Hawaiian territoriality evolved in response to the ecodynamics of changing populations set within shifting socio-political structures. Modeling agricultural surplus production and life expectancy of various prehistoric and protohistoric territorial configurations in the leeward Kohala dryland field system identifies the costs and benefits associated with dynamic territorial units. The results of the modeling indicate that if people lived autonomous lives within their territories the 18-km long landscape containing the field system would have been optimally divided into 14 territories. The archaeological and ethnohistorical data suggest that at European contact the area was divided into 32 generally smaller territorial units. This configuration, while lowering average life expectancy and increasing levels of spatial variability in surplus production, maximized average yearly surplus and reduced its temporal variability. Dividing the field system into 32 units provided opportunities for elite managers to monitor production and control the redistribution of resources. The modeling and archaeological data suggest selection occurred differentially among social units, with certain segments of society having enhanced fitness in terms of agricultural resources at the expense of others, while maximizing the potential for surplus generation and possible redistribution.     

基于巡回的郊区居民一周出行行为日间差异——以北京市上地-清河地区为例

在中国城市郊区化与交通供求不平衡的发展趋势下,郊区居民出行研究日益受到关注;然而随着郊区生活愈多潜在问题浮出,刻画其在每日24小时尺度上的微观活动-出行模式的研究已不足以反映,需从新的视角重新审视出行研究。本文基于2012年北京市上地-清河地区居民日常活动与交通出行调查所获取的一周GPS与活动日志数据,采用描述性统计与方差分析的方法,以一周为时间尺度,研究居民在出行基本特征、时间节奏与巡回模式的日间差异。研究表明,郊区居民日常出行主要受工作活动制约,在工作日与休息日出行活跃程度差异明显;工作日之间,郊区居民出行具有自调节性;休息日之间,郊区居民出行特征差异较大。此研究结果可为交通出行政策制定提供参考依据。     

Bipolar Reduction and Behavioral Variability During the Mid-Late Holocene at Eagle's Nest,Mount Sinai Harbor,New York

Recent syntheses for the Long Island Sound region argue for long-term cultural continuity amongst Holocene coastal hunter-gatherers. These notions derive primarily from studies of quartz lithic assemblages, which archaeologists argue show structural stasis over time. The remaining variability is explained with a ‘distance to source' model in which near-coastal sites tend to show a lack of quartz conservation while interior sites show quartz recycling. Under this model, technological strategies traditionally associated with raw material conservation (e.g., bipolar reduction) should not occur at near-coastal sites. We test the ‘distance to source’ model by reexamining a quartz lithic assemblage from Eagle's Nest-Long Island's richest Holocene coastal hunter-gatherer site. We find conclusive evidence for bipolar reduction in the site's “block/shatter” materials. Toolmakers used bipolar reduction to conserve raw material. Toolmakers also used anvils and bipolar reduction to open quartz cobbles, to stabilize freehand cores, to efficiently access cutting edges, and possibly to create crushed coarse quartz temper for pottery production. Our results point to previously unrecognized aspects of behavioral variability in the Eagle's Nest lithic assemblage and to possible revision of the ‘distance to source’ model. Similar variability may be present at other North American sites with quartz “block/shatter” material.     

New data on the singularly rare ‘cockroachoids’ from Xiaheyan (Pennsylvanian; Ningxia,China)

Wei, D.D., Béthoux, O., Guo, Y.X., Schneider, J.W. & Ren D., 2013. New data on the singularly rare ‘cockroachoids’ from Xiaheyan (Pennsylvanian; Ningxia, China). Alcheringa 37, 547–557. ISSN 0311-5518.

Additional material of stem-Dictyoptera, or ‘cockroachoids’, is described from the Early Pennsylvanian Xiaheyan locality (Zhongwei City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China). New specimens belonging to Qilianiblatta namurensis Zhang et al., 2012 Zhang, Z., Schneider, J.W. & Hong, Y., 2012. The most ancient roach (Blattida): A new genus and species from the earliest Late Carboniferous (Namurian) of China, with discussion on the phylomorphogeny of early blattids. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 11, 27–40.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] are described, as are several specimens belonging to a new species (viz., Kinklidoblatta youhei sp. nov.). Three further specimens might represent additional species, to be better documented before they could be formally named. The occurrence of a ‘vannus’ in forewings of K. youhei sp. nov. is demonstrated, and discussed in the light of data on extant Dictyoptera. The low abundance and comparatively low diversity of the group in the locality is challenging, and might be a consequence of taphonomic bias.

Dandan Wei [weidandanok@126.com], Yinxia Guo [kuaile422@163.com] and Dong Ren [rendong@mail.cnu.edu.cn], College of Life Science, Capital Normal University, 105 Xisanhuanbeilu, Haidian District, Beijing 100048, PR China; Olivier Béthoux [obethoux@mnhn.fr], CR2P UMR 7207, MNHN, UPMC, CNRS, eight rue Buffon, CP38, F-75005, Paris, France; Jörg W. Schneider [joerg.schneider@geo.tu-freiberg.de], Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg, Institute of Geology, Department of Palaeontology, Bernhard-von-Cotta Str. 2, D-09596 Freiberg, Germany. Received 22.3.2013; revised 17.5.2013; accepted 23.5.2013.     

Evaluating background noise: Assessing off-site data from field surveys around the Italic sanctuary of S. Giovanni in Galdo,Molise, Italy

Abstract

This study demonstrates the potential of intensive sampling and off-site analyses to identify evidence of human activity in the past using the off-site data collected around the Italic sanctuary of S. Giovanni in Galdo, Molise, Italy. Rather than employing general and monocausal explanatory models—e.g., large-scale erosion or ancient manuring—to account for off-site material, this study examines ceramic ware variability from surface collections within the local context. It reveals that the ceramic ware variability in samples from low density areas with low visibility can be an important indicator of past human activity. The results of this examination of background noise—or unexplained variability in off-site material—from the Sacred Landscape Project increase the number and types of sites recognized in the surface collections. Furthermore, the analysis reduces the amount of surface material that can be regarded as off-site material and thus changes its composition. The overall results shed new light on the origins of off-site material and whether it should be interpreted as evidence of human activity in historical landscapes.