Stable carbon- and nitrogen-isotope ratios and electron spin resonance (ESR) g-values of charred bones: changes with heating and a critical evaluation of the utility of g-values for reconstructing thermal history and original isotope ratios

Changes in the stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of modern bone samples heated to a variety of times and temperatures were used to determine the effect of heating on isotope ratios and the retention of organic matter in charred bones. For organic extracts produced by slow demineralization in weak acid, δ¹³C values were unchanged, while δ¹⁵N values increased by up to 5‰ and were primarily determined by heating temperature. Changes in the electron spin resonance (ESR) g-value of whole bone and organic extracts were also measured. For organic extracts from charred bones, the g-value was well-correlated with δ¹⁵N and temperature, suggesting that g-values could be used to estimate the charring temperature and original δ¹⁵N values of charred bones. Thus, g-values from demineralized extracts could be very useful in forensic investigations where it would important to reconstruct the thermal history of burned bones. Isotope ratios and g-values of demineralized extracts from four prehistoric components at three sites that produced cremated human bone were used to test whether the same approach can be applied to archaeological materials. While carbon isotope ratios of the prehistoric samples were similar to those of uncharred specimens, nitrogen isotope ratios were increased and the g-value corrections for nitrogen isotope ratios were not effective.     

Approximating the Face of ‘Aunty’: A Question of Likeness

This paper describes two approaches to the facial approximation of three individuals from the Wairau Bar burial site (New Zealand). Two individuals were approximated working in direct reference to the remains and incorporated manual drafting. The third individual, ‘Aunty’ (the respectful title given by the iwi Rangitane elders) was approximated from CT scans and using computer graphics. The computer graphic approach enabled a greater level of precision in the application of the research and recommendations that inform a facial approximation, and facilitated collaboration with appropriate expertise. The computer-graphic approach, however, also resulted in a more photographic facial appearance, which can imply a greater level of knowledge about hard/soft tissue relationships than is currently available.     

“AND DAVID PERCEIVED” (2 SAMUEL 5,2)

Abstract

2 Samuel 5,12 is shown to be important. It does not merely repeat verse 10 and is not an addendum that is poorly integrated into the literary unit.

Its importance is that it presents David's inner world: he ascribes his success to the Lord, Who acts for the benefit of His people. This alludes to two aspects of the monarchical covenant in Israel: king-the Lord and king-people. In both realms David is perceived as embodying the book's criteria for the ideal leader.

In addition, the language of the verse is examined against the background of the entire book of Samuel. The verse suggests that David is Saul's successor (whereas verse 10 suggests that he is Samuel's heir).     

South Africa's Departure from the Commonwealth, 1960–1961

Famine threatened the lives of over twenty million residents of north China in 1920, prompting a massive, and ultimately successful, relief effort. Scholarship on the famine has largely credited China's foreign and coastal, cosmopolitan Chinese circles with this humanitarian feat at the expense of what was in fact a surprisingly effective Chinese state apparatus that year, as well as local relief operations by many famine-stricken communities themselves. This study captures a very specific moment of US and European cultural production on ‘China’ and ‘the Chinese’ in which the great north China famine of 1920–1 occurred, to argue that our current understanding of Chinese relief culture circa 1920 remains largely a product of foreign characterization (by the celebrated likes of Somerset Maugham and Bertrand Russell) and political commentary by reformist Chinese during a period of post-May Fourth cultural turmoil. If we hold the output of these writers up to alternative original sources on events that year, it becomes clear that the historiography on China's greatest humanitarian crisis of the first quarter of the twentieth century remains insufficiently insulated from the raw discursive climate in which the crisis unfolded.     

Faces of Homo floresiensis (LB1)

Since being excavated in 2003, the skull of LB1 (the holotype of Homo floresiensis) has been given many faces, though the details regarding how each was accomplished are typically few. Here we detail our application of known, and verified, relationships between the skull and soft tissues of anatomically modern humans to produce an evidence-based facial approximation of LB1. We then compare our results to nine pre-existing LB1 faces using geometric morphometrics. These analyses suggest our facial approximation differs in proportional facial width, upper lip height and nasal morphology. Some of these differences are likely due to a different interpretation of taphonomic and excavation damage, application of different 'forensic' methods and/or an idiosyncratic incorporation of aspects of non-human primate morphology. Other differences, and in particular upper lip height, are less justifiable in relation to the skeletal evidence.     

Parameters in the use of pXRF for archaeological site prospection: a case study at the Reaume Fort Site,Central Minnesota

Field portable/hand-held x-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analyzers have been characterized as potentially useful for archaeological site prospection, but little has been published on the parameters of their use in this manner. The purpose of this study is to explore whether the variability of surface geochemistry as characterized with a pXRF analyzer corresponds with subsurface archaeological features at a site subsequently excavated, and what conditions influence the success of this endeavor, including feature depths, soil moisture, and sample processing. A 520 m² within-site area was systematically surveyed on a 2 m interval, within which several types of archaeological features were excavated (chimney bases, wall trenches, and a bonebed of faunal waste), taking readings in situ and collecting samples for ex situ testing (undried, dried but not powdered, and dried/powdered). The four different tests of each grid location, analyzed through univariate and multivariate tests, showed that the pXRF surface data does correspond with some types of subsurface features when those features are very shallow (within 5 cm of surface level) and are associated with clayey fills. Further, the data from the subsurface samples provides excellent distinction of feature fills from other sediments, regardless of sample preparation. In situ surface survey with pXRF analyzers may however be adequate for sites with a thorough baseline geochemical database.