Broca’s Aphemia: The Tortuous Story of a Nonaphasic Nonparalytic Disorder of Speech

Broca coined the neologism “aphemia” to describe a syndrome consisting of a loss of the ability to speak without impairment of language and paralysis of the faciolingual territories in actions unrelated to speech, such as protruding the tongue or pursing the lips. Upon examining the brains of patients with aphemia, Broca concluded that the minimum possible lesion responsible for aphemia localized to the posterior left inferior frontal gyrus and lower portion of the middle frontal gyrus. A review of Broca’s writings led us to conclude that (a) Broca localized speech, not language, to the left hemisphere, (b) Broca’s aphemia is a form of apraxia, (c) Broca’s aphemia is not, therefore, a terminological forerunner of aphasia, and (d) Broca was an outspoken equipotentialist concerning the cerebral localization of language. Broca’s claim about the role of the left hemisphere in the organization of speech places him as the legitimate forebear of the two most outstanding achievements of Liepmann’s work, namely, the concepts of apraxia and of a left hemisphere specialization for action.     

Qadhat—a comparative study of ancient and new lime mortar from the Marib province/Yemen

Qadhat is the name for a lime mortar in Southern Arabia. Its usage has a long tradition. This work describes physical and mineralogical properties of ancient, historical and new samples, which seem to have been produced the same way. XRD, thin sections and SEM analyses show the similarity of the material. It consists of aggregates of volcanic material that are rich in volcanic glass and lime as binder. The production process includes several hours of crushing the material, which produces fine-grained splinters of aggregates in the binder matrix and gives the mortar a high stability. A weathering test with sodium sulphate on different samples confirms that the stability of this mortar is the result of the production process.     

The archaeology and paleoenvironment of an Upper Pleistocene hyena den: An integrated approach

Data of high resolution for reconstructions of archaeological site formation processes can be obtained only by the use of precise excavation methods and comprehensive recovery techniques using fine-mesh water screening, followed by meticulous sorting and quantitative studies of all the small organic components from the screens. These methods are generally used at human occupation sites, but are not often employed at paleontological or mixed human-carnivore sites. At the site of Bois Roche, an Upper Pleistocene hyena den, we have used these meticulous recovery techniques in combination with absolute dating, geoarchaeological observations, taphonomic analyses, studies of microvertebrates and pollen analysis. Correlation of the site environmental data from pollen and microvertebrate assemblages with the vegetation record of a deep-sea core taken in the Bay of Biscay have allowed us to constrain the ages provided by ESR dating of bovid teeth and to reconstruct the physical environment of the site with a degree of confidence rarely achieved by the use of fossil remains from archaeological sites alone.     

Archaeopedological analyses around a Neolithic hearth and the beginning of Sabaean irrigation in the oasis of Ma'rib (Ramlat as-Sab'atayn,Yemen)

Archaeopedological analyses in the oasis of Ma'rib (Yemen) yield new information of Neolithic land use, Bronze Age soil formation, and Sabaean irrigation. The AMS radiocarbon age of a Neolithic fireplace buried under Sabaean irrigation sediments in the Southern oasis indicates Pre-Sabaean human activities in Wadi Dhana about 5600 years ago. The associated Mid-Holocene palaeosol, developed in fluvial sediments of Wadi Dhana and also in the filling of the hearth, marks the Bronze Age-land surface before it was covered with irrigation sediments. Based on AMS radiocarbon data from charcoal in reservoir sediments of the “Great Dam” and an estimated time span of pedogenesis of the Mid-Holocene palaeosol in this region, we propose the beginning of the irrigation in Ma'rib in the period of 2500–1000 cal yr BC.