Mumba Rockshelter, Tanzania, is the only East African site spanning a continuous record of more than 100,000 years, including the Middle Stone Age (MSA) to Late Stone Age (LSA) Transition. Rather than examine the presence or absence of traditional markers of “behavioral modernity”, we have endeavored here to respond to the calls of Shea (2011) and Basell (2008) by examining the proportional similarity of a trait present throughout the MSA–LSA sequence at Mumba Rockshelter: the bipolar technique of lithic reduction. We use a quantified, experimentally derived proxy to track the relative amount of bipolar percussion among Mumba's Beds VI, V, and III, namely, waste shatter. Our examination of Mehlman's previously unanalyzed collections from Mumba demonstrates that in terms of bipolar production Bed V is statistically indistinguishable from the Late Stone Age (LSA) Bed III, but significantly different from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) Bed VI. Given that Bed V dates to 56.9 ± 4.8 − 49.1 ± 4.3 ka cal BP, this result is consistent with other evidence that the origins of the LSA in East Africa began well before 40 kya, and that Mumba Bed V represents one of the earliest manifestations of the LSA in East Africa. We conclude with a discussion of factors that may have influenced the increased dependence of bipolar production at the site. 相似文献
Demand for service in location modelling is often evaluated based on the spatial proximity of fixed and static reference locations of demand (e.g. home) to a facility, which ignores person‐specific activity–travel patterns and the temporal changes in demand for service throughout the day. To address these limitations, this study draws upon recent developments in space–time measures of individual accessibility to explore the spatial and temporal structures of demand by considering individuals' space–time constraints and impact of existing urban structures. Based on a time‐geographic framework, eight space–time demand measures were developed and compared with three conventional location‐based demand measures for 12 hospitals through an empirical study conducted in Columbus, Ohio. The results show that geographic proximity between clients' home and facilities may not be an effective indicator for service demand, and conventional demand measures tend to underestimate potential demand for service in most situations. The study concludes that space–time demand measures that take into account people's activity‐travel patterns in space–time would lead to better estimation of demand for service in most cases. 相似文献
Lithic raw material constraints are widely assumed to be a determining factor of flaked stone tool morphology, but this assumption remains largely untested. We conducted a controlled experiment to determine whether a knapper’s growing replication skills would be hindered if the toolstone used was switched from large flakes of an easily worked chert to nodules of less tractable one. Two batches of Preferential Levallois cores were knapped, an earlier series made from standardised large flakes of sediments dominated by chalcedonic quartz followed by a more challenging one using variably-shaped, cortical nodules of microcrystaline quartz that varies in the completeness of quartz replacement of calcite and dolomite. Skill level markers were designed to measure the knapper’s ability to achieve a series of set goals. These were quantified and subjected to statistical testing. In all but one test, significant increases in skill could be detected from the earlier to the later batch of reductions, despite the drop in toolstone quality. Significant improvements in the consistency of the knapper’s output could also be detected. However, the switch to a more challenging, nodular chert did require extra shaping, which resulted in more waste. This masked visible progress towards producing a less costly core. Overall, our results do not support the assumed primacy of toolstone constraints over other factors in influencing the morphology of flaked stone tools. 相似文献
Palaeoanthropologists and archaeologists have long invoked climate change to explain aspects of human evolution. Collection of new climatic and environmental data combined with new fossil discoveries and methodological improvements continue to make exploration of this link a vital endeavour in studying human evolution. The current study employs a global climatic dataset and a rigorously compiled catalogue of hominin first and last appearance dates to test the effects of changes in temperature on hominin speciation and extinction. Through the use of wavelet analysis and bandpass filters the eccentricity, obliquity, and precession components of the studied climatic record are extracted and tested independently for associations with patterns of speciation and extinction. Results suggest that all three components may play a role in speciation events, but that only the obliquity cycle shows a statistically significant relationship with extinction events. It is suggested that, whilst climatic factors could contribute to the appearance of new hominin species, subsequent competition between these species may lead to their extinction. 相似文献
This article presents the comparison among different nonlinear seismic analysis methods applied to masonry buildings, i.e., pushover analyses with invariant lateral force distributions, adaptive pushover analysis and nonlinear dynamic analysis. The study focuses on the influence of lateral force distribution on the results of the pushover analysis. Two simple benchmark case studies are considered for the purpose of the research, i.e., a four-wall masonry building prototype without floor rigid diaphragms and a two-wall system with a cross-vault. The comparative study offers a useful review of pushover analysis methods for masonry structures and shows advantages and possible limitations of each approach. 相似文献
Human occupation of northern Eurasia high latitudes entailed coping with severe bioclimatic circumstances and Ice Age cycle fluctuations. Resolving this “adaptability paradox” required depending on cultural, rather than biological means. Paleolithic evidence indicates culture historical developments of considerable time depth, long-term adaptive stages, and thresholds in the “peopling of the North.” It began with Lower Paleolithic populations expanding into temperate and continental Eurasia, becoming fully actualized during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. The Middle Paleolithic formative stage constituted a human biogeographic realm overlapping significantly with the Mammoth-Steppe Biome faunal complex. Part I identifies issues, time perspectivism, culture, foraging adaptation, and human biogeography concepts. Lower Paleolithic occurrences, initial occupation episodes are surveyed and discussed. 相似文献
In 2007 the District Health Services in Satara District, Maharashtra, India, undertook an innovative programme, ‘the Second Honeymoon Package’ (SHP), which aimed to reduce the rate of population growth by offering conditional cash transfers (CCTs) to newly married couples who agreed to postpone their first birth by two or three years. The approach differed from India's traditional family planning programme, based mainly on female sterilisation, by promoting ‘non-terminal’ contraceptive methods, such as condoms and pills. The SHP ended prematurely in 2010 without being fully evaluated, leaving unanswered the question of its impact and potential for scale-up.
This paper addresses this question by investigating the perceptions and experiences women and couples who participated in the programme, as well as the views of local health staff. We use quantitative data from a 2010 survey of 1355 SHP participants, in which the third author was involved, and new qualitative data from a total of 26 programme staff and participants, collected by the first two authors in 2015. Participants’ perceptions of the programme indicate that the SHP had many positive attributes, despite some major challenges. We conclude with recommendations for improving and scaling up programmes of this kind in India and elsewhere. 相似文献