Norse Animal Husbandry in Liminal Environments: Stable Isotope Evidence from the Scottish North Atlantic Islands

ABSTRACT

This paper employs δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N analysis of bone collagen to explore animal management at large Norse settlement sites in the liminal environments of the Scottish North Atlantic Islands. The Norse period was a time of social, cultural and economic change; the need to feed an expanding population and the demand for trade meant that domestic stock were a crucial resource. Our results indicate that rearing animals in these challenging insular environments required careful management. At all sites, the diet and movement of domestic cattle and sheep were highly similar and carefully controlled and, despite many of the analysed settlements lying close to the coast, there was no use of shorefront grazing or fodder resources. In contrast, pig rearing strategies varied across the island groups. In the Western Isles pig diets were diverse, indicative of household or ad hoc management, whilst on Orkney all pigs consumed a more restricted diet based primarily on terrestrial protein. A comparison of red deer with domestic stock on the Western Isles indicates that both groups were exploiting similar grazing niches.     

Leaf galls on Dicroidium hughesii (Feistmantel) Lele from the Triassic of India—a new record

Disc-like galls are reported on the Triassic corystosperm leaf Dicroidium hughesii (Feistmantel) Lele from the Parsora Formation of South Rewa Gondwana Basin, central India. Although there have been numerous reports of arthropod–plant interactions from Permian and Lower Cretaceous successions, this is the first unequivocal report of arthropod–plant interactions from the Triassic succession of Peninsular India. The new record adds to global evidence that arthropod herbivory and gall formation, in particular, had rediversified by the Late Triassic in the wake of the end-Permian mass extinction.     

Early astogeny in the Catenicellidae (Bryozoa,Cheilostomata)

Examples of early astogeny in the species Carinatocella harmeri (Stach), Costaticella hastata (Busk) and Claviporella aurita (Busk) are discussed. The primary zoid differs in each species and if found fossil, only in C. hastata could this zoid be recognised as a bryozoan fragment. Analogous development in other Bryozoa is discussed.     

The first record of a Maastrichtian ammonite from the Perth Basin,Western Australia,and its biostratigraphical significance

The first known ammonite from the Maastrichtian of the Perth Basin, a single, incomplete specimen of Grossouvrites gemmatus (Huppé, 1854), is described from core material from the Lancelin No. 1 borehole. Foraminiferal and nannoplankton evidence date the ammonite as middle Maastrichtian; its age is also assessed on the basis of dinoflagellate assemblages from this section, but these give a less precise dating. The position of the ammonite with respect to a mid-Maastrichtian disconformity, which probably extended along much of the Western Australian margin is discussed.     

The origin of overpressure in 'old' sedimentary basins: an example from the Cooper Basin, Australia

Overpressure in ‘old’ sedimentary basins that have not undergone rapid, recent sedimentation cannot be easily explained using traditional burial‐driven mechanisms. The last significant burial event in the Cooper Basin, Australia, was the Late Cretaceous deposition of the Winton Formation (98.5–90 Ma). Maximum temperature in the basin was attained during the Late Cretaceous, with cooling beginning prior to 75 Ma. Hence, overpressure related to rapid burial or palaeomaximum temperatures (e.g. hydrocarbon generation) must have developed prior to 75 Ma. Retaining overpressure for 75 Ma in ‘old’ basins such as the Cooper Basin requires extremely low seal permeabilities. An alternative explanation is that overpressure in the Cooper Basin has been generated because of an increase in mean stress associated with an increase in horizontal compressive stress since Late Cretaceous times. Structural observations and contemporary stress data indicate that there has been an increase in mean stress of approximately 50 MPa between Late Cretaceous times to that presently measured at 3780 m. The largest measured overpressure in the Cooper Basin is 14.5 MPa at 3780 m in the Kirby 1 well. Hence, disequilibrium compaction driven by increasing mean stress can explain the magnitude of the observed overpressure in the Cooper Basin. Increases in mean stress (tectonic loading) may be a feasible mechanism for overpressure generation in other ‘old’ basins that have undergone a recent increase in horizontal stress (e.g. Anadarko Basin).     

安徽泗县刘圩汴河故道遗址发掘简报

2011年3～4月,安徽省文物考古研究所对安徽泗县刘圩遗址进行了抢救性发掘,揭示一批汉至唐宋遗迹。其中,唐宋汴河北堤的发现,在隋唐大运河泗县段尚属首次;宋代踩踏面及相关遗迹的发现反映了汴河漕运的繁华;北宋末至南宋初土坑墓的发现印证了相关文献记载的汴河废弃时代。     

晚明华北宗族与族谱的再造——以山东青州《重修邢氏宗谱》为例

山东青州邢氏原是务农的家族,在邢玠科举成功为官之后,转型为官宦之家,成为地方望族。从万历时的邢玠开始,到崇祯时的邢彤庭,邢氏从事宗族建设,制定并实践各种宗族制度,宗族乡约化、组织化。邢氏受到宋代程颐、程灏的宗会思想很大影响,通过"宗会"复兴"宗法"。这是宋以后宗族组织化的一种重要模式,以往的宗族研究重视不够。邢氏也编修了族谱,有家庙或者家堂,将御赐的祭田作为族田,还设置了宗学、义仓,族长实际上就是宗正。邢玠受到苏洵苏氏谱法以及睦族主张的影响较大,邢氏族谱着眼于睦族,收录大量宗族制度的文献,内容非常丰富,面貌大为改观,成为重要的民间文献。晚明不仅再造宗族,也再造了族谱,完成了中国近世宗族与族谱的基本形式。