Determining Age and Season of Death by Use of Incremental Lines in Norwegian Reindeer Tooth Cementum

Using incremental patterns in tooth cementum is a powerful tool for age assessment. Recent developments have shown that the method has a large potential as an indicator of the season of death of the individual in question. In this paper, the results of a study comparing thin sections of teeth of the modern Hardangervidda reindeer population to those of Iron Age, eleventh, and thirteenth century reindeer hunting stations from the same area are presented. The tooth wear stages were compared to the actual age of the individual (based on the number of incremental lines and the age at eruption). It was established that in the studied reindeer populations wear stages sometimes result in too low an age estimate. Having identified the start of the period of deposition for rest lines in the modern reindeer population as early autumn and winter, analysis of the outermost layer in the tooth cementum at the archaeological sites points to a prolonged hunting season in the thirteenth century, while in the earlier phases hunters were probably present on fewer and shorter visits.     

The in situ preservation of archaeological remains: using lysimeters to assess the impacts of saturation and seasonality

Recent research has studied the effects of seasonal variability on waterlogged burial environments. In a new approach to the study of archaeological contexts, the use of controlled laboratory conditions via lysimeters has enabled new insights into the nature of short term fluctuations in saturation, and the impact that these can have on burial contexts. In addition, the protocols used have facilitated interesting insights into burial environments and the way in which fluctuations in saturation and seasonality can impact on the contained organic components within them.     

Molluscan calendars: The use of growth-line analysis to establish seasonality of shellfish collection at the Mesolithic site of Morton,Fife

The technique of growth-line analysis is used to examine seasonal growth patterns in modern specimens of the edible cockle, Cerastoderma edule L. The modern control work provides a basis for the interpretation of seasonal collection in archaeological cockles, and is applied to shells from the Mesolithic site of Morton, Fife. The seasonal use of the site is shown to be clearly related to site function.     

Seasonal weather sensitivity,temperature thresholds,and climate change impacts for park visitation

Historical park visitation and weather data, taken at the daily time scale from 2000 to 2009 for Pinery Provincial Park in southern Ontario (Canada), were analysed as an objective measure of the weather sensitivity, temperature thresholds, and potential impacts of projected climate change for park visitation. Three seasonal weather-visitation models were constructed using multivariable linear regression (peak, shoulder, off-season). To account for both natural and institutional seasonality, the weather-visitation models included both climatic (temperature, precipitation) and social (weekends, holidays) variables, which demonstrated equably comparable effects on visitation across the three models. Critical temperature thresholds were identified for each season using one-way analysis of variance to determine the range of temperatures within which the threshold was evident; the specific degree of temperature associated with the threshold was identified within the seasonal regression models. Temperatures over 33 °C during the peak season and over 29 °C during the shoulder season indicated critical thresholds at which point conditions that were ‘too hot’ for some caused a decline in visitation. Furthermore, temperatures below 11 °C indicated another critical threshold, where conditions were ‘too cold’ for most and therefore park visitation was less sensitive to temperature variability below this threshold. A partial sensitivity analysis for the impact of a warmer, wetter climate on park visitation was conducted, illustrating the effect of a 1 °C to 5 °C warming in maximum temperatures, coupled with a 5% to 15% increase in total precipitation. In response to projected climate change, the weather-visitation models suggested that for each additional degree of warming experienced, despite the negative effects of increasing precipitation and more frequent heat extremes, annual park visitation could increase by 3.1%, annually. The projected increase in park visitation as a result of rising temperatures was mainly associated with shoulder season visitation, with only minor increases in peak season visitation.     

The avifauna of the early Epipalaeolithic site of Ohalo II (19 400 years BP), Israel: species diversity,habitat and seasonality

The early Epipalaeolithic site of Ohalo II offers evidence that, some 19 400 years BP, prehistoric people on the shore of the Sea of Galilee exploited birds in large numbers as a food source and for the decorative value of their feathers and claws. The superb preservation of even the most delicate fauna at this site enabled an extensive analysis of a type rarely possible with avian remains of this antiquity. Certain types of birds were obtained preferentially, although a broad variety of avifauna was taken; preliminary analysis of some 488 identifiable bone fragments indicates that 16 families, 40 genera, and 68 different species are represented in the archaeological assemblage. As might be expected from a lakeshore site, the remains of waterfowl abound. The most diversity within a family occurs among the Anatidae, with ten genera and 22 species; however, the most frequently occurring birds are those of the family Podicipidae, or grebes, which account for approximately one-third of the assemblage. Species common to a variety of other environments are found in significant numbers as well (namely the Accipitridae). Large birds dominate the assemblage and the number of species represented by each family is disproportionate to the numerical frequency of those species at present, with passeriformes relatively poorly represented. The regular migration pattern of birds today broadly indicates that the site was occupied during the months of September–November and February–April. There are, however, a number of species that appear in this region today only from December through to March, which might indicate a longer, semi-permanent encampment. A biseasonal, or perhaps extended winter occupation pattern at Ohalo II seems to support a shift away from the generalized foraging economy of hunter–gatherers and to indicate the onset of planned intensive collecting, thus foreshadowing the initial steps toward sedentism. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

海南入境旅游季节性特征与调控措施

本文利用2006-2010年海南入境旅游资料,采用旅游月日指数、季节性集中指数,研究海南入境旅游季节性特征,得出以下结论:(1)海南入境旅游旺季为11月到次年4月,淡季为6、9月,国外游客市场、香港、澳门和台湾市场旅游淡旺季不同步;(2)近年海南入境客流季节性强度呈逐年减弱趋势;(3)不同入境旅游市场中,澳门市场旅游季节性强度最强,国外市场、香港、台湾市场依次减弱;国外市场中主要客源国的旅游季节性特征不同;(4)自然因素是海南入境旅游季节性形成的主要影响因素,制度因素在自然因素基础上产生叠加作用;(5)可通过制定季节性价格、完善旅游设施、丰富旅游产品、加强营销手段等策略调控季节性变化,拓展海南省入境旅游,缩小旅游淡旺季差距。     

The combined use of oxygen isotopes and microwear in sheep teeth to elucidate seasonal management of domestic herds: the case study of Çatalhöyük,central Anatolia

This paper presents and tests a model designed to investigate how off-site herd management developed in settled pre-historic societies. The model is constructed from data collected from traditionally raised local sheep, acting as an interpretive link to published data. The modern comparator was small, but plausible results allow modelling of the archaeological data to be explored. Birth seasonality and herding location are identified through modelled patterns in oxygen isotope data in tooth enamel, and diet just before death by microwear in the same tooth. In combination, these allow aspects of seasonal management of breeding, fallow and slaughter herd sections to be interpreted. Novel practices are discussed in comparison local wild sheep ethology. The case study is Neolithic Çatalhöyük (7400–6200 cal BC) in central Anatolia. Its location provided the opportunity for different parts of the landscape to be used for herding, although choice might have been socially constrained. Data are taken from 72 specimens; the results suggest settlement-wide preference for a suite of practices that kept herds within a day of the settlement and that maintained breeding cycle synchrony with optimal resource availability. Chronological analysis suggests birth season manipulation was tried but rejected, whilst hay or cereal fodder was introduced and became increasingly important. It is argued that herding was probably on dedicated pasture on the arable fringes rather than in closer integration on ‘garden plots’, as there is no evidence of field-edge weed diets and little evidence of adjusting the birth season to accommodate the crop cycle.     

Stable isotope insights (δ18O, δ13C) into cattle and sheep husbandry at Bercy (Paris,France, 4th millennium BC): birth seasonality and winter leaf foddering

Abstract

Bercy is a prehistoric village sited by the Seine river (Paris, France), whose main period of occupation was dated to the very beginning of the 4th millennium BC. The animal subsistence economy relied heavily on cattle husbandry, complemented by other species including sheep. Cattle and sheep isotopic history (δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O) was investigated at the seasonal scale, through sequential sampling in tooth enamel, providing new insights into seasonality of birth and diet. Sheep were lambing in mid-spring, only slightly later than expected from what is observed nowadays in temperate Europe at similar latitude. Cattle were born over a period spanning approximately six months, which was an unexpected result compared with a two to three months calving period in free-ranging cattle populations. The extension of the calving period might have been related to seasonal food supplementation. Some cattle and some sheep fed on a ¹³C-depleted resource in winter, potentially leafy fodder. A direct consequence of an extended calving period would be the availability of cow milk, which would have covered the whole year at Bercy. This is important information in a context where the exploitation of cattle milk by the human community was highly suspected from the demographic management of the herd.     

历史文化村镇旅游流季节性特征比较研究——以西递、周庄为例

本文以西递和周庄为例,对历史文化村镇旅游流季节性特征进行比较。研究表明,两地在旅游流季节分布不均匀性、季节分布模式和季节划分方面均存在一定差异。对基尼系数和季节性强度指数的分析表明,两者在描述旅游流的季节性变动特征方面具有可替代性,且前者在一定程度上优于后者。另外,旅游地发展阶段也会对旅游流季节性特征有一定影响。论文建议旅游流季节性特征可作为旅游地发展阶段的一项评估指标。     

Daily growth increments on fish otoliths as seasonality indicators on archaeological sites: The Tilapia from late palaeolithic Makhadma in Egypt

Daily growth increments in fish otoliths have been demonstrated for the first time on Quaternary sagittae from a late palaeolithic site in Egypt and they have allowed us to establish the season of fishing. Transverse sections of tilapia sagittae studied under light-microscope demonstrate that recrystallization during diagenesis renders the majority of the margins unreadable. The well-preserved otoliths, however, all have widely spaced outer growth lines, indicating that the fish died during a period of fast growth which coincides with the flood season. Moreover, counting the daily increments showed that late palaeolithic man captured the animals on the floodplain of the Nile after the maximum of the flood, when residual pools were present.