Dysentery in the crusader kingdom of Jerusalem: an ELISA analysis of two medieval latrines in the City of Acre (Israel)

Dysentery was a significant cause of ill health during medieval times according to written sources of the period. However, it has been very difficult to detect the organisms that cause dysentery in archaeological samples from latrines and cesspools. This is because the cysts of the enteric parasites that cause dysentery are very small and usually fragment in the soil, in contrast to the robust ova of parasitic intestinal worms. This study uses a monoclonal enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique to identify the fragments of those enteric parasites that cause diarrhoea. Samples were taken from two excavated medieval latrines in the city of Acre. Coins and radiocarbon dating suggest that the latrines were in use during the thirteenth century CE. Positive results were noted for Entamoeba histolytica and Giardia duodenalis, while Cryptosporidium parvum was negative. This is the first time that either of these parasites have been identified in the Middle East using these methods.     

也说师■鼎铭的“困(韋東)伯太师武”

师■鼎铭"困伯太师武"一句的"困(韋東)"二字,原文写法非常奇怪。裘锡圭先生释为"東(韋東)",读为"范围",认为是遵循、效法之意。本文同意把后一字释为"(韋東)",但把前一字改释为"困"。"困(韋東)"也是遵循、效法的意思。     

Six seasons of wild pea harvest in Israel: bearing on Near Eastern plant domestication

Harvest experiments of wild crop relatives are essential for our understanding of the biology of wild plants embodied in the economy of ancient forager communities. Most of the previous experimental harvest reports spanned a single season and therefore are unable to address questions concerning long-term yield potential. Herein we report on six consecutive harvest seasons taking place at four sites in Israel that harbour wild pea populations: three typical Pisum fulvum sites and one typical Pisum elatius site. Three out of the four sites showed no indication of a decline in grain yield as a result of repeated harvest and the removal of a considerable portion of mature seeds. Site-specific factors seem to have a strong influence on the grain yield as no seasonal yield similarity was observed between adjacent and ecologically similar sites harbouring the same wild pea taxon. The erratic year-to-year wild pea yield we observed calls for a reassessment of the presumed role of grain legume species in Near Eastern hunter–gatherers' diet. Combined with published data on cultivation of wild pea, our results are inconsistent with models suggesting protracted domestication of Near Eastern grain legumes or with the preliminary attempts to apply Niche Construction Theory to the study of plant domestication in the Near East.     

Genetic analysis of archaeological wood remains: first results and prospects

A total of 51 ancient oak wood samples originating from various European archaeological sites, dating from the Neolithic period to the 18th century, were assayed for the presence of reproducible chloroplast (cp) DNA sequences. Five polymorphic chloroplast fragments were targeted. Only five of the samples could be fully genetically characterised, revealing four different oak cpDNA haplotypes. In all cases, the haplotypes detected on ancient woods and the haplotypes characterised from fresh samples from the same localities matched. Overall, this congruence is consistent with a genetic continuity between ancient and modern European oaks, confirming the hypothesis that the mapped genetic patterns largely reflect the original structure that established during the post-glacial. This stability of the genetic structure implies that, in the future, the technique could be used to infer or confirm the transport of wood by man, providing interesting perspectives for the genetic analysis of ancient woods.     

Early and mid Holocene tool-use and processing of taro (Colocasia esculenta), yam (Dioscorea sp.) and other plants at Kuk Swamp in the highlands of Papua New Guinea

Recent multidisciplinary investigations document an independent emergence of agriculture at Kuk Swamp in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. In this paper we report preliminary usewear analysis and details of prehistoric use of stone tools for processing starchy food and other plants at Kuk Swamp. Morphological diagnostics for starch granules are reported for two potentially significant economic species, taro (Colocasia esculenta) and yam (Dioscorea sp.), following comparisons between prehistoric and botanical reference specimens. Usewear and residue analyses of starch granules indicate that both these species were processed on the wetland margin during the early and mid Holocene. We argue that processing of taro and yam commences by at least 10,200 calibrated years before present (cal BP), although the taro and yam starch granules do not permit us to distinguish between wild or cultivated forms. From at least 6950 to 6440 cal BP the processing of taro, yam and other plants indicates that they are likely to have been integrated into cultivation practices on the wetland edge.     

废甲编区:清初衡山县里甲赋役改革与基层区划的重塑

清初,迭遭兵燹的湖南地区经历了兴垦、均编粮里、清丈等重建赋役秩序的过程。其中,衡山县于康熙四十三年实施的"废甲编区"更是呈现出清初里甲赋役改革的丰富面相。因应偏沅巡抚赵申乔革除里排、滚单催征的举措,衡山县打破原有里甲规制的束缚,改革中坚持粮不过区、就地编区的原则,孕育了字区的地缘性色彩,重塑十七字四百三十七区的赋役区划体系。以康熙五十三年新一轮的清丈为契机,知县葛亮臣在业已建立的区划结构内清查荒籍,使字区成为地方重要的赋役征派和土地登记单位。在这一区域变迁的历史过程中,字区的行政区划功能逐渐得到强化和延续,以赋役征派为目的建立起来的基层赋役区划向实体化与政区化迈进,与之相应的行政话语也深刻地影响着民间契约文本的表达。     

The first European representative of the South American family Xenopteraidae (Insecta: Megasecoptera) discovered in the Guadalupian of Lodève (France)

NEL, A., LAPEYRIE, J. & GARROUSTE, R. May 6 2019. The first European representative of the South American family Xenopteraidae (Insecta: Megasecoptera) discovered in the Guadalupian of Lodève (France). Alcheringa 43, 436–440. ISSN 0311-5518.

A new genus, Sinitshenkovae gen. nov., is described, comprising the Carboniferous species Sinitshenkovae hueneckeni (Pinto & Pinto de Ornellas, 1978 Pinto, I.D. & Pinto de Ornellas, L., 1978. Upper Carboniferous insects from Argentina. 1. Familia Diaphanopteridae (Megasecopteroidea). Pesquisas (Zoologiat) 10, 87–95. [Google Scholar]) comb. nov. from South America and new Guadalupian species S. gallica sp. nov. from France. These two species are attributed to the Paleozoic South American family Xenopteraidae, a previously monospecific family only containing Xenoptera riojaensis Pinto, 1986 Pinto, I.D., 1986. Carboniferous insects from Argentina. 3. Family Xenopteridae Pinto nov. fam. (Megasecoptera). Pesquisas (Zoologia) 18, 23–29. [Google Scholar]. Sinitshenkovae gallica sp. nov. is therefore the youngest representative of this family and the only record outside South America, which suggests that our current knowledge of the palaeobiogeography of Permian and Carboniferous insects remains incomplete.

André Nel [anel@mnhn.fr] and Romain Garrouste [garroust@mnhn.fr], Institut Systématique Evolution Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, 57 rue Cuvier, CP 50, 75005 Paris, France; Jean Lapeyrie [jean.lapeyrie@orange.fr], Corniche de Fontbonne, F-34700 Lodève, France.     

A Hierarchy of Geographies: A Skinnerian Model of Indochina’s Overseas Chinese Congrégations and Their Influence on French Colonialism

In Indochina, overseas Chinese were organized by dialect group into associations called congregations, which shared many of the functions of huiguan in China. The spread of overseas Chinese economic and social networks followed a Skinnerian model in which large urban con?régations wielded more political and economic authority than did smaller, rural con?régations. By examining the impacts of French colonialism upon overseas Chinese networks within Indochina and upon overseas connections with their Chinese native places, this paper proposes that the Skinnerian model of local-system hierarchy fits quite comfortably when applied to the world of French colonial Indochina and its overseas Chinese. Furthermore, it argues that French colonialism actually reinforced the Skinnerian hierarchy of politics and markets in ways that endured long after the collapse of Imperial China.     

Prehistoric behavioral depression of cormorant (Phalacrocorax spp.) on the northern California coast

Resource depression is often assumed to result from the over-exploitation of a prey species leading to declines in its population, and therefore availability, to human hunters. However, two other forms of resource depression are noted in the ecological literature: behavioral and micro-habitat depression. Data presented in this paper demonstrate resource depression of cormorants (Phalacrocorax spp.), a coastally breeding and semi-pelagic bird genus, at a coastal site in northern California. Citing modern cormorant behavior and a lack of evidence for intensive rookery exploitation, it is argued that the observed resource depression resulted from changes in cormorant behavior that decreased encounter rates for human hunters. Such behavioral depression is cited as a buffer to the extirpation of prey in mainland settings.     

Evidence for variability among squash seeds from the Hoxie site (11CK4), Illinois

Uncarbonized Cucurbita pepo L. (squash) seed coats were recovered from the base of a fortification ditch in water-saturated contexts at the Hoxie Farm site (11CK4) in northeastern Illinois. A direct date on one specimen indicated association with the Huber phase occupation, or about 1600 A.D. Sizes were highly variable, suggesting the presence of two or more squash varieties. To explore that possibility, length and width measurements were obtained for 21 specimens. A simple hierarchical cluster analysis revealed the presence of three distinct seed size groups. The two smaller conform to sizes displayed by modern varieties of subspecies ovifera which is the type domesticated in North America. Sizes for the third group of large seeds fall outside the range of any modern subspecies ovifera and within the range for the Mexican domesticate subspecies pepo. Similar large sized seeds first appear in the archaeological record from the Midwest during the Late Mississippian times. The potential for long-term prehistoric cultivation of two distinct lineages in the Midwest, and problems inherent in the scenario are discussed.