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This paper presents new data derived from pollen, starch and radiocarbon samples that were collected from six Aboriginal earth (oven) mounds and middens on the Calperum and Pike floodplains, Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), South Australia (SA). Analyses of these samples were undertaken in order to enhance our understanding about the Holocene lifeways of Aboriginal people living in this region. The results from these analyses, combined with published data about the mounds' contents, relevant ethno-historical information and climate data, allow us to infer that Aboriginal people adopted, in this region, an innovative food production system about 3800 years ago. Further, we argue that the timing of the change suggests this was in response to adverse El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) related weather patterns and consequently fluctuations in both terrestrial and aquatic food resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The location of covert graves is an important but challenging part of missing persons investigations. Although traditional search techniques, such as foot searches and cadaver dogs, have proved successful, the incorporation of higher technology methods, such as geophysical techniques, can be used to increase the chances of locating covert graves. This article will present a field method for the use of two geophysical techniques, including ground penetrating radar and electrical resistivity tomography, which can successfully locate covert graves in an Australian environment. If the soil and climate conditions permit, this technical protocol can be applied to other clandestine grave search sites as well. Ultimately, by increasing chances of locating the covert grave, and by extension the missing person, a successful judicial outcome can be achieved and highly sought after answers can be provided to the family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Locating clandestine graves presents significant challenges to law enforcement agencies, necessitating the testing of grave detection techniques. This experimental study, conducted under Australian field conditions, assesses the effectiveness of time-lapse ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) in detecting pig burials as simulated forensic cases. The research addresses two key questions: (1) observability of graves using GPR and ERT, and (2) changes in geophysical responses with reference to changing climatic conditions. The principal novelty of this research is its Australian focus—this is the first time-lapse GPR and ERT study used to locate clandestine graves in Australia. The results reveal that both GPR and ERT can detect graves; however, ERT demonstrates greater suitability in homogeneous soil and anomalously wet climate conditions, with the detectability affected by grave depth. This project also found that resistivity values are likely influenced by soil moisture and decomposition fluids; however, these parameters were not directly measured in this study. Contrastingly, although GPR successfully achieved 2 m penetration in each survey, the site's undeveloped soil likely resulted in inconsistent detectability. The findings underscore the significance of site-specific factors when employing GPR and/or ERT for grave detection, including soil homogeneity, climate conditions, water percolation, and body decomposition state. These findings offer practical insights into each technique's utility as a search tool for missing persons, aiding law enforcement agencies with homicide cases involving covert graves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reconstructing the detailed dietary behaviour of extinct hominins is challenging.sup.1--particularly for a species such as Australopithecus africanus, which has a highly variable dental morphology that suggests a broad diet.sup.2,3. The dietary responses of extinct hominins to seasonal fluctuations in food availability are poorly understood, and nursing behaviours even less so; most of the direct information currently available has been obtained from high-resolution trace-element geochemical analysis of Homo sapiens (both modern and fossil), Homo neanderthalensis.sup.4 and living apes.sup.5. Here we apply high-resolution trace-element analysis to two A. africanus specimens from Sterkfontein Member 4 (South Africa), dated to 2.6-2.1 million years ago. Elemental signals indicate that A. africanus infants predominantly consumed breast milk for the first year after birth. A cyclical elemental pattern observed following the nursing sequence--comparable to the seasonal dietary signal that is seen in contemporary wild primates and other mammals--indicates irregular food availability. These results are supported by isotopic evidence for a geographical range that was dominated by nutritionally depauperate areas. Cyclical accumulation of lithium in A. africanus teeth also corroborates the idea that their range was characterized by fluctuating resources, and that they possessed physiological adaptations to this instability. This study provides insights into the dietary cycles and ecological behaviours of A. africanus in response to food availability, including the potential cyclical resurgence of milk intake during times of nutritional challenge (as observed in modern wild orangutans.sup.5). The geochemical findings for these teeth reinforce the unique place of A. africanus in the fossil record, and indicate dietary stress in specimens that date to shortly before the extinction of Australopithecus in South Africa about two million years ago. Trace-element analysis of teeth from the hominin Australopithecus africanus, dated to 2.6-2.1 million years ago, sheds light on the weaning sequence of this species and its responses to seasonal food scarcity, Author(s): Renaud Joannes-Boyau [sup.1] , Justin W. Adams [sup.2] [sup.3] , Christine Austin [sup.4] , Manish Arora [sup.4] , Ian Moffat [sup.5] [sup.6] , Andy I. R. Herries [sup.3] [sup.7] [...]