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The article focuses on a unique "timeline case" that showcases the evolution of time periods and cultures through artifacts. Topics include the progression from Paleo and Archaic hunting tools to Woodland and Mississippian farming implements, the transition from atlatls to bows and arrows, and the influence of European colonization on Native American artifacts and trade items.

Mud-capped dredge pits (MCDPs), defined as sand borrow sites from paleo river channels with cohesive sediment-capped walls, are used for northern Gulf of Mexico (NGoM) coastal restoration projects due to lower cost than more distal restoration resources. MCDP evolution, including infilling and pit wall slope stability, is poorly understood in relation to sandy borrow areas. We present and interpret bathymetric data from Sandy Point MCDP, which was constructed in 2012 about 20 km northwest of Southwest Pass, the most active Mississippi River distributary, in water depths of ∼11 m. Repeat bathymetric surveys show the pit is infilling ∼54 cm (or volumetrically 200,000 m 3 ) per year, which is on the same order as seasonal-scale and an order of magnitude higher than the decadal-scale vertical accretion rates observed seaward of Southwest Pass. This infilling rate is higher than predicted based solely on excavated volume when compared with other dredge pits in sandy substrate, sediment-starved settings. MCDP infill is volumetrically dominated by far-field (here defined as river plume or shelf bed resuspension) sediment, with only ∼9% of pit infill from pit wall failure. Geomorphic comparison of Sandy Point MCDP walls with Southwest Pass mudflow gully walls shows that the MCDP is oversteepened relative to natural depression features in this setting; the convergence of MCDP and mudflow gully gradients towards a common value (4–5°) may represent an “angle of repose” in lieu of decadal-scale forcings. Findings from this experiment of opportunity show that MCDPs (1) are effective sediment traps, (2) have steep but relatively laterally stable walls (3) do not represent significant risk to infrastructure in a 3-year time scale, and (4) are predicted to infill within about 2 decades provided a proximal sediment source exists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The early tectonic evolution of the Lhasa Terrane remains poorly understood, although evidence for a substantial prehistory has been reported recently. We have carried out in situ zircon U-Pb dating and Hf-O isotopes of late Early Cretaceous monzogranites and get a surprising package of inherited zircons, not only because of their age profile, but also because the oldest Palaeoarchaean zircons are euhedral. The discovery of Palaeoarchaean euhedral zircons in the region suggests the presence of extremely old rocks in Tibet. Zircons from the Nagqu monzogranite yield five age peaks at ~3.45 Ga, ~2.56 Ga, ~1.76 Ga, ~900 Ma, and ~111 Ma. They have large variations in εHf(t) values (−45.1-9.2) and old Hf model ages (924-3935 Ma), with variable δ18O values of −5.80-9.64. Palaeoarchaean zircons (~3.20-3.45 Ga) are euhedral with magmatic zircon characteristics. One of the grains has negative εHf(t) value (−4.8), old Hf model age (3935 Ma), and high positive δ18O value (7.27), which suggests an ancient crustal origin. The source of Palaeoarchaean euhedral zircons should be proximal to prevent long-distance transport and abrasion, whereas the late Early Cretaceous monzogranites are I-type. Thus, Palaeoarchaean euhedral zircons are most likely captured from the country rocks by assimilation at depth or may be relics of previous magmatic zircons. Notwithstanding their exact history, Palaeoarchaean euhedral zircons indicate Palaeoarchaean materials near Nagqu in the Tibetan Plateau. The inherited zircons also experienced a Late Palaeoproterozoic event (~1.76 Ga) likely related to the evolution of the India block. The peak at ~900 Ma suggests affinity to the Qiangtang and Himalaya blocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Archean Beitai-Waitoushan migmatite-syenogranite complex (BWMC) is located in the northeast of the Anshan-Benxi continent block (ABCB) where has ∼3.8 Ga rocks outcropped in the northeastern North China Craton (NCC). The BWMC consists chiefly of weakly migmatized tonalitic-trondhjemitic gneisses, migmatites with various volumes of potassium-rich granitoid veins from either syenogranite magma or anatexis of tonalitic- trondhjemitic gneisses, monzo- and syenogranitic intrusive rocks. LA-ICP-MS and SHRIMP zircon U-Th-Pb isotopic analyses reveal that the migmatized tonalitic-trondhjemitic gneisses were formed at 3454–3484 Ma, and were the partial sources of the syenogranitic rocks and entire protolith of the migmatites. The dominant monzo- and syenogranitic magmas were emplaced at 2500–2540 Ma and generally contain inherited Paleoarchean zircon grains with apparent 207 Pb/ 206 Pb ages of >3300 Ma. An amphibolite sample in the form of boudin in the migmatized tonalitic-trondhjemitic gneisses formed at 3414 Ma. These Paleoarchean rock samples and the inherited Paleoarchean zircons from the Neoarchean migmatites, monzo- and syenogranite samples indicate that a ∼3.45 Ga continent microblock existed prior to the ∼2.50 Ga migmatization and syenogranitic magmatism. When integrated with previous zircon Lu-Hf isotopic data from the study area, our new LA-ICP-MS zircon Lu-Hf isotope analyses for dated zircon spots from six dated samples reveal that the magmatic precursors of the ∼3.45 Ga samples and the ancient inherited zircons from the Neoarchean migmatites and intrusive granitoid rocks were primarily derived from ∼3.45 Ga partial melting of juvenile crustal materials from the depleted mantle, and either the mantle or more ancient continent crustal materials with CHUR-like Lu-Hf isotopic systematics. However, some of the Neoarchean monzo- and syenogranitoid rocks and the granitoid veins in the migmatites exhibit hybrid Lu-Hf isotopic features derived from both ancient ∼3.45 Ga continental and Neoarchean juvenile crustal materials, including partial mixing between the Neoarchean granitoid magma and plastic Paleoarchean gneiss relicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first results are presented for U-Pb SHRIMP-II dating of zircons from the upper part of the Khivachian regional horizon (stage) of the Regional Stratigraphic Scale (RSS) of the Permian in northeastern Russia. The obtained isotope age of 255 ± 2 Ma is close to that of the present boundary between the Wuchiapingian and Changhsingian stages of the Permian system in the International Stratigraphic Scale (254.1 Ma). Based on the distribution of bivalves- Intomodesma spp. and Claraioides aff. primitivus (Yin)-in the sections considered, their relations to the stratigraphic positions of the samples considered and dated formerly, and in view of the interregional correlation of recent δС data for clayey rocks, one may assume with certainty that most of the regional zone of Intomodesma costatum corresponds to the upper part of the Wuchiapingian stage. Here, the Changhsingian stage in northeastern Asia complies only with the uppermost part of this zone within the I. postevenicum subzone and, partially, of Otoceras layers within the Otoceras concavum zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A microbial consortium preserved in shallow water carbonaceous chert of the Paleoarchean (∼3400 Ma) Strelley Pool Formation (Pilbara Craton, northwestern Western Australia) is composed of copiously abundant globular “cobweb-like” swirls of randomly oriented filaments intermingled with laterally extensive flat-laminated masses of subparallel filaments. The shallow-water (possibly mudflat-like) habitat of the biocoenose is established by its geological setting and intimately intermixed association with millimetric quartz radiating laths and rosettes interpreted to be pseudomorphs after evaporitic gypsum/anhydrite. The indigenousness and syngenicity of the permineralized fossils to the encompassing chert; their uncompacted minimally altered “life-like” spatial distribution; and their biogenicity and bacterial affinity are shown by optical microscopic, Raman spectroscopic and confocal laser scanning microscopic analyses in situ that document the mineralogy of their embedding matrix and their cylindrical filamentous morphology, cellularity, and kerogenous composition. By comparison with mid-Precambrian and modern sulfur-cycling ecosystems, and consistent with sulfur isotopic data and their intimate co-existence with copious microgranular pyrite and pseudomorphs evidently after sulfate, the swirled aggregates are interpreted to be anaerobic sulfuretums. In contrast, the intermixed flat-laminated components, like microbes of fossil and modern stromatolitic mat communities, are interpreted to be co-occurring light-requiring phototrophs. Whether such phototrophs were anoxygenic photosynthesizers, like extant photosynthetic bacteria (e.g., chloroflexaleans) or facultatively anaerobic cyanobacteria (cf. Oscillatoria limnetica ), their anoxygenic metabolism seems plausibly established. Given its great age, shallow water habitat, and anaerobic/microaerophilic physiology, this evidently first reported occurrence from the fossil record of anoxygenic phototrophs and of a microbial sulfuretum-phototroph consortium is consistent with the supposition that Earth’s Paleoarchean environment was essentially anoxic and suggests that O 2 -producing photosynthesis may have been a later evolutionary innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three species belonging to two genera of labechiid stromatoporoids are described from the Yeongheung Formation (Darriwilian, Middle Ordovician), Yeongwol Group of the Taebaeksan Basin, mid-eastern Korean Peninsula. Sixteen stromatoporoid-bearing stratigraphic intervals have been recognized in the Namgyo section. All stromatoporoids occur in the peloidal and bioclastic packstone to grainstone facies. Labechia yeongwolense sp. nov. is the dominant species, occurring throughout the lower and middle parts of the section. In contrast, Labechiella mingshankouensis is restricted to the lower-middle part and Labechiella regularis occurs mostly in the upper part of the section. The occurrence of the early labechiids in the Yeongwol Group is suggestive of a close biogeographic affinity with the Liaoning and Shandong provinces of northeastern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reconstruction of glacial paleolake formation and evolution allows the understanding of glacier advance and retreat behavior for longer periods of time. New datings obtained from paleolacustrine deposits in the Argentinian Patagonian Andes (Northwestern region of Santa Cruz Province) reveal that glacial lakes formed before the Last Glacial Maximum, they being as old as 31,278 cal yr BP, and evolved until 6900 cal yr BP. The interpretation of stratigraphic profiles described in different sectors of the Perito Moreno National Park (PMNP) allows reconstructing lacustrine, glaciolacustrine, glacial till and delta paleoenvironments. In each sector, organic-rich sediments were also sampled to obtain four absolute ages through AMS methodology. Thus, the paleogeographic reconstructions proposed are based on paleobathymetries performed from digital elevation models, datings and facies distribution of lacustrine deposits (mainly composed of laminated silts with subordinated sands and muds). Based on these new data, the paleogeography of this area is characterized by two lakes at 880 m.a.s.l at 31,200 ca yr BP, one directly related to modern Belgrano lake, while the other is probably related to the Burmeister lake but more than 10 km toward the East as respect to its current position. The paleogeography reconstruction shows, between 11,731 cal yr BP and 10,819 cal yr BP, the existence of a major paleolake at 900-920 m.a.s.l. which was connected to several modern lakes. Finally, a decrease of the paleolake level between 900 and 890 m.a.s.l. was recorded at 6900 cal yr BP which produced two major lacustrine systems separated by moraine deposits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A coastal and submarine geomorphological investigation took place in the coasts of eastern Attica, aiming to identify palaeoshorelines. Former sea-level positions were deduced from emerged and submerged tidal notches. Eight fossil shorelines were deduced in the study area; two emerged ones at about +24 ± 30 and +40 ± 30 cm, and six submerged ones at about -22 ± 30 (modern), -40 ± 30, -60 ± 30, -80 ± 30, -130 ± 30 and -460 ± 30 cm. It is worth mentioning that a rather different tectonic behavior may be distinguished between the south (AT1-AT5) and the north (AT10-AT28) part of the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seafloor alteration provides large amounts of solutes to the hydrosphere. In order to investigate gold mobility during water-rock interaction prior to 3-billion-years ago, low detection limit analysis of Au concentrations was carried out on rocks from marine alteration zones. Stratiform zones recording low-temperature (≤150 °C) seafloor alteration are a characteristic feature of greenstone belts older than 3.0 Ga. Hydrothermal processes were operating on, and immediately below, the seafloor, giving rise to extensive silicification of sub-seafloor volcanic rocks and silicification of seafloor sediments. In order to investigate gold mobility during silicification, unaltered and variably silicified volcanic rocks and associated cherts from Palaeoarchaean greenstone successions (c. 3.4 Ga) of South Africa were analyzed. Results show mobility of gold during silicification of mafic/ultramafic rocks and transfer to the Archaean ocean. Some gold was incorporated into carbonaceous marine sediments overlying the alteration zones. A combination of pervasive silicification, rarity of black shales, and low gold content in komatiites can explain the low mineralization potential of Palaeoarchaean greenstone belts for orogenic gold deposits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Palaeoshorelines that lie submerged on stable continental shelves are relict coastal depositional and erosional structures formed during periods of lower sea level. An analysis of the well-dated Late Quaternary (0–128 ka) sea-level record indicates that the most persistent (modal) lower sea levels were at 30 – 40 m below present, which occurred between 97 and 116 ka and at approximately 85 ka and 10 ka. A secondary modal position was at 70–90 m that occurred mostly during a period of fluctuating sea level between 30 and 60 ka, as well as at around 87 ka (70 – 80 m only) and 12−15 ka. For the tectonically stable Australian continental shelf, we show that a range of shorelines formed at each of these sea level modal positions and their morphology and degree of preservation depends on composition (carbonate vs siliciclastic) and oceanographic setting (wave, tide and wind energy). These ancient coasts record a range of oceanographic and geological regimes that existed during relatively long periods of lower sea level and provide a guide to the general depth zones in which similar features likely occur on other shelves globally. Australian palaeoshorelines represent distinctive benthic habitats that strongly influence the distribution of biodiversity across the shelf. Accurate mapping of these features provides a robust geospatial framework for investigations of marine species distributions and environmental change monitoring. These data also enable the better targeting of relict coastal areas that potentially include sand resources and sites of human occupation during periods of lower sea level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human footprints in the painted cave of Pech-Merle, France, have been investigated by archaeologists since the 1920s with state-of-the-art methods of the given time. Science always provided tool kits to analyse the information about individuals imprinted into the ground. However, the old human method of expert track reading has first been employed on these tracks in 2013 (as in some other caves with preserved human tracks from the Pleistocene). This special knowledge was deployed by three trackers from the Ju/'hoansi-San in Namibia who enriched our knowledge on the tracks in Pech-Merle in two significant ways: five individuals were identified, aged from 9-10 to over 50 years, from both sexes and some footprints were found that hitherto had been overlooked. It turned out that the features crucial for their interpretation are congruent with those of morpho-metric measurements but their experience based interpretation is more fine-grained than an interpretation based on the available statistics alone. Accordingly it seems justified to introduce the two methods as complementary tools for archaeology, i.e. the established morpho-metric approach flanked by morpho-classificatory track reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cussac Cave is well-known for its spectacular engraved art and well-preserved human remains attributed to the Gravettian period of the Upper Paleolithic, but it also contains many lesser-known remains and traces of human and animal presence throughout the site. Since 2009, a team incorporated in the Projet Collectif de Recherche "Grotte de Cussac", directed by J. Jaubert, has been engaged in the identification, inventory and study of these "Activity Traces" (TrAcs). The objective is to study the interactions of humans and animals with this subterranean environment and to understand how humans perceived this complex space. Our aim is to confront the data associated with these TrAcs with the information provided by other disciplines. This approach is made possible by the conditions of the discovery of the cave, which was left almost untouched since the Paleolithic, and the strict policy of conservation that has been implemented. The team explores the cave in a non-invasive manner, respecting the limits of a designated pathway while recording, describing, and photographing the accessible TrAcs. The areas that are currently inventoried show that human TrAcs are more frequent and diverse than those of animals, and consist mostly of prints, tracked surfaces and black and red marks. Most of the animal TrAcs were produced by bears, and consist mainly of claw marks covering large areas. These bear marks always predate the human activities. The presence of TrAcs, art and human remains shows that this entire subterranean environment was intensively frequented by both humans and bears. Our approach constitutes a fundamental step towards an understanding of the cave, and more generally, of the identity and culture of Gravettian groups, reflected here in their behavior, activities and occupations in the context of this complex site with monumental engravings and human remains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the course of the last decades, new cave art discoveries such as La Garma, Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc, Le Reseau Clastres in the Niaux Cave, Cosquer and Cussac have allowed researchers to advance in context and spatial studies related to the art. This has been possible because the decorated chambers were intact at the moment of the discovery and, soon after, protocols were put in place to protect these invaluable records. These types of caves are a minority. In the Cantabrian region, most of the discoveries took place at the beginning of the 20th century and, in some cases, a few years after the first studies were published, the caves were greatly modified to prepare them for tourist visits in the 1950s. However, the study of historical documents can provide information regarding the context and the original spatial distribution of the caves. Using the available data from different historical sources such as pictures, descriptions, sketches, plans, etc. available in publications and unpublished materials, we can reconstruct, to a limited extent, the appearance of a cave in the moment of its discovery. The information gathered by the different researchers in the last hundred years to advance in the knowledge of La Pasiega cave in Puente Viesgo (Cantabria) is used to prove the validity of this approach. The results, combining information from the available sources and careful observation in the cave, are positive, allowing us to advance significantly in the understanding of the cave's spatial characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on less commonly appeared Paleo era projectile in archaeological record from archeological excavation and collections of avocational archaeologists. Topics discussed include pointed projective of patinated and motled rhyolite, salvage work and controlled excavations at Neponset site and learning stone weapons and hunting strategies.

Major-element and trace-element geochemistry of fresh volcanic glass, and the whole-rock Hf and Nd isotopic compositions of volcanic rocks from the Oman Ophiolite were used to understand the extent to which slab-derived fluids and melts were involved in magma generation during incipient arc development. The spreading stage (V1) samples have trace-element characteristics similar to those of mid-ocean-ridge basalts, with Hf and Nd isotopic compositions of the Indian mantle domain. The incipient arc stage (V2) volcanic glasses have lower abundances of high field strength elements (HFSEs) and middle and heavy rare earth elements (MREEs and HREEs), and higher abundances of large ion lithophile elements (LILEs) than the V1 glasses. Progressive increases in B, Pb, and LILEs in the V2 stage glasses with age indicate an increasing contribution of slab-derived fluids from earlier arc tholeiite (LV2) to later boninite (UV2). The LV2 was generated by the contribution of amphibolite-derived fluid. The UV2 is subdivided into low-Si UV2 and high-Si UV2 magmas, with the former having lower SiO 2 , and LILE, and higher Na 2 O, HFSE and REE concentrations than the latter. The low-Si UV2 magma was generated with the involvement of high-temperature slab-derived fluid. In contrast, the high-Si UV2 shows a spoon-shaped trace-element pattern and Hf and Nd isotope chemistry, indicating the involvement of sediment melt in its magma genesis. Decreasing HFSEs and HREEs in the magmas with age indicate progressive depletion of the source mantle during the V2 arc magmatism, suggesting an absence of convection in the mantle wedge that resulted from subduction of a hot, buoyant slab beneath young, hot lithosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yangtze Sea of the South China Craton experienced strong environmental perturbations during the first ~ 5-6 Myr of the Silurian. The Lower Silurian Lungmachi Formation in the Jiaoye-1 drillcore (Chongqing, China) records three sea-level cycles (stratigraphic sequences) characterized by rapid deepening at the base of each cycle followed by slow shallowing. Each deepening event was associated with shifts toward higher marine productivity, more intensely reducing bottomwater conditions, reduced watermass restriction, lower detrital input, and enhanced siliciclastic weathering intensity. We infer control by glacio-eustasy, in which deglacial sea-level rises and concurrent climatic warming triggered the observed environmental changes. Shallowing was associated with renewed glaciation and characterized by the opposite set of conditions. The results of this study thus provide evidence in support of continued continental glaciation during the Early Silurian, i.e., following the termination of the major end-Ordovician Hirnantian glaciation. The study core also exhibits a long-term shallowing trend through the entire Lower Silurian, the origin of which may have been tectono-epeirogenic uplift of the South China Craton during the Kwangsian Orogeny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous palaeochannels, oxbow lakes and elongated sediment fills in Eastern India, particularly along the lower Ajay River, provide a record of channel shifting during the Late Quaternary. Proper characterization of these features is useful for discussing the dynamic evolution of the river system in the Ajay-Damodar Interfluve region. Remote sensing data, archaeological evidence and sedimentology aid in reconstructing the geomorphic history of the lower Ajay River. Archaeological studies help in calculating the rate and direction of channel migration. The channel migration rate varies from 0.32 to 3.41 m/year in the study area. Bouguer gravity anomalies suggest that the rate of channel migration may be controlled by the density variations of the basement rocks. Furthermore, neotectonics activity played a significant role in the migration of Ajay River towards north-east direction. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Variations in the dental crown form are widely studied to interpret evolutionary changes in primates as well as to assess affinities among human archeological populations. Compared to external metrics of dental crown size and shape, variables including the internal structures such as enamel thickness, tissue proportions, and the three-dimensional shape of enamel-dentin junction (EDJ), have been described as powerful measurements to study taxonomy, phylogenetic relationships, dietary, and/or developmental patterns. In addition to providing good estimate of phenotypic distances within/across archeological samples, these internal tooth variables may help to understand phylogenetic, functional, and developmental underlying causes of variation. In this study, a high resolution microtomographic-based record of upper permanent second molars from 20 Neolithic individuals of the necropolis of Gurgy (France) was applied to evaluate the intrasite phenotypic variation in crown tissue proportions, thickness and distribution of enamel, and EDJ shape. The study aims to compare interindividual dental variations with burial practices and chronocultural parameters, and suggest underlying causes of these dental variations. From the non-invasive characterization of internal tooth structure, differences have been found between individuals buried in pits with alcove and those buried in pits with container and pits with wattling. Additionally, individuals from early and recent phases of the necropolis have been distinguished from those of the principal phase from their crown tissue proportions and EDJ shape. The results suggest that the internal tooth structure may be a reliable proxy to track groups sharing similar chronocultural and burial practices. In particular, from the EDJ shape analysis, individuals buried in an alcove shared a reduction of the distolingual dentin horn tip (corresponding to the hypocone). Environmental, developmental and/or functional underlying causes might be suggested for the origin of phenotypic differences shared by these individuals buried in alcoves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relatively little is known about how phytoliths develop and form in the plant. We will consider the development of phytoliths where silica is deposited in the cell wall and those where it is deposited in the cell lumen. The cellular environment in which phytoliths develop affects their chemistry. In cell wall phytoliths, silica is deposited onto a carbohydrate matrix which gives the silica some order. Lumen phytoliths would be expected to contain more lipids, proteins and possibly nucleic acids than cell wall phytoliths. The chemical structure of the silica in phytoliths, other elements within their structure (calcium, aluminium, carbon, nitrogen), and isotopes of silicon, oxygen, and carbon may all give information beyond the more usual morphological analysis. There is increasing interest in using these features as proxies in palaeoecological and archaeological research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tephras are important for the chronostratigraphy of palaeoenvironmental and archaeological records in southern Kyushu because numerous tephra beds enable these records to be connected and dated precisely using tephrochronology. A regional tephra-based framework or lattice for the past 30,000 calendar (cal.) years is proposed in the style of recent INTIMATE projects elsewhere. We review stratigraphic, compositional, age, and distributional data for a range of tephras, and comment on the relationship of several marker tephras to distinct palaeoenvironmental and cultural events in the southern Kyushu region since 30,000 cal. BP. More than 90 visible tephra beds are recorded, deriving from Kakuto, Aira, Ata, and Kikai volcanic centres, which incorporate large calderas, and the Tokara volcanic islands. The tephra record is underpinned by two widespread tephras, Aira-Tn tephra (AT; ca. 30,000 cal. BP), and Kikai-Akahoya tephra (K-Ah; ca. 7300 cal. BP). In addition to AT and K-Ah, locally-distributed marker tephra beds are related to the chronostratigraphy of terrestrial and marine palaeoenvironments including sea-level and coastal environments, vegetation, and culture. Some tephras, notably AT, K-Ah, and Sakurajima-Satsuma tephra (Sz-S, ca. 12,800 cal. BP), have been recognized in marine and laminated lake sediments and hence dated with high precision, thereby facilitating correlation of those records to global high-resolution ice, marine, and terrestrial stratotypes. Sz-S is a useful isochron for the last deglaciation in southern Kyushu. Our integrated regional chronostratigraphic model for southern Kyushu, founded by tephras (and with further potential via systematic identification of cryptotephras), will enable change in regional palaeoenvironments and culture to be evaluated in national and global contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abundantly available catfish otoliths excavated from the ruins of the Indus civilization, in the coastal regions of Western India, are expected to preserve a detailed paleoclimatological record of the mid- to late-Holocene. In this study, we analyzed saltwater catfish otoliths recovered from the Gulf of Kutch, Western India. Stable isotopes (oxygen and carbon) and elemental ratios (Ba/Ca and Sr/Ca) were measured by isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) and high-resolution laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), respectively. Oxygen isotopes of a modern otolith (δ 18 O) indicates the interval when the catfish would have dwelt in the sea and appear to record seasonal temperature variability with a precision of 1 C°. Calculated temperatures from δ 18 O of a fossil otolith dated to 4.3 cal ka BP indicates that the minimum temperature in winter was ∼2.5 C° lower than that of the present. Although comparison to alkenone results from the northwestern Arabian Sea indicates potential temperature underestimation, further measurements of modern and fossil samples would lead to more precise reconstruction of temperature history during mid- to late- Holocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paleoclimatologists have discovered abundant evidence that droughts coincided with collapse of the Lowland Classic Maya civilization, and some argue that climate change contributed to societal disintegration. Many archaeologists, however, maintain that drought cannot explain the timing or complex nature of societal changes at the end of the Classic Period, between the eighth and eleventh centuries ce. This review presents a compilation of climate proxy data indicating that droughts in the ninth to eleventh century were the most severe and frequent in Maya prehistory. Comparison with recent archaeological evidence, however, indicates an earlier beginning for complex economic and political processes that led to the disintegration of states in the southern region of the Maya lowlands that precedes major droughts. Nonetheless, drought clearly contributed to the unusual severity of the Classic Maya collapse, and helped to inhibit the type of recovery seen in earlier periods of Maya prehistory. In the drier northern Maya Lowlands, a later political collapse at ca. 1000 ce appears to be related to ongoing extreme drought. Future interdisciplinary research should use more refined climatological and archaeological data to examine the relationship between climate and social processes throughout the entirety of Maya prehistory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An organism's anatomy is the result of millions of years of interplay between DNA sequence, developmental processes, the environment, and evolutionary forces. The anatomical sciences are consequently highly integrative and interdisciplinary. That said, reaching across all of the relevant disciplines can be a daunting task because scientific publications are produced today at an astounding rate. This manuscript brings together insights from the quantitative genetic analysis of dental variation into the study of human evolutionary odontology within the context of genomics, genetic modularity, and phenomics. It primarily advocates the use of quantitative genetics to not only identify QTLs, but also to assess the patterns of genetic covariance that underlie phenotypic covariance, thereby enabling us to conceptualize phenotypic variation as a reflection of the underlying genetic mechanisms. By highlighting three phenotypes of importance within the study of human evolution (patterning of the dental arcade, enamel thickness, and taurodontism), it is demonstrated how an integrated consideration of quantitative genetics, genomic analyses, and paleontology can bring us to more detailed hypotheses about the evolution of the hominid clade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioarchaeological analysis of the MDM site (8DA11) in Miami, Florida ( ad 400-1200) has identified human skeletal remains with lesions suggestive of and consistent with treponematosis. A population and epidemiological approach was utilised to compare the MDM site to geographically neighbouring skeletal samples from the Highland Beach mound (8PB11) ( ad 600-1200) and Fort Center (8GL12) ( ad 1-500/1000). These samples were then integrated with data from previous research on proliferative skeletal lesion prevalence on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Population comparisons suggest a higher prevalence of proliferative skeletal lesions in Atlantic coastal populations as opposed to the nearest sampled site from the interior ( p < 0.00001), a trend seemingly different from Gulf Coast populations. This investigation details the presence of treponemal disease in the Everglades archaeological region likely as early as ad 400, and the southern terminus in the contiguous United States that treponematosis has been reported. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the role of Archaean seawater and hydrothermal fluid in the extensive silicification of Palaeoarchaean volcano-sedimentary successions has been a matter of considerable debate. In an attempt to constrain the conditions of silica precipitation, and the sources and chemical composition of the interacting fluids, we used fluid inclusion microthermometry, bulk crush-leach and oxygen isotope analyses of chert and quartz veins in silicified komatiites and sediments from the Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa. Chert vein margins consist of microcrystalline quartz and carbonaceous matter, whereas the vein centres are often filled with macrocrystalline quartz that contains abundant fluid inclusions. Oxygen isotope ratios of vein chert and macrocrystalline quartz vary from 18 to 21‰, with the macrocrystalline quartz having slightly higher δ 18 O values (0.7 ± 0.3‰). The data are consistent with silica precipitation during low-temperature (≤100 °C) hydrothermal processes on the Archaean seafloor. Macrocrystalline quartz contains homogeneous 2-phase (L+V) inclusions at room temperature with a relatively constant vapour fraction. The inclusions have a salinity of 3–11 wt.% NaCl equiv. and homogenisation temperatures ( T h ) of 150–200 °C. Whereas some of the inclusions form intragranular fluid inclusion clusters that appear to be primary, other inclusions form transgranular fluid inclusion trails and are clearly secondary. Both types of inclusions share the same microthermometric characteristics, indicating that fluid entrapment occurred during a later metamorphic event and not near the seafloor. The event likely coincided with regional deformation and metamorphism at 3.23 Ga. Chlorite thermometry from vein host rocks reveals peak conditions of ∼257 ± 31 °C. In conjunction with microthermometry, the data correspond to a crustal depth of 3–6 km. A secondary origin of fluid inclusions is also consistent with the Cl/Br, Na/Cl and Na/K ratios of the macrocrystalline veins, which are similar to those found in metamorphic quartz veins. The fluid inclusions thus do not provide information on the conditions and temperatures during chert formation. While the fluids potentially carry the geochemical signature of modified Archaean seawater (i.e. hydrothermal fluid), characterised by low Cl/Br and Na/K ratios, and low Mg-contents, the fluid composition was likely modified during regional metamorphism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last millennia, the land between the Alps and the Mediterranean Sea, characterized by extraordinary habitat diversity, has seen an outstanding cross-cultural development. For the first time, this paper reports on the census of the Holocene archaeological sites that have been studied as part of archaeobotany in Italy (continental Italy, the Italian peninsula and islands) over the last quarter in a century. Pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, seeds and fruits, woods/charcoals and other plant remains have all been analysed in multidisciplinary researches. A list of 630 sites has been provided by more than 15 archaeobotanical teams. The sites are located across the 20 regions of Italy, and in the Republic of San Marino (356 sites in northern Italy, 118 in central Italy, 156 in southern Italy and on the islands). They belong to several cultural phases: 321 sites are only pre-Roman, 264 are Roman/post-Roman, and 45 sites cover a broader range of time, present in both time spans. Site distribution is plotted in maps of site density according to geographical districts and the main chronological phases. The reference list helps to find analytical data referring to the descriptive papers that may be scattered throughout monographs and specific books on the matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social transmission is at the core of cultural evolutionary theory. It occurs when a demonstrator uses mental representations to produce some public displays (utterances, behaviors, artifacts, etc.) which in turn allow a learner to acquire similar mental representations. Although cultural evolutionists do not dispute this view of social transmission, they typically abstract away from the multistep nature of the process when they speak of cultural variants at large, thereby referring both to variation and evolutionary change in mental representations as well as in their corresponding public displays. This conflation suggests that differentiating each step of the transmission process is redundant. In this paper, I examine different forms of interplay between the multistep nature of social transmission and the metric spaces used by cultural evolutionists to measure cultural variation and to model cultural change. I offer a conceptual analysis of what assumptions seem to be at work when cultural evolutionists conflate the complex causal sequence of social transmission as a single space of variation in which populations evolve. To this aim, I use the framework of variation spaces, a formal framework commonly used in evolutionary biology, and I develop two theoretical concepts, 'technique' and 'technical space', for addressing cases where the complexity of social transmission defies the handy assumption of a single variation space for cultural change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on researchers efforts to determine the time and place of origin of the genus Homo. Topics include the fossil record gap between 2.0 and 3.0 million years (Ma.), the recovery of Homo remains, and the latest-surviving population. Information is provided on how climatic changes may have impacted previous ecosystems.

Archaeo-environmental data were obtained from five small rural sites excavated as part of the Roman Peasant Project in southern Tuscany. Archaeo-botanical and archaeological data point to a moment of intensive land use in the late Republican/Early Imperial date and to possible use of convertible agriculture strategies. The diversity of pasture-grazing plant species, the presence of coprophilous fungi, parasite eggs and the high values of pasture indicator pollen suggest that lands devoted to browsing animals covered an important part of the territory all around and in the vicinity of sites. The significant presence of cereals, with occasional presence of vines and olives, attests to the importance of grain agriculture in the same spaces. These data may be read as residues of convertible agricultural strategies in which pasture, including cultivated fodder, alternated with legumes and cereals. Read together, the data thus point to a major moment of intensified use and management of the land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modena, founded by the Romans (183 BC), has always been conditioned by water in all its urban history. In the city, numerous archaeobotanical investigations have been carried out in order to reconstruct the natural landscape and human–environment interactions over time. During these investigations, four archaeological sites (two Roman and two medieval) have revealed deposits with a marked character of palaeobiocoenosis, largely resulting from the natural environment surrounding the sites, due to natural “seed rain”. These deposits are characterized by widespread evidence of plants related to water, constituting a valuable archive to investigate habitats which currently have become very rare and threatened, if they have not completely disappeared. The present paper aims to reveal the peculiarities of the Roman/medieval archaeocarpological floristic lists (through a comparison with the flora over the last two centuries in the area of Modena) and highlight the possible causes explaining the presence or the demise of severaltaxa, considering also the palaeoecological reconstruction of the environment in which they have been found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human impact is a collective concept that requires a holistic approach. Human needs eventually caused the development of cultural landscapes that are at the base of the current landscapes. The papers included in this special issue are evidence that cooperation between different disciplines helps to understand the trend of environmental transformation from past to future. Palaeoecology studies ecosystems of the past and needs archaeology to deepen sociocultural intervention in environmental patterns. In a similar way, ecologists have to include the complexity of societies and economies into landscape ecology by adding principles of human ecology into sustainability science. A brief history of previous actions encouraging the integration of palynology, archaeobotany, archaeology, botany and ecology is reported. The application of integrated studies comes to a new point, the research on the Long-Term Human Impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To reconstruct the Lateglacial and early Holocene palaeoenvironmental dynamics in the northern part of Lithuania, the sediment record from Ginkūnai Lake was studied applying a multi-proxy approach, involving pollen, diatom, and plant macrofossil surveys as well as δ 18 O, δ 13 C, 14 C and loss on ignition (LOI) measurements, together with geochemical investigations. The obtained data suggest the deglaciation of the area started at approximately 16,000–16,500 cal BP, followed by the formation of a tree-less tundra. The obtained palaeobotanical records indicate the scarcity of the vegetation cover and the flourishing of the non-arboreal taxa in the local flora, suggesting a severe climatic regime. After 13,700 cal BP, the Pinus-Betula predominating forest progressively expanded, although this process was partly reversed during the recurrence of a cold interval recorded from 13,000 to 13,100 cal BP. Since 12,600 cal BP, rapid aridification of the climatic regime reflected in the isotope record was accompanied by the formation of cold-adapted vegetation, including Picea stands, which acted as an intensive supply of allochthonous material into the basin, thereby decreasing the water level. The identified period of physical disturbance lasted until approximately 11,800 cal BP. Significant changes of the palaeoenvironmental regime subsequently occurred in the area and were manifested in most of the obtained proxies, i.e., changes in the sediment type, transformations of the vegetation cover, and fluctuations of the sedimentation regime. Isotope records along with the geochemical data indicate a major climatic turn in terms of the temperature and moisture after 11,500 cal BP. The rising productivity of the basin was coincident with the stabilisation of the soil layer and the formation of dense vegetation cover enriched by Corylus (ca 9800 cal BP) and Ulmus (ca 10,300 cal BP) during the early Holocene. After 10,800 cal BP, the investigated part of the basin changed to a peat bog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Texturally controlled dating of zircon from Paleoarchean tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorites of the Older Metamorphic Tonalitic Gneisses and the Singhbhum Granite batholith (Phases I, II, and III) from the Singhbhum craton in eastern India reveals a polycyclic evolution of the Archean crust. The granitoid suites were emplaced in two pulses at 3.45–3.44 Ga and 3.35–3.32 Ga. Tonalites and trondhjemites of the Older Metamorphic Tonalitic Gneisses were emplaced at ca. 3.45–3.44 Ga together with Phase III of the Singhbhum Granite pluton while granites belonging to the Older Metamorphic Tonalitic Gneisses were emplaced at ca. 3.35–3.32 together with Phase I and Phase II of the Singhbhum Granite pluton. Both crustal units underwent an early phase of relatively high-grade metamorphism at 3.30–3.28 Ga followed by extensive fluid-induced alteration during low-grade metamorphism at 3.19–3.12 Ga, and 3.02–2.96 Ga. The two units have also been marginally affected at ca. 2.52 Ga and 1.06 Ga by major metamorphic events in the North Singhbhum Mobile Belt and the Singhbhum shear zone at the northern margin of the craton. The zircon grains in granites have inherited cores with ages of ca. 3.61 Ga and 3.46–3.41 Ga and with well-developed oscillatory growth zonation which suggests the granitic magmas were derived by partial melting of an igneous precursor or sedimentary rocks derived from an igneous source. The emplacement of the expansive granitoids belonging to the Older Metamorphic Tonalitic Gneisses and the Singhbhum Granite was synchronous with the amphibolite-facies metamorphism (ca. 3.32 Ga) of older meta-igneous and metasedimentary rocks belonging to the Older Metamorphic Group. Major felsic crust formation in the craton occurred in a narrow time interval between 3.46 and 3.32 Ma with minor contributions of material as old as 3.6 Ga. The complex polycyclic evolution of the Paleoarchean crust in the Singhbhum craton can account for the wide range of often disparate ages obtained using whole rock isochron dating techniques with some of the isochron dates being geologically meaningful while others representing mixing lines or disturbance of the isotopic systems during metamorphism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Algoma-type BIF-hosted iron deposits occur in the Shirengou, Xingshan, Erma, Lingshan and Sijiaying areas of Eastern Hebei. The deposits are hosted in Archean rocks, and their formation was related to volcanic and sedimentary processes in small volcano-sedimentary basins. Supracrustal rocks of the Qianxi and Dantazi Groups were metamorphosed from granulite facies to amphibolites facies. Available data indicate that these BIF deposits mainly formed during Paleoarchean and Neoarchean times. The Paleoarchean BIF-hosted iron deposits are represented by the Xingshan deposit that yielded a SHRIMP U-Pb zircon age of 3389.5 ± 7.6 Ma. The other BIF-hosted iron deposits formed in the late Neoarchean, represented by the Shirengou, Shuichang, Lingshan, Erma and Sijiaying deposits that formed between 2605 Ma and 2503 Ma. The late Neoarchean BIF iron deposits are considered to have formed under a mantle plume environment. The Eu anomalies of the ore samples from Eastern Hebei show that the BIF ores formed in a hydrothermal related volcanic submarine environment, where submarine hydrothermal effluents associated with volcanic activities may have supplied both the iron and silica for the BIFs from Eastern Hebei. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Analysis of cut marks in bone is largely limited to two dimensional qualitative description. Development of morphological classification methods using measurements from cut mark cross sections could have multiple uses across palaeoanthropological and archaeological disciplines, where cutting edge types are used to investigate and reconstruct behavioral patterns. An experimental study was undertaken, using porcine bone, to determine the usefulness of discriminant function analysis in classifying cut marks by blade edge type, from a number of measurements taken from their cross-sectional profile. The discriminant analysis correctly classified 86.7% of the experimental cut marks into serrated, non-serrated and bamboo blade types. The technique was then used to investigate a series of cut marks of unknown origin from a collection of trophy skulls from the Torres Strait Islands, to investigate whether they were made by bamboo or metal blades. Nineteen out of twenty of the cut marks investigated were classified as bamboo which supports the non-contemporaneous ethnographic accounts of the knives used for trophy taking and defleshing remains. With further investigation across a variety of blade types, this technique could prove a valuable tool in the interpretation of cut mark evidence from a wide variety of contexts, particularly in forensic anthropology where the requirement for presentation of evidence in a statistical format is becoming increasingly important. Am J Phys Anthropol 154:575-584, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At TK, 113 m2 were excavated in 2010–2012 in the two areas immediately adjacent to the trenches dug by M. Leakey in 1963. Extensive lithic and faunal assemblages were retrieved from several levels of the archaeological site. TK is located at the exposed top of Olduvai's Bed II, recently dated to 1.353 ± 0.035 Ma. From a geo-archaeological perspective, the stratigraphic studies have provided a redefinition of the processes involved in the site's formation. This paper offers a geological interpretation that revises and amends previous ones. The new interpretation focuses particularly on the technological and paleoeconomic study of a new lithic assemblage recovered from the lower occupation level (TKLF). This assemblage comprises 5805 objects in total, including 3812 items of shatter. We analyse here the chaînes opératoires represented in this level, as well as the processes implied by the raw materials, management, maintenance and abandonment of the lithic assemblage. The character of the site, as well as the activities carried out in it, have been greatly influenced by the proximity of the sources of the raw material primarily used, which could have been extracted from an inselberg of a particular type of quartzite located within a few hundred meters of the site. Two different chaînes opératoires can be identified in TKLF: one based on obtaining flakes from varied blanks, particularly volcanic rocks and the distinctive quartzite, and the second on the manufacture of large and highly standardized bifaces that were produced, used and abandoned in the site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A geomorphological, sedimentological, stratigraphic, and geometric study of 30 trenches excavated around FLK Zinj (Bed I, Olduvai Gorge) has enabled the partial reconstruction of the paleolandscape surrounding this site for a radius of ∼1000 m. This is the largest sample of geological and archaeological information yet available to reconstruct the topography, ecology, and geomorphology of the Zinj paleosurface and the hominin activities preserved within it. Contrary to previous interpretations, which place FLK Zinj on an isolated and narrow peninsula, it appears that the site was located on the edge of an elevated platform traceable for hundreds of meters. Hominins created FLK Zinj (and other sites, such as the recently discovered PTK and AMK) within the wooded habitats of this platform rather than the more open and grassy environments situated on lower portions of the lacustrine floodplain. Input areas, probably in the form of alluvial fans, existed to the south, following a North-South direction. These input areas are partially responsible for changes in the type sequence. Restricted erosion documented on the wooded platform was mostly caused by runoff processes. An archaeological study of the excavated trenches reveals a sharp contrast in fossil and stone tool density between FLK Zinj and the surrounding landscape, further supporting the contention that the site may have acted as a “central place” where repeated carcass transport, butchery, and consumption took place. Taphonomic studies indicate that at this stage of human evolution, hominins had primary access to carcasses and were not dependent on other carnivores for obtaining meat. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Passive margins are characterised by an important tectonic and thermal subsidence, which favours a good preservation of sedimentary sequences. This sedimentation in turn enhances the subsidence because of loading effects. We present here a direct method based on sedimentary markers seen on seismic data, to evaluate total subsidence rates from the coast to the outer shelf and to the deep basin in the Gulf of Lion, from the beginning of massive salt deposition up to present day (the last circa 6 Ma) with minimal theoretical assumptions. On the shelf, the Pliocene-Quaternary subsidence shows a seaward tilt reaching a rate of 240 m/Ma (±15 m/Ma) at the shelf break (70 km from the present day coastline) (i.e. a total angle of rotation of 0.88° (0.16°/Ma)). We were also able to measure and quantify for the first time the isostatic rebound of the outer shelf due to the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC). This value is very high and reaches up to 1.3 km of uplift during the crisis around the Herault–Sète canyon heads (around 1.8 km/Ma). On the slope, we also find a seaward tilting subsidence from Km 90 to Km 180 with a measured angle of 1.41°. From 180 km to the deepest part of the basin, the total subsidence is then almost vertical and reaches 960 m/Ma (±40 m/Ma) during the last 5.7 Ma (±0.25 Ma) in the deepest part of the basin. The subsidence is organised in three compartments that seem related to the very deep structure of the margin during the opening of the Liguro-provencal basin. These very high total subsidence rates enable high sedimentation rates along the margin with sediments provided by the Rhône river flowing from the Alps, which in turn enable the detailed record of climate evolution during Pliocene-Quaternary that make of the Gulf of Lion a unique archive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We present dendrochronological evidence of long-distance oak timber supply for the harbour of the Roman town Forum Hadriani, an important market place and point for military supplies located at the watershed of the Rhine and Meuse rivers, near the North Sea in the west of the current Netherlands. During excavations at Voorburg-Arentsburg (site Forum Hadriani) in 2007–2008, the wooden quay from the Roman harbour was revealed and 60 oak (Quercus sp.) piles were sampled and analysed by dendrochronology. Hierarchical cluster analysis was employed to group the tree-ring series from the piles according to their affinity, and three object chronologies representing different provenances were obtained. These were compared to a spatial network of archaeological and palaeo-ecological site chronologies from the Netherlands and Germany covering the Roman period. Our research revealed two construction phases in the harbour, which were built with wood from different geographical sources. The oldest phase, dating to ca. AD 160, consists of oak from the southeast of the Netherlands and southern Germany, whereas the second, more recent one, was built in or shortly after AD 205 with oak grown in the catchment basin of the river Mosel. Our results further suggest that scarcity of local timber resources was the reason for the import of wood for the quay at Forum Hadriani, and evidence that the Romans had established a well organised timber distribution network to supply wood over large distances already in the mid-2nd century AD. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Early Cambrian Burgess Shale-type fossil Lagerstätten of Yunnan Province (Chengjiang; Guanshan) are crucial in understanding the Cambrian bioradiation. Brachiopods are applied here as a critical model phylum to analyze the taphonomy of Yunnan fossil Lagerstätten, because shell and tissue composition of modern brachiopods can be compared with exceptionally preserved Cambrian remains. Systematic elemental mapping and energy-dispersive X-ray analyses have been carried out to study fossil brachiopods and their matrix from Cambrian Stages 3-4 and modern linguliform brachiopods from several geographical regions in order to evaluate the detailed structure of the shells and the biological and environmental influences on shell composition. Analyses of earliest Cambrian fossils encompassing the complete spectrum of weathering stages show a primary organo-phosphatic brachiopod shell, visible in unweathered specimens, and a successive dissolution and replacement of the shell during weathering, observable in specimens that underwent different stages of weathering. Therefore, our study reveals that earliest Cambrian linguliform brachiopods from the Chengjiang and Guanshan Biotas developed organo-phosphatic shells as their Recent counterparts. Early carbon and apatite preservation together with rapid deposition in claystone, instead of early iron adsorption, appears crucial for the preservation of highly delicate tissue. Primary calcium, phosphorus, organic carbon, and a multilayered shell are present, by inference between Cambrian fossils and Recent specimens, through the whole Phanerozoic. Elements such as silicon, sulphur, calcium, phosphorus, and iron were detected, impregnated with organic compounds in some organs of modern Lingula, and related to the potential of fossilization of Cambrian linguliform brachiopods. Ferromanganese precipitates traced in the shell of in vivo specimens of modern Lingula may enhance the potential for fossilization too. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The origin of Hymenoptera remains controversial. Currently accepted hypotheses consider Hymenoptera as the first side branch of Holometabola or sister-group to Mecopteroidea. In contrast, fossils confirm the idea of Martynov that Hymenoptera are related to Megaloptera and Raphidioptera. Hymenoptera have descended along with Raphidioptera from the earliest Megaloptera, the Permian Parasialidae. A related new family, minute Nanosialidae from the Permian of Russia is supposedly ancestral to Raphidioptera. The fusion of the third ovipositor valvulae is shown to be not a synapomorphy of Neuropteroidea. Parasialids and nanosialids bridge the gap between megalopterans and snakeflies; all can be classified into a single order, Panmegaloptera nom. n., including a new suborder Siarapha for Nanosialidae. The earliest megalopterans and their descendants, Raphidioptera and Hymenoptera, have passed through a "miniaturization bottleneck," likely a common macroevolutionary mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the Paleolithic in Jordan as an example, we review aspects of international, multidisciplinary collaboration that can lead to areas of conflict between foreign and indigenous archaeologists. We begin with some observations on the logic of inference to underscore problems arising from differences in the intellectual traditions involved in this research. This excursion into epistemology (how we know what we think we know about the past) is followed by an analysis of the practical considerations that can create difficulties in various aspects of the research process, from proposal writing through final publication. We conclude with suggestions to alleviate these problems and discuss where to situate paleoarchaeology within the larger context of transnational collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an update on the fossil record of ophiuroids (Ordovician-Holocene) within the Americas. These data allow us to evaluate the abundance and distribution of fossil ophiuroids by age and country, as well as to identify the ages and the regions that have been most thoroughly studied. It also provides data on the different types of fossils comprising the record, such as the species described and identified, disaggregated ossicles, brittlestars beds, ichnospecies and data which only report the presence of these specimens in fossil localities. Moreover, there is also an analysis of different types of work -systematic, ecological / taphonomic, evolutive, behavioral or stratigraphic-, in which is recorded the appearance of fossil ophiuroids in the continent for the first time, in addition to the decades with most publications of this nature. Finally, this paper includes a list of the species described and relevant literature for each country on the continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excavation and field survey at Ballachly, Dunbeath, Caithness in 2007-10 produced evidence which suggests the existence of a possibly early medieval and later Norse site centred around the hillock known as Chapel Hill, on top of which is located an, as of yet, indeterminate unicameral stone building. The site, already well-known for its Early Christian inscribed stones, lay within a substantial stone-walled enclosure of late medieval to early post-medieval date, possibly constructed to enclose an undeveloped burgh of barony, thought to be Magnusburgh, which was reported to have been licensed in 1624. Although most of the enclosed area did not yield evidence of occupation, two separate areas at the base of the hillock produced evidence for medieval industrial activity, including ironworking and a cobbled possible working surface. This activity post-dated a palaeo-channel, possibly reused as a ditch, and substantial stone wall, forming a possible boundary enclosure, whose lower-lying area has since been heavily disturbed by flooding and subsequent agricultural activity. Evidence of the sites association with an early monastery was not substantiated, though the site's character still suggests a former centre of some importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Abundant cell-like organic structures have been proposed as microfossils in Paleoarchean (3.2–3.5Ga) cherts. The wide range of δ13Corg values recorded in Paleoarchean organic matter (OM), including some of these possible microfossils, is difficult to reconcile with the smaller range observed in living cells and younger microfossils. Metamorphic and metasomatic effects on δ13Corg have been recognized in Paleoarchean rocks, but have never been assessed for cell-like structures. Migrations of OM, of which the textures can mimic microfossils, are also difficult to constrain in Paleoarchean cherts that are often cut by submillimeter- to meter-scale OM-bearing veins. Here, we present the results of petrography, Raman microspectroscopy, and in situ analyses of δ13Corg and H/C using secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) of diverse organic microstructures, including possible microfossils, from two localities of the 3.4-billion-year-old Strelley Pool Formation (Western Australia, SPF). For the first time, we show that the wide range of δ13Corg values recorded at the micrometer scale correlates with specific OM-texture types in the SPF. The cross-cutting texture and lower structural order show that the OM in micro-veins of one sample from the Goldsworthy greenstone belt (WF4) post-dates all other OM-texture types. Possible microfossils (spheres, lenses), clots and micrometer-scale globules all show a higher structural order reached during peak metamorphism. Other than late micro-veins, textures indicative of OM migration beyond the millimeter-scale are absent; hence the source of clots, lenses, spheres and globules is indigenous to the cherts. A weak positive relation between δ13Corg and H/C demonstrates that the 10‰ range in δ13Corg recorded in indigenous OM is not metamorphic or metasomatic in origin. Texture-specific isotopic compositions strongly argue against fully abiotic OM synthesis. Spherical cell-like structures have distinct δ13Corg values compared to all other organic textures: their distribution peaks between −35‰ and −36‰ in WF4 and averages −35.7‰ in sample PAN1-1A from the Panorama greenstone belt. Lenses are composed of a network of nanoscale OM with a relatively high H/C and δ13Corg (average −32‰ in WF4), and include globules with lower H/C and δ13Corg down to −40‰. Similar globules also appear as isolated clusters. In both WF4 and PAN1-1A, δ13Corg of OM clots shows a bimodal distribution, the lower values overlapping with those of lenses. These heterogeneities can be explained by different carbon-fixation metabolisms, e.g. photosynthetic high δ13Corg lenses versus methanogenic low δ13Corg spheres. Alternatively, heterogeneities can be explained by selective diagenetic preservation of the distinct isotopic fractionations inherited from different precursor biomolecules. Selective preservation is supported by (i) coupled δ13Corg–H/C heterogeneities, (ii) the δ13Corg differences between cell-like structures and recondensed clots, (iii) internal isotopic heterogeneities in SPF lenses similar to heterogeneities in modern and fossil cells. These results support the interpretation of biogenicity of morphologically cellular structures in the SPF. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]