Early Neolithic pig domestication at Jiahu, Henan Province, China: clues from molar shape analyses using geometric morphometric approaches

2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Cucchi ◽  
A. Hulme-Beaman ◽  
J. Yuan ◽  
K. Dobney
Keyword(s):  
Henan Province ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Geometric Morphometric ◽  
Shape Analyses

scholarly journals Do island populations differ in size and shape compared to mainland counterparts?

2019 ◽  
Vol 101 (2) ◽  
pp. 373-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Ticul Álvarez-Castañeda ◽  
Laura A Nájera-Cortazar
Keyword(s):  
Geometric Morphometric ◽  
Island Populations ◽  
Terrestrial Vertebrates ◽  
Skull Shape ◽  
Skull Size ◽  
Morphometric Analyses ◽  
Interpopulation Variation ◽  
Pocket Mouse ◽  
Shape Analyses ◽  
Insular Populations

Abstract Adaptation and evolution of terrestrial vertebrates inhabiting islands have been the topic of many studies, particularly those seeking to identify trends or patterns in body size in mammals, albeit not necessarily in shape, in relation to mainland populations. The spiny pocket mouse, Chaetodipus spinatus, is distributed in the Baja California peninsula and its surrounding islands. Insular populations became isolated ~12,000 due to changes in sea level; these populations’ matrilinear (mitochondrial) DNA shows minor interpopulation variation. We tested the hypothesis that adaptation and evolution in these island populations involve variation in both skull size and skull shape (using geometric morphometrics) relative to mainland populations, rather than only in size as previously assumed. A total of 363 specimens from 15 insular and peninsular populations were used in analysis of the skull length and geometric morphometric analyses. Our findings revealed significant differences related to skull size among population. The skull shape analyses showed two significantly different morphotypes: one for all island specimens and one for all mainland samples. Our analyses support the hypothesis that insular populations may not only vary in size relative to mainland populations, but may also show variations in shape, regardless of differing conditions across islands.

Northern Asian Pliocene–Pleistocene beremendiin shrews (Mammalia, Lipotyphla, Soricidae): a description of material from Russia (Siberia), Kazakhstan, and Mongolia and the paleobiology of Beremendia

2019 ◽  
Vol 93 (06) ◽  
pp. 1234-1257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir S. Zazhigin ◽  
Leonid L. Voyta
Keyword(s):  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Geometric Morphometric ◽  
New Model ◽  
Early Pliocene ◽  
Fossil Remains ◽  
Mandibular Morphology ◽  
Extinct Group ◽  
Shape Analyses ◽  
Qualitative Characteristics

AbstractBeremendiini is an extinct group of soricine shrews that were widely distributed during the Pliocene and Pleistocene. Their occurrence in China has been investigated, but their presence in northern Asian regions has remained poorly studied. This paper analyzes 56 fossil remains of Beremendiini collected from 16 early Pliocene to early Pleistocene localities in Russia (Siberia), Kazakhstan, and Mongolia and shows the presence of two beremendiin species: Beremendia fissidens (Petényi, 1864) and Beremendia minor Rzebik-Kowalska, 1976. Northern Asian Beremendia considerably vary in size and qualitative characteristics, although most of the different states have been identified in European or Chinese specimens. Through the application of geometric morphometric techniques, mandibular shape analyses reveal similarities between the members of the beremendiin genera Peisorex Kowalski and Li, 1963, Beremendia Kormos, 1934, and Lunanosorex Jin and Kawamura, 1996. Shape analyses and comparisons of mandibular characteristics reveal ‘trophic’ analogies between Beremendia and Blarina spp. and a new model of ‘Mandible Swinging and Sliding’ (MSS-model) accounting for the similarities in mandibular morphology with implications for the understanding of the diet of Beremendia.UUID: http://zoobank.org/ef92ee1a-3977-44b2-86d7-381665bcf78b

The earliest writing? Sign use in the seventh millennium BC at Jiahu, Henan Province, China

Antiquity ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (295) ◽  
pp. 31-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xueqin Li ◽  
Garman Harbottle ◽  
Juzhong Zhang ◽  
Changsui Wang
Keyword(s):  
Early Period ◽  
Henan Province ◽  
Chinese Characters ◽  
Writing System ◽  
Ritual Practice ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Long Period

Early Neolithic graves at Jiahu, Henan Province, China, include tortoise shells which are incised with signs – some of which anticipate later Chinese characters and may be intended as words. Is this the earliest writing? The authors decide rather that the signs in this very early period performed as symbols connected with ritual practice, but they presage a long period of sign use which led eventually to a writing system.

Social organization in the Orcadian Neolithic: identification of elite domestic structures and settlements through analysis of excavation data

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
David MacInnes
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Social Hierarchy ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Qualitative Evidence ◽  
Methods Of Analysis ◽  
The Subject

The nature of social organization during the Orcadian Neolithic has been the subject of discussion for several decades with much of the debate focused on answering an insightful question posed by Colin Renfrew in 1979. He asked, how was society organised to construct the larger, innovative monuments of the Orcadian Late Neolithic that were centralised in the western Mainland? There are many possible answers to the question but little evidence pointing to a probable solution, so the discussion has continued for many years. This paper takes a new approach by asking a different question: what can be learned about Orcadian Neolithic social organization from the quantitative and qualitative evidence accumulating from excavated domestic structures and settlements?In an attempt to answer this question, quantitative and qualitative data about domestic structures and about settlements was collected from published reports on 15 Orcadian Neolithic excavated sites. The published data is less extensive than hoped but is sufficient to support a provisional answer: a social hierarchy probably did not develop in the Early Neolithic but almost certainly did in the Late Neolithic, for which the data is more comprehensive.While this is only one approach of several possible ways to consider the question, it is by exploring different methods of analysis and comparing them that an understanding of the Orcadian Neolithic can move forward.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document