scholarly journals The Environmental Context and Function of Burnt-Mounds: New Studies of Irish Fulachtaí Fiadh

2016 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
pp. 259-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antony G. Brown ◽  
Steven R. Davis ◽  
Jackie Hatton ◽  
Charlotte O’Brien ◽  
Fiona Reilly ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Plant Macrofossils ◽  
Textile Processing ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Textile Production ◽  
Marginal Areas ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
And Function ◽  
Multi Element Analysis ◽  
Pollen Beetles

Burnt mounds, or fulachtaí fiadh as they are known in Ireland, are probably the most common prehistoric site type in Ireland and Britain. Typically Middle–Late Bronze Age in age (although both earlier and later examples are known), they are artefact-poor and rarely associated with settlements. The function of these sites has been much debated with the most commonly cited uses being for cooking, as steam baths or saunas, for brewing, tanning, or textile processing. A number of major infrastructural development schemes in Ireland in the years 2002–2007 revealed remarkable numbers of these mounds often associated with wood-lined troughs, many of which were extremely well-preserved. This afforded an opportunity to investigate them as landscape features using environmental techniques – specifically plant macrofossils and charcoal, pollen, beetles, and multi-element analyses. This paper summarises the results from eight sites from Ireland and compares them with burnt mound sites in Great Britain. The fulachtaí fiadh which are generally in clusters, are all groundwater-fed by springs, along floodplains and at the bases of slopes. The sites are associated with the clearance of wet woodland for fuel; most had evidence of nearby agriculture and all revealed low levels of grazing. Multi-element analysis at two sites revealed elevated heavy metal concentrations suggesting that off-site soil, ash or urine had been used in the trough. Overall the evidence suggests that the most likely function for these sites is textile production involving both cleaning and/or dyeing of wool and/or natural plant fibres and as a functionally related activity to hide cleaning and tanning. Whilst further research is clearly needed to confirm if fulachtaí fiadh are part of the ‘textile revolution’ we should also recognise their important role in the rapid deforestation of the wetter parts of primary woodland and the expansion of agriculture into marginal areas during the Irish and British Bronze Ages.

To Dye or Not to Dye: Bioarchaeological Studies of Hala Sultan Tekke Site, Cyprus

Światowit ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-98
Author(s):  
Dominika Kofel
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Plant Macrofossils ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Textile Production ◽  
Textile Dyeing ◽  
Spindle Whorls

Dated to the Late Bronze Age (Late Cypriot II: 1450–1200 BC and Late Cypriot III: 1200–1050 BC), the site of Hala Sultan Tekke brought to light interesting evidence of textile production and possible fabric dyeing. Finds of loom weights and spindle whorls together with remains of dyer’s croton (Chrozophora tinctoria), field gromwell (Buglossoides arvensis syn. Lithospermum arvense), and shells of murex allow opening a discussion over the methods and reasons for undertaking the time and cost-consuming procedure of dye production. The present article, through an examination of finds and an analysis of plant macrofossils and molluscs, tests a hypothesis of textile dyeing at the Late Cypriot city of Dromolaxia Vizatzia.

Investigating Burnt Mounds in Clydesdale during Motorway Construction

1998 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
John A Atkinson ◽  
Camilla Dickson ◽  
Jane Downes ◽  
Paul Robins ◽  
David Sanderson
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Short Account ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Bronze Age

Summary Two small burnt mounds were excavated as part of the programme to mitigate the impact of motorway construction in the Crawford area. The excavations followed a research strategy designed to address questions of date and function. This paper surveys the various competing theories about burnt mounds and how the archaeological evidence was evaluated against those theories. Both sites produced radiocarbon dates from the Bronze Age and evidence to suggest that they were cooking places. In addition, a short account is presented of two further burnt mounds discovered during the construction of the motorway in Annandale.

Geographic determination of coffee beans using multi-element analysis and isotope ratios of boron and strontium

2014 ◽  
Vol 142 ◽  
pp. 439-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hou-Chun Liu ◽  
Chen-Feng You ◽  
Chiou-Yun Chen ◽  
Yu-Ching Liu ◽  
Ming-Tsung Chung
Keyword(s):  
Isotope Ratios ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Coffee Beans ◽  
Multi Element Analysis

scholarly journals Cloning, Expression, and Purification of a Nitric Oxide Synthase-Like Protein fromBacillus cereus

2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 ◽  
pp. 1-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather J. Montgomery ◽  
Andrea L. Dupont ◽  
Hilary E. Leivo ◽  
J. Guy Guillemette
Keyword(s):  
Nitric Oxide ◽  
Hydrogen Peroxide ◽  
Nitric Oxide Synthase ◽  
Expression And Purification ◽  
Spectral Shifts ◽  
Reconstituted System ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
And Function ◽  
Oxide Synthase ◽  
Reductase Domain

The nitric oxide synthase-like protein fromBacillus cereus(bcNOS) has been cloned, expressed, and characterized. This small hemeprotein (356 amino acids in length) has a mass of 43 kDa and forms a dimer. The recombinant protein showed similar spectral shifts to the mammalian NOS proteins and could bind the substrates L-arginine andNG-hydroxy-L-arginine as well as the ligand imidazole. Low levels of activity were recorded for the hydrogen peroxide-dependent oxidation ofNG-hydroxy-L-arginine and L-arginine by bcNOS, while a reconstituted system with the rat neuronal NOS reductase domain showed no activity. The recombinant bcNOS protein adds to the complement of bacterial NOS-like proteins that are used for the investigation of the mechanism and function of NO in microorganisms.

scholarly journals Direct Simultaneous Multi-element Analysis in Tobacco Smoke by ICP-TOFMS after Gas Exchange

2013 ◽  
Vol 62 (9) ◽  
pp. 785-791 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masaki OHATA ◽  
Kohei NISHIGUCHI ◽  
Keisuke UTANI
Keyword(s):  
Gas Exchange ◽  
Tobacco Smoke ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Multi Element Analysis

AML1 is expressed in skeletal muscle and is regulated by innervation

1994 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 8051-8057
Author(s):  
X Zhu ◽  
J E Yeadon ◽  
S J Burden
Keyword(s):  
Skeletal Muscle ◽  
Acute Myeloid Leukemia ◽  
Electrical Activity ◽  
Myeloid Leukemia ◽  
Structure And Function ◽  
Denervated Muscle ◽  
Aml1 Gene ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
And Function ◽  
Acute Myeloid

Although most skeletal muscle genes are expressed at similar levels in electrically active, innervated muscle and in electrically inactive, denervated muscle, a small number of genes, including those encoding the acetylcholine receptor, N-CAM, and myogenin, are expressed at significantly higher levels in denervated than in innervated muscle. The mechanisms that mediate electrical activity-dependent gene regulation are not understood, but these mechanisms are likely to be responsible, at least in part, for the changes in muscle structure and function that accompany a decrease in myofiber electrical activity. To understand how muscle activity regulates muscle structure and function, we used a subtractive-hybridization and cloning strategy to identify and isolate genes that are expressed preferentially in innervated or denervated muscle. One of the genes which we found to be regulated by electrical activity is the recently discovered acute myeloid leukemia 1 (AML1) gene. Disruption and translocation of the human AML1 gene are responsible for a form of acute myeloid leukemia. AML1 is a DNA-binding protein, but its normal function is not known and its expression and regulation in skeletal muscle were not previously appreciated. Because of its potential role as a transcriptional mediator of electrical activity, we characterized expression of the AML1 gene in innervated, denervated, and developing skeletal muscle. We show that AML1 is expressed at low levels in innervated skeletal muscle and at 50- to 100-fold-higher levels in denervated muscle. Four AML1 transcripts are expressed in denervated muscle, and the abundance of each transcript increases after denervation. We transfected C2 muscle cells with an expression vector encoding AML1, tagged with an epitope from hemagglutinin, and we show that AML1 is a nuclear protein in muscle. AML1 dimerizes with core-binding factor beta (CBF beta), and we show that CGF beta is expressed at high levels in both innervated and denervated skeletal muscle. PEBP2 alpha, which is structurally related to AML1 and which also dimerizes with CBF beta, is expressed at low levels in skeletal muscle and is up-regulated only weakly by denervation. These results are consistent with the idea that AML1 may have a role in regulating gene expression in skeletal muscle.

From tools to production: recent research on textile economies in Greece

2021 ◽  
Vol 67 ◽  
pp. 109-128
Author(s):  
Bela Dimova ◽  
Margarita Gleba
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Wool Fibre ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Textile Production ◽  
Spindle Whorls ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Of Greece

The aim of this report is to provide a summary of the latest developments in the textile archaeology of Greece and the broader Aegean from the Neolithic through to the Roman period, focusing in particular on recent research on textile tools. Spindle-whorls and loomweights appeared in the Aegean during the Neolithic and by the Early Bronze Age weaving on the warp-weighted loom was well established across the region. Recent methodological advances allow the use of the physical characteristics of tools to estimate the quality of the yarns and textiles produced, even in the absence of extant fabrics. The shapes of spindle-whorls evolved with the introduction of wool fibre, which by the Middle Bronze Age had become the dominant textile raw material in the region. The spread of discoid loomweights from Crete to the wider Aegean has been linked to the wider Minoanization of the area during the Middle Bronze Age, as well as the mobility of weavers. Broader issues discussed in connection with textile production include urbanization, the spread of different textile cultures and the identification of specific practices (sealing) and previously unrecognized technologies (splicing), as well as the value of textiles enhanced by a variety of decorative techniques and purple dyeing.

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