scholarly journals Making and Breaking Microliths: A Middle Mesolithic Site at Asfordby, Leicestershire

2017 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
pp. 43-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynden P. Cooper ◽  
Wayne Jarvis ◽  
Alex Bayliss ◽  
Matthew G. Beamish ◽  
Christopher Bronk Ramsey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Boundaries ◽  
Foraging Strategies ◽  
North West ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Microwear Analysis ◽  
Physical Isolation ◽  
Deciduous Woodland ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
Northward Expansion ◽  
Late Mesolithic

Archaeological fieldwork preceding housing development revealed a Mesolithic site in a primary context. A central hearth was evident from a cluster of calcined flint and bone, the latter producing a modelled date for the start of occupation at 8220–7840 calbcand ending at 7960–7530 calbc(95% probability). The principal activity was the knapping of bladelets, the blanks for microlith production. Impact-damaged microliths indicated the re-tooling of hunting weaponry, while microwear analysis of other tools demonstrated hide working and butchery activity at the site. The lithics can be classified as a Honey Hill assemblage type on the basis of distinctive leaf-shaped microlithic points with inverse basal retouch.Such assemblages have a known concentration in central England and are thought to be temporally intermediate between the conventional British Early and Late Mesolithic periods. The lithic assemblage is compared to other Honey Hill type and related Horsham type assemblages from south-eastern England. Both assemblage types are termed Middle Mesolithic and may be seen as part of wider developments in the late Preboreal and Boreal periods of north-west Europe. Rapid climatic warming at this time saw the northward expansion of deciduous woodland into north-west Europe. Emerging new ecosystems presented changes in resource patterns and the Middle Mesolithic lithic typo-technological developments reflect novel foraging strategies as adaptations to the new opportunities of Boreal forest conditions. While Honey Hill-type assemblages are seen as part of such wider processes their distinctive typological signature attests to autochthonous, regional developments of human groups infilling the landscape. Such cultural insularity may reflect changing social boundaries with reduction in mobility range and physical isolation caused by rising sea level and the creation of the British archipelago.

The Later Prehistory of North-West Europe

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bradley ◽  
Colin Haselgrove ◽  
Marc Vander Linden ◽  
Leo Webley
Keyword(s):  
Social Development ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Low Countries ◽  
North West ◽  
Social Forms ◽  
Fresh Perspective ◽  
Western Germany ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Late Mesolithic

The Later Prehistory of North-West Europe provides a unique, up-to-date, and easily accessible synthesis of the later prehistoric archaeology of north-west Europe, transcending political and language barriers that can hinder understanding. By surveying changes in social forms, landscape organization, monument types, and ritual practices over six millennia, the volume reassesses the prehistory of north-west Europe from the late Mesolithic to the end of the pre-Roman Iron Age. It explores how far common patterns of social development are apparent across north-west Europe, and whether there were periods when local differences were emphasized instead. In relation to this, it also examines changes through time in the main axes of contact between the various regions of continental Europe, Britain, and Ireland. Key to the volume's broad scope is its focus on the vast mass of new evidence provided by recent development-led excavations. The authors collate data that has been gathered on thousands of sites across Britain, Ireland, northern France, the Low Countries, western Germany, and Denmark, using sources including unpublished 'grey literature' reports. The results challenge many aspects of previous narratives of later prehistory, allowing the volume to present a distinctively fresh perspective.

Cremation and the Use of Fire in Mesolithic Mortuary Practices in North-West Europe

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Gray Jones
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
British Isles ◽  
Mortuary Practice ◽  
North West ◽  
Northern France ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Secondary Burial ◽  
Late Mesolithic

Cremation is not widely recognized as a form of mortuary treatment amongst the hunter-gatherer communities of Mesolithic north-west Europe (broadly defined as c.9300 cal. BC to c.4000 cal. BC). Instead, the period is perhaps most well known for some of the earliest inhumation cemeteries in northern Europe, the most familiar being the Scandinavian sites of Skateholm I and II (Scania, Sweden) (Larsson 1988a) and Vedbæk-Bøgebakken (Zealand, Denmark) (Albrethsen and Brinch Petersen 1977) and those on the coast of northern France, Teviéc and Hoëdic (Morbihan, France) (Péquart et al. 1937; Péquart and Péquart 1954). As concentrations of well-furnished burials they have long provided the focus for discussions of Mesolithic mortuary practice as well as social status and group organization (e.g. Clark and Neeley 1987) and, more recently, cosmology (e.g. Zvelebil 2003), personhood (e.g. Fowler 2004), sexuality (e.g. Schmidt 2000) and the ritual practice of handling the body (e.g. Nilsson Stutz 2003). However, discoveries within the last two decades have increased the evidence for the practice of cremation (as well as other forms of treatment, such as secondary burial) amongst the huntergatherers of the Mesolithic, both in terms of the geographic distribution of the practice and its temporal spread throughout the period. Although rare in comparison to inhumation, cremation can now be seen to have been practiced throughout both the early and late Mesolithic and, whilst evidence is currently sparse within the modern areas of Germany and the British Isles, examples are known across Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Belgium, northern France, and the Republic of Ireland (totalling at least thirteen sites with cremated remains amongst over 100 sites with human bone in this area, see Fig. 2.1 and Table 2.1). Additionally, whilst preparing this chapter, a new discovery of cremated remains deposited in a large pit was made at Langford (Essex, England) and directly dated to the late Mesolithic, representing the first example from England (Gilmour and Loe 2015). It is worth noting here that there are also several more sites with human remains (usually disarticulated or ‘loose’ human bones) which are described as ‘charred’ or ‘burnt’ but for the purposes of this chapter I consider ‘cremated remains’ to refer to bone or a body that has undergone the mortuary rite of cremation (transformation of a corpse by burning) and burnt bone as the incidental or deliberate burning of dry and/or disarticulated bone (after McKinley 2013: 150).

NORTH WEST SHELF 3-D SEISMIC—A DECADE OF DEVELOPMENTS

1993 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 315
Author(s):  
P.S. Vaughan
Keyword(s):  
Joint Venture ◽  
Spatial Sampling ◽  
Seismic Surveys ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Technological Developments

Woodside as Operator, on behalf of three Joint Venture groups, over the last decade has acquired eight 3-D seismic surveys covering some 4 600 km2 over the Rankin Trend and Dampier Sub-Basin Production Licences and Exploration Permits on the North West Shelf of Australia. This area represents approximately 45 per cent coverage of the present Woodside operated acreage in the area. The acquisition, processing and interpretation technology and also the benefits derived from the 3-D technique have changed remarkably since the first North West Shelf 3-D survey in 1981. This paper focusses on the main technological developments in 3-D seismic, particularly involving multi-source and streamer technology, increased spatial sampling and interpretation techniques which have changed the role of 3-D seismic in Exploration strategies through the 1980s and into the 1990s.

Effects of diel and seasonal cycles on the dive duration of the minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata)

2001 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.A. Stockin ◽  
R.S. Fairbairns ◽  
E.C.M. Parsons ◽  
D.W. Sims
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Waters ◽  
Dive Duration ◽  
Minke Whale ◽  
Foraging Strategies ◽  
Seasonal Cycles ◽  
Balaenoptera Acutorostrata ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Ecological Changes

Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) surfacing intervals were recorded over a period of three years in the coastal waters of Mull, Coll and the Small Isles, in the north-west of Scotland. Significant differences in surfacing intervals were noted both throughout the day and throughout the year. Surfacing intervals were shortest at noon and in the months of June and July. Surfacing intervals were longest both mid-morning and mid-afternoon and during May and August. Differences in surfacing intervals were interpreted to be the result of ecological changes such as different foraging strategies. Consequently, the results of this study have an impact on the methodologies and designs of minke whale sightings surveys.

Neighbours but diverse: social change in north-west Iberia during the transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic (5500—4000 cal bc)

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Arias
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Coast ◽  
Exchange Networks ◽  
North West ◽  
Prestige Goods ◽  
The North ◽  
Cantabrian Coast ◽  
Great Contrast ◽  
Available Information ◽  
Late Mesolithic ◽  
Huge Variety

This chapter presents the available information on the late Mesolithic and the early Neolithic in north-west Iberia, and discusses its significance when attempting to understand the processes of transition from foraging to peasant societies. The north-west of the Iberian Peninsula provides, in a restricted area, a huge variety of Neolithization processes, probably interrelated, on an unequal background of Mesolithic populations, with great contrast between densely populated areas, such as the Cantabrian coast or the Upper Ebro, and others with lower densities. It is precisely in one of these densely populated areas that the first contacts appear to have happened. The evidence from Mendandia suggests that, about 5500 cal bc, not much later than the time when the first Neolithic groups were established on the Mediterranean coast, the first pottery could have reached the Upper Ebro. The earliest pots were probably no more than attractive prestige goods, which reached this area through exchange networks whose existence is proved by the presence of Mediterranean shells in the local Mesolithic.

PERTH BASIN REJUVENATED

1992 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter B. Hall ◽  
Robert L. Kneale
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Market Access ◽  
Field Size ◽  
Gas Field ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
Gas Market

The northern Perth Basin is an area where recent seismic advances combined with new geological insight, have led to exploration success with a significant new gas field discovery at Beharra Springs and a number of other minor discoveries. This paper outlines 'new concepts' with regard to stratigraphy and structure and how this has been balanced with the commercial environment to rejuvenate exploration in the northern Perth Basin. The Perth Basin is unique in Australia, as running through the middle of the Basin is the West Australian Natural Gas (WANG) pipeline which will be operating at approximately 26 per cent of its capacity in 1992. With the deregulation of the natural gas market in 1988, supply of gas to the Western Australian market via the State Energy Commission of Western Australia (SECWA) pipeline from the Carnarvon Basin, and in particular, the North West Shelf project, can now be balanced with supply from the onshore Perth Basin carried by the WANG pipeline.The minimum economically viable gas field in the northern Perth Basin is calculated to be 15 BCF (16.05 PJ) and the expected median field size is 50 BCF (53.5 PJ) of recoverable gas. Based on the historical success rate of one in eight, typical finding costs are 12 c/MCF (12 c/GJ).In the 1990/91 financial year, eight onshore exploration wells were drilled in Western Australia of which five were drilled in the northern Perth Basin. Provided the market access and opportunities remain, it is anticipated that the recent technological developments will sustain exploration and development of the onshore northern Perth Basin.

scholarly journals The ‘microliths’ from the Isles of Scilly and the continental Mesolithic: similar yet still so different

Antiquity ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 89 (346) ◽  
pp. 980-981 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Crombé
Keyword(s):  
Width Ratio ◽  
North West ◽  
Northern France ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Southern Netherlands ◽  
Length Width ◽  
Technical Features

There is little doubt that the small lithic assemblage from the Isles of Scilly is totally different to that from any other Mesolithic site in Britain. As the authors correctly state, the general resemblances to trapeze-dominated assemblages from the continent, in particular to the Late and Final Mesolithic industries from northern France, Belgium and the southern Netherlands, are very obvious. Typologically, the majority of armatures relate to continental rhombic trapezes, called ‘trapèzes à bases décalées’. Upon closer examination, however, several armatures display morphological or technical features that deviate from continental trapezes, making the Scilly assemblage both unique and enigmatic within north-west Europe. In particular, the presence of a dorsally or ventrally retouched base between both truncations on at least 20 of the armatures (p. 962, fig. 5) is remarkable. This is a feature that does not occur on continental trapezes, not even on the evolved rhombic trapezes known as flèches de Dreuil. The latter are particularly numerous in assemblages from the Somme valley (Ducrocq 1991), near the coast where the Channel crossing is narrowest. The combination of a length–width ratio typically <1 and the general use of flakes as blanks prompts us to interpret these implements as transverse arrowheads rather than standard trapezes. Pursuing this interpretation, the basal retouch might have been applied in order to facilitate their hafting, while the irregular small ‘splinters’ on the unretouched opposite end, visible on several of the drawings, might correspond to damage resulting from use.

Electron Microscopic Examination of a Transplantable Rat Mammary Carcinoma

1968 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 20-21
Author(s):  
S. Shirahama ◽  
G. C. Engle ◽  
R. M. Dutcher
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Osmium Tetroxide ◽  
Electron Microscopic Examination ◽  
Undifferentiated Carcinoma ◽  
Uranyl Acetate ◽  
Sprague Dawley ◽  
Electron Microscopic ◽  
North West ◽  
X Irradiation ◽  
Tissue Specimens

A transplantable carcinoma was established in North West Sprague Dawley (NWSD) rats by use of X-irradiation by Engle and Spencer. The tumor was passaged through 63 generations over a period of 32 months. The original tumor, an adenocarcinoma, changed into an undifferentiated carcinoma following the 19th transplant. The tumor grew well in NWSD rats of either sex at various ages. It was invariably fatal, causing death of the host within 15 to 35 days following transplantation.Tumor, thymus, spleen, and plasma from 7 rats receiving transplants of tumor at 3 to 9 weeks of age were examined with an electron microscope at intervals of 8, 15, 22 and 30 days after transplantation. Four normal control rats of the same age were also examined. The tissues were fixed in glutaraldehyde, postfixed in osmium tetroxide and embedded in Epon. The plasma was separated from heparanized blood and processed as previously described for the tissue specimens. Sections were stained with uranyl acetate followed by lead citrate and examined with an RCA EMU-3G electron microscope.

SEM and TEM observations of sperm development in the testis of the freshwater fish Oreochromis mossambicus

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 58-59
Author(s):  
Daryl A. Cornish ◽  
George L. Smit
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Oreochromis Mossambicus ◽  
Breeding Cycle ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Sem And Tem ◽  
Sperm Development ◽  
Ultrastructural Characteristics ◽  
The University

Oreochromis mossambicus is currently receiving much attention as a candidater species for aquaculture programs within Southern Africa. This has stimulated interest in its breeding cycle as well as the morphological characteristics of the gonads. Limited information is available on SEM and TEM observations of the male gonads. It is known that the testis of O. mossambicus is a paired, intra-abdominal structure of the lobular type, although further details of its characteristics are not known. Current investigations have shown that spermatids reach full maturity some two months after the female becomes gravid. Throughout the year, the testes contain spermatids at various stages of development although spermiogenesis appears to be maximal during November when spawning occurs. This paper describes the morphological and ultrastructural characteristics of the testes and spermatids.Specimens of this fish were collected at Syferkuil Dam, 8 km north- west of the University of the North over a twelve month period, sacrificed and the testes excised.

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