after 20 years a taphonomic re evaluation of nahal hadera v an epipalaeolithic site on the israeli coastal plain we carried out a detailed taphonomic study of the faunal remains from nahal hadera v nhv a large kebaran open air site on the northern coastal plain israel faunal remains were previously identified to bone element and species saxon martin bar yosef 1978 however nisp and mni values were calculated based on teeth and epiphyses only in this study we identified the maximum number of skeletal elements including head fragments vertebrae ribs carpals tarsals and shaft fragments further analyses included search for various bone surface modifications and the study of mode of bone fragmentation we found minor loss of bones caused by various diagenetic processes and no signs of carnivore activity these results suggest that most of the bone destruction was caused during time of occupation probably for marrow consumption as indicated by mode of bone fragmentation absence of selective transport for gazelle gazella gazella and fallow deer dama mesopotamica the major prey species with 70 and 20 respectively is supported by homogeneous representation of head limb toe elements however the carcasses may have been processed before transport to the site thus a taphonomic analysis from nhv helps to illuminate the economy of nhv inhabitants and fine tunes our understanding of the depositional history of the site however it does not overthrow results of earlier research using classical methods

diagnostic properties of hammerstone broken long bone fragments specimen identifiability and early stone age butchered assemblage interpretation abstract zooarchaeological assemblages in a variety of geographic and temporal contexts are dominated by fragmentary long bone specimens and precise identification of side skeletal element and bone portion underlie archaeological interpretations including specimen counts for skeletal part profiles minimum number of element mne and individual mni estimates actualistic hammerstone and anvil breakage of domestic goat limb bones was used to document how fragmentation impacts precise identification of skeletal specimens analysis of assemblage composition and reconstructions of butchery behavior specimens greater than 2 cm in size were assigned to categories that describe the precision with which side element upper intermediate and lower limb segment and long bone portion could be identified results suggest that specimen size is positively related to identifiability and more identifiable specimens tend to include epiphyses and relatively complete shaft circumferences most elements produced a similar number of fragments including highly identifiable ends that yield accurate skeletal part profiles mne and mni estimates however if density mediated destruction removes these specimens analysis of less identifiable shaft fragments significantly underrepresents element and individual abundance the number of identified limb specimens nisp mne and epiphysis to shaft ratios in fragmentary archaeological butchery assemblages suggest limb end underrepresentation deflates measures of assemblage abundance and reduces the behavioral resolution of butchery interpretations however zooarchaeological analyses can productively incorporate fragmentary less identifiable specimens when they define hypotheses that match the scale of archaeological data

sediment transport by sea ice in the chukchi and beaufort seas increasing importance due to changing ice conditions abstract sediment laden sea ice is widespread over the shallow wide siberian arctic shelves with off shelf export from the laptev and east siberian seas contributing substantially to the arctic ocean s sediment budget by contrast the north american shelves owing to their narrow width and greater water depths have not been deemed as important for basin wide sediment transport by sea ice observations over the chukchi and beaufort shelves in 2001 02 revealed the widespread occurrence of sediment laden ice over an area of more than 100 000 km2 between 68 and 74 n and 155 and 170 w ice stratigraphic studies indicate that sediment inclusions were associated with entrainment of frazil ice into deformed multiple layers of rafted nilas indicative of a flaw lead environment adjacent to the landfast ice of the chukchi and beaufort seas this is corroborated by buoy trajectories and satellite imagery indicating entrainment in a coastal polynya in the eastern chukchi sea in february of 2002 as well as formation of sediment laden ice along the beaufort sea coast as far eastward as the mackenzie shelf moored upward looking sonar on the mackenzie shelf provides further insight into the ice growth and deformation regime governing sediment entrainment analysis of radarsat synthetic aperture sar imagery in conjunction with bathymetric data help constrain the water depth of sediment resuspension and subsequent ice entrainment 20 m for the chukchi sea sediment loads averaged at 128 t km 2 with sediment occurring in layers of roughly 0 5 m thickness mostly in the lower ice layers the total amount of sediment transported by sea ice mostly out of the narrow zone between the landfast ice edge and waters too deep for resuspension and entrainment is at minimum 4 106 t in the sampling area and is estimated at 5 8 106 t over the entire chukchi and beaufort shelves in 2001 02 representing a significant term in the sediment budget of the western arctic ocean recent changes in the chukchi and beaufort sea ice regimes reduced summer minimum ice extent ice thinning reduction in multi year ice extent altered drift paths and mid winter landfast ice break out events have likely resulted in an increase of sediment laden ice in the area apart from contributing substantially to along and across shelf particulate flow an increase in the amount of dirty ice significantly impacts sub ice algal production and may enhance the dispersal of pollutants

a sediment and organic carbon budget for the canadian beaufort shelf abstract the arctic ocean accounts for 20 of the world s continental shelves because the arctic is sensitive to global change budgets of organic carbon for its shelves are of immediate interest the mackenzie shelf of the canadian beaufort sea is the best north american proxy for the enormous eurasian shelves large area large river input and the only site for which a complete organic carbon budget can be attempted due to an extensive data base a mass balance for the mackenzie shelf has been constructed for sediments terrestrial organic carbon and primary produced carbon we have considered allochthonous inputs from the mackenzie river from coastal erosion from smaller rivers from groundwater from the atmosphere and import by ice the mackenzie river dominates the supply to the beaufort shelf of inorganic sediment 127 mt a 1 and paniculate and dissolved terrestrial carbon 2 1 mt a 1 poc 1 3 mt a 1 doc the combined input from all other sources contributes only about 5 of the mackenzie load using sediment accumulation data we estimate that about half of the sediment supply is trapped in the delta about 40 on the shelf and the remainder escapes the shelf edge by various processes autochthonous primary production in the delta and on the shelf adds a further 3 3 mt a 1 of particulate organic carbon a box model has been constructed to account for sediment terrestrial organic carbon and primary produced carbon whereas about 60 of the terrestrial poc is preserved in delta and shelf sediments it appears that most 97 of the primary produced carbon is recycled and not preserved in sediments confidence in the budget should be improved by focusing future research on the determination of modern sedimentation rates on the delta and shelf measurement of organic carbon content of deltaic sediments determination of primary production on the shelf and determination of the relative proportions of terrestrial and marine organic carbon preserved in sediments

actualistic research into dynamic impact and its implications for understanding differential bone fragmentation and survivorship abstract the relationship between bone mineral density and archaeological bone survivorship has played a critical role in zooarchaeological and taphonomic studies in recent decades numerous studies have suggested that higher density skeletal element portions survive more frequently than lower density element portions when archaeological assemblages are affected by some taphonomic processes interpretations of density mediated destruction have become commonplace in the archaeological literature and are often used to explain the absence of certain bone elements and element parts in zooarchaeological assemblages this study explores the effects of rockfall on bovid elements in varied environmental conditions and the differential survivorship of their element parts and has implications for understanding the taphonomic processes through which bones are subjected to dynamic loading actualistic rockfall experiments conducted on twelve samples of frozen fresh and semi dried bovid bones reveal that the generally low density epiphyseal ends of bone elements resist fracture and analytical deletion with more frequency than the higher density diaphyses this evidence suggests that bone density does not correlate with likelihood of breakage or effective archaeological destruction when rockfall and other processes that result in dynamic impact are in action while this research does not question the relationship between bone mineral density and the likelihood for archaeological survivorship as the result of some taphonomic processes it presents one specific set of taphonomic processes that result in the differential survivorship of low density bone elements parts and the fragmentation and destruction of higher density element parts this research presents evidence that shows that dynamic impact is a process capable of fragmenting and sometimes destroying high density elements while low density elements survive

circulation on the north central chukchi sea shelf abstract mooring and shipboard data collected between 1992 and 1995 delineate the circulation over the north central chukchi shelf previous studies indicated that pacific waters crossed the chukchi shelf through herald valley in the west and barrow canyon in the east we find a third branch through the central channel onto the outer shelf the central channel transport varies seasonally in phase with bering strait transport and is 0 2 sv on average although some of this might include water entrained from the outflow through herald valley a portion of the central channel outflow moves eastward and converges with the alaskan coastal current at the head of barrow canyon the remainder appears to continue northeastward over the central outer shelf toward the shelfbreak joined by outflow from herald valley the mean flow opposes the prevailing winds and is primarily forced by the sea level slope between the pacific and arctic oceans current variations are mainly wind forced but baroclinic forcing associated with upstream dense water formation in coastal polynyas might occasionally be important winter water mass modification depends crucially on the fall and winter winds which control seasonal ice development an extensive fall ice cover delays cooling limits new ice formation and results in little salinization in such years bering shelf waters cross the chukchi shelf with little modification in contrast extensive open water in fall leads to early and rapid cooling and if accompanied by vigorous ice production within coastal polynyas results in the production of high salinity 33 shelf waters such interannual variability likely affects slope processes and the transport of pacific waters into the arctic ocean interior

assessing the importance of terrestrial organic carbon in the chukchi and beaufort seas abstract the western arctic ocean is a unique part of the world s oceans and is an area undergoing significant climate changes the effects and possible climate feedbacks of these changes are not yet fully understood decreased sea ice cover could lead to increased productivity in the water column or a reduction in total productivity through the loss of sea ice algal contributions climate change could also alter the patterns of terrestrial inputs from rivers and coastal erosion in order to better understand the balance of organic material inputs in the western arctic ocean this report presents carbon and nitrogen elemental and isotopic compositions from 19 surface sediment samples and 7 cores from 4 shelf to basin transects as evidence of the sources of organic matter buried in the sediments of the chukchi and alaskan beaufort seas the c n ratios for surface sediments were between 5 3 and 11 5 mean 9 0 1 3 the mean toc was 1 2 0 3 and mean tn was 0 16 0 02 the highest toc contents were observed in the barrow canyon transect likely reflecting heightened overlying productivity the 13 c of this preserved material varied from 22 1 to 16 7 mean 19 4 1 3 a trend to depletion in 13 c and higher c n in eastern sites was observed among the surface samples 15 n varied from 4 1 to 7 6 mean 5 7 1 1 an evaluation of the inputs of organic matter to the western arctic sediment was accomplished using 13 c and 15 n values with the novel technique of a bayesian analysis multi source mixing model this model was used to estimate proportional contributions of sea ice algae water column phytoplankton and terrestrial organic matter we conclude that water column productivity is the source of between 50 and 70 of the organic carbon buried in this portion of the western arctic the remaining 25 35 of carbon is mainly supplied by sea ice algal productivity with at most 15 of sedimentary carbon derived from terrestrial inputs

the cave of the monk ban fa suai chiang dao wildlife sanctuary northern thailand biostratigraphic and paleoecological analyses of southeast asian pleistocene faunal sites are based on the assumption that paleontological assemblages are homogeneous this means that the sites formed during a time range shorter than biological evolution range and above all without faunal replacement induced by environmental successions detailed study of the cave of the monk paleontological site in thailand has lead to the conclusion that the complex pattern of this southeast asian paleontological site cannot support such an assumption the cave of the monk provides an ailuropoda stegodon assemblage typical of southeast asia pleistocene fauna the pluridisciplinary study presented here includes i site morphology description ii sedimentological analysis of fossiliferous deposits iii taphonomy study of the bone assemblage and iv electron spin resonance esr dating of tooth samples this integrated approach demonstrates the existence of a pleistocene porcupine den inhabited during mis 3 and 2 the features of this site are commonly reported for other paleontological sites of the area indicating that this kind of site formation is a very general one in southeast asia esr dating and porcupine ethological reports are used to question the site time averaging a time range of a few tens of thousands of years is suggested the paleoecological value of the site can then be discussed on one hand the assemblage is thought to be a valuable paleoenvironmental record considering that the bone accumulation agent is reputed to represent the fauna present in the environment without bias on the other hand the time averaging of the site indicates that site formation range likely covered the environmental fluctuations of the last climatic cycle this last hypothesis is confirmed by the alternating association of species indicated by the stratigraphic distribution of the faunal remains the research demonstrates the need for integrated and pluridisciplinary taphonomic study of southeast asian paleontological sites it also reveals the utility of a microstratigraphic analysis of a fossiliferous karst deposit in order to disentangle the succession of pleistocene mammals in response to environmental changes

the distribution of nutrients in the southeastern beaufort sea implications for water circulation and primary production hydrographic data collected above the shelf and slope in the southeastern beaufort sea show marked contrast in surface properties of nutrients temperature salinity and oxygen between august 1974 a year when ice remained close to shore and august 1975 a year with much open water the near surface properties are dominated by river inputs biological activity and the ice regime below the winter mixed zone 40 50 m properties are similar to those observed elsewhere in the arctic ocean bering sea water is detected at 50 60 m as a very weak signal in temperature nutrients and oxygen upwelling in both years was observed at the eastern side of mackenzie canyon this upwelling likely results from the interaction of coastal circulation with topography estimates of new productivity based on nutrient budgets are low 20 g c m 2 yr 1 compared to temperate coastal waters but fall in the range expected for the arctic in 1974 the heavy ice year turbid water and ice cover appear to have reduced new production by about 30 calculations show that this production over the shelf could potentially supply a significant portion of the nutrients found in the upper halocline over a wide region of the arctic ocean by regeneration at the shelf bottom and transport off the shelf in brine drainage

evidence for permafrost thaw and transport from an alaskan north slope watershed burial of organic carbon oc in marine sediments is one of the most important linkages between the short term biologic carbon cycle and the long term geologic carbon cycle yet much is still unknown about the fate of terrigenous oc in marine coastal margins here the delivery of particulate oc poc to the colville river deltaic region in the alaskan beaufort sea by particulates of varying densities is studied through the use of ramped temperature pyrolysis and radiocarbon analyses the colville river is the largest river in north america whose watershed is underlain completely by high arctic permafrost tundra a variety of sources of poc are considered including terrestrial soils pleistocene aged yedoma like sediments coastal peat erosion and marine poc we provide the first evidence that riverine poc from the colville river contains old pleistocene sourced oc suggesting ongoing thaw and mobilization of yedoma like permafrost oc from this northern alaskan watershed additionally much of this oc appears to be fairly labile and therefore could be readily oxidized and returned to the atmosphere

captive hyaena bone choice and destruction the schlepp effect and olduvai archaeofaunas abstract skeletal element representation at archaeological and palaeontological sites often differs from natural anatomical proportions at archaeological sites this pattern could result from hominid behaviour predepositional destructive or dispersive forces such as carnivore ravaging or post depositional destructive forces such as sediment compaction and leaching predepositional ravaging by carnivores is documented at several important plio pleistocene archaeofaunal assemblages flk zinjanthropus and flkn levels 1 2 here we present the first systematic and controlled experimental data on the effect of this process on skeletal element survival simulated archaeological assemblages of defleshed hammerstone broken and unbroken bones were created within a captive spotted hyaena enclosure and controlled numbers of hyaenas were allowed to ravage the sites vertebrae and pelves were nearly always chosen first for consumption by the hyaenas vertebrae and ribs were nearly always destroyed completely and pelves were destroyed 50 of the time limb bone ends were frequently destroyed while limb middle shaft fragments preserve nearly 100 of the original number of elements thus hominid discarded bone assemblages regardless of the original representation of elements can come to resemble the schlepp effect simply through post hominid hyaena scavenging the documented pattern at flk zinjanthropus and flkn1 2 of low frequencies of vertebrae ribs and pelves and high frequencies of limbs may be due to post hominid ravaging by hyaenas and not selective hominid transport of limb elements to the sites

nanoinclusions in microdiamonds from neogenic sands of the ukraine samotkan placer a tem study abstract mineral and fluid inclusions in seven microdiamonds ca 0 2 mm in diameter from the neogene samotkan placer of the ukrainian shield were investigated by tem various types of submicron or nanometre sized inclusions such as olivine and orthopyroxene fe sn oxide and assemblages of mineral multi phases were observed in an octahedral microdiamond crystal numerous olivine and enstatite micro and nanocrystals were observed their composition is close to that of other olivine and enstatite inclusions found in kimberlitic diamonds worldwide an unusual feature of these minerals in the samples studied however is a relatively high nio content 0 50 0 80 wt in olivine fo 91 3 92 1 and 0 40 0 70 wt in enstatite fo 94 1 95 4 these peridotitic mineral associations represent the host possibly lherzolitic mantle in which the diamonds grew the mean mg values of olivine and enstatite inclusions in samotkan s microdiamond are respectively 91 43 and 94 83 which are closer to mg values of these minerals in lherzolite rather than in harzburgite assemblages included in diamond in addition enstatite clinoenstatite k richterite graphite and fe sn oxide were also identified as nanoinclusions in samotkan diamond the fe sn oxides and magnetite were found in two microdiamonds of the transitional 111 110 form the k richterite and graphite have been attributed to epigenetic inclusions the origin of fe sn oxide is not clear assemblages of multi phase minerals were observed in four microdiamonds of variable morphology octahedron transitional 111 110 form cube and cube coated diamond these phases belong to fluid bearing inclusions and are enclosed in cavities which as a rule are not filled completely by the solid phases the remainder of the volume is occupied by a fluid that for the most part has been released during sample preparation in the majority of cases the multi phase assemblages consist of carbonate mica rutile ilmenite apatite and sylvite carbonates are the most abundant phases in the fluid inclusions they are calcium rich carbonates frequently with admixtures of fe mg and sr the mica inclusions are enriched in silicon with si varying from ca 6 7 to 7 0 a p f u the multi phase mineral assemblages present in samotkan s microdiamond are similar to fluid bearing microinclusions found previously in other diamond types e g fibrous diamonds the fibrous coat of coated diamonds or the internal clouds of octahedral diamonds from kimberlites of different provinces worldwide they represent the carbonate alkali and chlorine rich mantle fluid composition present during crystallisation of the samotkan s microdiamond judging from the composition of the multi phase assemblages it may be assumed that the samotkan s microdiamond grew from a carbonatitic to a slightly silicic melt rich in alkali and volatile components

composition and fate of terrigenous organic matter along the arctic land ocean continuum in east siberia insights from biomarkers and carbon isotopes abstract climate warming is predicted to translocate terrigenous organic carbon terroc to the arctic ocean and affect the marine biogeochemistry at high latitudes the magnitude of this translocation is currently unknown so is the climate response the fate of the remobilized terroc across the arctic shelves represents an unconstrained component of this feedback the present study investigated the fate of permafrost carbon along the land ocean continuum by characterizing the terroc composition in three different terrestrial carbon pools from siberian permafrost surface organic rich horizon mineral soil active layer and ice complex deposit and marine sediments collected on the extensive east siberian arctic shelf esas high levels of lignin phenols and cutin acids were measured in all terrestrial samples analyzed indicating that these compounds can be used to trace the heterogeneous terrigenous material entering the arctic ocean in esas sediments comparison of these terrigenous biomarkers with other terroc proxies bulk 13c 14c and hmw lipid biomarkers highlighted contrasting across shelf trends these differences could indicate that terroc in the esas is made up of several pools that exhibit contrasting reactivity toward oxidation during the transport in this reactive spectrum lignin is the most reactive decreasing up to three orders of magnitude from the inner to the outer shelf while the decrease of hmw wax lipid biomarkers was considerably less pronounced alternatively degradation might be negligible while sediment sorting during the across shelf transport could be the major physical forcing that redistributes different terroc pools characterized by different matrix association despite the marked decrease shown by lignin the fingerprint of lignin phenols such as the acid aldehyde ratio of vanillyl and syringyl phenols showed a lack of any across shelf trends and exhibited an extremely wide range of values in all terrestrial samples by contrast the 3 5 dihydroxybenzoic vanillyl phenols ratio exhibited a clear across shelf trend suggesting either increasing degradation with distance from the coast or terroc sorting along the sediment dispersal system the ratio of syringyl vanillyl phenols indicated that gymnosperm tissues are more important than angiosperm tissues in surface sediments in particular off the lena river mouth consistent with the vegetation in its watershed conversely the fingerprint of p hydroxybenzenes suggests lack of substantial input of moss derived material finally autochthonous lipid and protein derived cuo reaction products displayed a strong along shelf gradient likely reflecting the inflow of nutrient rich pacific waters from the bering strait that stimulate primary productivity in the eastern esas in particular short chain fatty acids showed a clear frontal transition zone between pacific influenced and river influenced waters approximately along the 160 e longitude considering the labile nature of phytoplankton priming and co metabolism processes might stimulate degradation of terroc in the easternmost region of the siberian shelf this study demonstrated the need to consider multiple terroc proxies at isotopic molecular levels to differentiate the fate for different allocthonous components in arctic sediments and the need to assess how these terroc pools are distributed in different density size and settling fractions to better discriminate between the extent of hydrodynamic sorting versus degradation

bone density and long bone representation in archaeological faunas comparing results from ct and photon densitometry abstract research into animal bone density has provided the foundation for the assessment of post depositional destruction of archaeological faunal assemblages this paper presents bone mineral density values for caprid long bones as determined by computed tomography ct unlike photon densitometry the technique employed in previous archaeological studies of bone density ct provides precise assessments of the cross sectional area of scan sites researchers using photon densitometry have been unable to factor out the marrow cavity in their determination of cross sectional area thereby significantly underestimating the density of long bone shafts the density values obtained by ct are much higher particularly for middle shaft portions than those presented in previous studies and are more consistent with existing data on the material properties of bone for two archaeological faunal assemblages that have been subject to post depositional attrition the ct density values show a much stronger correlation with long bone portion survival than those provided by photon densitometry given such advantages over photon densitometry ct is a promising method for future archaeological investigations into bone density

differential recovery of pacific island fish remains the effects of differential recovery have been documented and discussed for almost a century screening experiments using comparative collections are one avenue for understanding recovery bias because they develop expectations about what is likely to be recovered in this study modern reference specimens of pacific island fish were screened through 1 4 inch 6 4 mm and 1 8 inch 3 2 mm mesh recovery rates are examined across taxa body size and element type the experimental recovery rates are then compared to those from an archaeological fish assemblage from the moturakau rockshelter aitutaki cook islands to examine how well the data derived from screening experiments are able to predict archaeological recovery patterns the experimental data is able to accurately predict the taxa recovered in the moturakau sample the impact of differential recovery on a variety of interpretations utilizing archaeological fish remains is then discussed

measuring the post depositional destruction of bone in archaeological assemblages abstract post depositional processes have affected most archaeozoological assemblages often causing fragmentation or destruction of bone which can vary by assemblage and hamper interpretations of the original element representation klein cruz uribe 1984 the analysis of animal bones from archaeological sites chicago university of chicago press prior to performing interassemblage comparisons analysts must first assess the post depositional destruction for each assemblage hammerstone breakage and hyaena ravaging experiments show that compact bones carpals tarsals fibulae are rarely fragmented therefore fragmentation of these bones in archaeozoological assemblages should be the result of post depositional destruction a completeness index for compact bones provides a description of the magnitude of post depositional destruction because the completeness index is independent of differential fragmentation and transport by bone collectors and quantification variation between researchers the efficacy of the completeness index for showing varing completeness of archaeological bone is demonstrated by comparing two late pleistocene archaeological sites in kenya when guided by experimental results the completeness index allows an evaluation of the impact of post depositional destruction on the two kenyan assemblages published archaeozoological reports must provide a measure of post depositional destruction or else the usefulness of the data for comparative analysis is compromised

origin of archaeological black bones within a waterlogged context a multidisciplinary approach abstract this paper presents the interdisciplinary study on the origin of black bones at the neolithic lakeside settlement of dispilio greece 5500 3500 bce where animal bones have been recovered from a waterlogged and organic soil matrix containing charcoal ash and burnt cultural remains in the past this has been interpreted as the result of the destruction of the village by fire and abandonment this study aims to examine this theory through the distinction of burnt vs oxide stained bones a selection of 44 fish and 19 mammal bone samples are examined through optical microscopy scanning electron microscopy sem x ray microanalysis eds x ray diffraction xrd rietveld analysis infrared spectroscopy atr nir and chemical analyses icp ms alterations of histology mineralogy chemistry crystallinity and structural parameters prove that the black bones from dispilio owe their colour to mn and fe oxide staining light coloured bones found at the site have not been affected by this diagenetic procedure which suggests that they were buried in a totally different geochemical environment the analytical techniques employed did not offer any proof that the studied material is burnt however due to the fact that most techniques used to this day allow for the identification of thermal alteration of bone at temperatures usually higher than 300 450 c the possibility of thermal alterations due to an indirect fire thus at lower temperatures or a fire of small duration cannot be identified and thus be ruled out

phosphorus distribution c n p ratios and δ13coc in arctic temperate and tropical coastal sediments tools for characterizing bulk sedimentary organic matter abstract onshore offshore trends in phosphorus p organic carbon oc and total nitrogen tn concentration p distribution elemental organic c n p ratios and stable carbon isotopic composition of oc 13 c oc of surficial sediments are presented from three river dominated coastal regimes the mackenzie river beaufort shelf in the canadian arctic the mississippi delta and louisiana shelf in the temperate gulf of mexico and the tropical amazon shelf these parameters measured in surficial sediments from the three sites are used to assess changes in the importance of terrestrial and marine organic matter sources to sediments as a function of distance from the locus of riverine discharge trends in elemental ratio data from the arctic transect and a portion of the gulf of mexico transects can be explained in terms of a two end member mixture of terrestrial and marine phytodetritus in the arctic transect covariation of organic c p ratios with 13 c oc is consistent with a two end member mixture of terrestrial and marine organic matter a similar relationship between c p ratios and 13 c oc is not evident in gulf of mexico or amazon shelf sediments at these sites the two end member model fails to explain the data adequately the most striking feature of the onshore offshore trends in elemental oc op and oc tn ratios is the occurrence of low ratios in sediments from deep water stations in the gulf of mexico and all stations on the amazon shelf resulting from p and n enrichments exceeding the redfield ratio for marine plankton three explanations are discussed to account for these low ratios 1 the dominance of refractory op and on compounds in the residuum of degraded organic matter 2 differential sorption of op and n compounds regardless of lability on the surfaces of the fine grained sediments characteristic of these sites and 3 a dominance of bacterial biomass or components derived from bacterial biomass elemental ratios and 13 c oc signatures indicate that differential sorption may be most important in the deep water gulf of mexico sites in contrast elemental ratios and 13 c oc on the amazon shelf are most consistent with a sedimentary organic matter pool dominated by bacterial biomass or derivative substances

percussion marks on bone surfaces as a new diagnostic of hominid behaviour since stone tool cut marks and carnivore tooth marks were first described systematically on plio pleistocene archaeological bone1 2 bone surface modification has played a prominent role in interpreting early archaeological site formation and hominid behaviour3 15 here we introduce a new class of bone surface modification which we call percussion marks percussion marks were produced during experimental breakage of marrow bones and occur as pits or grooves impressed on a bone s surface by natural protrusions on the granitic hammerstone and anvil used although percussion marks can superficially mimic carnivore tooth marks they nonetheless are closely associated with hammerstone impact notches and show consistent micromorphological features which distinguish them from tooth marks and other classes of bone surface modification given indications of prehistoric hammer stone breakage of marrow bones1 7 an awareness of percussion marks is critical for accurately identifying the biological agents of bone modification at archaeological sites and provides a new diagnostic of carcass processing by hominids

biotic and abiotic processes affecting the formation of bk level 4c bed ii olduvai gorge and their bearing on hominin behavior at the site abstract excavations at bk have provided insights into the behavior of early hominins through the study of several archaeological levels the present study shows the results for a new archaeological sub level bk4c the main goal is to contribute to the knowledge of the different taphonomic processes that shaped bk4c and to better understand the role played by hominins in its formation due to the presence of a fluvial depositional context and a slight channel in bk4c a spatial analysis has been applied in order to determine the impact caused by water flows we conclude that water played a role in the rearrangement of the assemblage however the spatial properties of the assemblage indicate a limited impact of post depositional disturbance processes supporting the autochthonous nature of the site the taphonomic study of this sub level indicates that hominins had a primary role in the accumulation bulk defleshing and demarrowing of carcasses bk4 assemblages bk4b and bk4c indicate a repeated occupation of the site for short time periods this is interpreted by the overall fast sedimentation recorded in the fluvial system and the paucity of highly weathered bones showing extensive periods of sub aerial exposure in between sedimentary episodes the site functionality is potentially different from that inferred for earlier oldowan periods where sites were smaller and showed less marked spatial clustering of lithics and stone tools caused by hominin behavior

organic carbon isotope ratios δ 13 c of arctic amerasian continental shelf sediments organic matter origins are inferred from carbon isotope ratios 13c in recent continental shelf sediments and major rivers from 465 locations from the north bering chukchi east siberian beaufort sea arctic amerasia generally there is a cross shelf increase in 13c which is due to progressive increased contribution seaward of marine derived organic carbon to surface sediments this conclusion is supported by the correlations between sediment 13c oc n and 15n the sources of total organic carbon toc to the amerasian margin sediments are primarily from marine water column phytoplankton and terrigenous c3 plants constituted of tundra taiga and angiosperms in contrast to more temperate regions the source of toc from terrigenous c4 and cam plants to the study area is probably insignificant because these plants do not exist in the northern high latitudes the input of carbon to the northern alaskan shelf sediments from nearshore kelp community laminaria solidungula is generally insignificant as indicated by the absence of high sediment 13c values 16 5 to 13 6 which are typical of the macrophytes our study suggests that the isotopic composition of sediment toc has potential application in reconstructing temporal changes in delivery and accumulation of organic matter resulting from glacial interglacial changes in sea level and environments furthermore recycling and advection of the extensive deposits of terrestrially derived organic matter from land or the wide amerasian margin could be a mechanism for elevating total co2 and pco2 in the arctic basin halocline

fish bone diagenesis in southeastern brazilian shell mounds and its importance for paleoenvironmental studies abstract brazilian shell mounds are relicts of prehistoric settlements characterized as distinct features on the sandy coastal plain sandy bars of coastal lagoons and rocky island they are composed of shells of edible marine mollusks fish remains and wildlife bones intermixed with sand in the coastal lagoon region of the rio de janeiro state these shell mounds range in age between 5100 and 1300 cal bp in this study we analyzed the geochemistry of the bones of the whitemouth croaker that primarily offers insight on the nature of bone diagenesis and its use for radiochronology and as isotope paleo thermometer the x ray diffractograms of bones from the tarioba shell mound exhibit elevated calcite profiles in contrast to a reduced hydroxyapatite concentration two peaks of quartz and the presence of feldspar provide evidence of exogenous materials e g sand or silt particles infilling hollow spaces within the fish bones the beirada and the ponte do girau shell mounds are characterized by the highest peaks of apatite relative to calcite which is clearly different from the result obtained for tarioba the manitiba profile is similar to the tarioba profile except for calcite peaks that are approximately three times lower than those for tarioba at a depth of 25 cm in the tarioba shell mound the redox sensitive index of diagenetic alteration reaches its maximum value suggesting a zone of accumulation in the soil horizon redox condition the 18o derived temperatures profile based on mollusks showed a consistent range from 18 1 to 24 1 c indicating seasonal events of intense upwelling of the south atlantic central water breaking the mean warm surface conditions of the brazil current diagenetic imprints of tarioba shell mound suggest humid burial conditions with the loss of hydroxyapatite and the enrichment of exogenous calcite drier depositional environmental conditions are indicated in the ponte do girau and the beirada shell mounds while intermediary depositional environmental conditions characterize the manitiba shell mound in the period represented by the shell mound samples the sea level exhibited significant oscillations and portions of the inner shelf were exposed which may have resulted in an anomalous derived temperature records these results are compatible with events of anomalous temperatures occurring in the sea level during the time span of occupation of these shell mounds

taphonomic evaluation of the degree of historical representation of the archaeological bone samples in anaerobic versus aerobic environments the neolithic site of la draga banyoles spain abstract the site of la draga is located in the central part of the eastern shore of lake banyoles 172 m a s l archaeological work began in 1990 it is the only early neolithic lakeshore site in the western mediterranean currently being excavated two different occupations have been documented within a timeline of 5430 4796 cal bc an extent of about 800 m2 has been excavated out of the minimum surface area of 8000 m2 an added peculiarity is that different excavated sectors have distinct characteristics regarding their condition due to the changing water levels of the lake in historic times sector a 328 m2 is the emerged land sector sectors b and d 132 m2 and 48 m2 respectively are located in the perennial phreatic level and sector c 310 m2 is completely underwater the analysis of more than 20 000 retrieved faunal remains evidences the exploitation of at least 51 different animal species 46 wild and 5 domestic comparative taphonomic analyses performed on assemblages in the terrestrial and phreatic sectors have focused on evaluating how the different conditions at the site influence the composition and characteristics of samples both quantitatively and qualitatively emphasis is placed on the specific and anatomical variability documented in each sector the proportions of mature and immature animal bone remains and on the animal carcass integrity the estimation of the degree of historical representation of the faunal assemblages in each of the excavation sectors shows important differences between peat anaerobic and dry aerobic environments documenting significant biases in sector a these results demonstrate that the identification of taphonomic processes that operate at intrasite level and their effects are crucial data with important implications for the understanding of past social and economic dynamics

implications of late quaternary mammalian fauna from lukenya hill south central kenya for paleoenvironmental change and faunal extinctions abstract late quaternary paleoenvironmental data for east africa are derived primarily from montane sources and thus we know little about the changing composition of east african savannas four archaeological sites at lukenya hill in the savanna of the athi kapiti plains of kenya that date to the last 40 000 yr preserve a large mammalian fauna the prehistoric hunters concentrated on migratory ungulates and virtually ignored the resident inselberg ungulates throughout the occupation faunas of the last glacial maximum are dominated by an extinct small alcelaphine antelope arid adapted ungulates are present that are regionally absent historically and pelorovis is present as well the small alcelaphine and arid adapted ungulates are absent in the holocene deposits this suggests that there was an expansion of dry savannas during the last glacial maximum the last glacial maximum aridity combined with a lack of pastoral set fires would have resulted in a vegetative mosaic distinct from the present dry woody growth and dry and or tall grass all of which are poor forage for ungulates would have been common where seasonally moist short grasslands are presently extant these conditions favored the large bodied highly hypsodont species in africa that became extinct with the onset of wet conditions during the early holocene

210pb derived chronology and the fluxes of 210pb and 137cs isotopes into continental shelf sediments east chukchi sea alaskan arctic abstract eleven sediment cores and eight sediment trap samples from the continental shelf of the eastern chukchi sea were analyzed for 210pb cs and 2226ra in selected samples the organic carbon content and stable carbon isotope ratios were also determined the excess 210pb 210pbxs concentrations in the 1 cm core tops are generally lower than those of surficial sediments of subarctic shelves and arctic lakes the sediment inventory derived depositional fluxes of 210ph vary between 0 09 and 0 38 dpm cm 2y 1 with a mean of 0 18 dpm cm 2 y 1 the apparent mass sediment accumulation rates which vary between 31 and 324 mg cm 2 y 1 with a mean value of 133 mg cm 2 y 1 are about an order of magnitude lower than the yearly particle flux obtained from the sediment trap experiments this difference between the relatively long term and short term yearly accumulation rates is likely due to the occasional resuspension of fine particles in the continental shelf areas and their advective transport to sites other than their initial deposition the sediment inventory of 137cs varied between 0 64 and 4 09 dpm cm 2 with a mean of 2 18 dpm cm 2 a comparison of this inventory with the expected fallout inventory of 137cs suggests that there had been no detectable input of 137cs to the study area from the former ussr nuclear dump sites

coastal erosion vs riverine sediment discharge in the arctic shelf seas this article presents a comparison of sediment input by rivers and by coastal erosion into both the laptev sea and the canadian beaufort sea cbs new data on coastal erosion in the laptev sea which are based on field measurements and remote sensing information and existing data on coastal erosion in the cbs as well as riverine sediment discharge into both the laptev sea and the cbs are included strong regional differences in the percentages of coastal erosion and riverine sediment supply are observed the cbs is dominated by the riverine sediment discharge 64 45 106 t a 1 mainly of the mackenzie river which is the largest single source of sediments in the arctic riverine sediment discharge into the laptev sea amounts to 24 10 106 t a 1 more than 70 of which are related to the lena river in comparison with the cbs the laptev sea coast on average delivers approximately twice as much sediment mass per kilometer a result of higher erosion rates due to higher cliffs and seasonal ice melting in the laptev sea sediment input by coastal erosion 58 4 106 t a 1 is therefore more important than in the cbs and the ratio between riverine and coastal sediment input amounts to 0 4 coastal erosion supplying 5 6 106 t a 1 is less significant for the sediment budget of the cbs where riverine sediment discharge exceeds coastal sediment input by a factor of ca 10

new taphonomic data of the 1 myr hominin butchery at untermassfeld thuringia germany abstract untermassfeld has provided a butchered bone assemblage and a mode 1 lithic record demonstrating hominin presence at a site which was classically viewed as paleontological this archaeological record was found during fieldwork and surveying in fluvial river banks and low to medium energy channel erosion sediments paleomagnetism and biostratigraphy has yielded an age for this hominin occupation close to the onset of the jaramillo subchron ca 1 07 myr in this paper we present new taphonomic data of the cut marked and hammer related bone material corresponding mainly to large sized herd species i e bison but also from cervids eucladoceros giulii and cervus s l nestii vallonnetensis and megafaunal species i e stephanorhinus hundsheimensis and hippopotamus amphibius antiquus distribution of skeletal elements and bone surface features suggests that this bone assemblage consists of animal remains with different taphonomic origins the assemblage formed during at most two or three sediment laden floods transporting both lithic tools and remains of animals that died of natural causes or were killed by predators the new taphonomic results presented here are important to analyze hominin colonization and adaptation to european mid latitude environments at 1 myr in competition for meat resources with large carnivores i e pachycrocuta brevirostris and panthera onca gombaszoegensis

the effect of structural density on marmot skeletal part representation in archaeological sites abstract volume bone mineral densities for two species of marmota are more similar to each other than their average is to previously published volume densities for small cervids and large bovids marmot bone density values do not correlate with frequencies of marmot bones reported by grayson journal of archaeological science 1989 16 643 652 for the white mountains of california suggesting that bone assemblage has not undergone density mediated attrition marmot bone density values are correlated with frequencies of marmot bones recovered from the salishan mesa site in washington and those specimens appear to be relatively larger and less fragmented than those from the white mountains these multiple lines of evidence suggest frequencies of salishan mesa marmot remains are the result of density mediated attrition and frequencies of white mountains marmot remains may be either the result of differential recovery or the influence of differential fragmentation on identifiability