enso simulated by intermediate coupled models and evaluated with observations over 1970 98 part ii role of the off equatorial ocean and meridional winds introducing new parameterizations of subsurface temperature and atmospheric convection in the cane and zebiak model allows the reproducing of oscillations with a period close to 4 yr equatorial wind anomalies that are located close to the date line and realistic amplitudes of sst wind and thermocline anomalies in the equatorial pacific both in warm and cold phases when the weight given to the atmospheric convection term is increased the simulated wind maximum along the equator is displaced farther west and the amplitude and duration of the warm events decrease compared to the simulations with the standard parameterization the enso like oscillations are not lost when the friction is increased with a decay time ranging from 30 to 12 months off equatorial baroclinic ocean and wind anomalies are much less strong but still necessary for the system to oscillate unrealistic easterlies are still present in the eastern pacific replacing the atmospheric model by a statistical relationship between sst and wind stress anomalies allows further reducing of these deficiencies the simulated enso like events are in good agreement with observed oceanic and atmospheric fields in terms of amplitude and spatial patterns within 158 of the equator sensitivity tests to the statistics prescribed in the atmospheric component show that the model simulates warm events with duration and amplitude that increase with the eastern penetration of the westerlies in the central pacific whereas cold events do not last longer and easterlies remain located at the date line whatever their strength after warm events the model simulates a gain of heat content on average in the north and similar features are found in

global climatic anomalies associated with extremes in the southern oscillation abstract composite temperature and precipitation anomalies during various stages of an event in the southern oscillation so have been computed for several hundred stations across the globe large regions of coherent significant signals are shown to exist for both extremes of the so with warm event signals generally opposite to those during cold events in addition during the year preceding the development of an event in the so year 1 climatic anomalies tend to be opposite to those during the following year year 0 this confirms that the biennial tendency of the so over the pacific indian ocean sectors is also present in more remote regions with climatic signals related to the so many of the signals are consistent enough from event to event to be useful for extended range forecasting purposes

estimation of moment magnitude and stress parameter from shakemap ground motion parameters we describe an efficient method to determine moment magnitude and stress parameter in near real time in the immediate aftermath of a small to moderate earthquake m 3 6 from shakemap ground motion parameters 5 damped pseudospectral acceleration at 1 hz 0 33 hz 10 hz and or peak ground acceleration the methodology is based on relating shakemap parameters to source and attenuation parameters within the context of a generic stochastic point source model to provide an event specific ground motion prediction equation gmpe that will reliably predict amplitudes it is an approach that has been optimized for applications in regions with sparse networks an example is provided for southern ontario in brief we initially develop a simulation guided generic gmpe model based on the available database in the region we derive the applicable regional anelastic attenuation stress parameter and site amplification models then using the estimated regional models we show how to invert shakemaps parameters to estimate moment magnitude and stress parameter in near real time to define an event specific gmpe for an event that just happened the event specific gmpe can be used to provide robust calibrated shakemaps that are fully consistent with ground motion observations

use wear analysis of an amudian laminar assemblage from the acheuleo yabrudian of qesem cave israel in this paper the results of use wear analysis of an amudian lithic assemblage recently discovered at qesem cave israel are presented although very old this assemblage maintains well preserved traces of use that indicate that butchering activities and plants collecting were carried out at the site cut marks on faunal remains confirm the observations obtained by use wear analysis

spatial aspects as seen from a density analysis of lithics at middle pleistocene qesem cave preliminary results and observations abstract this paper focuses on the results of a preliminary study of flint items densities in different areas and different parts of the stratigrapahic column of qesem cave qesem cave is a karst chamber cave with a 10 m stratigraphic sequence assigned to the acheulo yabrudian cultural complex aycc of the late lower paleolithic in the levant dated to 420 200 ka we first show the range of lithic densities in studied assemblages in the cave emphasizing significant differences in both the total number of lithic items per volume unit and or for selected artifact categories within these assemblages the results are used to suggest differential intensity of lithic related activities in the cave and variability in synchronic different areas of the cave within a similar stratigraphic level distribution aspects of lithic categories of selected assemblages we briefly note on the diachronic assemblages belonging to different parts of the stratigraphic sequence aspect of lithic densities in the discussion yet this aspect is not is not central in this paper a comparison of densities to frequency compositions of selected techno typological categories in the same assemblages areas further emphasizes the importance of using more than one quantitative measure as a descriptor of lithic assemblages and the interpretative potential of the interplay between the two measures in some analyzed aspects the differences between the two measures in the same assemblage are quite significant enabling interpretation of activity areas and specific human behaviors eventually further research testing lithic densities against and or incorporating them with other sets of density and frequency data from the same areas e g faunal remains or relating these densities to natural such as a rock shelf or human made features such as a fireplace may offer an elaborate and valuable landscape for reconstructing human behavior at the cave furthermore the spatial distribution of specific techno typological lithic categories within the assemblages studied as seen in densities augmented by available functional data derived from use wear analysis enable another perspective on the subdivision of activity areas in some parts of the sequence one synchronic example of our preliminary results which we present relates to generally contemporaneous assemblages adjacent to a constructed fireplace in the center of the cave in the upper part of the lower stratigraphic sequence dated to ca 300 ka both blade dominated amudian and quina and demi quina scrapers dominated yabrudian assemblages are involved indicating spatially differentiated functionally related differences around the fireplace

taphonomy and paleoecological implications of fossorial microvertebrates at the middle paleolithic open air site of nesher ramla israel variation in taphonomic modes which describe the characteristics of fossil depositional environments is an important but much understudied aspect of the formation of microvertebrate assemblages this study examined an assemblage of microvertebrate remains which was recovered from archaeological deposits in a deep karst depression at an open air setting a unique and so far undocumented type of depositional environment in the southern levant taxonomic and taphonomic characteristics of the assemblage reveal a striking difference from other known assemblages in the region from cave and fluvial depositional settings this includes especially low density taxonomic diversity and skeletal element survivorship three of the four taxa are fossorial or semi fossorial and their remains dominate the assemblage indicating strongly an accumulation history which involves underground burrow deaths of fossorial animals this is supported by additional evidence from skeletal modifications showing rare evidence of weathering extensive in situ fragmentation where the fragments remain fused together and abundant evidence for light abrasion these taphonomic patterns suggest extended underground protection of the remains followed by limited dispersal within a sedimentary matrix likely due to movement from the surrounding soil mantle into the karst depression through colluviation processes this taphonomic reconstruction has significant implications for understanding the long record of hominid occupation at the middle paleolithic site of nesher ramla phases of high density of the remains along the section correspond with glacial phases of marine isotope stages mis 6 and 5a 4 indicating an association between enhanced fossorial activity and environmental conditions during glacial stages intense deposition of cultural remains was recorded only during mis 6 however and this leads us to suggest that continued low intensity hominid presence in the upper layers of the site is related either to change in the usefulness of the site for hominid subsistence activities as it was being filled with sediments or to demographic changes linked to the arrival of new populations during mis 5a 4 detailed paleoenvironmental sequences which are recovered directly from hominid sites are critical for testing such hypotheses

regionally adjustable generic ground motion prediction equation based on equivalent point source simulations application to central and eastern north america abstract we develop a generic ground motion prediction equation gmpe that can be adjusted for use in any region by modifying a few key model parameters the basis of the gmpe is an equivalent point source simulation model whose parameters have been calibrated to empirical data in california in such a way as to determine the decoupled effects of basic source and attenuation parameters on ground motion amplitudes we formulate the generic gmpe as a function of magnitude distance stress parameter geometrical spreading rate and anelastic attenuation this provides a fully adjustable predictive model allowing users to calibrate its parameters using observed motions in the target region we also include an empirical calibration factor to account for residual effects that are different from and or missing in simulations compared to observed motions in the target region as an example we show how the generic gmpe can be adjusted for use in central and eastern north america cena and calibrated with the next generation attenuation east database we provide median predictions of ground motions in cena for average horizontal component peak ground motions and 5 damped pseudospectral acceleration periods up to t 10 s for magnitudes m 3 8 and distances up to 600 km

an investigation of the el nino southern oscillation cycle with statistical models 1 predictor field characteristics we have developed two sets of linear models for predicting equatorial pacific sea surface temperatures ssts from the indo pacific trade wind field and the near global sea level pressure slp field the models were constructed using a combination of extended empirical orthogonal functions eeofs and canonical correlation analysis cca a new approach in geophysical modeling our results are of interest both as they show the dominant modes of evolution in the slp and wind fields through the el nino southern oscillation cycle and with respect to the problem of predicting equatorial ssts this paper deals with the first issue above and describes some statistical composites that typify the development of features in the predictor fields over periods of years the results of the eeof analyses clearly show slowly propagating anomalies in both the near global slp and trade wind fields the cca analysis which highlights the co evolution of the two fields suggests a strong coupling between the two and depicts the anomalous features as migrating centers of divergence and convergence that first appear over the eastern indian ocean these features propagate slowly eastward amplify as they expand into the western pacific decline as they cross the central ocean then reamplify over the eastern pacific as reamplification takes place new opposing anomalies appear in the indo pacific descriptions of the predictor data sets and details of the statistical techniques used may also be found in this paper the sst data model validation techniques and forecast model results are presented in a companion paper graham et al this issue

the clactonian elephant butchery site at southfleet road ebbsfleet uk archaeological excavations at southfleet road ebbsfleet kent have revealed a complex sequence of fossiliferous middle pleistocene sediments containing lithic artefacts an incomplete skeleton of straight tusked elephant palaeoloxodon antiquus was found in lacustrine sediments in close association with a cluster of mint condition cores flakes and notched flake tools some with evidence of use damage these finds appear to reflect in situ tool production and butchery of the elephant carcass a far larger concentration of similar artefacts again in mint condition occurred nearby in the same horizon these finds were overlain by a fluvial gravel containing abundant handaxes some also in mint condition a range of fossils including pollen molluscs and small vertebrates indicates temperate conditions with local woodland coeval with the elephant butchery the sediments appear to have formed during the early part of an interglacial almost certainly mis 11 as well as providing rare undisturbed evidence of human behaviour the site supports the existence of a distinctive non handaxe clactonian core flake tool industry in southeast england at this period copyright 2006 john wiley sons ltd

topographic slope as a proxy for seismic site conditions and amplification we describe a technique to derive first order site condition maps directly from topographic data for calibration we use global 30 arc sec topographic data and v s 30 measurements here v s 30 refers to the average shear velocity down to 30 m aggregated from several studies in the u s as well as in taiwan italy and australia v s 30 values are correlated against topographic slope to develop two sets of parameters for deriving v s 30 one for active tectonic regions where topographic relief is high and one for stable shields where topography is more subdued by taking the gradient of the topography and choosing ranges of slope that maximize the correlation with shallow shear velocity observations we can recover to first order many of the spatially varying features of sitecondition maps developed for california our site condition map for the low relief mississippi embayment also predicts the bulk of the v s 30 observations in that region despite rather low slope ranges we find that maps derived from the slope of the topography is often well correlated with other independently derived regional scale site condition maps but the latter maps vary in quality and continuity and subsequently also in their ability to match observed v s 30 measurements contained therein alternatively the slope based method provides a simple approach to uniform site condition mapping

thermoluminescence dating of flint abstract our ancestors have been making flint tools for over a million years the tools or the flakes left by the flint knappers have become important markers of prehistoric habitats the imperishable and ubiquitous nature of flint explains why generations of prehistorians have used it to build a stone age chronology to be dateable by tl flint must be heated to at least 450 c while human use of fire may be as old as half a million years the first true hearths appear late during the lower paleolithic period at terra amata one of the oldest hearths discovered in france was dated to 230 40 ka bp by wintle and aitken 1977 by the dawn of the middle paleolithic fire must have become fully domesticated judging by the accumulations of charred debris that henceforth litter human habitats for example at the middle paleolithic site of kebara the profusion of hearths is vividly illustrated by numerous superposed white ash and black charcoal layers extending to a depth of 4 m meignen et al 1989

hydrological signatures relating the asian summer monsoon and enso using the ncep ncar reanalysis for the 1950 2000 period differences in the atmospheric hydrological cycle between the extremes of enso i e la nina minus el nino are examined zonal vertically integrated moisture transport vimt across 1008e accounts for about half of the variability in net moisture convergence in the north indian ocean region between enso extremes when all enso events are considered changes in vimt across 1008e are associated with large changes in the strength of the pacific ocean trade wind regime during enso the bulk of the remaining vimt anomalies are from the arabian sea and appear to be associated with sea level pressure variations in the northern and western parts of the indian ocean basin this initial analysis therefore suggests that the interaction between the monsoon and enso may be more complex than the direct modulation of vimt by the pacific ocean trade winds alone the analysis is refined further by comparing the differences of the indian and pacific ocean hydrological cycles between enso extremes when they occur concurrently with anomalous monsoons enso anomalous monsoon years eam and when the monsoon is normal enso normal monsoon years enm for both eam and enm years similar differences exist in vimt across 1008e between enso extremes however major differences are noted in vimt anomalies from the west and south into the north indian ocean region thus the principal difference in moisture convergence in the north indian ocean between eam and enm years is associated primarily with vimt anomalies in the western indian ocean region and not those in the eastern indian or pacific oceans to test the hypothesis that pacific ocean sst anomalies occurring prior to the monsoon may be important in influencing the eventual nature of the monsoon the analysis is extended backward to the spring period while may sst differences in the nino 3 region between enso extremes are found to be similar for both eam and enm years vimt differences in both the indian ocean and the central and western pacific oceans are sig nificantly larger during eam years than enm years may sst differences in the central subtropical pacific ocean are also significantly larger during eam than enm years these results show that the anomalous sst gradient between the eastern equatorial and the central subtropical pacific ocean prior to the monsoon onset together with its associated vimts anomalies may be important factors in determining the degree of connection between monsoon and enso in addition the circulation in the indian ocean prior to and during the monsoon onset shares a strong association with the eventual intensity of the monsoon enso coupling

applicability of the site fundamental frequency as a vs30 proxy for central and eastern north america we introduce a new proxy measure for v s 30 time averaged shear wave velocity in the upper 30 m for central and eastern north america cena the new proxy is the site fundamental frequency f peak measured from the horizontal to vertical h v spectral ratios of recorded ground motion or ambient noise in this study h v spectral ratios are obtained from 5 damped pseudospectral acceleration psa from seismograph stations in cena using the next generation attenuation east nga east database we correlate the measured v s 30 values at recording stations with the corresponding f peak values to obtain a predictive relationship for v s 30 the uncertainty of the v s 30 estimate using the f peak based model is small 0 14log10 units in comparison to that for the proxy based methods e g topographic slope and surface geology proxies used in the nga east database 0 25log10 units however values of f peak can be obtained for only about 23 of the nga east recording stations due to data and site type limitations reducing the error in v s 30 estimates can potentially reduce the variability of ground motion prediction equations gmpes to test this hypothesis we use the f peak based v s 30 estimates and select one of the proponent nga east gmpe models for a selected database we are able to reduce the gmpe variability by 3 on average for psa at 1 10 hz just using the f peak based proxy to estimate v s 30 greater variability reductions could be achieved by replacing v s 30 with improved site characterization parameters including f peak in the gmpes

site effects model for central and eastern north america based on peak frequency abstract we develop a regional site effects model for central and eastern north america based on an analysis of the residuals of observed ground motion parameters relative to two regional ground motion prediction equations one model has a hard rock site class a reference site condition whereas the other is referenced to a b c boundary site condition site classification of national earthquake hazard reduction program in both cases the residuals are well described by a site effects model based on site fundamental frequency f peak in which f peak is as determined from the horizontal to vertical component response spectral ratios accordingly we derive an f peak based site amplification model with respect to b c and hard rock reference site conditions implementing the f peak based model we reduce random variability in amplitudes by 10 on average for a selected database from the next generation attenuation east project relative to the value obtained when using a generic site effects model parameterized by near surface shear wave velocity time averaged shear wave velocity in the upper 30 m v s 30 the reduction in comes from the site to site component of the variability reduced by 20 on average whereas the single station variability is unaffected

recycling bones in the middle pleistocene some reflections from gran dolina td10 1 spain bolomor cave spain and qesem cave israel abstract archaeologists can use different kinds of data to identify recycling however most approaches to recycling are based on lithic artefact attributes especially on surface alterations suggesting a period of discard between different events recycling can also be approached by means of faunal remains based on bone damage characteristics bone breakage processes aimed at maximizing the nutritional value of consumed animals generate a high number of small and large sized fragments which are eventually discarded some of these are morphologically suitable for human use it is necessary to distinguish between the use of bone as raw material from pre existing very large sized carcasses such as elephants in cases where it is not certain if these had a nutritional purpose and the recycling of fragments resulting from bone marrow extraction of smaller mammals that were obtained and consumed by human groups in the first case when the bones of a pre existing elephant including natural deaths are exploited for tool making the bones can be considered raw material very similar to collecting stones as raw material for the lithic industry in the second case the bones of smaller mammals are selected to be used in a subsequent life cycle after being broken for nutritional purposes and discarded here we present some early cases of recycled bones from the middle pleistocene sites of gran dolina td10 1 and bolomor cave in spain and qesem cave in israel the studied elements appear to have been part of a previous faunal processing sequence nutritional in nature which were later discarded and then used or modified for purposes other than the original ones these fragments are dated to mis 9 and show damage produced by use retouched and unmodified soft retouchers or shaped forms bone artefacts this study is an attempt to provide new data on recycling activities of faunal remains in the middle pleistocene and discuss the origin of this behaviour

organization of lithic technology at ein qashish a late middle paleolithic open air site in israel abstract ein qashish eq is a late middle paleolithic 60 ka open air site located in the yizra el valley east of mt carmel at the geographic center between some of the major middle paleolithic cave sites in northern israel three seasons of excavation at the site revealed a small faunal collection and a diverse lithic assemblage in this paper we discuss the composition reduction technology and raw material curation strategies represented in the assemblage the assemblage is flake dominated with low frequencies of retouched artifacts and of cores several reduction sequences were identified products of levallois methods appear in low frequencies the modified artifacts include lightly retouched flakes and blades side scrapers truncations and burins the low frequencies of primary elements core trimming elements and cores suggest that only part of the reduction sequence took place on site side scrapers may have been imported into the locality in contrast short non levallois reduction sequences were applied on site the expedient nature of the retouch and of local reduction sequences suggests that the site represents an ephemeral occupation s on the banks of the qishon stream the nature of the lithic assemblage is not consistent with specific tasks such as butchery or hunting technological aspects of the assemblage and its composition bear similarities to those observed in habitation sites found in caves in the late middle paleolithic

looking for sharp edges modes of flint recycling at middle pleistocene qesem cave israel qesem cave is a middle pleistocene site in israel assigned to the acheulo yabrudian cultural complex aycc the cave reveals a suite of innovative behaviors including intensive flint recycling activities in this paper we present a new classification system developed for the study of lithic recycling at qesem cave through the careful technological analysis of hundreds of recycled items we have identified several recycling modes at qesem cave including a specific production trajectory of blades and knives recycled from old flakes we argue that the study of lithic recycling provides a significant glance at human decision making processes and the technological repertoire of the late lower paleolithic which are particularly pronounced when practiced within a lithic economy that enjoyed abundance rather than scarcity of stone our observations provide a more coherent view of aycc lithic recycling which might be applied to the study of lithic recycling in other paleolithic contexts

flint thermoluminescence dates from the cfr laboratory at gif contributions to the study of the chronology of the middle palaeolithic abstract flint tools are among the most durable objects marking the presence of prehistoric humans methodological advances of the last decade have made thermoluminescence of burnt flint a reliable dating tool and have provided new dates which require reassessment of the chronology of numerous middle palaeolithic sites dates for several near eastern sites show the presence of neanderthals from at least oxygen isotope stage 6 until after 50 ka ago and push the appearance of modern humans to before 100 ka ago long before their arrival in europe whether the two populations were present continuously or intermittently and precisely when they appeared is uncertain at the moment thermoluminescence results suggest that the mousterian lithic industries were introduced at about the same time in europe as in the near east with the difference that in the latter area this industry was used by early modern humans as well as by neanderthals the new tl chronology assigns a much longer life span to specific types of levantine mousterian lithic industries than previously believed finally new dates for the ch telperronian site of saint cesaire open up the possibility that the last neanderthals were still present after some cro magnons had already settled in western europe

differential burning recrystallization and fragmentation of archaeological bone abstract this paper presents research on the conditions under which progressive levels of burning may occur to archaeological bone and how burning damage changes bones crystal structure and susceptibility to fragmentation a k a friability experiments were conducted to simulate common patterns of high temperature bone diagenesis and fragmentation previously documented in paleolithic shelter sites bones buried up to 6 cm below the coal beds of the experimental fires were carbonized but calcination occurred only with direct exposure to live coals analysis by infra red spectroscopy reveals that marked changes in crystallinity accompany the macroscopic transformations in colour and friability of modern fire altered bone specifically a monotonic non linear decrease in mean fragment length across six colour categories was observed when samples were agitated or trampled and a concordant decline in bone identifiability first with respect to skeletal element and ultimately the recognizability of bone tissue itself these findings help qualify the behavioural and taphonomic implications of fragmented burned bones in archaeological sites especially with regard to potential stratigraphic associations between artefacts and hearth features in sites and the intensity of space use by human occupants the identification of burning damage on archaeological bone is a separate issue however it was found that the molecular signatures of recrystallization in modern burned bones partly overlap with recrystallization caused by weathering after only 1 to 2 years of exposure in an arid setting and by partial fossilization of archaeological bones over the long term while infra red and x ray diffraction techniques effectively describe heat induced changes in modern bone mineral and are an important aid for modelling diagenetic processes these techniques did not reliably identify burning damage to archaeological bones cross referencing readily visible colour phases with hcl insoluble fraction data proves much more effective and economically feasible for the latter purpose

eastern pacific sea surface temperature since 1600 a d the δ18o record of climate variability in galapagos corals we measured stable oxygen isotope ratios and skeletal growth rates in the massive corals pavona clavus and p gigantea from the west coast of isabela island galapagos to assess interannual to decadal climate variability in the eastern pacific comparisons of instrumental data sets show that sea surface temperatures sst in the galapagos region are representative of a broad portion of the eastern equatorial pacific the site is especially well suited for long term studies of the el nino southern oscillation enso phenomenon as it lies within the eastern pacific center of action for thermal anomalies associated with enso the p gigantea isotope record is nearly monthly in resolution spans the period 1961 1982 and shows strong correlation with a galapagos instrumental sst record r 0 90 for annual averages cross spectral analysis shows that sst can explain greater than 80 of the variance in 18o at both the annual cycle and within the high frequency portion of the enso band 3 5 years the p clavus record is annual in resolution extends from 1587 to 1953 a d and was obtained from a 10 m diameter colony preserved within the urvina bay uplift because seawater 18o variations in the region are very small we interpret the urvina bay coral 18o record in terms of annual average sst the isotopic record appears to be a very good but not perfect indicator of enso events and shows good correspondence with the historical enso reconstruction of quinn et al 1987 a number of low 18o excursions that we observe during the 17th and 18th centuries very likely represent enso events that are missing from the historical tabulations most interannual 18o variations between 1607 and 1953 a d represent annual average temperature excursions of 1 to 2 5 c during the little ice age the annual 18o series correlates well with many north american tree ring records and shows low temperatures during the early 1600s and early 1800s and relatively warmer conditions during the 1700s unlike most northern hemisphere tree ring and instrumental records we see no evidence at this site for warming between 1880 and 1940 but rather observe a slight cooling 28 of the total variance the main enso mode is centered at 4 6 years and accounts for 12 of the total variance additional significant oscillations occur at periods of 3 3 6 8 11 17 22 and 34 years both annual growth rate and 18o show variance at periods equivalent to the solar and solar magnetic periods e g 11 and 22 years respectively in addition the amplitude of the 11 year 18o cycle generally varies with the amplitude of the solar cycle supporting previous suggestions that the solar cycle may modulate interannual to decadal climate variability in the tropics the dominant oscillatory modes both within the enso and interdecadal frequency bands shift to shorter periods from the early to middle 1700s and again from the middle to late 1800s this may reflect major reorganizations within the tropical ocean atmosphere system and suggests that tropical pacific climate variability is linked across timescales ranging from years to decades

middle paleolithic sidescrapers were resharped or recycled a view from nesher ramla israel abstract the resharpening of sidescrapers is a widely discussed issue in recent middle paleolithic studies however in the levantine record the evidence for sidescraper resharpening is meager the middle paleolithic site of nesher ramla israel represents a rare case in which sidescrapers were frequently modified by removal of longitudinal spalls from their edges both parent sidescrapers and spalls long sharpening flakes lsf are abundant throughout the site s stratigraphy providing a rare opportunity for a complementary study of both artifact groups the aim of the present study is to reconstruct the life history of sidescrapers retrieved from nesher ramla we ask how the lsf removal changed the morphology of the sidescraper edge at which stage of the sidescraper life history it occurred what was the purpose of lsf removal and was it a part of a recycling system aimed at producing a new edge tool type or the maintenance of the existing tool edge the studied artifacts 100 parent sidescrapers and 60 complete lsf were sampled randomly from the most intensively occupied and richest layers of the site our results suggest that sidescraper edge modification was a well mastered and skillful process that resulted in standardized and morphologically distinct products in most cases the sidescrapers were not further retouched after the lsf removal this leads us to propose that the major goal was to transform the sidescraper into a tool with a sharp straight and flat edge the lsf removal at nesher ramla provides an exceptional case in which a simple raw edge was deliberately manufactured at the expense of the previously retouched edge this reinforces the previous assumptions that simple raw edges were often preferred over retouched ones

the pre mousterian industrial complex in europe between 400 and 300 ka interpreting its origin and spatiotemporal variability abstract the author discuss data indicating that the non handaxe non acheulean tradition of small tools and core choppers was present in parts of west eurasia during the early middle pleistocene the period marked by a wide spread of acheulean in west asia and west europe and survived until 400 300 ka and perhaps later in some areas beyond the area of the maximum acheulean distribution in the danube basin and the balkans and to a limited extent north of the danube basin in central europe and in the south of russian plain and northern caucasus in eastern europe the author defines these middle pleistocene assemblages which are totally lacking true acheulean handaxes and debitage resulted from large flake or levallois knapping technologies as the pre mousterian industrial complex the assemblages of pre mousterian complex are variable due to their functional differentiation and other reasons but generally comprise the next three components 1 simple mostly primary and orthogonal and also rare unipolar and centripetal cores with short reduction sequences consisting of flaking of 1 3 flakes from one platform followed by the core rotation or discard 2 flake tools which are made mostly but not exclusively on small sized flakes with beveled platforms and include varieties of simple side scrapers denticulates notches thick end scrapers awls and convergent pieces as well as small numbers of tools with flat ventral retouch or bifacial retouched edges and 3 large sized tools are always present and include mostly unifacial choppers and more rare chopping tools and proto bifaces or pointed choppers with partial bifacial processing the author discuss that the hominids that produced lithic industries of pre mousterian complex acquired a high behavioural plasticity to settle in most uncomfortable within western eurasia forested and forest steppe environments with cold winters in central and eastern europe the hominids developed tool inventories well suited for bone and woodworking made real wooden throwing spears and composite tools with wooden hafts that are found in schoningen in contrast to the acheulean complex in west europe and west asia assemblages of pre mousterian complex do not show a transition temporally being placed now during mis 8 mis 7 between c 300 200 ka in both the regions toward the middle palaeolithic or mousterian technology in contrast to the acheulean to middle palaeolithic transition which is associated with final neanderthalization of h heidelbergensis and the origin of h neanderthalensis the assemblages of pre mousterian complex disappear with the spread of early middle paleolithic neanderthals

on quina and demi quina scraper handling preliminary results from the late lower paleolithic site of qesem cave israel abstract most of the studies related to the function of paleolithic stone tools carried out so far focused mainly on the analysis of the worked materials and the activities performed on the other hand only few works included an analysis of the tool griping area s and the wear derived by object manipulation here we present the results of an experimental framework dedicated to the interpretation of the griping modes of two types of flint scrapers quina and demi quina scrapers which represent a very meaningful component of the lithic assemblages unearthed at the late lower paleolithic site of qesem cave israel our study includes the analysis of both a selected sample of archeological scrapers and of experimental replicas we were able to underline the efficiency of different types of prehension modes while isolating diagnostic wears related to each of the adopted solutions the experiments allowed defining wears related to several handling solutions creating a traces collection to be compared to the ones identified on the archeological sample the results obtained so far suggest a preference towards a free hand manipulation of the scrapers even though wear related to wrapping and also to a probable insertion of the objects in a haft have been identified as well this work allows providing preliminary insights related to the handling solutions adopted by the human groups at qesem cave underlining the overall high level of technological knowledge characterizing the middle pleistocene inhabitants of the site

empirical attenuation of ground motion spectral amplitudes in southeastern canada and the northeastern united states a database of 1700 digital seismograms from 186 earthquakes of mag nitude mn 2 5 5 6 that occurred in southeastern canada and the northeastern united states from 1990 to 2003 was compiled maximum likelihood regression analysis of the database was performed to determine a model for the attenuation of fourier spectral amplitudes for the shear window for the vertical and horizontal component of motion for frequencies from 0 2 to 20 hz fourier amplitudes follow a hinged trilinear attenuation model fourier spectral amplitudes decay as r 1 3 where r is hypocentral distance within 70 km of the source there is a transition zone from 70 to 140 km as the direct waves are joined by strong postcritical reflections where the attenuation is described as r 0 2 spectral amplitudes actually increase with distance in this range for low frequencies beyond 140 km the attenuation is well described by r 0 5 corresponding to geometric spreading in two dimensions the associated model for the regional quality factor for frequencies greater than 1 hz can be ex pressed as q 893f 032 q can be better modeled over a wider frequency range 0 2 20 hz by a polynomial expression log q 3 052 0 393 log f 0 945 log f 2 0 327 log f 3 the polynomial expression accommodates the observation that q values are at a minimum about 1000 near 1 hz and rise at both lower and higher frequencies correction factors for the spectral amplitude model that describe the effects of focal depth on the amplitudes and their attenuation are developed using the subset of events with known focal depth the attenuation model is similar to that determined from an earlier study with more limited data atkinson and mereu 1992 but the enlarged database indicates more rapid near source amplitude decay and higher q the attenuation model is used to play back attenuation effects to determine the apparent source spectrum for each earthquake in the database and hence determine moment magnitude m and brune stress drop the events have moment magnitude in the range from 2 5 to 5 stress drop increases with moment magnitude for events of m 4 3 then appears to attain a relatively constant level in the range from 100 to 200 bars for the larger events as previously noted in atkinson 1993b the results of this study provide a useful framework for improving regional ground motion relations in eastern north america they further our understanding of attenuation in the region through analysis of an enlarged ground motion database in particular the inclusion of the three component broadband data gathered over the last decade allows extension of attenuation models to both horizontal and vertical components over a broad frequency range 0 2 20 hz

early stage blunting causes rapid reductions in stone tool performance abstract palaeolithic stone technologies have never been investigated in terms of how sharpness influences their ability to cut in turn there is little understanding of how quickly stone cutting edges blunt how past populations responded to any consequent changes in performance or how these factors influenced the palaeolithic archaeological record presented here is experimental data quantitatively detailing how variation in edge sharpness influences stone tool cutting performance significant increases in force n and material displacement mm requirements occur rapidly within early stages of blunting with a single abrasive cutting stroke causing on average a 38 increase in the force needed to initiate a cut in energetic terms this equates to a 70 increase in work j subsequent to early stages of blunting we identify a substantial drop in the impact of additional edge abrasion we also demonstrate how edge included angle significantly influences cutting force and energy requirements and how it co varies with sharpness amongst other conclusions we suggest that rapid reductions in performance due to blunting may account for the abundance of lithic artefacts at some archaeological sites the speed that resharpening behaviours altered tool forms and the lack of microscopic wear traces on many lithic implements

knowledge transmission and apprentice flint knappers in the acheulo yabrudian a case study from qesem cave israel abstract we present the techno typological characteristics of a lithic assemblage earlier that 300 ka originating from the southern area of qesem cave a middle pleistocene site in central israel aspects of knapping trajectories were examined in detail including core analyses demonstrating that the southern area assemblage has some distinguishable features in comparison with lithic assemblages from other areas of the cave these features permit in our opinion to suggest that various levels of knapping skills are reflected in this particular assemblage most probably characterizing both skilled knappers and unexperienced knappers or knappers in the process of learning thus these data may permit a preliminary assessment of knowledge transmission relating to flint knapping that has taken place in the southern area of qesem cave during the late lower paleolithic in the levant

amudian versus yabrudian under the rock shelf a study of two lithic assemblages from qesem cave israel abstract this paper presents new results of a lithic study of two distinct lithic assemblages from the qesem cave shelf area in the northwestern part of the cave one yabrudian and one amudian both older than 300 ka the two assemblages exhibit clear stratigraphic relations the yabrudian being deposited on top of the amudian a detailed techno typological study of the two assemblages n 30 000 artifacts is presented as well as a comparative analysis between them the results indicate that the yabrudian and amudian of the shelf area are part of the same technological system sharing similar techno typological features differences are mainly at the relative frequency level and in the density of the various elements of the assemblages these results suggest that the differences between the assemblages might be related to differences in human activities in the different strata of the shelf area using different tool kits and not to differences in technology or any other cultural conception

geoarchaeological context of the later phases of mousterian occupation 80 115 ka at nesher ramla israel soil erosion deposition and pedogenic processes a new open air mousterian site was found in karst depression on hilly limestone terrain of central israel at nesher ramla the paper highlights the complex history of depositional post depositional and pedogenic processes that took place at the later phases of mousterian site formation during the osl age interval between 80 and 115 ka the upper sequence is divided into unit i and unit ii both comprising rather uniform calcareous gravel rich silty clay deposits gravel largely consists of calcrete nari and possibly some chalky limestone unit i is darker partially decarbonated magnetically enhanced and shows microscopic features of shrink swell process analogous to vertisols mousterian artifacts chunks of ochre and animal bones are scarce in this unit unit ii has increased gravel magnetic susceptibility values drop and humus and carbonate content both increase mousterian artifact density significantly increases in the middle part of unit ii lithologic characteristics thin sections and sem eds all indicate that the upper sequence originated from periodic erosion of loess derived soils developed upon chalky hillslopes intermittent with more stable periods when hominins occupied the site the proposed model relates the upper sequence to heterogeneous anthropogenic pedosediments with high proportions of eroded soil materials and signs of in situ pedogenesis apart from singular mm sized pyrogenic features remnants of bedded combustion features in the upper sequence are lacking probably because of pedogenic and diagenetic alterations on the site

in the footsteps of pliny tracing the sources of garamantian carnelian from fazzan south west libya abstract references in the ancient sources indicate that the libyan desert was a source of carbunculi semi precious red stones and gemstones variously interpreted as ruby garnet and spinel amongst others while gemstones are not attested in the geological strata of fazzan south west libya a range of silica based stones including chert chalcedony agate and carnelian are known to originate in this area linked to an early civilisation known as the garamantes it has been long proposed that the geochemical signature and the variations in the relative proportions of quartz moganite phases can be used to distinguish between groups of stones of different origin the proposed methodology was tested on a number of archaeological samples from the garamantian sites of jarma ancient garama and saniat jibril in fazzan fragments of chert carnelian and amazonite found at the two sites have been identified as raw materials associated with beadmaking trace elemental data obtained by la icp ms were combined with mineralogical data obtained by x ray powder diffraction and raman spectroscopy on the same samples and a group of reference samples the dataset has been compared with the available literature and data from other localities around the world to this purpose a preliminary database of silica based materials was established for provenance work based on the scarce data available in the literature the importation of these stones from eastern localities such as india may be ruled out the measured data on archaeological samples and debitage allow us to define a reliable reference group of parameters for materials from fazzan which are likely to be derived from a unique geological source the methodology should be extended and compared with cherts and carnelians from a range of mediterranean and sub saharan sites this characterisation work is a tool of high potential utility for a new investigation of ancient contact and trade across the trans saharan zone

handaxe manufacture and re sharpening throughout the lower paleolithic sequence of tabun cave abstract in this paper we assess the evidence for on site manufacture and re sharpening of handaxes in the lower paleolithic layers of tabun cave by examining the ratio of thinning flakes the typical waste of bifacial manufacture to handaxes our study of twenty nine assemblages ranging from the acheulean to the acheulo yabrudian complex combining results from jelinek s and ronen s excavations shows that thinning flakes are scarce throughout the entire sequence results indicate that handaxes were commonly not manufactured or re sharpened in the excavated area and that these activities were most likely conducted outside the site the late lower paleolithic in various parts of eurasia and africa is characterized by high variability in lithic technology which in the case of the levant is best reflected in the acheulo yabrudian complex this study aids our understanding of variability in the levantine late lower paleolithic by adding the concept of segmentation of reduction as an integral part of late lower paleolithic lithic technology significantly in tabun cave the segmentation of reduction that characterizes handaxe manufacture differs from the patterns observed in amudian blade production and yabrudian scraper manufacture which were both regularly conducted on site the extent of variability and flexibility is thus reflected not only in the technologies employed but also in how different reduction sequences were segmented and executed across the landscape suggesting a link between technical knowledge mobility patterns and landscape exploitation

new middle pleistocene dental remains from qesem cave israel this study presents a description and comparative analysis of middle pleistocene permanent and deciduous teeth from the site of qesem cave israel all of the human fossils are assigned to the acheulo yabrudian cultural complex aycc of the late lower paleolithic the middle pleistocene age of the qesem teeth 400 200 ka places them chronologically earlier than the bulk of fossil hominin specimens previ ously known from southwest asia three permanent mandibular teeth c1 p4 were found in close proximity in the lower part of the stratigraphic sequence the small metric dimensions of the crowns indicate a consid erable degree of dental reduction although the roots are long and robust in contrast three isolated permanent maxillary teeth i 2 c 1 and m 3 and two isolated decidu ous teeth that were found within the upper part of the sequence are much larger and show some plesiomor phous traits similar to those of the skhul qafzeh speci mens although none of the qesem teeth shows a suite of neanderthal characters a few traits may suggest some affinities with members of the neanderthal evolu tionary lineage however the balance of the evidence suggests a closer similarity with the skhul qafzeh dental material although many of these resemblances likely represent plesiomorphous features am j phys anthropol 000 000 000 2010 v c 2010 wiley liss inc

the interrelationship between temperature changes in the free atmosphere and sea surface temperature changes fields of sea surface temperature anomalies from the global ocean surface temperature atlas gosta and microwave sounding measurements msu of temperature in the troposphere are examined separately and together for the 1979 1988 period global correlation patterns of both sets of fields are investigated at a range of leads and lags up to 6 months and exhibit a wide range of correlation structure there are regions such as the tropical eastern pacific where sea surface temperature anomalies persist for several months and are associated with local air temperature anomalies in this particular example about 0 7 c air temperature change is associated with a 1 0 c sea temperature change by contrast some ocean regions and many atmospheric regions mostly in middle and high latitude show only local spatial correlations that disappear completely in a month or two the most persistent and extensive spatial correlation patterns are quite different for the sea and the air in the sea the butterfly pattern of the pacific is the most important and reverses sign between the eastern equatorial pacific and the western pacific and subtropics in the warm phase the temperature anomalies associated with this pattern are similar to the correlation pattern for the atmosphere the main correlation pattern is an equatorial belt with no sign changes in the tropics this pattern is linked to the oceanic el nino mode in the warm phase the temperature anomalies show peak values on both sides of the equator in the eastern and central pacific based mainly on the results from the spatial patterns certain regions are selected for intercomparison of time series in the tropical eastern pacific the sea leads the air by about a month while in the gulf stream and kuroshio regions the sequence is reversed

u series and esr dating of teeth from acheulian and mousterian levels at la micoque dordogne france we report results of u series and esr analyses of 17 horse teeth taken from the upper archaeological layers of the la micoque site they show that the deposit is older than 300 ka for the uppermost layer ages calculated with the early uptake eu model are close to those with linear uptake lu models indicating that the real age ranges from 300 to 350 ka these results are confirmed when we calculate ages with both u series and esr data us model and allow us to suggest that the deposit is older than 300 ka

evidence for the repeated use of a central hearth at middle pleistocene 300 ky ago qesem cave israel abstract a major debate in prehistory revolves around the time and place of the earliest habitual use of fire and the hominin species responsible for it here we present a newly discovered hearth at qesem cave israel that was repeatedly used and was the focus of hearth centered human activities as early as three hundred thousand years ago the hearth identified based on mineralogical and microscopic criteria contains two superimposed use cycles each composed of shorter episodes possibly the earliest superimposed hearth securely identified to date the hearth covers ca 4 m 2 in area making it a uniquely large hearth in comparison to any contemporaneous hearth identified thus far possibly indicating it has been used by a relatively large group of people in addition the hearth is located in the center of the cave and is associated with butchered animal remains and a dense flint assemblage the flint assemblage indicates spatially differentiated meat cutting and hide working activity areas the central location of the hearth within the cave and the activities associated with it may reflect an embedded perception of space organization of the qesem cave inhabitants since fire was habitually used throughout the 420 200 ky sequence of qesem cave where preservation conditions are alike throughout we suggest that this unique hearth may reflect a development in nature and most probably in the intensity of fire use in qesem cave from ca 300 ka ago onwards

the lithic tool arsenal of a mousterian hunter the lithic assemblage excavated from the mousterian site of nahal mahanayeem outlet nmo enables us to reconstruct a brief moment in the life of the middle palaeolithic hunter the site located on the eastern bank of the jordan river at its outflow south from the hula valley is a short term task specific hunting location at the shore of the paleo hula lake dated by osl to ca 65 000 years ago the site has yielded a small assemblage of flint artifacts alongside exceptionally well preserved animal bones and botanical remains while only some 1000 artifacts have been counted the lithic assemblage has the highest percentage of tools ever recorded in a levantine mousterian site the primary lithic groups represented are pointed elements over 10 of the entire assemblage and cutting tools over 5 other tool types typical of mousterian sites such as scrapers are either absent or represented in very small numbers the uniqueness of the assemblage is further highlighted by refitted sequences that when combined with technological observations suggest a non levallois blade core like reduction sequence the nmo assemblage represents the tool kit used for the hunting and butchering of large mammals by a group of levantine mousterian hunters it enables us to explore what tool types were selected for slaughtering and carcass processing which tools were brought to the site and which were produced on site what tools were left behind and much more the site was inhabited for a very short period providing an opportunity to study hunting practices and human life ways in a resolution rarely possible for late pleistocene sites

cross formational rising groundwater at an artesian karstic basin the ayalon saline anomaly israel it is proposed that a geothermal artesian karstic system at the central part of the yarkon taninim aquifer creates the ayalon saline anomaly asa whose mechanism has been under debate for several decades a 4 year long detailed groundwater monitoring was carried out at 68 new shallow boreholes in the ayalon region accompanied by a comprehensive survey of karstic voids results indicate the rising of warm brackish groundwater through highly permeable swarms of karstic shafts serving as an outflow of the artesian geothermal system the asa area contains hot spots where groundwater contrasts with normal water hundreds of meters away the asa temperature reaches 30 8 c w5 8c warmer than its surroundings chloride concentration reaches 528 mg l 50 100 mg l in the surrounding h2s concentration reaches 5 6 mg l zero all around and ph value is 7 0 compared with 7 8 around subsequently the hydrothermal water flows laterally of at the watertable horizon through horizontal conduits mixing with normal fresh water which had circulated at shallow depth following rainy seasons maximal watertable rise is observed in the asa compared to its surroundings regional hydrogeology considerations suggest that the replenishment area for the asa water is at the samaria mountains east of the asa the water circulates to a great depth while flowing westward and a cross formational upward flow is then favored close the upper sub aquifer s confinement border

early and middle pleistocene faunal and hominins dispersals through southwestern asia abstract this review summarizes the paleoecology of the early and middle pleistocene of southwestern asia based on both flora and fauna retrieved from a series of windows provided by the excavated sites the incomplete chrono stratigraphy of this vast region does not allow to accept the direct chronological correlation between the available sites and events of faunal and hominin dispersals from africa it also demonstrates that hominins survived in a mixed landscape of open parkland with forested surrounding hills in addition the prevailing environmental conditions are not sufficient to explain successful adaptations to new ecological niches away from the african savanna of the bearers of core and flake and the acheulian industries the differences in knapping and secondary shaping of stone artifacts probably reflect the learned traditions of different groups of hominins the current distribution of lithic industries across eurasia is undoubtedly incomplete due to lack of cultural continuities as well as paucity of field research in several sub regions this observation supports the contention that what we view as a constant stream of migrants was actually interrupted many times the continuous occupation of southwestern asia by the makers of the acheulian is in contrast with neighboring regions such as the iranian plateau and eastern europe a more complex model is required to explain the recorded eurasian archaeological cultural mosaic

the end of the lower paleolithic in the levant the acheulo yabrudian lithic technology at misliya cave israel abstract the end of the lower paleolithic in the levant is marked by the emergence of a new techno complex known as acheulo yabrudian 350 250 ka bp stratigraphically placed at the transition between the acheulian and mousterian techno complexes the acheulo yabrudian is crucial for the understanding of biological cultural and behavioral evolution from the lower to the middle paleolithic in the levant misliya cave mount carmel is one of the rare levantine sites in which both the acheulo yabrudian and early mousterian are present allowing direct comparison between the two industries here we present the analysis of an acheulo yabrudian lithic assemblage from the site and discuss its place within levantine technological and cultural frameworks three technological systems were identified in misliya acheulo yabrudian assemblage 1 bifacial shaping 2 production of thin flakes from hierarchical surfaces cores the hierarchical surfaces cores exhibit some of the criteria of the levallois concept but lack the major characteristics of the levallois namely the preparation of the flaking surface and predetermination the thin flake production phenomenon has not been previously discussed in relation to the acheulo yabrudian the large quantities of simple thin flakes at misliya cave indicate their relative importance in hominin subsistence strategies 3 production of large and thick often cortical flakes from unprepared cores the flakes were used for manufacturing handaxes or large scrapers by quina or semi quina retouch the two former systems are well known from the upper acheulian assemblages in the levant suggesting regional continuity while the production of quina scrapers seems to be a major technological innovation of the acheulo yabrudian the three acheulo yabrudian technological systems described above were not identified in the early middle paleolithic assemblages of misliya cave moreover levallois and laminar technologies and production of retouched points that mark the emergence of the middle paleolithic in the levant are absent from the acheulo yabrudian of misliya cave further supporting the view that a marked technological break in the region occurred ca 250 ka ago with the onset of the middle paleolithic

interaction of the monsoon and pacific trade wind system at interannual time scales part iii a partial anatomy of the southern oscillation abstract studies of surface wind fields sea surface temperature sst precipitation and sea level pressure in the tropical band extending 30 of the equator from africa to south america led to the following conclusions the southern oscillation el niflo and climatic variations in the monsoon system are all part of one global scale phenomenon the new information is that this phenomenon appears in the sea level pressure field to have a strong propagating component that appears first in the northern indian ocean and moves eastwardinto the eastern pacific similar propagation of information was found in the surface wind field and equatorial precipitation regimes these same conditions were amply demonstrated during the 1982 83 event and so it may be concluded that the evolution of that event bears many similarities to those in the historical record studies referred to in this paper in the surface wind field of the equatorial wave guide the large scale signal appears to take the form of a forced kelvin

applicability of the nga west2 site effects model for central and eastern north america abstract we examine the applicability of the next generation attenuation west2 nga west2 site effects model seyhan and stewart 2014 which is a v s 30 based time averaged shear wave velocity in the upper 30 m model to sites in central and eastern north america cena using the nga east ground motion database we determine residual site terms by comparing the observed cena ground motion amplitudes adjusted to b c site condition v s 30 760 m s using the western site effects model to the corresponding predicted amplitudes of a cena ground motion prediction equation for b c site condition yenier and atkinson 2015 the cena prediction model used the same western site model to level the database before model development thus residual trends reveal inadequacies of the western site effects model when applied to cena ground motions plotting the residual site terms versus their corresponding site fundamental frequencies f peak reveals significant f peak dependent trends at all frequencies average residual site terms for cena sites after the western site amplifications have been removed can be as large as 0 45 in log10 units 2 8 in nonlog units around f f peak correlating the site terms with western site effects predictions reveals that at f v s 30 in a manner that is similar to the way they behave in the nga west2 database however at higher frequencies the correlation of site amplification with v s 30 decreases markedly in cena in contrast the horizontal to vertical h v component spectral ratio as obtained from the nga east ground motion data is a good predictor of the observed f peak dependent site terms suggesting that h v spectral ratio is a more reliable predictor of site amplification for the recording stations of the nga east database the results of this study demonstrate the importance of a well calibrated regional site effects model for cena and the importance of f peak as a site indicator

palaeoecological and biostratigraphical implications of the microvertebrates of qesem cave in israel abstract microvertebrates are generally well suited for drawing inferences on past environmental conditions because they are closely bound to the areas in which they lived in this paper we discuss palaeoecological implications of two microvertebrate concentrations in the middle pleistocene site qesem cave in israel the ecological preferences of the nearest living relatives of the microvertebrate taxa recorded in concentration 1 squares l n 13 15 and 2 squares g h 16 17 at qesem cave allow us to infer a mosaic of open palaeoenvironment with sparse vegetation shrubland mediterranean forest rocky areas and riverbanks additionally we infer palaeoclimate from the bioclimatic distribution of extant species using the coexistence approach to our knowledge this is the first time the approach has been applied to microfaunal assemblages these data suggest cooler and slightly drier winters and somewhat lower seasonality than at present around qesem cave the differences are more pronounced for the time covered by concentration 2 than concentration 1 among microvertebrates micromammals are most suitable for biostratigraphic purposes with the exception of rattus cf haasi and the myomimus judaicus setzeri group the small mammal fauna of qesem cave comprises only taxa that live today in the levant r haasi and m judaicus have been found in israel in the early and middle pleistocene and their latest known record was from the acheulian site of oumm qatafa their presence in qesem cave extends the previously known stratigraphic range of these species the absence of r haasi in mousterian sites is thus consistent with the pre mousterian age of qesem cave morphometric data on molars of guenther s vole show that the lineage segment preserved in concentration 2 is more primitive than in concentration 1 indicating that the former concentration is older the evolutionary level of the sample from qesem concentration 1 is similar to tabun d boundary of acheulo yabrudian cultural complex and mousterian and that from qesem concentration 2 similar to tabun eb acheulo yabrudian

the function of recycled lithic items at late lower paleolithic qesem cave israel an overview of the use wear data abstract the study of lithic recycling in paleolithic cultures throughout the old world is increasingly becoming a topic of interest for many scholars technological analyses refitting and spatial analyses are disclosing the recycling behavior of many contexts especially those of lower and middle paleolithic sites still lacking however is a functional approach to the subject which would certainly add new pieces to this intriguing jigsaw puzzle use wear analysis one of the most powerful methods to reach functional interpretations in lithic finds can greatly improve our understanding of paleolithic recycling behavior even in those cases where post depositional alterations affected lithic items use wear analyses may produce important data despite the decrease in detail or less than optimal conditions of preservation at the late lower paleolithic site of qesem cave the high degree of conservation and preservation of the lithic tools maximizes the inference potential of this method in this article functional data are summarized following a study of a large sample of amudian parent flakes flakes from which were produced cores on flakes termed cof ffs as well as recycled products blanks produced from cof ffs confirming the inference potential of use wear analyses this data allows for the delineation of functional peculiarities of the studied items which despite first impression are anything but expedient moreover the current use wear analysis expands the scenario outlined by the technological study of the lithic recycling phenomenon at qesem cave confirming its own role in the complex techno functional system practiced by the hominins of qesem cave

an empirical site classification method for strong motion stations in japan using h v response spectral ratio having a reliable site classification scheme is vital for the development of robust strong motion attenuation models we discuss a promising empirical site classification scheme based on strong motion data from japan we assigned site classes according to the site classification defined in engineering design codes in japan for those k net sites where boreholes reached either to rock or to stiff soils with shear wave velocity of 600 m sec or larger using four site classes defined by dominant site period the average response spectral ratios of the horizontal and vertical components h v of earthquake records for all site classes were found not to be strongly affected by japan meteorological agency jma magnitude hypocentral distance and focal depth for all site classes we used h v ratios for records from the classified k net sites to establish a site classification index using the mean spectral ratios over a wide range of spectral period using the index we were able to classify both k net stations with soil layers thicker than 20 m and other strong motion stations in japan the peak period of the h v spectral ratio can also be used to identify soft soil sites the site amplification factors calculated from the site class terms based on the new site classification are consistent with the period bands defined for these site classes

a contribution to late middle paleolithic chronology of the levant new luminescence ages for the atlit railway bridge site coastal plain israel abstract the atlit railway bridge arb prehistoric site is located on the northern coastal plain of israel within natural caves which formed in calcareous aeolianites kurkar perhaps during a high sea stand flint artifacts belonging to the levantine later mousterian tradition and faunal remains were found embedded in the kurkar infill of two caves the aeolianites in which the caves had developed were previously constrained by irsl 50 dating of feldspars to be older than the last interglacial highest sea stand frechen m et al 2004 chronology of pleistocene sedimentary cycles in the carmel coastal plain of israel quaternary international 121 1 52 providing a maximum age for the artifacts samples for luminescence dating were collected from the infill of the two caves ii and iii from the same deposits as the archaeological finds both quartz and alkali feldspars kf were extracted and measured using four different luminescence signals optically stimulated luminescence blue osl and violet stimulated luminescence vsl on quartz and the infrared stimulated luminescence irsl post ir ir 290 signal and the ir 50 signal corrected for anomalous fading on kf the ages obtained from analyses of the different minerals and signals mostly agree within errors the new luminescence ages date the sediment infill in caves iii and ii to 90 ka and 70 ka respectively indicating that hominin occupation of this locality is coeval with the nearby skhul cave and layer b in tabun cave

intra site variability in lithic recycling at qesem cave israel abstract this paper presents new results regarding lithic recycling in three flint assemblages from qesem cave a late lower paleolithic site in israel assigned to the acheulo yabrudian cultural complex aycc the study focuses on the similarities and differences in lithic recycling at the cave between the amudian and yabrudian industries as well as within the amudian industry variability in recycling is evident at both the inter industry level between the amudian and yabrudian and the intra industry level within the amudian in light of the results we discuss the role of lithic recycling in the two aycc industries at qesem cave shedding new light on aycc lithic variability in general and human behavior at qesem cave in particular

electron spin resonance esr dating abstract esr dating has been systematically applied in earth sciences and archaeology since 1975 when ikeya dated a stalactite from the akiyoshi cave in japan in the meantime this new technique has been successfully applied to the dating of materials such as speleothems spring deposited travertines mollusc shells corals and tooth enamel the present research focuses on the dating of quartz which allows the age assessment of heated ceramics volcanic rocks intrafault material or windblown sediments esr dating is based on the measurement of the number of paramagnetic centers in a mineral these centers are generated by alpha beta and gamma radiation of the matural radioelements such as u th and k and have accumulated over time two parameters have to be determined the accumulated dose ad and the dose rate d to which the sample was exposed this review comprises three major parts a introduction into esr dating b application of the method and c appendices giving detailed description of dose rate calculation physical basis of electron spin resonance the esr spectrometer and esr lines the major emphasis lies on the outline of the application of esr dating this includes the discussion of the esr signals of the various materials sampling sample preparation and measurement techniques

a global el nino southern oscillation wave in surface temperature and pressure and its interdecadal modulation from 1900 to 1997 zonal wavenumber frequency spectra of sea surface temperature sst anomalies along the equator in the indo pacific basin for the 98 years from 1900 to 1997 and of surface temperature st and sea level pressure slp anomalies extending around the globe along 10 n for the 48 years from 1950 to 1997 display significant peak spectral energy density for standing and eastward propagating waves of 3 7 year periods and 120 360 zonal wavelengths the global standing wave is the familiar southern oscillation but the global propagating wave represents a new paradigm for the el nino southern oscillation enso global distributions of the phase velocities for this global enso wave finds covarying slp and st anomalies propagating eastward along the mean path of the intertropical convergence zone itcz with the global zonal wavenumber 1 2 component taking 4 6 years to cross the tropical indian pacific and atlantic oceans at a zonal average speed of 90 60 longitude per year along this path the interannual sst and slp anomalies are directly out of phase since thermocline depth anomalies underneath the itcz in the pacific ocean propagate westward white et al 1985 we view the global enso wave as a slow coupled sst wave trapped onto the itcz separating the global enso wave from the southern oscillation using complex empirical orthogonal function analysis finds the amplitude of the propagating wave to be half that of the standing wave with the former latter accounting for one third two thirds of the interannual variability in nino 3 sst and slp indices during the 1980s the global enso wave is shown to be responsible for the eastward propagation of covarying zonal surface wind and thermocline depth anomalies across the equatorial pacific ocean and through this mechanism is able to influence both the phasing and intensity of el nino examining the persistence of the global enso wave from 1900 to 1997 finds it and the intensity of el nino in the eastern equatorial pacific ocean modulated by interdecadal change both were strong weak or absent during decades of global tropical cooling warming

attenuation relations of strong ground motion in japan using site classification based on predominant period a spectral acceleration attenuation model for japan is presented in the present study the data set includes a very large number of strong ground motion records up to the 2003 off tokach main and aftershocks site class terms instead of individual site correction terms are used the site classes of recording stations are from a recent study on site classification for strong motion recording stations in japan according to a classification scheme that has been used in japanese engineering design the use of site class terms enables tectonic source type effects to be identified and accounted for in the present model the effects of a faulting mechanism for crustal earthquakes also are accounted for for crustal and interface earthquakes a simple form of an attenuation model with respect to distance is able to capture the main strong motion characteristics and achieves unbiased estimates for subduction slab events a simple distance modification factor is employed to achieve plausible and unbiased predictions the effects of source depth tectonic source type and faulting mechanism of crustal earthquakes are significant the need for magnitude squared terms is evaluated and the use of magnitude squared terms reduces the interevent error further

sagging and collapse sinkholes over hypogenic hydrothermal karst in a carbonate terrain abstract we show that clusters of karst sinkholes can occur on carbonate hypogene karst terrains unlike common doline karst of dissolution origin the studied sinkholes form mainly by sagging and collapse thermal survey osl dating and morphologic analysis during quarrying and excavations are applied to study the sinkholes at the ayyalon karst israel the thermal survey shows the spatial pattern of rising warm water plumes whose temperature is 2 c warmer than the surrounding aquifer water these plumes dissolve the limestone creating large voids and maze caves mass wasting forms surface sinkholes mainly by sagging and collapse both types of deformation often occur within the same depression lack of hydrologic connection between the surface and underground voids constrain drainage and promote rapid accumulation of colluvium dust and pedogenic clays these have filled the sinkholes up to their rim before the late holocene osl dating constrains the rate of sediment accumulation within the sinkholes the average filling rate thickness divided by elapsed time is 47 mm ka 1 for the last 53 4 ka in sinkhole 1 while in sinkhole 2 nesher ramla karst depression the rate is 61 mm ka 1 from 200 to 78 ka and 173 mm ka 1 since 78 ka between 170 and 78 ka sinkhole 2 was intensively used by middle paleolithic hominins the studied sinkholes may be considered as a type locality for hypogene sinkhole terrain on carbonate rocks

an investigation of the el nino southern oscillation cycle with statistical models 2 model results we have constructed two sets of linear statistical models for predicting equatorial pacific sea surfaces temperatures ssts from the tropical wind field and from the near global sea level pressure slp field the wind models were constructed to encompass the domains relevant to the forcing of trapped equatorial waves associated with the el nino thus they provide a measure against which the performance of some simple physical models may be compared the slp models were constructed to better define the roles of the observed motion of slp features and changes in the southern oscillation as they relate to subsequent equatorial ssts the wind models were designed to provide forecasts at lead times of 1 to 5 months and the slp models were designed to provide forecasts at lead times of 7 to 16 months the models were constructed using a combination of extended empirical orthogonal functions and canonical correlation analysis a technique we found well suited to the handling of large data sets and the analysis of model structures forecast skills were estimated by cross validation the results show that the wind field models do well at predicting eastern and central pacific ssts during much of the year and their structure is in general agreement with the idea that kelvin rossby waves initiated by remote wind forcing are responsible for much of the observed sst signal however the models do not track the onset of warm and cold events well particularly in the eastern pacific this suggests that well organized consistent wind anomalies are not responsible for the initial temperature anomalies the slp models did not do well in least squares sense but performed skillfully when applied with a simple el nino no el nino decision rule at lead times of up to 16 months

site effect evaluation using spectral ratios with only one station the spectral ratio technique is a common useful way to estimate empirical transfer function to evaluate site effects in regions of moderate to high seismicity the purpose of this paper is to show that it is possible to estimate empirical transfer function using spectral ratios between horizontal and vertical components of motion without a reference station the technique originally proposed by nakamura to analyze rayleigh waves in the microtremor records is presented briefly and it is discussed why it may be applicable to study the intense s wave part in earthquake records results are presented for three different cities in mexico oaxaca oax acapulco gro and mexico city these cities are very different by their geological and tectonic contexts and also by the very different epicentral distances to the main seismogenic zones affecting each city each time we compare the results of nakamura s technique with standard spectral ratios in all three cases the results are very encouraging we conclude that if site effects are caused by simple geology a first estimate of dominant period and local amplification level can be obtained using records of only one station

use wear analysis of the late middle pleistocene quartzite assemblage from the gran dolina site td10 1 subunit sierra de atapuerca spain abstract quartzite has been poorly studied from a functional point of view since the foundation of use wear analysis as the method was largely built upon the observation of wear on fine grained raw materials e g chert in the case of the middle pleistocene gran dolina td10 1 site in spain ca 300 kya the sole raw material that can provide functional information for the artifacts used by the human occupants of the site is quartzite a sample of 51 quartzite artifacts was mainly analyzed with scanning electron microscopy and functional interpretation was possible for 36 of them the activities identified were mostly connected to the butchering of animals but bone and hide scraping as well as woodworking were also present the performance of activities other than butchering supports the idea that the site was used as a residential camp during the deposition of the basal part of the td10 1 subunit lower td10 1 this study demonstrates the possibility of obtaining functional data from relatively ancient artifacts made of a coarse grained lithology considering that metamorphic quartzose materials often dominate early and middle pleistocene lithic assemblages all over the world the standardization of the functional reading of quartzite will allow acquiring countless functional data with which to reconstruct ancient human behavior

interannual displacements of convection and surface circulation over the equatorial indian ocean the interannual variability of surface observations in the equatorial indian ocean is investigated from 23 years of ship reports 1954 1976 in october and november during certain years the monthly analyses show strong wind anomalies in the eastern and central equatorial indian ocean simultaneously cloud cover anomalies of opposite signs are observed in the eastern indian ocean and in the central indian ocean a linear analysis of heat induced circulation suggests that the surface wind anomalies are forced by anomalies of rainfall this circulation is probably dissipative with time scales in the range two to five days the reasons for the maintenance of anomalous circulations are not well known it is noted that during most el nino events in the pacific ocean anomalies are observed in the indian ocean however there are other years with the same anomalous pattern 1961 for example during the years with anomalously little cloudiness in the eastern indian ocean sea surface temperatures lower than normal are found in the eastern indian ocean this suggests that coupled air sea dynamics must be taken into account to understand the interannual variability

esr dating of tooth enamel a comparison with kar dating abstract the reliability of the esr dating of tooth enamel was tested for a famous italian palaeolithic site isernia la pineta already dated by the k ar method esr ages calculated with early uranium uptake model eu linear uranium uptake model lu and us esr model are between 80 and 251 ka the us model with the hypothesis of inverse correlation between esr signal heights and uranium concentration resulted in an age of about 450 ka for one sample these ages are compared with a k ar age of 736 ka

new datings of amudian layers at qesem cave israel results of tl applied to burnt flints and esr u series to teeth abstract because only a few radiometric data are actually available the chronology of the amudian a blade dominated industry of the acheulo yabrudian cultural complex aycc of the late lower paleolithic in the levant is still not well constrained qesem cave offers the opportunity to enhance our knowledge of the chronological position of this industry which is unique to the levant the qesem amudian bearing layers yielded also human remains showing affinities with those of modern populations recovered in the middle paleolithic sites of skhul and qafzeh the results presented here are the first attempt to apply the tl and esr u series dating methods at this site and these methods yielded results which are generally in agreement they support a time interval of hominid bearing occupation of the areas of the cave where amudian lithic artifacts were recovered during mis 8 and likely 9 for the deep pit area and during mis 8 and possibly 7 for the upper part of the sequence square k 10 and the eastern microfauna bearing area an older occupation of the cave is also conceivable on the base of two dating results mis 11

geo chronological context of the open air acheulian site at nahal hesi northwestern negev israel abstract the open air site of nahal hesi located on northwestern negev desert fringe of israel is one of the few primary context late acheulian localities in the levant late acheulian sites in the levant rarely provide faunal assemblages and radiometric ages leaving large gaps in our knowledge of the lower paleolithic palaeoenvironment ecology subsistence and chronology here we present a new geo chronological study conducted at the nahal hesi site the major objectives were to describe the geological and archaeological stratigraphy assign a numerical age to the acheulian artifact bearing deposit by tt osl and pir ir290 dating and reconstruct the local palaeoenvironment during the human occupation at the site geological and microfaunal observations suggest that late acheulian hominins at nahal hesi exploited marshy environments the limited spatial and vertical extent of the artifact bearing deposit and the presence of artifacts only in context of marsh like sediments highlight the utilization of short lived water bodies by the hominins the combined tt osl and pir ir290 methods provide an average age of 430 35 ka for the studied marsh like deposits the study indicates that the middle pleistocene in the area of the nahal hesi site is characterized by lengthy cycles of deposition and erosion of fine grained sediments associated with the semi arid nahal shiqma drainage system marshy sediments could be the result of full or partial blockage of the shiqma system probably by coastal dune ridges that led to formation of standing water bodies during the middle pleistocene

formation processes and combustion features at the lower layers of the middle palaeolithic open air site of nesher ramla israel the lower stratigraphic sequence units iii vi of the middle palaeolithic site of nesher ramla was studied using geoarchaeological methods field observations indicate that the site formed within a karst depression that was infilled by colluvium and in which intermittent human activity occurred including two layers highly rich in anthropogenic remains units iii and v infrared analysis of bones determined that black bones are carbonized and that certain white bones are calcined quantitative analysis of wood ash pseudomorphs indicates specific areas of high concentrations of ash micromorphological analysis enabled identification of two distinct features associated with ash and burnt bones one is a thinly bedded complex of blacked soil overlain by ash and charcoal and the second is a 20 cm thick massive fine grained layer of mixed ash the first feature is interpreted as an in situ hearth macroscopically similar features have not yet been analyzed the second feature is interpreted as ash in secondary position i e an ash pile midden that formed following hearth rake out activities these findings are unique considering that most middle palaeolithic open air sites in the levant are single layered and that in most evidence for hominin use of fire is scarce or absent we discuss the factors that may affect the preservation of ash in open air sites and conclude that the setting of nesher ramla in a topographic low provided relative protection from wind which prevented ash deflation and at the same time hominin activity remains were buried relatively fast which detached the ashes and combustion features from direct rainfall and from decalcifying root activity

global equatorial variability of 850 and 200 hpa zonal winds from rawinsondes between 1963 and 1989 the longitude height time variability of 3 month averaged zonal wind anomalies at 850 and 200 hpa over the equatorial area 5 degrees n 5 degrees s is analyzed using a three dimensional dataset constructed from rawinsonde data 1963 1989 the first mode closely related to the southern oscillation index suggests a strong vertical coupling associated with a horizontal out of phase pattern between the central western pacific and the remainder of the equatorial belt the vertical coupling appears to be phase locked to the annual cycle with strongest intensities found over south america and near the maritime continent early in the calendar year and over the pacific basin and africa during the second half of the year this mode of variability can be viewed as a standing pattern superimposed with an eastward migrating component coherent with the annual cycle this westerly moving mode originates near the maritime continent during the northern autumn and tends to precede el nino southern oscillation events in the central and eastern pacific ocean variance is mainly concentrated in the 3 8 year low frequency time scale throughout the tropics and in the 2 3 year quasi biennal band from 110 degrees 120 degrees e to 180 degrees 24 refs 4 figs

what happens around a fire faunal processing sequences and spatial distribution at qesem cave 300 ka israel abstract the technological innovation involving the controlled use of fire represents a decisive change in human subsistence hearths and the spatial distribution patterns associated with them constitute a valuable element in deepening our knowledge on human behaviour and its evolution studies focused on hearths and on the use of fire in general are diverse and carried out through different perspectives thus hearths are studied for their meaning in terms of diet caloric and light capacity and spatial organisation as well as for their role as communication and socialization focal points the site of qesem cave israel shows evidence of the controlled use of fire as early as 400 ka judging by the burned bones from the lowest units of the stratigraphic sequence a particular superimposed central hearth that was repeatedly used as a focus for human activities ca 300 ka is the topic of this study this succession of hearths at the same location in the cave yields dense faunal and lithic remains as well as evidence for spatial differentiation between areas here we present faunal taphonomical data from this specific archaeological context which includes not only the hearth area approximately 4 m2 but also the surrounding areas approximately 11 m2 the most common prey species is the mesopotamian fallow deer dama cf mesopotamica which displays a wide age range and a biased anatomical profile including mainly marrow rich bones such as long limb bones these characteristics especially those regarding the relative abundance of infantile and young fallow deer lead us to propose that social hunting techniques were practised following a seasonal regime this paper provides data on human subsistence behaviour during the formation of the hearth and the archaeological unit around it comparing the two from a taphonomical perspective elements such as size length of bone fragments and intensity of burning are spatially plotted to show differential space division all these data are considered in the reconstruction of subsistence strategies and hominin behaviour in the acheulo yabrudian cultural complex in the levant

el nino southern oscillation and madden julian 30 60 day oscillations during 1981 1982 an important issue in understanding the low frequency oscillations of the atmosphere and the ocean atmosphere system concerns the role of transients during individual events this question is examined from an observational point of view for the period from september 1981 to april 1982 which includes the transitional phase of the 1982 1983 el nino southern oscillation enso cycle as well as six madden julian 30 60 day oscillations mjo for the developing enso it is shown that interannual transitions in the anomalous atmospheric circulation and in the sea surface temperatures in the western central pacific coincide with the passage of strong mjos from the indian to pacific oceans for a mjo during december 1981 evidence is provided that the shift of convection from the eastern indian ocean to the western pacific ocean involves transients having periods around 10 days the role of transients is discussed from the perspective of these interannual and intraseasonal modes

microwear polishes on early stone tools from koobi fora kenya the functions of the stone artefacts made and used by early hominids has been a matter for speculation however recent experimental work has demonstrated that microscopically distinct wear polishes form on tools of cryptocrystalline silica when used on different materials and that these microwear polishes survive on ancient implements1 3 we have now examined 54 artefacts from five early pleistocene archaeological sites dated to 1 5 myr ago in the koobi fora region of kenya for microwear polishes and other traces of use wear traces were found on nine artefacts variously resembling traces induced experimentally by cutting soft animal tissue and soft plant material and by scraping and sawing wood these results greatly extend the time range for which microwear polish analysis is applicable and increase the evidence of early hominid adaptation

new esr u series dates in yabrudian and amudian layers at qesem cave israel abstract qesem cave is a middle pleistocene site situated 12 km east of the mediterranean coast of tel aviv israel it is attributed to the acheuleo yabrudian cultural complex aycc of the late lower paleolithic period dated to ca 420 200 ka this site exhibits a unique prehistoric sequence where the amudian blade dominated industry is the main cultural component however the scraper dominated yabrudian industry is also represented in distinct contexts at the cave the chronology established by tl applied on burnt flints esr u series on herbivorous teeth and u series on spelothems suggests that qesem cave is one of the oldest sites yielding such a blade industry and a fully fledged trajectory of quina scrapers production this work presents new esr u series dates on four animal teeth unearthed from an amudian central hearth recently published and four other teeth from a yabrudian industry bearing layer in the shelf area the dates range from 249 to 296 ka for the amudian hearth mean age of 280 ka and from 279 to 382 ka for the yabrudian layer mean age of 313 ka these radiometric dates provide new information on the chronology of the amudian and yabrudian industries in the hearth and shelf areas and contribute towards a better understanding of the chronology of qesem cave as a whole this is the first time we have direct dates from amudian and yabrudian context from a single site

hayonim cave a tl based chronology for this levantine mousterian sequence the thermoluminescence dating method was applied to 77 heated flints from the mousterian layers of hayonim cave in order to provide a precise tl based chronology for this important levantine sequence a detailed dosimetric study was performed by using 76 dosimeter capsules and revealed strong spatial dose rate variations in parallel fourier transform infrared spectrometry enabled the identification of various mineral assemblages in the sediments of the cave and to localize the boundaries of these assemblages by comparing these two data sets it is shown that low dose rate values w500 mgy a are systematically recorded in areas where the calcite dahllite cd assemblage is preserved whereas higher values up to 1300 mgy a are associated with the leucophosphite montgomeryite variscite and siliceous aggregates lmvs assemblage the dosimetric and mineralogical information was combined in order to assess where possible the dose rate experienced by each flint during its burial some of the flint samples analyzed were too close to mineral assemblage boundaries and were therefore discarded this rigorous selection led to tl ages ranging from 230 to 140 ka for the lower part of the mousterian sequence layers f and lower e which contains lithic industries characterized by blade production using the laminar method 2006 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

gravitational deformations and fillings of aging caves the example of qesem karst system israel abstract the qesem karst system may serve as an example for aging chamber caves it includes two caves which have undergone several stages of natural and human induced deposition as well as subsidence and collapse natural deposits include calcite speleothems bedrock collapse debris and clay fill karst dissolution and associated sagging and decomposition have operated since the initial cave formation inclined sediments are attributed to several processes mostly dominated by gravitational sagging into underlying dissolution voids affecting cave deposits and sometimes the host rock u th dating shows that speleothem deposition has been common during the mid late quaternary but deposition sites shifted according to local conditions the aging of caves occurs when they become totally filled by sediments and ultimately consumed by surface denudation as documented in qesem cave

coherent tropical indo pacific interannual climate variability abstracta multichannel singular spectrum analysis mssa applied simultaneously to tropical sea surface temperature sst zonal wind and burstiness zonal wind variability reveals three significant oscillatory modes they all show a strong enso signal in the eastern pacific ocean po but also a substantial sst signal in the western indian ocean io a correlation based analysis shows that the western io signal contains linearly independent information on enso of the three indo pacific enso modes of the mssa one resembles a central pacific cp el nino while the others represent eastern pacific ep el ninos which either start in the central pacific and grow eastward epe or start near peru and grow westward epw a composite analysis shows that epw el ninos are preceded by cooling in the western io about 15 months earlier two mechanisms are discussed by which the western io might influence enso in the atmospheric bridge mechanism subsidence over the cool western io in autumn year 0 leads t

the recycling of flint throughout the lower and middle paleolithic sequence of tabun cave israel abstract tabun cave provides an opportunity to examine transformations in the methods and intensity at which hominins recycled flint items along a sequence of ca 500 ky from the lower paleolithic to the middle paleolithic periods the studied sequence is composed of results from jelinek s excavations and ronen s excavations which sampled different parts of the stratigraphic section of tabun cave together covering 16 m depth of superimposed archaeological layers the recycling of flint is examined using three aspects 1 the presence of patinated items 2 the phenomenon of handaxes with a preferential flake scar along with other aspects indicating the recycling of handaxes as cores and 3 the presence of items which are both cores on flakes and tools indicating a complex life history the changes in their frequencies and characteristics along the sequence are presented through a study of 20 assemblages spanning from the acheulean lower paleolithic to the early middle paleolithic

predominant period site classification for response spectra prediction equations in italy we propose a site classification scheme based on the predominant period of the site as determined from the average horizontal to vertical h v spectral ratios of ground motion our scheme extends zhao et al 2006 classifications by adding two classes the most important of which is defined by flat h v ratios with amplitudes less than 2 the proposed classification is investigated by using 5 damped response spectra from italian earthquake records we select a dataset of 602 three component analog and digital recordings from 120 earthquakes recorded at 214 seismic stations within a hypocentral distance of 200 km selected events are in the moment magnitude range 4 0 mw 6 8 and focal depths from a few kilometers to 46 km we computed h v ratios for these data and used them to classify each site into one of six classes we then investigate the impact of this classification scheme on empirical ground motion prediction equations gmpes by comparing its performance with that of the conventional rock soil classification although the adopted approach results in only a small reduction of the overall standard deviation the use of h v spectral ratios in site classification does capture the signature of sites with flat frequency response as well as deep and shallow soil profiles characterized by long and short period reso nance respectively in addition the classification scheme is relatively quick and inexpensive which is an advantage over schemes based on measurements of shear wave velocity online material tablesofparametersdefiningthegroundmotion predictionequa tions and figures of h v spectral ratios intraevent residuals and spectral amplitudes

applying high throughput rrna gene sequencing to assess microbial contamination of a 40 year old exposed archaeological profile abstract in recent years there has been a surge in the recovery of ancient organic molecules from archaeological contexts these analyses are yielding unprecedented insights into human evolution and cultural practices and are providing valuable data for reconstructing paleoenvironments however contamination of archaeological sediments by microorganisms can alter ancient biomolecular data furthermore the extent to which microbes can penetrate ancient archaeological sediments once these are exposed by excavation is unknown we tested this question at crvena stijena a rock shelter in the dinaric alps in montenegro that contains archaeological deposits spanning more than 80 000 years excavations in the early 1960s exposed these profiles which have been cleaned several times to permit sampling for archaeological geological and biomolecular analyses the growth of green biofilms on the exposed profiles after cleaning has prompted the question of whether this surface contamination extends into the profile to test this question we examined five different geological layers by sampling sediments from the exposed surface and at 1 cm intervals horizontally into the profile results from 16s rrna gene sequencing show that samples from sediment surfaces have distinct microbial communities from most samples collected more than 1 cm deep and microbial biomass from the deeper samples is very low together this evidence strongly indicates that microbial contamination is limited to the profile surfaces this lowers the likelihood that ancient biomolecules in these sediments have been altered by recent changes to the in situ microbial community and that cleaning of the profiles before sampling may not need to exceed 2 cm in depth these results lend further support to the research utility of limited vertical sampling along archaeological profiles and witness sections a strategy which conserves rare and limited archaeological deposits while helping to tackle key questions about the past