magnetic susceptibility anisotropy strain and progressive deformation in permian sediments from the maritime alps france abstract the relationships among magnetic susceptibility anisotropy finite strain and progressive deformation have been studied in permian red shales and slates of the maritime alps southeastern france these rocks contain deformed reduction spots which serve as finite strain indicators the magnetic fabric of undeformed regions is modified during deformation to yield characteristic magnetic susceptibility anisotropy patterns and a magnetic equivalent of the deformation path derived from strain measurements the magnetic fabric changes progressively from oblate to prolate and back to oblate as deformation increases the quantitative relationships between natural strain and magnetic anisotropy in these rocks have been determined they differ between the less and more deformed areas perhaps due to a change in deformation mechanism accompanying an increase in metamorphism the relationships provide a rapid means of strain determination using magnetic measurements but their variation emphasizes the need for local structural control

mode of occupation of tabun cave mt carmel israel during the mousterian period a study of the sediments and phytoliths alternative modes of occupation of tabun cave during the deposition of the mousterian levels b and c have been proposed garrod bate 1937 excavations at the wady el mughara volume 1 oxford clarendon press interpreted the archaeological record of both levels as being indicative of domestic occupational activities jelinek et al 1973 palaeorient 1 151 183 proposed that the presence of articulated limb bones of dama mesopotamica in the level b sediments below the cave chimney indicated that the cave was used as a natural game trap they also noted that the white ash layers in level c extended across the whole cave and proposed that this was due to the burning of natural vegetation in the cave this study aims at clarifying the modes of occupation during these periods level b sediments closely resemble the terra rossa soil that is common in this region burning activity is inferred from charcoal fragments seen in thin sections a minor wood ash component is present based on the preponderance of phytoliths with a variable morphology as compared to those with a consistent morphology as well as phytoliths with shapes characteristic of those formed in wood and bark of local trees thus fires were produced in the cave during this period the cave may also have been used as a game trap level c is composed of multiple layers of brown black and white sediments micromorphology mineralogy and phytolith analyses all show that these layers are mixtures of terra rossa soil and ash with the latter being abundant in the white layers the phytoliths in these layers are derived almost entirely from wood and bark and not from grasses these observations are consistent with a domestic occupational mode 1999 academic press

precise u pb zircon ages for the molson dyke swarm and the fox river sill constraints for early proterozoic crustal evolution in northeastern manitoba canada precise u pb zircon ages have been obtained for samples from the molson dyke swarm and the fox river sill in ne manitoba canada the ages determined for the cross lake and cuthbert lake dykes are 1 883 7 1 5 1 7and 1 883 2 ma respectively and are in excellent agreement with the 1 882 9 1 4 1 5ma age obtained for the fox river sill these results support the contention that the emplacement of the fox river sill and the molson dyke swarm was contemporaneous and also demonstrate the potential for correlating mafic igneous activity in widely spaced localities the timing of early proterozoic mafic magmatism in the western superior province appears to be synchronous with igneous activity in other parts of the circum superior belt and in the trans hudson orogen to the west the emplacement of the molson dyke swarm at 1 883 ma indicates a 700 ma interval of quiescence between the final igneous activity that is recorded in the archean basement and dyke intrusion the presence of deformed equivalents of molson dykes in the thompson nickel belt indicates that the intense deformation in this belt occurred sometime after 1 883 ma

pedology of archaeological soils in tells of the judean foothills israel abstract tells archaeological mounds predominantly consist of poorly consolidated to unconsolidated sediments and soils that are highly anthropogenic this study examines pedogenic processes related to carbonate mobilization in tells in comparison with their peripheral soils reference soil profiles the key objective of this study is to test the hypothesis that tell deposits evolve through concurrent processes of sedimentation and pedogenesis synlithogenic pedogenesis and further explain it case studies are presented from three tells in semi arid and mediterranean climatic zones of the levant the methods applied included field survey analyses of particle size distribution ph caco3 and organic carbon content and soil micromorphology soils of the tells contain miscellaneous cultural materials that derive mainly from degraded mud bricks pottery and burnt wood chemical data show basic ph values high caco3 content and minor amounts of organic carbon field observations and lab analyses both indicate high similarity amongst the tells and their reference soil profiles buried tell soils show same characteristics as near surface soils however the reference soil profiles show incipient horizonation slightly darker colours and more developed structure micromorphology of both the tells and the reference profiles show cohesively welded peds in a vughy microstructure groundmass with an open porphyric c f related distribution and discontinuous carbonate recrystallization relative rates of soil formation in the tells can be estimated when archaeological records are established contrary to the tells the reference soil profiles show lower porosity and only minor remnants related to earth construction materials we classify the soils of the studied tells as archaeological calcareous anthraltic xerorthents the correlative wrb classification would be calcic urbic technosols archaic the anthropogenic materials are as calcareous as the natural soils but due to human action carbonates in the tells are distributed differently based on these observations ancient human actions and the dry climate have led to very little mobilization and accumulation of carbonates the information provided in this study adds to the pedological understanding of archaeological environments specifically it can be useful for the study of site formation processes of tells

three dimensional distribution of minerals in the sediments of hayonim cave israel diagenetic processes and archaeological implications the mineral components of the sediments that accumulate in an archaeological site constitute a potentially rich source of information on the diagenesis and in turn the archaeology of the site this detailed three dimensional study of the mineral assemblages in mainly the mousterian sediments of hayonim cave incorporates more than 2100 infrared analyses performed on site during the excavation as well as diverse analyses in the laboratory three major mineral assemblages are identified the calcite dahllite cd assemblage the assemblage comprising mainly montgomeryite leucophosphite and siliceous aggregates lmvs and a highly altered sediment in which the clays have broken down and silica was released the boundaries between these assemblages were mapped in detail the overall picture is one of extreme heterogeneity with sharp variations occurring over distances of a few centimetres the relation between the cd and lmvs assemblages shows that it is a product of post depositional diagenesis whereas the altered clay assemblage formed beneath an erosional unconformity the cd and lmvs assemblages were derived primarily from an accumulation several metres thick of ash deposits produced by humans ash is thus shown to be a major component of the sediments of this cave the distribution of the cd assemblage reflects to a large extent the locations of two active springs seepages in the cave the distribution of the cd assemblage also faithfully maps the distribution of bones in the cave showing that their distribution is a function of preservational conditions and not human activities stineret al 2001 the conditions that produced the erosional unconformity also resulted in severe alteration of the clays and other mineral components of these sediments the erosion process and the fact that the thickness of this altered zone decreases towards the centre of the cave indicates that the diagenetic driving force was probably climatic the three dimensional distributions of the mineral assemblages have a direct bearing on the dating of the cave by thermoluminescence and electron spin resonance

an integrated approach to reconstructing primary activities from pit deposits iron smithing and other activities at tel dor under neo assyrian domination abstract secondary pit deposits in historical occupations of near eastern mounds are usually regarded as uninteresting and are seldom analyzed we used an integrated approach to study all the artifacts as well as the sediments in a pit at tel dor on israel s carmel coast dating to the 7th c bce a period when the site served as an assyrian administrative center this pit was unusually large had a peculiar ceramic assemblage and many macroscopic metallurgical wastes a detailed excavation and analysis revealed that the pit served intermittently as a waste disposal site for an iron smithy and for pottery that was presumably involved in maritime trading on two occasions the area was also used for animal penning despite the obvious importance of the iron industry to the neo assyrian empire actual workshops are rare in its archaeological record hence the new information regarding an iron age iron smithy in the southern levant contributes to the study of this industry and also to the history of dor in this period

a new method for extracting the insoluble occluded carbon in archaeological and modern phytoliths detection of 14c depleted carbon fraction and implications for radiocarbon dating phytolith rich layers in archaeological sites constitute well defined stratigraphic horizons that would be invaluable if absolutely dated previous attempts to radiocarbon date phytoliths produced inconsistent results using plants with known ages in this study a new approach to extract and analyze the silica occluded carbon was tested on well dated archaeological contexts in beth shemesh and tell es safi gath and on modern wheat plants that grew in a controlled environment results show that by dissolving the silica using mild conditions phytolith insoluble fractions can be extracted and their radiocarbon contents analyzed reproducibly after phytolith dissolution the remaining insoluble fractions with 10 30 c have radiocarbon concentrations that are statistically similar to associated charred seeds within 2 and insoluble fractions with 40 c show concentrations that are identical to the seeds these results show that the insoluble fraction of phytoliths is a suitable material for answering chronological questions

an archaeopedological and phytolitarian study of the dark earth on the site of rue de dinant brussels belgium during the excavations of the site of rue de dinant in the historic centre of brussels belgium remains of the first city wall dating from the 13th century have been discovered intra muros thick dark sediment units predating this wall are observed these dark units are among the oldest occupation traces so far encountered in this higher eastern part of the historic centre of brussels in order to characterise them and to understand the human activities and natural processes behind their formation an interdisciplinary research integrating archaeopedology and phytolith study has been undertaken this approach permitted us to identify a range of natural and cultural processes leading to the formation of these dark layers and to characterise different activities remains of a hearth old plough land cropfields and grassland have been identified all activities referring to a rural landscape organisation later on the area changes into an enormous silt extraction area whereby dark earth is thrown into the dug pits finally the construction of the first city wall marks the area as becoming part of the city the study of dark earth shows to be a potentially valuable tool to shed light on the development and spatial organisation of pre urban brussels a historically very poorly documented period

phytolith rich layers from the late bronze and iron ages at tel dor israel mode of formation and archaeological significance the presence of many phytolith rich layers in late bronze and iron age deposits at tel dor israel are indicative of specific locations where plants were concentrated detailed studies of six of these phytolith rich layers and associated sediments from tel dor show that the phytoliths were derived mainly from wild and domestic grasses the most common domestic grass was the cereal triticum aestivum bread wheat three of these layers have a microlaminated microstructure associated dung spherulites and phosphate nodules characteristics that all point to the phytolith rich layers having formed from dung in animal enclosures in two of the layers the microlaminated structure is absent while dung spherulites and phosphate nodules are present suggesting that these too originate from dung that was not deposited in an enclosure the sixth layer is microlaminated but does not contain spherulites we thus cannot suggest a parsimonious explanation of its observed properties concentrations of burnt phytoliths are present in three locations implying that dung was either burnt in situ or the ashes from burnt dung were redeposited the transformation of dung accumulations into phytolith rich layers involves a loss of organic material and hence a significant reduction in sediment volume which is clearly apparent in the stratigraphy of some of the locations examined the volume reduction can be observed in the macrostratigraphy and has important implications with regard to macrostratigraphic interpretation the presence of abundant phytolith rich layers on the tell has significant implications for the concept of urbanism during these periods 2007 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

scatterer density estimation in the crust by seismic array processing summary both the number density of scatterers and scattering strength are parameters characterizing the inhomogeneity of the earth s crust an attempt is made to estimate the number density of scatterers n value using small aperture seismic array data many estimates of scattering coefficients have been made previously however in a medium with a scattering strength the wave energy scattered by a medium containing strong scatterers with a low number density is identical to that produced by a high density of weak scatterers knowledge of the number density besides the scattering strength supplies important information on stress concentration in the crust due to the strong scatterer reflecting strong inhomogeneity therefore the number density of scatterers is estimated with array signal processing a seismic array can decompose the approach direction of scattered waves arriving at the array with array processing it is not only possible to estimate the energy arriving at the array but also the semblance value temporal variation of the energy depends strongly on the scattering coefficient on the other hand the difference in number density of the medium appears in the temporal variation of the semblance value as a first order approximation the semblance value is inversely proportional to the n value for practical purposes an array response should be considered for n value estimation comparing simulated and observed semblances number density and scattering strength can be estimated from the time sequence of semblances and stacking power this method was applied to seismic array data from the aftershock area of the 2000 western tottori earthquake mw 6 8 a rough estimate of number density compared to a simulation is 3 10 2 km 3

characterization of the magnetic fabric of rocks abstract an inextensive system of magnetic susceptibility anisotropy factors is suggested which is sufficient in the majority of practical applications for characterizing the magnetic fabric of rocks the system involves three newly devised factors the corrected anisotropy degree the shape factor and the difference shape factor the first of these characterizes the quantity of anisotropy somewhat better than the commonly used anisotropy degree the shape factor characterizes the quality of anisotropy i e the shape of the susceptibility ellipsoid in a convenient way its definition is based on a certain analogy between the anisotropy ellipsoid and the strain ellipsoid the difference shape factor can replace the shape factor when only the differences between the principal susceptibilities are given while the mean susceptibility is unknown

the taphonomy and preservation of wood and dung ashes found in archaeological cooking installations case studies from iron age israel cooking installations are among the most abundant features in bronze and iron age archaeological sites in the southern levant yet until now their study has been mostly descriptive we present a study of 11 purported archaeological cooking installations from three different bronze and iron age sites in israel in which we deployed a variety of microarchaeological techniques we provide direct physical evidence based on fourier transform infrared ftir spectroscopy demonstrating that the archaeological installations were operated with temperatures as high as 900 c using this technique we also demonstrate that all the mud constructed installations studied by us were internally fueled and therefore should be identified as tannurs rather than the externally fueled tabuns we studied in detail the quantities of ash related microscopic remains including opaline phytoliths calcitic wood ash pseudomorphs and dung spherulites we show that phytolith morphotype analysis cannot distinguish between wood dominated and dung dominated fuel materials while a newly developed method that calculates the ratio of ash pseudomorphs to dung spherulites psr method makes such a distinction possible moreover we experimented with the effect of partial dissolution on fuel ash psr values and utilize the results to explain taphonomy and diagenesis associated with two types of archaeological cooking installations pebble hearths and baking ovens in addition we identified micromorphological criteria that can be used to assess whether ash deposits in or above a cooking installations are in situ and or disturbed taken together all lines of evidence used in this study indicate that wood was the major fuel material across time and space in the studied archaeological contexts while dung was a secondary source of fuel this observation also cross cuts different culture historical entities philistines canaanites israelites and egyptians in addition wood was preferred as fuel irrespective of environmental differences among the studied sites this study is yet another demonstration of the value of integrating microarchaeological techniques and approaches to traditional macroscopic archaeology

sediments exposed to high temperatures reconstructing pyrotechnological processes in late bronze and iron age strata at tel dor israel many of the sediments analysed from tel dor israel show structural alterations indicating that they were exposed to high temperatures this observation is consistent with the abundant evidence for use of pyrotechnology from the earliest exposed middle bronze age strata through the roman period such structurally altered sediments may well represent one of the more widespread and durable records of pyrotechnology and as such could be invaluable for reconstructing past human activities the specific aims of this research are therefore to develop the means for identifying local sediments that were altered by different pyrotechnological activities and to elucidate the varying circumstances whereby sediments were exposed to high temperatures in a late bronze and iron age 1 section we first characterize natural sediments sampled on and in the proximity of the tell and monitor their transformations due to exposure to high temperatures in an oven and in open fires focusing in particular on the transformations of the clay mineral components of mud brick materials the analytical techniques used include micromorphology fourier transform infrared spectrometry ftir x ray powder diffractometry xrd and x ray fluorescence xrf spectrometry using the temperature calibrated data we confirm that large volumes of sediments at tel dor were exposed to high temperatures in area g we identify three fundamentally different ways that heat affected sediments were produced and accumulated 1 inthelatebronzeage phases11e12 thesedimentswereheatedtotemperaturesbetween800and900 candwerethendeposited in the area under investigation a plausible scenario is that these sediments were exposed to heat from ovens or kilns 2 during the early iron age phase 10 the heat affected sediments heated above 1000 c formed in close association with casting pits for the working of copper containing bronze objects 3 duringphase9oftheironage heat affectedsedimentswereproducedinsituatthislocationduetoamajorconflagration the temperatures reached around 1000 c this study shows that analysis of high temperature exposed sediments may be an invaluable means of reconstructing fire associated activities even when the actual installations have not been identified during the excavation or were not preserved

comparison of strain and magnetic fabrics in dalradian rocks from the southwest highlands of scotland abstract the magnetic fabrics of 235 samples from 31 localities in argyllshire scotland were determined to study the development of the caledonian tectonic fabric in the southwest highlands of scotland the regional fabric indicates a strong ne sw compressional foliation due to the primary deformational phases which in parts has been overprinted by secondary deformations a detailed comparison of the anisotropy data and the available strain data shows that the two fabric ellipsoids are co axial and that their axial mean ratios seem to be related by an empirical power relationship of the type xi xj li lj a for i 1 2 3 j 1 2 3 and i j where i and j are orthogonal principal axes and li and lj are the corresponding orthogonal principal strain axes the exponent a for the sites from scotland is 0 088 0 017 compared with 0 142 0 001 and 0 145 0 005 found in the caledonian slates of the english lake district and the welsh slate belt

an assessment of techniques for the deflocculation and removal of clays from sediments used in phytolith analysis this paper describes an experiment in which a comparison is made between two techniques of deflocculation and clay removal generally used for palynological extraction in the experiment methods used commonly for pollen extraction are applied to phytolith extraction the palynological products of the different preparation techniques are compared by reference to several attributes the time and efficiency in the preparation method the weight of residue resulting from each method the palynological composition clarity of the palynomorphs on the slides and measures of differential loss and selection by palynomorph shape and size the results are compared and discussed in relation to the still settling technique which is most commonly used for phytolith extraction it is concluded that centrifugation is a reliable and fast method that can be used to remove clays from fine grained sediments for the extraction of phytoliths and other silica microfossils high levels of diversity were recorded for morphotypes across all size classes it produced superior results to the sieving technique and there is no reason to assume that it cannot be used to produce results comparable with still settling if calculations of settling times consider the implications of sediment density on fluid viscosity adoption of the centrifugation method for clay removal from palynological sediment samples can greatly reduce extraction times and therefore it is a recommended procedure

marco gonzalez ambergris caye belize a geoarchaeological record of ground raising associated with surface soil formation and the presence of a dark earth marco gonzalez on the south west end of the island of ambergris caye belize has well preserved maya archaeological stratigraphy dating from preclassic times ca 300 b c to the late classic period ca a d 550 600 to 700 760 although later occupations are recorded by house platforms and inhumations terminal classic to early postclassic and use of the site continued until the 16th century a d intact stratigraphy is rare in these cases owing to a greater degree of disturbance nonetheless understanding site formation entails accounting for all processes including disturbance the site s depositional sequence as revealed through soil micromorphology and chemistry and detailed here has yielded critical information in two spheres of research as regards archaeology and the elucidation of maya activities on the caye over time soil micromorphology has contributed beyond measure to what we have been able to distinguish as material remains of cultural activity detailed descriptions of the nature of the material remains has in turn helped us to clarify or alter interpretations based on artefacts that have been identified or sediments characterised according to traditional recovery techniques the other major sphere in which soil micromorphology and chemistry play a critical role is in assessment of the environmental impact of human activity which enables us to construct and test hypotheses concerning how the site formed over time what materials and elements contributed to the character of the sediments especially in the formation of a specific maya dark earth type that is developed from carbonate rich deposits and how the modern surface soils acquired the appearance of a dark earth but essentially differ from them in terms of agricultural soil sustainability the marco gonzalez surface soil is neo formed by a woodland vegetation drawing upon the nutrients and constituents present in both the dark earth and underlying better preserved stratified deposits

an integrated study of dark earth from the alluvial valley of the senne river brussels belgium abstract the present article discusses the integration of urban geoarchaeological and archaeobotanical data of a series of dark earth deposits situated in the alluvial valley of the senne river in brussels belgium due to their homogeneous character their interpretation is a huge challenge for archaeologists through a case by case approach a detailed picture of the sequence of different activities and semi natural events leading to the build up of dark earth at each individual site has been obtained among the activities agricultural practices and waste management which are rarely archaeologically recorded in urban contexts have been identified despite being situated in a valley context none of the sites presented an excellent preservation of the organic plant remains however through the integration of geoarchaeological and botanical data the taphonomical history of the botanical remains could better be understood allowing us to document the evolution of the environment surrounding the sites additionally it has been demonstrated that the botanical study of dark earth units can also provide valuable information on vegetal consumption in particular fruits on a broader scale this integrated geoarchaeologial and archaeobotanical study sheds some light on the process of urbanisation of the senne alluvial valley between the 11th 12th and the 16th century ad

ancient settlement activities as important sources of nutrients p k s zn and cu in eastern mediterranean ecosystems the case of biblical tel burna israel abstract human settlement activities are connected with the accumulation of nutrients in archaeological soils we address the question of whether the large scale mapping of the elemental composition of the topsoil in contemporary rangeland can be used for the detection of ancient settlement activities using portable x ray fluorescence pxrf we mapped the elemental composition of contemporary soils over an area of 67 ha in and around the bronze and iron age settlement of tel burna identified as probably corresponding with biblical libnah ancient settlement activities substantially increased concentrations of nutrients p k s zn and cu in the contemporary topsoil owing to the deposition of biomass ashes and organic wastes increased concentrations of elements were detected 2500 years after the site was abandoned and we can therefore suppose that changes in the elemental composition of the soil caused by ancient settlement activities are irreversible on a timescale in which human societies operate ancient settlement activities increased concentrations of nutrients in contemporary soil to the same level as recent intensive fertiliser application on an adjacent arable field used for vegetable production concentrations of nutrients higher than those on the tell summit were recorded only in recent cattle resting areas with intensive deposition of cattle faeces changes in the elemental composition of the soil caused by ancient settlement activities consequently result in differential nutrient availability for contemporary vegetation affecting ecosystem functions for thousands of years using pxrf large scale mapping of the elemental composition of the topsoil layer at archaeological sites can help to identify the extent and provide basic information on the character of past human activities in the affected landscape units

vegetation landscape at dk locality olduvai gorge tanzania abstract the olduvai gorge palaeoanthropological site in northern tanzania encompasses about two million years of earth history the sedimentary facies of palaeolake olduvai have been used to reconstruct lake transgressions and regressions up to total drying out interpreted to reflect wet dry climate cycles although multidisciplinary research has been conducted during the past decades to reconstruct the palaeoenvironments and palaeolandscapes of the gorge very few focused on the dk site located about 2 km farther east in the gorge we present here a vegetation study at dk for bed i the oldest stratum based upon the phytolith and diatom recovery of the basalt lava to tuff ib stratigraphic interval these results have been analysed in relation to the different facies in which they occur sandy diamictite sandstone sandy waxy claystone waxy claystone and sandy diatomite the phytolith results from diamictite samples indicate a similar vegetation composition during these more arid periods conversely waxy claystone and sandy waxy claystone samples show a higher diversity in the vegetation composition the diatoms were indicative of a fresh water pool environment thus the dk site would have provided plant foods for hominins such as fruits from trees and shrubs and starch rich rhizomes and tubers from sedges and reeds overall the results at dk site present a different vegetation landscape in comparison to previously published phytolith results from other olduvai stratigraphic levels and regions

human impact around settlement sites a phytolith and mineralogical study for assessing site boundaries phytolith preservation and implications for spatial reconstructions using plant remains abstract defining the extent of human activity around settlement sites is of particular significance in archaeology as it may define peripheral activity areas and thus the site s boundary in near eastern archaeology site boundaries are usually defined by the presence of architectural and other macroscopic archaeological remains here we use the phytolith concentrations and morphotype assemblages as well as changes in the mineralogical composition of the sediments in and around the small iron age site of izbet sartah in central israel to determine the site boundaries the site has a shallow stratigraphy and highly bioturbated sediments coincidental changes in the clay quartz ratio and phytolith concentrations define the boundary between high and low impact anthropogenic activities this boundary is generally some 20 m away from the architectural remains in addition we note that the phytoliths in the site s core show clear evidence of having been affected by chemical dissolution i e diagenesis while those in the vicinity of the site s boundary have undergone severe diagenesis these observations indicate that phytolith diagenesis will affect site boundaries determination as well as phytolith based reconstructions of activity areas we propose that phytolith preservation depends on the initial amount of available silica the depth of burial with respect to the active root area of modern vegetation and the presence of fresh phytoliths in the soil

coastal palaeoenvironments and hunter gatherer plant use at waterfall bluff rock shelter in mpondoland south africa from mis 3 to the early holocene abstract waterfall bluff in eastern mpondoland eastern cape province south africa is a recently excavated archaeological site with deposits spanning marine isotope stage mis 3 to the middle holocene here we present preliminary results of a multi proxy palaeoenvironmental study combining macro botanical remains charcoal phytoliths pollen and plant waxes derived from the same archaeological record we aim to understand the interactions between hunter gatherer plant foraging and climate and environmental change in coastal mpondoland from mis 3 to the early holocene at waterfall bluff the charcoal and pollen records at waterfall bluff show the gathering of a variety of woody taxa characterised by their combustion and medicinal properties e g millettia grandis and apodytes dimidiate the leaves identified in the macrobotanics and in the phytolith record might belong to some of these taxa and it is likely that they were used for medicinal purposes from a palaeoenvironmental perspective our results indicate low precipitation and low rainfall seasonality under cool conditions during mis 3 and the last glacial maximum lgm under these conditions open woodlands interspersed with dry and hygrophilous grasslands and bushveld vegetation with significant representation of fynbos elements occurred in the local landscapes probably along podocarpus afrocarpus forests the latter could have been 1 present along river valleys and scarps on the mpondoland exposed continental shelf towards the south and west of waterfall bluff supported by palaeo rivers and cool temperatures favouring low evapotranspiration or 2 present in the interior with pollen grains possibly transported to the site by intensified westerly winds these forests contracted as a result of the post glacial marine transgression or reduced westerlies following the lgm during the early holocene the palaeoenvironmental signal points to higher summer rainfall and higher summer seasonality than during mis 3 the lgm and the lgit these changes are coeval with an increase of coastal forests and c4 mesic grasslands with localized wetland vegetation around waterfall bluff these multi proxy archaeobotanical and biochemical data show that landscapes surrounding waterfall bluff changed in relation to marine transgressions regressions and changes in rainfall intensity and seasonality the people of waterfall bluff foraged the coasts during glacial periods to collect wood

slaty cleavage development and magnetic anisotropy fabrics the shale to slate transition preserved in the ordovician martinsburg formation at the lehigh water gap pennsylvania provides an opportunity to study the relationship between magnetic anisotropy fabrics and the development of slaty cleavage our previous work has indicated that anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility ams does not record changes in finite strain associated with cleavage development in these rocks but instead measures the degree of dissolution and new growth of ehlorite additional ams data presented in this paper lend further support to this conclusion conversely anhysteretie remanent magnetization anisotropy arma which is not affected by paramagnetie ehlorite accurately reflects the strain induced rock fabrics associated with cleavage formation arma results show that magnetite dimensional orientations vary from bedding parallel in shale samples to cleavage parallel in samples with well developed slaty cleavage samples with weak and pencil cleavage display scattered arma orientations which lie in between bedding and cleavage these intermediate orientations may be due to either passive rotation of magnetite from bedding parallel to cleavage parallel or re crystallization of magnetite if rotation occurred grain rotation was highly heterogeneous in the samples with incipient cleavage the intermediate arma orientations may also reflect the varying contribution of two magnetite preferred orientations a depositional orientation parallel to bedding and a new growth orientation parallel to cleavage

magnetic susceptibility magnetic mineralogy and magnetic fabrics in a late archean granitoid gneiss belt abstract the opatica belt is a late archean granitoid gneiss terrane situated within the northern abitibi subprovince along the northern margin of the abitibi greenstone belt quebec this belt is composed of several suites of tonalite granodiorite granite composition variably deformed under epidote amphibolite to upper amphibolite grade conditions specimens from 87 sampling sites within the opatica belt show a wide range in variation of magnetic susceptibility k the large variations are due essentially to varying proportions of ferromagnetic trace minerals detailed study of the opaque mineralogy by reflected light petrography electron microprobe analysis and sem observations as well as alternating field and thermal demagnetization experiments confirm that multi domain very pure magnetite is the dominant ferromagnetic phase which along with ferrosilicates contribute to the magnetic susceptibility in some cases hematite may also make a significant contribution to k in rocks with low k the susceptibility may be dominated by the ferrosilicates hornblende and biotite intensity of anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility ams is also highly variable and appears to be controlled by the mineralogy of the rock rather than by strain intensity or deformation state the shapes of ams ellipsoids are also controlled by mineralogy detailed comparisons are made of ams fabrics with field measurements of magmatic and metamorphic foliations and mineral and stretching lineations and with mineral lineations determined by image analysis of polished slabs there is very good agreement between the average orientations of poles to structural foliations and the average orientation of the k3 principal axes of the susceptibility ellipsoids in all outcrops in most cases there is also good agreement between average structural lineations and the average k1 axis in quartz monzodiorites disagreement between the average lineation and average k1 may be due to complex textural occurrences of magnetite and the presence of abundant hematite in gneisses broad scatter of the orientations of k1 for individual samples from an outcrop quantified by statistical confidence regions about the principal axes locally occurs within the foliation plane and may be attributed to the partial overprinting of earlier fabrics by subsequent deformation

microflint in archaeological sediments from boker tachtit israel a new method for quantifying concentrations of small flint fragments abstract flint is one of the most common rock types used for producing stone tools during flint knapping huge amounts of microscopic sized flint particles are produced thus the presence of high concentrations of microflint in a sedimentary layer could be a good indication that flint was knapped at that location we have developed and tested a method for quantification of microflint concentrations in sediments the method involves concentrating the microflints in specific density fractions and then counting a representative proportion of the flint fragments using a polarized light microscope we show that the method successfully identifies a knapping layer in an initial upper palaeolithic level at the site of boker tachtit israel this level also contains macroscopic flint debitage including refitted artifacts microflint quantification can aid in identifying knapping areas and be useful for better understanding site formation processes

geoarchaeological and palaeobotanical evidence for prehistoric cereal storage in the southern caucasus the neolithic settlement of goytepe mid 8th millennium bp this paper presents direct evidence for cereal storage by neolithic farmers in west asia storage features analyzed this study are circular clay bins that frequently occur at neolithic settlements 8th millennium cal bp in the southern caucasus we examined contexts and uses of clay bin features at the neolithic settlement of goytepe azerbaijan we analyzed biogenic microfossil evidence primarily from phytoliths and dung spherulites and the sediments of the clay bins through micromorphology in combination with their associated charred macrobotanical remains while phytoliths and charred botanical remains indicate direct remnants of stored plants mainly chaffs micromorphology and the analyses of faecal spherulites allow us to examine depositional and diagenetic processes of the archaeological sediments inside and outside these features as a result one of the clay bins was found to retain deposits at its base exhibiting high concentrations of grass phytoliths with relatively high proportions of inflorescences and low percentages of anatomically connected phytoliths in comparison with its upper fill deposits and areas outside of the bin these finds combined with the association of the two complete grinding stones inside the bottom of the bin suggest that the remains of cereal processing activities specifically dehusking may have been placed in the bin this interpretation is corroborated by the recovery of charred rachises and chaffs of wheat and barley as well as micromorphological observations that the bottommost fill of the bin consists almost entirely of grass phytoliths with few very small charcoal fragments and fine amorphous organic matter

stability of phytoliths in the archaeological record a dissolution study of modern and fossil phytoliths opaline phytoliths are important microfossils used in archaeological and ecological research relatively little is known about the stability of phytoliths after burial under alkaline ph conditions they can dissolve and mechanical disturbances can cause a loss of their more delicate appendages here we present an experimental study of phytolith stability combination of solubility and abrasion modern and fossil phytoliths were extracted from wheat using new methods to minimize dissolution and by burning in an oven these assemblages were placed in a solution buffered to ph 10 and maintained under constant temperature and shaking conditions the silicon concentrations in the solution were monitored once a week for 5 weeks the phytolith morphologies in each assemblage were determined at the outset of the experiment and after 5 weeks the results show that there are differences in stability between various assemblages modern inflorescence wheat phytolith assemblages are more unstable than those from leaves stems burnt assemblages are less stable than unburnt assemblages and a fossil phytolith assemblage about 3000 years old is more stable than the modern wheat assemblages the results also show that individual phytolith morphotypes have different stabilities and as a result of dissolution and abrasion some morphotypes may resemble others this study further shows that archaeological and or paleo environmental interpretation of phytolith assemblages may change with the assemblage s state of preservation

anisotropy of magnetic remanence a brief review of mineralogical sources physical origins and geological applications and comparison with susceptibility anisotropy the magnetic fabric of rocks and sediments is most commonly characterized in terms of the anisotropy of low field magnetic susceptibility ams however alternative methods based on remanent magnetization measured in the absence of a magnetic field rather than induced magnetization measured in the applied field have distinct advantages for certain geological applications this is particularly true for 1 adjunct studies in paleomagnetism in order to assess the fidelity with which a natural remanence records the paleofield orientation 2 studies of weakly magnetic or weakly deformed rocks for which susceptibility anisotropy is very difficult to measure precisely and 3 quantitative applications such as strain estimation the fundamental differences between susceptibility and remanence and their respective anisotropies are due to several factors 1 susceptibility arises from all of the minerals present in a sample whereas remanence is carried exclusively by a relatively small number of ferromagnetic minerals 2 ferromagnetic minerals are generally more anisotropic than para and diamagnetic minerals 3 for ferromagnetic minerals remanence is inevitably more anisotropic than susceptibility and 4 a number of common minerals including single domain magnetites possess an inverse anisotropy of susceptibility i e they tend to have minimum susceptibility parallel to the long axis of an individual particle remanence is immune to this phenomenon as a consequence of all these factors remanence anisotropy may generally provide a better quantitative estimate of the actual distribution of particle orientations in a rock sample

quantitative phytolith study of hearths from the natufian and middle palaeolithic levels of hayonim cave galilee israel abstract a study of the mineralogy and phytolith assemblages of hearths and their associated sediments in hayonim cave israel shows that wood ash is a major component of the sediments of both the natufian approximately 12 000 bp and the mousterian deposits approximately 100 to 250 000 bp interestingly phytolith analyses show that in the natufian deposits grasses are the second most abundant form of vegetation preserved whereas in the mousterian deposits leaves of dicotyledonous plants are the second most abundant form of vegetation preserved significant differences were repeatedly observed in phytolith assemblages from closely associated but different stratigraphic layers showing that vertical mixing of intact sediments is not intensive and that there was a diverse input of vegetation over relatively short time periods no consistent differences were observed in the mineralogy and the phytolith assemblages between hearths and their associated sediments both contain abundant ash components this study demonstrates that quantitative analyses of phytoliths together with mineralogical analyses can provide much information on the use of plants for fuel and other purposes by the cave occupants

a comparison of three methods for the extraction of phytoliths from sediments abstract this paper compares three methods commonly used to extract fossil phytoliths from sediments a basic procedure using heavy liquid flotation and oxidation is compared with two other procedures across a range of sediment types commonly encountered in archaeological studies the three procedures are 1 a heavy liquid flotation method hlf 2 a burning method pow and 3 another heavy liquid flotation method hlfpol similar to hlf but adapted to allow the extraction of pollen and spores as well as phytoliths within a single process comparisons of the resulting output using these three techniques for phytolith extraction show that different methods can produce different results and therefore basic techniques should be modified according to the characteristics of the sediments for which they are used while all the techniques showed similarities in assemblage results there were problems associated with disaggregation and effective separation of light and heavy fractions in particular with the pow procedure the evidence suggests that morphotype selection occurred both within the physical sorting process and in the process of inverting slides to shed excess residue in both cases it is difficult to suggest a solution to the problem the results show clearly that the advantages gained by using the pow procedure are largely outweighed by the problems encountered with its use and because of possible size shape selection it is not recommended for general extraction procedures the heavy liquid flotation procedures on the other hand are shown to produce more concentrated residues with higher levels of clarity and less potential than the pow procedure for sample bias the use of a non toxic heavy liquid sodium polytungstate now allows the process to be used in relative safety it is recommended that analysts use heavy liquid flotation procedures with chemical treatments specific to sediment requirements

the black layer of middle palaeolithic combustion structures interpretation and archaeostratigraphic implications certain aspects of the formation processes of simple flat archaeological combustion structures such as those present in the middle palaeolithic record remain unexplained such kind of combustion structures are commonly affected by postdepositional agents and often their only distinct well preserved component is a thin black lens on the ground hence understanding the nature of this black lens is essential towards archaeological interpretation from an interdisciplinary microstratigraphic approach we present a case study in which for an entire experimental series of flat combustion structures the black layer represents the fire altered topsoil on which the fire was made parallel analysis of archaeological middle palaeolithic combustion structures from the site of el salt alicante spain reveal similar patterns leading to significant implications for archaeological interpretation in the light of these results special attention must be paid to the formation processes of flat middle palaeolithic combustion features as black layers and the material contained in them are not necessarily linked with combustion but with preceding activities or events in such cases black layers represent intact remnants of occupation surfaces concealing significant behavioural and palaeoenvironmental information relevant to the reconstruction of middle palaeolithic societies

imaging p wave scatterer distribution in the focal area of the 1995 m7 2 hyogo ken nanbu kobe earthquake spatial distribution of p wave scatterers in and around the focal area of the 1995 hyogo ken nanbu earthquake m7 2 has been estimated by using dense seismic array data waveforms of 12 explosions were analyzed in a frequency band of 6 10hz range it is difficult to estimate the inhomogeneous structure in this wavelength range from the ordinary travel time tomography in spite of its importance for understanding earthquake generating process observed waveforms were slant stacked into various directions from the array and then agc and diffraction curve summation are applied in order to image scatterer distribution spatial distribution of scattering strength thus imaged shows that higher strengths are distributed beneath the hypocenter the initiation point of the mainshock rupture and in the southwestern part of the fault plane of the event

modern soil phytolith assemblages used as proxies for paleoscape reconstruction on the south coast of south africa south africa continues to receive substantial attention from scholars researching modern human origins the importance of this region lies in the many caves and rock shelters containing well preserved evidence of human activity cultural material complexity and a growing number of early modern human fossils dating to the middle stone age msa south africa also hosts the world s smallest floral kingdom now called the greater cape floristic region gcfr with high species richness and endemism in paleoanthropological research improving our capacity to reconstruct past climatic and environmental conditions can help us to shed light on survival strategies of hunter gatherers to do this one must use actualistic studies of modern assemblages from extant habitats to develop analogies for the past and improve paleoenvironmental reconstructions here we present a phytolith study of modern surface soil samples from different gcfr vegetation types of the south coast of south africa in this study the phytolith concentration and morphological distribution are related to the physicochemical properties of soils the environmental conditions and the characterization of the vegetation for the different study areas our results show that phytolith concentration relates mostly to vegetation types and the dominant vegetation rather than to the type of soils more abundant phytoliths from restionaceae and woody shrubby vegetation are also noted from fynbos vegetation and grass phytoliths are a recurrent component in all the vegetation types in spite of being a minor component in the modern vegetation the grass silica short cells from these plants however suggest a mix of c3 and c4 grasses in most of the vegetation types with a major presence of the rondels ascribed to c3 grasses the exceptions are riparian coastal thicket and coastal forest vegetation which are characterized by the dominance of c4 grass phytoliths

a scattered wave image of subduction beneath the transverse ranges over 5600 short period recordings of teleseismic events were used to create deterministic maps of p wave scatterers in the upper mantle beneath southern california between depths of 50 and 200 kilometers the southern flank of the slab subducting beneath the transverse ranges is marked by strong scattering the marked scattering indicates that the edge of the slab is a sharp thermal boundary such a boundary could be produced by slab shearing or small scale convection in the surrounding mantle the northern limb of the slab is not a strong scatterer consistent with thicker lithosphere north of the transverse ranges

degradation of mud brick houses in an arid environment a geoarchaeological model a common assumption in near eastern tell archaeology is that the majority of sediments originate from degraded mud bricks little is known about the mechanism of mud brick wall degradation here we present a detailed macro and microscopic ethnoarchaeological study of the degradation of a mud brick house and propose a comprehensive mechanism for tell formation processes in arid environments the study took place in southern israel by trenching a ca 60 year old abandoned mud brick house followed by extensive sediment sampling macroscopic observations showed that mud brick walls degrade by collapse of single bricks and or collapse of intact wall parts either inwards or outwards in addition infill sediments within the house and outside it in close proximity to its walls form alternating sedimentary layers of various colors and textures the degraded mud brick material lost its distinctive macroscopic structure which makes it impossible to accurately identify this material by field observations alone mineralogical and elemental analyses established the sources of the house infill sediments namely mud bricks and wind blown sediments alternating layers mostly originate from mixing between degraded mud brick material and wind blown sediments micromorphological observations revealed microscopic mechanisms of mud brick degradation and include processes of mud slurry gravity flows sediment coatings and infillings wind abrasion of walls small scale puddling and bioturbation this study provides a working scheme for site formation of abandoned mud brick structures in arid environments it provides a set of criteria by which it is possible to differentiate floors from post abandonment sedimentary features and thus improves the reliability of activity area research

rapid phytolith extraction for analysis of phytolith concentrations and assemblages during an excavation an application at tell es safi gath israel abstract a rapid phytolith extraction procedure is described that allows phytolith concentrations and morphotype assemblages to be analyzed within hours this procedure enables the results of these analyses to be used during an archaeological excavation in order to better understand how plants were used the new procedure was tested using a standard phytolith extract and two experimental phytolith sediment blends and found to be both accurate and precise the reliability of partial slide counting was evaluated and found to be as accurate and precise as existing phytolith quantification methods the new extraction and counting procedures were applied to an archaeological site tell es safi gath israel the results demonstrate how information on phytolith concentrations in sediments that are available from one day to the next can be used during an excavation to more effectively document the local features of interest and obtain better information

magnetic fabrics crystallographic preferred orientation and strain of progressively metamorphosed pelites in the helvetic zone of the central alps quartenschiefer formation we investigate the relationships between the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility ams mineral preferred orientation macroscopic structures and finite strain in a section of increasing metamorphism in the helvetic zone of the central alps switzerland the upper triassic quartenschiefer formation an initially hematite bearing red bed sedimentary rock can be traced from unmetamophosed shale to amphibolite facies schists the magnetic fabrics of 805 specimens agree well in orientation with the foliation normal to kmin kmax kint kmin are principal susceptibilities and the mineral stretching lineation parallel kmax in all metamorphic grades the maximum susceptibility axes are in an approximately n s orientation and were acquired during the miocene north directed nappe transport the effects of the tectonic position and the metamorphic grade on the ams ellipsoid suggests that deformation has a stronger influence on its shape than the metamorphic grade the identification and quantification of the sources of magnetic susceptibility was done with 1 a model calculation 2 the high field low field method and 3 low temperature heating curves the ams of low grade samples is dominated by the paramagnetic minerals mainly mica and the ams of higher susceptible medium grade samples by magnetite the paramagnetic dominated magnetic fabrics correlate well with mica 002 lattice preferred orientations obtained from x ray texture goniometry a one to one correlation between march strains and a magnetic parameter mi ln ki kmaxkintkmin is predicted by a numerical model and verified empirically the magnetic fabrics of well characterized samples can thus be used to quantify the degree of mica preferred orientation using relatively simple magnetic anisotropy equipment

mechanical anisotropies and mechanisms of mafic magma ascent in the middle continental crust the sondalo magmatic system n italy

compositional control of magnetic anisotropy in the thomson formation east central minnesota abstract anisotropy of magnetic low field susceptibility ams and anisotropy of anhysteretic susceptibility aas of the middle precambrian thomson formation east central minnesota generally record structural features but orientations and axial ratios of the susceptibility ellipsoids depend on local magnetic mineralogy the northern structural zone of the thomson formation is characterized by an upright east west slaty cleavage the susceptibility ellipsoids plot in the flattening field of a flinn diagram with minimum axes normal to the cleavage aas ellipsoids are coaxial with ams ellipsoids but are generally more prolate anisotropy increases with mean susceptibility at one outcrop interpreted as mixing of weakly anisotropic paramagnetic chlorite with more strongly anisotropic magnetite a second outcrop shows the opposite pattern anisotropy decreases with increasing mean susceptibility suggesting that here the magnetite may be relatively isotropic or possibly post deformational the southern structural zone of the thomson formation is characterized by a subhorizontal foliation s 1 and an upright crenulation cleavage s 2 here the magnetic susceptibility minima are coincident with poles to s 1 and maxima are parallel to the s 1 s 2 intersection correlation between directional susceptibilities and mean susceptibility technique of henry and daly 1983 suggests that paramagnetic minima are poles to the early foliation while possibly interdeformational magnetite minima record the second deformation this interpretation however is not supported by the aas fabric by thin section observations or by high field measurements of paramagnetic susceptibility alternatively both directional and mean susceptibilities may be controlled by syndeformational chlorite

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

palaeovegetation changes recorded in palaeolake olduvai ogcp core 2a 2 09 2 12 ma naibor soit formation olduvai gorge tanzania abstract for five decades olduvai gorge has been a key site to reconstruct and understand the relationship between environmental and landscape conditions and use of affordances by early african hominin populations following the first olduvai gorge coring project ogcp during 2014 a multiproxy microbiological analysis which includes phytoliths pollen diatoms sponge spicules and chrysophyte cysts was undertaken on samples collected from various borehole cores the aim of the study is to better understand palaeoenvironmental and palaeovegetation conditions and changes through time and their relationship to hominin presence and evolution this study details the first palaeobotanical and palaeoenvironmental study of borehole 2a at olduvai gorge it represents the as yet oldest known sedimentary sequence in the olduvai basin for a portion of the pre bed i naibor soit formation this is a unit that is not accessible in any natural exposures in olduvai gorge and has only recently been encountered by drilling here we present the results from a particularly phytolith prone portion between 2 09 ma and 2 12 ma phytolith results indicate a savannah environment dominated by grasses where poaceae were a key component and where the c3 pooideae grasses were mostly dominant alternating with c4 grasses oscillations between grass subfamilies c3 pooideae c4 chloridoideae and c4 panicoideae to lesser degrees indicate five substantial climatic shifts varying between more humid and arid conditions associated with phytoliths freshwater indicators such as diatoms sponge spicules and chrysophyte cysts were also identified suggesting the presence of wetlands in the lake catchment area pollen is extremely rare in the sediments but when present comprises fungal spores and poaceae pollen thus supporting the wetland and grassland reconstructions respectively these results offer for the first time a whole picture of the palaeovegetation and associated palaeoenvironments for this pre bed i period together with previous results from other areas and chronological periods they improve our understanding of the evolution and adaptation of early hominins and their close relationship to the surrounding landscape

magnetic fabric and pluton emplacement in a transpressive shear zone system the itaporanga porphyritic granitic pluton northeast brazil the itaporanga granitic pluton intruded into the lithological contact separating neoproterozoic pelitic metasediments from meso to paleoproterozoic rocks that constitute the cachoeirinha belt of northeastern brazil an aureole of pelitic gneisses containing sillimanite and andalusite indicates that emplacement occurred at 12 15 km depth the objective of this work is a detailed study of its magmatic structures mainly by means of anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility ams regularly spaced sampling 61 stations yielded a magnetic fabric map which shows two domains 1 a western lobe which has lineations close to vertical and e trending foliations that merge southwestward as the transcurrent igarassi shear zone is approached isz and 2 an eastern lobe showing se trending lineations associated with inward dipping magmatic foliation situated in the center of the lobe the magnetic fabric is mostly paramagnetic in origin i e related to crystallographic preferred orientation of biotite and hornblende a low susceptibility magnitude 0 4 10 3 si typically of the ilmenite series granites is found in porphyritic granites diorites or their hybrid products hysteresis data indicate that the ferrimagnetic contribution to the bulk susceptibility does not reach 30 the magma was emplaced into a chamber developed by local wnw ese extension induced by an overall n s shortening melt ascent may have been facilitated by the pre existence of a steep fault zone bounding crustal discontinuities the magma must have ponded along a mechanical barrier formed by the contact between phyllitic metapelites and its gneissic basement which controlled the final emplacement structures of the pluton

an intensive study of magnetic susceptibility anisotropy of amphibolite layers of the thompson belt north manitoba abstract in an examination of the magnetic susceptibility anisotropy of folded amphibolite layers in intensly deformed gneisses at the pipe 2 mine thompson belt north manitoba the magnetic fabric was found to agree well in orientation with a fold axial planar foliation and the stretching lineation in the gneisses the prolateness or oblateness of the magnetic fabric ellipsoid in this lithology depends primarily on the mineralogy of the sample and therefore cannot be used as a strain gauge the magnetic fabric is made up of two components one is a small approximately isotropic part due to iron bearing silicates and perhaps isolated equant magnetite particles the second is a variable anisotropic part carried by elongated particles of magnetite and has constant ratio p k max k min of 2 018 0 008 this constant ratio represents a characteristic value of the magnetic anisotropy of these rocks and may be related to the strain in this area

human actions performed on simple combustion structures an experimental approach to the study of middle palaeolithic fire we present preliminary results from the first phase of experiments from the neanderthal fire technology project aimed at understanding middle palaeolithic combustion structures our field observations and micromorphological data address the sedimentary expression of various anthropogenic actions trampling ash sweeping and dumping relighting and cooking performed on simple flat combustion structures made with pinus nigra fuel on dry and slightly vegetated calcareous sandy substrates we observed a characteristic pattern in microstructure and basic composition irrespective of the number and kind of anthropogenic actions performed trampling yielded previously documented diagnostic micromorphological features more pronounced in cases of ash sweeping and dumping relighting of fires was only identified in cases with deposits between combustion events only rare microscopic calcined bone fragments and fat derived char were identified in fires involving cooking or tossing of meat in the fire these data suggest that anthropogenic actions on simple combustion structures are highly undetectable sweeping has a stronger effect than trampling on the substrate of the combustion structure stacked hearths might involve significant amounts of time or deposits between combustion events and alternative techniques must be sought to identify cooking in fires

the 9th century bce destruction layer at tell es safi gath israel integrating macro and microarchaeology abstract destruction events in multi period sites are valuable marker horizons that represent time synchronous events across the site and sometimes between sites destruction layers often preserve rich finds that provide insights into site use here we use both macro and microarchaeological methods to study a destruction event from the late 9th century at tell es safi gath in israel a major conflagration at this specific location resulted in the consolidation of parts of the roof construction materials thus enabling us to differentiate between roof walls and floor materials we could reconstruct the events which lead to the formation of an approximately 80 cm thick layer the base of this layer that overlies the floor surface is a thin charred organic material rich ash layer as the clays in this layer were not altered by heat and the ceramics still have preserved residues we conclude that the ash was produced elsewhere and was redistributed to this location ceramics that are associated with burnt roof sediments do not have preserved residues we also estimate the time that each of the accumulation events might have taken and conclude that this accumulation occurred over decades the architecture and artifacts found within and beneath the destruction do not allow us to unequivocally identify the function of this area prior to destruction we do however identify an unusual bin and associated stone pavement and a corner rich in artifacts phytoliths and charred organic material we also show that a wall was built of fired mud bricks a most unusual occurrence for this time period in the levant this study demonstrates well the usefulness of an integrated macro and microarchaeological approach to understanding the archaeological record as well as the benefits of using an on site laboratory

geoarchaeology in an urban context the uses of space in a phoenician monumental building at tel dor israel abstract interpretation of past urban societies in the near east whose settlements are known mostly as tell sites is largely based on macro stratigraphy and on the association of architecture with macroscopic artifacts analyses of sediments common in prehistoric sites are rare in tell sites here we show the results of a detailed geoarchaeological study of the micro stratigraphy of a sedimentary sequence associated with early iron age phoenician monumental architecture the study involves mineralogical micromorphological and phytolith analyses and provides new insights into the stratigraphic sequence and the use of architectural spaces the sedimentary sequence examined comprises alternating layers of gray fill deposits and white floors we show that floors made from local calcareous sandstone in the lower part of the sedimentary sequence were heated and are thus in effect plaster floors a concentration of micro laminated trampled fish remains above the most elaborate of these plaster floors indicates activities related to fish processing fine white layers in the upper part of the sedimentary sequence that were considered as plaster based on macroscopic examination are in fact composed almost entirely of opaline grass phytoliths the phytoliths appear in an undulating micro laminated structure and are associated with dung spherulites and phosphate nodules thus probably reflecting livestock penning the formation of phytolith floors involves extensive volume reduction due to the degradation of the organic material and this may result in floor subsidence a phenomenon that is often observed in archaeological sites most fill deposits include macroscopic and microscopic remains of wood ash bones phytoliths charcoal ceramics plaster and mollusk shells reflecting the debris produced from household activities this study shows how a combination of macro stratigraphy with microscopic and mineralogical analyses of the sediments within architectural spaces can provide information on the varying ways in which the space was used through time and also contributes to solving macro stratigraphic problems

phytolith and ftir studies applied to combustion structures the case of the middle paleolithic site of el salt alcoy alicante abstract the combination of phytolith and ftir analyses is a powerful tool to investigate the use of fire by past human populations here we apply these methods to study the hearths of the subunit xb at the middle palaeolithic site of el salt in alcoi el salt is characterized by recurrent neanderthal occupations that produced a succession of combustion structures and other anthropogenic remains using ftir analysis we have been able to detect the presence of ashes thermally altered clay and phosphatic minerals in the sediments phytolith results point to the use of wood as fuel in subunit xb however most of the phytoliths have been deposited in the site by natural agents probably in the form of bird guano characterized by the presence of distinctive phytoliths of seed coats from celtis sp differentiating between natural and anthropogenic deposited phytoliths is essential to evaluate the impact produced by human activities in the archaeological sediments

nucleation of aragonite upon carbonation of calcium oxide and calcium hydroxide at ambient temperatures and pressures a new indicator of fire related human activities wood ash found at archaeological sites is the most direct evidence of the presence of combustion features the preservation of wood ash within archaeological deposits is often poor due to diagenetic processes and therefore its identification requires the use of spectroscopic methods ftir spectrometry is able to detect the main calcite component of wood ash unless this is mixed with other calcitic phases of geologic origin using ftir spectrometry we identified non biogenic aragonite in archaeological heat altered sediments and lime plasters the presence of aragonite in such conditions is unusual as it is unlikely to crystallize at ambient temperatures and pressures or in absence of mg the experimental conditions which favor the nucleation of this aragonite phase were investigated with ftir spectrometry xrpd and sem imaging of modern lime plaster and quicklime samples prepared in the laboratory using different calcium carbonate starting materials we show that aragonite forms at ambient temperatures and pressures upon carbonation of calcium oxide and calcium hydroxide together with calcite and its nucleation and growth are influenced by environmental parameters such as carbon dioxide partial pressure relative humidity and temperature this pyrogenic aragonite is a reliable indicator for calcareous materials exposed to temperatures above 600 c and therefore it can be used to determine the presence of heat altered sediments and ash in the absence of structured combustion features this mineral phase could have applications in radiocarbon dating as well

buried a horizons in old bench terraces in les garrigues catalonia abstract a large part of les garrigues western catalonia is occupied by stone terraces locally known as bancals that were built up in the 18th century some soil surveys of the area noted the presence of buried thick a horizons with a well developed crumb structure and darker colour than the present day a horizons the objective of this study was to determine the conditions of the soil cover both at the time of the formation of these buried soils and at the onset of terracing the climate is semi arid and the landscape is defined by platforms and flat bottomed valleys four profiles were described from both slope and valley floor terraces and sampled for analyses a buried ahb horizon appears at various depths between 40 and 180 cm with thicknesses ranging from 35 to 160 cm probably due to earthworks since this depends on the position of the profile within the terrace many of these buried soils would correspond to phaeozems they are identified by an ahb having low values and chromas usually 4 or less a structure due to faunal activity 100 of the structural forms related to fauna either in the form of empty or infilled channels vermic qualifier and an organic matter content that is 1 7 3 3 which is higher but not significantly different than the som content of the present day topsoils p olsen is 1 6 ppm the present soils are non saline and highly calcareous 40 they show some calcium carbonate redistribution in the form of pseudomycelia and biogenic calcite charcoal is present in some of these buried horizons together with small ceramic fragments these buried horizons have several common micromorphological features a spongy highly porous structure due to high faunal activity frequent silt cappings charcoal fragments and biogenic carbonates queras in some cases the biogenic calcite has undergone dissolution and reprecipitated as micrite pollen assemblages of the buried horizons reveal a large forest cover mainly of oaks and pines which is also corroborated by the occurrence of quercus phytoliths but the presence of pollen of some deciduous crops such as cereals vitis vinifera and olea europaea at the top of the sequences points to a upper holocene origin of these soils the results from the charcoal study support the presence of perennial quercus and pines as well as shrubs in the period when the terraces were built the available information about present day similar soils indicates that the formation of these horizons took place under a moister milder climate in the past compared with the present one in the study area

phytolith evidence for hearths and beds in the late mousterian occupations of esquilleu cave cantabria spain esquilleu cave site has provided a moderately well preserved archaeological cave deposit from the late pleistocene in the cantabrian area phytolith quantification identification and determination of the refractive index have been carried out together with ftir analyses from sediment samples collected in the profile the comparison of the data obtained with the previous micromorphological results allows us to make inferences about the site formation processes and the neanderthals use of the cave phytolith results show the presence of grass leaves nearby the hearth suggesting the repetitive existence of a bedding zone on the same area neanderthal behavioral patterns should be revised on the light of high resolution analyses since diagenetic processes can obscure the existence of differentiated activity areas in the site

formation processes through archaeobotanical remains the case of the bronze age levels in el mirador cave sierra de atapuerca spain el mirador site has a sequence formed by burnt dung resulting from pastoral activities during the bronze age and the neolithic period because there is a high sediment variation in the profile facies descriptions were used to guide the archaeologists in their work paleobotanical and mineralogical analyses were used to describe and understand the formation of the facies from the mir 4 level furthermore the paleobotanical results serve to reconstruct the landscape in atapuerca during the bronze age most seeds recovered are from triticum aestivum durum but other cereals and also leguminoseae and fruits have been identified charcoal analysis has yielded mainly deciduous and evergreen quercus pollen analysis has revealed a low arboreal cover with pinus quercus and riverside trees most of the pollen record corresponds to herbs such as poaceae and asteraceae all these results indicate a mosaic of different biota with forest pastureland and cultivated fields near the site most of the phytoliths come from the leaves and stems of festucoid grasses however there are some differences in the phytolith type and number the amount of faecal spherulites the mineralogical composition and the percentage of multicellular structures that indicate that not all the facies in the site have been formed in the same way thus the work carried out has demonstrated that some facies are related more to agricultural activities than to pastoralism activities and that other facies have been affected by incipient diagenetic processes

comparison of petrofabrics with composite magnetic fabrics of s c mylonite in paramagnetic granite abstract an anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility ams analysis was conducted for a typical s c mylonite in a small scale ductile shear zone derived from late cretaceous magnetite free granite in the ryoke belt teshima island southwest japan in such mylonites paramagnetic minerals such as biotite and hornblende which define foliations are assumed to control the ams accordingly we attempted to measure the orientations of both minerals to correlate the s c c fabric to the ams using techniques of microscopic and back scattered electron bse image analyses a measured magnetic fabric of the s c mylonite that is expressed by a kmin normal plane kmax kint plane approximated s foliation kmax orientation coincided well with the orientations of mean resultant vectors for long axes of biotite and minor hornblende whereas kmax did not coincide well with those of the mean resultant vectors for long axes of the brighter domain aggregates of biotite and minor hornblende from the binary bse image these results show that the magnetic fabric fairly reflects the shape preferred orientation of individual grains of paramagnetic monoclinic minerals especially biotite which forms the s c c fabric

the upper paleolithic and epipaleolithic of sefunim cave israel abstract sefunim cave mount carmel israel was previously excavated in the 1960s and is one of the main sites known for the occurrence of the cultural entity termed the levantine aurignacian renewed excavations at sefunim cave provide new insights into the late pleistocene occupations of the site and reveal a rich epipaleolithic layer in addition to the previously recorded middle to upper paleolithic sequence the recent work helps us re evaluate the record of cultural and environmental shifts within the upper paleolithic and early epipaleolithic sequence and places the results of earlier excavations in a higher resolution context in terms of human environment relationships the current work reports the first radiometric dating results from the upper paleolithic layers at this key site in addition we provide a preliminary description of finds collected during the new campaigns the finds encompass both the material culture and environmental setting of sefunim and include investigations of micromorphology lithics use wear fauna microfauna ocher and shells important new findings include the identification of rich symbolic activity at the site in the levantine aurignacian assemblage it is represented primarily by the presence of numerous shell ornaments a trend which parallels upper paleolithic sites of the northern levant other manifestations of symbolic activity are represented by ocher exploitation throughout the sequence and a unique engraved artifact from the epipaleolithic

the correlation of magnetic anisotropy with strain in the chelmsford formation of the sudbury basin ontario abstract a quantitative correlation has been established between finite strain and the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility ams in sandstones of the precambrian chelmsford formation of the sudbury basin ontario investigations of the progressive acquisition of isothermal remanent magnetization and its destruction with reverse field and thermal demagnetization as well as microscopic examination of polished thin sections show that both pyrrhotite and magnetite are present in the sandstone measurements of the ams have been carried out at 16 sites distributed throughout the chelmsford formation outcrop considerable variation in the shapes of the magnetic susceptibility ellipsoids axes k max k int k min exists within each site with the k max and k int axes contained in the cleavage planes where developed the magnitudes of the magnetic susceptibility axes have been quantitatively correlated with strain measurements carried out by clendenen et al this issue two different strain to magnetics correlations have been carried out between the site mean strain determined using deformed concretions and the mean values of the ams at each site and between individual specimen strain values determined at the microscopic scale and the individual specimen ams in both cases separate correlations were made between strain long intermediate and short axes and their corresponding magnetic k max k int and k min axes at 10 sites the site mean strain values were derived from strain analysis of the concretions and at an additional 6 sites the site mean strain values were derived from the ams to strain correlation 527 individual cores were converted to equivalent strain values using the ams structural correlation of individual specimens this study extends the use of ams methods to include strain determination in sandstones and provides an order of magnitude increase in the available number of such data for further structural analysis

a simple preparation technique for the study of opal phytoliths from archaeological and quaternary sediments abstract this note describes a simple and inexpensive method for the extraction and counting of opal phytoliths from archaeological and quaternary sediments

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

radiocarbon dating of charcoal and bone collagen associated with early pottery at yuchanyan cave hunan province china yuchanyan cave in daoxian county hunan province people s republic of china yielded fragmentary remains of 2 or more ceramic vessels in addition to large amounts of ash a rich animal bone assemblage cobble and flake artifacts bone tools and shell tools the artifacts indicate that the cave was a late paleolithic foragers camp here we report on the radiocarbon ages of the sediments based on analyses of charcoal and bone collagen the best preserved charcoal and bone samples were identified by prescreening in the field and laboratory the dates range from around 21 000 to 13 800 cal bp we show that the age of the ancient pottery ranges between 18 300 and 15 430 cal bp charcoal and bone collagen samples located above and below one of the fragments produced dates of around 18 000 these ceramic potsherds therefore provide some of the earliest evidence for pottery making in china

deep crustal heterogeneity along and around the san andreas fault system in central california and its relation to the segmentation the three dimensional distribution of scatterers in the crust along and around the san andreas fault system in central california is estimated using an inversion analysis of coda envelopes from local earthquakes i analyzed 3801 wave traces from 157 events recorded at 140 stations of the northern california seismic network the resulting scatterer distribution shows a correlation with the san gregorio san andreas hayward and calaveras faults these faults seem to be almost vertical from the surface to 15 km depth some of the other scatterers are estimated to be at shallow depths 0 5 km below the diablo range and these may be interpreted as being generated by topographic roughness the depth distribution of scatterers shows relatively stronger scattering in the lower crust at 15 25 km depth especially between the san andreas fault and the hayward calaveras faults this suggests a subhorizontal detachment structure connecting these two faults in the lower crust several clusters of scatterers are located along the san andreas fault at intervals of 20 30 km from south of san francisco to the intersection with the calaveras fault this part of the san andreas fault appears to consist of partially locked segments also 20 30 km long which rupture during m6 7 events and segment boundaries characterized by stronger scattering and stationary microseismicity the segment boundaries delineated by the present analysis correspond with those estimated from the slip distribution of the great 1906 san francisco earthquake and from the fault geometry as reported by the working group on california earthquake probabilities 1990 although the segment boundaries along the san andreas fault in and around the san francisco bay area are still uncertain

micromorphology of a mousterian paleosol in aeolianites at the site habonim israel abstract a paleosol with mousterian tools in aeolianites at the habonim site carmel coastal plain israel is a complex pedosedimentary sequence which records a succession of soil forming episodes and stages of coastal dune instability we identified three strong soils and one accretionary soil within mousterian pedocomplex via micromorphological techniques coupled with ftir and sem edax in the lowermost red sandy soil hamra in unit iv decalcification led to the formation of micritic coatings disrupted by faunal churning while rubefication resulted in red ferric segregations illuviation of ferruginious clay in the form of clay coatings is lacking probably due to its strong incorporation into the matrix redox features were intensified in the pseudogley of the next stage unit iii polyphase calcitic features here indicate that illuviation of clay pre dates illuviation of micrite and its later recrystallization into sparitic calcite further deterioration of drainage conditions and increased accumulation of fine particles led to the formation of vertisol unit ii paleovertisol is characterized by a maximum of clay stress originated microfabric abundant mn precipitates and calcitic pseudomorphs the peak of landscape instability occurred later and is recorded in the upper unit i in which micromorphological signs of colluvial and aeolian processes are juxtaposed with various ferric accumulations associated with gleying the final episode occurred at a time of climatic instability devegetation and probably a simultaneous groundwater rise in the littoral zone

management of residues and natural resources at san cristobal rock shelter contribution to the characterisation of chalcolithic agropastoral groups in the iberian peninsula abstract use of the space and settlement patterns at the deposit of san cristobal are characterised anthropogenic activities at the site are revealed through an interdisciplinar approach based on microstratigraphic and palaeobotanical studies correlation of micromorphological silica phytolith charcoal pollen and non pollen palynomorph analyses and calcitic pseudomorph and faecal spherulite quantification are coupled with excavation data and macroscopic observations results provide insights into livestock keeping practices at the rock shelter animal feeding strategies management of residues and occupation mode of the site they also contribute to reconstruct the formation processes of the deposits and to outline the ecological frame of the site during its use as herding facility over the chalcolithic the immediate chrono cultural context of the investigated sequence is outlined allowing discussion on the possible role of the activities at the rock shelter in the territorial organisation of local early agropastoral groups at the time of megalithism development from a methodological point of view this work shows that high resolution sedimentary contextualisation of archaeological remains is essential to build up more accurate and reliable interpretations on livestock management and the use of natural resources in prehistoric deposits it also highlights the contribution of excavation strategies adapted to the particularities of pen deposits to better understand the archaeological evidence of early pastoral practices in cave and rock shelters during fieldwork

charred micro particles characterization in archaeological contexts identifying mixing between sediments with implications for stratigraphy abstract charred micro remains in archaeological sediments vary from large destruction layers to localized lenses and they are invaluable stratigraphic anchors when found in situ visual observations of black sediments are a good marker for primary depositions of burning events however an independent criteria is necessary to verify these sediments were not mixed with other contexts in this study a microarchaeological approach was used to quantify charred micro components in sediments from a pyrotechnological pit at qubur el walaydah allowing the assessment of their diffusion between sediments organic micro particles were purified from black lenses in situ and their surrounding sediments based on their density showing the organic fraction is composed of particles that are lighter than a density of 1 7 g ml and smaller than 1 mm3 thermal and structural characterizations show that the micro particles from black lenses are charred between 30 and 40 compared with 5 in the surrounding sediments a new method to quantify the charred micro particles was developed based on microscopy showing black lenses and hearths have between 40 000 110 000 charred micro particles per gram of sediments while their surrounding archaeological sediments have less than 20 000 these results show micro particles could be purified and characterized providing a quantifiable approach for assessing mixing between sediments based on particles concentrations one application is micro stratigraphic interpretations of primary depositions allowing portable microscopes on site to assess the mixing between sediments another application is to include the charred micro particles in the radiocarbon dating assemblage as evidence for in situ burning dating charred micro remains should be used only to solve chronological questions that do not require high resolution accuracy when cultural material and macro charred remains are not found

plio pleistocene macroplant fossil remains and phytoliths from lowermost bed ii in the eastern palaeolake margin of olduvai gorge tanzania abstract fossil macroplants and phytoliths occur in the sediments of the palaeoanthropological site of olduvai gorge northern tanzania current research on hominin land use in the basin during the plio pleistocene has a strong palaeoenvironmental emphasis on the palaeovegetation in particular the occurrence of macroplants and phytoliths at olduvai and their usefulness and reliability for palaeovegetation interpretation are assessed here for the first time modern reference collections from analogous environments have been established and used to identify the fossil taxa from the eastern palaeolake margin of lowermost bed ii as the test case for very detailed spatially and temporally constrained vegetation reconstruction fourier transform infrared spectrometry ftir analysis was used to identify the minerals of the fossil sediments modern plants produce more phytoliths than are preserved in the fossil soils but there were sufficient numbers to show diverse and changing vegetation over short time periods silicified macroplant fragments of sedge culms and dicot stems occur with phytoliths but do not always represent the same plant taxa a more complex flora was shown when using both forms of fossil plants during lowermost bed ii times at the locality of flkn monocots and dicots occurred indicating the presence of marshland and grassland after the deposition of tuff if at vek the phytoliths indicate a shift in dominance from dicots to monocots to a mixture of the two and including palms at hwkee initially palms dominated then there was a mixture of palms grasses and dicots the vegetation at mck comprised dicots monocots sedges and grasses this detailed vegetation data complements the more broad scale vegetation interpretations that have been deduced from the pollen isotopes and faunal data sets