bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Second‐trimester fetal aberrant right subclavian artery: original study, systematic review and meta‐analysis of performance in detection of Down syndrome
Authors: De León‐Luis J. , Gámez F. , Bravo C. , Tenías J. M. , Arias Á. , Pérez R. , Maroto E. , Aguarón Á. , Ortiz‐Quintana L.
Published: February 2014

Objectives

First, to estimate the prevalence of fetal aberrant right subclavian artery (ARSA) in our population and its association with Down syndrome. Second, to determine the feasibility of ultrasound to visualize ARSA in the three planes. Finally, to carry out a systematic review of the literature on the performance of second‐trimester ARSA to identify fetuses with Down syndrome.

Methods

ARSA was assessed by ultrasound in the axial plane and confirmed in the longitudinal and coronal planes during the second half of pregnancy in women attending our unit (from February 2011 to December 2012). A search of diagnostic tests for the assessment of ARSA was carried out in international databases. Relevant studies were subjected to a critical reading, and meta‐analysis was performed with Meta‐DiSc.

Results

Of the 8781 fetuses in our population (mean gestational age: 24 ± 5.4 weeks), 22 had Down syndrome. ARSA was detected in the axial view in 60 cases (0.7%) and confirmed in the coronal view in 96.7% and in the longitudinal view in 6.7% (P < 0.001). Seven cases with ARSA had Down syndrome and all were in the non‐isolated‐ARSA group. The estimates of positive likelihood ratio (LR) were 0 for isolated ARSA and 199 (95% CI, 88.9–445.2) for non‐isolated ARSA. In the systematic review, six studies were selected for quantitative synthesis. The pooled estimates of positive and negative LRs for global ARSA were, respectively, 35.3 (95% CI, 24.4–51.1) and 0.75 (95% CI, 0.64–0.87). For isolated ARSA, the positive and negative LRs were 0 (95% CI, 0.0–14.7) and 0.98 (95% CI, 0.94–1.02), respectively.

Conclusions

The prevalence of ARSA seems close to 1%. The coronal plane is the most suitable for its confirmation after detection in the axial plane. Detection of isolated or non‐isolated ARSA should guide decisions about karyotyping given that isolated ARSA shows a weak association with Down syndrome. Copyright © 2014 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Engineered Insulin Secretion from Neuroendocrine Cells Isolated From Human Thyroid
Authors: Thulé Peter M. , Jia Dingwu , Safley Susan , Gordon Kereen , Barber Graham , Yi Hong , Nalli Soumya , Onderci Muhittin , Sharma Jyotirmay , Shires John , Weber Collin J.
Published: February 2014

Background

Insulin‐secreting beta‐like cells are vulnerable to diabetic autoimmunity. We hypothesized that human thyroid neuroendocrine (NE) cells could be engineered to secrete human insulin, be glucose‐responsive, and avoid autoimmunity.

Methods

Collagenase‐digested thyroid tissue was cultured and subjected to size‐based fluorescence‐activated cell sorting. Insulin secretion and storage in NE cells transduced with viral vectors carrying an insulin sequence was assessed by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and immunogold transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Baseline mRNA expression was assessed by Illumina expression array analysis. Transduction with retrovirus expressing transcription factors PDX1, NGN3, MAFA, or HNF6 altered mRNA expression in a custom polymerase chain reaction (PCR) array. Gastrin‐releasing peptide (GRP) in conditioned medium and cell lysates was determined by reverse transcription (RT)‐PCR, ELISA, and immunohistochemistry.

Results

Isolation yielded an average of 2.2 × 106 cells/g thyroid tissue, which stained for calcitonin/calcitonin gene‐related protein, expressed genes consistent with NE origins, and secreted GRP. Transduced cells secreted 56 % and retained 48 % of total insulin produced. Immunogold TEM revealed insulin in secretory vesicles. PDX1, NGN3, and MAFA overexpression increased expression of genes typical for hepatocytes and beta cells. Overexpression of HNF6 also increased the message of genes critical for glucose sensing.

Conclusions

Human thyroid NE cells can produce human insulin, fractions of which are both secreted and retained in secretory granules. Overexpression of HNF6, PDX1, or NGN3 enhances expression of both hepatocyte and beta cell typical mRNAs, including the message of proteins critical for glucose sensing. These data suggest that reimplantation of engineered autologous NE cells may develop as a viable treatment for diabetes mellitus type 1.
Radial Head Dislocation Due to Gigantic Solitary Osteochondroma of the Proximal Ulna: Case Report and Literature Review
Authors: Hamada Yoshitaka , Hibino Naohito , Horii Emiko
Published: February 2014

Abstract Developmental anterior dislocation of the radial head resulting from a congenital solitary osteochondroma of the proximal ulna is an extremely rare condition. We present a case of a 4-year-old girl with this condition affecting her right elbow, which was treated by a trapezoidal shortening osteotomy at the radial neck following an oblique ulnar osteotomy with angulation and elongation after a complete resection of the tumor mass. The child remained asymptomatic with symmetric carrying angles during 2.5 years of follow-up post-surgery. We discuss the nature of this condition and review the literature.
Can the new epidemiology of schizophrenia help elucidate its causation?
Authors: Abed R. T. , Abbas M. J.
Published: February 2014

The supposed universality of the incidence and prevalence of schizophrenia has been seriously challenged. It is now widely accepted that the life-time prevalence and incidence of this disorder vary considerably in time and place. As a result, there has been renewed interest in environmental causation of schizophrenia. There are few extant formulations that have successfully integrated the available new evidence into a coherent theory for its causation. The outgroup intolerance hypothesis is an attempt to integrate this evidence. It proposes that schizophrenia is the result of a mismatch between the social brain as shaped by evolution and the new social conditions of the post-neolithic. The hypothesis can provide an explanation for (i) the higher risk to migrants, (ii) the ethnic density phenomenon, (iii) the increased risk to individuals who have grown up in cities and (iv) the putative low risk in hunter-gatherer societies. Evidence is presented from a range of disciplines and sources including epidemiology, psychopathology, social psychology and clinical trials in support of this hypothesis. A range of testable predictions follow from the hypothesis.
Craniology and the Adoption of the Three-Age System in Britain
Authors: Morse Michael A.
Published: February 2014

The development of the three-age system in Scandinavia has been of great interest to historians of archaeology, but the system's spread to the British Isles has received little attention, leaving a false impression that its importance has always derived from the revolutionary methodology of C.J. Thomsen. It was not Thomsen's method of putting artefacts in a chronological series, however, that first appealed to British researchers in the mid 19th century. Instead, early British researchers, working mainly in the science of ethnology, used the system to establish a sequence of races for Britain's past based on cranial types. This initial use of the three-age system as a means of creating a racial sequence left a mark on British archaeology that outlasted even the craniological ethnology that formed its first scholarly context.
The Ronaldsway Pottery of the Isle of Man: a Study of Production, Decoration, and Use
Authors: Burrow Steve
Published: February 2014

The Late Neolithic pottery of the Isle of Man falls into two types: Ronaldsway and Grooved Ware. This paper focuses on the former style which is markedly different from other contemporaneous pottery styles in use in Britain and Ireland. The discussion draws upon the biographical history of Ronaldsway vessels from the choice of raw materials to the deposition of the finished pots. At each stage in this biographical history the approach adopted by Manx potters and pottery users is compared with that employed in surrounding parts of the British Isles.
A Petrographic Investigation of a Corpus of Bronze Age Cinerary Urns from the Isle of Anglesey
Authors: Williams John , Jenkins David
Published: February 2014

The results are presented of a comprehensive petrographic study of 82 Bronze Age cinerary vessels from the Isle of Anglesey, Wales. Petrographic analysis is particularly appropriate when applied to this island location with its diverse and well defined geology. The pottery is characterised by a distinctive range of clasts, of which the most characteristic are varieties of igneous rocks and sandstone. The clasts can be matched to outcrops on the island with one exception which could have been derived from a known mainland source. The particular rock types seen in the pottery are not common in the island's alluvial and glacial sediments and it is therefore concluded that the potters showed a strong preference for specific dark coloured igneous rock types as added filler, in common with other Bronze Age potters in Britain. Although typology implies some extraneous influences, petrography indicates that the pottery was made on the island. However, despite the varied geology, the widespread distribution of many of the crucial rock types (dolerites, lithic sandstones) across the island means that individual production centres cannot be distinguished, a difficulty exacerbated by the lack of known habitation sites and associated domestic pottery. The question as to whether specifically designed pottery or redundant domestic pottery was used for burials is discussed, but remains unresolved.
Excavation and Environmental Analysis of a Neolithic Mound and Iron Age Barrow Cemetery at Rathdooney Beg, County Sligo, Ireland
Authors: Mount Charles , Weir D.A. , Collins B. , Lynch P. , O'Sullivan A. , Deevy M.
Published: February 2014

Excavations and environmental analysis of a mound and two barrows indicate that activity commenced within the range 3930–3520 cal BC with the construction of a large mound enclosed by a substantial ditch on a drumlin which had been largely cleared to grassland. A pollen sequence recovered from the fosse indicates that the drumlin remained under grassland for some time. It was still under grassland in the Iron Age when a pair of sequential barrows was constructed about the period 380 cal BC–cal AD 80. The earlier bowl barrow covered a pyre site with remains of an inhumation burial, and the later saucer barrow contained three token cremation deposits in the low mound and ditch, the last associated with the iron fittings from a wooden artefact. Pollen analysis of the ditch sequences from the barrows indicates that the drumlin remained open and heather-covered.
Sand Fiold: the Excavation of an Exceptional Cist in Orkney
Authors: Dalland Magnar , Barber John , Carter Stephen , Clarke Ann , Dixon Dianne , Lorimer Daphne Home , Kibble Helen , McKinley Jacqueline I. , Macsween Ann , Mills Coralie M. , Powers Alix H. , Tipping Richard , Tomlinson Philippa , Watson Paul , Wiltshire Patricia
Published: February 2014

Sand quarrying in 1989 at Sand Fiold, Sandwick, in Orkney resulted in the accidental discovery of a rock-cut chamber containing a cist. Subsequent excavation revealed that this cist had a number of unusual features. The cist slabs had been fitted together exceptionally well and the completed cist was designed to be re-opened by the removal of a side slab. Within the chamber, access was provided to the opening side of the cist and a relieving structure was built over its capstone.

The cist contained cremation and inhumation burials that had been inserted on more than one occasion; as its builders intended. A collection of poorly preserved unburnt bone was found to comprise the remains of two individuals: a young adult and a foetus. Two collections of cremated bone, each derived from a single adult, were also present; one in a Food Vessel Urn, the second forming a pile on the floor and containing two burnt antler tines and two unburnt human teeth. The un-urned cremation deposit and the unburnt bones had been covered in mats of plant fibres derived from grass and sedge. The urn had been lined with basketry, also made from grass. Outside the cist, an exceptionally large collection of fuel ash slag (FAS), derived from a cremation pyre, had been deposited between the cist and the wall of the rock-cut chamber.

Radiocarbon dates indicate that the site and its contents had a long history. The FAS and the foetus skeleton date to 2900–2500 cal BC. Between 2200 and 1900 cal BC the urned cremation and young adult human bones were inserted and charcoal was deposited in the foundation slots for the back wall of the cist. The deposition of the un-urned cremation was dated to 1000–800 cal BC, some 900 years later, when the urn had already fallen over and broken. At this time, it is assumed that the urn was restored to an upright position and propped with stones, while the stone lid for the urn was reused in the foundation slot of the left-hand side of the cist. Reuse and refurbishment over two millennia seem evidenced in the results from this cist.
‘The Coup’: How Did the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia Become the Prehistoric Society?
Authors: Smith Pamela Jane
Published: February 2014

One of Piggott's Young Turks, C.W. Phillips (1987, 48), wrote in his autobiography, ‘By 1935, I was to be part-author of a revolution in the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia and become Hon. Secretary of the national Prehistoric Society conjured from its ashes.’

To this day, the transition of the regional Prehistoric Society of East Anglia to the national Prehistoric Society is remembered as a well planned coup. The story of an abrupt and resisted occupation of this key institution stands vividly in collective archaeological memory. In a recent interview, Thurstan Shaw, who took a First in the Cambridge Archaeology and Anthropology Tripos in 1936, clearly remembered his very young teacher, Grahame Clark, ‘referring to the take-over with considerable satisfaction’ (Shaw, in conversation with the author, 1996). Another of Clark's students, Jack Golson, who graduated in '51, maintains that Phillips, Clark, Hawkes, and Piggott took the Society out of an ‘East Anglia frame to a national level … They stacked it!’ (Golson, in conversation with the author, 1996).
Arenas of Action? Enclosure Entrances in Neolithic Western Francec. 3500–2500 BC
Authors: Scarre Chris
Published: February 2014

Recent research has led to a re-evaluation of the defensive role formerly assigned to the Late Neolithic enclosures of western France. Excavation of the distinctive pince de crabe entrances which are a feature of many of these enclosures has suggested that these were not single but multi-phase structures, with a purpose which must have been monumental or ceremonial rather than protective. Human remains in the enclosure ditches underline their significance as symbolic as well as physical boundaries. The chronology of the elaborated entrances indicates that they belong to a period of social competition in which decorated pottery had a particular importance. This phase came to an end early in the 3rd millennium BC when the enclosure ditches were backfilled, and western France became integrated into a wider world of social and raw material exchange.
Parc le Breos Cwm Transepted Long Cairn, Gower, West Glamorgan: Date, Contents, and Context
Authors: Whittle Alasdair , Wysocki Michael , Richards Mike , Rouse Amanda , Walker Elizabeth , Zienkiewicz Lesley
Published: February 2014

First investigated in 1869, the transepted long cairn of Parc le Breos Cwm was re-excavated in 1960–61 but without a report being published. This account presents a number of radiocarbon dates and a detailed re-examination of the human bone assemblages, and attempts to put the monument in local and regional context. Radiocarbon dates place the long cairn in the later part of the earlier Neolithic, and support a fairly long span of time over which its mortuary deposits were accumulated; they also show secondary re-use of the passage, and perhaps also the deliberate incorporation of very old animal bone from nearby caves. The analysis of the human bone assemblages indicates prior exposure of the remains found in the chambers, in contrast to those in the passage. Variation in musculoskeletal stress markers may indicate a mobile lifestyle for at least some of the male mortuary population. Other lifestyle indicators are noted, and isotopic evidence is presented for a terrestrial and mainly meat-oriented diet in the sampled group. The isolated context and hidden setting of the Parc le Breos Cwm long cairn and the apparently low density of south Welsh monuments are stressed.
Bryn Eryr: An Enclosed Settlement of the Iron Age on Anglesey
Authors: Longley David
Published: February 2014

Excavations on the site of a rectangular earthwork at Bryn Eryr, Angelsey, have identified a sequence of occupation. In the Middle Iron Age a single clay-walled round-house stood within a timber stockade. By the later Iron Age a second house had been added, adjacent to the first, and these two houses became the focus of a planned settlement. A rectangular bank and ditch enclosure was established of 0.3 ha internal area. A yard developed in front of the houses, at the head of a trackway leading from the entrance. Rectangular post-built structures, perhaps granaries, were built and pits were dug to provide clay flooring and, perhaps, wall plastering for the houses. By the early 1st millennium AD the perimeter ditch had become choked with silt and the bank was eroding badly. A third house, with stone footings, was added to the south of the original two, one of which was by now out of use. Romano-British pottery, in small quantities but of good quality, was in use on the site. The farm appears to have been abandoned, after perhaps 700 years of development, during the late 3rd or 4th century AD.
Neolithic/Early Bronze Age Pit Circles and their Environs at Oakham, Rutland
Authors: Clay Patrick , Jones Clive R. , Jones Elaine L. , Haley Gary , Healey Elizabeth , Gibson Alex , Stirland Ann , Gouldwell Anthony J. , Monckton Angela
Published: February 2014

Fieldwork east of Oakham, Rutland has located evidence of prehistoric settlement, land use patterns, and ceremonial monuments. Part of this included the excavation of a cropmark site which has revealed an unusual sequence of Neolithic/Early Bronze Age pit circles and a burial area. This is complemented by a fieldwalking survey of the surrounding areas, allowing consideration of the relationship of juxtaposed flint scatters and the excavated ceremonial area.
Radiocarbon Dating and the Prehistory of the Balearic Islands
Authors: Martínez Pedro V. Castro , Suriñach Sylvia Gili , Marcén Paloma González , Lull Vicente , Pérez Rafael Micó , Herrada Cristina Rihuete
Published: February 2014

The aim of this paper is to establish an absolute chronology for the prehistoric entities and sites of the Balearic islands. We begin with the human settlement of each island and continue with the temporalities of the most important entities and materials of the Pretalayotic period: the Beaker phenomenon, megalithic tombs, artificial burial caves, naviforms, and navetas. Then we define the chronological limits of the Talayotic period, giving special attention to its internal sequence and to the chronology of its distinctive monuments — the talayots, sanctuaries, and taulas. Finally we suggest the chronological limits of the material and sites ascribed to the Post-talayotic period. The approach adopted here is based on a detailed analysis of the radiocarbon dates corresponding to the main archaeological periods mentioned above. The information potential of each date has been evaluated critically in terms of the archaeological contexts from which samples were obtained.
Meaning in the Later Prehistoric Rock-Engravings of Mont Bégo, Alpes-Maritimes, France
Authors: Barfield Lawrence , Chippindale Christopher
Published: February 2014

The later prehistoric rock-engravings of Mont Bégo, in the Maritime Alps on the French–Italian border, provide a rare possibility of grasping the meaning of a group in prehistoric art. Two elements in their limited repertoire of forms are daggers and halberds, which also occur as physical objects or as images in the contemporary sites of adjacent north Italy; their contexts show they are, in that area, associated with the status of adult males in society. That same interpretation is applied to the Mont Bégo figures, and this is found congruent with other motifs — especially ploughs and cattle — in the repertoire. It may explain also the other common motif, a geometrical form interpreted as a map of a prehistoric farmstead, by associating it with plough agriculture and land division. The insights developed from the study for what ‘meaning’ amounts to in the study of prehistory are set down.
Early Ironworking and its Impact on the Environment: Palaeoecological Evidence from Bryn y Castell Hillfort, Snowdonia, North Wales
Authors: Mighall T.M. , Chambers F.M.
Published: February 2014

The environmental impact of the Late Iron Age and Romano-British ironworking hillfort of Bryn y Castell in upland southern Snowdonia was investigated by multiple profile pollen and charcoal analysis of nearby valley mire and blanket peat deposits. Pollen data, collected from five radiocarbon dated profiles within a 1.5 km radius of the hillfort, indicate that ironworking activities apparently had only localised impact on the environment. Small-scale declines in certain arboreal taxa can be correlated with occupancy of the site. Betula and Alnus appear to be most affected, with minor loss of Corylus and Quercus. The pattern of arboreal taxa and charcoal values during the ironworking period is considered in the context of evidence for deliberate woodland management, the scale and duration of ironworking, and alternative forms of human disturbance. Overall, the results of the pollen analysis suggest that woodland recovered to its pre-ironworking level except in the immediate vicinity of the hillfort. Integration of the archaeological and palaeoecological data allowed understanding of the resource-based aspects of this prehistoric industrial site and the results have wider implications for the field of experimental industrial archaeology.
The Upper Palaeolithic Site of Ciuntu on the Middle Pruth, Moldova: a multidisciplinary study and reinterpretation
Authors: Borziac I.A. , Allsworth-Jones Philip , French Charles , Medyanik S.I. , Rink W.J. , Lee H.K.
Published: February 2014

The Ciuntu rockshelter is situated in the north-western part of the Republic of Moldova, on the left bank of the river Pruth. It has a single Upper Palaeolithic layer of occupation, which was originally regarded as Early Upper Palaeolithic and was assigned to the Brinzeni archaeological culture. More recent investigations, including radiocarbon dating, have led to a revision of this suggested age and classification. The site is now regarded as belonging to the Middle Gravettian and is dated to the beginning of the last glacial maximum.
Boxgrove, West Sussex: Rescue Excavations of a Lower Palaeolithic Landsurface (Boxgrove Project B, 1989–91)
Authors: Roberts M.B. , Parfitt S.A. , Pope M.I. , Wenban-Smith F.F. , Macphail R.I. , Locker A. , Stewart J.R.
Published: February 2014

In 1988 an area of 12,000 m2in Quarry 2 at Boxgrove, West Sussex, was identified as being under threat front gravel and sand extraction. It was decided to sample the threatened area in 1989 with a series of 6 m2test pits. The results of this survey identified two areas that merited further investigation, and area excavations were carried out at Quarry 2/C and Quarry 2/D in 1990 and 1991 respectively. These concentrated on the main Pleistocene landsurface (Unit 4c) and revealed spreads of knapping debris associated with the production of flint handaxes. Two test pits and area Q2/C produced handaxes, over 90% of which had tranchet sharpening at the distal end. A small amount of core reduction and only a few flake tools were found: these were all from Quarry 2/C. Faunal remains were located in the northern part of the excavations where Unit 4c had a calcareous cover. In Quarry 2/C the bones of C. elaphus and Bison sp. exhibited traces of human modification.

The project employed two methods of artefact retrieval: direct excavation in metre squares and bulk sieving of units within them. Comparison of the results from these methods suggests that, when on-site time is limited, the integration of these methods is a valid technique in both qualitative and quantitative terms for data recovery. The excavated areas are interpreted as a tool-sharpening and butchery site that may have been a fixed and known locale in the landscape (Q2/C), and a location on the periphery of an area of intensive knapping reduction (Q2/D). Sedimentological and microfaunal analyses demonstrate that Unit 4c was formed as a soil in the top of a marine-lagoonal silt, the pedogenic processes being similar to those observed after draining Dutch polder lakes. The palaeoenvironment is interpreted as an area of open grassland with some shrub and bush vegetation. In places the surface of the soil supported small ephemeral pools and flashes. This area of grassland is seen as a corridor for herds of ungulates moving east and west between the sea to the south and the relict cliff and wooded downland block to the north. Within this corridor these herds were preyed upon by various carnivores, and hominids.

The temperate sediments at Boxgrove were deposited in the later part of the Cromerian Complex and immediately pre-date the Anglian Cold Stage; they are therefore around 500,000 years old. The archaeological material from these and overlying cold stage deposits is broadly contemporary with that at High Lodge, Suffolk and Waverley Wood, Warwickshire.
Palaeolithic Barbed Point from Gransmoor, East Yorkshire, England
Authors: Sheldrick Charles , Lowe J. John , Reynier Michael J.
Published: February 2014

An Upper Palaeolithic, uniserially barbed antler point, discovered during excavations of a Devensian Lateglacial sediment sequence in a quarry near Gransmoor, Yorkshire, England, is described. The stratigraphic context of the find is summarised, and the age of the implement can be confidently estimated to between 11,500 and 11,100 radiocarbon years BP on the basis of (i) a series of AMS radiocarbon dates, (ii) radiometric dating of the wood within which the barbed point was lodged, and (iii) biostratigraphic considerations. The barbed point from Gransmoor is probably unrivalled in Britain in terms of the stratigraphic and chronological context within which it can be assessed. Some suggestions are made concerning the manufacture and function of the barbed point on the basis of markings on the antler surface and remains of some of the original mastic, features which are extremely well preserved.
Back into the North: the Radiocarbon Evidence for the Human Recolonisation of the North-Western Ardennes after the Last Glacial Maximum
Authors: Charles Ruth
Published: February 2014

This paper critically examines the known radiocarbon evidence for the human recolonisation of a part of north-western Europe, the north-western Ardennes. Two sites in this region, the Trou de Blaireaux at Vaucelles and the Grotte de Sy Verlaine, have been suggested as two of the earliest human occupation sites after the Last Glacial Maximum in northern Europe. The dating evidence from these two sites, alongside other late Magdalenian sites in the immediate area, is reviewed and found to be highly problematic. More recent radiocarbon work using AMS is described and the results discussed. On this basis it is suggested that there is no direct evidence for human presence in this region prior to the start of the Böiling Interstadial phase of the Lateglacial, c. 13,000 BP.
On Bovid Assemblages and their Consequences for the Knowledge of Subsistence Patterns in the Middle Palaeolithic
Authors: Gaudzinski Sabine
Published: February 2014

A comparative study of four Late Pleistocene sites — Il'skaja (Russia), La Borde and Mauran (France), and Wallertheim (Germany) — was undertaken. The sites are considered to be kill and/or habitation sites, showing bovid dominated faunal assemblages which have already independently been described as resulting from hominid hunting activities. In this synthetic paper it is discussed whether these archaeological records reflect a distinct mode of procurement. Focusing on the faunal remains, similarities and differences are demonstrated between the varying bovid assemblages in terms of the body profiles, and age and sex structures, and evidence of hominid bovid carcass exploitation is examined. Physical, taphonomical, and hominid behavioural implications of the different variables compared are treated in a problem-oriented discussion. The results indicate focussed and selective hunting strategies in parts of Europe during the Middle Palaeolithic, emphasising that during the period an enormous variation of subsistence options existed, some of them quite similar to those of the Upper Palaeolithic.
Neolithic and Bronze Age Norfolk
Authors: Ashwin Trevor
Published: February 2014

This paper offers a summary of our present archaeological knowledge of the modern county of Norfolk, a large and geographically diverse tract of northern East Anglia, during the 5th–2nd millennia BC. It concludes by listing some topics deserving of future research.
The Topography of some Barrow Cemeteries in Bronze Age Wessex
Authors: Woodward A.B. , Woodward P.J.
Published: February 2014

Although the study of Early Bronze Age round barrows and cemeteries has flourished in recent years, detailed studies of the siting of barrows and cemeteries in relation to local topography and contemporary monuments are rare. This paper analyses the distribution of barrow cemeteries in relation to three major monumental complexes in Wessex: the South Dorset Ridgeway, Avebury, and Stonehenge. The analyses indicate that the location of barrows and cemeteries was strictly regulated. Although the specific pattern in each region is different, and closely related to the local topography of rivers and ridges, an underlying structural principle has been identified. This principle is that of circularity, and it is suggested that the various patterns of cemetery layout, involving curved settings and arcs, reflect the shape of the round barrows contained within them, the stake- and post-circles which lie buried beneath some of them, and the shape of the timber and stone monuments upon which they focus. This tradition of cemetery regulation appears to have continued to effect mortuary behaviour well into the Middle Bronze Age, alongside new systems of settlement and burial patterning which were developing in areas away from the ancient monumental foci. Finally, pointers towards future related research are outlined.
Night and Day: the Symbolism of Astral Signs on Later Iron Age Anthropomorphic Short Swords
Authors: Fitzpatrick A.P.
Published: February 2014

Anthropomorphic hiked short swords were a rare and specialised weapon whose size, style, and human symbolism altered little over some 300 years. A small proportion of these short swords are engraved or stamped with designs inlaid with gold or other metals which are suggested to represent different stages of the lunar cycle. The measurement of time in nights is evidenced by later Gallo-Latin calendars written in Gaulish and this is endorsed by literary evidence for Late Iron Age France which points to the association of this knowledge with a specialist religious class. It is suggested that the swords were used in practices or ceremonies associated with making and keeping the time by counting nights, and determining what was a propitious day.
Persistent Places in the Mesolithic Landscape: an Example from the Black Mountain Uplands of South Wales
Authors: Barton R.N.E. , Berridge P.J. , Walker M.J.C. , Bevins R.E.
Published: February 2014

Evidence for the early Postglacial use of upland environments in the Mesolithic in various parts Britain has been known for a long time. However, until relatively recently such evidence had been remarkably absent from upland south Wales, which includes some of the highest mountain ranges in southern Britain. In this paper we report on new work at the upland location of Waun Fignen Felen which consists of discrete Early and later Mesolithic artefact scatters on the edge of a former lake basin. In describing this example, we focus on the timing of Mesolithic movements into the interior uplands and examine the relationship between humans and the landscape, particularly in respect to the long distance transport of materials and factors likely to have influenced the choice of site location. Some comparative observations are made on the use and perception of landscapes by ethnographic hunter-gatherers.
Animate objects: a biography of prehistoric ‘axe-amulets’ in the central Mediterranean region
Authors: Skeates Robin
Published: February 2014

This paper considers some of the relationships between people and things. It develops a broadly-based model of the later life-histories of prehistoric stone axes in the south-central Mediterranean region, taking account of their production, circulation, and consumption, and their cumulative transformation by physical and conceptual processes, of which the latter may have included personification, sacralisation, and animation. Attention is focused upon the value, meanings, and uses of axe-pendants, and intepretations are placed within a dynamic historical and political context of changing social practices and strategies in central and southern Italy, Sicily Malta, and Sardinia.
Living artefact, personal ecosystem, biocultural schizophrenia: a novel synthesis of processual and post-processual thinking
Authors: Cullen† Ben
Published: February 2014

For well over a decade archaeological theory has been discussed in terms of a number of problematic yet familiar dichotomies. Prominent examples would include the distinction between processualist (scientific) and postprocessualist (post-modernist) thinking, and its concomitant distinctions of biology versus culture, Positivism versus Relativism, and Realism versus Idealism. This paper outlines a novel framework (Cultural Virus Theory) which crosscuts these familiar dichotomies, while also suggesting new explanatory possibilities. Recent convergent trends in archaeological theory are summarised. Some of the basic principles of the theory are defined. It is argued that ideas, rituals, and artefact production systems are culturally reproduced life-forms (‘viral phenomena’ or ‘living artefacts’); that people are therefore biocultural ecosystems of more than one lifeform (‘personal ecosystems’); and that the internal constituent life-forms of personal ecosystems may be found in both symbiotic, and parasitic or predatory relationships, just as are those of larger ecosystems. Human actions, therefore, cannot be approached as if they constitute the behaviour of a single united organism; as ecosystems, people are often subject to internal adaptive conflict and are, in short, ‘biocultural schizophrenics’. Lastly, the anatomy of the synthesis is briefly discussed with reference to first post-processual, and then processual approaches to the familiar ‘megalith icon’ of monuments and their associated rituals — termed ‘megalithic religions’ for convenience — in Neolithic north-west Europe.
The production of specialised flintwork in the later Neolithic: a case study from the Yorkshire Wolds
Authors: Durden Tess
Published: February 2014

This paper examines the evidence for specialist artefact production during the later Neolithic on the Yorkshire Wolds. It is proposed that such an industry was responsible for the production of some of the highly distinctive lithic artefacts present in that period, such as polished discoidal knives, ripple-flaked and polished oblique arrowheads, and polished flint axes. It is suggested that much of the value attached to these items derived from the highly organised but restricted nature of their production. Two sites on the Wolds were fieldwalked and the finds subjected to both technological and spatial analysis. Results indicate that an industry exercising a higher level of skill existed alongside more everyday knapping activities. This industry was divided into two phases, consisting of the roughing out of flint nodules at the stone source and the completion of the specialised artefacts in spatially restricted workshops within settlements.
Investigating the Distribution of Group vi Debitage in the Central Lake District
Authors: Watson Aaron
Published: February 2014

Since the discovery of Neolithic flaking debris around Great Langdale almost 50 years ago, a number of surveys and excavations have taken place in the heart of the Lake District. These have shown that the outcrop of Seathwaite Tuff was the most productive source for stone axes in Britain. People were procuring the raw material from the outcrop in a number of locations, notably the Langdale Pikes, Scafell Pike, and Glaramara (Claris & Quartermaine 1989; Bradley & Edmonds 1993).

The creation and dissemination of the majority of Cumbrian stone axes can be divided into four processes: i) procurement of the raw material from the outcrop; ii) shaping of the stone into axes; iii) movement of the roughouts to the lowlands for polishing; and iv) movement of the axes across Britain until their eventual deposition. While it is valid to examine all aspects of this phenomenon, it is apparent that investigating the processes employed at the source may provide some of the most revealing information.
Newgrange — Science or Symbolizm
Authors: Powell Andrew B.
Published: February 2014

The Newgrange passage tomb is examined for evidence of ‘Neolithic science’. Claims that it incorporated an astronomical alignment, and was constructed using Pythagorean geometry and the megalithic yard are reviewed as are scientific interpretations of its art. A new analysis of the tomb's structure reveals that it was based on a simple geometric shape measurable by a 13.1 m unit of length. The locations of particular motifs and decorated surfaces are shown to conform to the spatial relationships evident in the tomb's form. These are defined in terms of oppositions between left and right, front and back, inside and outside, visible and hidden, as well as making reference to symbols found in the art of the neighbouring passage tomb at Knowth.

These features are interpreted, not as evidence of a specificically scientific discourse in the Irish Neolithic, but as the elaboration of elements common to the passage tomb ritual discourse. Competition for political control, in the context of mortuary practices, resulted in the increasing formalization and rigid interpretation of passage tomb symbolizm, and the ritualization of new areas of knowledge.
Excavation of a Bronze Age Unenclosed Cemetery, Cairns, and Field Boundaries at Eaglestone Flat, Curbar, Derbyshire, 1984, 1989–1990
Authors: Barnatt John , Beswick Pauline , Chambers Frank M. , Evans John , Garton Daryl , Mckinley Jacqueline I. , Smith Ken , Walster Alison
Published: February 2014

Excavations at Eaglestone Flat, on the gritstone eastern uplands of the Peak District, have revealed a Bronze Age cremation cemetery associated with a number of contemporaneous stone structures built for ritual and agricultural purposes. Some of the burials were within urns, mostly cordoned. Others were simply placed in pits whilst still hot. A minority were deposited in direct association with small cairns, either placed under or within them. The majority were on open ground near the stone features and adjacent to the upslope edge of a prehistoric field. Most of the stone structures are clearance features associated with the preparation and cultivation of the land close by over an extended period. They are found in a complex palimpsest, which includes structures of unusual design, such as retained rectangular platforms, and discontinuous walls that were only ever 1–2 courses high and probably surmounted by low banks. A series of radiocarbon results adds to knowledge of the date at which Peak District cairnftelds and field systems were built. Environmental data allows vegetational sequences to be reconstructed.
Production and Distribution of Pottery and Salt in Iron Age Britain: a Review
Authors: Morris Elaine L.
Published: February 2014

This paper questions whether the current model of hillforts as central places for the control and redistribution of goods in Iron Age Britain is appropriate by reviewing the evidence for the production and distribution of both pottery vessels and salt in ceramic containers. Suitable data found in published reports of excavations from all parts of Britain are considered, if available, and the information is synthesized by defined region and broad phase.
Zoomorphic Iron Age Sculpture in Western Iberia: Symbols of Social and Cultural Identity?
Authors: Alvarez-Sanchis Jesús R.
Published: February 2014

One of the most interesting archaeological features of western Iberian Protohistory is the stone animal sculptures, usually called ‘verracos’. The function and meaning of this kind of monument is discussed, taking into account the regional settlement pattern and changes during the early Roman period. The sculptures were used as an index of economic value (cattle) and by studying their spatial distribution in the Amblés Valley (Avila) it is proposed that they were used as landmarks delimiting critical resources (pasture) the explotation of which could have been organized by the elites of the 2nd Iron Age communities living in the Valley. The presence of first Roman settlers did not necessarily lead to a clear breakdown of pre-existing social symbols and cultural traditions. This is reflected through a continuity of sculpture production probably without changes to the spatial pattern. Thus, it is possible to conclude that sculpture production may reflect social, economic, and ideological ties between the old hierarchy and the new elites, expresed in terms of native identity.
Lithic artefacts from test-pit excavations on Lundy: evidence for Mesolithic and Bronze Age occupation
Authors: Schofield A. J.
Published: February 2014

Lundy is a small offshore island set in the approaches to the Bristol Channel. Prior to the late 1980s several excavations and artefact collections demonstrated the presence of prehistoric and historic communities on the island. Yet, despite this, little was understood of the intensity of occupation and the archaeological context within which the excavated sites occurred. Two surveys, one by the National Trust and one directed by the author, have been running concurently since 1988 with the aim of placing the well-documented sites or places in their spatial and behavioural context. This paper describes one element of the author's landscape survey project: the prehistoric occupation.
Shells and Sherds: Identification of Inclusions in Grooved Ware, with Associated Radiocarbon Dates, from Amesbury, Wiltshire
Authors: Cleal Rosamund M. J. , Cooper John , Williams David
Published: February 2014

This note reports the results of three radiocarbon determinations on material from two pits in Amesbury parish, one of which, Chalk Plaque Pit, has been published in this journal (Harding 1988). The other pit, at Ratfyn, Amesbury, was excavated in the 1930s and published by Stone (1935). As part of the same research project the shell inclusions in Grooved Ware from these features, and from a similar feature at Woodlands (Stone & Young 1948; Stone 1949), were identified and the presence of glauconite in Grooved Ware from the area established.
Problems in the Stone Age of South-East Asia
Authors: Reynolds T. E. G.
Published: February 2014

Whilst research has shown many faults with the Movius scheme of a Middle Pleistocene group of Chopper/Chopping tool industries in South-East Asia, it remains a fact that pebble tool industries are still the dominant characteristic of the South-East Asian record. Exploration has now revealed hundreds of Late Pleistocene and Holocene sites in Mainland South-East Asia and these are archaeologically very different from cave sites in Europe. Further problems exist with the current nomenclature of later industries, such as the Hoabinhian and the Neolithic, for there is a large amount of overlap between such assemblages. Should such factors as economy, site location, etc. be used to assist clarification of such problems?

This paper outlines some of these issues and reveals that the pebble tool tradition as it is widely known in South-East Asia is a relatively recent phenomenon dating back to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). A possible reason for the change from flake to pebble tool industrial types and in the visibility of sites is the environmental changes and rise in sea level which submerged over half the available land area in the region during the Late Pleistocene. An existing broad spectrum system of exploitation was likely to have been intensified as a result of this.
Prolom II, a Middle Palaeolithic Cave Site in the Eastern Crimea with Non-Utilitarian Bone Artefacts
Authors: Stepanchuk Vadim N.
Published: February 2014

The cave site Prolom II situated in the eastern part of the Crimean peninsula has produced evidence of repeated inhabitation during the Middle Palaeolithic. The stone artefacts permit a sure cultural identification and comparison with analogous material belonging to the Ak-Kaya culture. In a broader sense the Ak-Kaya culture of the Crimea may be regarded as one of the variants of the East European Micoquian. Unfortunately we do not at present have the natural science data which would allow us to define exactly the chronological position of Prolom II. The comparative typological and technical data allow us to connect the Middle Palaeolithic layers of the cave with the pre-Brörup period of the Early Würm. This is partly supported by the faunal data. The discovery of a curved arc-like deposit consisting of bones of mammoth, horse, bison and other animals in the second layer of the site, as well as a considerable collection of bone artefacts, both add to the unique character of the site. Some of the bone artefacts cannot reasonably be explained as utilitarian and may constitute evidence of a spiritual culture of Neanderthal Man. In this connection it is possible to enumerate two fragments of diaphyses with parallel and fan-shaped engraved lines, one distal fragment of Saiga tatarica first phalange with fan-shaped engraved lines, and one horse canine with deep subparallel engravings.