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Articles 61 - 69 of 69

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

And Then There Were None?, Richard G. Roberts, Barry W. Brook Mar 2013

And Then There Were None?, Richard G. Roberts, Barry W. Brook

Richard G Roberts

No abstract provided.


Illuminating Southeast Asian Prehistory : New Archaeological And Paleoanthropological Frontiers For Luminescence Dating, Richard G. Roberts, Michael J. Morwood, Kira E. Westaway Mar 2013

Illuminating Southeast Asian Prehistory : New Archaeological And Paleoanthropological Frontiers For Luminescence Dating, Richard G. Roberts, Michael J. Morwood, Kira E. Westaway

Richard G Roberts

Since the explorations of Alfred Russel Wallace and Eugène Dubois in the nineteenth century, Southeast Asia has been one of the world's focal points for studies of biogeography and biodiversity, human evolution and dispersal, environmental change, and the spread of culture, farming, and language. Yet despite its prominence, reliable chronologies are not available for many of the critical archaeological, evolutionary, and environmental turning points that have taken place in the region during the last 1.5 million years. In this paper, we discuss some of these chronological problems and describe how luminescence dating may help overcome them. "Luminescence dating" is a …


The Evolving Landscape And Climate Of Western Flores: An Environmental Context For The Archaeological Site Of Liang Bua, Kira Westaway, Richard Roberts, T Sutikna, Michael Morwood, R Drysdale, J Zhao, Allan Chivas Mar 2013

The Evolving Landscape And Climate Of Western Flores: An Environmental Context For The Archaeological Site Of Liang Bua, Kira Westaway, Richard Roberts, T Sutikna, Michael Morwood, R Drysdale, J Zhao, Allan Chivas

Richard G Roberts

The rapidly changing landscape of the eastern Indonesian archipelago has evolved at a pace dictated by its tropical climate and its geological and tectonic history. This has produced accelerated karstification, flights of alluvial terraces, and complex, multi-level cave systems. These cave systems sometimes contain a wealth of archaeological evidence, such as the almost complete skeleton of Homo floresiensis found at the site of Liang Bua in western Flores, but this information can only be understood in the context of the geomorphic history of the cave, and the more general geological, tectonic, and environmental histories of the river valley and region. …


Advances In Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating Of Individual Grains Of Quartz From Archaeological Deposits, Richard Roberts, Zenobia Jacobs Mar 2013

Advances In Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating Of Individual Grains Of Quartz From Archaeological Deposits, Richard Roberts, Zenobia Jacobs

Richard G Roberts

No abstract provided.


Afromontane Foragers Of The Late Pleistocene: Site Formation, Chronology And Occupational Pulsing At Melikane Rockshelter, Lesotho, Brian Stewart, Genevieve Dewar, Mike Morley, Robyn Inglis, Mark Wheeler, Zenobia Jacobs, Richard Roberts Mar 2013

Afromontane Foragers Of The Late Pleistocene: Site Formation, Chronology And Occupational Pulsing At Melikane Rockshelter, Lesotho, Brian Stewart, Genevieve Dewar, Mike Morley, Robyn Inglis, Mark Wheeler, Zenobia Jacobs, Richard Roberts

Richard G Roberts

This paper provides a preliminary chronostratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental framework for the Late Pleistocene archaeological sequence at Melikane Rockshelter in mountainous eastern Lesotho. Renewed excavations at Melikane form part of a larger project investigating marginal landscape use by Late Pleistocene foragers in southern Africa. Geoarchaeological work undertaken at the site supports in-field observations that Melikane experienced regular, often intensive, input of groundwater via fissures in the shelter’s rear wall. This strong hydrogeological connection resulted in episodic disturbances of the sedimentary sequence, exacerbated by other processes such as bioturbation. Despite this taphonomic complexity, a robust chronology for Melikane has been developed, based …


Luminescence Characteristics And Dose Distributions For Quartz And Feldspar Grains From Mumba Rockshelter, Tanzania, Luke Gliganic, Zenobia Jacobs, Richard Roberts Mar 2013

Luminescence Characteristics And Dose Distributions For Quartz And Feldspar Grains From Mumba Rockshelter, Tanzania, Luke Gliganic, Zenobia Jacobs, Richard Roberts

Richard G Roberts

Mumba rockshelter is a key archaeological site for the Middle and Later Stone Age occupation of East Africa, but its chronology has remained unresolved. We report the results of a dating study, focussing on the characterisation of the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) properties of quartz- and potassium-rich feldspar grains. Quartz has previously proven troublesome for dating in East Africa. We identified five general types of quartz grain behaviour, based on the shapes of their OSL decay and dose–response curves. Dose recovery experiments and measurement of the natural samples revealed particular problems with quartz grains that …


Beneath The Peat: A Refined Pollen Record From An Interstadial At Caledonia Fen, Highland Eastern Victoria, Australia, P. Kershaw, M. Mckenzie, J. Brown, Richard Roberts, S. Van Der Kaars Mar 2013

Beneath The Peat: A Refined Pollen Record From An Interstadial At Caledonia Fen, Highland Eastern Victoria, Australia, P. Kershaw, M. Mckenzie, J. Brown, Richard Roberts, S. Van Der Kaars

Richard G Roberts

No abstract provided.


The Nubian Complex Of Dhofar, Oman: An African Middle Stone Age Industry In Southern Arabia, Jeffrey I. Rose, Vitaly I. Usik, Anthony E. Marks, Yamandu H. Hilbert, Christopher S. Galletti, Ash Parton, Jean Marie Geiling, Viktor Cerny, Mike W. Morley, Richard Roberts Mar 2013

The Nubian Complex Of Dhofar, Oman: An African Middle Stone Age Industry In Southern Arabia, Jeffrey I. Rose, Vitaly I. Usik, Anthony E. Marks, Yamandu H. Hilbert, Christopher S. Galletti, Ash Parton, Jean Marie Geiling, Viktor Cerny, Mike W. Morley, Richard Roberts

Richard G Roberts

Despite the numerous studies proposing early human population expansions from Africa into Arabia during the Late Pleistocene, no archaeological sites have yet been discovered in Arabia that resemble a specific African industry, which would indicate demographic exchange across the Red Sea. Here we report the discovery of a buried site and more than 100 new surface scatters in the Dhofar region of Oman belonging to a regionally-specific African lithic industry - the late Nubian Complex - known previously only from the northeast and Horn of Africa during Marine Isotope Stage 5, ~128,000 to 74,000 years ago. Two optically stimulated luminescence …


Single-Grain Osl Dating At La Grotte Des Contrebandiers ('Smugglers' Cave'), Morocco: Improved Age Constraints For The Middle Paleolithic Levels, Richard Roberts, Zenobia Jacobs, Michael Meyer, V Aldeias, M El Hajraoui, H Dibbie Mar 2013

Single-Grain Osl Dating At La Grotte Des Contrebandiers ('Smugglers' Cave'), Morocco: Improved Age Constraints For The Middle Paleolithic Levels, Richard Roberts, Zenobia Jacobs, Michael Meyer, V Aldeias, M El Hajraoui, H Dibbie

Richard G Roberts

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) measurements of individual quartz grains are reported for Middle Paleolithic (MP) or Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits in La Grotte des Contrebandiers, Morocco. Single-grain measurements enable rejection of grains that may lead to under- or over-estimation of age due to malign luminescence properties or remobilisation of grains after burial. We identified the former using a range of experimental procedures and objective rejection criteria. Three post-depositional factors influenced the distribution pattern of equivalent dose (De) values for the remaining single grains: the disintegration of roof spall liberating unbleached, older grains into otherwise well-bleached sediments; the intrusion of …