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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Luminescence Dating Of Chinese Loess Beyond 130 Ka Using The Non-Fading Signal From K-Feldspar, Bo Li, Shenghua Li Jan 2012

Luminescence Dating Of Chinese Loess Beyond 130 Ka Using The Non-Fading Signal From K-Feldspar, Bo Li, Shenghua Li

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

A multi-elevated-temperature post-IR IRSL (MET-pIRIR) protocol, which utilizes the IRSL signals measured by progressively increasing the stimulation temperature from 50 to 300 ℃ in a step of 50 ℃, was applied to date the potassium-rich feldspar (K-feldspar) extracts from loess samples at the Luochuan section of the Chinese Loess Plateau. It was observed that the MET-pIRIR ages obtained at elevatedtemperatures (250 and 300 ℃) are consistent with independent chronological control for the samples from the first loess layer (L1) to the third paleosol layer (S3), which correspond to the marine isotope stages (MIS) 2e9. Our results indicate that the MET-pIRIR …


A Reply To The Comments By Thomsen Et Al. On "Luminescence Dating Of K-Feldspar From Sediments: A Protocol Without Anomalous Fading Correction", Bo Li, Shenghua Li Jan 2012

A Reply To The Comments By Thomsen Et Al. On "Luminescence Dating Of K-Feldspar From Sediments: A Protocol Without Anomalous Fading Correction", Bo Li, Shenghua Li

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

We are pleased that Thomsen et al. (2012) has tested our newly proposed multi-elevated-temperature post-IR IRSL (MET-pIRIR) procedure (Li and Li, 2011) using their own samples, which provides an independent test on the validity of this procedure. In their study, Thomsen et al. (2012) found that the METpIRIR procedure gave consistent results with the two-step post-IR IRSL (TS-pIRIR) procedure originally proposed by [Thomsen et al., 2008] and [Buylaert et al., 2009] and Thiel et al. (2010), indicating the validity of both methods for their samples investigated. Based on this observation, they argued that the MET-pIRIR procedure has no advantage over …


Police Witness Identification Images: A Geometric Morphometric Analysis, Susan Hayes, Cameron Tullberg Jan 2012

Police Witness Identification Images: A Geometric Morphometric Analysis, Susan Hayes, Cameron Tullberg

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Research into witness identification images typically occurs within the laboratory and involves subjective likeness and recognizability judgments. This study analyzed whether actual witness identification images systematically alter the facial shapes of the suspects described. The shape analysis tool, geometric morphometrics, was applied to 46 homologous facial landmarks displayed on 50 witness identification images and their corresponding arrest photographs, using principal component analysis and multivariate regressions. The results indicate that compared with arrest photographs, witness identification images systematically depict suspects with lowered and medially located eyebrows (p=


Beeswax As Dental Filling On A Neolithic Human Tooth, Federico Bernardini, Claudio Tuniz, Alfredo Coppa, Lucia Mancini, Diego Dreossi, Diane Eichert, Gianluca Turco, Matteo Biasotto, Filippo Terrasi, Nicola De Cesare, Quan Hua, Vladimir Levchenko Jan 2012

Beeswax As Dental Filling On A Neolithic Human Tooth, Federico Bernardini, Claudio Tuniz, Alfredo Coppa, Lucia Mancini, Diego Dreossi, Diane Eichert, Gianluca Turco, Matteo Biasotto, Filippo Terrasi, Nicola De Cesare, Quan Hua, Vladimir Levchenko

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Evidence of prehistoric dentistry has been limited to a few cases, the most ancient dating back to the Neolithic. Here we report a 6500-year-old human mandible from Slovenia whose left canine crown bears the traces of a filling with beeswax. The use of different analytical techniques, including synchrotron radiation computed micro-tomography (micro-CT), Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating, Infrared (IR) Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), has shown that the exposed area of dentine resulting from occlusal wear and the upper part of a vertical crack affecting enamel and dentin tissues were filled with beeswax shortly before or after the …


Slip Rate Of The Aksay Segment Of Altyn Tagh Fault Revealed By Osl Dating Of River Terraces, Yiwei Chen, Sheng-Hua Li, Bo Li Jan 2012

Slip Rate Of The Aksay Segment Of Altyn Tagh Fault Revealed By Osl Dating Of River Terraces, Yiwei Chen, Sheng-Hua Li, Bo Li

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

The slip rate of Altyn Tagh Fault (ATF) was studied near the Aksay segment (39°24.572´N, 94°16.012´E), China, based on dating the terraces of a river passing through the ATF. Two river terrace risers were offset by the ATF and the fault displacements were recorded. Average slip rate of the Aksay segment of the ATF was estimated using the offset of terrace risers divided by the corresponding ages. The ages of the terraces were determined by optical dating of the loess deposited on the river terrace. Our results demonstrated that: (1) The optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages of loess can be …


Testing A Multi-Step Post-Ir Irsl Dating Method Using Polymineral Fine Grains From Chinese Loess, Xiao Fu, Bo Li, Sheng-Hua Li Jan 2012

Testing A Multi-Step Post-Ir Irsl Dating Method Using Polymineral Fine Grains From Chinese Loess, Xiao Fu, Bo Li, Sheng-Hua Li

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

The potential of multi-elevated-temperature post-IR IRSL (MET-pIRIR) dating [Li, B., Li, S.H., 2011. Luminescence dating of K-feldspar from sediments: a protocol without anomalous fading correction. Quaternary Geochronology 6, 468-479] using polymineral fine grains (FG) (4-11 μm) is tested using loess samples from the Luochuan section in the Chinese Loess Plateau. Nine FG samples with ages within the last glacial-interglacial period are tested using the MET-pIRIR protocol. The MET-pIRIR results for FG are compared with both the coarse grain (63-90 μm) K-feldspar MET-pIRIR dating results and the coarse grain quartz OSL dating results. The stratigraphic age of the profile also provides …


Continental Aridification And The Vanishing Of Australia's Megalakes, Timothy J. Cohen, Gerald C. Nanson, John D. Jansen, B. G. Jones, Zenobia Jacobs, P Treble, David M. Price, Jan-Hendrik May, A Smith, Linda K. Ayliffe, John C. Hellstrom Jan 2011

Continental Aridification And The Vanishing Of Australia's Megalakes, Timothy J. Cohen, Gerald C. Nanson, John D. Jansen, B. G. Jones, Zenobia Jacobs, P Treble, David M. Price, Jan-Hendrik May, A Smith, Linda K. Ayliffe, John C. Hellstrom

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

The nature of the Australian climate at about the time of rapid megafaunal extinctions and humans arriving in Australia is poorly understood and is an important element in the contentious debate as to whether humans or climate caused the extinctions. Here we present a new paleoshoreline chronology that extends over the past 100 k.y. for Lake Mega-Frome, the coalescence of Lakes Frome, Blanche, Callabonna and Gregory, in the southern latitudes of central Australia. We show that Lake Mega-Frome was connected for the last time to adjacent Lake Eyre at 50-47 ka, forming the largest remaining interconnected system of paleolakes on …


Shell Artefacts And Shell-Working Within The Lapita Cultural Complex, Katherine A. Szabo Jan 2010

Shell Artefacts And Shell-Working Within The Lapita Cultural Complex, Katherine A. Szabo

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Despite a consistent presence in the archaeological record of the Lapita cultural complex, and their omnipresence in the associated literature, the nature and range of shell artefacts recovered from Lapita sites has only been partially summarized at best. Considering the categories of raw material choice, working techniques, formal artefact types and curation, this article summarizes our current knowledge and points to areas for further research.


What Did Grinding Stones Grind? New Light On Early Neolithic Subsistence Economy In The Middle Yellow River Valley, China, Li Liu, Judith Field, Richard Fullagar, Sheahan Bestel, Xingcan Chen, Xiaolin Ma Jan 2010

What Did Grinding Stones Grind? New Light On Early Neolithic Subsistence Economy In The Middle Yellow River Valley, China, Li Liu, Judith Field, Richard Fullagar, Sheahan Bestel, Xingcan Chen, Xiaolin Ma

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Grinding stones have provided a convenient proxy for the arrival of agriculture in Neolithic China. Not any more. Thanks to high-precision analyses of use-wear and starch residue, the authors show that early Neolithic people were mainly using these stones to process acorns. This defines a new stage in the long transition of food production from hunter-gatherer to farmer.


Murray-Darling Basin Freshwater Shells: Riverine Reservoir Effect, Richard Gillespie, David Fink, Fiona Petchey, Geraldine Jacobsen Jan 2009

Murray-Darling Basin Freshwater Shells: Riverine Reservoir Effect, Richard Gillespie, David Fink, Fiona Petchey, Geraldine Jacobsen

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

We report ciirbon isotope measurements on pre-bomb museum samples of freshwater mussel shells collected alive from riverine locations in New South Wales. Australia. The calculated reservoir ages, rimglng from -60 to +112 years, are much smaller than those for Australian marine shells and not considered significant for the radiocarbon dating of Late Pleistocene freshwater shells from the Murray-Darling Ba,sin.


Kam Die Kultur Aus Afrika?, Richard G. Roberts, Zenobia Jacobs Jan 2009

Kam Die Kultur Aus Afrika?, Richard G. Roberts, Zenobia Jacobs

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

According to archaeological standards the Blombos Cave was on the south coast of Africa was a rather small dwelling. The footprint measures just over 50 square meters. But what the researchers unearthed in 13 cubic meters of cave floor was enough to revolutionize our knowledge of the history of the human mind. So-called modern behaviour was therefore on much earlier than previously thought. A team led by South African archaeologist Christopher Henshilwood of the African Heritage Research Institute in Cape Town, who also teaches at the University of Bergen (Norway), discovered in the last 15 years in the Blombos Cave …


Were Environmental Or Demographic Factors The Driving Force Behind Middle Stone Age Innovations In Southern Africa?, Zenobia Jacobs, Richard G. Roberts Jan 2009

Were Environmental Or Demographic Factors The Driving Force Behind Middle Stone Age Innovations In Southern Africa?, Zenobia Jacobs, Richard G. Roberts

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Sir—Past human responses to environmental changes have long interested archaeologists. During the last glacial cycle, southern Africa experienced marked climatic fluctuations, as recorded in ice-core records from West and East Antarctica.


Aboriginal Settlement During The Lgm At Brockman, Pilbara Region, Western Australia, Michael Slack, Melanie Fillios, Richard L. Fullagar Jan 2009

Aboriginal Settlement During The Lgm At Brockman, Pilbara Region, Western Australia, Michael Slack, Melanie Fillios, Richard L. Fullagar

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

This paper describes the results and implications of recent excavations on the Hamersley Iron Brockman 4 tenement, near Torn Price, Western Australia. Results concentrate on two rock shelters with Aboriginal occupation starting at least 32,000 years ago and extending throughout the Last Glacial period. Preliminary observations are proposed concerning the nature of Aboriginal foraging patterns as displayed in the flaked stone and faunal records for the Brockman region.


Archaeobotany In Australia And New Guinea: Practice, Potential And Prospects, Tim Denham, Jennifer M. Atchison, Jeremy Austin, Sheahan Bestel, Doreen Bowdery, Alison Crowther, Nic Dolby, Andrew Fairbairn, Judith Field, Amanda Kennedy, Carol Lentfer, Carney Matheson, Sue Nugent, Jeff Parr, Matiu Prebble, Gail Robertson, Jim Specht, Robin Torrence, Huw Barton, Richard L. Fullagar, Simon Haberle, Mark Horrocks, Tara Lewis, Peter Matthews Jan 2009

Archaeobotany In Australia And New Guinea: Practice, Potential And Prospects, Tim Denham, Jennifer M. Atchison, Jeremy Austin, Sheahan Bestel, Doreen Bowdery, Alison Crowther, Nic Dolby, Andrew Fairbairn, Judith Field, Amanda Kennedy, Carol Lentfer, Carney Matheson, Sue Nugent, Jeff Parr, Matiu Prebble, Gail Robertson, Jim Specht, Robin Torrence, Huw Barton, Richard L. Fullagar, Simon Haberle, Mark Horrocks, Tara Lewis, Peter Matthews

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Archaeobotany is the study of plant remains from archaeological contexts. Despite Australasian research being at the forefront of several methodological innovations over the last three decades, archaebotany is now a relatively peripheral concern to most archaeological projects in Australia and New Guinea. In this paper, many practicing archaeobotanists working in these regions argue for a more central role for archaeobotany in standard archaeological practice. An overview of archaeobotanical techniques and applications is presented, the potential for archaeobotany to address key historical research questions is indicated, and initiatives designed to promote archaeobotany and improve current practices are outlined.


A Re-Examination Of A Human Femur Found At The Blind River Site, East London, South Africa: Its Age, Morphology, And Breakage Pattern, Zenobia Jacobs, Qian Wang, David L. Roberts, P V. Tobias Jan 2008

A Re-Examination Of A Human Femur Found At The Blind River Site, East London, South Africa: Its Age, Morphology, And Breakage Pattern, Zenobia Jacobs, Qian Wang, David L. Roberts, P V. Tobias

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

ABSTRACT Modern human femoral features might have appeared in the early Middle Stone Age (156 ka to 20 ka) in South Africa, as demonstrated by the recent re-examination of a human femur fossil found at the Blind River Site, East London in the 1930s, if new dating results hold. Two optically stimulated luminescence dates from the relocated original Blind River shallow marine/estuarine deposits that contained the femur gave almost identical ages of ~120 ka, corresponding to the early part of the Last Interglacial (Oxygen Isotope Stage 5). Overall, the slender headless femur is of modern human form. The distal epiphysis …


Signs Of Life: Engraved Stone Artefacts From Neolithic South India, A Brumm, Nicole Boivin, Richard Fullagar Jan 2006

Signs Of Life: Engraved Stone Artefacts From Neolithic South India, A Brumm, Nicole Boivin, Richard Fullagar

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

While exceedingly rare on any given archaeological site, engraved stone artefacts have nonetheless been reported from sites covering a range of periods mid regions across the world. Attempts to interpret such engravings have often focused on potential representational or communicative functions, including their role in notational systems, symbolic depiction, and the development of early forms of writing. Contextual and microscopic investigation Of a number of engraved artefacts discovered in a large assemblage of dolerite artefacts excavated from a Neolithic hilltop habitation and stone-tool production site in south India suggests, however, that an alternative interpretation of engraved stone artefacts is possible. …