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This paper presents the first systematic study of pre-Columbian imported stone celts recovered from the limestone islands of the Lucayan archipelago, comprising The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands of the northern Caribbean/West Atlantic. The majority derive from antiquarian collections and early archaeological investigations, prior to the destruction of many sites due to guano mining and development; only a handful have been recovered during archaeological investigations since the 1960s. The corpus includes 224 celts, of which 162 are complete and provide the measurements for a comparison with width/length ratios of celts from the proximate source islands of Cuba and Hispaniola. While the Lucayan archipelago shows a slightly higher proportion of wider celts, consistent with more reworking, overall the corpus suggests that exchange networks were sufficient to meet demand. This conclusion is supported by the absence of any clear diminution in size with distance from sources. The majority of stone celts (71.9 %) have been identified as various forms of “jade,” supplemented with a range of other materials. Despite the higher value often attributed to jade cross-culturally, we find no clear evidence for its differential treatment, though the archipelago's northern islands do have a lower proportion of jade versus non-jade celts. “For there is no rock”: Lucayan stone celts from The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands. “…the occasional discovery of beautifully polished stone implements proves that [the Lucayans] were in communication with distant lands, for there is no rock, except soft coral limestone, anywhere in the archipelago.”

Objectives We report here a stingray spine (Dasyatidae) found embedded in the femur of a male skeleton from the archaeological site of Uedomari-5, Rebun Island, Hokkaido, Japan. Materials A single well-preserved but incomplete human skeleton. Methods Macroscopic observation and low power magnification, CT imaging, radiocarbon dating and stable isotope (carbon, nitrogen) analysis. Results The stingray spine is tentatively identified as Bathytoshia brevicaudata. CT imaging shows no healing, indicating that death occurred shortly afterwards. The skeleton has been directly radiocarbon dated to the Okhotsk period (cal AD 429–827), with δ13C (−13.7‰) and δ15N (19.3‰) values indicating a diet focused on marine foods. Conclusions The absence of healing in what would have been a non-lethal injury strongly suggests that the spine tipped an arrowhead, rather than being the result of an accidental encounter with a living stingray. It is possible that the injury reflects a period of increased conflict coinciding with, or following on from, the expansion of the Okhotsk culture from Sakhalin into northern Hokkaido. Significance Uedomari-5 provides the first example, to our knowledge, of a stingray spine directly embedded in human bone at an archaeological site. More widely, the finding contributes to our knowledge of conflict in northern hunter-gatherer communities. Limitations Given the early excavation date (1949–50), there is little contextual information available for the burials. Suggestions for further research ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry) may be able to identify the stingray species. Archival research may provide more information concerning the excavations at Uedomari-5.

Modern humans have populated Europe for more than 45,000 years1,2. Our knowledge of the genetic relatedness and structure of ancient hunter-gatherers is however limited, owing to the scarceness and poor molecular preservation of human remains from that period3. Here we analyse 356 ancient hunter-gatherer genomes, including new genomic data for 116 individuals from 14 countries in western and central Eurasia, spanning between 35,000 and 5,000 years ago. We identify a genetic ancestry profile in individuals associated with Upper Palaeolithic Gravettian assemblages from western Europe that is distinct from contemporaneous groups related to this archaeological culture in central and southern Europe4, but resembles that of preceding individuals associated with the Aurignacian culture. This ancestry profile survived during the Last Glacial Maximum (25,000 to 19,000 years ago) in human populations from southwestern Europe associated with the Solutrean culture, and with the following Magdalenian culture that re-expanded northeastward after the Last Glacial Maximum. Conversely, we reveal a genetic turnover in southern Europe suggesting a local replacement of human groups around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, accompanied by a north-to-south dispersal of populations associated with the Epigravettian culture. From at least 14,000 years ago, an ancestry related to this culture spread from the south across the rest of Europe, largely replacing the Magdalenian-associated gene pool. After a period of limited admixture that spanned the beginning of the Mesolithic, we find genetic interactions between western and eastern European hunter-gatherers, who were also characterized by marked differences in phenotypically relevant variants. Ancient DNA data generation Before the LGM LGM in southwestern and western Europe Post-LGM in the Italian peninsula Post-LGM in western and central Europe Post-14 ka to Neolithic Phenotypically relevant variants Discussion and conclusions Methods

The timing of infant weaning in the past is important for its implications for birth-spacing and infant survival, and hence for population maintenance or growth under different socio-economic regimes. Prior to the adoption of agriculture, breastfeeding is believed to have been more prolonged amongst hunter-gatherers due, at least partly, to the lack of suitable weaning foods that are available to agriculturalists. The introduction of pottery possibly also changed weaning patterns due to shifts in food preparation even prior to the adoption of domesticated foods. Here we apply stable carbon and nitrogen isotope sequential samples on dentine to explore differences in diet relating to weaning age, social roles and food sharing between children and adults in a well-preserved Mesolithic/Neolithic population from the cemetery of Zvejnieki, Latvia. We address whether there are differences in diet between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic periods, defined here by the appearance of pottery rather than the adoption of agriculture. Considerable variability in weaning patterns was observed, but in general individuals tended to be breastfed from birth, with the contribution of breast milk declining after the age of 6–12 months, and completely withdrawn by the age of 3 years. We note a difference in δ15N dentine profiles between the Mesolithic and Neolithic, which may be linked to the introduction of pottery. We also assess differences in diets in relation to identities marked in death, specifically the presence or absence of animal tooth pendants. The carbon and nitrogen isotope profiles for sequentially sampled first molars show that adults who were buried without animal tooth pendants as grave goods consumed more freshwater resources during their childhoods than those buried with animal tooth pendants. We conclude that infant and childhood diet reflected different societal roles or identities within the population that continued into adulthood.

The genetically attested migrations of the third millennium BC have made the origins and nature of the Yamnaya culture a question of broad relevance across northern Eurasia. But none of the key archaeological sites most important for understanding the evolution of Yamnaya culture is published in western languages. These key sites include the fifth-millennium BC Khvalynsk cemetery in the middle Volga steppes. When the first part of the Eneolithic cemetery (Khvalynsk I) was discovered in 1977-1979, the graves displayed many material and ritual traits that were quickly recognized as similar and probably ancestral to Yamnaya customs, but without the Yamnaya kurgans. With the discovery of a second burial plot (Khvalynsk II) 120 m to the south in 1987-1988, Khvalynsk became the largest excavated Eneolithic cemetery in the Don-Volga-Ural steppes (201 recorded graves), dated about 4500-4300 BCE. It has the largest copper assemblage of the fifth millennium BC in the steppes (373 objects) and the largest assemblage of sacrificed domesticated animals (at least 106 sheep-goat, 29 cattle, and 16 horses); and it produced four polished stone maces from well-documented grave contexts. The human skeletons have been sampled extensively for ancient DNA, the basis for an analysis of family relationships. This report compiles information from the relevant Russian-language publications and from the archaeologists who excavated the site, two of whom are co-authors, about the history of excavations, radiocarbon dates, copper finds, domesticated animal sacrifices, polished stone maces, genetic and skeletal studies, and relationships with other steppe cultures as well as agricultural cultures of the North Caucasus (Svobodnoe-Meshoko) and southeastern Europe (Varna and Cucuteni-Tripol'ye B1). Khvalynsk is described as a coalescent culture, integrating and combining northern and southern elements, a hybrid that can be recognized genetically, in cranio-facial types, in exchanged artifacts, and in social segments within the cemetery. Stone maces symbolized the unification and integration of socially defined segments at Khvalynsk., Khokhlov’s research was funded in part by grants from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research No18-09-00309) and the Russian Science Foun-dation No18-18-00137.

As reported in MM 23.2, a site in Langford, Essex, has yielded the first cremation deposit dated to the Mesolithic in Britain (Gilmour and Loe 2015). Directly dated to 5657–5561 cal BC (95.4% probability, based on two separate dates on calcined bone successfully combined in OxCal 4.2: 6692 ± 21 BP, χ2, T = 0.0(5%3.8)), the deposit contained what appear to be the partial cremated remains of a single adult. While the loss of the organic fraction precludes stable isotope analyses for dietary reconstruction, recent experimental studies have shown that it is possible to obtain reliable in vivo strontium isotope (87Sr/86Sr) values on calcined bone, due to the high crystallinity resulting from the cremation process (Snoeck et al. 2015; see also Harbeck et al. 2011; Harvig et al. 2014). Here, we present the results of the strontium isotope analysis of the Langford cremation, and discuss what this means for the mobility of this individual. This is the first time the method has been applied to cremated bone from the Mesolithic period.

The Neolithic of Europe comprises eighteen specially commissioned papers on prehistoric archaeology, written by leading international scholars. The coverage is broad, ranging geographically from southeast Europe to Britain and Ireland and chronologically from the Neolithic to the Iron Age, but with a decided focus on the former. Several papers discuss new scientific approaches to key questions in Neolithic research, while others offer interpretive accounts of aspects of the archaeological record. Thematically, the main foci are on Neolithisation; the archaeology of Neolithic daily life, settlements and subsistence; as well as monuments and aspects of world view. A number of contributions highlight the recent impact of techniques such as isotopic analysis and statistically modeled radiocarbon dates on our understanding of mobility, diet, lifestyles, events and historical processes. The volume is presented to celebrate the enormous impact that Alasdair Whittle has had on the study of prehistory, especially the European and British Neolithic, and his rich career in archaeology.

The 60 AMS 14C determinations on cremated and non-burnt human bone presented here have provided a robust chronological framework for the interpretation of the main use phase at Knowth. This large series was seen as necessary to overcome the problem presented by the late fourth-millennium BC calibration plateau. To a large extent this strategy has been successful, but as is usually the case with modelling, there is not necessarily a single, clear-cut answer to questions of chronology, and much still depends on archaeological interpretation. Although the use of individual tombs is more variable, largely because of smaller sample sizes, overall modelling of funerary activity at Knowth consistently places the main phase of use as lasting between 100 and 300 years, maximum, in the period 3200-2900 BC (in a statement that now appears prescient, George Eogan (1991, 112) more than two decades ago suggested a date range of 3200-3000 cal. BC for the main phase of passage tomb construction and use at Knowth).

Land cover and use are compared for Neolithic Ireland, revealing complex inter-relationships between land cover and the archaeological record. Land-cover data can be misinterpreted when isolated from the land-use activities that help shape them, while land-cover data complements land-use datasets.

An isolated adult human ulna fragment recovered from the 'black mould' layer of Kent's Cavern by William Pengelly in 1866 exhibits a series of stone tool cut marks. The specimen has been directly AMS 14C-dated to 7314-7075cal bc (OxA-20588: 8185±38 bp) and may be from the same individual as a maxilla fragment dated to the same period. The cut marks are located on the olecranon process, in a position indicative of dismemberment, whereas the fracture characteristics of the bone furthermore suggest peri-mortem breakage, typical of butchery for the extraction of marrow. We here present and discuss the specimen and consider both ritual mortuary treatment and anthropophagy as possible explanations. Although it is difficult to interpret a single element in isolation, the latter scenario seems to be better supported and is not without parallel in prehistoric Europe, as indicated by a review of the available literature.

The 60 AMS 14C determinations on cremated and non-burnt human bone presented here have provided a robust chronological framework for the interpretation of the main use phase at Knowth. This large series was seen as necessary to overcome the problem presented by the late fourth-millennium BC calibration plateau. To a large extent this strategy has been successful, but as is usually the case with modelling, there is not necessarily a single, clear-cut answer to questions of chronology, and much still depends on archaeological interpretation. Although the use of individual tombs is more variable, largely because of smaller sample sizes, overall modelling of funerary activity at Knowth consistently places the main phase of use as lasting between 100 and 300 years, maximum, in the period 3200-2900 BC (in a statement that now appears prescient, George Eogan (1991, 112) more than two decades ago suggested a date range of 3200-3000 cal. BC for the main phase of passage tomb construction and use at Knowth).

A broad overview of stable carbon and nitrogen measurements of European Mesolithic human bone collagen demonstrates considerable structure in the dataset. The clearest difference, unsurprisingly, is seen between coastal and inland sites, though this oversimplifies a more complex situtation. With the coastal sample, there is a clear separation between the Baltic and Atlantic sites and those in the Mediterranean, with the latter showing the minimal use of marine foods. The inland sample also shows strong regional patterning, with evidence for a significant exploitation of freshwater aquatic resources clearly seen in some, but not all areas. This large-scale view subsumes some interesting local variations, supporting the view that, rather than being highly mobile, Mesolithic communities were organised within relatively small and stable territories.

While long known as a feature of the Near Eastern Neolithic, there is growing evidence for the special treatment of the human head in Mesolithic Europe. This takes the form of secondary deposition of crania and mandibles, often in unusual contexts, including as ‘grave goods’ with other burials; cutmarks suggesting decapitation, scalping and defleshing; and the deposition of fleshed heads in pits, as well as, most recently, on stakes in shallow pools. After reviewing this evidence, discussion turns to its interpretation. Possible links with the ‘ancestors’ are explored, and ethnographic support for their importance among hunter-gatherers is reviewed. If accepted, there may be implications for the expression of territoriality in the Mesolithic. The blurring of the lines between revered ancestor and enemy when interpreting the treatment of human heads is emphasised.

The first English-language monograph that describes seasonal and permanent Late Bronze Age settlements in the Russian steppes, this is the final report of the Samara Valley Project, a US-Russian archaeological investigation conducted between 1995 and 2002. It explores the changing organization and subsistence resources of pastoral steppe economies from the Eneolithic (4500 BC) through the Late Bronze Age (1900–1200 BC) across a steppe-and-river valley landscape in the middle Volga region, with particular attention to the role of agriculture during the unusual episode of sedentary, settled pastoralism that spread across the Eurasian steppes with the Srubnaya and Andronovo cultures (1900–1200 BC). Three astonishing discoveries were made by the SVP archaeologists: agriculture played no role in the LBA diet across the region, a surprise given the settled residential pattern; a unique winter ritual was practiced at Krasnosamarskoe involving dog and wolf sacrifices, possibly related to male initiation ceremonies; and overlapping spheres of obligation, cooperation, and affiliation operated at different scales to integrate groups defined by politics, economics, and ritual behaviors.

As many individuals were cremated in Neolithic and Bronze Age Ireland, they have not featured in investigations of individual mobility using strontium isotope analysis. Here, we build on recent experiments demonstrating excellent preservation of biogenic (87) Sr/(86) Sr in calcined bone to explore mobility in prehistoric Northern Ireland.A novel method of strontium isotope analysis is applied to calcined bone alongside measurements on tooth enamel to human remains from five Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in Northern Ireland. We systematically sampled modern vegetation around each site to characterize biologically available strontium, and from this calculated expected values for humans consuming foods taken from within 1, 5, 10 and 20 Km catchments. This provides a more nuanced way of assessing human use of the landscape and mobility than the 'local' vs. 'non-local' dichotomy that is often employed.The results of this study 1) provide further support for the reliability of strontium isotope analysis on calcined bone, and 2) demonstrate that it is possible to identify isotopic differences between individuals buried at the same site, with some consuming food grown locally (within 1-5 Km) while others clearly consumed food from up to 50 Km away from their burial place.Hints of patterning emerge in spite of small sample numbers. At Ballynahatty, for instance, those represented by unburnt remains appear to have consumed food growing locally, while those represented by cremated remains did not. Furthermore, it appears that some individuals from Ballynahatty, Annaghmare and Clontygora either moved in the last few years of their life or their cremated remains were brought to the site. These results offer new insights into the choice behind coterminous cremation and inhumation rites in the Neolithic. Am J Phys Anthropol 160:397-413, 2016.

Na de storm van 18 januari 2007 zijn 18 plots gemeten in bossen waar bomen omgewaaid waren en zijn 21 beheerders geïnterviewd over hun mening ten aanzien van stabiliteit. Met de verkregen informatie is het niet goed mogelijk de huidige blesinstructies af te wijzen of te onderbouwen. Wel zijn er aanwijzingen dat de toekomstbomen bij douglas relatief vaak door de storm waren beschadigd, terwijl dit bij de grove den niet het geval was.

Op 18 januari 2007 raasde een storm over West-Europa die tientallen dodelijke menselijke slachtoffers maakte en enorme materiële schade aanrichtte. De storm ontwortelde een miljoen bomen. Hadden we schade kunnen voorkomen of is dit het soort natuurgeweld waartegen geen kruid gewassen is? Hoofdlijnen uit Alterra rapport over "Storm, bos, beheer en stabiliteit"

Dit voorjaar vonden de drie Pro Silva excursies plaats op het landgoed Majuba (Geldersch Landschap) met als thema "Storm 2007". Bij de voorbereidingsdagen bleek dat tijdens de storm van 18 januari 2007 -tegen de gedachte van de voorbereiders in- relatief vaak dikkere bomen waren omgewaaid met diepere kronen. Dit werd ondersteund door diametermetingen ter plekke. Tijdens de excursie leek het dat de gemiddeld dikkere bomen, met diepere kroon, vaker om waren gewaaid. Dit zijn juist de bomen die normaal gesproken vaker als Toekomstboom aangewezen zouden worden.

The implications of new evidence are presented for the generally high level of marine diet in the coastal Mesolithic populations of Wales. Within these generally high levels, some variations may point to seasonal movement. These data provide a strong contrast with the mainland terrestrial diet of early Neolithic populations in the same area.

In het kader van de natuurverkenningen 2002 wordt in dit project onderzoek gedaan naar draagvlak voor natuur en het natuurbeleid onder de inwoners van Nederland en een aantal doelgroepen. Het onderzoek geeft inzicht in de natuurvisies en natuurbeeldenvan mensen. Daarnaast wordt ingegaan op houding en gedrag ten aanzien van het huidige natuurbeleid. Uit het onderzoek blijkt dat het draagvlak voor natuur en natuurbehoud groot is.

Dit rapport beschrijft de resultaten van een onderzoek onder Nederlandse bosbeheerders naar de invoering en toepassing van geïntegreerd bosbeheer. Het onderzoek is representatief voor het gehele Nederlandse bos voor bezittingen groter dan 5 ha. De resultaten laten zien dat beheerders positief staan tegenover geïntegreerd bosbeheer en dat ze het beschouwen als beheersvorm voor de lange termijn. In de praktijk worden op ruime schaal de beheersmaatregelen gebruikt die passen bij geïntegreerd bosbeheer. Er is echter nog weinig sprake van een systematische toepassing van geïntegreerd bosbeheer als doelgerichte beheersvorm. De geslaagde introductie van het begrip biedt goede perspectieven voor versterking van de uitvoeringspraktijk. De overheid kan dit proces stimuleren en faciliteren met doelgerichte maatregelen.

Meting van liggend en staand rondhout. Een evaluatie van de bestaande richtlijnen, en welke bewuste of onbewuste fouten er in de praktijk worden gemaakt bij het bepalen van het houtvolume. De gebruikte gegevens zijn afkomstig van de houtmeetcursussen georganiseerd door Praktijkschool Arnhem (nu IPC)