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To describe genetic and clinical characteristics for patients undergoing genetic testing at our multidisciplinary kidney stone clinic. A retrospective review was performed on patients evaluated in our stone clinic and referred to genetics between 2018 and 2022. Patient demographic, clinical, stone, and genetic data were included. We assessed the specific variants identified in our cohort, both those with a pathogenic association and variants of unknown significance. Of 825 patients seen in our stone clinic from 2018-2022, 50 patients were referred to genetics. Among these patients, 33/50 (66%) underwent genetic testing and were included in the analysis. Of those who underwent genetic testing, a variant was identified in 19/33 (58%) patients, and 9/33 (27%) of these were a known pathogenic variant. Among patients with a pathogenic variant identified, the majority had a family history of stones (55.6%), calcium-based stones (77.8%), had their first stone prior to age 18 (66.7%), were recurrent stone formers (100%), and had been managed medically (88.9%) or surgically (88.9%) prior to testing. When comparing patients with a pathogenic variant, variants of unknown significance, and no variant, there were no significant differences in demographic or clinical parameters. In our stone practice, more than half of patients who underwent genetic testing were found to have a variant. However, the majority of these variants were of unknown significance. Further evaluation regarding how genetic testing can impact nephrolithiasis management is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of research carried out at two previously unreported Eastern Desert Atbara River project (EDAR) Middle Stone Age (MSA) sites—EDAR 134 and EDAR 155. Luminescence dating results indicate human activity in this area during the Marine Isotope Stage 5 period (MIS 5), approximately 90 kya. Discussion concerning the affiliation of both analyzed inventories will be provided, including another MSA site from the EDAR area, where an assemblage dated to MIS 6/5e does not have technological features known from other technocomplexes in the eastern Sahara region (EDAR 135). Microscopic analysis of traces of tool use for the EDAR 155 assemblage shows the high impact of post-depositional (aeolian) processes on the state of preservation of lithic material. Sites EDAR 134 and 155 provide evidence for hominin activity during the late Pleistocene within an area only episodically accessible, due to arid conditions prevailing in the Saharan deserts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers a newly developed model of Holocene shoreline displacement in the southern part of the former Ventspils Lagoon of the Baltic Sea basin (present-day western Latvia) in relation to data from previous and new archaeological research in the area, assessing the changing pattern of Stone Age settlement and resource utilisation during the Mesolithic and Neolithic. An extensive lagoon was formed at the time of the maximum level of the Ancylus Lake and once again during the Littorina Sea maximum. In the south of the lagoon, the former shores from the two separate phases of the lagoon's existence lie at similar elevations, providing the conditions for site re-occupation. There were river mouth sites on the continental shore of the lagoon and island sites on the seaward side, whereas in the periods with a low water level, human settlement focused on the relict waterbodies and watercourses within the exposed low-lying terrain of the former lagoon bed. The water-level fluctuations and resulting landscape changes were much more rapid during the Ancylus stage, the loci of settlement and resource exploitation necessarily shifting at fairly short intervals. The two lagoon phases also represent rather different aquatic environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the first millennium BC, West Africa was in the midst of social, political, technological, and environmental change. The Diallowali site system, located along the western edge of the Middle Senegal Valley (MSV), is one of the few sites from this period to be intensively investigated and has produced a wealth of data regarding these processes. By considering a variety of artifacts, including stone tools, copper, iron, and worked bone, as well as approximately 5,000 kg of pottery, this paper establishes a detailed cultural chronology for Diallowali – the first of its kind in the Western MSV. Furthermore, these data indicate that the West African world of the first millennium BC was one of expansive interaction, including the trade and exchange of goods and ideas across an area including Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our species and other hominins have used earth mineral pigments since at least ~500,000 years ago, if not earlier. Its preservation and ubiquity within archaeological records across sub-Saharan Africa are well documented, but regional-scale networks of mineral selection, mining, transport, and use is an underdeveloped field. Here, we present a framework for interpreting regional variations within an overarching ochre-behavioral community of practice. Deep-time records of ochre provisioning span the final Middle Stone Age and Late Stone Age in modern day Eswatini, revealing longstanding cultural continuities in the intergenerational transmission of shared knowledge on landscapes, geology, and the desired physicochemical properties of mineral pigments. These communities of practice did not develop in isolation, and were part of a wider system of relations that were influenced and mediated by social interactions, such as technological learning, seasonal traveling, material culture exchange, and symbolic expression. We use compositional analyses to determine localized ochre procurement strategies and long-distance transport across a network of fifteen archaeological sites and mineral resources. Newly refined chronologies from Lion Cavern at Ngwenya using optically stimulated luminescence dating also reaffirm its antiquity as the oldest known evidence for intensive ochre mining worldwide (~48,000 years ago). Mineral pigments have been used by humans and human ancestors for at least 500 thousand years. Here, the authors document ochre provisioning in Middle and Late Stone Age Eswatini, demonstrate the presence of transport networks across 15 sites, and suggest that Lion Cavern is the oldest intensive ochre mine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Horned Serpent panel at La Belle France (Free State Province, South Africa) was painted by the San at least two hundred years ago. It pictures, among many other elements, a tusked animal with a head that resembles that of a dicynodont, the fossils of which are abundant and conspicuous in the Karoo Basin. This picture also seemingly relates to a local San myth about large animals that once roamed southern Africa and are now extinct. This suggests the existence of a San geomyth about dicynodonts. Here, the La Belle France site has been visited, the existence of the painted tusked animal is confirmed, and the presence of tetrapod fossils in its immediate vicinity is supported. Altogether, they suggest a case of indigenous palaeontology. The painting is dated between 1821 and 1835, or older, making it at least ten years older than the formal scientific description of the first dicynodont, Dicynodon lacerticeps, in 1845. The painting of a dicynodont by the San would also suggest that they integrated (at least some) fossils into their belief system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports on the bioarchaeology and evidence of interpersonal violence in a group of archaeological skeletons found near Ladismith, Western Cape, South Africa. The co-mingled skeletal remains derive from at least ten individuals of varying ages and both sexes. Overlapping radiocarbon dates on three individuals place them in the first half of the 15th century CE, pre-dating first European contact at the end of that century. Three juvenile crania have perimortem perforations, the locations of which indicate violent deaths. The sizes and shapes of the lesions suggest impact by a blade at least 110mm long and 50mm wide but with edges only 2mm thick. Based on these dimensions, we hypothesise that this was a metal-tipped spear. The nearest metal-working communities at this time lived approximately 500 km away, implying long-distance trade or exchange. δ13C, δ15N and 87Sr/86Sr values indicate that this was a heterogenous group of individuals who had spent their early lives in different locations and consumed varied diets, who had come together and were living in or travelling through the Ladismith area at the time of their deaths. This finding extends the timeframe and location for the practice of communal burial in the Holocene of southern Africa and provides additional support for the hypothesis that communal burials in this region tend to be associated with violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct 14C accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates obtained on a selection of pottery sherds recovered from surface sites in the Western Sahara have confirmed that the first potteries of this region appeared at the middle of the seventh millennium cal. BP. From the geographical point of view, these early results are detected all along the latitudinal gradient and from the Atlantic to the inland regions, which indicates that adoption of the new ware was fast and uniform in the entire territory. The decorative motifs are dominated by herringbones and series of short segments, always impressed with combs. These graphisms do not correspond with the abundant and widely distributed rock art motifs of the same region. However, they do appear incised on the surfaces of the pierced ostrich eggs used as containers since the Epipaleolithic. This may indicate a certain degree of symbolic continuity between the Epipaleolithic and the Neolithic in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pleistocene climate variability is often seen as a major cause of much of the evidence observed in the archaeological and palaeontological record of Africa. While continent-wide climate systems play an important role when testing pan-African human evolutionary processes, a more focused perspective centred on specific ecosystems at a regional level allows a detailed assessment of the different spatiotemporal scales of the proxies used to reconstruct past environments and the ways humans adapted to their change over time. Recent research in the arid interior of South Africa has provided insights into the availability of freshwater in the open landscape, which is a fundamental factor for human survival and the spatiotemporal distribution of which may have had a major influence on adaptive strategies. This article reviews the Pleistocene archaeological and environmental evidence of the Free State province of South Africa, which has produced major localities such as Cornelia-Uitzoek, Florisbad and Rose Cottage Cave, with the aim of providing a starting point for the discussion over freshwater availability with regard to southern Africa's Grassland Biome. Particular emphasis is given to the description of multi-proxy approaches including the analysis of sediments, faunal remains, enamel stable isotopes, pollens and phytoliths and absolute dating based on trapped-charge methods. The picture that emerges highlights the paucity of Pleistocene datasets in the Free State and the necessity to expand research at open-air sites and improve the chronological resolution of human occupations and palaeoenvironmental proxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores the vegetation compositional changes between the fifth and third millennium BC on the Karelian Isthmus (north-west Russia). Special emphasis is placed on studying the timing and magnitude of the impact of hunter-fisher-gatherers on the vegetation. First, we reconstruct the local vegetation around Lake Bolshoye Zavetnoye by using the Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm modelling. The application of different scenarios to the relevant source area of pollen is used to assess the local vegetation around Lake Bolshoye Zavetnoye (BZL) at specific distances from 500 to 3000 m. The regional vegetation reconstruction is assessed by using the REVEALS model. Second, we present new pollen and charcoal data from adjacent Lake Ikmenlampi (LI). Third, we calculate indices of vegetation change for BZL, LI and the region. We further explore the potential causes for these differences between the spatial scales and compare all these outcomes with local and regional archaeological data. The results show that foragers actively manipulated their environment. A shift towards more heliophilous conditions is shown by ca 4800 BC. Between 4000 and 3000 BC, an increase in archaeological material suggests intensive resource procurement and landscape management activities, particularly near settlements. Around the BZL site a local decrease in birch is observed from 4100 BC, coinciding with an increase in the rate of vegetation changes. Additionally, a decline in tree species (spruce, hazel, Alder) from 3500 to 3300 BC suggests human activities. The high fire frequency recorded between 4090 and 3150 BC further supports the presence of local human disturbances by the deliberate use of fire to create favourable living conditions. The results from the LI site go in the same direction with fluctuating abundances of spruce and the presence of pollen from Cannabis, Hordeum, Urtica and Plantago lanceolata from ca 4000 to 3600 BC, indicating the use of spruce-dominated forests and an early, incipient cultivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amber appears in the archaeological material of the Eastern Baltic region in the Middle Neolithic and continues in intensive use until the end of the Neolithic. Four major amber-working centres are known in the Eastern Baltic, the least studied of which is the settlement of Siliņupe (4th mill. BC). Not yet widely applied in research on Stone Age amber technologies, but very promising, is an analytical approach combining experimental archaeology and traceology to study processing choices made in specific production stages (i. e., individual technological elements), revealing that fine-grained sandstone was favoured for surface grinding, while flint tools were most widely used for shaping and surface treatment, distinguishing three techniques, namely shaving, scraping and pressure flaking, each identifiable by characteristic features. The study suggests that amber and flint processing were largely intertwined, as pressure flaking along with indirect percussion (used for splitting amber) derive from flint processing, and in the case of pressure flaking, required specific know-how. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concepts such as "symbolism" and "symbolic cognition" often remain unspecified in discussions the symbolic capacities of earlier hominins. In this paper, I use conceptual tools from phenomenology to reflect on the origins of early symbolic cognition. In particular, I discuss the possible early use of pointing gestures around the time of the earliest known stone tool industries. I argue that unlike more basic social acts such as expression, gaze following, and attention-getters, which are used by extant non-human great apes, communicative pointing involves key elements that are characteristic of symbolic cognition. In particular, it involves "third order intentionality" as well as "shared practice horizons": shared frameworks of understanding which are required for the interpretation of communicative acts whose meaning is not codified indexically or iconically in the signaling behavior. In the final part, I briefly review some indications for the use of pointing gestures around the time of the Lomekwian and Oldowan industries, as a way to sustain cooperation and possibly learning by instruction. It is suggested that pointing is more complex than is standardly acknowledged, and that it may have been an important communicative act for Early Stone Age hominins in transitioning to more fully symbolic speech capacities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In ancient navigation, the safety of a ship depended in no small measure on the stability of her anchors, and this crucial role at sea was not overlooked in the ritual symbolism of maritime communities. Accordingly, there is a general consensus on the fact that the anchors deposited at Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age temples were important carriers of meaning for seafaring groups. Nevertheless, little effort has been made to understand the role of anchors in the conceptual world of the ancient seafarers beyond the fact that they were powerful symbols of maritimity. Borrowed and adapted from linguistics, Conceptual Blending Theory (CBT) provides the theoretical framework to use material culture as a source for the investigation of ancient thought processes. In this paper, I apply the perspective of CBT to the anchors found at the Late Cypriot sanctuary of Kition-Kathari, with comparisons to those from Byblos and Ugarit, and I examine the cognitive implications of anchors as material metaphors and investigate how they embody the blending of the mental spaces of the sacred, the city, and the sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines newly acquired and previously published carbon and nitrogen isotope values in bone collagen from 58 dogs (Canis familiaris) dated to the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition. Using the Bayesian mixing model FRUITS, we estimate the marine or freshwater dietary fractions. These estimates, together with a radiocarbon‐based Bayesian statistical model, have allowed us to calculate the freshwater reservoir age for selected Danish regions. The Ertebølle and Funnel Beaker cultures display different feeding traditions, and stable isotope values of dogs cannot be used as a direct proxy for reconstructing human diet, as the foodstuffs appear to have been subject to some deliberate differentiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite their ubiquity, Mesolithic lithic tools given as funerary offerings have rarely been studied in detail. Whereas personal ornaments (e.g. beads, pendants) are commonly interpreted as markers of social identity and status, archaeologists have struggled to understand the stone tools, commonly regarded as "utilitarian" items. As a result, this class of grave goods has not received the same level of attention, leaving a significant gap in our understanding of Mesolithic mortuary behaviours. Our research challenges long-lasting perceptions of lithic tools as strictly utilitarian objects and draws on studies of one of the most substantial stone axe funerary collections from one of the largest Stone Age cemeteries in Europe–Zvejnieki, Latvia. Evidence suggests the selection of unused axes as grave offerings, while unusual wear traces on an axe found in a female grave (no 57) raises questions about its use in the burial rites. Using a multi-proxy approach, we compare life histories of axes placed in burials to those recovered from contemporary, nearby settlement contexts. Finally, a strong correlation between axes and women and children at Zvejnieki challenges gendered stereotypes of stone tools, historically regarded as possessions of the adult male members of Stone Age societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Halil Hâlid Bey (1869-1931), an intellectual who served as a diplomat, member of parliament, journalist and academician, was a productive and hardworking person who wrote many books, articles and newspaper columns. It is possible to say that Halil Hâlid Bey, who lived in England for a long time and even worked as a teacher of Turkish at the University of Cambridge, had lived in Algeria, Sudan, Egypt and India, which gave him a unique and critical perspective on the East and the West, which he described as two different civilizations. Although he drew attention especially with his writings in which he criticized the imperialist policies of the British and warned Islamic societies to be vigilant against this expansionist attitude, the fact that he was an academic who taught courses such as the ethnography of Muslim societies, Islamic philosophy and anthropology has been ignored. In this article, we will share the transliteration of his articles titled “The Emergence of Man and The Stone Ages” published in 1928 in the Journal of Darülfünun Theology Faculty in order to illuminate this obscure aspect and to demonstrate his competence in this field. We think that these articles deserve a place, even if it’s a small one, in our anthropological literature as they reveal the adventure of human beings from the emergence of life to the stone ages with a fluent and interesting competence in the light of anthropological knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a series of 12 OSL/IRSL dates that revise and complete the chronology of the important Middle (MSA) and Later Stone Age (LSA) site Umbeli Belli in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. These dates shift the previous radiometric ages thousands of years older than earlier measurements and play a key role in revising the cultural stratigraphy of KwaZulu-Natal. We also discuss how these dates bring the chrono- and cultural stratigraphy of southern Africa into clearer focus. The Robberg sequence of Umbeli Belli is now firmly dated to 21 ± 2 ka, whereas the preceding Early LSA assemblage dates to ~32 ka, representing one of the earliest dates for this cultural expression in the broader region. The final MSA assemblages from Layer 7 to 9 now date to between 35 ka and 40 ka, overlapping more tightly with comparable assemblages from Sibhudu, Umhlatuzana and other sites. Layer 10, which was previously also assigned to the final MSA, now dates to ~47-54 ka, placing the assemblage within the temporal range of the Late MSA. The new dates provide a good explanation for the clear differences in material culture between Layer 10 and the younger layers. We also present two new ages for the deeper horizons 11b and 12 at Umbeli Belli, dating to 76 ± 9 ka and 80 ± 9 ka, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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An increased prevalence of vascular calcification (VC) has been reported in kidney stone formers (KSFs), along with an elevated cardiovascular risk. The aim of the current study is to assess whether VC in these patients develops at a younger age and is influenced by stone composition. This single-center, matched case-control study included KSFs with uric acid or calcium oxalate stones (diagnosed based on stone analysis) and age- and sex-matched controls without a history of nephrolithiasis. The prevalence and severity of abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) and bone mineral density (BMD) were compared between KSFs and non-KSFs. In total, 335 patients were investigated: 134 with calcium oxalate stones, 67 with uric acid stones, and 134 controls. Overall, the prevalence of AAC was significantly higher among calcium stone formers than among the controls (67.9% vs. 47%, p = 0.002). In patients under 60 years of age, those with calcium oxalate stones exhibited both a significantly elevated AAC prevalence (61.9% vs. 31.3%, p = 0.016) and severity (94.8 ± 15.4 vs. 30.3 ± 15.95, p = 0.001) compared to the controls. Within the age group of 40–49, osteoporosis was identified only in the KSFs. Multivariate analysis identified age, smoking, and the presence of calcium stones as independent predictors of AAC. This study highlights that VC and osteoporosis occur in KSFs at a younger age than in non-stone-formers, suggesting potential premature VC. Its pathogenesis is intriguing and needs to be elucidated. Early evaluation and intervention may be crucial for mitigating the cardiovascular risk in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous reports show increased severity of perinephric fat stranding (PFS) with elevated serum creatinine in obstructing ureterolithiasis. We sought to investigate this association with our institution's patient population. We reviewed charts of patients diagnosed with obstructive ureterolithiasis or nephrolithiasis in our emergency department between January and October 2018. Patient demographics, lab results, and computed tomography (CT) imaging were reviewed. A blinded radiologist reviewed all CTs and graded hydronephrosis and PFS. Subjects were stratified by degree of PFS and compared via paired t-test, chi-squared test, univariate analysis, and multivariate analysis. We identified 141 patients; 114 had no-mild (Group 1) PFS, while 27 had moderate-severe (Group 2) PFS. Group 1 had a mean age of 56 (SD = 16.1) and mean stone size of 7.3 mm (SD = 4.22); 77% of the cohort had symptoms under 24 h. Group 2 was older with a mean age of 65 (SD = 16.2, p = 0.01) and mean stone size of 10.1 mm (SD = 6.07, p < 0.01); 50% had symptoms less than 24 h (p = 0.01). PFS did not correlate with change in serum creatinine. Univariate and multivariate analysis showed increasing age increased the odds of moderate-severe PFS by 3.5% (OR = 1.035, p < 0.05) while increased stone size increased the odds of moderate-severe PFS by 13.7% (OR = 1.137, p = 0.01). Although increased PFS correlated with increased age and stone size, no correlation was found with presenting creatinine or change in creatinine. Degree of PFS is likely a poor predictor of renal disease severity in acute ureterolithiasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along the western coastal plain of the Red Sea, the discovery of lithic tools proved that the occurrence of archaeological remains belonged to the Stone Age era. Unfortunately, until recently, most of the Stone Age site plans in the western Red Sea periphery have been unknown because of change in climate in addition to covering these sites with a large layer of sand. Recently, remote sensing (RS) data have proven to be effective at identifying buried archaeological sites using radar satellite imagery due to their ability to penetrate the land surface. This paper aims to identify and reconstruct several potential Stone Age sites using radar satellite images in the Tokar region, North-Eastern Sudan, on the western plain of the Red Sea. Radar (Sentinel-1 SAR GRD: C-band) data were processed utilizing the advantages of the Google Earth Engine platform and Snap software. The results of this research showed that some potential settlements belonging to the Stone Age era (expectedly dating back to the end of the Pleistocene and/or the initial phase of the Holocene) have subcircular shapes with some interior subcircles. These results shed new light on the potential construction technique, size, and function of the settlement in the Stone Age era and can provide some initial insights into the ancient lifestyle in this region. Additionally, this study can aid in future archaeological surveys and excavation missions in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has become increasingly clear that, through the millennia, travel by water has been generally safer, faster, and more economical than travel by land. Humans possessed seagoing watercraft early on, disablings and uncontrolled storm-generated drifts would inevitably have occurred, and the prevailing winds and oceanic surface currents would have impelled some of these craft over oceans, leading to insular and extrahemispheric discoveries and exchanges. Intentional exploratory voyages also occurred. Although there is much material evidence of developed watercraft from the Late Neolithic on, few Stone Age vessel vestiges other than of logboats have been recovered archaeologically. However, indirect means exist to obtain a sense of what occurred long ago. First is demonstration of very early human presences on islands. Here, many contemporary scientific proxies for otherwise-undocumented human occupancy are described. In the New World, the presence of tropical/subtropical human intestinal parasites implies trans-ocean crossings impressively early in time, including by the seventh millennium B.C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practice of using classical capital lettering was introduced north of the Alps from Italy in the second half of the 15th century, and appeared very early in the Kingdom of Hungary. The article contains six case studies on the problems of architectural carvings, stone tabernacles, tombstones and the classical inscriptions on them. I. Tabernacles. All'antica tabernacles were produced in large numbers in late mediaeval Hungary and survive in churches from monumental to very small. The tabernacle frames, which followed the antique architecture of the façade, were accompanied by inscriptions: quotations about the Eucharist or, less frequently, inscriptions referring to the maker. II. Inscriptions outside the royal court. Outside the Buda residence of King Matthias, inscriptions engraved with humanist capitals also appeared, earlier than in the royal court, according to our present knowledge. The earliest dated inscriptions in Hungary survive in Veszprém and are attributed to Bishop Albert Vetési, the best known being a text written on ribbons running on a Gothic console (1467). The all'antica heraldic stones known from several places in the country are often dated, the earliest being found in the Nógrád castle of Miklós Báthory, the humanist bishop, with the date 1483. III. The royal court. Monumental all'antica inscriptions adorned the royal palace in Buda: building inscriptions, statue bases. Their texts are mostly known only from sources, as few original stone carvings have survived. These inscriptions were sometimes in bronze letters, but there were also engraved ones. The monumental inscriptions were associated with King Matthias, while the inscriptions known from the time of Vladislaus II are smaller in size and do not have bronze lettering. IV. Epitaphs. Antique letters also appeared as circular inscriptions on late medieval tombstones. The epitaph written in distychs was often engraved in a tabula ansata. Rarely, the wording was also antiquated, as exemplified by the abbreviations DOM, DOMS, DM. V. Inscriptions around Hungary in the Jagiellonian period. The commissioners of early inscriptions were familiar with the all'antica inscriptions of the Buda court. In Vienna, the first known all'antica inscriptions can be attributed to a citizen of Buda, Peter Juncker, and in Moravia to the lords of Tovačov and Moravská Třebová (Ctibor Tovačovský z Cimburka; Ladislav z Boskovic). VI. Architectural inscriptions of the Jagellonian period in Hungary. Inside the sepulchral chapel of Tamás Bakócz in Esztergom there is a bronze donation inscription (1507), in keeping with the perfect Renaissance centralised space. After 1500, all'antica building inscriptions became common in Hungary. We know of many of them, mainly in the Transdanubian region, written in pure classical capitals. In the northern part of the country, the early humanist capitals are more common; the Biblical quotations and proverbs on the staircase of the town hall of Bártfa were written in such letters. In Transylvania, classical capitals are again common: the inscriptions of the Lázói Chapel, built next to the cathedral in Gyulafehervár, or the Várday Chapel were also carved in such letters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Later Stone Age (LSA) site of Zuurberg in the Cape Fold Mountains of South Africa was excavated in the 1920s by F.W. FitzSimons. As with his other excavations, not much is known about the exact provenance and detailed archaeological context of the remains. This paper reports the re-analysis and dating of the human skeletal remains from Zuurberg. The remains were commingled but here sorted according to previously published sources. The remains of eight individuals are present, of which only one (Zg3) is fairly complete. The assemblage includes four older adults, two younger or middle-aged adults, an adolescent and a child. Two of the three individuals who could be assessed showed signs of enamel hypoplasia, which probably attests to some hardship. One of the individuals was dated to 4795 ± 42 BP (Ua-61976), which places this site into the Wilton period of the South African LSA. However, the different levels of burials, as well as the presence of potsherds, may suggest an extended use of the site. Isotopic analysis suggests a mixed diet, which was not depleted of protein. The reassessment, sorting and dating of these remains add value to the collection, especially as they come from an open-air, non-coastal forager site. This assemblage can now be included in future studies of southern African Stone Age foragers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reconstructs the history of the publications relating to the results of Captain Montagu Brownlow Parker's 1909–1911 excavations in Jerusalem, comprising the English and French versions of the book Underground Jerusalem by Père Louis-Hugues Vincent, and four articles by that same author appearing in the pages of Revue Biblique. The significant part played by the English translator, Theodore Andrea Cook, is shown, and as it transpires, he is the reason why archival materials relating to the Parker expedition eventually ended up in the Palestine Exploration Fund's archives. Importantly, an unpublished drawing by Vincent of an Iron Age stone toilet seat, which had been referred to by the excavators as the 'Throne of Solomon', was found among these archival materials. The paper investigates thirteen similar parallel stone toilet seats from the Iron Age II and examines what is known concerning issues of sanitation during that period in the Kingdom of Judah. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the lithic aggregates from Sitwe 23 (SW23), a Stone Age locality in a previously unstudied region of the northern Luangwa Valley, Zambia. This area yielded two surface lithic scatters containing abundant artifacts derived from Pleistocene sediments on uplifted terrain and exposed by recent erosion on two adjacent terraces. The scatters are time-averaged palimpsests formed by deflation, but most of the lithics lack evidence of significant fluvial transport or post-depositional damage, indicating minimal horizontal displacement. Typological and attribute analyses of samples from both spurs reveal predominantly simple and expedient core and flake technologies, as well as sophisticated biface manufacture and Levallois technique producing flakes and points that are differentially distributed between the terraces. The artifacts identified in this analysis include types conventionally considered diagnostic of the Acheulean, Sangoan, and Middle Stone Age, suggesting that the collections may document one or more temporal windows during the Chibanian age (770–126 ka). Whether artifacts in these samples were originally deposited sequentially or concurrently is not yet known and alternative hypotheses are presented and discussed. The collections are compared to sites in Zambia and the northern Lake Malawi basin and found to be similar technologically but typologically different. Given the paucity of previously known Ston Age archaeological sites in the region, our work now demonstrates that northern Luangwa has significant archaeological potential and deserves further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mumba rockshelter, located in the northwest of Lake Eyasi is key to understanding the Stone Age in East Africa. The stratigraphy of the site spans the last 130 ka BP and comprises levels from the Middle Stone Age, the Later Stone Age, the Pastoral Neolithic, and the Iron Age. In terms of the Middle Stone Age (MSA), Mumba has helped to define two lithic industries: Sanzako (130 ka BP) and Kisele (90–50 Ka BP) that characterize this techno-complex in northern Tanzania. The Sanzako industry was defined based on level VI-B at Mumba, which was excavated in 1938 by Köhl-Larssen. Here we present the study of the lithic assemblage excavated by Mehlman between 1977 and 1981. Mehlman subdivided this unit into three sublevels (Lower, Middle, and Upper), all of which remained unanalyzed and therefore, unpublished. The main features of the lithic assemblages found in the three sublevels are the presence of discoid, Levallois, and bipolar knapping methods. Additionally, the retouched tools are mainly sidescrapers, denticulates, and notches. This recent research enables us to understand the Sanzako industry in more detail, as well as its nature within the chronocultural framework of the MSA in northern Tanzania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BRICS, the 15-year-old alliance of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has emerged as an important actor on the global political and economic stage, not least by expanding its membership to include middle-power states Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in early 2024. Much like the countries of the G7 and the EU, BRICS members are among the major players in international agri-food markets. BRICS and the G7 have accounted for around one-seventh of each other's agricultural exports in the past decade. However, excessive protectionism and mounting sanctions as well as ideology-driven de-risking strategies are a high-risk venture that could ultimately lead to isolationism and the formation of blocs. Food insecurity is growing, primarily at the expense of poorer people in the Global South. Against this background, it seems advisable to balance geopolitical and geoeconomic interests by turning away from confrontational Stone Age politics and towards more cooperative approaches, such as more diplomacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Umhlatuzana rockshelter is known for its continuous record of Middle and Later Stone Age lithic assemblages. This study presents multiproxy geoarchaeological data (micromorphology, X‐ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy with energy‐dispersive spectroscopy) to reconstruct the depositional and post‐depositional history of the site. Although the Stone Age deposits macroscopically appear homogeneous, micromorphological analysis reveals the existence of primary, unaltered depositional microlayering throughout the sequence. Sediments related to combustion activities on‐site are observed in both the Holocene and Pleistocene deposits. Post‐depositional geochemical alterations result in the formation of several phosphatic minerals that significantly affect the site's preservation conditions. One of those is vashegyite, a rare magnesium phosphate mineral related to acidic and moist sedimentary environments. Bioturbation features are prominent at the microscale, but sediment mixing does not seem to affect the vertical distribution of the artifacts. The observation of horizontal microlayering in both the Pleistocene and Holocene illuminates the dominant mechanism of sedimentation throughout the site's 70,000‐year occupational history. It moreover shows that the lithics can be analysed as coherent assemblages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Ceramics / Taoci Xuebao is the property of Journal of Ceramics Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article presents the first general treatment of the material from the 1954 and 1988–1989 excavations at the fourth millennium BC site of Siliņupe, examined within a broad framework of food and non-food resource use on the Baltic Sea's Gulf of Riga coast, present-day Latvia. Located at the boundary of marine, freshwater, and terrestrial biotopes, the site offered a high abundance and diversity of wild food resources: marine and terrestrial mammals, birds, and fish. The aquatic environment of the gulf was enriched with nutrients from a wide drainage basin, ensuring very high biological productivity and a rich food chain, while also receiving marine water inflows that promoted the seasonal ingress of marine species. The spectrum of marine and freshwater resources would have permitted year-round habitation, while pottery vessels enabled food processing on a large scale, possibly for delayed consumption. Amber, collected from the beaches and made into jewelry on the site, circulated in an exchange network reaching far into the continental interior, where the major rivers flowing into the gulf served as traffic arteries. Conversely, flint brought from present-day southern Lithuania or Belarus provided the main lithic material for toolmaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this essay Vilém Flusser outlines a liberating approach to aesthetic education that overcomes the disintegration of culture exemplified by the disastrous tripartition of science, politics, and art. Flusser views this tripartition as an inevitable consequence of the unmanageable quantity of information available to modern humans that prevents them from participating completely and acquiring true competence in culture. The response to these overwhelming quantities of information is a turn to specialization. Flusser contrasts this current state of culture with the imagined unity of the Stone Age before the dissolution of a unified culture. As part of his solution to this dilemma, Flusser rejects the view that knowledge of every aspect of culture must be the prerequisite for competence with culture. He posits instead that the task of future education will be to train students to access, connect, and manipulate the information that modern technologies allow us to store. In this way the goal of school will be to train generalists, not specialists. Knowledge transfer is out. These generalists are quasi artists who participate actively in the growth of culture. Flusser evokes an original meaning of art from before the tripartition, art as method, in this case a method that facilitates communication between different subcultures and generates new information from what our technologies have stored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of History / Habaršy Tarihi Seriâsy is the property of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The understanding of cultural dynamics at work at the end of the Final Pleistocene in West Africa suffers from a significant lack of excavated and dated sites, particularly in the Sahelian and Sudanian ecozones. While the Later Stone Age shows varied behavioral developments in different parts of the continent, the chrono-cultural framework of this period remains largely unknown in West Africa. We report on archaeological, geomorphological, and chronological research on two Final Pleistocene Later Stone Age sites in the Falémé Valley, eastern Senegal. Optically stimulated luminescence ages place the site of Toumboura I-2017 between 17 ± 1 and 16 ± 1 ka and the Ravin de Sansandé site between 13 ± 1 ka and 12 ± 1.1 ka. The excavated lithics show typical Later Stone Age industries, characterized by chaînes opératoires of core reduction mainly producing flakes and bladelets as well as blades and laminar flakes. Segments dominate the toolkits but a few backed bladelets and end-scrapers on flake blanks were recognized. Local raw materials were used, with a preference for chert and quartz, as well as greywacke. These Later Stone Age lithic assemblages are the oldest known in Senegal so far and add to the small number of sites known in West Africa for this period, which are mainly located farther south, in sub-tropical ecozones. The Later Stone Age sites of the Falémé Valley are contemporaneous with typical Middle Stone Age technologies in Senegal dated to at least the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. Our results thus provide new archaeological evidence highlighting the complex cultural processes at work during the Final Pleistocene in West Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the Neolithic transition, human lifestyle shifted from hunting and gathering to farming. This change altered subsistence patterns, cultural expression, and population structures as shown by the archaeological/zooarchaeological record, as well as by stable isotope and ancient DNA data. Here, we used metagenomic data to analyse if the transitions also impacted the microbiome composition in 25 Mesolithic and Neolithic hunter-gatherers and 13 Neolithic farmers from several Scandinavian Stone Age cultural contexts. Salmonella enterica, a bacterium that may have been the cause of death for the infected individuals, was found in two Neolithic samples from Battle Axe culture contexts. Several species of the bacterial genus Yersinia were found in Neolithic individuals from Funnel Beaker culture contexts as well as from later Neolithic context. Transmission of e.g. Y. enterocolitica may have been facilitated by the denser populations in agricultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Stone Age, the collection of specific rocks was the first step in tool making. Very little is known about the choices made during tool-stone acquisition. Were choices governed by the knowledge of, and need for, specific properties of stones? Or were the collected raw materials a mere by-product of the way people moved through the landscape? We investigate these questions in the Middle Stone Age (MSA) of southern Africa, analyzing the mechanical properties of tool-stones used at the site Diepkloof Rock Shelter. To understand knapping quality, we measure flaking predictability and introduce a physical model that allows calculating the relative force necessary to produce flakes from different rocks. To evaluate their quality as finished tools, we investigate their resistance during repeated use activities (scraping or cutting) and their strength during projectile impacts. Our findings explain tool-stone selection in two emblematic periods of the MSA, the Still Bay and Howiesons Poort, as being the result of a deep understanding of these mechanical properties. In both cases, people chose those rocks, among many others, that allowed the most advantageous trade-off between anticipated properties of finished tools and the ease of acquiring rocks and producing tools. The implications are an understanding of African MSA toolmakers as engineers who carefully weighed their choices taking into account workability and the quality of the tools they made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An overview of publications dedicated to the application of various X-ray fluorescence techniques for investigating the chemical composition of ancient ceramics and clays is presented. Examples of conventional wavelength dispersive and energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometers, portable X-ray analyzers, spectrometers with polycapillary optics (micro X-ray fluorescence spectrometry), and total reflection geometry are considered. Although X-ray fluorescence serves as the analytical signal in all cases, the listed X‑ray fluorescence techniques differ in the range of analytes, methods of sample preparation, and methods for calculating element concentrations. The author experience in applying the described techniques of X-ray fluorescence spectrometry to a comprehensive study of archaeological materials from the Stone Age for the historical reconstruction of economic activities in the Baikal Siberia population is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Baltic Sea basins, some of which only submerged in the mid-Holocene, preserve Stone Age structures that did not survive on land. Yet, the discovery of these features is challenging and requires cross-disciplinary approaches between archeology and marine geosciences. Here, we combine shipborne and autonomousunderwater vehicle hydroacoustic data with up to a centimeter range resolution, sedimentological samples, and optical images to explore a Stone Age megastructure located in 21 m water depth in the Bay of Mecklenburg, Germany. The structure is made of 1,673 individual stones which are usually less than 1 m in height, placed side by side over a distance of 971 m in a way that argues against a natural origin by glacial transport or ice push ridges. Running adjacent to the sunken shoreline of a paleolake (or bog), whose youngest phase was dated to 9,143 ±36 ka B.P., the stonewall was likely used for hunting the Eurasian reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) during the Younger Dryas or early Pre-Boreal. It was built by hunter-gatherer groups that roamed the region after the retreat of the Weichselian Ice Sheet. Comparable Stone Age megastructures have become known worldwide in recent times but are almost unknown in Europe. The site represents one of the oldest documented man-made hunting structures on Earth, and ranges among the largest known Stone Age structure in Europe. It will become important for understanding subsistence strategies, mobility patterns, and inspire discussions concerning the territorial development in the Western Baltic Sea region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present work, more than one hundred and thirty lithic artefacts rediscovered in several archaeological sites dating from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Middle Ages from Calabria (Southern Italy) were petroarchaeometrically characterised through minimally invasive techniques. In more detail, 110 specimens were found in the Grotta della Monaca site (Sant'Agata di Esaro), and the other 23 belong to a collection kept in the Museo Nazionale Preistorico ed Etnografico "Luigi Pigorini" (Roma), coming from several localities (Longobucco, Spezzano della Sila, Cicala, Gimigliano, Roccaforte del Greco, and Bova). For preservation needs, 2 small axes in polished stone and 2 obsidians collected from Grotta della Monaca were analysed by absolutely non-destructive techniques. Optical and electron microscopic investigations, sometimes integrated with wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction spectrometry, allowed us to ascertain that the source area of all the lithic tools was in Calabria, except for obsidians, which come from the island of Lipari (Messina, Southern Italy). For a small number of particularly favourable cases, it was possible to define with great precision the outcrop area of the used rocks given their textural and mineralogical features. The specific source area contained a pickaxe originating from Cetraro–Fuscaldo metabasalt (lawsonite–albite facies) outcrops and two small axes in polished stone, one derived from migmatitic metapelites from Palmi and the other from meta-ultramafic rocks from Curinga. The choice of the used lithologies, harder or softer, had to be linked to the use that humans had to make of the lithic artefacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]