The archaeological visibility of hearths related to shellfish cooking methods is limited, particularly in pre-ceramic shell midden contexts. Important evidence for use fire the thermal alteration components, namely identification burnt shells. Mollusk shells that mineralize as aragonite are indicative burning due conversion calcite through recrystallization at known temperature thresholds. Howe...

We establish a high-precision radiocarbon chronology for 2 house depressions at CA-SCRI-333, a large prehistoric village on the western end of Santa Cruz Island, California, USA. SCRI-333 is a large mound composed of a shell midden with more than 50 house depressions evident across its surface. We develop a chronology of occupation and activity for 2 of these depressions (6 and 32) based on a s...

We report on previously unknown early archaeological sites in the Bolivian lowlands, demonstrating for the first time early and middle Holocene human presence in western Amazonia. Multidisciplinary research in forest islands situated in seasonally-inundated savannahs has revealed stratified shell middens produced by human foragers as early as 10,000 years ago, making them the oldest archaeologi...

A problem confronting Snowy Owls (Nyctea scandiaca) in their southern incursions is the shortage of food. This difficulty is raised by the presence of other raptors that feed on small mammals. This note shows how little food is found by migrant Snowy Owls and indicates a complex temporary ecological solution. At Tatoosh Island, Washington (48”24’ N, 124” 44’ W) on 25 November 1973, we observed ...

The material evidence from sites across the Aleutian Islands reflects colonization events, subsequent adaptations, and influxes of ideas and/or people from the east. The occurrence in the eastern Aleutians of bifacial technology around 7000 BP, of artifacts similar to the Arctic Small Tool tradition between 4000 and 3500 BP, and of slate and jet objects around 1000 BP reflects repeated surges o...

In a 1945 monograph, Hrdlička argued that, at 1,000 BP, Paleo-Aleut people on Umnak Island were replaced by NeoAleut groups moving west along the island chain. His argument was based on cranial measurements of skeletal remains from Chaluka Midden and mummified remains from Kagamil and Ship Rock burial caves. By the 1980s, researchers had concluded that the transition demonstrated by Hrdlička, f...

The aim of the study was to compare the effects of stress (contamination trials) on the microorganisms in zinc-polluted soil (5,018 mg Zn kg(-1) soil dry weight) and unpolluted soil (141 mg Zn kg(-1) soil dw), measured as soil respiration rate. In the laboratory, soils were subjected to copper contamination (0, 500, 1,500 and 4,500 mg kg(-1) soil dw), and then a bactericide (oxytetracycline) co...

Magnetic parameters of soils developed on different geologic backgrounds, Central Portugal A. LOURENÇO1, H. SANT’OVAIA2 AND C. GOMES3 1CGUC, DCT, Universidade de Coimbra, Universidade de Coimbra, Largo Marquês de Pombal, 3000 272 Coimbra (*correspondence: [email protected]) 2Centro de Geologia da U. Porto, DGAOT, FCUP, R Campo Alegre, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal 3CGUC, DCT, Universidade de Co...