Abstract Charred remains of wild rye from five sites in the Middle Euphrates region Syria dated to end Pleistocene and beginning Holocene are examined. This period spans transition gathering beginnings cultivation. Today cannot grow because temperatures aridity too pronounced. Wild grains two-grained einkorn morphologically similar, which has led difficulties identification; some cases may have...

Deaths from exposure to cold in the United States totalled 287 in 1932, 319 in 1933. Every year many individuals are found in a critical hypothermic state, in which there are changes in the nervous control of the body that characterize the condition and are significant in therapy. Studies have been made of monkeys,5 cats2 6 and guineapigs2 which were anesthetized and placed in a cold environmen...

Research on Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer diet has focused the consumption of animals. Evidence for use plant foods is comparatively limited but rapidly expanding. The authors present an analysis carbonised macro-remains processed plants from Franchthi Cave in Aegean Basin and Shanidar north-west Zagros Mountains. Microscopic examination charred food remains reveals pounded pulses as a common in...

Forensic anthropologists are tasked with interpreting the sequence of events from death to the discovery of a body. Burned bone often evokes questions as to the timing of burning events. The purpose of this study was to assess the progression of thermal damage on bones with advancement in decomposition. Twenty-five pigs in various stages of decomposition (fresh, early, advanced, early and late ...

Although plant-arthropod relationships underpin the dramatic rise in diversity and ecological dominance of flowering plants and their associated arthropods, direct observations of such interactions in the fossil record are rare, as these ephemeral moments are difficult to preserve. Three-dimensionally preserved charred remains of Chloranthistemon flowers from the Late Albian to Early Cenomanian...

Because of the different characteristics of mtDNA compared with nuclear DNA, the application of mtDNA typing and interpretation of results should not in all ways be the same as that routinely practiced for nuclear DNA typing. A higher success rate with typing mtDNA, as opposed to nuclear DNA, from old bones, severely decomposed or charred remains, or single hair shafts is expected and experienc...

The site of Parkhaus Opéra is located on the north-eastern shore of Lake Zürich (Switzerland) and was documented during a rescue excavation in 2010 and 2011 by the Office for Urbanism, City of Zürich. Two charred bread-like objects were found in late Neolithic Layer 13 of the pile-dwelling, and are investigated using a novel set of analyses for cereal-based foodstuffs. Tissue remains of barley ...

Global demand for petroleum keeps increasing while traditional supplies decline. One alternative to the use of conventional crude oils is the utilization of Canadian bitumen. Raw bitumen is a dense, viscous, semi-liquid that is diluted with lighter crude oil to permit its transport through pipelines to terminals where it can then be shipped to global markets. When spilled, it naturally weathers...

In this Chapter lipids extracted from charred and non-charred surface residues are quantitatively compared to lipids absorbed into the ceramic material of the vessel. The emphasis is on ceramic vessels originating from Uitgeest-Groot Dorregeest, but charred surface residues from other Roman Iron Age settlements and from Neolithic sites were analysed for comparison using Gas Chromatography and G...