Magdalena Kolenc, Aneta Piplica, Martina Čelhar
et al.
The significance of birds in the medieval human diet has been greatly explored in Europe. However, there is a lack of systematic analysis of data from Croatia. Avian remains dated to the Late Medieval and Early Modern Periods from five archaeological sites in continental Croatia underwent skeletal and taxonomic analysis. Age groups were determined and sex identification was conducted using visual and X-ray diagnostics. Chicken bone measurements were taken, and the logarithmic size index (LSI) technique was performed. Statistical analysis was applied to explore differences between sites. A total of 694 avian remains were studied, revealing 10 species/genera. Avian remains ranged from 8.88% to 20.32% across sites, with the highest percentage found at the urban site BAN. Hens outnumbered cockerels across all sites, with adult chickens prevailing over immature and subadult ones. Chicken sizes were generally consistent across sites, except for castle MIL, where a larger breed was identified. Cockerels tended to be larger than hens, except for one small-sized spurred specimen. To conclude, bird exploitation complemented the use of other animals in diets. Chickens were vital for eggs and meat, with monasteries excelling in bird husbandry over castles. Inhabitants of urban areas mainly consumed bird meat. Castles showed high status through game and imported birds. The aim of this article was to fill in the gap of information regarding the exploitation and consumption of birds at Croatian sites during the Late Medieval and Early Modern Periods.
Bernard Lathuilière, Danwei Huang, The Corallosphere Group
The morphology of stony corals (Scleractinia) remains the only means to reconstruct the most inclusive evolutionary history of the clade comprising both extant and extinct species. The definitions of morphological characters and their associated trait states are critical for assembling a dataset that could be analysed for phylogenetic reconstruction. Here, we present coral morphological data that consist of more than a hundred characters reviewed by the Corallosphere working group. These characters would eventually form the basis of a data matrix used to reconstruct the phylogeny of all extinct and extant scleractinian families. The initial results obtained by the working group comprise poorly resolved trees, which are biased by the complexity of the multiple character states and the multiplicity of researchers involved in the coding process. When the analysis is restricted to matrices consisting of families from the Triassic and Jurassic periods and coded by a single person, resolution increased, allowing for further exploration of various ingroups and outgroups. The results presented here represent analyses of (i) a data matrix with all families represented by their type genus; (ii) a data matrix with selected families represented by their solitary or phaceloid genera; (iii) a data matrix with only Triassic corals; (iv) a data matrix with only Jurassic corals; (v) a data matrix with Triassic and Jurassic corals; and (vi) data matrices with several outgroups. Well-resolved trees have been obtained in several cases. Phylogenetic rela-tionships among basal, robust and complex groups established using molecular data are discussed in the context of the morphological phylogeny obtained here.
Введение. Обсуждается история развития ауксологии человека в Московском университете имени М.В. Ломоносова как одного из направлений биологической антропологии.
Результаты и обсуждение. Анализируются основные достижения университетской ауксологической школы в XXI веке на фоне аналогичных исследований, реализуемых зарубежными учеными. Основное внимание уделено влиянию климато-географических, социально-экономических, психоэмоциональных факторов на процессы роста и развития. Особое место в трудах ауксологов всего мира занимает проблема секулярной изменчивости морфофункциональных признаков. Российскими учеными показано, что, в отличие от предыдущих десятилетий, существует трансформация вектора этих изменений в сторону макросомизации телосложения у российских детей, подростков и молодежи, увеличения жировой массы, снижения показателей массивности костяка и физической крепости организма, что в целом соответствует глобальным тенденциям, наблюдающимся в других странах мира. Анализируются данные по секулярным изменениям компонентного состава тела, влияния ряда заболеваний на формирование физических особенностей населения, которые положены в основу таких прикладных разработок, как создание референтных графиков, таблиц и других средств оценки и диагностики индивидуальных и групповых ростовых паттернов. Важный аспект исследований университетских ауксологов – изучение воздействия физической активности на соматический статус детей и подростков, связанных с проблемами детско-юношеского спорта и особенностями секулярного тренда у юных спортсменов.
Заключение. Российскими ауксологами получены новые оригинальные результаты относительно направленности и скорости этих изменений на разных этапах жизненного цикла человека. Ауксологические исследования в МГУ включают в себя прикладные разработки, имеющие существенное практическое значение, в частности для целого ряда отраслей медицины и спортивной антропологии. Приводятся возможные перспективы будущих ауксологических исследований, включающие продолжение изучения секулярного тренда, воздействия психоэмоциональных факторов на процессы роста и развития, расширение исследований в области спортивной антропологии, совершенствование методического сопровождения, работы с архивными материалами.
Ethnology. Social and cultural anthropology, Physical anthropology. Somatology
Sadaf Yaghoubi, Ali Reza Ashouri, Majid Mirzaie Ataabadi
et al.
Abstract A mammutid is described here for the first time from the Late Miocene (MN12 equivalent) deposits of Abkhareh village, Varzeghan region, in the North-Western part of Iran. It is identified as “Mammut” cf. obliquelophus and is represented by an isolated and moderately worn upper third molar with a zygodont crown pattern typical of mammutids. In addition, two upper incisors found associated with the molar and probably belonging to the same individual are assigned as Mammut. The studied material expands the geographic distribution of “Mammut” obliquelophus into Western Asia.
Confounding bias arises when a treatment and outcome share a common cause. In randomised controlled experiments (trials), treatment assignment is random, ostensibly eliminating confounding bias. Here, we use causal directed acyclic graphs to unveil eight structural sources of bias that nevertheless persist in these trials. This analysis highlights the crucial role of causal inference methods in the design and analysis of experiments, ensuring the validity of conclusions drawn from experimental data.
Tatina Blyakharchuk, Nikita Shefer, Olga Ponomareva
et al.
West Siberian mires covering more than 50% of area in the subarctic are still poorly investigated despite their thick peat sediments suitable for paleogeographic research of past long-term landscape and climatic changes. In this research, a combination of paleoecological methods were used, including the analysis of pollen, spores, diatoms, NPPs, and macrofossils, the measurement of peat humification, and quantitative paleoclimate reconstruction. This multi-proxy approach was applied to study a palsa bog (frost peat heave mound) located in the north of western Siberia on the border of the northern taiga and forest–tundra (65°18′56″ N, 72°52′27″ E). Chronology is based on 21 radiocarbon dates, which were calibrated in CLAM. Studies have shown that sediments of palsa bog Nadym of a 1050 cm thickness were formed both in the Holocene and earlier periods of the Quaternary. Radiocarbon dating worked well for peat sequences (610 cm thick), but failed for underlying lacustrine and mineral sediments (440 cm thick). Numerous remains of salt-water diatoms and exotic Neogene pollen were found in the lacustrine sediments (650–850 cm). The oldest sediments (850–1050 cm) have signs of secondary epicryogenic diagenesis in the form of cryogenic iron-enriched granules. Both lacustrine and bottom sediments contain abundant coniferous pollen. At the same time, spore–pollen complexes dated to the Last Glacial Age were not found in low sediments because of failed dates. To explain this, the authors turn to the hypothesis of glyacioisostatic compensation, according to which the study area was uplifted during the Last Glacial Age and the ancient deposits underwent secondary diagenesis in subaerial conditions. Holocene lacustrine sedimentation began to form about 9800 cal. a BP. These lacustrine sediments turned out to be enriched in redeposited Neogene pollen and diatoms. It was interpreted as an influence of excess humid climate in combination with geological subsidence of landscape in the study area during the Early Holocene. This caused lake formation and introduction of exotic microfossils via surface run-off from higher-relief areas in the catchment. Syngenetic sedimentation in the Nadym section is associated only with peat-mire deposits covering the last 8400 cal. a BP. For this time, the dynamic of vegetation cover and quantitative changes in paleoclimate were reconstructed using spore–pollen, macrofossil, humus, and NPP data as well as the information–statistical method of V.A. Klimanov. The spore–pollen analysis revealed four main phases in the development of vegetation cover: 1. Spruce–birch forests with open meadows and lakes (8400–7600 cal. a BP); 2. Dominance of spruce forests and thawed eutrophic (minerotrophic) mires (7600 to 6500 cal. a BP); 3. Coniferous–birch forests and thawed mesotrophic mires (6500 to 4500 cal. a BP); 4. Birch–pine forests and oligotrophic (ombrotrophic) bogs with permafrost mounds—palsa bogs (approx. the last 4500 years). Quantitative reconstructions of paleoclimate based on pollen data show that in most cases the periods of a sharp decrease in mean January and mean July temperatures coincided with episodes of low solar activity. The assumption was made about the determining influence of solar activity on the formation of permafrost in the soils and mires of the study area. Sun minima caused permafrost formation in the mire periodically since 8400 cal. a BP in study peatland, but complete freezing of the peat mire and formation of the palsa bog occurred at c. 2800 cal. a BP.
La conservación preventiva de los bienes patrimoniales estuvo inicialmente asociada a las variables ambientales de los museos que los custodiaban. Las colecciones paleontológicas, si bien menos susceptibles que otras colecciones biológicas, no son ajenas a esta problemática; sin embargo, la comunidad científica ha sido muchas veces reticente a esta realidad. A partir de la década de 1970, diversas instituciones del Reino Unido, Estados Unidos de América, Canadá y algunos países europeos dieron impulso a esta temática; publicaron numerosas contribuciones que trataron en detalle las causas y las formas de mitigación de los daños potenciales a los ejemplares fósiles y, en años recientes, incluyeron técnicas espectroscópicas (no invasivas) a casos de estudio. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo sintetizar el conocimiento de los factores ambientales que representan un riesgo para las colecciones paleontológicas, una temática cuyo abordaje, como parte de la conservación preventiva, es incipiente en nuestro país.
Coring lakes and water bodies for paleoecological studies often involves using a coring platform to properly operate a sediment sampling device. In the past, coring platforms have been developed by specific paleoecology laboratories or by private companies. Those coring platforms are generally composed of two boats (inflatable boats, kayaks, etc.) connected together by a metallic and wood structure. While these coring platforms have proven their efficacy, they are not ideal in several coring settings requiring remote transportation, and their cost may be prohibitive for less funded paleoecological laboratories. On this technical note, we describe the Light, Affordable, Stable, and Transportable (LAST) coring platform. Coring platforms based on these principles and on the design presented herein have been extensively tested in various conditions and countries by our research group and collaborators. In the first part of this manuscript, we present the principles and the design of the LAST coring platform; then, we discuss the coring setting for which the LAST coring platform is suitable, and its possible limitations. Associated with this manuscript, we provide a construction and assemblage manual developed without words and with simple illustrations in order to make it easily accessible to speakers of any language.
In the 1970s, the authors of this paper explored the Site 21b, situated in the north-western fringe of the Deir el-Bahari Valley, in the Theban Massif (Upper Egypt). Based on the significant variability in the state of preservation of artefacts’ surfaces, six series of artefacts were identified, corresponding to the Middle Palaeolithic and Pre-Dynastic assemblages. The most detailed analysis was performed for the inventory of the series 2, which was ascribed to a previously unknown industry with the Levallois technique and Mousterian discoidal cores. This industry is also characterised by an occurrence of a specific manner of obtaining flakes from globular and thick, flattened, lens-like nodules, abundantly occurring in the local Lower Eocene limestone. This manner of flake production was called the Bahari technique. Due to the occurrence of sidescrapers, Mousterian points, denticulated and notched pieces, the chronology of this series was determined as Middle Palaeolithic.
Osteoarthritis on the cervical vertebrae, C3-C7, accumulates as a function of age, life style, diet and severity of long-term skeletomuscular stress. However, the degree to which age (older adult and elderly) and sex differences impact on the manifestation of osteoarthritis remains difficult to assess because of the variability of biological aging and the lack of discrete post-reproductive age categories. The aim of this investigation was to score the degree of osteophytic marginal lipping, porosity and eburnation on the cervical vertebrae of identified individuals from the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection of the Forensic Anthropology Center of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA, to address whether the expression of osteoarthritic features differs (1) between older adults, 50-55 years, and elderly adults, 70-76 years, within each sex; (2) between both sexes of the same age category; and (3) between the sexes regardless of age. Osteological remains included were accessioned between 2000 and 2010 to reflect contemporary variation, and only C3 to C7 were scored given the distinctions in morphology and function of the atlas and axis. The vertebrae were separated by number and analyzed using Mann-Whitney U tests. Osteoarthritic features are generally more severe in males compared to females although eburnation is elevated in older females (50-55 years) compared to their elderly counterparts (70-76 years). Both sexes show an accumulation of osteoarthritic features as a consequence of advancing age. However, sex differences between elderly adults (70-76 years) are less extreme compared to when all females and males are considered regardless of age.
A new pentatomoid heteropteran, Chinchekoala qunita gen. et sp. nov. is described from the lower Eocene of Laguna
del Hunco, Patagonia, Argentina. The new genus is mainly characterised by cephalic characters such as the mandibular
plates surpassing the clypeus and touching each other in dorsal view; head wider than long; and remarkable characters
related to the eyes, which are surrounded antero-laterally and posteriorly by the anteocular processes and the pronotum, as well as they extend medially more than usual in the Pentatomoidea. This is the first pentatomoid from the Ypresian of Patagonia and the second from the Eocene in the region, being the unique two fossil pentatomoids in Argentina.
María Eugenia Luna, Fabián A. Quintero, Maria F. Cesani
et al.
El objetivo fue analizar en animales con retardo prenatal de crecimiento (RPC) el efecto de la subnutrición proteico-calórica lactacional y postlactacional sobre la morfología craneofacial, particularizando en el crecimiento de los componentes funcionales neural y facial. Ratas Wistar fueron divididas en los grupos: Control, RPC (inducido por ligamiento parcial de ambas arterias uterinas el día 15 de gestación) y Sham-operado (con igual técnica quirúrgica que RPC aunque sin ligamiento de las arterias). A su vez, el grupo RPC se dividió en: (a) crías lactantes de madres con nutrición normal y a partir del destete alimentadas ad-libitum y (b) crías lactantes de madres con restricción alimentaria del 25% y a partir del destete alimentadas con el 50% de lo consumido por un animal control. Se tomaron radiografías a las edades 1, 21, 42, 63 y 84 y se midieron longitud, ancho y altura de los componentes neural y facial. Se calcularon los índices volumétricos neural y facial y morfométrico neurofacial. Se aplicaron ANOVA y pruebas post-hoc y se calcularon diferencias porcentuales entre medias. Los resultados permitieron concluir que el estrés primario ocurrido durante la vida intrauterina resulta crítico en lo inmediato y en la vida postnatal, ya que aun mediando normonutrición postnatal el retardo de crecimiento perdura. Además, cuando al estrés prenatal le continúa restricción nutricional postnatal los efectos adversos son aditivos provocando retardo del crecimiento aún mayor. Finalmente, mientras que el componente neural es más resistente a las deficiencias nutricionales, el facial presenta mayor plasticidad, hecho que se evidencia en cambios de forma.
Palabras clave: crecimiento craneofacial; desnutrición pre y postnatal; craneometría funcional
The aim of the study was to analyze the effect of protein-calorie malnutrition during lactation and post-lactation on craniofacial morphology in intrauterine growth-retarded (IUGR) animals, particularly in the neural and facial functional components. Wistar rats were divided into the following groups: Control, IUGR (induced by partial bending of both uterine vessels at day 15 of gestation), and sham-operated (with the same surgical technique as IUGR, but without vessel bending). The IUGR group was further divided into (a) nursing pups of mothers with normal nutrition and fed ad-libitum at weaning, and (b) nursing pups of mothers with 25% food restriction and fed with 50% of the food ingested by controls at weaning. Radiographs were taken at 1, 21, 42, 63, and 84 days. Neural and facial length, width and height were measured, and neural and facial volumetric and morphometric indices were calculated. ANOVA and post-hoc tests were applied, and percentage differences between means were determined. Results showed that intrauterine stress is critical during early and postnatal life, since even when postnatal nutrition is normal, growth retardation persists. Furthermore, when prenatal stress is followed by postnatal nutritional restriction, adverse effects are additive and cause even greater growth retardation. Finally, while the neural component is more resistant to nutritional deficiencies, the facial component has greater plasticity, as reflected in the shape changes observed.
Key words: craniofacial growth; prenatal and postnatal undernutrition; functional craniometre
La descripción y el análisis del crecimiento humano han ocupado gran parte de las investigaciones de antropobiólogos, médicos y biólogos humanos, entre otros. En Argentina si bien se dispone de información de prevalencias de malnutrición, existe dificultad en la comparación debido a que en la mayor parte de los casos hay disparidad en las técnicas y/o metodologías empleadas. El objetivo del presente trabajo es analizar el estado nutricional de la población del partido de Brandsen a fin de disponer de elementos diagnósticos que permitan su contrastación con otras provincias argentinas. Peso corporal (Kg) y talla (cm) fueron medidos en una muestra de 1453 niños (718 varones y 735 mujeres) durante 2004. Con los datos obtenidos se analizaron los indicadores Peso/Edad (P/E), Peso/Talla (P/T), Talla/Edad (T/E) e Indice de Masa Corporal (IMC). La prevalencia de cada indicador se calculó siguiendo los puntos de corte recomendados por la OMS: para bajo P/E, T/E y P/T se utilizó el percentilo 5, para sobrepeso (S) el intervalo percentilar 85-95 (?P85 IMC <P95) y para obesidad (O) el percentilo 95 (IMC?P95). Los resultados obtenidos indicaron las siguientes prevalencias totales: Desnutrición: 10.5%, Bajo P/E: 5.4%, Baja T/E: 7.9%, Bajo P/T: 0.9%, S: 15.8% y 9.2%. Los resultados obtenidos indican niveles bajos de desnutrición a la vez que altos porcentajes de sobrepeso y obesidad.
Resumen. Este estudio tiene como objetivo presentar una síntesis del conocimiento actual acerca de los mamíferos de las cuencas paleógenas de ltaboraí, estado de Río de Janeiro, y Taubaté, estado de São Paulo, Brasil, y además hacer nuevas inferencias acerca de la edad de estas sedimentitas basados en la paleomastofauna. En la cuenca de Itaboraí son conocidas 34 especies de mamíferos, oriundas de canales de disolución que atravesaban el calcáreo que rellenaba la cuenca. Los ungulados son los fósiles más comunes, pero los marsupiales son los que presentan mayor diversidad (21 especies). Los litoptemas son el grupo mejor conocido, y los notoungulados los más abundantes de todos. La fauna de la Formación Tremembé (cuenca de Taubaté) es poco variada en comparación con aquélla de la cuenca de Itaboraí, existiendo solamente diez especies, 40% de estas pertenecen al orden Notoungulata. Estudios recientes desarrollados sobre la fauna de mamíferos de las cuencas de Itaboraí y Taubaté posibilitaron nuevas evaluaciones para la datación de las unidades mencionadas. En la cuenca de Itaboraí, la secuencia fosilífera fue situada en el Paleoceno inferior, y parte del Paleoceno superior. Los sedimentos que llenan los canales de disolución son del Paleoceno superior, incluida en la edad mamífero Itaboraiense, llegando hasta el Riochiquense. En la cuenca de Taubaté (Formación Tremembé) la condición general de los Cingulata y Notoungulata, como también los datos paleopalinológicos y paleoclimáticos sugieren que la citada formación es de la fase temprana de la edad mamífero Deseadense.
PALABRAS CLAVE. Mamíferos fósiles. Paleógeno. Cuenca Itaboraí. Cuenca Taubaté. Brasil.
Abstract. THE FOSSIL MAMMAL FAUNA OF EARLY TERTIARY BRAZILIAN BASINS AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN DATING THE ITABORAÍ AND TAUBATÉ BASINS. The current knowledge of the fossil mammals of two Paleogene basins of Brazil, Itaboraí Basin (State of Rio de Janeiro) and Taubaté Basin (State of Sao Paulo) is summarized. We also address the age of these deposits based on the fossil mammals. The 34 species known from the Itaboraí Basin were collected in fissure-fill deposits. Though ungulate remains are the most abundant, marsupials are the most diverse group. Litoptema is the better-known order, though notoungulates are the most frequent. The fauna of the Tremembé Formation (Taubaté Basin) is significantly less varied than that of Itaboraí, and is represented by only 10 species, of which 40% belong to the order Notoungulata. Recent studies by the authors on the mammal fauna of Itaboraí and Tremembé suggest that the sedimentary sequence of the Itaboraí Basin was deposited partially during the early Paleocene and part during the late Paleocene. The fissure-fill deposits are of Itaboraian land-mammal age, but certainly continued through the Riochican. The generalized condition of the cingulates and notoungulates of the Tremembé Formation, together with palaeopalynologic and palaeoclimatic data, suggest that the mammal fauna may belong to the beginning of the Deseadan age.
KEY WORDS. Fossil mammals. Paleogene. Itaboraí Basin. Taubaté Basin. Brazil.
Como parte de la tesis de Licenciatura en Antropología, se realizó un relevamiento antropométrico transversal de niños y adolescentes de familias de bajo nivel socioeconómico, residentes en el barrio Ciudad de Nieva de San Salvador de Jujuy. Se trabajó con 72 grupos familiares que reciben cobertura del Centro de Salud. Totalizaron 173 niños y jóvenes, 97 varones y 76 mujeres de 4 a 19 años. Se midió Talla Total y Peso Corporal confrontando con la referencia nacional. Se registró el contexto familiar y barrial, mediante observación en campo y entrevistas a madres seleccionadas, para conocer los hábitos alimentarios de niños y jóvenes. Los resultados mostraron diferencias entre sexos, especialmente en Talla Total Las mujeres presentaron distribución semejante a la referencia para ambas variables. En el registro de hábitos alimentarios, se observó que los merenderos barriales tuvieron fuerte influencia en el consumo, especialmente en familias vinculadas mediante redes sociales de parentesco y con el Centro de Salud. También sobresalieron el nivel de ingreso económico, y las preferencias alimentarias de los progenitores. Los factores socioculturales tendrían fuerte influencia sobre el crecimiento físico de la población relevada, principalmente las relaciones interfamiliares, la asistencia social y las características internas de los grupos familiares.