Doris Esenarro, Jimena Ccalla, Guisela Yabar
et al.
The objective of this research is to conduct a spatial analysis of the functional Andean worldview of the Ankasmarka Archaeological Site, located in Calca, Peru. The preservation of cultural heritage in Latin America faces significant challenges that threaten the integrity of key sites such as Ankasmarka. Despite its historical relevance, this site lacks available open access information and data, collected in accessible reports, which hinders the attraction of attention and funding necessary for its conservation. Furthermore, urbanization and uncontrolled tourism negatively impact both cultural traditions and the connection of local communities with their past. The methodology employed is based on a systematic review of primary information, supplemented by excavation reports and official sources. Specialized software such as AutoCAD Architecture and Revit were used to carry out the topographic and architectural survey of the site, enabling the precise and rigorous interpretation of the data. This article focuses on the spatial and functional description of the site, with the aim of paving the way for future research in specific areas such as formal and structural analysis, as well as social and political dynamics. The results reveal a complex organizational structure at Ankasmarka, with enclosures designated for various functions, particularly storage and agricultural activities. The site is divided into three sectors: Sector A, which includes housing, storage areas, and tombs; and Sector B and C, with the highest concentration of housing and agricultural zones with storage areas, respectively. The findings underscore the interrelationship between agriculture, funerary practices, and architecture, highlighting the importance of Ankasmarka in the lives of its ancient inhabitants and the need for continued future research.
Miguel Ángel García-Villafuerte, Gerardo Carbot-Chanona
Syninclusions are palaeontological resources that provide palaeoautoecological evidence of fossil species and information on the biological interactions between different organisms that were part of a past ecosystem. Although palaeautoecological interactions in amber have been documented worldwide, interactions between predators and potential prey are rare. Here, we documented the first evidence in Miocene Chiapas amber of predator-predator-prey interaction involving two spider species and one insect: the araneophagous “pirate spider” Mimetus sp., the Theridiidae spider Thymoites carboti, and gall flies (Cecydomiidae). The interaction between Mimetus sp. and T. carboti is documented as a possible case of araneophagy or opportunism. Also, the first evidence of a web built by some members of the Thymoites genus is presented. The taphonomic analysis of the amber piece indicated that they were all captured at the same time under the same resin flow.
Jean-Baptiste André, Nicolas Baumard, Pascal Boyer
Standard approaches to cultural evolution focus on the recipients or consumers. This does not take into account the fitness costs incurred in producing the behaviours or artefacts that become cultural, i.e. widespread in a social group. We argue that cultural evolution models should focus on these fitness costs and benefits of cultural production, particularly in the domain of ‘symbolic’ culture. In this approach, cultural products can be considered as a part of the extended phenotype of producers, which can affect the fitness of recipients in a positive way (through cooperation) but also in a detrimental way (through manipulation and exploitation). Taking the producers’ perspective may help explain the specific features of many kinds of cultural products.
Serjoscha W. Evers, Kimberley E. J. Chapelle, Walter G. Joyce
Abstract Trionychid (softshell) turtles have a peculiar bauplan, which includes shell reductions and cranial elongation. Despite a rich fossil record dating back to the Early Cretaceous, the evolutionary origin of the trionychid bauplan is poorly understood, as even old fossils show great anatomical similarities to extant species. Documenting structural detail of fossil trionychids may help resolve the evolutionary history of the group. Here, we study the cranial and mandibular anatomy of Plastomenus thomasii using µCT scanning. Plastomenus thomasii belongs to the Plastomenidae, a long-lived (Santonian–Eocene) clade with uncertain affinities among trionychid subclades. The skulls of known plastomenids are characterized by unusual features otherwise not known among trionychids, such as extremely elongated, spatulate mandibular symphyses. We use anatomical observations for updated phylogenetic analyses using both parsimony and Bayesian methods. There is strong support across methods for stem-cyclanorbine affinities for plastomenids. The inclusion of stratigraphic data in our Bayesian analysis indicates that a range of Cretaceous Asian fossils including Perochelys lamadongensis may be stem-trionychids, suggesting that many features of trionychid anatomy evolved prior to the appearance of the crown group. Divergence time estimates from Bayesian tip-dating for the origin of crown Trionychia (134.0 Ma) and Pan-Trionychidae (123.8 Ma) constrain the evolutionary time span during which the trionychid bauplan has evolved to a range of < 11 million years. Bayesian rate estimation implies high morphological rates during early softshell turtle evolution. If correct, plastomenids partially fill the stratigraphic gap which results from shallow divergence times of crown cyclanorbines during the late Eocene.
Background and study aim. Prerequisites and purpose of the study. Today, philosophical anthropology (in the context of physical culture) occupies an intermediate place between the biological sciences and existential philosophy, elements of which it uses to explain the problems of physical existence. In the deep spheres of the physical state of a man (in the continuum of his/her spiritual-moral, physical, subconscious-rational, irrational and anthrobiological subjectivity) one can find the true foundations of personal physical culture and give them an immanent-subjective expression of human strength (as a creator of culture globalized world). The purpose of the study is to characterize the physical culture of the individual in the context of philosophical anthropology. Material and methods. Sources of information were the authoritative database Web of Science Core Collection, Vernadskyi National Library of Ukraine. Extraction of data from documents was carried out by means of a search query. In total, data on 102 documents containing such keywords as philosophy, anthropology, physical culture, sport were removed from the Web of Science Core Collection. Accordingly, 18 documents were found in the catalogues of the Vernadskyi National Library of Ukraine. Further analysis was performed with these 120 documents. The results of the search query were recorded in the form of tables and a special text file, which was processed in VOSviewer. The requirements of dialectical logic, comparative method, method of phenomenological reduction, hermeneutic methods are chosen by research methods. Results. The most significant and popular thematic categories, journals, authors, articles, keywords are identified. The connection between the elements of bibliographic description of articles and individual groups of publications has been established. It is established that from the second quarter of the XX century among philosophers there is opposition to the understanding of human nature on the basis of the acceptance of some one of its essence (spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional and volitional, etc.), which determines the existence of any person. This was a denial of the approach to a man, which was called essential (from the Latin essentia – essence). The result of this transformation was to establish an existential understanding of a man (from the Latin existentia - existence). However, a self-contained existential approach is capable of producing a worldview distortion of personal physical culture, especially in conditions of restriction of freedom (for example, during a pandemic, war). Therefore, in modern philosophical anthropology it is necessary to adhere to a balanced combination of essential and existential understanding of a man in general and his/her physical culture in particular. In this way, philosophical anthropology is able to actualize various structures of worldview, including the values of physical culture. Conclusions. From the point of view of modern philosophical anthropology, athletes, in the broadest sense of the term (all those who purposefully engage in physical and sports exercises), are carriers of a set of socio-cultural values (moral and volitional qualities, morpho-functional properties, psychophysical abilities, etc.). These values, in the context of the globalization of civilizational development and the main axiological concepts (quality and standard of living, social order, well-being), should be considered as a means of activating planetary socio-cultural development.
Sedimentological and biogeochemical measurements were conducted on minerotrophic peat in a wilderness area on a granitic plateau to reconstruct the local ecosystem’s history and clarify the peat’s response to local and global changes. The peat is less than 1900 years old. Its clay and iron (Fe) concentration profiles revealed an increasing atmospheric influx over time, whereas the levels of its nutrients (P, K, Ca, Mg) have increased since the 19th century. Additionally, changes in the relative abundance of amorphous aluminium indicated a gradual decrease in soil weathering. The dominant metallic trace elements were cadmium during the Roman epoch and early Middle Ages, then lead and mercury during the modern and the industrial eras. Unexpectedly, the peat proved to be sub-modern and lacks wildfire proxies, probably indicating an absence of nearby woodlands over the last 1900 years. Its concentrations of Ca and Mg indicate that airborne transport of particles released by soil erosion in lowland agricultural plains has strongly affected the peat’s composition since the 18th–19th century. The site has also been heavily influenced by metallic contamination due to regional metallurgy and agriculture, producing a peat that has been modified by social imprints over several centuries.
Athiwat Wattanapituksakul, Rasmi Shoocongdej, Cyler Conrad
Ban Rai Rockshelter in northwest Thailand, dating to the Terminal Pleistocene and Middle Holocene, includes evidence for hunter-gatherer exploitation of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and arthropods. Abundant faunal remains, identified throughout site deposits, include macaques (<i>Macaca</i> sp.) and Sambar deer (<i>Rusa unicolor</i>), but these identifications are influenced by an assemblage largely comprised of preserved tooth elements and fragmented bone. Area 3 at Ban Rai has the largest abundance and diversity of faunal remains recovered and identified in this study. Here, we examine the zooarchaeological assemblage from Ban Rai Rockshelter, to understand long-term hunter-gatherer subsistence change, influenced by site preservation, during and after the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. Our results support the presence of the exploitation of arboreal taxa during the Early and Middle Holocene in northwest Thailand.
The mainstream of American physical anthropology began as racist and eugenical science that defended slavery, restricted "non-Nordic" immigration, and justified Jim Crow segregation. After World War II, the field became more anti-racial than anti-racist. It has continued as a study of natural influences on human variation and thus continues to evade the social histories of inequitable biological variation. Also reflecting its occupancy of white space, biological anthropology continues to deny its own racist history and marginalizes the contributions of Blacks. Critical disciplinary history and a shift toward biocultural studies might begin an anti-racist human biology.
Shigeharu Numao, Ryota Uchida, Takashi Kurosaki
et al.
Abstract Background Circulating fatty acid-binding protein 4 (FABP4) is a marker for various diseases. It would be highly useful to have simple and less invasive techniques for the assessment of FABP4 concentrations in the clinical research setting. The purpose of the present study was to assess the concordance of circulating FABP4 concentrations in venous and capillary blood both at rest and immediately after acute exercise in healthy young males. Results Thirty-eight healthy young male adults aged from 19 to 25 years (mean age, 20.8 ± 1.2 years) were recruited. Paired blood samples were taken from the cubital vein (venous) and fingertip (capillary) blood at rest (resting state) and immediately after incremental exercise (exercising state). Blood samples were analyzed to determine the circulating FABP4 concentration using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Pearson’s correlation coefficients for circulating FABP4 concentrations between venous and capillary blood samples indicated a strong positive correlation in both the resting and exercising state (resting state: r = 0.982, exercising state: r = 0.989, both p < 0.001). The mean FABP4 concentration was similar between venous and capillary blood in the resting state (p = 0.178), whereas it was significantly higher in capillary blood than in venous blood in the exercising state (p < 0.001). Furthermore, Bland–Altman plots showed a non-significant bias (− 0.07 ± 0.61 ng/mL, p = 0.453) in the resting state, whereas a significant bias (− 0.45 ± 0.61 ng/mL, p < 0.001) was observed in the exercising state. Conclusions These results indicate that capillary blood sampling can slightly overestimate circulating FABP4 concentrations under a physiologically dynamic state. However, the association between the venous and capillary blood in terms of FABP4 concentration was very strong, suggesting that capillary blood sampling can detect changes in FABP4 concentration in both physiologically steady and dynamic states.
Mark F. Teaford, Peter S. Ungar, Andrea B. Taylor
et al.
AbstractObjectivesThis study seeks to determine if (a) consumption of hard food items or a mixture of food items leads to the formation of premolar or molar microwear in laboratory capuchin monkeys (Sapajus apella) in one feeding session and (b) rates of microwear formation are associated with the number of food items consumed.Materials and methodsFive adult male capuchins were used in two experiments, one where they were fed unshelled Brazil nuts, and the other where they were fed a mixture of food items. Dental impressions were taken before and after each feeding session. Epoxy casts made from those impressions then were used in SEM analyses of rates of microwear formation. Upper and lower premolars and molars were analyzed. Qualitative comparisons were made and Spearman's rank‐order correlations used to examine the relationship between rates of microwear formation and number of Brazil nuts consumed.ResultsPremolars and molars generally showed new microwear in the form of pits and scratches. However, the incidence of those features was low (0–6%). Rates of microwear formation were highest during the consumption of Brazil nuts.DiscussionVariations in the rate of microwear formation on the premolars likely reflected patterns of ingestion whereas consistency in the rate of microwear on the molars likely reflected patterns of chewing. While dental microwear formation seemed to be correlated with the number of hard objects consumed, rates did differ between individuals. Differences in results between the two experiments demonstrate some of the limitations in our knowledge of dental microwear formation.
The physical features of individuals buried at Odino cemeteries Tartas-1 and Preobrazhenka-6 are compared to those of people belonging to other Neolithic and Early Bronze Age cultures of the Barabinskaya forest-steppe. This study tests the hypothesis about the morphological diversity of the autochthonous substrate, which correlates with various chronological stages and cultures of the region. Measurements of the Odino group were supplemented by published data on the Sopka-2/4A population. We examine individual measurements and average characteristics, processed by principal component analysis. Local populations belonging to the Odino culture were craniometrically diverse. The hy pothesis about the ties between Odino and the contemporaneous population of Central Asia is not supported. The analysis of individual data revealed several crania sharply differing from others, and similar to those of the Botai sample of the late fourth and third millennia BC.
At the establishment of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in 1930, women comprised 2.4% of the total membership, and 9.7% a decade later. By 2014 ~70% of members were women. Despite these numbers, there are continued gender disparities within the discipline. While there is considerable interest in promoting equity, there is little documentation of the historical experiences of female anthropologists. This article introduces the women active in the discipline during the first decade of the Association, compiles descriptions of their experiences related to their treatment based on gender, and examines these historical perspectives in conjunction with documented trends of continuing gender disparities. A pattern is evident for these early anthropologists of receiving personal and financial discouragement during their education; experiencing discrimination in hiring, promotion, and pay; studying women and children as entrée into professional work; working within the federal government or military; leaving anthropology early in their careers; having their work credited to their male colleagues; experiencing additional limitations if they married; and outwardly downplaying their own experiences of sexism. This pattern is echoed in the experiences of female anthropologists today.