Coastal curios? An analysis of ex situ beach finds for mapping new Palaeolithic sites at Happisburgh,UK

Recent archaeological discoveries from exposures of the Cromer Forest-bed Formation at Happisburgh, UK, have radically changed interpretations of the nature and timing of early hominin occupation of northern latitudes, but this in situ archaeology is only one part of the picture. Surface finds of Pleistocene mammalian remains have been found along this coastline for centuries, with stone tools adding to this record over the past 7 years. The ex situ nature of these finds, however, means they are often seen as limited in the information they can provide. This work contributes to a growing body of research from a range of landscape and environmental contexts that seeks to demonstrate the value and importance of these ex situ assemblages. Here the focus is on Palaeolithic flint artefacts and Pleistocene mammalian remains recovered by a group of local collectors through systematic, GPS-recorded beach collection from 2013 to 2017, and their use in developing a methodology for working with ex situ Palaeolithic finds in coastal locations. The results demonstrate significant patterning that identifies unexplored exposures both onshore and offshore, considerably expanding the known extent of deposits and facilitating new insights into the wider archaeological landscape associated with the earliest occupation of northern Europe.     

Correction to: Finite Element Solvers for Biot’s Poroelasticity Equations in Porous Media

Mathematical Geosciences - A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11004-021-09942-0     

Andrei Sher and Quaternary science

Andrei Sher (1939–2008) was a key individual in Beringian studies who made substantial and original contributions, but also, importantly, built bridges between western and eastern Beringian scientists spanning some five decades of research. He is perhaps best known as a Quaternary palaeontologist, specializing in large mammals, and mammoths in particular, but his field of his scientific research was much broader, encompassing Quaternary geology, stratigraphy, geocryology, and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. He worked mainly in Siberia, in the Kolyma and Indigirka lowlands, and Chukotka, but also completed fieldwork in Alaska and Yukon through joint projects with American and Canadian scientists. Andrei was an active scientist until the last days of his life. He was involved in many different research projects ranging from mammoth evolution, fossil insects and environmental changes and ancient DNA. Without Andrei’s connections between researchers, many unique discoveries would likely be unknown.     

Dating Palaeolithic sites in southwestern Crete,Greece

Discussions of dispersals of early hominins from Africa assume that Southwest Asia and the Arabian Peninsula were the primary passageways for migrations to Eurasia. The Mediterranean is usually viewed as a barrier to early hominin movements because pre‐sapiens hominins were thought to lack the technical means or the cognitive skills to construct boats. The discovery of early Palaeolithic artefacts in an archaeological survey on the Greek island of Crete challenges this view. Here we show that Palaeolithic artefacts in the Plakias region in southwestern Crete are associated with geological contexts that can be dated to the late Middle or early Late Pleistocene. Because Crete has been separated from the mainland throughout the Pleistocene, the presence of Pleistocene age artefacts there suggests that early hominins were able to cross open water. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mapping the human record in the British early Palaeolithic: evidence from the Solent River system

The lithic record from the Solent River and its tributaries is re‐examined in the light of recent interpretations about the changing demography of Britain during the Lower and early Middle Palaeolithic. Existing models of the terrace stratigraphies in the Solent and its tributary areas are reviewed and the corresponding archaeological record (specifically handaxes) for each terrace is assessed to provide models for the relative changes in human occupation through time. The Bournemouth area is studied in detail to examine the effects of quarrying and urbanisation on collection history and on the biases it introduces to the record. In addition, the effects of reworking of artefacts from higher into lower terraces are assessed, and shown to be a significant problem. Although there is very little absolute dating available for the Solent area, a cautious interpretation of the results from these analyses would suggest a pre‐Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 12 date for the first appearance of humans, a peak in population between MIS 12 and 10, and a decline in population during MIS 9 and 8. Owing to poor contextual data and small sample sizes, it is not clear when Levallois technology was introduced. This record is compared and contrasted to that from the Thames Valley. It is suggested that changes in the palaeogeography of Britain, in particular land connections to the continent, might have contributed to differences in the archaeological records from the Solent and Thames regions. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Feasibility of age determination of deep-water bamboo corals (Gorgonacea; Isididae) from annual cycles in skeletal composition

We test two hypotheses, that annual environmental cycles produce periodic variability in the skeletal composition of deep-water gorgonians, and that these cycles can be counted to determine the coral's age. Annual periodicity of deposition was tested by comparing the internode composition of bamboo corals live-collected 10 years apart in the Southern Ocean. The validity of the comparison was substantiated by growth rates for the 10-year interval (77–121 μm/yr) that were confirmed by radiocarbon analysis. Variability in Mg/Ca and possibly S/Ca, but not Sr/Ca or P/Ca, was consistent with annual cycles of deposition. However, spectral analysis of Mg/Ca data for a larger coral showed little or no spectral peak associated with an annual cycle of deposition (though there were peaks at periods of 4–5 and 11–15 years). The absence of an annual peak is likely to reflect growth rates that vary over time, coral cross-sections that change shape over time, and interannual differences in the seasonal range of environmental variability. The resulting subjectivity in what defines an annulus, along with evidence that the nature and extent of annual periodicity differs among sites, means that the technique is likely to be inherently imprecise and to require independent validation for each site and taxon before it can be applied.     

Identifying step changes in single streamflow and evaporation records due to forest cover change

Techniques that identify forestry‐induced changes to streamflow or evaporation are needed to assess available water resources. Equally, there is a growing appreciation that climate cycles may be having a profound impact on the land‐surface hydrology. The ability to see forestry‐induced change above the effects of climate dynamics, therefore, becomes a critical issue. Paired‐catchment analyses have proved very valuable in identifying change, but cannot quantify the relative impacts of climate and land‐cover change, and data from adjacent reference basins are not always available. Within this study, we examined whether step changes within single time‐series of streamflow or evaporation (P‐Q) could be identified without reference to those of a control catchment. The UC‐DHR method was used for this analysis, and included a special routine to allow a known change‐point (e.g. start of logging) to be specified or alternatively identified by the model. Data from three experimental catchments important for their seminal forestry impact studies were selected for the analyses. The study demonstrated that clear‐cutting 29% of the Hore catchment and 40% selective felling of the Berembun basin produced a step change in the discharge trend that was clearly observable above the climate‐related dynamics and uncertainty. In contrast, step changes in P‐Q following the same selective felling event or following 22% afforestation of the Upper Hodder basin were not larger than the uncertainty bands or magnitude of the inter‐annual cycles produced by the climate dynamics, respectively. This demonstrates that while step changes can be observed in single hydrological time‐series, errors within the observations can sometimes mask the identification of change. This masking of change is also possible where the longer‐term cyclical behaviour in Q or P‐Q from natural climate dynamics is large, while the spatial extent of forestry change is small. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ottawa: the knowledge city and a labyrinth of obstacles

This research provides a comparative examination of Ottawa as an archetype of a knowledge city. Among Canada’s four largest cities, Ottawa is unique in terms of the characteristics of its labor force, the nature of its employment mix, and its infrastructure. Since the high-tech downturn of 2001, some of Ottawa’s options as a knowledge city seem to be contracting, despite some simultaneously encouraging signs (like recovering employment levels in the high-tech sector). This raises a question about Ottawa’s potential longevity as a knowledge center. The challenge is to understand the inventory of obstacles faced by the city, and address the sort of alchemy required to maintain and improve its competitiveness as a knowledge city.     

Changing characteristics of arctic pressure ridges

The advent of multibeam sonar permits us to obtain full three-dimensional maps of the underside of sea ice. In particular this enables us to distinguish the morphological characteristics of first-year (FY) and multi-year (MY) pressure ridges in a statistically valid way, whereas in the past only a small number of ridges could be mapped laboriously by drilling. In this study pressure ridge distributions from two parts of the Arctic Ocean are compared, in both the cases using mainly data collected by the submarine “Tireless” in March 2007 during two specific grid surveys, in the Beaufort Sea at about 75° N, 140° W (N of Prudhoe Bay), and north of Ellesmere Island at about 83° 20′ N, 64° W. In the Beaufort Sea the ice was mainly FY, and later melted or broke up as this area became ice-free during the subsequent summer. N of Ellesmere Island the ice was mainly MY. Ridge depth and spacing distributions were derived for each region using the boat's upward looking sonar, combined with distributions of shapes of the ridges encountered, using the Kongsberg EM3002 multibeam sonar. The differing shapes of FY and MY ridges are consistent with two later high-resolution multibeam studies of specific ridges by AUV. FY ridges are found to fit the normal triangular shape template in cross-section (with a range of slope angles averaging 27°) with a relatively constant along-crest depth, and often a structure of small ice blocks can be distinguished. MY ridges, however, are often split into a number of independent solid, smooth blocks of large size, giving an irregular ridge profile which may be seemingly without linearity.Our hypothesis for this difference is that during its long lifetime an MY ridge is subjected to several episodes of crack opening; new cracks in the Arctic pack often run in straight lines across the ridges and undeformed ice alike. Such a crack will open somewhat before refreezing, interpolating a stretch of thin ice into the structure, and breaking up the continuity and linearity of the ridge crest. Many such episodes over a number of years can cause the ridge to become simply a series of blocks. This has implications for ridge strength and for permeability to spilled oil. As the percentage of MY ice in the Arctic diminishes, Arctic ridging will be more and more dominated by FY ridges, and we discuss the implications of this change of character of the ice underside in the light of the statistics that we have generated for the two types of ridge.