Arrow Points Research Articles

Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point: New Directions for the Physics of Time.

Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point: New Directions for the Physics of Time.

The Bow and Arrow in the Eastern Woodlands: Evidence for an Archaic Origin

The timing of the introduction of the bow and arrow in the eastern United States has been debated for some time. The bow and arrow have long thought to have been introduced during the Late Woodland period in the eastern United States. An increasing body of evidence, however, suggests that this innovation may have occurred sometime during the Archaic period. Based on data from ethnographic collections, classification functions are developed that allow for archaeological specimens to be classified as dart or arrow points. These classification functions are applied to hafted bifaces from a number of sites in the eastern United States. Based on this evidence, it is argued that 1) the bow and arrow were introduced at least as early as the Late Archaic and 2) the atlatl and bow were probably used in conjunction for some period of time before the bow and arrow became the predominant weapon.

Obsidian Artifacts from the Ozark Area

In a paper presented at the Ozark Prehistory II session at the Society for American Archaeology meeting in New Orleans in 1996, the author stated that available evidence suggested two possible movements of Plains oriented peoples into the Ozark area during prehistoric times. The first of these was during the Late Archaic, and is reflected in quantities of Hanna, Duncan, and McKean bifaces being found in western Ozark sites. All of these types were named by Wheeler for examples recovered from Late Archaic sites in Wyoming. Although Perino suggests that the northeastern Oklahoma examples are only similar and should be named something else, all three types are often found on the same site in a Late Archaic context. In addition, the specimens are morphologically the same as Plains examples. The second apparent influx of Plains oriented peoples into the western Ozark area was during the Late Prehistoric when what is referred to as the Neosho phase suddenly appears in the area. Such Plains traits as Harahey knives, snub nosed scrapers, triangular arrow points, bison bone artifacts, and distinctive punctate decorated shell tempered pottery are found at both village sites and bluff shelters. Archeologists have yet to relate the Neosho phase phenomena to a specific Plains antecedent population in a convincingg way.

The Na+-specific interaction between the LysR-type regulator, NhaR, and the nhaA gene encoding the Na+/H+ antiporter of Escherichia coli.

We used partially purified NhaR and a highly purified His-tagged NhaR derivative to identify the cis-regulatory sequences of nhaA recognized by NhaR and to study the specific effect of Na+ on this interaction. Gel retardation assay with DNase I footprinting analysis showed that NhaR binds a region of nhaA which spans 92 bp and contains three copies of the conserved LysR-binding motif. Na+, up to 100 mM, had no effect on the binding of NhaR to nhaA. The dimethylsulfate methylation protection assay in vivo and in vitro, showed that bases G-92, G-60, G-29 and A-24 form direct contacts with NhaR; in the absence of added Na+ in vivo, these bases were protected but became exposed to methylation in a DeltanhaR strain; accordingly, these bases were protected in vitro by the purified His-tagged NhaR. 100 mM Na+, but not K+, removed the protection of G-60 conferred by His-tagged NhaR in vitro. Exposure of intact cells to 100 mM Na+, but not K+, exposed G-60. The maximal effect of Na+ in vitro was observed at 20 mM and was pH dependent, vanishing below pH 7.5. In contrast to G-60, G-92 was exposed to methylation by the ion only in vivo, suggesting a requirement for another factor existing only in vivo for this interaction. We suggest that NhaR is both sensor and transducer of the Na+ signal and that it regulates nhaA expression by undergoing a conformational change upon Na+ binding which modifies the NhaR-nhaA contact points.

Time's arrow and archimedes' point

Time's arrow and archimedes' point

Stones and Shafts Redux: The Metric Discrimination of Chipped-Stone Dart and Arrow Points

Many of the chipped-stone bifaces so common in the archaeological record functioned as the hafted points of darts or arrows. For archaeologists, these artifacts possess two salient properties: (1) they formed only part of a larger apparatus; but, (2) because perishables decompose, they ordinarily are the only part preserved. Consequently, the identity of that apparatus-i.e., whether dart or arrow-is not readily apparent. For various reasons, we may wish to know if stone bifaces functioned as dart or arrow points. Often we rely on reasonable assumptions, but Thomas's (1978) discriminant analysis is a more reliable way to distinguish the possibilities. This study extends Thomas's approach by increasing the dart sample and the rate of successful classification. Shoulder width is the most important discriminating variable. An independent test on a set of arrows also strengthens confidence in the results.

Evolutionary Implications of Metrical Variation in Great Basin Projectile Points

We used a sample of 5285 Great Basin projectile points to test several implications of the general prediction from Neo‐Darwinist culture transmission theory that variation in a socially‐transmitted behavior will vary inversely with: 1) its complexity; 2) the complexity of the social and technical context in which it occurs; and 3) the number of individuals that contribute to its transmission. Statistical analysis of these points demonstrates that 80% of the variation in metrical attributes (e.g., length, width) is accounted for by the mean of the attribute, suggesting that this variation is independent of the transmission process and primarily due to production in which error tolerances are relative, not absolute. The remaining variation, specifically, metrical variability that is substantially greater or less than normally occurs as a consequence of these relative production tolerances, is only partly consistent with transmission theory expectations. More complex point shapes show less metrical variation than simple forms, and arrow points show less metrical variation than dart points, as predicted. There is substantial variation by section, point type, and measurement, however, that remains unexplained by the transmission hypothesis.

Stone-age spear and arrow points of the midcontinental eastern United States: A modern survey and reference. Noel D. Justice, 1995, Indiana University Press, xiv + 288 pp., $24.95 (paperbound)

Stone-age spear and arrow points of the midcontinental eastern United States: A modern survey and reference. Noel D. Justice, 1995, Indiana University Press, xiv + 288 pp., $24.95 (paperbound)

Evidence of Prehistoric Scalping at Vosberg, Central Arizona

Four crania recovered during the 1970 Arizona State University field school season at a prehistoric site in Vosberg, Arizona show parallel clusters of cut marks characteristic of scalping with a stone knife. These victims were identified during a general survey of the Vosberg skeletons for evidence of trauma and pathology. The discovery of these four victims in the same atypical burial context provides clues to the nature of the scalping custom in the American Southwest prior to European contact and brings the total number of prehistoric scalping victims reported from the Southwest to 15 individuals. Perimortem depressed fractures in two of the crania, and the presence of a stone arrow point within the chest of one of the skeletons, indicates that the scalping of these individuals was the result of violence rather than medicinal or ritual treatment.

Evidence of Prehistoric Scalping at Vosberg, Central Arizona

Four crania recovered during the 1970 Arizona State University field school season at a prehistoric site in Vosberg, Arizona show parallel clusters of cut marks characteristic of scalping with a stone knife. These victims were identified during a general survey of the Vosberg skeletons for evidence of trauma and pathology. The discovery of these four victims in the same atypical burial context provides clues to the nature of the scalping custom in the American Southwest prior to European contact and brings the total number of prehistoric scalping victims reported from the Southwest to 15 individuals. Perimortem depressed fractures in two of the crania, and the presence of a stone arrow point within the chest of one of the skeletons, indicates that the scalping of these individuals was the result of violence rather than medicinal or ritual treatment.

Time's arrow and archimedes' point: New directions for the physics of time

Time's arrow and archimedes' point: New directions for the physics of time

Junior Girl Scouts as Peer Educators in National Nutrition Month Food Pyramid Activities

To earn their “Exploring Healthy Eating” badge, fifth grade junior girl scouts in Troop 1422 were required to teach a nutrition game to younger children. The scouts volunteered to assist with the National Nutrition Month (NNM) fitness fair sponsored by the local dietetic association at the area health museum. The girls received training from a leader/Registered Dietitian regarding making healthy food choices and conducting nutrition games and crafts based on the food pyramid. The local girl and boy scout councils gave permission to publicize the event as a way for all area scouts to earn health and fitness badges and arrow points thereby increasing attendance at the fair. Troop 1422 scouts perceived the nutrition fair as so beneficial they requested permission to present a nutrition fair at their school, thereby educating an additional 350 children. As a thank you for their community service. Troop 1422 received free admission to the health museum and free game tickets donated by a local hockey team ($150 value). The project was financially and educationally beneficial to the scouts and programatically beneficial to the dietetic association. Troop 1422 developed their communication skills while earning 3 badges, provided 10 additional volunteers to implement the dietetic association project and opened avenues for addressing a new market (scouts) in need of professional nutrition information. Because of this NNM activity the local girl scout council expressed interest in piloting a joint organizational project for NNM 1996 and developing a NNM girl scout patch.

A visit to St Petersburg: an experience of psychiatry in Russia

‘Welcome To Reality’ announces the bright orange graffito, in English, on the perimeter wall of The City Psychiatric Hospital Number 3. A superfluous arrow points to the gate house. This is a large general psychiatric hospital of 2150 beds serving a population of 1.7 million people and also providing my first experience of Russian psychiatry. The buildings, some wooden, date from 1870 onwards and are set in a large area of mature woodland enclosed by a high wall in the northern suburbs of the city.

Data Recovery at Lake Alan Henry (Justiceburg Reservior), Garza and Kent Counties, Texas: Phase III, Season 3

The third and final season of Phase III data recovery at Lake Alan Henry (formerly Justiceburg Reservoir), located on the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River in Garza and Kent counties, Texas, was conducted during the fall of 1992. The work consisted of intensive archeological investigations at one historic site and four prehistoric sites. Subsequent to the Season 3 data recovery fieldwork, a newly discovered rock art site (41KTl64) was documented. The historic component at 41GR474 consists of a dugout depression and the ruins of a wood frame house and related complex of ranching structures. It was the homestead of Jeff Justice, Sr., who platted the community of Justiceburg in 1910. The Justice family lived in the dugout from 1900-1907. Excavations revealed a typical Plains-style half dugout with upper walls of native sandstone, a roof superstructure of juniper logs, and a sandstone fireplace. Artifacts and features on and near the floor include items from the dugout occupation period, but most represent a short episode (ca. 1907-1910) of reuse as a multifunctional workshop. Numerous artifacts in the upper fill are typical of early twentieth-century household debris and indicate use of the abandoned dugout for trash disposal. The Sam Wahl site (41GR29l) yielded an isolated secondary, cairn-covered interment of an adult male radiocarbon dated to A.D. 240-400. The early occupation period, A.D. 600-1050, is interpreted as a seasonal residential base related to the procurement, processing, and storage of plant foods; it may represent the Palo Duro complex. It is characterized by a pithouse, storage pits, hearths/baking pits, bedrock mortars, and an abundance of ground stones. The late occupation period, A.D. 1150-1400, lacks the distinctive features of the earlier period. A decrease in the number of ground stones and an increase in arrow point frequency may indicate a shift toward a hunting-oriented subsistence. Two occupation periods recognized at the Cat Hollow site (41GR303B) approximate those at the Sam Wahl site. The Late Prehistoric 1 period is characterized by baking pits and an abundance of scattered burned rocks, apparently representing use of the site as a specialized plant processing area. The upper deposits, dating to the latter part of the Late Prehistoric 1 period or the early Late Prehistoric II period, lack evidence for intensive plant processing, and increases in some classes of chipped stone tools indicate an increased emphasis on hunting. Two completely excavated rockshelters yielded evidence of Late Prehistoric and Protohistoric occupations. Boren Shelter #1 (41GR546), only 12 m2, yielded few artifacts and three stone-lined hearths, one radiocarbon dated to ca. A.D. 1643. The site saw ephemeral use during the Protohistoric period. Boren Shelter #2 (41GR559), with a sheltered area of 30 m2, contained sparse artifacts and numerous hearths; a midden area in front of the shelter contained a number of clusters of animal bones. The deposits inside the shelter can be separated into two periods of occupation, A.D. 0-1000 and A.D. 1000-1300, during which the site was used infrequently as a short-term campsite. The deposits in front of the shelter, with a single radiocarbon date of A.D. 1500-1660, reflect use of the site as a hunting camp/processing location during the Protohistoric period. Collectively, these sites indicate that significant cultural changes took place around A.D. 1100, when people at the Sam Wahl and Cat Hollow sites changed their economic strategies. The Lake Alan Henry data correspond with other regional archeological data, and there is a growing body of evidence indicating that the Late Prehistoric 1 period (ca. A.D. 1-1100) was radically different from the Late Prehistoric II period (ca. A.D. 1100-1541). Intensive utilization of plant resources seems to characterize the occupations prior to A.D. 1100. Archeological evidence indicates that after A.D. 1100, subsistence strategies shifted away from intensive plant utilization toward more broad-based foraging with a greater emphasis on hunting. This change in subsistence strategies probably was related to regional climatic changes.

Spears, Darts, and Arrows: Late Woodland Hunting Techniques in the Upper Ohio Valley

The belief that the bow and arrow replaced the spear and/or dart as hunting weapons in eastern North America between 1500 and 1200 B.P. is tested using a classification function that identifies bifaces as either spear/dart or arrow points. Results and their alternative interpretations bear important implications for the timing and nature of the technological transition. Moreover, the economic consequences of the transition are at once subtler and less profound than often supposed. Ethnographic data do not support simple notions of a uniform increase in acquisition efficiency across target species with the adoption of the bow and arrow.

Fisher information, disorder, and the equilibrium distributions of physics.

Consider an isolated statistical system specified by a coordinate x and its probability density p(x). A functional of p(x) called ``Fisher information'' can be used to measure the degree of disorder of the system due to the spread in p(x). Fisher information may be minimized, subject to a physical constraint, to attain a temporal equilibrium solution p(x). When the constraint is linear in the mean kinetic energy of the system, the equilibrium solution p(x) often obeys the correct differential equation for the system. In this way, the Schr\"odinger (energy) wave equation, Klein-Gordon equation, Helmholtz wave equation, diffusion equation, Boltzmann law, and Maxwell-Boltzmann law may be derived from one classical principle of disorder. The convergence rate for Fisher information is about that for alternative use of maximum entropy (in problems where both have the same equilibrium solution). This suggests that Fisher information defines an arrow of time. The arrow points in the direction of decreasing accuracy for the determination of the mean, or ideal, value of a parameter.

An arrow's point

The Physical Basis of the Direction of Time. By H. D. Zeh. Springer-Verlag: 1989. Pp.166. £6.50, DM18.

Archaeological Investigations at 41LK201 Choke Canyon Reservoir, Southern Texas

Two phases of archaeological investigations were carried out by the Center for Archaeological Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio, in the Choke Canyon Reservoir region in south Texas. Sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the investigations were necessitated by the impending dam construction and subsequent filling of the reservoir. During Phase I, numerous prehistoric sites were recorded and tested. As a result, several sites were recommended for additional excavations during Phase II. Site 41LK201 was selected for intensive investigations because it contained both Archaic and Late Prehistoric cultural remains, was well stratified, and contained preserved charcoal and faunal samples throughout the occupational zones. Phase II excavations were designed to expose the stratified components both horizontally and vertically. The Archaic deposits included a series of burned rock features which provided wood charcoal suitable for radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon dates for Middle and Late Archaic deposits ranged from 1300 B.C. (derived from Phase I excavations) to 480 B.C. Diagnostic artifacts were limited to a few dart points and gougelike tools. The upper levels contained an extensive late phase Late Prehistoric occupational zone that produced Perdiz arrow points, end scrapers, bonetempered pottery, and other types of midden debris. The extensive, concentrated nature of the Late Prehistoric zone warranted additional investigations. A UTSA Field School carried out extensive excavations that were primarily restricted to the upper 20 cm of deposits. Numerous Perdiz points, beveled knives, end scrapers, perforators or drills, bone and shell artifacts, and the largest ceramic sample from a single site in the reservoir region were recovered. Faunal remains recovered were marine shells, land snails, and a wide array of identifiable animal bone, including bison. Two radiocarbon dates, A.D. 1470-1500 and A.D. 1510-1590, were derived from these levels.

Morphology of suspension polymerized polyacrylamide

In the course of studies on the characterization of commercial polyacrylamides used in tertiary oil recovery, samples of BASF Sepaflood suspension polymerized polyacrylamide with varying degrees of hydrolysis were observed using a Hitachi S-450 scanning electron microscope. Figs ! and 2 show an overall view of a nonhydrolysed (CE 5093) and highly hydrolysed (CE 5095) Sepaflood sample, respectively. Although in both cases the expected bead morphology of a suspension polymer is observed, the photographs reveal the presence of certain individual beads with differing morphologies. Hollow shells (Fig. 1) and nested spheres within the beads (Fig. 2) can be seen in the samples. After having observed many samples, the following conclusions were drawn: 1. The majority of the beads are either solid (Fig. 3) or hollow with shells of different thicknesses (Fig. 4). Figure 2 Overall view of sample CE 5095. Scale bar is 620/tm. (Arrows point to nested spheres in beads).

Distinguishing Between Arrow and Spear Points on the Upper Texas Coast

AbstractA study is presented on the classification of prehistoric stemmed projectile points as arrow or spear points, based on data from the upper Texas coast. It is demonstrated that the key attributes for classification of this type are thickness, neck width, and weight. The classification of specimens as arrow or spear points is generally successful in this study. There is a mixture of classification categories for specimens in the weight range of 2 to 3 grams.