Long-distance Contacts Research Articles

Consilience of genetics and archaeobotany in the entangled history of rice

Major leaps forward in understanding rice both in genetics and archaeology have taken place in the past decade or so—with the publication of full draft genomes for indica and japonica rice, on the one hand, and with the spread of systematic flotation and increased recovery of archaeological spikelet bases and other rice remains on early sites in China, India and Southeast Asia. This paper will sketch a framework that coherently integrates the evidence from these burgeoning fields. This framework implies a reticulate framework in the phylogeny of early cultivated rice, with multiple starts of cultivation (two is perhaps not enough) but with the key consolidations of adaptations that must have been spread through hybridisation and therefore long-distance cultural contacts. Archaeobotanical evidence allows us to document the gradual evolutionary process of domestication through rice spikelet bases and grain size change. Separate trends in grain size change can be identified in India and China. The earliest centre of rice domestication was in the Yangtze basin of China, but a largely separate trajectory into rice cultivation can be traced in the Ganges plains of India. Intriguingly, contact-induced hybridisation is indicated for the early development of indica in northern India, ca. 2000 BC. An updated synthesis of the interwoven patterns of the spread of various rice varieties throughout Asia and to Madagascar can be suggested in which rice reached most of its historical range of important cultivation by the Iron Age.

Lambay lithics: the analysis of two surface collections from Lambay, Co. Dublin

Two collections of unsystematically surface-collected lithics from the island of Lambay, Co. Dublin, were analysed using an integrated methodology focused on a Geographical Information System-based approach, incorporating a number of analytical perspectives. Analysis and mapping of this material provides an important new perspective on prehistoric human activity on the island. Assessment of the diagnostic artefacts demonstrated the presence of human activity during the Later Mesolithic and it seems very likely that people were present on Lambay from the Early Mesolithic. There were a number of signifi cant individual assemblages and two of these are discussed in detail. Widespread activity across the island has also been revealed as well as the persistent use of key locales over long periods. The study provides an important complement to the results of the excavation at the Neolithic axe-quarry site on the island at the Eagle’s Nest as well as a consideration of Lambay’s context and long-distance contacts in the wider Irish Sea region.

The First Millennium bc in the Highlands of Northern Ethiopia and South–Central Eritrea: A Reassessment of Cultural and Political Development

An overview is offered of the development of research—both archaeological and epigraphic—on the inhabitants of the northern Horn during the first millennium bc. Initially, reconstructions of this period placed considerable emphasis on links with southern Arabia and tended to group those into a single cultural category that was designated ‘Pre-Aksumite’. It is now argued that long-distance contacts were much less pervasive, being largely restricted to the elite, and that other aspects of life—including much material culture and subsistence economy—displayed strong local continuity from earlier times. Similarly, it is argued that interpretation of the epigraphic evidence as indicating a single ‘Pre-Aksumite’ state called D'MT is unjustified.

Building Small-World Peer-to-Peer Networks Based on Hierarchical Structures

Small-world (SW) networks possess two properties, namely low diameter and high clustering coefficient, which are often desired by large-scale peer-to-peer networks. Prior studies have shown that the construction of an SW network can be based on a d-regular graph, and each node in the graph maintains d local neighbors and a small constant number of long-distance contacts. However, it is commonly understood that it is difficult to construct a short route in an SW network, given source (s) and target (t) nodes, though an SW network guarantees that a short route from s to t exists. Prior work in [1] proposed a navigable SW network for a d-dimensional lattice such that a simple localized routing algorithm can be devised to route a message from s to t using O(log2,X) hops, where X is the number of nodes in the network. In this paper, we present a novel navigable SW network based on a hierarchical model. Compared to previous efforts, the novelty of our study presents 1) that our network construction based on a hierarchical model is decentralized, 2) that routing a message between any two nodes in our SW network takes logarithmic hopcount in expectation, 3) that our SW network has high cluster coefficient, and 4) that the performance of our proposal is mathematically provable. We support the performance of our proposal in this study through rigorous, thorough performance analysis and extensive simulations.

HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS AND PRE-COLUMBIAN MESOAMERICA

AbstractThis article presents some of the authors' perspectives on the past 20 years of work that applies the results of research in historical linguistics to the understanding of the histories and cultural practices of pre-Columbian Mesoamericans. It focuses on major cultural transformations to which both historical linguistic and archaeological data can contribute, such as the spread of agriculture, and migrations in Mesoamerican prehistory. It also addresses major culture-historical studies on narrower topics: on Nawa and its place in the prehistory of Mexico, in particular confirming standard views that Nawas were immigrants into Mesoamerica; on Archaic and Formative period interactions involving Oto-Mangeans, which is work that is largely still to be done; on the prospects for work on long-distance contacts between Mesoamerica and North America; on the contributions of historical linguistics in Mesoamerican epigraphy; and on the value and prospects of updating the methodology of glottochronology.

Two Islands in the Ocean: Prehistoric Obsidian Exchange between Sakhalin and Hokkaido, Northeast Asia

ABSTRACT Obsidian exchange patterns were studied on Sakhalin Island which connects Japan with mainland Asia. One hundred-eighty-two specimens of obsidian, including 157 artifacts from 75 sites on Sakhalin, ranging in age from the early Upper Paleolithic (ca. 19,400-17,800 RYBP) to the Okhotsk cultural complex (ca. 1400-800 RYBP), and 25 geological samples from Hokkaido Island (Japan), were examined by neutron activation analysis. Geochemical data suggest that all the obsidian artifacts from known sources found in Sakhalin archaeological sites were brought from Hokkaido sources. Widespread use of Hokkaido obsidian by Sakhalin inhabitants shows that long-distance contacts and exchange have taken place in Northeast Asia since at least the Upper Paleolithic. Although this obsidian transport could have been land-based during the Pleistocene, people had to use watercraft to cross La Pérouse Strait during the past 10,000 years. The distance of raw material transport was about 250-300 km in the early Upper Paleolithic, but increased up to 1000 km by the end of the Upper Paleolithic, the Neolithic, and later periods.

JEDDITO YELLOW WARE AND HOPI SOCIAL NETWORKS

Hopi villages played important roles in the precontact and contact periods in the American Southwest, but analysis has largely focused on their occupants’ longdistance contacts with non-Hopi populations. Relatively little direct archaeological evidence has been mustered to document intervillage relationships on the Hopi Mesas. The lack of attention to intervillage dynamics risks encouraging an overly homogeneous view of Hopi as a sociopolitical or ethnic entity. This study employs compositional analysis of Jeddito Yellow Ware pottery to track the local movement of pottery among Hopi villages and thus map patterns of interaction among them. The circulation of pottery is found to differ over time and by ceramic type, with bichromes moving within mesas and polychromes more often between mesas. Prior to Spanish contact, the Hopi settlement cluster contained a number of localized social networks rather than a single, all-encompassing network.

RNAi Components Are Required for Nuclear Clustering of Polycomb Group Response Elements

Drosophila Polycomb group (PcG) proteins silence homeotic genes through binding to Polycomb group response elements (PREs). Fab-7 is a PRE-containing regulatory element from the homeotic gene Abdominal-B. When present in multiple copies in the genome, Fab-7 can induce long-distance gene contacts that enhance PcG-dependent silencing. We show here that components of the RNA interference (RNAi) machinery are involved in PcG-mediated silencing at Fab-7 and in the production of small RNAs at transgenic Fab-7 copies. In general, these mutations do not affect the recruitment of PcG components, but they are specifically required for the maintenance of long-range contacts between Fab-7 copies. Dicer-2, PIWI, and Argonaute1, three RNAi components, frequently colocalize with PcG bodies, and their mutation significantly reduces the frequency of PcG-dependent chromosomal associations of endogenous homeotic genes. This suggests a novel role for the RNAi machinery in regulating the nuclear organization of PcG chromatin targets.

Looking beyond the First Palaces: Elites and the Agency of Power in EM III–MM II Crete

It is widely accepted that the First Palaces emerged around 2000 B.C., MM IB in ceramic terms, and that a palatial elite was the principal political, economic, and religious agent in Minoan society. The appearance of a series of innovations, such as palatial architecture, wheelmade pottery, administration, script, and high-quality prestige craft goods, has traditionally been attributed to the emergence of the First Palaces in MM IB. Palaces supposedly exerted control over long-distance contacts, even though exotic materials, objects, and ideas from the East were making their way to Crete in the preceding EM III and MM IA phases, apparently without the involvement of the palaces. There is, however, little archaeological evidence to support this interpretation of the First Palaces as the principal agents in society. This article proposes that we view these important innovations and changes in society from a different perspective–one that specifically emphasizes the agency of elite groups resident outside the palaces. A new framework for analyzing "elite ideologies" within the archaeological record is presented, and it is argued that the above-mentioned changes were politically motivated and should be understood within the context of ideologies involving emulation of and competition with other elites, both on the island and in distant locations. This elite behavior was aimed at negotiating, displaying, and legitimating status and power. Such an alternative approach provides insights into the organization of power in society and ultimately into the relationship between the First Palaces and their surrounding settlements.

Combined use of physicochemical data and small-molecule crystallographic contact propensities to predict interactions in protein binding sites

Knowledge-based methods are a good alternative to force-field-based methods for the analysis of sites of interaction in protein binding cavities. Both the Protein Data Bank (PDB) and the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) offer a good amount of data on non-covalent interactions. Although different from protein-derived data, small-molecule crystal data from the CSD are worth looking at as they provide a much more abundant and diverse set of intermolecular contacts. CSD data, when properly corrected by use of octanol-water pi values, can be used to predict the type of ligand chemical group most likely to occupy a given position within a protein binding site. Comparison with observed positions of ligand groups shows that the success rates of these predictions vary from 23% to 84%. Often, the group predicted to be most preferred at a given position is similar but not identical to the observed ligand group; if these are considered successes, prediction success rates range from 71% to 94%. Using PDB data, the corresponding rates are 16% to 79%, and 61% to 96%. Specificity of prediction of NH groups is somewhat better when using PDB interaction data, but results of prediction of hydrophobic groups seem worse than those obtained with CSD data. We have analysed the importance of data selection by applying different filters to eliminate unwanted interactions from our knowledge-base. The presence of certain types of interactions can be undesirable if they are unrepresentative of biological situations (contact to solvent molecules in small-molecule crystal structures, secondary crystallographic contacts) or if they are likely to add noise to the data without conveying much new information (long-distance contacts, sparsely-populated data sets). The elimination of solvent contacts was found to have no effect on the prediction of ligand groups in our test set. Both secondary-contact filtering and noise filtering were found to have a clear beneficial effect on predictive ability.

Homeric and Mycenean long-distance contacts

Homeric and Mycenean long-distance contacts

NATUFIAN TRADE/EXCHANGE IN BASALT IMPLEMENTS: EVIDENCE FROM NORTHERN ISRAEL*

Three Natufian base camps in Israel—el‐Wad, Hayonim and Eynan—have nearby basalt sources, but K/Ar ages indicate that their inhabitants obtained implements, made of Miocene‐Pliocene and Quaternary basalts, further afield. The nearest locations, in which raw material sources representing the whole range of dated basalts occur within a relatively restricted area, are to be found east of the Jordan Valley, suggesting movement of the material some 100 km to el‐Wad, 60 km to Hayonim and 20 km to Eynan. The exact nature of these longdistance contacts and the underlying social and economic systems and mechanisms are yet to be determined.

JAN PAUL CRIELAARD, The Euboeans Overseas. Long-distance Contacts and Colonization as Status Activities in Early Iron Age Greece. University of Amsterdam, 19 June 1996. Supervisors: J.H. Crouwel, H.A.G. Brijder. Publication in preparation.

JAN PAUL CRIELAARD, The Euboeans Overseas. Long-distance Contacts and Colonization as Status Activities in Early Iron Age Greece. University of Amsterdam, 19 June 1996. Supervisors: J.H. Crouwel, H.A.G. Brijder. Publication in preparation.

Family power in southern Italy: the duchy of Gaeta and its neighbours, 850-1139

Preface Abbreviations Maps and figures Introduction 1. Sources Part I. From the Beginnings to the Eleventh Century: 2. The origins of dynastic rule 3. The foundations of ducal power in the tenth century 4. Noble families in the tenth century Part II. A Time of Change: The Eleventh Century and Beyond: 5. From local dukes to Norman kings 6. The emergence of new families Part III. The Economics of Power: 7. Landowners and exchanges in the Tyrrhenian 8. Local exchange and long-distance contacts: the Norman kingdom and the North Conclusion Appendix Bibliography Index.

The Chipped Stone Industry of Cihuatan and Santa Maria, El Salvador, and Sources of Obsidian from Cihuatan

The chipped stone industry of Cihuatan and Santa Maria, Postclassic sites of north-central El Salvador, is discussed briefly in terms of behavioral/technological typology. The industry was based almost exclusively on obsidian and emphasized specialized production of prismatic blades. Source determinations by X-rayfluorescence and neutron activation analysis of 20 obsidian specimens from Cihuatan indicate that at least three highland Guatemalan sources supplied obsidian to the site. Twelve specimens are attributed to the Ixtepeque source, seven to El Chayal, and one to San Martin Jilotepeque. The multiple-source procurement pattern is interpreted as a hedge against the fragility of Postclassic sociopolitical alliances and shifting exchange networks. One of the most important advances in Mesoamerican lithic studies of recent years has been the development of behavioral and technological typologies based on linear reduction models of manufacturing trajectories (Clark 1979, 1981 la; Clark and Lee 1979; Moholy-Nagy et al. 1984; Sheets 1972, 1975a, 1978a). These typologies focus on the behavior involved in the manufacture, use, and recycling of lithic artifacts, thus attempting to model the real technological structure of lithic industries. Behavioral/technological typologies are now available for about 20 sites in the Maya area and the southeastern periphery of Mesoamerica (Fowler 1985). Another significant advance has been the development of techniques for accurate, high-precision chemical characterization of obsidian as a means of source determination (Stross et al. 1968; Stross, 1976). The results of precise geochemical analyses to determine the sources of archaeological obsidian in Mesoamerica have led to better understanding of the nature and degree of long-distance exchange in the area. Three factors make obsidian an excellent indicator of long-distance exchange contacts: (1) good-quality, workable obsidian occurs in a relatively limited number of geological deposits; (2) obsidian artifacts deposited in archaeological contexts are virtually imperishable; and (3) it is possible to determine, within limits of statistical certainty, the geological sources of obsidian artifacts through precise geochemical characterization. It is a fair assumption that obsidian exchange is an indicator of the exchange of other items that left no trace in the archaeological record. At the very least, the buyers had to offer something to the sellers in exchange for the obsidian. Whether or not perishable goods moved in appreciable quantities along the same routes of exchange as obsidian (see Drennan 1984), the reconstruction of Precolumbian obsidian exchange in Mesoamerica sheds light on prehistoric interregional contacts and exchange networks in general and provides a foundation for hypotheses concerning ancient sociopolitical ties that operated over long distances. When behavioral/technological typologies and obsidian source determination are used conjunctively, the analyst leams more about the cultural context within which a given lithic industry developed and functioned (Moholy-Nagy et al. 1984). The resulting reconstruction is more detailed and is a more fruitful source of hypotheses than either of the approaches used alone. The chipped stone industry of the ancient settlements of Cihuatan (Bruhns 1980; Fowler 1981; Kelley 1985) and Santa Maria (Fowler 1981), in the Paraiso (or Cerr6n Grande) Basin of north

Long-Distance Trade and the Mangbetu

Between 1866 and 1886 Arabized traders from the Nile River trafficked in slaves and ivory in the Mangbetu region of what is today north-eastern Zaire. These Nile traders opened the first direct long-distance trading contacts in the area. European travellers present during the period wrote accounts giving the impression to some modern historians that the traders did extensive damage to several small, welldeveloped Mangbetu kingdoms. These accounts do not furnish an accurate picture of the trader impact on the Mangbetu. The Mangbetu system of rule was less developed than the travellers supposed. At that time Mangbetu rule was still based largely on personality and kinship and not on bureaucracy, tribute, commercial monopoly, divine kingship, or any other institution often associated with strong African kingdoms. Moreover, the trader influence was weaker than the travellers supposed because the intruders were newcomers, operating at a great distance from the Khartoum market, who remained only a short time. Only from 1881 to 1885 did the Egyptian government have some success in regularizing the trade and subduing rebellious rulers. In early 1886 all northerners withdrew from the Mangbetu area as a result of the Mahdist crisis in the Sudan. At that point the Mangbetu kingdoms, and kingdoms built on the Mangbetu model, re-emerged relatively unchanged by the trader experience.