Marked Stones Research Articles

THE HISTORY OF RESEARCH ON LATVIAN CUP-MARKED STONES

The stones known as cup-marked stones stand out among stones with marks of ancient artificial treatment in north-eastern Europe, as well as in the rest of the world. So far in the literature the view has predominated that the number of cup-marked stones in Latvia is small in comparison with neigh- bouring countries. The history of research on Latvian cup-marked stones is considered and it is shown that in Latvia there are a large number of cup- marked stones. In the light of the latest discoveries, four reliably identified areas of cup-marked stones are plotted in Latvia, eliminating one problematic area.

Awards recipients at APPEA 2019

Alan Prince Award for Best Peer Reviewed Paper published in the 2019 APPEA Journal Joe Edgell (ERM), Jeremy Colman (ERM), Samantha Jarvis (S2 Services) and Ollie Glade-Wright (Cooper Energy) for Demonstrating an acceptable level of impact: an assessment of noise impacts to fishes from a seismic survey in an Australian Marine Park Best Extended Abstract published in the APPEA 2019 Conference Proceedings Graeme Bethune and Rick Wilkinson (EnergyQuest) for Gas markets – a bridge too far? Best Oral Presentation at the APPEA 2019 Conference Gero Farruggio (Rystad Energy) for Renewed energy in Asia’s upstream sector Best Poster Presentation at the APPEA 2019 Conference Peter Downey, Jon Thomas and Mark Stone (Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy) for From initial advice statement to export – a 10 year retrospective of Queensland’s liquefied natural gas industry 2019 APPEA Safety Project Excellence Award – Subsea7 2019 APPEA Safety Company Excellence Award – BHP 2019 APPEA Environment Project Excellence Award – Santos 2019 APPEA Environment Company Excellence Award – Woodside Best Custom Build of the APPEA 2019 Exhibition – INPEX Best Shell Scheme Stand of the APPEA 2019 Exhibition – Tremco Pipeline Equipment

Cultural and Species Differences in Gazing Patterns for Marked and Decorated Objects: A Comparative Eye-Tracking Study.

Objects from the Middle Paleolithic period colored with ochre and marked with incisions represent the beginning of non-utilitarian object manipulation in different species of the Homo genus. To investigate the visual effects caused by these markings, we compared humans who have different cultural backgrounds (Namibian hunter–gatherers and German city dwellers) to one species of non-human great apes (orangutans) with respect to their perceptions of markings on objects. We used eye-tracking to analyze their fixation patterns and the durations of their fixations on marked and unmarked stones and sticks. In an additional test, humans evaluated the objects regarding their aesthetic preferences. Our hypotheses were that colorful markings help an individual to structure the surrounding world by making certain features of the environment salient, and that aesthetic appreciation should be associated with this structuring. Our results showed that humans fixated on the marked objects longer and used them in the structural processing of the objects and their background, but did not consistently report finding them more beautiful. Orangutans, in contrast, did not distinguish between object and background in their visual processing and did not clearly fixate longer on the markings. Our results suggest that marking behavior is characteristic for humans and evolved as an attention-directing rather than aesthetic benefit.

Kašučių senųjų laukų archeologiniai tyrinėjimai

Straipsnyje pristatomi Kašučių senųjų laukų archeologiniai tyrinėjimai ir jų metu gauti rezultatai. Trumpai apžvelgiami ir senųjų laukų teritorijoje vykdytų palinologinių bei geocheminių tyrimų rezultatai, aprašomi aptikti akmenys su dubenėliais. Kašučių senuosius laukus atrado ir juos tirti 1980–1981 m. pradėjo archeologas mėgėjas Ignas Jablonskis. XXI a. pradžioje Vilniaus universiteto Archeologijos katedros iniciatyva vykdytas antrasis Kašučių senųjų laukų tyrimų etapas. Tarpdalykiniuose ir tarptautiniuose tyrimuose dalyvavo ir Tartuuniversiteto archeologai, vadovaujami Valterio Lango, Kretingos muziejaus archeologas Julius Kanarskas, kiti tyrinėtojai.

Mary Richmond's Retail Method in Treating Divorcing Parents with High Conflict

Mary Richmond's Retail Method in Treating Divorcing Parents with High Conflict Brenda J. Barnwell Mark Stone Abstract Mary Richmond’s retail method of reform provoked development of a focused treatment program for high conflict divorce designed to (1) promote cohesion of the self, (2) reduce expressed parental conflict, and (3) provide a better outcome than the current standard service model. A Pretest-Posttest Control Group Design was implemented to test the effectiveness of this approach with Bowen’s family systems theory and Kohut’s theory of self psychology. The results suggest people who attended eight sessions of the focused treatment group experienced a greater sense of self cohesion with reduced co-parenting conflict. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jssw.v4n2a3

R. P. Buckley: The Night Journey and Ascension in Islam: The Reception of Religious Narrative in Sunni, Shii and Western Culture. London and New York: I.B. Taurus, 2013; pp. ix + 360.

Journal of Religious HistoryVolume 39, Issue 1 p. 170-171 BOOK REVIEW R. P. Buckley: The Night Journey and Ascension in Islam: The Reception of Religious Narrative in Sunni, Shii and Western Culture. London and New York: I.B. Taurus, 2013; pp. ix + 360. Mark Stone, Mark Stone Monash UniversitySearch for more papers by this author Mark Stone, Mark Stone Monash UniversitySearch for more papers by this author First published: 02 March 2015 https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9809.12244Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL No abstract is available for this article. Volume39, Issue1March 2015Pages 170-171 RelatedInformation

Investigation on characterization and liquefaction of coals from Tavan tolgoi deposit

On the basis of proximate, ultimate, petrographic and IR analysis results have been confirmed that the Tavan tolgoi coal is a high-rank G mark stone coal. The results of X-ray fluorescence analysis of coal ash show that the Tavan tolgoi coal is a subbituminous coal. The ash of Tavan tolgoi coal has an acidic character. The results of pyrolysis of Tavan tolgoi coal at different heating temperatures show that a maximum yield - 5.0% of liquid product can be obtained at 700°C. The results of thermal dissolution of Tavan tolgoi coal in tetralin with constant mass ratio between coal and tetralin (1:1.8) at 450°C show that 50.0% of liquid product can be obtained after thermal decomposition of the COM (coal organic matter). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5564/mjc.v14i0.191 Mongolian Journal of Chemistry 14 (40), 2013, p12-19

Closure to “Sensitivity Analysis of Nonequilibrium Adaptation Parameters for Modeling Mining-Pit Migration” by Dong Chen, Kumud Acharya, and Mark Stone

Closure to “Sensitivity Analysis of Nonequilibrium Adaptation Parameters for Modeling Mining-Pit Migration” by Dong Chen, Kumud Acharya, and Mark Stone

Discussion of “Sensitivity Analysis of Nonequilibrium Adaptation Parameters for Modeling Mining-Pit Migration” by Dong Chen, Kumud Acharya, and Mark Stone

Ludovic Gouverneur; Benjamin Dewals; Pierre Archambeau; Sebastien Erpicum; and Michel Pirotton Hydraulics in Environmental and Civil Engineering, ArGEnCo Dept., Univ. of Liege, 4000 Liege, Belgium (corresponding author). E-mail: ludovic.gouverneur@ulg.ac.be Hydraulics in Environmental and Civil Engineering, ArGEnCo Dept., Univ. of Liege, 4000 Liege, Belgium. Hydraulics in Environmental and Civil Engineering, ArGEnCo Dept., Univ. of Liege, 4000 Liege, Belgium. Hydraulics in Environmental and Civil Engineering, ArGEnCo Dept., Univ. of Liege, 4000 Liege, Belgium. Hydraulics in Environmental and Civil Engineering, ArGEnCo Dept., Univ. of Liege, 4000 Liege, Belgium.

Megalithic Sites in the District of Sinjai, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Research was conducted in the Sinjai District (South Sulawesi) on three sites linked in alliance called Tellu Limpoe. The findings are mostly earthenware and ceramic fragments of various dynasties. Other findings include dakon (pit marked stones), distributions of stone of various shapes and sizes, and stone mortar with various holes of different sizes. In addition to grinding grain, these objects were also used as clean water reservoirs to meet the needs of supporting human life. All of the archaeological remains discovered indicate the dynamics of life, including household, religious, subsistence, and trade activity. The settlement system is more likely influenced by geographic factors than anything else, due to the hills and mountains that comprise the Sinjai area. The source material supports the interpretation that the natural environment provides enough (fertile) resources that can be used directly by humans.

A New Context for Rock Art: a Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Ritual Monument at Fylingdales, North Yorkshire

After fire swept across 2.5 km2of heather moorland the detail of a wide range of archaeological features was revealed. Among these was a so-far unique small circular monument, the principal component of which was a circle of near-upright slabs set in a shallow trench. The stones included one with a complex pecked geometric design reminiscent of some Grooved Ware ceramic decoration, and another with more commonly found cup-mark and linear motifs. Limited excavation was undertaken in response to disturbance of the monument and it was discovered that the stone with complex decoration had been reshaped for its monumental setting, having perhaps previously been a free-standing decorated monolith. In its altered form the stone formed part of a small circular arena, the interior face of which may have included alternating decorated and undecorated stones. The open arena had later been filled with rubble creating a small cairn, its material including a small block detached from the main stone as well as a number of cup- and other marked stones. Apart from the decorated stones there were no diagnostic artefacts and no direct dating information was present. It is suggested that the decorated stones originate in the later Neolithic period and that the monument containing them was constructed in the Early Bronze Age.

Comparative and International Education: A Bibliography (2009)

Comparative and International Education: A Bibliography (2009)

Vigil of the Door

Vigil of the Door Preston Mark Stone (bio) I surrender to the second law of thermodynamics, the law of dishes that dirty themselves. I surrender to my front door that blows open no matter what I do, ensuring I heat the world. Every night is the vigil, an hour of sleep, a few minutes of shivering awake to rise, check the latch, and shut. At midnight, I stand in the doorway and turn the handle, watching the latch piston in and out. At one o'clock, I lurch out of bed, remembering a dream of a woman I loved doing my dishes. At two, I wake and feel myself bleeding heat. At three o'clock, I dream of a woman in my bed, her hands wet. I shut the door, check the stove, and see the clean plates softened with dust. At four, I dream of myself rising to shut the door and returning to bed to dream of engines. At five, I dream of engines: the house is a series of doors, my body pistoning back and forth, shutting one door and opening another, standing at the sink or falling into bed. The bed is its own house, visited by women who vanish almost as soon as they appear, pistons pumping a stuttering engine. My body is an engine that hacks and shudders, and I return to it, standing at its threshold, checking its hinges, crossbeams, cylinders and fuel, then falling into it as I would fall [End Page 46] into a woman. It's almost dawn. The door stands open, and the sink is full. I surrender to the door. Let the heat bleed out and the light pour in. Let the town begin. Let them return to their bodies and leave to master machines, hammer out wonders, burn metal underwater, trap lightning, siphon steel from stone. Let them keep vigil over thresholds, beating back weeds in the sidewalk, dirt in the street, the dead in their bodies, the cold around and above us. The awful space into which we dissipate. The dust and gas, all the dumb luck. Preston Mark Stone Preston Mark Stone’s work has appeared in the Red River Review, Lumina and the Crab Creek Review. He holds an MA in writing from Sarah Lawrence College and was a winter fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, where many of these poems were written. Copyright © 2007 The Curators of the University of Missouri

Towards long-lived robot genes

Robot projects are often evolutionary dead ends, with the software and hardware they produce disappearing without trace afterwards. In humanoid robotics, a small field with an avid appetite for novel devices, we experience a great deal of “churn” of this nature. In this paper, we explore how best to make our projects stable and long-lasting, without compromising our ability to constantly change our sensors, actuators, processors and networks. We also look at how to encourage the propagation and evolution of hardware designs, so that we can start to build up a “gene-pool” of material to draw upon for new projects. We advance on two fronts, software and hardware. For some time, we have been developing and using the YARP robot software architecture [Giorgio Metta, Paul Fitzpatrick, Lorenzo Natale, YARP: Yet another robot platform, International Journal on Advanced Robotics Systems 3 (2006) 43–48], which helps organize communication between sensors, processors, and actuators so that loose coupling is encouraged, making gradual system evolution much easier. YARP includes a model of communication that is transport-neutral, so that data flow is decoupled from the details of the underlying networks and protocols in use. Importantly for the long term, YARP is designed to play well with other architectures. Device drivers written for YARP can be ripped out and used without any “middleware”. On the network, basic interoperation is possible with a few lines of code in any language with a socket library, and maximally efficient interoperation can be achieved by following documented protocols. These features are not normally the first things that end-users look for when starting a project, but they are crucial for longevity. We emphasize the strategic utility of the Free Software social contract [B. Perens, The open source definition, in: Chris DiBona, Sam Ockman, Mark Stone (Eds.), Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution, O’Reilly and Associates, Cambridge, MA, 1999] to software development for small communities with idiosyncratic requirements. We also work to expand our community by releasing the design of our ICub humanoid [N.G. Tsagarakis, G. Metta, G. Sandini, D. Vernon, R. Beira, F. Becchi, L. Righetti, J. Santos-Victor, A.J. Ijspeert, M.C. Carrozza, D.G. Caldwell, iCub — The design and realization of an open humanoid platform for cognitive and neuroscience research, Journal of Advanced Robotics 21 (10) (2007) 1151–1175] under a free and open licence, and funding development using this platform.

Open Source, Anarchy, and the Utopian Impulse

Open Source, Anarchy, and the Utopian Impulse

The impacts of dredging and weed cutting on a population of freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae)

Regulated lowland rivers generally require management to control macrophytic vegetation and sediment build-up. Such management can have deleterious effects on much of the biota. It has long been a concern that indiscriminant river management has played a part in the world-wide decline in freshwater mussel populations. This study investigated the impact of dredging and weed-cutting on the population size, structure and distribution of four species of unionid mussel: Anodonta anatina, A. cygnea, Unio pictorum and U. tumidus. Dredging removed between 3% ( A. anatina) and 23% ( A. cygnea) of the mussel population. The weed bucket removed a maximum of 3% of any species, but its higher frequency of use results in removing a similar number of mussels to dredging in the long-term. Marked stones placed in the river during dredging suggest that the excavator drags mussels across the river bed. This is supported by the relatively high density of mussels in the channel closest to the bank from which the excavator habitually operates. Tagged mussels moved only small distances following dredging (generally <15 cm after 55 days) and showed no tendency to disperse. The impact of river management on unionid populations can be reduced, while retaining its channel maintenance function, by dredging and weed cutting only within the centre of the channel. Marginal vegetation should be cut to 5 cm above the river bed using weed boats with an annual alternation between banks to preserve refugia of invertebrates and fish.

Patchy surface stone movement during disturbance in a New Zealand stream and its potential significance for the fauna

A patchy movement of surface stones during disturbance in streams has been proposed from field observations, but few attempts have been made to quantify this phenomenon. If spates produce a mosaic of stable and disturbed areas, the former could serve as refugia for benthic invertebrates. We monitored the stability of surface stones at three geomorphically contrasting sites in a river with an unstable bed during three spates and one large flood. Stones were marked in situ by drilling holes in them or by scraping them with a chisel. For each stone, we determined visible surface area, embeddedness in the substratum, water depth, size of surrounding stones, and presence or absence of large stones upstream. During the first monitoring period, which covered one spate and the large flood, we marked 400 stones at each 20‐m‐long site in a systematic grid with 40 to 60 cm between stones. Stones were relocated after each disturbance, but each stone set was used to monitor both subsequent events. After the large flood, few marked stones were left. Therefore, additional sets of 200 stones were marked for a second monitoring period covering the remaining two spates; these stones were located at the same sites, but the distance between transects was doubled. Patchy bed movement occurred during all four disturbances, especially during the three smaller ones, which moved only 33 to 72% of marked stones. Stability of individual stones was mainly influenced by their size and embeddedness and sometimes by the water depth above the stone. Larger‐scale parameters (e.g., the position of the stone across the transect) were less important. Whole‐site stability differed little among sites. During the three smaller events, many stable surface stones were available as potential invertebrate refugia. In contrast, invertebrate refugia may have been restricted to the hyporheic zone and inundated flood‐plain gravels during the large flood. Because patchy stone movement was observed in a river with an unstable bed, it is likely to be a feature of most rivers. Therefore, small‐scale experiments may be able to simulate the effects of disturbance on the benthic community more effectively than previously thought.

Excavation of a Neolithic settlement and ritual complex at Beckton Farm, Lockerbie, Dumfries &amp; Galloway

Reports a site consisting of the remains of several structures, possibly small houses, and various pits and post-holes. Finds included a small assemblage of Grooved Ware which had been deposited in pits. This material, and the presence of cremated human bone in one of the Grooved Ware pits probably represents ritual activity on the site. A series of six radiocarbon dates was obtained, suggesting a sequence of activity stretching from the mid-fourth to the mid-third millennium BC. There are specialist reports on: `Ceramics' by Andrew Jones (89--96); `Flaked stone objects' (96--100) and `Coarse stone tools' (100--1), both by Tony Pollard; cup marked stones; `Burnt bone' by Jacqueline I McKinley (103); `Micromorphological analysis' by Stephen Carter (103--5); `Phosphate and magnetic susceptibility surveys' by Iain Banks (105--7); and finally, `Plant remains' by Sheila Boardman (107--9).

Environmental Stability and Community Persistence: A Multivariate Perspective

Six physical and hydrological variables were used to assess environmental stability at sites on 10 contrasting streams in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Five of the streams were spring-fed and initially designated "stable", and the others, which were predominantly catchment-fed, were designated "unstable". At each site, depth, current velocity, and water temperature were measured monthly for 19 mo, and the distances moved by marked stones in three size groups were determined over 18 mo. Stone invertebrate communities were sampled at each site at three monthly intervals. Tractive force measurements and the Pfankuch stability index were also calculated. Monthly depth and current variability, temperature range, Pfankuch stability scores, and substrate movement were all greater at the five "unstable" sites, but the rank order of sites obtained with each measure was not consistent. Tractive force was the only stability measure that did not differ significantly between "stable" and "unstable" streams. Principal components analysis (PCA) was used to combine values for all six variables into single multivariate instability scores (PCA scores for Axis 1). These scores were strongly correlated with all individual stability variable scores with the exception of those for tractive force. We suggest that the effects of environmental stability on community structure should be assessed using a measure that is representative of all the physical characteristics at a study site, and we believe the multivariate instability score goes some way towards achieving this. Such a procedure, however, does not negate the use of individual measures for examining specific environmental relationships as well. Although differences in the persistence of some community characteristics could be detected using the initial "stable/unstable" groups, others could only be seen when plotted on a more continuous scale using the multivariate instability scores. Persistence of the dominant invertebrate taxa was high at all sites, but persistence of the entire fauna was higher at the stable sites.

Additional Examples of Possible House Charms in the Isle of Man

Study of the worked stones found in association with the many Early Christian burial grounds and chapels (known as keeills in Man) shows that where marked stones are re-used in the keeill structure, whether they be simply hollowed as by use as a door socket, or carved (or inscribed) grave markers of an earlier date, they are customarily placed with the decorated side downwards,' as if to transmit their 'power' harmlessly to the ground, or protectively to the foundations. This position is not universal, but does seem to be the more frequent. Broken milling stones are also quite often found on these sites.2 In the majority of instances there is no reason to suppose that they were used nearby, although this was suggested for that found at Lag ny Keeilley, Patrick.3 They may occasionally have been relics of the ritual destruction of a quern that had been used to grind on a Sunday, but the author excavated one piece that had been incorporated in the stonework of a long cist (of a type known in the Isle of Man as a lintel grave) in a cemetery near Santon church.4 One might assume that a stone broken because of its impious use would be eschewed, and it may be that a milling stone had 'power' by virtue of its association with the 'bread of life.' A more convincing example of the use of a 'powerful' stone from Santon parish was that recorded in the 1880s by Canon E. B. Savage from Ballavale.5 The Early Christian graveyard here featured an ossuary of which the door was blocked by a perforated round granite stone 'like a mill stone.' When a new house was built nearby, this stone was broken into four pieces and each interred beneath a corner. The cemetery and ossuary were then destroyed. Rather interestingly, the stones of at least one prehistoric burial site were incorporated in the foundations of the new church at Bride.6 While this may have been partly because of the dearth of building stone in the parish, it may also have been thought of as a way of disposing of the inconvenient but dangerous monument safely. The imagined danger was considerable. In July, 1987, I was told that a Mr. Callister of Lhen Bridge (who had given many archaeological items to the Manx Museum c.1910-20) attributed the loss of his eyesight to opening an urn from such a burial site. STONE AXES