Charcoal Pieces Research Articles

The "Sima del Elefante" cave site at Atapuerca (Spain)

The “Sima del Elefante” (TE site) (Atapuerca, Spain) is a major cave infill with a stratigraphic succession 25 m thick and 15 m wide, wealthy in animal bones and evidences of human occupation at different Pleistocene ages. TE site is under systematic excavation since 1996, and the inferior and superior levels are being dug up independently. The exposed section has been divided into 21 lito-stratigraphic units defined by major unconformities. Concerning the cave history, at least three main infill phases have been identified. The lower phase (TE8-TE14) is dated to Early Pleistocene (between 1.1 and 1.4 million years ago) on the basis of inverse paleomagnetics and belonging to the later Early Pleistocene on the basis of biochronology. The TE lower phase is providing a rich faunal assemblage, and shows evidence of human occupation. A set of stone tools of flint, and possibly, calcareous, is being found at these levels. Hence, the lower part of the TE section documents early presence of hominids in Europe and constituted an important element in the understanding of human dispersions out-of-Africa. The middle phase (TE15-TE19) dated to Middle Pleistocene and it is further sud-divided into a basal part (TE15-TE17), still largely unexplored, but no vertebrate fossil record is present at this levels. Units TE18, and mainly TE19 unit, date to late Middle Pleistocene, and contain an abundant record of large mammals as well as stone tools included in calcareous breccias. The TE19 G level contains abundant pieces of charcoal, though verification of its antropic character is pending. Finally, the third and last sedimentary phase (TE20 and TE21) date to Last Pleistocene and it defined the final infilling of the cavity and soil formation. The chronological intervals represented in the fertile levels of the Sima del Elefante enlarge the temporal and biostratigraphic local succession at the Atapuerca Hill complex. The lower phase was deposited in a time previous to the lower levels from Gran Dolina site (TD4), whereas the TE upper levels possibly correspond to a moment later than the sedimentation of Galeria GIII/GIV, and Gran Dolina TD10/TD11. In addition, the structural features of the TE site together with its sedimentary and arqueo-paleontological record allow the eventual exploration of problems that remain unresolved in other Atapuerca cave sites.

Clues to the genesis of a discontinuously distributed fragipan in the northern Apennines, Italy

At about 1000 m above sea level in the Vallombrosa Forest, northern Apennines, Central Italy, a dense pan that meets the diagnostic criteria for fragipans is discontinuously distributed. The unusual slope-parallel “digitate” distribution of the pan suggests that it could have formed on water-saturated soil material that moved as earthflows. Actually, several soils in the Vallombrosa Forest have buried or truncated horizons, indicating episodes of mass movement and deposition. However, the fragipan under study shows a homogeneous morphology throughout, hence not providing clues about the occurrence of episodes that have contributed to the emplacement of the parent material. Also, the physical, chemical, and mineralogical analyses of the fragipan do not reveal discontinuities that help to resolve distinct episodes of deposition. Nevertheless, discontinuities in features such as the degree of alteration of biotite grains and the amount of plasma, seen through the micromorphological investigation at 50–60 cm of the current depth, suggest the occurrence of at least two depositional events. Radiocarbon dating of large-size pieces of charcoal collected at three depths within the fragipan yielded three ages that may reflect different times of accumulation of the parent material during the last glacial period. Post-depositional micromorphological features, such as relatively undamaged clay coatings and a weak platy structure, indicate pedogenesis with the absence of intense pedoturbation.

Determination of burial age of the "Augustus' villa" (Italy)

Based on the combination of petrologic characteristics of the deposits and carbon-14 dating of charcoal pieces, we determined the burial age of the ancient Roman villa, believed to belong to the first Roman Emperor Augustus, at the northern foot of Mt. Vesuvius. Volcanic deposits covering the site consist of three geological formations related to the eruptive activity of Mt. Vesuvius. Juvenile material of the lowest formation show the same whole-rock chemical composition as that of the AD472 eruption, and carbon-14 ages of charcoal in and below the deposits coincide with AD472, indicating that the villa was first buried by the AD472 eruption. The villa itself is thought to have been already abandoned, judging from the depositional relation of the Plinian-fall and pyroclastic surge deposits to the damaged building frames.

Datations U/Th (TIMS) et 14C (AMS) des stalagmites de la grotte Chauvet (Ardèche, France) : intérêt pour la chronologie des événements naturels et anthropiques de la grotte

TIMS U/Th and 14C AMS ages of the Chauvet cave stalagmites: interest for the chronology of natural and human events of the cave . Eight stalagmites, two flowstones and several pieces of charcoal found trapped under the speleothems from the Chauvet cave (Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, Ardèche, France) have been dated by radiometric mass spectrometric methods (U/Th et 14C). Results give accurate ages for some geological features of the cave, and, for some of them, confirm the old ages of the prehistoric charcoal. They also indicate the timing of the climatic periods that were favourable to the stalagmites growth. To cite this article: D. Genty et al., C. R. Palevol 3 (2004) .

The mystery of the Persian mummy: original or fake?

We report on the 14C dating of a mummy found two years ago in the western part of Pakistan. According to the drawings and inscriptions on the coffin it was thought to be the daughter of Xerxes, the great king of ancient Persia (518–465 BC). AMS measurements were performed on pieces of textile, straw mat and charcoal resulting in a 14C content of about 113 pMC instead of an expected value of 75 pMC. Additional measurements of bone-, skin- and muscular tissue samples suggested the individual died in AD 1994–1996 and revealed the mummy to be a modern fake.

The mystery of the Persian mummy: original or fake?

We report on the 14 C dating of a mummy found two years ago in the western part of Pakistan. According to the drawings and inscriptions on the coffin it was thought to be the daughter of Xerxes, the great king of ancient Persia (518–465 BC). AMS measurements were performed on pieces of textile, straw mat and charcoal resulting in a 14 C content of about 113 pMC instead of an expected value of 75 pMC. Additional measurements of bone-, skin- and muscular tissue samples suggested the individual died in AD 1994–1996 and revealed the mummy to be a modern fake.

SiC/C composites prepared from wood-based carbons by pulse current sintering with SiO 2: Electrical and thermal properties

A powder mix of wood charcoal and SiO 2 was sintered into a SiC/C composite. The heat treatment temperatures were 1400–1800 °C, the SiO 2 concentration 0, 10, 30 and 50 wt.% with respect to the dry weight of wood charcoal. The microstructure, electrical resistance and thermal conductivity were studied. SEM and EDX confirmed that a 1 μm thick layer of β-SiC was formed on the surface of the wood charcoal pieces. The bulk density did increase only slightly with temperature and SiC contents. The electrical resistance decreased slightly with temperature but increased with SiO 2 contents. The thermal conductivity did increase both with temperature and SiC contents. By coating the wood charcoal in this rather natural way by such a ceramic layer we can use the SiC/C composite at least up to 1800 °C, far beyond the carbon oxidation limit of 500 °C.

Thin Section Microscopy Applied to the Study of Archaeological Ceramics

For the characterization of archaeological ceramics, the study of thin sections under the polarizing microscope is a very efficient analytical technique. There are two properties of ceramics which can be analysed by thin sections, namely the mineralogical composition and the fabric. Both features show a considerable variety which permits a very detailed description of ceramic wares. With respect to the mineralogical composition, there is a wide variety of rock forming minerals, of heavy and ore minerals, fragments of stone, fossils, organic inclusions like straw or pieces of charcoal as well as artificial inclusions like slag or crushed pottery, which define with the temper of the pottery in much detail. The fabric also shows considerable differences in grain size, in the amount of temper, in the orientation of grains and other features, which provide further quantitative data on the properties of archaeological ceramics. From this information, the material can be well characterised, and conclusions as to the region of origin and the potter's techniques can often be drawn.

Big Sites—Short Time: Accumulation Rates in Archaeological Sites

Large, complex archaeological sites are often characterized by only a handful of radiocarbon dates. This practice encourages indiscriminant dating of sites for the sole purpose of determining age. If a more rigorous dating scheme is employed and accumulation rates are calculated, otherwise invisible aspects of human behaviour become apparent. Issues central to settlement pattern analysis, such as abandonment and reoccupation events, population fluctuations, building activities, and activity areas are more easily identified when accumulation rates are calculated. In this study, accumulation rates are calculated for seven shell midden sites found in the San Juan Islands, Washington. The collections are stored at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Eighty-two charcoal pieces were selected according to a comprehensive horizontal and vertical sampling regime and radiometrically dated. Accumulation rate calculations suggest that large archaeological sites, like these shell middens, do not always represent continuous human occupation characterized by gradual accumulation of material. Rather, these large complex sites accumulated during short-duration occupations that were repeated infrequently in the same area. This research recommends that numerical accumulation rates be calculated using at least two calculations; the excavation unit accumulation rate and the entire site accumulation rate, and that the excavation unit accumulation rate is the more useful scale for interpreting settlement history. Calculations of these rates focus the multifaceted interaction between human behaviour and natural processes in a way that qualitative guesses cannot.

Propagation of three orchid genera using encapsulated protocorm-like bodies

Protocorm-like bodies (plbs) of the orchid Dendrobium ‘Sonia’ were obtained from fractionated plb explants on Murashiga and Skoog (1962) medium (MS) supplemented with 4.44 μM 6-benzylaminopurine (BA). The developmental stage of plbs to be encapsulated, concentrations of sodium alginate (2–5%) and calcium chloride (25–100 mM), and concentration of MS salts in the matrix were assessed. Fractionated plbs 13–15 d after culture were at the leaf primordia stage and found suitable for encapsulation studies. The best encapsulation response was observed with 3% sodium alginate upon complexation with 75 mM CaCl2.2H2O. An encapsulation matrix prepared with MS medium (three-quarter strength) supplemented with 0.44 μM BA and 0.54 μM α-naphthaleneacetic acid gave 100% conversion of encapsulated plbs to plants after storage. A viability of >85% of encapsulated plbs of Dendrobium ‘Sonia’ was observed for 75 d at 4°C. Encapsulated plbs of orchids Dendrobium, Oncidium, and Cattleya were stored at 4°C for 75, 60 and 30 d, respectively, with >88% germination. All plants survived potting in media having either wood charcoal pieces alone or in combination with brick pieces.

Pre-Holocene sediments in the Barranco de las Lenas, Central Ebro Basin, Spain, as indicators for climate-induced fluvial activities

In the Central Inner Ebro Basin, valleys infilled with young alluvial sediments are very common. They are usually incised by deep gullies. Previously, these sediments were assumed to be of Holocene age, and their infilling was seen in connection with different periods of climatic deterioration and increasing human impact. In the Barranco de las Lenas, an eastern tributary of the Huerva River south of Zaragoza, the sediments are up to 15 m thick and consist of 20–60 cm thick interbedded layers, of argillaceous silt, pure silt, sandy-loamy silt, sandy silt with fine grit which are interrupted by 5–25 cm thick discontinuous cobble and gravel layers with silty matrix. The sediments contain horizontal organic layers and charcoal pieces of remarkable size. A 2.2 m high outcrop in the upper part near the recent end of the incision was radiocarbon dated, with the ages ranging from 17765–15440 cal BP to 13140–12650 cal BP. A 1.2 m sediment sequence between two organic mud layers with an age of 14040–12975 cal BP at the base and 13140–12650 cal BP at the top indicates a climatically induced highly active phase of morphodynamic processes within a period of 1400 years at the longest. Older sediments from the Pleniglacial have been reworked. The analyses of the sediments and data suggest that these few single events are indicators for strong climatic changes in the Late Glacial (Alleröd Period). The results show that similar highly dynamic processes can occur without human impact. These results strongly contrast with previously published investigations that dated such fillings as Younger Holocene.

Artisanat potier et exploitation du bois dans les chênaies du nord de Montpellier au XIIIe siècle (Hérault, Argelliers, Mas-Viel)

The program of excavation pursued in the area of the “Roc de Pampelune” in Argelliers, a settlement established and fortified in the VIth century A. D. and reoccupied in the XIIIth, has been associated since 1999 with a more general research concerning the occupation of the oak groves in the back-country of Montpellier during the Middle Ages. To this end, a recovery excavation was led on the summit of Mas-Viel hill where surveys had allowed the pinpointing of several red ceramic ovens. One of these ovens was able to be studied, and dated with radiocarbon to the years 1220-1287. The study of about 21000 fragments of ceramic, attributed to at least 851 different items, allows us for the first time to define typological outlines of an until-now little studied original production from the Languedoc. The botanical identification of 890 charcoal pieces and the dendrography of 79 pieces of several centimetres are evidence to the use of 8 species, mainly the Holm oak, the Box tree and the Filaire and/ or Alaterne, which were in the form of calibrated bundles of sticks. The composition of afforestations, the age and the calibre of stalks allow a rather precise evaluation of the rhythms of cutting the copses of Holm oak, including supplying combustible material to the other handicrafts. Finally, the setting up of the workshop near Valène wood acquired by the consuls of Montpellier in 1215 allows us to envisage that this ceramic ware occupied a privileged place on the table in Montpellier.

A 6000‐year soil pollen record of subalpine meadow vegetation in the Olympic Mountains, Washington, USA

1 Subalpine meadow communities are influenced by edaphic and microclimatic gradients, and should be affected by climate change that affects these local controls. We used pollen preserved in meadow soils to investigate the long‐term interaction of these factors in a 1‐ha subalpine meadow in the Olympic Mountains, Washington, USA. 2 To describe the spatial scale at which soil pollen is related to neighbouring vegetation, pollen in 46 soil surface samples was compared with plant cover within concentric circular plots (0.5–1 m radii). Regression analysis of percentage pollen with plant cover at different distances from the surface sample had the highest correlation with radii < 1 m, confirming that entomophilous meadow species have very small relevant pollen source areas. 3 We analysed pollen records in soil columns at three sites representing a range of growing season lengths and community types within the meadow. Soils had aggraded by the deposition of eolian silt. Radiocarbon dates of pollen concentrates were similar to or older than radiocarbon dates on charcoal pieces at the same depth, suggesting negligible downwards movement of pollen in the soil profile. 4 The oldest soil pollen profile was from the wettest microsite, currently dominated by a snowbed Carex nigricans community. This site was occupied by a dry Juniperus community prior to c. 6000 bp (before present), when it shifted to more mesic communities dominated by Poaceae and Polemonium. The first appearance of a snowbed Carex nigricans community at this site, c. 2500–1500 bp, suggests a change to cooler and/or wetter regional climate. 5 High levels of Polygonum bistortoides at all sites indicated a shift to long snow‐free periods and mesic summer conditions during an interval corresponding to the Medieval Warm Period (c. 1200–700 bp). After 500 bp (during the Little Ice Age) Carex nigricans re‐established in the wet microsite, while relatively little change occurred at the other two sites. Overall, the greater magnitude of change at this microsite than at the longer growing‐season sites indicates that, in these subalpine meadows, short growing season sites are most sensitive to regional climate change.

Apparent 14C Ages of Marine Mollusk Shells from a Greek Island: Calculation of the Marine Reservoir Effect in the Aegean Sea

The excavation of the Cyclope cave, situated on the deserted island of Youra in the Northern Sporades (39°22'N, 24°10'E), revealed material of marine and terrestrial origin in undisturbed layers, suitable for radiocarbon dating. In some cases, material from different reservoirs was found together in the same archaeological layer. This research had two aims. The first was the dating of charcoal-seashell pairs in order to determine the marine reservoir effect in this region, based on samples with ages spanning from the end of the 8th millennium to the beginning of the 7th millennium bc. The second aim was dating the stratigraphy of this site, by using the calculated δR value in conjunction with the marine calibration curve. This enabled the accurate calibration of the 14C ages of marine samples found in layers without charcoal pieces. The results show that this is the oldest human settlement ever found on an island in the Aegean Sea.

Holz-Überleibsel Von Tel Nami, Ein Mittel-Bronze IIa und Spät-Bronze IIb Hafen: Lokale Ausnutzung Von Bäumen und Levantinischem Zedern-Handel

Thirteen Middle Bronze Age IIa and four Late Bronze Age IIb (ca. 1950-1750 B.C. and thirteenth century, B.C., respectively)pieces of charcoal or water logged wood were found in the recent excavations of Tel Nami, a small port on the coast near Mount Carmel, Israel. These includedCedrus libani (cedar of Lebanon) (three samples), and local tree species that still grow today in the vicinity of the site—Pinus halepensis (Aleppo pine) (one sample),Olea europaea (olive tree) (five samples),Quercus calliprinos (kermes oak) (three samples),Quercus ithaburensis (Mt. Tabor oak) (four samples), andQuercus sp. (one sample). The discovery of Cedrus libani in a Middle Bronze Age IIa port is one of the earliest published examples of cedar wood from Israel. Together with other artifactual evidence for maritime trade from Tel Nami, this find suggests that a maritime trade in cedar wood existed along the Levantine coast.

Late Epipalaeolithic wood remains from el‐Wad Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel

Thirty-two Early Natufian (13-11 k years BP) pieces of charcoal were found in the recent excavations of el-Wad Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel. These included Tamarix sp. (10 pieces), Quercus calliprinos Webb (10), Quercus ithaburensis Decne. (three), Quercus sp. (two), Salix sp., probably acmophylla Boiss, (four), Cupressus sempervirens L. (one), and Myrtus communis L. (one), and an unidentified dicotyledonous plant. These finds indicate that the Natufians used various local woody plants in their economy, in a Mediterranean climate similar to that of the present, during the closing stages of the Pleistocene.

Optimum conditions for a solar still and its use for a greenhouse using the nutrient film technique

A study was made on optimizing conditions in solar distillation units for increasing the yield of purified saline or brackish waters for agricultural user in a greenhouse. Two identical solar still units located at the Solar Energy Laboratory of the American University in Cairo were used to study the effect of water depth, water color, reflectors, a floating surface and addition of charcoal pieces. Using one unit as a reference unit and the other as a test unit, optimum water depth was found to be 3 cm; production increased by 39% using a red dye and 70% with a black dye. Use of reflectors was found to enhance productivity by 68%. The optimum density and thickness of floating surfaces (black sponge sheets) was 20 kg/m 3 and 3 mm thick with a productivity factor of 140%. After testing the effect of each parameter individually, the optimum parameters were combined and tested together. The productivity factor was found to be 211% using black dye, a reflector and adding large charcoal pieces. The solar still unit was mounted on a greenhouse and the integrated system tested using the Nutrient Film Technique. The distilled water output was adequate for the greenhouse agriculture and drinking water.

Archaeological charcoals as indicators of vegetation change and human fuel choice in the late holocene at Elands Bay, Western Cape Province, South Africa

Abstract Methods used in the analysis of 1163 pieces of charcoal from Elands Bay, South Africa, are described. Results from three archaeological sites (Tortoise Cave, Spring Cave and Mike Taylors Midden) show that the most common woody species at Elands Bay today also occurred in the archaeological record over the last 4000 years. This would suggest that climatic change over the last 4000 years has not been sufficient to influence the species composition of wood brought into the sites by people. There are, however, differences in species composition of the charcoal from Tortoise Cave on the one hand and Mike Taylors Midden (MTM) and Spring Cave on the other. These differences reflect fundamental differences in environment between the sites.

Anticipatory Fiction: Bread and Wine and Liberation Theology

Anticipatory Fiction:Bread and Wine and Liberation Theology Tom Moylan (bio) I The grounds of my hope are very complex because I'm a Christian and a whole lot of other things. Or at least I subscribe to that discourse in which God is a significant signifying term. I also subscribe to Gramsci's optimism of the will. Yet as long as you are part of the struggle, pure hope becomes abstract because the actual historical process produces tremendous setbacks and certain small gains. -Cornell West1 After a little while he continued, "I too, in the dregs of my afflictions, have asked myself: Where is God and why has he abandoned us? Certainly the loudspeakers and bells announcing the new slaughter were not God. Nor were the cannon shots and the bombing of the Ethiopian villages of which we read every day [End Page 103] in the newspapers. But if one poor man gets up in the middle of the night and writes on the walls of the village with a piece of charcoal or varnish, 'Down with the War,' the presence of God is undoubtedly behind that man. How can one not recognize the divine light in his scorn of danger and in his love for the so-called enemies?" -Ignazio Silone2 The Anguish Expressed by Ignazio Silone in Bread and Wine grows out of what Ernst Bloch called "the darkness of the lived moment" of fascism (12) as well as Silone's bitter disillusionment with the social agency that sought to destroy fascism, the Italian Communist Party.3 Yet, along with the darkness and disillusion, his novel also grasps the slim hope that humanity could still find effective ways to oppose domination and fight for justice and freedom. This anticipatory vision, however, has generally been effaced by readings of the novel that stress the pessimism of the situation rather than the optimism of the characters' activities. At least since the author's turn to a one-dimensional anticommunism in the 1950s-expressed in his contribution to The God That Failed and in a revision of Bread and Wine that sought to remove its painful specificity and to assert a transhistorical individual integrity in a hopeless world-his 1936 novel has usually been appropriated by commentators, religious and secular, who see in it the confirmation of their own rejection of revolutionary praxis and their reformist accommodation with postwar capitalist life. A careful rereading of even the revised edition of Bread and Wine, however, reveals that this account of repression and resistance is not yet the document of compensation that Silone and others tried to make of it in the 1950s. On the contrary, Silone's novel is a meditation on human commitment that rejects a religion and a politics based on abstract master discourses. Indeed, it is a narrative that approaches the synthesis of historical materialism and religious thought developed by liberation theologians who have been working among the poor and the exploited of Latin America since the 1960s. That these themes are addressed more by oblique statements of existential doubt and revealing silences should not surprise us, for Silone was still working out of, and against, the hegemonic orthodoxies of Roman Catholicism and Comintern communism during a time that prevented the conceptual breakthroughs achieved by a worldly Catholicism and a critical Marxism in the decades after the Second World War. And yet an early version of that vision of historical openness and revolutionary commitment within the religious public sphere [End Page 104] can be found in Bread and Wine. Indeed, the pain and uncertainty through which the new problematic of religious and political counter-hegemonic action is presented in Silone's classic novel perhaps provides a better starting place for an examination of the praxis of liberation theology than that theory's own more confident and militant documents.4 The radical hope that suffuses Silone's novel not only rises out of the author's involvement in the antifascist struggle-even after his expulsion from me Italian Communist Party in 1931-but also rises out of his willingness to learn from the peasantry of the Abruzzi, the mountainous region of central Italy that was his home...

Charcoal sketching: returning control to the artist

Background: Traditional paint programs can be criticized on the grounds that they provide fewer degrees of freedom than conventional artistic media. Mouse or tablet input devices usually provide only (x, y) spatial information. Thus most paint programs allow continuous control of the path of a stroke, but render it with a single “brush shape” of fixed size and orientation and use menus, either stationary or appearing, for such tasks as changing “brush” shapes. This produces two distinct discontinuities for the artist. First is a physical discontinuity: stopping the act of drawing and making a brush selection using a different physical device, or using the same device to point at a menu selection. A second discontinuity is the cognitive one involved with deciphering the menu contents and making a selection. Although the second may be minimized by using iconic menus, these interruptions of the drawing act make it difficult or impossible for the artist to maintain the kind of continuous control over his or her medium that is required. A particular example of this level of control is the continuous and immediate control that an artist maintains when sketching with a piece of charcoal or a pencil. By manipulating the implement, the artist can change the shape of its contact point with the drawing surface. By changes in pressure exerted with the implement against the surface, it is possible to control both the darkness (value) and width (weight) of the line. All of these factors are controlled by the artist in real time and with continuous feedback. Both Greene [2] and Strassman [4] have presented methods for capturing more of the artist's “gesture” in the rendered stroke. However, Greene's technique depends on a special-purpose input device and Strassman's does not work in real time. Hill [3] describes a two-handed paintbrush with the off hand controlling a valuator that varies the 'brush width. The technique described here represents another way to provide such control to the user of an interactive paint program. It uses off-the-shelf hardware, is easy to implement, and works in real time. As a single-handed technique, it takes advantage of the artist's skill with existing media.