Enclosure Site Research Articles

An Early Neolithic enclosure at the site of Vlaho, Pelagonia

Recent study of Vlaho in Pelagonia confirms that it is the earliest known Neolithic settlement in North Macedonia. Multidisciplinary research of the architecture and material reveals a complex enclosure site dating to the seventh millennium BC, with dozens of ditches, daub buildings, white painted pottery and domesticated plants and animals.

Impacts of different fencing periods and grazing intensities on insect diversity in the desert steppe in Inner Mongolia

For the past several decades, both species biodiversity and productivity of desert steppe have been reduced due to excessive use and climate factors. To counteract this, Chinese government has supported large-scale grassland ecological restoration programs since the year 2000. The policy needs a standard for the evaluation of the effects of such restorative measures on the grasslands after decades. Grassland insect diversity plays an important role in the maintenance of plant species and functional diversity. To understand the relation of grazing management and insect diversity, we use a complete two factor design, two fencing periods (3 or 7 years) and three grazing intensities (0, 6, or 12 sheep per ha), to examine the response of the insect diversity to fencing and grazing in desert steppe. We found almost no significant differences in either plant or insect species diversity between the sites fenced for 3 and 7 years, as the pressure of grazing increased, insect diversity decreased to a greater extent at 7-year enclosure sites than at 3-year sites. We recommend the most suitable grazing intensity for the sustainability of biodiversity of the desert steppe in Inner Mongolia is light grazing (8 sheep/ha 0.5 yr−1), and the most suitable fencing period is three years, which suggest that policies that remove livestock from the desert grassland for long periods (7 + years) are not beneficial for maintaining insect diversity, and heavy grazing lead ecological environment weaker and insect diversity decreasing. Thus, periodic livestock grazing is important in the design of management actions to preserve biodiversity.

All Round: Workflow for the Identification of Neolithic Enclosure Sites of the Sopot Culture in Eastern Slavonia (Croatia)

– Several Sopot culture enclosure sites were identified.– Conclusions regarding spatial and temporal settlement dynamics were made based on the data.

Effects of Grazing Enclosures on Species Diversity, Phenology, Biomass, and Carrying Capacity in Borana Rangeland, Southern Ethiopia

A grazing enclosure (GE) is one of the most effective techniques for restoring degraded rangelands by modifying the composition, abundance, and diversity of species. However, the effect of GEs on different grazing intensities and durations compared to open-grazing (OG) rangelands is not well known. We aimed to assess the effect of GE on the characteristics of plant species. We established five plots in a short-term enclosure, a long-term enclosure, and an OG treatment to examine the effect of GE on vegetation species’ height, abundance, diversity, phenology, biomass, heterogeneity, and the carrying capacity (CC) of rangeland under grazed and enclosed conditions. We found that GE significantly (P< 0.05) increased vegetation height, abundance, biomass, CC, phenological period, and species diversity. However, the increase in height, diversity, and phenological periods were not consistent with enclosure duration, and higher increments were recorded at the short-term enclosure site. The highest Shannon index value recorded at StGE (2.45) was 28.6 and 12.2% greater than the LtGE (1.75) and OG (2.15) sites, respectively. The advanced phenological periods were higher at the StGE site and showed 22.6 and 60.3% higher values than the LtGE and OG sites, respectively. The highest carrying capacities of 23.4 and 114.3% for livestock were observed at the LtGE compared to the StGE and OG grazing sites. In addition, the heterogeneity of the plants’ community was significantly higher in the long-term GE, due to the decrease in species’ diversity. In conclusion, this paper further contributes to the development of the theoretical basis on the effects of GEs and recommends strategies like rotational grazing and reseeding to be used in tandem with a GE for sustainable management of rangelands.

The Carceral City: Confinement and Order in Hong Kong’s Forbidden Enclave

Abstract Once feted, Hong Kong has recently become a centre of civil unrest. In this paper, we situate these emergent politics through a case study of corruption and everyday life in Kowloon Walled City, a mainland Chinese enclave in British Hong Kong, which developed notoriety as a freestanding grey economy. Drawing from oral testimonies of police officers, triad members and local residents, we excavate the lived experience of confinement within this contested space. These accounts reconstruct the Walled City as a ‘quasi-carceral’ site of enclosure, a zone of colonial exceptionalism and a hybrid cultural space. Through this case study, we historicize current debates in carceral geography, humanize recent interventions in urban scholarship and analyse the shifting politics at the frontier of Chinese expansionism.

Life history traits predict insect species responses to large herbivore overabundance: a multitaxonomic approach

There is increasing concern over the ecological impact of markedly increasing numbers of large herbivores (hereafter large herbivore overabundance) on forest ecosystems. To predict the ecological consequences of large herbivore overabundance, it is first necessary to understand how biological communities respond to large herbivore overabundance. Here, we examined the relationships between the life history traits of five insect taxonomic groups (moths, dung beetles, longicorn beetles, carabid beetles, and carrion beetles) and their responses to deer overabundance in Hokkaido, northern Japan. Insects were collected from three study sites: enclosure (20 deer/km2), control (10 deer/km2), and exclosure (0 deer/km2). The different taxonomic and functional insect species differed in their response to deer overabundance. The abundance (number of individuals) of longicorn beetles, dung beetles, and arbor-feeding moths was higher in the enclosure site than in the control site, whereas that of carabid beetles, carrion beetles, and herb- or shrub-feeding moths was higher in the control site than in the enclosure site. These results suggest that the type of food and the level of dependence on the understory are key traits determining insect sensitivity to deer overabundance. In addition, large or flightless species responded negatively to deer overabundance. Overall, this study demonstrated a significant change in insect communities following experimental deer overabundance, suggesting that large herbivore overabundance leads to the homogenization of biological communities. Unfortunately, because insects have diverse functions in forest ecosystems, such marked changes in both abundance and composition of insect communities will decrease ecosystem functions and resilience.

Inventing the Neolithic? Putting evidence-based interpretation back into the study of faunal remains from causewayed enclosures

The paper argues that our current understanding of the animal bones from causewayed enclosure sites in Britain is flawed. During the 1980–90s, a number of key interpretations, still frequently espoused, were based more upon anecdote and theory-driven assertion than on empirical evidence. An example is that evidence of bone processing (butchery and bone fracture) does not feature heavily in the faunal record from causewayed enclosures. Using data from the sites of Etton and Staines, this view must now be questioned. Both butchery and peri-mortem bone fracture are present in these assemblages in substantial quantities. These sites are compared with Ludwinowo 7, a Linearbandkeramik settlement site in Poland and there are considerable similarities between the three different sites. This suggests possibility that the broader economic utility of animal bone assemblages at causewayed enclosures has been underestimated, having been, up to now, regarded as ‘not indicative of domestic settlement’.

Resilience of humification process to evaluate soil recovery in a semiarid agroecosystem of central Argentina .

Resilience has become a key concept in agricultural management for sustaining soil quality and preventing soil degradation. Land use is a factor that affects soil organic matter (SOM) concentration, distribution and dynamics. In consequence, several recovery practices have been proposed in order to maintain or enhance SOM contents in agroecosystems, such as zero soil disruption (no-till), farm enclosures and crop rotation. We evaluated the efficiency of recovery practices (after a 5-yr period) in reversing SOM losses in a Typic Haplustoll of the central semiarid region of Argentina. A comparative assessment of the resilience of SOM synthesis (humification process) was performed between the recently adopted restorative management and traditional systems (45 years of plow-tillage) using a native woodland as a baseline. In soil samples (0-20 cm), total SOM, its fractions (non-humic substances, humic substances, humic acids, and fulvic acids), and structure (humification index and polymerization index) were analyzed. Degradation rates, recovery rates and soil resilience classes were calculated. Results showed that in our semiarid environment, plowing has significantly affected the resilience of the humification parameters by high degradation rates, whereas the adoption of recovery practices did not reverse ongoing degradative processes. All the analyzed land uses were included in the same resilience class, suggesting that soils have established a new equilibrium (at low values) with high resistance in front of short-term changes. However, a small tendency of minor degradation rates in the farm enclosure site may indicate the beginning of recovery processes.

More questions than answers: the singular animal deposits from Camino de Las Yeseras (Chalcolithic, Madrid, Spain)

Among its many features of strictly domestic nature, the ditched enclosure site of Camino de las Yeseras incorporates a series of singular faunal deposits that do not seem to represent consumption refuse. These deposits that appear in strategic places of the site often feature very biased representations of the animals' skeletons . In addition, considerable time and effort appears to have been put into the correct placement of these remains. In one instance this meant covering with red ochre the bones themselves. Combined, these lines of evidence reveal a treatment of the carcasses that goes well beyond what one would attribute to utilitarian slaughtering and consumption, pointing instead to some kind of ritual. Some features of this presumably ritual processing exhibit parallels with other regions of Spain, but the sheer faunal diversity recorded in this case renders Camino de las Yeseras an exceptional case in the Prehistory of the Iberian Peninsula.

Áreas de atividade em dois centros cerimoniais Jê do Sul

Neste artigo, apresento a análise das estruturas e conjuntos artefatuais de dois sítiosde aterros anelares com montículos Jê do Sul. Ambos apresentam anexos quadrangulares em sua arquitetura e grande quantidade de material lítico, diferenciando-se de outros sítios da mesma categoria.

The Influence of Fire on Rodent Abundance at the N'washitshumbe Enclosure Site, Kruger National Park, South Africa†

The relative population numbers of rodents were studied in nine habitats in and outside the N'washitshumbe enclosure site, Kruger National Park, before and after burning the firebreaks that surround the enclosure. Trap success was exceptionally high, and the field work is suspected to have coincided with a Mastomys population explosion. This genus dominated the small mammal communities before and after the burn, and never disappeared from the burnt patches. Its numbers also did not crash directly after the burn, as have been reported in most other studies. Movement from the burnt areas was observed, which may have had a significant impact on the numbers of rodents caught both inside the enclosure and in the more natural areas outside. Our study suggests that fire can be investigated as a tool to keep rodent densities down in areas where they are nuisance animals, especially when used in conjunction with models that forecast outbreaks of Mastomys. It also emphasizes the value of long-term studies informing management strategies for animal damage control and biodiversity and ecosystem conservation.

The influence of fire on rodent abundance at the N’washitshumbe enclosure site, Kruger National Park, South Africa

The relative population numbers of rodents were studied in nine habitats in and outside the N’washitshumbe enclosure site, Kruger National Park, before and after burning the firebreaks that surround the enclosure. Trap success was exceptionally high, and the field work is suspected to have coincided with a Mastomys population explosion. This genus dominated the small mammal communities before and after the burn, and never disappeared from the burnt patches. Its numbers also did not crash directly after the burn, as have been reported in most other studies. Movement from the burnt areas was observed, which may have had a significant impact on the numbers of rodents caught both inside the enclosure and in the more natural areas outside. Our study suggests that fire can be investigated as a tool to keep rodent densities down in areas where they are nuisance animals, especially when used in conjunction with models that forecast outbreaks of Mastomys. It also emphasizes the value of long-term studies informing management strategies for animal damage control and biodiversity and ecosystem conservation.

Monumentality in Western Amazonian formative societies: geometric ditched enclosures in the Brazilian state of Acre

In Amazonia, monumentality has traditionally been considered characteristic of the late pre-colonial densely populated complex societies. Recent archaeological fieldwork concerning the geometric earthworks in the Brazilian state of Acre has shown that the southwestern Amazonian interfluvial zone was a significant setting for long-term large landscape modifications. We describe the geometric ditched enclosure sites of Acre as early monumental public spaces reserved for ceremonial purposes, analogous to the central Andean ceremonial-civic centers of the Formative period. The geometric earthwork sites contain contiguous ditches and embankment structures of varying forms enclosing areas typically 3-10 hectares in size. Documented cultural features are sparse within the enclosed areas. Making use of satellite imagery, aerial photographs, and pedestrian surveys, 360 earthwork enclosures have been recorded in southwestern Amazonia. Our radiocarbon dates suggest that construction and use of geometric earthworks began at the latest around 1000 BC, and prevailed in the region until 1400 AD. The relatively small number of ceramics recovered from the geometric ditched enclosure sites appear to be local substyles of the same tradition, sharing certain attributes with contemporary ceramic traditions of the upper Amazonian region. This, and consistency in ceremonial earthwork architecture, indicate close cultural interaction between communities that built and used the earthwork sites, and imply probable relationships also with the central Andean area.

Effects of Livestock Grazing on Vegetation Composition and Soil Moisture Properties in Grazed and Non-Grazed Range Site

Studies of vegetation and soil dynamics on grazed and non-grazed rangelands are important prerequisites for improving range management. For this reason, the effects of excluding grazing animals for 26 years were studied on vegetation and soil dynamics at two rangeland condition sites (enclosure and exclosure) in Isfahan province, Iran. The vegetation cover and edaphic characteristics were studied simultaneously in both grazed and non-grazed range sites. In this study vegetation characteristics, as well as vegetation floristic, canopy cover, plant density, botanical composition, plant biodiversity and soil moisture infiltration were recorded during the grazing seasons of 2006 to 2007. Vegetation characteristics, in particular vegetation cover and plant density, differed significantly between the non-grazed (enclosed) and grazed sites and increased significantly in the non-grazed range site. The vegetation cover in the non-grazed site consisted mainly of class I and II plants while class III plants predominated in the grazed site. There was no significant difference in the botanical composition of the two areas. There was a significant increase in Gramineae in the enclosure site compared to the SWTOllllding grazed site, but there was a considerable decrease in forb species. We also observed a significant decrease in soil infiltration rates in the grazed range site compared to the enclosed range site. Litter content was higher inside and exposed bare soil greater outside the enclosure. Infiltration rates were higher in the enclosed area than in the grazed exclosure area throughout the grazing season. A comparison of vegetation and soil infiltration within the enclosure showed that vegetation condition and soil infiltration were good and that removal of grazing animals, as in the enclosure, causes an improvement in rangeland condition in this region.

Examining the genetic diversity of Stipa grandis under various grazing pressures

The Stipa grandis steppe in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region occupies an area of 2798081 hm 2. On the basis of the genetic variation, it was found that its adaptability to the environmental conditions under grazing pressure was significant. Using the Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) procedure, the changes to the genetic diversity of the Stipa grandis population under different grazing pressures were observed. Plant samples were collected from a series of grazing gradients of the Stipa grandis steppe in Dalinuoer National Nature Reserve in the Inner Mongolia (located at 116°38′–116°41′E and 43°25′–43°27′N.), which has the following vegetation types in abundance: Leymus chinensis is the constructive species; the dominant species include Stipa grandis, Cleistogenes squarrosa, and Artemisia frigida; the companion species is Potentilla acaulis and others. According to the grazing pressure, the following four grazing gradients were identified from the dwellings of the herdsmen to the enclosure site: (1) no grazing (CK enclosure site); (2) light grazing (LG); (3) moderate grazing (MG); (4) heavy grazing (HG). Young leaves of each Stipa grandis were collected during the growing season. The results showed that the Stipa grandis showed abundant genetic diversity despite the fact that certain polymorphic loci were lost; at the same time, new polymorphic loci emerged when grazing pressure increased; a total of 10 primers were used, and 74 bands were produced in total, of which 65 bands were polymorphic; the total percentage of polymorphism was 89%; the percentage of polymorphic loci of the Stipa grandis population decreased with the increase of grazing pressure; the percentage of polymorphic loci was 62.2% in the no-grazing (CK) population, 64.9% in the light-grazing (LG) population, 58.1% in the moderate-grazing (MG) population, and 56.8% in the heavy-grazing (HG) population; the genetic diversity of the population in the descending order using the Shannon's information index is as follows: (1) light grazing (0.3486); (2) no grazing (0.3339); (3) moderate grazing (0.3249); (4) heavy grazing (0.2735) with the same distributional pattern as the Nei's genetic diversity index. The test showed the following: As the grazing pressures increased, the change of genetic diversity decreased; the genetic differentiation coefficient among the population ( Gst) was 0.1984, which showed the presence of small partial genetic diversity (19.8%) among populations; gene flow ( Nm *) between primers varied from 0.9806 to 3.4463, and the mean gene flow ( Nm *) was 2.0202; the UPGMA cluster figure that was constructed on the basis of the genetic distance matrix showed four populations that became genetically closer at each step: (1) The first group was the moderate-grazing (MG) population and the heavy- grazing (HG) population; (2) The second group consisted of the no-grazing (CK) population and the light-grazing (LG) population; (3) The two groups gathered together.

Estuarine habitat evaluation measured by growth of juvenile summer flounder Paralichthys dentatus in a North Carolina estuary

Habitat quality and fish success, in terms of growth and mortality, are presumably correlated, and abiotic conditions are likely to be a major component in determining habitat quality. We assessed habitat quality in terms of fish growth and mortality using basic abiotic factors as the major variables. Juvenile summer flounder Paralichthys dentatus (42 to 59 mm total length) were caged at 5 sites in and around Masonboro Island, North Carolina, USA, during June and July 1999. Temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity and pH were recorded every 30 min at each enclosure site during the experiment. Potential predators were excluded by cages and known quantities of food were provided to reduce potential impacts of food availability. Fish were individually tagged, and growth rates calculated for surviving fish. Abiotic conditions varied significantly among sites, although no differences in growth rates were detected among sites. Variability in growth rates both within and among sites was high, with 1 site experiencing total mortality. Results suggest that basic abiotic conditions, at the levels and durations that occur within a southeastern US estuary during summer, have little impact on juvenile summer flounder growth, but may influence survival.

Effects of livestock grazing on benthic invertebrates from a native grassland ecosystem

SUMMARY 1. The effects of cattle grazing on stream bank stability, biomass of riparian vegetation, instream vegetation cover, biomass of coarse particulate organic matter (CPOM) and epilithon and benthic invertebrate community structure were investigated over a 2‐year period using: (i) enclosures containing different cattle grazing treatments and (ii) by comparing streams with different grazing intensities in the Cypress Hills Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada.2. Livestock enclosure experiments comprised four treatments of: (1) early season cattle grazing (June–August), (2) late season cattle grazing (August–September), (3) all season cattle grazing (June–September) and (4) cattle‐absent controls. All four treatments were replicated in two streams while two treatments (i.e. cattle‐absent controls, early season cattle grazing) were established in a third stream.3. Bank stability, estimated visually based on sediment inputs to the stream channel, increased significantly in cattle‐absent treatments compared with cattle‐present enclosures over the 2‐year study period.4. Epilithic chlorophyll a was significantly affected by time, but neither cattle nor the interaction of time and treatment were significant.5. At the end of the experiment, total invertebrate biomass in the late and all‐season treatment exceeded that in the early and cattle‐absent treatments. However, excluding cattle from the streams, at any of the different treatments, had little clear impact on the total benthic invertebrate abundance or the abundance of the predominant functional feeding groups over the 2‐year study period.6. In contrast, comparisons of benthic assemblages from streams with different grazing intensities showed that the non‐grazed reach of Storm Creek contained significantly higher biomass of CPOM and shredders compared with the cattle‐absent enclosures in Battle, Graburn and Nine Mile creeks. Redundancy analysis showed that benthic communities from all enclosures and Storm Creek in summer and autumn 2000 were affected primarily by CPOM biomass, pH, nitrate, turbidity and benthic chlorophyll a. Construction of a 99% probability ellipse from enclosure sites showed that invertebrate communities from livestock enclosures differed from that in the non‐grazed Storm Creek.7. Results from stream‐scale comparisons indicate that current livestock grazing practices in the Cypress Hills significantly impact riparian zones, stream channels and benthic invertebrate community structure and that alternative practices, such as rotational grazing, need to be developed.

Excavation of a Bronze Age Cemetery at Ewanrigg, Maryport, Cumbria

Excavations at Ewanrigg, Maryport, Cumbria (NY035353) took place in 1983 and 1985–87. The site of a Bronze Age cremation cemetery was discovered whilst fieldwalking a crop-mark enclosure site; this site had been trial excavated in 1956 and shown to be a Romano-British settlement. During the excavations 28 burials were discovered, 26 being cremations and two inhumations. Both inhumations, one a Beaker burial and the other a cist burial with a Food Vessel, had been disturbed. The Bronze Age pottery assemblage was a mixture of Collared Urns and Food Vessel Urns; the Collared Urns are mainly Secondary Series with one showing some Primary Series traits. Fragments of two Beakers were discovered, one an N/MR Beaker and the other more in the long-necked Northern series tradition. All the pottery, except the N/MR Beaker, was made from local clay. Within one of the cremation burials a clay connecting rod for a furnace was discovered and apart from one other site this is the only discovery which shows any link between metal-working and the burials within the Collared Urn tradition. Also within the cremations were a number of toggles and pins made from animal bone. The human cremated bone was sufficiently well preserved to allow analysis to show that there were six female and five male burials. Radiocarbon samples, mainly on charcoal, gave a date range for the Collared Urns of 2460–1520 BC (calibrated to two standard deviations).

Experimental detection of rapid evolutionary response in natural lizard populations

MANY studies of geographical variation within species1–7, including those using numerical hypothesis tests3–10, have demonstrated a relationship between patterns of phenotypic and environmental variation. But relatively few rigorously tested direct demonstrations of current selection in natural populations exist11–14. Here we present evidence of a rapid response to selection from a field manipulation of the Dominican lizard, Anolis oculatus. There is considerable altitudinal and longitudinal variation in climate and vegetation on the island of Dominica15. We have recorded complex patterns of geographic variation in morphology (body size and shape, colour pattern and scalation), which we have shown to correlate (both univariately and multivariately) with these patterns of ecological variation16 by numerical hypothesis testing10,17,18. Populations of several ecotypes of the species were translocated into large-scale experimental enclosures, and monitored over a period of two months. The magnitude of the difference in multi-variate morphology between survivors and non-survivors within each enclosure was found to correlate with the magnitude of the difference between the ecological conditions of the enclosure site and the original habitats. Similar relationships were found for three indices of fitness of survivors.

The Collfryn Hillslope Enclosure, Llansantffraid Deuddwr, Powys: Excavations 1980–1982

The report on partial rescue excavations of the Collfryn enclosure between 1980–82 presents a summary of the first large-scale investigation of one of the numerous semi-defensive cropmark and earthwork enclosure sites in the upper Severn valley in mid-Wales. Earlier prehistoric activity of an ephemeral nature is represented by a scattering of Mesolithic and Late Neolithic or early Bronze Age flintwork, and by a pit containing sherds of several different Beaker vessels. The first enclosed settlement, constructed in about the 3rd century bc probably consisted of three widely-spaced concentric ditches, associated with banks of simple dump construction, having a single gated entranceway on the downhill side. It covered an area of about 2.5 ha and appears to have been of a relatively high social status, and appropriate in size for a single extended-family group. This was subsequently reduced in about the 1st century bc to a double-ditched enclosure, by the recutting of the original inner ditch and the cutting of a new ditch immediately outside it. The habitation area between the 3rd and 1st centuries bc probably focused on timber buildings in the central enclosure of about 0.4 ha, whose gradually evolving pattern appears to have comprised between 3–4 roundhouses and 4–5 four-posters at any one time. Little excavation was undertaken between the outer ditches of the first phase settlement, but these are assumed to have been used as stock enclosures. A mixed farming economy is suggested by cattle, sheep/goat and pig remains, and remains of glume wheats, barley and oats. Industries included small-scale iron and bronze-working. The Iron Age settlement was essentially aceramic, although there are significant quantities of a coarse, oxidized ceramic probably representing salt traded from production centres in the Cheshire Plain. The entranceway was remodelled in about the late 1st or early 2nd, century AD by means of a timber-lined passage linked to a new gate on the line of the inner bank. There is equivocal evidence of continued occupation within the inner enclosure continuing until at least the mid-4th century AD, possibly at a comparatively low social level, associated with domestic structures of uncertain form sited on earlier roundhouse platforms, and including some four-posters and possible six-posters. Drainage ditches were dug across parts of the site during the Medieval and post-Medieval periods, which were associated with various structures, including a corn-drying kiln inserted into the inner enclosure bank in the 15th century.