Tip Of Spear Research Articles

Armament of the Maeotian Horsemen of the 4th Century BC (Based on Materials from the Prikubansky Burial Ground)

The horsemen, whose graves were discovered in the Prikubansky burial ground, represented the elite of the Maeotian army. Weapons were found in 28 burials. The main types of weapons were iron swords, spearheads, and arrowheads. Swords of the Sindo-Maeotian type were found in 26 burials, and in four burials there were two swords of different lengths. The swords differ in the blade width, the design of the transition space between the guard and the blade, and the shape of the bar-shaped pommel. Spearheads could be found in all the burials. Typically, a set consisted of 4–6 both heavy and light spearheads of various types. One dart tip was found among the spear tips in the three sets. Arrowheads were discovered in twenty burials. Sets of arrows consisted of various numbers of pieces, from a few to several dozens. Mostly, iron three-blade arrowheads were used (415 specimens), bronze (three-blade and triangular) were practically out of use (25 specimens), and bone bullet-shaped ones were represented by isolated finds. The arrows were placed in quivers, which were placed next to or under the sword. In the burials with two swords, there were two quivers. Specific types of weapons are long combat knives (30–42 cm) with bone handles found in seven burials. A set of combat knives could consist of 2–4 pieces. On the grounds of the position in the burial, it can be assumed that the knives were located in a special compartment of the quiver, in a case on the sheath of the sword, or in special wooden sheaths. The equipment of the horsemen included iron axes in the two burials. The dating of the equestrian assemblages is based on a narrow chronology of Greek amphorae from different centers of production, which are present in each burial. The high percentage of horseman complexes among the military burials of the Prikubansky necropolis is probably connected with the location of this group of the Maeotian population near the eastern border of the Asian Bosporus.

A novel lightweight model HGCA-YOLO: Application to recognition of invisible spears for white asparagus robotic harvesting

Timely harvesting white asparagus depend on the detection of two forms: the emerging unearthed spear tips and the soil leaks raised by earthed spears. Accurate detection of the small spear tips and the invisible spears in the complex backgrounds of field ridges remains a challenge, especially the soil leaks with pattern similarity to the drought-induced cracks. In this paper, a novel lightweight model named HGCA-YOLO (Hyperparameter evolution-Ghost module-Coordinate Attention mechanism You Only Look Once algorithm) is proposed for accurate detection of two forms of targets. Firstly, the baseline network is determined by adopting the hyperparameter evolution to converge the network faster and obtain better parameters for spear detection. Then, the Ghost module and coordinate attention mechanism are introduced in the baseline network to decrease the complexity of the model as well as to enhance the sensitivity to the target location. In addition, the TTA (Test Time Augmentation) is introduced to the network inference to handle the targets in strongly varying environment. Finally, a dataset covered spear tips and soil leaks acquired from natural ridge is constructed, and the detection test and field experiments are conducted. The experimental results show that the accuracy of the proposed method achieved mAP 0.952 and mF1 0.924. Compared to the baseline network, this method reduced the parameters, GFLOPs and model size by 46.2%, 48.4% and 44.7%. In particular, the success rate of detection achieved 87% in the field test. This lightweight model effectively extracted the features of the cracking pattern of invisible asparagus and the small spear tips, which improved the accuracy of spear detection for selective robotic harvesting of white asparagus.

Intriguing Occupations at Gran Dolina (Atapuerca, Spain): the Acheulean Subunits TD10.3 and TD10.4

This paper presents the zooarchaeological, technological, use-wear, and spatial analyses of the earliest sedimentary subunits of TD10 (TD10.3 and TD10.4) of the Gran Dolina site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain), dated to c. 400 ka. Both units have yielded Acheulean technology, with occupational models characterized by the superimposition of multiple and independent events paired with short, sporadic occupations. Subunits TD10.3 and TD10.4 formed during a period in which the cave was largely reopened after a temporary closure. This period of reopening is evidenced by several blocks that fell from the ceiling and walls. Fifty-seven groups of refits and anthropic conjoins, of which 43 resulted from deliberate hominin activity, confirm the low disturbance of the deposits. Contrary to TD10.4, TD10.3 shows good preservation of faunal remains, although anthropogenic modifications are very scarce. Technologically, both deposits represent well-developed Acheulean assemblages, with high proportions of large-shaped tools and percussive material, which place this area among those that have yielded the most evidence of this type among all the excavated Atapuerca sites. The question of why these subunits contain so many hammerstones, manuports, and large tools associated with faunal remains that have been so scarcely modified is discussed based on data from spatial, technical, and use-wear analyses, which have identified butchery activities, and for the first time in the Pleistocene Atapuerca record, borer elements and possible thrusting stone spear tips. Furthermore, the occupational and technological characteristics of these subunits were compared with other western European archaeological sites, including the nearby site of Galería, with which a broad correlation can be made.

Elements of militarisation of the Atbasar and Botai cultures of Northern Kazakhstan

The huge changes that took place after the domestication of the horse at the beginning of the paleometall in the field of material and spiritual culture, in the social organisation of societies, undoubtedly affected the production of various tools. There were new types of tools that could be used as weapons. The tips of spears, arrows, darts, knives, harpoons, hammers, bolas and other artifacts from more than two hundred sites of Northern Kazakhstan, related to the Atbasar (7000–3000 BC) and Botai (4000–3000 BC) cultures give an opportunity to consider questions of forms of early militarisation of ancient societies. Some tools, their seriality and significant standardisation indicate that they could be universal and complex, they were used in agriculture, as well as in military clashes. After the domestication of the horse, the world of paleometall entered a new generation of wars aimed at the direct destruction of the enemy by cavalry. This is a fundamental change in the nature of armed conflicts, the transformation of the content of war or armed struggle in Antiquity. If the hostile conflicts among hunter-gatherers, which were the bearers of the Atbasar culture, are primarily local, then for the Botai people they are already reaching the interregional level.

A New Record of Hypsugo pulveratus on Amami-Oshima Island, Japan and Comparison with H. alaschanicus

Three vespertilionid bats were captured from Amami-Oshima Island, and had an average forearm length of 35 mm and average body weight of 8 g. From the side of the bat skulls, the ridge of the crown was slightly curved at the base of the snout; the second upper premolar (P2) in the bats was relatively large; the male baculum was shaped like an elongated, 3-mm-long spear tip and was very similar in both shape and size to that of Hypsugo pulveratus. The phylogenetic tree inferred from the mitochondrial COI gene sequences revealed that these bats clustered with H. pulveratus. Therefore, the bats from Amami-Oshima Island were identified as H. pulveratus. The present paper lists and depicts the morphological differences between H. pulveratus and H. alaschanicus so far known from the territory of Japan. Finally, genetic analysis based on the barcoding gene sequences revealed that these species formed distinct clades.

YOLO5-spear: A robust and real-time spear tips locator by improving image augmentation and lightweight network for selective harvesting robot of white asparagus

The characteristics of underground cultivation have posed a challenge to the development of white asparagus selective harvesting robot. Because the ridge surface is mixed with soil particles and has a complex background including variable soil moisture and illumination, detecting and locating spear tips rapidly and accurately is a key difficulty. To address this problem, image augmentation is applied firstly to extract spear tip patches from the harvesting area image in actual scenarios to form a multi-scale combined image, and then processed with proposed resampling-based image transformation, such as illumination, rotation, mirror, motion blur, and shadow. Secondly, a model referred to as YOLO5-Spear is proposed to detect spear tips by replacing C3 and Conv of YOLO5 with LC3 (Light C3) and DWConv (Depthwise-separable Convolution) and by adding the SE (Squeeze-and-Excitation) module to improve both the detection speed and accuracy. Finally, the model is deployed on embedded devices as a spear tips locator for a selective harvesting robot. The results showed that YOLO5-Spear achieved 97.8% at AP0.5, 2.4% higher than YOLO5. Moreover, its parameters, computation, model size, and detection time were reduced by 51.3%, 33.7%, 50.3%, and 18.2%, respectively. Further, the average inference time on Jetson Nano decreased to 63 ms, which meets the requirement for real-time performance of robotic harvesting. Compared with YOLO4-scaled, YOLO5-Spear increased accuracy by a maximum of 31.4%, was nearly 5 times faster, and reduced the model size by 94.9%. Localisation accuracy in different scenarios offers directions to optimise robot design and planting patterns to reduce the complexity.

Hradiště u Mařína (okr. Svitavy) a jeho širší zázemí ve světle kovových artefaktů z 6.–10. století / Hillfort near Mařín (East Bohemia) and its broad hinterland in light of metal artefacts from the 6th to 10th century AD

The article evaluates the results of systematic metal detector surveys from the borderland between east Bohemia and northwest Moravia over the past fifteen years, supplemented with a geophysical survey of early medieval hillfort near Mařín (Svitavy district). The conducted surveys have produced imports of Byzantine and Carolingian origin (strap ends, loops, spear tip) from the 7th to 9th century, with cast ornaments of the Late Avar type from the 8th century occurring in the greatest numbers. The spatial distribution of early medieval artefacts outside the traditional settlement territory shows ties to defunct roads preserved in the form of sunken lanes.

Aboriginal uses for introduced glass, ceramic and flint from the former Schofields Aerodrome, Western Sydney (Darug Country), New South Wales

Since permanent colonial incursion in 1788, Aboriginal groups around Australia incorporated introduced materials for a variety of tasks. However, relatively little is known about Aboriginal uses of bottle glass and ceramic flakes because there have only been two published use-wear analyses concerning bottle glass and none for ceramic. Excavations at the historical site of the former Schofields Aerodrome in New South Wales yielded flakes of both materials as well as introduced flint. We draw on actualistic experiments to inform interpretations of use-wear among the 279 archaeological specimens. Results demonstrate that glass, ceramic and flint were indeed used at the former Schofields Aerodrome site, for tools to work other materials. This is the first evidence for such use of ceramic flakes, which had previously only been known to have been used as end-products, such as spear tips. Use-wear also indicates that, contrary to common assumptions, thicker parts of glass bottles were not always preferred for tools and that across each raw material, tools were predominantly shards rather than intentionally knapped flakes. We infer that while ascribing motives to past behaviours is complex, the use of the introduced materials represents agency in Aboriginal people’s engagement with the incoming colonial culture.

Variation in hunting weaponry for more than 300,000 years: A tip cross-sectional area study of Middle Stone Age points from southern Africa

Much has been written about Middle Stone Age hunting in southern Africa, yet there is no comprehensive overview for the development and use of stone-tipped hunting weapons. With this contribution, I use the tip cross-sectional area (TCSA) method to hypothesise about variation in weapon-assisted hunting strategies for the last 300,000 years or more. I assess and build onto previous hypotheses generated from similar approaches, introducing a larger sample from across the region. By also bolstering the standard TCSA ranges for javelin tips and stabbing/thrusting spear tips with more experimental and ethno-historical material, the method's interpretative robusticity is increased. The results indicate a general trend through time towards smaller weapon tips until reaching arrow-tip range during the MIS 4 glacial. Whereas light-weight javelins, similar to those used by African hunters today may have been in play since almost 200,000 years ago, it remains uncertain whether spearthrower-and-dart technology was ever used in southern Africa. Finally, I align the TCSA outcomes with climatic and demographic reconstructions and explain how human cognition interacts with technological adaptations such as the use of hunting weapons – demonstrating how the interplay between environment, demography, technology and cognition is integral to the development and understanding of Middle Stone Age weapon-assisted hunting strategies.

Spear study misses the point: a critique of the Ennos and Chan fire-hardening study, concerning wood material representation in archaeological finds and generalized conclusions.

Spear study misses the point: a critique of the Ennos and Chan fire-hardening study, concerning wood material representation in archaeological finds and generalized conclusions.

Metabolic imaging: Analysis of different sections of white Asparagus officinalis shoots using high-resolution mass spectrometry

Many plant metabolism processes are currently not completely understood despite the numerous studies. These include the events in plant shoots and especially in the apical meristem. To understand the various mechanisms on a molecular level, a combined approach of target and non-targeted fingerprinting analysis was worked out on different white asparagus spear segments using high resolution mass spectrometry. By means of various multivariate analysis strategies, numerous distinctions within diverse substance classes were observed. While most of the investigated metabolites were present in relatively higher concentrations in the tip of the asparagus spears, others were more accumulated at the bottom, some, in turn, did not show any concentration differences along the shoot. Using pathway analysis, the most significant metabolites were classified in the biological context. To our knowledge for the first time, a non-targeted metabolomics approach is used with the aim of metabolic profiling of plant sprouts.

Asymmetrical Paleolithic wooden spear tips: Expediency or design?

Paleolithic wooden spears provide rare but unique insights into early hunting technology. Examples from Schöningen, Germany indicate that spear tips were sometimes asymmetrical. This asymmetry has previously been interpreted as evidence for planning depth. A more parsimonious explanation, however, is that asymmetrical tips could be more efficiently produced (i.e., took less time to make) than symmetrical ones. Here, we experimentally investigated two different manufacturing processes, producing asymmetrical and symmetrical spear tips, while also testing the influence of biometric factors on spear-tip manufacturing efficiency (measured by time). One group of experimental participants sliced the wooden stave into an asymmetrical shape (slicing on one side of the stave with a steel blade), while the other group created a symmetrical shape (slicing on multiple sides of the stave). Based on time taken, results demonstrated no significant difference in efficiency between symmetrical and asymmetrical spear-tip manufacture. Conversely, some biometric characteristics (specifically pinch strength) present a more dominant influence in explaining time variation. These results demonstrate that the asymmetrical tips at Schöningen were not merely a byproduct of maximizing efficiency during the manufacturing process, but rather are evidence of planning and the associated cognitive capacities of these later Middle Pleistocene hominins.

Designing a Portable Museum Display of Native American Stone Projectile Points (Arrowheads) to Ensure Accessibility and Tactile Quality

Two archaeologists and one engineering professor designed a prototype of a traveling museum exhibit that is inclusive to both blind and sighted visitors. While three dimensional (3D) replicas provide tactile information to people who are blind or have low vision, they can also be appreciated by sighted people. This paper describes the process of creating 3D replicas of stone projectile points (spear tips and arrowheads) that are found in the collections of the Maryland Archaeological and Conservation Laboratory. We define the design considerations related to (1) scanning artifacts to acquire accurate data with which to produce high-quality replicas, and (2) ensuring that visitors can retrieve information about these artifacts, including electronic braille and audio-text descriptions accessed through quick response (QR) codes on a common web-enabled smartphone.

Impact of light quality (white, red, blue light and UV-C irradiation) on changes in anthocyanin content and dynamics of PAL and POD activities in apical and basal spear sections of white asparagus after harvest

Abstract Postharvest quality decay of white asparagus spears is often due to red discoloration of spear tips, caused by enhanced epidermal anthocyanin synthesis and accumulation. Exposure to light of different wavelengths triggers distinct physiological processes in plants leading to changes in pigments (e.g. phenolic compounds) and their associated enzymes, among them e.g. phenylalanine ammonia-lyase [PAL, EC 4.3.1.5] and guaiacol peroxidase [POD, EC 1.11.1.7]). The presented work evaluated the impact of light quality (white, red, blue light and UV-C irradiation) on changes in anthocyanin contents and the dynamics of PAL and POD activities in different morphological spears sections (apical and basal) of harvested white ‘Gijnlim’ asparagus. After harvest, spears were exposed to weak white, red and blue light (30 μmol m-2 s-1) for 3 h and to UV-C irradiation (254 nm, 1 kJ m-2) for 8 min; untreated spears were used as controls. Untreated and light-treated spears were stored in darkness at 20 °C in water vapour saturated atmosphere for up to 4 d. On days 0, 2 and 4, six spears per treatment were selected, severed into basal and apical segments, and respiration rate, anthocyanin content, and PAL and POD activity determined. Light quality did not influence respiration, but section-specifically mediated changes of anthocyanin contents, and PAL and POD activities. White light triggered anthocyanin synthesis via an associated PAL increase, whereas red light and UV-C irradiation tendentiously resulted in an anthocyanin inhibition or even degradation, coinciding with changes in PAL activity, respectively. Blue light increased anthocyanin content in spear tips to the same extent as for controls. However, also other enzymes might play an important role in the light induced anthocyanin synthesis. In basal segments, PAL and POD activities were higher than in apical segments; however, light treatments affected both enzyme activities differently. In the apical, PAL activity was enhanced by white light and UV-C. In contrast, in the basal segments the different wavelength ranges did not affect PAL except for UV-C also increasing PAL activity. The activity of POD increased in tip sections throughout storage and remained high irrespective of light treatments, except for UV-C, strongly stimulating POD activity. POD was also UV-C stimulated in basal segments, whereas white, blue and red light inhibited its activity for a limited time during storage. Differentiated responses in apical and basal segments indicated distinct physiological activity, signalling chains and availability of resources from primary metabolism. PAL may be a major factor controlling lignification in the basal segments of spears, irrespective of light quality, while POD activity is significantly triggered by mainly UV-C indicating its role as an antioxidant enzyme in the physiological active spear tips.

The earliest direct evidence of mammoth hunting in Central Europe – The Kraków Spadzista site (Poland)

The oldest unequivocal evidence of mammoth hunting in prehistoric Central Europe has been found in the Gravettian archaeological site Kraków Spadzista (Poland). The site contains thousands of lithic artifacts and the remains of >100 woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius), with radiocarbon dates clustering ∼25–24 ka uncal BP. A fragment of a flint shouldered point is embedded in a mammoth rib, and more than 50% of the site's flint shouldered points and backed blades bear diagnostic traces of hafting and impact damage from use as spear tips. Additional support for mammoth killing is the mortality profile of 112 mammoths from the site: some age groups may have been depleted due to recurring heavy hunting by humans during periods of environmental stress. The evidence for intensive human hunting could portend a development thousands of years later, at the end of the Pleistocene, when climate-caused habitat changes were more extreme, and, in combination with opportunistic human hunting, may have led to woolly mammoth extinction.

War in the Peaceable Kingdom: The Kittanning Raid of 1756, by Brady Crytzer

<i>War in the Peaceable Kingdom: The Kittanning Raid of 1756</i>, by Brady Crytzer

PAL activities in asparagus spears during storage after ammonium sulfate treatments

Lignification reduces the edible part of asparagus spears resulting in quality loss. Postharvest conditions such as low temperatures induce lignin accumulation. The aim of this study was to inhibit the lignification in asparagus spears by affecting activity of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), a key enzyme of the phenylpropanoids pathway. Spears were pulse treated with 0.5, 2 or 4 mmol L−1 ammonium sulfate, 2 mmol L−1 aminooxy acetic acid (AOA), and distilled water (control). PAL enzyme activity, total phenolic content, lignin content, antioxidant capacity, spear firmness, weight loss, and elongation were measured. PAL activity was reduced by ammonium sulfate, with 2 mmol L−1 being the most effective concentration. Total phenolic content was lower in spears treated with the higher concentrations of ammonium sulfate. Elongation was higher in AOA treated spears. Spear tip firmness was not affected by ammonium sulfate treatment, while it increased in the AOA treatment. Total antioxidant capacity was higher in all treatments until nine days of storage, but thereafter only 0.5 mmol L−1 ammonium sulfate was higher than the control. Ammonium sulfate showed promising results as a postharvest treatment for controlling PAL activities during storage.

Game of Tones: sugars, organic acids, and phenolics in green and purple asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) cultivars

The content of selected compounds was compared among different spear sections (the tip, the middle, and the base) of green (Ariane F1, Dariana F1, Darsiane F1, Mondeo F1, Primaverde F1, and Viridis F1) and purple (Burgundine F1 and Pacific Purple F1) asparagus cultivars. Sugars, organic acids, anthocyanins, flavonols, flavones, and hydroxycinnamic acids were determined by HPLC. No significant differences in the content of organic acids, sugars, and hydroxycinnamic acids were detected among cultivars. However, purple cultivars contained the highest levels of anthocyanins. The content of flavonols, flavones, hydroxycinnamic acids, and total phenols were not color-dependent. High flavonol content was characteristic for all analyzed asparagus cultivars and ranged from 154.5 to 252.5 mg kg$^{-1}$ FW. The content of organic acids and phenolic compounds increases from the base to the tip of spears. On the contrary, the levels of anthocyanins and sugars were significantly higher in the basal part of asparagus spears.

Update on Microinvasive Glaucoma Surgery.

Update on Microinvasive Glaucoma Surgery.

Железные копье и наконечники стрел из коллекции середины XIX века из Западной Сибири, Алтая и Казахстан

Purpose. We aimed to examine the materials of the collection of iron weapons including a tip of a spear and various arrow tips gathered in the course of a scientific expedition across the territory of Western Siberia, Altai Steppes and Eastern Kazakhstan performed in 1840–1843 by a famous scientist, botanist, officer of the St. Petersburg Botanical Garden – Alexander Gustav von Schrenk. Results. The archaeological findings discovered by the researcher are kept in the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography in the city of St. Petersburg. The iron tip of a spear and different iron arrow tips in the composition of that collection were examined and classified on formal grounds. They were divided into certain groups and types depending on characteristics of the section and shape of the feather of every tip. We proposed our reasoning for the chronology and cultural identity of these diverse artifacts, identified types of iron tips of the spear and arrow tips among the studied objects of armament. They were produced and used during diverse chronological periods when medieval nomadic peoples inhabiting the territory of Western Siberia, Altai Steppes and Eastern Kazakhstan could apply iron spears and arrows in the course of hostilities. We identified that the spear and various types of arrows analyzed in the composition of that collection could belong to warriors of different medieval ethnic groups. As a result of our analysis, the findings of armament were related to various chronological periods and definite weapon complexes. Different types of arrows were related to the material culture of the medieval peoples, who inhabited the territory of studied regions of Inner Asia during historical periods of the Early and High Middle Ages. The German scientists who were in the service of the Russian state described the primary events of the history of studying various archaeological objects related to the cultures of ancient and medieval nomadic people on the territory of the steppe region of Western Siberia and contiguous territories of Altai Steppes and Eastern Kazakhstan. Using methodologies of scientific research, we managed to analyze formal indicators of the artifacts and classify them into certain groups and types of objects of armament, including the iron spear tip and iron arrow tips that constituted an important part of the collection of archaeological findings considered. Conclusion. As a result of our scientific analysis, we have widen and complemented formerly known data on long-range and close combat armament object sets of the territory of Western Siberia, Altai Steppes, Northern and Eastern Kazakhstan during the Early and High Middle Ages.