Radiocarbon Chronologies and Extinction Dynamics of the Late Quaternary Mammalian Megafauna of the Taimyr Peninsula, Russian Federation

This paper presents 75 new radiocarbon dates based on late Quaternary mammal remains recovered from eastern Taimyr Peninsula and adjacent parts of the northern Siberian lowlands, Russian Federation, including specimens of woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), steppe bison (Bison priscus), muskox (Ovibos moschatus), moose (Alces alces), reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), horse (Equus caballus) and wolf (Canis lupus). New evidence permits reanalysis of megafaunal extinction dynamics in the Asian high Arctic periphery. Increasingly, radiometric records of individual species show evidence of a gap at or near the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary (PHB). In the past, the PHB gap was regarded as significant only when actually terminal, i.e., when it marked the apparent ‘‘last’’ occurrence of a species (e.g., current ‘‘last’’ occurrence date for woolly mammoth in mainland Eurasia is 9600 yr BP). However, for high Arctic populations of horses and muskoxen the gap marks an interruption rather than extinction, because their radiocarbon records resume, nearly simultaneously, much later in the Holocene. Taphonomic effects, ΔC14 flux, and biased sampling are unlikely explanations for these hiatuses. A possible explanation is that the gap is the signature of an event, of unknown nature, that prompted the nearly simultaneous crash of many megafaunal populations in the high Arctic and possibly elsewhere in Eurasia.

Pesticide effects on body temperature of torpid/hibernating rodents (Peromyscus leucopus and Spermophilus tridecemlineatus)

Environmental contaminants have been shown in the lab to alter thyroid hormone concentrations. Despite the role these hormones play in the physiological ecology of small mammals, no one has investigated the possible effects of thyroid-disrupting chemicals on mammalian thermal ecology and thermoregulatory ability. Because the energetic impact of such a disruption is likely to be most dramatic during times already energetically stressful, we investigated the effects of two common pesticides (atrazine and lindane) on the use of daily torpor in white-footed mice, and the use of hibernation in 13-lined ground squirrels. Fortunately, we found that these strategies for over-wintering success were not impaired

Traditions connected with the pole shift model of the Pleistocene

As is well known, during the Last Glacial Maximum, about 20'000 years ago, the ice was asymmetrically distributed around the present North Pole. It reached the region of New York, while east Siberia remained ice free. Mammoths lived in arctic regions of east Siberia, where now their food cannot grow. Therefore the globe must have been turned in such a way that the North Pole was in Greenland. The required rapid geographic pole shift at the end of the ice ages has been shown to be physically possible, on condition that an astronomical object of planetary size in an extremely eccentric orbit existed. In this postulated situation it was red hot and a disk shaped gas cloud reduced the solar radiation on Earth in a time dependent way. A frequent objection to this hypothesis is that the phenomena should be reported in old traditions. This paper quotes such traditions from passages of Platon, Herodotus, Ovid, papyrus Ipuwer, Gilgamesh, the Bible, American Indians and other civilizations. Far from being exhaustive the examples show that apparently strange traditions can report observed facts. This connection is of mutual benefit for science and humanities

The Dwellers Between: Yup\u27ik Shamans and Cultural Change in Western Alaska

This paper examines the history of the Yup\u27ik Eskimos of western Alaska and explores how their shamans shaped the response to introduced epidemic disease. As in the experiences of so many other Native American groups, disease epidemics played an important role in the history of relations between the Yup\u27ik Eskimos and white settlers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. I argue here that while the Yup\u27ik Eskimos grappled with the devastating effects of introduced diseases, they did not repudiate their shamans and traditional faith, which sets the Yup\u27ik people apart from other Native Americans. Before contact with Europeans, the Yup\u27ik people relied on their shamans for physical and psychological healing. Despite challenges from missionaries, traders, and disease, the Yup\u27ik Eskimos retained faith in their shamans well into the twentieth century. The shamans\u27 enduring power as healers rested on specific features of the Yup\u27ik belief system and the inability of western medicine to cure disease at crucial historical moments. During Russian rule in western Alaska, the shamans maintained their influence over the people by leading the Yup\u27ik Eskimos to incorporate new diseases, like smallpox, into their world view. Later, American missionaries and their western medicines brought enormous pressure onto the shamans to relinquish control. However, widespread disillusionment following the terrible double epidemic of 1900 encouraged the Yup\u27ik people to return to their shamans

For Those in Peril on the Sea : The motivations of nineteenth century European artists to create shipwreck paintings

This thesis will be an examination of the motivations of nineteenth century European artists to create paintings portraying shipwrecks. I have identified four main motivations, Nature over Man, Man over Nature, Political Position, and Personal Upheaval, and will analyze various works in order to view how each motivation relates to the other. Each work analyzed falls into one or more of these categories and by studying them side by side I hope to gain a better understanding of these works unique place in art history. Additionally I will be taking a look at how depictions of shipwrecks were politicized by the public after their completion even if the artist likely had no intention of their work being political, as well as examining a work that very nearly falls into all four motivational categories simultaneously. In the end, I aim to show that works in this unique subcategory of art hold just as much meaning and importance as those in other, more studied artistic categories

Survival through coping strategies for resilience following a ship accident in polar waters

On 19 June 1989, the cruise liner Maksim Gorkiy hit an ice floe southwest of Svalbard. The passengers and parts of her crew abandoned the ship. In a massive rescue operation 953 crew and passengers were rescued, in addition to the ship. This is only one of several examples of serious ship accidents in polar waters. The aim of the article is to study coping strategies for resilience among a group of crew members and passengers taking part in the SARex2 exercise, coping strategies that may contribute to a group’s survival following a ship accident and the subsequent evacuation of the ship. The empirical findings stem from participant observation during SARex2 in Svalbard in 2017, a review of the requirements specified in the International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (IMO, 2014) and a literature review on the special challenges of operating in these waters. The theoretical lenses are teamwork, sense making and resilience. The article starts with a presentation of the challenges of operating in polar waters, as well as some relevant parts of the Polar Code. Then the conceptual framework of the study is presented, followed by information on the SARex2 exercise and methodology. Then follows a discussion of coping strategies for resilience following a ship accident in these waters. Finally, some concluding remarks are presented, on how to transfer a group of crew members and passengers into a team required for survival after a ship accident and the subsequent evacuation of the ship in polar waters.publishedVersio