From Food and Fuel to Farms and Flocks: The Integration of Plant and Animal Remains in the Study of the Agropastoral Economy at Gordion, Turkey

The site of Gordion, Turkey, provides a case study of the integrated use of archaeobiological data. Associations between botanical and faunal remains suggest a continuum of land‐use practices. At one end, high ratios of the seeds of wild plants versus cultivated cereal grains (calculated as count/weight) and high proportions of the bones of sheep, goat, and deer are signatures of a subsistence economy focused on pastoral production. At the other, low wild/cereal ratios along with high proportions of the bones of cattle, pig, and hare indicate an economy more focused on agriculture. Based on the millennium‐long sequence analyzed, the most sustainable land use around the ancient settlement emphasized pastoral production; only during the wealthy Middle Phrygian period did high population support greater reliance on agriculture

Convalescent plasma in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised controlled, open-label, platform trial

SummaryBackground Azithromycin has been proposed as a treatment for COVID-19 on the basis of its immunomodulatoryactions. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19.Methods In this randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19Therapy [RECOVERY]), several possible treatments were compared with usual care in patients admitted to hospitalwith COVID-19 in the UK. The trial is underway at 176 hospitals in the UK. Eligible and consenting patients wererandomly allocated to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus azithromycin 500 mg once perday by mouth or intravenously for 10 days or until discharge (or allocation to one of the other RECOVERY treatmentgroups). Patients were assigned via web-based simple (unstratified) randomisation with allocation concealment andwere twice as likely to be randomly assigned to usual care than to any of the active treatment groups. Participants andlocal study staff were not masked to the allocated treatment, but all others involved in the trial were masked to theoutcome data during the trial. The primary outcome was 28-day all-cause mortality, assessed in the intention-to-treatpopulation. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, 50189673, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04381936.Findings Between April 7 and Nov 27, 2020, of 16 442 patients enrolled in the RECOVERY trial, 9433 (57%) wereeligible and 7763 were included in the assessment of azithromycin. The mean age of these study participants was65·3 years (SD 15·7) and approximately a third were women (2944 [38%] of 7763). 2582 patients were randomlyallocated to receive azithromycin and 5181 patients were randomly allocated to usual care alone. Overall,561 (22%) patients allocated to azithromycin and 1162 (22%) patients allocated to usual care died within 28 days(rate ratio 0·97, 95% CI 0·87–1·07; p=0·50). No significant difference was seen in duration of hospital stay (median10 days [IQR 5 to >28] vs 11 days [5 to >28]) or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital alive within 28 days(rate ratio 1·04, 95% CI 0·98–1·10; p=0·19). Among those not on invasive mechanical ventilation at baseline, nosignificant difference was seen in the proportion meeting the composite endpoint of invasive mechanical ventilationor death (risk ratio 0·95, 95% CI 0·87–1·03; p=0·24).Interpretation In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, azithromycin did not improve survival or otherprespecified clinical outcomes. Azithromycin use in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 should be restrictedto patients in whom there is a clear antimicrobial indication

Changing Patterns of Animal Utilization at Ancient Gordion

The analysis of the large corpus of animal bones from ancient Gordion in Central Turkey provides a unique opportunity to monitor animal based economy at this famous site over its last 1400 years of occupation. During this time Gordion saw many changes in its function, its political fortunes and affiliation, and in the ethnicity and status of its inhabitants. In this paper various vectors of social and environmental change are examined to assess the degree to which these different forces affected the types of animals utilized by Gordion residents. Major changes in species distribution most often coincide with changes in the function of the specific area from which the bones were derived. Changes in the socio-economic status of inhabitants of the area sampled are also frequently associated with important shifts in species distribution. Changes in ethnic affiliation of Gordion residents do not seem to coincide with major shifts in species consumed. Other patterning in the faunal data not discussed here may be more closely tied to ethnically determined dietary practices. It is perhaps more productive, however, to examine influence of these various vectors of change not in isolation but as a tightly interrelated web of social and environmental forces that shape and are shaped by subsistence economy through time. Key-words : Central Turkey, Gordion. animal utilization, socio-economy, environment.Le vaste corpus de la faune du site antique de Gordion en Analolie centrale fournit une occasion unique d'en analyser l'économie, fondée sur l'élevage, durant les derniers 1400 ans de son occupation. Au cours de cette période Gordion connut de nombreux changements aussi bien dans sa fonction, sa situation politique, ses affiliations que dans l'appartenance ethnique et le statut de ses habitants. Dans cet article, les différents facteurs de changement tant de la société que de l'environnement sont examinés afin d'établir dans quelle mesure ces processus ont pu affecter les espèces d'animaux utilisées par les habitants de Gordion. Les principaux changements dans la répartition des espèces coïncident fréquemment avec des changements de fonction du quartier de la ville considéré. Les modifications du statut socio-économique des habitants des zones échantillonnées sont aussi souvent associées à des modifications notables dans la répartition des espèces. Les changements d'affiliation ethnique des habitants de Gordion ne semblent pas devoir être mis en parallèle avec les changements majeurs constatés dans les espèces consommées. Une autre hypothèse, non développée ici, serait de lier cette évolution aux pratiques alimentaires qui, elles-même, peuvent dépendre de l'origine ethnique des groupes. Peut-être vaut-il mieux, cependant, considérer tous les facteurs de changement, non pas séparément, mais dans leur ensemble, étant donné qu "ils constituent un réseau étroitement serré de forces liées au social et à l'environnement qui ont, au cours du temps, à la fois façonné et été façonnées par l'économie de subsistance. Mots clés : Turquie centrale, Gordion, élevage, socio-économie, environnement.Zeder Melinda A., Arter Susan R. Changing Patterns of Animal Utilization at Ancient Gordion. In: Paléorient, 1994, vol. 20, n°2. pp. 105-118