Medieval and Ottoman period (14th–17th c.) Archaeology in the Drava River region, Hungary

The paper is a short summary of the main archaeological outcomes of an interdisciplinary project in a section of the Drava river crossing the territory of Somogy county, in Hungary. One of the study areas is the vicinity of Berzence where medieval settlement patterns, land use and economy have been reconstructed on the basis of historical sources and an archaeological field survey. A comprehensive review of architectural history and material culture of the Ottoman Period stronghold in Barcs was the other area under investigation. Research there was based on written sources and the archaeological assemblage recovered from the palisaded fort. Zooarchaeological research at this site revealed some significant culture historical aspects of this stronghold. Underwater archaeological investigations carried out in the Drava river itself and aerial exploration of the study areas also supplied valuable archaeological results

Walking commodities: a multi-isotopic approach (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S, 14C and 87/86Sr) to trace the animal economy of the Viking Age town of Birka

Carbon (δ13C), nitrogen (δ15N), and strontium (87/86Sr) isotope analyses have been applied widely over the past four decades to reconstruct human and animal dietary and mobility patterns. Sulfur (δ34S) has recently shown great promise to further enhance isotope analyses of the geologic and hydrologic contexts in which organic material formed. For this case study we applied this suite of multi-isotopic analyses to a dataset of 45 animal bones and teeth from the urban Viking Age town of Birka located in present-day Sweden. This research falls in line with previous studies as a potential way to bridge the understanding of relationships between centers and hinterlands by tracing socioeconomic networks of subsistence and food provisioning utilizing the animal economy as a proxy. The utilization of δ34S values enables terrestrial, marine and freshwater food niches to be disentangled when δ13C and δ15N values may be overlapping between each of the niches. The incorporation of five 87/86Sr samples further allowed us to carefully interpret the movement of animals across the landscape. We identified cattle potentially originating > 180 km from Birka during the earliest stages of occupation (early 8th century CE), while pigs and ovicaprids were more locally reared, indicating the dimensions of the early market economy in the Viking period was complex and multifaceted

Noether's Symmetry Theorem for Variational and Optimal Control Problems with Time Delay

We extend the DuBois-Reymond necessary optimality condition and Noether's symmetry theorem to the time delay variational setting. Both Lagrangian and Hamiltonian versions of Noether's theorem are proved, covering problems of the calculus of variations and optimal control with delays.Comment: This is a preprint of a paper whose final and definite form will appear in the international journal Numerical Algebra, Control and Optimization (NACO). Paper accepted for publication 15-March-201

Dogs accompanied humans during the Neolithic expansion into Europe

International audienceNear Eastern Neolithic farmers introduced several species of domestic plants and animals as they dispersed into Europe. Dogs were the only domestic species present in both Europe and the Near East prior to the Neolithic. Here, we assessed whether early Near Eastern dogs possessed a unique mitochondrial lineage that differentiated them from Mesolithic European populations. We then analysed mitochondrial DNA sequences from 99 ancient European and Near Eastern dogs spanning the Upper Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age to assess if incoming farmers brought Near Eastern dogs with them, or instead primarily adopted indigenous European dogs after they arrived. Our results show that European pre-Neolithic dogs all possessed the mitochondrial haplogroup C, and that the Neolithic and Post-Neolithic dogs associated with farmers from Southeastern Europe mainly possessed haplogroup D. Thus, the appearance of haplogroup D most probably resulted from the dissemination of dogs from the Near East into Europe. In Western and Northern Europe, the turnover is incomplete and haplogroup C persists well into the Chalcolithic at least. These results suggest that dogs were an integral component of the Neolithic farming package and a mitochondrial lineage associated with the Near East was introduced into Europe alongside pigs, cows, sheep and goats. It got diluted into the native dog population when reaching the Western and Northern margins of Europe

Typing Late Prehistoric Cows and Bulls—Osteology and Genetics of Cattle at the Eketorp Ringfort on the Öland Island in Sweden

Human management of livestock and the presence of different breeds have been discussed in archaeozoology and animal breeding. Traditionally osteometrics has been the main tool in addressing these questions. We combine osteometrics with molecular sex identifications of 104 of 340 morphometrically analysed bones in order to investigate the use of cattle at the Eketorp ringfort on the Öland island in Sweden. The fort is dated to 300–1220/50 A.D., revealing three different building phases. In order to investigate specific patterns and shifts through time in the use of cattle the genetic data is evaluated in relation to osteometric patterns and occurrence of pathologies on cattle metapodia. Males were genotyped for a Y-chromosomal SNP in UTY19 that separates the two major haplogroups, Y1 and Y2, in taurine cattle. A subset of the samples were also genotyped for one SNP involved in coat coloration (MC1R), one SNP putatively involved in resistance to cattle plague (TLR4), and one SNP in intron 5 of the IGF-1 gene that has been associated to size and reproduction

Is callose a barrier for lead ions entering Lemna minor L. root cells?

Plants have developed a range of strategies for resisting environmental stresses. One of the most common is the synthesis and deposition of callose, which functions as a barrier against stress factor penetration. The aim of our study was to examine whether callose forms an efficient barrier against Pb penetration in the roots of Lemna minor L. exposed to this metal. The obtained results showed that Pb induced callose synthesis in L. minor roots, but it was not deposited regularly in all tissues and cells. Callose occurred mainly in the protoderm and in the centre of the root tip (procambial central cylinder). Moreover, continuous callose bands, which could form an efficient barrier for Pb penetration, were formed only in the newly formed and anticlinal cell walls (CWs); while in other CWs, callose formed only small clusters or incomplete bands. Such an arrangement of callose within root CWs inefficiently protected the protoplast from Pb penetration. As a result, Pb was commonly present inside the root cells. In the light of the results, the barrier role of callose against metal ion penetration appears to be less obvious than previously believed. It was indicated that induction of callose synthesis is not enough for a successful blockade of the stress factor penetration. Furthermore, it would appear that the pattern of callose distribution has an important role in this defence strategy

On consensus in the Cucker--Smale type model on isolated time scales

This article addresses a consensus phenomenon in a Cucker-Smale model where the magnitude of the step size is not necessarily a constant but it is a function of time. In the considered model the weights of mutual influences in the group of agents do not change. A sufficient condition under which the proposed model tends to a consensus is obtained. This condition strikingly demonstrates the importance of the graininess function in a consensus phenomenon. The results are illustrated by numerical simulations.publishe