Finding Oxford’s medieval Jewry using organic residue analysis, faunal records and historical documents

Food is often one of the most distinctive expressions of social, religious, cultural or ethnic groups. However, the archaeological identification of specific religious dietary practices, including the Jewish tradition of keeping kosher, associated with ritual food practices and taboos, is very rare. This is arguably one of the oldest known diets across the world and, for an observant Jew, maintaining dietary laws (known as Kashruth) is a fundamental part of everyday life. Recent excavations in the early medieval Oxford Jewish quarter yielded a remarkable assemblage of animal bones, marked by a complete absence of pig specimens and a dominance of kosher (permitted) birds, domestic fowl and goose. To our knowledge, this is the first identification of a Jewish dietary signature in British zooarchaeology, which contrasted markedly with the previous Saxon phase where pig bones were present in quantity and bird bones were barely seen. Lipid residue analysis of pottery from St Aldates showed that vessels from the possible Jewish houses were solely used to process ruminant carcass products, with an avoidance of pig product processing, correlating well with the faunal data. In contrast, lipid analysis of pottery from comparative assemblages from the previous Saxon phase at the site and a contemporaneous site in the city, The Queen’s College, shows that the majority of these vessels appear to have been used to process mixtures of both ruminant and non-ruminant (pig) products. Here, the combination of organic residue analysis, site excavation and animal and fish bone evidence was consistent with the presence of Jewish houses in eleventh- and twelfth-century St Aldates, Oxford, hitherto only suspected through documentary information. This is the first identification of specific religious dietary practices using lipid residue analysis, verifying that, at least 800 years ago, medieval Jewish Oxford communities practised dietary laws known as Kashruth

Using NHANES oral health examination protocols as part of an esophageal cancer screening study conducted in a high-risk region of China

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The oral health status of rural residents in the People's Republic of China has not been extensively studied and the relationship between poor oral health and esophageal cancer (EC) is unclear. We aim to report the oral health status of adults participating in an EC screening study conducted in a rural high-risk EC area of China and to explore the relationship between oral health and esophageal dysplasia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) oral health examination procedures and the Modified Gingival Index (MGI) were used in a clinical study designed to examine risk factors for esophageal cancer and to test a new esophageal cytology sampling device. This study was conducted in three rural villages in China with high rates of EC in 2002 and was a collaborative effort involving investigators from the National Institutes of Health and the Cancer Institute of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Nearly 17% of the study participants aged 40–67 years old were edentulous. Overall, the mean number of adjusted missing teeth (including third molars and retained dental roots) was 13.8 and 35% had 7 contacts or less. Women were more likely to experience greater tooth loss than men. The average age at the time of first tooth loss for those with no posterior functional contacts was approximately 41 years for men and 36 years for women. The mean DMFT (decayed, missing, and filled teeth) score for the study population was 8.5. Older persons, females, and individuals having lower educational attainment had higher DMFT scores. The prevalence of periodontal disease (defined as at least one site with 3 mm of attachment loss and 4 mm of pocket depth) was 44.7%, and 36.7% of the study participants had at least one site with 6 mm or more of attachment loss. Results from a parsimonious multivariate model indicate that participants with poor oral health wemore likely to have esophageal dysplasia (OR = 1.59; 95% CI 1.06, 2.39).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This report describes the first use of NHANES oral health protocols employed in a clinical study conducted outside of the United States. The extent and severity of poor oral health in this Chinese study group may be an important health problem and contributing factor to the prevalence of EC.</p

A study to explore specific stressors and coping strategies in primary dental care practice

Background and Aims: It is widely acknowledged that dentists experience occupational stress. This qualitative study aimed to explore previously identified specific stressors in more detail in order to inform the development of a future stress management programme. Method: Two focus groups of dentists (N: 7 & 6) were conducted to explore, in more detail, nine specific stressors and concepts; being out of one’s comfort zone, zoning out from the patient, celebrating the positive aspects of work, thinking aloud, the effect of hurting patients, the impact of perfectionism, responsibility for patient’s self-care, the emotional impact of difficult situations as a foundation dentist. Participants were also asked for their views on the structure and contents of the proposed stress management package. Verbatim transcripts were subjected to thematic analysis. Results and Discussion: Dentists described the impact of these stressors and their current coping methods; thematic analysis revealed 9 themes which covered the above concepts and a further overall theme of need for control. The findings are elaborated in connection to their relevant stress, coping and emotion psychological theory. Their implications for personal well-being and clinical outcomes are discussed. Conclusion: Dentists’ stressful and coping experiences are complex and it is essential that any stress management programme reflects this and that the skills are easily accessible and sustainable within the context of a busy dental practice

School choice, consumerism and the ethical strand in talk

Research on school choice highlights the extent to which a communitarian impulse informs the way some parents engage with their role as chooser. This suggests that the responsibilities of parents as consumers are often negotiated in collective as well as individualizing terms. Drawing on data from a group of mothers of diverse social class and racial backgrounds, this paper builds on some of these perspectives through deploying elements of a critical discursive analytic approach. Its aim is to explore how some mothers engage with the meaning and practice of school choice. Focusing on the emotional labouring that often underpins mothers’ rationalizations of choice, this paper examines the discursive role of emotion in these contexts as a form of social action geared towards achieving certain ends. In turn I discuss the implications of this for thinking through choice as a framing, function and discourse inhabited and performed by mothers

The Middle Stone Age archaeology of the Senegal river valley

The importance of Africa in human origins is widely recognised, yet knowledge remains strongly biased towards certain regions of the continent at the expense of others. West Africa in particular is a vast area with extremely limited archaeological, environmental and fossil records. In this paper, we contribute towards redressing this imbalance though a summary of the state of knowledge of the West African Middle Stone Age (MSA), and the presentation of preliminary analyses of ten newly discovered MSA archaeological sites situated along the Senegal River. Archaeological, fossil and genetic data relevant to the West African MSA, a period currently thought to span from at least similar to 150 ka until the Terminal Pleistocene, are first discussed. Technological analyses of newly discovered MSA assemblages in Senegal are then presented and contextualised with the ecology and environmental evolution of West Africa. Our preliminary findings suggest an overall high level of technological diversity along the Senegal River, but identify common technological features between assemblages in northern Senegal. These include an emphasis on centripetal methods of Levallois reduction (both preferential and recurrent). The discovery of tools in northern Senegal with basal modifications consistent with tanging may also suggest some form of connection with North African assemblages and is commensurate with the role of Senegal as a transitional zone between sub-Saharan and Saharan Africa. Although preliminary, the emerging results demonstrate the potential of the region to contribute to debates on intra-African dispersals, including population persistence and turnovers

Guest editorial – The Middle Palaeolithic in the desert II

Research on Middle Palaeolithic occupations within the mid-latitude desert belt is enjoying a sustained surge of interest. This ongoing focus is in part because the mid latitude arid belt forms a shifting environmental barrier between different biogeographic zones. Ecological flux within these desert regions have therefore modulated human dispersals both temporally and spatially. Until recently, broad-brush models of human adaptation and expansion have been coarsely framed within such environmental frameworks, and typified by the reduction of past population dynamics to arrows on maps covering vast landscapes. More nuanced patterns of past population dynamics are now being identified that also expose the complexities of early human demography. Specifically, dramatic advances in complementary disciplines, namely genetics and climate science, have helped to expose past patterns of human demography and expansions in ever increasing resolution. While the skeletal record of the mid-latitude arid belt includes both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, an increasingly complex demographic picture is becoming evident from genetic research, which break down simple dichotomies between ‘modern’ and ‘archaic’. From a cultural perspective, these identifications have emphasized the increasing need to focus on population-level studies, acknowledging the complexities of the relationship between material culture and biology. Such archaeological approaches can reliably ground their analyses in terms of geography, past environments and, most importantly, time, none of which can be simply achieved through genetic approaches. Furthermore, archaeological research permits the examination of when and where major population expansions occurred, and also how they were achieved. Combining these different approaches is key, with each discipline helping to identify new foci of study in the others. This volume brings together a selection of papers resulting from the Middle Palaeolithic in the Desert II conference, hosted by UMR5199 PACEA, Université de Bordeaux in December 2014. The papers in this volume reflect both the international make-up of attendees and the interdisciplinary approaches that have been employed. The papers can be split broadly into intensified analyses in existing centres of research from the central Sahara to the Levant, and exploration of new landscapes, particularly at the extremities of the desert belt. We are pleased to see the continuing progress of research on the Middle Palaeolithic in the desert since our first conference and edited volume on the theme (Groucutt and Blinkhorn, 2013).</p

Guest Editorial - The Middle Palaeolithic in the desert II

Research on Middle Palaeolithic occupations within the mid-latitude desert belt is enjoying a sustained surge of interest. This ongoing focus is in part because the mid latitude arid belt forms a shifting environmental barrier between different biogeographic zones. Ecological flux within these desert regions have therefore modulated human dispersals both temporally and spatially. Until recently, broad-brush models of human adaptation and expansion have been coarsely framed within such environmental frameworks, and typified by the reduction of past population dynamics to arrows on maps covering vast landscapes. More nuanced patterns of past population dynamics are now being identified that also expose the complexities of early human demography. Specifically, dramatic advances in complementary disciplines, namely genetics and climate science, have helped to expose past patterns of human demography and expansions in ever increasing resolution. While the skeletal record of the mid-latitude arid belt includes both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, an increasingly complex demographic picture is becoming evident from genetic research, which break down simple dichotomies between ‘modern’ and ‘archaic’. From a cultural perspective, these identifications have emphasized the increasing need to focus on population-level studies, acknowledging the complexities of the relationship between material culture and biology. Such archaeological approaches can reliably ground their analyses in terms of geography, past environments and, most importantly, time, none of which can be simply achieved through genetic approaches. Furthermore, archaeological research permits the examination of when and where major population expansions occurred, and also how they were achieved. Combining these different approaches is key, with each discipline helping to identify new foci of study in the others. This volume brings together a selection of papers resulting from the Middle Palaeolithic in the Desert II conference, hosted by UMR5199 PACEA, Université de Bordeaux in December 2014. The papers in this volume reflect both the international make-up of attendees and the interdisciplinary approaches that have been employed. The papers can be split broadly into intensified analyses in existing centres of research from the central Sahara to the Levant, and exploration of new landscapes, particularly at the extremities of the desert belt. We are pleased to see the continuing progress of research on the Middle Palaeolithic in the desert since our first conference and edited volume on the theme (Groucutt and Blinkhorn, 2013).</p