New insights on commemoration of the dead through mortuary and architectural use of pigments at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey.

The cultural use of pigments in human societies is associated with ritual activities and the creation of social memory. Neolithic Çatalhöyük (Turkey, 7100-5950 cal BC) provides a unique case study for the exploration of links between pigments in burials, demographic data and colourants in contemporary architectural contexts. This study presents the first combined analysis of funerary and architectural evidence of pigment use in Neolithic Anatolia and discusses the possible social processes underlying the observed statistical patterns. Results reveal that pigments were either applied directly to the deceased or included in the grave as a burial association. The most commonly used pigment was red ochre. Cinnabar was mainly applied to males and blue/green pigment was associated with females. A correlation was found between the number of buried individuals and the number of painted layers in the buildings. Mortuary practices seem to have followed specific selection processes independent of sex and age-at-death of the deceased. This study offers new insights about the social factors involved in pigment use in this community, and contributes to the interpretation of funerary practices in Neolithic Anatolia. Specifically, it suggests that visual expression, ritual performance and symbolic associations were elements of shared long-term socio-cultural practices

Optimization of ethanol production from starch by an amylolytic nuclear petite Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain

Ethanol fermentation characteristics of the 100% respiratory-deficient nuclear petite amylolytic Saccharomyces cerevisiae NPB-G strain was investigated in both shake-flask and controlled bioreactor cultivation conditions, and comparison with the earlier reported results revealed 54.6% increase in ethanol yield. Efforts to improve the starch utilization rate by increasing the selection pressure or supplying the fermentation medium with glucose did not prevent the observed decrease in time-dependent amylolytic activity. Response surface methodology (RSM) was then used as a statistical tool to optimize the initial yeast extract and starch contents of the medium, which resulted in a substantial increase in the stability of the expression plasmid in both the respiratory-deficient NPB-G and the parental respiratory-sufficient WTPB-G strains, with concomitant improvement in their amylolytic potentials. High ethanol yields on substrate values of the bioreactor cultures, which were very close to the theoretical yield, indicated that the amylolytic respiratory-deficient NPB-G strain was effective in the direct fermentation of starch into ethanol. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd