Siguas 1: a newly identified Early Horizon Culture, Department of Arequipa, Peru

My interest in the valleys of Arequipa began in 1994. A curious set of textiles labeled Nasca1 was attributed to the “Sihuas2 Valley, Nazca region, Peru, south coast.” The iconography of these textiles was not Nasca but belonged to unidentified traditions. They most likely came from the Sihuas Valley in the department of Arequipa. In 1997 and 2000 I went to Arequipa to establish if their provenance indeed was the Sihuas Valley and other valleys in the department of Arequipa. This was confirmed in the field for the valleys of Sihuas and Vitor at four heavily looted cemeteries. In addition, early Nasca textile fragments and a fragmented Nasca 3 bowl were collected. Figure 1 shows the valleys of the department of Arequipa in relation to the cities of Lima and Arequipa, and the south coast that includes the Rio Grande the Nazca drainage, the Nasca heartland. Approximately 300 miles separate it from the valley of Sihuas. Over several years I acquired a small archive of illustrations and photographs of the textiles in question in addition to those collected at the four cemeteries. I divided these textiles into seven groups based on a comparative analysis using differences in iconography, style, sequencing of colors and weaving techniques, where possible, as well as 34 Accelerator Mass Spectrometry radiocarbon dates. The temporal ranges of the identified traditions will be shown below in parenthesis. It will be followed by the number of dates available for each tradition. All dates presented in this article are corrected and at the 68% or 1 sigma confidence interval. Three of the groups are local traditions, named Siguas 1 (543 BC-AD 121; 10), Siguas 2 (AD 127-333; 2) and Siguas 3 (AD 144-775; 8). Early Nasca textiles from Arequipa (AD 55-428; 4) and provincial Pukara (AD 138-406; 3) form the fourth and fifth groups. The remaining two groups are proliferous early Nasca (AD 168-425; 2) allegedly from Arequipa and Siguas –3 Nasca (AD 405-541; 1). Siguas 1 has its beginnings in the Early Horizon (EH) and ends about AD 100, during the early Early Intermediate Period (EIP), with the almost simultaneous appearance of early Nasca, Siguas 2, Siguas 3, provincial Pukara and surprisingly proliferous early Nasca. Siguas 1 and 3 are local cultures and Siguas 2 may be a local reaction to early Nasca influence. Between AD 630-669 a Middle Horizon (MH) Wari tunic found its way to the site of Cornejo in the Sihuas Valley. I was informed Siguas 1 textiles were found in the valleys of Sihuas, Quilca, Majes and Ocoña. At the heavily looted cemetery 1 of La Chimba in the Sihuas Valley the author together with the archaeologists Rómulo Pari Flores and Marko López collected only fragments of Siguas 1 artifacts while cemetery 2 had Siguas 1, early Nasca and Siguas 3 remains. In the Majes Valley Siguas 1 is documented at Toro Muerto through illustrations of petroglyphs. In addition to the fragments collected at La Chimba, there is a significant body of Siguas 1 textiles in collections. In the absence of decorated pottery, the Siguas 1 culture is defined through textiles, engraved canes, pyroengraved gourds, copper pins in the shape of undulating snakes and petroglyphs. Yarns used for Siguas 1 textiles are cotton and camelid fiber of different shades. The supply of camelid fibers most likely came from the slope of Nevado Ampato, the source of the Sihuas River, and not the altiplano. Camelid fibers were dyed in different shades of red, blue, green and yellow. The twist of yarns is 2Z into S and 2(2Z into S) into Z which also is typical for the south coast. Warp yarns are either cotton or less frequently camelid fiber; in the latter case used in pairs. I observed it twice among bands in interlocking tapestry (for one see Fig. 6) and twice among tunics where the plain weave warp yarns were doubled for the portions in interlocking tapestry

Post-traumatic changes in energy expenditure and body composition in patients with acute spinal cord injury

Study design: Prospective cohort study. Objective: To investigate the changes in resting energy expenditure and body composition over time in a cohort of patients with spinal cord injury during acute treatment, rehabilitation, and 2 years after the end of rehabilitation. Methods: Adult patients admitted for acute treatment and rehabilitation after traumatic spinal cord injury were recruited. Measurements of resting energy expenditure and body composition were scheduled at 2, 6, 10 and 14 weeks after spinal cord injury, at the end of rehabilitation, and 2 years later. Results: Patients’ mean age was 38.8 years (standard deviation 14.0). Resting energy expenditure began to decrease up to the 10-week measurement (p = 0.02) and further decreased after the 130-week measurement (p < 0.001). Body weight was already decreased after the 6-week measurement (p < 0.01) and increased after the end of rehabilitation (p = 0.009). Percentage body fat mass showed similar changes. Conclusion: After an initial decrease in resting energy expenditure, body weight and percentage of body fat, these values levelled off during the rehabilitation period. After the end of the rehabilitation period, body weight and body fat mass increased again to the baseline levels, whereas resting energy expenditure decreased further. These results suggest that rehabilitation programmes should focus on adapting to these foreseeable changes

(Ground) ice in the proglacial zone

In mid-latitude mountains, most of the valley glaciers currently experience distinct and enhanced volume and area loss. In parallel with the glacier retreat, the related proglacial areas enlarge, leaving unconsolidated sediments and ground ice of different origins and thus forming a transitional landscape, as developing from a glacial to a non-glacial environment. The erosion, transport and accumulation of sediment in these proglacial areas are characterized by high spatio-temporal dynamics, which are typically highest in the direct glacier forefield and become more inactive with increasing distance to the glacier front. Glacial, periglacial, fluvial and gravitational processes occur and highly interact in space and time. The glacial history of recently deglaciated zones influences the complex thermal regime of the subsurface and determines the current ground ice occurrence. Besides the glacio-fluvial processes, low-temperature conditions, as well as the occurrence of ground ice, are the most effective drivers for geomorphic dynamics and related landform evolution in these proglacial areas. A deeper knowledge of ongoing processes as well as of the amounts of sediment and ground ice is decisive to assess the availability of unconsolidated sediment for potential hazardous processes (e.g. debris flows) and the availability of water from ground ice bodies. There is an increasing need for high-resolution data (e.g. repeated topographic data) of proglacial areas as well as the systematic monitoring of these environments. Keywords Ground ice Dead ice Permafrost Rockglaciers Geophysical measurement