The Use of Wood at the Zamostje 2 Site

Prehistoric sites preserved in the waterlogged environments of northern Europe, the Baltic region, and Russia possess a number of common features related to the specifics of their locations in prehistoric times and the later conditions of their preservation. The lake settlements of the forest zone of European Russia did not undergo any drastic changes in their economy based on hunting and fishing during most of the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods. The importance of fishing can be understood by studying the remains of wooden items from such sites, which include utensils like paddles, floats, and nets, as well as fish traps and other fishing constructions. The comprehensive analysis of wooden artefacts enables not only a detailed reconstruction of woodworking traditions and techniques at the sites, but also the reconstruction of the surrounding landscape, as exemplified by recent studies made at the Zamostje 2 site (Sergiev Posad district, Moscow region, Russia). This article presents the results of these studies. The assemblage of wooden artefacts – with more than 300 items – and fishing structures (fish traps, weirs, and fish screens) found at the Zamostje 2 site currently represents a unique opportunity to assess not only the role of wood in hunter-fisher societies during the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods in the forest zone of eastern Europe, but also the scientific potential of this fragile find material category

New Evidence of the Fishing Economy of Stone Age Waterlogged Sites in Central and North-Western Russia: The Example of Zamostje 2

Investigations of Stone Age waterlogged sites in eastern Europe pose a great scientific interest due to the excellent preservation of organic materials. Excavations of settlements like Sārnate, Zvidze (Latvia), Šventoji (Lithuania), Purkajasuo (Finland), and Okhta 1 (Russia) are among the best examples of such research. New investigations in 2010–2013 at the peat-bog site of Zamostje 2 (Sergiev Posad district, Moscow region, Russia) were of special interest thanks to the discovery of a specific fishery zone dated to the Late Mesolithic–Early Neolithic periods. Several constructions made of wood were found in this particular part of the settlement: among them two fish traps made of wooden splinters and bound by common reed tapes, mobile fish screens, and 150 wooden piles. These finds, along with wooden, bone, antler, and pine bark artefacts (fish hooks, harpoons, floats, fishnet knots, paddles, etc.) allow us to state that fishery was a basic economic activity at this site. This statement is further supported by a large number of finds, including fish bones and fish scales, found in relevant cultural layers. Similar fishing constructions have been found recently at other sites in European Russia, too. In this article, we present main elements of the fishing economy at Zamostje 2 and some newly-found materials from other sites in central and north-western Russia. We also propose a typology for wooden fishing structures and outline some patterns of fishing strategies for this territory in the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods

Light absorption by inhomogeneous semiconductor film

Processes of light absorption by thin semiconductor film in the framework of local-field method are studied. The film is inhomogeneously implanted with O⁺ ions. A distribution of implanted layer is characterized by different profiles. The effective susceptibility (response to the external field) and dissipative function of inhomogeneous in thickness semiconductor film were calculated. The absorption spectra are numerically calculated as a function of the frequency and angle of incidence. It was obtain that light absorption spectra are strongly dependent on profile distributions of implanted impurities along the film thickness

Electrodynamic linear response of a superconductor film located at the surface of semiconductor

The susceptibility of thin superconductor film was obtained. The absorption of energy of external electromagnetic field by superconductor film located at a semiconductor substrate was calculated. A new approach to calculation of the dispersion relation for eigenmodes of a strong inhomogeneous system was developed. The dispersion relations of eigenmodes of a superconductor thin film on the semiconductor substrate was calculated using the developed approach

The exact solution of self-consistent equations in the scanning near-field optic microscopy problem

The macroscopic approach that allows one to obtain an exact solution of the self-consistent equation of the Lippmann-Schwinger type is developed. The main idea of our method consist in usage of diagram technique for exact summation of the infinite series corresponding to the iteration procedure for solving the self-consistent integral equation. The method developed is applied to calculations of near-field optical images obtained in illumination mode. It is assumed that the system under consideration consists of an object illuminated by the field scattered by a small probe. This assumption allows us to consider multiple scattering between a (point-like) probe and an extended object as well as inside the object. The exact solution for the self-consistent field is then obtained in terms of effective susceptibility of the probe-object system. Application of our method to the description of orientation of molecular complexes at the surface is discussed

Can nanoparticles be useful for antiviral therapy?

In this paper, optical properties of the system consisting of mesoparticles (small dielectric particles) and nanoparticles (quantum dots) of various shapes have been considered. This system can be characterized by resonant absorption of electromagnetic waves and used for developing the new approach to antiviral therapy

Interaction between viral particles and structured metal surface under surface plasmon propagation

The new method for decontamination of biological liquids (blood or blood plasma, for instance) from viruses is proposed. The method is based on the efficient attraction between nanoparticles and nanostructured surface, under which the surface plasmon-polaritons propagate

Interaction between two nonpoint nanoparticles: Implementation to biology and medicine

A new mechanism of interaction between two nanoparticles characterized by their dimensions and shape has been proposed. The mechanism is based on the local-field induced dipole momentum interaction with taking into account nonlinear polarizabilities of the particles. The dipole momentum induced in the particles has a fluctuating nature. The proposed mechanism of interparticle interaction leads to formation of both repulsive and attractive parts having the minimum at the distance between the particles close to their linear dimensions. The profile and strength of the potential depend both on dimensions and shapes of the particles as well as on their mutual orientation. Implementation of the discussed interaction conception to biology and medicine has been discussed

Influence of the shape of the particles covering the metal surface on the dispersion relations of surface plasmons

Abstract The Green function method was used for calculation of dispersion relations of surface plasmon generated at the metal surface covered by ellipsoidal particles. The influence of the shape of the particles on the surface plasmon dispersion relations was studied. It was established that both s-and p-polarized surface plasmons can be excited at the surface covered by the particles. It was shown that the shape of the particles covering the surface strongly influences on the surface plasmons dispersion

Conductance relaxation in Langmuir-Blodgett manganese phthalocyanine (PcMn) films in inhomogeneous electrical field

The conductance relaxation of Langmuir-Blodgett films of manganese phthalocyanine in inhomogeneous electrical field was studied. Inhomogeneous electrical field was achieved by using the lateral surface of reverse-biased Si p-n junction. The conductance of new film increases up to saturation with the characteristic time about 10 hours. After that the film has been kept in air for a long time (about 50 days), on application of the back bias the conductance slowly decreased with the characteristic time more than 10 hours. These properties are associated with appearance or disappearance of the bonds between molecular stacks in the film