Intensification in pastoralist cereal use coincides with the expansion of trans-regional networks in the Eurasian Steppe

The pace of transmission of domesticated cereals, including millet from China as well as wheat and barley from southwest Asia, throughout the vast pastoralist landscapes of the Eurasian Steppe (ES) is unclear. The rich monumental record of the ES preserves abundant human remains that provide a temporally deep and spatially broad record of pastoralist dietary intake. Calibration of human δ13C and δ15N values against isotope ratios derived from co-occurring livestock distinguish pastoralist consumption of millet from the products of livestock and, in some regions, identify a considerable reliance by pastoralists on C3 crops. We suggest that the adoption of millet was initially sporadic and consumed at low intensities during the Bronze Age, with the low-level consumption of millet possibly taking place in the Minusinsk Basin perhaps as early as the late third millennium cal BC. Starting in the mid-second millennium cal BC, millet consumption intensified dramatically throughout the ES with the exception of both the Mongolian steppe where millet uptake was strongly delayed until the end of first millennium cal BC and the Trans-Urals where instead barley or wheat gained dietary prominence. The emergence of complex, trans-regional political networks likely facilitated the rapid transfer of cultivars across the steppe during the transition to the Iron Age

Wealth in Livestock, Wealth in People, and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Jordan

Within archaeology, the value of livestock is usually presented in terms of use values, the calories and products animals provide humans. Yet domestic animals are also sources of wealth that accrue symbolic and social values, tying livestock production to the reproduction of human social relations. Taking a Marxist perspective that recognizes dialectical relations between forms of value, we develop a model based on ethnographic examples in which the cycling between use value and social/symbolic values adhering to wealth in livestock are mobilized for the reproduction of ‘wealth in people’, or the accumulation of rights stemming from relationships between people. This model of cycling between forms of value can be applied to many ethnohistorical agropastoral political economies. We apply it to Pre-Pottery Neolithic B societies (c. 8500–7000 BC) in Jordan. During this time, the mode of production shifted from one grounded in the community to one centered on extended households. We suggest wealth in people was a key asset for LPPNB households and that wealth in livestock served as a major component of, and a particular ‘moment’ within, its reproduction. This might help explain the accelerated pace by which livestock production overtook hunting in the southern Levant in the eighth millennium BC

Onkraj Jordana: Raznolikosti predkeramičnega neolitika

Recent excavations in Jordan have demonstrated a long sequence of development from the late Pleistocene Epipalaeolithic through the early Holocene Pre-Pottery Neolithic. Superficially, the growing body of social and subsistence evidence suggests Neolithic communities emerged from traditions rooted in the early Epipalaeolithic. However, while developments such as the construction of shelters, population aggregation, and subsistence intensification may be essential for the emergence of a Southwest Asian Neolithic, they are typical of contemporary hunter-gatherer societies and not inherently Neolithic. Notably, the Neolithic in Southwest Asia was not a homogenous entity, but instead supported diverse expressions of subsistence, symbolic behaviours, and cultural trajectories across the region. To understand the emergence and development of the Neolithic, we need to examine this richly diverse history and its many constituent pathways.Nedavna izkopavanja v Jordanski dolini so pokazala dolgo sekvenco razvoja od pozno pleistocenskega epipaleolitika do zgodnje holocenskega predkeramičnega neolitika. Na prvi pogled vedno več podatkov o družbi in eksistenci kaže na to, da so se neolitske skupnosti razvile iz tradicij, ki imajo korenine v zgodnjem epipaleolitiku. Medtem ko so pojavi, kot je postavitev zavetij, združevanje ljudi in okrepitev načinov preživetja, ključni za pojav neolitika v jugozahodni Aziji, gre vendarle za tipične vzorce sodobnih združb lovcev in nabiralcev in ti pojavi sami po sebi niso neolitski. Neolitik v jugozahodni Aziji ne predstavlja homogene entitete, ampak vključuje raznolike izraze preživetja, simbolnega vedenja in kulturnih poti na tem območju. Za razumevanje pojava in razvoja neolitika moramo preučiti to bogato raznoliko zgodovino in njene številne sestavne poti

Beyond the Jordan: Multiformities of the pre-pottery neolithic

Recent excavations in Jordan have demonstrated a long sequence of development from the late Pleistocene Epipalaeolithic through the early Holocene Pre-Pottery Neolithic. Superficially, the growing body of social and subsistence evidence suggests Neolithic communities emerged from traditions rooted in the early Epipalaeolithic. However, while developments such as the construction of shelters, population aggregation, and subsistence intensification may be essential for the emergence of a southwest Asian Neolithic, they are typical of contemporary hunter-gatherer societies and not inherently Neolithic. Notably, the Neolithic in Southwest Asia was not a homogenous entity, but instead supported diverse expressions of subsistence, symbolic behaviors, and cultural trajectories across the region. To understand the emergence and development of the Neolithic, we need to examine this richly diverse history and its many constituent pathways

Cultural hybridity in central and southern Jordan at the end of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A

Our understanding of the transition from the PPNA to the PPNB in central and southern Jordan has undergone significant changes in recent decades. Initially, it appeared that the PPNB arrived in the region fully formed during the Middle PPNB, expressed at sites such as Beidha. Yet it retained features like circular architecture associated with the PPNA, and was thus presumed to indicate a time lag in its arrival from the north, where such structures had largely disappeared by the Middle PPNB. Fieldwork has uncovered a rich PPNA record in Jordan, but a marked cultural gulf between the PPNA and PPNB remains visible, for example visible in the contrast between pisé semi-subterranean PPNA architecture and the aboveground stone PPNB buildings, and in the appearance of naviform technology in PPNB chipped stone repertoires. Ongoing research has narrowed this gap, documenting a shift from semi-subterranean pisé constructions to circular free-standing stone structures during the Late PPNA, as well as the cessation of el-Khiam point manufacture and the emergence of an opposed platform blade technology that appears to echo parallel Early PPNB developments in chipped stone technology to the North. There is now no chronological gap between the Late PPNA and the Middle PPNB, and it appears that this central and southern Jordanian Late PPNA is an indigenous trajectory that developed into a local Middle PPNB while simultaneously adopting further external influences such as true naviform technology. However, recent work on the western edges of the Badia has identified a fully developed Early PPNB roughly contemporaneous with Late PPNA settlements in the adjacent wadi systems to the west. Out of sync with local developments, this Early PPNB presence suggests the arrival of a distinct group in the western Badia who maintained their identity, adding to the mix of local, already highly diverse, early Neolithic communities of central and southern Jordan. Interactions between these populations continued and through a process of cultural hybridisation formed the characteristic Middle and Late PPNB of the area. Notre compréhension de la transition entre le PPNA et le PPNB dans le centre et le sud de la Jordanie a significativement évolué au cours des dernières décennies. Initialement, le PPNB était perçu comme complètement développé lors de son arrivée dans la région au cours du PPNB moyen, ce dont témoigneraient des sites comme Beidha. Ce PPNB ayant cependant conservé des caractéristiques associées au PPNA (architecture circulaire par ex.), il a été supposé qu’il s’agissait d’un décalage chronologique dans son arrivée depuis le nord où de telles structures avaient largement disparu au PPNB moyen. Les fouilles ont permis de souligner l’importance du PPNA en Jordanie, pour autant une rupture culturelle marquée entre le PPNA et le PPNB restait visible comme dans le contraste entre l’architecture semi-souterraine en pisé du PPNA et les bâtiments en pierre du PPNB, ainsi que dans l’apparition du débitage naviforme dans les répertoires lithiques du PPNB. Les recherches actuelles ont permis d’atténuer cette rupture en documentant le passage des constructions semi-souterraines en pisé aux structures circulaires en pierre, isolées les unes des autres, au PPNA récent, ainsi que l’arrêt de la production de pointes d’el-Khiam et, finalement, l’émergence du débitage laminaire à plates-formes opposées qui semble faire écho aux développements parallèles de l’industrie lithique au cours du PPNB ancien. Par ailleurs, il n’y a pas d’écart chronologique entre le PPNA tardif et le PPNB moyen, et il semble que ce PPNA récent de Jordanie centrale et méridionale suive un développement local au cours du PPNB moyen, tout en adoptant des influences externes telles que le débitage naviforme. Cependant, des travaux récents menés sur les bords occidentaux de la Badia ont permis d’identifier un PPNB ancien développé, approximativement contemporain des installations du PPNA récent situées immédiatement à l’ouest, dans un système d’oueds. En décalage avec les développements locaux, la présence du PPNB ancien suggère l’arrivée d’un groupe distinct ayant conservé son identité dans la Badia occidentale, ajoutant encore au mélange des premières communautés néolithiques locales, déjà très diversifiées, du centre et du sud de la Jordanie. Les interactions entre ces populations se sont poursuivies et, par le biais d’un processus d’hybridation culturelle, ont formé le PPNB moyen et récent caractéristique de la région

38 Zastosowanie optymalizacji geometrycznej w brachyterapii HDR raka piersi – analiza parametrów rozkładu dawki

Cel pracyPorównanie parametrów rozkładu dawki dla dwupłaszczyznowych implantów w gruczole piersiowym z wykorzystaniem optymalizacji geometrycznej oraz bez optymalizacji.Materiał i metodaW naszej pracy dokonaliśmy analizy parametrów rozkładu dawki oraz indeksu jakości rozkładu dawki QI 20 aplikacji wykonanych w naszej praktyce klinicznej. Porównaliśmy następujące parametry: objętość leczona (V100), objętość napromieniana (V50), objętość wysokiej dawki (V200). Dokonaliśmy analizy parametrów w przypadku optymalizacji geometrycznej i bez optymalizacji. Porównaliśmy histogramy rozkładu dawki oraz indeksy jakości rozkładu dawki.WnioskiStosując optymalizację geometryczną uzyskujemy poprawę QI. Wzrasta nieznacznie udział objętości V200 w objętości referencyjnej V100. Jednocześnie obserwujemy spadek V50 w stosunku do objętości referencyjnej

Geometric scaling in the spectrum of an electron captured by a stationary finite dipole

We examine the energy spectrum of a charged particle in the presence of a {\it non-rotating} finite electric dipole. For {\emph{any}} value of the dipole moment $p$ above a certain critical value p_{\mathrm{c}}$ an infinite series of bound states arises of which the energy eigenvalues obey an Efimov-like geometric scaling law with an accumulation point at zero energy. These properties are largely destroyed in a realistic situation when rotations are included. Nevertheless, our analysis of the idealised case is of interest because it may possibly be realised using quantum dots as artificial atoms.Comment: 5 figures; references added, outlook section reduce

Vertical transhumance of sheep and goats identified by intra-tooth sequential carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) isotopic analyses: Evidence from Chalcolithic Köşk Höyük, central Turkey

Vertical transhumance is a crucial animal management strategy that provides livestock with fresh pasture on a seasonal basis while simultaneously expanding the scale of landscape usage by the pastoralist component of complex agro-pastoralist societies. Here, we explore the use of vertical transhumance in Anatolia during the Early and Middle Chalcolithic periods (6200–4500 cal BC), a time of socio-political transformation that presaged the rise of early state level societies in the region supported by a pronounced intensification in the exploitation of domesticated sheep and goats for their wool – a valuable commodity. We examine the carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) composition of sequentially sampled tooth enamel from Chalcolithic sheep and goats from Köşk Höyük. The pattern of inverse cyclical isotopic variation characterized by high summer season δ18O values coincident with low δ13C values suggests livestock were moved to moist, high elevation pastures supporting 13C-depleted graze during the summer months or supplied with 13C-enriched fodder during the winter months. Inter-individual variation in absolute δ18O values and the amplitude of intra-tooth oxygen isotopic change reflects either differences in the spatial location of pastures, differences in the relative contribution of 18O enriched leaf water to caprine body water, or a combination of both. The incorporation of pasturing strategies involving vertical transhumance into livestock management systems, in conjunction with zooarchaeological evidence for increasing pastoral specialization and wool production at Köşk Höyük, suggests an intensification of smallstock production that provided important economic support for increasingly complex political landscapes