A 4500-year time series of Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) size and abundance: archaeology, oceanic regime shifts, and sustainable fisheries

A 4500-year archaeological record of Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) bones from Sanak Island, Alaska, was used to assess the sustainability of the modern fishery and the effects of this fishery on the size of fish caught. Allometric reconstructions of Pacific cod length for eight prehistoric time periods indicated that the current size of the nearshore, commercially fished Pacific cod stocks is statistically unchanged from that of fish caught during 4500 years of subsistence harvesting. This finding indicates that the current Pacific cod fishery that uses selective harvesting technolog ies is a sustainable commercial fishery. Variation in relative Pacific cod abundances provides further insights into the response of this species to punctuated changes in ocean climate (regime shifts) and indicates that Pacific cod stocks can recover from major environmental perturbations. Such palaeofisheries data can extend the short time-series of fisheries data (<50 yr) that form the basis for fisheries management in the Gulf of Alaska and place current trends within the context of centennial- or millennial-scale patterns

El Laboratorio de Virtualización 3D de Idaho

[EN] Three dimensional (3D) virtualization and visualization is an important component of industry, art, museum curation and cultural heritage, yet the step by step process of 3D virtualization has been little discussed. Here we review the Idaho Virtualization Laboratory’s (IVL) process of virtualizing a cultural heritage item (artifact) from start to finish. Each step is thoroughly explained and illustrated including how the object and its metadata are digitally preserved and ultimately distributed to the world.[ES] La virtualización y visualización tridimensional (3D) es un componente importante de la industria, el arte, los museos y el patrimonio cultural, sin embargo, el proceso paso a paso de virtualización 3D se ha discutido muy poco. Aquí repasamos de principio a fin el proceso de virtualizacion de un elemento del patrimonio cultural (artefacto) llevado a cabo por el Laboratorio de Virtualización de Idaho (IVL). Cada paso es explicado e ilustrado completamente incluyendo cómo el objeto y sus metadatos son preservados digitalmente y en última instancia, distribuidos en el mundo.The authors would like to thank the National Science Foundation (awards ARC- 0808933, 102332, 1237452 and 1321411), the Hitz Foundation, the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust, Idaho State University, the ISU Informatics Research Institute, and the Idaho Museum of Natural History for supporting this research. The National Science Foundation, nor any other funding source, is responsible for the advancements, conclusions, or implications of this work.Holmer, NA.; Clement, N.; Dehart, K.; Maschner, H.; Pruitt, J.; Schlader, R.; Van Walsum, M. (2014). The Idaho Virtualization Laboratory 3D Pipeline. Virtual Archaeology Review. 5(10):21-31. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2014.4208OJS2131510BETTS, M. W., MASCHNER, H. D. G., SCHOU, C. D., SCHLADER, R., HOLMES, J., CLEMENT, N., SMUIN, M. (2011): "Virtual zooarchaeology: building a web-based reference collection of northern vertebrates for archaeofaunal research and education", in Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume: 38, Issue: 4, pp. 755-762.MASCHNER, H. (2013): "Democracy in 3D", in Museum, pp. 26-31.MASCHNER, H., SCHOU, C., HOLMES, J. (2013): "Virtualization and the democratization of science: 3D technologies revolutionize museum research and Access", in Proceedings of the 2013 World Digital Heritage Conference. -1-4799-3169-9/13©2013 IEEE. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/DigitalHeritage.2013.6744763TAPANILA, L., PRUITT, J., PRADEL, A., WILGA, C. D., RAMSAY, J. B., SCHLADER, R., DIDIER, D. A. (2013): "Jaws for a spiral-tooth whorl: CT images reveal novel adaptation and phylogeny in fossil Helicoprion", in Biology Letters, 9, 20130057 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2013.005

The work of Global Digital Heritage for the massive digitization of fortifications in Spain

[EN] In the last 20 years the field of cultural heritage has experienced a revolution in terms of documentation methods. The latest technological advances in laser scanners and photogrammetry have opened the possibility of documenting in three dimensions all types of monuments and sites regardless of their size or complexity. In this revolution fortified spaces have not been an exception. Hundreds of research teams around the world have developed 3D digitization projects of castles and fortresses. However, the overall impact of these projects has been very limited, partly due to the lack of collaboration and partly due to the inability of citizens to freely access the data. Currently, the research team of the US non-profit entity Global Digital Heritage is working on the massive digitization of fortifications in Spain, regardless of their chronology or size. In this context, work has been done on digitizing the prehistoric fortified site of Motilla del Azuer in Daimiel, the Iberian oppidum of Cerro de las Cabezas in Valdepeñas, the fortified Islamic city of Calatrava La Vieja in Carrión de Calatrava, the medieval Christian castle of Calatrava La Nueva in Aldea del Rey, the medieval-Renaissance castle of Los Vélez in Mula, the watchtower of Cope in Águilas or the machine-gun bunker of the Spanish Civil War in Alhama de Murcia, to name just a few examples.López-Menchero Bendicho, VM.; Maschner, HDG.; Mcleod, JB.; Du Vernay, JP.; Hervás Herrera, MÀ. (2020). The work of Global Digital Heritage for the massive digitization of fortifications in Spain. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 333-340. https://doi.org/10.4995/FORTMED2020.2020.11415OCS33334

Chapter At the Intersection of Art, Architecture and Archaeology: 3D Virtualization and Contemporary Heritage

We are at a global transition where disciplines from art to computer engineering intersect in the realm of global digital heritage. This has been facilitated by the development of desktop high-speed computing, inexpensive photogrammetry software, and digital photography. These technologies, and the tools to make them useful both in the lab and on the web, require the appropriate integration of technical skill, artistic license, archaeological background knowledge, and architectural realities

La digitalización 3D de los cementerios de tumbas medievales Stećci en Bosnia y Herzegovina. Primeros resultados

[ES] Entre 2019 y 2021 el equipo de Global Digital Heritage (GDH), en colaboración con la Universidad de Sarajevo y el Museo Nacional de Bosnia y Herzegovina, ha llevado a cabo la digitalización 3D de un importante conjunto de stećci conservados tanto en el Museo Nacional de Bosnia y Herzegovina como en algunos cementerios medievales cercanos a la ciudad de Sarajevo y a la zona oriental de Bosnia. Los cementerios medievales de stećci constituyen un valioso patrimonio arqueológico de gran interés histórico pero poco conocido a nivel internacional pese a que algunos de ellos han sido declarados Patrimonio Mundial en 2016. A pesar de tratarse de un patrimonio en peligro apenas se han acometido trabajos de documentación 3D sistemáticos. Este artículo expone la metodología empleada y los resultados obtenidos por GDH, incluyendo las dificultades que ha sido necesario resolver y los retos que todavía han de abordarse para poder acometer la paulatina digitalización 3D del mayor número posible de cementerios medievales de stećci en Bosnia y Herzegovina. Lopez-Menchero Bendicho, VM.; Maschner, H.; Rizvic, S.; Bujak, E.; Marić, A.; Lepić, A.; Cárdenas Martín-Buitrago, ÁJ. (2023). La digitalización 3D de los cementerios de tumbas medievales Stećci en Bosnia y Herzegovina. Primeros resultados. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 381-389. https://doi.org/10.4995/Icomos2022.2022.1537038138

Early retreat of the Alaska Peninsula Glacier Complex and the implications for coastal migrations of First Americans

The debate over a coastal migration route for the First Americans revolves around two major points: seafaring technology, and a viable landscape and resource base. Three lake cores from Sanak Island in the western Gulf of Alaska yield the first radiocarbon ages from the continental shelf of the Northeast Pacific and record deglaciation nearly 17 ka BP (thousands of calendar years ago), much earlier than previous estimates based on extrapolated data from other sites outside the coastal corridor in the Gulf of Alaska. Pollen data suggest an arid, terrestrial ecosystem by 16.3 ka BP. Therefore glaciers would not have hindered the movement of humans along the southern edge of the Bering Land Bridge for two millennia before the first well-recognized “New World” archaeological sites were inhabited.Keywords: First Americans, Deglaciation, Coastal migratio

Meeting reports: Research on Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS): Approach, Challenges, and Strategies

Understanding the complexity of human–nature interactions is central to the quest for both human well-being and global sustainability. To build an understanding of these interactions, scientists, planners, resource managers, policymakers, and communities increasingly are collaborating across wide-ranging disciplines and knowledge domains. Scientists and others are generating new integrated knowledge on top of their requisite specialized knowledge to understand complex systems in order to solve pressing environmental and social problems (e.g., Carpenter et al. 2009). One approach to this sort of integration, bringing together detailed knowledge of various disciplines (e.g., social, economic, biological, and geophysical), has become known as the study of Coupled Human and Natural Systems, or CHANS (Liu et al. 2007a, b). In 2007 a formal standing program in Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems was created by the U.S. National Science Foundation. Recently, the program supported the launch of an International Network of Research on Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS-Net.org). A major kick-off event of the network was a symposium on Complexity in Human–Nature Interactions across Landscapes, which brought together leading CHANS scientists at the 2009 meeting of the U.S. Regional Association of the International Association for Landscape Ecology in Snowbird, Utah. The symposium highlighted original and innovative research emphasizing reciprocal interactions between human and natural systems at multiple spatial, temporal, and organizational scales. The presentations can be found at ‹http://chans- net.org/Symposium_2009.aspx›. The symposium was accompanied by a workshop on Challenges and Opportunities in CHANS Research. This article provides an overview of the CHANS approach, outlines the primary challenges facing the CHANS research community, and discusses potential strategies to meet these challenges, based upon the presentations and discussions among participants at the Snowbird meeting

Why Men Kill: The Evolution of Violence and the Origins of War

Dr. Herbert Maschner (research professor of anthropology at Idaho State University) discusses the ultimate foundations of group conflict in human history, taking an approach that integrates social anthropology, history, archaeology, primatology, and evolutionary biology and psychology. Using historical, anthropological, and archaeological examples, Maschner looks at the history of warfare at every scale of society and reviews the propensity of warfare and violence under different kinds of social structures. This lecture is the 10th annual anthropology lecture at Linfield College. The annual anthropology lecture showcases diverse perspectives from all four subfields of anthropology

Why Men Kill: The Evolution of Violence and the Origins of War

Dr. Herbert Maschner (research professor of anthropology at Idaho State University) discusses the ultimate foundations of group conflict in human history, taking an approach that integrates social anthropology, history, archaeology, primatology, and evolutionary biology and psychology. Using historical, anthropological, and archaeological examples, Maschner looks at the history of warfare at every scale of society and reviews the propensity of warfare and violence under different kinds of social structures. This lecture is the 10th annual anthropology lecture at Linfield College. The annual anthropology lecture showcases diverse perspectives from all four subfields of anthropology

Sustaining Sanak Island, Alaska: A Cultural Land Trust

Sanak Island is the easternmost of the Aleutian Islands and was inhabited by the Aleut (Unangan) peoples for nearly 7000 years. The past few centuries of Sanak Island life for its Aleut residents can be summarized from ethnohistoric documents and extensive interviews with former residents as shifting local-global economic patterns beginning with the sea otter fur trade, followed by cod and salmon fishing, fox farming, and cattle ranching through waves of Russian, American, and Scandinavian authority and/or influence. As the industries changed and the island absorbed new peoples with new goals, Aleut identity and practices also changed as part of these shifting economic and social environments. Sanak Island was abandoned in the 1970s and although uninhabited today, Sanak Island is managed as an important land trust for the island’s descendants that serves local peoples as a marine-scape rich in resources for Aleut subsistence harvesting and as a local heritage site where people draw on the diverse historical influences and legacies. Further, this move from an industrial heritage to contemporary local subsistence economies facilitated by a commercial fishing industry is a unique reversal of development in the region with broad implications for community sustainability among indigenous communities. We find that by being place-focused, rather than place-based, community sustainability can be maintained even in the context of relocation and the loss of traditional villages. This will likely become more common as indigenous peoples adapt to globalization and the forces of global change