Reconstructing change in firing technology during the Final Neolithic–Early Bronze Age transition in Phaistos, Crete. Just the tip of the iceberg?

Changes in firing practice have been suggested as representing a revolution in ceramic technology at the beginning of the Bronze Age in Crete. The introduction of kiln structures has been held responsible for such a change, perhaps by newcomers to the island, along with other innovative technologies. However, these hypotheses were often based on limited analytical data and mostly on macroscopic examination. This paper re-examines the suggestion of a transformation in firing technology at the beginning of the Bronze Age by presenting analyses of the rich ceramic assemblage from the site of Phaistos in South-Central Crete, which offers a rare, good stratigraphic sequence from the end of the Final Neolithic into the Early Bronze Age. Here, firing technology is reconstructed by macroscopic examination of colour across vessel breaks, by SEM examination and FT-IR analysis. This allows the reconstruction of temperature ranges and firing rates over the phases considered and a re-assessment of changes in firing technology, revealing a more multi-faceted pattern of change. Finally, changes in firing procedure are contextualised in the overall ceramic operational sequence, revealing a complex, stepped picture of change in ceramic production over the transition from the Final Neolithic

Materials and Tools across Volcanoes: Exploitation of Georesources in Piano dei Cardoni (Ustica, Italy) during Prehistory.

The paper aims at merging the first results from the analyses of the georesources exploited in the site of Piano dei Cardoni (Ustica island, Italy) during the Neolithic phases of its occupation (Middle-Late Neolithic, 4.7-4.2 ka cal BC). Grinding tools consist of a very varied typology of local volcanic rocks, easy to collect and available very close to the investigated site. A selection of shapes and lithology is applied to reach the best performance of the tools. The elevated number of grinders, pestles, mortars testify to an intense activity of food/plant processing in the site. The absence of chert or obsidian resources on the island pushed the human communities to import such raw materials from the Aeolian islands and probably from the north-western area of Palermo. Pumice is collected on the same island, probably due to the local availability and its good quality. Similarly, local clay resources are used for the manufacture of ceramics, mostly burnished and incised wares. Ustica was therefore almost autonomous for the exploitation of resources, with volcanic rocks readily available in abundance and with the most significant exception being chert and obsidian. This last one probably imported and worked on the island and then moved towards North-Western Sicily.&nbsp

Glycosylation site prediction using ensembles of Support Vector Machine classifiers

Article discussing the performance of different computational methods for prediction of glycosylation sites from amino acid sequences

T7 RNA Polymerase Functions In Vitro without Clustering

Many nucleic acid polymerases function in clusters known as factories. We investigate whether the RNA polymerase (RNAP) of phage T7 also clusters when active. Using ‘pulldowns’ and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy we find that elongation complexes do not interact in vitro with a Kd<1 µM. Chromosome conformation capture also reveals that genes located 100 kb apart on the E. coli chromosome do not associate more frequently when transcribed by T7 RNAP. We conclude that if clustering does occur in vivo, it must be driven by weak interactions, or mediated by a phage-encoded protein

A Reconstruction of the Living Space in a Community of Early Bronze Age in Sicily: Results of a Multidisciplinary Study

The main aim of this paper is to trace the use and the organization of space in Early Bronze Age Sicilian (2200-1450 BCE) societies. The purpose is to identify the connection among types of food consumed in relationship to vessel shape, in addition to characterising indicators of food preparation and the space in which these activities take place. This study incorporates both organic chemistry and GIS spatial analyses in order to understand vessel use in direct correlation to food preparation space in a settlement context. The hill site of Santa Febronia, contains the remains of an Early Bronze Age hut that was destroyed by a fire leaving a sealed deposit with a large quantity of artefacts in their original position. The deposition creats an ideal scenario for GIS spatial analysis of the artefact distribution within the structure in contrast to areas of storage. Chemical residue analysis was carried out with GC-MS to extract and identify absorbed lipids within ceramic vessels (cf. Eerkens, 2005). The gas chromatographic results are used to establish relations between the food processing and the depositional space. The study reveals a multi-functionality of both space and pottery and further confirms the distinction of storage areas and in particular areas dedicated to water storage

Pandora's flying box - Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato prevalence in Ixodes species from birds throughout Europe

Birds are important hosts for ticks and may act as reservoirs for several zoonotic pathogens. Because of their high mobility, especially of the long distance migratory species, they can act as dispersers for ticks and pathogens, ultimately affecting their distribution and phylogeography.N/

Structure of human mitochondrial RNA polymerase elongation complex

Here we report the crystal structure of the human mitochondrial RNA polymerase (mtRNAP) transcription elongation complex, determined at 2.65-Å resolution. The structure reveals a 9-bp hybrid formed between the DNA template and the RNA transcript and one turn of DNA both upstream and downstream of the hybrid. Comparisons with the distantly related RNA polymerase (RNAP) from bacteriophage T7 indicates conserved mechanisms for substrate binding and nucleotide incorporation but also strong mechanistic differences. Whereas T7 RNAP refolds during the transition from initiation to elongation, mtRNAP adopts an intermediary conformation that is capable of elongation without refolding. The intercalating hairpin that melts DNA during T7 RNAP initiation separates RNA from DNA during mtRNAP elongation. Newly synthesized RNA exits toward the pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) domain, a unique feature of mtRNAP with conserved RNA-recognition motifs