Two Acheuleans, two humankinds. From 1.5 to 0.85 Ma at Melka Kunture (Upper Awash, Ethiopian highlands)

The Acheulean is the longest-lasting human cultural record, spanning approximately 1.5 Ma and three continents. The most comprehensive sequences are found in East Africa, where, in large-scale syntheses, the Lower Pleistocene Acheulean (LPA) has often been considered a uniform cultural entity. Furthermore, the emergence and development of Acheulean technology are seen as linked to the emergence and evolution of Homo ergaster/erectus. The criterion for grouping together different lithic assemblages scattered over space and time is the presence of large cutting tools (LCTs), more than of any other component. Their degree of refinement has been used, in turn, as a parameter for evaluating Acheulean development and variability. But was the East African LPA really uniform as regards all components involved in lithic productions? The aim of this paper is to evaluate the techno-economic similarities and differences among LPA productions in a specific micro-regional and environmental context, i.e. at Melka Kunture, in the Ethiopian highlands, and in a specific period of time: between ~1.5 Ma, when some of the earliest Acheulean complexes appeared, and 1.0-0.85 Ma, when LCTs productions became intensive and widespread. Our detailed comparative analyses investigate all aspects and phases of the chaînes opératoires. Since hominin fossil remains were discovered at some of the analyzed sites, we also discuss differences among lithic productions in relation to the changing paleoanthropological record. Our studies show that at Melka Kunture the LPA techno-complexes cannot be grouped into a single uniform entity. The assembled evidence points instead to “two Acheuleans” well-defined by a strong discontinuity in various aspects of techno-economic behaviors. This discontinuity is related to a major step in human evolution: the transition from Homo ergaster/erectus to Homo heidelbergensis

The unknown Oldowan. ~1.7-million-year-old standardized obsidian small tools from Garba IV, Melka Kunture, Ethiopia

The Oldowan Industrial Complex has long been thought to have been static, with limited internal variability, embracing techno-complexes essentially focused on small-to-medium flake production. The flakes were rarely modified by retouch to produce small tools, which do not show any standardized pattern. Usually, the manufacture of small standardized tools has been interpreted as a more complex behavior emerging with the Acheulean technology. Here we report on the ~1.7 Ma Oldowan assemblages from Garba IVE-F at Melka Kunture in the Ethiopian highland. This industry is structured by technical criteria shared by the other East African Oldowan assemblages. However, there is also evidence of a specific technical process never recorded before, i.e. the systematic production of standardized small pointed tools strictly linked to the obsidian exploitation. Standardization and raw material selection in the manufacture of small tools disappear at Melka Kunture during the Lower Pleistocene Acheulean. This proves that 1) the emergence of a certain degree of standardization in toolkits does not reflect in itself a major step in cultural evolution; and that 2) the Oldowan knappers, when driven by functional needs and supported by a highly suitable raw material, were occasionally able to develop specific technical solutions. The small tool production at ~1.7 Ma, at a time when the Acheulean was already emerging elsewhere in East Africa, adds to the growing amount of evidence of Oldowan techno-economic variability and flexibility, further challenging the view that early stone knapping was static over hundreds of thousands of years

North American Indigenous Perceptions of the Apocalypse and a Renewal of Kinship Relationships through the Imagination

Interweaving ecocriticism, settler-colonial studies, and Indigenous studies, this essay interrogates the concepts of climate change and the apocalypse, repositioning them alongside Indigenous experiences of broken kinship relationships. Focusing on the Canadian Indigenous context, first, I discuss the settler-colonial implications of environmental apocalypse, arguing that Indigenous peoples are already living in a post-apocalyptic condition. Secondly, I explore the Indian Residential School policy as an example of how settler-colonialism contributed to creating the post-apocalyptic situation with which Indigenous peoples live today. Thirdly, through analysis of Lee Maracle’s “The Void” and Daniel H. Justice’s “The Boys Who Became the Hummingbirds”, I discuss how both stories employ imagination to place environmental disasters in conversation with settler-colonial practices, thus re-shaping understandings of the past, present, and future. Ultimately, both stories, as I argue, promote Indigenous traditional knowledge systems and kinship values as a way to maintain respectful and reciprocal kinship relationships among humans and between humans and the land.Interweaving ecocriticism, settler-colonial studies, and Indigenous studies, this essay interrogates the concepts of climate change and the apocalypse, repositioning them alongside Indigenous experiences of broken kinship relationships. Focusing on the Canadian Indigenous context, first, I discuss the settler-colonial implications of environmental apocalypse, arguing that Indigenous peoples are already living in a post-apocalyptic condition. Secondly, I explore the Indian Residential School policy as an example of how settler-colonialism contributed to creating the post-apocalyptic situation with which Indigenous peoples live today. Thirdly, through analysis of Lee Maracle’s “The Void” and Daniel H. Justice’s “The Boys Who Became the Hummingbirds”, I discuss how both stories employ imagination to place environmental disasters in conversation with settler-colonial practices, thus re-shaping understandings of the past, present, and future. Ultimately, both stories, as I argue, promote Indigenous traditional knowledge systems and kinship values as a way to maintain respectful and reciprocal kinship relationships among humans and between humans and the land

Photoacoustic technique for the characterization of plasmonic properties of 2D periodic arrays of gold nanoholes

We apply photo-acoustic (PA) technique to examine plasmonic properties of 2D periodic arrays of nanoholes etched in gold/chromium layer upon a glass substrate

Mixoma do ventrículo direito.

Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Departamento de Clínica Médica, Curso de Medicina, Florianópolis, 198

LA (IN)VISIBILIDAD DE PRÁCTICAS DEPORTIVAS BRASILEÑAS

Esse texto objetivou discutir a (in)visibilidade de práticas esportivas desenvolvidas no cotidiano dos brasileiros não atletas até a década de 1970. Trata-se de um debate teórico-crítico-reflexivo. Notou-se que a ocupação do tempo livre por práticas corporais autônomas vem perdendo espaço para aquelas ditadas pelos interesses econômicos e políticos dominantes. A partir de uma abordagem historiográfica e cultural é possível reconhecer diferentes possibilidades da prática esportiva. Um olhar mais atento permitiu a identificação de importantes práticas esportivas invisíveis, que não atendem aos ditames regulamentares oficiais. A prática esportiva ao longo da história ainda é permeada por importantes (in)visibilidades/negligencias da academia, que norteia sua perspectiva no modelo tradicional e baseada em comparações, que ignoram as múltiplas representações das culturas esportivas construídas, desenvolvidas e/ou adaptadas ao cotidiano dos sujeitos não atletas, práticas corporais livres e libertadoras.This present text has aimed to discuss the (in)visibility of sports practices developed in the routine of non-athlete Brazilians until the 1970s. It is a theoretical-critical-reflective debate. It was realized that the occupation of free time by autonomous bodily practices has been losing its place to those dictated by dominant economic and political interests. From a historiographical and cultural approach, it is possible to recognize different possibilities of sports practice. A closer view has allowed the identification of important invisible sports practices, which do not meet the official regulatory dictates. Sports practice throughout history is still permeated by important (in)visibilities/negligences of the academy, which guides its perspective on the traditional model and based on comparisons, which ignore the multiple representations of sports cultures built, developed and/or adapted to everyday life of non-athlete subjects, free and liberating bodily practices.Este texto tuvo como objetivo discutir la (in)visibilidad de las prácticas deportivas desarrolladas en la vida cotidiana de los brasileños no deportistas hasta la década de 1970. Se trata de un debate teórico-crítico-reflexivo. Se señaló que la ocupación del tiempo libre por prácticas corporales autónomas ha ido perdiendo terreno frente a las dictadas por los intereses económicos y políticos dominantes. Desde un enfoque historiográfico y cultural, es posible reconocer diferentes posibilidades de práctica deportiva. Una mirada más cercana permitió identificar importantes prácticas deportivas invisibles, que no cumplen con la normativa oficial. La práctica deportiva a lo largo de la historia todavía está impregnada de importantes (in)visibilidades/descuidos de la academia, que orienta su perspectiva sobre el modelo tradicional y basado en comparaciones, que desconocen las múltiples representaciones de culturas deportivas construidas, desarrolladas y/o adaptadas a la vida cotidiana. de sujetos no deportistas, prácticas corporales libres y liberadoras