Murzuk [Mourzouk]

Au sud-ouest de la Libye, le Fezzan (Trousset, Gautier, Despois, 1997) occupe un vaste territoire, bordé au sud par l’édeyen (erg) de Mourzuk (Murzuk). Ce massif dunaire (EB XVIII, 1997, carte p. 2781) est l’un des plus vastes du Sahara central, son climat actuel est hyperaride. Ses limites géographiques sont, à l’ouest, l’Erg Uan Kasa et au nord-ouest, le plateau du Messak Settafet. Le paysage général est caractérisé par la présence de dunes et de dépôts lacustres de l’Holocène ancien. Les l..

Land gastropod piercing during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene in the Haua Fteah, Libya

Land snail shell is a frequent constituent of archaeological sites, but it is rarely clear whether it represents food refuse, the remains of scavengers, or evidence for natural processes. Piercing of land snail shells enables the animal to be extracted from the shell and thus provides direct evidence for human consumption. We report pierced land snails from the Haua Fteah, Libya. The earliest pierced land snail shell in the Haua Fteah pre-dates the Last Interglacial, while the most recent is Late-Classical in age, but the largest quantities are in layers of Late-Glacial and earliest Holocene age, where they are associated with atypical microliths which may have been used to pierce shells to enable easy extraction of the animal

Neanderthals on the Lower Danube: Middle Palaeolithic evidence in the Danube Gorges of the Balkans

The article presents evidence about the Middle Palaeolithic and Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition interval in the karst area of the Danube Gorges in the Lower Danube Basin. We review the extant data and present new evidence from two recently investigated sites found on the Serbian side of the Danube River – Tabula Traiana and Dubočka-Kozja caves. The two sites have yielded layers dating to both the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic and have been investigated by the application of modern standards of excavation and recovery along with a suite of state-of-the-art analytical procedures. The presentation focuses on micromorphological analyses of the caves’ sediments, characterisation of cryptotephra, a suite of new radiometric dates (accelerator mass spectrometry and optically stimulated luminescence) as well as proteomics (zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry) and stable isotope data in discerning patterns of human occupation of these locales over the long term

Neanderthals on the Lower Danube: Middle Palaeolithic evidence in the Danube Gorges of the Balkans

The article presents evidence about the Middle Palaeolithic and Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition interval in the karst area of the Danube Gorges in the Lower Danube Basin. We review the extant data and present new evidence from two recently investigated sites found on the Serbian side of the Danube River – Tabula Traiana and Dubočka-Kozja caves. The two sites have yielded layers dating to both the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic and have been investigated by the application of modern standards of excavation and recovery along with a suite of state-of-the-art analytical procedures. The presentation focuses on micromorphological analyses of the caves’ sediments, characterisation of cryptotephra, a suite of new radiometric dates (accelerator mass spectrometry and optically stimulated luminescence) as well as proteomics (zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry) and stable isotope data in discerning patterns of human occupation of these locales over the long term

Phase II study of cetuximab in combination with cisplatin and docetaxel in patients with untreated advanced gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma (DOCETUX study)

BACKGROUND: The conventional treatment options for advanced gastric patients remain unsatisfactory in terms of response rate, response duration, toxicity, and overall survival benefit. The purpose of this phase II study was to evaluate the activity and safety of cetuximab combined with cisplatin and docetaxel as a first-line treatment for advanced gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. METHODS: Untreated patients with histologically confirmed advanced gastric or gastro-oesophageal adenocarcinoma received cetuximab at an initial dose of 400 mg m(-2) i.v. followed by weekly doses of 250 mg m(-2), cisplatin 75 mg m(-2) i.v. on day 1, docetaxel 75 mg m(-2) i.v. on day 1, every 3 weeks, for a maximum of 6 cycles, and then cetuximab maintenance treatment was allowed in patients with a complete response, partial response, or stable disease. RESULTS: Seventy-two patients (stomach 81.9% and gastro-oesophageal junction 18.1%; locally advanced disease 4.2%; and metastatic disease 95.8%) were enrolled. The ORR was 41.2% (95% CI, 29.5-52.9). Median time to progression was 5 months (95% CI, 3.7-5.4). Median survival time was 9 months (95% CI, 7-11). The most frequent grades 3-4 toxicity was neutropenia (44.4%). No toxic death was observed. CONCLUSIONS: The addition of cetuximab to the cisplatin/docetaxel regimen improved the ORR of the cisplatin/docetaxel doublet in the first-line treatment of advanced gastric and gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma, but this combination did not improve the TTP and OS. The toxicity of cisplatin/docetaxel chemotherapy was not affected by the addition of cetuximab

Issues of theory and method in the analysis of Paleolithic mortuary behavior: a view from Shanidar Cave

Mortuary behavior (activities concerning dead conspecifics) is one of many traits that were previously widely considered to have been uniquely human, but on which perspectives have changed markedly in recent years. Theoretical approaches to hominin mortuary activity and its evolution have undergone major revision, and advances in diverse archaeological and paleoanthropological methods have brought new ways of identifying behaviors such as intentional burial. Despite these advances, debates concerning the nature of hominin mortuary activity, particularly among the Neanderthals, rely heavily on the re-reading of old excavations as new finds are relatively rare, limiting the extent to which such debates can benefit from advances in the field. The recent discovery of in situ articulated Neanderthal remains at Shanidar Cave offers a rare opportunity to take full advantage of these methodological and theoretical developments to understand Neanderthal mortuary activity, making a review of these advances relevant and timely

North and Saharan Africa: geography and chronology

Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to sub-Saharan Africa and by Egypt to the Sinai Peninsula, which is in Asia. Northern Africa can be divided into four big natural zones: the first is Maghreb that stretches from Tunisia to Morocco along the Mediterranean coast and is predominantly mountainous (Fig. 1). The second is the Sahara region, covered by the desert that goes from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, and the third is Sahel, a belt of grasslands and savannas south of the desert. Finally there is the Nile Valley that borders the Sahara desert to the east Northern Africa is underlain by folded sedimentary rock and is, geologically, more closelyrelated to Europe than to the rest of the continentof Africa. The Atlas Mountains, which occupy most of the region, are a part of the Alpine mountain system of southern Europe

Microlithism and Landscape Exploitation along the Cyrenaican Coast between the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene: A Matter of Continuity. In Living in the Landscape. Essays in honour of Graeme Barker

North African territories at the end of the Pleistocene is mirrored in significant changes in lithic production. From a technological point of view all the Final Pleistocene lithic complexes in North Africa are characterized by an increase frequency in the production of geometric microliths and by the presence of particular tool types, such as backed blades and bladelets, which are often present in high percentages (Barich & Conati Barbaro 2003; Bouzouggar et al. 2008; Close 2002; Jackes & Lubell 2008; Lubell 1984; Lubell et al. 1984; Rahmani 2003; 2004). As for the North Libyan regions, during the twentieth century, the study of microlithic complexes was mainly focussed in two areas: the Cyrenaican and Tripolitanian littoral and the corresponding coastal ranges, the Jebel Akhdar, east of the Gulf of Sirte, and the Jebel Gharbi, west of it. These studies have helped clarify the role played by the Libyan coast as a cultural link between the Mediterranean shores and the central and eastern Sahara during the Late Pleistocene and the beginning of the Holocene

The lithic assemblages: production, use and discard

Ce chapitre présente les industries lithiques trouvées dans les deux sites principaux, G 1 et G3, à Gobero. Les assemblages sont analysés en fonction de leurs caractéristiques technologiques et morphologiques et des différentes phases de la chaîne opératoire

Oasi di Farafra- L'indagine archeologica nell'Wadi El Obeiyid (Campagne 2008 e 2009)

Riassunto in Inglese e Arab