Radiocarbon Dating of Holocene Archaeological Sites in the Far Northeast of Europe

The paper is devoted to the critical analysis of the radiocarbon dating results of Mesolithic, Neolithic and Chalcolithic complexes of the northeastern part of the East European Plain (Republic of Komi, Arkhangelsk and Vologda Regions and the Nenets Autonomous Area, Russian Federation). The comprehensive evaluation of all available geochronometric data in relation with the studied archaeological events highlighted the following three data sets: reliable, ambiguous and invalid dates. A new chronological model of Far Northeast of Europe colonization and dispersal of innovations over the Holocene is proposed based upon reliable radiocarbon dating results

Separated and overlapping neural coding of face and body identity

Recognising a person's identity often relies on face and body information, and is tolerant to changes in low-level visual input (e.g., viewpoint changes). Previous studies have suggested that face identity is disentangled from low-level visual input in the anterior face-responsive regions. It remains unclear which regions disentangle body identity from variations in viewpoint, and whether face and body identity are encoded separately or combined into a coherent person identity representation. We trained participants to recognise three identities, and then recorded their brain activity using fMRI while they viewed face and body images of these three identities from different viewpoints. Participants' task was to respond to either the stimulus identity or viewpoint. We found consistent decoding of body identity across viewpoint in the fusiform body area, right anterior temporal cortex, middle frontal gyrus and right insula. This finding demonstrates a similar function of fusiform and anterior temporal cortex for bodies as has previously been shown for faces, suggesting these regions may play a general role in extracting high-level identity information. Moreover, we could decode identity across fMRI activity evoked by faces and bodies in the early visual cortex, right inferior occipital cortex, right parahippocampal cortex and right superior parietal cortex, revealing a distributed network that encodes person identity abstractly. Lastly, identity decoding was consistently better when participants attended to identity, indicating that attention to identity enhances its neural representation. These results offer new insights into how the brain develops an abstract neural coding of person identity, shared by faces and bodies

Neolithic Dispersal in Far Northeast Europe: Ways and Chronology

By analyzing archaeological evidence and radiocarbon dates, we studied the Neolithization of Far Northeast Europe (Russian Perm’ region, Komi Republic, and Nenets autonomous district). Our study shows that this process in the eastern European forest zone was rather ambiguous. Taking into account the periodicity of settling and short duration of residence here, the term “Neolithization” in its traditional sense cannot be applied to some territories in this region. For instance, the emergence of ceramics—the most important feature of Neolithization here—did not affect considerably the way of life of the ancient population, which continued the traditions of the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers well into the Early Neolithic. Such attributes as heat treatment of clay paste and siliceous rocks for changing physical features of natural materials, bifacial knapping, and construction of subterranean dwellings represent the archaeological evidence of Neolithization in the region.The Radiocarbon archives are made available by Radiocarbon and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information.Migrated from OJS platform February 202

Obituary: Leopold Dmitrievich Sulerzhitsky (1929-2012)

The Radiocarbon archives are made available by Radiocarbon and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information.Migrated from OJS platform February 202

Radiocarbon Chronology of the Schurovo Burial Mound Cremation Complex (Viking Times, Middle Oka River, Russia)

Excavation of the Schurovo archaeological site, located on a ~12-m river terrace, has revealed 3 occupation periods: 1) as a dwelling site of the Migration period (4th–5th centuries AD); 2) as local burial mounds (termed “houses of the dead” in Russian); 3) and as a ground burial period, which left a cremation layer directly on the ground and is now covered by the Little Ice Age overbank alluvium. The latter 2 periods contain few artifacts, which makes radiocarbon dating more appropriate for establishing their chronology. The burial mounds were dated to the mid-6th to mid-7th centuries AD. The accumulation of colluvium in mound ditches points to a rather long (at least a century) pause between the construction of burial mounds and the appearance of ground burials. Dates from the cremation layer (ground burials) span a wide range from the 8th to 13th centuries AD. As the younger dates do not correspond to regional historical and archaeological contexts, we believe them to be “rejuvenated” due to their long exposure before burial to the young alluvium. The ground burials are dated to the mid-8th to mid-10th centuries AD, the so-called “dark ages” in the Moscow region characterized by very few archaeological data. An isolated ancient branch of the Oka River near the archaeological site was radiocarbon dated and found to be active until the mid-10th to later-12th centuries AD, meaning that it was likely used as a local harbor on the transit river route throughout the site’s occupation.The Radiocarbon archives are made available by Radiocarbon and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information.Migrated from OJS platform February 202

Radiocarbon Chronology of the Shigir and Gorbunovo Archaeological Bog Sites, Middle Urals, Russia

Two well-known archaeological sites, the peat bogs of Shigir and Gorbunovo (Middle Urals, Russia), have been radiocarbon dated (61 conventional and accelerator mass spectrometry [AMS] dates from various natural and artifact samples). For the first time, a detailed chronology of Early to Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic occupation for this region has been obtained, and a paleoenvironmental history reconstructed. Based on these results, we propose that the Mesolithic settlement of the Middle Urals region started in the early Holocene, at the same time as in central and eastern Europe.The Radiocarbon archives are made available by Radiocarbon and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information.Migrated from OJS platform February 202

Investigation of defects in Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 films using the photocurrent decay technique

In the present work we demonstrate the possibility of using the photoinduced current transient spectroscopy (PICTS) method to study the defects in Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 films which can be used as an absorber layer in solar cells (SCs). The conducted experiments enable one to determine the parameters (activation energies and effective capture cross-sections) of the defects revealed in the films under study

Investigation of defects in Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 films using the photocurrent decay technique

In the present work we demonstrate the possibility of using the photoinduced current transient spectroscopy (PICTS) method to study the defects in Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 films which can be used as an absorber layer in solar cells (SCs). The conducted experiments enable one to determine the parameters (activation energies and effective capture cross-sections) of the defects revealed in the films under study