Diachronous beginnings of the Anthropocene: the lower bounding surface of anthropogenic deposits

Across a large proportion of Earth’s ice-free land surfaces, a solid-phase stratigraphic boundary marks the division between humanly modified ground and natural geological deposits. At its clearest, the division takes the form of an abrupt surface at the base of deposits variously called ‘artificial ground’, ‘anthropogenic ground’ or ‘archaeological stratigraphy’ – which together comprise a distinctive part of the geosphere called the ‘archaeosphere’. In other cases the bounding surface is more diffuse, gradational or mixed, due to action of non-human agencies and anthropedogenic forcings. It is alternately conformable and unconformable. Layers above typically contain artificial features, structures, artifacts and other material traces of human activity, in contrast to their relative absence in layers below. A fundamental characteristic of the boundary is that it is diachronous, still being formed and renewed today. In examining the boundary, this paper asks – does it reflect the diachronous onset and development of the Anthropocene itself

Immediate chest X-ray for patients at risk of lung cancer presenting in primary care: randomised controlled feasibility trial

Background: Achieving earlier stage diagnosis is one option for improving lung cancer outcomes in the United Kingdom. Patients with lung cancer typically present with symptoms to general practitioners several times before referral or investigation. Methods: We undertook a mixed methods feasibility individually randomised controlled trial (the ELCID trial) to assess the feasibility and inform the design of a definitive, fully powered, UK-wide, Phase III trial of lowering the threshold for urgent investigation of suspected lung cancer. Patients over 60, with a smoking history, presenting with new chest symptoms to primary care, were eligible to be randomised to intervention (urgent chest X-ray) or usual care. Results: The trial design and materials were acceptable to GPs and patients. We randomised 255 patients from 22 practices, although the proportion of eligible patients who participated was lower than expected. Survey responses (89%), and the fidelity of the intervention (82% patients X-rayed within 3 weeks) were good. There was slightly higher anxiety and depression in the control arm in participants aged >75. Three patients (1.2%) were diagnosed with lung cancer. Conclusions: We have demonstrated the feasibility of individually randomising patients at higher risk of lung cancer, to a trial offering urgent investigation or usual care

Scale and diversity of the physical technosphere: a geological perspective

We assess the scale and extent of the physical technosphere, defined here as the summed material output of the contemporary human enterprise. It includes active urban, agricultural and marine components, used to sustain energy and material flow for current human life, and a growing residue layer, currently only in small part recycled back into the active component. Preliminary estimates suggest a technosphere mass of approximately 30 trillion tonnes (Tt), which helps support a human biomass that, despite recent growth, is ~5 orders of magnitude smaller. The physical technosphere includes a large, rapidly growing diversity of complex objects that are potential trace fossils or ‘technofossils’. If assessed on palaeontological criteria, technofossil diversity already exceeds known estimates of biological diversity as measured by richness, far exceeds recognized fossil diversity, and may exceed total biological diversity through Earth’s history. The rapid transformation of much of Earth’s surface mass into the technosphere and its myriad components underscores the novelty of the current planetary transformation

People and the environment: a geoarchaeological approach to the Yorkshire Wolds landscape: PhD thesis, University of York (2010)

The Yorkshire Wolds chalkland is a well-studied archaeological landscape which is of particular significance for the prehistoric to medieval periods. The approaches taken to the archaeology of this area have mainly focussed on site-based, period-based archaeological investigations or on post-processual landscape archaeology but there has been little geoarchaeological research undertaken. Drawing on the substantial body of dry valley research from the southern English chalk this thesis characterises the nature of dry valley colluvial deposits in several locations on the High Wolds and relates them to geomorphic and human modification processes. The deep deposits on the Wolds top, which have always been assumed, may not be as widespread as once thought and the variability of deposits within short valley reaches is high. Different modes of erosion and deposition can be seen and are related to the steepness of slope, the deposit nature on interfluve slopes and land use practices. The lack of dateable material found within the colluvium has limited the opportunity for dating phases of increased erosion and accretion. A lack of preservation of land snails, which are one of the key palaeoenvironmental indicators in calcareous landscapes, may be linked to an increase in acid rain during the last few decades. A review of the past evidence for the palaeoenvironment and land use on the Yorkshire Wolds has found that this data is limited and can not be relied upon

Land Snail Report - Thwing 2006

Report on land snails from two flotation samples from the 2006 excavation season prepared by Cath Neal, not published but referred to in Ballantyne (6.5.1

Landscape and Settlement in the Vale of York

The Vale of York, in North Yorkshire, has been used and shaped by communities since the end of the last Ice Age to the modern day. Its earliest, prehistoric features chart the way in which household groups shifted from mobile to more sedentary forms of occupation over time, culminating in the creation of landscape divisions from the end of the Bronze Age, and then recognisable field systems during the Iron Age. Throughout all periods, a variety of activity types on the landscape has been evident in the landscape, taking significantly different forms in different contexts: water management; the creation of boundaries; agricultural production; structural development, from domestic houses to larger monuments; exchange and consumption; and mortuary practices plus other ritual activity. This volume takes a thematic approach to these activities, revealing much about the area's development. Providing a thematic analysis of the excavated evidence from the Heslington East area, this volume combines the results of commercial, student training and local community fieldwork between 2007 and 2013. A concluding chapter discusses temporal change by looking at key points of transition in landscape activity in the area and interpreting one of the largest exposures of prehistoric and Roman activity in the immediate hinterland of Eboracum, a major Roman town in Britain

The chronostratigraphic method is unsuitable for determining the start of the Anthropocene

This paper responds to and supports the earlier ‘Three Flaws’ paper by William Ruddiman (this journal, 2018). It builds upon his critique of the method used by the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) in determining the start date of the Anthropocene. While chronostratigraphy is acknowledged as the best means of establishing a framework for the division of deep time - on geological timescales of millions of years – it is argued that the method is unsuitable for use on archaeological and historical timescales. Close proximity in time between the chronostratigraphic observer and the stratigraphic boundary in question renders placement of a precisely defined globally synchronous timeline onto highly time-transgressive evidence inappropriate on these scales of analysis. Application of the method hinders rather than helps understanding of the role of human impact on Earth system change. It leads to loss of the bigger picture and to relative neglect of the crucial evidence provided by humanly-modified ground – the missing strata in most chronostratigraphic accounts of the Anthropocene start. A more ground-up approach is called for. Recognition of humans as geological agents needs to be accompanied by recognition of the distinctive traces of human agency in the ground, which are unprecedented in the stratigraphic records of earlier geological time periods

“Not just right experiences” in patients with Tourette syndrome: Complex motor tics or compulsions?

Tourette syndrome (TS) is a chronic tic disorder often accompanied by specific obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) or full-blown obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Repetitive behaviours are commonly reported by patients with TS, who experience the urge to perform an action until it has been done "just right". This study investigated the clinical correlates of "not just right experiences" (NJREs) in this clinical population. A standardised battery of self-report psychometric measures was administered to 71 adult patients with TS recruited from a specialist TS clinic. NJREs were systematically screened for using the Not Just Right Experiences-Questionnaire Revised (NJRE-QR). The vast majority of patients in our clinical sample (n=57, 80%) reported at least one NJRE. Patients diagnosed with TS and co-morbid OCD/OCS (n=42, 59%) reported a significantly higher number of NJREs compared to TS patients without OCD/OCS. The strongest correlation was found between NJRE-QR scores and self-report measures of compulsivity. NJREs appear to be intrinsic to the clinical phenomenology of patients with TS and can present with higher frequency in the context of co-morbid OCD/OCS, suggesting they are more related to compulsions than tics. </p

Bipartition systems and how to partition polygons

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