Znalezisko serii wiórów ze stanowiska 9 w Dąbrówce, gm. Kowal

Archaeological excavations carried out by Patrimonium Foundation at site Dąbrówka 9, com. Kowal, in 2009 provided a unique assemblage of a series of blades made on so-called chocolate flint. Refitting of blades permitted reconstruction of core reduction stages. However, there the question arises of what was the origin of the find – a purpose for which the artefacts were brought to and finally deposited at the site. The blades were produced outside the site Dąbrówka 9 and they are represented either by very even regular ones – “select”, as well as debitage of the core reduction. Use-wear analysis, however, proved that each artefact had been at least sporadically used

Persistence of Middle Stone Age technology to the Pleistocene/Holocene transition supports a complex hominin evolutionary scenario in West Africa

The evolutionary origins of Homo sapiens and associated behavioural changes are increasingly seen as complex processes, involving multiple regions of Africa. In West Africa, Terminal Pleistocene/Holocene aged human fossils, demonstrating the late continuity of archaic morphological features in the region have been linked to models of surprisingly recent admixture processes between late archaic hominins and H. sapiens. However, the limited chronological resolution of the archaeological record has prevented evaluation of how these biological records relate to patterns of behaviour. Here, we provide a preliminary report of the first excavated and dated Stone Age site in northern Senegal which features the youngest Middle Stone Age (MSA) technology yet documented in Africa. Ndiayène Pendao features classic MSA core axes, basally thinned flakes, Levallois points and denticulates mostly made from chert. Similar technological features characterise several, larger surface sites in the vicinity. From this, it is postulated that populations using ‘anachronistic’ technologies in the Lower Senegal Valley around the transition to the Holocene may have been widespread, in sharp contrast to other areas of Senegal and West Africa. The chronology and technology of Ndiayène Pendao provides the first cultural evidence to support a complex evolutionary history in West Africa. This is consistent with a persistently high degree of Pleistocene population substructure in Africa and the spatially and temporally complex character of behavioural and biological evolution

Latest Levallois traditions in the Middle Nile Valley. The lithic technology on the example of the microregion Affad in Sudan

Wydział HistorycznyPraca omawia rezultaty badań nad źródłami archeologicznymi pozyskanymi w wyniku eksploracji zespołu stanowisk paleolitycznych wokół wioski Affad (Sudan). Badania te prowadzono w ramach działań polskich ekspedycji, w których autor aktywnie uczestniczył. Głównym celem pracy jest ukazanie technologii wytwarzania kamiennych narzędzi przez społeczności zasiedlające mikroregion Basenu Affad nad Nilem w dobie złagodnienia klimatycznego po maksimum ostatniego zlodowacenia. Metodyka analiz wytwórczości kamiennej obejmuje poza klasycznymi określeniami surowcowymi i morfo-metrycznymi również złożenia artefaktów i analizy przestrzenne. Kolekcje z Affad dostarczają unikatowego kompendium danych podstawowych o najpóźniejszych emanacjach wytwórczości i behawioru społeczności utożsamianych z epoką paleolitu środkowego, lecz datowanych na schyłek plejstocenu (16 tysiąclecie BP). Poza zagadnieniami technologicznymi w pracy demonstruje się też rezultaty analiz paleośrodowiskowych (geomorfologicznych i archeozoologicznych) wraz z wynikami datowań bezwzględnych. Dane z Affad stanowią istotne uzupełnienie dotychczasowej wiedzy o tempie i kierunkach przemian kulturowych w Afryce północno-wschodniej a także specjalnej roli Doliny Nilu w procesie rozprzestrzeniania się naszego gatunku oraz wczesnych form adaptacji i kultury.The dissertation presents results of the archaeological sources studies collected due exploration of a set of palaeolithic locations around village of Affad (Sudan). The research were conducted by Polish expeditions with active contribution of the author. The main aim of dissertation is to present lithic technology of societies inhabiting microregion of Affad Basin by the Nile during climatic amelioration soon after Late Glacial Maximum. Methods of lithic studies include artefacts refitting and spatial analysis apart classical raw material and morpho-metric evaluations. Collections of Affad produced unique compendium of proxy data concerning the latest emanations of technology and behavior of human societies linked to Middle Stone Age but dated to Terminal Pleistocene (16 millenium BP). Beside technological issues, dissertation includes also results of palaeoenvironmental studies (geomorphological and archaeozoological) as well as absolute dating results. The Affad data significantly fulfill present state of art concerning cultural change rate and trajectories in North-Eastern Africa as well as special position of the Nile Valley within our species dispersal together with early forms of adaptation and culture

Current control with asymmetrical regular sampled pulse width modulator applied in parallel active filter

This paper presents an analysis of the properties of pulse width modulator with a single (symmetrical regular sampled PWM) and double (asymmetrical regular sampled PWM) control sampling of the input signal (low-frequency control input wave) in presence of a triangular auxiliary signal. In this paper, a comparison of the characteristics of these modulators used in the control system with a linear proportional controller is presented. The article provides the relations derived for the maximum amplification of regulators for which the control system operates stably. Analysis results have been confirmed by simulation and experimental studies of a commercial active filter installed in an industrial plant

Excavation of the small animal cemetery at the Roman Red Sea harbor of Berenike in 2018 and 2019

The paper discusses funeral practices with regard to animals in ancient Berenike, investigated in two seasons of exploration, 2018 and 2019 (trenches BE18/19-107, BE01/19-48 and BE19/132). Three groups of animals are represented almost exclusively in the burials. These are cats, dogs and monkeys, buried mainly around the top and on what was the eastern slope of a sand dune. In the mid 1st century AD, an enclosure wall roughly 0.50 m thick was built enclosing a space of about 20 m2 with no apparent floor surface inside it. Outside the wall, a clay pavement surrounded the enclosure on at least three sides. Animal burials accumulated around this enclosure for the next century or so, achieving the greatest density close to the feature. By the 2nd century AD urban rubbish had encroached heavily upon the area taken up by the burials. Most likely in the beginning of the 3rd century AD, the wall was dismantled, perhaps together with the features that had been inside the enclosure (statue, column, tree?). Interestingly, two goats were buried by the two excavated corners (northeastern and northwestern ones) in this period. One of these represented a variant of the species not typical of Northeastern Africa

New evidence for the emergence of a human-pet relation in early Roman Berenike (1st–2nd century AD)

Animals were as inextricable a part as they were indicative of the system of common ancient Egyptian beliefs. Their special role was manifested in a rich iconography and in multitudes of animal mummies deposited in the major sacral complexes. Seen in this light, the cemetery of small animals of 1st–2nd century AD date, excavated since 2011 in the Red Sea port town of Berenike, comes across as entirely unique, notwithstanding the spiritual aspects of cats, dogs and monkeys. Contrary to Egyptian animal burials of all periods associated with human ones, the Berenike inhumations were not intended as afterlife companions of their last owners; neither were they ever mummified. Recent results of research present the variety of species kept in the households and insight into their behaviour. Pathological changes on one of the dog skeletons suggest a deadly condition, that is, osteosarcoma. The Berenike data also shed new light on the distribution of the cat beyond Egypt and a rising preference for keeping the animal as a pet in Europe and the Middle East

Levallois Tradition epigones in the Middle Nile Valley: survey in the Affad Basin

The paper presents the results of an archaeological ground survey aimed to record prehistoric settlement landscape in chosen parts of the Southern Dongola Reach (Tergis, Affad and El-Nafab districts). The project fills in the gaps in earlier research on the right bank of the Nile. Numerous new sites were recorded, all reflecting a frequently occupied level of silts and sands originating in the former river valley aggradations. Prospection of locations recorded in 2003 and later demonstrated also the progressing destruction of archaeological sites on the fringes of modern settlement and the new road from Karima to Nawa

Affad 3.0/Cattle+. Field seasons 2017 and 2018 of the PalaeoAffad Project

The first Affad was the one we saw when the archaeological sites there were first investigated at the beginning of the century. The second Affad, which is the region that we have been exploring in the past 15 years, bore many signs of modern Sudanese culture encroaching upon the desert. In 2009, an asphalt road cut through the desert and shortly thereafter, the Debba bridge and power lines were constructed, the latter coming from a hydroelectric power station on the Fourth Cataract. Affad 3.0 is what the location looks like today—extensive industrial-scale farms on terraces too far away for traditional agriculture. The investment has already caused irreversible destruction to the archaeological heritage. Cattle+ in the title of this article refers to new data on large ruminants. The discovery of auroch remains and the Neolithic cattle data are both extremely important proxies for the adaptation strategies of people inhabiting the Southern Dongola Reach in prehistory