Minjiwarra : archaeological evidence of human occupation of Australia’s northern Kimberley by 50,000 BP

Recent archaeological research in Australia’s north-eastern Kimberley has luminescence dated a large red sedimentary feature, known as Minjiwarra, with artefacts in stratified contexts from the late Holocene to ∼50,000 years ago. This site is located on the Drysdale River, with preliminary excavations undertaken as part of an ARC Linkage Project. Deeply stratified sites in association with rockshelters are uncommon across the NE Kimberley and basal dates at open cultural deposits vary greatly. Most of them are mid-Holocene in age. However, Minjiwarra appears to cover the entire span of potential human occupation in this region, with associated lithic technology, reported on here

Symbols of Power: The Firearm Paintings of Madjedbebe (Malakunanja II)

Depictions of firearms in Australian Aboriginal rock art provide a unique opportunity to archaeologically explore the roles that this type of material culture played in times of culture contact. From the earliest interactions with explorers to the buffalo shooting enterprises of the twentieth century—firearms played complex and shifting roles in western Arnhem Land Aboriginal societies. The site of Madjedbebe (sometimes referred to as Malakunanja II in earlier academic literature) in Jabiluka (Mirarr Country), offers the opportunity to explore these shifting roles over time with an unprecedented 16 paintings of firearms spanning the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This rock art provides evidence for early firearms as objects of curiosity and threat to local groups, as well as evidence for later personal ownership and use of such weaponry. Moreover, we argue that the rock art suggests increasing incorporation of firearms into traditional cultural belief and artistic systems over time with Madjedbebe playing a key role in the communication of the cultural meanings behind this new subject matter.Arts, Education & Law Group, School of Humanities, Languages and Social SciencesFull Tex

Deracemisation of alpha-amino acids - (R)- and (S)-phenylalanine from the same enantiomer of a homochiral auxiliary

Chiral auxiliary (3S)-N,N'-bis-(p-methoxybenzyl)-3-isopropylpiperazine- 2,5-dione 1 was employed for the synthesis of both enantiomers of phenylalanine using a regioselective deprotonation/stereoselective reprotonation strategy. Modification of this approach enables the efficient deracemisation of (±)-phenylalanine

Rock-art and relationships: an introduction

This paper introduces to the Before Farming readership a selection of 14 rock-art-centric papers arranged around three key human relationships. These comprise the relationships people have with other people (colonialism), relationships people have with places (landscape), and relationships that people have with other animals and with plants (ecology). Rock-art1 is a theoretically-informed artefact capable of illuminating aspects of past and contemporary human behaviour in new and insightful ways. The papers presented in this and the next two issues of Before Farming were originally presented at the Australian Rock Art Research Association (AURA) conference held in Alice Springs, Australia, July 2000. The issues these papers address represent and extend contemporary anthropological and archaeological concerns with time, place and identity. We hope that the papers will also provide material for contemplation, contestation and questing

A highly diastereoselective [2,3]-sigmatropic N,O rearrangement

Lithium (E)-N-benzyl-O-(4-methoxy-4-phenylbut-2-enyl)-hydroxylamide undergoes a highly diastereoselective rearrangement via a chelated transition state, to afford after reduction, syn-3-benzylamino-4-methoxy-4-phenylbut-1-ene as a single diastereoisomer

Virtual Fencing Technology Excludes Beef Cattle from an Environmentally Sensitive Area

The eShepherd® virtual fencing system being commercialized for cattle has the potential to exclude cattle from environmentally sensitive areas. Animals are given audio cues to indicate a fence line via a neckband device. An electrical pulse is administered if the animal continues moving forward following an audio cue. A commercial trial was conducted in South Australia to assess whether virtual fencing technology could exclude 20 cattle from an area of regenerating saplings, across 44 days, using a contoured fence line. The results demonstrated that the cattle were able to rapidly learn the virtual fencing cues, responding primarily to the audio cue alone, and were excluded from the regenerating area for 99.8% of the trial period. Behavioral time budgets measured by automated devices on the leg changed across the trial duration, but in no consistent pattern. At the trial conclusion, the feed available in the protected zone was double the quantity and quality of the grazed zone. Thus, virtual fencing technology using pre-commercial prototypes was shown to protect an environmental asset within a paddock from cattle grazing in the presence of a large feed differential

Automated Virtual Fencing Can Effectively Contain Sheep: Field Trials and Prospects

Virtual fencing technology uses on-animal devices to communicate boundaries via a warning audio tone and electrical pulse signals. There is currently limited validation work on sheep. This study used modified cattle eShepherd® virtual fencing neckbands on reduced-wool sheep with clipped necks to enable automated trials with small groups across both day and night. The first 5-day trial with six Dorper crossbred sheep was conducted in an experimental paddock setting, with a second 5-day trial conducted with 10 Ultra White sheep on a commercial farm. The animals across both trials were contained in the inclusion zone for 99.8% and 92.2% of the trial period, with a mean percentage (±SD) of total audio cues as audio only (i.e., not followed by an electrical pulse) being 74.9% ± 4.6 in the first trial, and 83.3% ± 20.6 for the second trial. In the second trial, sheep crossed over into the exclusion zone on the third night and remained there until they were walked out for their daily yard check in the morning. These preliminary trial results are promising for the use of automated technology on sheep, but suitable devices and algorithms still need to be designed specifically for sheep in the long term

Changing ecological concerns in rock-art subject matter of north Australia’s Keep River region

The Keep River region has a complex body of engraved and painted rock-art, distinct from but with links to regions to the east, west and south. At least four major periods of figurative rock-art have been identified with differing subject matters and ages. Significant changes in depictions of human figures and animals are evident, reflecting shifts in emphasis associated with ecological concerns and environmental change. We flesh out the relative rock-art chronology by highlighting these changes, from worlds dominated by humans to those dominated by mammals and birds, and finally to a recent world of reptiles and humans. Symbolic aspects of the imagery are also considered within a larger ecological approach