Life on the Margins

The research presented here is primarily concerned with human-environment interactions on the tropical coast of northern Australia during the late Holocene. Based on the suggestion that significant change can occur within short time-frames as a direct result of interactive processes, the archaeological evidence from the Point Blane Peninsula, Blue Mud Bay, is used to address the issue of how much change and variability occurred in hunter-gatherer economic and social structures during the late Holocene in coastal northeastern Arnhem Land. The suggestion proposed here is that processes of environmental and climatic change resulted in changes in resource distribution and abundance, which in turn affected patterns of settlement and resource exploitation strategies, levels of mobility and, potentially, the size of foraging groups on the coast. The question of human behavioural variability over the last 3000 years in Blue Mud Bay has been addressed by examining issues of scale and resolution in archaeological interpretation, specifically the differential chronological and spatial patterning of shell midden and mound sites on the peninsula in conjunction with variability in molluscan resource exploitation. To this end, the biological and ecological characteristics of the dominant molluscan species is considered in detail, in combination with assessing the potential for human impact through predation. Investigating pre-contact coastal foraging behaviour via the archaeological record provides an opportunity for change to recognised in a number of ways. For example, a differential focus on resources, variations in group size and levels of mobility can all be identified. It has also been shown that human-environment interactions are non-linear or progressive, and that human behaviour during the late Holocene was both flexible and dynamic

The ebb and flow : an archaeological investigation of late holocene economic variability on the Coastal Margin of Blue Mud Bay, Northern Australia

This thesis is primarily concerned with human-environment interactions on the tropical coast of northern Australia during the late Holocene. Based on the suggestion that significant change can occur within short time-frames as a direct result of interactive processes, the archaeological evidence from the Point Blane peninsula, Blue Mud Bay, is used to address the issue of how much change and variability occurred in hunter-gatherer economic and social structures during the late Holocene in coastal northeastern Arnhem Land. The suggestion proposed in this thesis is that processes of environmental and climatic change resulted in changes in resource distribution and abundance, which in turn affected patterns of settlement and resource exploitation strategies, levels of mobility and, potentially, the size of foraging groups on the coast. Whereas previous archaeological models for coastal northern Australia have used ethnographies as interpretive tools, it is demonstrated that using ethnographies to aid interpretations of the archaeological record is a problematic approach for this specific region. In particular, such an approach has most likely underestimated the nature and extent of variability that may have existed in the late Holocene. Therefore, the focus here is on what the archaeological and ecological evidence can tell us about human behaviour in the late Holocene. The question of human behavioural variability relative to the climatic and ecological parameters of the last 3000 years in Blue Mud Bay has been addressed by examining issues of scale and resolution in archaeological interpretation. Specifically, the differential chronological and spatial patterning of shell midden and mound sites on the peninsula in conjunction with variability in molluscan resource exploitation. To this end, the biological and ecological characteristics of Anadara granosa, the dominant molluscan species for much of the known period of occupation in the region, are considered in detail, in combination with assessing the potential for human impact through predation. In explaining long-term economic change, the focus has been placed on the analysis of relative changes and trends through time in prehistoric resource exploitation, and their relationship to environmental factors. This thesis therefore makes a contribution to our knowledge of pre-contact coastal foragers by viewing the archaeological record as a reflection of the process of the interaction of humans with their environment. In doing so, an opportunity is provided in which change can be recognised in a number of ways. For example, differential focus on resources, variations in group size and levels of mobility can all be identified. It has also been shown that human-environment interactions are non-linear or progressive, and that human behaviour during the late Holocene was both flexible and dynamic

The molluscan remains of Tanamu 1: Subsistence and resource habitats

[Extract] The molluscan assemblage reported here is from Tanamu 1 at Caution Bay, an archaeological site dating from c.5,000 cal BP to c. 100 cal BP. Two 1m × 1m squares (A and B) were excavated in 2.1 ± 0.5cm excavation units (XUs) to 2.82m depth, with all excavated materials retained in 2.1mm mesh sieves undergoing systematic analysis in dedicated archaeological laboratories (see Chapter 2 for excavation details). The 134 XUs at Tanamu 1 are partitioned into seven major stratigraphic horizons or units (SUs), each continuous across the two contiguous main excavated squares (A and B). SU1 (700–c. 100 cal BP), SU3 (2800–c. 2750 cal BP) and SU5 (4350–4050 cal BP) consist of rich cultural deposits (the Upper, Middle and Lower Horizons respectively); which are separated by the culturally sparser SU2, SU4 and basal SU6–SU7. SU1, SU3 and SU5 contain pronounced and distinct shell concentrations: XU3–XU6 (Upper Horizon); XU24–XU35 (Middle Horizon) and XU48–XU69 (Lower Horizon). In each of these, the total shell weight is on average >2000g for each XU from Square A and Square B combined. These dense shell horizons correspond with the three dense occupation horizons identified for the site as a whole, associated with pre-ceramic, Lapita and post-Lapita occupation periods. Excavation at Tanamu 1 produced a total shell sample of 127,355.6g, with Square A containing 62,270.3g and Square B 65,085.3g. While the majority of these shells represent discarded food remains, a number of shell artefacts were also recovered. The shell artefacts are presented separately. However, they are included in the weights and MNI counts reported here. The clearly stratified Tanamu 1 cultural sequence provides an ideal opportunity to investigate change over time in the use of molluscan resources

The natural setting of Caution Bay: climate, landforms, biota, and environmental zones

In this chapter, we review the present and past environment of Caution Bay set in a broader geographical context, including both terrestrial and marine habitats. Our primary objective is to sketch the general canvas upon which the past 6,000 or so years of local human presence, as represented by the Caution Bay archaeological record, played out. A secondary objective is to document the range of contemporary landforms and explore the spatial distribution and ecological dynamics of the various plant and animal communities that still occupy the present landscape, or did so at the time when Europeans first arrived in the 1870s. Knowledge of the contemporary landscape and its resources represents the starting point for inferring continuities and changes in ways of life for the region's past inhabitants as these are tracked back from the present to the mid-Holocene, and ultimately for understanding the choices people made as they balanced various primary extractive and commercial activities to maintain cultural practices, adopt and develop new ones, survive and prosper. Relationships between people and locales at Caution Bay were, and continue to be, dynamic, with people playing a major role in shaping both the physical and biological landscape, just as the landscape and its resources have influenced the course of human history in this area

Late Pleistocene to early-Holocene rainforest foraging in Sri Lanka:Multidisciplinary analysis at Kitulgala Beli-lena

Sri Lanka has produced the earliest clear evidence for Homo sapiens fossils in South Asia and research in the region has provided important insights into modern human adaptations and cultural practices during the last ca. 45,000 years. However, in-depth multidisciplinary analyses of Late Pleistocene and Holocene sequences remain limited to just two sites, Fa Hien-lena and Batadomba-lena. Here, we present our findings from the reinvestigation of a third site, Kitulgala Beli-lena. New chronometric dating from the site confirms the presence of humans as early as ca. 45,000 cal. BP. in the island's Wet Zone rainforest region. Our analyses of macrobotanical, molluscan, and vertebrate remains from the rockshelter show that this early human presence is associated with rainforest foraging. The Late Pleistocene deposits yielded evidence of wild breadfruit and kekuna nut extraction while the Holocene layers reveal a heavy reliance on semi-arboreal and arboreal small mammals as well as freshwater snails as a protein source. The lithic and osseous artefacts demonstrate that populations developed a sophisticated tool kit for the exploitation of their immediate landscapes. We place the rich Kitulgala Beli-lena dataset in its wider Sri Lankan context of Late Pleistocene foraging, as well as in wider discussions of our species’ adaptation to ‘extreme’ environments as it moved throughout Asia

Heterometallic lanthanide complexes with site-specific binding that enable simultaneous visible and NIR-emission

Macrocyclic lanthanide complexes have become widely developed due to their distinctive luminescence characteristics and wide range of applications in biological imaging. However, systems with sufficient brightness and metal selectivity can be difficult to produce on a molecular scale. Presented herein is the stepwise introduction of differing lanthanide ions in a bis-DO3A/DTPA scaffold to afford three trinuclear bimetallic [Ln2Ln’] lanthanide complexes with site-specific, controlled binding [(Yb2Tb), (Eu2Tb), (Yb2Eu)]. The complexes display simultaneous emission from all LnIII centers across the visible (TbIII, EuIII) and near infra-red (YbIII) spectrum when excited via phenyl ligand sensitization at a wide range of temperatures and are consequently of interest for exploiting imaging in the near infra-red II biological window. Analysis of lifetime data over a range of excitation regimes reveals intermetallic communication between TbIII and EuIII centers and further develops the understanding of multimetallic lanthanide complexes

Coastal Subsistence, Maritime Trade, and the Colonization of Small Offshore Islands in Eastern African Prehistory

Recent archaeological research has firmly established eastern Africa's offshore islands as important localities for understanding the region's pre-Swahili maritime adaptations and early Indian Ocean trade connections. While the importance of the sea and small offshore islands to the development of urbanized and mercantile Swahili societies has long been recognized, the formative stages of island colonization—and in particular the processes by which migrating Iron Age groups essentially became “maritime”—are still relatively poorly understood. Here we present the results of recent archaeological fieldwork in the Mafia Archipelago, which aims to understand these early adaptations and situate them within a longer-term trajectory of island settlement and pre-Swahili cultural developments. We focus on the results of zooarchaeological, archaeobotanical, and material culture studies relating to early subsistence and trade on this island to explore the changing significance of marine resources to the local economy. We also discuss the implications of these maritime adaptations for the development of local and long-distance Indian Ocean trade networks

Antioxidant Activity of Hawaiian Marine Algae

Marine algae are known to contain a wide variety of bioactive compounds, many of which have commercial applications in pharmaceutical, medical, cosmetic, nutraceutical, food and agricultural industries. Natural antioxidants, found in many algae, are important bioactive compounds that play an important role against various diseases and ageing processes through protection of cells from oxidative damage. In this respect, relatively little is known about the bioactivity of Hawaiian algae that could be a potential natural source of such antioxidants. The total antioxidant activity of organic extracts of 37 algal samples, comprising of 30 species of Hawaiian algae from 27 different genera was determined. The activity was determined by employing the FRAP (Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power) assays. Of the algae tested, the extract of Turbinaria ornata was found to be the most active. Bioassay-guided fractionation of this extract led to the isolation of a variety of different carotenoids as the active principles. The major bioactive antioxidant compound was identified as the carotenoid fucoxanthin. These results show, for the first time, that numerous Hawaiian algae exhibit significant antioxidant activity, a property that could lead to their application in one of many useful healthcare or related products as well as in chemoprevention of a variety of diseases including cancer