L'analyse du cément dentaire chez les cerfs : l'application en préhistoire

Dental cementum annuli analysis is potentially one of the most reliable direct indicators of season-of-, and age-at-death for temparate mammals. However, the lack of standardization in method and terminology has greatly impeded the progress of this technique in ito ultimate extension to archaeological specimens. Seasonal variation in the deposition of outer root cementum and internal dentine in teeth has been systematically observed and investigated by biologists for ever sixty years. Yet, the rationale and justification for applying the techniques of dental annuli analysis to archaeofaunas require problem solving outside the realm of wildlife biology's concerns. The goal of this paper is to address the major areas of ambiguity and variability in the incremental formation of dental cementum for one species, Cervus elaphus (red deer), and to establish a responsible protocol for the application of cementum annuli anlaysis to Cervus remains from archaeological sites.L'analyse des annuli du cément dentaire est l'un des indicateurs directs le plus fiable en ce qui concerne l'âge et la saison des mammifères des régions tempérées. Cependant, le manque de standardisation dans la méthode et la terminologie a grandement ralenti le progrès de l'application de cette technique sur les spécimens archéologiques. La variation saisonnière du dépôt de cément externe des racines et de la dentine des dents des mammifères a été observée et étudiée par les biologistes depuis"plus de 60 ans. La justification de l'application de la technique de l'analyse des annuli du cément à la faune archéologique exige la résolution de problèmes extérieurs au domaine concernant la biologie de la faune. Le but de cet exposé est de définir les zones d'ambiguïté et de variabilité des poussées de croissance de cément dentaire pour une espèce, Cervus elaphus, et d'établir un protocole crédible pour l'application de l'analyse des annuli du cément sur des restes de Cervus provenant des gisements.Pike-Tay Anne. L'analyse du cément dentaire chez les cerfs : l'application en préhistoire. In: Paléo, n°3,1991. pp. 149-166

Solutrean Animal Resource Exploitation at Combe Saunière (Dordogne, France)

Excavations at the site of Combe Saunière yielded a large quantity of well-preserved Solutrean artefacts, including more than 400 shouldered point fragments and over 12,000 identifiable faunal remains. Several domains of analysis were integrated to reconstruct the technological and economic behaviour of Solutrean populations in their territory. One aspect of this reconstruction, based on the analysis of preserved organic materials, is presented in this paper. Solutrean groups primarily hunted ungulates with little selection, though reindeer were preferred. After the complete exploitation of nutritional resources, shown by the high density of cut marks and the systematic breakage of marrow-bearing bones, a high percentage of the spongy but compact bone was burned. Technical and symbolic needs were clearly anticipated through the hunting of certain birds, the collection of reindeer antler and ivory, the utilisation of objects naturally present on the ground surface, and the stockpiling of reindeer metapodials for future transformation into tools. The technological exploitation of osseous materials was highly diverse and fully integrated with other technological and subsistence activities

Technologies for the Control of Heat and Light in the Vézère Valley Aurignacian

International audienceWe can trace the beginnings of our knowledge of early Upper Paleolithic (Aurignacian) use of fire to the pioneering 1910–1911 excavations at Abri Blanchard undertaken by Louis Didon and Marcel Castanet. At Blanchard, the excavators recognized and described fire structures that correspond in many ways to features excavated more re- cently in Western and Central Europe. Here, we address the issue of heat and light management in the early Upper Paleolithic, demonstrating a pattern that builds on these early excavations but that is refined through our recent field operations. Topics to be discussed include (1) recently excavated fire structures that suggest complex fire man- agement and use, (2) the seemingly massive use of bone as fuel in most early Aurignacian sites, and (3) the anchoring of skin structures for purposes of heat retention with fireplaces behind animal-skin walls. Furthermore, new data on activities around fireplaces make it possible to infer social and organizational aspects of fire structures within Au- rignacian living spaces. The vast majority of early Aurignacian occupations, most of them now dated to between 33,000 and 32,000 BP (uncalibrated), occurred on a previously unoccupied bedrock platform into which the occupants dug their fire features

Overdone overkill - the archaeological perspective on Tasmanian megafaunal extinctions

The reasons for megafaunal extinction in Australia have been hotly debated for over 30 years without any clear resolution. The proposed causes include human overkill, climate, anthropogenic induced habitat change or a combination of these. Most protagonists of the human overkill model suggest the impact was so swift, occurring within a few thousand years of human occupation of the continent, that archaeological evidence should be rare or non-existent. In Tasmania the presence of extinct megafauna has been known since the early twentieth century (Noetling, 1912; Scott, 1911, 1915) with earlier claims of human overlap being rejected because of poor chronology and equivocal stratigraphic associations. More recent archaeological research has not identified any megafauna from the earliest, exceptionally well-preserved late Pleistocene cultural sites. In 2008 however an argument for human induced megafaunal extinctions was proposed using the direct dates from a small sample of surface bone from two Tasmanian non-human caves and a museum sediment sample from an unknown location in a cave, since destroyed by quarrying (Turney et al., 2008). Turney et al. (2008) supplemented their data with published dates from other Tasmanian caves and open sites to argue for the survival of at least seven megafauna species from the last interglacial to the subsequent glacial stage.To investigate the timing of extinctions in Tasmania and examine the latest claims, new excavations and systematic surveys of limestone caves in south central Tasmania were undertaken. Our project failed to show any clear archaeological overlap of humans and megafauna but demonstrated that vigilance is needed when claiming survival of megafauna species based on old or suspect chronologies.The results of our six-years of fieldwork and dating form the first part of the present paper while, in the second part we assess the data advanced by Turney et al. (2008) for the late survival of seven megafauna species. A model of human prey selection and the reasons for the demise of a range of marsupials, now extinct, are discussed in the third part of the paper

Overdone overkill - the archaeological perspective on Tasmanian megafaunal extinctions

The reasons for megafaunal extinction in Australia have been hotly debated for over 30 years without any clear resolution. The proposed causes include human overkill, climate, anthropogenic induced habitat change or a combination of these. Most protagonists of the human overkill model suggest the impact was so swift, occurring within a few thousand years of human occupation of the continent, that archaeological evidence should be rare or non-existent. In Tasmania the presence of extinct megafauna has been known since the early twentieth century (Noetling, 1912; Scott, 1911, 1915) with earlier claims of human overlap being rejected because of poor chronology and equivocal stratigraphic associations. More recent archaeological research has not identified any megafauna from the earliest, exceptionally well-preserved late Pleistocene cultural sites. In 2008 however an argument for human induced megafaunal extinctions was proposed using the direct dates from a small sample of surface bone from two Tasmanian non-human caves and a museum sediment sample from an unknown location in a cave, since destroyed by quarrying (Turney et al., 2008). Turney et al. (2008) supplemented their data with published dates from other Tasmanian caves and open sites to argue for the survival of at least seven megafauna species from the last interglacial to the subsequent glacial stage. To investigate the timing of extinctions in Tasmania and examine the latest claims, new excavations and systematic surveys of limestone caves in south central Tasmania were undertaken. Our project failed to show any clear archaeological overlap of humans and megafauna but demonstrated that vigilance is needed when claiming survival of megafauna species based on old or suspect chronologies. The results of our six-years of fieldwork and dating form the first part of the present paper while, in the second part we assess the data advanced by Turney et al. (2008) for the late survival of seven megafauna species. A model of human prey selection and the reasons for the demise of a range of marsupials, now extinct, are discussed in the third part of the paper

Abri du Maras (Saint-Martin d’Ardèche). Un habitat néandertalien occupé il y a 90 000 et 40 000 ans.

National audienc

L’Abri du Maras. À Saint-Martin d’Ardèche, des habitats néandertaliens du début du dernier glaciaire

International audienc

A selection of Slovenian literary heroes for the preschool period

V vrtcih slovenske literarne junake vse bolj spodrivajo tuji fantazijski junaki, za katere se otroci navdušijo prek risank, revij in video igric. Slovenski junaki so pomemben del naše kulture in so lahko nekakšni spremljevalci v domovinski vzgoji pri najmlajših. To delo naj služi kot promocija slovenskih literarnih junakov pri otrocih vseh starosti, z začetkom v predšolskem obdobju. V delu je opredeljeno merilo izbire likovpredstavljene so njihove zgodbe, posebne lastnosti in upodobitevjunaki so po izvoru opredeljeni kot ljudski ali umetninavedeni so avtorji in zgodovinske okoliščine nastankaraziskane so njihova prepoznavnost in zastopanost v različnih medijih (slikanice, avdio- in video mediji, oglasi) ter dostopnost teh medijev.In preschools, Slovenian literary heroes are being displaced by foreign fantastic heroes that impress children via cartoons, magazines and video games. Slovenian heroes are an important part of our culture and can act as companions of sorts within citizenship education of youngsters. This thesis should serve as a promotion of Slovenian literary heroes for children of all ages, beginning with the preschool period. The thesis defines the selection criterion of charactersit introduces their stories, special characteristics and depictionsit defines heroes by origin as folk or artificialit lists the authors and historical circumstances of productionit investigates their recognisability and representation in various media (picture books, audio- and video media, advertisements) and the accessibility of these media

Imputation and subset-based association analysis across different cancer types identifies multiple independent risk loci in the TERT-CLPTM1L region on chromosome 5p15.33

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have mapped risk alleles for at least 10 distinct cancers to a small region of 63 000 bp on chromosome 5p15.33. This region harbors the TERT and CLPTM1L genes; the former encodes the catalytic subunit of telomerase reverse transcriptase and the latter may play a role in apoptosis. To investigate further the genetic architecture of common susceptibility alleles in this region, we conducted an agnostic subset-based meta-analysis (association analysis based on subsets) across six distinct cancers in 34 248 cases and 45 036 controls. Based on sequential conditional analysis, we identified as many as six independent risk loci marked by common single-nucleotide polymorphisms: five in the TERT gene (Region 1: rs7726159, P = 2.10 x 10(-39); Region 3: rs2853677, P = 3.30 x 10(-36) and P-Conditional = 2.36 x 10(-8); Region 4: rs2736098, P = 3.87 x 10(-12) and P-Conditional = 5.19 x 10(-6), Region 5: rs13172201, P = 0.041 and P-Conditional = 2.04 x 10(-6); and Region 6: rs10069690, P = 7.49 x 10 215 and P-Conditional = 5.35 x 10(-7)) and one in the neighboring CLPTM1L gene(Region 2: rs451360; P = 1.90 x 10(-18) and P-Conditional = 7.06 x 10(-16)). Between three and five cancers mapped to each independent locus with both risk-enhancing and protective effects. Allele-specific effects on DNA methylation were seen for a subset of risk loci, indicating that methylation and subsequent effects on gene expression may contribute to the biology of risk variants on 5p15.33. Our results provide strong support for extensive pleiotropy across this region of 5p15.33, to an extent not previously observed in other cancer susceptibility loci

Students' participation in collaborative research should be recognised

Letter to the editor