The Economic Archaeology of Roman Economic Performance

Recent years have witnessed a paradigm shift in the study of the Roman economy. Methodologically modern economic analysis is now far more acceptable than it once was, and archaeology has become the major source of empirical data for many questions. On the substantive side there is now a far clearer appreciation of the major changes that the Roman economy underwent, with substantial growth of population and aggregate production and even some improvements in standard of living, but followed by equally dramatic decline. This economic success was not limited to the imperial core, but also extended to the provinces

Fires at Neumark-Nord 2, Germany: An analysis of fire proxies from a Last Interglacial Middle Palaeolithic basin site

Few sites with evidence for fire use are known from the Last Interglacial in Europe. Hearth features are rarely preserved, probably as a result of post-depositional processes. The small postglacial basins (<300 m in diameter) that dominate the sedimentary context of the Eemian record in Europe are high-resolution environmental archives often containing charcoal particles. This case study presents the macroscopic charcoal record of the Neumark-Nord 2 basin, Germany, and the correlation of this record with the distinct find levels of the basin margin that also contain thermally altered archaeological material. Increased charcoal quantities are shown to correspond to phases of hominin presence-a pattern that fits best with recurrent anthropogenic fires within the watershed. This research shows the potential of small basin localities in the reconstruction of local fire histories, where clear archaeological features like hearths are missing

First finds of Prunus domestica L. in Italy from the Phoenician and Punic periods (6th-2nd centuries BC)

Abstract During the archaeological excavations in the Phoenician and Punic settlement of Santa Giusta (Oristano, Sardinia, Italy), dating back to the 6th–2nd centuries bc, several Prunus fruitstones (endocarps) inside amphorae were recovered. The exceptional state of preservation of the waterlogged remains allowed morphometric measurements to be done by image analysis and statistical comparisons made with modern cultivated and wild Prunus samples collected in Sardinia. Digital images of modern and archaeological Prunus fruitstones were acquired with a flatbed scanner and analysed by applying image analysis techniques to measure 26 morphometric features. By applying stepwise linear discriminant analysis, a morphometric comparison was made between the archaeological fruitstones of Prunus and the modern ones collected in Sardinia. These analyses allowed identification of 53 archaeological fruitstones as P. spinosa and 11 as P. domestica. Moreover, the archaeological samples of P. spinosa showed morphometric similarities in 92.5% of the cases with the modern P. spinosa samples currently growing near the Phoenician and Punic site. Likewise, the archaeological fruitstones identified as P. domestica showed similarities with the modern variety of P. domestica called Sanguigna di Bosa which is currently cultivated near the village of Bosa. Currently, these findings represent the first evidence of P. domestica in Italy during the Phoenician and Punic periods. Keywords Archaeobotany · Image analysis · Morphometric features · Prunus · Sardini

Revisiting and modelling the woodland farming system of the early Neolithic Linear Pottery Culture (LBK), 5600–4900 B.C

International audienceThis article presents the conception and the conceptual results of a modelling representation of the farming systems of the Linearbandkeramik Culture (LBK). Assuming that there were permanent fields (PF) then, we suggest four ways that support the sustainability of such a farming system over time: a generalized pollarding and coppicing of trees to increase the productivity of woodland areas for foddering more livestock, which itself can then provide more manure for the fields, a generalized use of pulses grown together with cereals during the same cropping season, thereby reducing the needs for manure. Along with assumptions limiting bias on village and family organizations, the conceptual model which we propose for human environment in the LBK aims to be sustainable for long periods and can thereby overcome doubts about the PFs hypothesis for the LBK farming system. Thanks to a reconstruction of the climate of western Europe and the consequent vegetation pattern and productivity arising from it, we propose a protocol of experiments and validation procedures for both testing the PFs hypothesis and defining its eco-geographical area

Effects of histone deacetylation inhibition on neuronal differentiation of embryonic mouse neural stem cells

Neural stem cells (NSCs) are multipotent cells that have the capacity for self-renewal and for differentiation into the major cell types of the nervous system, i.e. neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. The molecular mechanisms regulating gene transcription resulting in NSC differentiation and cell lineage specification are slowly being unraveled. An important mechanism in transcriptional regulation is modulation of chromatin by histone acetylation and deacetylation, allowing or blocking the access of transcriptional factors to DNA sequences. The precise involvement of histone acetyltransferases and histone deacetylases (HDACs) in the differentiation of NSCs into mature functional neurons is still to be revealed. In this in vitro study we have investigated the effects of the HDAC inhibitor trichostatin A (TSA) on the differentiation pattern of embryonic mouse NSCs during culture in a minimal, serum-free medium, lacking any induction or growth factor. We demonstrated that under these basic conditions TSA treatment increased neuronal differentiation of the NSCs and decreased astrocyte differentiation. Most strikingly, electrophysiological recordings revealed that in our minimal culture system only TSA-treated NSC-derived neurons developed normal electrophysiological membrane properties characteristic for functional, i.e. excitable and firing, neurons. Furthermore, TSA-treated NSC-derived neurons were characterized by an increased elongation and arborization of the dendrites. Our study shows that chromatin structure modulation by HDACs plays an important role in the transcriptional regulation of the neuronal differentiation of embryonic NSCs particularly as far as the development of functional properties are concerned. Manipulation of HDAC activity may be an important tool to generate specific neuronal populations from NSCs for transplantation purposes. (c) 2006 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved