THE SOUTH AFRICAN HERITAGE RESOURCES INFORMATION SYSTEM (SAHRIS): DEVELOPMENT AND CHALLENGES THROUGH MANAGEMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE RESOURCES THROUGH AN INTEGRATED WEB-BASED PLATFORM

[EN] The South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) is a statutory body created to implement the National Heritage Resources Act No.25 of 1999 and is responsible for the identification and management of the national estate of South Africa. In 2013, the South African Heritage Resources Information System (SAHRIS) was developed to create an inventory of the national estate and facilitate the management of heritage resources.The SAHRIS platform is an interactive system that provides a collaborate space through which government officials, heritage practitioners, developers and researchers can engage with the management of the national estate of South Africa. Core functions include an online application system, in which public users and governement officials collaborate and communicate; an archive of heritage sites and resources; protect heritage sites and resources that are threatened by development or mining activities; a collections management system for the effective management of heritage objects.Despite its progressive efficiency, users of SAHRIS encounter challenges such as difficult navigatibility due to it serving a variety of users and applications. Furthermore, although it is a public domain and should therefore allow free access to all records, privacy of certain documents and records is important in order to protect researchers’ interests and heritage resources from loitering and destruction. The advantage of a digital system is that it is work in progress and open to continuous improvement.Jackson, C.; Redelstorff, R. (2016). THE SOUTH AFRICAN HERITAGE RESOURCES INFORMATION SYSTEM (SAHRIS): DEVELOPMENT AND CHALLENGES THROUGH MANAGEMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE RESOURCES THROUGH AN INTEGRATED WEB-BASED PLATFORM. En 8th International congress on archaeology, computer graphics, cultural heritage and innovation. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 480-483. https://doi.org/10.4995/arqueologica8.2015.4170OCS48048

"Stick 'n' peel": Explaining unusual patterns of disarticulation and loss of completeness in fossil vertebrates

Few fossil vertebrate skeletons are complete and fully articulated. Various taphonomic processes reduce the skeletal fidelity of decaying carcasses, the effects of most of which are reasonably well understood. Some fossil vertebrates, however, exhibit patterns of disarticulation and loss of completeness that are difficult to explain. Such skeletons are one of two variants. They are incomplete, often markedly so, but the preserved parts are highly articulated. Alternatively, they are complete, or nearly so, but articulation varies markedly between parts of the body. A characteristic feature is the absence of skeletal elements that, on the basis of their larger size and/or greater density, would be predicted to be present. Here we erect a model, termed “stick ‘n’ peel”, that explains how these distinctive patterns originate. The model emphasizes the role of decay products, especially fluids released from the carcass while resting on the sediment surface. These fluids permeate the sediment below and around the carcass. As a result, skeletal elements on the downward facing side of the carcass become adhered to the sediment surface, and are less likely to be remobilized as a result of current activity than others. The pattern of articulation and, especially, completeness is thus not what would be predicted on the basis of the size, shape and density of the skeletal elements. The effects of stick ‘n’ peel are difficult to predict a priori. Stick ‘n’ peel has been identified in vertebrate fossils in lacustrine and marine settings and is likely to be a common feature of the taphonomic history of many vertebrate assemblages. Specimens becoming adhered to the substrate may also explain the preservation in situ of the multi-element skeletons of invertebrates such as echinoderms, and integumentary structures such as hair and feathers in exceptionally preserved fossils

The Postcranial Skeleton of an Exceptionally Complete Individual of the Plated Dinosaur Stegosaurus stenops (Dinosauria: Thyreophora) from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming, U.S.A.

Copyright: © 2015 Maidment et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License [4.0], which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The attached file is the published version of the article

Unique bone histology in partial large bone shafts from Upper Triassic of Aust Cliff, England: An early independent experiment in gigantism

Two giant partial bone shafts, possible femora, from the Rhaetian Bone Bed (Upper Triassic) of Aust Cliff in SW England continue to conceal their origin. The most striking characteristic of these bones is their size, showing that dinosaur-like gigantism had already evolved by the Late Triassic. Based on their characteristic, columnar shaft morphology, it was previously suggested they came from a prosauropod or stegosaur. The bone histology of both specimens is very similar: the cortex is always rather thin, not exceeding 10 mm, and is of fibrolamellar type with longitudinal primary osteons. The primary osteons show a rather unusual feature, the development of a secondary osteon inside the primary one. The bone surface in both specimens shows open vascular canals, suggesting that the animals were still growing at the time of death, but an external fundamental system (EFS) is visible in the outermost cortex of specimen BRSMG Cb3870. The external cortex shows dense growth marks, but their annual nature is difficult to ascertain. The bones are probably dinosaurian, as indicated by the fibrolamellar bone, and possibly belong to an unknown basal sauropodomorph lineage. Alternatively, some very large pseudosuchians may have evolved fibrolamellar bone independently as an adaptation for reaching giant size

Digital reconstruction of the mandible of an adult Lesothosaurus diagnosticus with insight into the tooth replacement process and diet

Fragmentary caudal ends of the left and right mandible assigned to Lesothosaurus diagnosticus, an early ornithischian, was recently discovered in the continental red bed succession of the upper Elliot Formation (Lower Jurassic) at Likhoele Mountain (Mafeteng District) in Lesotho. Using micro-CT scanning, this mandible could be digitally reconstructed in 3D. The replacement teeth within the better preserved (left) dentary were visualised. The computed tomography dataset suggests asynchronous tooth replacement in an individual identified as an adult on the basis of bone histology. Clear evidence for systematic wear facets created by attrition is lacking. The two most heavily worn teeth are only apically truncated. Our observations of this specimen as well as others do not support the high level of dental wear expected from the semi-arid palaeoenvironment in which Lesothosaurus diagnosticus lived. Accordingly, a facultative omnivorous lifestyle, where seasonality determined the availability, quality, and abundance of food is suggested. This would have allowed for adaptability to episodes of increased environmental stress

“Stick ‘n’ peel”: how unusual patterns of disarticulation and loss of completeness in fossil vertebrates originate as a result of carcasses adhering to the substrate during decay

International Meeting on Taphonomy and Fossilization (8º. 2017. Viena)The taphonomic histories of fossil vertebrate skeletons can be both complex and difficult to resolve, even if only examples from exceptional biotas (Konservat Lagerstätten) are considered. Typically, the fidelity with which skeletons are preserved in exceptional biotas is “good to excellent” - even in cases where the non-biomineralised tissues have decayed completely. Crucially, it is, however, unusual that for any biota as a whole, all skeletons are complete and fully articulated. At least a minority, - and often the majority - of taxa within an assemblage show some loss of completeness and articulation.UCD School of Earth Sciences, University College Dublin, IrlandaPaläontologisches Institut und Museum der Universität, SuizaMuseo Geominero, Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, EspañaSchool of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science, University College Cork, IrlandaSouth African Heritage Resources Agency, Archaeology, Palaeontology and Meteorites Unit, SudáfricaPeer reviewe

The first evidence of osteomyelitis in a sauropod dinosaur

Osteomyelitis is reported for the first time in a sauropod dinosaur. The material (MCS-PV 183) comes from the Anacleto Formation (Campanian, Late Cretaceous), at the Cinco Saltos locality, Río Negro Province, Argentina. The specimen consists of 16 mid and mid-distal caudal vertebrae of a titanosaur sauropod. Evidence of bacterial infection is preserved in all of these vertebrae. The main anomalies are as follows: irregular ‘microbubbly’ texture of bone surfaces produced by periosteal reactive bone, abscesses on the rims of the anterior articular surfaces of two centra, numerous pits on centra anterior articulation surfaces, erosions on the anterior articulation of the vertebral centra, a vertical groove in posterior articular face of all the centra and disruption of the prezygapophysis and postzygapophysis (mainly the articular face) from the vertebra 19 and beyond. The last anomaly is increasingly pronounced in more distal elements of the series. Thin sections reveal that the anomalous cortical tissue is composed of avascular and highly fibrous bone matrix. The fibres of the bone matrix are organized into thick bundles oriented in different directions. Both morphological and histological abnormalities in the MCS-PV 183 specimen are pathognomonic for osteomyelitis.Fil: García, Rodolfo Andrés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología; ArgentinaFil: Cerda, Ignacio Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; Argentina. Provincia de Río Negro. Museo "Carlos Ameghino"; ArgentinaFil: Heller, Matías. Provincia de Neuquén. Hospital Provincial "Dr. Horacio Heller"; ArgentinaFil: Rothschild, Bruce. Carnegie Museum; Estados UnidosFil: Zurriaguz, Virginia Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología; Argentin

“Stick ‘n’ peel”: Explaining unusual patterns of disarticulation and loss of completeness in fossil vertebrates

Few fossil vertebrate skeletons are complete and fully articulated. Various taphonomic processes reduce the skeletal fidelity of decaying carcasses, the effects of most of which are reasonably well understood. Some fossil vertebrates, however, exhibit patterns of disarticulation and loss of completeness that are difficult to explain. Such skeletons are one of two variants. They are incomplete, often markedly so, but the preserved parts are highly articulated. Alternatively, they are complete, or nearly so, but articulation varies markedly between parts of the body. A characteristic feature is the absence of skeletal elements that, on the basis of their larger size and/or greater density, would be predicted to be present. Here we erect a model, termed “stick ‘n’ peel”, that explains how these distinctive patterns originate. The model emphasizes the role of decay products, especially fluids released from the carcass while resting on the sediment surface. These fluids permeate the sediment below and around the carcass. As a result, skeletal elements on the downward facing side of the carcass become adhered to the sediment surface, and are less likely to be remobilized as a result of current activity than others. The pattern of articulation and, especially, completeness is thus not what would be predicted on the basis of the size, shape and density of the skeletal elements. The effects of stick ‘n’ peel are difficult to predict a priori. Stick ‘n’ peel has been identified in vertebrate fossils in lacustrine and marine settings and is likely to be a common feature of the taphonomic history of many vertebrate assemblages. Specimens becoming adhered to the substrate may also explain the preservation in situ of the multi-element skeletons of invertebrates such as echinoderms, and integumentary structures such as hair and feathers in exceptionally preserved fossils