Identifying anthropogenic features at Seoke (Botswana) using pXRF: Expanding the record of southern African Stone Walled Sites.

Numerous and extensive 'Stone Walled Sites' have been identified in southern African Iron Age landscapes. Appearing from around 1200 CE, and showing considerable variability in size and form, these settlements are named after the dry-stone wall structures that characterize them. Stone Walled Sites were occupied by various Bantu-speaking agropastoral communities. In this paper we test the use of pXRF (portable X-ray fluorescence analysis) to generate a 'supplementary' archaeological record where evident stratigraphy is lacking, survey conditions may be uneven, and excavations limited, due to the overall site size. We propose herein the application of portable X-ray fluorescence analysis (pXRF) coupled with multivariate exploratory analysis and geostatistical modelling at Seoke, a southern African SWS of historical age (18th century CE). The aim of the paper is twofold: to explore the potential of the application of a low cost, quick, and minimally invasive technique to detect chemical markers in anthropogenic sediments from a Stone Walled Site, and to propose a way to analyse the results in order to improve our understanding of the use of space at non-generalized scales in such sites

Elective cancer surgery in COVID-19-free surgical pathways during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: An international, multicenter, comparative cohort study

PURPOSE As cancer surgery restarts after the first COVID-19 wave, health care providers urgently require data to determine where elective surgery is best performed. This study aimed to determine whether COVID-19–free surgical pathways were associated with lower postoperative pulmonary complication rates compared with hospitals with no defined pathway. PATIENTS AND METHODS This international, multicenter cohort study included patients who underwent elective surgery for 10 solid cancer types without preoperative suspicion of SARS-CoV-2. Participating hospitals included patients from local emergence of SARS-CoV-2 until April 19, 2020. At the time of surgery, hospitals were defined as having a COVID-19–free surgical pathway (complete segregation of the operating theater, critical care, and inpatient ward areas) or no defined pathway (incomplete or no segregation, areas shared with patients with COVID-19). The primary outcome was 30-day postoperative pulmonary complications (pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, unexpected ventilation). RESULTS Of 9,171 patients from 447 hospitals in 55 countries, 2,481 were operated on in COVID-19–free surgical pathways. Patients who underwent surgery within COVID-19–free surgical pathways were younger with fewer comorbidities than those in hospitals with no defined pathway but with similar proportions of major surgery. After adjustment, pulmonary complication rates were lower with COVID-19–free surgical pathways (2.2% v 4.9%; adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.62; 95% CI, 0.44 to 0.86). This was consistent in sensitivity analyses for low-risk patients (American Society of Anesthesiologists grade 1/2), propensity score–matched models, and patients with negative SARS-CoV-2 preoperative tests. The postoperative SARS-CoV-2 infection rate was also lower in COVID-19–free surgical pathways (2.1% v 3.6%; aOR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.76). CONCLUSION Within available resources, dedicated COVID-19–free surgical pathways should be established to provide safe elective cancer surgery during current and before future SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks

Elective Cancer Surgery in COVID-19-Free Surgical Pathways During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: An International, Multicenter, Comparative Cohort Study.

PURPOSE: As cancer surgery restarts after the first COVID-19 wave, health care providers urgently require data to determine where elective surgery is best performed. This study aimed to determine whether COVID-19-free surgical pathways were associated with lower postoperative pulmonary complication rates compared with hospitals with no defined pathway. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This international, multicenter cohort study included patients who underwent elective surgery for 10 solid cancer types without preoperative suspicion of SARS-CoV-2. Participating hospitals included patients from local emergence of SARS-CoV-2 until April 19, 2020. At the time of surgery, hospitals were defined as having a COVID-19-free surgical pathway (complete segregation of the operating theater, critical care, and inpatient ward areas) or no defined pathway (incomplete or no segregation, areas shared with patients with COVID-19). The primary outcome was 30-day postoperative pulmonary complications (pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, unexpected ventilation). RESULTS: Of 9,171 patients from 447 hospitals in 55 countries, 2,481 were operated on in COVID-19-free surgical pathways. Patients who underwent surgery within COVID-19-free surgical pathways were younger with fewer comorbidities than those in hospitals with no defined pathway but with similar proportions of major surgery. After adjustment, pulmonary complication rates were lower with COVID-19-free surgical pathways (2.2% v 4.9%; adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.62; 95% CI, 0.44 to 0.86). This was consistent in sensitivity analyses for low-risk patients (American Society of Anesthesiologists grade 1/2), propensity score-matched models, and patients with negative SARS-CoV-2 preoperative tests. The postoperative SARS-CoV-2 infection rate was also lower in COVID-19-free surgical pathways (2.1% v 3.6%; aOR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.76). CONCLUSION: Within available resources, dedicated COVID-19-free surgical pathways should be established to provide safe elective cancer surgery during current and before future SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks

Long-term resilience of cultivation systems in Tigrai (Ethiopia): an integrated approach combining archaeobotany, ethnoarchaeology and ecological modelling (Online Supplementary Information)

<p>This repository contains the online supplementary information of the PhD thesis entitled: "Long-term resilience of cultivation systems in Tigrai (Ethiopia): an integrated approach combining archaeobotany, ethnoarchaeology and ecological modelling".</p&gt

Burning questions: experiments on the effects of charring on domestic and wild sorghum

Sorghum was first domesticated approximately 6000 years ago in the eastern Sahel region of Africa, but our understanding of its agricultural history is uneven due to the paucity of the available archaeobotanical evidence. Despite growing interest in the issue, sorghum response to fire exposure has been little investigated. In this paper, the resistance of six domesticated sorghum varieties (Sorghum bicolor) and one wild specimen (Sorghum arundinaceum) to charring was evaluated under oxidising and reduced oxygen conditions using temperatures ranging from 300 °C to 500 °C for 1–8 h. The experimental study in this work indicates that the maximum temperature wild sorghum can resist without severe distortion is around 300 °C, whereas domesticated varieties could resist up to 350 °C before becoming damaged beyond identification. Our findings suggest that resistance to temperature might represent an important bias for sorghum seed preservation, both in its wild and domesticated forms.This work was supported by the Catalan Agency for Management of University and Research Grants under Grant AGAUR 2020 FISDU 00145, the European Commission under the Erasmus + International Credit Mobility programme (Action KA107) in collaboration with Pompeu Fabra University (Project Reference 2019-1-ES01-KA107-063586), and the RAINDROPS Research Project, funded by the European Research Council under the Horizon 2020 framework (ERC-Stg 759800)

Small-scale farming in drylands: new models for resilient practices of millet and sorghum cultivation

Includes supplementary materials for the online appendix.Finger millet, pearl millet and sorghum are amongst the most important drought-tolerant crops worldwide. They constitute primary staple crops in drylands, where their production is known to date back over 5000 years ago. Compared to other crops, millets and sorghum have received less attention until very recently, and their production has been progressively reduced in the last 50 years. Here, we present new models that focus on the ecological factors driving finger millet, pearl millet and sorghum traditional cultivation, with a global perspective. The interaction between environment and traditional agrosystems was investigated by Redundancy Analysis of published literature and tested against novel ethnographic data. Contrary to earlier beliefs, our models show that the total annual precipitation is not the most determinant factor in shaping millet and sorghum agriculture. Instead, our results point to the importance of other variables such as the duration of the plant growing cycle, soil water-holding capacity or soil nutrient availability. This highlights the potential of finger millet, pearl millet and sorghum traditional cultivation practices as a response to recent increase of aridity levels worldwide. Ultimately, these practices can play a pivotal role for resilience and sustainability of dryland agriculture.This research was funded by the European Research Council with a Starting Grant awarded to CL (ERC-Stg 759800). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

[Supplementary Materials] Farming the World's drylands: ethnographic-based models highlight the key role of traditional knowledge for sustainable food production

Primary data in CSV files.The present documents are the primary data used on the paper in preparation "Farming the World's drylands: ethnographic-based models highlight the key role of traditional knowledge for sustainable food production": 1) SI Dataset S1(SI1-eHRAF-dataset.csv): Full cross-cultural dataset, according to the data provided by eHRAF and added external sources, on traditional cultivation practices of finger millet, pearl millet and sorghum worldwide. Data has been normalised according to the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample Codebook (3). 2) SI Dataset S2 (SI2-interviews.csv): Data resulting form the ethnographic interviews, processed and normalized according to the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample Codebook (3)

Human-Environment relationships during the pre-Aksumite (\textgreater800 – 50 BCE) and Aksumite periods (50 BCE – CE 700) in Ethiopia: preliminary charcoal analysis from Mezber and Ona Adi

International audienceIn this paper, we explore the use of firewood during Pre-Aksumite (>800-400 BCE) and Aksumite periods (400 BCE-900 CE) in Ethiopia. Charred wood samples from two archaeological sites are being analyzed: the Pre-Aksumite rural site of Mezber and Ona Adi, an urban center occupied from the Late Pre-Aksumite onwards. Located in the province of Tigray (northern Ethiopia), an irregular plateau with temperate climate, they were inhabited during times of critical cultural developments, as it was the substitution of the so-called kingdom of D’mt by the Aksumite Empire. As so, together they provide a unique laboratory to investigate human-environmental interactions. Both sites have been excavated by the Eastern Tigray Archaeological Project (ETAP). Archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological and isotopic evidence at Mezber document a fully-developed agropastoral economy, with an early presence of Near Eastern crops such as wheat, barley, lentils, flax and livestock such as cattle, sheep, goat and donkey. At Ona Adi, ETAP began extensive excavations in 2014 and in-depth analyses of ceramics, lithics, animal bone, seeds and radiocarbon dating are currently ongoing. Here, we present the preliminary results of the anthracological analysis from the complete chronocultural sequence of both sites. So far, 10 samples and over 1000 charcoal fragments have been studied, with a minimum of 100 charcoals per phase. Analyzed charcoal shows over 98.5% of angiosperm dicotyledonous species. Over 25 different plant types have been documented, including Acacia sp. Dodonaea sp., Maerua sp., cf. Rhus sp., cf. Celastrus sp. cf. Rhamnus sp., cf. Diospyros sp., cf. Carissa sp. and cf. Maytenus sp., as well as the gymnosperms Podocarpus sp. and cf. Juniperus sp., thus indicating a wide use of wood resources and the exploitation of different ecological niches. Finally, a charcoal reference collection as well as an anthracological atlas are being constructed

On the verge of domestication: early use of C₄ plants in the Horn of Africa

Supplementary materials files: online appendix; replication data.The earliest evidence of agriculture in the Horn of Africa dates to the Pre-Aksumite period (ca. 1600 BCE). Domesticated C3 cereals are considered to have been introduced from the Near East, whereas the origin (local or not) and time of domestication of various African C4 species such as sorghum, finger millet, or t’ef remain unknown. In this paper, we present the results of the analysis of microbotanical residues (starch and phytoliths) from grinding stones recovered from two archaeological sites in northeastern Tigrai (Ethiopia), namely Mezber and Ona Adi. Together, both sites cover a time period that encompasses the earliest evidence of agriculture in the region (ca. 1600 BCE) to the fall of the Kingdom of Aksum (ca. 700 CE). Our data indicate that these communities featured complex mixed economies which included the consumption of both domestic and wild plant products since the Initial Pre-Aksumite Phase (ca. 1600 to 900 BCE), including C3 crops and legumes, but also C4 cereals and geophytes. These new data expand the record of C4 plant use in the Horn of Africa to over 1,000 y. It also represents the first evidence for the consumption of starchy products in the region. These results have parallels in the wider northeastern African region where complex food systems have been documented. Altogether, our data represent a significant challenge to our current knowledge of Pre-Aksumite and Aksumite economies, forcing us to rethink the way we define these cultural horizons.This research has been developed as part of the RAINDROPS Research Project, funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the Horizon 2020 framework (ERC-Stg 759800). The studied sites were excavated by the Eastern Tigrai Archaeological Project (ETAP), funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC Insight Grant #435-2014-0182 and Partnership Development Grant #890-215-003)

Human-Environment relationships during the pre-Aksumite (\textgreater800 – 50 BCE) and Aksumite periods (50 BCE – CE 700) in Ethiopia: preliminary charcoal analysis from Mezber and Ona Adi

International audienceIn this paper, we explore the use of firewood during Pre-Aksumite (>800-400 BCE) and Aksumite periods (400 BCE-900 CE) in Ethiopia. Charred wood samples from two archaeological sites are being analyzed: the Pre-Aksumite rural site of Mezber and Ona Adi, an urban center occupied from the Late Pre-Aksumite onwards. Located in the province of Tigray (northern Ethiopia), an irregular plateau with temperate climate, they were inhabited during times of critical cultural developments, as it was the substitution of the so-called kingdom of D’mt by the Aksumite Empire. As so, together they provide a unique laboratory to investigate human-environmental interactions. Both sites have been excavated by the Eastern Tigray Archaeological Project (ETAP). Archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological and isotopic evidence at Mezber document a fully-developed agropastoral economy, with an early presence of Near Eastern crops such as wheat, barley, lentils, flax and livestock such as cattle, sheep, goat and donkey. At Ona Adi, ETAP began extensive excavations in 2014 and in-depth analyses of ceramics, lithics, animal bone, seeds and radiocarbon dating are currently ongoing. Here, we present the preliminary results of the anthracological analysis from the complete chronocultural sequence of both sites. So far, 10 samples and over 1000 charcoal fragments have been studied, with a minimum of 100 charcoals per phase. Analyzed charcoal shows over 98.5% of angiosperm dicotyledonous species. Over 25 different plant types have been documented, including Acacia sp. Dodonaea sp., Maerua sp., cf. Rhus sp., cf. Celastrus sp. cf. Rhamnus sp., cf. Diospyros sp., cf. Carissa sp. and cf. Maytenus sp., as well as the gymnosperms Podocarpus sp. and cf. Juniperus sp., thus indicating a wide use of wood resources and the exploitation of different ecological niches. Finally, a charcoal reference collection as well as an anthracological atlas are being constructed