An Isotopic Assessment of Late Prehistoric Interregional Warfare in the Southcentral US

Skull burials are found all over the world. The cause of such ancient Native Americans deposits often lead to disagreement among scholars torn between warfare and ancestor veneration. One skull-and-mandible deposit, representing at least 352 people (A.D. 1253-1399), was uncovered at the Crenshaw site, a multiple-mound Caddo ceremonial center in southwest Arkansas. Most previous research suggested they were victims of interregional warfare from the Southern Plains or Mississippi Valley. One previous study hypothesized that this was a Caddo burial practice which expanded during the Middle Caddo period (A.D. 1200-1500) due to the adoption of maize as a staple and a dispersed settlement pattern. A dispersed population might need such a practice to be buried at their preferred ritual center due to the inability to move large numbers of bodies. This study uses multiple methods to evaluate the purpose of this burial practice including (1) lead, strontium, carbon, and nitrogen isotope analyses for geographic origins and diet, (2) geophysical analysis of settlement patterns, and (3) analyses of biological traits. The biologically available lead method, using lead isotopes from ancient animal teeth, was developed to provide a method to assess the geographic origin of the human remains. The first large-scale lead and strontium isoscape using such samples was constructed to evaluate geographic origins. Sites targeted for sampling included those with evidence of violence from the same time period (from Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas). The stable isotope signatures show that the human remains are local to sites surrounding Crenshaw and indicate or strongly suggest they are non-local to all other tested regions. The dietary evidence indicates a maize and fish diet rather than a bison diet, consistent with southwest Arkansas and not the Southern Plains. Some aspects of the diet also suggest matrilocal intermarriage and food sharing with community and ritual leaders, consistent with Caddo cultural practices. The geophysical analysis of settlement patterning concludes that Crenshaw was among the most heavily occupied sites in the Caddo Area, if not the most, at one time. Analyses of possible ceremonial and domestic structures show that Crenshaw had a nucleated settlement pattern at least as late as the Early Caddo period (A.D. 1000-1200). It is hypothesized to have become more dispersed ca. A.D. 1200. Biological traits were compared to a nearby population in the Little River region. There were no significant differences between compared populations (locals, the skulls, or the mandibles) except the mandibles had additional tooth chipping. An analysis of mortuary patterning in the Little River region shows that there is a lack of Middle Caddo bodies at secondary mound sites nearest to Crenshaw despite the presence of mortuary structures from that time. The Caddo skull and mandible burial practice is therefore a regional burial practice associated with ancestor veneration. The ritual burial practice reflects that Crenshaw was expanding its ritual influence on previously existing surrounding sites and its ritual landscape through the dispersal of the populace around Crenshaw while the population began to adopt maize as a staple

Fluvial Sequencing and Caddo Landform Modification at the Crenshaw Site (3MI6)

The Red River in southwest Arkansas creates a changing environment that has had a large impact on those who lived there, including floods, channel movements, and the erosion of whole landforms. River movements, and the resulting oxbow lakes, create an environment favorable to fishing. This study uses historical documents, lidar data, and coring methods to sequence past river movements around a multiple-mound Caddo ceremonial center, the Crenshaw site. This information is used to determine the likely location of the Red River at the time the ancient Caddo constructed the mounds and to note where portions of the ancient site may have been destroyed by subsequent river migration. The cores indicate that the Red River cut off an active channel on the west side of Crenshaw, creating an oxbow lake. The Caddo (or their antecedents) constructed Mound A and the causeway on the point bar surface of a meander bend that has not been buried by significant overbank sediment. This suggests that the Caddo constructed Mound A, the causeway, and Mound E (on the south end of the point bar) after the channel was abandoned and became an oxbow lake. Areas to the east, northeast, northwest, and to the south were destroyed by more recent river movements that crosscut landforms on which the Caddo built the mounds, suggesting that the site was larger than what remains today. Clearly, the Caddo were active managers of their environment. Linear topographic patterns indicate large portions of the landscape, beyond the mounds, were crafted by the ancient Caddo

Emerging Multidrug Resistance of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Hand Infections.

BACKGROUND: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus has been the most commonly identified pathogen in hand infections at urban centers, but the evolving antibiotic sensitivity profiles of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus are not known. The purposes of this study are to determine if multidrug resistance in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is emerging and to provide current recommendations for empiric antibiotic selection for hand infections in endemic regions. METHODS: An eight-year longitudinal, retrospective chart review was performed on all culture-positive hand infections encountered by an urban hospital from 2005 to 2012. The proportions of all major organisms were calculated for each year. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections were additionally analyzed for antibiotic sensitivity. RESULTS: A total of 683 culture-positive hand infections were identified. Overall, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus grew on culture in 49% of cases; the annual incidence peaked at 65% in 2007. Over the study period, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was universally resistant to penicillin, oxacillin, and ampicillin. Clindamycin resistance significantly increased, approaching 20% by 2012 (p = 0.02). Levofloxacin resistance linearly increased from 12% to 50% (p \u3c 0.01). Resistance to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline, gentamicin, and moxifloxacin was only sporadically observed. Resistance to vancomycin, daptomycin, linezolid, and rifampin was not observed. CONCLUSIONS: Significant increases in resistance to clindamycin and levofloxacin were observed in recent years, and empiric therapy with these drugs may have limited efficacy, especially in urban centers. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Hand infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus may be developing increasing resistance to clindamycin and levofloxacin in recent years. This longitudinal study examines the effectiveness of a variety of antibiotics to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

A Call for Action: The Application of the International Health Regulations to the Global Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance

Stephen Harbarth and colleagues argue that the International Health Regulations (IHR) should be applied to the global health threat of antimicrobial resistance

The impact of nonlinear exposure-risk relationships on seasonal time-series data: modelling Danish neonatal birth anthropometric data

Background Birth weight and length have seasonal fluctuations. Previous analyses of birth weight by latitude effects identified seemingly contradictory results, showing both 6 and 12 monthly periodicities in weight. The aims of this paper are twofold: (a) to explore seasonal patterns in a large, Danish Medical Birth Register, and (b) to explore models based on seasonal exposures and a non-linear exposure-risk relationship. Methods Birth weight and birth lengths on over 1.5 million Danish singleton, live births were examined for seasonality. We modelled seasonal patterns based on linear, U- and J-shaped exposure-risk relationships. We then added an extra layer of complexity by modelling weighted population-based exposure patterns. Results The Danish data showed clear seasonal fluctuations for both birth weight and birth length. A bimodal model best fits the data, however the amplitude of the 6 and 12 month peaks changed over time. In the modelling exercises, U- and J-shaped exposure-risk relationships generate time series with both 6 and 12 month periodicities. Changing the weightings of the population exposure risks result in unexpected properties. A J-shaped exposure-risk relationship with a diminishing population exposure over time fitted the observed seasonal pattern in the Danish birth weight data. Conclusion In keeping with many other studies, Danish birth anthropometric data show complex and shifting seasonal patterns. We speculate that annual periodicities with non-linear exposure-risk models may underlie these findings. Understanding the nature of seasonal fluctuations can help generate candidate exposures

Mesoscale Eddies Are Oases for Higher Trophic Marine Life

Mesoscale eddies stimulate biological production in the ocean, but knowledge of energy transfers to higher trophic levels within eddies remains fragmented and not quantified. Increasing the knowledge base is constrained by the inability of traditional sampling methods to adequately sample biological processes at the spatio-temporal scales at which they occur

Legacy Lead from Past Mining Activity and Gasoline Additives: Evidence from Lead Isotopes and Trace Element Geochemical Studies in the White River Basin, Southern Ozark Region, USA

Lead isotope compositions and Pb, Cu, Zn, and As concentrations in stream sediment leachates in the White River Basin, southern Ozark Region, have been determined to discriminate between natural and anthropogenic sources of Pb and to assess the metal loads that are transported by streams draining the Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) Zn-Pb mines in the Northern Arkansas district. The samples that were collected downstream of and closest to the mines have trace element concentrations well above those in soils from Arkansas. The trace element concentrations are lower in samples that were collected upstream of the mines. Most of the analyzed samples have trace metal concentrations above the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Sediment Quality Guidelines Threshold Effects Level. The Pb isotope values of the downstream samples and the MVT ores are similar, suggesting a similar Pb source. The Pb isotope values of the upstream samples are similar to those that were defined by soils from the Ozark Plateau, suggesting that Pb from historic mining does not dominate upstream sediments. However, a linear regression line through the leachate data indicates that mixing between two end-members represented by leaded gasoline and ores could generate the Pb isotope ratios that were noticed in the upstream leachates

Comparison of acoustic biomass densities (s_V) related to distance from eddy centre and depth.

<p>The three panels show data for the three depth categories; A. surface layer (0–100 m), B. mid water (101–600 m) and C. deep water (Deep, ≥600 m). In each panel distance from centre are categorized in R1<9 km, 9≤R2<37 km, R3≥37 and day (D) and night (N) data are presented.</p

Acoustic, satellite, and ADCP comparisons from a transect through the Iceland Basin eddy.

<p>Panel A: ship track (black line) through multiple eddies as detected by satellite altimetry anomalies (colour scale in cm) in June 2004. Panels B and C: co-occurrence between the satellite altimetry anomalies (cm) of two of the eddies and the wheel structured acoustic record (panel F and G, showing S_V at 18 kHz, colour scale in dB) of two anticyclonic eddies. Water current velocity vectors (m/s, 0–600 m) along the cruise track are indicated by the blue arrows (panels B and C). Panels D and E illustrate the variation in biomass density (s_V) in the upper depth layer (150–450 m, red), intermediate depths (451–850 m, green), deep water (>850 m, blue), and entire water column (black). Vertical line in D, F indicate sunset. Sunrise is taking place prior to the start of the horizontal axis in E, G.</p