Narratives of Environmental Issues at the Pradoso’s District of Vitória Da Conquista City in Bahia State/Brazil

This research will propose the appreciation of local knowledge that came from intellectuals of tradition living at the Pradoso s district located in Vit ria da Conquista-BA city and it aims to understand an epistemology that expresses their specific aspects It will point out the knowledge using an ecology that will take into an account at the same time the nonscientific understanding from these people and a theoretical standing against the epistemological practices from the dominant paradigm of modernity The data were collected using narratives with older people in Pradoso s district as an empirical study of narrative inquiry about ways of life and environmental issues belonging to the culture of this peasant community Hence we believe the narratives offered a vital dialogue between emerged knowledge and scientific culture whose objective is describing the environmental issues at this community valorizing traditional understanding and finding accordance with academic and scientific cultur

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved