Indicios de pastoreo extensivo en el noroeste peninsular durante el dominio suevo

[Resumen:]Las condiciones edáficas de Galicia (NW de España), debido al sustrato ácido predominante, dificultan la conservación de los restos arqueozoológicos asociados a los asentamientos humanos. En estos casos, la búsqueda en zonas alternativas, como cuevas y trampas naturales en las zonas de pastoreo, puede aportar información sobre los recursos animales disponibles. Se presenta aquí un estudio de los restos de ganado vacuno doméstico encontrados en Cova da Tara o Tara da Triega (Serra do Courel, Lugo). Con una edad de alrededor de 1500 años, los huesos corresponderían a la época de la dominación sueva del Noroeste peninsular. Estos animales habrían llegado vivos a la cueva, de donde se deduce que deambulaban libremente en los alrededores, lo que señala un tipo de pastoreo extensivo. El desgaste dentario y el estudio de isótopos estables en el colágeno óseo reflejan una alimentación poco abrasiva, probablemente arbustiva, concordando con la de zonas de montaña. La talla media calculada para estos animales es pequeña, similar a la descrita para ganado vacuno prerromano.[Abstract:]The soil conditions in Galicia (NW of Spain), due to the predominant acid substrate, makes difficult the conservation of archaeozoological remains associated with human settlements. In these cases, the search for alternative areas, such as caves and natural traps in pasturelands, can provide information on the animal resources available.We present here a study about domestic cattle remains found in Cova da Tara or Tara da Triega (Serra do Courel, Lugo), with an age of about 1500 years BP. The bone remains were laid at the time of the Swabian domination of peninsular northwest. These animals would come alive to the cave, from which it follows that roamed freely around, indicating an extensive livestock management. The tooth wear and the study of stable isotopes in bone collagen reflect a little abrasive diet, probably shrub, matching the vegetation of mountain areas. The average height calculated for these animals is small, similar to that described for pre-Roman cattle

On the use of compressed sensing techniques for improving multistatic millimeter-wave portal-based personnel screening

This work develops compressed sensing techniques to improve the performance of an active three dimensional (3D) millimeter wave imaging system for personnel security screening. The system is able to produce a high-resolution 3D reconstruction of the whole human body surface and reveal concealed objects under clothing. Innovative multistatic millimeter wave radar designs and algorithms, which have been previously validated, are combined to improve the reconstruction results over previous approaches. Compressed Sensing techniques are used to drastically reduce the number of sensors, thus simplifying the system design and fabrication. Representative simulation results showing good performance of the proposed system are provided and supported by several sample measurement

Paleogenomic Evidence for Multi-generational Mixing between Neolithic Farmers and Mesolithic Hunter-Gatherers in the Lower Danube Basin

The transition from hunting and gathering to farming involved profound cultural and technological changes. In Western and Central Europe, these changes occurred rapidly and synchronously after the arrival of early farmers of Anatolian origin [1-3], who largely replaced the local Mesolithic hunter-gatherers [1, 4-6]. Further east, in the Baltic region, the transition was gradual, with little or no genetic input from incoming farmers [7]. Here we use ancient DNA to investigate the relationship between hunter-gatherers and farmers in the Lower Danube basin, a geographically intermediate area that is characterized by a rapid Neolithic transition but also by the presence of archaeological evidence that points to cultural exchange, and thus possible admixture, between hunter-gatherers and farmers. We recovered four human paleogenomes (1.1× to 4.1× coverage) from Romania spanning a time transect between 8.8 thousand years ago (kya) and 5.4 kya and supplemented them with two Mesolithic genomes (1.7× and 5.3×) from Spain to provide further context on the genetic background of Mesolithic Europe. Our results show major Western hunter-gatherer (WHG) ancestry in a Romanian Eneolithic sample with a minor, but sizeable, contribution from Anatolian farmers, suggesting multiple admixture events between hunter-gatherers and farmers. Dietary stable-isotope analysis of this sample suggests a mixed terrestrial/aquatic diet. Our results provide support for complex interactions among hunter-gatherers and farmers in the Danube basin, demonstrating that in some regions, demic and cultural diffusion were not mutually exclusive, but merely the ends of a continuum for the process of Neolithization.This research was supported by a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant (ERC-2010-StG 263441) to R.P. G.G.-F. was also supported by MSC Individual Fellowship (NeoGenHeritage, grant no. 655478). E.R.J. was supported by a Herchel Smith Research Fellowship. M.H. and A.M. were supported by ERC consolidator grants 310763 GeneFlow and 647797 LocalAdaptation, respectively. V.S. was supported by the Gates Cambridge Trust. The work of C.L. was undertaken through the Partnerships in Priority Areas Program PN II, developed with the support of MEN-UEFISCDI (project no. PN-II-PTPCCA-2013-4-2302). A.G.-D. is supported by the research project BIOGEOS (CGL2014-57209-P) of the Spanish MINECO. The research of P.A., M.D.G., and L.D. on Los Canes is currently supported by the project CoChange (HAR2014-51830-P) of the Spanish State Plan for R+D+i (MINECO)