Pollen evidence of subsistence and environment in ancient Iran

A new pollen extraction methodology developed especially for arid-land sediments has yielded substantial amounts of pollen from archeological contexts. Soil samples analyzed for their pollen content from Ali Kosh, Chagha Sefid, and Tepe Sabz on the Deh Luran Plain produced not only grains of anemophilous or wind pollinated plant species, but also appreciable amounts of entomophilous or insect pollinated plant species. Representation of a variety of plant families in the pollen record clearly reflects local environmental and ecological change. Such change is, perhaps, caused by human land use through time. Pollen diagrams also suggest interregional contacts through the movements of people and/or livestock by the occurrence of pollen from exotic plant species.Une nouvelle technique d 'extraction du pollen mise au point pour les sédiments de milieux arides a permis d'obtenir des quantités importantes de pollens provenant de sites archéologiques. Des échantillons recueillis à Ali Kosh, à Chaga Sefid et à Tepe Sabz dans la plaine de Deh Luran, ont révélé non seulement des espèces dont la pollinisation se fait par l'intermédiaire du vent (anémophiles), mais aussi des quantités appréciables d'espèces dont la pollinisation se fait par l'intermédiaire des insectes (entomophiles). La présence d'une variété de familles de plantes reflète clairement l'environnement local et le changement écologique. Un tel changement est, peut-être, dû à l'utilisation du sol par les hommes au travers des âges. La présence de pollens provenant de plantes exotiques dans les relevés suggère également des contacts inter-régionaux par l'intermédiaire des déplacements des hommes et/ou des troupeaux.Woosley Anne I., Hole Frank. Pollen evidence of subsistence and environment in ancient Iran. In: Paléorient, 1978, vol. 4. pp. 59-70

A new device for combined Coulomb excitation and isomeric conversion electron spectroscopy with fast fragmentation beams

A new setup has been designed to perform Coulomb excitation experiments with fragmentation beams at intermediate energy and to measure at the same time conversion electrons from isomeric states populated in the fragmentation reaction. The newly designed setup is described and experimental results from a first experiment are shown. Radioactive even-even nuclei in the mass region A ≃ 70 close to the N = Z line were Coulomb excited after fragmentation of an intense primary $^{78}$Kr beam and selection in flight with the LISE3 spectrometer at GANIL. The rays emitted after Coulomb excitation were detected in an array of four large segmented HPGe clover detectors in a very close geometry. The scattered ions were identified in a stack of highly segmented annular silicon detectors combined with a time-of-flight measurement using beam tracking detectors. Conversion electrons from isomeric $0^+_2$ states decaying via electric monopole transitions were detected in an array of segmented cooled silicon detectors surrounding a telescope of plastic scintillators. Reduced transitions probabilities B(E2; $0^+_1$ → $2^+_1$ ) were deduced for several stable and radioactive nuclei