Making the great transformation, November 13, 14, and 15, 2003

This repository item contains a single issue of the Pardee Conference Series, a publication series that began publishing in 2006 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. This Conference took place during November 13, 14, and 15, 2003. Co-organized by Cutler Cleveland and Adil Najam.The conference discussants and participants analyze why transitions happen, and why they matter. Transitions are those wide-ranging changes in human organization and well being that can be convincingly attributed to a concerted set of choices that make the world that was significantly and recognizably different from the world that becomes. Transition scholars argue that that history does not just stumble along a pre-determined path, but that human ingenuity and entrepreneurship have the ability to fundamentally alter its direction. However, our ability to ‘will’ such transitions remains in doubt. These doubts cannot be removed until we have a better understanding of how transitions work

Geobiology of a lower Cambrian carbonate platform, Pedroche Formation, Ossa Morena Zone, Spain

The Cambrian Pedroche Formation comprises a mixed siliciclastic-carbonate succession recording subtidal deposition on a marine platform. Carbonate carbon isotope chemostratigraphy confirms previous biostratigraphic assignment of the Pedroche Formation to the Atdabanian regional stage of Siberia, correlative to Cambrian Series 2. At the outcrop scale, thrombolitic facies comprise ~. 60% of carbonate-normalized stratigraphy and coated-grains another ~. 10%. Petrographic point counts reveal that skeletons contribute at most 20% to thrombolitic inter-reef and reef-flank lithologies; on average, archaeocyath clasts make up 68% of skeletal materials. In contrast, petrographic point counts show that skeletons comprise a negligible volume of biohermal and biostromal thrombolite, associated nodular carbonate facies, and ooid, oncoid and peloid grainstone facies. As such, archaeocyathan reefal bioconstructions represent a specific and limited locus of skeletal carbonate production and deposition. Consistent with data from coeval, globally dispersed lower Cambrian successions, our analysis of the Pedroche Formation supports the view that lower Cambrian carbonates have more in common with earlier, Neoproterozoic deposits than with younger carbonates dominated by skeletal production and accumulation. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.Jessica R. Creveling, David Fernández-Remolar, Marta Rodríguez-Martínez, Silvia Menéndez, Kristin D. Bergmann, Benjamin C. Gill, John Abelson, Ricardo Amils, Bethany L. Ehlmann, Diego C. García-Bellido, John P. Grotzinger, Christian Hallmann, Kathryn M. Stack, Andrew H. Knol

Radiocarbon Dates from Halfiah Gibli (Abadiyeh), a Predynastic Settlement in Upper Egypt

In 1989 and 1991, wood charcoal samples were excavated at a Predynastic settlement in Upper Egypt, Halfiah Gibli (HG). A second site, Semaineh (SH), was also investigated, but as the ceramics there were mostly from the Old Kingdom, excavations were concentrated at HG. Wood charcoal was obtained in undisturbed contexts, in association with Nagada culture potsherds and lithics, ranging in date from about 3700 BC to 3200/3100 BC. These new radiocarbon dates provide more data for the relative phases of the Nagada culture, formulated mainly from ceramic seriation.The Radiocarbon archives are made available by Radiocarbon and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information.Migrated from OJS platform February 202

Harbor of the Pharaohs to the Land of Punt II. Archaeological Investigations at Mersa/Wadi Gawasis, Egypt, 2006-2021

Report of the archaeological investigations at Mersa/Wadi Gawasis (Egypt) in years 2006-2011

The Proto-Aksumite Period: An Overview

Abstract: The period between the decline of the Da'amat state in the 4th/3rd centuries BC and the rise of Aksum in the 1st century AD is not well known. The archaeological investigations conducted at Bieta Giyorgis, near Aksum, allow one to reveal an intermediary stage (Proto-Aksumite), that operates a break with the anterior phase and anounces the cultural accomplishments of the Aksumite period.'Résumé: La période comprise entre le déclin de l'État pré-aksumite du Da 'amat (IVe - IIIe siècle av. JC) et l'essor du royaume d'Aksum (Ier siècle après JC) est mal connue. Les fouilles archéologiques menées à Bieta Giyorgis, près d'Aksum, permettent de mettre en évidence un stade intermédiaire (proto-aksumite), qui opère une rupture avec la phase antérieure et annonce les réalisations culturelles de la période aksumite.Fattovich Rodolfo, Bard Kathryn A. The Proto-Aksumite Period: An Overview. In: Annales d'Ethiopie. Volume 17, année 2001. pp. 3-24