New ΔR for the southwest Pacific Ocean

ΔR results of known-age shells from the Solomon and Coral Seas and the northwest coast of New Ireland are presented. The results are too few to be conclusive but indicate that ΔR in this region is variable. An average ΔR value of 370 ± 25 yr is recorded for a range of shell species from Kavieng Harbor, New Ireland, and is primarily attributed to weak equatorial upwelling of depleted 14C due to seasonal current reversals. In contrast, values from the Solomon and Coral Seas are lower (average ΔR = 45 ± 19 yr). Higher ΔR values for some shellfish from these 2 seas is attributed to ingestion of 14Cdepleted sediment by deposit-feeding species

The marine ΔR For Nenumbo (Solomon Islands): A case study in calculating reservoir offsets form paired sample data

It is necessary to calculate location-specific marine ΔR values in order to calibrate marine samples using calibration curves such as those provided through the IntCal98 (Stuiver et al. 1998) data. Where known-age samples are available, this calculation is straightforward (i.e. Stuiver et al. 1986). In the case that a paired marine/terrestrial sample calculation is performed, however, the standard calculation (i.e. Stuiver and Braziunas 1993) requires that the samples are treated as relating to isochronous events. This may not be an appropriate assumption for many archaeological paired samples. In this paper, we present an approach to calculating marine ΔR values that does not require the dated events to be treated as isochronous. When archaeological evidence allows the dated events to be tightly temporally constrained, the approach presented here and that described by Stuiver and Braziunas (1993) give very similar results. However, where tight temporal constraints are less certain, the 2 approaches can give rise to differing results. The example analysis considered here shows that a ΔR of –81 ± 64 ¹⁴C yr is appropriate for samples in the vicinity of Nenumbo (Reef Islands, southeast Solomon Islands) around the period 2000–3000 BP

Archaeology of Atafu, Tokelau: Some initial results from 2008

Surface survey, shovel testing, and stratigraphic excavations were done on Atafu Atoll in Tokelau during August 2008. Initial results suggest that Fale Islet has the most potential for further archaeological research. Dense cultural deposits on this islet are >1 m (39 in.) deep. Cultural material recovered includes food bone, fire-affected volcanic rock, tool-grade basalt flakes and tool fragments, Tridacna shell adzes, and pearl-shell fishhook fragments. Dog bone occurs from the earliest deposits through to the late prehistoric, while pig bone is found only in historic contexts. Fish bone is common throughout, and, with the exception of Tridacna, there are few edible mollusk remains. Initial EDXRF (Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence) analyses have found the basalt to be consistent with documented sources on Tutuila, Samoa. Basal radiocarbon dates from two excavation units are 660-540 cal. BP and 500-310 cal. BP (at 2σ)

THE 2008-2009 EXCAVATIONS AT THE SAC LOCALITY, REBER-RAKIVAL LAPITA SITE, WATOM ISLAND, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

The Reber-Rakival site on Watom Island is of particular significance, as it is the first place where what is now known as Lapita pottery was found, by a German missionary in 1909. It is also significant as a Lapita-era burial site, although there has been much debate about the exact relationship between the burials and the Lapita occupation. In 2008 and 2009 an Otago University/Otago Museum/Papua New Guinea expedition carried out new excavations at the SAC site in Rakival Village, in order to increase the sample size of both burials and ceramics, and to address some of the ogoing debates. The expedition found more burials, Lapita ceramics and associated artefactual material, and while it confirmed the relationship between the burials and the Lapita occupation, it also found that previous excavations had not reached the base of the site, and evidence of human occuption was found up to 0.8m deeper than previously known. Based on this work, a refined stratigraphic sequence is presented, with 7 layers replacing the old 4 zone model that has been used to date. This paper presents the description and interpretation of the SAC locatily at Watom, and provides a basis for other more specialist papers that are in preparation

“Captain of All These Men of Death”: An Integrated Case Study of Tuberculosis in Nineteenth-Century Otago, New Zealand

The South Island of New Zealand saw several major waves of migration in the mid-nineteenth century, predominantly from Europe but also with an ethnically distinct Chinese presence. The rural community of Milton, Otago, was a settler community established primarily by immigrants from the United Kingdom in search of a better quality of life. However, these settlers faced unique challenges related to surviving in an isolated location with very little infrastructure compared to their origin populations. In 2016, excavation was undertaken at St. John’s burial ground, Milton, with the object of using bioarchaeological methods to elucidate the lived experience of the first organized European settlement of this region, particularly in terms of health and disease. Here we present a case study of Burial 21 (B21), a male individual of known identity and a documented cause of death. We use biochemical and paleopathological methods to ground-truth his written history, which includes a period of invalidism due to tuberculosis, and discuss the implications of our findings for the community, provision of care, and quality of life in rural colonial New Zealand. He maha tonu ngā hekenga tāngata ki Te Waka a Māui i ngā tau kei waenga pū o te rau tau 1800, ko te nuinga nō Ūropi, heoi he tokomaha tonu nō Haina. Nā ngā manene nō Peretānia te hapori o Milton i whakatū ki Tokomairaro, i Ōtākou, i tō rātou hiahia ki tētehi oranga kounga ake i tō rātou oranga i Peretānia. Heoi, ko ētehi o ngā wero nui i tau ki ngā manene nei i ahu mai i te noho pūreirei ki tētehi wāhi kāore rawa ngā ratonga i rite ki ngā wāhi i ahu mai ai rātou. I te tau 2016, i hahu kōiwi i te urupā o Hato Hone, i Milton, hei whakamātau i te kaha o te ora me ngā momo mate i pā atu ki ngā tāngata whai i noho i te rohe nei. Nei rā he ripoata mō tētehi kua hahua, kua tapaina ko B21, he tāne ia, ko tōna ingoa kua mōhiotia, ko tōna mate kua āta tuhia. Kua āta whakamātauria ōna kōiwi me ōna toenga kiko mō ngā tohu ora me ngā tohu mate, kia mārama ai mena rānei e hāngai ana ngā tuhinga rongoā mōna, ngā mea i tuhia nōna e takatū ana, tae atu ki te wā i tūroro ia i te mate kohi, ki ngā tohu e puta ana i te mātauranga Rongoā-Koiora ō nāianei. Ka matapakina ngā hīrautanga o ngā kitenga me te māramatanga kua puta i tēnei rangahau e pā ana ki te hapori, ki ngā ratonga hauora, me te kounga o te oranga mō te hunga noho tuawhenua i tērā wā i Aotearoa

A Land of Plenty? Colonial Diet in Rural New Zealand

Colonial New Zealand was built on the ideal of creating better lives for settlers. Emigrants came looking to escape the shackles of the class-system and poor conditions in Industrial Revolution period Britain. Colonial propaganda claimed that most emigrants achieved their aims, but the lives the colonists actually experienced upon reaching New Zealand remain relatively unexplored from a biosocial perspective. In this paper we present a pilot study of stable isotope results of bone collagen from seven adults interred in the St. John’s Cemetery (SJM), Milton, New Zealand (ca. AD 1860–1900). We interpret the diet at Milton and broadly compare our isotopic results with contemporaneous samples from Britain. We show that, like contemporary Britain, the diet of our studied individuals was focused on C3 crops and terrestrial meat sources. Despite higher ????15N values in contemporary UK populations (which can simplistically be interpreted as indicative of higher meat intake), consideration of different local baselines makes it likely that this New Zealand population had relatively similar levels of meat intake. Interestingly marine resources did not form an important part of the Milton diet, despite the site's proximity to the ocean, hinting at the possible stigmatisation of local resources and the development of a European New Zealand (pākehā) food identity

The Broad Aryl Acid Specificity of the Amide Bond Synthetase McbA Suggests Potential for the Biocatalytic Synthesis of Amides

Amide bond formation is one of the most important reactions in pharmaceutical synthetic chemistry. The development of sustainable methods for amide bond formation, including those that are catalyzed by enzymes, is therefore of significant interest. The ATP-dependent amide bond synthetase (ABS) enzyme McbA, from Marinactinospora thermotolerans, catalyzes the formation of amides as part of the biosynthetic pathway towards the marinacarboline secondary metabolites. The reaction proceeds via an adenylate intermediate, with both adenylation and amidation steps catalyzed within one active site. In this study, McbA was applied to the synthesis of pharmaceutical-type amides from a range of aryl carboxylic acids with partner amines provided at 1-5 molar equivalents. The structure of McbA revealed the structural determinants of aryl acid substrate tolerance and differences in conformation associated with the two half reactions catalyzed. The catalytic performance of McbA, coupled with the structure, suggest that this and other ABS enzymes may be engineered for applications in the sustainable synthesis of pharmaceutically relevant (chiral) amides

A partial prehistory of the Southwest Silk Road: Archaeometallurgical networks along the sub-Himalayan corridor

Historical phenomena often have prehistoric precedents, with this paper we investigate the potential for archaeometallurgical analyses and networked data processing to elucidate the progenitors of the Southwest Silk Road in Mainland Southeast Asia and southern China. We present original microstructural, elemental and lead isotope data for 40 archaeological copperbase metal samples, mostly from the UNESCO-listed site of Halin, and lead isotope data for 25 geological copper-mineral samples, also from Myanmar. We combined these data with existing datasets (N=98 total) and compared them to the 1000+ sample late prehistoric archaeometallurgical database available from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Yunnan. Lead isotope data, contextualised for alloy, find location and date, were interpreted manually for intra-site, inter-site and inter-regional consistency, which hint at significant multi-scalar connectivity from the late 2nd millennium BC. To test this interpretation statistically, the archaeological lead isotope data were then processed using regionally-adapted productionderived consistency parameters. Complex networks analysis using the Leiden community detection algorithm established groups of artefacts sharing lead isotopic consistency. Introducing the geographic component allowed for the identification of communities of sites with consistent assemblages. The four major communities were consistent with the manually interpreted exchange networks and suggest southern sections of the Southwest Silk Road were active in the late 2nd millennium BC

Biodiversity promotes ecosystem functioning despite environmental change

Three decades of research have demonstrated that biodiversity can promote the functioning of ecosystems. Yet, it is unclear whether the positive effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning will persist under various types of global environmental change drivers. We conducted a meta-analysis of 46 factorial experiments manipulating both species richness and the environment to test how global change drivers (i.e. warming, drought, nutrient addition or CO2 enrichment) modulated the effect of biodiversity on multiple ecosystem functions across three taxonomic groups (microbes, phytoplankton and plants). We found that biodiversity increased ecosystem functioning in both ambient and manipulated environments, but often not to the same degree. In particular, biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning were larger in stressful environments induced by global change drivers, indicating that high-diversity communities were more resistant to environmental change. Using a subset of studies, we also found that the positive effects of biodiversity were mainly driven by interspecific complementarity and that these effects increased over time in both ambient and manipulated environments. Our findings support biodiversity conservation as a key strategy for sustainable ecosystem management in the face of global environmental change