Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) from the US Air Force Academy (USAF A) at Colorado Springs, Colorado have shown antler fractures and tooth lesions. Brittle bones and tooth lesions have been associated with high ingestion of fluorides. The present study compared prevalence and severity of tooth lesions with fluoride content in teeth, bones and antlers of mule deer from USAF A with deer from other two areas in Colorado. Mule deer tissues were collected during 1993-1995 from: USAF A (N=262), Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site (pCMS, N=24), and game management units (GMU's) in northwestern Colorado (N=16). The severity of tooth lesions was rated using a 0 (normal) to 5 (severe hypoplasia) scale. In all areas the median lesion score was 1; the highest score in USAFA was 5 vs. 3 in the other areas. Median fluodide concentrations (Jlg/g d.w.) were higher (p<0.002) in second incisors and bones of mule deer collected at the USAFA (669.9, N=246 incisors, 744.5, N=247 bones) than in deer from PCMS (507.3; 494.7, N=24) and GMU's (426.2,466.2, N=16), respectively. Within the USAF A, median fluoride concentrations in teeth and bones were lower (P<O. 001) in fawns and yearlings than in older animals and in males (> I. 5 years) than in females. Median fluoride concentrations were lower (P<O. 001) in deciduous than in permanent teeth. Median concentrations of fluoride were higher (P<O.OO1) in non-erupted teeth than in deciduous teeth and bone indicating a high rate of accumulating fluoride in growing hard tissue. Fluoride concentration was higher (P<O. 00 1) in teeth with lesions than without lesions. / Master of Science

No description available.

Cette étude porte sur l'équipement en bois de cervidé (armement et outillage) fabriqué par les chasseurs-cueilleurs paléolithiques qui peuplaient le massif pyrénéen durant le Magdalénien (19-14 ka cal. BP). Pendant cette période, qui correspond à la fin de la dernière glaciation, les Pyrénées constituent une frontière écologique naturelle, circonscrivant plus ou moins strictement la répartition des cervidés de part et d’autre du massif. La question des usages comparés du bois de cervidé autour des Pyrénées est un cas d'étude particulièrement intéressant pour appréhender les interactions hommes préhistoriques-variations du milieu de part et d’autre d’une frontière écologique naturelle. À travers l’étude techno-économique de sept séries d’industrie sur bois de cervidé du Magdalénien pyrénéen (Santa Catalina-NIII, Isturitz-SI/Eω, Isturitz-I/F1, Troubat-10/8, Belvis-1/4,Canecaude I-2, La Bora Gran), nous avons pu confirmer que les groupes de chasseurs-cueilleurs avaient globalement puisé dans leur environnement proche l’essentiel des ressources dont ils avaient besoin pour leurs équipements.Si les études techniques et économiques comparées que nous avons menées sur ces deux matériaux ne font pas apparaître d’avantages substantiels de l’un par rapport à l’autre, il n’en demeure pas moins que leur exploitation implique dans les deux cas une anticipation des besoins à plus ou moins long terme. En ce sens, le versant nord du massif livre un exemple original de planification des besoins en armement à travers l’exploitation du bois de renne par les groupes du Magdalénien moyen récent et du Magdalénien supérieur ancien. Enfin,pour pallier les problèmes d’identification taxinomique des bois de cervidé (cerf/ renne) liés à la transformation anthropique des vestiges, nous avons développé une nouvelle méthode d’identification des bois de cervidé au micro-CT, combinant microtomographie X et analyses statistiques avancées (SVM classifiers). Cette méthode innovante, dont l’indice de confiance est évalué à 96 %, a permis de démontrer l’importation de bois de renne sur le territoire Ibérique depuis le versant nord du massif. / This study focuses on deer antler equipment (weapon and tool kits) crafted by Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers that inhabited the Pyrenees during the Magdalenian (19-14 ka cal. BP). Throughout this period, which corresponds to the end of the last glaciation, the Pyrenees constitute a natural ecological border, more or less confining the distribution of deer on either side of this mountain range. Comparing the use of deer antler throughout the Pyrenees is a particularly interesting case study for addressing interactions between prehistoric people and environmental variations on either side of a natural ecological border. Through a techno-economic study of seven deerantler industries from the Pyrenean Magdalenian (Santa Catalina-NIII, Isturitz-SI/Eω, Isturitz-I/F1, Troubat-10/8, Belvis-1/4, Canecaude I-2, La Bora Gran), we were able to confirm that hunter-gatherer groups generally exploited their immediate environment for essential resources that they needed for these artefact types. While comparative technical and economic analyses of these two materials do not reveal any substantial advantageof one over the other, their exploitation does however imply in both cases a more or less long-term anticipationof needs. In this sense, the northern side of the range underlines an original example of forward planning of weaponry needs in the exploitation of reindeer antler by Late Middle and Early Upper Magdalenian groups. Finally, in order to overcome problems of taxonomic identification of deer antler (red deer vs. reindeer) tied tothe anthropic transformation of these artefacts, we developed a new identification method using micro-CT scanning,combining X-ray microtomography and advanced statistical analyses (SVM classifiers). This innovative method, with a confidence interval evaluated at 96%, allowed us to demonstrate the import of reindeer antler into the Iberian territory from the northern slopes of the mountain range.

L’analyse technologique des industries osseuses paléolithiques est une discipline encorerelativement jeune. Nous avons appliqué cette méthode d’analyse à deux assemblages : celuide la grotte du Rond-du-Barry (Haute-Loire) qui a livré une longue séquence allant duBadegoulien ancien au Magdalénien supérieur ; et celui de la grotte de Rochereil (Dordogne)qui a livré un ensemble attribué au Magdalénien supérieur.Dans une perspective synchronique, l’analyse technologique a permis de défi nir les modalitésd’exploitation des bois de cervidés dans ces gisements pour chaque période envisagée duBadegoulien ancien jusqu’au Magdalénien supérieur, pour les replacer dans le contexte généralde ces groupes chrono-culturels tels qu’ils sont connus à l’heure actuelle.Dans une perspective diachronique, nous analysons dans leur aspect technologique leschangements qui sont intervenus dans le travail des bois de cervidés entre le Badegoulien etle Magdalénien, changements qui se caractérisent avant tout par l’abandon du débitage parpercussion directe et le retour au débitage par double rainurage. Enfi n nous discutons du rôleet du statut qu’ont pu détenir ces deux gisements dans leur contexte local et régional. / Technological analysis of paleolithic bone industries is a still relatively young discipline. Weapplied this method to the material from two sites: the Rond-du-Barry (Haute-Loire) whichdelivered a long sequence from ancient Badegoulian to upper Magdalenian ; and Rochereil(Dordogne) which delivered an assemblage attributed to upper Magdalenian.In a synchronic perspective, the technological analysis allowed to defi ne the modalitiesof exploitation of antler in these sites for every period, from ancient Badegoulien to upperMagdalenian, and then to replace them in the general context of these chrono-cultural groupssuch as they are known at the moment.In a diachronic perspective, we analyze, in their technological aspect, the changes thatoccurred in antlerworking between the Badegoulian and the Magdalenian, which are aboveall characterized by the abandonment of the debitage by direct percussion and the groove andsplinter technique. Finally we discuss the role and the status of these two sites in their localand regional context.

Yes / Shamanic belief systems represent the first form of religious practice visible within the global archaeological record. Here we report on the earliest known evidence of shamanic costume: modified red deer crania headdresses from the Early Holocene site of Star Carr (c. 11 kya). More than 90% of the examples from prehistoric Europe come from this one site, establishing it as a place of outstanding shamanistic/cosmological significance. Our work, involving a programme of experimental replication, analysis of macroscopic traces, organic residue analysis and 3D image acquisition, metrology and visualisation, represents the first attempt to understand the manufacturing processes used to create these artefacts. The results produced were unexpected—rather than being carefully crafted objects, elements of their production can only be described as expedient. / AHRC

This thesis examines the use of various osseous raw materials in craft activities in the Mälaren region during the Middle Ages. Places studied are: Birka, Sigtuna, Nyköping, Strängnäs and Uppsala. The aim is to capture both chronological and spatial changes in the use of osseous raw materials. Species and materials used reflect regional as well as international networks and how they change during time. The spatial distribution of waste from craft activities, its materiality and temporality mirror activities in different social contexts.  Quantitative and qualitative changes in the handling and exploitation of raw materials reflect varying and changing views of its value and how craft and exchange is affected by both a social and economic agency. In Birka, osseous waste material associated with craft was collected by Hjalmar Stolpe in the 1870s. An examination of the assemblage shows that imported material comprises a significant part of the collection. About a third of the waste consists of imported antler of red deer and reindeer. Red deer is particularly abundant (21%), signifying the importance of southern trading networks. The presence of whalebone can also be linked to south-western trading routes. The waste material collected during excavations in Sigtuna and representing the period c. 980-1300 has a different composition, reflecting different networks and perhaps different means of trade and production. As in Birka, elk antler constitutes the main bulk of the raw material used. Red deer antler is extremely limited, forming less than 1% of the material, appearing continuously though in small amounts from c. 1020-1300.  Reindeer antler is distinctly present in the oldest phase, c. 980-1000. This occurrence might represent a relic of the northern network manifested at Birka. An isotopic study indicates an origin in a forested biotope. After this initial phase the use of reindeer antler becomes as rare as that of red deer until the second half of the 12th century, indicating that the antler craft operated on a minor scale without any demand for long-distance trade in raw materials. A change occurs in the last quarter of the 12th century when large quantities of reindeer antler appear once more. Isotope signatures indicate an origin in more mountainous regions. This coincides with the introduction of another traded raw material of an arctic origin: walrus tusk. The craft had become more marked oriented. This is manifested in larger deposits of debris, a wider range of materials used, including bones from various domestic animals, but also the handling and exploitation of the material changes indicating a different view of production, trade and the value of raw materials than previous. This shift coincides with the introduction of minted silver. Western influences are evident both in the material culture and in the faunal assemblage. It is likely that a majority of the reindeer antler as well as the walrus tusk present in these later phases have a Norwegian origin. In the late 1100s and early 1200s craft in osseous material occur in other towns that emerge in the region but it seems to appear in new social contexts. Small assemblages of antler debris have been found in Uppsala, but the activities they represent lack the spatial continuity that exist in contemporary environments in Sigtuna and Strängnäs, indicating short lived occasional activities in a loosely regulated urban environment. Craft activities dependent purely on bone from domestic animals appear in the 1200s in Nyköping, Uppsala and Strängnäs. They represent craft activities in a new social context outside the private sphere of the local elite and instead subordinated other craft activities where domestic animals have been exploited on a large scale beyond the domestic household. Antler craft represents a social practise in the realms of the local elite with a continuity stretching back to the Iron Age. Monetization and an increasingly feudal society redefine social relations and practise. This can be seen in the occurrence of craft in new contexts in the late 1100s and 1200s, reflecting heterogeneity in social and economic functions in and between the towns in the region.

A materiality approach is developed in this thesis in order to understand social-material relationships during the south-east Scottish Iron Age. The focus is on everyday objects, traditionally lesser studied in terms of cosmological value, made of bone and antler, stone, clay/pottery and metal (copper alloy and iron) from the Broxmouth Hillfort assemblage and other excavated Iron Age sites in East Lothian. This study sets out to move away from typology to examine the connections between these materials through their sourcing, affordances (signative and pragmatic), design, manufacture, use and deposition. In addition to the archaeological evidence, a range of analytical methods are employed; including laser scanning confocal microscopy, raman spectroscopy, and residue and isotopic analysis. It becomes evident that the materials studied, despite their predominantly local availability, were invested with meaning in appropriation, making, and were deliberately curated and maintained in use, assembling rich personal biographies. Identities were tied up with making, using and depositing of materials in turn embodying beliefs of fertility, renewal and productivity which were central to Iron Age cosmology, continuing into the Roman Iron Age. These results contribute to our understanding of the construction and practice of society in the Iron Age of Britain, with implications for how we may design our own 21st Century material worlds. It is proposed that social relations in the Iron Age of south-east Scotland were heterarchical.

No description available.

Ces dernières années, le Magdalénien a connu un vif regain d’intérêt dans le Jura et les Alpes du nord, concernant la position chronologique de ces phases successives et de ces gisements. Le renouvellement et la production de données radiocarbones et paléoenvironnementales ont permis de préciser l’évolution du monde animal et la chronologie des occupations humaines tardiglaciaires. Ce cadre général nouvellement établi, a permis dans un second temps, de proposer une analyse inédite, comparée et diachronique de l’évolution des productions osseuses au Magdalénien, à partir d’un corpus de 22 gisements (décrit dans un second volume), en grottes et en abris, répartis sur le Massif du Jura et les Alpes du nord et situés entre 15500 et 12000 BP. Passés au crible de quatre paramètres évaluant leur potentiel, nous avons sélectionné 13 gisements les plus pertinents pour lesquels nous avons étudiés les différentes catégories de témoins (déchets, supports, ébauches et objets finis) par matières premières (bois de cervidé, os, ivoire vraie, dentine) et selon les stigmates liés à leur fabrication et à leur utilisation. A partir de ces gisements, nous avons projeté quelques bases sur le peuplement tardiglaciaire et décrit leur équipement osseux sous un angle typo-technologique ce qui n’avais jamais été fait jusqu’à aujourd’hui. / These last years, the Magdalenian knew a deep renewed interest in Jura and the Alps of the North, concerning the chronological position of the successive phases and these site. The renewal and the production of data radiocarbons and paleoenvironnemental allowed to specify the evolution of the animal kingdom and the chronology of the human tardiglacial activities. This general framework recently established, allowed secondly, to propose an unpublished, compared and diachronic analysis of the evolution of the osseous productions in the Magdalenian, from a corpus of 22 site (described in a second volume), in caves and in rock shelters, distributed on the Massif of Jura and the Alps of the North and situated between 15500 and 12000 BP. Examined closely of four parameters estimating their potential, we selected the most relevant 13 site for which the various categories of witnesses (waste, supports, sketches and finished objects) by raw materials (antler, bone, ivory, dentin) and according to stigmata bound to their manufacturing and to their use.

Die jährliche Geweihregeneration der Cervidae ist einzigartiges Phänomen unter adulten Säugetieren. Rolf et al. konnten zeigen, dass dieser Prozess unter anderem von STRO-1+ mesenchymalen Stammzellen (MSZ) des Rosenstockperiosts ausgeht, deren Proliferation in der Regenerationsphase aktiviert wird. Ziel dieser Arbeit war es das Proliferationsverhalten dieser STRO-1+- und STRO-1- mesenchymalen Stammzellen/Progenitorzellen (MSZ) näher zu charakterisieren. Außerdem sollte die Expression der Yamanaka-Faktoren (c-Myc, Sox2, Nanog, Klf4, Oct4), welche von großer Bedeutung für die Aufrechterhaltung der stammzelltypischen Eigenschaften sind, untersucht werden. Die Gewebestücke des Rosenstockperiosts wurden parallel in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM) und Nonhematopoietic-Stem-Cell-Medium (NH-Medium) kultiviert. Bei Erreichen eines konfluenten Zellrasens wurden die Zellen mit Hilfe des Sortiersystems MACs nach dem Oberflächenmarker STRO-1 sortiert. Die Expression der Yamanaka-Faktoren wurde mit Hilfe von RT-PCR und Gelelektrophorese untersucht. Die Oct4-Expression in STRO-1+ MSZ wurde außerdem immunhistochemisch nachgewiesen. Dafür wurden die STRO-1+MSZ nach der Sortierung 24h, 28h, 72h, 96h und 144h kultiviert und das Oct4-Protein mit dem Fluoreszenzfarbstoff immunhistochemisch angefärbt. Die Zellkerne wurden mit DAPI gegengefärbt und die Zellen durch Fluoreszenzmikroskopie untersucht. Da Oct4 im Zytosol sowie in langen Zellfortsätzen, die wie Zell-zu-Zellverbindungen imponierten, detektiert wurde, sollte eine mögliche Übertragung von Oct4 untersucht werden. Dazu erfolgte die Ko-Kultivierung von STRO-1+MSZ mit Oct4-GFP-MEF (embryonalen Mausfibroblasten), in denen die GFP an einen Oct4-Promoter gekoppelt ist, und die Überwachung GFP-Expression. Im NH-Medium konnte eine höhere totale Zellzahl (3,5x) sowie eine signifikant höhere tägliche Wachstumsrate und eine höhere totale Anzahl von STRO-1+ MSZ generiert werden. Sowohl STRO-1+- also auch STRO-1 -MSC exprimieren die o.g. Transkriptionsfaktoren medien- und zeitabhängig. Die Fluoreszenzaufnahmen zeigten ein zeitabhängige Oct4-Expression in den STRO-1+ MSZ, insbesondere nach 48h und nach 96h. Zu diesen Zeitpunkten war das Protein nicht nur im Zellkern sondern auch im Zytoplasma und in den Zellfortsätzen bzw. Zell-zu-Zellverbindungen nachweisbar. Im Ko-Kultivierungsversuch stieg die intrazelluläre GFP-Expression sowie die Anzahl der GFP-positiven Zellen im Intervall zischen 24h-48h deutlich an. Die Ergebnisse demonstrieren das hohe Proliferationspotential der STRO-1+ und auch der STRO-1-MSZ, welches über einen langen Zeitraum hinweg aufrechterhalten werden konnte. Die Kultivierung in NH-Medium erwies sich dabei als vorteilhaft. Die Expression der Yamanaka-Faktoren konnte nachgewiesen werden. Die Oct4-positiven STRO-1+ MSZ sind in Lage über einen interzellulären Oct4-Transport die Oct4-GFP-Transkription in den Empfängerzellen zu initiieren. Die Beobachtungen führen zu der Schlussfolgerung, dass es bei der Geweihregeneration ebenfalls zu einer Übertragung von Oct4 von STRO-1+ MSC auf benachbarte Zellen kommen könnte, welches zu einer Dedifferenzierung in der Empfängerzelle führen könnte. Dies würde das schnelle Geweihwachstum erklären. Ob tatsächlich eine endogen induzierte Pluripotenz stattfindet muss jedoch in weiteren Studien untersucht werden.