No description available.

No / The Covesea Caves, located on the coast of the Moray Firth in northeastern Scotland, are a series of archaeological cave sites that are hypothesized to be part of a larger mortuary complex used during the Late Prehistoric period. Although much attention has been given to the unusual assemblage of human remains recovered from these sites, there has been less analysis undertaken on the vast amount of archaeofauna from the caves. This is in the process of being rectified through the recent work of the Covesea Cave Project, under direction of Ian Armit and Lindsey Büster and currently being undertaken at the University of Bradford. This report details attempts to confirm species identifications for several faunal bones of interest through various methodologies; unfortunately, not all of the attempts were successful. However, identifications are confirmed for two avian bones using comparative osteological analysis at the Avian Anatomical Collection at the Natural History Museum at Tring, United Kingdom. These species are placed in context through consideration of previous excavations at the Covesea Caves, as well as recent literature on ornithological analyses of ritual and funerary sites in Later Prehistoric Britain.

Before the creation of Mammoth Cave National Park, this area was home to numerous communities, each with a sense of identity. To prepare for the creation of the National Park, all residents living within these communities were relocated, and many of these communities were lost to the passage of time. Today, public memory of these lost communities is being fostered by the descendents of the pre-park area. Through the use of a Historical Geographic Information System, 1920 Edmonson County manuscript census data, and statistical analysis, the demographic composition of these lost communities was explored. This project not only brought to light a past that is not well known, but also built interest in sustaining public memory of the Mammoth Cave pre-park area through the use of historical GIS and public participation.

Mammoth Cave in Kentucky is the longest known cave in the world. This dissertation examines the history of how scientists and non-scientists alike contributed to a growing body of knowledge about Mammoth Cave and how that knowledge in turn affected land use decisions in the surrounding neighborhood. During the nineteenth century visitors traveled through Mammoth Cave along with their guides, gaining knowledge of the cave by using their senses and spreading that knowledge through travel narratives. After the Civil War, cave guides, now free men who chose to stay in the neighborhood, used the cave as a way to build and support their community. New technologies and new visitors reconstructed the Mammoth Cave experience. Competing knowledge of locals and science-minded individuals, new technologies to spread the cave experience, and a growing tourism industry in America spurred the Kentucky Cave Wars during the late-nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, cutthroat competition between caves crystallized support for a national park at Mammoth Cave. Park promoters met resistance. Cave owners’ knowledge of what they owned underground helped them resist condemnation. Those affected by the coming of the national park made their protests known on the landscape, in newspapers, and in courtrooms. The introduction of New Deal workers, primarily the Civilian Conservation Corps, at Mammoth Cave and a skeleton staff of National Park Service officials faced antagonism from the local community. Important discoveries inside Mammoth Cave hastened the park’s creation, but not without lingering bitterness that would affect later preservation efforts. The inability of the park promoters to acquire two caves around Mammoth Cave was a failure for the national park campaign but a boon for exploration. The postwar period saw returning veterans and their families swarming national parks. While the parking lots at Mammoth Cave grew crowded and the Park Service attempted to balance preservation and development for the enjoyment of the visiting public, underground explorers were pushing the cave’s known extent to new lengths. This new knowledge inspired a new generation of environmentalists and preservationists to use the Wilderness Act to advocate for a cave wilderness designation at Mammoth Cave National Park.

The Lost River Groundwater Drainage Basin in Warren County, Kentucky, is a karst drainage system encompassing 55 square miles (143 square kilometers) developed within the Mississippian St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve Limestones. Near the contact between these two formations are two bedded chert units, the Lost River Chert Bed (Elrod, 1899) within the Ste. Genevieve and the Corydon Chert Member (Woodson, 1983) of the St. Louis, which appear to be perching layers to shallow karst groundwater flow. Groundwater may be seen flowing on top of these beds in various cave streams and at swallets and springs throughout the basin. In order to compare the vertical positions of these layers to shallow karst groundwater flow, geologic structure maps of the Lost River Chert Bed and the Corydon Chert Member were prepared for the basin, along with a contour map of the water table (at or near which shallow karst groundwater flow is assumed to take place) over the same area. These surfaces were digitized, then contoured and compared using SURFACE II and DISSPLA computer graphics systems. Correlation was accepted for points where the water table is either 20 feet (6.1 meters above or below the top of the two chert layers. The water table (at baseflow conditions) was found to correlate with the Lost River Chert Bed over 42.6% of the basin, as well as 40.7% for the Corydon Member. Shallow karst groundwater flow is found to correlated with bedded chert layers over 83.3% of the study area, and therefore it is concluded that chert layers have a dominant effect on the vertical position of groundwater flow within the Lost River Groundwater Drainage Basin.

In the Colossal Cave area, Pima County, Arizona, massive blocks of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks have been thrust from a southerly direction over an irregular surface of Rincon Valley granite of Laramide age. The Paleozoic rocks involved in the thrusting are the Bolsa quartzite, Abrigo formation, Martin limestone, Escabrosa limestone, Horquilla limestone, and Andrada formation. The Pantano formation (Miocene ?) is also present under the thrust sheet. The thrusting is of an imbricate nature with slip-page mainly teaking place along incompetent rock units. Large folds occur in the Escabrosa limestone and Horquilla lime-stone. A siliceous breccia is associated with thrust planes in the area. The competent units of the Paleozoic sediments were fractured and brecciated along the thrust planes. Solutions dissolved part of the silica and hematite from the Bolsa quartzite and deposited it in the fractured and brecciated zones.

The study of flaked mammoth bone tools from the Late Pleistocene is a topic that has inspired great interest in the archaeological community for the last 40 years. The interpretation of evidence of culturally modified mammoth bone tools has varied widely across both time and space. At different times and in different places, flaked bone toolmaking has been interpreted across the geographic expanse of the North American continent, from Beringia to central Mexico, and through a vast timeframe, from 120,000 years ago, until as recently as 10,000 years ago. The study of these purported flaked bone tool assemblages has taken many forms, and has involved efforts to understand broken mammoth bone assemblages by drawing analogies to stone toolmaking strategies, by understanding the multitude of taphonomic processes that affect archaeological bone assemblages, and by attempting to differentiate the effects of natural and cultural processes. This thesis reports on a series of experiments designed to lend new actualistic evidence to the debate surrounding flaked bone toolmaking. These experiments include investigations into the effect of different environmental conditions on the degradation of bones, the flaking characteristics of both fresh and frozen bones, and the effect of rockfall as a taphonomic process on bones exposed to different real-world environments. These experiments, paired with a body of previous research, provide a basis in actualistic and taphonomic research that allows for the reassessment of archaeological and paleontological broken mammoth bone assemblages. This thesis includes the reassessment and detailed taphonomic analysis of four mammoth bone assemblages relevant to understanding cultural bone modification and the effect of non-cultural taphonomic processes. New interpretations of zooarchaeological assemblages from Lange/Ferguson (South Dakota, USA), Owl Cave (Idaho, USA), Inglewood (Maryland, USA), and Kent’s Cavern (Devon, UK) reveal new data that revise the understanding of the nature of these assemblages, and the effect of both natural and cultural bone fracturing agencies.

Monthly water samples collected from four sites in the Lost River Groundwater Basin, a shallow karst aquifer in the Bowling Green-Warren County area of Kentucky, represented samples from sites receiving conduit and diffuse flow. All sites were severely contaminated with bacteria, and on some occasions the surface water criteria for some heavy metals were exceeded. Of the total 334 bacterial colonies identified 92.1% were verified as Escherichia coli by the API20E system. Acinetobacter calcoaceticus var. anitratum accounted for 2.10% of colonies; Citrobacter freundii for 0.30% Klebsiella pneumoniae for 0.90%; Klebsiella oxytoca, 0.90%; Citrobacter amalonaticus 0.30%; Enterobacter cloacae, 1.20%; Enterobacter sakazakii 0.60% and unidentifiable isolates 1.2%. A calcoaceticus var. anitratum had morphologically distinct tiny blue colonies on Levine Eosin Methylene Blue agar (LEMB). Fecal coliform (FC) and fecal streptococcus (FS) densities were variable and FC densities exceeded surface water criteria (SWC) on numerous occasions. Geometric means for FC colonies also exceeded SWC. The FC/FS ratios indicated both farmland and human pollution. The most frequently identified E. coli had an API profile No. 5144572 and the second most frequent had an API profile No. 5044552. The most frequently (76.92%) identified streptococcal species was Streptococcus durans. The S. durans that was most frequent (33.85%) of the Streptococcal isolates identified had an API profile No. of 5200441. All C. perfringens isolated gave a positive Reverse Camp Test. The bacterial densities at all sites followed the pattern of the respective hydrographs. The analysis of heavy metals indicated that varying concentrations of different metals were present at the sites studied. The metal found in the highest concentration at all four sites was iron. The concentrations of iron found were virtually always (>94% of the time) in violation of surface water criteria (SWC). Copper and zinc concentration were always less than that specified by SWC while silver, cadmium and chromium had concentrations which exceeded SWC on occasions.

Les structures de combustion constituent un témoin de la fréquentation humaine et leur étude permet d’appréhender un aspect du mode d’occupation d’un lieu donné. Ainsi, pour compléter les approches classiques qui s’intéressent à la typologie des foyers, à la fréquence des feux, à la nature des combustibles, etc., une caractérisation thermique de ces structures a été proposée. Elle s’appuie sur les impacts thermiques enregistrés par les sédiments soumis aux feux et plus précisément sur les modifications des propriétés de thermoluminescence (TL) et de magnétisme avec la chauffe.Le site-laboratoire est celui de la grotte de Fraux (Dordogne), occupée à l’Âge du bronze, dont le statut et le mode d’occupation pose question puisqu’elle présente tant des vestiges domestiques (sols de circulation, foyers, mobiliers) que des vestiges symboliques (manifestations pariétales, dépôts de mobilier). La place importante des foyers parmi ces vestiges a induit une étude spécifique de ces structures. En effet, ce site recèle plus d’une soixantaine de structures de combustion et, aspect important pour notre approche archéométrique, présente un état de conservation exceptionnel puisque la grotte est restée fermée depuis l’occupation de l’Âge du bronze.L’étude de certains foyers de la grotte des Fraux a permis de tester le potentiel de paléothermomètres fondés sur ces deux propriétés indépendantes à savoir la TL des grains de quartz et le magnétisme des oxydes de fer contenus dans les sédiments. Le paléothermomètre TL a été élaboré en comparant les signaux TL d’échantillons provenant de foyers archéologiques à ceux de références thermiques chauffées en laboratoire. Pour le magnétisme deux pistes ont été exploitées : les températures de déblocage de l’aimantation rémanente et l’évolution de la signature magnétique -minéralogie et taille de grain) avec la chauffe. La détermination des paléotempératures atteintes par les sédiments substrats des structures de combustion apporte une première indication sur leur intensité de chauffe. Afin d’étalonner ces informations paléothermométriques en termes d’énergie mise en jeu, des feux expérimentaux ont été réalisés. Ils ont permis de comparer les impacts thermiques entre feux archéologiques et feux expérimentaux, de construire un échantillonnage d’histoire thermique connue, mais aussi d’estimer les températures atteintes, les épaisseurs de sédiments affectés, les quantités de combustibles consommés pendant un temps donné, la quantité d’énergie dégagée par la combustion… Ces expérimentations ont aussi servi de base à une modélisation de la propagation de la chaleur dans les sédiments. Les simulations effectuées dans ce modèle numérique permettent alors d’estimer un temps minimal de fonctionnement des structures de combustion.Nous disposons ainsi d’un nouvel outil pour la caractérisation thermique de foyers archéologiques. / The study of the combustion structures, which are a remaining evidence of the human occupation, can give information about the way of occupation of a site. In this research we decided to complete the classical approaches of combustion structures generally based on typological description of hearths, frequency of fires, nature of fuel, etc. by a a thermal characterisation. This study deals with the thermal impacts recorded by the fired sediment. More precisely, the modifications of both thermoluminescence (TL) and magnetism properties with heating were investigated.The laboratory-site is the cave of Les Fraux (Dordogne, France) which was occupied in the Bronze Age. The archaeologists were wandering about the function and the way of occupation of this cave because of the existence of both domestic vestiges (archaeological occupation grounds, hearths, and ceramics) and symbolic evidences (rock art and votive ceramic deposition). A specific study of the combustion structures had started considering the significant number of hearths, more than sixty, and their importance in the human occupation. In addition, as the cave remained closed since the Bronze Age, the hearths are in an excellent state of conservation and that is an important point for our archaeometric study. The thermal characterisation of some hearths from the cave of Les Fraux firstly consisted in studying the paleothermometer potential of two properties: the thermoluminescence of quartz grains and the magnetism of iron oxides taken from the sediments. The TL paleothermometer was established by comparing TL signals of samples from archaeological hearths and those of thermal references heated in laboratory. Two properties were explored for the magnetic paleothermometer: the unblocking temperatures of the remanent magnetization and the evolution of magnetic signature (mineralogy and grain size) with heating. The paleotemperatures determined for the sediment of the hearths give a first information about the heating intensity of fires.Then experimental fires were carried out to calibrate paleothermometric data in quantity of energy and wood consumption, to check the suitability of laboratory thermal references, and to characterise the process of heat transfer inside the sediment. Finally, a numerical modeling of heat propagation within the sediment was implemented from temperatures recorded during fire experimentations. Numerical simulations performed in this model allowed us to estimate a minimal duration of functioning of the combustion structures.A novel tool for the thermal characterisation of combustion structures is then available.

Approximately 25% of bats globally are threatened, but limited data on African bats, which account for 20% of bat species, hinders our understanding of their conservation status across this ecologically diverse continent. This study combined: modelling techniques, to predict current species distributions for 58 southern African bat species and project past, current and future distributions of 22 endemic and near-endemic species; bat acoustic surveys, to assess landscape features influencing bat activity in arid and semi-arid regions; and conservation planning software to design a large-scale monitoring network for bats across this subcontinent. Species distribution models were employed using a robust and well established presence-only modelling technique (Maximum Entropy – Maxent) to model the current distributions of 58 species in southern Africa. Although the important eco-geographical variables were species- or in some cases family-specific, overall water availability (both temporary and permanent), seasonal precipitation, vegetation and karst (caves/limestone) areas were the most important factors associated with distribution patterns. These species distributions were then used to identify range-restricted and narrow niche breadth species, alongside other life-history strategies considered to put species at risk, such as Old World pteropodids and cave-dwelling bats to identify species most at risk. Nine of the 58 species in this study were identified as ‘at risk’. Considering range-restriction and endemism separately, the results showed that range-restricted species were a higher proportion (50%) of ‘at risk’ species than endemics (41%) but six of the nine identified species were endemic and range restricted (67%). If only areas of high species richness are prioritised, important areas with low species richness but rare, ‘at risk’ or endemic species would be excluded. Species distributions are not fixed but may shift due to changes in environmental conditions. Accurately predicting changes in species’ distributions due to anthropogenic climate change remains a fundamental challenge for conservation biologists, and this is amplified when dealing with taxa such as bats that are inherently difficult to study and in areas, such as Africa, with sparse ecological data. To better understand endemic bat species risk to climate change in southern Africa and to highlight historical and future likely refugia, Maxent was employed to forecast range-shifts for 22 southern African endemic or near-endemic species. Species distributions were projected during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM ~22,000 BP), present (1950-2000) and future (2070: averaged 2061-2080, using IPCC5 scenarios) climatic conditions. Climate change was predicted to change species composition extensively within a relatively short timescale (within 60 years). By 2070, 86% of species modelled are predicted to have range contractions and six species were highlighted to be most at risk, with range contractions of more than 20%. The majority of southern Africa is composed or arid or semi-arid regions. Generally arid and semi-arid areas are overlooked and understudied due to low species richness, yet these areas are known to have a high proportion of endemic species. As part of this study, driven transects were carried out across arid and semi-arid areas to assess bat activity in these areas. Bat activity was recorded at 94% of the acoustic surveys, demonstrating that driven transects are an effective method of surveying bats in southern Africa. Bat activity increased at lower altitudes and higher latitudes, which characteristically have more rainfall, permanent water and vegetation. Although water has been shown in other studies to be important for bats, temporary water was not shown to influence bat activity and permanent water was positively correlated with bat activity for hipposiderids and rhinolophids and FM bats, which may reflect the fact that water features important for bats at smaller scale. The same two vegetation types that were consistently negatively correlated with bat activity were drier vegetation types (Karoo-Namib shrubland) and high salinity halophytic vegetation. Finally, a systematic conservation planning software tool (Marxan) was used to design multi-species monitoring networks that incorporated all 58 target species across the 11 ecoregions found in southern Africa. To ensure rare, endemic and range-restricted species were monitored at the same level as widespread species, species distributions (mapped using Maxent) were extracted by ecoregion. Monitoring targets (i.e. a percentage of species distribution across ecoregions) were standardised to ensure the same percentage of predicted distribution was included across all species (rare and widespread). To account for different resources and capacity, three optimal monitoring networks (minimum monitoring stations to achieve the monitoring targets) were proposed to survey 1, 5 or 10% of all species distributions within each ecoregion. The optimal solution for monitoring 1% of species distributions within ecoregions was found by monitoring 1,699 stations (survey sites), or for 5% 8,486 stations and finally for 10% 17,867 stations would be needed. In conclusion, the findings presented in this thesis have important conservation implications and have the potential to inform the practical steps required towards the introduction of a bat monitoring programme in southern Africa. While this study has highlighted challenges to African bat conservation, it has also demonstrated that an integrated and multi-disciplinary approach, using emerging techniques and conservation tools (e.g. conservation planning and automated call analysis software) can be used to fill knowledge gaps and inform conservation priorities in the absence of systematically collected data.