No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Davis, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 234-256).

It is decidedly rare to come across evidence of primary or secondary malignant tumours in the archaeological record, both in the excavatory stage as well as the laboratory stage. However, the statistical absence of cancer in the archaeological record may not be representative of actual prevalence, geographical distribution, or severity. Despite the scarcity, there are some documented cases of suspected and hypothesised malignant skeletal neoplasms, of varying severity and disease progression. Some of these cases have been examined and put through a posthumous or presumptive diagnostic process, in which macroscopic analysis is followed by close microscopic examination, as well as the consideration and exclusion of differential diagnoses. This bachelor’s thesis will investigate 5 cases of such examination, with the help of three palaeopathological and paleo-oncological case studies. With an interdisciplinary approach encompassing contemporary medical science as well as palaeopathological osteoarchaeology, this thesis project will consider the clinical manifestations presented by the case studies in relation to their final hypothesised diagnosis. The results indicate that these individuals may have suffered from metastatic carcinoma with a soft tissue origin, a result which is significant to both contemporary medicine as well as osteoarchaeology. / Det är avgjort sällsynt att stöta på tecken på primära eller sekundära maligna tumörer i det arkeologiska förflutna, både i utgrävningsstadiet såväl som i laboratoriestadiet. Den statistiska frånvaron av cancer i det arkeologiska förflutna kanske inte är representativt för faktisk prevalens, geografisk spridning eller svårighetsgrad. Trots bristen finns det några dokumenterade fall av misstänkta och hypotetiska maligna skelettneoplasmer, av varierande svårighetsgrad och sjukdomsprogression. En del av dessa fall har undersökts och genomgått en postum eller presumtiv diagnostisk process, där makroskopisk analys följs av noggrann mikroskopisk undersökning, samt beaktande och uteslutning av differentialdiagnoser. Denna kandidatuppsats kommer att undersöka 5 fall av sådan undersökning, med hjälp av tre paleopatologiska och paleo-onkologiska fallstudier. Med ett tvärvetenskapligt tillvägagångssätt som omfattar samtida medicinsk vetenskap såväl som paleopatologisk osteoarkeologi kommer detta examensarbete att överväga de kliniska manifestationerna av fallstudierna i relation till deras slutgiltiga preliminära diagnos. Resultaten tyder på att dessa individer kan ha lidit av metastaserande karcinom med ursprung i mjukvävnad, ett resultat som är signifikant för såväl modern medicin som osteoarkeologi.

No description available.

The archaeological record of the first Americans in Mexico is poorly known and somewhat confusing. However, the state of Sonora presents a remarkably pristine setting for studying the late Pleistocene occupation of North America. The early archaeological record in Sonora is stunning in terms of its relative abundance and only within the past ten years has this fact become evident. The Paleo-Indian sites are concentrated in north-central Sonora on and surrounding, the Llanos de Hermosillo. The settlement pattern appears to indicate that Clovis groups were generalized hunter and gatherers that exploited a wide range of environments, and their diet was based upon a wide variety of foodstuffs. The Clovis groups of Sonora developed a sophisticated settlement pattern and land use determined by the location of lithic sources for tool making, water sources, large prey animals and a mosaic of edible plants and small animals. Exploiting an extensive territory probably permitted them to remain in the same region for longer periods of time. The presence of only few late Paleo-Indian diagnostic points could represent the decrease of population density in Sonora, but most likely it is an indication that after Clovis a regionalization of the hunter and gather groups took place in Sonora. The Sonoran Clovis occupation is a testimony that multiple regional Clovis adaptations emerged each with specific responses of plants, animals and resources.

Submitted by Ana Paula Lisboa Monteiro (monteiro@univates.br) on 2013-03-01T13:47:47Z No. of bitstreams: 3 MarielaSecchi.pdf: 6073379 bytes, checksum: a815027d32b1fd31cad2124d1267dd60 (MD5) license_text: 19927 bytes, checksum: 24891eab170680c4b7a264ff8f59f8d1 (MD5) license_rdf: 23599 bytes, checksum: 9e2b7f6edbd693264102b96ece20428a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-03-01T13:47:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3 MarielaSecchi.pdf: 6073379 bytes, checksum: a815027d32b1fd31cad2124d1267dd60 (MD5) license_text: 19927 bytes, checksum: 24891eab170680c4b7a264ff8f59f8d1 (MD5) license_rdf: 23599 bytes, checksum: 9e2b7f6edbd693264102b96ece20428a (MD5) / As mudanças ambientais globais estão, provavelmente, entre os maiores desafios da humanidade para o Século XXI. Por isso, o prognóstico da futura evolução dos ambientes é um importante ponto de discussão em diferentes esferas e áreas da ciência em todo o mundo. Para auxiliar no entendimento das questões ambientais do passado, o estudo de (paleo)incêndios vegetacionais é ferramenta importante, já que o fogo age como modelador dos ambientes terrestres desde que as primeiras plantas terrícolas surgiram sobre a Terra. Nesse contexto, a Antracologia aparece como sendo o campo das ciências que estuda e interpreta os restos de madeira carbonizados, provenientes de sítios arqueológicos ou de solos, que se relacionam com o testemunho de paleoincêndios de origem antrópica, procurando responder qual a relação entre o uso do fogo e o ambiente e de que forma a vegetação era utilizada pelas comunidades pré-coloniais. Além disso, outra ciência que auxilia no entendimento das questões pretéritas é a História Ambiental, que representa uma alternativa para a análise integrada dos ecossistemas, onde se deve levar em conta tanto a dimensão humana quanto seus atributos físicos e biológicos. Desta forma, utilizar o estudo dos carvões vegetais antracológicos associados às ocupações pré- coloniais no Sítio Arqueológico RS-T-101, comparando-se os dados encontrados com o trabalho realizado para o Sítio RS-T-114, para contribuir com a análise da história ambiental da Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio Forqueta. Além disso, este estudo pretende contribuir com a análise multidisciplinar da história ambiental da bacia, viabilizando a construção de um mosaico acerca do tema. Sendo assim, avaliou-se, nesse trabalho, a presença de carvão vegetal macroscópico no sedimento coletado pelos pesquisadores do Setor de Arqueologia do Museu de Ciências Naturais no Sítio RS-T-101, localizado no Município de Marques de Souza, Rio Grande do Sul. Nesse estudo, os fragmentos de carvão vegetal macroscópico do Sítio RS-T-101 foram separados manualmente do sedimento e analisados sob Microscópio Eletrônico de Varredura – MEV. As microfotografias foram comparadas com catálogos de referência em Anatomia Vegetal, para descrição das estruturas celulares. A partir das microfotografias dos fragmentos de carvão, foi feita uma comparação intersítios possibilitando que fossem feitas interpretações paleoambientais. Posteriormente, com as informações obtidas, foi possível identificar a ocorrência de carvão vegetal macroscópico em apenas dois dos níveis estratigráficos do Sítio RS-T-101, diferentemente do que ocorreu para o Sítio RS-T- 114, onde foram encontrados fragmentos carbonizados em todos os níveis. Além disso, foi possível datar as amostras pela técnica de carbono-14 as quais resultaram nas idades de 370±30 BP e 300±30 BP e 410±30 BP, respectivamente, Sítio RS-T- 101 e RS-T-114 (Área 1 e Área 2). As microfotografias obtidas sob MEV possibilitaram identificar que a temperatura de combustão a que os lenhos foram 7 expostos foi de até 340oC, demonstrando que o fogo foi de baixa intensidade. Além disso, foram descritos seis morfotipos de lenhos para o Sítio RS-T-101, enquanto que para o Sítio RS-T-114 haviam sido descritos sete. Dois dos morfotipos encontrados no Sítio RS-T-101 são coincidentes com morfotipos já descritos para o Sítio RS-T-114. Ainda com as análises das microfotografias obtidas sob MEV, foi possível identificar a ocorrência de hifas de fungos em apenas uma das amostras do Sítio RS-T-101, o que se diferencia do encontrado para o Sítio RS-T-114, uma vez que haviam sido encontradas hifas de fungos em todas as amostras analisadas. Com isso, foi possível inferir que a utilização de madeira morta pelos povos pré- coloniais não era uma constante, visto a diferença entre os sítios no que se refere a ocorrência de material vegetal em algum estágio de decomposição.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2006. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 729-756). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Using a high-resolution deep-towed seismic system, we have discovered a series of contour-current bedforms at the base of the Sigsbee Escarpment in the Bryant Canyon region of the northern Gulf of Mexico. We identify a continuum of bedforms that include furrows, meandering furrows, flutes and fully eroded seafloor. These contourcurrent bedforms are linked to current velocities ranging from 20 to upwards of 60 cm/s based on nearby current meter measurements and similar flume generated bedforms (Allen, 1969). We identify erosion and non-deposition of up to 25 meters of surface sediment at the base of Sigsbee Escarpment. Using 3-D and high-resolution seismic data, sediment samples, and submersible observations from the Green Knoll area, we further define contour-current bedforms along the Sigsbee Escarpment. The study area is divided into eleven zones based on bedform morphology, distribution, and formation processes. We identify a contourcurrent bedform continuum similar to that of the Bryant Canyon region, while the data reveals additional features that result from the interaction between topography and contour-currents. Three regional seismic marker horizons are identified, and we establish an age of ~19 kyr on the deepest horizon. The seismic horizons are correlated with very subtle changes in sediment properties, which in turn define the maximum depth of erosion for each of the individual bedforms. Finally, we show for the first time that furrowed horizons can be acoustically imaged in three dimensions below seafloor. Analysis of imagery of several horizons obtained from 3-D seismic data from the Green Knoll region establishes the existence of multiple paleo-furrow events. The contour current pattern preserved by the paleofurrows is similar to the presently active seafloor furrows. And, based on the morphology and development that we establish for the active seafloor furrows, we show that paleo-furrows are likely formed by currents that are in the same range as those measured today (20-60 cm/s), that erode into sediments with similar physical properties to the fine-grained hemipelagic sediments of the present-day seafloor. We further suggest the possibility that furrows are formed during inter-glacial highstands and buried during glacial lowstands.

Selenium (Se) is an essential trace element, which, with multiple oxidation states and six stable isotopes, has the potential to be a powerful paleo-environmental proxy. In this study, Se concentrations and isotopic compositions were analyzed in a suite of about 120 samples of fine-grained marine sedimentary rocks and sediments spanning the entire Phanerozoic. While the selenium concentrations vary greatly (0.22 to 72 ppm), the δ82/76Se values fall in a fairly narrow range from -1 to +1 , with the exception of laminated black shales from the New Albany Shale formation (Devonian), which have δ82/76Se values of up to +2.20 . Black Sea sediments (Holocene) and sedimentary rocks from the Alum Shale formation (Late Cambrian) have Se/TOC ratios and δ82/76Se values close to those found in modern marine plankton (1.72x10-6±1.55x10-7 mol/mol and 0.42±0.22 ). (Note: TOC = total organic carbon.) For the other sedimentary sequences, the Se/TOC ratios indicate enrichment in selenium relative to marine plankton. Additional input of isotopically light terrigenous Se (δ82/76Se ≈ -0.42 ) may explain the Se data measured in recent Arabian Sea sediments (Pleistocene). The very high Se concentrations in sedimentary sequences that include the Cenomanian-Turonian Ocean Anoxic Event (OAE) 2 possibly reflect a significantly enhanced input of volcanogenic Se to the oceans. As the latter has an isotopic composition (δ82/76Se ≈ 0 ) not greatly different from marine plankton, the volcanogenic source does not impart a distinct signature to the sedimentary Se isotope record. The lowest δ82/76Se values are observed in the OAE2 samples from Demerara Rise and Cape Verde Basin cores (δ82/76Se = -0.95 to 1.16 ) and are likely due to fractionation associated with microbial or chemical reduction of Se oxyanions in the euxinic water column. In contrast, a limiting availability of seawater Se during periods of increased organic matter burial is thought to be responsible for the elevated δ82/76Se values and low Se/TOC ratios in the black shales of the New Albany Shale formation. Overall, our results suggest that Se data may provide useful information on paleodepositional conditions, when included in a multi-proxy approach.

Thesis (M.S.) in Quaternary Studies--University of Maine, 2001. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-116).