92 research outputs found
Data and Code for "The impacts of mid-Holocene foragers on the European oyster in southern Scandinavia"
No full textThese files include the R-code that is presented in the paper "The impacts of mid-Holocene foragers on the European oyster in southern Scandinavia" by Robson et al., which is currently under review in PNAS. It also includes the measurements and context information for all oyster shells (measured and not measured) used in the manuscript as well as the figures that present these results.
If accepted, the full citation of the manuscript will be: Harry K. Robson, Niklas Hausmann, Eva M. Laurie, Peter Moe Astrup, Karen Povlsen, Søren A. Sørensen, Søren H. Andersen and Nicky Milner (202X) "The impacts of mid-Holocene foragers on the European oyster in southern Scandinavia" PNAS X:X
A drowned Mesolithic shell midden complex at Hjarnø Vesterhoved,Denmark and its wider significance
No full textAnthropogenic shell accumulations (shell middens), often of great size, occur in their tens of thousands around the world’s coastlines. They mostly date from the Mid-Holocene onwards and are frequently taken as symptomatic of a Postglacial ‘revolution’ involving world-wide population growth and intensification in exploitation of marine resources. However, the comparative rarity of earlier deposits may have as much to do with Postglacial sea-level rise and the loss of evidence from earlier palaeoshorelines as with genuine socio-economic trends. Here we investigate the underwater Mesolithic (Ertebølle) shellmidden of Hjarnø Vesterhoved in Denmark, one of the first underwater shell middens to be systematically verified as an anthropogenic shell deposit in a region world-famous for its many hundreds of Ertebølle shell mounds on the present shoreline. We show how a combination of geophysical survey, coring, excavation, stratigraphic interpretation and macroscopic analysis of midden contents can be used to identify underwater deposits, to unravel their taphonomic and post-depositional history in relation to surrounding sediments, and to distinguish between cultural and natural agencies of shell accumulation and deformation. We demonstrate the presence of an intact underwater shell-midden deposit dated at 5400–5100 cal BC, one of the earliest in Denmark. We demonstrate the usefulness of such material in giving new information about early coastal subsistence economies and greater precision to the measurement of palaeosea levels. We discuss the implications of our results for an improved understanding of the Mesolithic record in Denmark and of biases in the archaeological record of Late Pleistocene and Early-to-Mid-Holocene coastal contexts. We emphasise the importance of researching more fully the geomorphological and taphonomic processes that affect the accumulation, destruction, burial, preservation and visibility of underwater archaeological deposits, the need to extend underwater investigations more widely and to more deeply submerged palaeoshorelines, and the combination of methods required to advance such investigations
The role of coastal exploitation in the Maglemose culture of southern Scandinavia – marginal or dominant?
No full textListening to the voices of pupils: an alternative route to a balanced curriculum for junior middle schools in China
No full textThe development and understanding of curriculum are much influenced by learners’ cognitive and intellectual development. Since breadth, balance, relevance and differentiation are the four main factors to consider in the process of planning, implementing and assessing curriculum, this essay aims to provide the educators with a critical overview of the curriculum for junior middle schools in China with a focus on the issue of balance. In so doing, the author emphasizes with the support of a range of literature in the UK context the importance of voices of pupils (Garner & Sandow, 1995, Shevlin & Rose, 2003) in their intellectual development and academic attainment in regards of curriculum (Byers and Rose 2004, Darling, 1994, Sebba et al 1995). Meanwhile, the author listens to the perspectives of pupils with special educational needs as consumers on the current curriculum in their schools which show a strong desire for a balanced curriculum (Farrell, 1997; Rayner, 1998; McLaughlin & Tilstone, 2000). The author tends to argue by analyzing the sample curricular in two key junior middle schools of two cities in a province in China that there still exists a lack of balance in the curriculum in terms of the time allocation for the core and peripheral subjects and the balance within individual subjects in teaching and learning. The author thus suggests the decision makers of the curriculum and those who are involved in the implementing of the curriculum listen and respond to the voices as an alternative route to identify the causes for the failure of meeting the expectations of the curriculum by those pupils with special needs and develop a much appropriate balance in curriculum for them
Peter Moe Astrup: Sea-level Change in Mesolithic southern Scandinavia. Long- and short-term effects on society and the environment
No full textDispersion modelling during particulate matter episode events in Golden, British Columbia.
No full textThe CALPUFF modeling system was used to investigate two episodes of high particulate matter (PM) during December 2005 and February 2006. During this time, Golden was a British Columbia Ministry of Environment (BC MOE) intensive observation site for air quality research specific to PM. Observations from 4 meteorological stations were used to characterize the winds and dispersion parameters within CALMET. Emission rates were determined from the existing Golden Emissions Inventory and receptor modeling commissioned by the BC MOE. Statistical comparison of model predicted and observed PM concentrations show that model performance compares well to similar CALPUFF studies at two of the air quality monitoring stations in Golden. The source apportionment of the CALPUFF results identified the major contributors to degraded air quality levels during the two episodes under investigation as space heating, road dust and, intermittently, Louisiana Pacific operations. --P. i.The original print copy of this thesis may be available here: http://wizard.unbc.ca/record=b175496
Deglacial perspectives of future sea level for Singapore
No full textLow elevation equatorial and tropical coastal regions are highly vulnerable to sea level rise. Here we provide probability perspectives of future sea level for Singapore using regional geological reconstructions and instrumental records since the last glacial maximum ~21.5 thousand years ago. We quantify magnitudes and rates of sea-level change showing deglacial sea level rose from ~121 m below present level and increased at averaged rates up to ~15 mm/yr, which reduced the paleogeographic landscape by ~2.3 million km2. Projections under a moderate emissions scenario show sea level rising 0.95 m at a rate of 7.3 mm/yr by 2150 which has only been exceeded (at least 99% probability) during rapid ice mass loss events ~14.5 and ~9 thousand years ago. Projections under a high emissions scenario incorporating low confidence ice-sheet processes, however, have no precedent during the last deglaciation.Ministry of Education (MOE)National Environmental Agency (NEA)National Research Foundation (NRF)Published versionThis research was supported by the Earth Observatory of Singapore grants M4430132.B50- 2014, M4430139.B50-2015, M4430188.B50-2016, M4430245.B50-2017 and M4430245.B50-2018. T.A.S., T.L., S.C., J.M.M., A.D.S. and B.P.H. were supported by the Singapore Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund MOE2019-T3-1-004 and MOE- T2EP50120-0007, the National Research Foundation Singapore, the Singapore Ministry of Education under the Research Centers of Excellence initiative, and by Nanyang Techno- logical University. This Research/Project is supported by the National Research Foundation, Singapore, and National Environment Agency, Singapore under the National Sea Level Programme Funding Initiative (award No. USS-IF-2020-1). Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of the National Research Foundation, Singapore and the National Environment Agency, Singapore. N.C. research is conducted with the financial support of Science Foundation Ireland and co-funded by Geological Survey Ireland under Grant number 20/FFP-P/8610. R.E.K. and G.G.G. were supported by U.S. National Science Foundation award ICER-2103754 as part of the Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub (MACH) and by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (award 80NSSC20K1724 and JPL task 105393.509496.02.08.13.31)
Organic residue analysis shows sub-regional patterns in the use of pottery by Northern European hunter–gatherers
No full textThe introduction of pottery vessels to Europe has long been seen as closely linked with the spread of agriculture and pastoralism from the Near East. The adoption of pottery technology by hunter–gatherers in Northern and Eastern Europe does not fit this paradigm, and its role within these communities is so far unresolved. To investigate the motivations for hunter–gatherer pottery use, here, we present the systematic analysis of the contents of 528 early vessels from the Baltic Sea region, mostly dating to the late 6th–5th millennium cal BC, using molecular and isotopic characterization techniques. The results demonstrate clear sub-regional trends in the use of ceramics by hunter–gatherers; aquatic resources in the Eastern Baltic, non-ruminant animal fats in the Southeastern Baltic, and a more variable use, including ruminant animal products, in the Western Baltic, potentially including dairy. We found surprisingly little evidence for the use of ceramics for non-culinary activities, such as the production of resins. We attribute the emergence of these subregional cuisines to the diffusion of new culinary ideas afforded by the adoption of pottery, e.g. cooking and combining foods, but culturally contextualized and influenced by traditional practices
An aerostable drag-sail device for the deorbit and disposal of sub-tonne, low earth orbit spacecraft
No full textThere is an increasing amount of debris in low Earth orbit arising from the
disintegration and collision of old spacecraft which have not been removed from
orbit. A ‘bolt-on’ deorbit device to be attached to new spacecraft is therefore
proposed, which would deploy an aerostable drag sail at end-of-life. This drag sail
would interact with the rarefied atmospheric gases and plasma present at altitudes of
up to 1,000 km and thus denude energy from the orbit, causing it to become lower
and lower until final re-entry of the host becomes inevitable. At this point the drag
sail would collapse and both the host and the deorbit device would be destroyed by
aerothermodynamic forces.
This work develops the deorbit device concept by demonstrating that aerostable drag
enhancement is an effective and competitive deorbit mechanism. This is done by:
• Calculating the aerodynamic, solar radiation pressure and gravitational
influences on the deployed drag sail and using them to model the
performance of the device.
• Using the results of that modelling to identify the optimum shape, size and
deployment conditions of the drag sail.
• Further calculating the structural strength required to resist the aerodynamic
loads until the desired collapse altitude.
• And finally by using that information to assemble a conceptual design which
demonstrates the practicability of the system
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