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    Sampling

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    Palaeolithic investigations in Epirus: the results of the first season's excavations at Klithi, 1983

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    Evidence of Palaeolithic occupation in Epirus discovered in 1962 by the late E. S. Higgs is re-analysed, especially that from Asprochaliko and Kastritsa. The paper also presents the results of the first season's excavations at the rock-shelter of Klithi, which throws light on problems connected with the interpretation of the earlier excavation and the different functions of the two sites. The new excavations demonstrate that Klithi contains a rich Palaeolithic deposit, perhaps dating within the period 20,000 to 12,000 years ago

    Asprochaliko and Kastritsa: further investigations of palaeolithic settlement and economy in Epirus (north west Greece)

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    This paper sets out the detailed stratigraphy and chronology of the palaeolithic rockshelters of Asprochaliko and Kastritsa excavated in the 1960s, the methods used by the original investigators in excavation and classification of the finds, and the general characteristics of the stone industries and fauna. Methods of estimating the density of finds are discussed. Estimates of time density — the number of specimens accumulated per unit area per unit time — are applied to the upper palaeolithic deposits at both sites and reveal major differences in the rate of discard of material, indicating more intensive occupation at Kastritsa. Inter-site differences in the proportion of faunal species and artefact types are analysed in the light of the time-density evidence, and the various factors that could have influenced the pattern of inter-site variation are discussed

    Radiocarbon evidence for the Lateglacial human recolonisation of Northern Europe

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    This paper examines, through the use of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry dating, the database of Lateglacial cultures involved in the recolonisation of northern Europe. The aim is not only to determine the timing of that recolonisation, but also to propose a general model of hunter-gatherer colonisation at a sub-continental scale. The question is addressed of how long the period of abandonment of northern Europe during the Würm/Weichsel glaciation may have lasted, and when it both started and came to an end. A series of questions is asked concerning the processes and mechanics of recolonisation and the sequences for specific areas are examined. AMS radiocarbon dating shows that a two stage process was involved, which has important implications for our analysis of regional settlement patterns and the changing scale of Lateglacial hunting systems. Recolonisation was a dynamic process, integral to, and internally driven by, the social life of Lateglacial hunters. It may have been constrained by environmental and resource factors, which we have emphasised here, but ultimately it was an historical, social process and should be similarly regarded to that of the farmers. By measuring rates of expansion data are provided for use in other studies of hunter-gatherer colonisation

    Palaeolithic radiocarbon chronology: quantifying our confidence beyond two half-lives

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    It is now three decades since Waterbolk introduced evaluation criteria to 14C chronology. Despite this, and other subsequent attempts to introduce quality control in the use of 14C data, no systematic procedure has been adopted by the archaeological community. As a result, our databases may be significantly weakened by questionable dates and/or questionable associations between dated samples and the archaeological phenomena they are intended to represent. As the use of chronometric data in general becomes more ambitious, we must pause and assess how reliable these data are. Here, we forward a set of evaluation criteria which take into account archaeological (e.g. associational, stratigraphic) and chronometric (e.g. pre-treatment and measurement) criteria. We intend to use such criteria to evaluate a large 14C dataset we have assembled to investigate Late Glacial settlement in Europe, the Near East and North Africa, supported by the Leverhulme Trust. We suggest that the procedure presented here may at least form the basis of the development of more rigorous, scientific use of 14C dates

    Reflections on Gravettian firewood procurement near the Pavlov Hills, Czech Republic

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    This paper draws attention to firewood as a natural resource that was gathered, processed and consumedon a daily basis by Palaeolithic groups. Using Gravettian occupation of the Pavlovské Hills as a case study(dated to around 30,000 years BP), we investigate firewood availability using archaeological,palaeoenvironmental and ecological data, including making inferences from charcoal in Pavlovianhearths. The collated evidence suggests that while dead wood was likely readily available in woodlandareas where humans had not recently foraged, longer term occupations – or repeated occupation ofthe same area by different groups – would have quickly exhausted naturally occurring supplies. Oncedepleted, the deadwood pool may have taken several generations (?40–120 years) to recover enoughto provide fuel for another base camp occupation. Such exhaustion of deadwood supplies is well attestedethnographically. Thus, we argue that Pavlovian groups likely managed firewood supplies using methodssimilar to those used by recent hunter–gatherers: through planned geographic mobility and bydeliberately killing trees years in advance of when wood was required, so leaving time for the wood todry out. Such management of fuel resources was, we argue, critical to human expansion into these cold,hitherto marginal, ecologies of the Upper Palaeolithic

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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