1,721,022 research outputs found
Chronology and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in the sub-tidal zone: a case study from Hinkley Point
No full textEvidence from the Severn Estuary demonstrates that this region was exploited by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer-fishers (Bell 2007). The potential for future archaeological discoveries (Bell 2007; Webster 2007, 273; Bell and Warren 2013, 39), and the well-preserved palaeoenvironmental evidence in the fine-grained and organic sediments of the Somerset, Avon and Gwent Levels (Hosfield et al., 2007a, 40) makes the area of importance for archaeological study. Small quantities of worked flint have been recovered from the foreshore around Stolford, Porlock and Minehead Bay (Mullin et al., 2009; Canti et al., 1995) implying human activity in the present intertidal zone, which is further enhanced by the suggestion of possible deliberate burning of reed swamps (Jones et al., 2005) similar to that postulated in the Severn Estuary (Brown 2005; Timpany 2005; Bell 2007).While considerable research has been carried out within terrestrial and intertidal contexts, remarkably little archaeological work has been undertaken below the mean low water mark (Webster 2007, 273). The Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary has seen considerable change in sea-level since the Last Glacial Maximum (Long et al., 2002; Philips and Crips 2010). Extending our knowledge beyond the intertidal zone is therefore of key importance for understanding the Late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic palaeogeography of the region (Hosfield et al., 2007b).Developments in the recovery of offshore Holocene peat and sediment sequences now permit the production of multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental datasets and landscape reconstructions from submerged sample sites. This paper uses evidence from three cores, recovered from submarine peat deposits at Hinkley Point, Bristol Channel, UK, to explore the issues and challenges associated with producing radiocarbon chronologies from deeply submerged peat sequences within a marine environment. We emphasise the importance of analysis of multiple sequences to construct robust chronologies for local hydrological change and landscape reconstruction (Edwards 2006). The need for local evidence is critical if we are to move beyond generalised and potentially misleading models of human-environment interaction (Scaife 2011), because as this case study demonstrates, complex processes and landscape variability might have been features of even highly-localised palaeoenvironments
Pioneering new approaches to woodland ecology and human activity in medieval Ireland (c.500-1550AD): an investigation using archaeological charcoal
Full text linkThe main aim of this thesis was to explore wood resource use, its impact on local woodland and the factors that influenced wood selection strategies during the medieval period in Ireland using the archaeological charcoal record. It examined the functional and cultural factors that influenced wood selection and wood use during a period of dynamic social, economic and political change and provided valuable insights into discreet local and regional patterns of how this raw material was utilised on a spatial and temporal scale. Within a multi-disciplinary framework, this research used and compared the historical, archaeological and palynological evidence to demonstrate the interpretative value of archaeological charcoal for understanding medieval woodland management and resource use. Over 20,000 charcoal fragments were sourced from 49 archaeological excavations carried out across two landscapes located in the south-midlands through counties Tipperary (N8/M8 Cullahill to Cashel Bypass Scheme and Toureen Peckaun) and Kilkenny/Carlow (N9/N10 Kilcullen to Waterford Road Scheme). These sites represented a cross section of early medieval (fifth-twelfth AD) and later medieval (post–twelfth century AD) rural settlement and the diverse range of features typically found associated with them. Fundamental to this research was the use of saturation curve analysis, which has redefined current sample sufficiency recommendations for medieval charcoal assemblages, thus contributing to charcoal sampling methodologies in Ireland going forward. To establish if there were any distinctive patterns within the charcoal record, a number of questions were asked of the data regarding spatial and temporal use of wood, from wood selection processes for specific activities to changes in wood resource use over time. By implementing a series of rigorous statistical tests, the results revealed that wood resource use at the beginning of the early medieval period (c.fifth century AD) was quite diverse, characterised by a rise in ash and fruitwood species, most likely reflecting the extensive period of land clearance that was underway at this time. Between the late seventh and late ninth/tenth century AD, oak use becomes sporadic shifting between being the dominant taxa to being relatively absent in the charcoal record. Wood use at a site fluctuated from being composed of an admixture of taxa to one dominated by a single species (oak). This is interpreted as being a period of when oak reserves were under pressure, during which time measures were put in place to encourage a system of resource sustainability through different forms of woodland and resource management practices. From the tenth century AD, the oak signal rises and remains high and constant into the later medieval period, at the same time other species, such as ash declines in use. The corn drying kiln charcoal data revealed that these quintessential medieval features had a close symbiotic relationship with other on-site activities and were shown to reflect the main changes in wood use variance over time. Wood brought to a site for primary usage (construction, fencing and manufacture) was used, reused or recycled as firewood to fuel other activities, such as corn drying kilns. In addition, a novel approach comparing the charcoal and plant macrofossil assemblages from kilns provided new insights into seasonal wood use at a site. As a result, kilns may be used as a proxy for understanding and interpreting medieval wood use intimately at local level. Wood resource use was therefore culturally driven, representing the human response to a physically changing landscape brought about by their very actions. Bayesian chronological modelling, particularly from the corn drying kiln dataset, provided estimates for when the rise and decline in mixed wood use and oak dominance, a product of anthropogenic factors, is likely to have occurred during the medieval period. This novel approach has in turn the potential to offer new dating parameters for the beginning and end of major socio-economic and political turning points as depicted in the archaeological and historical record. To conclude, the results of this thesis have produced a new body of critically and academically assessed environmental data for the medieval period. This study has contributed new perspectives on medieval woodland and wood use dynamics and the human response to a changing physical and socio-economic landscape. It has pioneered a statistical approach to interpreting medieval charcoal assemblages in an Irish context, highlighted how corn drying kilns can be used as a model for wood resource change at local level and by utilising Bayesian chronological modelling, has established new ways of dating major shifts in wood resource use in line with changes in the historical and archaeological record
The Mesolithic/Neolithic transition in the southern region of Ireland: a Bayesian approach to the integration of the palaeoenvironmental and archaeological records
No full textThis interdisciplinary study has assessed the evidence the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition (c.4500 – 3750 cal BC) in southern Ireland, examining the timing, extent and nature of woodland disturbance, agricultural activity and settlement during the period. This study represents the first explicit use of the Bayesian approach to address these issues and served to refine and integrate the two principal proxies available for investigating human activity during the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition. The integration of the palaeoenvironmental and archaeological records, within a Bayesian framework has allowed for the formulation of new hypotheses concerning patterns of vegetation change and the timing and intensity of human activity during the period. This thesis has demonstrated that the Early Neolithic archaeological record indicates that these practices began quite rapidly, with occupation sites associated with Early Neolithic material appearing from c.3750 cal BC. However, the early cattle bones from Ferriter’s Cove and Kilgreany Cave remain somewhat of an enigma in the context of the Early Neolithic in the region. This thesis redresses the geographical imbalance which had previously existed within palaeoenvironmental studies of the Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic period in Ireland. The two new palynological records have provided robust, well-dated profiles which have been highly informative of the changing mid-Holocene landscape in southern Ireland. A distinct Landnam phase is exhibited at Lough Cullin which involved sustained woodland clearance and farming activity over several centuries, however, this occurred prior to the start of occupation at the Early Neolithic archaeological sites of the region. The statistical correlation between the date for the cattle bone from Kilgreany Cave and this Landnam phase may indicate the presence of domesticates in the region at the time when the most intense phase of woodland clearance was occurring which would have serious implications for our understanding on the timing and process of Neolithisation in Ireland. The mid-Holocene ‘Elm Decline’, often viewed as a chronological proxy for the start of the Neolithic, was demonstrated to be asynchronous across all sites investigated, and no degree of spatial cohesion was evidenced for this ‘event’. A correlation between anthropogenic activity and the onset of the ‘Elm Decline’ can be suggested at several sites, although this need not necessarily be ‘Neolithic’ activity. However, this was not in general agreement across all sites, indicating that the ‘Elm Decline’ across the island was a complex, multifactor, site-specific process. To conclude, the results of this thesis have produced a new body of critically assessed palaeoenvironmental data for the period. This study has contributed new perspectives on the timing and nature of human-environment interactions during this period of seismic cultural change. It has pioneered the use of the Bayesian approach to the integration and interpretation of complementary proxy records for human activity, highlighted the need for more considerations as to the chronological approaches taken by archaeological and palaeoenvironmental researchers
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe 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
Full text link“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
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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