378 research outputs found
Contemporaneity of Clactonian and Acheulean flint industries at Barnham, Suffolk
No full textNew field evidence challenges an old-established fundamental of the Lower Palaeolithic sequence in Britain
A Holocene molluscan succession from floodplain sediments of the upper Lena River (Lake Baikal region), Siberia
No full textFloodplainsediments of the upperLenaRiver near Basovo in south-central Siberia have yielded the most detailed Holocenemolluscansuccession yet reported from the entire eastern Palaearctic. Over 72,500 shells from at least 28 species of terrestrial and 23 species of freshwater mollusc have been recovered, an abundance and diversity far higher than previously reported from the region. The molluscan assemblages are dominated by land snails, especially members of the genus Vallonia, represented by five species including Vallonia tenuilabris and two poorly known species Vallonia kamtschatica and Vallonia cf. chinensis. Other noteworthy species recovered include Gastrocopta theeli, Carychium pessimum, Vertigo extima (southernmost record), Vertigo microsphaera and the first Asian records of three other taxa (Vertigo geyeri, Vertigo genesii and Vertigo parcedentata). Illustrations are provided for the critical species, since opinions differ about the status of various taxa and the correct names that should be used. The molluscan assemblages show clear successional trends during the early to mid-Holocene, reflecting episodes of dryness/wetness on the floodplain. Drier conditions at ca 6350 14C yr BP coincide with major changes in the archaeological record seen at other sites in the region but it remains unclear whether the two are linked. A prominent charcoal-rich horizon dated to ca 2800 14C yr BP marks a burning event in the catchment, which resulted in a two-fold increase in sediment accumulation rate. Remains of small mammals occurred throughout the sequence including a tooth of Microtus cf. maximowiczii, possibly the first occurrence of Ungar vole west of LakeBaikal. The faunal analyses have been integrated with a detailed pedological study of the sedimentary profile and a chronology was obtained by means of 12 AMS radiocarbon dates. This study provides the first detailed palaeoecological information relating to Holocenemolluscan assemblages from the Cis-Baikalregion and lays the foundation for future work in the eastern Palaearcti
The Great Fossil Mine of the southern North Sea: exploring the potential of submerged Palaeolithic archaeology
No full textThis research explores the potential of the submerged Palaeolithic archaeology of the southern North Sea for answering questions about how hominins occupied and adapted within their environments in these northerly latitudes throughout the Pleistocene. Recent coastal discoveries in East Anglia have demonstrated occupation as far back as ~1 million years, and yet our appreciation of the how, why and who of this occupation is missing a crucial piece of its puzzle; excluding these now-submerged landscapes is an active bias on our understanding, truncating the archaeological record. Having been subjected to repeated glaciations, trans- and regressions, the very processes that led to the terrestrial exposure of these areas have subsequently led to their neglect: the assumption that pre-LGM deposits will have been eroded or re-worked has prevailed. Recent work, however, has demonstrated the inaccuracy of this assumption, with evidence for extant Pleistocene-age deposits, landscape features and archaeology. Unlocking the clear potential of these submerged landscapes now relies on the approaches that we take to their investigation as, to-date, all archaeological finds have been entirely by chance. In order to move beyond this reactive style of archaeology, methodologies must be developed which tackle these areas in a more focused and reasoned way. The research undertaken throughout this PhD makes steps towards this. Starting from no baseline understanding of the nature of the existing resource, this work located, collated and analysed a prolific collection of 1,019 faunal specimens. Recovered by the 19th and 20th Century UK trawling industry, the development of historical methods has elucidated their locations and conditions of collection. Combining this locational information with species taxonomic evolution, the emergent spatio-temporal patterns provide a fresh understanding of the integrity of the extant deposits and unique opportunities for locating them on the seabed. These results are presented at a range of scales: • First, a broad-scale understanding of offshore regions across the southern North Sea which have demonstrated a dominance of cold-stage species from MIS 8-MIS 2. • Secondly, a local scale: linking faunal remains with seabed features in the near shore area off Happisburgh, identifying Early and early Middle Pleistocene assemblages related to exposures of the CFbF. • Finally, a discrete, high resolution area of seabed off the coast of Clacton has been identified. Through the collection of swath bathymetry, this area has shown the exciting correlation of Pleistocene seabed deposits and faunal remains. This research presents a significant move towards a proactive approach to these submerged landscapes and represents a step-change in our ability to understand, locate and engage with this undervalued archaeological resource. <br/
Coastal curios? An analysis of ex situ beach finds for mapping new Palaeolithic sites at Happisburgh, UK
No full textRecent archaeological discoveries from exposures of the Cromer Forest‐bed Formation at Happisburgh, UK, have radically changed interpretations of the nature and timing of early hominin occupation of northern latitudes, but this in situ archaeology is only one part of the picture. Surface finds of Pleistocene mammalian remains have been found along this coastline for centuries, with stone tools adding to this record over the past 7 years. The ex situ nature of these finds, however, means they are often seen as limited in the information they can provide. This work contributes to a growing body of research from a range of landscape and environmental contexts that seeks to demonstrate the value and importance of these ex situ assemblages. Here the focus is on Palaeolithic flint artefacts and Pleistocene mammalian remains recovered by a group of local collectors through systematic, GPS‐recorded beach collection from 2013 to 2017, and their use in developing a methodology for working with ex situ Palaeolithic finds in coastal locations. The results demonstrate significant patterning that identifies unexplored exposures both onshore and offshore, considerably expanding the known extent of deposits and facilitating new insights into the wider archaeological landscape associated with the earliest occupation of northern Europe
The role of atmospheric fronts in austral winter precipitation changes across Australia
No full text© The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Lawrence, L., Parfitt, R., & Ummenhofer, C. C. The role of atmospheric fronts in austral winter precipitation changes across Australia. Atmospheric Science Letters, 23(10), (2022): e1117, https://doi.org/10.1002/asl.1117.Over the past few decades, Southeast Australia has experienced severe regional climatic events and some of the most extreme droughts on record, linked in part to influences from both the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). In this article, the extent to which austral winter rainfall anomalies, in years leading into co-occurring ENSO and IOD events, are communicated specifically through variations in atmospheric fronts is quantified. The most extreme wet (dry) conditions occur in winters characterized by sea surface temperature anomaly patterns exhibiting features of La Niña-Negative IOD (El Niño-Positive IOD). It is found that most of these precipitation anomalies are related to changes in the precipitation associated with the passing of atmospheric fronts specifically. Although there is some suggestion that there are accompanying changes in the frequency of atmospheric fronts, the response appears to be dominated by changes in the amount of precipitation per individual atmospheric front. In addition, the distribution in the dynamic strength of individual atmospheric fronts remains relatively unchanged.Rhys Parfitt would like to gratefully acknowledge NSF OCE award number 2023585 and Caroline C. Ummenhofer support from the James E. and Barbara V. Moltz Fellowship for Climate-Related Research at WHOI
CBT Columbia River Watershed Simple Poster
No full textGeospatial Technologies & Natural Resource ManagementColumbia Basin Watershed Networ
SHIM Mapping of Murphy, Hanna, & Topping Creeks, Rossland BC (Rossland Water Stewardship Task Force)
No full textGeospatial Technologies & Natural Resource ManagementColumbia Basin Watershed Networ
Blewett (Blewett Watershed Group)
No full textGeospatial Technologies & Natural Resource ManagementColumbia Basin Watershed Networ
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