Cut marks and terminal Pleistocene hominids in the Ma’anshan site: Evidence for meat-eating

This chapter examines the detailed rules with regard to food and eating spelled out in the Dharmaśāstras. These rules are based on an intricate classification of land animals, birds, and fish according to three criteria: foot and teeth structures, diet (carnivore or herbivore), and habitation (wild, domestic, or village). The animals, milk, and vegetables that are forbidden are called abhakṣya. Even legal foods can become unfit for consumption (abhojya) under certain supervening circumstances: for example, it has been touched or served by an impure person (menstruating woman, someone in mourning, an outcaste) or object (e.g., feces or dog). There is also a discussion about meat eating and vegetarianism.

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New electrical stimulation technologies for sheep carcasses New electrical stimulation technologies for sheep carcasses

Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture ◽

10.1071/ea03257 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 45 (5) ◽

pp. 575 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

F. D. Shaw ◽

S. R. Baud ◽

I. Richards ◽

D. W. Pethick ◽

P. J. Walker ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Electrical Stimulation ◽

High Voltage ◽

Consumer Satisfaction ◽

Electrode System ◽

Constant Current ◽

Eating Quality ◽

Meat Eating ◽

Medium Voltage ◽

Sheep Meat ◽

Maximum Voltage

High voltage electrical stimulation applied to the lamb carcass at the end of the dressing procedure often leads to an improvement in overall product quality by reducing the incidence of toughness. It would be advantageous if the same results could be consistently achieved with the use of lower, safer, voltages — medium voltage electrical stimulation. Experiments were conducted to determine the effect of medium voltage electrical stimulation applied to wool-on carcasses on meat quality as assessed using the Sheep Meat Eating Quality protocols. A further experiment examined the interaction of electrical stimulation and meat aging time on the consumer acceptance of lamb meat. In the first experiment, 3 treatments: control (non-stimulated), medium voltage electrical stimulation (applied to the wool-on carcass) and high voltage electrical stimulation (applied at the completion of dressing) were examined. Samples of the loin (LTL) and rump (GM) muscles were evaluated by consumers using Sheep Meat Eating Quality protocols. For both muscles, the consumers gave higher scores for tenderness, juiciness, flavour and overall acceptability to the stimulated product (P<0.001). There were no statistically significant differences between the 2 stimulation treatments. The second experiment was conducted at a commercial lamb-processing abattoir that had installed a prototype automated electrode system designed to work at chain speed. Lambs received either no stimulation (control), low current medium voltage electrical stimulation (constant current 300 mA peak, 15 Hz, maximum voltage 550 V peak) or high current medium voltage electrical stimulation (constant current 600 mA peak, 15 Hz, maximum voltage 550 V peak) immediately after sticking. Electrical stimulation improved both the objective and sensory (Sheep Meat Eating Quality) eating quality attributes of lamb loin muscle when assessed following 2 days of ageing. When expressed according to consumer satisfaction rating, 30, 37 and 70% of the loins receiving low, high or no electrical stimulation, respectively, were rated as unsatisfactory at 2 days of ageing. At 4 days of ageing no loins from carcasses in the low stimulation treatment were rated by consumers to be unsatisfactory (P<0.05) compared with either non-stimulated (40%) or high-stimulated loins (35%). With respect to the effects of aging meat, electrical stimulation improved the consumer score at 2 days post-stunning by 8.9 and 4.7 points for tenderness and overall liking, respectively. Further linear improvements due to aging were similar for both electrical stimulation and unstimulated products. Under conditions of no electrical stimulation used in this experiment, 10 days aging results in tenderness and overall liking scores greater than 60 and with ES similar scores are achieved in 5 days. Consumer scores over 60 greatly reduce the chance of meat being classified as unsatisfactory.

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Fishing during the early human occupations of the Atacama Desert coast: what if we standardize the data?

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences ◽

10.1007/s12520-021-01387-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

Author(s):

Sandra Rebolledo ◽

Philippe Béarez ◽

Débora Zurro

Keyword(s):

Regional Analysis ◽

Atacama Desert ◽

Coastal Communities ◽

Archaeological Sites ◽

Common Component ◽

Exploratory Approach ◽

Data Heterogeneity ◽

Terminal Pleistocene ◽

Methodological Approaches ◽

Early Human

Abstract The Atacama Desert coast (18–30° S) presents one of the earliest chronologies in the South America region, whose first occupations date from ~ 13,000 cal BP. Since that time, coastal and marine resources have been a common component at sites along the littoral zone. Fish species have been particularly important, as have the fishing technologies developed and used by the coastal communities. However, even though several archaeological sites have been studied, there is no systematic macro-regional analysis of early fisheries along the Atacama Desert coast. Furthermore, differences in theoretical and methodological approaches, as well as research objectives, hinder comparisons between ichthyoarchaeological assemblages. Here, we present a comparative analysis of the Atacama Desert fish data obtained from publications and gray literature from ten archaeological sites dating from the Terminal Pleistocene to the Early Holocene. Through the standardization of contextual and ichthyoarchaeological information, we compared data using NISP, MNI, and weight to calculate fish density, richness, and ubiquity, in order to identify similarities and differences between assemblages. This exploratory approach aims to contribute to studies of fish consumption in the area, as well as proposing new methodological questions and solutions regarding data heterogeneity in archaeozoology.

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The sensitivity of Neotoma to climate change and biodiversity loss over the late Quaternary

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1017/qua.2021.29 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-15

Author(s):

Catalina P. Tomé ◽

S. Kathleen Lyons ◽

Seth D. Newsome ◽

Felisa A. Smith

Keyword(s):

Body Size ◽

Late Quaternary ◽

Climatic Variability ◽

Isotope Analysis ◽

Biodiversity Loss ◽

Bone Collagen ◽

Cam Plants ◽

The Holocene ◽

Carbon And Nitrogen ◽

Terminal Pleistocene

Abstract The late Quaternary in North America was marked by highly variable climate and considerable biodiversity loss including a megafaunal extinction event at the terminal Pleistocene. Here, we focus on changes in body size and diet in Neotoma (woodrats) in response to these ecological perturbations using the fossil record from the Edwards Plateau (Texas) across the past 20,000 years. Body mass was estimated using measurements of fossil teeth and diet was quantified using stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen from fossil bone collagen. Prior to ca. 7000 cal yr BP, maximum mass was positively correlated to precipitation and negatively correlated to temperature. Independently, mass was negatively correlated to community composition, becoming more similar to modern over time. Neotoma diet in the Pleistocene was primarily sourced from C3 plants, but became progressively more reliant on C4 (and potentially CAM) plants through the Holocene. Decreasing population mass and higher C4/CAM consumption was associated with a transition from a mesic to xeric landscape. Our results suggest that Neotoma responded to climatic variability during the terminal Pleistocene through changes in body size, while changes in resource availability during the Holocene likely led to shifts in the relative abundance of different Neotoma species in the community.

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Insights to enhance the examination of tool marks in human cartilage

International Journal of Legal Medicine ◽

10.1007/s00414-021-02609-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Matthias Weber ◽

Anja Niehoff ◽

Markus A. Rothschild

Keyword(s):

Light Microscope ◽

Cross Correlation ◽

Costal Cartilage ◽

Correlation Coefficients ◽

Human Cartilage ◽

Cut Marks ◽

Tool Marks ◽

The Cross ◽

Cleaning Methods ◽

The Individual

AbstractThis work deals with the examination of tool marks in human cartilage. We compared the effectiveness of several cleaning methods on cut marks in porcine cartilage. The method cleaning by multiple casts achieved the significantly highest scores (P = 0.02). Furthermore, we examined the grain-like elevations (dots) located on casts of cut cartilage. The results of this study suggest that the casting material forms these dots when penetrating cartilage cavities, which are areas where the strong collagen fibres leave space for the chondrocytes. We performed fixation experiments to avoid this, without success. In addition, 31 casting materials were compared regarding contrast under light-microscope and 3D tool marks scanner. Under the light-microscope, brown materials achieved significantly higher values than grey (P = 0.02) or black (P = 0.00) whereas under the 3D scanner, black materials reached higher contrast values than grey (P = 0.04) or brown (P = 0.047). To compare the accuracy and reproducibility of 6 test materials for cartilage, we used 10 knives to create cut marks that were subsequently scanned. During the alignment of the individual signals of each mark, the cross-correlation coefficients (Xmax) and lags (LXmax) were calculated. The signals of the marks in agarose were aligned with significantly fewer lags and achieved significantly higher cross-correlation coefficients compared to all tested materials (both P = 0.00). Moreover, we determined the cross-correlation coefficients (XC) for known-matches (KM) per material. Agarose achieved significantly higher values than AccuTrans®, Clear Ballistics™, and gelatine (all P = 0.00). The results of this work provide valuable insights for the forensic investigation of marks in human costal cartilage.

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