Fluvial deposits as an archive of early human activity: Progress during the 20 years of the Fluvial Archives Group

This chapter looks at how the roots of human ecology lie primarily in general ecology, sociology, geography, and anthropology, as documented by numerous literature reviews. The idea for the application of general ecological principles to human activity was sparked by sociologists at the University of Chicago in the 1920s and 1930s. Sociologists Robert E. Park and Ernest W. Burgess drew analogies between human and nonhuman communities, describing society’s symbiotic and competitive relationships as an organic web. Biological concepts such as competition, commensalism, succession, and equilibrium were freely borrowed, mirroring the biologists’ use of social science concepts. Borrowing from contemporary plant ecologists and their focus on plant community zones, early human ecologists moved from classrooms to city streets to map “natural areas” or zones of the urban metropolis.

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Landscape reconstruction and the relationship between human and environment in Yaowuyao area, Northeastern Tibetan Plateau since 15000 yr BP

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-18646 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Naimeng Zhang ◽

Qinghai Xu ◽

Dongju Zhang ◽

Ulrike Herzschuh ◽

Zhongwei Shen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Human Activity ◽

Human Activities ◽

Tibet Plateau ◽

Qinghai Lake ◽

Lake Basin ◽

Human Beings ◽

Landscape Reconstruction ◽

Qinghai Lake Basin ◽

Early Human

<p>Understanding the paleoenvironment (such as climate and landscape) in the area where the early ancient human appears on the Tibetan Plateau is an interesting topic. Based on the results of pollen data on the Yaowuyao loess section of the Qinghai Lake Basin, we used landscape reconstruction algorithms to reconstruct the changes in vegetation cover for 15,000 years. It is shown that the vegetation in the Yaowuyao area changed from temperate steppe (15-7.5 ka) to forest-steppe (7.5-4 ka). Compared with previous studies on the sediment in Qinghai Lake, our study can better reflect the local environment of the Qinghai Lake basin. Furthermore, based on the paleoclimate change data and archeological data from the surrounding areas, it is noticed that while precipitation increases and trees increase, human activities decrease. This may be caused by the substance and strategies of the ancient human beings that have adapted to the steppe. In addition, our results also show that the intensity of ancient human activity has a negative correlation with plant biodiversity, which may be related to human disturbance to the environment. Our paleoecological and environmental study not only shows the paleoenvironment of the early human activities on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau but also revealed possible early human activity signals.</p>

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Infrared radiofluorescence (IR-RF) dating of middle pleistocene fluvial archives of the Heidelberg Basin (Southwest Germany)

Geochronometria ◽

10.2478/s13386-011-0006-9 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 38 (1) ◽

pp. 23-33 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Tobias Lauer ◽

Matthias Krbetschek ◽

Manfred Frechen ◽

Sumiko Tsukamoto ◽

Christian Hoselmann ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sediment Cores ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Upper Rhine Graben ◽

Fluvial Sediments ◽

Fluvial Deposits ◽

Core Depth ◽

Time Periods ◽

Fluvial Archives ◽

Upper Rhine ◽

Southwest Germany

AbstractThe infrared radiofluorescence (IR-RF) dating technique was applied to eight fluvial samples that were collected from two sediment cores at the Heidelberg Basin located near Viernheim and Ludwigshafen in southwest Germany. Based on the IR-RF derived ages of the samples it was possible to establish a chronological framework for the Mid-Pleistocene fluvial deposits of the Heidelberg Basin. The results allow us to distinguish between four main periods of aggradation. The lowermost sample taken from 100 m core depth lead to an IR-RF age of 643 ± 28 ka pointing to a Cromerian period of aggradation (OIS 17–16). For the Elsterian it is now possible to distinguish between two aggradation periods, one occurring during the Lower Elsterian period (OIS 15) and a second during the Upper Elsterian period (OIS 12–11). For the so called Upper interlayer (or “Oberer Zwischenhorizont” — a layer of organic-rich and finer-grained deposits), the IR-RF results point to a deposition age of around 300 ka, with samples taken directly on top and out of this layer yielding IR-RF ages of 288 ± 19 ka and 302 ± 19 ka, respectively. Hence, the measured IR-RF ages clearly point to a deposition during the Lower Saalian period (OIS 9–8) whereas earlier studies assumed a Cromerian age for the sediments of the Upper Interlayer based on pollen records and also mollusc fauna. The new IR-RF dataset indicates that significant hiatuses are present within the fluvial sediment successions. In particular the Eemian and Upper Saalian deposits are missing in this part of the northern Upper Rhine Graben, as the 300 ka deposits are directly overlain by Weichselian fluvial sediments. It is obvious that time periods of increased fluvial aggradation were interrupted by time periods of almost no aggradation or erosion which should have been mainly triggered by phases of increased and decreased subsidence of the Heidelberg Basin.

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The Moyjil site, south-west Victoria, Australia: stratigraphic and geomorphic context

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria ◽

10.1071/rs18004 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 130 (2) ◽

pp. 14

Author(s):

Stephen P. Carey ◽

John E. Sherwood ◽

Megan Kay ◽

Ian J. McNiven ◽

James M. Bowler

Keyword(s):

Detailed Analysis ◽

Human Activity ◽

Last Interglacial ◽

Human Influence ◽

Calcareous Sand ◽

South West ◽

Coastal Marine ◽

Eastern Australia ◽

Shell Deposit ◽

Early Human

Shelly deposits at Moyjil (Point Ritchie, Warrnambool), Victoria, together with ages determined from a variety of techniques, have long excited interest in the possibility of a preserved early human influence in far south-eastern Australia. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the stratigraphy of the host Bridgewater Formation (Pleistocene) at Moyjil and provides the context to the shelly deposits, evidence of fire and geochronological sampling. We have identified five superposed calcarenite–palaeosol units in the Bridgewater Formation, together with two prominent erosional surfaces that may have hosted intensive human activity. Part of the sequence is overlain by the Tower Hill Tuff, previously dated as 35 ka. Coastal marine erosion during the Last Interglacial highstand created a horizontal surface on which deposits of stones and shells subsequently accumulated. Parts of the erosional surface and some of the stones are blackened, perhaps by fire. The main shell deposit was formed by probable mass flow, and additional shelly remains are dispersed in the calcareous sand that buried the surface.

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New evidence for the Palaeolithic in Attica, Greece

Journal of Lithic Studies ◽

10.2218/jls.2665 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Justin Allen Holcomb ◽

Curtis Runnels ◽

Duncan Howitt-Marshall ◽

Evangelos Sachperoglou

Keyword(s):

Human Activity ◽

Middle Palaeolithic ◽

Southwest Asia ◽

Southeast Europe ◽

Geographic Position ◽

Private Collection ◽

Northern Edge ◽

New Evidence ◽

Early Human

Despite Greece’s key geographic position between southeast Europe and southwest Asia, and its potential for documenting hominin dispersals, Lower and Middle Palaeolithic sites are rare. This suggests the need for research to identify deposits that may contain Palaeolithic artefacts. Here we describe 165 quartz and quartzite artefacts with Palaeolithic characteristics (based on technical and morphotypological definitions) from a private collection that was made from erosional lag deposits on the southeastern slopes of Mt. Pendeli and the northern edge of the Spata polje (a large karstic depression filled with terra rossas) in northeast Attica. Artefacts of the same type occur in the region of Ano Souli, another karstic depression. These karstic depressions are of interest because they resemble artefact-bearing deposits found at similar features such as Kokkinopilos in Epirus that have provided datable geologic contexts for Lower and Middle Palaeolithic artefacts. Our study suggests that Attica was frequented by hominins in the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic and that Pleistocene deposits in karstic depressions in Attica may preserve datable contexts for documenting early human activity. The lithic collection described here provides a glimpse of the potential of the region, and we recommend continued archaeological efforts in Attica to investigate the likelihood for buried Palaeolithic sites.

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Performance-based validation of the human activity profile

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e548052012-620 ◽

2007 ◽

Author(s):

Luci Fuscaldi Teixeira-Salmela ◽

Sandra J. Olney ◽

Revathy Devaraj

Keyword(s):

Human Activity ◽

Activity Profile

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Individual Human Activity Systems: Proposed Model for Life Planning and Change

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e633902010-001 ◽

2010 ◽

Author(s):

Elaine R. Parent

Keyword(s):

Human Activity ◽

Activity Systems ◽

Life Planning ◽

Proposed Model ◽

Individual Human

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Ice-free area expansion compounds the non-native species threat to Antarctic terrestrial biodiversity

10.32942/osf.io/fbzm5 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Grant Duffy ◽

Jasmine R Lee

Keyword(s):

Human Activity ◽

Native Species ◽

Climate Scenario ◽

Climatic Environment ◽

Species Establishment ◽

Suitable Habitats ◽

Terrestrial Biodiversity ◽

A Site ◽

Area Expansion ◽

Free Area

Warming across ice-covered regions will result in changes to both the physical and climatic environment, revealing new ice-free habitat and new climatically suitable habitats for non-native species establishment. Recent studies have independently quantified each of these aspects in Antarctica, where ice-free areas form crucial habitat for the majority of terrestrial biodiversity. Here we synthesise projections of Antarctic ice-free area expansion, recent spatial predictions of non-native species risk, and the frequency of human activities to quantify how these facets of anthropogenic change may interact now and in the future. Under a high-emissions future climate scenario, over a quarter of ice-free area and over 80 % of the ~14 thousand km2 of newly uncovered ice-free area could be vulnerable to invasion by one or more of the modelled non-native species by the end of the century. Ice-free areas identified as vulnerable to non-native species establishment were significantly closer to human activity than unsuitable areas were. Furthermore, almost half of the new vulnerable ice-free area is within 20 km of a site of current human activity. The Antarctic Peninsula, where human activity is heavily concentrated, will be at particular risk. The implications of this for conservation values of Antarctica and the management efforts required to mitigate against it are in need of urgent consideration.

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Science Regained [1962]

10.3366/edinburgh/9781474412094.003.0007 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Pierre Aubenque

Keyword(s):

Human Activity ◽

Human Cognition ◽

Human Thought ◽

Motion Time ◽

First Philosophy

Pierre Aubenque’s “Science Regained” (1962; translated by Clayton Shoppa) was originally published as the concluding chapter of Le Problème de l’Être chez Aristote, one of the most important and original books on Aristotle’s Metaphysics. In this essay, Aubenque contends that the impasses which beset the project of first philosophy paradoxically become its greatest accomplishments. Although science stabilizes motion and thereby introduces necessity into human cognition, human thought always occurs amidst an inescapable movement of change and contingency. Aristotle’s ontology, as a discourse that strives to achieve being in its unity, succeeds by means of the failure of the structure of its own approach: the search of philosophy – dialectic – becomes the philosophy of the search. Aubenque traces this same structure of scission, mediation, and recovery across Aristotelian discussions of theology, motion, time, imitation, and human activity.

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