Hominid colonisation and the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic of the West Midlands

2005 ◽  
Vol 71 ◽  
pp. 63-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.T.O. Lang ◽  
D.H. Keen
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
The West ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Record ◽  
West Midlands ◽  
Early Humans ◽  
Isotope Record ◽  
The University ◽  
Palaeolithic Archaeology ◽  
New Time

The recognition over the last 20 years that the Quaternary deposits of the West Midlands cover a longer period of time than previously envisaged has led to a re-analysis of their contained Palaeolithic archaeology. Stone tools have been found in the region for over a hundred years and cover most periods of hominid colonisation from the time of the earliest occupants of the country over half a million years ago. Twentieth century research in the West Midlands, often led by Professor F. W. Shotton at the University of Birmingham, correlated the Palaeolithic of the region with the Quaternary geological sequence as it was then understood. Shotton identified the ‘Wolstonian’ glaciation as the key event of the Midlands Pleistocene, around which a chronology for the Palaeolithic could be built and gave an age of less than 250 kyr for this episode. Work since 1985 has compared the Midlands sequence with the oxygen isotope record of the ocean basins and shown that the concept of a relatively recent ‘Wolstonian’ is now untenable and that the former chronology built around it is too short for the observed events in the area. This new time paradigm, with the earliest occupation of the area thought to be c. 500 kyr, has made necessary a reconsideration of the chronology of the Palaeolithic and Middle Pleistocene of the area. This new time framework brings into critical focus the issue of reworking of the archaeology and its true age. The tools themselves present complications of analysis compared to many other areas containing a Palaeolithic record, perhaps most notably through the use of largely non-flint raw materials, some which may have been introduced into the area by early humans or an hither-to unidentified glacial event. This opportunity to present a new chronology of occupation comes out of the work carried out by the ‘Shotton Project’ based at the University of Birmingham, and by the University of Liverpool.

Middle Pleistocene Climate Change Recorded in Fossil Mammal Teeth from Tarija, Bolivia, and Upper Limit of the Ensenadan Land-Mammal Age

2000 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce J. MacFadden
Keyword(s):  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Carbon Isotopic ◽  
Upper Limit ◽  
Pleistocene Climate ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Record ◽  
Isotope Record ◽  
Pleistocene Climate Change ◽  
Age Limits ◽  
Pattern Of Variation ◽  
Land Mammal

Fossiliferous middle Pleistocene sediments of the Tarija basin of southern Bolivia contain a classic Ensenadan land-mammal fauna. New carbon isotopic data reported here for 50 specimens of the grazing mammals Equus (horse) and Cuvieronius (mastodon), documented from eight stratigraphic levels at Tarija, vary significantly in the δ13C values of their teeth. The pattern of variation appears to reflect the proportion of C3 and C4 grasses eaten during colder (more C3) and warmer (more C4) times. Within age limits set by associated magnetostratigraphy, the cold periods can be correlated with particular even-numbered stages in the marine oxygen-isotope record, and the warm periods can be correlated with odd-numbered stages. The oldest fossil teeth analyzed from the Tarija section can thereby be assigned to stage 29, and the youngest to stages 17 or 15, that is; the teeth range in age from about 1.1 myr to as young as 0.7 myr. Based on correlation of the upper part of the Tarija beds to the isotopic stages, the upper limit of the Ensenadan land-mammal age is between 0.7 and 0.6 myr, which is younger than stated in most previous studies.

Middle Pleistocene age of the Nome River glaciation, northwestern Alaska

1991 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darrell S. Kaufman ◽  
Robert C. Walter ◽  
Julie Brigham-Grette ◽  
David M. Hopkins
Keyword(s):  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Laser Fusion ◽  
Basaltic Lava ◽  
Last Interglacial ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Record ◽  
Isotope Record ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Nearshore Sediments ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Basaltic Lava Flow

AbstractDuring the middle Pleistocene Nome River glaciation of northwestern Alaska, glaciers covered an area an order of magnitude more extensive than during any subsequent glacial intervals. The age of the Nome River glaciation is constrained by laser-fusion 40Ar/39Ar analyses of basaltic lava that overlies Nome River drift at Minnie Creek, central Seward Peninsula, that average 470,000 ± 190,000 yr (±1σ). Milligram-size subsamples of the lava were dated to identify and eliminate extraneous 40Ar enrichments that rendered the mean of conventional K-Ar dates on larger bulk samples of the same flow too old (700,000 ± 570,000 yr). While the 40Ar/39Ar analyses provide a minimum limiting age for the Nome River glaciation, maximum ages are provided by a provisional K-Ar date on a basaltic lava flow that underlies the Nome River drift at nearby Lave Creek, by paleomagnetic determinations of the drift itself at and near the type locality, and by amino acid epimerization analysis of molluscan fossils from nearshore sediments of the Anvilian marine transgression that underlie Nome River drift on the coastal plain at Nome. Taken together, the new age data indicate that the glaciation took place between 580,000 and 280,000 yr ago. The altitude of the Anvilian deposits suggests that eustatic sea level during the Anvilian transgression rose at least as high as and probably higher than during the last interglacial transgression; by correlation with the marine oxygen-isotope record, the transgression probably dates to stage 11 at 410,000 yr, and the Nome River glaciation is younger still. Analyses of floor altitudes of presumed Nome River cirques indicate that the Nome River regional snowline depression was at least twice that of the maximum late Wisconsin. The cause of the enhanced snowline lowering appears to be related to greater availability of moisture in northwestern Alaska during the middle Pleistocene.

Time Scale of the Wisconsin/Holocene Transition: Oxygen Isotope Record in the Western Equatorial Pacific

1987 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. H. Berger ◽  
J. S. Killingley ◽  
E. Vincent
Keyword(s):  
Oxygen Isotope ◽  
Time Scale ◽  
Late Onset ◽  
Equatorial Pacific ◽  
The West ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Record ◽  
Western Equatorial Pacific ◽  
Isotope Record ◽  
Radiocarbon Data

AbstractAn evaluation of both published and new oxygen isotope and radiocarbon data from the west equatorial Pacific (7 box cores, 2 piston cores, 2 gravity cores) indicates that there was no significant input of meltwater to the ocean before 14,000 14C yr B.P. This finding is in conflict with various early deglaciation scenarios suggested several years ago on the basis of Wisconsin/Holocene transition records from the Atlantic, but agrees with late-onset scenarios proposed more recently, both for Pacific and Atlantic deglaciation records.

Centre of IT Excellence for SMEs in the West Midlands, UK

2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 385-391
Author(s):  
Diana Thompson ◽  
Garry Homer
Keyword(s):  
Technology Transfer ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Quantitative Data ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
The West ◽  
West Midlands ◽  
Uk Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University ◽  
European Technology

This paper presents an analysis of the IT Futures Centre, a European technology transfer project based at the University of Wolverhampton in the UK. After reviewing UK government policy in technology transfer, the authors highlight the project's two key elements – a new state-of-the-art building and an IT consultancy team – both of which are dedicated to providing advice, consultancy, training and demonstration facilities for small and medium-sized companies in the West Midlands region of England. The paper addresses the systems and methodology used for delivery and the quantitative data available which indicate the progress companies have made as a result of this intervention. Finally, issues that have arisen during the operation of the project to date are discussed, especially the problems that academics face in the delivery process.

scholarly journals The "Shackleton Site" (IODP Site U1385) on the Iberian Margin

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 13-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Hodell ◽  
L. Lourens ◽  
D. A. V. Stow ◽  
J. Hernández-Molina ◽  
C. A. Alvarez Zarikian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Ocean Drilling Program ◽  
Integrated Ocean Drilling Program ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Record ◽  
Isotope Record ◽  
Middle Pleistocene Transition ◽  
Iberian Margin ◽  
Millennial Scale

Abstract. Nick Shackleton's research on piston cores from the Iberian margin highlighted the importance of this region for providing high-fidelity records of millennial-scale climate variability, and for correlating climate events from the marine environment to polar ice cores and European terrestrial sequences. During the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 339, we sought to extend the Iberian margin sediment record by drilling with the D/V JOIDES Resolution. Five holes were cored at Site U1385 using the advanced piston corer (APC) system to a maximum depth of ~155.9 m below sea floor (m b.s.f.). Immediately after the expedition, cores from all holes were analyzed by core scanning X-ray fluorescence (XRF) at 1 cm spatial resolution. Ca/Ti data were used to accurately correlate from hole-to-hole and construct a composite spliced section, containing no gaps or disturbed intervals to 166.5 m composite depth (mcd). A low-resolution (20 cm sample spacing) oxygen isotope record confirms that Site U1385 contains a continuous record of hemipelagic sedimentation from the Holocene to 1.43 Ma (Marine Isotope Stage 46). The sediment profile at Site U1385 extends across the middle Pleistocene transition (MPT) with sedimentation rates averaging ~10 cm kyr−1. Strong precession cycles in colour and elemental XRF signals provide a powerful tool for developing an orbitally tuned reference timescale. Site U1385 is likely to become an important type section for marine–ice–terrestrial core correlations and the study of orbital- and millennial-scale climate variability.

scholarly journals Assessing the extent of drug interactions among patients with multimorbidity in primary and secondary care in the West Midlands (UK): a study protocol for the Mixed Methods Multimorbidity Study (MiMMS)

BMJ Open ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. e016713 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Backman ◽  
Philip Weber ◽  
Alice M Turner ◽  
Mark Lee ◽  
Ian Litchfield
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Secondary Care ◽  
Theoretical Domains Framework ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Normalisation Process Theory ◽  
The West ◽  
West Midlands ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

IntroductionThe numbers of patients with three or more chronic conditions (multimorbidity) are increasing, and will rise to 2.9 million by 2018 in the UK alone. Currently in the UK, conditions are mainly managed using over 250 sets of single-condition guidance, which has the potential to generate conflicting recommendations for lifestyle and concurrent medication for individual patients with more than one condition. To address some of these issues, we are developing a new computer-based tool to help manage these patients more effectively. For this tool to be applicable and relevant to current practice, we must first better understand how existing patients with multimorbidity are being managed, particularly relating to concerns over prescribing and potential polypharmacy.Methods and analysisUp to four secondary care centres, two community pharmacies and between four and eight primary care centres in the West Midlands will be recruited. Interviewees will be purposively sampled from these sites, up to a maximum of 30. In this mixed methods study, we will perform a dual framework analysis on the qualitative data; the first analysis will use the Theoretical Domains Framework to assess barriers and enablers for healthcare professionals around the management of multimorbid patients; the second analysis will use Normalisation Process Theory to understand how interventions are currently being successfully implemented in both settings. We will also extract quantitative anonymised patient data from primary care to determine the extent of polypharmacy currently present for patients with multimorbidity in the West Midlands.DiscussionWe aim to combine these data so that we can build a useful, fully implementable tool which addresses the barriers most amenable to change within both primary and secondary care contexts.Ethics and disseminationFavourable ethical approval has been granted by The University of Birmingham Research Ethics Committee (ERN_16–0074) on 17 May 2016. Our work will be disseminated through peer-reviewed literature, trade journals and conferences. We will also use the dedicated web page hosted by the University to serve as a central point of contact and as a repository of our findings. We aim to produce a minimum of three articles from this work to contribute to the international scientific literature.Protocol registration numberNIHR Clinical Research Network Portfolio Registration CPMS ID 30613.

A panorama of Polish archaeology

Antiquity ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 65 (248) ◽  
pp. 583-592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksander Bursche ◽  
Timothy Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Interdisciplinary Collaboration ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
The West ◽  
The University ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Second World ◽  
Palaeolithic Archaeology

In October 1991, Janusz Krzysztof Kozlowski of the University of Cracow will be at the Society of Antiquaries in London to receive the Prehistoric Society's first Europa Prize in recognition of his contribution to Palaeolithic archaeology. His achievement, involving as it has international interdisciplinary collaboration, has been all the more remarkable in that it has been conducted from a country which has been in a state of internal crisis for the last decade, and subservient to a censorious Soviet scientific and political orthodoxy since the end of the Second World War. How has the discipline of archaeology developed generally this century in Poland? What can it now teach the west?

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