Passage-grave art in the Boyne Valley

1973 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 354-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire O'Kelly

The art in question is found on the structural slabs of a group of megalithic tombs in the valley of the Boyne in Ireland. The tombs are all passage-graves and are characteristically situated on the highest local ground and grouped in a ‘cemetery’. The Boyne cemetery is about 15 km from the east coast and about 50 km by road north of Dublin. In an area approximately 4 × 4 km are situated the three large tumuli of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, as well as over 40 other monuments, more than half of which are passage-graves (fig. 1).The three large mounds are only a few kilometres apart; in fact, from any one of them the other two can be seen since all are in commanding situations. They are similar as regards size and appearance, that is to say, each consists of a mound of stones, or stones, earth, etc., circular in plan and flat-topped, about 85 m in diameter at the base and 12 to 15 m in height. The base of each is surrounded by a continuous kerb of large slabs, 97 at Newgrange, an estimated 110 at Dowth, and an estimated 120 at Knowth. Newgrange is the central tumulus, Dowth is to the north-east, and Knowth to the north-west.

Toxins ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theo Tasoulis ◽  
Anjana Silva ◽  
Punnam Chander Veerati ◽  
Mark Baker ◽  
Wayne C. Hodgson ◽  
...  

Intra-specific venom variation has the potential to provide important insights into the evolution of snake venom, but remains a relatively neglected aspect of snake venom studies. We investigated the venom from 13 individual coastal taipans Oxyuranus scutellatus from four localities on the north-east coast of Australia, spanning a distance of 2000 km. The intra-specific variation in taipan venom was considerably less than the inter-specific variation between it and the other Australian elapids to which it was compared. The electrophoretic venom profile of O. scutellatus was visually different to six other genera of Australian elapids, but not to its congener inland taipan O. microlepidotus. There was minimal geographical variation in taipan venom, as the intra-population variation exceeded the inter-population variation for enzymatic activity, procoagulant activity, and the abundance of neurotoxins. The pre-synaptic neurotoxin (taipoxin) was more abundant than the post-synaptic neurotoxins (3FTx), with a median of 11.0% (interquartile range (IQR): 9.7% to 18.3%; range: 6.7% to 23.6%) vs. a median of 3.4% (IQR: 0.4% to 6.7%; range: 0% to 8.1%). Three taipan individuals almost completely lacked post-synaptic neurotoxins, which was not associated with geography and occurred within two populations. We found no evidence of sexual dimorphism in taipan venom. Our study provides a basis for evaluating the significance of intra-specific venom variation within a phylogenetic context by comparing it to the inter-specific and inter-generic variation. The considerable intra-population variation we observed supports the use of several unpooled individuals from each population when making inter-specific comparisons.


1964 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. C. C. van Someren ◽  
M. Furlong

Descriptions are given of 24-hour biting catches, made in and around Faza, a village on Pate Island, off the north-east coast of Kenya, East Africa.Aedes pembaensis Theo. was the predominant mosquito in these catches but fair numbers of Aedes mombasaensis Mattingly were also taken; the biting cycles of these two are discussed. Six other species were taken in small numbers.For Ae. pembaensis, biting cycles calculated on catches grouped for site, moon phases, neap tides and spring tides show that both moon and tide and light intensity influence the biting behaviour. Different but recurring patterns occur with various combinations of these factors.For Ae. mombasaensis, the cycles have a very constant biphasic pattern. Catches grouped for moon phases, tides and catch sites, as for Ae. pembaensis, show that more biting females are taken at neap tides than at spring tides. Two patterns of behaviour occur, one associated with spring tides and the other with neap tides. An even level of biting activity occurs during the night with intense and prolonged moonlight; otherwise moon-phase cycles have little effect on biting behaviour.It is felt that 24-hour biting catches can give useful information on behaviour patterns but it is desirable to have a long series of catches to analyse. For the purpose of calculating biting cycles, the results of catches showing similar modifications in behaviour should be treated separately.


1876 ◽  
Vol 3 (8) ◽  
pp. 360-361
Author(s):  
T. Mellard Reade

As a contribution to our knowledge of the formation of these very interesting “natural embankments of the sea,” I may point to a little bay in Anglesea, immediately westward of the Bryn Ddu Limestone quarries on the north-east coast of Anglesea, about two miles and a half westward of Puffin Island. This little bay is not more than about a furlong across, and may be roughly described as semicircular in form, lying nearly due west to east from point to point. From being in miniature as it were, the ridge can be readily studied, and it is very striking to see how, commencing in the westward as a beach, it gradually rises into a ridge having very steep sides. No less remarkable is the way in which the stones increase in size as the ridge does in height. At the west end it may be described as composed of Limestone pebbles, with here and there a boulder, while at the east end it is built up almost entirely of large limestone boulders and blocks, many containing from one to two cubic feet and some more. Intermixed there are boulders from the size of the closed hand and upwards. The larger blocks are sub-angular and rounded, and no doubt get gradually worn down smaller and rounder, until they become “boulders.” by being moved about, by the sea; but some on the other hand, being thrown over on to the back of the bank, cannot be further affected by the waves. In this ridge, as I have pointed out is the case with the Chesil Bank, the stones follow the law of the bank itself, the largest being collected to form the highest part of the bank, which in both occurs where the wave-action is most intense.


1927 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. H. Rastall

The foregoing sketch brings out marked resemblances in the geological features of eastern and southern England on the one hand, and the neighbouring parts of the continent on the other. In both areas we find an old plateau of pre-Devonian rocks, against which Devonian and Carboniferous rocks are violently thrust from the south by Armorican and Variscan folds, giving rise to highly complex coal-basins in Belgium, France and Somerset, a type of structure possibly to be encountered in the future in Kent. In Belgium this plateau sinks to the north-east under the Campine coalfield, while in England its north-west margin is complicated by the incidence of posthumous folds of Charnian strike.In eastern England, east of the Charnwood line, there is evidence for the existence of Professor Kendall's Willoughby axis, with north-west strike; between this and the Charnwood line there are indications of similar parallel buried trend-lines in the folding and faulting of the visible Yorks-Derby-Notts coalfield, and also, as suggested by Professor Fearnsides, in the general shape of this basin.Further to the north, however, the general line of the Cleveland and Market Weighton axes is not Charnian, being about west 5° north. The Market Weighton axis, which is of Charnian type, with many repeated movements, does not form the boundary of the coalfield; this is in fact constituted by the southern flank of the broad Cleveland uplift, which is of Wealden type; an anticline superposed on an earlier sinking area.


2003 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 797-802
Author(s):  
Malcom D Evans ◽  
JG Merrills

On 17 December 2002 the International Court gave its judgment in a dispute over two small islands in the Celebes Sea claimed by both Indonesia and Malaysia. The islands in question, Ligitan and Sipadan, are located off the north-east coast of Borneo and lie approximately 15.5 nautical miles apart. Both are very small and Ligitan is uninhabited; Sipadan, on the other hand, was developed by Malaysia into a tourist resort for scuba diving in the 1980s. In 1998 Indonesia and Malaysia referred the dispute to the Court by means of a Special Agreement, asking for a decision ‘on the basis of the treaties, agreements and any other evidence furnished by the Parties’ on whether sovereignty over the islands belonged to Indonesia or to Malaysia.


1898 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 95-100
Author(s):  
Duncan Mackenzie

From the modern town of Kos, on the site of the ancient capital at the north-east extremity of the island, to the village of Kephalos at the southwest end is a ride of eight hours.The village stands on a chalky plateau which beyond the isthmus marks the beginning of the mountain district of south-west Kos. This in turn is a repetition on a smaller scale of the mountain region, at the other end of the island, which forms the lofty termination to the long central tableland. The highest points of the mountain district are towards the south-east where the fall to the sea is very rapid. The highest neighbouring peak, Mount Ziní, is about an hour distant from the village in a south-easterly direction, while all that lies to the north-west of the main range is high pastoral country with many torrent beds.


1971 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 11-13
Author(s):  
N Hald

Hareøen is an island north-west of Disko in western Greenland. It has the form of a plateau, whose highest point - 512 metres - is found near the south coast. Like the neighbouring parts of Nugssuaq and Disko, Hareøen consists chiefly of Tertiary basaltic lavas. The island first attracted attention on account of the presence of interbasaltic, coal-bearing sediments on the north-east coast. These were already examined by Giesecke in 1811 (Giesecke, 1910) and later among others by Steenstrup (1874) and B.E. Koch (1959). A petrographie investigation of the basalts was first undertaken by Holmes (1919), who described loose fragments rich in K2O. Lavas from the south coast, colleeted and analysed by Pedersen (1970), also have a high content of potash. V. Miinther in the years 1948-49 untertook geological mapping of the island, on which the present investigation is supported (Miinther, in press).


1924 ◽  
Vol 14 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 252-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. G. Collingwood

The main lines of communication, in any given country, alter very little from age to age. They are dictated by geography; the vicissitudes of economic and political history may affect their relative importance and alter the details of their lay-out, but nothing except the cessation of traffic can fundamentally change them. This is strikingly exemplified in the relation between the Roman roads of England and its modern railway-system. The main Roman roads are laid out with such accurate attention to geographical facts, that the railway engineers of the nineteenth century were unconsciously forced to imitate their choice of track. In both cases, London is the hub of the system, and main lines radiate to the Channel ports, the Solent, the Exe, the Bristol Channel, the north-west coast, the north-east coast, and East Anglia. In both cases, again, there are certain “cross-country” lines—one from Cheshire to the Usk, one from the Tyne to the Solway, others through the passes of the Pennines. In short, a map of main Roman roads superimposed upon one of main railway-lines shows a very close general agreement, modified by such details as the substitution of Liverpool for Chester as the chief port of the north-west, and the substitution of Reading for Silchester or Shrewsbury for Wroxeter as a nodal point.


Author(s):  
R. H. Millar

This paper is the second of a series dealing with the annual cycle of growth andreproduction in British ascidians; a previous paper (Millar, 1952) dealt with the speciesDiplosoma listerianum (Milne Edwards), Ciona intestinalis (Linnaeus),Ascidiella aspersa (Muller), andBotryllus schlosseri (Pallas)The present investigation is concerned with the growth, the course of sexual reproduction and establishment of new generations, and the histological changes in the gonad throughout the year, in the ascidianDendrodoa grossularia (family Styelidae).Samples were examined from two widely separated localities: Fambridge in the River Crouch, Essex; and Farland Point, Isle of Cumbrae, in the Firth of Clyde. The specimens from Essex were dredged from a depth of about 2 m. (below L.W.O.S.T.), and were attached to the empty shells of the European oyster,Ostrea edulis L. and to the shells ofCrepidula fornicata L. The speci-mens from the Firth of Clydewere attached to stones on sheltered parts of the shore. The animals here extended over a zone of the shore from about Chart Datum+ 2.5 ft. (0.76 m.) to about Chart Datum+ 7.5 ft. (2.29 m.): Only in very sheltered positions, such as under large boulders, did Dendrodoa occur in abundance. The two habitats were thus very different in nature, one being sublittoral on the south-east coast of Britain and the other being littoral on the north-west coast. The value of comparisons is limited by the different nature of the conditions to which the sublittoral and the littoral populations were exposed.The observations on growth in the Clyde extended over most of 1951 and 1952, and nineteen samples were taken.


1949 ◽  
Vol 1 (05) ◽  
pp. 220-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Farrington

AbstractFive glacial phases are recognized in the area described. Two of these are represented by the deposits of ice-sheets from the north-east and north-west respectively; the other three were of local origin. The materials composing the drifts differ sufficiently to enable the stratigraphy to be seen clearly. This shows that the local ice caps alternated with the invading ice sheets—which brings out a point of considerable climatological interest in that it is clear that the local ice advanced not simultaneously with the invading ice sheets but alternated with them. The order in which the five phases occurred is well established, but the importance of the intervals between the phases is at present uncertain.


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