The Economic Geography of Chert Lithic Production in the Southern Maya Lowlands: A Comparative Examination of Early-Stage Reduction Debris

2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Scott Speal
Keyword(s):  
Early Stage ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Geographic Scale ◽  
Tool Manufacture ◽  
Specialized Production ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Maya Area ◽  
Analytical Approaches ◽  
Comparative Examination

AbstractIt has been known for several decades that certain regions of the Maya Lowlands were characterized by specialized production of chert tools in ancient times. The extent, intensity, organization, and net social effects of centralized lithic production in the Maya area as a whole, however, are not well understood. In order to address issues of broader relevance to social and economic processes, lithicists working in the Maya region need to develop analytical approaches suited to the study of complex economies. The research presented here attempts to establish simple baseline measures for use in comparing the production of siliceous stone tools, both formal and expedient, at different scales across the Maya area. Scholarship in this region has been chronically plagued by prolonged, unresolved debates—mostly a factor of the multitude of single-site-focused projects employing different methodologies and research emphases. The present study therefore proposes a new direction in Maya lithic studies with the goal of enhancing comparability of data on ancient economic structure through the use of standardized statistics that facilitate spatial analysis. Using the proportion of early-stage core reduction debris to the total of all debitagefrom a given context, for instance, enables the analyst to roughly assess the amount of tool manufacture taking place locally. By extension, inferences can be made about the degree of economic integration and interdependence characterizing any given geographic scale, including the architectural group, site, region, and so on. Preliminary analysis of patterns in early-stage reduction illustrates differential spatial distributions of chert tool production and consumption at several scales from across the southern Lowlands, allowing for the refinement of current models of ancient Maya lithic economy.

scholarly journals Collaborating constructively for sustainable biotechnology

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas E. Matthews ◽  
Carrie A. Cizauskas ◽  
Donovan S. Layton ◽  
Laurence Stamford ◽  
Philip Shapira
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Impact Categories ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Analytical Approaches

AbstractTackling the pressing sustainability needs of society will require the development and application of new technologies. Biotechnology, emboldened by recent advances in synthetic biology, offers to generate sustainable biologically-based routes to chemicals and materials as alternatives to fossil-derived incumbents. Yet, the sustainability potential of biotechnology is not without trade-offs. Here, we probe this capacity for sustainability for the case of bio-based nylon using both deliberative and analytical approaches within a framework of Constructive Sustainability Assessment. We highlight the potential for life cycle CO2 and N2O savings with bio-based processes, but report mixed results in other environmental and social impact categories. Importantly, we demonstrate how this knowledge can be generated collaboratively and constructively within companies at an early stage to anticipate consequences and to inform the modification of designs and applications. Application of the approach demonstrated here provides an avenue for technological actors to better understand and become responsive to the sustainability implications of their products, systems and actions.

The Site of Noh K'uh, Chiapas, Mexico: A Late Preclassic Settlement in the Mensäbäk Basin

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 211-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Santiago Juarez ◽  
Sebastián Salgado-Flores ◽  
Christopher Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Complex Societies ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
River Region ◽  
Western Frontier ◽  
Maya Area

In this report we introduce the site of Noh K'uh, a Late Preclassic (400 BC–AD 250) community in the western frontier of the Maya Lowlands. This new body of data contributes to the study of how complex societies emerged both within the Usumacinta River region and the Maya area overall.

CLIMATE-CHANGE STUDIES IN THE MAYA AREA

2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel D. Gunn ◽  
Ray T. Matheny ◽  
William J. Folan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Annual Meeting ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Change Models ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cultural Paradigms ◽  
Physical Forces ◽  
Maya Area

The series of papers on climate change published in this issue are the result of the symposium “Environmental Change in Mesoamerica: Physical Forces and Cultural Paradigms in the Preclassic to Postclassic,” held at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in March 2000 in Philadelphia. The authors bring their expertise in paleoclimatological studies to bear on the Maya Lowlands and Highlands from the beginning of the Holocene to the Postclassic and modern times. The studies reveal that climate has changed during the past 4,000 years to a considerable degree that correlates in a reasonable way with archaeological periodizations. Several climate-change models are presented as an effort to understand better past cultural and natural events.

scholarly journals New Insights Into Recovery of Copper and Gold from Old Flotation Tailings from Bor, Serbia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erdem Özdemir ◽  
Aleksandra Lang ◽  
Juha Saari ◽  
Jussi Liipo
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Mineralogical Characterization ◽  
Valuable Metals ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Substantial Risk ◽  
Effect Of Particle Size ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Pulp Potential ◽  
Detailed Chemical

Mining and processing tailings often contain significant amounts of valuable metals, that can represent valuable sources of secondary raw materials. Especially this is case in early-stage operations, in which the head grades were higher, and the tailings were higher grade. These tailings can also present a substantial risk to the environment. Serbia has copper deposits which have been exploited since ancient times, and these operations have generated large amounts of mineral processing tailings. The main objective of this study is to show how valuables can be recovered from chemically and mineralogically challenging tailings. After detailed chemical and mineralogical characterization, the laboratory scale flotation tests focused on evaluating the effect of particle size, different types of collectors, pH, and pulp potential. Based on the test work, copper and gold can be recovered effectively into pyrite concentrate

scholarly journals Diagnostic Biomarkers for Alzheimer’s Disease Using Non-Invasive Specimens

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1673 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Paraskevaidi ◽  
David Allsop ◽  
Salman Karim ◽  
Francis L. Martin ◽  
StJohn Crean
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Clinical Samples ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
To Come ◽  
Sampling Procedures ◽  
T Tau ◽  
Analytical Approaches

Studies in the field of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have shown the emergence of biomarkers in biologic fluids that hold great promise for the diagnosis of the disease. A diagnosis of AD at a presymptomatic or early stage may be the key for a successful treatment, with clinical trials currently investigating this. It is anticipated that preventative and therapeutic strategies may be stage-dependent, which means that they have a better chance of success at a very early stage—before critical neurons are lost. Several studies have been investigating the use of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood as clinical samples for the detection of AD with a number of established core markers, such as amyloid beta (Aβ), total tau (T-tau) and phosphorylated tau (P-tau), being at the center of clinical research interest. The use of oral samples—including saliva and buccal mucosal cells—falls under one of the least-investigated areas in AD diagnosis. Such samples have great potential to provide a completely non-invasive alternative to current CSF and blood sampling procedures. The present work is a thorough review of the results and analytical approaches, including proteomics, metabolomics, spectroscopy and microbiome analyses that have been used for the study and detection of AD using salivary samples and buccal cells. With a few exceptions, most of the studies utilizing oral samples were performed in small cohorts, which in combination with the existence of contradictory results render it difficult to come to a definitive conclusion on the value of oral markers. Proteins such as Aβ, T-tau and P-tau, as well as small metabolites, were detected in saliva and have shown some potential as future AD diagnostics. Future large-cohort studies and standardization of sample preparation and (pre-)analytical factors are necessary to determine the use of these non-invasive samples as a diagnostic tool for AD.

Vertaalbeschouwing En Vertaalbeheersing

1985 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 9-21
Author(s):  
Raymond Van den Broeck
Keyword(s):  
Early Stage ◽  
Literary Tradition ◽  
Translation Theory ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Main Emphasis ◽  
Structural Differences ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Impossible Task ◽  
Ancient Times

Translating is still generally considered an ungrateful, if not impossible task. To be sure, as an interpretive reproduction of its source the translation of any text can never be more than a partial realization of the semantic, stylistic and pragmatic meanings of the original. The metatextual character of interlingual translation involves shifts which are not only due to structural differences between natural languages but also result from diverging cultural and intertextual factors (literary tradition and conventions). Hence it follows that translating is a norm-governed activity, the more since the translator has to choose between two opposing strategies: either he attempts to reproduce the functionally relevant features of his source text as adequately as possible; or he sticks to the target norms in producing an acceptable text in his mothertongue. Most translators today try to reconciliate these extremes through a happy compromise. However, translators in various ages have solved the dilemma according to views and aims characteristic of their own time and cultural milieu. From ancient times onwards up to the present age translators of renown have theorized on their activity. Many of the resulting theories contradict one another; and this should not surprise us since theorizing in this early stage signified nothing more or less than a justification of one's own strategies and methods. In that sense the majority of early theories of translation are to be regarded as individual translators1 poetics rather than intersubjectively testable statements on the art. However valuable they may have been in contributing to the production of optimum translations fitting their own historical en geographical surroundings, these prescriptive (and hence normative) approaches to translation do no longer satisfy the conditions set to present-day scientific knowledge. Since the early 1950s translation theory gradually became part of a modern discipline which calls itself Translation Studies. After a few years of dependence on both linguistics and comparative literature this discipline has gone its own way. Being interdisciplinary in nature it borrows insights and methods from other, related, disciplines. Due to recent developments its main emphasis nowadays lies on descriptive studies of translational phenomena, for which it has abandoned the traditional translatability line of thinking. Rather than on theoretical statements its future seems to depend on the student's ability to describe translation processes and their ensuing products. The descriptive course it has taken will not only safeguard the discipline from degenerating into mere theoretical speculation but may certainly foster our knowledge of what translations are and how they function in the literary circuit.

Stone-Tool Production and Exchange in the Eastern Maya Lowlands: The Consumer Perspective from Pulltrouser Swamp, Belize

1989 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 332-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia A. McAnany
Keyword(s):  
Distribution System ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Specialized Production ◽  
Lithic Assemblages ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Consumer Perspective ◽  
Metric Dimensions

Ongoing controversy over the identification of mesoamerican centers as the locus for specialized production of stone tools is addressed by reference to a consumer locality in the eastern Maya Lowlands. Lithic data from Pulltrouser Swamp are used to shed light on the production intensity and scale of a distribution system centered at Colha, Belize. Debitage analyses of technological attributes, use wear, and metric dimensions contrast two contexts of lithic procurement at Pulltrouser Swamp: direct procurement of raw material and indirect procurement of finished tools. Each procurement context results in debitage with different variable states. Characterization of the Colha chert lithic material at Pulltrouser Swamp as a consumer assemblage is supported further by the results of a discriminant analysis in which an experimental "consumer" assemblage is classified with the Colha chert. Such characterizations of lithic assemblages are more robust methodologically and more informative substantively than attempts at the quantification of production or usage rates. The implications of scalar differences in production systems are discussed.

scholarly journals Factors affecting fuelwood production and consumption in Greece

2021 ◽  
Vol 899 (1) ◽  
pp. 012031
Author(s):  
I Diafas ◽  
G Arabatzis
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Productive Capacity ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
Rural Residences ◽  
Oil Crises

Abstract Wood, one of the most important renewable energy sources (RES), has been used as a fuel since ancient times. Wood was the first material to be used for energy production. Gradually its use as a fuel dwindled as other sources gained popularity. However, following the oil crises of the 1970s, various countries switched to RES and in particular to wood as a primary heat source. The current paper attempts to highlight the factors that affect fuelwood production and consumption in Greece in recent decades and to propose a number of policy measures. More specifically, fuelwood production in Greece over the last decades is constantly declining mainly due to overgrazing, forest fires, urban sprawl, poor management and inadequate transport infrastructures; all these factors considerably impact the country’s forest productive capacity. Several decades ago, fuelwood was in great demand in Greece. Gradually, however, it lost its popularity to other heating fuels and was only used in rural residences or in a small number of urban homes. The last decade, however, owing to the deep economic crisis afflicting the country, there has been a marked increase in the demand for fuelwood mainly by low-income households.

Consumo critico e reti alimentari

2009 ◽  
pp. 153-170
Author(s):  
Silvia Sivini
Keyword(s):  
Key Words ◽  
National Survey ◽  
Food Chains ◽  
Direct Selling ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Consumption Practices ◽  
Rural Producers ◽  
Alternative Practices ◽  
Small Producers ◽  
Analytical Approaches

- This paper explores the development of alternative practices of production and consumption of food in Italy, pointing out the attention on the potentiality of the short food chains aiming to improve the conditions of small producers as well as on the emerging of critical consumption practices that have encouraged the constitutions of the solidarity purchasing groups (GAS). In particular, this paper presents the results of a national survey about the direct selling practices involving small rural producers as well as the GAS. The networks developed by these actors present specific aspects that are not considered by the analytical approaches just focusing on spatiality, but can be interpreted as "networks of resistance". Key words: critical consumption; agro-food networks; biological production; solidarity purchasing groups; short food chains; direct sale.

Exchange Systems among the Ancient Maya

1972 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gair Tourtellot ◽  
Jeremy A. Sabloff
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Maya Area ◽  
Differential Access

AbstractMost studies of trade in the Maya area of Mesoamerica have been descriptive examinations of exchanged objects and have relied heavily on ethnohistoric sources. This paper, on the other hand, relies mainly on archaeological data and offers several hypotheses about the socio-political significance of intra- and inter-community exchange systems.It is proposed that in the relatively uniform environment of the Maya Lowlands, subsistence arti-facts and goods were generally exchanged within communities while prestige artifacts were exchanged between communities. This hypothesized situation is contrasted with the environmentally differentiated Mexican Highlands where subsistence items were traded widely. Following the theoretical leads of M. Coe, Webb, and Fried, we offer the hypothesis that prior to the introduction of foreign influences, the lack of differential access to basic resources among the ranked social groups of the Maya Lowlands did not stimulate the development of the state in this area.

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