scholarly journals Steak tournedos or beef Wellington: an attempt to understand the meaning of Stone Age transformative techniques

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Human Culture ◽  
Early Humans ◽  
Human Uniqueness ◽  
Properties Of Materials ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Process Complexity

AbstractResearch into human uniqueness is gaining increasing importance in prehistoric archaeology. The most striking behaviour unique to early and modern humans among other primates is perhaps that they used fire to transform the properties of materials. In Archaeology, these processes are sometimes termed “engineering” or “transformative techniques” because they aim at producing materials with altered properties. Were such transformative techniques cognitively more demanding than other tool making processes? Were they the key factors that separated early humans, such as Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens, from other hominins? Many approaches to investigating these techniques rely on their complexity. The rationale behind this is that some techniques required more steps than others, thus revealing the underlying mechanisms of human uniqueness (e.g., unique human culture). However, it has been argued that the interpretation of process complexity may be prone to arbitrariness (i.e., different researchers have different notions of what is complex). Here I propose an alternative framework for interpreting transformative techniques. Three hypotheses are derived from an analogy with well-understood processes in modern-day cuisine. The hypotheses are about i) the requirement in time and/or raw materials of transformative techniques, ii) the difficulty to succeed in conducting transformative techniques and iii) the necessity to purposefully invent transformative techniques, as opposed to discovering them randomly. All three hypotheses make testable predictions.

Does Vitamin K Intake Influence High Phosphate Induced Vascular Pseudo-ossification: An Underappreciated Therapeutic Prospect in General Population?

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 421-430
Author(s):  
Zar Chi Thent ◽  
Gabriele R.A. Froemming ◽  
Suhaila Abd Muid
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Kidney Disease ◽  
Kidney Disease ◽  
Vascular Calcification ◽  
Vitamin K ◽  
Prolonged Exposure ◽  
Vascular Complication ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
High Phosphate

Increasing interest in vascular pseudo-ossification has alarmed the modern atherosclerotic society. High phosphate is one of the key factors in vascular pseudo ossification, also known as vascular calcification. The active process of deposition of the phosphate crystals in vascular tissues results in arterial stiffness. High phosphate condition is mainly observed in chronic kidney disease patients. However, prolonged exposure with high phosphate enriched foods such as canned drinks, dietary foods, etc. can be considered as modifiable risk factors for vascular complication in a population regardless of chronic kidney disease. High intake of vitamin K regulates the vascular calcification by exerting its anti-calcification effect. The changes in serum phosphate and vitamin K levels in a normal individual with high phosphate intake are not well investigated. This review summarised the underlying mechanisms of high phosphate induced vascular pseudo ossification such as vascular transdifferentiation, vascular apoptosis and phosphate uptake by sodium-dependent co-transporters. Pubmed, Science Direct, Scopus, ISI Web of Knowledge and Google Scholar were searched using the terms ‘vitamin K’, ‘vascular calcification, ‘phosphate’, ‘transdifferentiation’ and ‘vascular pseudoossification’. Vitamin K certainly activates the matrix GIA protein and inhibits vascular transition and apoptosis in vascular pseudo-ossification. The present view highlighted the possible therapeutic linkage between vitamin K and the disease. Understanding the role of vitamin K will be considered as potent prophylaxis agent against the vascular disease in near future.

ANALYSIS OF KEY TRENDS OF THE INTERNATIONAL COAL MARKET (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE COUNTRIES OF NORTH-EASTERN ASIA)

2021 ◽  
pp. 96-105
Author(s):  
Andrey V. Cherechukin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Northeast Asia ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
The World ◽  
Coal Market ◽  
National Economies

The article provides an analysis of key trends in the international market, using the example of the countries of Northeast Asia. In 2019, the world coal market amounted to 1,424.5 million tons, of which 78.1% are energy grades to produce electricity and heat, and 21.9% are in metallurgy, the reserves of which are significantly less. The import coal market of the countries of Northeast Asia in 2019 was already 680 million tons, covering 48% of the entire world coal market. The paper provides an overview of the key importers and exporters of coal in the world, the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the supplied raw materials, and analyzes the key factors affecting the pricing of coal. In the conclusions, the main trends in the international coal market of the countries of Northeast Asia are presented, including "geographical" — the shift of the center of world trade from Europe to Asia, and "types and quality of imported coal" — an increase in the share of high-quality premium energy and coking (metallurgical). Trends can be clearly seen in the countries of Northeast Asia, which actively use coal, and are making efforts to decarbonize their national economies, while intensifying inter-fuel competition with other primary energy sources.

Osteoarthritis (OA): A Modern Disease of the Anthropocene Era

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Mobasheri ◽  
Marc C. Levesque
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Knee Oa ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Early Humans ◽  
Independent Risk Factors ◽  
Post Industrial

Abstract In this paper we discuss recent studies that have unravelled important roles for modern-day environmental factors in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA). OA is a relatively modern disease in terms of human evolution. While our ancestors have been around for about six million years, modern humans (Homo sapiens) only evolved about 200,000 years ago. Early humans did not live long enough to suffer from age-related musculoskeletal conditions such as OA and arthritic diseases are thought to have been extremely rare in early Natufians and Egyptians, but this is probably because of an underrepresentation of older adults in the skeletal records. Examination of Egyptian skeletal records from burial sites provides some evidence of arthritic diseases such as OA, but mainly in the mummified remains of pharaohs and high-ranking officials, viziers, priests and nobles. Examination of the skeletal records in Roman burial ground does reveal more evidence of arthritic diseases but the evidence is sketchy and we can only assume that arthritic diseases were more prevalent in the slave population in ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire. Recent studies indicate that independent risk factors for knee OA either arose or have become amplified in the post-industrial era, suggesting that the prevalence of OA has gradually increased since the industrial revolution. Alarmingly, the incidence of knee OA has doubled since the middle of the 20thcentury, suggesting that OA is a modern disease of the Anthropocene era and there may be unknown environmental factors that have led to its increased incidence since industrialization.

scholarly journals Raw material optimization and stone tool engineering in the Early Stone Age of Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania)

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (162) ◽  
pp. 20190377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alastair Key ◽  
Tomos Proffitt ◽  
Ignacio de la Torre
Keyword(s):  
Functional Performance ◽  
Material Selection ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Cutting Tools ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Olduvai Gorge ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Material Optimization ◽  
Early Stone Age

For more than 1.8 million years hominins at Olduvai Gorge were faced with a choice: whether to use lavas, quartzite or chert to produce stone tools. All are available locally and all are suitable for stone tool production. Using controlled cutting tests and fracture mechanics theory we examine raw material selection decisions throughout Olduvai's Early Stone Age. We quantify the force, work and material deformation required by each stone type when cutting, before using these data to compare edge sharpness and durability. Significant differences are identified, confirming performance to depend on raw material choice. When combined with artefact data, we demonstrate that Early Stone Age hominins optimized raw material choices based on functional performance characteristics. Doing so flexibly: choosing raw materials dependent on their sharpness and durability, alongside a tool's loading potential and anticipated use-life. In this way, we demonstrate that early lithic artefacts at Olduvai Gorge were engineered to be functionally optimized cutting tools.

The Effect of Alcoholic Reducing Agent on Morphology and Structure of VO2 (B) Nano-Particles

2011 ◽  
Vol 306-307 ◽  
pp. 1225-1228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji Qi ◽  
Chen Niu
Keyword(s):  
Cetyltrimethylammonium Bromide ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Thermal Reduction ◽  
Nano Particles ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Structure And Morphology ◽  
Morphology And Structure ◽  
Properties Of Materials ◽  
Scanning Electron

Vanadium dioxides (VO2) is synthesized by hydrothermal method. In this process,V2O5 powder is used as raw materials,cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) is used as template and different alcohols such as methanol, ethanol, propanol and butanol are used as reductants. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are used to test the properties of VO2 nanoparticles. The results show that VO2(B) nano-particles were succsessfully synthesized under the conditions of thermal reduction temperature 180°C, reaction time 24h and drying temperature 60°C. The variety of alcoholic reducing agents plays an important role in the structure and morphology of the product VO2(B), which relates closly to the electric properties of materials.

The Use and Character of Wood in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland

1978 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 1-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Coles ◽  
S. V. E. Heal ◽  
B. J. Orme
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Organic Materials ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Stone Age

Wood was one of early man's most valuable and important raw materials. It furnished him with shelter, heat and a range of tools and weapons necessary for his survival. It was perhaps the first material to be employed for tools, even before stone was actively worked, yet wood hardly figures in the minds of many archaeologists, and it plays no part in the traditional, outmoded but convenient Three Age system of European Prehistory: Stone-Bronze-Iron. Yet there is hardly a tool or weapon used by Stone Age, Bronze Age or Iron Age man or woman which did not have a wooden part, and it is the purpose of this paper to point out the wealth of information that is available, or could be obtained, from studies of wooden artifacts.The reason for neglect of such studies is obvious. Wood is perishable; it decays if left exposed, it is easily broken, it burns to nothing, it rots in the soil, it loses its surface in moving water. Its survival for long periods of time is exceptional, and requires certain conditions of deliberate or accidental burial. Yet wood as a fact and a feature of prehistoric economy cannot be disputed. Without the survival of wooden remains, our knowledge of the Neolithic and Bronze Age lake-side settlements in Switzerland would be quartered, and our information about the Iron Age villages at Glastonbury and Biskupin would be substantially reduced. Only in circumstances where conditions are exceptionally favourable has wood survived in an identifiable state, and in these situations it can tell us much about economic life. Grahame Clark expressed the view long ago that ‘less attention (should be) paid to amassing residual fossils from sites unfavourable to the survival of the organic materials which play so important a part in the economy of simple societies, and more to exploring sites where these materials are likely to survive’ (Clark 1940, 58).

On Issue of Increasing Efficiency of Raw Materials Resources of Industrial Corporations

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 42-47
Author(s):  
Игнатова ◽  
L. Ignatova
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Regulatory System ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Factors Affecting

The paper identifies the key factors affecting the efficiency of raw materials resources of industrial corporations. It examines the main problems underly- ing the utilization of raw materials resources in current economic conditions and proposes the approaches to development of internal regulatory system on utilization of raw materials resources.

Preparation and Characterization of Paraffin/PMMA Core/Shell Structured Microcapsules

2011 ◽  
Vol 239-242 ◽  
pp. 524-527
Author(s):  
Su De Ma ◽  
Guo Lin Song ◽  
Zong Cheng Miao ◽  
Deng Wu Wang
Keyword(s):  
Building Materials ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Core Material ◽  
Synthesis Reaction ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Thermal Reliability ◽  
Stabilizer Concentration ◽  
Accelerated Thermal Cycling ◽  
Change Material

Microencapsulated phase change material (MEPCM) was successfully prepared by using paraffin as the core material and PMMA as shell material. Both raw materials are innocuous, cheap and rich in resource. The influences of the key factors (i.e. emulsifier, stabilizer, concentration of the oil phase) on synthesis reaction were systematically evaluated. Conditions of synthesis reaction were also optimized. The relevant research results indicate that the prepared microcapsules are regular spheres with smooth and compact surface. The diameter of these spheres ranges from 1 to 2 mm. No obvious overcooling or overheating phenomena can be observed even when the content of paraffin of MEPCM reaches approximately 50 wt%. TGA analyses indicate that the heat resistance of the microcapsule increases by 10 °C compared to the pure paraffin. Accelerated thermal cycling tests also verify that the MEPCM displays good thermal reliability. The MEPCMs synthesized in the current study have potentials for thermal energy storage purposes such as PCM slurries, textiles and building materials.

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.

Gesture in evolutionary perspective

Gesture ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Bouissac
Keyword(s):  
Niche Construction ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Human Hand ◽  
Upper Limbs ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Baldwin Effect ◽  
Selection Processes ◽  
Early Humans ◽  
Neuromuscular Apparatus ◽  
The Baldwin Effect

Gesture is mostly a function of the upper limbs of Homo sapiens and is constrained by the skeleton and neuromuscular apparatus which have evolved under the selection pressures of arboreal environments. This article raises the issue of the early adaptations which determined the range of movements which made possible the emergence of gesture both technical and cultural. It addresses the problem of explaining in evolutionary terms the multi-functionality of the human hand and arm. It suggests that once early humans became bipedal further pressures combined to conserve and expand the range of adaptations afforded by the upper limbs through selection processes such as exaptation, niche construction and the Baldwin effect. It concludes that a theory of gesture must integrate evolutionary and developmental considerations.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document