scholarly journals An absolute chronology for early Egypt using radiocarbon dating and Bayesian statistical modelling

2013 ◽  
Vol 469 (2159) ◽  
pp. 20130395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Dee ◽  
David Wengrow ◽  
Andrew Shortland ◽  
Alice Stevenson ◽  
Fiona Brock ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
State Formation ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Statistical Modelling ◽  
Historical Records ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Bayesian Paradigm ◽  
First Dynasty ◽  
Archaeological Analysis

The Egyptian state was formed prior to the existence of verifiable historical records. Conventional dates for its formation are based on the relative ordering of artefacts. This approach is no longer considered sufficient for cogent historical analysis. Here, we produce an absolute chronology for Early Egypt by combining radiocarbon and archaeological evidence within a Bayesian paradigm. Our data cover the full trajectory of Egyptian state formation and indicate that the process occurred more rapidly than previously thought. We provide a timeline for the First Dynasty of Egypt of generational-scale resolution that concurs with prevailing archaeological analysis and produce a chronometric date for the foundation of Egypt that distinguishes between historical estimates.

scholarly journals The emergence of vampire bat rabies in Uruguay within a historical context

2019 ◽  
Vol 147 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Botto Nuñez ◽  
D. J. Becker ◽  
R. K. Plowright
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Statistical Modelling ◽  
Historical Records ◽  
Vampire Bats ◽  
Alternative Hypotheses ◽  
Virus Emergence ◽  
Bat Rabies ◽  
Vampire Bat

AbstractPathogen spillover from wildlife to humans or domestic animals requires a series of conditions to align with space and time. Comparing these conditions between times and locations where spillover does and does not occur presents opportunities to understand the factors that shape spillover risk. Bovine rabies transmitted by vampire bats was first confirmed in 1911 and has since been detected across the distribution of vampire bats. However, Uruguay is an exception. Uruguay was free of bovine rabies until 2007, despite high-cattle densities, the presence of vampire bats and a strong surveillance system. To explore why Uruguay was free of bovine rabies until recently, we review the historic literature and reconstruct the conditions that would allow rabies invasion into Uruguay. We used available historical records on the abundance of livestock and wildlife, the vampire bat distribution and occurrence of rabies outbreaks, as well as environmental modifications, to propose four alternative hypotheses to explain rabies virus emergence and spillover: bat movement, viral invasion, surveillance failure and environmental changes. While future statistical modelling efforts will be required to disentangle these hypotheses, we here show how a detailed historical analysis can be used to generate testable predictions for the conditions leading to pathogen spillover.

scholarly journals Geocomputing, New Technologies and Historical Analysis: Tools for a Changing Planet

Proceedings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Sebastiano Trevisani
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Research Topic ◽  
The Other ◽  
Historical Records ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Relationship

Modern Earth Scientists need also to interact with other disciplines, apparently far from the Earth Sciences and Engineering. Disciplines related to history and philosophy of science are emblematic from this perspective. From one side, the quantitative analysis of information extracted from historical records (documents, maps, paintings, etc.) represents an exciting research topic, requiring a truly holistic approach. On the other side, epistemological and philosophy of science considerations on the relationship between geoscience and society in history are of fundamental importance for understanding past, present and future geosphere-anthroposphere interlinked dynamics.

scholarly journals Population genomic and historical analysis suggests a global invasion by bridgehead processes in Mimulus guttatus

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Vallejo-Marín ◽  
Jannice Friedman ◽  
Alex D. Twyford ◽  
Olivier Lepais ◽  
Stefanie M. Ickert-Bond ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biological Invasions ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Historical Records ◽  
British Isles ◽  
Mimulus Guttatus ◽  
Introduced Populations ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
History Of ◽  
Global Invasion

AbstractImperfect historical records and complex demographic histories present challenges for reconstructing the history of biological invasions. Here, we combine historical records, extensive worldwide and genome-wide sampling, and demographic analyses to investigate the global invasion of Mimulus guttatus from North America to Europe and the Southwest Pacific. By sampling 521 plants from 158 native and introduced populations genotyped at >44,000 loci, we determined that invasive M. guttatus was first likely introduced to the British Isles from the Aleutian Islands (Alaska), followed by admixture from multiple parts of the native range. We hypothesise that populations in the British Isles then served as a bridgehead for vanguard invasions worldwide. Our results emphasise the highly admixed nature of introduced M. guttatus and demonstrate the potential of introduced populations to serve as sources of secondary admixture, producing novel hybrids. Unravelling the history of biological invasions provides a starting point to understand how invasive populations adapt to novel environments.

scholarly journals Abel and Dan (2 Sam 20:18–19) in Textual Criticism, Tradition History, and Archaeology

Textus ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Izaak J. de Hulster ◽  
Tuukka Kauhanen
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Textual Criticism ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Textual Evidence ◽  
Critical Problems ◽  
Wise Woman ◽  
Archaeological Analysis

Abstract The MT form of the saying of the wise woman in 2 Sam 20:18–19 presents multiple text-critical problems. Instead of “Let them inquire at Abel,” the LXX refers to “Abel and Dan.” The notion of the wise woman being “one of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel” (NRSV) is grammatically difficult; the LXX reads differently: “what the faithful of Israel had established, had been abandoned.” This article seeks to bring textual criticism into discussion with an archaeological analysis, including a tradition-historical angle on the story, by: 1. Re-examining the textual evidence, with due consideration of the Septuagint; 2. Considering the archaeological findings of Iron Age sites at Tel Abel and Tel Dan; 3. Examining the textual and iconographic implications of the motif “woman on the wall;” and 4. Evaluating the plausibility of the historical settings implied in the story in light of the textual and archaeological evidence.

The Position of Ipiutak in Eskimo Culture

1954 ◽  
Vol 20 (01) ◽  
pp. 74-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helge Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
American Antiquity ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
The Third ◽  
Point Hope ◽  
Positive Results

The reason for the following is an article by Henry B. Collins: “Radiocarbon Dating in the Arctic” which appeared in the January, 1953 issue of American Antiquity. This is the third article in four years in which Collins comments on the interpretation of the Ipiutak culture advanced by Froelich Rainey and me in our publications on the excavations at Point Hope, Alaska, 1939-41 (Larsen and Rainey, 1948). Although critical regarding certain points in our theory on the development of Eskimo culture, his comments in the first two articles are on the whole objective and justifiable (Collins 1950a and 1951). His latest article, however, is written in a surprisingly sharp, polemic form which is entirely unprovoked and it contains statements which disclose that he has misunderstood certain important points in the Ipiutak report and misinterprets archaeological evidence. My aim is not to begin a polemic because experience shows that polemics are merely a waste of valuable time and print; they often foster ill feelings and seldom give positive results.

Re-envisioning Prehispanic Mesoamerican Economies

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary M. Feinman ◽  
Linda M. Nicholas
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Central Issue ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Managerial Control ◽  
Market System ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Time Space ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Way

Exuberant Spanish accounts of the 16th century Aztec market system have been part of the documentary record for hundreds of years. Yet the significance of markets and marketplace exchanges in the prehispanic Mesoamerican world has consistently been under-theorized until relatively recently. One of the key, but not sole, factors that has forced a shift in our analytical framing is the archaeological evidence that almost all production (craft and agrarian) was situated domestically in prehispanic Mesoamerica, yet many households were producing at least in part for exchange. In consequence, centralized managerial control over production would have been difficult if not impossible to sustain. Although such findings have cast great doubt on long-held visions of Mesoamerican command economies, understanding how power was funded in different prehispanic time/space contexts remains a central issue with a greater analytical focus now shifted to the fiscal foundations of collective action, governance, and power. Despite important shifts in the specific lessons and legacies that we draw from Marx’s historical analysis, intellectual parallels and debts to this materialist frame of thought remain, and these help generate new questions to guide the way forward for studying this region’s past.

Purity, Pottery, and Judaean Ethnicity in the Hasmonean Period

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-42
Author(s):  
Eyal Regev
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
State Formation ◽  
Social Boundaries ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Ethnic Boundaries ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Full Body

Abstract Three distinct cultural phenomena emerged in the Hasmonean period (152–37 BCE): the concept of Gentile impurity, full body immersion in a ritual bath, and (relative) abstinence from the use of imported foreign pottery. This article examines the historical and archaeological evidence for these three traits: their chronology, geographical distribution, and interrelationship. All three relate to the contact between Judaeans and non-Judaeans. They symbolize social boundaries that were created to foster the ethnic identity of the Judaeans vis-à-vis local Gentiles. The creation of these ethnic boundaries was encouraged by the Hasmonean state both because they corresponded to the Hasmonean ideology and political aims, and because state formation usually contributes to the development of ethnic identity.

scholarly journals The Chronology of Tell El-Daba: A Crucial Meeting Point of 14C Dating, Archaeology, and Egyptology in the 2nd Millennium BC

Radiocarbon ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 54 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 407-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Kutschera ◽  
Manfred Bietak ◽  
Eva Maria Wild ◽  
Christopher Bronk Ramsey ◽  
Michael Dee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Material ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Nile Delta ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
The Other ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One ◽  
Different Cultures

Radiocarbon dating at the Tell el-Daba site in the Nile Delta has created an enigma for many years. Despite great efforts, the difference of about 120 yr between the chronology based on 14C dates and the one based on archaeological evidence linked to the Egyptian historical chronology has not been solved. In order to foster open discussions on this discrepancy, we present here the results of 40 14C accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) measurements on short-lived plant material assigned to 14 different phases of the Tell el-Daba excavation, spanning 600 yr (about 2000–1400 BC). On the one hand, the recently established agreement between 14C dates and dynastic Egypt (Bronk Ramsey et al. 2010) makes it unlikely that the problem lies in the 14C dates and/or the Egyptian historical chronology. On the other hand, the extensive archaeological evidence from Tell el-Daba linked to many different cultures in the eastern Mediterranean and to the Egyptian historical chronology provides strong evidence for an absolute chronology shifted by about 120 yr with respect to the 14C dates.

Non-Human Whalers in Nuu-chah-nulth Art and Ritual: Reappraising Orca in Archaeological Context

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan D. McMillan
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Northwest Coast ◽  
Historical Records ◽  
Killer Whales ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Predatory Behaviour ◽  
Ceremonial Life ◽  
Northwestern North America ◽  
Frequent Presence

Whaling was a central aspect of Nuu-chah-nulth, Ditidaht and Makah culture on the northwest coast of North America. Not only was it economically important, it was vital to chiefly prestige. Art and ceremonial life were dominated by themes related to whaling. Thunderbird, the great supernatural whaler, was the source of hereditary prerogatives held by chiefs, including names, dances, regalia and rights to display images of thunderbird and whale. This paper argues that human observations of predatory behaviour by orcas (or killer whales) led to these animals also being perceived as non-human whalers from which chiefly prerogatives could be obtained. Wolves, the main figures in Nuu-chah-nulth ceremonial life, had the power to transform into orcas, explaining their frequent presence in the art with thunderbirds and whales. This paper presents archaeological evidence for orca in the context of whaling and offers interpretations based on the extensive ethnographic and oral historical records. It also places perceptions of animals, the role of the hunter's wife and beliefs about orca in a broader context involving hunting societies in northwestern North America.

scholarly journals Population genomic and historical analysis reveals a global invasion by bridgehead processes in Mimulus guttatus

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Vallejo-Marín ◽  
Jannice Friedman ◽  
Alex D. Twyford ◽  
Olivier Lepais ◽  
Stefanie M. Ickert-Bond ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Biological Invasions ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Historical Records ◽  
British Isles ◽  
Mimulus Guttatus ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Introduced Populations ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Global Invasion

AbstractHumans are transforming species ranges worldwide. While artificial translocations trigger biological invasions with negative effects on biodiversity, invasions provide exceptional opportunities to generate ecological and evolutionary hypotheses. Unfortunately, imperfect historical records and exceedingly complex demographic histories present challenges for the reconstruction of invasion histories. Here we combine historical records, extensive worldwide and genome-wide sampling, and demographic analyses to investigate the global invasion of yellow monkeyflowers (Mimulus guttatus) from North America to Europe and the Southwest Pacific. By sampling 521 plants from 158 native and introduced populations genotyped at >44,000 loci, we determined that invasive North American M. guttatus was first likely introduced to the British Isles from the Aleutian Islands (Alaska), followed by rapid admixture from multiple parts of the native range. Populations in the British Isles then appear to have served as a bridgehead for vanguard invasions worldwide into the rest of Europe, New Zealand and eastern North America. Our results emphasise the highly admixed nature of introduced M. guttatus and demonstrate the potential of introduced populations to serve as sources of secondary admixture, producing novel hybrids. Unravelling the history of biological invasions provides a starting point to understand how invasive populations adapt to novel environments.

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