Probing the Sources of Lithic Assemblage Variability: A Regional Case Study near the Homolovi Ruins, Arizona

1987 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan P. Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
Site Class ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Technological Differences ◽  
Lithic Assemblages ◽  
Lithic Artifact ◽  
Sources Of Variation ◽  
Regional Settlement ◽  
Site Classes

Problems with the interpretation of regional lithic assemblage variability are briefly discussed. Several methods are introduced for controlling the sources of variation that influence the composition of lithic assemblages. The utility of these methods is illustrated with a statistical analysis of lithic artifact collections from thirteen sites near the Homolovi Ruins Group north of Winslow, Arizona. Results indicate strong technological differences between four site classes that cannot be attributed to site type, location, or time exclusively. Some arguments based on considerations of regional settlement and organization are proposed to account for the technological patterning that pertains to each site class. The Homolovi study shows that a comprehensive understanding of interassemblage variability necessitates that multiple lines of evidence be developed to ensure all potential sources of variability have been thoroughly examined.

scholarly journals Variation in the input: a case study of manner class frequencies

2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 1091-1122 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT DALAND
Keyword(s):  
Frequency Variation ◽  
Natural Background ◽  
Frequency Distributions ◽  
Language Varieties ◽  
Ergodic Processes ◽  
Language Variety ◽  
Sources Of Variation ◽  
Manner Of Articulation ◽  
Discourse Topic

ABSTRACTWhat are the sources of variation in the input, and how much do they matter for language acquisition? This study examines frequency variation in manner-of-articulation classes in child and adult input. The null hypothesis is that segmental frequency distributions of language varieties are unigram (modelable by stationary, ergodic processes), and that languages are unitary (modelable as a single language variety). Experiment I showed that English segments are not unigram; they exhibit a ‘bursty’ distribution in which the local frequency varies more than expected by chance alone. Experiment II showed the English segments are approximately unitary: the natural background variation in segmental frequencies that arises within a single language variety is much larger than numerical differences across varieties. Variation in segmental frequencies seems to be driven by variation in discourse topic; topic-associated words cause bursts/lulls in local segmental frequencies. The article concludes with some methodological recommendations for comparing language samples.

scholarly journals Do FDI Firms Employ More Workers than Domestic Firms for Each Dollar of Assets?

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (56) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sakai Ando ◽  
Mengxue Wang
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Ownership Structure ◽  
Structure Information ◽  
Ownership Structures ◽  
Domestic Firms ◽  
Technological Differences ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
To Come

This paper studies whether FDI firms employ more workers than domestic firms for each dollar of assets. Using the Orbis database and its ownership structure information, we show that, in most economies, domestic firms tend to employ more workers per asset than FDI firms. The result remains robust across individual industries in the case study of the United Kingdom. The analysis of the switchers (ownership changes from domestic to foreign or vice versa) suggests that ownership changes do not have an immediate impact on the employment per asset. This result suggests that different patterns of employment per asset seem to come from technological differences rather than from different ownership structures.

Pathways of initial consonant loss

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Christophe Verstraete
Keyword(s):  
Root Structure ◽  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
Historical Loss ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Unusual Phenomenon ◽  
Cape York

Abstract This paper investigates the historical loss of root-initial consonants, using a case study of Middle Paman languages of Cape York Peninsula, in northeastern Australia. Systematic loss of initial consonants is a typologically unusual phenomenon, mainly found in Australia, that has often been regarded as a starting point for far-reaching changes in root structure, phonotactics and even phoneme inventory. So far, the literature has focused mainly on identifying phonetic causes of initial loss. This study focuses on the actual processes and pathways of initial loss, which is an equally important part of the historical puzzle. Specifically, it shows that there are multiple pathways for initial loss: it can be the result of a gradual phonetic process involving intermediate steps like lenition, as is assumed in part of the literature, but it can also be due to more abrupt processes involving borrowing and even morphosyntactic alternations. This adds to a more diversified model of how initial loss actually proceeds, which together with earlier work on the diversity of phonetic causes of initial loss produces a more comprehensive understanding of this typologically and diachronically unusual phenomenon.

scholarly journals A developed understanding of the beneficiary’s interest in commercial trusts through a comparative study of Chinese law

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-357
Author(s):  
Ruiqiao Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Theoretical Basis ◽  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
Main Claim ◽  
Chinese Law ◽  
Judicial Interpretations

Trusts have existed for centuries, while societies and economies have developed in the intervening years. This requires renovations, or new judicial interpretations, of what a trust is in order to adapt it to modern circumstances. Based on a discussion about the theoretical basis for the research – the new role of trusts in a commercial context and the essence of the trust – the author provides a developed understanding of the beneficiary’s interest to adjust the traditional trust notions to meet the demands of commercial practices. She argues that, based on a case study of Chinese law, a beneficiary’s right can be explained as a special personal claim consisting of three parts: the main claim (personal claims), appurtenant rights (rights of supervision) and security rights (rights of revocation). The theory of beneficiary’s special personal claim provides a more unified and comprehensive understanding of the nature of the beneficiary’s interest, particularly in newly developed commercial trusts.

The Measurement and Interpretation of Cortex in Lithic Assemblages

2005 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 545-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold L. Dibble ◽  
Utsav A. Schurmans ◽  
Radu P. Iovita ◽  
Michael V. McLaughlin
Keyword(s):  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Lithic Assemblages ◽  
Solid Geometry ◽  
Alternative Method ◽  
Core Reduction

Cortex is often used as an indicator of core reduction and transport, but current measures to evaluate the observed amount of cortex in a lithic assemblage with what might be expected under particular conditions are still ambiguous. The purpose of the present study is to develop and evaluate an alternative method based on solid geometry. This method is evaluated with an experimentally produced assemblage, and implications of its application to archaeological assemblages are presented and discussed.

Factors Influencing Job Satisfaction of Student Employees of a Recreational Sports Department at a Large, Four-Year Public Institution: A Case Study

2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy B. Kellison ◽  
Jeffrey D. James
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Organizational Behavior ◽  
Public Institution ◽  
Recreational Sports ◽  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
Student Employees ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Sport And Recreation ◽  
Recreation Organizations

Job satisfaction is among the most researched concepts in the study of organizational behavior, particularly because of managers' interests in the favorable consequences associated with high job satisfaction. Previous research, however, has largely overlooked part-time employees. This insufficiency is especially problematic for sport and recreation organizations, which often rely heavily on part-time employees to fill specialized roles. The present study was conducted to assess the determinants of job satisfaction among part-time student employees of a university recreational sports department. The results have significant implications for similar organizations. A comprehensive understanding of the factors contributing to job satisfaction provides recreational sports administrators with the necessary tools to enhance satisfaction in the student workplace, and ultimately overall productivity.

scholarly journals Monte Finocchito and Heloros Pottery Production: New Evidence through Technological Studies and Material Analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Raudino ◽  
Robert H. Tykot ◽  
Andrea Vianello
Keyword(s):  
Visual Analysis ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Pottery Production ◽  
X Ray ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Material Analysis ◽  
Sources Of Variation ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Non Destructive

AbstractThis paper discusses the use of non-destructive portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) to distinguish sources of variation in 8th Century BC Greek and Sicilian ceramics. The project comprises an element of my PhD study through La Trobe University, concerning Hellenic colonies established from the eighth century BC in the south of Italy, and on Sicily in particular. This specific case study looks at the relationships established between the indigenous site of Monte Finocchito and the Greek settlement of Heloros, both located in south-eastern Sicily. The results demonstrate the usefulness of the pXRF technique for detecting material variations which are not readily apparent using traditional visual analysis during fieldwork.

Palaeolithic Archaeology at the Swan Valley Community School, Swanscombe, Kent

2001 ◽  
Vol 67 ◽  
pp. 219-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Wenban-Smith ◽  
David Bridgland ◽  
Simon Parfitt ◽  
Andrew Haggart ◽  
Phillip Rye
Keyword(s):  
Raw Material ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Lithic Assemblages ◽  
Volume Controlled ◽  
Valuable Role ◽  
Construction Works ◽  
Palaeolithic Archaeology

This paper reports on the recovery of Palaeolithic flint artefacts and faunal remains from fluvial gravels at the base of a sequence of Pleistocene sediments revealed during construction works at two sites to the south of Swanscombe village, Kent. Although outside the mapped extent of the Boyn Hill/Orsett Heath Formation, the newly discovered deposits can be firmly correlated with the Middle Gravels and Upper Loam from the Barnfield Pit sequence dating to c. 400,000–380,000 BP. This increases greatly the known extent of these deposits, one horizon of which produced the Swanscombe Skull, and has provided more information on their upper part.Comparison of the lithic assemblages from volume-controlled sieving with those from general monitoring demonstrated that artefact collections formed without controlled methods of recovery, such as form the majority of the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic archaeological record, are likely to be disproportionately dominated by larger, more visible, and more collectable neatly-made handaxes to the detriment of more poorly made, asymmetrical handaxes and cores, flakes, and percussors. The lithic assemblage from the fluvial gravel was confirmed as dominated by pointed handaxes, supporting previous studies of artefacts front the equivalent Lower Middle Gravel at Barnfield Pit. The raw material characteristics of the assemblage were investigated, and it was concluded that there was no indication that the preference for pointed shapes could be related to either the shape or source of raw material.This paper also reviews the significance of lithic assemblages from disturbed fluvial contexts, and concludes that, contrary to some current perspectives, they have a valuable role to play complementing less disturbed evidence in developing understanding of the Palaeolithic.

Mapping NEHRP VS30 Site Classes

2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas L. Holzer ◽  
Amy C. Padovani ◽  
Michael J. Bennett ◽  
Thomas E. Noce ◽  
John C. Tinsley
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Site Amplification ◽  
Cone Penetration ◽  
Site Class ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
Shear Wave Velocities ◽  
Class D ◽  
Geologic Maps ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Site Classes

Site-amplification potential in a 140-km2 area on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, California, was mapped with data from 210 seismic cone penetration test (SCPT) soundings. NEHRP VS30 values were computed on a 50-m grid by both taking into account the thickness and using mean values of locally measured shear-wave velocities of shallow geologic units. The resulting map of NEHRP VS30 site classes differs from other published maps that (1) do not include unit thickness and (2) are based on regional compilations of velocity. Although much of the area in the new map is now classified as NEHRP Site Class D, the velocities of the geologic deposits within this area are either near the upper or lower VS30 boundary of Class D. If maps of NEHRP site classes are to be based on geologic maps, velocity distributions of geologic units may need to be considered in the definition of VS30 boundaries of NEHRP site classes.

Lithic Industry as an Indicator of Ceramic Diffusion in the Early Neolithic of West Africa: A Case Study at Ounjougou

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvain Soriano ◽  
Eric Huysecom
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Behavioral Changes ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Lithic Industry ◽  
Central Sahara ◽  
Sub Saharan

Ounjougou (Dogon Country, Mali) is now known for the discovery there of pottery dating to the first half of the 10th millennium cal BC, which is among the earliest evidence of the use of ceramics in Africa. While our understanding of early African ceramics is becoming well developed, certain other evidence associated with the first manifestations of the African Neolithic are still poorly understood, including notably the lithic industries. On the basis of technological and typological analyses of the lithic assemblage associated with the Ounjougou pottery, we will show that these materials also express profound behavioral changes within cultural groups of this period, and indeed they help clarify processes for the spread of ceramics. For these reasons lithics are extremely important for understanding this period of great cultural change and should not be neglected. Technological and typological data collected during the analysis have been used to propose an original taphonomic approach and to test in this way the coherence of the assemblage. Comparisons with Early Holocene industries in the Saharan zone (Temet, Tagalagal, Adrar Bous 10, etc.) provide new elements of consideration regarding the cultural context of the appearance of pottery, and enable us to propose a scenario for the adoption of technological innovations marking the beginning of the Holocene, from sub-Saharan West Africa toward the central Sahara. The lithic industries are seen as a valuable means of clarifying the cultural context and processes of the appearance and spread of pottery in this region from the first half of the 10th millennium cal BC to the middle of the 9th millennium cal BC.

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