scholarly journals Environment and Archaeology in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Bruce Gordon McFadgen
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Wood Charcoal ◽  
Standard Errors ◽  
Vegetation Changes ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Sequence Of Events ◽  
Human Bones ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Initial Movement ◽  
Archaeological Excavations

<p>This thesis deals mainly with central New Zealand. The writer's archaeological excavations are described in Appendices. Lists are prepared giving all archaeological radiocarbon dates on wood, charcoal, moa bones, human bones and marine shells, for New Zealand up to 1974. The dates are sorted according to material, and the dates and their standard errors corrected. A stratigraphic system based on soils and Loisels pumice and tied to the corrected radio carbon dates is set up for central New Zealand. Radiocarbon and stratigraphy provide dates for vegetation changes' Moahunter sites, cultivation sites, and for the artifact assemblages that are independently grouped as either Early or Late. Change from Early to Late is explained by cultural breakdown and an initial movement of culture from south to north, The sequence of events postulated is summarised in a Table at the end of the text.</p>

scholarly journals Isotopic Fractionation of Norwegian Materials for Radiocarbon Dating

Radiocarbon ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 980-986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steinar Gulliksen
Keyword(s):  
Standard Error ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Isotopic Fractionation ◽  
Wood Charcoal ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Standard Errors ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Bone Material ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
C Value

To improve reporting of radiocarbon dates, Stuiver and Polach (1977) recommend that reported standard errors should include the error in the applied δ13C value, and suggest estimated mean values for δ13C to be applied when not measured. Based on δ13C data for ca 250 samples measured during 1975-1979, mean values for different materials dated by the Trondheim radiocarbon laboratory have been compiled. All material is from Norway and Svalbard (marine bone collagen). For peat, gyttja, and terrestrial bone material, δ13C should be measured to obtain optimal precision in the dates. For shell, wood, charcoal, and marine bones, the standard error in an estimated δ13C value will only increase uncertainty of a date from ±50 years to ca ±55 years.

Charles Francis Adams: diary of a young American taxidermist visiting New Zealand, 1884–1887

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. J. Gill
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Marine Invertebrates ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Detailed Account ◽  
East Indies ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Set Up ◽  
White Island

In December 1884 Charles Francis Adams (1857–1893) left Illinois, USA, by train for San Francisco and crossed the Pacific by ship to work as taxidermist at Auckland Museum, New Zealand, until February 1887. He then went to Borneo via several New Zealand ports, Melbourne and Batavia (Jakarta). This paper concerns a diary by Adams that gives a daily account of his trip to Auckland and the first six months of his employment (from January to July 1885). In this period Adams set up a workshop and diligently prepared specimens (at least 124 birds, fish, reptiles and marine invertebrates). The diary continues with three reports of trips Adams made from Auckland to Cuvier Island (November 1886), Karewa Island (December 1886) and White Island (date not stated), which are important early descriptive accounts of these small offshore islands. Events after leaving Auckland are covered discontinuously and the diary ends with part of the ship's passage through the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), apparently in April 1887. Adams's diary is important in giving a detailed account of a taxidermist's working life, and in helping to document the early years of Auckland Museum's occupation of the Princes Street building.

Pollen diagrams from interior Labrador

1970 ◽  
Vol 48 (11) ◽  
pp. 1957-1975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alastair Morrison
Keyword(s):  
Primary Succession ◽  
Vegetation Changes ◽  
Bare Ground ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
River Watershed ◽  
Pollen Diagrams ◽  
Glacier Ice ◽  
Lake Waters

Six pollen zones can be distinguished in interior Labrador. The earlier zones represent the primary succession of vegetation from bare ground to boreal woodland or forest, which occupied about 500 years between 5700 and 5200 B.P. There have been only minor fluctuations in the nature of the vegetation since 5200 B.P. Radiocarbon dates show that the zones are contemporaneous over that part of the Lake Plateau within the Churchill River watershed, but similar vegetation changes occurred 1000 years earlier in the Kaniapiskau basin, further north, in New Quebec. These two areas must have been freed of a cover of glacier ice or lake waters immediately before 5700 B.P. and 6700 B.P. respectively.

Fenoterol and asthma deaths

1990 ◽  
Vol 28 (17) ◽  
pp. suppl1-suppl2
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Medical Research ◽  
Research Council ◽  
Medical Research Council ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Usual Form ◽  
Set Up

Our article outlining the dispute over fenoterol safety has provoked letters both of acclaim and criticism. The manufacturer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, correctly pointed out that we had in several places misattributed the work of independent groups to the New Zealand Medical Research Council and the Asthma Task Force, which it set up. We apologise for these errors, but rather than publish a correction in the usual form we decided it would be more helpful to reprint the whole article highlighting the parts which have changed. Boehringer also criticised our selection and interpretation of the evidence and our conclusion. Our article emphasised the difficulty interpreting the data and the debate over the whole issue is still continuing. Our conclusion remains as stated here: 'while doubts about fenoterol remain unresolved, it seems wise to avoid using it'.

scholarly journals Language in the Workplace Project and Workplace Communication for Skilled Migrants course at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
J de Bres ◽  
J Holmes ◽  
Angela Joe ◽  
Meredith Marra ◽  
Jonathan Newton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
English Language ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Research Unit ◽  
Deaf Studies ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Language Studies ◽  
Language Courses ◽  
Set Up ◽  
English Language Institute

The School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies (LALS) at Victoria University of Wellington conducts research and teaching in Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Writing and Deaf Studies. It incorporates a Deaf Studies Research Unit, which undertakes research on topics relating to deaf people and their language in New Zealand, and the New Zealand Dictionary Centre, set up in partnership with Oxford University Press, which provides a base for research into New Zealand lexicography and aspects of language in New Zealand. It also incorporates an English Language Institute, which specialises in teaching English language courses and teacher education programmes. A particular strength of the School's makeup is the opportunity to engage in research which benefits and is benefited by both theoretical and practical approaches to issues in linguistics and applied linguistics. This report describes one of a number of examples of the productive integration of language teaching and language research at LALS. We describe an ongoing research project that has developed organically over the past twelve years. The research involved first collecting and analysing authentic workplace interaction between native speakers, and then making use of it in explicit instruction aimed at developing socio-pragmatic proficiency in the workplace among skilled migrants with English as an Additional Language (EAL). We are now engaged in evaluating the results of the instruction, not only in the classroom, but also in workplaces where the migrants have been placed as interns.

scholarly journals Community Governance and Civil Society: An Examination of the Purpose, Intent and Structure of Residents' Groups in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jarrod Coburn
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
News Media ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Health Board ◽  
District Health ◽  
Community Governance ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Civil Defence ◽  
Charitable Activities

<p>Residents’ groups have been in existence in New Zealand for almost 150 years yet very little is known about them. The collection of residents’, ratepayers’ and progressive associations, community councils, neighbourhood committees and the like make up a part of the community governance sector that numbers over a thousand-strong. These groups are featured prominently in our news media, are active in local government affairs and expend many thousands of volunteer hours every year in their work in communities… but what exactly is that work? From the literature we see these groups can be a source of local community knowledge (Kass et al., 2009), a platform for political activity (Deegan, 2002), critical of government (Fullerton, 2005) or help maintain government transparency and accountability (Mcclymont and O'Hare, 2008). They are sometimes part of the establishment too (Wai, 2008) and are often heard promoting the interests of local people (Slater, 2004). Residents’ groups can be set up to represent the interests of a specific demographic group (Seng, 2007) or focus on protecting or promoting a sense of place (Kushner and Siegel, 2003) or physical environment (Savova, 2009). Some groups undertake charitable activities (Turkstra, 2008) or even act in a negative manner that can impact on the community (Horton, 1996). This research examines 582 New Zealand organisations to derive a set of purposes that residents’ groups perform and ascertains how their purposes differ between geo-social and political locality and over three distinct eras of community development. The thesis also examines the relationship between residents’ groups and councillors, council officers, district health board members and civil defence and seeks to uncover if the level of engagement (if any) has an affect on their overall raison d’etre. The research concludes with a typology of New Zealand residents’ groups along with the key purposes of each type.</p>

An Archaeomagnetic Study of Hangi Stones in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rimpy Kinger
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Blocking Temperature ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The North ◽  
Sw Pacific ◽  
Archaeomagnetic Dating ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Temperature Spectra

<p>Burnt or fired archaeological artefacts often retain a record of the magnetic field in which they were last heated and cooled. Over the past four years we have collected oriented hangi stones from 10 archaeological sites spread across the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The stones vary in lithology from andesites, originating from the central North Island volcanoes, favoured by Maori for their durability and with remanent magnetization up to 30 A/m, to sandstones and schists from the main axial ranges, with magnetizations as weak as 10-4 A/m. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal fragments retrieved from amongst the stones indicates that the sites span from ca. 1400 AD to the present.  In all cases, we have independently oriented and retrieved several stones, and we have made several samples from each stone, either by drilling (standard cylindrical samples) or sawing (pseudo-cubes) in the laboratory. We have calculated site mean palaeomagnetic directions (Dec between 1.5o and 19.6o and Inc between -52.2o and -68.3o) from principal component analysis of thermal demagnetization and alternating field demagnetization data, discarding the data of stones that show evidence of disturbance after cooling. The directions are in good agreement with recently published palaeosecular variation records from lake sediments. We have carried out palaeointensity experiments using the Coe/Thellier method with pTRM and tail checks, and with selection criteria modified to the situation. Palaeointensities range from 50μT to 77μT. Rock magnetic experiments contribute to our understanding of the mineralogy, domain state and blocking temperature spectra.  We compare our data with predictions of the global field models ARCH3k and gufm1, and suggest that the addition of our new data will improve these models for the SW Pacific region for the most recent time period. Archaeomagnetic measurements are also used to date hangi sites by matching the palaeo-direction to an established archaeomagnetic dating model, NZPSV1k. Archaeomagnetic dating is used to resolve ambiguities in the calibration of radiocarbon dates, and shows up inconsistencies due to unreliable source material for radiocarbon dating. Archaeomagnetic dating and radiocarbon dating results are combined to give the best estimates of the best age of the hangi sites.</p>

scholarly journals Reliability of Bone Gelatin AMS Dating: Rattus Exulans and Marine Shell Radiocarbon Dates from Pauatahanui Midden Sites in Wellington, New Zealand

Radiocarbon ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Beavan Athfield ◽  
Bruce McFadgen ◽  
Rodger Sparks
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Beta Decay ◽  
Confidence Level ◽  
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Austrovenus Stutchburyi ◽  
Ams Dating ◽  
Marine Shell

A suite of 6 bone gelatin accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates for Rattus exulans Peale and associated beta decay 14C dates for Austrovenus stutchburyi shell are presented for 4 middens at Pauatahanui, Wellington, New Zealand. Mean calibrated age ranges of Rattus exulans (520–435 BP and 350–330 BP at 95% confidence level) and shell (465–375 BP at 95% confidence level) from the 4 midden sites overlap. The agreement between Rattus exulans bone gelatin dates and associated shell provides an inter-sample comparison of 14C dating using both gas counting (beta decay) and AMS dating techniques. We examine the adequacy of the standard gelatinization treatment for bone samples, which has been employed consistently at the laboratory since 1995.

Anomalous Radiocarbon Dates from the Early Medieval Cremation Graves from Broechem (Flanders, Belgium): Reservoir or Old Wood Effects?

Radiocarbon ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rica Annaert ◽  
Mathieu Boudin ◽  
Koen Deforce ◽  
Anton Ervynck ◽  
Kristof Haneca ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Work ◽  
Cultural Artifacts ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Domestic Pigs ◽  
Human Bones ◽  
Animal Bones

ABSTRACTAs part of the study of the early medieval cemetery at Broechem (Belgium), human bones from 32 cremation graves have been dated through radiocarbon (14C) analysis. It was noted that many of the dates were not in accordance with the chronological ranges provided by the characteristics of the cultural artifacts deposited in the graves. In fact, the human bones were “older” than the artifacts. Subsequently, a number of animal bones (in all cases from domestic pigs) was radiocarbon dated, yielding dates that were more consistent with the information from the cultural artifacts than the human bones. The dates obtained on human and pig bones from the same grave often differed around 100 radiocarbon years. This paper tries to find an explanation for the pattern observed, concentrating on two hypotheses: aquatic reservoir versus old wood effects. The evaluation takes into account additional radiocarbon dates derived from charcoal fragments of the funeral pyre, from both short-lived and long-lived taxa. A conclusive explanation for the anomalous radiocarbon dates could not be reached but clear suggestions can be put forward for future experimental work that will without doubt shed more light upon the interpretational problems raised.

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