Assessment of Wooden Foundation Piles after 125 Years of Service

Buildings on piles have been constructed in Ljubljana since the Bronze Age. The piles were made of different types of wood. In the present study, piles that were erected about 125 years ago were investigated. Investors tend to renovate a building; therefore, the piles were analysed to assess the structural condition of the building. The building showed no signs of damage. To gain access to the piles, a 2 m thick layer of soil was removed. On-site, the following analyses were carried out: drilling resistance with a resistograph and a screw withdrawal test. Part of the piles was isolated and light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, dynamic vapour sorption, density analysis, and chemical analysis were performed. Microscopic analysis revealed that the piles were made from the wood of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). The results indicate that the wood was severely degraded, mainly by soft-rot fungi and bacteria, resulting in a significant deterioration of its mechanical properties.

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Volcanic ash, victims, and tsunami debris from the Late Bronze Age Thera eruption discovered at Çeşme-Bağlararası (Turkey)

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.2114213118 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 119 (1) ◽

pp. e2114213118

Author(s):

Vasıf Şahoğlu ◽

Johannes H. Sterba ◽

Timor Katz ◽

Ümit Çayır ◽

Ümit Gündoğan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Volcanic Ash ◽

Thick Layer ◽

Archaeological Site ◽

Tsunami Deposit ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Mediterranean Studies ◽

Ash Layer ◽

Time Capsule ◽

Thera Eruption

The Late Bronze Age Thera eruption was one of the largest natural disasters witnessed in human history. Its impact, consequences, and timing have dominated the discourse of ancient Mediterranean studies for nearly a century. Despite the eruption’s high intensity (Volcanic Explosivity Index 7; Dense Rock Equivalent of 78 to 86 km) [T. H. Druitt, F. W. McCoy, G. E. Vougioukalakis, Elements 15, 185–190 (2019)] and tsunami-generating capabilities [K. Minoura et al., Geology 28, 59–62 (2000)], few tsunami deposits are reported. In contrast, descriptions of pumice, ash, and tephra deposits are widely published. This mismatch may be an artifact of interpretive capabilities, given how rapidly tsunami sedimentology has advanced in recent years. A well-preserved volcanic ash layer and chaotic destruction horizon were identified in stratified deposits at Çeşme-Bağlararası, a western Anatolian/Aegean coastal archaeological site. To interpret these deposits, archaeological and sedimentological analysis (X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy instrumental neutron activation analysis, granulometry, micropaleontology, and radiocarbon dating) were performed. According to the results, the archaeological site was hit by a series of strong tsunamis that caused damage and erosion, leaving behind a thick layer of debris, distinguishable by its physical, biological, and chemical signature. An articulated human and dog skeleton discovered within the tsunami debris are in situ victims related to the Late Bronze Age Thera eruption event. Calibrated radiocarbon ages from well-constrained, short-lived organics from within the tsunami deposit constrain the event to no earlier than 1612 BCE. The deposit provides a time capsule that demonstrates the nature, enormity, and expansive geographic extent of this catastrophic event.

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CREMATION VS. INHUMATION: MODELING CULTURAL CHANGES IN FUNERARY PRACTICES FROM THE MESOLITHIC TO THE MIDDLE AGES IN BELGIUM USING KERNEL DENSITY ANALYSIS ON 14C DATA

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/rdc.2020.88 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-24

Author(s):

Giacomo Capuzzo ◽

Christophe Snoeck ◽

Mathieu Boudin ◽

Sarah Dalle ◽

Rica Annaert ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Middle Ages ◽

Kernel Density ◽

Cultural Changes ◽

Social Transformations ◽

Density Analysis ◽

Funerary Ritual ◽

Kernel Density Analysis ◽

Mesolithic Period ◽

The Middle Ages

ABSTRACT The adoption of a new funerary ritual with all its social and cognitive meanings is of great importance to understanding social transformations of past societies. The first known occurrence of cremation in the territory corresponding to modern Belgium dates back to the Mesolithic period. From the end of the Neolithic onward, the practice of cremation was characterized by periods in which this rite was predominant and periods of contractions, defined by a decrease in the use of this funerary ritual. This paper aims to quantify such phenomenon for the first time by modeling discontinuities in burial practices through kernel density analysis of 1428 radiocarbon (14C) dates from 311 archaeological sites located in Belgium from the Mesolithic to the Middle Ages. Despite possible taphonomic and sampling biases, the results highlight the existence of periods with a large uptake of cremation rite followed by periods of contractions; such discontinuities took place in correlation with changes in the socio-economical structure of local communities, as, for example, during the later Middle Bronze Age and at the end of the Roman Period.

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Osadnictwo ma wyspie Thira (Santoryn) od neolitu po późną epokę brązu

Folia Praehistorica Posnaniensia ◽

10.14746/fpp.2011.16.06 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 16 ◽

pp. 155-199

Author(s):

Mariusz Kufel

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Thick Layer ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

History Of ◽

Santorini Volcano ◽

The Town ◽

Entire Island

This article presents a history of the Thera Island occupation in the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Altogether, 13 settlements and 2 cemeteries have been recorded from this period. The island was inhabited until the Late Bronze Age. The most significant centre on the island was surely the town of Akrotiri. At the beginning of the Late Bronze Age, a large eruption of the Santorini volcano took place which ceased the occupation and covered the almost entire island with a thick layer of pumice.

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Stone Dead: Uncovering Early Mesolithic Mortuary Rites, Hermitage, Ireland

Cambridge Archaeological Journal ◽

10.1017/s0959774316000536 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 27 (2) ◽

pp. 223-243 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Aimée Little ◽

Annelou van Gijn ◽

Tracy Collins ◽

Gabriel Cooney ◽

Ben Elliott ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Short Duration ◽

Belief Systems ◽

Microscopic Analysis ◽

Human Remains ◽

Burial Practice ◽

Funerary Rites ◽

The Individual ◽

The Bronze Age ◽

Insight Into

In Europe, cremation as a burial practice is often associated with the Bronze Age, but examples of cremated human remains are in fact known from the Palaeolithic onwards. Unlike conventional inhumation, cremation destroys most of the evidence we can use to reconstruct the biography of the buried individual. Remarkably, in Ireland, cremation is used for the earliest recorded human burial and grave assemblage (7530–7320 bc) located on the banks of the River Shannon, at Hermitage, County Limerick. While we are unable to reconstruct in any great detail the biography of this individual, we have examined the biography of a polished stone adzehead interred with their remains. To our knowledge, this adze represents the earliest securely dated polished axe or adze in Europe. Microscopic analysis reveals that the adze was commissioned for burial, with a short duration of use indicating its employment in funerary rites. Before its deposition into the grave it was intentionally blunted, effectively ending its use-life: analogous to the death of the individual it accompanied. The microwear traces on this adze thus provide a rare insight into early Mesolithic hunter-gatherer belief systems surrounding death, whereby tools played an integral part in mortuary rites and were seen as fundamental pieces of equipment for a successful afterlife.

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Bramcote Green, Bermondsey: a Bronze Age Trackway and Palaeo-Environmental Sequence

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society ◽

10.1017/s0079497x00002796 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 62 ◽

pp. 221-253 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Christopher Thomas ◽

James Rackham ◽

A.J. Barham ◽

N. Branch ◽

J. Glorgi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Thick Layer ◽

Late Glacial ◽

Water Levels ◽

The North ◽

Two Phases ◽

Sand And Gravel ◽

Subsequent Rise ◽

Shallow Channel ◽

Alluvial Clay

An archaeological evaluation and excavation were carried out prior to a housing development in 1992, at Bramcote Green, in the London Borough of Southwark. Up to 3 m of organic rich, alluvial clay silts were deposited during the late Glacial period between about 12,000 BP and 9000 BP. A wide, shallow channel flowing south towards the Thames cut through the clay silts during the early Holocene and was filled with a series of clay and peat layers. Between 6000 BP and 4000 BP fast moving water channels formed on the marshy ground on the east side of the site and broader channels on the sand and gravel outcrop on the west side of the site. A subsequent rise in water levels, possibly seasonal, deposited inorganic muds across most of the site until c. 3500 BP. Over the filled-in channel were laid two phases of a wooden trackway which may have been laid across the marsh between high ground to the south and Bermondsey Island to the north. The earlier trackway consisted of two parallel lines of alder logs held in place by alder stakes. The second consisted of a single line of oak logs with alder stakes along one side. Radiocarbon dating of the second trackway places it in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. The site was covered by a thick layer of peat dated to the Late Bronze Age.

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МОРФОЛОГО-АНАТОМІЧНЕ ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯ БЕДРИНЦЮ ЛОМИКАМЕНЕВОГО (PIMPINELLA SAXIFRAGA L.)

Фармацевтичний часопис ◽

10.11603/2312-0967.2015.2.4825 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

С. М. Марчишин ◽

Т. М. Гонтова ◽

Е. А. Панасюк

Keyword(s):

Apical Cell ◽

Thick Layer ◽

Microscopic Analysis ◽

Raw Material ◽

Small Cells ◽

Cortical Parenchyma ◽

Microscopic Features ◽

Parenchymal Cells ◽

Stomatal Mechanism ◽

Anatomical Research

MORPHOLOGICAL AND ANATOMICAL RESEARCH OF PIMPINELLA SAXIFRAGA L.S.M.Marchyshyn, T.M. Hontova, E.A. Panasiuk “I.Ya.HorbachevskyTernopilStateMedicalUniversityof the Ministry of Health ofUkraine” higher educational establishmentNationalPharmaceuticalUniversitySummary. The morphological and anatomical research of the herb and rhizome of pimpinella saxifrage l. has been made. Basic macro- and microscopic have been established to identify the raw material.Key words: pimpinella saxifrage l., herb, rhizome, macro- and microscopic features.Introduction. Pimpinella saxifraga L. Is a perennial herbaceous glabrous or puberulent plant of the Apiaceae family. It grows scattered on slopes, grass hills, forest glades, among the shrubs and along the roads on the entireterritory ofUkraine. For a long time pimpinella saxifrage l. has been used in folk medicine as an anti-spastic, ant-inflammatory, uretic, expectorant, anti-tussic, photosensitizing drug. The plant inUkraine is considered as non-officinal.The purpose of the research is to make a macro- and microscopic analysis of the herb and rhizome of pimpinella saxifrage l.Methods of the research. The micro-preparations were made of freshly collected raw material in the mixture of 96% ethanol – glycerol – purified water (1:1:1). The diagnostic microscopic features were studied by means of the microscope “Granum” with magnification power of x40, x100, x400. The photographs were taken with a camera Sony DSC-W80.Findings of the research. The macroscopic features of the rhizome of pimpinella saxifrage l. Spindle-shaped, longitudinally-wrinkled rhizomes up to5 cm in length and 2 –5 mm. in thickness. Grey-brown in colour, with uneven bend, yellowish-brown in colour, with yellow-brown spots. Strong, fragrant and acrid odour. Strong, bittersweet flavor.Microscopic features of the rhizome. The rhizome is covered with a thick layer of periderm. The cortical parenchyma is composed of parenchymal cells, small cells (phloem elements) are located lower. The phloem spreads evenly, in wide primary rays. The upper part of the cortical parenchyma contains oblong air vessels. The cortical parenchyma may have small schizogenous spaces; the parenchyma cells surrounding them contain starch. The central cylinder is clearly separated by the layer of cambium. The vessels are lined in oblong chains. The wood parenchyma accumulates starch. The rhizome center has a distinct lacune. Microscopic features of the herb. The stalks are thin-ribbed, branched and puberulent. The leaves are pinnated and macropodous; the margin is <a href="http://www.multitran.ru/c/m.exe?t=3157693_1_2&s1=%EF%E8%EB%FC%F7%E0%F2%EE-%E7%F3%E1%F7%E0%F2%FB%E9">serrate-dentate</a>. The flowers are small, pentapetalous and in compound umbel inflorescence. The fruit are small, egg-shaped mericarps. The blade is green on the upper part and light green on the lower part; the flowers are white. The odour is faint and pleasant. The flavor is spicy and bitterish.Microscopic analysis if herb. The stalk is multi-ribbed. The stalk epiderm is small-celled; the cellular membrane has straight and slightly thickened walls. The stomata are oval, large and rare. The stomatal mechanism is anomocytic and anysocytic. The epiderm is unevenly puberulent. The trichomes are long, bent and many-celled, with a small basilar cell and oblong main cells, cone-shaped, 2-celled, long 3-celled straight, erect with oblong apical cell.The leaf is dorsiventral. Palisade mesophile, bilarious, cancellate mesophile – tetrastichous. The cells of the palisade mesophile are small, not distinct, cylinder-shaped or oval; the second-row cells of the inner layer are loose. The cells of the cancellate mesophile are small, round or horizontally oblong. The stomata on the lower epiderm are protruding. The upper epiderm is represented by the parenchymal cells of various shape – starting with multi-angled ones and finishing with isodiametric-shaped ones. The cells of the lower epiderm are parenchymal, thin-walled and with rather sinuated membranes. The stomata are multiple, they are large and oval. The stomatal mechanism is anomocytic and paracytic. The leaf is unevenly puberulent. There are more trichomes on the lower side.Conclusions. The morphological and anatomical features of pimpinella saxifrage l. have been studied, and the main macro- and microscopic diagnostic features of rhizome, stalks, flowers and leaves have been defined to be later used for standardization of the medical raw material and design of the project “Pimpinella herb” and “Pimpinella rhizome”.

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Bolshepanyushevo-1 — a new settlement of the Late Bronze Age in the Aleiskaya steppe (lifting collections of ceramics in 2020)

Field studies in the Upper Ob, Irtysh and Altai (archeology, ethnography, oral history and museology) ◽

10.37386/2687-0584-2021-16-143-149 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 ◽

pp. 143-149

Author(s):

I. A. Savko ◽

◽

A. N. Telegin ◽

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

River Sediments ◽

Thick Layer ◽

Early Iron Age ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Cultural Affiliation ◽

The Village ◽

The Bronze Age ◽

Archaeological Monument

The article publishes materials of the settlement, opened in the vicinity of the village of Bolshepanyushevo in 2020. The archaeological monument is located on the floodplain of the river. Alei, overlapping with a thick layer of river sediments. The most representative collection of finds from collections of fragments of vessels, which were divided into several groups: ceramics of the Irmen and Sargarin-Alekseevsk culture (including the hybrid Irmen-Sargarin), as well as ceramics of the Early Iron Age and uncertain cultural affiliation. The bulk of the material is dated to the final period of the Bronze Age (end of the 2nd millennium BC). Currently, it is an immune organism to the Alei River.

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Preparatory Procedures for Electron Microscopic Analysis at the Molecular Level of Resolution

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100070230 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 36 (3) ◽

pp. 516-520

Author(s):

F.J. Sjostrand

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscope ◽

Molecular Level ◽

Microscopic Analysis ◽

Resolving Power ◽

Cellular Structures ◽

Electron Microscopic ◽

Systematic Analysis ◽

Technical Developments ◽

Thin Sectioning ◽

Obvious Reason

In the 1940's and 1950's electron microscopy conferences were attended with everybody interested in learning about the latest technical developments for one very obvious reason. There was the electron microscope with its outstanding performance but nobody could make very much use of it because we were lacking proper techniques to prepare biological specimens. The development of the thin sectioning technique with its perfectioning in 1952 changed the situation and systematic analysis of the structure of cells could now be pursued. Since then electron microscopists have in general become satisfied with the level of resolution at which cellular structures can be analyzed when applying this technique. There has been little interest in trying to push the limit of resolution closer to that determined by the resolving power of the electron microscope.

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High-Vacuum Evaporation and a Cryostage to Observe Fractured Yeast

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100103346 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 46 ◽

pp. 256-257

Author(s):

William P. Wergin ◽

Eric F. Erbe ◽

Eugene L. Vigil

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscope ◽

Low Temperature ◽

Standard Specimen ◽

High Vacuum ◽

Specimen Holder ◽

Sputter Coating ◽

Fresh Frozen ◽

Gain Access ◽

Scanning Electron ◽

Transfer Device

Investigators have long realized the potential advantages of using a low temperature (LT) stage to examine fresh, frozen specimens in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). However, long working distances (W.D.), thick sputter coatings and surface contamination have prevented LTSEM from achieving results comparable to those from TEM freeze etch. To improve results, we recently modified techniques that involve a Hitachi S570 SEM, an Emscope SP2000 Sputter Cryo System and a Denton freeze etch unit. Because investigators have frequently utilized the fractured E face of the plasmalemma of yeast, this tissue was selected as a standard for comparison in the present study.In place of a standard specimen holder, a modified rivet was used to achieve a shorter W.D. (1 to -2 mm) and to gain access to the upper detector. However, the additional height afforded by the rivet, precluded use of the standard shroud on the Emscope specimen transfer device. Consequently, the sample became heavily contaminated (Fig. 1). A removable shroud was devised and used to reduce contamination (Fig. 2), but the specimen lacked clean fractured edges. This result suggested that low vacuum sputter coating was also limiting resolution.

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Electron Microscopic Analysis of Myonecrosis Induced by a Pure Component Isolated From Rattlesnake Venom

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100091445 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 34 ◽

pp. 292-293

Author(s):

Charlotte L. Ownby ◽

David Cameron ◽

Anthony T. Tu

Keyword(s):

Gel Filtration ◽

Microscopic Analysis ◽

The United States ◽

Exchange Chromatography ◽

Pure Component ◽

Electron Microscopic Level ◽

Electron Microscopic ◽

Mouse Muscle ◽

Major Health Problem ◽

Rattlesnake Venom

In the United States the major health problem resulting from snakebite poisoning is local tissue damage, i.e. hemorrhage and myonecrosis. Since commercial antivenin does not usually prevent such damage to tissue, a more effective treatment of snakebite-induced myonecrosis is needed. To aid in the development of such a treatment the pathogenesis of myonecrosis induced by a pure component of rattlesnake venom was studied at the electron microscopic level.The pure component, a small (4,300 mol. wt.), basic (isoelectric point of 9.6) protein, was isolated from crude prairie rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis viridis) venom by gel filtration (Sephadex G-50) followed by cation exchange chromatography (Sephadex C-25), and shown to be pure by electrophoresis. Selection of the myotoxic component was based on light microscopic observations of injected mouse muscle.

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