Trialing geophysical techniques in the identification of open Indigenous sites in Australia: A case study from inland northwest Queensland

The use of geophysical techniques as an aid to archaeological investigations has become common-place, however these methods have only occasionally been applied in Indigenous Australian archaeology. This is despite recognition (and recommendations) since the 1970s that such approaches have the potential to yield positive results in such contexts (e.g. Connah et al. 1976; Stanley 1983; Stanley and Green 1976). Australian archaeologists have perhaps been reluctant to embrace these techniques because of their perceived high cost (both of equipment and specialist staff) and the subtle nature of subsurface Indigenous sites as geophysical targets. Nevertheless, there have been a number of recent applications of these techniques in Australia, particularly in relation to burial and hearth sites. We report the results of a pilot study conducted in northwest Queensland. This study aimed to test the applicability of geophysical methods being routinely employed to locate a variety of open site features (particularly hearths and middens) as part of reconnaissance surveys. While not being entirely successful, this study demonstrated that certain archaeological features can be readily identifi ed using geophysical techniques, though further research and trials should be carried out to refi ne the uses of these techniques to allow their more widespread applicability.

Heidegger I

Heidegger deformalized Husserl’s phenomenology by proposing the unity of understanding, states of mind, and our abiding sense of being cast into the world and of anxious “falling.” Influenced by Kierkegaard’s angest, he defined humans as an open site in-the-world (Dasein) ever haunted by two anxieties; that of our everyday cares (Sorge) and the profound angst that opens us to the question of what we really are, and of why there is being instead of simply nothing. He thus adapted Leibniz’s metaphysical question about being in hermeneutic terms and argued that this was the path out of an exhausted, European metaphysics and toward a new thinking.

Çatalhöyük as an Open Site?

In this chapter, a framework for assessing the openness of virtual archaeological reconstructions to a multiplicity of readings is presented by focusing on the case of Çatalhöyük, in Turkey. Since its discovery in the 1950s, there has been a diversity of opinion on Çatalhöyük’s settlement rank along the path from settled village to urban agglomeration. This diversity of opinion has been expressed both verbally and visually, the latter including numerous computer-based visualizations for a variety of purposes and target audiences. Among the internationally approved principles for computer-based visualizations of cultural heritage is the need for intellectual and scientific transparency. Umberto Eco’s theory of the “open work,” as applied in literary and visual works including motion pictures, offers a theoretical framework for discussing the transparency of Çatalhöyük visualizations, as does Siegfried Kracauer’s idea of “cinematic materiality.” Three of the virtual works on Çatalhöyük are briefly presented in this chapter, as a basis for discussing the applicability of Eco’s and Kracauer’s ideas in this type of production as a measure for “open multivocality,” leading to an assessment of whether visualizations reveal any or all alternative interpretations of the site.

Model compound met the key structural and spectroscopic features of [FeFe]-hydrogenase active site

Biomimetic synthesis of the [FeFe]-hydrogenase active site draws considerable attention of scientists for its amazing catalytic efficiency on reversible transition between proton and hydrogen. Fe2(CO)3[μ-(SCH(CH2CH3)CH2S)](μ-DPPM)(κ1-DPPM) (compound 1) which replicated key structural aspects of the natural [FeFe]-hydrogenase was designed and synthesized. 1 showed that the wavenumbers in IR were close to those of the natural [FeFe]-hydrogenase active site. In addition, 1 achieved the low oxidation potentials at -0.48 V and -0.26 V, respectively. In the assistance of ethyl located in the S-S bridging structure, the asymmetrical substitution with sterically encumbering and electron-rich ligands in 1 may offer a thorough protection for forming and stabilizing the open site in the rotated structure.