Comparison of trace elements in freshwater pearls cultured in Japan, China, and USA

In this paper, we performed PIXE analysis of trace elements in freshwater pearls cultured in four different areas: Lake Biwa (Japan), Lake Kasumigaura (Japan), an unidentified lake in China, and Kentucky Lake (USA). We investigated the difference of trace elements contained in the four pearls from different aquaculture environments. The observed trace elements are Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, and Sr. The major trace elements are Mn, Sr for all the samples. From comparison of the proportions of elements contained, we found the following features: (1) The Kasumigaura pearl has a nucleus with a high Mn/Sr ratio, (2) The Biwako pearl is low in iron content, and (3) The American pearl has high in Fe/Sr, Cu/Sr, and Zn/Sr ratios.

Patterns of Antemortem Tooth Loss in Late Prehistoric West-central Tennessee

The later prehistoric subsistence-settlement pattern in the Kentucky Lake Reservoir (KLR) of northern west-central Tennessee is of interest as human occupation inexplicably terminates by AD 1450 as part of a larger regional depopulation. Antemortem tooth loss (ATL) collectively and by tooth type was identified in four site samples from the KLR. These are a Late Woodland (AD 600-900) sample (Hobbs) and three Middle Mississippian period (AD 1100- 1400) hierarchically organized and presumptively maize agriculturalist samples (Link/Slayden, Gray Farm , Thompson Village). ATL prevalence in the Hobbs sample is consistent with a native crop and seasonal foraging economy. The ATL in the Link sample is more congruent with the pre-maize Late Woodland sample than the essentially contemporaneous Gray Farm site sample. Thompson Village, a later-dated satellite community of the Gray Farm polity, exhibits significantly fewer ATL than the Gray Farm sample. This may flag climate-influenced agricultural shortfall of dietary carbohydrates later in the occupation sequence. Additionally, males in the Gray Farm site sample have significantly more ATL than males in the other two Mississippian samples. The patterns suggest regional, possibly shortfall mitigated, differences in maize intensification with a polity-specific male-focused maize consumption in the Gray Site.

Caries as an archaeological problem-solving tool: reconstructing subsistence patterns in late prehistoric west-central Tennessee

The dentition from two Middle Mississippian period (~AD 1100-1350) site samples (Gray Farm [~AD 1150-1400], Link/Slayden [~AD 1200-1400]) from the Kentucky Lake Reservoir of west-central Tennessee area are examined for the presence of caries to assess whether a maize-intensive subsistence economy is evident or the retention of the cultivation of domesticated native seeds (i.e., the Eastern Agricultural Complex). Given the absence of archaeological context, the caries prevalence operates as an archaeological problem-solving tool. The caries prevalence by tooth type are compared to a Late Woodland period (~AD 400-900) site sample (Hobbs) from the Kentucky Lake Reservoir as well as three unequivocal maize-intensive site samples from the Late Mississippian period (~AD 1300-1550) of East Tennessee. The Gray Farm site aligns statistically with the maize-intensive samples; Link/Slayden does not and resembles the caries prevalence of the Hobbs sample. The Mississippianization process in the Kentucky Lake Reservoir clearly varies in the adoption of maize as a primary cultigen. This may reflect the difference in geo-political location of Gray Farm and Link/Slayden relative to neighboring Mississippian economies, particularly to the east (Middle Cumberland Culture), or it may reflect potential temporal differences among the Middle Mississippian period settlements within the Kentucky Lake Reservoir.

Where Five Rivers Meet

The convergence of five river systems in far western Kentucky significantly influenced the progress of human settlement and activity over the past several thousand years in the area now known as the Jackson Purchase. The geological history of the Jackson Purchase set the stage for the development of unique land- and waterscapes with natural histories very different from the rest of Kentucky. The Ohio, the Mississippi, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee Rivers define the present boundaries of the Purchase area, and the smaller Clarks River provides the major drainage through its midsection. Major geological, hydrological, and human historical events including the New Madrid earthquakes, Civil War, floods, water-borne diseases, the ever-changing focus of agriculture and industry, and 20th century dam building, including construction of two major hydroelectric reservoirs (Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley) all affected peoples’ choices of where to live and how to use the land and water resources of the region.Today, western Kentuckians are actively engaged in preserving the quality of the region’s water resources because of the recreational, agricultural, industrial, transportation, and ecological services they provide.