A 781-year oak tree-ring chronology for the Middle Ages archaeological dating in Maramureș (Eastern Europe)

From 1997 to the present, a sustained project in the Maramureș region in Romania was completed with the construction of a 781-year oak tree-ring chronology. A total of 395 samples from living trees and 429 from archaeological wood were analysed with dendrochronological methods. The study aimed to provide the scientific community with a new oak chronology that could be applied in dendroarchaeology, dendroclimatology and dendroecology studies and also for interpreting past socio-economic events. Furthermore, we studied the number of sapwood rings and the growth pattern for different time periods. The chronology covered the continuous period of A.D. 1236‒2016. From the 824 samples collected, we separated 271 tree-ring series into a new chronology (A.D. 1406–2016), which fulfilled all the criteria necessary to reconstruct past climate and environmental changes. The resulting new tree-ring chronology indicated robust signal series intercorrelation (r = 0.55) and an average mean sensitivity of 0.21. Based on an analysis of the sapwood, we recommend estimating a number between 8 and 32 rings to the date of final ring for 95% confidence range of mean on the for felling in the Maramureș region. Additionally, we observed that the number of sapwood rings was not correlated with altitude or oak tree species.     

The first Whaitsiid (Therocephalia,Theromorpha) from the terminal Permian of eastern Europe

The first representative of the family Whaitsiidae, Megawhaitsia patrichae gen. et sp. nov., from the terminal Permian of eastern Europe is described. This is a very large predator that appeared in the Vyazniki Tetrapod Assemblage in conditions of large predatory biomorph deficiency.     

Obesity in Eastern Europe: An overview of its health and economic implications

AIMS: To assess the evolution and patterns of obesity in countries of the WHO European Region with a particular focus on the Eastern European countries, and to discuss the health and economic implications of obesity for those countries. METHODS: The available data on overweight and obesity in children and adults for the countries of the WHO European countries were collated from the International Obesity TaskForce database and considered in the light of estimates for the costs of obesity-related ill health. RESULTS: Overweight and obesity in most countries of Europe show rising secular trends, and are predicted to continue rising if not addressed. Estimates of the costs to the health services and to economic productivity indicate that some countries may find it hard to cope with the burden of obesity: up to 6% of total health care costs and as much in indirect costs of lost productivity could be attributed to obesity and its associated illnesses. CONCLUSIONS: Transition, despite the many benefits it has undoubtedly conferred to the population living in the Region, has also entailed the collateral damage of a fast growing obesity challenge. Policy-makers in the new and candidate EU countries as well as other countries of the European Region can learn from the negative Western European and global experience, act now to stem the obesity epidemic from further developing and in so doing, reduce the substantial economic losses associated with obesity. Local, national and international strategies will be needed to combat the problem.     

Differentiation of tetrapod communities and some aspects of biotic events in the early triassic of Eastern Europe

The patterns of spatial differentiation of the Early Mesozoic terrestrial biota in Eastern Europe and Australia-Tasmania demonstrate that the tetrapod faunal recovery following the Permian extinction was characterized by both global and regional heterogeneity. Local distinctions observed in the development of Early Triassic tetrapod assemblages of European Russia allow the recognition of the following realms: (1) the central and northern regions of the East European Platform (Moscow-Mezen Syncline) and the Timan-North Ural Region; (2) the southern Fore-Urals, including the Obshchii Syrt Plateau; and (3) the southern regions of the East European Platform (the slope of the Voronezh Anticline). Climatic conditions at the initial stage of the development of local communities were characterized by an increase in aridity and seasonal contrasts of climate. Therefore, terrestrial assemblages mostly concentrated in the aquatic and coastal biotopes. Accordingly, vertebrate assemblages of the region were dominated everywhere by aquatic amphibians and semiaquatic reptiles, while the accompanying palynomorph assemblages show the predominance of hygrophilous vegetation indicative of swampy mangrove setting. With respect to amphibians, a peak of local biogeographic differentiation falls on the onset of the Early Triassic and, in the case of reptiles, on the end of this time span. This change conforms to the increasing role of reptiles in the overall taxonomic diversity with time. Among the three main biogeographic units of the region, the Southern Fore-Ural Realm is distinguished by the maintenance of distinct faunal links with Gondwanan regions. The Southern Realm shows a connection with the Germanic Basin and more western Euramerican areas, which is documented for the Late Olenekian and occurred under influence of coastal marine conditions.     

Ambiguous Transparency: Resumé Fetishism in a Slovak Workshop

This article considers how curricula vitae (C. V.s) reflect and contribute to the social and political conditions of their production. Working with observations of a 2001 workshop in Slovakia on how to write a new style of C. V. and with the related style of life chronicles from personnel files in socialist Czechoslovakia, I argue that this genre's social effects in different economic orders might arise from how authors couple or decouple the referent of a text to other actors in time and space. One ideology that I observed in the workshop encouraged shifts in notions of evidence. Such shifts, I argue, might be furthering the ideological work of creating new forms of personhood and inequality that underlie Slovakia's ‘transition’ to capitalism. Post-socialist C.V.s and socialist life chronicles appear to rise out of different graphic ideologies that govern how actors see themselves as social subjects.     

The first record of Sirenia (Mammalia) from the early Oligocene of the Paratethys

Abstract

Sirenians have been extensively recorded from the Mediterranean and west European localities but there are only few finds to the east of it, from the area covered by the Paratethys. For the early Oligocene, to our knowledge, there are no published records of sirenians from inner seas of the Old World. Here we report a specimen of Dugongidae indet., consisting of two partial vertebrae and 12 fragments of ribs, collected in a manganese ore mine in Ukraine and dated as the earliest Oligocene (33–32 Ma). The specimens, as preserved, did not differ in morphology and size from ‘Halitherium schinzii’ and therefore can belong to Kaupitherium, at present the single early Oligocene genus recorded from Europe. However, its vertebral and rib anatomy is not specific for Kaupitherium, so we identify it only by family level. The marks of scavenging on a rib possibly are due to gastropod or bivalve mollusks. The sea, as suggested from biotic data, had a temperate or subtropical climate, relatively cold waters and high diversity of pelagic and deep-water habitats. Thus, the onset of the Oligocene was a period when sirenians could enter temperate inner Eurasian waters, a marginal area in their worldwide dispersal.     

New data on Trematosauroid labyrinthodonts of Eastern Europe: 1. Genus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Inflectosaurus</Emphasis> Shishkin, 1960

New materials and previously unpublished data on trematosaurid labyrinthodonts from the Early Triassic Bolshoe Bogdo locality (Astrakhan Region) are described. All cranial trematosaurid specimens from this locality are assigned to the monotypic genus Inflectosaurus based on the postorbital length of the skull roof. The diagnosis of the genus is amended. The intermediate position of Inflectosaurus between Angusaurus and Trematosaurus is marked.     

Carthamus species in the ancient Near East and south-eastern Europe: archaeobotanical evidence for their distribution and use as a source of oil

We present an overview of archaeobotanical Carthamus spp. finds from Neolithic to medieval sites in the Near East and adjacent areas. A particular focus is put on the cultivated form of the genus. Safflower appears first in a number of early Bronze Age (3000 b.c.) sites in northern and central Syria. From there it apparently spread to Egypt, the Aegean and south-eastern Europe. The Near Eastern Bronze Age evidence shows a striking exclusiveness in the distribution patterns of safflower and flax, with flax being restricted to Levantine and Iranian sites. This may reflect the contrasting ecological requirements of the two crops, with safflower being well adapted to drought and salinity and thus to arid conditions. At the same time the geographically complementary evidence may indicate a similar use of the two crops and most probably suggests that the safflower was also used for oil almost from the beginning of its cultivation. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Redescription of Pelobates praefuscus Khosatzky, 1985 and new records of Pelobates from the late Miocene–Pleistocene of Eastern Europe

A reexamination of the holotype frontoparietal of Pelobates praefuscus Khosatzky, 1985 from the Pliocene of Moldova and an investigation of newly referred frontoparietal reveal previously unknown characters for this species. P. praefuscus, considered a synonym of Pelobates fuscus, is regarded here as a separate species. It differs from P. fuscus in the presence of frontoparietal-squamosal contact and medial position of the foramen arteriae occipitalis and from all extant Pelobates in having the arteria orbitonasalis open posteriorly. The last character, previously known only in early Miocene Pelobates, is shown to be present in late Miocene and early Pliocene congeners, whereas in late Pliocene–Pleistocene congeners, the posterior part of the arteria orbitonasalis generally is covered ventrally by bone.     

Wild Capitalism and Ecocolonialism: A Tale of Two Rivers

The development and pollution of two rivers, the Danube and Tisza, have been the site and subject of environmental protests and projects in Hungary since the late 1980s. Protests against the damming of the Danube rallied opposition to the state socialist government, drawing on discourses of national sovereignty and international environmentalism. The Tisza suffered a major environmental disaster in 2000, when a globally financed gold mine in Romania spilled thousands of tons of cyanide and other heavy metals into the river, sending a plume of pollution downriver into neighboring countries. In this article, I examine the symbolic ecologies that emerged in the two moments of environmental protest, as well as Hungarian activists' reflections on the changing political ecology of the region in their discourses of ecocolonialism ( ökógyarmatosítás ) and wild capitalism ( vadkapitaliszmus ).     

Palynostratigraphy of the Frasnian-Famennian boundary deposits from the Central Devonian Field, western Russia and comparisons with adjacent areas

Detailed palynological research carried out on samples from the three quarries at Khlevnoye and Kamenka (Voronezh region) permitted recognition of the Frasnian-Famennian boundary in the lower Kamenka quarry. Two miospore zones, Cristatisporites deliquescens-Verrucosisporites evlanensis (DE) from the Frasnian and Cyrtospora cristifera-Diaphanospora zadonica (CZ) from the Famennian, have been recognized. Some faunistic data were also obtained from the F-F boundary deposits. Research confirmed the existence of a sedimentological gap between the Livny and Zadonsk horizons, including all of the Volgograd horizon. These new palynological results are compared with data from adjacent areas: Pripyat Depression (Belarus), Timan-Pechora Province and the Volgograd Volga region (Russia), western Pomerania and the Holy Cross Mountains (Poland).     

Contrasting patterns of Y-chromosome variation in South Siberian populations from Baikal and Altai-Sayan regions

In order to investigate the genetic history of autochthonous South Siberian populations and to estimate the contribution of distinct patrilineages to their gene pools, we have analyzed 17 Y-chromosomal binary markers (YAP, RPS4Y₇₁₁, SRY-8299, M89, M201, M52, M170, 12f2, M9, M20, 92R7, SRY-1532, DYS199, M173, M17, Tat, and LLY22 g) in a total sample of 1,358 males from 14 ethnic groups of Siberia (Altaians-Kizhi, Teleuts, Shors, Tuvinians, Todjins, Tofalars, Sojots, Khakassians, Buryats, Evenks), Central/Eastern Asia (Mongolians and Koreans) and Eastern Europe (Kalmyks and Russians). Based on both, the distribution pattern of Y-chromosomal haplogroups and results on AMOVA analysis we observed the statistically significant genetic differentiation between the populations of Baikal and Altai–Sayan regions. We suggest that these regional differences can be best explained by different contribution of Central/Eastern Asian and Eastern European paternal lineages into gene pools of modern South Siberians. The population of the Baikal region demonstrates the prevalence of Central/Eastern Asian lineages, whereas in the populations of Altai and Sayan regions the highest paternal contribution resulted from Eastern European descent is revealed. Yet, our data on Y-chromosome STRs variation demonstrate the clear differences between the South Siberian and Eastern European R1a1-lineages with the evolutionary ages compatible with divergence time between these two regional groups.