La culture du Paléolithique dans la région de Jungwon en Corée

The Jungwon region is located in the central part of Korea and it is one of crucial regions for understanding of the Korean Paleolithic culture. Many Paleolithic sites have been discovered in this region, from the lower Paleolithic to the upper Paleolithic. It is of interest the remarkable variety of archeological remains such as human bones, stone tools, animal bones and paleoenvironmental artifacts. As a result, it permits us to reconstruct the subsistence of prehistoric men. This region has an important role for Korean prehistoric researches.     

Bone staining in waterlogged deposits: a preliminary contribution to the interpretation of near-shore find accumulation at the Schöningen 13II-4 ‘Spear-Horizon’ site,Lower Saxony,Germany

Abstract

The Schöningen 13II-4 ‘Spear Horizon’ site is famous for the excellent preservation of 300,000-year-old Palaeolithic hunting weapons, including nine wooden spears and a lance, deposited on the shores of a former interglacial lake in association with a large assemblage of well-preserved and butchered animal bones, mainly from horse. Some bones show distinct areas of dark staining, thought to be derived from contact with decaying plant remains along the shores of the lake. It was decided to test this theory and try to determine experimentally where bone staining was most likely to occur on the littoral zone. Modern horse and cow bones were fastened along parallel transects at two locations and the installations were left for several months. Black stains appeared on some bones in the shallows, but not on bones deposited on permanently dry land or in deeper water. Within the 10 m wide band of bones in the main concentration at the Schöningen site, there is a high incidence of bone staining, indicating accumulation of finds along a shallow lake margin. By using GIS, additional clusters of stained bones in the eastern part of the site were revealed and may indicate shorelines when water levels in the lake were lower.     

The Simonsen Site: Report For the Summer Of 1959

Abstract

Isolated surface finds of probable Archaic and Paleo-Indian sites have been made in western Iowa for the past decade. Recently 3 sites have been found in this area, along tributaries of the Missouri River, containing cultural material buried in sediments 13-17 feet below the modern surface. One of these sites, the Simonsen, exposed on a loop of the Little Sioux River, is described.

Bison bones were eroding below the top of an alluvial terrace. This profile is divided into 8 stratigraphic zones, Zones 1 and 2, were 9 feet thick and composed of sterile loam, sand and gravels. Zone 3, contained several disintegrated bison bones, fine ash, burned earth, a fire pit with charred log fragments and a hearth containing a large canid but no artifacts. Zone 4, 1-2 feet thick was composed of sterile interbedded gravels and sand. Zone 5, from a few inches to 2 feet thick contained small flecks of charcoal, and a fragment of a projectile point. Zone 6 was a very stilty sand interbedded with sand silts. Zone 7, 2-3 feet thick was the most profilic source of cultural material but considering the large area exposed, produced few artifacts. These were knives, flakes, 2 anvil stones and 3 points. Zone 8, a gravelly deposit of unknown thickness, underlay the cultural deposits.

A total of 7 bison skulls or partial skulls were collected in addition to abundant remains of other parts of the skeletons. These remains were tentatively assigned to the extinct specie, Bison occidentalis. Measurements of the metapoidals of these specimens agreed in massiveness with those from Scottsbluff and were smaller than specimen from the Brewster and Lipscomb sites which contained bison antiquus and Folsom artifacts.

The 1959 collection from the Simonsen site supports earlier observations of affiliations with the Logan Creek Site of Nebraska and argues for assignment within the late Paleo-Indian to early Archaic horizon.     

Phantom based qualitative and quantitative evaluation of artifacts in MR images of metallic hip prostheses

PurposeTo develop methods for qualitative and quantitative evaluation of MRI artifacts near metallic prostheses, and to compare the efficiency of different artifact suppression techniques with different types of hip prostheses.MethodsThree hip prostheses of cobalt-chromium, stainless steel, and titanium were embedded in agarose gel together with a rectilinear grid. Coronal MR images of the prostheses were acquired on a 1.5T scanner. Three pulse sequences were evaluated; TSE: a high-bandwidth turbo spin echo; VAT: TSE with view angle tilting, SEMAC: TSE with both VAT and slice distortion correction (6, 10 or 16 z-phase-encoding steps). Through-plane distortions were assessed as the length of visible gridlines, in-plane artifacts as the artifact area, and total artifacts by subtraction of an ideal, undistorted image from the actual image.ResultsVAT reduced in-plane artifacts by up to 50% compared to TSE, but did not reduce through-plane artifacts. SEMAC reduced through-plane artifacts by 60–80% compared to TSE and VAT. SEMAC in-plane artifacts were from 20% higher (6 encoding steps) to 50% lower (16 steps) than VAT. Total artifacts were reduced by 60–80% in the best sequence (SEMAC, 16 steps) compared to the worst (TSE). The titanium prosthesis produced 3–4 times lower artifact scores than the other prostheses.ConclusionsA rectilinear grid phantom is useful for qualitative and quantitative evaluation of artifacts provoked by different MRI protocols and prosthesis models. VAT and SEMAC were superior to TSE with high bandwidth. A proper number of z-encoding steps in SEMAC was critical. The titanium prosthesis caused least artifacts.     

呼伦贝尔辉河水坝遗址的细石器工艺探讨

辉河水坝遗址位于内蒙古呼伦贝尔市鄂温克旗, 埋藏于辉河右岸第2级阶地, 出土了罕见的人类居住遗迹、墓葬、篝火遗迹和由大量动物骨骼堆积的灰坑等, 以及许多陶片和大量的石制品。本文研究了遗址中发现的4111件石制品, 包括细石核、石片、石叶或细石叶及其进一步加工的各类工具。研究发现, 不同类型的石制品揭示了其工具的完整制作过程, 原料、类型与技术反映了其较为固定而典型的细石器生产工艺流程。这种细石器工艺在呼伦贝尔地区广泛分布, 为研究草原地区早期人类文化的起源与发展、生态环境的演变以及与西伯利亚、蒙古国同期文化关系的对比提供了重要资料。     

Abstracts

Abstract

Exposure to pets and wildlife can help children develop positive attitudes toward animals, which can foster the development of empathy and ecological stewardship. However, geographical, logistical and economic restrictions limit opportunities for many youth to interact directly with live animals. Thus, educational interventions that utilize imitation animal artifacts rather than live animals, and which are effective in helping children develop an understanding of animals, present an important resource for educators. In the current study, the impact of a curriculum that employs imitation animal artifacts on children's perceptions of their relationships to animals was assessed. Third grade children's (n = 96) perceptions of their relationships to animals were analyzed by means of a drawing assessment tool. An analytic scoring rubric was used to assess three features of the drawings: Interactivity, Affect, and Realism. The combination of these elements was defined as the construct Self–Animal Perception. Change in Self–Animal Perception was assessed over time using repeated measures ANOVA. The curriculum intervention resulted in significant improvement in Self–Animal Perception scores relative to controls. The Self–Animal Perception construct and the drawing assessment tool utilized for measuring children's perceived relationships to animals are discussed.     

Shells and ochre in Middle Paleolithic Qafzeh Cave,Israel: indications for modern behavior

Qafzeh Cave, the burial grounds of several anatomically modern humans, producers of Mousterian industry, yielded archaeological evidence reflecting their modern behavior. Dated to 92 ka BP, the lower layers at the site contained a series of hearths, several human graves, flint artifacts, animal bones, a collection of sea shells, lumps of red ochre, and an incised cortical flake. The marine shells were recovered from layers earlier than most of the graves except for one burial. The shells were collected and brought from the Mediterranean Sea shore some 35 km away, and are complete Glycymeris bivalves, naturally perforated. Several valves bear traces of having been strung, and a few had ochre stains on them.     

A newly-developed metal artifact reduction algorithm improves the visibility of oral cavity lesions on 320-MDCT volume scans

PurposeTo investigate whether a newly-developed single-energy metal artifact reduction (SEMAR) algorithm applied to images acquired on a 320-MDCT volume scanner reduces image artifacts from dental metal.MethodsWe inserted the lower right teeth covered with a dental metal alloy and crown in a skull phantom and performed single-volume scanning on a second-generation 320-MDCT scanner. A 12-mm diameter spherical lesion was placed either close to or far from the dental metal. The tube voltage and current were 120 kVp and 80 or 155 mA, respectively. Images were reconstructed with filtered back projection (FBP) or iterative reconstruction (IR), with or without SEMAR. We calculated the signal-to-artifact ratios (SAR) to quantify the visibility of the lesion. Two radiologists inspected 96 images (48 with lesion and 48 without) for the presence or absence of the lesion using a 5-point ordinal scale (1 = definitely absent to 5 = definitely present).ResultsOn images reconstructed with FPB and IR with SEMAR, streak artifacts from the dental metal were reduced substantially compared to images without SEMAR. At 155 mA with the lesion near the dental metal, the SARs were better on FBP and IR images (FBP: 1.7 and 0.5 with and without SEMAR, respectively; IR: 1.6 and 0.9 with and without SEMAR, respectively). The observer visual scores improved with SEMAR (FBP: 4.2 and 3.2 with and without SEMAR, respectively; IR: 4.2 and 3.0).ConclusionThe SEMAR algorithm reduces dental metal artifacts and improves lesion detectability and image quality in patients with oral cavity lesions.     

Evaluation of lead concentrations in 18th-century Omaha Indian skeletons using ICP-MS.

The analysis of skeletal remains of Omaha Indians buried between AD 1780 and 1820 indicated that lead was incorporated in cortical bone. The diagenetic or biogenetic origin of the lead was evaluated by examination of lead isotope ratios of the bones and artifacts, and comparison of lead concentrations in burial soils with those of the bones. The isotopic values of the lead artifacts demonstrate that the lead was mined in the Missouri region. Although the isotope ratios in the bones are not identical with that from the lead artifacts, there is a strong relationship between them. This finding indicates that the lead in the bone was at least partly derived from the artifacts. Because lead artifacts rarely accompanied the burials but lead was ubiquitous in the bones, we suggest a biogenetic origin for the lead. There is also the possibility that some of the lead may have been derived from pigments applied to the corpse during mortuary ritual.     

青藏高原边缘地区史前遗址2009年调查试掘报告

2009年6月—7月,在青藏高原边缘地区调查、试掘了6处遗址,获得一批石制品、动物骨骼残片、火塘等材料。石制品多数个体较小,类型包括石核、石片、工具、断块、细石核、细石叶等。通过对比出土材料及部分遗址测年数据判断,6处遗址的年代处于13ka BP左右的晚更新世至全新世。此次调查试掘,丰富了该区域人类活动的证据,对研究青藏高原环境变化、古人类的适应生存过程及技术交流有一定意义。     

Iterative image reconstruction using modified non-local means filtering for limited-angle computed tomography

PurposeLimited-angle CT imaging is an effective technique to reduce radiation. However, existing image reconstruction methods can effectively reduce streak artifacts but fail to suppress those artifacts around edges due to incomplete projection data. Thus, a modified NLM (mNLM) based reconstruction method is proposed.MethodsSince the artifacts around edges mainly exist in local position, it is possible to restore the true pixels in artifacts using pixels located in artifacts-free regions. In each iteration, mNLM is performed on image reconstructed by ART followed by positivity constraint. To solve the problem caused by ART-mNLM that there is undesirable information that may appear in the image, ART-TV is then utilized in the following iterative process after ART-mNLM iterates for a number of iterations. The proposed algorithm is named as ART-mNLM/TV.ResultsSimulation experiments are performed to validate the feasibility of algorithm. When the scanning range is [0, 150°], our algorithm outperforms the ART-NLM and ART-TV with more than 40% and 29% improvement in terms of SNR and with more than 58% and 49% reduction in terms of MAE. Consistently, reconstructed images from real projection data also demonstrate the effectiveness of presented algorithm.ConclusionThis paper uses mNLM which benefits from redundancy of information across the whole image, to recover the true value of pixels in artifacts region by utilizing pixels from artifact-free regions, and artifacts around the edges can be mitigated effectively. Experiments show that the proposed ART-mNLM/TV is able to achieve better performances compared to traditional methods.     

Scapula Skin-Dressing And Fiber-Processing Tools

Abstract

Information from ethnographic and archaeological literature supports the interpretation that some bison scapula tools were used for dressing skins. Sim!lar scapula artifacts may have been used for processing bark fiber used in making cordage or weaving. References to possible scapula processing tools from the Plains Northwest Coast, Great Lakes Riverine Area, and the Southeast are summarized. Specimens made of deer and elk scapulae probably represent functionally similar tool types. These artifacts may be more common than the available reports on Plains sites indicate, and archaeologists should exercise care when identifying scapula tools. We cannot assume that all scapula artifacts represent hoes or hoe fragments.     

A Progress Report on a Pre-Ceramic Site at Rattlesnake Draw Eastern New Mexico

Abstract

The Rattlesnake Draw site has produced both Paleo-Indian and Archaic artifacts in a concentrated area centering about a presently dry lake basin. In addition to the artifacts discovered, the investigators have found evidence of the construction of artificial wells during the archaic period. These wells are similar to those earlier discovered at Blackwater Draw, Locality One.     

Effect of number of views on cross-sectional Compton imaging: A fundamental study with backprojection

IntroductionWe have been developing a medical imaging technique using a Compton camera, which is expected to reconstruct three-dimensional images. If the number of views is not sufficient, star-shaped artifacts (streak artifacts) could arise in cross-sectional images. Therefore, we estimated the point spread function (PSF) of cross-sectional Compton images and the effect of the number of views by Monte Carlo simulations and experimental studies.Materials and methodsA cross-sectional Compton image was reconstructed using a dataset comprising 719 view directions and PSF was analyzed using a radial distribution. The peak height, full width at half maximum (FWHM), background (BG), and residual sum of squares (RSS) were calculated from the obtained PSF. In addition, RSSs were plotted against the number of views to estimate the required number to suppress star-shaped artifacts.ResultsThere was no correlation found between the number of views and both FWHM (16 mm) and peak/BG ratio (∼1 × 10⁴). RSSs were reduced with the number of views and approached the minimum asymptotically. Correlation was observed between the required number of views and the number of Compton events used for image reconstruction.ConclusionWe determined the PSF of cross-sectional Compton images and the effect of the number of views on the images. The required number of views to suppress the star-shaped artifact is related to the square root of the number of Compton events used to reconstruct the image. From this study, we concluded that 21 or more views are required for clinical purposes.     

Imaging of Orthotopic Glioblastoma Xenografts in Mice Using a Clinical CT Scanner: Comparison with Micro-CT and Histology

PurposeThere is an increasing need for small animal in vivo imaging in murine orthotopic glioma models. Because dedicated small animal scanners are not available ubiquitously, the applicability of a clinical CT scanner for visualization and measurement of intracerebrally growing glioma xenografts in living mice was validated.ResultsTumor volumes (mean±SD mm³) were similar between both CT-modalities (micro-CT: 19.8±19.0, clinical CT: 19.8±18.8; Wilcoxon signed-rank test p = 0.813). Moreover, between reader analyses for each modality showed excellent agreement as demonstrated by correlation analysis (Spearman-Rho >0.9; p<0.01 for all correlations). Histologically measured tumor volumes (11.0±11.2) were significantly smaller due to shrinkage artifacts (p<0.05). CNR and SNR were 2.1±1.0 and 1.1±0.04 for micro-CT and 23.1±24.0 and 1.9±0.7 for the clinical CTscanner, respectively.ConclusionClinical CT scanners may reliably be used for in vivo imaging and volumetric analysis of brain tumor growth in mice.     

Recalage 2D-3D dans le domaine fréquentiel pour l’étude du mouvement en condition quasi-statique : étude pilote sur l’articulation du genou

ObjectivesIn order to make kinematics studies, an estimation of the bones motions is necessary. In this paper, we develop a new method to make 2D-3D registration in order to estimate the bones motion of the knee (femur and tibia). Our registration is made in the frequency domain using different pairs of radiographs and 3D reconstruction of the bone in the initial position.Material and methodWe use the knee bones radiographs of two healthy persons. These acquisitions are made by a new low dose radiographic system called EOS. Acquisitions are made in full extension, in 30° and 60° of knee flexion. A 3D reconstruction of the bones is made in the extension position and a new 2D-3D registration method based on the frequency domain is applied to make the motion estimation for the flexion positions.ResultsOur registration method is made in the frequency domain and does not need to make radiograph simulations as it is commonly made in 2D-3D registration methods. We compare our results to a manual registration of the data. The precision we get is similar to the previous works precision.DiscussionFor acquisitions, we use a low dose radiographic system which limits the X-ray irradiation for the patients.     

宁夏鸽子山遗址第10地点出土动物骨骼的埋藏学初步观察

宁夏鸽子山遗址第10地点(QG10)位于青铜峡市西北约20km的贺兰山南麓。2014-2017年,中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所与宁夏文物考古研究所联合组队对该遗址进行了发掘,出土大量动物化石、近万件石制品以及装饰品、骨制品、结构性火塘等。本项研究基于遗址第4层出土动物化石的埋藏学初步观察认为:晚更新世末期的古人类是遗址中动物骨骼的富集者和改造者;QG10的狩猎-采集人群采取狩猎而非主动食腐的方式获取了遗址附近的大中型食草类动物,并将其完整搬运至遗址内进行后续的肢解、食肉与敲骨取髓等营养性处理过程。相对于上述动物种类而言,遗址内的小型动物则是在其营养物质之外,古人类还利用了它们的骨骼材料以制作器型规整的骨角类工具。