Mobridge Site Cemeteries: Controversy Concerning The Location Of The Over And Stirling Burials

Abstract

During the 1920's, W.H. Over and M.W. Stirling excavated skeletal material from cemeteries at the Mobridge site. Their records are not clear as to the exact location of burial recovery. Mobridge has at least three distinct burial areas (Features 1, 2, and 3), and there are craniometric and temporal differences among them. A comparison of crania from Features 1, 2, and 3 with the Over and Stirling samples gives some insight as to the location of their burials. Burials excavated by Over classify primarily with Feature 2, indicating this to be their point of origin. A few burials from Feature 1 also appear to be represented. Stirling's sample groups with areas 1 and 3. His sample possibly originated there, although it seems more likely that they came from a location north of the village which dates to the same time period as Features 1 and 3 and represents the same population.     

Intracemetery Morphological Variation in Arikara Crania From The Sully Site (39SL4), Sully County,South Dakota

Abstract

Canonical analysis is used to examine intracemetery variation in cranial morphology in the Sully site Arikara skeletal collection. The site included four spatially distinct burial areas. lnterarea morphological differences in the crania are shown to relate to the multicomponent nature of the associated village. The proposed temporal relationships based on archaeological data are supported by the cranial evidence.     

Composition and Diversity of Lawn Flora in Differently Managed Village Yards – A Case Study from Southwestern Hungary

Traditionally managed village yards have been disappearing from the Central-European countryside. Their lawn flora is likely to provide a unique habitat for many plants that are adapted to this environment. Composition of lawn flora was investigated in differently managed village yards (i.e., regularly mown and regularly trampled yards, poultry yards, paved yards) in southwestern Hungary. The main goal of the study was to detect the impacts of these different management regimes on the composition and diversity of the vegetation. In total, 240 1-m² plots were sampled in 60 yards ranging from 80 m² to 5,000 m² in size. In the redundancy analysis, eight significant variables (degree of southness, slope, age, total size of yards; mowing, trampling and grazing regime; and the number of dogs) explained 16 % of the total variation in species data. The most diverse flora across yards was detected in the paved ones, and their stands also proved to be the most compositionally distinctive. In contrast, presence of domestic animals can contribute to local species loss as well as to a decrease in within-yard-type variability. These results highlight the importance of certain anthropogenic disturbances in maintaining high plant diversity, but also underline the crucial role of small-scale land management practices in rural environments.     

Using Ari Kara Osteological Data To Evaluate An Assumpti on oF Fur Trade Archaeology

Abstract

Osteological data from the Arikara-affiliated Mobridge site in South Dakota are used to test an hypothesis frequently expressed in archaeology that the relative quantity of recovered Euro-American goods can be used to infer a site? s relative age. Crania from the Mobridge site are examined for intra-site differences and thecompared with crania from four other sites. Our analysis suggests that the dating assumption may have validity for some archaeological sites, particularly those associated with the Arikara, and may even be valid on the intra-site level as demonstrated by our analysis of the Mobridge data     

Demography And Disease Patterns In A Protohistoric Plains Group: A Study ofthe Mobridge Site (39WW1)

Abstract

Epidemic disease has often been cited as the major factor causing historic depopulation of Native American groups. Because a range of infectious diseases introduced by Europeans struck different tribes at different times, the effects of these diseases or the outbreak of epidemics were not uniform for all groups. The Arikara of the American Plains wereamong the last North American Indian groups to experience direct contact with Europeans. However, indirect contact with introduced infectious diseases may have reduced these Plains protohistoric groups prior to established relations with Europeans. Historic depopulation of the Arikara and a demographic study of the skeletal remains from the Mobridge site (39WW1 l are the focus of this case study of the protohistoric population dynamics of a Native American group. Disease patterns are used in the demographic analysis to aid in the interpretation of observed mortality patterns. Evaluation of the skeletal remains from the Mobridge Site includes life table reconstruction and differential diagnosis of skeletal pathology complexes. Results of these analyses show that certain underlying disease processes evident skeletally correspond to deviations in the age distribution. Thus; the protohistoric mortality patterns of Mobridge appear to reflect the early stages of impact from introduced diseases.     

A report on the conservation status of south Indian plants

Data on the conservation status of 167 species of flowering plants presented here are from two representative sectors in south India: (a) the lowlands, characterized by dry deciduous vegetation representative of the Deccan plateau, as also a cluster of eight low altitude hill ranges [to 1200 (1500) m] of the southernmost reaches of the Eastern Ghats of India, and coastlands including mangroves; and (b) the hills, the high altitude hill ranges (to 2475 m) of the Palni hills, an eastward spur of the Western Ghats of India, characterized by evergreen vegetation but largely decimated around the hill station of Kodaikanal with the invasion of alien species since the l840s with the arrival of overseas colonial personnel and the raising of commercial monoculture plantations. Data for the 167 species are entered in 7 + 1 columns for the two regions separately. However, the IUCN red list categories are not used in their entirety for two reasons: (i) the areas are relatively small; (ii) the stress comes more from extrinsic causes like habitat destruction and over-exploitation rather than intrinsic (genetic) causes. However, it is stressed that what is happening over restricted areas over short time intervals is a miniature of what is happening over larger areas over longer periods, and hence these data are vitally important in planning for conservation and eco-restoration. The quality and quantity of new information are decisive; the findings are discussed under nine heads, as the first synthesis of results obtained from over two decades of field work.     

Species turnover: the case of stream amphibians of rainforests in the Western Ghats, southern India

We examined species turnover in stream amphibians in rainforest in two hill ranges (Ashambu and Anamalai Hills) in the Western Ghats in south India. In each hill range, six stream segments (100 m in length) belonging to three drainage or rivers were surveyed three to four times in three seasons over 1 year. Species turnover (using 1-Sorenson's index) was estimated between all possible pairs of sites at three spatial scales – within drainage, between drainage and between hill ranges. Similar matrices were also developed for altitudinal difference and geographic distance between sites. A total of 30 species in four families were recorded from 3681 individuals. The hill ranges differed significantly in the composition of the stream community at both the species and family levels. Within the hill range, species turnover was correlated with altitudinal difference and not with geographic distance. Anamalai Hills had a greater species turnover than Ashambu Hills, both within and between drainage. There was also a high turnover between these two hill ranges, with only two shared species. This turnover explains the fact that only 30–40 species have been reported from different hill ranges, although regional diversity is high with about 130 species. The turnover also predicts that several undetected species should occur in hill ranges and drainage that have not been surveyed. The conservation model for mammals and birds, consisting of a few large protected areas, may not adequately address the conservation requirements of amphibians. Protection of rainforest frogs may require many protected areas in different drainages.     

20世纪的中国人类古生物学研究与展望

本文回顾中国人类古生物学在20世纪的主要研究进展。中国的化石曾经数度入围最早期的人类。目前中国已有60余处地点发现了人类化石, 其中最古老的暂时要推云南元谋上那蚌的两颗门齿。对中国人类化石的研究提出了连续进化附带杂交的模式, 支持现代人起源的多地区进化说。中国各时期的化石人类有较显著的地区差异。中国人类的发展可能比喻为既有分支间的杂交融合, 又有小分支的绝灭和局部替代的河网状。     

蒙古栎苗期种源分析

对带岭试验地25个蒙古栎种源的树高、地径进行调查分析,得到如下结论：（1）蒙古栎1年生苗高、地径及6年生树高、地径间呈正相关且达到了极显著水平。蒙古栎种源各生长性状存在着显著性差异,这表明蒙古栎种源选择是十分必要的。苇河、集安种源可初步作为带岭试验地的优良种源应用于林业生产。（2）蒙古栎地理变异总趋势受经纬度影响,其中经度影响略大。（3）不同蒙古栎种源生长性状、地理、气象因子之间具有一定的相关性。（4）将参试的25个种源划分为3个种源区,Ⅰ区种源多数分布在长白山南部、龙岗山一带,Ⅱ区种源多数分布在长白山及老爷岭,Ⅲ区种源位于小兴安岭和张广才岭。     

陕北黄土高原土壤干层的分布和分异特征

以人工刺槐林为研究对象,经大量野外调查和数据分析,研究了陕北黄土高原土壤干层的分布状况和分异特征,结果表明,土壤干层在陕北黄土高原从南到北大范围内普遍分布,根据干化程度可分为4个类型区：1)以宜君为代表的高原沟壑区南部;2)以富县、黄陵为代表的高原沟壑区北部;3)范围较广的丘陵沟壑区,该区又可分为南、西、北3个小区,南区以延安、延长为代表;西区以吴旗、安塞为代表;北区以绥德、米脂为代表;4)以神木为代表的风沙区,受降雨量的影响,土壤干化程度具有明显的水平分异规律,即随着降雨量从南到北的减少,干化程度亦随之加重;受海拔高度、降雨入渗能力的影响,土壤干化程度在小范围的山地呈现明显的垂直分异规律,海拔愈高,干化程度愈严重;因土地类型的不同,土壤干化程度在局地空间上呈现明显的分异规律。     

Agriculture and nutrition at village level, Underexploited village resources

Developing country villages contain plants, animals and technologies whose extraordinary potentials are poorly appreciated by scientists. Examples of nutritious village crops that are still largely undeveloped and unappreciated outside their traditional villages are the winged bean, amaranths and the tepary bean. Tropical tree legumes, such as leucaena, grow fast and fix nitrogen and--although barely studied by foresters--are promising sources for village firewood and lumber. There are several animals with great promise for use in villages. The water buffalo is a gentle, productive village resource, neglected by the cow used by Indonesian villagers and unknown elsewhere in the tropics. And Papua New Guinea's new village farms for crocodiles and butterflies graphically demonstrate that wildlife husbandry can be valuable for remote rural areas, despite its neglect by animal science. Among exceptionally useful village technologies, an example is the amazingly efficient cooking system used on the small Indonesian islands of Roti and Sumba, which has so far been described only in Captain Cook's journals.     

Bee communities (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) of small Iowa hill prairies are as diverse and rich as those of large prairie preserves

Natural small, xeric hill prairies in forested landscapes throughout the Midwest United States often contain high diversity and unique species of some organisms because of their unusual landscape context and microclimate. We measured the diversity, richness, and abundance of the bee communities of five hill prairies located in northeastern Iowa and we compared these to values for large prairie preserves in northwestern Iowa, using a Monte Carlo resampling approach to standardize sampling effort between habitat types. We also measured the diversity and richness of the flowering forb communities at the hill prairies and we quantified percentage of the landscape at a 1 km radius in different landscape elements. Bee diversity at the five hill prairies spanned the range of diversity values for large prairies preserves, so although the hill prairies are small (<5 ha), their bee communities are not uniformly depauparate compared to larger western prairie preserves. Bee diversity was significantly related to flowering forb diversity, and may have been influenced by landscape features within 1 km—particularly the percentage of agricultural row crops and open water, which may negatively affect bee diversity at the sites. Iowa’s hill prairie bee communities were largely composed of widespread eastern species, although about 10% of the bee species have more northern or western ranges and appear to be taking advantage of the region’s unique habitat features. Given the dependence of the bee communities on the plant diversity of the sites, management of the plant community to maintain its diversity will also likely benefit bee diversity.     

Resolving the differences in plant burial responses

Burial is one of the major factors influencing plant ecology in deserts and coastal areas. Consequently, many studies have measured the responses of dune plants to sand burial. However, there remains little agreement about the mechanisms and characteristics constituting the burial response of plants. In particular, stimulation of growth has been reported as the most common plant burial response; however, stimulation has not been reported consistently among studies. Here, a literature survey showed that the depth of burial relative to the height of the plant determined whether the growth of a species was stimulated by burial. Growth stimulation was limited to shallow burial depths, while burial depths greater than the height of the plant consistently resulted in reduced growth. As studies used widely differing burial depths or units of growth measurement, the variation in reported stimulation of plant growth can be partly attributed to differences in experimental procedure. The stimulation of growth in many species was accompanied by an increase in photosynthesis over a limited period and by a shift in biomass allocation from root to shoot. Most plants demonstrated stimulated growth (up to 200%) in response to shallow burial indicating that some burial response mechanisms are general to many species. However, a few specialist dune species displayed a much greater ability to respond to burial (up to 700% stimulation of plant mass). Although allocation shifts and increased photosynthesis have been shown to be associated with dune plant burial response, there remains a need for field measurements that focus on the diversity of mechanisms underlying plant response to burial.     

沙埋对干旱沙区真藓结皮层细菌群落结构和多样性的影响

作为干旱沙区常见干扰之一的沙埋显著影响着生物结皮的结构和功能,但其内在的生物学机理还不清楚。利用高通量测序技术,通过对0(对照)、0.5(浅层)、2和10mm(深层)沙埋处理后的腾格里沙漠东南缘沙坡头地区真藓(Bryum argenteum)结皮层细菌群落物种组成与丰度的测定,研究了沙埋对真藓结皮层细菌群落结构和多样性的影响。结果表明:(1)共检测到沙坡头地区真藓结皮层细菌38门106纲181属,以放线菌、变形菌、蓝藻、浮霉菌、拟杆菌和酸杆菌等为主(占细菌群落的78.4%—83.0%);(2)PCA分析表明沙埋导致该地区真藓结皮层细菌群落结构组成发生明显改变。无沙埋时,真藓结皮层细菌群落中相对丰度最高的是蓝藻(18.6%),随着沙埋厚度的增加,依次变为变形菌(21.5%,沙埋厚度0.5mm)、浮霉菌(21.5%,沙埋厚度2mm)和放线菌(23.3%,沙埋厚度10mm);浅层沙埋显著增加了真藓结皮层细菌群落中光合菌、固氮菌和产菌丝体细菌等关键功能菌的丰度,但深层沙埋降低了它们的丰度;(3)沙埋显著增加了真藓结皮层细菌群落多样性(P0.05)和物种丰富度(P0.05),0.5mm沙埋后的细菌群落丰富度指数最高,2mm沙埋后的结皮层细菌群落多样性指数最高。揭示了沙埋对干旱沙区真藓结皮层细菌群落结构与多样性的影响,为深入理解沙埋对沙区生物结皮结构和生态功能影响的生物学机制提供了一定的理论依据。     

Statistical assessment of population variability: a methodological approach

We have implemented a multivariate statistical methodology to assess the degree and pattern of cranial variability in skeletal samples. Specifically, the method is designed to test whether variability in a skeletal sample exceeds "normal within-group variability" defined in the present instance as variability present among crania from a cemetery associated with a village. It involves comparing a covariance matrix derived from a sample of unknown composition to one representing "normal within-group variability." The method has been applied to two Plains Indian craniometric samples. The Leavenworth site (39CO9) represents the remnants of previously autonomous Arikara Indian villages devastated by epidemic diseases in the late 1700s. The Bad River 2 Phase is an archaeological designation grouping together closely related sites in the Bad-Cheyenne region of South Dakota dating from 1740-1795 AD. We were able to show substantial heterogeneity among crania from Leavenworth. District burial areas at Leavenworth account for some of the heterogeneity, supporting the notion that they represent an attempt to maintain former social distinctions. We were unable to differentiate among sites within the Bad River 2 Phase, suggesting that it is a valid biological unit.     

Population structure of the pecan nut casebearer Acrobasis nuxvorella throughout its geographical distribution

• 1 The pecan nut casebearer Acrobasis nuxvorella Neunzig (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is an important, monophagous pest of pecan Carya illinoinensis (Fagales: Juglandaceae).
• 2 This pest is native from Louisiana west to the eastern edge of New Mexico and north to Illinois in the U.S.A. and as far west as Chihuahua and south to Oaxaca in Mexico.
• 3 Recently, this pest has expanded beyond the native range of pecan into regions where pecan has been introduced for cultivation.
• 4 Amplified fragment length polymorphism markers were used to determine the population genetic structure of this insect pest across its current geographical distribution.
• 5 Population genetic analyses indicate a great degree of genetic structure in the pecan nut casebearer across its geographical distribution, with genetically distinct populations occurring in those areas where the pecan nut casebearer is not native but has been invasive.

     

广西青钩栲林分类的研究

青钩栲林是广西南亚热带丘陵山地常绿阔叶林最有代表性的一种类型 ,分布比较普遍 ,但因遭受破坏严重 ,大多只在局部地区零星小片地残存 ,保存大多不够完整。从所划分的五个群丛中可以看出它们恢复和发展的趋势 ,为其科学的管理提供基本的资料和依据     

Estructuras de escape y equilibrio asociadas a Conichnus conicus como indicadores de tasas de sedimentación variables en medios litorales tortonienses del SO de España

Numerous and large vertically extensive specimens of Conichnus conicus are described from the Tortonian deposits of the central Guadalquivir Basin (SW Spain). These burrowing structures form a low bioturbation index of the ichnofabric, which allows one to infer the original depositional setting. Both ichnological and sedimentological features suggest a coastal to shallow marine environment dominated by high sediment supply and high-energy sedimentary processes. Conichnus exhibits a characteristic internal fabric that reflects changes in sedimentation rates linked to various processes: (1) initial substrate penetration by the tracemaker; (2) gradual retrusive movement in response to rapid but continuous sediment aggradation; 3) moderate to high rates of retrusive migration as a consequence of rapid to very rapid sediment aggradation and tracemaker escape; and, finally, (4) abandonment of the burrow or burial of the tracemaker subsequently in response to extremely high sediment accumulation rates. Conichnus has been also described from other areas with similar deposits of different ages, where its important value as a paleoenvironmental indicator similarly has been indicated.     

Hierarchy within human SI: supporting data from cytochrome oxidase, acetylcholinesterase and NADPH-diaphorase staining patterns

The human primary somatosensory cortex consists of four cytoarchitectonic subdivisions (3a, 3b, 1 and 2) that are likely to contain distinct somatosensory representations. The intraareal organization of these areas as well as that of the primary motor cortex (area 4) has been analyzed using histochemical stains of cytochrome oxidase, acetylcholinesterase and NADPH-diaphorase activity in normal human brains. Cytochrome oxidase activity was revealed in individual cortical neurons and neuropil. Areas 4, 3a and 3b were on average darker than areas 1 and 2. The laminar distribution of cytochrome oxidase activity varied in different areas. A prominent dark band was present in layers IV and lower III in areas 3a and 3b and in layer III in areas 1, 2 and 4. Acetylcholinesterase staining revealed fibers and pyramidal cells in layers III and V; stained layer III pyramids were rare in areas 3a and 3b and numerous in areas 1, 2 and 4. NADPH-diaphorase positive elements included Golgi-like stained non-pyramidal neurons and Nissl-like stained pyramidal neurons; the former were found, in small numbers, in layer II of areas 4, 3a, 3b and 1, and the latter in layers III and V of areas 4 and 3a and in layer V of areas 1 and 2. The dark cytochrome oxidase staining of layer IV and the paucity of acetylcholinesterase positive pyramids in areas 3a and 3b resemble the pattern found in primary visual and auditory areas, whereas the dark cytochrome oxidase staining in layer III and abundance of acetylcholinesterase positive pyramids in areas 1 and 2 that of association areas. These results suggest that the four areas included in human SI constitute hierarchical stages of cortical processing, with 3a and 3b corresponding to primary and 1 and 2 to secondary areas.     

Blue Blanket Island (39WW9) an Historic Contact Site in the Oahe Reservoir Near Mobridge,South Dakota

Abstract

The Blue Blanket Island site (39WW9), a small, fortified, proto-historic Indian village on an island in the Missouri River, in Walworth County, South Dakota, was partially excavated by a River Basin Surveys crew in August 1961. One centrally located earthlodge, sections of the fortification, storage pits, and middens were excavated. Artifacts were scanty but architectural details were informative. The lodge was 18 sided with a short entry wayto the south (river side) and leaner posts of split cedar. The palisade was of split posts and the ditch was wide and shallow. The site appears to have been an Arikara village of short duration, probably occupied during the 1780’s and 1790’s. The abandoned remains of this village were noted by Lewis and Clark in 1804.