Les Hommes d’Abourma (République de Djibouti)

The site of Abourma, situated in the mountains of Makarrassou, is the most important site known in the Republic of Djibouti. It has yielded almost 3 km of rock carvings, which essentially comprise of wild and domesticated animals, beasts which are in common with all the rock engravings of the region. However, Abourma has revealed other much rarer scenes. This is where men appear. The hunting scenes are numerous, varied and sometimes very detailed. The most exceptional are the scenes of men fighting where the archers are facing each other and the scene where the men form a circle around a cow. The men of Abourma add some life to the rock carvings of Djibouti with scenes of significant acts. They shed some innovative light onto certain aspects of the past cultures of Djibouti, of which we have found a number of traces.     

Contribution à l’étude du Middle Stone Age (MSA) d’Afrique Centrale. Étude typo-technologique des industries lithiques du site préhistorique de Mpila,Brazzaville, République du Congo

The discovery of the prehistoric deposits of Brazzaville is the result of urban development works known as “Major Works” during the years 1930: The construction of the railway (C.F.C.O.), the railway station, the river port, the post office and the cathedral. During the earthworks related to the construction of the river port, Babet, geologist of the Mining Service of the A.E.F. Government, discovers traces of an important lithic in the gravels of a geological layer. Further research by Droux and Bergeaud in 1936 and 1937 revealed the existence of two more archaeological layers in the same area. Depending on the evolution of the works and research, the following sites have been discovered: Mpila 1, Mpila 2, Mpila 3, Plaine and Pointe Hollandaise. All these sites are grouped under the name of Mpila sites. They are characterized by the same stratigraphy and by identical and successive industries. From bottom to top, one can observe the A layer with two levels, upper and lower, corresponding to the lower Paleolithic. Then we have the B layer which constitutes the fourth layer c.4 favorite of Bergeaud. It contains fresh material attributed to Sangoen. Finally, there is the c layer that we have named “The Bulk” of Mpila, which includes artefacts of very advanced workmanship. It's Lupembien/Tshitolian. All the artefacts from these levels are in situ. They were not been transported or reworked, neither horizontally or vertically. The Sangoen question has long been the subject of much discussion and contradiction. We are trying to clarify this controversy by asking ourselves whether the Mpila 1 in general and the c.4 in particular have any Sangoen characteristics.     

La découverte d’un galet gravé du Paléolithique final dans la région du Haut Iénisséï (Sibérie du Sud)

The paper deals with the artifact found during the realization of a salvage archaeological project connected with the construction of the railway from Kyzyl to Kuragino (the Krasnoyarsk Region, South Siberia) in 2012. During the exploration of the multicomponent habitation site of Irba 2 below the Holocene cultural strata the Pleistocene remains have been unearthed. These include bones of bison, reindeer, red deer, giant deer, wild horse, brown bear and hare, lithics, and pieces of worked antler. Radiocarbon dates indicate the Final Pleistocene age (ca. 13 to 11 kyr BP). The assemblage belongs to the Afontova culture dominated in the upper reaches of Yenisei during the Final Upper Paleolithic. The rare finding, an unique engraved oval-shaped flat pebble of white marble is worth to mention. It has 37 lateral grooves, cross-shaped engravings in the central parts of both lateral surfaces and traces of unfinished hollows. The nearest analogs are agalmatolite discs from the sites of Afontova Gora II and III located at Krasnoyarsk. These findings are rare in the Paleolithic and could be considered as amulets.     

Apport des ostracodes à l’interprétation séquentielle du Crétacé inférieur (Berriasien–Valanginien) du bassin d’Essaouira–Agadir (Maroc)

Contribution of the ostracods to the sequential interpretation of the Lower Cretaceous (Berriasian–Valanginian) of the Essaouira–Agadir Basin (Morocco). The analysis of the ostracod fauna from the Berriasian–Valanginian of the Essaouira–Agadir Basin (Morocco) allows us to make a narrow relationship between the sequential evolution (established on sedimentary, biostratigraphical and geochemical data) and the evolution of statistical parameters of ostracods. So, the number of individuals and the number of species present comparable fluctuations and follow perfectly the sequential evolution; classes of dominant and fortuitous frequency are the most meaningful, the specific renewal rate shows extremes values at the limits of sequences and at the basis of transgressive systems tracts. To cite this article: A. Rossi et al., C. R. Palevol 2 (2003) 133–141.     

Nouvelles espèces d’Ancyrocrinus et d’Ammonicrinus,crinoïdes à pédoncule spécialisé du Dévonien armoricain (Brest,France)

New species of Ancyrocrinus and Ammonicrinus, crinoids, crinoids with specialized stem from the Armorican Devonian (Brest, France). The discovery of the oldest tetrameral grapnels of Ancyrocrinus, A. crozonensis n. sp., in the Lower Eifelian modifies considerably the previous evolutionary scheme and sets the problem of the transition from tetrameral to pentameral symmetry in the ancyrocrinid holdfasts. The presence of a new species of Ammonicrinus, A. kerdreoletensis n. sp., in the Upper Emsian suggests a North-Gondwanan origin of the genus. Its highly specialized structure of the stem, characteristic of the genus, was developed earlier than previously recognized. To cite this article: J. Le Menn, P.A. Jaouen, C. R. Palevol 2 (2003).     

Validité de la somme angulaire comme technique d’extraction d’images planaires à partir de données tomoscintigraphiques pulmonaires de ventilation-perfusion

The aim of our study was to assess the concordance between the results of angular summed images obtained from lung SPECT data versus true planar images in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. One hundred and ten patients suspected of pulmonary embolism included in a prospective study underwent a planar lung scan and a lung SPECT. Planar images were extracted from SPECT data using an angular summing technique. Both modalities were reviewed according to revised Pioped criteria by two nuclear medicine physicians. Concordance between modalities and observers was compared with a weighted kappa test. A good degree of agreement between the two modalities (κ = 0.696) were found. Interobserver degree of agreement was similar in planar images (κ = 0.919) and in angular summed images (κ = 0.903). These results suggest that angular sum images from SPECT data are usable and concordant with ventilation perfusion planar images.     

Hétéromutilation pénienne: à propos d’un cas à la clinique universitaire d’urologie-andrologie du centre national hospitalier universitaire Hubert-Koutoukou-Maga (CNHU HKM) de Cotonou (Bénin)

Amputations of the penis are rare injuries, most often found in self-mutilation where patients have psychiatric problem.We report a case of traumatic amputation of the penis by physical aggression received at the University Teaching Hospital Clinic of Urology-Andrology CNHU HKM Cotonou. The section of the penis is located 3 cm from the base. The amputated segment is not found. The management of the patient was double. Initially, it was urgently performed surgery to stop bleeding, stabilize the stump and pose of a urinary catheter and a psychiatric treatment at a later time. The evolution is favorable, with good healing of the stump and an improvement in psychiatric condition as antidepressant. Methods of reconstructive surgery such transplants could be considered.     

Images of the natural (and social) universe in Rétif De La Bretonne’s La découverte australe

As many cultural historians of the sciences have recently indicated, eighteenth-century illustrations of natural historical works represent an important source that can be used to explore the ways in which nature and the study of nature were regarded in the period. Naturalistic illustrations, however, are not the only genre of images that may help the historian in this investigation. Another interesting source is represented by images of nature and natural objects connected with fictional literature. Yet, little attention has been devoted so far to this genre of images. In this paper I analyse some of the engravings which illustrate Rétif de la Bretonne’s imaginary voyage La Découverte australe par un homme volant (1781). My aim is to show that these illustrations convey a well-defined image of the natural universe, and that their analysis may contribute to our understanding of the various significances and roles attached to Nature in the period—particularly bringing to the fore its moral and political uses. Further, by analysing the ways in which they connect and integrate a variety of artistic and discursive traditions related to fiction, travel, and natural history, I hope to suggest some of the ways in which this genre of images may be used to shed light on the eighteenth-century interplay between spheres of knowledge later assigned to such distinct disciplines as ‘science’, ‘literature’, or ‘art’.     

Reconstitution du substratum jurassique-crétacé basal du domaine des Sellaoua (marge sud-téthysienne,Algérie nord-orientale) à partir des galets du bassin mio-pliocène d’Hamman N’Baïls

The Mio-Pliocene series filling up the intermontane basin of Hammam N’Baïls (Guelma region, NE Algeria) corresponds to a fluviatile sequence beginning by polygenic conglomerates that contain several Mesozoic carbonate pebbles. The inventory and the micropalaeontological study of these pebbles attest the occurrence, at the base of the Sellaoua unit (southern Tellian foreland of Maghrebides), of a Jurassic–Berriasian carbonate-dominated series, unknown in outcrops, showing some affinities with the synchronous North-Atlasic Algerian and Tunisian ones respectively to the W-SW and to the E-NE. This series was deposited on the South-Tethyan margin, to the south of the ‘Tethyan trough’ joining the incipient Atlantic Ocean and the Ligurian Ocean. The Upper Miocene and Pliocene extensional tectonics and the halokinetic motions, induced by the presence of large Triassic evaporites masses, have probably uplifted towards the surface this Mesozoic Sellaoua-type material, which, after erosion, has supplied the herein studied fluviatile conglomerates.     

Le débitage Levallois du site d’Amane Oukider (Sud-Est du Maroc) : analyse technologique d’un assemblage standardisé

The Amane Oukider site (Tinghir, Anti-Atlas) was discovered by an Italo-Moroccan field crew during an archeological mapping project in South-East Morocco. It is an open-air site located near a outcrop of raw materials composed of dolerite. The only debitage method in evidence is the Levallois (lineal and recurrent centripetal) method; the plein débitage products were systematically exported from the site. The Levallois preferential flakes are characterized by a very high level of standardization and they were probably used as blanks for cleaver production.     

Mise en place humaine des systèmes d’information en cancérologie : mesure du degré d’applicabilité des moyens et de désordre (entropie)

ObjectivesWe conducted a human model to score the initial expectations (E1), the final realization (E2) and the means involved (E3) in developing an information system (IS) in oncology.MethodsOur field study is carried out using questionnaires (Q1, Q2 and Q3) based on a model built using four universal ethical principles: autonomy–beneficence–non-maleficence–justice we meet with environmental parameters of reality. We interviewed 14 designers of IS who have respectively set up their IS in a facility that supports cancer in the Bouches-du-Rhône. From scores of E1, E2 and E3, a degree of disorder (entropy: S) for an IS is measured.ResultsRegardless of the nature of the IS, the score E1 is always higher than E2. The score E3 is considered insufficient except in the mass screening of breast cancer. Finally, the degree of applicability of the means (M) used is correlated with the S existing within the IS.DiscussionWith over 14 participants, this study can have only qualitative value due to reduced statistical power too. Should expand the number of respondents to increase the effective intrinsic power of the analysis and thus reinforce the trend of our results.ConclusionEthical behavior shown by the means used would decrease the entropy as the information more meaningful, while an increase of entropy would be harmful.     

L’industrie du Paléolithique inférieur du site de Wujiagou,Hubei Province,République Populaire de Chine

The site of Wujiagou, Hubei Province in China, dated to just over 800,000 years, in sandy deposits and sandy-silt which covers a river terrace of the end of the Early Pleistocene, delivered a rich lithic industry, mainly composed of pebbles tools. This industry has an archaic aspect, consisted by the abundance of pebbles tools, the presence of hand-axes, and the small amount of small tools. The pebble tools include choppers and picks, in addition of band-axes. Small tools are relatively poor and have few simple retouched scrapers.