What was a mortarium used for? Organic residues and cultural change in Iron Age and Roman Britain.

The Romans brought the mortarium to Britain in the first century AD, and there has long been speculation on its actual purpose. Using analysis of the residues trapped in the walls of these ‘kitchen blenders’ and comparing them with Iron Age and Roman cooking pots, the authors show that it wasn't the diet that changed — just the method of preparing certain products: plants were being ground in the mortarium as well as cooked in the pot. As well as plants, the mortars contained animal fats, including dairy products. The question that remains, however, is why these natural products were being mixed together in mortaria. Were they for food, pharmaceuticals or face creams?</jats:p

Interaction between a fast rotating sunspot and ephemeral regions as the origin of the major solar event on 2006 December 13

The major solar event on 2006 December 13 is characterized by the approximately simultaneous occurrence of a heap of hot ejecta, a great two-ribbon flare and an extended Earth-directed coronal mass ejection. We examine the magnetic field and sunspot evolution in active region NOAA AR 10930, the source region of the event, while it transited the solar disk centre from Dec. 10 to Dec. 13. We find that the obvious changes in the active region associated with the event are the development of magnetic shear, the appearance of ephemeral regions and fast rotation of a smaller sunspot. Around the area of the magnetic neutral line of the active region, interaction between the fast rotating sunspot and the ephemeral regions triggers continual brightening and finally the major flare. It is indicative that only after the sunspot rotates up to 200$^{\circ}$ does the major event take place. The sunspot rotates at least 240$^{\circ}$ about its centre, the largest sunspot rotation angle which has been reported.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, ApJ Letters inpres

Surface magnetic field effects in local helioseismology

Using helioseismic holography strong evidence is presented that the phase (or equivalent travel-time) of helioseismic signatures in Dopplergrams within sunspots depend upon the line-of-sight angle in the plane containing the magnetic field and vertical directions. This is shown for the velocity signal in the penumbrae of two sunspots at 3, 4 and 5 mHz. Phase-sensitive holography demonstrates that they are significantly affected in a strong, moderately inclined magnetic field. This research indicates that the effects of the surface magnetic field are potentially very significant for local helioseismic analysis of active regions.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figure

Statistics of Flares Sweeping across Sunspots

Flare ribbons are always dynamic, and sometimes sweep across sunspots. Examining 588 (513 M-class and 75 X-class) flare events observed by Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) satellite and Hinode Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) from 1998 May to 2009 May, we choose the event displaying that one of the flare ribbons completely sweeps across the umbra of a main sunspot of the corresponding active region, and finally obtain 20 (7 X-class and 13 M-class) events as our sample. In each event, we define the main sunspot completely swept across by the flare ribbon as A-sunspot, and its nearby opposite polarity sunspots, B-sunspot. Observations show that the A-sunspot is a following polarity sunspot in 18 events, and displays flux emergence in 13 cases. All the B-sunspots are relatively simple, exhibiting either one main sunspot or one main sunspot and several small neighboring sunspots (pores). In two days prior to the flare occurrence, the A-sunspot rotates in all the cases, while the B-sunspot, in 19 events. The total rotating angle of the A-sunspot and B-sunspot is 193 degrees on average, and the rotating directions, are the same in 12 events. In all cases, the A-sunspot and B-sunspot manifest shear motions with an average shearing angle of 28.5 degrees, and in 14 cases, the shearing direction is opposite to the rotating direction of the A-sunspot. We suggest that the emergence, the rotation and the shear motions of the A-sunspot and B-sunspot result in the phenomenon that flare ribbons sweep across sunspots completely.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, accepted by ApJ Letter

Sulphur-isotope compositions of pig tissues from a controlled feeding study

Sulphur-isotope determinations are becoming increasingly useful for palaeodietary reconstruction, but knowledge of isotopic discrimination between diet and various tissues remains inadequate. In this study, we explore the sensitivity of δ34Stissue values to changes in δ34Sdiet values, sulphur isotopic discrimination between diet and consumer, and the potential impact of terrestrial vs. marine protein consumption on these discrimination offsets. We present new δ34S values of bone collagen, muscle, liver, hair, milk and faeces from ten mature sows, ten piglets and fifteen adolescent pigs from a controlled feeding study. The δ34Stissue values were found to co-vary with the δ34Sdiet values, the δ34Stissue – δ34Sdiet isotopic offsets (Δ34Stissue-diet) are small but consistent, and dietary protein source does not systematically alter the Δ34Stissue-diet isotopic discrimination. The outcomes of this study are of particular relevance to questions that are difficult to resolve using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes alone, and will also be useful in regions where terrestrial, freshwater, and marine resources could have all potentially contributed to human diet

Evidence for convection in Sunspot penumbrae

We present an analysis of twisting motions in penumbral filaments in sunspots located at heliocentric angles from $30^\circ$ to $48^\circ$ using three time series of blue continuum images obtained by the Broadband Filter Imager (BFI) onboard {\it Hinode}. The relations of the twisting motions to the filament brightness and the position within the filament and within the penumbra, respectively, are investigated. Only certain portions of the filaments show twisting motions. In a statistical sense, the part of the twisting portion of a filament located closest to the umbra is brightest and possesses the fastest twisting motion, with a mean twisting velocity of 2.1\,km\,s$^{-1}$. The middle and outer sections of the twisting portion of the filament (lying increasingly further from the umbra), which are less bright, have mean velocities of 1.7\,km\,s$^{-1}$ and 1.35\,km\,s$^{-1}$, respectively. The observed reduction of brightness and twisting velocity towards the outer section of the filaments may be due to reducing upflow along the filament's long axis. No significant variation of twisting velocity as a function of viewing angles was found. The obtained correlation of brightness and velocity suggests that overturning convection causes the twisting motions observed in penumbral filament and may be the source of the energy needed to maintain the brightness of the filaments.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJL on 13th September 201