Geometric morphometric analysis of cranium shape differences in sheep from colonial Sydney, Australia

Geometric morphometrics (GMMs) is a valuable tool that can be used to identify variability within species, thereby distinguishing between breeds and closely related animals (e.g. sheep and goats). Identifying fine morphological differences is key to better understanding early herd management practices. Interestingly, GMMs has yet to be used in a colonial Australian context, particularly in the foundational period of colonial Sydney from 1790 to 1850. Given the overall importance of sheep to the development of colonial Australia, this analytical gap provides an opportunity to identify potential morphological variability, and so better understand colonial herd management strategies. Here we use GMMs to analyse an archaeological assemblage of sheep crania (n = 27) from the colonial Clarence Street site, in Sydney, Australia. These crania are compared to modern sheep specimens to test GMMs’ effectiveness at distinguishing between, as well as potentially allocating individuals to, specific breeds. We found certain morphological variations between the study assemblages, and so discuss our results in the context of a variety of explanatory frameworks such as differences in husbandrypractices in colonial Sydney

Could Direct Killing by Larger Dingoes Have Caused the Extinction of the Thylacine from Mainland Australia?

Invasive predators can impose strong selection pressure on species that evolved in their absence and drive species to extinction. Interactions between coexisting predators may be particularly strong, as larger predators frequently kill smaller predators and suppress their abundances. Until 3500 years ago the marsupial thylacine was Australia's largest predator. It became extinct from the mainland soon after the arrival of a morphologically convergent placental predator, the dingo, but persisted in the absence of dingoes on the island of Tasmania until the 20th century. As Tasmanian thylacines were larger than dingoes, it has been argued that dingoes were unlikely to have caused the extinction of mainland thylacines because larger predators are rarely killed by smaller predators. By comparing Holocene specimens from the same regions of mainland Australia, we show that dingoes were similarly sized to male thylacines but considerably larger than female thylacines. Female thylacines would have been vulnerable to killing by dingoes. Such killing could have depressed the reproductive output of thylacine populations. Our results support the hypothesis that direct killing by larger dingoes drove thylacines to extinction on mainland Australia. However, attributing the extinction of the thylacine to just one cause is problematic because the arrival of dingoes coincided with another the potential extinction driver, the intensification of the human economy

Testing the impact of environmental zone on experimental taphonomic faunal models

Traditional paradigms governing the generation of actualistic taphonomic faunal models suggest that outcomes will vary depending on the particular environmental zone in which data is generated. Scavenging experiments were carried out in two distinct environmental zones (temperate and semi-arid) in New South Wales, Australia, to test the validity of this prevailing paradigm. The results of this study suggest that a particular environmental zone may not be as important a variable as other taphonomic factors, such as natural versus cultural agents of accumulation. These observations are part of larger study whose goal is to provide a working taphonomic model for faunal accumulations in open archaeological sites derived from Australian contexts

The Human-Food-Environmental Nexus: Anthropological Perspectives on the Impact of Human Food Choices Through Time

This chapter will look at the impact of human food choice on the environment through time. It will draw on archaeological evidence to examine how domestication of plants and animals played a key role in changing biomes, often leading to social and environmental degradation. Case studies will include the introduction of sheep to Australia, cattle grazing in the Americas, and large-scale wheat farming in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean. The chapter will highlight the ways in which each of these practices dramatically altered native biomes and played a key role in human malnutrition. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the lessons learned from history to improve the future of our planet through a balanced consideration of the impact of human food choices on the sustainability of our future food systems

The Transatlantic Threads of Nolltolerans : Tracing Swedish Newspaper Discourse Through the Lens of Americanization

Most people don’t usually conjure the image of American policing methods in the Swedish police. The early-to-late 1990s would oversee a push to tackle what was then seen as rising crime and a battle over the subway a decade before in New York City. This style of policing, called Broken Windows would become mythicized in certain political circles about how it was able to reverse the trends of societal decline. It wasn’t soon after that Broken Windows had found itself in two Swedish law enforcement models over a span of fifteen years. By using the theory of Americanization, or how this transatlantic exchange of ideas had impacted important newspaper discourse–we can learn how once-American ideas, like Broken Windows, become new cultural concepts in Swedish journalistic discourse over time

Food for thought: using game cameras to better understand the movement of bones by scavenging in archaeological faunal assemblages

This paper questions our understanding of the movement of bones by animal scavengers in the archaeological record. Since assumptions regarding the effects of animal scavenging shape final interpretations of skeletal element frequencies in archaeological faunal assemblages, they are important for our understanding and reconstruction of ancient human behaviour. The results of a 4-year actualistic kangaroo scavenging study from Australia are used to question our understanding of the movement of the bone by contrasting visual data captured by motion-activated digital game cameras with traditional taphonomic studies using skeletal element frequencies. Game cameras are commonly used by ecologists to capture the behaviour of living species but have not yet been used in experimental archaeology where visually documenting animal scavenging behaviour can be used to understand the movement of carcasses and individual bones. Results suggest that traditional zooarchaeological analyses may not be accurate indicators of hunted versus scavenged prey in archaeological faunal assemblages. Moreover, they most certainly fail to document the entire suite of animals scavenging a carcass. These implications are discussed with particular reference to the ability to definitively ascertain the role of humans in the megafaunal extinction debate in Australia

Measuring Complexity in Early Bronze Age Greece: The Pig as a Proxy Indicator of Socio-Economic Structures

The interpretative potential of faunal analysis has long been underestimated in Greek archaeology. In the absence of written texts, zooarchaeology can be used to address economic organization- a central component of social complexity. Archaeological excavation has revealed variation among Early Bronze Age settlements in Greece. This variability in settlement size, coupled with evidence for craft specialization and possible administrative centers, suggests the naissance of a socially complex society. This examination suggests an alternate approach to complexity in society; it employs faunal analysis to address whether evidence for social complexity exists in the raising of livestock. Social complexity in ancient societies has been studied by historians, classicists, archaeologists and anthropologists alike. Material remains such as written texts, pottery, personal ornament, architecture, and art have provided the main corpus of evidence examined. Yet the most basic necessity has traditionally been over-looked - food. Subsistence strategies are a central facet in the lives of every individual, poor or wealthy, and are influenced by economic and ecological constraints, and by social mechanisms. Food choices are also a reflection of these and other factors - especially in the social realm. Amazingly, animal bones, often the most prevalent body of material recovered at archaeological sites, have not figured prominently in studies of social complexity in the early Greek Bronze Age

The Transatlantic Threads of Nolltolerans : Tracing Swedish Newspaper Discourse Through the Lens of Americanization

Most people don’t usually conjure the image of American policing methods in the Swedish police. The early-to-late 1990s would oversee a push to tackle what was then seen as rising crime and a battle over the subway a decade before in New York City. This style of policing, called Broken Windows would become mythicized in certain political circles about how it was able to reverse the trends of societal decline. It wasn’t soon after that Broken Windows had found itself in two Swedish law enforcement models over a span of fifteen years. By using the theory of Americanization, or how this transatlantic exchange of ideas had impacted important newspaper discourse–we can learn how once-American ideas, like Broken Windows, become new cultural concepts in Swedish journalistic discourse over time