Tephrochronology

Tephrochronology is the use of primary, characterized tephras or cryptotephras as chronostratigraphic marker beds to connect and synchronize geological, paleoenvironmental, or archaeological sequences or events, or soils/paleosols, and, uniquely, to transfer relative or numerical ages or dates to them using stratigraphic and age information together with mineralogical and geochemical compositional data, especially from individual glass-shard analyses, obtained for the tephra/cryptotephra deposits. To function as an age-equivalent correlation and chronostratigraphic dating tool, tephrochronology may be undertaken in three steps: (i) mapping and describing tephras and determining their stratigraphic relationships, (ii) characterizing tephras or cryptotephras in the laboratory, and (iii) dating them using a wide range of geochronological methods. Tephrochronology is also an important tool in volcanology, informing studies on volcanic petrology, volcano eruption histories and hazards, and volcano-climate forcing. Although limitations and challenges remain, multidisciplinary applications of tephrochronology continue to grow markedly

An assessment of air-sea heat fluxes from ocean and coupled reanalyses

Sixteen monthly air–sea heat flux products from global ocean/coupled reanalyses are compared over 1993–2009 as part of the Ocean Reanalysis Intercomparison Project (ORA-IP). Objectives include assessing the global heat closure, the consistency of temporal variability, comparison with other flux products, and documenting errors against in situ flux measurements at a number of OceanSITES moorings. The ensemble of 16 ORA-IP flux estimates has a global positive bias over 1993–2009 of 4.2 ± 1.1 W m−2. Residual heat gain (i.e., surface flux + assimilation increments) is reduced to a small positive imbalance (typically, +1–2 W m−2). This compensation between surface fluxes and assimilation increments is concentrated in the upper 100 m. Implied steady meridional heat transports also improve by including assimilation sources, except near the equator. The ensemble spread in surface heat fluxes is dominated by turbulent fluxes (>40 W m−2 over the western boundary currents). The mean seasonal cycle is highly consistent, with variability between products mostly <10 W m−2. The interannual variability has consistent signal-to-noise ratio (~2) throughout the equatorial Pacific, reflecting ENSO variability. Comparisons at tropical buoy sites (10°S–15°N) over 2007–2009 showed too little ocean heat gain (i.e., flux into the ocean) in ORA-IP (up to 1/3 smaller than buoy measurements) primarily due to latent heat flux errors in ORA-IP. Comparisons with the Stratus buoy (20°S, 85°W) over a longer period, 2001–2009, also show the ORA-IP ensemble has 16 W m−2 smaller net heat gain, nearly all of which is due to too much latent cooling caused by differences in surface winds imposed in ORA-IP

Damaged Burials or Reliquiae Cogotenses? On the Accompanying Human Bones in Burial Pits Belonging to the Iberian Bronze Age

Social Sciences and Humanities are increasingly interested in the relationship between society and material culture, and archaeology can provide, among other contributions, its chronological depth and the variability and certain regularities in mortuary rituals. In this respect, archaeological literature frequently cites cases of a few human bones redeposited at mortuary sites, often burials of adults accompanied by some bones of an infant, but without a clear pattern being discernable. In contrast, research on the Bronze Age Cogotas I archaeological culture in the Iberian Peninsula (MBA and LBA, ca. 1800–1100 cal BC) has identified what seems to be an emerging pattern: primary burials of very young children accompanied by the bone of an adult, possibly female, who had died before, even long before, as the statistical analysis of the radiocarbon dates of the individuals involved appears to corroborate. This may therefore be a ritualised mortuary practice that included bone relics, but its explanation is not simple, due to the polysemic nature of such relics. The creation and maintenance of real or fictitious kinship ties, a special protection for dead infants, possible gender aspects, ideas about fertility and renewal, strengthening interpersonal relationships, legitimisation of emerging inequality, etc., are some of the possible components of this social practice which was until now unknown in the Iberian prehistory, but also little known in other areas in European prehistory.Les sciences sociales et humaines s’inte´ressent de plus en plus a` la relation qui existe entre la socie´te´ et la culture mate´ rielle, et l’arche´ologie peut fournir, parmi autre chose, sa profondeur chronologique et la variabilite´ et certaines re´gularite´s dans le domaine des rites mortuaires. A` cet e´gard, la litte´rature arche´ologique mentionne souvent des cas ou` quelques ossements humains sont de´pose´s dans des sites mortuaires, souvent des se´pultures d’adultes accompagne´es de quelques os de nourrisson, sans qu’un mode` le puisse toutefois eˆtre nettement discerne´. A` l’oppose´ , des recherches re´ alise´es sur la culture arche´ologique de Cogotas I de l’aˆge du bronze, dans la pe´ninsule ibe´rique (MBA et LBA, vers 1800 a` 1100 avant notre e` re), ont identifie´ un mode` le apparemment e´mergent: des se´pultures primaires d’enfants tre`s jeunes accompagne´es de l’os d’un adulte, possiblement d’une femme, de´ce´de´e pre´ce´demment, voire longtemps avant, si on en croit l’analyse statistique des datations au radiocarbone des individus implique´ s. Il pourrait donc s’agir d’une pratique mortuaire symbolique impliquant des reliques ossuaires, dont l’explication n’est cependant pas simple en raison de la nature polyse´mique desdites reliques. La cre´ation et le maintien de liens de parente´ re´els ou fictifs, une protection spe´ciale pour les nourrissons de´ce´de´ s, des aspects possiblement relie´s au genre du de´funt, des ide´es sur la fertilite´ et le renouveau, le renforcement de relations interpersonnelles, la le´gitimation d’ine´galite´ en e´mergence, voila` quelques e´ le´ments possibles de cette pratique sociale jusqu’ici inconnue dans la pre´histoire ibe´rique, mais aussi tre`s peu re´pute´e dans d’autres sphe`res de la pre´histoire europe´enne.Las ciencias sociales y las humanidades están cada vez más interesadas en la relación entre la sociedad y la cultura material, y la arqueología puede proporcionar, entre otras contribuciones, su profundidad cronológica, y la variabilidad y ciertas regularidades en los ritos funerarios. En este sentido, frecuentemente la literatura arqueológica cita casos de algunos huesos humanos que han sido redepositados en sitios mortuorios, a menudo entierros de adultos acompañados por algunos huesos de un niño, pero sin que se pueda discernir un patrón claro. En contraste, la investigación sobre la cultura arqueológica de Cogotas en la Península Ibérica (Bronce Medio y Tardío, ca. 1800–1100 cal AC) ha identificado lo que parece ser un patrón emergente: entierros primarios de niños muy pequeños acompañados hueso de un adulto, posiblemente de un una mujer, que había muerto antes, incluso mucho antes, como parece corroborar el análisis estadístico de las fechas de radiocarbono de los3763460,182Q2AHC

Streams as Entanglement of Nature and Culture: European Upper Paleolithic River Systems and Their Role as Features of Spatial Organization

Human Origin