Download or read book Paleozoology and Paleoenvironments written by J. Tyler Faith and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-02-21 with total page 415 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Outlines the ecological fundamentals, assumptions, and techniques for reconstructing past environments using fossil animals from archaeological and paleontological sites.
Download or read book Paleozoology and Paleoenvironments written by J. Tyler Faith and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-02-21 with total page 415 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Paleozoology and Paleoenvironments outlines the reconstruction of ancient climates, floras, and habitats on the basis of animal fossil remains recovered from archaeological and paleontological sites. In addition to outlining the ecological fundamentals and analytical assumptions attending such analyzes, J. Tyler Faith and R. Lee Lyman describe and critically evaluate many of the varied analytical techniques that have been applied to paleozoological remains for the purpose of paleoenvironmental reconstruction. These techniques range from analyses based on the presence or abundance of species in a fossil assemblage to those based on taxon-free ecological characterizations. All techniques are illustrated using faunal data from archaeological or paleontological contexts. Aimed at students and professionals, this volume will serve as fundamental resource for courses in zooarchaeology, paleontology, and paleoecology.
Download or read book Quantitative Paleozoology written by R. Lee Lyman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2008-03-31 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Quantitative Paleozoology describes and illustrates how the remains of long-dead animals recovered from archaeological and paleontological excavations can be studied and analyzed. The methods range from determining how many animals of each species are represented to determining whether one collection consists of more broken and more burned bones than another. All methods are described and illustrated with data from real collections, while numerous graphs illustrate various quantitative properties.
Download or read book Handbook of Pleistocene Archaeology of Africa written by Amanuel Beyin and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-08-17 with total page 2194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook showcases an Africa-wide compendium of Stone Age archaeological sites and methodological advances that have improved our understanding of hominin lifeways and biogeography in the continent. The focal time spans the Pleistocene Epoch (c. 2.5 million–11,700 years ago) during which important human traits, such as obligate bipedalism that freed the hands to engage in creative activities, a large brain relative to body size, language, and social complexity, developed in the general forms that they are found today. The handbook is the first of its kind, and it is expected to play a significant role in human evolutionary research by: ❖ Collating the African Stone Age record, which exists in a fragmented state along the lines of national boundaries and colonial experiences. ❖ Showcasing emerging conceptual and methodological advances in African Pleistocene archaeology. ❖ Providing reference datasets for teaching and researching African prehistory. ❖ Making Africa’s Stone Age record accessible to researchers and students based in Africa who may not have access to journal publications where most new field discoveries are published. The Handbook features 128 chapters, of which 116 are site entries grouped by the host countries and presented in an alphabetical order. A number of those site-related entries examine multiple archaeological localities lumped under specific projects or study areas. The rest of the contributions deal with methodological topics, such as luminescence and radiocarbon dating, field data recovery, lithic analysis, micromorphology, and hominin fossil and zooarchaeological records of Pleistocene Africa. The introductory chapter provides an historical overview of the development of Stone Age (Paleolithic) archaeology in Africa beginning in the mid-19th century, and paleoenvironmental and chronological frameworks commonly used to structure the continent’s Pleistocene record. By making a good amount of African Stone Age literature accessible to researchers and the public, we wish to promote interest in human evolutionary research in the continent and elsewhere.
Download or read book Manual of Forensic Taphonomy written by James T. Pokines and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2021-12-22 with total page 768 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The main goals in any forensic skeletal analysis are to answer who is the person represented (individualization), how that person died (trauma/pathology) and when that person died (the postmortem interval or PMI). The analyses necessary to generate the biological profile include the determination of human, nonhuman or nonosseous origin, the minimum number of individuals represented, age at death, sex, stature, ancestry, perimortem trauma, antemortem trauma, osseous pathology, odontology, and taphonomic effects—the postmortem modifications to a set of remains. The Manual of Forensic Taphonomy, Second Edition covers fundamental principles of these postmortem changes encountered during case analysis. Taphonomic processes can be highly destructive and subtract information from bones regarding their utility in determining other aspects of the biological profile, but they also can add information regarding the entire postmortem history of the remains and the relative timing of these effects. The taphonomic analyses outlined provide guidance on how to separate natural agencies from human-caused trauma. These analyses are also performed in conjunction with the field processing of recovery scenes and the interpretation of the site formation and their postdepositional history. The individual chapters categorize these alterations to skeletal remains, illustrate and explain their significance, and demonstrate differential diagnosis among them. Such observations may then be combined into higher-order patterns to aid forensic investigators in determining what happened to those remains in the interval from death to analysis, including the environment(s) in which the remains were deposited, including buried, terrestrial surface, marine, freshwater, or cultural contexts. Features Provides nearly 300 full-color illustrations of both common and rare taphonomic effects to bones, derived from actual forensic cases. • Presents new research including experimentation on recovery rates during surface search, timing of marine alterations, trophy skulls, taphonomic laboratory and field methods, laws regarding the relative timing of taphonomic effects, reptile taphonomy, human decomposition, and microscopic alterations by invertebrates to bones. • Explains and illustrates common taphonomic effects and clarifies standard terminology for uniformity and usage within in the field. While the book is primarily focused upon large vertebrate and specifically human skeletal remains, it effectively synthesizes data from human, ethological, geological/paleontological, paleoanthropological, archaeological artifactual, and zooarchaeological studies. Since these taphonomic processes affect other vertebrates in similar manners, The Manual of Forensic Taphonomy, Second Edition will be invaluable to a broad set of forensic and investigative disciplines.
Download or read book Past Environments of Mexico written by Rosalía Guerrero-Arenas and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on with total page 467 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Vertebrate Taphonomy written by R. Lee Lyman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1994-07-07 with total page 558 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taphonomy studies the transition of organic matter from the biosphere into the geological record. It is particularly relevant to zooarchaeologists and paleobiologists, who analyse organic remains in the archaeological record in an attempt to reconstruct hominid subsistence patterns and paleoecological conditions. In this user-friendly, encyclopedic reference volume for students and professionals, R. Lee Lyman, a leading researcher in taphonomy, reviews the wide range of analytical techniques used to solve particular zooarchaeological problems, illustrating these in most cases with appropriate examples. He also covers the history of taphonomic research and its philosophical underpinnings. Logically organised and clearly written, the book is an important update on all previous publications on archaeological faunal remains.
Download or read book Zooarchaeology written by Elizabeth J. Reitz and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2008-01-14 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book serves as an introductory text for students interested in identification and analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites. This revised edition reflects developments in zooarchaeology that have occurred during the past decade. It includes new sections on enamel ultrastructure and incremental analysis, stable isotyopes and trace elements, ancient genetics and enzymes, environmental reconstruction, people as agents of environmental change, applications of zooarchaeology in animal conversation and heritage management, and a discussion of issues pertaining to the curation of archaeofaunal materials.
Download or read book The Northernmost Ruins of the Globe written by Bjarne Grønnow and published by Museum Tusculanum Press. This book was released on 2003-10-15 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An important part of the heritage of Count Eigil Knuth (1903-1996) is his archaeological archive contaning contextual information on prehistoric sites gathered during six decades of research in High Arctic Greenland. The finds and observations are a key to the understanding of human life under extreme conditions in a long-term perspective and represent a unique piece of evidence concerning the early cultural history of the Eastern Arctic. Knuth's expeditions from 1932 to 1995 took him to Greenland and Canada, in particular High Arctic Greenland. In a number of important articles Knuth published the findings dating back to the earliest human settlement in Greenland. However, he never managed to present the complete body of information and results from his many investigations. The present authors have thus compiled a computer database on the basis on his archive, which constitutes the starting point of the present book. The book focuses on Knuth's most substantial contribution to archaeology: the prehistory of Peary Land and adjacent areas. In the catalog, emphasis has been placed on topographical and architectural information, site structure, artefact statistics and radiocarbon dates. A total of 154 archaeological sites are presented. Fifty-one sites with a total of 244 features are Independence I sites (c. 2460-1860 cal. BC), twenty-three sites with a total of 416 features belong to Independence II (c. 900-400 cal. BC) and sixty-three sites with a total of 626 features are of Thule origin (c. 1400-1500 ca. AD). This study presents some new information on the faunal material from Peary Land based on Christyann Darwent's recent analyses as well as new data on the dwelling features on the Adam C. Knuth Site, which was visited by a multidisciplinary team in 2001. It also offers an introduction presenting an overview and evaluation of Knuth's remarkable curriculum vitae as an independent arctic archaeologist. In the concluding chapters some basic statistics on the archaeological sites are presented. We evaluate Knuth's radiocarbon datings of the Independence I, Independence II and Thule cultures in High Arctic Greenland, and settlement distributions and settlement patterns for the three cultures represented in Peary Land are discussed.
Download or read book Introduction to Paleobiology and the Fossil Record written by Michael J. Benton and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-04-25 with total page 1001 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a comprehensive overview of the science of the history of life. Paleobiologists bring many analytical tools to bear in interpreting the fossil record and the book introduces the latest techniques, from multivariate investigations of biogeography and biostratigraphy to engineering analysis of dinosaur skulls, and from homeobox genes to cladistics. All the well-known fossil groups are included, including microfossils and invertebrates, but an important feature is the thorough coverage of plants, vertebrates and trace fossils together with discussion of the origins of both life and the metazoans. All key related subjects are introduced, such as systematics, ecology, evolution and development, stratigraphy and their roles in understanding where life came from and how it evolved and diversified. Unique features of the book are the numerous case studies from current research that lead students to the primary literature, analytical and mathematical explanations and tools, together with associated problem sets and practical schedules for instructors and students. “..any serious student of geology who does not pick this book off the shelf will be putting themselves at a huge disadvantage. The material may be complex, but the text is extremely accessible and well organized, and the book ought to be essential reading for palaeontologists at undergraduate, postgraduate and more advanced levels—both in Britain as well as in North America.” Falcon-Lang, H., Proc. Geol. Assoc. 2010 “...this is an excellent introduction to palaeontology in general. It is well structured, accessibly written and pleasantly informative .....I would recommend this as a standard reference text to all my students without hesitation.” David Norman Geol Mag 2010 Companion website This book includes a companion website at: www.blackwellpublishing.com/paleobiology The website includes: · An ongoing database of additional Practical’s prepared by the authors · Figures from the text for downloading · Useful links for each chapter · Updates from the authors
Download or read book Doln Vestonice Pavlov written by Jirí A. Svoboda and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2020-09-25 with total page 702 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perhaps the oldest modern human settlement in Europe, the archaeological site at Dolní Věstonice–Pavlov, located in the rolling, forested plains just north of the Danube River, has yielded a treasure trove of Ice Age artifacts since its first excavation in 1924. The earliest people who lived here some 30,000 years ago produced tools crafted from stone and bone and carved elaborate animal and human figurines fashioned of mammoth ivory and sculptures of fired clay, including the famous “Venus of Dolní Věstonice,” one of the oldest known ceramic artifacts in the world. Interestingly, novelist Jean M. Auel took much of the inspiration for her popular novel, Clan of the Cave Bear, from the discoveries at Dolní Věstonice–Pavlov. Richly illustrated throughout, including beautiful color renderings of scenes from Paleolithic life suggested by Svoboda’s research, this first English translation of Dolní Věstonice–Pavlov: Explaining Paleolithic Settlements in Central Europe is sure to provide not only vital information for scholars, researchers, and students but also insightful and thought-provoking background for interested general readers.
Download or read book Evolution of South American Mammalian Predators During the Cenozoic Paleobiogeographic and Paleoenvironmental Contingencies written by Francisco J. Prevosti and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-01-02 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book summarizes the evolution of carnivorous mammals in the Cenozoic of South America. It presents paleontological information on the two main mammalian carnivorous groups in South America; Metatheria and Eutheria. The topics include the origin, systematics, phylogeny, paleoecology and evolution of the Sparassodonta and Carnivora. The book is based on a wide variety of published sources from the last few decades.
Download or read book From Kostenki to Clovis written by Olga Soffer and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-06-29 with total page 510 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the American Side I went to the USSR for the first time in 1982 to attend the 11th meeting of the International Union for Quaternary research (INQUA) held at the Moscow State University. At that time relations between our two countries were anything but congenial and many restrictions were placed on our viewing the archaeological and paleontological collections and labora tory facilities. This was not the ideal climate for the free exchange of ideas needed for meaningful research. However, it was obvious to us that the strained relations did not extend to scientific discussions between scholars. We left that meeting well aware that if the problems of prehistoric Old World-New World relationships were to be resolved, it would eventually require cooperative research efforts within the world community of archaeologists. At that time, the pre-Clovis problem in New World archaeology was foremost in the minds of many North American researchers: tool technology and assemblages were being studied as a possible means of establishing cultural relationships across the Bering Strait, Clovis sites and mammoth kills were being looked at with new ideas for interpretation, and New World researchers realized that to resolve these questions they had to become familiar with the archaeological record of northeast Asia. A chance meeting of the writer with Olga Soffer in 1983 led to serious discussions of the sites on the Russian or East European Plain.
Download or read book American Doctoral Dissertations written by and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 704 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Trophic Ecology written by Torrance C. Hanley and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-05-07 with total page 427 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As researchers try to predict the effects of human modification at all trophic levels and mediate the impact of rapid environmental change, it has become clear it is no longer a matter of agreeing that both bottom-up and top-down forces play important roles in diverse ecosystems. Rather, the question is: how do these forces interact across aquatic and terrestrial systems? Written by leading experts in the field, this book presents a unique synthesis of trophic relationships within and across ecosystems that is a valuable foundation for the development of cross-system, multidisciplinary research. It also provides new insights into population biology and community ecology and examines the interactive effects of bottom-up and top-down forces on biodiversity at each trophic level. A one-stop resource for learning about bottom-up and top-down interactions, this book encourages discussion and collaboration among researchers to identify similarities and differences in trophic interactions across aquatic and terrestrial systems.
Download or read book Handbook of Paleoanthropology written by Winfried Henke and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-05-10 with total page 2057 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This 3-volume handbook brings together contributions by the world ́s leading specialists that reflect the broad spectrum of modern palaeoanthropology, thus presenting an indispensable resource for professionals and students alike. Vol. 1 reviews principles, methods, and approaches, recounting recent advances and state-of-the-art knowledge in phylogenetic analysis, palaeoecology and evolutionary theory and philosophy. Vol. 2 examines primate origins, evolution, behaviour, and adaptive variety, emphasizing integration of fossil data with contemporary knowledge of the behaviour and ecology of living primates in natural environments. Vol. 3 deals with fossil and molecular evidence for the evolution of Homo sapiens and its fossil relatives.
Download or read book World Archaeoprimatology written by Bernardo Urbani and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-08-18 with total page 559 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first compendium of archaeoprimatological studies, covering past relationships between humans and nonhuman primates across the world.
