The retrieval and re-deposition of elements of the human skeleton, especially the skull (i.e., cranium and mandible), is a common feature of Neolithic Near Eastern funerary practices. A complicated ...sequence of subfloor inhumations involving both primary and secondary burial treatments at Çatalhöyük demonstrates the range of funerary practices encountered at the site and elsewhere in the Neolithic Near East. This particular sequence of burials culminated in a stratigraphically verified case of post-inhumation skull removal from a primary intramural inhumation. However, the retrieval of crania and skulls from primary burials cannot account for the total number of re-deposited crania and skulls found in a variety of depositional contexts at the site. Based on increasing evidence for an extended interval between death and burial at Çatalhöyük, the removal and circulation of skulls from unburied bodies as part of a multi-stage funerary rite is proposed as another method for obtaining them, operating in parallel with their retrieval from primary intramural burials. These divergent practices, and the range of contexts from which secondarily deposited skeletal elements are recovered, reflect multiple funerary treatments and intentions likely tied to social distinctions that remain poorly understood. In order to begin to fully understand the social and cosmological meaning(s) of the Neolithic "skull cult," however, we must first distinguish between what are essentially equifinal processes in the archaeological record. This work will involve careful attention to the spatiotemporal contexts in which isolated skeletal elements are found, in addition to meticulous osteological and taphonomic analyses of the bones themselves.
The objective of this paper is to improve the understanding and also to simplify the calculation of the entropy transferred by thermal radiation (TR). Many thermodynamic texts incorrectly imply that ...the entropy flux of TR is the same as that for heat conduction, the heat flux divided by the local temperature (
q/
T). Also, fundamental equations, such as those derived from the Clausius inequality, express the entropy flux of TR in a
q/
T type form. However, for blackbody radiation (BR) emission a 4/3 factor is present and in this paper it is shown that the entropy flux of non-blackbody radiation (NBR) emission is even farther removed from
q/
T. The misuse of the heat conduction entropy flux equation for TR emission causes the irreversibility of a device to be underestimated whether the surface of the device is hot or cold relative to its surroundings. Further, it is shown that the reversible form of the Clausius expression applies when TR is involved yet the expression for irreversible processes does not apply. Finally, simple approximate expressions for the entropy of gray radiation (GR) are presented, as the exclusive use of numerical integration is laborious.
Abstract We report here the first evidence of vertical transmission of Aedes flavivirus (AEFV) and its first isolation in the Western Hemisphere. AEFV strain SPFLD-MO-2011-MP6 was isolated in C6/36 ...cells from a pool of male Aedes albopictus mosquitoes that were reared to adults from larvae collected in southwest Missouri, USA, in 2011. Electron micrographs of the virus showed virions of approximately 45 nm in diameter with morphological characteristics associated with flaviviruses. The genomic sequence demonstrated that AEFV-SPFLD-MO-2011-MP6 shares a high degree of nucleotide and amino acid sequence identity with the AEFV Narita-21 strain, isolated in Japan in 2003. Intracerebral inoculation of newborn mice with the virus failed to produce observable illness or death and the virus did not replicate in vertebrate cells, consistent with a lack of vertebrate host range.
Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus distributed throughout much of Africa and Asia. Infection with the virus may cause acute febrile illness that clinically resembles dengue fever. A ...recent study indicated the existence of three geographically distinct viral lineages; however this analysis utilized only a single viral gene. Although ZIKV has been known to circulate in both Africa and Asia since at least the 1950s, little is known about the genetic relationships between geographically distinct virus strains. Moreover, the geographic origin of the strains responsible for the epidemic that occurred on Yap Island, Federated States of Micronesia in 2007, and a 2010 pediatric case in Cambodia, has not been determined.
To elucidate the genetic relationships of geographically distinct ZIKV strains and the origin of the strains responsible for the 2007 outbreak on Yap Island and a 2010 Cambodian pediatric case of ZIKV infection, the nucleotide sequences of the open reading frame of five isolates from Cambodia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Uganda, and Senegal collected between 1947 and 2010 were determined. Phylogenetic analyses of these and previously published ZIKV sequences revealed the existence of two main virus lineages (African and Asian) and that the strain responsible for the Yap epidemic and the Cambodian case most likely originated in Southeast Asia. Examination of the nucleotide and amino acid sequence alignments revealed the loss of a potential glycosylation site in some of the virus strains, which may correlate with the passage history of the virus.
The basal position of the ZIKV strain isolated in Malaysia in 1966 suggests that the recent outbreak in Micronesia was initiated by a strain from Southeast Asia. Because ZIKV infection in humans produces an illness clinically similar to dengue fever and many other tropical infectious diseases, it is likely greatly misdiagnosed and underreported.
•Three apparently modified human teeth found at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey.•Multiple analyses confirm intentional modification and usewear in two of three teeth.•First documented cases of ...artificially modified human teeth in prehistoric Near East.•Teeth manufactured using same techniques/toolkits used to produce other bead types.•Confirmed cases derive from non-burial contexts.
The use of human teeth for ornamental purposes is archaeologically documented from the European Upper Palaeolithic, and, sporadically, during the subsequent Mesolithic, Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods. To date, no examples of this practice are available for the Near East during this timeframe. This contribution presents three human teeth from Neolithic Çatalhöyük (Central Anatolia, Turkey; 7100–6000 cal BC) that appear to have been modified for use as pendants. Macroscopic, microscopic and radiographic analyses confirm the modification and use of two out of three of these finds. The two confirmed pendants were likely extracted from the skeletonised remains of mature and old adults, carefully drilled, and worn for a variable period of time. The rarity of such artefacts in the prehistoric Near East suggests a profound symbolic meaning for this practice and these objects, and provides new insights into the funerary customs and symbolic importance of the use of human body parts during the Neolithic of the Near East.
Mobility in Neolithic Central Anatolia Pilloud, Marin A.; Somel, Mehmet; Haddow, Scott D. ...
American journal of physical anthropology,
2017, Letnik:
162, Številka:
S64
Journal Article
Zika virus (ZIKV) has extended its known geographic distribution to the New World and is now responsible for severe clinical complications in a subset of patients. While substantial genetic and ...vector susceptibility data exist for ZIKV, less is known for the closest related flavivirus, Spondweni virus (SPONV). Both ZIKV and SPONV have been known to circulate in Africa since the mid-1900s, but neither has been genetically characterized by gene and compared in parallel. Furthermore, the susceptibility of peridomestic mosquito species incriminated or suspected in the transmission of ZIKV to SPONV was unknown.
In this study, two geographically distinct strains of SPONV were genetically characterized and compared to nine genetically and geographically distinct ZIKV strains. Additionally, the susceptibility of both SPONV strains was determined in three mosquito species. The open reading frame (ORF) of the SPONV 1952 Nigerian Chuku strain, exhibited a nucleotide and amino acid identity of 97.8% and 99.2%, respectively, when compared to the SPONV 1954 prototype South African SA Ar 94 strain. The ORF of the SPONV Chuku strain exhibited a nucleotide and amino acid identity that ranged from 68.3% to 69.0% and 74.6% to 75.0%, respectively, when compared to nine geographically and genetically distinct strains of ZIKV. The ORF of the nine African and Asian lineage ZIKV strains exhibited limited nucleotide divergence. Aedes aegypti, Ae. albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus susceptibility and dissemination was low or non-existent following artificial infectious blood feeding of moderate doses of both SPONV strains.
SPONV and ZIKV nucleotide and amino acid divergence coupled with differences in geographic distribution, ecology and vector species support previous reports that these viruses are separate species. Furthermore, the low degree of SPONV infection or dissemination in Ae. albopictus, Ae. aegypti and Cx. quinquefasciatus following exposure to two geographically and genetically distinct virus strains suggest a low potential for these species to serve as vectors.
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