Analysis of wall plasters and natural sediments from the Neolithic town of Çatalhöyük (Turkey) by a range of analytical techniques

Wall plaster sequences from the Neolithic town of Çatalhöyük have been analysed and compared to three types of natural sediment found in the vicinity of the site, using a range of analytical techniques. Block samples containing the plaster sequences were removed from the walls of several different buildings on the East Mound. Sub-samples were examined by IR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence to determine the overall mineralogical and elemental composition, whilst thin sections were studied using optical polarising microscopy, IR Microscopy and Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis. The results of this study have shown that there are two types of wall plaster found in the sequences and that the sediments used to produce these were obtained from at least two distinct sources. In particular, the presence of clay, calcite and magnesian calcite in the foundation plasters suggested that these were prepared predominantly from a marl source. On the other hand, the finishing plasters were found to contain dolomite with a small amount of clay and no calcite, revealing that softlime was used in their preparation. Whilst marl is located directly below and around Çatalhöyük, the nearest source of softlime is 6.5 km away, an indication that the latter was important to the Neolithic people, possibly due to the whiter colour (5Y 8/1) of this sediment. Furthermore, the same two plaster types were found on each wall of Building 49, the main building studied in this research, and in all five buildings investigated, suggesting that the use of these sources was an established practice for the inhabitants of several different households across the site.

The Victoria Falls 1900-1940: Landscape, tourism and the geographical imagination

This article is about the politics of landscape ideas, and the relationship between landscape, identity and memory. It explores these themes through the history of the Victoria Falls, and the tourist resort that developed around the waterfall after 1900. Drawing on oral and archival sources, including popular natural history writing and tourist guides, it investigates African and European ideas about the waterfall, and the ways that these interacted and changed in the course of colonial appropriations of the Falls area. The tourist experience of the resort and the landscape ideas promoted through it were linked to Edwardian notions of Britishness and empire, ideas of whiteness and settler identities that transcended new colonial borders, and to the subject identities accommodated or excluded. Cultures of colonial authority did not develop by simply overriding local ideas, they involved fusions, exchanges and selective appropriations of them. The two main African groups I am concerned with here are the Leya, who lived in small groups around the Falls under a number of separate chiefs, and the powerful Lozi rulers, to whom they paid tribute in the nineteenth century. The article highlights colonial authorities' celebration of aspects of the Lozi aristocracy's relationship with the river, and their exclusion of the Leya people who had a longer and closer relationship with the waterfall. It also touches on the politics of recent attempts to reverse this exclusion, and the controversial rewriting of history this has involved.

Analysis of red and yellow ochre samples from Clearwell Caves and Catalhoyuk by vibrational spectroscopy and other techniques

Ochre samples excavated from the neolithic site at Qatalhoyuk, Turkey have been compared with "native" ochres from Clearwell Caves, UK using infrared spectroscopy backed up by Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (with energy-dispersive X-rays (EDX) analysis), powder X-ray diffraction, diffuse reflection UV-Vis and atomic absorption spectroscopies. For the Clearwell Caves ochres, which range in colour from yellow-orange to red-brown, it is shown that the colour is related to the nature of the chromophore present and not to any differences in particle size. The darker red ochres contain predominantly haematite while the yellow ochre contains only goethite. The ochres from Qatalhoyuk contain only about one-twentieth of the levels of iron found in the Clearwell Caves ochres. The iron oxide pigment (haematite in all cases studied here) has been mixed with a soft lime plaster which also contains calcite and silicate (clay) minerals. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Recent habitat degradation in karstic Lake Uluabat, western Turkey: A coupled limnological-palaeolimnological approach

The Ramsar site of Lake Uluabat, western Turkey, suffers from eutrophication, urban and industrial pollution and water abstraction, and its water levels are managed artificially. Here we combine monitoring and palaeolimnological. techniques to investigate spatial and temporal limnological variability and ecosystem impact, using an ostracod and mollusc survey to strengthen interpretation of the fossil record. A combination of low invertebrate Biological Monitoring Working Party scores (<10) and the dominance of eutrophic diatoms in the modern lake confirms its poor ecological status. Palaeolimnological analysis of recent (last >200 yr) changes in organic and carbonate content, diatoms, stable isotopes, ostracods and molluscs in a lake sediment core (UL20A) indicates a 20th century trend towards increased sediment accumulation rates and eutrophication which was probably initiated by deforestation and agriculture. The most marked ecological shift occurs in the early 1960s, however. A subtle rise in diatom-inferred total phosphorus and an inferred reduction in submerged aquatic macrophyte cover accompanies a major increase in sediment accumulation rate. An associated marked shift in ostracod stable isotope data indicative of reduced seasonality and a change in hydrological input suggests major impact from artificial water management practices, all of which appears to have culminated in the sustained loss of submerged macrophytes since 2000. The study indicates it is vital to take both land-use and water management practices into account in devising restoration strategies. in a wider context, the results have important implications for the conservation of shallow karstic lakes, the functioning of which is still poorly understood. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rapid characterisation of archaeological midden components using FT-IR spectroscopy, SEM-EDX and micro-XRD

Samples taken from middens at the Neolithic site of Catalhoyuk in Turkey have been analysed using IR spectroscopy backed up by powder XRD and SEM-EDX. Microcomponents studied include fossil hack-berries (providing evidence of ancient diet and seasonality), mineral nodules (providing evidence of post-depositional change) and phytoliths (mineralised plant cells, providing evidence of usage of plant species). Finely laminated ashy deposits have also been investigated allowing chemical and mineralogical variations to be explored. It is found that many layers which appear visually to be quite distinctive have, in fact, very similar mineralogy. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of species and genotype on the efficiency of enrichment of poultry meat with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids

The effect of poultry species (broiler or turkey) and genotype (Wrolstad or BUT T8 turkeys and Ross 308 or Cobb 500 broilers) on the efficiency with which dietary longchain n-3 PUFA were incorporated into poultry meat was determined. Broilers and turkeys of both genotypes were fed one of six diets varying in FA composition (two replicates per genotype x diet interaction). Diets contained 50 g/kg added oil, which was either blended vegetable oil (control), or partially replaced with linseed oil (20 or 40 g/kg diet), fish oil (20 or 40 g/kg diet), or a mixture of the two (20 g linseed oil and 20 g fish oil/kg diet). Feeds and samples of skinless breast and thigh meat were analyzed for FA. Wrolstad dark meat was slightly more responsive than BUT T8 (P = 0.046) to increased dietary 18:3 concentrations (slopes of 0.570 and 0.465, respectively). The Ross 308 was also slightly more responsive than the Cobb 500 (P= 0.002) in this parameter (slopes of 0.557 and 0.449). There were no other significant differences between the genotypes. There was some evidence (based on the estimates of the slopes and their associated standard errors) that white turkey meat was more responsive than white chicken meat to 20:5 (slopes of 0.504 and 0.289 for turkeys and broilers, respectively). There was no relationship between dietary 18:3 n-3 content and meat 20:5 and 22:6 contents. If birds do convert 18:3 to higher FA, these acids are not then deposited in the edible tissues.

Development of a reverse genetics system enabling the rescue of recombinant avian influenza virus A/Turkey/England/50-92/91 (H5N1)

We previously described the use of an established reverse genetics system for the generation of recombinant human influenza A viruses from cloned cDNAs. Here, we have assembled a set of plasmids to allow recovery of the avian H5N1 influenza virus A/Turkey/England/50-92/91 entirely from cDNA. This system enables us to introduce mutations or truncations into the cDNAs to create mutant viruses altered specifically in a chosen gene. These mutant viruses can then be used in future pathogenesis studies in chickens and in studies to understand the host range restrictions of avian influenza viruses in humans.

Analysis of red and yellow ochre samples from Clearwell Caves and Catalhoyuk by vibrational spectroscopy and other techniques

Ochre samples excavated from the neolithic site at Qatalhoyuk, Turkey have been compared with "native" ochres from Clearwell Caves, UK using infrared spectroscopy backed up by Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (with energy-dispersive X-rays (EDX) analysis), powder X-ray diffraction, diffuse reflection UV-Vis and atomic absorption spectroscopies. For the Clearwell Caves ochres, which range in colour from yellow-orange to red-brown, it is shown that the colour is related to the nature of the chromophore present and not to any differences in particle size. The darker red ochres contain predominantly haematite while the yellow ochre contains only goethite. The ochres from Qatalhoyuk contain only about one-twentieth of the levels of iron found in the Clearwell Caves ochres. The iron oxide pigment (haematite in all cases studied here) has been mixed with a soft lime plaster which also contains calcite and silicate (clay) minerals. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Rapid characterisation of archaeological midden components using FT-IR spectroscopy, SEM-EDX and micro-XRD

Samples taken from middens at the Neolithic site of Catalhoyuk in Turkey have been analysed using IR spectroscopy backed up by powder XRD and SEM-EDX. Microcomponents studied include fossil hack-berries (providing evidence of ancient diet and seasonality), mineral nodules (providing evidence of post-depositional change) and phytoliths (mineralised plant cells, providing evidence of usage of plant species). Finely laminated ashy deposits have also been investigated allowing chemical and mineralogical variations to be explored. It is found that many layers which appear visually to be quite distinctive have, in fact, very similar mineralogy. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.