Reconstructions of eolian dust accumulation in northwest African margin sediments

Reconstructions of eolian dust accumulation in northwest African margin sediments provide important continuous records of past changes in atmospheric circulation and aridity in the region. Existing records indicate dramatic changes in North African dust emissions over the last 20 ka, but the limited spatial extent of these records and the lack of high-resolution flux data do not allow us to determine whether changes in dust deposition occurred with similar timing, magnitude and abruptness throughout northwest Africa. Here we present new records from a meridional transect of cores stretching from 31°N to 19°N along the northwest African margin. By combining grain size endmember modeling with 230Th-normalized fluxes for the first time, we are able to document spatial and temporal changes in dust deposition under the North African dust plume throughout the last 20 ka. Our results provide quantitative estimates of the magnitude of dust flux changes associated with Heinrich Stadial 1, the Younger Dryas, and the African Humid Period (AHP; ~11.7-5 ka), offering robust targets for model-based estimates of the climatic and biogeochemical impacts of past changes in North African dust emissions. Our data suggest that dust fluxes between 8 and 6 ka were a factor of ~5 lower than average fluxes during the last 2 ka. Using a simple model to estimate the effects of bioturbation on dust input signals, we find that our data are consistent with abrupt, synchronous changes in dust fluxes in all cores at the beginning and end of the AHP. The mean ages of these transitions are 11.8±0.2 ka (1Sigma) and 4.9±0.2 ka, respectively.

Enviromagnetic, major element, and grain-size analyses of surface sediment samples along the continental margin between East Brazil and Patagonia

Continental margin sediments of SE South America originate from various terrestrial sources, each conveying specific magnetic and element signatures. Here, we aim to identify the sources and transport characteristics of shelf and slope sediments deposited between East Brazil and Patagonia (20°-48°S) using enviromagnetic, major element, and grain-size data. A set of five source-indicative parameters (i.e., chi-fd%, ARM/IRM, S0.3T, SIRM/Fe and Fe/K) of 25 surface samples (16-1805 m water depth) was analyzed by fuzzy c-means clustering and non-linear mapping to depict and unmix sediment-province characteristics. This multivariate approach yields three regionally coherent sediment provinces with petrologically and climatically distinct source regions. The southernmost province is entirely restricted to the slope off the Argentinean Pampas and has been identified as relict Andean-sourced sands with coarse unaltered magnetite. The direct transport to the slope was enabled by Rio Colorado and Rio Negro meltwaters during glacial and deglacial phases of low sea level. The adjacent shelf province consists of coastal loessoidal sands (highest hematite and goethite proportions) delivered from the Argentinean Pampas by wave erosion and westerly winds. The northernmost province includes the Plata mudbelt and Rio Grande Cone. It contains tropically weathered clayey silts from the La Plata Drainage Basin with pronounced proportions of fine magnetite, which were distributed up to ~24° S by the Brazilian Coastal Current and admixed to coarser relict sediments of Pampean loessoidal origin. Grain-size analyses of all samples showed that sediment fractionation during transport and deposition had little impact on magnetic and element source characteristics. This study corroborates the high potential of the chosen approach to access sediment origin in regions with contrasting sediment sources, complex transport dynamics, and large grain-size variability.

New contributions to the native and alien flora in riparian habitats of the Cantabrian watershed (Northern Spain)

As a result of a floristic survey carried out in riparian habitats of northern Spain, new chorological data are provided for 9 alien and 6 native plant species. Some species are reported for the first time at regional scale, such as Carex strigosa, Helianthus x laetiflorus and Persicaria pensylvanica in Cantabria. Also noteworthy is the finding of naturalised populations of the North American grass Muhlenbergia schreberi at the Urumea river basin, which represents the second reference for the Iberian Peninsula.

Perspectives on gender, migration and transnational work: joint work of social reproduction and care in Southern Europe

This paper presents the "state of the art" and some of the main issues discussed in relation to the topic of transnational migration and reproductive work in southern Europe. We start doing a genealogy of the complex theoretical development leading to the consolidation of the research program, linking consideration of gender with transnational migration and transformation of work and ways of survival, thus making the production aspects as reproductive, in a context of globalization. The analysis of the process of multiscale reconfiguration of social reproduction and care, with particular attention to its present global dimension is presented, pointing to the turning point of this line of research that would have taken place with the beginning of this century, with the rise notions such as "global care chains" (Hochschild, 2001), or "care drain" (Ehrenreich and Hochschild, 2013). Also, the role of this new agency, now composed in many cases women who migrate to other countries or continents, precisely to address these reproductive activities, is recognized. Finally, reference is made to some of the new conceptual and theoretical developments in this area.

The Neolithic of El Niño cave (Ayna, Albacete) in the Sierra del Segura context

Since its excavation in the summer of 1973, El Niño cave has been considered a key site to understand the process of production economy and pottery technology introduction in South-eastern Iberian Peninsula, and especially to approach how such process could have affected people already settled in the Segura mountains. However, data from El Niño cave was very fragmentary, due to the lack of a broad study of Neolithic occupations of the site. In this paper, we present the analysis of pottery, lithic industry and faunal remains, as well as the existing dates from the site´s Holocene levels. The review of different evidence from the site allows suggesting that El Niño cave would have probably acted as a hunting and shepherding station, being a logistical site of larger places. However, limitations due to the fact that we are dealing with a 40- year-old excavation, prevent specifying how the process of Neolithic introduction in the Segura Mountains occurred.

Late Bronze Age in Eastern Iberian Peninsula: Archaeological Bases and Periodization

Research surrounding the transition from II to I millennium cal BC in Eastern Iberian Peninsula has a large and extensive tradition of investigation. However, the chances to do research on this historical process have been limited by the lack of a well contextualized and dated stratigraphic sequence. For this reason, recent studies in this topic have followed the periodic proposals which were developed in closer regions and areas, especially in the South East and North East of the Peninsula. The investigation perspective about the Late Bronze in Eastern Iberian has however now improved, with the development of several archaeological investigations, the increase in the number of sites being dated and more recent studies into the region helping to bring about this change. As such, it is now in the correct state to be able to propose a new periodization and delve into the changes which occurred in the transition between 1500 and 725 cal BC.

"Lancea", Lusitanian Word, and the "Lancienses" Ethnogenesis

Analysis of the word lancea, of Hispanic origin after Varro, and of place names, people´s names and personal names derived from it. It confirms that the spear was the most important weapon in the Bronze Age, belonging to the iuventus and used as heroic and divine symbol. This analysis confirms also the personality of the Lusitanians, a people related to the Celts but with more archaic archaeological, linguistic and cultural characteristics originated in the tradition of the Atlantic Bronze in the II millennium BC. It is also relevant to better know the organisation of Broze and Iron Age societies and the origin of Indo-Europeans peoples in Western Europe and of pre-Roman peoples of Iberia.