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Abstract This paper presents the model dealing with the micro-chronology of Palaeolithic open-air sites based on the curation of blade parts and on patterns in wind direction. The production of tools and the spatial replacement of blade parts within a given site or between different sites, as well as redepositional processes, are considered through the set of equations. The utility of the model is confirmed by its test on Late Palaeolithic Federmesser and Swiderian materials from Lubrza 10 in western Poland. Instead of a widely-spread clear-cut synchronization of all flint concentrations belonging to the same cultural unit, the model confirms the more gradual relocation of people within a Swiderian camp.

We present a summary of the campaign of remote observations that supported the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission. Telescopes across the globe (and in space) followed comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from before Rosetta's arrival until nearly the end of mission in September 2016. These provided essential data for mission planning, large-scale context information for the coma and tails beyond the spacecraft, and a way to directly compare 67P with other comets. The observations revealed 67P to be a relatively `well behaved' comet, typical of Jupiter family comets and with activity patterns that repeat from orbit-to-orbit. Comparison between this large collection of telescopic observations and the in situ results from Rosetta will allow us to better understand comet coma chemistry and structure. This work is just beginning as the mission ends -- in this paper we present a summary of the ground-based observations and early results, and point to many questions that will be addressed in future studies. Author prepared version; final published version available at journal. 22 pages

The reasons and processes that led hunter-gatherers to transition into a sedentary and agricultural way of life are a fundamental unresolved question of human history. Here we present results of excavations of two single-occupation early Neolithic sites (dated to 7.9 and 7.4 ka) and two high-resolution archaeological surveys in northeast China, which capture the earliest stages of sedentism and millet cultivation in the second oldest center of domestication in the Old World. The transition to sedentism coincided with a significant transition to wetter conditions in north China, at 8.1-7.9 ka. We suggest that these wetter conditions were an empirical precondition that facilitated the complex transitional process to sedentism and eventually millet domestication in north China. Interestingly, sedentism and plant domestication followed different trajectories. The sedentary way of life and cultural norms evolved rapidly, within a few hundred years, we find complex sedentary villages inhabiting the landscape. However, the process of plant domestication, progressed slowly over several millennia. Our earliest evidence for the beginning of the domestication process appear in the context of an already complex sedentary village (late Xinglongwa culture), a half millennia after the onset of cultivation, and even in this phase domesticated plants and animals were rare, suggesting that the transition to domesticated (sensu stricto) plants in affluent areas might have not played a substantial role in the transition to sedentary societies.

This paper presents the first chronometric dates for sediments that contain a Mousterian industry in Dalmatia (south Croatia). Electron spin resonance (ESR) dating was conducted on two teeth from the Mousterian level E1 at the site of Mujina Pecina. Additionally five bone and one charcoal sample from five different strata of origin at this site were dated by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). Assuming 30% moisture for both the gamma and beta dose rate calculations, the mean LU ESR age estimate is 44 +/- 5 ka for level E1, which is statistically indistinguishable from the mean EU ESR age estimate of 40 +/- 7 ka. A single, uncalibrated C-14 age from the E1/E2 interface yielded an age estimate of 45,170 + 2780/ - 2060 years BP while the mean of the five samples from overlying Mousterian levels is 39 +/- ka. The true (calibrated) age of this mean is about 42 ka, which means that the entire stratigraphic profile in Mujina Pecina apparently was very rapidly deposited, and that the ESR age, regardless of uptake model is in good agreement with the calibrated C-14 mean age. Temporally, Mujina Pecina overlaps with Pontinian Mousterian sites in west-central Italy and Vindija level G3 from northwestern Croatia. However, there are notable differences between the Mousterian industry from Mujina Pecina and these other sites. Collectively, the Croatian sites yield important evidence on the adaptation of European Mousterian people.

Abstract Data from an online survey conducted in January 2021 by 464 participants living in London and working from home (WFH) after the COVID-19 outbreak were analysed, focusing on: (1) types of building services at home, (2) perceived sound dominance of building services, and (3) the perception of the indoor acoustic environment (i.e. the indoor soundscape) in relation to two main activities, i.e. WFH and relaxation. Results show that most of participants’ houses had radiators for heating and relied on window opening for ventilation and cooling. Air systems (e.g., HVAC systems) resulted in higher perceived dominance compared to other systems, but only when evaluated for WFH. Sound dominance from building services was in turn related to soundscape evaluation. Spaces with less dominant sounds from building services were more appropriate for both WFH and relaxation, and spaces with fewer dominant sounds were assessed better, but just for WFH. Participants’ evaluations generally did not differ according to building service typology. The presence of air-cooling systems was associated with better perceived sound environments, most likely due to better acoustics conditions in newly built or retrofitted dwellings, more probably equipped with air cooling systems. Preliminary findings point out the importance of carefully considering the dominance of sounds by building services, especially for air systems, in relation to traditional and new uses of residential buildings.

This paper explores the explanations for, and consequences of, the early appearance of food production outside the Fertile Crescent of Southwest Asia, where it originated in the 10th/9th millennia cal BC. We present evidence that cultivation appeared in Central Anatolia through adoption by indigenous foragers in the mid ninth millennium cal BC, but also demonstrate that uptake was not uniform, and that some communities chose to actively disregard cultivation. Adoption of cultivation was accompanied by experimentation with sheep/goat herding in a system of low-level food production that was integrated into foraging practices rather than used to replace them. Furthermore, rather than being a short-lived transitional state, low-level food production formed part of a subsistence strategy that lasted for several centuries, although its adoption had significant long-term social consequences for the adopting community at Boncuklu. Material continuities suggest that Boncuklu’s community was ancestral to that seen at the much larger settlement of Çatalhöyük East from 7100 cal BC, by which time a modest involvement with food production had been transformed into a major commitment to mixed farming, allowing the sustenance of a very large sedentary community. This evidence from Central Anatolia illustrates that polarized positions explaining the early spread of farming, opposing indigenous adoption to farmer colonization, are unsuited to understanding local sequences of subsistence and related social change. We go beyond identifying the mechanisms for the spread of farming by investigating the shorter- and longer-term implications of rejecting or adopting farming practices. © 2018 National Academy of Sciences. All right reserved. aDepartment of Archaeology, Classics, and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, L697WZ, United Kingdom; bSchool of Social Science, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia; cDepartment of Archaeology, Anthropology, and Forensic Science, Bournemouth University, BH12 5BB Dorset, United Kingdom; dInstitute of Archaeology, University College London, WC1 0PY London, United Kingdom; eDepartment of Archaeology, Bülent Ecevit University, 67100 Zonguldak, Turkey; fCornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853; gDepartment of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138; hAustralian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Lucas Heights, NSW 2234, Australia; iSchool of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, 100871 Beijing, People’s Republic of China; jDepartment of Geography, University College London, WC1E 6BT London, United Kingdom; and kDepartment of Archaeology, University of Exeter, EX4 4QE Exeter, United Kingdom ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. This research was undertaken with permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey, with support of the Konya Museum and Karatay Belediyesi. Research was funded by The British Institute at Ankara, British Academy (Research Development Award BR100077), a British Academy Large Research Grant LRG 35439, Australian Research Council (Grants DP0663385 and DP120100969), National Geographic Award GEFNE 1-11, the University of Oxford (Wainwright Fund), Australian Institute for Nuclear Science and Engineering (Awards AINGRA05051 and AINGRA10069), and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (Postdoctoral Research Grant 2008 The Origins Of Farming In The Konya Plain, Central Anatolia). Bournemouth University Harvard University University of Liverpool Peking University University of Exeter University of Queensland Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation University College London GEFNE 1-11 Wenner-Gren Foundation Australian Research Council: DP0663385, DP120100969 Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering: AINGRA10069, AINGRA05051 British Academy: BR100077 British Institute at Ankara University of Oxford LRG 35439