• The World Wide reference collection: Zooarchaeological Twitter and the case for an international zooarchaeology database

  Fitzpatrick, Alex (2018-03)

  Social media platforms such as Twitter have allowed for a substantial increase in collaboration between academics, allowing access to information and advice from one side of the world to the other. This is especially true among both archaeologists and zooarchaeologists, who often turn to Twitter with faunal bones that they have been unable to identify so that another pair of zooarchaeological eyes can help. In many cases, Twitter has allowed access to reference collections that would have otherwise been inaccessible due to distance and monetary reasons. Based on numerous experiences in using the zooarchaeology community on Twitter to successfully identify archaeofaunal bones, this paper proposes that the next logical step for continuing collaboration among zooarchaeologists to is to develop an international digital database of faunal bone references, crowdsourced from reference collections of zooarchaeologists and institutions around the world. This database could bring zooarchaeology into the Open Access movement that will arguably define the future of archaeology in the digital world.
• Things worth telling: considering narrative storytelling in environmental archaeology

  Fitzpatrick, Alex; San Filippo, V. (2017-12)

  With the advent of the Internet, research has never been more accessible by others. As such, science communication has never been more important. In particular, environmental archaeology has often been at the mercy of successfully communicating a project’s importance to others. However, conventional archaeology papers may find difficulty in selling their research to the general public and to peers. In this paper, we propose that environmental archaeology projects may be able to benefit from adapting a narrative structure when publishing material. We argue that a narrative structure is not only more interesting and more accessible to non-specialists, but it may be more effective at illustrating the importance of a project to others. Because a narrative structure relies heavily on the development of empathy between the narrator and their audience in order to develop narrative drive, so too should an archaeology paper seek to engage with and motivate its readers. In order to explore this idea, we have identified key features of the structures for both a standard archaeology paper and a narrative story. An example environmental archaeology paper was written following the identified standard conventions to serve as our basis for this investigation, before being rewritten with a narrative structure. In examining these papers side by side, we will demonstrate the benefits of narrative in archaeology for public outreach, interdisciplinary communication, and research funding. By examining the conventions of the field from an outside perspective, we hope to provide tools with which environmental archaeology can strengthen its outreach. Narrative has proven itself as a vital communication tool, from which any willing archaeologist can benefit.
• Distinct differences in peptide adsorption on palladium and gold: introducing a polarizable model for Pd(111)

  Hughes, Zak E.; Walsh, T.R. (2018)

  Materials-binding peptides offer promising routes to the production of tailored Pd nanomaterials in aqueous media, enabling the optimization of catalytic properties. However, the atomic-scale details needed to make these advances are relatively scarce and challenging to obtain. Molecular simulations can provide key insights into the structure of peptides adsorbed at the aqueous Pd interface, provided that the force-field can appropriately capture the relevant bio-interface interactions. Here, we introduce and apply a new polarizable force field, PdP-CHARMM, for the simulation of biomolecule–Pd binding under aqueous conditions. PdP-CHARMM was parametrized with density functional theory (DFT) calculations, using a process compatible with similar polarizable force-fields created for Ag and Au surfaces, ultimately enabling a direct comparison of peptide binding modes across these metal substrates. As part of our process for developing PdP-CHARMM, we provide an extensive study of the performance of ten different dispersion-inclusive DFT functionals in recovering biomolecule–Pd(111) binding. We use the functional with best all-round performance to create PdP-CHARMM.We then employ PdP-CHARMM and metadynamics simulations to estimate the adsorption free energy for a range of amino acids at the aqueous Pd(111) interface. Our findings suggest that only His and Met favor direct contact with the Pd substrate, which we attribute to a remarkably robust interfacial solvation layering. Replica-exchange with solute tempering molecular dynamics simulations of two experimentally-identified Pd-binding peptides also indicate surface contact to be chiefly mediated by His and Met residues at aqueous Pd(111). Adsorption of these two peptides was also predicted for the Au(111) interface, revealing distinct differences in both the solvation structure and modes of peptide adsorption at the Au and Pd interfaces. We propose that this sharp contrast in peptide binding is largely due to the differences in interfacial solvent structuring.
• Comparing apples and oranges: why infant bone collagen may not reflect dietary intake in the same way as dentine collagen

  Beaumont, Julia; Craig-Atkins, E.; Buckberry, Jo; Haydock, H.; Horne, P.; Howcroft, R.; MacKenzie, K.; Montgomery, J. (2018)

  Objectives: Recent developments in incremental dentine analysis allowing increased temporal resolution for tissues formed during the first 1000 days of life have cast doubt on the veracity of weaning studies using bone collagen carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope ratio data from infants. Here we compare published bone data from the well-preserved Anglo-Saxon site of Raunds Furnells, England, with co-forming dentine from the same individuals, and investigate the relationship of these with juvenile stature. The highresolution isotope data recorded in dentine allow us to investigate the relationship of diet with juvenile stature during this critical period of life. Materials and methods: We compare incremental dentine collagen δ13C and δ15N data to published bone collagen data for 18 juveniles and 5 female adults from Anglo Saxon Raunds Furnells alongside new data for juvenile skeletal and dental age. An improvement in the method by sampling the first 0.5mm of the sub-cuspal or sub-incisal dentine allows the isotopic measurement of dentine formed in utero. Results and Discussion: δ13C profiles for both dentine and bone are similar and more robust than δ15N for estimating the age at which weaning foods are introduced. Our results suggest δ15N values from dentine can be used to evaluate the maternal/in utero diet and physiology during pregnancy, and that infant dentine profiles may reflect diet PLUS an element of physiological stress. In particular, bone collagen fails to record the same range of δ15N as coforming dentine, especially where growth is stunted, suggesting that infant bone collagen is unreliable for weaning studies.
• The role of infant life histories in the construction of identities in death: An incremental isotope study of dietary and physiological status among children afforded differential burial

  Craig-Atkins, E.; Towers, Jacqueline R.; Beaumont, Julia (2018)

  Objectives Isotope ratio analyses of dentine collagen were used to characterize short-term changes in physiological status (both dietary status and biological stress) across the life course of children afforded special funerary treatment. Materials and Methods Temporal sequences of δ15N and δ13C isotope profiles for incrementally-forming dentine collagen were obtained from deciduous teeth of 86 children from four early-medieval English cemeteries. Thirty-one were interred in child-specific burial clusters, and the remainder alongside adults in other areas of the cemetery. Isotope profiles were categorized into four distinct patterns of dietary and health status between the final prenatal months and death. Results Isotope profiles from individuals from the burial clusters were significantly less likely to reflect weaning curves, suggesting distinctive breastfeeding and weaning experiences. This relationship was not simply a factor of differential age at death between cohorts. There was no association of burial location with stage of weaning at death, nor with isotopic evidence of physiological stress at the end of life. Discussion This study is the first to identify a relationship between the extent of breastfeeding and the provision of child-specific funerary rites. Limited breastfeeding may indicate the mother had died during or soon after birth, or that either mother or child was unable to feed due to illness. Children who were not breastfed will have experienced a significantly higher risk of malnutrition, undernutrition and infection. These sickly and perhaps motherless children received care to nourish them during early life, and were similarly provided with special treatment in death.

View more