George Rapp

Lead in Bone. IV. Distribution of Lead in the Human Skeleton

Flameless atomic absorption spectroscopy was used to measure lead concentrations in samples from 5 selected human skeletal sites (tibia, skull, rib, ilium, and vertebra) obtained from 134 hospital autopsies. Lead was distributed unequally among the different bones in distinct patterns that were age-, and to some extent, sex-dependent. To estimate lead concentration of the entire skeleton, all skeletal bones were divided into 5 groups based on their approximate compact/trabecular bone ratios, considering each of our 5 sampled sites to be the prototype for each such group. Regression analysis of the 10 possible bone site pair values at different ages yielded age-related constants. These constants were incorporated into an equation we developed that can be used both to estimate mean skeletal lead concentration (Pb) of the entire body skeleton and also to predict the lead concentration at any of the other 4 bone sites if any 1 of the 5 is measured. Applications of these data to in vivo bone lead measurements are detailed with respect to selection of the site to be measured, estimation of total skeletal lead burden, anticipated variations or error, and dependence of these factors on age and sex of the sampled population.

A Morphological Classification of Grass Silica-Bodies

Classifications of grass silica-bodies are constructed for various purposes ranging from botany to archaeology. Specific organizational details vary with the experience of the phytolith analyst and the condition of the material to be classified. The first step in classification of disaggregated phytoliths, however, must be consistent identification of types based on characteristics that survive burial, ie, morphology. The defined types then need to be correlated with plant taxa at as low a level as possible.

Harbor areas at ancient Troy: Sedimentology and geomorphology complement Homer's Iliad

For at least two thousand years scholars have debated the location of Troy and the events and geographic features described in Homers Iliad . Geologic evidence is used to present a series of maps of the Trojan plain that show the geomorphic changes over the past six millennia. The geologic evidence correlates very well with the relevant Homeric geography.

Paleogeographic Reconstructions of Coastal Aegean Archaeological Sites

Many studies have been made of ancient Greek topography, some of the more recent ones based on modern techniques. However, most still ignore the subsurface dimension of coastal and other environments and hence fail to fully explain coastal and alluvial-colluvial processes, rates of change of geomorphology, and the effects of coastal change on humans. In this article subsurface geological analyses have been used to elucidate paleogeographic coastal settings of major archaeological sites around the Aegean Sea. Similar approaches could be applied in the Middle and Far East and elsewhere in the Mediterranean.

Mercury deposition and sources for the upper great lakes region

Mercury concentrations and depositions for northeastern Minnesota were measured in precipitation to investigate depositional trends, relationships with major cations and anions, and possible source emission regions. Results for 1987–1990 showed that environmentally significant amounts of Hg are present in precipitation and air and are subsequently deposited to remote lake watersheds. Volume-weighted concentrations of total Hg in precipitation averaged about 18 ng Hg L−1 with calculated annual depositions near 15 μg Hg m−2. Mercury concentrations in precipitation are positively correlated with the major ions, conductivity, and pH, and are negatively correlated with precipitation volume. The best predictor equation from stepwise regression has an r2 of 0.65 with Mg and chloride concentrations as predictor variables. From measurements of Hg in rain concentrations as a function of time within events, scavenging ratios for “washable” Hg were calculated to be 140 ± 80 (mass based at a 1 mm hr −1 precipitation rate). Up to about 10% of the total Hg in air is subject to washout by precipitation for a given event. Air parcel back-trajectories indicate that possible source regions within 72-hr travel time were located mostly to the south, southeast, and southwest, up to 2500 km distance away but local sources may also be important.

Late Holocene Paleogeography of the Coastal Plain of the Gulf of Messenia, Greece, and Its Relationships to Archaeological Settings and Coastal Change

The coastal plain of the Pamisos River and five associated rivers at the head of the Gulf of Messenia in the southwestern Peloponnese includes middle through upper Holocene sedimentary-environment lithosomes of alluvial flood-plain deposits, channel sand, braided streams and deltas, bank swamps and marshes, dune fields, minor lagoons, beach-accretion ridges, and shallow-marine sediment. The areal distribution of these environments is in balance between the sediment supplied by the alluvial systems and their modification by coastal wave action. Questions remain about the importance of tectonic uplift and downwarp relative to sediment input and changes in eustatic sea level. Radiocarbon and pottery dates, drill cores, outcrops, and environmental studies have provided information for the development of a synthesis of paleogeographic change and its relationship to archaeological remains from the Neolithic period (middle Holocene) to the present. Examples include (1) a marine embayment extended into the area of the present Pamisos River flood plain near the town of Messini in middle late Holocene (Neolithic-Helladic) time, (2) rounded hills flanking the low-lying Karya River coastal plain were wave-cut cliffs in pre-Roman time, (3) the lower Karya River valley, now occupied by a braided stream, was a swampy lagoonal area, (4) major Early Helladic buildings at Akovitika were constructed along a shoreline, whereas the site is now surrounded by backswamp, and (5) the post-Roman delta–coastal plain of the Tsana River is now undergoing intense erosion. These types of paleogeographic analyses may prove of use to archaeologists in understanding the reasons for selection of habitation sites. They may also assist the modern occupants of the coastal area in coastal planning and in understanding rates and nature of coastal change at the head of the Messenian embayment.

Phytolith Systematics: An Introduction

Phytoliths, microscopic mineral deposits in plants, have the potential for encoding significant archaeological and paleoenvironmental information. Although common throughout the plant kingdom and preserved under varied environmental conditions, only recently have phytoliths been examined in the systematic manner that yields data useful for interpretation. The most crucial area remains systematics—the description of shape and distribution data within the plant kingdom. Calcium phytoliths have been observed from the beginnings of microscopy, yet crystal and amorphous shapes are still described only in the most general of terms. Opal phytoliths have received much recent attention, but many plant taxa are yet to be carefully examined. A wide variety of approaches has been taken towards phytolith classification, often based on specific applications of the data. This volume presents some of the current research on various topics within phytolith systematics.

Late Holocene palaeogeomorphic reconstructions in the area of the Bay of Navarino: Sandy Pylos

Numerous archaeological sites dot the environs of the marine embayment at Navarino in the southwest Peloponnese. This paper presents palaeogeomorphic reconstructions necessary for the understanding of the late bronze age palace complex (“Nestors Palace”) excavated by Blegen and provides a necessary topographic framework for the interpretation of human occupancy of the region during the last three millennia BC. Palaeoenvironmental data show that the epithet “Sandy Pylos” of Homers Iliad, can be readily explained and justifiably attributed to this region. The pollen data presented appear to correlate well with the transgression-regression sequences developed from the geological information from subsurface boreholes.

The Pass at Thermopylae, Greece

Conflicts among historians over the battle at Thermopylae in 480 B.C. tend to center around supposed inconsistencies between ancient sources, particularly Herodotus, and the modern topography of th...

Acid deposition and watershed characteristics in relation to lake chemistry in northeastern Minnesota

Abstract The relationship between lake sensitivity to atmospheric acidic inputs and the neutralization capacity of watersheds is examined for 267 lakes in northeastern Minnesota. Three water chemistry/sensitivity measures (color, sulfate, and alkalinity) are correlated with variables representative of precipitation and sulfate inputs, hydrology, and the acid neutralization capacity of various watershed components. An ordinal scale for ranking bedrock and surficial deposit neutralization capacity is presented. The watershed variables found to account for the largest percentages of the variability in measured color, sulfate, and alkalinity levels are determined. Color is strongly related to the presence of peat or marsh and hydrologic renewal time, whereas sulfate is primarily related to atmospheric deposition, evaporative concentration, bedrock type, and the presence of coniferous forest. Variation in alkalinity is the most difficult of the water chemistry measures to explain; for headwater lakes, atmospheric sulfate input, water renewal time, the presence of deciduous forest, and the weatherability of underlying bedrock determine much of its variability. The results illustrate important averaging properties of watersheds from small headwater systems to large drainages and the difficulty in obtaining correlations for some water quality measures (e.g., alkalinity) when some variables, such as soils and land cover, are available only as large-area averages.