Dr Chris Stimpson's new paper in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology,Palaeoecology:

'Local scale, proxy evidence for the presence of closed canopy forest in North-western Borneo in the late Pleistocene: Bones of Strategy I bats from the archaeological record of the Great Cave of Niah, Sarawakin'

is now available online. Check it out here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2012.03.007

This putative wolf skull found at Barrington in Cambridgeshire, and donated to the University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in 1929, probably by the Revd. Conybeare, Vicar of Barrington from 1871 to 1898. He was a keen antiquarian, writing on the history of the district and collecting antiquities from quarrymen and miners. During his time at Barrington, excavations for phosphate nodules ('coprolites') were widespread in the district. The workmen regarded the antiquities that they found as a valuable source of extra income. It is likely that the skull was found during mining operations, and sold to the Revd. Conybeare as wounded by the accompanying barbed and tanged arrowhead of early Bronze Age type, and have been exhibited as such.

The skull may well be that of a wolf, and typical skinning cuts on the muzzle show human interference. However, a recent examination of the skull shows that the 'wound' was certainly not caused by the arrowhead. The 'wound' is too broad, its ends are clearly rounded, and it lacks the inward depression of bone splinters that would be seen in a wound to a living skull. The 'wound' may be a deliberate act, made by the use of a metal tool. The association is best regarded as accidental or the creation of coprolite diggers to enhance the specimen's value.

Photo credits: Professor Tony Legge. Reproduced with Kind Permission from the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge.

When: Thursday, 21 June 2012

Where: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge

As the cost of stable isotope analysis has decreased there is greater potential for combining this technique with zooarchaeological analysis, but the two are often carried out by separate researchers with different research priorities. The synergy of these two approaches has the potential to lead to meaningful new ways of interrogating archaeological data. This one-day conference aims to bridge this gap and address how stable isotope analysis can be used to answer zooarchaeological questions. Papers will focus on current research projects where these two methodological approaches are being innovatively combined, as well as targetingways of better integrating existing zooarchaeological and isotope data within projects and improving methodology. Proceedings will be published in an edited volume.

 

Abstract submissions should be sent no later than Wednesday, 14 March 2012 for full consideration. Please send abstracts to Suzanne Pilaar Birch, sp518@cam.ac.uk. Photo credit: Suzanne Pilaar Birch .

 

Dr Stimpson's research on the use of animal bones to study the history of biological diversity was featured in the Financial Times' Friday Life&Arts Magazine (24.2.12). Check out the article here.

Dr Chris Stimpson, who carried out his doctoral research at the Grahame Clark lab, is part of a fascinating new study on tropical forests that will provide a 50,000-year perspective on how animal biodiversity has changed through time by using zooarchaeological means. As Dr Stimpson points out in the article published in the University of Cambridge's website: "the study of ancient animal bones can provide a remarkably long-range perspective. It can tell us about the nature of animal communities before humans intensively modified their habitats". Read all about it here.

Photo credit: Professor Graeme Barker.