The Kostenki Archaeological Sites

Kostenki refers to a complex of open-air archaeological sites located in the Pokrovsky Valley of Russia, on the west bank of the Don River, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of Moscow and 40 km (25 mi) south of the city of Voronezh, Russia. Together, they contain important evidence concerning the timing and complexity of the various waves of anatomically modern humans as they left Africa some 100,000 or more years ago The main site (Kostenki 14, see page 2) is located near the mouth of a small steep ravine; the upper reaches of this ravine contain evidence of a handful of other Upper Paleolithic occupations. The Kostenki sites lie deeply buried (between 10-20 meters [30-60 feet]) beneath the modern surface. The sites were buried by alluvium which was deposited by the Don River and its tributaries beginning at least 50,000 years ago. Terrace Stratigraphy The occupations at Kostenki include several Late Early Upper Paleolithic levels, dated between 42,000 to 30,000 calibrated years ago (cal BP). Smack dab in the middle of those levels is a layer of volcanic ash, associated with the volcanic eruptions of the Phlegrean Fields of Italy (aka Campanian Ignimbrite or CI Tephra), which erupted about 39,300 cal BP. The stratigraphic sequence at the Kostenki sites are broadly described as containing six main units: Modern levels at the top: black, highly humic soil with abundant bioturbation, churning by living animals, in this case mainly burrowing by rodents.Cover Loam: loess-like deposit with several stacked occupations dated to the Eastern Gravettian (such as Kostenki 1 at 29,000 cal BP; and Epi-Gravettian (Kostenki 11, 14,000-19,000 cal BP)Upper Humic Complex/Bed (UHB): yellowish chalky loam with several stacked occupations, early and mid-Upper Paleolithic, including Initial Upper Paleolithic, Aurignacian, Gravettian and local GorodsovianWhitish Loam: homogenous loam with some sub-horizontal lamination and in the lower part in situ or reworked volcanic ash (CI Tephra, independently dated 39,300 years agoLower Humic Complex/Bed (LHB): stratified loamy deposits with several stacked horizons, early and mid-Upper Paleolithic, including Initial Upper Paleolithic, Aurignacian, Gravettian and local Gorodsovian (similar to UHB)Chalky Loam: upper alluvium stratified with coarse deposits Controversy: Late Early Upper Paleolithic at Kostenki In 2007, the excavators at Kostenki (Anikovich et al.) reported that they had identified occupation levels within and below the ash level. They found the remnants of the Early Upper Paleolithic culture called the Aurignacian Dufour, numerous small bladelets quite similar to lithic tools found in similarly dated sites in western Europe. Prior to Kostenki, the Aurignacian sequence was considered the oldest component associated with modern humans at archaeological sites in Europe, underlain by Mousterian-like deposits representing Neanderthals. At Kostenki, a sophisticated tool kit of prismatic blades, burins, bone antler, and ivory artifacts, and small perforated shell ornaments lies below the CI Tephra and Aurignacian Dufour assemblage: these were identified as an earlier presence of modern humans in Eurasia than previously recognized. The discovery of modern human cultural material below the tephra was quite controversial at the time it was reported, and a debate about the context and date of the tephra arose. That debate was a complex one, best addressed elsewhere. Read more about the Pre-Aurignacian deposits at Kostenki Comments from John Hoffecker concerning initial criticism of the age of the site Since 2007, additional sites such as Byzovaya and Mamontovaya Kurya have lent additional support to the presence of early modern human occupations of the eastern Plains of Russia. Kostenki 14, also known as Markina Gora, is the main site at Kostenki, and it has been found to contain genetic evidence concerning the migration of early modern humans from Africa into Eurasia. Markina Gora is located on the flank of a ravine cut into one of the river terraces. The site covers hundred of meters of sediment within seven cultural levels. Cultural Layer (CL) I, in the Cover Loam, 26,500-27,600 cal BP, Kostenki-Avdeevo cultureCL II, within the Upper Humic Bed (UHB), 31,500-33,600 cal BP, Gorodsovian, mid Upper Paleolithic mammoth bone industryCL III, UHB, 33,200-35,300 cal BP, blade-based and bone industry, Gorodsovian, Mid Upper PaleolithicLVA (layer in volcanic ash, 39,300 cal BP), small assemblage, unipolar blades and Dufour bladelets, AurignacianCL IV in the Lower Humic Bed (LHB), older than the tephra, undiagnostic blade-dominated industryCL IVa, LHB, 36,000-39,100, a few lithics, large numbers of horse bones (at least 50 individual animals)Fossil Soil, LHB, 37,500-40,800 cal BPCL IVb, LHB, 39,900-42,200 cal BP, distinctive Upper Paleolithic, endscrapers, possible horse head out of carved mammoth ivory, human tooth (EMH) A complete early modern human skeleton was recovered from Kostenki 14 in 1954, buried in a tightly flexed position in a oval burial pit (99x39 centimeters or 39x15 inches) which had been dug through the ash layer and then was sealed by Cultural Layer III. The skeleton was direct-dated to 36,262-38,684 cal BP. The skeleton represents an adult man, 20-25 years old with a robust skull and short stature (1.6 meters [5 foot 3 inches]). A few stone flakes, animal bones and a sprinkle of dark red pigment were found in the burial pit. Based on its location within the strata, the skeleton can be generally dated to the Early Upper Paleolithic period. Genomic Sequence from Markina Gora Skeleton In 2014, Eske Willerslev and associates (Seguin-Orlando et al) reported the genomic structure of the skeleton at Markina Gora. They perfomed 12 DNA extractions from the skeletons left arm bone, and compared the sequence to the growing numbers of ancient and modern DNA. They identified genetic relationships between Kostenki 14 and Neanderthals--more evidence that early modern humans and Neanderthals interbred--as well as genetic connections to the Malta individual from Siberia and European Neolithic farmers. Further, they found a fairly distant relationship to Australo-Melanesian or eastern Asian populations. The Markina Gora skeletons DNA indicates a deep-aged human migration out of Africa separate from that of Asian populations, supporting the Southern Dispersal Route as a possible corridor for population of those areas. All humans are derived from the same populations in Africa; but we colonized the world in different waves and perhaps along different exit routes. The genomic data recovered from Markina Gora is further evidence that the population of our world by humans was very complex, and we have a long way to go before we understand it. Excavations at Kostenki Kostenki was discovered in 1879; and a long series of excavations have followed. Kostenki 14 was discovered by P.P. Efimenko in 1928 and has been excavated since the 1950s via a series of trenches. The oldest occupations at the site were reported in 2007, where the combination of great age and sophistication created quite a stir. Sources This glossary entry is a part of the About.com guide to Upper Paleolithic , and the Dictionary of Archaeology. Anikovich MV, Sinitsyn AA, Hoffecker JF, Holliday VT, Popov VV, Lisitsyn SN, Forman SL, Levkovskaya GM, Pospelova GA, Kuzmina IE et al. 2007. Early Upper Paleolithic in Eastern Europe and Implications for the Dispersal of Modern Humans. Science 315(5809):223-226. Hoffecker JF. 2011. The early upper Paleolithic of eastern Europe reconsidered. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 20(1):24-39. Revedin A, Aranguren B, Becattini R, Longo L, Marconi E, Mariotti Lippi M, Skakun N, Sinitsyn A, Spiridonova E, and Svoboda J. 2010. Thirty thousand-year-old evidence of plant food processing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107(44):18815-18819. Seguin-Orlando A, Korneliussen TS, Sikora M, Malaspinas A-S, Manica A, Moltke I, Albrechtsen A, Ko A, Margaryan A, Moiseyev V et al. 2014. Genomic structure in Europeans dating back at least 36,200 years. ScienceExpress 6 November 2014(6 November 2014) doi: 10.1126/science.aaa0114. Soffer O, Adovasio JM, Illingworth JS, Amirkhanov H, Praslov ND, and Street M. 2000. Palaeolithic perishables made permanent. Antiquity 74:812-821. Svendsen JI, Heggen HP, Hufthammer AK, Mangerud J, Pavlov P, and Roebroeks W. 2010. Geo-archaeological investigations of Palaeolithic sites along the Ural Mountains - On the northern presence of humans during the last Ice Age. Quaternary Science Reviews 29(23-24):3138-3156. Svoboda JA. 2007. The Gravettian on the Middle Danube. Paleobiology 19:203-220. Velichko AA, Pisareva VV, Sedov SN, Sinitsyn AA, and Timireva SN. 2009. Paleogeography of Kostenki-14 (Markina Gora). Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 37(4):35-50. doi: 10.1016/j.aeae.2010.02.002

Essay on Hrm 531 - 884 Words

Team Reflection: Principles and Strategies HRM/531 July 15, 2013 Tiffany Mytty-Klein Team Reflection: Principles and Strategies Principles and strategies that applies for a small, medium and large organization is what Team A had to discuss this week for each of our chosen business to be compliant with state and country laws while starting their businesses or expanding to a new state or country. We collectively analyzed three businesses that were exploring different possibilities for expanding operation in Texas, Arizona and India, however, none of us chose to write about the expansion to India project in our individual papers. Each business will decide the strategic plan that is appropriate for their business however; it was each†¦show more content†¦Effective January 1, 2013, Arizona’s minimum wage is $7.80 per hour. Every employer covered under the Act is now required to pay each employee wages not less than this amount (Arizonas Official Web Site, 1987). The Federal minimum wage is $7.25 (United States Department Of Labor, 2013). The consequences of noncompliance of this law is according to Arizona’s Official Web Site (1987), â€Å"an employer who fails to pay the minimum wage is required to the pay the employee the wages owed with interest and an additional amount equal to twice the underpaid wages. An employer who retaliates against an employee is required to pay penalties sufficient to compensate the employee and deter future violations, but not less than $150 for each day that the violation continued or until legal judgment is final. The Commission and courts also have the authority to order other appropriate legal or equitable relief for violations of the Act.† Be aware of any special regulation must be part of the training process for the Human Resource staff in the Arizona State. Landslide Limousines would be most impacted by the Fair Labor Standards Act, EEOC related laws, and OSHA related laws. 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Medical Article Essay Example For Students

Medical Article Essay December 21, 1999The Hope, and Hype, of Cord BloodBy DENISE GRADYShould parents pay a blood bank to store the blood from their newborn babys umbilicalcord and placenta, in case that child or another family member ever needs it to treat canceror leukemia? Expectant parents are being urged to do so by companies that have sprung up during thepast few years to sell cord-blood banking as a form of biological insurance against suchdreaded diseases. The pitch is based on reports in medical journals, such as a major studypublished last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, showing that cord blood cansometimes be used in place of a bone marrow transplant. Like bone marrow, cord blood is rich in stem cells, which can churn out many differenttypes of cells to rebuild a patients blood supply and immune system after high doses ofradiation and chemotherapy. And a patients own cord blood, or that from a relative, ismore likely than cord blood from an unrelated donor to be a good tissue match and to beaccepted by the recipients body. Some experts in bone-marrow transplantation and blood banking frown on the cord-bloodbusiness, arguing that people are being frightened into wasting money on a service theywill probably never need. Moreover, private companies are growing in tandem with publicbanks, and some scientists worry that private banking will limit public access to cordblood. They are concerned because the cord blood in private banks remains the propertyof the donor family and is not available to patients seeking a compatible donor. But the companies say that however remote the possibility that the blood will be needed,people who choose to bank their own cord blood have a right to do so. In most cases theircord blood would be thrown away in the delivery room if they did not pay to bank it. There are only a few cord-blood banks in the United States, and most hospitals do nothave specially trained staff members to collect the blood. Like bone marrow, cord blood must be matched to the recipient by tests for six inheritedtraits that determine an individuals tissue type. Cord blood does not have to be asprecisely matched as bone marrow, but still, the closer the match, the better the odds ofsuccess. The weaker the match, the more likely it is that the recipients body will reject thetransplant, or the transplant will attack the recipients tissues, in a life-threatening reactioncalled graft versus host disease. The companies that freeze cord blood and bank it point out that a persons own cordblood is a perfect match, and a siblings cord blood a more likely match than a specimenfrom a stranger. And so, the argument goes, the best way to protect an entire family fromthe unthinkable is to save the newborns cord blood. Promotional literature for one company, Cord Blood Registry, in San Bruno, Calif.,emphasizes that people with cancer in the family may have a special interest in cord-bloodbanking, along with those who have the hardest time finding matches, which includesmembers of racial minorities, especially families in which the parents are of different races. According to a spokeswoman, Scoti Kaesshaefer, the company reaches parents-to-be bypromoting itself to doctors, nurses and childbirth educators, and by leaving information athospitals. Among the promotional materials the company provided to the New YorkTimes were copies of articles from other newspapers suggesting that cancer amongchildren is on the rise. The company also has a Web site and an 800 number with arecorded greeting that instructs callers to have their credit cards ready. The idea of saving ones own cord blood seems to be catching on. Cord Blood Registry,which describes itself as the largest private cord-blood banking firm in the United States,has stored 10,000 samples during the past th ree years: 1,500 in 1995, 3,000 in 1996 and6,000 in 1997. The company charges an initial fee of $1,200 to collect a sample and freezeit, and then $95 a year to keep it stored in liquid nitrogen at the blood bank at theUniversity of Arizona. Customers include people with perfectly healthy children, who justwant extra peace of mind, as well as some families who have lost a child to leukemia oranother disease and fear for the health of their other children. In its three years of operation, eight customers have retrieved their cord blood for use inmedical treatment, said Kaesshaefer. All eight samples were used for siblings or relatives,she said. By contrast, the largest public-access bank of cord blood, at the New YorkBlood Center in Manhattan, has collected only 8,686 specimens in six years. But nearly800 of those samples have been used to treat patients, many of them children, in theUnited States and overseas. Critics of private cord-blood companies point out that even if a person wi th banked cordblood does need a transplant later, the stored blood may not be the best choice. Dr. PabloRubinstein, who directs the cord-blood program at the New York Blood Center, saidthere was a compelling medical argument against using a patients own cord blood in somecases. In some young children with leukemia, he said, malignant cells were already presentat birth in the cord blood, and transfusing those cells back into the child later mightcontribute to a relapse. In addition, he said, bone marrow from a donor could help destroydiseased cells, an effect known as graft versus leukemia. A persons own cord blood mightnot have that effect, and in some cases even a siblings might not. Dr. John Wagner, associate director of bone marrow transplantation at the University ofMinnesota in Minneapolis, said that for a child being treated recently, he deliberatelyrejected cord blood from a sibling in favor of a well-matched unit from an unrelateddonor, hoping to take advantage of its antile ukemic effect. Dr. Robertson Parkman, director of bone marrow transplantation at Childrens Hospital inLos Angeles, said he saw no point in banking cord blood for most families. Its motivatedby fear, he said. But in families with an ill child who might need a bone-marrow transplant, he said, itmakes sense to collect cord blood from any siblings born later and save it. Medical centerswith transplant programs will often perform that service, he said. So will some of the private companies, without a fee. When a bone-marrow donor couldnot be found for 4-year-old Joshua Kelton, who was suffering from leukemia, his parents,stationed at a military base in Honolulu, conceived another child in the hope that thebabys tissues would match Joshuas. They did, and Cord Blood Registry collected thecord blood at birth, stored it in Arizona for a month, and then, when Joshua was ready forthe procedure, transported it to a medical center at Stanford University. Joshua wastreated with his infant brother s cord blood in August, and has been declared free ofleukemia. Right now, hes 100 percent, his father said in a telephone interview, a normal child, theway he was before this happened. But the Keltons experience is hardly representative. That the family was certain it wouldneed the cord blood sets it apart from most families that store the blood. Wagner is waryof the hard sell of some of the cord-blood companies. My concern is that it be presentedfairly to expectant mothers, who are already fairly vulnerable, he said. I have a lot ofobstetricians and parents calling me and complaining its too late, they missed theopportunity. Others call saying, Should I do this? Its hard to answer. I dont want to biasthem. We have someone now who takes the calls for me because it got to beoverwhelming.

Isaiah Berlin, John Rawls and Values Pluralism an Example of the Topic All Posts by

Isaiah Berlin, John Rawls and Values Pluralism Every society has to appropriate and adopt for itself fundamental notions of justice if society is to function well and flourish. The Greek philosopher Plato and his mentor, Socrates, for instance, deem it necessary that a society be in the process of continuously trying to articulate the form and requirements of a satisfactory theory of justice through a healthy form of discourse. Philosophy is essentially, discourse and it seeks to account for justice through the very process of rational inquiry and deliberation. Need essay sample on "Isaiah Berlin, John Rawls and Values Pluralism" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed This paper seeks to explicate the notion of justice in the context of the views of two prolific Twentieth Century political thinkers, Isaiah Berlin and John Rawls. For the sake of clarity, the specific task of this is to provide a critical examination and appraisal of Berlin's views on the ideals of liberty and equality as it is weighed against Rawls' theory of justice. The thesis statement of this paper is that "Both Berlin and Rawls agree that in a liberal and democratic setting, Berlin's contention regarding value pluralism holds true and that certain inequalities are permissible trade-offs in exchange for other social goods that we consider as primary". People Frequently Tell EssayLab writers:I'm not in the mood to write my essay. Because I want to spend time with my girlfriendEssay writer professionals recommend: Follow Essaylab Writing ServiceEssays Already Done For You Academic Essay Writing Cheap Essays Not Plagiarized Essay Writer Service Being the political liberal that he was, Berlin remained an advocate of "objective pluralism" and "value pluralism" until his death in 1997. In Ramin Jahanbegloo's book entitled "Conversations with Isaiah Berlin" Berlin explores the idea that liberty and equality oftentimes present us with a dilemma and that faced with such a dilemma, we feel the inevitability of making a choice. Berlin says: "if you have maximum liberty, then the strong can destroy the weak, and if you have absolute equality, you cannot have absolute liberty, because you have to coerce the powerful ... if they are not to devour the poor and the meek. ... Total liberty can be dreadful, total equality can be equally frightful..." (Jahanbegloo, 1992). What does he mean by such a statement? Clearly, the way in and through which we may properly construe what he meant is by understanding the philosophical underpinnings of his views. Let us start with Berlin's value pluralism. The governing idea in his value pluralism is the contention that in any given society, there exists a plurality not only of views but more importantly, of values. The problem, might seem simple at first glance but if one will look closely into the matter, Berlin is pointing out that it is not only the case that there exists a plurality of views and of values, the problem is much more complex; these views and values are "in conflict" with one another. The problem now has an added dimension; it now has a political dimension. At this point, we may proceed to our construal of what Berlin meant by the statement he made in the conversation that he had with Jahanbegloo. The statement may properly be understood in the context of value pluralism. In the statement, Berlin presents to us a dilemma; on the one hand, we have liberty, and equality, on the other. Notice that the statement in itself has a character of "urgency" and the "necessity" of making a choice. The human condition, as Berlin sees it, is one by which he must choose. At this point, one might be tempted to think that making a choice among competing and incommensurable values seems a province of ethics and not of social and political philosophy. For Berlin, ethical theory is an integral aspect of political philosophy. Jahanbegloo adds up to the idea that for Berlin, the ethical is connected to the political via the doctrine of "teleology". He writes: "The task of political philosophy is, for Berlin, to be concerned with the examination of the ends of life, human purposes, social and collective. The business of political philosophy is to examine the validity of various claims made for various social goals, and the justification of the methods of specifying and attaining these" (Jahanbegloo, 1992). The dilemma, as presented by Berlin, involves the process of "weighing conflicting values" such as liberty and equality. As an advocate of liberalism, Berlin puts premium on liberty than equality. Human beings possess the capacity for rational thought. Since human beings are forced to choose over conflicting values and given that human beings are beings that are capable of rational thought, it is not difficult to see that in such situations, every man will, to the best of his judgment, choose to do what is best for himself. Our next task is to explain why the choice between liberty and equality brings forth issues regarding the fundamental notion of justice. It is at this point that we shall now turn to the ideas of John Rawls. In 1971, Rawls wrote A Theory of Justice; with the aim of defending an egalitarian liberal vision of justice by adopting the social contract theory. I will mention two important aspects of Rawls' theory; first, the "original position" and second, the principle of "justice as fairness". In Rawls' theory, the original position, like the social contract, is a "thought experiment". Social contract theorists like Hobbes for instance do not contend that there was actually a corresponding historical fact to the idea of a "social contract". For the most part, the social contract theory has an explanatory function and that is to provide a justification for the formation of the state. In the same vein, Rawls' original position has an explanatory function to explain "what and how will we arrive at the principles of justice" given that there is a "veil of ignorance"? The veil of ignorance was employed by Rawls to mean that the parties involved are "mutually disinterested" since they do not know who they represent. The idea is actually simple. For instance, we have decided to think of a principle of social justice that we ought to apply to our society and let us say that we are generally knowledgeable on issues regarding human affairs. In addition to this, let us also say that we are not aware of our positions or whom we represent in society because of the veil of ignorance. The question is, will we devise laws that may be called "unjust"? The answer is "No". What is "Justice as Fairness"? What are the principles of justice that Rawls speaks of? According to Rawls, we may arrive at two principles of justice through the original position and the veil of ignorance. A just society, as Rawls sees it, ought to assure that each citizen has "an equal claim to a fully adequate scheme of equal basic rights and liberties in which the scheme is compatible with the same scheme for all" (Rawls, 1999). This is the Rawls' First Principle. The Second Principle must address those aspects of the basic structure that affects the distribution of opportunities, offices, income, wealth, and resources. Collectively, these are identified as "social advantages". The second principle, according to Rawls, has two parts. In the first part of the second principle, Rawls contends that the social structures or institutions that mold the aforementioned distribution must satisfy the requirements of a "fair equality of opportunity." In the second part of the second principle, Rawls discussed the "Difference Principle." In the his work entitled Political Liberalism, Rawls writes: "social and economic inequalities are to be to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged members of society" (Rawls, 1996). Like Berlin, Rawls had a liberal orientation. For Berlin and as well as Rawls, personal and civil liberties are social goods and there are occasions when certain inequalities are permissible in society. The point is that we cannot totally be equal and even if it is possible, it would lead to more losses than gains. Absolute equality is never achievable. In addition to this, Rawls agrees with Berlin in the point that he raised regarding value pluralism. Finally, I would like to end with a remark on justice in a liberal and democratic political setting. The issue of coming up with a satisfactory account or theory of justice is a necessary condition for a society to be considered humane. True, liberal ideologies opened up new ways of looking at things, different ways of looking at things. This is the thrust of Berlin's value pluralism. References: A Theory of Justice, rev. ed., Harvard University Press, 1999 Political Liberalism, rev. ed., Columbia University Press, 1996