INTRODUCTION One possible mechanism for the postulated link between high consumption of meat and colorectal cancer (CRC) is the content of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) in meat. METHODS We investigated this association in a population-based case-control study in Western Australia (567 cases and 713 controls). Participants' self-report of meat consumption and lifestyle was used in conjunction with the ...

ABSTRACT The Meadowcroft Rockshelter in southwestern Pennsylvania is best known for its pre-Clovis occupation. Potentially important later times the recovery of maize macrobotanical remains from higher strata dating as early 4th century BC based on radiometric radiocarbon ( 14 C) dates wood charcoal. These have been considered to be potentially old earliest microbotanical evidence Michigan, New...

The application of crop processing models to macro-botanical assemblages has traditionally been used to interpret past husbandry practices and organisation of labour involved in crop-processing. Phytoliths offer an alternative method of analysis because they are durable in most environments, regardless of whether plant parts are charred, and the identification of plant types and plant parts all...

Plant use of the Corded Ware Culture (2800–2000 cal BC) communities in Estonia and more broadly eastern Baltic area has not been systematically studied using archaeobotanical methods. This article presents first study from a Stone Age context Estonia, discusses plant at settlement burial site Narva-Jõesuu IIB north-eastern part country. Analysis revealed occurrence water chestnut (Trapa natans)...

Charred organic matter is assumed to contain heavily condensed polycyclic aromatic domains with a considerable proportion of core carbons. To examine their possible underestimation using variable amplitude (VA) cross polarization (CP) magic angle spinning (MAS) C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), the condensation degree of a peat subjected to thermal oxidation at 350 C for up to 180 s was exami...

An assemblage of charred plant remains collected from 26 sites in the Yiluo valley of North China as part of an archaeological survey spans the period from the sixth millennium to 1300 calibrated calendrical years (cal) B.C. The plant remains document a long sequence of crops, weeds, and other plants in the country. The results also demonstrate the effectiveness of sediment sampling as part of ...

Abstract The Nok culture in central Nigeria, dated 1500–1 cal bc , is known for its famous terracotta sculptures. We here present a study on > 11,000 botanical macro-remains from 50 sites, including 343 samples contexts and 22 dating between ad 100 400, after the end of culture. With 9,220 remains, pearl millet ( Cenchrus americanus (L.) Morrone, syn. Pennisetum glaucum R.Br.) dominant sampl...

Improvements to analytical methods have made it possible for highly discriminative genotypic information to be gleaned from smaller and smaller amounts of sample material. This fact makes it practical to genotype samples or remains consisting of bone and tooth-samples that likely would not have yielded interpretable genotypic results a short time ago. In parallel, there have been improvements t...

In order to determine the infl uence of recovery techniques with water (fl otation and wet sieving) on carbonized plant remains, a certain amount of wheat, barley, millet, horsebean and lentil macrofossils from archaeological sites was taken and treated with water. Moist recovery was also applied to in-laboratory, artifi cially, charred barley, millet and lentil samples. After the treatments, t...

Biochar, i.e. charred organic material, appears to increase nutrient retention in soil. The mechanism for how this happens is not clear. Here two possible mechanisms, adsorption and microbial immobilisation, are suggested and compared. It is also suggested that we use biochar in wastewater treatment, and so potentially integrate it better into the total waste management cycle.