High Resolution AMS Dates from Shubayqa 1, northeast Jordan Reveal Complex Origins of Late Epipalaeolithic Natufian in the Levant.

The Late Epipalaeolithic Natufian (~14,600 - 11,500 cal BP) is a key period in the prehistory of southwest Asia. Often described as a complex hunting and gathering society with increased sedentism, intensive plant exploitation and associated with an increase in artistic and symbolic material culture, it is positioned between the earlier Upper- and Epi-Palaeolithic and the early Neolithic, when plant cultivation and subsequently animal domestication began. The Natufian has thus often been seen as a necessary pre-adaptation for the emergence of Neolithic economies in southwest Asia. Previous work has pointed to the Mediterranean woodland zone of the southern Levant as the 'core zone' of the Early Natufian. Here we present a new sequence of 27 AMS radiocarbon dates from the Natufian site Shubayqa 1 in northeast Jordan. The results suggest that the site was occupied intermittently between ~14,600 - 12,000 cal BP. The dates indicate the Natufian emerged just as early in eastern Jordan as it did in the Mediterranean woodland zone. This suggests that the origins and development of the Natufian were not tied to the ecological conditions of the Mediterranean woodlands, and that the evolution of this hunting and gathering society was more complex and heterogeneous than previously thought.

Normal ranges of scapholunate distance in children 6 to 14 years old.

SUMMARY: The purpose of this study was to determine the normal ranges of scapholunate distance (SLD) applicable to children. Bone age radiographs of 85 children (36 boys, 49 girls) 6 to 14 years of age were used to establish the normal ranges. Repeated-measures analysis of variance revealed significant age and gender differences. Therefore, linear regression was used to determine normal SLD ranges separately for girls and boys based on chronologic age and bone age. SLD normal ranges were similar for chronologic age and bone age. Interobserver and intraobserver agreement was excellent. There was no significant age by gender interaction found, indicating that although boys had significantly longer distances than girls, both showed a similar rate of decreasing SLD distance with age. These results provide age-and gender-based normal ranges of SLD in young children. These results may be useful in assessing traumatic soft tissue injuries about the pediatric wrist. Of note, only three girls and two boys (all 12 years or older) met the adult criterion of normal SLD of < or = 2 mm.