During the later part of the last century there was rapid development of the study and understanding of the changing environments of the last 2 million years. This came to provide a firm background for today’s knowledge of the significance and importance of climatic change. Interdisciplinary research has been a prominent, if not essential, contributor to the successes achieved. In illustration of this connection, I describe here such developments in the University of Cambridge. In 1948 the University established a Subdepartment of Quaternary Research, with teaching and research activities covering geological, biological and archaeological topics. An interdisciplinary approach was an essential ingredient, and the research covered both terrestrial and marine spheres. The book traces the history of Quaternary research in Britain and Ireland, particularly the continental influences which stimulated research and indeed led to the establishment of the Subdepartment.The early years of the Subdepartment were an exceptionally exciting time for Quaternary researchers. This period saw the development of radiocarbon dating and of marine geochemical studies, together with the improvement of interpretation of palaeobotanical data, and the consequent incorporation of a vast accession of new information relating to these subjects. Stratigraphy, the binding topic of Quaternary research, became much better understood: first, in the terrestrial sphere with the formulation of divisions of the Quaternary based on accepted geological principles and providing a measure of the passage of time to students of the several disciplines involved, including landscape history, ecosystem history and archaeology, and secondly in the marine sphere a formulation of units defined by isotope studies.The organisation of the Subdepartment and the problems of developing interdisciplinary science are considered. An important aspect is the variety of staff and students involved in interdisciplinary research and teaching. In order to give a complete an account as possible of the activities of the Subdepartment, a listing of staff and students and their interests is compiled, which I think is necessary to give a rounded view of the Subdepartment as a whole.Research topics and their development are considered one-by-one, and the numbers of publications in each sphere are summarised over the life of the Subdepartment, giving a clear view of how research developed over the period of 45 years. These activities were brought to an end in 1994, with the dissolution of the Subdepartment, which is described, together with a discussion of achievements and the voicing of some reflections.In a final part, I take a wider view of the history of Quaternary research, with aspects of geology and biology considered, together with notes on the Quaternary community, research support and journals.

Archaeology often struggles in envisioning real people behind the world of material objects it studies. Even when dealing with skeletal remains archaeologists routinely reduce them to long lists of figures and attributes. Such a fragmentation of past subjects and their bodies, if analytically necessary, is hardly satisfactory. While material culture is the main archaeological proxy to real people in the past, the absence of past bodies has been chronic in archaeological writings. At the same time, these past bodies in archaeology are omnipresent. Bodily matters are tangible in the archaeological record in a way most other theoretical centralities never appear to be. Ancient bodies surround us, in representations, in burials, in the remains of food preparation, cooking and consumption, in hands holding tools, in joint efforts of many individual bodies who built architecture and monuments. This collection of papers is a reaction to decades of the body's invisibility. It raises the body as the central topic in the study of past societies, researching its appearance in a wide variety of regional contexts and across vast spans of archaeological time. Contributions in this volume range from the deep Epi-Palaeolithic past of the Near East, through the European Neolithic and Bronze Age, Classical Greece and Late Medieval England, to pre-Columbian Central America, post-contact North America, and the most recent conflicts in the Balkans. In all these case studies, the materiality of the body is centre stage. Possibilities are highlighted for future study: by putting the body at the forefront of these archaeological studies an attempt is made to provoke the imagination and map out new territories.

Global Ancestors is a collection of papers which reflect on modern museological responses to the often complex and emotive relationship that people have with the ancestors and objects which they created. Set out in three broad themes, the first collection of papers explore how indigenous peoples are represented in museums in Panama and China and how more can be gained by working with indigenous communities to further our understanding of the ancestors. The second section examines changes in British and American museological thinking regarding the repatriation of human remains and objects to indigenous peoples, focusing in particular on the impact of legislation on western institutions and the expectations of indigenous communities and alternative religious groups. These issues are explored through case studies involving material from the British Museum and Glasgow Museum. The final section explores the ways in which archaeologists and indigenous communities interact. These chapters illustrate, through case studies from South Africa, Finland and Canada, how both groups have worked together for their mutual benefit or to change the majority viewpoint. Global Ancestors represents the beginnings of a more inclusive and shared understanding between different constituencies and points the way forward to a time when we can consider the ancestors truly ‘global’.

The latest in a series on post-medieval burial produced by MOLA, this volume reports on three non-Church of England burial grounds in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, excavated between 2004 and 2010. It looks at over 1350 burials of Baptists, Roman Catholics and Nonconformists, the majority of whom died in 1820-54, and examines the archaeological and osteological evidence, along with the historical and documentary sources. The discussions aim to place the three populations within the wider context of 19th-century London and Britain, with the findings well illustrated and fully tabulated throughout.

Human bones form the most direct link to understanding how people lived in the past, who they were and where they came from. The interpretative value of human skeletal remains (within their burial context) in terms of past social identity and organisation is awesome, but was, for many years, underexploited by archaeologists. The nineteen papers in this edited volume are an attempt to redress this by marrying the cultural aspects of burial with the anthropology of the deceased.

Complex regional pain syndrome type I (CRPS-I), formerly known as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, can occur after a trauma to an arm or leg. CRPS is frequently seen after wrist fractures. The diagnosis of CRPS is based on clinical signs and symptoms. According to Veldman et al. it is characterized by unexplained diffuse pain, differences in skin colour and temperature relative to the other limb, diffuse oedema, and limited active range of motion. These signs and symptoms occur or increase after use and are present in an area larger than the area of primary trauma. CRPS is one of the most important causes of invalidation after an injury to an extremity and the therapy is difficult, time consuming and costly. When it occurs it has a devastating impact on the patient in personal, social and economic view. The emphasis of treatment should therefore be on prevention. This thesis, by orthopaedic surgeon Paul Zollinger, gives an overview of the evidence-based therapy of CRPS in an outline of the Dutch clinical practice guideline Complex regional pain syndrome type I. A general exposé on the chemical, pharmacodynamic and clinical aspects of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is presented. In two placebo-controlled randomized clinical trials Zollinger et al. show that 500 mg vitamin C daily, reduces the chance for the occurrence of CRPS after wrist fractures. In addition, this application of vitamin C is proposed in hand surgery as well. An alphabetical list of the relevant literature and summaries in English, Dutch and German complete this book on CRPS, which may be of interest for a variety of health care professionals (general practitioners, physiotherapists, trauma and orthopaedic surgeons, etc.).

Similar to the osteological study of prehistoric human remains, the study of human dental wear has been proven to afford a wealth of information on human cultural practices. This study is aimed at recording and understanding the dental wear patterns in human dentitions from the Caribbean archaeological sites of Anse la Gourde, located on the most eastern point of Guadeloupe, and Tutu located on the small island of St. Thomas, U. S. Virgin Islands. The premise of this research is the assumption that dental wear patterns are informative of a great many aspects of human health and lifestyle. The use of the mouth and teeth in both masticatory and non-masticatory activities is assumed to leave traces which can be studied post-mortem to infer the lifestyle linked to such activities. In order to build a complete picture of these activities and the lifestyle linked to the dental wear patterns, other lines of evidence are also followed here, such as ethnohistoric and ethnographical accounts, and evidence from modern dentistry. Using this combination of different lines of evidence, it has been possible to characterize the diet and a range of cultural practices of the inhabitants at each site. The individuals selected in this sample very actively engaged their teeth in many non-masticatory, culturally defined activities, which put their dentitions under a great deal of stress. It seems these people's use of their mouths and teeth in this way was a very conscious decision, characterized by their cultural background.

The present work offers an extensive introduction to the text and transmission of the ancient Latin version of the medical works "Therapeutica" and "On Fevers" of the great sixth-century Greek doctor Alexander of Tralles. The importance of the Latin Alexander in medieval medicine in the West is seen in the richness of both mainstream and secondary, excerpting manuscript-traditions. The tradition is such that the reconstructed Latin text promises to be a much more important witness to the Greek text than the Greek is to the Latin, and of course a reliable edition is a prerequisite for any systematic work on questions such as the provenance of the translation and the Latinity of the translator(s). The volume comprises an introduction to Alexander; an outline account of his works in Greek compared with the Latin version; a description of the Latin manuscript copies, and a proposed reconstruction of the genetic relations between them; some preliminary remarks on the Latinity of the Latin Alexander; and a sample edition, with translation, critical apparatus, and extensive notes, of the chapters on coughing at the start of Book 2.

A collection of short papers and abstracts from the 4th, 5th and 6th proceedings of the Osteological Research Group, held in April and November 1996 and June 1997. The papers cover a wide range of subjects including technical information, evidence derived from bone assemblages and specific individual examples. Studies are presented on archaeozoology, domesticated animal bone assemblages, evidence of violence and stress indicators, measurement and statistical analysis and current research in the field of osteoarchaeology.

Understanding of the respiratory control system has been greatly improved by technological and methodological advances. This volume integrates results from many perspectives, brings together diverse approaches to the investigations, and represents important additions to the field of neural control of breathing.Topics include membrane properties of respiratory neurons, in vitro studies of respiratory control, chemical neuroanatomy, central integration of respiratory afferents, modulation of respiratory pattern by peripheral afferents, respiratory chemoreception, development of respiratory control, behavioral control of breathing, and human ventilatory control. Forty-seven experts in the field report research and discuss novel issues facing future investigations in this collection of papers from an international conference of nearly two hundred leading scientists held in October 1990. This research is of vital importance to respiratory physiologists and those in neurosciences and neurobiology who work with integrative sensory and motor systems and is pertinent to both basic and clinical investigations.Respiratory Control is destined to be widely cited because of the strength of the contributors and the dearth of similar works.