Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Vertebrates, Fossil, in art'

The Sucker Creek Formation exposures at Devils Gate in southeastern Oregon have yielded a significant small mammal fauna of at least thirty small mammal taxa from five stratigraphic horizons. The mammal-bearing portion of the Devils Gate section is more than 200 m thick. Fossil mammals occur in lacustrine and marginal lacustrine deposits lower in the section and occur in overbank and paleosol deposits higher in the section. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar single-crystal laser-fusion dates on three Devils Gate ashes shows that the age of the mammal-bearing sequence at Devils Gate spans the late early Barstovian land-mammal age with possible overlap into the late Barstovian, as currently defined. Duration of the entire mammal-bearing portion of the Devils Gate section was less than a million years. Both a new ash date from the type section and biostratigraphic correlations between Devils Gate and the type section support considerable temporal overlap between the two exposures. The Devils Gate Local Fauna includes several new taxa: a phyllostomatid bat; two "flying squirrels", Petauristodon sp. A and Petauristodon sp. B; and an eomyid rodent, Leptodontomys sp. A. Several fossil occurrences represent the first record of a taxon in the northern Great Basin and/or in the Barstovian land-mammal age, including: Blackia sp., Schaubeaumys grangeri, Protospermophilus quatalensis, and Pseudadjidaumo stirtoni. The Stagestop locality produced two new taxa, Copemys sp. aff C. esmeraldensis and Mystipterus sp. The Stagestop local fauna is Clarendonian in age. Concretions are an important source of fossil mammals in exposures of the Sucker Creek Formation. Geochemical analyses show that concretions formed through a complex interaction between bone and surrounding volcaniclastic material. Although some superficial bone was consumed during concretion diagenesis, concretion development reduced the chance of prolonged chemical and physical destruction of bone during later soil development. The broad ecological diversity of small mammals recovered from Devils Gate supports an interpretation of the local paleoecology as a mosaic of grassland, forest, and pond/lake-bank environments. Sequential small mammal faunas across a prominent ash event show a generally stable composition with no pronounced ecomorphic differences in pre- and post-volcanic disturbance intervals. Therefore, small mammals do not show analogous ecological patterns to disturbance-driven plant successions in the Sucker Creek Formation. I infer that the local ecosystem recovered from volcanic blasts at a temporal scale below the resolution of time-averaged, post-disturbance paleosols.

Because of influences of Chinese flower-and-bird paintings, I created a series of fossil peonies and birds paintings. This paper describes the concept of this series, materials, creative process, cultural and contextual influences, and the artists who inspired my works. Several problems I encountered during the creative process were addressed and have been solved to my satisfaction. My concept was influenced by my desire to combine Western painting techniques with Eastern topic and style.

The cranial anatomy of the basal captorhinid reptile Captorhinikos parvus (Reptilia, Captorhinidae), is reinterpreted here based on analysis of a group of new specimens recovered subsequent to its original diagnosis as well as further analysis of the original specimens utilized in E.C. Olson's original characterization of the species. Structural features inconsistent with the generic description suggest the redefinition of C. parvus as a new genus, Rhodotheratus parvus. Analyses of basal members and selected derived members support the characterization of Rhodotheratus as a distinct taxon.

Hoedjiespunt 1 (HDP 1 ), is one of few later Middle Pleistocene to earlier Late Pleistocene African sites to yield well provenanced MSA hominid fossils, lending special significance to this site. The vertebrate fauna from this location, which consists of a palaeontological and an archaeological site, is described and analysed using both the taphonomic and controlled comparison approaches. The information obtained via this study allows for a better understanding of the context in which and the conditions under which these two sites were formed. Stratigraphic evidence and spatial information, suggest that the bones in the palaeontological site were in all likelihood accumulated in a cavity, thus postdating the sediments in which they occur. Circumstantial evidence, in addition to Klein and Cruz-Uribe's (1984) criteria for distinguishing assemblages accumulated by hyaenas from those accumulated by people, points towards the brown hyaena as the most likely accumulator of this assemblage. It is also suspected that the bone in the archaeological assemblage, may postdate the sediments in which they occur. This is suggested by the presence at the site, of tools manufactured out of calcrete, similar to the calcrete carapace which caps the stratigraphic sequence. Although density mediated destruction seems to have been the major cause of discrepancies in skeletal part abundance in the palaeontological site, it was found not to have been severe. The composition of species represented in the two assemblages differ. It was found that, apart from containing a small percentage of marine animals, the palaeontological site is dominated by grazing ungulates and carnivores. This assemblage was accumulated during a period of lowered sea level, or "glacial". On the other hand, the sample from the archaeological site contains proportionally fewer ungulates and carnivores, more small animals and more marine animals, reflecting a period of marine transgression, or "interglacial".

The Diadectomorpha is a central taxon in understanding the origin and early evolution of amniotes. It is considered a sister taxon to Amniota and is so similar to amniotes that some researchers have placed it within the Amniota itself. This group is composed of three families: the Limnoscelidae, the Tseajaiidae, and the Diadectidae. Being the most basal member of this group, the family Limnoscelidae is especially important in these studies.

This thesis formulates ecological thinking in curatorial practices, as a way to act against neoliberal values, far-right politics and find ways to work in a sensitive way in a time of accelerating ecological crisis. The current socio-political landscape, and its oppressive forces, influence profoundly the art world and whole societies at large. This thesis starts by looking how those forces affect artistic and curatorial practices, and suggests, that a counter-action for these threats could be a practice, that is informed by ecological thinking. Different, ecologically motivated curatorial practices are discussed with curators Jenni Nurmenniemi and Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, as well as collective Laboratory for Aesthetics and Ecology. Some additional examples are drawn from the work of Mustarinda association. What comes clear, is that ecological thinking is much more than thinking about the environment or sustainability, but rather, it has connection points with theories of new materialisms, post-fossil experimentation and decolonial thought, all of which are also interconnected and entangled. This thesis gathers a praxis, that is informed by said ecological thinking, which functions both as a thinking and a doing. Ecological thinking is about radical coexistence and entangled in the materialities of the more than human world. Ecologically informed practice, then, could mean paying attention to material dimensions of practices, slowing down and rethinking exhibition formats.

La Tesi Doctoral inclou l’estudi de vertebrats fòssils post-messinians de les Illes Balears fins ara desconeguts. La investigació s’ha centrat principalment en el registre fòssil de vertebrats del Pliocè basal obtingut a Na Burguesa-1 (NB-1) i del jaciment del Pleistocè-Holocè des Pouàs a Eivissa. La troballa de nous tàxons en aquests jaciments ha permès avaluar l’origen paleobiogeogràfic de les faunes post-messinianes de les Illes Balears, explorar les condicions que poden haver influït en el procés de colonització, explorar la possible existència de tàxons relictes pre-messinians i analitzar el procés d'extinció dels llinatges faunístics post-messinians. Els fòssils de NB-1 es van recuperar d’unes bretxes mitjançant un llarg tractament químic. Aquest procediment va permetre detectar 4 espècies diferents d’anurs, unes 13 espècies de rèptils, 6 espècies de mamífers i almenys una dotzena d’espècies d’ocells. Totes aquestes espècies, la majoria pertanyents a llinatges filètics registrats per primera vegada a l’illa de Mallorca, ens ofereixen una visió més precisa de l’estoc inicial que va arribar a les Illes Balears durant la Crisi salina del Messinià (MSC). La Memòria inclou la descripció de Paraethomys balearicus, una nova espècie insular de múrid obtinguda a NB-1, amb dents hipsodontes de mida mitjana. Conserva trets propers als presents a les primeres poblacions de P. meini del Turolià superior, el seu presumpte avantpassat continental. Aquesta relació entre ambdós tàxons dóna un suport addicional a un origen messinià per a l'anomenada fauna de Myotragus. També inclou la caracterització del conjunt paleornitològic obtingut a NB-1, compost per Tyto sp.1, Tyto sp. 2, Otus sp., un Phasianidae, una espècie de Charadriiformes i almenys cinc passeriformes. La depredació per almenys Tyto sp. 1 i Otus sp. hauria pogut formar la tafocenosi de NB-1, que cobreix l’àmplia gamma de mides de preses detectades al dipòsit. D’altra banda, s’ha observat que un nou glírid obtingut a NB-1, del qual deriva el llinatge filogenètic de Hypnomys, es relaciona amb un avantpassat que es localitzaria al Miocè mitjà-final. En contrast amb la hipòtesis més acceptada, l’elevada complexitat dental del glírid NB-1 exclou la relació directa del llinatge de Hypnomys amb Eliomys, el qual es caracteritza per un patró dental molt més senzill. La revisió del material des Pouàs ha permès detectar la presència al plistocè superior i l’holocè d’un escurçó nan endèmic d’Eivissa, Vipera latastei ebusitana, probablement relacionada amb un possible escurçó de la cova de Ca na Reia. L’anàlisi filogenètica indica que V. l. ebusitana, deriva molt probablement d’una població de V. latastei del llevant peninsular. Les diferències morfològiques entre V. l. ebusitana i V. latastei suggereixen que es tracta d'un nou tàxon nan resultat de processos evolutius insulars. La presència de Apocricetus darderi i Paraethomys balearicus a Mallorca ha permès datar l'arribada d'un estoc faunístic continental del Turolià tardà durant la MSC. Aquests tàxons, juntament amb Alytes aff. muletensis de NB-1 i Debruijnimys sp. del Pliocè de ses Fontanelles a Eivissa, situa la regió d’origen de la dispersió faunística principalment al SE de la península Ibèrica. A més, els corredors riparians podrien haver facilitat l’arribada de tàxons altament dependents dels hàbitats humits, com l’ancestre del ferreret Alytes i Discoglossus. D'altra banda, les anàlisis moleculars suggereixen que la separació de l'escurçó nan d'Eivissa de les poblacions ibèriques de V. latastei es va produir fa menys de 1,3 milions d'anys. Aquest fet el convertiria en el primer vertebrat terrestre que arribà a les Balears per via ultramarina. La millora del coneixement del registre fòssil de vertebrats balears revela quatre episodis d’extincions faunístiques post-messinianes, els quals van afectar cadascuna de les illes de manera diferencial en els darrers 5 milions d’anys. Les causes d’aquestes extincions s'han relacionat amb canvis en les condicions ambientals, factors de competitivitat interespecífica i, finalment, amb l'arribada dels humans.<br>The present report deals with previously unknown post-Messinian fossil vertebrates of the Balearic Islands. The research mainly focused on the basal Pliocene vertebrate fossils recovered at Na Burguesa-1 (NB-1) and at the Pleistocene-Holocene site of Es Pouàs in Eivissa. The discovery of new taxa at both sites has enabled to refine the paleogeographical origin of the post-Messinian faunas of the Balearics, assess the conditions that could have influenced the colonization process, explore the possible existence of pre-Messinian relict taxa and analyze the process of extinction of the faunal lineages. The present report includes the description of Paraethomys balearicus, which preserves traits close to those present in the earliest populations of P. meini from the upper Turolian of the Iberian Peninsula, its assumed mainland ancestor. Also includes the characterization of the paleornithological assemblage found at NB-1, which includes three nocturnal birds of prey (Tyto sp.1, Tyto sp.2 and Otus sp.), a representative of the Phasianidae, a species of Charadriiformes, and at least five Passeriformes. Furthermore, a new glirid discovered in NB-1 seems to be on the origin of the Hypnomys phylogenetic lineage and is related to a Middle-Late Miocene ancestor. And the review of the material obtained at es Pouàs site allowed the detection of a dwarf endemic viper, Vipera latastei ebusitana. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that V. l. ebusitana, most probably derived from a northeast Iberian population of V. latastei. The endemic P. balearicus together with Apocricetus darderi, Alytes aff. muletensis from NB-1 and Debruijnimys sp. from the Pliocene of ses Fontanelles (Eivissa), suggest that the arrival to the island of a continental faunal stock of late Turolian age during the MSC, point out to SE Iberia as the source region of the faunal newcomers. In addition, riparian corridors could have played a role facilitating the arrival of taxa highly dependent on humid habitats. On the other hand, analyses using molecular clocks suggest that the separation of the Eivissan dwarf viper from the Iberian populations of V. latastei occurred around 1.5 million years ago, suggesting an overseas colonization. The study of all the above-mentioned material has revealed that the vertebrate fossil record of the Balearic Islands has passed through four different post-Messinian faunal extinction episodes, probably related to changes in environmental conditions, interspecific competition and, especially to the arrival of humans and of their accompanying species to the archipelago.

Els objectius d’aquesta tesi doctoral han estat la caracterització dels conjunts faunístics del Plistocè superior del litoral català (àrea del massís del Garraf-Ordal) amb una mateixa problemàtica, la presència d’una gran quantitat d’acumulacions de restes de grans vertebrats modificades per carnívors amb escassa presència humana. Els treballs s’han centrat en l’anàlisi dels jaciments de la Cova del Rinoceront (Castelldefels), la Cova del Gegant (Sitges) i la Cova del Coll Verdaguer (Cervelló) amb l’objectiu de discernir les diferents ocupacions per part d’agents biològics, en determinar les estratègies de subsistència dels grups humans així com en identificar si ha hagut un aprofitament dels recursos faunístics acumulats a les cavitats ja sigui de forma natural o per carnívors. L’estudi tafonòmic, zooarqueològic i l’anàlisi dels copròlits apunten a què la major part de les restes òssies d’aquests jaciments han estat aportades i modificades per carnívors, en les que no s’ha observat cap activitat carronyera per part dels grups humans, pel que la presència antròpica a les cavitats no és el resultat de l’aprofitament marginal d’aquestes carcasses. Aquestes ocupacions humanes serien de caràcter breu, no coincidirien en el temps amb els altres agents biològics i respondrien a visites de tipus ocasional durant el Paleolític mitjà, tal i com queda demostrat a partir de les escasses restes lítiques i les poques evidències de restes de fauna amb activitat antròpica. En el cas de la Cova del Gegant, a més, l’activitat humana quedaria palesa també per les restes fòssils d’Homo neanderthalensis atribuïdes a diversos individus.<br>This PhD thesis examines Pleistocene deposits and the co-occurrence of a small number of lithic artifacts and numerous large mammal bones that present frequent carnivore damage. Some researchers propose hominid scavenging as an explanation for the accumulation of carcasses, while others rule out such a foraging strategy. Within this framework, the main objective of this study is to analyse the Upper Pleistocene deposits in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula to determine the role of carnivore and human agency in the faunal assemblages. The analyses are conducted in the Cova del Rinoceront (Castelldefels), the Cova del Gegant (Sitges) and the Cova del Coll Verdaguer (Cervelló) in the Garraf-Ordal Massif (Barcelona). This massif forms part of the Catalan Coastal Range, a low-relief mountain chain (<600 m high) and represents one of the most important karst systems in the NE Iberian Peninsula. To establish the role of the biological agents in these deposits, taphonomic and zooarchaeological analyses of bones, together with the description of coprolites, are reported at these sites. In the Cova del Coll Verdaguer and the Cova del Gegant, the large number of skeletal remains are documented as having been accumulated primarily by hyenas, although the presence of other carnivores in the caves is also documented. In the Cova del Rinoceront, by contrast, other carnivores, including felids and canids, are primarily responsible for the bone assemblages. In addition, there is evidence that all three caves were used by bears for hibernation. Thus, no evidence of hominid scavenging activities can be observed at these sites and accordingly the lithic assemblages are not related to the marginal scavenging of ungulates from carnivore dens. The scarce presence of lithics and the few anthropic marks suggest very sporadic human visits to the caves, and there is no evidence of carnivore competition. Finally, the Cova del Gegant has yielded Neanderthal fossils belonging to different individuals.

My work is a symptom of my ongoing quest to achieve immortality. I perpetually attempt to make permanent the traces we leave behind and the impressions we make upon each other. I use the body to portray boundaries – between the skin and the heart, comfort and disquiet, holding and letting go. The objects I make serve both as an agent for physical contact and as the commemoration of an ephemeral interaction. I create personal fossils, revealing the interstices formed when two bodies come into contact with one another. I use materials that reference endurance and longevity to record transient spaces whose edges continuously shift and whose membranes are particularly tenuous. This work is an ongoing catalog of the people in my life and my persistent efforts to hold on to those fleeting connections.

In my essay I am looking at the common heritage of written signs and images through my own experience of attention deficiency and mental illness. Through this lens of experience in which words and images are vividly transformed and merged, I am reflecting on language and art and their overlapping. Throughout the text I reference early written entirely pictorial languages, the painterly terms of thought disorders, as well as how the images that gave name to the characters in the phonetic alphabet is still lurking in the very letters themselves. I also exemplify how attention deficiency can evoke new image/text hybrids in a chapter I call ADHD poetry. In my own artistic practice I am drawn towards a melting point of language, written sign, image, high and low, illusion-representation-materiality, intellect and intuition. The surface as a physical object and idea – that there is a two-dimensional space where we project fantasies and fiction. Through prose, play, rhythm, rant, word salad, crumble of meaning etc. sandwiched, I am observing the swelling of words.

The Quaternary fossil record of Portugal is important for our understanding of the paleobiodiversity in Iberia. In the present master thesis a series of studies augment our knowledge about this topic. A census of Quaternary paleobiodiversity is carried out in order to test how reliable the fossil record is for detecting living species, resulting in that ~38% of living terrestrial tetrapods are recognized in the fossil record for Portugal, although the number of species recognized varies between groups. The body mass of a Portuguese proboscidean (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) is calculated via numerical methods for the first time (11metric tons) and morphometric comparisons of this species with Mammuthus primigenius are presented using an extensive Proboscidean sample. A new fossil brown bear (Ursus arctos) locality, Algar do Vale da Pena, with numerous claw mark in the walls of the cave (the first of this type of marks described in Portugal) is presented and the fossil bear remains identified and compared to a sample from NW Spain. The bears from Algar do Vale da Pena contrast with other previously known Portuguese brown bear specimens by relative small size. A new microvertebrate locality from Algarve, Santa Margarida, is presented. It is an extraordinary rich site with one fossil for every two grams of sediment selected and processed. The locality provided the first record of two arvicoline taxa in Portugal (Iberomys huescarensis and Victoriamys chalinei), which allows giving a minimal age of around 800.000 YBP for at least part of it. This makes Santa Margarida one of the oldest three localities in the Pleistocene of Portugal.

The Deadhorse Coulee Member of the Milk River Formation of southern Alberta preserves one of the oldest well-documented non-marine vertebrate assemblages in Canada. In this study, the taxonomic diversity of this member is updated, and vertebrate localities are placed in geographic and stratigraphic context. The stratigraphic provenance of specimens indicates all vertebrate material from this member is latest Santonian (83.5 Ma). A new species of turtle is described. Analyses of the rank and relative abundances of taxa support interpretations of this member as a prograding clastic wedge with localities approximately 40 km from the palaeoshoreline at time of deposition. Results support high local abundances of vertebrates in western North America, with faunal provincialism regulated by distance to the palaeoshoreline and mean annual temperatures. Morphologic changes in small theropod taxa through the latest Cretaceous of western North America act as a case study for evaluating species turnover of vertebrate microfossil material.<br>Systematics and Evolution

This dissertation examines the explosion of the cultural field in Venezuela during the 1970s oil boom through the lens of nature-society relations. I argue that cultural production was an agent of state-led ecological transformation and, at the same time, a space where artists and intellectuals negotiated spaces of autonomy that nonetheless were entangled with oil-funded projects of environment-making. By analyzing the cultural politics, visual arts, institutions, and infrastructure projects that blossomed during this era, I seek to uncover the role of cultural and aesthetic forms in processes of rapid urbanization and large-scale resource extraction. In doing so, I situate my work within recent efforts in the environmental humanities aimed at picking apart the cultural narratives that sustain or challenge the power of extractive regimes, particularly in the global South. My chapters analyze the cultural policies that oil-money made possible, the visual art that intersected with energy infrastructure projects, and the photography and film that dealt with the shocks of accelerated development and oil-led globalization. Supported by archival research and close examinations of understudied examples, I focus on the debates and cultural politics that defined the transition from the Instituto National de Cultura y Bellas Artes (Inciba) to the more powerful Centro Nacional de la Cultura (Conac); the role of the kinetic artworks of Carlos Cruz-Diez and Alejandro Otero in urbanization projects and the construction of the Guri hydroelectric dam in South-Eastern Venezuela; the photographic making of Caracas during the 1970s construction boom in the books of Soledad Mendoza and Ramón Paolini; and, finally, the crisis and breakdown of the dream of unlimited wealth in two film pieces by Carlos Oteyza and Antonio Llerandi. While studies about oil and cultural production usually trace the relations between fossil fuels and the formation of modernity in the global North, I contend that a vision from the nature-exporting societies of the global South is fundamental to understand the cultural logics of nature extraction at a planetary scale. Similarly, I propose that the relationship between culture and petroleum will not be clarified by tracking its representations in literary or artistic works, but rather by looking at how often the realm of culture is already intertwined with a global ecology of nature, capital, and power. Finally, in arguing this, I seek to highlight the cultural work of states in the extractive peripheries as an essential object of analysis for the environmental humanities, as well as for a broader rethinking of the uneven ecology of capitalism and the geopolitics of socioecological change.