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The cultivation of quinoa has gained increasing interest in Europe. Different European varieties exist, but more research is required to understand the individual variety characteristics for end-use applications. The objective of this study is to evaluate the agronomic performance of 13 quinoa varieties under North-West European field conditions during three growing seasons (2017–2019). Furthermore, seeds were qualitatively characterized based on characteristics and composition. Yield differed among varieties and growing seasons (0.47–3.42 ton/ha), with lower yields obtained for late-maturing varieties. The saponin content varied from sweet to very bitter. The seeds contained high protein levels (12.1–18.8 g/100 g dry matter), whereas varieties had a similar essential amino acid profile. The main fatty acids were linoleic (53.0–59.8%), α-linolenic (4.7–8.2%), and oleic acid (15.5–22.7%), indicating a high degree of unsaturation. The clustering of varieties/years revealed subtle differences between growing seasons but also reflected the significant interaction effects of variety and year. Most varieties perform well under North-West European conditions, and their nutritional content is well within the values previously described for other cultivation areas. However, optimal yield and quality traits were not combined in one variety, illustrating the importance of breeding for adapted quinoa varieties.

Biomarker and stable isotopic analysis of lipid residues from perforated pottery vessels from sixth millennium bc Europe are consistent with these vessels having been used for making cheese, a low-lactose dairy product with digestion and storage advantages for the prehistoric lactose-intolerant farming communities. An early cheese course Dairying was an important innovation in early agriculture — despite the fact that the first dairy farmers were unable to metabolize lactose. One way of making milk more palatable to the lactose intolerant is to turn it into cheese, a process that involves straining the fat-rich curds from the lactose-containing whey. In this study Richard Evershed and colleagues report the presence of organic residues on pottery shards from enigmatic pottery vessels produced widely in settlements of the earliest farmers in northern Europe about 7,500 years ago. The vessels exhibit numerous millimetre-sized holes, which were postulated to be cheese strainers in 1984 by Peter Bogucki, a co-author on this current paper. That idea is now supported by the chemical evidence. The introduction of dairying was a critical step in early agriculture, with milk products being rapidly adopted as a major component of the diets of prehistoric farmers and pottery-using late hunter-gatherers 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 . The processing of milk, particularly the production of cheese, would have been a critical development because it not only allowed the preservation of milk products in a non-perishable and transportable form, but also it made milk a more digestible commodity for early prehistoric farmers 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 . The finding of abundant milk residues in pottery vessels from seventh millennium sites from north-western Anatolia provided the earliest evidence of milk processing, although the exact practice could not be explicitly defined 1 . Notably, the discovery of potsherds pierced with small holes appear at early Neolithic sites in temperate Europe in the sixth millennium bc and have been interpreted typologically as ‘cheese-strainers’ 10 , although a direct association with milk processing has not yet been demonstrated. Organic residues preserved in pottery vessels have provided direct evidence for early milk use in the Neolithic period in the Near East and south-eastern Europe, north Africa, Denmark and the British Isles, based on the δ 13 C and Δ 13 C values of the major fatty acids in milk 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 . Here we apply the same approach to investigate the function of sieves/strainer vessels, providing direct chemical evidence for their use in milk processing. The presence of abundant milk fat in these specialized vessels, comparable in form to modern cheese strainers 11 , provides compelling evidence for the vessels having being used to separate fat-rich milk curds from the lactose-containing whey. This new evidence emphasizes the importance of pottery vessels in processing dairy products, particularly in the manufacture of reduced-lactose milk products among lactose-intolerant prehistoric farming communities 6 , 7 .

\"This book presents one of the first detailed analyses of the first six decades of Bourbon rule in Spanish America (1700-1763). Based on a wealth of archival sources in Spain and Peru and on a body of historical research that has transformed our understanding of this period in just the past few years, it turns existing interpretations on their heads, staking a claim for the significance of the early Bourbon era within the broad sweep of Spanish colonial history. Above all, it argues that the much better-known late-Bourbon program of reforms for the American colonies, associated primarily with the reign of the 'great reformer-king' Charles III, cannot be understood without reference to the half-century that preceded his accession to the Spanish throne\"-- Provided by publisher.

The authors used knapping experiments to study the way that microburins are produced. Once thought of as signature pieces of the Mesolithic, these experiments suggest that they were by-products of a gradual technological development by knappers trying to make arrowheads that had no bulb of percussion — and were thus easier to haft. They make a case for an evolution already present in the late Palaeolithic and determined by practical, rather than cultural, social or environmental imperatives.

\"This work explores social and cultural transformations among the indigenous communities of western Mexico, especially the indios fronterizos (Frontier Indians), preceding and during the struggle for independence\"--Provided by publisher.

It is commonly accepted that some of the latest dates for Neanderthal fossils and Mousterian industries are found south of the Ebro valley in Iberia at ca. 36 ka calBP (calibrated radiocarbon date ranges). In contrast, to the north of the valley the Mousterian disappears shortly before the Proto-Aurignacian appears at ca. 42 ka calBP. The latter is most likely produced by anatomically modern humans. However, two-thirds of dates from the south are radiocarbon dates, a technique that is particularly sensitive to carbon contaminants of a younger age that can be difficult to remove using routine pretreatment protocols. We have attempted to test the reliability of chronologies of 11 southern Iberian Middle and early Upper Paleolithic sites. Only two, Jarama VI and Zafarraya, were found to contain material that could be reliably dated. In both sites, Middle Paleolithic contexts were previously dated by radiocarbon to less than 42 ka calBP. Using ultrafiltration to purify faunal bone collagen before radiocarbon dating, we obtain ages at least 10 ka ¹⁴C years older, close to or beyond the limit of the radiocarbon method for the Mousterian at Jarama VI and Neanderthal fossils at Zafarraya. Unless rigorous pretreatment protocols have been used, radiocarbon dates should be assumed to be inaccurate until proven otherwise in this region. Evidence for the late survival of Neanderthals in southern Iberia is limited to one possible site, Cueva Antón, and alternative models of human occupation of the region should be considered.

Exceptionally well-preserved asteroid specimens from the Cenomanian and Turonian coastal exposures in Seine-Maritime (north-west France) are described. These include a new genus, Crielaster (type species: C. annae sp. nov.), provisionally assigned to the family Chaetasteridae, a new species of the astropectinid genus Coulonia (C. fournoui sp. nov.), and a new species of stauranderasterid (Stauranderaster pustulosus sp. nov.). A superbly preserved specimen of Oreaster coronatus Forbes, 1848, showing the construction of the abactinal surface, supports subdivision of the genus Stauranderaster. Stauranderaster coronatus is designated as the type species of Coronataster gen. nov., and Squamataster gen. nov. is erected with Oreaster squamatus Forbes, 1848 as its type species.

Early music movement The earliest modern human inhabitants of Europe already had a sophisticated musical tradition, according to a report this week describing a five-hole bird-bone flute from the cave of Hohle Fels in southern Germany that is around 35,000 years old. Other flutes of similar age are known, but none of this sophistication or completeness. The flute was found close to the mammoth-ivory Venus figurine discovered recently ( Nature 459 , 248–252; 2009) by the same research group. The existence of complex musical instruments is accepted to be an indication of fully modern behaviour and advanced symbolic communication. The discovery of bone and ivory flutes that are around 35,000 years old at Hohle Fels in southwestern Germany now demonstrates the presence of a well-established musical tradition at the time when modern humans colonized Europe. Considerable debate surrounds claims for early evidence of music in the archaeological record 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 . Researchers universally accept the existence of complex musical instruments as an indication of fully modern behaviour and advanced symbolic communication 1 but, owing to the scarcity of finds, the archaeological record of the evolution and spread of music remains incomplete. Although arguments have been made for Neanderthal musical traditions and the presence of musical instruments in Middle Palaeolithic assemblages, concrete evidence to support these claims is lacking 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 . Here we report the discovery of bone and ivory flutes from the early Aurignacian period of southwestern Germany. These finds demonstrate the presence of a well-established musical tradition at the time when modern humans colonized Europe, more than 35,000 calendar years ago. Other than the caves of the Swabian Jura, the earliest secure archaeological evidence for music comes from sites in France and Austria and post-date 30,000 years ago 6 , 7 , 8 .