The neutron-activation analysis of prehistoric pottery samples taken from a recently excavated Halaf-culture site in eastern Syria has revealed that this site was involved in a complex pottery-trading network that embraced several other Halaf sites in this area. Trade in Halaf painted pottery seems to have been a highly structured activity, with certain Halaf sites functioning as regional pottery production and trading centers. Using activation analysis it has been possible not only to recognize pottery-trading patterns, but also to locate the geological sources for some of the clays used in Halaf pottery making.
In his memoir “Brachiop. der Kössener Schichten,” p. 17, Prof. E. Suess proposed his genus Merista , giving as its type the M. Herculea , Barrande, and at page 85 of the German edition of the general introduction to my work on British Fossil Brachiopoda Prof. E. Suess redescribes his genus, and in pl. iii. figures its spirals and shoe-lifter process; but neither the connexions of the spirals, nor their attachments to the hinge-plate, had then been discovered.
During my recent stay at Geneva the eminent geologists MM. F.J. Pictet and P. de Loriol showed me a very considerable number of fossils, which they had collected from the middle and lower portions of the Cretaceous system of Switzerland and Savoy, and carefully explained the position of the beds from which they had been obtained. M. Pictet subsequently, at my request, recorded in manuscript his most recent views in connection with this important topic, of which I will shortly reproduce a translation for the benefit of the readers of the Geological Magazine. He has, however, restricted his table and explanations to the middle and lower portions of the Cretaceous system, because the regions which surround Geneva do not exhibit any representatives or evidence in connection with the upper stages. M. Pictet has also explained his views with reference to the rock which, at the Porte-de-France, contains the Terebratula janitor , and of the Carpathian or Stramberg limestone, which has been placed by M. Hébert at the base of the Cretaceous system, but which others have referred to the Jurassic epoch. The correct determination of the true age of these rocks is a subject of very great importance, since they contain a rich assemblage of species bearing a particular and well-marked stamp, as may be seen by a glance at Professor Suess's admirable monograph, “Die Brachiopoden der Stramberger Schichten ,” as well as at those by Zettel, etc., on other classes.
Much has been written on the geology of Scotland, and perhaps no country has given birth to a larger proportion of eminent inquirers. The names of Hutton, Playfair, Murchison, and Lyell will ever be remembered among those of the great Scotchmen, who by their acquirements, genius, and perseverance, have so materially contributed to elevate the science of Geology to the rank it now holds among all men of learning. Much has, however, still to be achieved before the geological and palæontological details connected with our country will have been completely worked out, and many zealous inquirers must be summoned to the field; some will do much, others little; but every accurate observation is so much gain, and will tend towards the complete elucidation of the subject, as well as help to form a basis upon which great minds may found with safety their general views and appreciations. I therefore hailed with much hope and delight the foundation of a Geological Society in Glasgow, which originated in May, 1858, with about a dozen young men, who wished to gain knowledge of the geological phenomena in the neighbourhood of their great city, under the guidance of an experienced and practical geologist; and thus, owing to the active co-operation and direction of Mr. J. P. Fraser, and that of some of its founders, the Society has already done some good work, and increased its numbers to about one hundred.
British palaeontologist Thomas Davidson (1817–85) was born in Edinburgh and began his studies at the city's university. Encouraged by German palaeontologist Leopold von Buch, he began to study brachiopod fossils at the age of twenty, and he quickly became the undisputed authority. He was elected fellow of the Geological Society of London in 1852, receiving the Wollaston medal in 1865. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1857. Published between 1850 and 1886, this six-volume work became the definitive reference text on the subject. It includes more than two hundred hand-drawn plates and a comprehensive bibliography. This volume, the second of six, details the Permian and Carboniferous brachiopod species.
(1882). A Monograph of the British Fossil Brachiopoda. Vol. V. Part I. Devonian and Silurian Supplements. Pages 1–134; Plates I–VII. Monographs of the Palaeontographical Society: Vol. 36, No. 172, pp. 1-134.
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(1878). A Monograph of the British Fossil Brachiopoda. Vol. IV. Part II. No. 2. Supplement to the Jurassic and Triassic Species. Pages 145–241; Plates XVII–XXIX. Monographs of the Palaeontographical Society: Vol. 32, No. 146, pp. 145-241.
The shells composing this species vary but slightly in shape, being marginally semicircular, concavo-convex, and about one-third wider than long. The hingeline is straight, and either a little shorter, with its cardinal angles rounded, or somewhat longer than the greatest width of the shell, with rectangular or slightly acute and extended terminations. Both valves are provided with narrow sub-parallel areas, the ventral one, which is the largest, being divided by a small fissure, partially covered with a pseudo-deltidium; while in the middle of the ventral one there exists a prominent V-shaped cardinal process. The ventral valve is moderately convex, and flattened towards its auriculate cardinal extremities. The beak, which is small and incurved, does not overlie the hinge-line; while the dorsal valve assumes in different specimens a greater or lesser degree of concavity, and follows the curves of the opposite one. Exteriorly the surface of the ventral valve is covered with numerous small thread-like radiating striæ, which increase in number by occasional bifurcation, or interstriations at various distances from the beak, so that as many as one hundred and twenty ribs may be counted round the margin of certain specimens, while at irregular distances small spines projected from the rounded surface of the striæ. In addition to these, on each side of the beak there exists along the cardinal edge from five to nine slanting tabular spines, which become longer and larger as they approach the extremities of the cardinal edge. The surface of the dorsal valve is striated as in the ventral one; and minute perforations or punctures may be perceived over the entire surface of the shell, and which are the exterior orifices of the canals which traverse the shell, as in Productus.
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