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Carr AS, Chase BM, Birkinshaw SJ, Holmes PJ, Rabumbulu M, Stewart BA. Paleolakes and socioecological implications of last glacial "greening" of the South African interior. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2221082120. [PMID: 37186818 PMCID: PMC10214169 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2221082120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2022] [Accepted: 04/03/2023] [Indexed: 05/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Determining the timing and drivers of Pleistocene hydrological change in the interior of South Africa is critical for testing hypotheses regarding the presence, dynamics, and resilience of human populations. Combining geological data and physically based distributed hydrological modeling, we demonstrate the presence of large paleolakes in South Africa's central interior during the last glacial period, and infer a regional-scale invigoration of hydrological networks, particularly during marine isotope stages 3 and 2, most notably 55 to 39 ka and 34 to 31 ka. The resulting hydrological reconstructions further permit investigation of regional floral and fauna responses using a modern analog approach. These suggest that the climate change required to sustain these water bodies would have replaced xeric shrubland with more productive, eutrophic grassland or higher grass-cover vegetation, capable of supporting a substantial increase in ungulate diversity and biomass. The existence of such resource-rich landscapes for protracted phases within the last glacial period likely exerted a recurrent draw on human societies, evidenced by extensive pan-side artifact assemblages. Thus, rather than representing a perennially uninhabited hinterland, the central interior's underrepresentation in late Pleistocene archeological narratives likely reflects taphonomic biases stemming from a dearth of rockshelters and regional geomorphic controls. These findings suggest that South Africa's central interior experienced greater climatic, ecological, and cultural dynamism than previously appreciated and potential to host human populations whose archaeological signatures deserve systematic investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew S. Carr
- School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, University of Leicester, LeicesterLE1 7RH, United Kingdom
| | - Brian M. Chase
- Institut des Sciences de L'Evolution-Montpellier, University of Montpellier, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement,34095Montpellier, France
- Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch7701, South Africa
| | - Stephen J. Birkinshaw
- School of Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon TyneNE1 7RU, United Kingdom
| | - Peter J. Holmes
- Department of Geography, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein9300, South Africa
| | - Mulalo Rabumbulu
- Department of Geography Environmental Management and Energy Studies, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg2006, South Africa
| | - Brian A. Stewart
- Department of Anthropology and Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI48109
- Rock Art Research Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, 2050Wits, South Africa
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2
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Mackay A, Armitage SJ, Niespolo EM, Sharp WD, Stahlschmidt MC, Blackwood AF, Boyd KC, Chase BM, Lagle SE, Kaplan CF, Low MA, Martisius NL, McNeill PJ, Moffat I, O'Driscoll CA, Rudd R, Orton J, Steele TE. Environmental influences on human innovation and behavioural diversity in southern Africa 92-80 thousand years ago. Nat Ecol Evol 2022; 6:361-369. [PMID: 35228670 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01667-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2021] [Accepted: 01/14/2022] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Africa's Middle Stone Age preserves sporadic evidence for novel behaviours among early modern humans, prompting a range of questions about the influence of social and environmental factors on patterns of human behavioural evolution. Here we document a suite of novel adaptations dating approximately 92-80 thousand years before the present at the archaeological site Varsche Rivier 003 (VR003), located in southern Africa's arid Succulent Karoo biome. Distinctive innovations include the production of ostrich eggshell artefacts, long-distance transportation of marine molluscs and systematic use of heat shatter in stone tool production, none of which occur in coeval assemblages at sites in more humid, well-studied regions immediately to the south. The appearance of these novelties at VR003 corresponds with a period of reduced regional wind strength and enhanced summer rainfall, and all of them disappear with increasing winter rainfall dominance after 80 thousand years before the present, following which a pattern of technological similarity emerges at sites throughout the broader region. The results indicate complex and environmentally contingent processes of innovation and cultural transmission in southern Africa during the Middle Stone Age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alex Mackay
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. .,Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Upper Campus, Rondebosch, Western Cape, South Africa.
| | - Simon J Armitage
- Centre for Quaternary Research, Department of Geography, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, UK.,SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Elizabeth M Niespolo
- Berkeley Geochronology Center, Berkeley, CA, USA.,Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.,Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.,Human Evolution Research Institute (HERI), University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | | | - Mareike C Stahlschmidt
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Alexander F Blackwood
- Human Evolution Research Institute (HERI), University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.,Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Kelsey C Boyd
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Brian M Chase
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution-Montpellier (ISEM), University of Montpellier, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France.,Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town, Upper Campus, Rondebosch, South Africa
| | - Susan E Lagle
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA.,Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | | | | | - Naomi L Martisius
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA.,Department of Anthropology, The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK, USA
| | - Patricia J McNeill
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Ian Moffat
- Archaeology, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia, Australia
| | - Corey A O'Driscoll
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Rachel Rudd
- Archaeology, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia, Australia.,School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
| | - Jayson Orton
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of South Africa, Unisa, South Africa
| | - Teresa E Steele
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. .,Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
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3
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Buckland PI, Bateman MD, Bennike O, Buckland PC, Chase BM, Frederick C, Greenwood M, Murton J, Murton D, Panagiotakopulu E. Mid-Devensian climate and landscape in England: new data from Finningley, South Yorkshire. R Soc Open Sci 2019; 6:190577. [PMID: 31417753 PMCID: PMC6689596 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.190577] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2019] [Accepted: 06/11/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
While there is extensive evidence for the Late Devensian, less is known about Early and Middle Devensian (approx. 110-30 ka) climates and environments in the UK. The Greenland ice-core record suggests the UK should have endured multiple changes, but the terrestrial palaeo-record lacks sufficient detail for confirmation from sites in the British Isles. Data from deposits at Finningley, South Yorkshire, can help redress this. A channel with organic silts, dated 40 314-39 552 cal a BP, contained plant macrofossil and insect remains showing tundra with dwarf-shrub heath and bare ground. Soil moisture conditions varied from free draining to riparian, with ponds and wetter vegetated areas. The climate was probably low arctic with snow cover during the winter. Mutual climatic range (MCR), based on Coleoptera, shows the mean monthly winter temperatures of -22 to -2°C and summer ones of 8-14°C. Periglacial structures within the basal gravel deposits and beyond the glacial limits indicate cold-climate conditions, including permafrost. A compilation of MCR reconstructions for other Middle Devensian English sites shows that marine isotope stage 3-between 59 and 28 ka-experienced substantial variation in climate consistent with the Greenland ice-core record. The exact correlation is hampered by temporal resolution, but the Finningley site stadial at approximately 40 ka may correlate with the one of the Greenland stadials 7-11.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Mark D. Bateman
- Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
| | - Ole Bennike
- GEUS Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, ØsterVoldgade 10, Copenhagen 1350, Denmark
| | - Paul C. Buckland
- Independent Researcher, 20 Den Bank Close, Sheffield S10 5PA, UK
| | - Brian M. Chase
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution-Montpellier (ISEM), Université de Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Bat 22, CC061, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier cedex 5, France
| | - Charles Frederick
- Department of Geography and the Environment, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Malcolm Greenwood
- Department of Geography, Loughborough University, Leics LE11 3TU, UK
| | - Julian Murton
- Department of Geography, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9RH, UK
| | - Della Murton
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
| | - Eva Panagiotakopulu
- Institute of Geography, University of Edinburgh, Drummond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, UK
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Nolan C, Overpeck JT, Allen JRM, Anderson PM, Betancourt JL, Binney HA, Brewer S, Bush MB, Chase BM, Cheddadi R, Djamali M, Dodson J, Edwards ME, Gosling WD, Haberle S, Hotchkiss SC, Huntley B, Ivory SJ, Kershaw AP, Kim SH, Latorre C, Leydet M, Lézine AM, Liu KB, Liu Y, Lozhkin AV, McGlone MS, Marchant RA, Momohara A, Moreno PI, Müller S, Otto-Bliesner BL, Shen C, Stevenson J, Takahara H, Tarasov PE, Tipton J, Vincens A, Weng C, Xu Q, Zheng Z, Jackson ST. Past and future global transformation of terrestrial ecosystems under climate change. Science 2018; 361:920-923. [PMID: 30166491 DOI: 10.1126/science.aan5360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 117] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2017] [Revised: 04/24/2018] [Accepted: 07/30/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Impacts of global climate change on terrestrial ecosystems are imperfectly constrained by ecosystem models and direct observations. Pervasive ecosystem transformations occurred in response to warming and associated climatic changes during the last glacial-to-interglacial transition, which was comparable in magnitude to warming projected for the next century under high-emission scenarios. We reviewed 594 published paleoecological records to examine compositional and structural changes in terrestrial vegetation since the last glacial period and to project the magnitudes of ecosystem transformations under alternative future emission scenarios. Our results indicate that terrestrial ecosystems are highly sensitive to temperature change and suggest that, without major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere, terrestrial ecosystems worldwide are at risk of major transformation, with accompanying disruption of ecosystem services and impacts on biodiversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Connor Nolan
- Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Jonathan T Overpeck
- School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.,Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Judy R M Allen
- Department of Biosciences, University of Durham, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
| | - Patricia M Anderson
- Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Julio L Betancourt
- National Research Program, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA 20192, USA
| | - Heather A Binney
- Geography and Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
| | - Simon Brewer
- Department of Geography, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
| | - Mark B Bush
- Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA
| | - Brian M Chase
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 5554, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier, Université Montpellier, Bat. 22, CC061, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier, France
| | - Rachid Cheddadi
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 5554, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier, Université Montpellier, Bat. 22, CC061, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier, France
| | - Morteza Djamali
- Aix Marseille Université, Avignon Université, CNRS, IRD, Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie, 13545 Aix-en Provence, France
| | - John Dodson
- Palaeontology, Geobiology and Earth Archives Research Centre (PANGEA), University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.,State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 71002, Shaanxi, China
| | - Mary E Edwards
- Geography and Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK.,College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA
| | - William D Gosling
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, 1090 GE Amsterdam, Netherlands.,School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK
| | - Simon Haberle
- Department of Archaeology and Natural History, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Sara C Hotchkiss
- Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Brian Huntley
- Department of Biosciences, University of Durham, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
| | - Sarah J Ivory
- Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16802, USA
| | - A Peter Kershaw
- School of Earth, Atmosphere, and Environment, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia
| | - Soo-Hyun Kim
- Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Claudio Latorre
- Departamento de Ecología, Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Michelle Leydet
- Aix Marseille Université, Avignon Université, CNRS, IRD, Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie, 13545 Aix-en Provence, France
| | - Anne-Marie Lézine
- Sorbonne Université, CNRS-IRD-MNHN, LOCEAN/IPSL Laboratory, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Kam-Biu Liu
- Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
| | - Yao Liu
- School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
| | - A V Lozhkin
- North-East Interdisciplinary Scientific Research Institute, Far East Branch Russian Academy of Sciences, Magadan 685000, Russia
| | | | - Robert A Marchant
- Department of Environment, York Institute for Tropical Ecosystems, University of York, York YO10 5NG, UK
| | - Arata Momohara
- Graduate School of Horticulture, Chiba University, Matsudo-shi, Chiba 271-8510, Japan
| | - Patricio I Moreno
- Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, IEB and (CR)2, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Stefanie Müller
- Institute of Geological Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin, D-12249 Berlin, Germany
| | - Bette L Otto-Bliesner
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory, Boulder, CO 80307, USA
| | - Caiming Shen
- Yunnan Normal University, Key Laboratory of Plateau Lake Ecology and Global Change, Kunming, Yunnan 650092, China
| | - Janelle Stevenson
- School of Culture, History, and Language, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Hikaru Takahara
- Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Kyoto Prefectural University, Kyoto, 606-8522, Japan
| | - Pavel E Tarasov
- Institute of Geological Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin, D-12249 Berlin, Germany
| | - John Tipton
- Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA
| | - Annie Vincens
- Centre Européen de Recherche et d'Enseignement des Géosciences de l'Environnement (CEREGE), 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France
| | - Chengyu Weng
- School of Ocean and Earth Science, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
| | - Qinghai Xu
- Institute of Nihewan Archaeology and College of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China
| | - Zhuo Zheng
- School of Earth Science and Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Lab of Geodynamics and Geohazards, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
| | - Stephen T Jackson
- Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. .,Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
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Chase BM, Faith JT, Mackay A, Chevalier M, Carr AS, Boom A, Lim S, Reimer PJ. Climatic controls on Later Stone Age human adaptation in Africa's southern Cape. J Hum Evol 2017; 114:35-44. [PMID: 29447760 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.09.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2016] [Revised: 09/12/2017] [Accepted: 09/13/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Africa's southern Cape is a key region for the evolution of our species, with early symbolic systems, marine faunal exploitation, and episodic production of microlithic stone tools taken as evidence for the appearance of distinctively complex human behavior. However, the temporally discontinuous nature of this evidence precludes ready assumptions of intrinsic adaptive benefit, and has encouraged diverse explanations for the occurrence of these behaviors, in terms of regional demographic, social and ecological conditions. Here, we present a new high-resolution multi-proxy record of environmental change that indicates that faunal exploitation patterns and lithic technologies track climatic variation across the last 22,300 years in the southern Cape. Conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum and deglaciation were humid, and zooarchaeological data indicate high foraging returns. By contrast, the Holocene is characterized by much drier conditions and a degraded resource base. Critically, we demonstrate that systems for technological delivery - or provisioning - were responsive to changing humidity and environmental productivity. However, in contrast to prevailing models, bladelet-rich microlithic technologies were deployed under conditions of high foraging returns and abandoned in response to increased aridity and less productive subsistence environments. This suggests that posited links between microlithic technologies and subsistence risk are not universal, and the behavioral sophistication of human populations is reflected in their adaptive flexibility rather than in the use of specific technological systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian M Chase
- Centre National de La Recherche Scientifique, UMR 5554, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier, Université Montpellier, Bat. 22, CC061, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
| | - J Tyler Faith
- Natural History Museum of Utah & Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA
| | - Alex Mackay
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Northfields Avenue, Building 41, NSW 2522, Australia
| | - Manuel Chevalier
- Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, Geopolis, University of Lausanne, Quartier UNIL-Mouline, Batiment Géopolis, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Andrew S Carr
- School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
| | - Arnoud Boom
- School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
| | - Sophak Lim
- Centre National de La Recherche Scientifique, UMR 5554, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier, Université Montpellier, Bat. 22, CC061, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - Paula J Reimer
- School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland, UK
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Abstract
Between 15,000 and 18,000 years ago, large amounts of ice and meltwater entered the North Atlantic during Heinrich stadial 1. This caused substantial regional cooling, but major climatic impacts also occurred in the tropics. Here, we demonstrate that the height of this stadial, about 16,000 to 17,000 years ago (Heinrich event 1), coincided with one of the most extreme and widespread megadroughts of the past 50,000 years or more in the Afro-Asian monsoon region, with potentially serious consequences for Paleolithic cultures. Late Quaternary tropical drying commonly is attributed to southward drift of the intertropical convergence zone, but the broad geographic range of the Heinrich event 1 megadrought suggests that severe, systemic weakening of Afro-Asian rainfall systems also occurred, probably in response to sea surface cooling.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Curt Stager
- Natural Sciences, Paul Smith's College, Paul Smiths, NY 12970, USA.
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Chapell VR, Chase BM. The Expanded Community Role: "Jail" Experience. J Nurs Educ 1986; 25:120-1. [PMID: 3007696 DOI: 10.3928/0148-4834-19860301-09] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Chase BM. Putting research into practice: the study of pain management with oncologic patients. Fla Nurse 1984; 32:12. [PMID: 6562975] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/05/2023]
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