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The emergence of separate cemeteries for disposal of the dead represents a profound shift in mortuary practice in the Late Neolithic of southeast Europe, with a new emphasis on the repeated use of a specific space distinct from, though still often close to, settlements. To help to time this shift more precisely, this paper presents 25 dates from 21 burials in the large cemetery at Cernica, in the Lower Danube valley in southern Romania, which are used to formally model the start, duration of use and end of the cemetery. A further six dates were obtained from four contexts for the nearby settlement. Careful consideration is given to the possibility of environmental and dietary offsets. The preferred model, without freshwater reservoir offsets, suggests that use of the Cernica cemetery probably began in5355–5220 cal BC (95% probability)and ended in5190–5080 cal BC (28% probability)or5070–4940 (67% probability). The implications of this result are discussed, including with reference to other cemeteries of similar age in the region, the nature of social relations being projected through mortuary ritual, and the incorporation of older, Mesolithic, ways of doing things into Late Neolithic mortuary practice.

The >2,570,000-ha Flint Hills ecoregion of Kansas, USA, harbors the largest remaining contiguous tract of tallgrass prairie in North America, a unique system, as the remainder of North America's tallgrass prairie has succumbed to development and conversion. Consequently, the loss and degradation of tallgrass prairie has reduced populations of many North American prairie-obligate species including the regal fritillary (Speyeria idalia) butterfly. Population abundance and occupied range of regal fritillary have declined >99%, restricting many populations to isolated, remnant patches of tallgrass prairie. Such extensive decline has resulted in consideration of the regal fritillary for protection under the Endangered Species Act. Although it is widely accepted that management practices such as fire, grazing, and haying are necessary to maintain prairie ecosystems, reported responses by regal fritillary to these management regimes have been ambiguous. We tested effects of prescribed fire across short, moderate, and long fire-return intervals as well as grazing and haying management treatments on regal fritillary density. We also tested the relative influence of habitat characteristics created by these management regimes by measuring density of an obligate host plant (Viola spp.) and canopy cover of woody vegetation, grasses, forbs/ferns, bare ground, and litter. We found density was at least 1.6 times greater in sites burned with a moderate fire-return interval vs. sites burned with short and long fire-return intervals. Overall management regardless of fire-return interval did not have an effect on density. Percent cover of grass had the strongest positive association, while percent cover of woody vegetation had the greatest negative effect on density. Our results indicate that patch-burning is a viable and perhaps even ideal management strategy for regal fritillary in tallgrass prairie landscapes. Additionally, these results elucidate the importance of fire, particularly when applied at moderate-return intervals to regal fritillary, and corroborate a growing suite of studies that suggest fire is perhaps not as detrimental to populations of regal fritillary as previously believed.

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