pale District separated from the surrounding country by defined bound¬ aries or set apart by a distinctive administrative and legal system. In imperial Russia from the late 18th century, the Pale of Settlement was the area in which Jews were permitted to live. By the 19th century it included all of Russian Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Crimea, Bessarabia, and most of Ukraine. It ceased to exist during World War I, when Jews in great numbers fled to the interior, and it was abolished in 1917. The English maintained a pale in Ireland until the entire island was subjugated under Elizabeth I in the 16th century.
Palembang \,pa-lem-'bai]\ City (pop., 1995 est.: 1,283,100) and river port, Indonesia. It is located on both banks of the Musi River. It was the capital of a Buddhist kingdom from the 7th to the 14th century ad and was subsequently overthrown by the Hindu Majapahit empire. The Dutch East India Company established a trading post there and in 1659 built a fort. Palembang was occupied by the Japanese during World War II and was the capital of South Sumatra until that state was included in the Republic of Indonesia in 1950. The port is accessible to ocean traffic and conducts considerable trade with ports on the Malay Peninsula and in Thailand and China.
Palenque \pa-Teq-ka\ Ruined ancient Mayan city of the Late Classic period (c. ad 600-900) in what is now Chiapas state, Mexico. It is con¬ sidered the most beautiful of Mayan sites. The Palenque builders designed temple pyramids and palaces with mansard-style roofs and walls embel¬ lished with delicate stucco reliefs of rulers, gods, and ceremonies. The principal structure is the palace, a labyrinth of galleries with interior courts and a four-story square tower. The great Temple of the Inscriptions is noted for its hieroglyphics and a vast funerary crypt, filled with jade, that was discovered in 1952.
Paleo-Asiatic languages See Paleo-Siberian languages
Paleo \,pa-le-o\ -Siberian languages or Paleo-Asiatic lan¬ guages Group of four unrelated language families spoken in northeast¬ ern Asia. Believed to have covered much larger areas of Siberia and perhaps Manchuria in the past, they have lost ground to Uralic and Altaic languages and more recently to Russian (see Siberian peoples). Of the Yeniseian languages, the only survivors are Ket, spoken by fewer than 500 people, and the virtually extinct Yug. The two extant Yukaghir lan¬ guages (which are believed by some specialists to belong to the Uralic languages), North, or Tundra, Yukaghir and South, or Kolyma, Yukaghir, together have fewer than 100 speakers. The Chukotko-Kamchatkan (Luo- rawetlan) family includes Chukchi, with about 10,000 speakers in extreme northeastern Siberia; Koryak, with fewer than 5,000 speakers south of Chukchi; and Itelmen, spoken on the Kamchatka Peninsula by fewer than 100 people. The two Nivkh (Gilyak) varieties, Amur Nivkh and Sakhalin Nivkh, together have fewer than 1,000 speakers.
Paleocene \'pa-le-3-,sen\ Epoch or Palaeocene Epoch Earliest division of the Tertiary Period, from 65 to 54.8 million years ago. It pre¬ cedes the Eocene Epoch and follows the Cretaceous Period. The Paleocene was characterized by a generally warming climate, with little or no frost; seasonal variation probably consisted of alternating dry and wet seasons. By the Paleocene the dinosaurs and other reptilian groups that were domi-
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1436 i paleodimatology ► Palestrina
nant during the Cretaceous had disappeared, and the epoch saw the rapid proliferation and evolution of mammals.
paleodimatology or palaeoclimatology Scientific study of the extended climatic conditions of past geologic ages. Paleoclimatologists seek to explain climate variations for all parts of the Earth during any given geologic period, beginning with the time of the Earth’s formation. The basic research data are drawn mainly from geology and paleobotany; speculative attempts at explanation have come largely from astronomy, atmospheric physics, meteorology, and geophysics.
paleogeography or palaeogeography Geography of selected portions of the Earth’s surface at specific times in the geologic past. The simplest kind of paleogeography is a map showing the locations of ancient lands and seas, but paleogeographic maps may also show the occurrence and distribution of fossil, plant, and animal communities; environments of sedimentation (e.g., deltas, reefs, deserts, or deep-sea basins); areas undergoing uplift and erosion or subsidence and deposition; and major climatic zones.
paleogeology or palaeogeology Geology of a region at any given time in the distant past. Paleogeologic reconstructions in map form show not only the ancient topography of a region but also the distribution of rocks beneath the surface and such structural features as faults and folds. Maps of this kind help investigators determine deformation events in a region, stream-drainage patterns now buried under layers of sediment, and the extent of ancient oceans and seas. They also provide a useful tool for petroleum geologists, enabling them to identify geologic structures where oil or natural gas may be trapped.
paleohydrology or palaeohydrology Scientific discipline con¬ cerned with hydrologic systems as they existed during previous periods of Earth history. Changing hydrologic conditions are inferred from the evidence of the alteration, deposition, and erosion in rocks. Paleohydrol¬ ogy also deals with the changes in animals and plants through geologic time that have been greatly influenced by hydrologic change.
Paleolithic X.pa-le-o-'li-thikX Period or Old Stone Age Ancient technological or cultural stage characterized by the use of rudimentary chipped stone tools. During the Lower Paleolithic (c. 2,500,000-200,000 years ago), simple pebble tools and crude stone choppers were made by the earliest humans. About 700,000 years ago, the first rough hand ax appeared; it was later refined and used with other tools in the Acheulean industry. A flake-tool tradition emerged in the Middle Paleolithic, as exem¬ plified by implements of the Mousterian industry. The Upper Paleolithic (40,000-10,000 bc) saw the emergence of more complex, specialized, and diverse regional stone-tool industries, such as the Aurignacian, Solutrean, and Magdalenian. The two principal forms of Paleolithic art are small sculptures—such as the so-called Venus figurines and various carved or shaped animal and other figures—and monumental paintings, incised designs, and reliefs on the walls of caves such as Altamira (in Spain) and Lascaux Grotto (in France). The end of the Paleolithic is marked by the emergence of the settled agricultural villages of the Neolithic Period.
paleomagnetism or palaeomagnetism or remanent mag¬ netism Permanent magnetism in rocks, resulting from the orientation of the Earth’s magnetic field at the time of rock formation in a past geologic age. It is a source of information for the paleomagnetic studies of polar WANDERING and PLATE TECTONICS.
paleontology or palaeontology Scientific study of life of the geo¬ logic past, involving analysis of plant and animal fossils preserved in rocks. It is concerned with all aspects of the biology of ancient life forms: their shape and structure, evolutionary patterns, taxonomic relationships with each other and with modern species, geographic distribution, and interre¬ lationships with the environment. Paleontology has played a key role in reconstructing the Earth’s history and has provided evidence to support the theory of evolution. Data from paleontologic studies have also aided petro¬ leum geologists in locating deposits of oil and natural gas, which are fre¬ quently associated with the remains of certain ancient life forms.