Journal of Archaeological Science-Reports最新文献

The transition between the Late Copper and the Early Bronze Age in Central and Western Europe saw large-scale social disruptions ca. 2200 cal BCE (’4,2 ka event’). Their source is much debated, and scholars have addressed the problem from various disciplinary perspectives. One account points to the westward migration of populations with Pontic-Caspian ‘Steppe’ ancestry, possibly favoured by the spread of infectious diseases, but the question remains open. In southeast Iberia, the shift from communal burial practices in the Copper Age to single and double tombs in the Bronze Age offers a reliable diagnostic feature for the transition. To investigate social and demographic changes in this region during the late 3rd millennium BCE, we resorted to new C14 dates from human bone samples originating from both kinds of funerary contexts. Our statistical analysis indicates that most probably the changes in funerary rituals in southeast Iberia were fast. It also implies that the local populations had dropped in numbers before 2200 cal BCE, so that the presence of ‘Steppe ancestry’ ca. 2200–2000 cal BCE could be the result of their admixture with neighbouring peoples. Finally, we suggest that more high-precision C¹⁴ dates and archaeogenetic analyses from this transitional period are crucial for addressing the formation of Bronze Age societies.

The 6th century BCE is marked by major changes in the Mediterranean trade routes. These changes had a significant impact on the production of silver-lead in the Iberian Peninsula, which was previously thought to have come to an abrupt end.

However, the study of litharge from the early 5th century BCE to the first half of the 3rd century BCE, from three sites in the Alicante region, demonstrates that the types, textures and compositions of litharge remain unchanged after the crisis in Phoenician trade. Thus, although no production workshops have been found in the Cartegena mining district, it is possible to affirm that the cupellation processes used at the beginning of the first millennium BCE continued until the 3rd century BCE.

Lead isotopic analysis of the litharge and two lead artefacts indicate that they come from ores from the very rich mines of Cartagena-La Unión, which were extensively exploited between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE.

Despite a major decline in mining and metallurgical production and considerable changes in the networks of exchange in the Mediterranean, the same production chain persisted from lead extraction to the type of metallurgy practised. The economic crisis does not therefore lead to a cessation of production, but the quantity of lead (and silver) produced would probably be significantly lower.

The application of backing techniques is a central element in the manufacturing process of Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic lithic projectile implements (e.g., backed points, backed bladelets, backed and truncated bladelets, geometrics, etc.). In recent years, different studies based on a low magnification analysis have been developed to provide a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of these techniques. Within this general framework, to improve the reliability of backing techniques recognition, this paper explores the application of new methodologies including a high magnification microscopy and a quantitative analysis. The former permitted the observation of several microscopic traces (e.g., polishes and striations) yielding important information concerning the nature of the used retoucher (mineral vs. organic). The latter allowed evaluating the variability of several retouch scars features (angles, depth and size) and their statistical significance to distinguish backing techniques. Both methods were then applied to an archaeological sample of projectile implements from Riparo Tagliente (VR, Italy), providing valuable insights regarding backing techniques used by Late Epigravettian hunter-gatherer groups.

The South Carpathian basin, located between the Eastern Mediterranean and temperate Central Europe, was a diffusion lane and is one of the regions that provide a good baseline for examining the nature and dynamics of the agropastoral expansion, as well as the adaptations of different aspects of the ’Neolithic package’ into new natural environments. This article discusses the results of radiocarbon dates, stable isotope (C13, N15, and S34), and anthropological analyses carried out on human bones from three Early to Late Neolithic sites (from ca. 6021 to ca. 5212 cal. BC) located in the southwestern Carpathian Basin. In total, 9 radiocarbon dates were obtained, coupled with new isotopic (n = 6) and anthropological (n = 7) data. According to the stable isotope data, most of the protein in the human diet came from terrestrial animals. New radiocarbon dates indicate that humans were buried at the sites during the Early Neolithic Starčevo culture (ca. 6000–5300 cal. BC) as well as through the transition to the Late Neolithic Sopot culture (ca. 5300–5200 cal. BC). The paper shows that human dietary and health patterns at the studied sites of Golokut-Vizić, Donja Branjevina, and Bezdan-Bački Monoštor are similar to those at other Neolithic sites in the southwestern Carpathian basin and Central Balkans, indicating similar dietary adaptations and health status in this area during this period. The only exception are two individuals from Donja Branjevina who seemingly opted to keep traditional dietary strategies rather than use the ones more suitable for the new environment. Radiocarbon dates on humans from this site indicate that human burial practices occurred over a long period of time. The results filled the gaps in some of the older interpretations but also produced new insights regarding chronology, health, and diet during the Neolithic in the Carpathian basin.

Polished stone axes were used in the Bronze Age Carpathian Basin, but their number decreased, specifically in burials, compared to the Neolithic and Copper Age. This is particularly appropriate after 1500 BCE when stone was hindered by increasing metalworking, and several types of bronze axes became widespread. In this context its highly important that two stone axes were found, in Maklár-Koszpérium and Maklár-Nagyrét II, on the northern fringes of the Great Hungarian Plain. Both are Tumulus culture Bronze Age cremation cemeteries, dated by relative chronology to 1500–1300 BCE. This article focuses on the axes, including mineralogical and chemical composition, provenance of the raw materials, and their use-wear development and surface alteration marks. Non-destructive methods were applied, owing to the rarity and special character of the finds, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD) and prompt-gamma activation analysis (PGAA) to mineralogical and chemical composition investigation, respectively. Our results suggest both non-local and local raw material consumption since the alkaline basalt or basanite stone axe from Maklár-Koszpérium might originate from Burgenland, Austria from cca. 300 km distance, while the raw material of the Maklár-Nagyrét II. axe is a hydrothermally altered andesite, originating most probably from the volcanic areas of the Mátra Mountains, cca. 40 km away. This article reveals complex networks between Tumulus culture communities of Central Europe, including Moravia, Burgenland and the Northern Great Hungarian Plain, regarding the circulation of ideas, raw materials and artefacts. The raw material and the use-wear development of the Maklár-Koszpérium axe suggesting this artefact was probably used. Although the structural properties of the Maklár-Nagyrét II. axe’s andesite raw material was not proper for daily use, and use-wear and production traces were not observed owing probably to the porous raw material. However, surface alterations and fracture lines suggest this axe was probably placed on the pyre with the deceased.

Ancient Egyptian mirrors have received a great deal of attention for their cultural significance and connections to religious beliefs. However, in-depth investigations into their manufacture have been lacking with only a handful included in wider analyses. So how were mirrors manufactured? The preliminary metallurgical analysis presented here aims to shed light on this. With the use of SEM-EDX, analyses of Egyptian mirrors from a range of UK museum collections, spanning from the Old Kingdom through to the Late Period, have revealed the chemical composition and microstructure of the metal.

Although ceramic vessels form the majority of artifact assemblages in the Neolithic, little is known about their production beyond the assumption that they were made in a domestic context. Characterizing the scale of ceramic production is important for understanding Neolithic social and economic processes, particularly at sites with enclosure systems that indicate an increased degree of social organization. Nevertheless, characterizing the complexity and social entanglements of ceramic production is a difficult task in the absence of primary production locales.

In this study, we provide a working hypothesis and use ceramic and clay petrographic data to highlight the variability in ceramic technological practices, and in turn, identify the organization of ceramic production at the Late Neolithic (Lengyel I; 4750–4500 BCE) site of Těšetice-Kyjovice – Sutny, South Moravia, Czech Republic. The site is characterised by a large circular enclosure, the construction of which required a high level of social cooperation. It is still under scrutiny whether the cooperation required for building the enclosure system was only temporary and related to this construction activity, or if it reflects a higher degree of social organization in general.

By understanding ceramic production, we may clarify the complexity of the most common production processes that took place at the site. Large-scale ceramic and clay petrographic data provide information on the first steps of the chaîne opératoire in ceramic fabrication, which can be used to assess the organization of production. A systematic analysis of a large number of ceramic samples, representing all basic typological and macroscopically distinguishable fabric groups, revealed a high degree of individuality in choices of raw materials and tempers. Ceramic petrographic data, compared with the petrographic data of local sediment sources, further highlighted individuality in raw material and temper preferences, and even mixing of raw materials was identified.

Our analyses suggest that Lengyel culture potters likely produced their vessels on a household level, with no evidence suggesting non-domestic production. These data, in conjunction with ceramic petrographic data from Hungarian Late Neolithic sites, suggest that Late Neolithic communities were self-sufficient in terms of utilitarian pottery production. Ceramic petrographic data also indicate interaction between the inhabitants of Těšetice and other Lengyel culture communities in the vicinity, perhaps further indicating a higher degree of social organization at the site.

Stable isotopes from bones and teeth have been used to reconstruct human lifeways in bioarchaeological research for over 30 years. Recently, there have been efforts to use less invasive methods of analysis that meet ethical standards and do not compromise the integrity of human skeletal remains. To that end, this study examines dental calculus from human teeth as a proxy for paleodietary reconstruction. This current work builds on a handful of studies that have tested the use of dental calculus for reconstructing diet, which have shown mixed results. This study contributes to those ongoing efforts to improve methods and capacities in paleodiet research. The sample is comprised of dental calculus from individuals from the Wari (600–1000 CE) and post-Wari periods (1000–1400 CE). Individuals from both time periods with stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data from the calculus are directly compared to the stable isotope results from human bone collagen, dental carbonates, and bone carbonates. Results from dental calculus show δ¹³C that range from -20.5 ‰ to −12.3 ‰, consistent with the use of C₄ plants (maize) as a major component of the diet. The δ¹³C from calculus are isotopically lighter and more varied than those obtained from collagen, and this is likely explained by the distinct composition of calculus compared to that of bone collagen and apatite. The δ¹⁵N from calculus range from +8.9 ‰ to +18.8 ‰, which is heavier than expected for highland maize-based diets in the Peruvian Andes. This may be explained by ¹⁵N enrichment from aridity or crop fertilization (e.g., camelid dung), especially during the post Wari period, a time of social upheaval and severe drought. The differences in stable isotope values may also be partially explained by the diet-sourced isotopes in bone collagen (e.g., averaging the last 5–10 years of life) versus that of dental calculus (e.g., averaging the last few years of life). Documenting these differences in stable isotope ratios from distinct components may aid in richer understandings of past diets and provide additional ways to compare diet through time and space. Indeed, as more researchers begin analyzing the stable isotope ratios from dental calculus, we can minimize destructive techniques and make direct comparisons between studies that use dental calculus. We suggest that this is an important expansion of our analytical toolkit.

Interest in subsistence strategies practiced by the Kura-Araxes communities in Southern Caucasus and the highlands of the Near East has a long history, yet direct studies of paleodiet at the scale of the individual are few. We apply serial sampling of carbon and nitrogen isotopes in 17 teeth representing 11 comingled individuals at the Kura-Araxes early Bronze Age site Köhne Shahar (KSH) in northwestern Iran. Proteomic analyses of dental enamel show seven females and four males. Isotopic results indicate an agro-pastoral diet with little or no C₄ millet. Individual isotopic biographies reveal a dietary life history that includes weaning between 1.5 and 3.7 years of age (average = 2.4 years), followed by a stable early childhood diet with little intra-individual variation through age 10 years. Isotopic shifts around 12–14 years of age suggest a change in diet that may correspond to marriage and the establishment of new household units focused more on plant foods. Gradual isotopic shifts between 14 and 20 years may represent such households developing livestock herds and increasing meat consumption. Stability in diet across this transition is consistent with village endogamy. Sex-linked differences in the age of weaning and childhood δ¹⁵N values hint at differences in learning and enculturation practices. Males and about half of females were weaned earlier but had access to greater amounts of meat, suggesting they were more involved in animal husbandry and/or production of animal products (e.g., cheese, yoghurt) outside the house. By contrast, the other half of females were weaned later in childhood, but ate significantly more plant foods, suggesting they were more involved in tending gardens and producing crafts and/or plant-based foods within the house, where they had greater access to breastmilk.

Recent petrological, mineralogical and geochemical investigations of the Stonehenge Altar Stone have negated its source in the Old Red Sandstone (ORS) Anglo-Welsh Basin. Further, it has been suggested that it is time to look wider, across northern Britain and Scotland, especially in areas where geological and geochemical evidence concur, and there is evidence of Neolithic communities and their monuments. In this context the islands of Orkney, with its rich Neolithic archaeology, are an obvious area worthy of investigation. The same techniques applied to investigations of the Altar Stone and ORS sequences in southern Britain have been applied to two major Neolithic monuments on Mainland Orkney, namely the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar. In addition, field samples of ORS lithologies from the main stratigraphic horizons on Mainland Orkney have been investigated.

Portable XRF analyses of the five exposed stones at the Stones of Stenness and seven of the exposed stones at the Ring of Brodgar show a wide range of compositions, having similar compositions to field samples analysed from both the Lower and Upper Stromness Flagstone formations, with the stones at Stenness appearing to have been sourced from the Upper Stromness Flagstone Formation while the Ring of Brodgar stones possibly being sourced from both formations. Examination of the mineralogy of ORS field samples and the Stonehenge Altar Stone, using a combination of X-ray diffraction, microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and automated SEM-EDS shows there to be no match between the Orkney samples and the Altar Stone. Only two samples from Orkney showed the presence of baryte, a characteristic mineral of the Altar Stone. Another key discriminant is the presence of abundant detrital K-feldspar in all of the Orkney field samples, a mineral which has only very low abundance in the Altar Stone. In addition, the regularly interstratified dioctahedral/dioctahedral smectite mineral tosudite is present in the clay mineral assemblage of the Altar Stone, but not detected in the Orkney samples.

It is concluded that the Altar Stone was not sourced from Mainland Orkney, despite considerable evidence for long-distance communications between Orkney and Stonehenge around 3000/2900 BCE.