Journal of Archaeological Science-Reports最新文献

The discovery of Lapita-decorated ceramics in the Massim region and southern Papua New Guinea coast, along with finds of pottery on Jiigurru (Lizard Island) in the Great Barrier Reef and in the Torres Strait demonstrates the presence of seaborne movements in the Coral Sea as early as ∼ 2900–2500 cal. BP (Ulm et al. 2024). As an introduced Austronesian technology, ceramics are central to archaeological understandings of early maritime routes and cross-cultural relationships between Island Southeast Asians, Papuan peoples, and Indigenous Australians. In the Torres Strait only a small number of pot sherds have been reported. Those found in the western islands were probably made using local materials, while the ceramics from eastern islands have been sourced to southern Papua New Guinea (Carter, 2004, Carter, et al., 2004). In this paper, petrographic examination of sherd tempers recently recovered from the Eastern Torres Strait islands of Dauar and Waier indicate derivation from the Purari River basin in southern New Guinea. A distinct granitic temper sherd dated to ∼ 2600 cal. BP differs from known sherd tempers and likely originates from the Western Torres Strait. The provenance of this granitic sherd is consistent with the early movement of ceramic-making groups along the south New Guinea coast and into the Torres Strait, and with the ability of these groups to make long-distance passages in the Arafura and Coral Seas.

So-called “dog burials” represent a common phenomenon discovered on many sites dating to the late Iron Age in Central Europe. The article focuses on zooarchaeological analysis of skeletal dog remains from Sławsko Wielkie, site 12 (Poland), a settlement of Przeworsk culture, dated to the La Tène and Roman periods (3rd century BCE – 5th century CE). Although these deposits were often discussed in the older archaeological literature regarding the ritual sphere of Iron Age societies, they still lack more systematic zooarchaeological research. In this study, we present the results of the research focused on morphotype and life conditions of the Iron Age dog population from the Polish Lowlands. A broad spectrum of methods is proposed, including biometry, age of death and sex estimations, observations of pathological alterations, and contextual and comparative analyses supplemented with radiocarbon dating.

Cremation was a very common ritual in ancient Roman funerary traditions. However, the study of cremated human remains has always been complex and challenging, which has often led to an imbalance in data recording between inhumations and cremations. In this work, we study 14 cremation burials from two different urban cemeteries in the Roman city of Mutina (Modena, Emilia-Romagna, north-eastern Italy). The use of strontium isotope analysis provides insights into the mobility pattern and provenance of individuals cremated and buried at Mutina. The isotopic results suggest that nine samples fall outside the local bioavailable strontium range of the city of Modena, given their different ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values compared to the ratio compatible with alluvial deposits in the Po Valley. Both the isotopic results and the manufacture of some funerary objects suggest that the probable provenance of some individuals is compatible with western (Pre)Alpine areas. The values of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr also complement the results obtained from the osteological analysis increasing the minimum number of individuals buried in at least one grave. Our study revealed key insights about cremated individuals from Italy, highlighting variations of the mobility patterns within Roman funerary contexts of Mutina.

The study of dental microwear, the microscopic patterns left on teeth from interactions with food, has become instrumental in examining the diets of past societies. This approach gained prominence with the advent of dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA), an automated method that minimises observer error. Nevertheless, interpreting microwear patterns remains challenging due to limited knowledge about which foods and processing methods produce specific markings. Given the subtle variations in human diets compared to other species, there is a pressing need for more comprehensive in vivo data on microwear production.

In this study, we improved our understanding of DMTA by employing multivariate analyses to combine parameters from surface texture analyses (STA) with the more common parameters derived from scale sensitive fractal analyses (SSFA). We collected dental impressions from five Kenyan communities: El Molo, Turkana (Kerio), Luhya (Webuye), Luhya (Port Victoria), and Luo (Port Victoria), representing a range of subsistence strategies – fishing, pastoralism, and agriculture. Regrettably, the presence of oral biofilm – a bacterial layer covering teeth in living individuals – often hampers the accurate moulding of dental microwear in vivo. Despite the constraint imposed by the presence of biofilm, which limited our sample to only 37 usable surfaces, we found that while SSFA variables failed to distinguish between populations, combining them with STA parameters in multivariate analyses successfully differentiated the El Molo from the other populations, as well as the groups from Port Victoria.

Our findings suggest that this approach offers a more comprehensive understanding of microwear variation. To ensure the continued relevance of dental microwear studies in understanding the diets of past societies, we must improve our understanding of the relationship between dental microwear patterns and the complex, mixed diets of humans, and overcome the current limitations of the technique. Consistently incorporating ISO 25178 in our analyses represents a promising avenue for achieving this objective.

While the significance of the Yangshao culture in early China is widely recognized, systematic and detailed analysis and discussion of its subsistence strategy are lacking, especially for faunal materials. This paper examines the new and crucial faunal remains that include 3,400 identified specimens from the Miaodigou site unearthed in 2002. At that site, pig husbandry was predominant and wild animals were occasionally hunted as supplemental resources. In combination with published research including zooarchaeology, paleoethnobotany, and carbon and nitrogen stable isotope studies of 29 other sites mainly from the Guanzhong area and western Henan, we argue that subsistence strategy underwent a comprehensive and profound transformation during the middle period of Yangshao culture, namely Miaodigou period, as crop production and pig husbandry flourished in a wide range of areas. Domestic pigs accounted for over 80% of mammals, reaching an unprecedented proportion in the Neolithic age and manifesting a high level of consistency in feeding and slaughtering, and foxtail millet replaced broomcorn to become the most important crop at all sites, both of which demonstrate the breadth and depth of this transformation. The tension between the deterioration of climate, the decrease of surrounding wildlife resources due to excessive development and the continuous growth of the population may have contributed to this transformation. This study enriches our understanding of human-environment interactions in the embryonic stage of Chinese civilization and triggers further thoughts on how culture, society, the environment and subsistence were entangled in the development of civilization.

Using stable isotope and Bayesian Mixing Models, this study aims to understand the preadult dietary patterns of human individuals from Huaca 20 (H20, 620–780 CE), a residential sector of the main urban center in the lower Rimac Valley of the Peruvian Central Coast. Due to preservation issues, a practical approach was employed to understand the diet of this population, using data for δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N obtained from the dentine of anatomic tooth segments of 20 adult individuals, which were analyzed by sex and broad life-stages (i.e., infant, child, adolescent). We then conducted individual paleodietary reconstructions using a Bayesian Mixing Model to obtain the quantitative contribution of four food groups. The results indicate that this population relied on a mixed diet mainly composed of C₄ (maize) and C₃ resources complemented with marine protein in variable proportions, and minimal contributions of terrestrial protein. Maize and C₃ resources were the main foods during infancy and childhood of these adults, whereas the diet during adolescence shows more marine protein, possibly more similar to the adult diet of this community. This isotopic evidence from Huaca 20 suggests the use of specific infant feeding strategies.

The Middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, constituting a region rich in metal resources, played an important role in the formation and early development of the Bronze Age civilization in China, mainly including mainly the southeastern part of Hubei Province, the northern part of Jiangxi Province and the southern part of Anhui Province. Geological surveys have revealed that this region, which stretches for 500 km along the Yangtze River, is rich in mines, and archaeological institutions have discovered a large number of Bronze Age mining and metallurgical sites in the region over the past three decades. This region is an important area for studying the rise and prosperity of the Chinese Bronze Age civilization. Therefore, exploring the production pattern of the bronze industry in the copper mining area in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, as well as the resource circulation network between this region and the northern part of China, has become a hot issue in Chinese archaeological research in recent years.From March to July 2023, Wuhan University and the Cultural Relics Bureau of Yangxin County formed a joint archaeological team to carry out an archaeological survey of mining and metallurgical sites in an independent geographic unit in the northern part of Yangxin County, Hubei Province, covering an area of 120 km², and a total of 60 mining and metallurgical sites were discovered during the survey, and approximately two-thirds of the 60 sites exhibited the landscape with a more typical terrace-shaped site. In this study, we have carried out systematic archaeological exploration and drone mapping of the Youzhashan site, a typical terrace-shaped site in this region, and reconstructed the process of terrace-shaped site accumulation formation using materials from archaeological excavation, exploration and survey. In addition, scientific and technological tests were conducted on the metallurgical relics collected from the Youzhashan site, which revealed the occurrence e of copper smelting activities at the Youzhashan site, and we analyzed the processing system. In addition, the carbon samples excavated from the Youzhashan site were carbon dated to determine the exact date of the formation of the Youzhashan site.

This study investigates Bronze Age swords using experimental methodology and metalwork wear analysis, confirming and supplementing previous findings. Conducted independently, our research utilized consistent experimental methods, yielding similar results to ongoing experiments in Europe. Analysis of combat traces from 47 swords from Bohemia and Moravia reveals significant patterns, particularly regarding blade usage in combat, impacting our understanding of sword fighting techniques in Central Europe. The article focuses on sword usage in combat and its effects on tissue, contributing to the broader understanding of ancient weaponry and combat strategies.

Several palynological and microhistological studies have demonstrated the potential of coprolites analyses for understanding paleodiets and paleoenvironmental reconstructions of species of archaeological interest, such as Lama guanicoe (guanaco). The guanaco was the main food resource for hunter-gatherers from Patagonia, and this predator–prey relationship probably influenced their geographical and seasonal distribution during the Holocene. The aim of this study was to identify the food items consumed by camelids inhabiting the Parque Nacional Perito Moreno, Argentina. This study was carried out through the analysis of plant remains and pollen in modern feces and coprolites. The samples were collected from the Alero Destacamento Guardaparque archaeological site. Although plant remains and pollen in the modern feces were well preserved, the coprolites showed signs of poor preservation and exhibited fungal spores in all samples. The food items detected in the modern feces were similar with remains from the middle and late Holocene coprolites. They coincide with the current vegetation of the grass-shrub steppe. Plant species identified in the coprolites included Armeria maritima, Clinopodium darwinii, Colobanthus lycopodioides, Perezia recurvata, Senecio cuneatus, and various species of Poaceae, including Bromus setifolius, Deschampsia antarctica, Festuca pallescens, Nassella tenuis, Pappostipa chrysophylla, P. speciosa, Poa ligularis, and Rytidosperma sp. These results provide information about the diet of L. guanicoe which inhabited the area near the Alero Destacamento Guardaparque site. In addition, new detailed information for the reconstruction of paleoenvironments during the middle and late Holocene in the PNPM was obtained, which is crucial for ecological niche reconstructions.

In this article, we present the results of trace and experimental analyses of bone and teeth tools (24 specimens) from the cultural layers of Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age settlements at the Kryvina peat-bog (North-Eastern Belarus). Based on manufacturing traces, these small-sized items (averaging 35 mm in length) were categorized separately as prongs, characterized by a sharp tip at one end and a wide, sometimes specially polished base. The broad base of these prongs exhibited glue residues, indicating they were rigidly fixed. Microscopic analysis of the prong surfaces revealed a diverse and complex set of wear marks. To determine the origin of these wear traces, we conducted a series of experiments processing wool and plant fibers. In these experiments, replicas of the prongs were mounted in wooden bases to function as combs and carding boards. The results of the experiments were correlated with archaeological samples. To interpret these findings, we considered the cultural and historical context of the region during the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age, alongside archaeozoological data indicating the use of domestic animals (sheep and goats) in the Kryvina peat-bog by at least the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. Based on the collected evidence, we reconstruct the processing of wool from these animals in the region, marking the first such evidence for the forest zone of Eastern Europe.