Journal of Archaeological Science-Reports最新文献

Although still rare, archaeobotanical analyses have recently been carried out on samples from several early-medieval sites located in the wider area of the Sava-Drava interfluve. The analyses conducted have resulted in somewhat scarce results, and the data obtained provides only a general insight into dietary habits and agricultural activities in this region in the period between the 7th and 10th centuries. The lack of comprehensive and representative data limits these understandings, and new data obtained from the archaeobotanical analysis of plant remains from the Ivanec–Stari Grad (Castle) site, in northern Croatia, has the potential to more notably contribute to these findings. At this complex multi-period archaeological site, a compact and relatively thick early-medieval settlement layer has been discovered and systematically sampled. Among the archaeobotanical finds retrieved by water flotation of sediment samples, the large quantity of small-grained cereals (Panicum miliaceum, Setaria italica) and the few, but diverse, finds of legumes, and of cultivated and wild fruits, stand out. In addition, there is also an exceptionally high number of fruits of weed species (Echinochloa crus-galli, Polygonum lapathifolium, Chenopodium album), intra-site distribution of which can be directly linked to contexts with a high proportion of cereals. The situation established thereby, expanded by the analysis of comparable data sets, provides new insights into the dietary habits of the rural population in the Sava-Drava interfluve during the early Middle Ages.

The Corduba-Emerita Road, together with an extensive network of secondary roads, was the first link in the chain that allowed Rome to acquire the renowned copper of Corduba (Andalusia, Spain) mentioned by Pliny, as well as many other metals that were extracted from the Sierra Morena mountains and transported to the Eternal City. Numerous obstacles, such as the vast territory, mountainous areas, and changes in the landscape, have obscured evidence of Roman infrastructures. Recent discoveries using remote sensing methods have provided valuable information about the Roman system of penetration, control, and administration in the Baetica domains. This article presents the methodology developed using LiDAR, orthoimages from light aircraft and drone flights, and other tools to gain deeper knowledge of Roman roads in mountainous environments where field research has often been complex and unfruitful.

The main focus of this study was to examine 25 samples of archaeological ceramic materials currently preserved in the Archaeological Museum of the Ancient Capua and Mitreo investigated in the framework of an international project. These samples primarily consist of architectural terracotta from the Fondo Patturelli extra-urban sanctuary, as well as architectural terracotta, pottery and waste material from the nearby Alveo Marotta furnace.

To investigate these artifacts, a multi-analytical mineralogical-petrographic approach was performed. Thin section observations revealed that almost all samples exhibit a coarse-grained paste. The fragments were categorized into three petrographic groups based on the type and quantity of temper, which is mostly composed of volcanic grains. They include lithics and juvenile fragments (obsidians and pumices) ascribed to the products of the major Campanian eruptions as detected via FESEM-EDS. Bulk chemical analyses (WD-XRF) show that almost all samples form a homogeneous group made with Ca-rich clayey raw materials, also including three wastes of tiles from the Alveo Marotta. By contrast, other two wastes from Alveo Marotta were produced with Ca-poor clay suggesting the use of a different raw material.

From a technological point of view the samples are characterized by a thermal range that varies from 750 to 900 °C, notably different between the earlier and later production periods, with the former fired at lower temperatures.

Between 1989 and 1990 the Expedition to the Dead Sea Plain excavated a group of 15 tombs at the Early Bronze Age IA (c.3700–3400) cist-tomb cemetery at Fifa, Jordan. These tombs contained a variety of grave goods including beads made from carnelian. The present study employs morphometric data and microscopic indicators of manufacture and use to explore the relationship between carnelian beads, burial practices, manufacturing processes, and exchange. Manufacturing traces suggest that the beads from Fifa were created through a process of knapping and progressive stages of abrasion. Beads were perforated through pecking on one or two sides. Polish from use was observed on beads throughout the assemblage, suggesting that the beads were worn prior to their deposition, albeit for an unknown period of time. The amount of this use polish was highly variable suggesting that different beads were in use for greater or lesser periods of time. Morphometric and manufacturing data were utilized in tandem in order to suggest where the beads were produced. While a great deal of prior scholarship has suggested that carnelian beads found in the Early Bronze Age Levant originated in Egypt, we argue that some or all of these beads may alternatively have been produced in Northwestern Arabia or Eastern Jordan. This study demonstrates the value of systematic approaches to the study of beads in order to better understand processes of ritual behavior, craft production, and exchange.

The extinction of megafauna in the Americas was among the most severe worldwide. In both North and South America, human hunting and the ecological effects of climate change were attributed as the leading causes of extinction. We hypothesize that megamammal populations were not adaptively vulnerable as has been proposed previously and that different megafauna species responded differently to climate and humans. To test this hypothesis, we used stable isotope analysis (δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O) of mineral phase bioapatite from megamammal remains from archaeological and paleontological sites located in the Argentine Pampas (Buenos Aires province) and covering the last ∼ 16–11 cal ka BP, the time bin of the arrival and first human occupations in the region. We then computed Bayesian mixing models and reconstructed the isotopic niches of different megamammal taxa. We reconstruct aspects of the megamammal community structure during the initial period of human occupation and set qualitative and quantitative bases to predict potential shifts in their isotopic niches. Our results show that the megafauna of the Argentine Pampas during the latest Pleistocene had different habitats and food preferences, spanning a wide range of trophic categories. These findings are essential to evaluate how different megamammal species responded to human and climatic pressures leading to their eventual extinction.

Understanding the seasonal and daily aspects of late Roman and early medieval life in northern Britain has been hugely challenging due to a dearth of excavated sites and poor preservation of settlement features where identified. This problem has been compounded by a very limited historical record for this era and region. But a new generation of archaeological data has begun to illuminate the Picts, a group first mentioned in late Roman sources and one that went on to become the dominant kingdom of early medieval northern Britain. These new datasets include innovative microbotanical analyses that can shed light on Pictish foodways, including culinary traditions, and specific plant foods consumed. This study employs non-destructive microbotanical analysis of pot sherds from Pictish settlement contexts and human teeth from Pictish burials, examining the presence of starch grains and phytoliths from six prominent sites spanning the Pictish period (AD∼300 – 900). Our research confirms that cereals such as oats and barley were the primary plants cultivated, cooked, and consumed in northeast Scotland during the late Roman Iron Age and early medieval period. These microbotanical residues add detailed evidence to previous studies of isotopic, pollen, and trace macrobotanical proxies, but also offer fresh insights into the potential composition of specific Pictish meal types. The approaches outlined here have greatly expanded and enriched our understanding of the dietary habits and lifestyle of the Picts, an important, but under-researched group.

This paper aims at an interdisciplinary, archaeological and archaeometric characterisation of the western Greek amphorae series produced in late Archaic and Classical-period at Selinunte (southwestern Sicily). Furthermore, it seeks for archaeometric parameters useful for its distinction from the morphologically very similar production of nearby Agrigento.

The research is based on a macroscopic examination, according to the standardised methods of Fabrics of the Central Mediterranean (FACEM), combined with petrographic analyses of 25 amphorae samples and eight coarse ware samples of presumed local fabric found mostly in Selinunte, in the artisanal quarter, in the western town, and in the major sanctuary on the acropolis. Furthermore, a small selection of three amphorae has been unearthed in the western necropolis of Himera and at Cossyra/Pantelleria. Chemical analyses have been undertaken on a group of ten amphorae and four coarse ware samples.

As a result, our study confirms the local manufacture of the entire selection of 33 samples and the more than acceptable petrographic and chemical homogeneity of the ceramic pastes produced with locally sourced clays. Some slight but significant compositional, textural and micro-paleontological differences between Selinuntine and Agrigento productions were pointed out.

The identification of a production of western Greek wine-carrying (?) amphorae in Selinunte dating from the late 6th-earlier 4th century BCE supports earlier archaeometric analyses and breaks ground for a better understanding of the colony’s economic development during the late Archaic and Classical periods. The present research will help to clarify the distribution of the class especially in Selinunte’s territory, while its supra-regional circulation seems to have been quite limited.

Recognising and understanding ritual practices in the past is a notoriously difficult process in archaeology. This is further hampered by variable approaches and recording systems used for human and animal remains, particularly when they are comingled within the same ritual deposit. Often this fragmented approach means that the treatment of faunal and human remains cannot be directly compared, obscuring the role of humans and animals within the ritual. This paper seeks to illustrate the necessity of using integrated taphonomic recording and analysis on human and animal remains in order to address the complexities of ritual in the archaeological record using a case study from a ritual shaft from first century AD Roman England. The integrated analysis revealed a complex relationship between dogs and humans that has not previously been recognised in Romano-British material.

Basque whalers were active in the North Atlantic between the 11th and 18th. In the 16th and 17th c., they focused their attention to the coasts of Labrador and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, establishing shore stations from where they launched boats for chasing whales. On shore, they proceeded to render the blubber into oil by boiling it in large trypots. The residual blubber and remaining tissues were then used as fuel to boil more blubber. When the fire pit was full, the cinders were shoveled out, and the process began anew with new materials. Fist-sized lumps of cinder found at Bonne Espérance-4 (EiBk-61), a 16th Basque whaling site on the Quebec Lower North Shore, were sampled for proteomics analysis, to detect potential remains of whale tissues in the cinder. A simple protocol was employed for rapidly processing samples for nanoLC-MS/MS analysis. Out of 10 spots sampled on two lumps, materials recovered from one successfully yielded whale proteins. The study confirmed the presence of blubber and muscle remains (42 protein groups, including proteins such as myosin, myoglobin and hemoglobin) as well as baleen remains identified by cuticular keratins (12 protein groups, and up to 46 % protein coverage on type I keratin). Baleen, abundantly found at the site, was likely also used as fuel; based on keratin markers, the baleen belonged to a Balaenidae species. The processing of bowhead whale tissue was substantiated by specific peptides from myoglobin and obscurin, a result consistent with the targeting of bowhead whale by Basque whalers.