Journal of Archaeological Science-Reports最新文献

Until now, there are few archaeological evidence to document the lithic technology or behavior of the hominin in East Asia during the Early Pleistocene period. Here, we present the Acheulean assemblage including 4 cores, 4 scrapers and 9 bifacial large-cutting-tools from the gravel beds of the Fengshudao and Hengshandao sites in the Bose Basin of Guangxi, southern China, to promote research work in this area. This Acheulean assemblage is completely within the variations of the Acheulean techno-complexes in East Asia. This newly identified Acheulean artefacts further expands the spatio-temporal distribution range of the Acheulean population in East Asia. Acheulean artefacts in the gravel bed indicate an earlier occupation of Acheulean population in Bose Basin before 800 ka. And, except for the floodplain environment, the Acheulean population in the Bose Basin may also explore and settle the gravel bar environment as their western counterpart during the early Pleistocene period. It has to be admitted that we have found relatively few stone artifacts so far, and further excavation and direct dating of stone artifacts from the gravel bed in the Bose Basin will further advance the study of the Acheulean industry in eastern Asia.

The presence of plants in funerary rituals is a topic that has not been sufficiently investigated. The necropolis of Puig des Molins (Ibiza) dated to the 1st millennium BC, offers the opportunity to approach the role of plant remains involved in cremation and inhumation rituals, either as part of the pyre and other ritual fires or indirectly, as offerings or feasting activities, but also taphonomic and chronological questions. The origin of plant remains may sometimes be uncertain or not contemporary with the tomb in which they are found. In cremations, along with the charred wood (mostly pines, Olea europaea and Pistacia), presumably the fuel used in the pyres, different remains of cereals (barley and naked wheat), legumes (lentil and vetch) and fruits (grape, almond and pine nuts) were documented, probably as offerings introduced into the fire at some point in the ritual. The inhumation features are filled with sediment that may contain heterogeneous remains from the entire area of the necropolis and from the activities that took place in it. Charred bread fragments have also been documented, which indicates the specific production, consumption and/or offering of this product.

Archaeological wood charcoals offer a unique window to study paleoclimates through their ¹³C isotope composition (δ¹³C) provided that (i) past heating temperatures are assessed to correct δ¹³C modifications related to carbonisation, and (ii) they have not been modified by post-depositional processes occurring in soil after their formation. Our goal was to assess how post-depositional processes can modify (i) the determination of past heating temperatures by Raman thermometry and (ii) the δ¹³C signature of charcoals, notably through the occurrence of exogenous organic matter (OM). To this end, short-term post-depositional processes were simulated on oak and pine charcoals − produced at 400 and 600 °C − incubated in vermicompost for 6 months. While almost all the studied charcoals showed no evidence of the occurrence of exogenous OM, pine charcoal produced at 400 °C appeared to be subjected to an organic coating with incubation time. This organic coating may have led to a decrease in the H_D/H_G ratio, a proxy of carbonisation temperatures obtained from Raman spectra. In contrast, the H_D/H_G ratio increased in oak charcoal produced at 400 and 600 °C at certain incubation times. Although the processes behind these modifications remain unclear, this investigation highlights that the Raman thermometer may be biased when assessing the heating temperatures of archaeological charcoals. In addition, subtle modifications in the chemistry of pine charcoal produced at 400 °C were enough to yield an increase in δ¹³C by up to 0.3 ‰ at the short-term scale of our incubation experiments. This study suggests that long-term experiments are necessary to assess the effect of post-depositional processes on the chemical structure of charcoals and to provide a valuable framework to minimize potential biases in the use of Raman thermometry and of the δ¹³C signature.

This contribution focuses on the use of space within phase VI B2 of the site of Arslantepe (2900–2750 BCE; Eastern Anatolia, Turkey). VI B2 relates to a Near-East Early Bronze Age farmer’s village, with no apparent internal hierarchy, developed on the exterior of a monumental wall. This wall, erected shortly before the construction of the residential area (early VI B2), may have lost its defensive function in the phase examined here (late VI B2). Inside the fortification, a row of single rooms was placed against the walls, constructed using techniques similar to those of the houses, indicating they were contemporaneous with the residential structures. These rooms contained various raw materials and equipment, suggesting they served as both storage spaces and areas where activities were carried out. This work presents the results of the use-wear analysis on macro-lithic and chipped stone tools coming from open spaces and rooms located beyond the wall. By integrating use-wear data with other available information from this area, the research sheds light on the activities carried out within these spaces. In addition, the obtained results are compared with data from the entire level VI B2, allowing for the identification of similarities and differences between the two sectors of the village.

The Noble-Wieting cultural site (11ML24) is a 14th century CE village in Illinois notable for its mix of Langford tradition and Mississippian-style ceramics. The site is situated in a “frontier” location, quite distant from known Langford and Mississippian villages. Notably, Noble-Wieting has a remarkably high ratio of elk, Cervus canadensis, to white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, at roughly 1:5 by NISP and 1:2 by MNI. The abundance of elk suggests a possible ecological explanation for the site’s location and multi-cultural nature: that inhabitants were drawn to the area due to an abundance of elk in the local landscape. We investigated this possibility using faunal and isotopic analysis, focusing particularly on ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values from deer and elk tooth enamel apatite. Our findings suggest that while deer hunting was rooted in the local landscape, elk largely came from non-local environments, which conflicts with the simple ecological explanation for the site’s location. Indeed, our data suggest that elk hunting involved either excursions to more distant locations or occasional hunting trips closer to home during seasonal elk migrations through the area. Either way, elk hunts would have been occasions of special social and economic importance. Elk hunting, butchering, and meat sharing could have acted to form and strengthen community bonds in this apparently multi-cultural community.

The ram, made of a bronze casing over a wooden structure, projected from below the waterline at the bow of the trireme. Its main purpose was to cause structural damage to the hull of the attacked ship and ensure large-scale water penetration. A ‘first principles process’ infrastructure, based on engineering principles and the energy balance concept of physics, was developed to estimate the minimum velocity required to damage an attacked ship by a ram. Deriving the velocity estimate was based on analyzing the construction details of the attacked ship and assessing its capacity to withstand the impact of a designated ’ram–head’ length. The model led to a ’velocity range’ spanning from 1.3 to 3 knots. This interval results from considering a spectrum of possible values for the parameters involved in the equation, extracted from shipwreck archaeological data. This velocity range is well within the capabilities of a trireme, as estimated by researchers and proven experimentally by the crew of the Olympias.

Our understanding of the Neolithic of southern Britain has been largely based on the interpretation of monumental landscapes such as those around Stonehenge and Avebury. The remains of domestic structures dating to the Neolithic are rare, and when found, are often associated with small assemblages of material culture. The most common forms of settlement evidence are unstratified artefact scatters, which have little evidence of associated structural remains. As a result, our understanding of Neolithic settlement is poor. We have limited knowledge of what craft and subsistence activities were associated with them, and we do not know how quotidian practices were organised at a settlement or landscape level.

Taking the West Kennet Avenue Occupation Site as an example, this paper will show how use-wear analysis can be combined with a detailed technological analysis to reveal details of the character and temporality of a Neolithic settlement. The use-wear analysis will focus on the assemblage of microdenticulates from the site. It further explores the character and potential contact material related to Polish 23, the distinctive use-polish that occurs on these tools, and shows how the combination of spatial analysis and use-wear analysis can separate different episodes of occupation in a scatter of unstratified artefacts. The results provide crucial insight into the history of settlement in the Avebury landscape and shed further light on the character of use of microdenticulates, supporting the argument that they were used for processing plant fibres for the production of textiles.

The early Māori settlers of Ahuahu, a small island off the Coromandel Peninsula of Aotearoa New Zealand, engineered the environment to create a raised-bed irrigation system to grow taro (Colocasia esculenta). Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modelling of water flow provides insights into how the irrigation system functioned. Excavation and coring data and a digital elevation model combine to simulate the hydrology of the raised-bed irrigation system at Waitetoke on Ahuahu. This modelling demonstrates that for operation, the system required a series of channels and weirs to divert water from a nearby spring. The slow-moving water delivered nutrients to the cultivation area and also promoted the growth of nitrogen fixing algae. Exogenous nutrients including wood ash and calcium carbonate along with fire modified rocks derived from nearby household hearths added to the cultivation matrix created ideal conditions for taro growth. Over the span of over two hundred years, Māori engaged in various forms of niche construction to enhance taro production by altering feedback relationships between the geomorphology of the area, a natural spring, the constructed channels and weirs, water, cultivars, algae, and soil nutrients.

The color red has held significant historical symbolism and meaning throughout history and can be produced from various sources, including plants and animals. Some of the most luxurious red dyes were derived from various species of scale insects, particularly those of the Coccoidae superfamily. Today, advanced analytical methods allow to trace the origins of dyes even after thousands of years, providing insights into the technological capabilities of the ancient world as well as past economic and social conditions. In our research on textiles discovered in the Cave of Skulls in the Judean Desert, we conducted dye analyses using High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and identified one unique, red-dyed textile, which was dyed with scale insects. Our analysis enables to pinpoint the precise source of the red color in archaeological textiles down to the species level, and it can be determined with a high degree of certainty that the dye used was Kermes vermilio. Direct radiocarbon dating places this textile in the Middle Bronze Age (1954–1767 BCE), shedding light on the early use of scale-insect dyes in ancient textile production.

From the beginning of the Italian Copper Age, personal ornaments increased and were enriched with new morphologies. A remarkable production of marble beads began in the central part of the peninsula. However, specific and comprehensive studies analysing this production and its role in ancient communities are still lacking.

In order to obtain information on the production and use of marble beads, our study has adopted a broad methodological approach, combining experimental, traceological and typological data, as well as morphometric analyses. Our work focuses on north-western Tuscany (Italy) during the 4th millennium BC, where these ornaments are exclusively documented in burials.

The results showed that the archaeological beads were made of local marble, mainly from the Apuan Alps. The beads had different shapes, sizes, and perforations, suggesting different production processes.

The detailed analysis of the marble ornaments has revealed traces of prolonged use of these artefacts, providing new insights useful for understanding the cult practices and socio-economic dynamics of the communities of the Copper Age in central Italy.