Journal of Archaeological Science-Reports最新文献

The first settlers of the Canary Islands arrived at this archipelago from northern Africa between the 2nd and 5th centuries CE. These communities probably knew metallurgy in their area of origin, although an adaptation process must have taken place for the successful development of woodworking strategies based on stone/bone technologies in a volcanic archipelago. In this paper, the first experimental program focusing on Prehispanic indigenous woodworking activities is presented. Conducted in 2022 in Tenerife, 41 experiments explored technological traces of specific woodworking actions and techniques, using replicas of tools made from obsidian, coarse-grained volcanic and pumice rocks, as well as transformed ovicaprid bones serving as bone chisels, wooden wedges and hammers. The experimentation addressed some of the woodworking chaîne opératoire stages, generating a reference collection of tool marks produced under controlled variables. The obtained experimental dataset enabled statistical comparisons with diverse archaeological artifacts in terms of typology and origin. Our results provide preliminary observations regarding actions, types of tools and techniques. In addition, this data suggests that the technological adaptation of aboriginal societies to woodworking with non-metal tools produced similar results on different islands.

In this paper we present the first attempt to apply anthracological analysis in paleoenvironmental research in Lithuania. We present the results of charcoal analysis of three Neolithic archaeological sites in the Lithuanian part of the Curonian Spit. The formation and development of the Curonian Spit was a complex and dynamic process. Constant aeolian processes caused periods of sand deflation, which led to the movement of the dunes and drastic changes in the landscape until the 19th century when a protective dune ridge was built and systemic tree planting began. Curonian woodlands currently consist of mostly planted pine forests. Knowledge of the spit’s vegetation and its dynamics in prehistoric and historic periods is mainly based on palynological data. This study aims to gain a more detailed understanding of the composition and development of the Curonian Spit forests in the 3rd millennium BC. Anthracological analysis of charcoal samples from three sites located in the middle and northern parts of the spit show that broad-leaved tree species such as oak, maple and lime were spreading during the Neolithic and suggest that woodland vegetation in different parts of the spit was not uniform, with broad-leaved species thriving around Nida site and pine forests around Alksnynė. We propose that one of the reasons for the observed difference between the sites is the different phases of the spit formation that these sites underwent during the settlement period, as the middle part of the spit was formed earlier than the northern part and is therefore represented by less developed soils.

Reversibly cross-linked polymer-based conservation materials for waterlogged archaeological woods with excellent dimensional stability, environmental stability and reversible removability are firstly fabricated through the penetration of 2-formylphenylboric acid-terminated low-molecular-weight polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS-PBA), followed by in-situ reversibly cross-linking PDMS chains with N-coordinated boroxines (NCBs). In-situ formed reversibly cross-linked conservation materials (denoted as PDMS-NCB) can improve the dimensional stability of archaeological woods. The shrinkage rate of the PDMS-NCB-consolidated archaeological wood is ∼ 1.5 % and its anti-shrinkage efficiency is ∼ 95.7 %, which surpass those of conventional polyethylene glycol-consolidated wood. Meanwhile, the stable cross-linking network of PDMS-NCB endows the consolidated wood with excellent humidity stability and thermostability. Even at a relative humidity of 100 %, the water uptake of the consolidated wood is only ∼ 15.5 %, which is 2.4 times less than that of the un-consolidated wood. More importantly, owing to the reversibility of NCB cross-linkers in ethanol, the cross-linked PDMS-NCB conservation materials in consolidated archaeological woods can be depolymerized into linear and soluble PDMS-PBA during ethanol rinsing and removed from the archaeological woods.

This article provides an up-to-date review of the origins and spread of cottons in the Old World based on archaeobotanical evidence, and explores the routes and socioeconomic context through which cotton cultivation became established across the tropics and sub-tropics of Asia and Africa. Two cotton species were domesticated in the Old World, one of which was grown for millennia as a long-lived tree (Gossypium arboreum) and the other as a shrub over several years (Gossypium herbaceum). While G. arboreum began to be cultivated during the Middle Holocene (7000–4000 years ago) in Pakistan and Northwest India, G. herbaceum was likely domesticated in Africa, perhaps in Sudan. Evidence for cultivation of cotton in Sudan dates from around 2000 years ago, the same period that import of cotton from India into the Roman world was common. The spread of cotton through the African continent involved three trajectories. In southeast Africa, its near coastal islands and Madgascar, received cotton, inferred to be G. arboreum from India, around 1000 years ago in the context of increasing contact across the Indian ocean. As for western Africa, we postulate two dispersal routes: an oasis route through the Sahara and Sahel that focused on G. herbaceum, and a savanna route further south that brought G. arboreum to Cameroon, Benin and Ghana.

In their recent critique, Domínguez-Rodrigo et al. (2024) discuss a re-assessment of site formation processes in the Misiam faunal assemblage (Yravedra and LinaresMatás, 2024), highlighting certain presumed errors by these authors and raising ad hominem objections that cannot remain without a reply on our part, due to direct allusions. Besides, Domínguez-Rodrigo and colleagues bring ethical considerations into the discourse. In this response, I will address various aspects related to fieldwork research at Misiam and the taphonomy of its faunal assemblage. Additionally, we will explore issues pertaining to morality and research ethics in response to the statements made by Domínguez and colleagues in their work. Based on taphonomic criteria, it is shown that Misiam is a bone accumulation produced by leopards and altered by various agents, including hyenas, insects, weathering, gravitational displacement, and hydraulic flows.

The presence of domestic cats (Felis catus) in medieval urban settlements was frequent, as attested by cat remains identified among various faunal assemblages from that period. However, cat remains are rarely the focus of zooarchaeological analysis, and little is known about the interaction between these felines and humans at that time.

Archaeological excavations in Almada, Portugal, revealed the presence of storage pits filled with domestic waste from the Late Middle Ages. Among these, a unique collection of cat bones, representing 13 individuals, was found inside two storage pits filled during the 12th-13th century. We present the results obtained in the analysis of this cat assemblage, which stands out by the presence of several skeletons with cutmarks associated with skinning, possibly providing the first archaeological evidence of cat fur exploitation in medieval Portugal.

In the paper, the authors investigate the relationships between the organization of hunter-gatherer stone tool production, technology, raw material use, as well as social interaction, communication, and mobility. Based on a controlled experiment modeling the use of Mesolithic slotted bone points as hunting weapons from the Mesolithic Motala site in Eastern Central Sweden, their production, durability, efficiency, and repairability are investigated. The experiment also evaluates the function of five different locally available inset lithic materials. Also, a study on raw material use from 51 excavated Mesolithic sites is used to evaluate a landscape learning process in relation to geology for suitable lithic sources for microblade insets. This illustrates the logic of the circulation and use of certain lithic tools and raw materials between and within regions and sites of the prehistoric landscape.

It is clear from the subfossil record that aurochs (Bos primigenius) and European bison (Bison bonasus) coexisted in southern Scandinavia during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. However, the two species are unevenly represented, especially in zooarchaeological assemblages where the aurochs is the only identified bovine. By applying genetic taxonomic assignment from mitochondrial and shallow whole-genome shotgun data from prehistoric bovine remains, this study explores the proposition that the predominance of aurochs in the subfossil record in part results from misassignment of European bison remains caused by overlapping skeletal morphology. Although our results confirm that most aurochs assignments of bovine bones are valid, through our analysis we were able to expand the European bison subfossil record and also reveal the exploitation of the species by prehistoric Scandinavians during the very early Holocene. Hence, it would appear that Mesolithic communities’ hunting strategies centred primarily around the fauna local to their wetland settlements and/or indeed point to the early local disappearance of the European bison, as previously supposed.

Klasies River main site and Blombos Cave, both situated in the southern Cape, South Africa, provide new insights on shellfish harvesting behaviour during MIS 5c-d. This is a period linked to the MSA II Lower or Mossel Bay techno-complex. The shellfish assemblage composition at Klasies River main site and Blombos Cave are somewhat different and fluctuation in species representation occurs through time at each site. For example, at Klasies River main site, Turbo sarmaticus and Perna perna are predominant while some of the lesser represented species include Diloma sinensis and Burnupena cincta limbosa. T. sarmaticus dominates the Blombos Cave shellfish assemblage followed by Cymbula oculus, P. perna, Dinoplax gigas, and Scutellastra argenvillei. The coastal habitat at both sites were generally rocky with smaller sandy shores during some periods, especially in layers Black Occupational Soils Three (Klasies River main site) and CJ (Blombos Cave). Sea surface temperatures were relatively colder than today in the southern Cape during this period. T. sarmaticus individuals are larger at Blombos Cave than at Klasies River Main site and there are clear differences in the ratio of T. sarmaticus shell weight to opercula weight at Klasies River main site compared to Blombos Cave. Size differences may be explained by climatic or environmental factors, and contrasting ratios may have resulted from different processing strategies at these two sites. Alternatively, the Klasies River deposits may have been subjected to more intensive post depositional processes influencing the preservation of the shell.

After the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) people associated with the Magdalenian resettled Central Europe, which had been uninhabited, or very sparsely inhabited, during the LGM. The precise timing and origin of this resettlement, however, remain unclear. We present new data from the Lone Valley of the Swabian Jura in southwestern Germany to improve our spatial and temporal understanding of this resettlement. Our work focuses on two Paleolithic sites: Vogelherd, a well-known cave originally excavated in 1931, and Langmahdhalde, a rock shelter approximately 2 km from Vogelherd that has been excavated since 2016. We report radiocarbon dates associated with the Magdalenian from both sites, lithic and organic artifact analysis from Vogelherd, and zooarchaeological, microfaunal, and preliminary lithic data from Langmahdhalde. These results reveal an earlier presence of people in the Lone Valley than previously thought, dating to before the Upper Magdalenian, while providing an improved paleoecological context of this resettlement. The available data suggest ephemeral use of the Lone Valley between ca. 19,500 and 16,500 cal yr BP, followed by regular occupation of the region. Our study highlights the advantages of bringing together data from multiple sites that are close together and were used during the same time in the past. In this case, the data from each site compliments each other and allows us to gain important insights into the Paleolithic settlement dynamics of southwestern Germany.