Journal of Archaeological Science最新文献

This study provides a comprehensive review of the current state of the art in marine technology as it pertains to the 3D documentation of underwater archaeological and historical sites. A thorough literature analysis of recent research is presented, with a special emphasis on vision-based approaches for 3D reconstruction and mapping. First, the paper lists different robotic platforms, various underwater imaging systems and possible combinations among them, through their use in marine archaeological research. In addition to robotic vision systems configurations, a thorough survey on computer vision solutions on image processing, online and offline reconstructions, for both simulation environments and real-world UCH scenarios, is given. The final part of the paper reviews strategies for data acquisition optimization through path planning approaches and highlights how working on synthetic data and simulation environments can enhance the quality of real-world operations. Finally, weaknesses, open issues, and future directions of research in marine robotic vision systems within the documentation of UCH are discussed.

A fragment of an ursid radius with seventeen incisions (one of them incomplete) was excavated in the 1950s in the Dziadowa Skała Cave in the Częstochowa Upland in southern Poland from a deposit with faunal remains from the Eemian (ca 130–115 kyr). This object has been cited as the earliest evidence of Neanderthal cognitive abilities in the region, but it has been never studied in detail. The artefact has now been re-examined using microscopy and X-ray computed tomography. For this study we revised the determination of the bone and studied the morphology and metric parameters of the incisions (length, width, depth and opening angle). We also used experiments, statistical analysis and an analysis of the incisions' topography to establish the techniques behind their manufacture. The obtained results show that the bone was marked using a retouched stone tool, and that the incisions were produced during a single episode by a right-handed individual using repeated unidirectional movements of the tools’ cutting edge. The incisions are evidently an effect of a deliberate action, not a side-effect of some practical activity. The bear radius from Dziadowa Skała is thus yet another piece of evidence for the emergence of symbolic culture, evolved by hominins in Africa and Eurasia, and represents the oldest example of marked bone north of the Carpathian Mountains.

The Tibetan Plateau and surrounding regions played a pivotal role in the spread of foxtail millet (Setaria italica) and broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) since the late Neolithic period. However, previous research failed to analyze the spatiotemporal distribution and associated environmental factors. Herein, we collected foxtail and broomcorn millet data from 113 Late Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in the Tibetan Plateau region to reconstruct the spatiotemporal distribution, and integrated palaeoclimatic data to identify the extent of environmental factors influencing the distribution using the Maximum Entropy (MaxENT) model and Growing Degree Day (GDD) model. Our results show that the spatiotemporal distribution of millets can be classified into three routes and four stages during 6000–3500 cal yr BP. Millet agriculture thrived predominantly in areas below 2500 m asl with average summer temperature ranging from 15 to 25 °C. Temperature exerts the most significant influence on the dispersal process, followed by precipitation, distance from reliable water sources, and altitude. These findings provide important environmental insights into the spatiotemporal distribution of millets and dispersal routes surrounding the Tibetan Plateau.

This study focuses on the technological origin of stamped hard pottery, one of the precursors to Chinese porcelain, developed in the Late Neolithic period of China. 160 ceramic sherds of stamped hard wares from the Nanshan site (5300–4300 cal. BP) and Yanzaidong site (5000–4300 cal. BP) were investigated through water absorption, Vickers hardness, petrography, ED-XRF, thermodilatometry, XRD, and SEM-EDS. The results indicate that two categories of samples exhibit commendable physical properties, comparable to stoneware, attributed to specific high-alumina clay with low fluxing elements (porcelain stone), fired at high temperatures ranging from 1100 to 1250 °C. The other categories of samples appear to be defective products during firing process, or have another raw material source, contributing to a diversity of pottery at the two sites. Nanshan and Yanzaidong unequivocally emerge as the earliest known production of stamped hard pottery, dating back to 5000 cal. BP, marking a revolutionary advancement in high-firing technology during the Late Neolithic China.

Being a crucial subsistence strategy for the steppe communities, transhumant pastoralism has played a pivotal role in facilitating early communication of East and West civilizations. However, despite its significance, there remains a paucity of research regarding how and when transhumant pastoralism emerged at the eastern end of the Eurasian Steppe. Situated at the crossroads of East-West exchanges, the Tongtian Cave site has yielded a diverse range of archaeological materials, including sheep bones, sheep coprolites, and the earliest remains of wheat and barley in China. In order to explore the herding strategies employed at the Tongtian Cave, the microfossil contents from site's stratigraphy and the sheep coprolites are investigated in this study. Analytic results reveal the presence of elm tree pollen and probably phytoliths within the coprolites, suggesting that the site once served as a spring pasture. Wheat remains recovered from the same stratum as the coprolites date the transhumant practice at the site as far back as ca. 4300 B.P., establishing the Tongtian Cave as not only the earliest pastoralist site in China but likely also in the eastern Eurasian Steppe. Overall, our studies of the Tongtian Cave materials provide crucial evidence that deepens our understandings of the timing and mechanism of the eastward expansion of transhumant pastoralism across prehistoric Eurasia. The methodological potential of pollen and fungal spore analyses in revealing the seasonality of ancient site use is also explored in this article.

This paper advances knowledge of human behavioural and adaptational strategies in coastal areas related to acquiring, producing and distributing ornaments, specifically, the omnipresent marine gastropod Columbella rustica. By applying quantitative and qualitative approaches to the most extensive collection of Columbella rustica shells in the Eastern Adriatic region discovered in the Late Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic levels of Vlakno cave in Croatia, we have determined the complete step-by-step life cycle of this bead type, in particular, where and how shells were collected, produced, used, distributed and discarded. By integrating different methodologies, our data revealed changes in the collection strategies, reduction of the shell size during the Mesolithic period, and standardisation and continuity in production techniques. Detailed analyses of broken shells in the archaeological assemblage identified the presence of technological traces resulting from processing mistakes, supporting our hypothesis of on-site production. A significant share of used and unused standardised beads points that bead production at this site was for personal use but also likely for the exchange and distribution systems. Standardised, systematic and long-lasting activity related to the ornaments places Vlakno cave as one of the leading centres for maintaining regional exchange and communication networks in the Eastern Adriatic region during significant climatic and environmental changes happening in this region in the Late Pleniglacial and the early Holocene. Detecting on-site activities related to the ornaments in Vlakno cave has extended our understanding of how symbolic motives influenced the settlement model of the Late Pleniglacial and Early Holocene hunter-gatherers in Eastern Adriatic region and overall contributed to fundamental questions about the complexity of ancient human societies' adaptation strategies.

Findings of archaeological textiles and fibres in Northern Iberia are extremely rare. The occurrence of a set of textile fragments, dated between the 14th and 16th centuries CE at the Pambre castle (Palas de Rei, Lugo, Spain) is exceptional. The original stone roof of the southeastern tower was intact. The dark, cold and moist conditions inside the tower favoured the preservation of a unique series of waterlogged textile remains. In addition, a set of pseudomorphs preserved by mineral replacement were recovered from the east edge of the north wing in the main hall of the castle. Fibres have been identified using optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and they have been chemically characterised using Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDX). We also performed analytical pyrolysis-GC-MS (Py-GC-MS) and thermally assisted hydrolysis and methylation (THM-GC-MS) of the wool fabrics and pseudomorphs to assess their state of degradation and the presence of chemical markers associated to the use of these textile remains. High performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD-MS) and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS/MS) analysis were applied on wool fabrics to identify the chemical markers of dyes but without success. To expand the information related to raw material identification and the technical aspects of the fabrics, further evidence such as adherences identified as opal phytoliths, seeds, and insect remains associated to wool fabrics were examined. These findings offer a unique glimpse into the clothing dated to the end of the Medieval period, and its life-cycle. Wool scraps were probably part of at least two different garments, whereas the mineralised textiles probably formed part of at least two brigandines which were made of bast fibres, flax, or hemp.

Non-figurative prehistoric art is comparatively common yet challenging to decode and hence to understand. At the heart of the difficulty of assessing the presence of semiotic structure in prehistoric art is a lack of appropriate, replicable, and case-transferable methodologies. We here propose a novel approach derived from computational linguistics, in which k-skip-n-gram (skipgram) models and associated pointwise mutual information (PMI) measures are customised to the analysis of prehistoric art. In applying this methodology to a large corpus of portable art from the South Scandinavian Mesolithic, we demonstrate how the mutual relationship between individual motifs can be established. In the case of Mesolithic portable art, our analysis strongly suggests that there is no evident semiotic structure – this was likely not a form of proto-writing – but salient changes of motif occurrence over time are detectable. These changes are sensitive to changes in population density, structure, and connectedness, and may relate to increased territoriality in the Late Mesolithic. The method presented here is readily case-transferable and renders possible further linguistic and semiotic analyses of prehistoric art.

This article presents a palynological study conducted on adhesive materials obtained from both experimental and archaeological wooden sickles. The archaeological sickles, dating back to the Early Neolithic period, were recovered from the waterlogged site of La Marmotta, located near Lake Bracciano in Rome, Italy. Experimental harvesting was carried out on cereal crops using sickles purposefully made with a modern resinous material that closely replicates the original composition. This approach allowed us to retrieve palynological information consistent with and comparable to that observed on ancient tools. The study's results highlighted the excellent adhesiveness of these materials, capable of trapping and preserving micro-remains collected during harvesting practices. The discovery of Hordeum-type and Avena-Triticum-type pollen grains confirmed the predominant use of these agricultural tools for cereal harvesting. Notably, one particular neolithic sickle, whose resin primarily retained Oenanthe-type pollen, stands out for its exclusive use in cutting herbaceous plants of potential medicinal interest. In parallel, the analysis of pollen content retained in modern cereal spikes confirmed their potential to provide information about the type of crop and, to some extent, the floristic component of the surrounding environment.