Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences最新文献

The early medieval times in Cyprus are signified, conventionally, by the Arab invasions of the mid-seventh century (649/650CE). Past research viewed those events as the catalyst which led to a transformation from a prosperous province to a marginal territory balancing between two antagonising empires. Recently, studies have shifted their focus on reassessing this period’s scant -yet present- material culture. In pottery studies, despite the advances in typological and distribution aspects, few have explored technological issues of early medieval ceramic production through instrumental analysis. This study focuses on the compositional and technological characterisation of cooking vessels through ceramic petrography (TL-OM), found in relevant contexts in Cyprus, representing both wheel-thrown and handmade traditions. Sherds coming from five major early-medieval sites of the island (sites of Kophinou, Kalavasos-Kopetra, Akrotiri, Yeroskipou-Ayioi Pente and Dhiorios), outlined a picture of two parallel trends transversing across sites, i.e., an inter-regional shared sense of shape uniformity smoothening the local variances and a strong regionalism in terms of raw material procurement. Wheel-thrown cookware -found in every site and strongly represented by the Dhiorios workshop- showed the survival of Late Antique shapes well into the Early Middle Ages, in fabrics related mainly to the broader area of Dhiorios. In addition, handmade vessels of a "shared repertoire" showed a variety of local clays for their manufacture. When integrated into their archaeological context in Cyprus, the results support the idea of a ceramic koine persisting through the beginning of the Byzantine Early Middle Ages on an intra and inter-regional level.

Barbed projectile points, produced from osseous raw materials, are considered to be a major advancement in the hunting techniques of prehistoric communities. They appear in Eurasia in the Upper Palaeolithic period, and were rather common during the Magdalenian technocomplex and later, among the Mesolithic communities in northern parts of Europe. When it comes to the Adriatic area and the Balkan hinterlands, barbed projectiles were rather scarce and mainly from the Early Holocene period – relatively large assemblage comes from the site of Odmut in Montenegro, and few were found in the Iron Gates region. Recent excavations at the site of Vlakno, situated on the Dugi Otok island in Dalmatia, yielded two almost complete barbed points, from the layers dated into ca. 15,000 calBP, thus showing that these types of weapons were used in the area earlier than previously thought and had wider geographical range. Their techno-typological traits will be discussed in this paper, as well as their possible mode of use.

Local types of coinage testify to the emerging use of silver in the Balkan interior, possibly related to abundant ore deposits in the region. Here, we present Pb isotope data for silver coins minted by local tribes and settlements (anepigraphic coins attributed to the Derrones/Laeaei, Damastion, Pelagia, Kings of Paeonia) between the 5th and 3rd centuries BCE. For comparison, we analysed coinage of the potential Greek emporia Dyrrhachium and Apollonia for their main element and Pb-Ag isotope compositions. Statistical data evaluation demonstrates close material connections between coins from the Balkan interior and identify a predominantly local raw material provenance. The majority of Damastion’s issues defines a tight cluster fitting Strabo’s (VII.7.8) account that the settlement possessed nearby silver mines in the Balkan interior. Novobërdë/Novo Brdo (Kosovo) can be plausibly hypothesised among the available reference data to have been one of the main ore districts supplying the mint. Mixing is evident for coins from the Kings of Paeonia and coinage attributed to the Derrones/Laeaei. Virtually identical end-members suggest that Paeonian regal coinage recycled tribal issues with contribution of metal obtained from Damastion’s hypothesised mines. Contemporaneous coinage struck by Dyrrhachium as well as end-members calculated for Thasos and the Macedon kingdom (Albarede et al. in Bullion mixtures in silver coinage from ancient Greece and Egypt, J Archaeol Sci 162:105918, 2024a) signal metal sourced from the Balkans, presumably the Macedonian/Paeonian border area. Comparison of data from Greek city-states and coinage issued by Apollonia and Dyrrhachium for the Romans demonstrates a change in the type and origin of raw materials and bullion composition, indicating a shift in monetary customs and possibly metal production technology.

The trajectory for the southward diffusion of cultural elements originated from north China, such as millet crops, painted pottery, and sarcophagus burial, along the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau (EMTP) during the Neolithic and Bronze Age, is a hot issue across multiple disciplines. Painted pottery and millet had spread into the southeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau during the early fifth millennium BP, while sarcophagus burials emerged in the same area before ~ 3000 BP. However, the timeline for the southward diffusion of sarcophagus burial remains unclear due to the absence of reliable dates of sarcophagus burials in the northeast Tibetan Plateau (NETP). To solve this problem, we investigated prehistoric sites in the Bailong River valley of NETP and sampled bones from a site and five sarcophagus burials for radiocarbon dating. Most dates span between ~ 4500–3500 BP, which are the earliest direct dates of sarcophagus burials distributed along the EMTP. In comparison to updated results of archaeological studies and radiocarbon dating, we argue that the southward diffusion of sarcophagus burials along the EMTP occurred between ~ 4500–3000 BP, much later than the southward dispersal of painted pottery. This provides a new perspective to understand multiple waves of southward culture diffusion along the EMTP before the dawn of the Imperial Age in China.

Biodistance analysis identifies groups that exhibit biological affinity based on phenotypic data. This study proposes and evaluates the performance of algorithms for biodistance analysis based on various squared Euclidean and generalized Mahalanobis distances by combining them with probabilistic hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and multidimensional scaling (MDS). Four archaeological datasets of human dental metrics and/or non-metric traits were used. To analyze the data, we integrated our previous work on biodistances and developed algorithms that calculate various types of squared Euclidean and generalized Mahalanobis distances, estimate various parameters, apply modified MDS and HCA methods to compute all possible cluster probabilities, and provide MDS confidence ellipses and dendrograms with cluster probabilities. All algorithms are implemented in R. From the data analysis, we found that all distances studied are simulated very satisfactorily by the Monte-Carlo method, resulting in the estimation of accurate cluster probabilities. Examining the probabilities of expected cluster formation, we found that these probabilities are higher when calculated using generalized Mahalanobis distances than the corresponding Euclidean distances. Therefore, the cluster probabilities supported that the generalized Mahalanobis distances are better than the corresponding Euclidean distances in cluster analysis. From a methodological point of view, clustering information concerning population affinities should not be based on a single dendrogram but instead be extracted from the list of the most frequent clusters obtained from all simulated dendrograms.

In the present work we carry out a study of all the Late Bronze Age swords recorded in the Balearic Islands. They represent a set of local practices and traditions alongside foreign ideas and archetypes. To carry out the study, we employ a strategy that joins technological and archaeometric analyses with approaches that consider isotopes and typologies. Of note among the data considered is the importance of metal coming from deposits in Linares, followed by Menorca and Mallorca, and finally, more marginally, Sardinia. A technological analysis of the manufacturing processes provides evidence, in a local context, of the use of the lost-wax casting technique, compound objects, and ternary bronzes, all technologies foreign to the Balearic Islands. Finally, we reflect on the local practices in which these objects were embroiled. All of this allows us to provide an in-depth examination of the interaction networks as well as the changes that took place in local metallurgical practices as the result of the circulation of ideas and knowledge.

Birch tar was the first substance made by humans that is otherwise not available in nature. The oldest artefacts date to ~ 200 thousand years ago in Europe but birch tar becomes more frequent around 45 thousand years ago and even more so from the Mesolithic onwards. Their study has important implication for our understanding of evolutionary processes such as cognitive capacity and cultural evolution. What remains unknown is the overall molecular composition of birch tar. Several approaches based on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry have shown the potential of studying solvent soluble molecules to understand the botanical origin of different tars, their manufacturing techniques and their post-depositional alteration mechanisms. However, birch tar’s soluble fraction cannot shed light on its mechanical properties. In this study, we conduct gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and spectroscopic analysis of seven bulk birch tar samples, including infrared band assignment and structural refinement of organic molecules in the insoluble fraction. We find that the overall proportion that cannot be analysed by gas chromatography accounts for 85–90% in birch tar. This phase consists of polymerised molecules with a structure analogous to asphaltenes but containing a significantly greater amount of oxygen-related functional groups. Our findings have implications for understanding the viscosity, adhesiveness and stiffness of birch tar and they call for caution in applying analytical techniques that only target soluble molecules in birch tar.

Insects play a crucial role in cadaveric decomposition, yet their contribution to taphonomic alterations on bones is often overlooked. This study investigates insect activity's impact on bone surface modifications under different environmental conditions. Five unfleshed pig heads were subjected to varied settings—buried and exposed—across coastal and inland contexts. Nine insect taxa were identified, including flies (Sarcophagidae, Calliphoridae [Chrysomia albiceps], Fanniidae, Muscidae), beetles (Dermestidae [Dermestes maculatus], Cleridae [Necrobia rufipes], Hydrophilidae [Cercyon cf. arenarius]), ants (Formicidae [Tetramorium depressum]), and termites (Kalotermitidae [Cryptotermes brevis]). Taphonomic changes observed on bone surfaces varied between buried and exposed specimens, with greater insect diversity and more pronounced modifications in exposed samples. Striations, linear marks, perforations, and bone destruction were linked to specific insect taxa, revealing novel osteophagic behavior in certain species. Termite activity, identified by faecal pellets, occasionally resulted in bone damage. Notably, beetle-induced alterations were absent in coastal environments, suggesting post-decomposition transport when these modifications appear on bone elements from coastal sites. This is the first experimental study in archaeoentomology, providing critical insights into insect-driven taphonomic processes in coastal and inland archaeological sites, with implications for forensic and archaeological interpretations of bone alterations.

Zhaili Kiln is considered one of the earliest kilns to produce northern celadon, but there is currently little comprehensive research on its celadon production. Thirty pieces of typical Zhaili celadon wares dating to the sixth and seventh centuries have been studied in this work. The chemical compositions and microstructures of the ceramic bodies and glazes of these wares have been determined to suggest the possible raw materials and relevant techniques used to make the Zhaili celadon wares. The scientific results indicate that the Zhaili celadon bodies were made using local coal-based clay with high Fe₂O₃ and TiO₂ contents. Besides, additional quartz may be added to the body paste due to its high SiO₂ content and the observable angular quartz particles, which might be ascribed to reducing the firing temperature of coal clay. Unlike typical Chinese glaze recipes, the Zhaili celadon glazes might be produced by three components, coal clay, vegetal ash, and an additional siliceous component, probably loess. This ternary glaze formula at least lasted to the Jin Dynasty in the Zibo kilns. The possible reason for adding loess is to improve the SiO₂/Al₂O₃ in the glaze and effectively form an amorphous glass matrix. The Zhaili kiln potters appear to have developed a suitable celadon making formula to adapt to the available raw materials in the local area. The production of celadon bodies and glazes in the Zhaili kiln varies between its initial and mature stages.