bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Problems of dating human bones from the Iron Gates
Authors: Cook G.T. , Bonsall C. , Hedges R.E.M. , McSweeney K. , Boroneant V. , Bartosiewicz L. , Pettitt P.B.
Published: January 2015

It is widely recognized that when marine resources form a significant proportion of the human diet, this results in radiocarbon ages for human remains that are significantly older than the contemporary atmosphere. While there has been widespread assessment of marine14C reservoir ages, there has been little study of the freshwater equivalent. However, recent analyses of human bone from archaeological sites in the Danube Valley have confirmed the existence of a large freshwater14C reservoir effect.
Excavating memories: archaeology and the Great War, 1914–2001
Authors: Saunders Nicholas J.
Published: January 2015

The First World War is beginning to receive archaeological attention. This paper highlights the technical, ethical and political challenges, including recovery and re-burial of the multi-faith dead, excavation of battlefield features and volatile ordnance, and incorporating the sensitive management of multi-vocal landscapes as cultural heritage and tourist destinations.
CORONA satellite photography: an archaeological application from the Middle East
Authors: Philip G. , Donoghue D. , Beck A. , Galiatsatos N.
Published: January 2015

The declassification of CORONA high-resolution space photography has made a valuable new resource available for the study of ancient landscapes. Using a recent case-study from Syria, examples are given of various ways in which CORONA imagery can significantly enhance regional survey work.
Too many ancestors
Authors: Whitley James
Published: January 2015

Have ancestors replaces chiefs as the defining entity of prehistory? This provocative view from the Mediterranean world may provoke a little debate.
Darwin among the archaeologists: the John Evans nexus and the Borneo Caves
Authors: Sherratt Andrew
Published: January 2015

The two decades from 1860 to 1880 were one of the most formative periods in the emergence of modern attitudes to scientific inquiry in England, in what were later to become the specialized disciplines of the natural and human sciences. At this high point of Victorian prosperity a small group of scholars established both the principal questions for future research, and the character of the institutions which were to pursue them, in increasingly professional ways, during the following century. Most of the men (for it was an overwhelmingly male community) who were involved with these developments had independent means, either as inherited wealth or as a result of their own involvement in business affairs; and in consequence they were less restricted in pursuit of their interests than many of their successors who occupied paid positions in scientific institutions and universities (Levine 1986; cf. Chapman 1998).
Mortimer Wheeler's science of order: the tradition of accuracy at Arikamedu
Authors: Boast Robin
Published: January 2015

In February 1944 Mortimer Wheeler, having resigned his duties with the British 8th Army after the Salerno landings, was bound for India. Aboard the City of Exeter, in convoy to Bombay, Wheeler was planning another campaign —to sort out the ‘scientifically deplorable’ state of India’s archaeological survey. Even before he had set a foot on Indian soil, Wheelcr already had a plan. Like all good Officers, colonial and otherwise, Wheeler had determined his plan of attack beforc landing. It is no good to reach a foreign field of a battle and just see what happens. This he had learned from his idol, Lt. General Lane Fox Pitt Rivers; that you must always begin with a plan of attack.
Names and emblems: Greek archaeology, regional identities and national narratives at the turn of the 20th century
Authors: Alexandri Alexandra
Published: January 2015

Introduction

As a discipline concerned with the past, and especially the remote past, archaeology is in a unique position to contribute to the growing discussion on nationalism and the formation of collective identities. Although research in these areas is not new, the steadily increasing body of archaeological literature is shaped both by recent theoretical trends within the discipline itself and by widespread concerns over contemporary redefinitions of boundaries and identities (e.g. Atkinsonet al. 1996; Jones 1997; Graves-Brownet al. 1996; Díaz-Andreu & Chanipion 1996; Kohl & Fawcett 1995).
Making the past for South Africa's future: the prehistory of Field-Marshal Smuts (1920s-1940s)
Authors: Schlanger Nathan
Published: January 2015

Introduction: turns and returns

When politicians engage in archaeology, it is convenient for all concerned to say that they ‘turn’ to it: for both parties, this move confirms that the discipline itself is essentially neutral and independent from extrinsic considerations. Already subject to much suspicion, this comforting conception can be further undermined with the case of Field-Marshal Jan Christiaan Smuts (1870-1950), for half a century South Africa's leading soldier, statesman and intellectual, as well as a driving force behind the setting up of the Commonwealth and the LJnited Nations (FIGURE 1).
Past records, new views: Carnac 1830–2000
Authors: Roughley Corinne , Sherratt Andrew , Shell Colin
Published: January 2015

The megalithic monuments of Carnac, Brittany, in the Département of the Morbihan, are amongst the most farnous in France. indeed in the world. This region has not only the densest conccntration of such sites in Europe but also retained its importance as a centre of monument-building from the late 5th to the :jrd millennium FK:, giving it a unique significance in the study of Neolithic landscapes (Sherratt 1990; 1998). Its menhirs, stone alignments, and megalithic tombs have attracted the attention of scholars since the 18th century, and there is thus an unusually full record, both written and pictorial, of the nature of these monuments as they were perceived over 300 years.
Epilogue: why the history of archaeology matters
Authors: Murray Tim
Published: January 2015

In recent years the history of archaeology has been enjoying something of a vogue in different research traditions, resulting in a wealth of new studies and publications. In the English-speaking world, our store of biographies and national histories has been considerably expanded by the five-volume Encyclopedia of archaeology (Murray 1999; 2001). The Bulletin of the History of Archaeology has provided a much needed forum for research, and the AREA project — Archives of European Archaeology — has begun to explore a range of resources bearing on the history of archaeology in Europe. At the same time, archaeologists have continued to justify and to advocate the significance of ‘novel’ approaches to archaeology through partial histories of the discipline (the most recent being those associated with the revival of ‘Darwinian archaeologies’ such as Lyman et al. 1997).
Radiocarbon dates for pictographs in Ignatievskaya Cave, Russia: Holocene age for supposed Pleistocene fauna
Authors: Steelman K.L. , Rowe M.W. , Shirokov V.N. , Southon J.R.
Published: January 2015

Samples from three charcoal pictographs at Ignatievskaya Cave, in the southern Ural Mountains of Russia, have been radiocarbon dated. An advanced antiquity was expected, with some paintings thought to be more than 10,000 years old, as suggested by the imagery. One charcoal painting, for example, resembles a mammoth. The radiocarbon date of that motif, however, dates only to 7370±50 BP. If that motif actually represents a live mammoth, it places mammoth extinction in the Urals nearer to the present than is currently accepted. A charcoal pigment sample, a drawing of lines radiating from a central focus, has also been dated; its age was a few hundred years older than the ‘mammoth’: 7920±60 BP. A charcoal line has been dated with an age of 6030±110 BP. Although radiocarbon analysis was attempted on a red-pigmented painting of a woman, there was not enough organic material in the paint sample to obtain a viable date. Radiocarbon dates on pictographs in Ignatievskaya Cave obtained so far suggest that the paintings may be more recent than has been supposed.
Death and the regeneration of life: a new interpretation of house urns in Northern Europe
Authors: Bradley Richard
Published: January 2015

Ceramic models of buildings are found at later prehistoric sites in Northern Europe. Their most likely prototype is the granary. They are associated with cremation burials and the vessels may have taken this form to emphasize the relationship between death and the continuity of human life.
A critique of the Chinese ‘Middle Palaeolithic’
Authors: Gao Xing , Norton Christopher J.
Published: January 2015

The Chinese Palaeolithic has traditionally been divided into three distinct cultural periods: Lower, Middle, and Upper. Analysis of four stone tool criteria (raw material procurement, core reduction, retouch, and typology) to determine if a distinct Middle Palaeolithic stage existed in China suggests that very little change occurred in lithic technology between the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic. Accordingly, a two-stage progression is proposed: Early and Late Palaeolithic. The transition between these two cultural periods occurred with the development of more refined stone tool making techniques (e.g. introduction of blade and microblade technology) and the presence of other archaeological indicators of more modern human behaviour (e.g. presence of art and/or symbolism) (c. 30,000 years ago).
Early Bronze Age metallurgy: a newly discovered copper manufactory in southern Jordan
Authors: Levy Thomas E. , Adams Russell B. , Hauptmann Andreas , Prange Michael , Schmitt-Strecker Sigrid , Najjar Mohammad
Published: January 2015

Recent excavations in southern Jordan have revealed the largest Early Bronze Age (c. 3600-2000 BC) metal manufactory in the ancient Near East. On-site Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analyses of the finds provide new evidence concerning the scale and organization of metal production at a time when the first cities emerged in this part of the Near East. Materials and lead isotope analyses of the metallurgical finds provide important data for reconstructing ancient metal processing and for identifying trade networks.
Zebu: harbingers of doom in Bronze Age western Asia?
Authors: Matthews Roger
Published: January 2015

The significance of zebu, or humped. cattle as potential indicators of episodes of aridification in the Bronze Age of western Asia is explored through study of figurines and faunal remains from Mesopotamia, the Levant and Anatolia.
Worked bone tools: linking metal artisans and animal processors in medieval Islamic Morocco
Authors: Benco Nancy L. , Ettahiri Ahmed , Loyet Michelle
Published: January 2015

The authors examine the spatial distribution, use-wear patterns and surface residue of bone tools from al-Basra, concluding that they were likely to be have been used by Islamic metalworkers. The presence of bone tools and butchery waste in an urban metalworking context underscores the close economic ties that existed between artisans and food producers in a pre-industrial urban centre in the western Mediterranean.
Archaeology in Ireland during the last 50 years: an outline
Authors: Eogan George
Published: January 2015

Introduction

Throughout the 20th century there were many notable developments in Irish archaeology, both academically and administratively. Already by the middle of the century considerable change had taken place, that was a time when new attitudes and initiatives were underway. It was also a time of economic development and social adjustments in the wake of World War II. The changes that took place in archaeology during the following half-century were extensive and varied and involved most aspects of the subject. The year 1950 is, therefore, a reasonable starting-point for commencing this review but this does not imply that a new and altered archaeology had emerged. On the contrary established personnel and institutions continued to play a major role, while some longstanding research projects continued. What is offered in this paper is a brief historical review largely considered from the academic point of view, it is selective and is not intended to provide detailed information about all aspects of research and other developments that have taken place over the past half-century. However, an attempt will be made to review the causes and influences that brought about such developments, but it is not a potted history, neither is it a review of intellectual developments.
Oak dendrochronology: some recent archaeological developments from an Irish perspective
Authors: Baillie M.G.L. , Brown D.M.
Published: January 2015

Introduction

The European oak chronologies were completed back to 5000 BC during the 1980s, with demonstrable replication between Ireland and Germany using stepwise correlation through long English bog-oak series (Pilcher et al. 1984; Baillie 1995). Longer German oak chronologies extend the annual record back to 10,430 BP (Friedrich et al. 1999). This suite of chronologies, and their consti tnent site chronologies, even individual trees, can he analysed for changes in common response to the environment through time and of course can be cornpared with other well-dated time series from around the world.
Maritime archaeology in Northern Ireland
Authors: Williams Brian , McErlean Tom
Published: January 2015

Introduction

The study of maritime archaeology is a relatively new activity in Northern Ireland. This paper introduces the approach that has been adopted in investigating the maritime cultural landscape and takes a detailed look at the maritime archaeology of Strangford Lough.

Only in the last decade has government in Northern Ireland been responsible for the management of maritime archaeology. The Department of the Environment agency, Environment and Heritage Service (EHS), administers the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 in Northern Ireland's territorial waters. Having no knowledge of the subject and faced with the management of shipwrecks, EHS Grst created a register of known shipwrecks. A Senior Fellow, Colin Breen, was appointed in 1993 in the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen's University Belfast. Using docurnentary sourc:es such as Lloyd's List and Lloyd's Register, together with Parlianientary Sessional papers and many other documentary sources, he identified some 3000 wrecks around Northern Ireland’s short coastline (Breen 1996).
Human osteoarchaeology in Ireland: past, present and future
Authors: Murphy Eileen M.
Published: January 2015

Introduction

The archaeological study of human skeletal remains has been undertaken in Ireland since the mid 19th century. This paper examines the development of human bone studies in Ireland up until the present day, reviews the various approaches which have been adopted, and takes a look at the formal structure of the discipline within an Irish contcxt. The objective is to provide an overview of the study of archaeological human skeletal remains in Ireland from the 19th century through to modern times.
Neolithic houses in Ireland: a broader perspective
Authors: Grogan Eoin
Published: January 2015

Introduction

Over 90 structures have been identified as probable houses dating to the Neolithic period in Ireland (Grogan 2996; Cooney 1999; FIGURE 1; TABLES 1- 3). While there is a considerable variation in size and form two principal types are discernible, the large rectangular buildings of the Early Neolithic and circular or oval structures that have a much wider chronological span. In the past some of these have been readily accepted as houses while other, generally more ephemeral, structures havc occasionally been classified as having more temporary or specialist functions
Recent excavations and speculations on the Navan complex
Authors: Mallory J.P. , Lynn C.J.
Published: January 2015

Emain Macha, the legendary seat of the kings of Ulster, has long been identified with the Navan complex, 2.6 km west of Armagh. This complex comprises more than a dozen proximate, in some cases presumably associated. prehistoric monuments (Warner 1994). Excepting a number of outlying monuments, the major portion of the Navan complex is anchored between to large enclosures, each with adjacent sitcs associated with votive depositions in water. On the east is Navan Fort defined by a hengiform bank-and-ditch enclosure some 230 m across and containing two field monuments: Site A, a ring-work c. 50 m across with a low rise in the centre, and Site B, a 6–7-m high mound (FIGURE 1) . At the eastern base of the drumlin on which the enclosure sits is Loughnashade, a small lake from whose marshy edge four large Iron Age horns, at least one of which bore La The decoration, were recovered in the late 18th century (Raftery 1987).
Preserving the monuments on Skellig Michael for the future
Authors: Rourke Grellan D.
Published: January 2015

Introduction

This article will concentrate on the current conservation works programme, which started in the summer of 1978 and is currently on-going. It will deal with the scope of the work on Skellig Michael and the management plan in place to preserve the site and still allow a reasonable number of visitors access each season. Here I can only give a brief overview of the works: in due course a series of volumes will appear and will record in full the major programme outlined below.
Lost infancy: Medieval archaeology in Ireland
Authors: McNeill T.E.
Published: January 2015

Medieval archaeology in Ireland has been described twice in the last 30 years as ‘in its infancy’, by Delaney (1977: 46) andby Barry (1987: 1). Neither was strictly correct. Ireland played a full part in the general English interest in medieval castles and churches around 1900, with Champneys, Orpen and Westropp in particular listing and describing them and relating to their historical and European context. In Ulster the medieval period had occupied a central place in archaeological research and excavation, rcmarkable within Europe and unique within the British Isles, from 1950 (Tope 1966).
Post-Medieval and industrial archaeology in Ireland: an overview
Authors: Donnelly Colm J. , Horning Audrey J.
Published: January 2015

While the archaeological study of the early modern period was generally underplayed within Irish archaeology before the 1970s, since that time there has been a significant increase in research on post-medieval and industrial themes. The origins, achievements, and recent developments of post-medieval and industrial archaeology in Ireland are discussed, with a consideration of the future of these disciplines.
Perforated Homalopoma sanguineum from Tito Bustillo (Asturias): mobility of Magdalenian groups in northern Spain
Authors: Fernández Esteban Álvarez
Published: January 2015

Finds of perforated Homalopoma sanguineum from Tito Bustillo add to the evidence of long-distance contact between Magdalenian groups. The new finds are placed in their European context.
New exploration in the Chitral Valley, Pakistan: an extension of the Gandharan Grave culture
Authors: Ali Ihsan , Batt Cathy , Coningham Robin , Young Ruth
Published: January 2015

New survey in the Chitral Valley has doubled the number of recorded Gandharan Grave culture sites in the region and extended their geographical range. The numbers and location of sites indicates that the Gandharan Grave culture was well established in the Chitral valley, suggesting that the valley may have been central to this cultural development, rather than marginal.
The Cioarei-Borosteni Cave (Carpathian Mountains, Romania): Middle Palaeolithic finds and technological analysis of the lithic assemblages
Authors: Cârciumaru Marin , Moncel Marie-Hélène , Anghelinu Mircea , Cârciumaru Radu
Published: January 2015

The authors provide the first report of a Middle Palaeolithic assemblage from Romania. The data suggest short-lived occupation and intriguing evidence of the use of ochre.
Congruent distribution of Neolithic painted pottery and ceramic figurines with Y-chromosome lineages
Authors: King Roy , Underhill Peter A.
Published: January 2015

The authors propose a correlation between certain elements of Neolithic material culture — painted pottery and anthropomorphic figurines — and Y-chromosome haplotypes, suggesting a shared history of dispersal of human populations and cultural ideas.
Pig domestication in ancient China
Authors: Jing Yuan , Flad Rowan K.
Published: January 2015

The pig appears to have been among the earliest domesticated animals in China, with evidence for pig domestication at Cishan from 8000 BP. The authors propose a model for the development of animal domestication.
New evidence for an early date for the Aegean Late Bronze Age and Thera eruption
Authors: Manning Sturt W. , Ramsey Christopher Bronk , Doumas Christos , Marketou Toula , Cadogan Gerald , Pearson Charlotte L.
Published: January 2015

The authors report on radiocarbon data derived from carefully selected organic material from Late Minoan IA and IB contexts. The results suggest that the accepted chronology of the period should be revised by 100 years and that the eruption of Thera/Santorini most likely occurred c. 1650–1620 BC.
Ancestral Pueblo trails and the cultural landscape of the Pajarito Plateau, New Mexico
Authors: Snead James E.
Published: January 2015

Although trails are widely recognized as an important element in the shaping of social and economic space, poor preservation and complex interpretations have meant that they are rarely the subject of systematic archaeological analysis. Ancestral Pueblo trails of New Mexico's Pajarito Plateau, in contrast, are both well-preserved and easily identified, providing an opportunity to study patterns of movement through the landscape during the 500 years prior to Spanish colonization. This study discusses the broader issues of analysing archaeological trails with specific reference to the Pajarito case.
Scotland 2002
Authors: Barclay G.J.
Published: January 2015

Introduction

‘…it was not thought consistent with political wisdom, to draw the attention of the Scots to the ancient honours of their independent monarchy’ (on the proposal in 1780 to found a Society of Antiquaries for Scotland)

Archueologia Scoficu 1 (1792): iv

From the Parliamentary Union with England of 1707 until the establishment of the new devolved parliament (although still within the Union) in Edinburgh in 1999 under the terms of the Scotland Act 1998, Scotland was a nation with a ‘capital’ and its own legal system; neither a colony nor sovereign: an active participant in rather than a victim of 19th-century imperialism (Davidson 2000). Since the Union the writing of the history of Britain has been a more or less political process (Ash 1980: 34), the viewpoint of the historian depending on the individual’s position on the meaning and consequences of the Union and on the process of securing the creation of ‘North Britain’ and ‘South Britain’ — ‘the wider experiment to construct a new genuine British identity which would be formed from the two nations of Scotland and England’ [Finlay 1998). A small country sharing a small island with a world power will never have a quiet life (as Pierre Trudeau described Canada’s relationship with the USA — ‘being in bed with an elephant’).
Treasure Trove in Scotland
Authors: Saville Alan
Published: January 2015

The Treasure Trove system in Scotland operates to protect portable antiquities and ensure their preservation in perpetuity for the benefit of the nation. A broad interpretation is taken of ‘portable antiquities’, encompassing those items of past material culture to which archaeological, historical and/or cultural importance may be attached. Objects which are ‘museumworthy’ might be another way of expressing this, though ‘worthiness’ applies not just to items with obvious display potential but also to those likely to reside in study collections as reference material.
The past surveyed tomorrow
Authors: Stevenson J.B.
Published: January 2015

The last 25 years has been a period of rapid change in the approach to archaeological fieldwork in Britain and this has been reflected in the development of survey within the Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), the government financed body responsible for maintaining the national record of archaeology and architecture. The monolithic county-based inventory approach of RCAHMS' first 60 years has been replaced by a more broadly-based archaeological strategy founded on programmes of work that range from national overviews and regional surveys to individual site plans. Archaeological mapping has superseded monument planning as the key field objective, and all survey, whether terrestrial, aerial or desk-based, is underpinned by the RCAHMS Geographical Information System (GIs). The radical changes in field data-capture have been mirrored by parallel developments in making that data accessible once it has been collected.
Scapa Flow and the protection and management of Scotland's historic military shipwrecks
Authors: Oxley Ian
Published: January 2015

Introduction

In the past Britain has been a global naval, mercantile and industrial power and, as an island which has benefited from successive waves of settlement, its history is inextricably linked to its surrounding seas (Lavery 2001). High volumes of shipping traffic and a long history of seafaring and warfare have contributed to a density of shipwreck remains in UK territorial waters which is likely to be amongst the highest in the world.

Recently warship wrecks have been given a significantly higher degree of attention in the UK and world-wide, and the recent ‘scheduling’ of the German High Seas Fleet wrecks under the terms of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 2979 (AMAA 1979) has led to new challenges in heritage management. At the same time as we are becoming aware of the value of these resources, the administrative, legislative, environmental and social frameworks in which they have to be managed are changing rapidly.
Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic human fossils from Moravia and Bohemia (Czech Republic): some new 14C dates
Authors: Svoboda Jiří A. , van der Plicht Johannes , Kuželka Vítězslav
Published: January 2015

New radiocarbon dates from four Moravian and Bohemian sites are presented and linked to previous work on the depositional contexts of human fossils at similar sites in the region. Whilst dates from Mladeč confirm its early Upper Palaeolithic age, the chronologies of the other three sites require revision.
Birch-bark tar at Neolithic Makriyalos, Greece
Authors: Urem-Kotsou Dushka , Stern Ben , Heron Carl , Kotsakis Kostas
Published: January 2015

The authors discuss the first evidence for the use of birch-bark tar on Late Neolithic pottery from Greece. This appears to have been used for two different purposes, to seal a fracture and to line the interior walls. The authors also discuss other possible uses.
Finding the coastal Mesolithic in southwest Britain: AMS dates and stable isotope results on human remains from Caldey Island, south Wales
Authors: Schulting Rick J. , Richards Michael P.
Published: January 2015

The implications of new evidence are presented for the generally high level of marine diet in the coastal Mesolithic populations of Wales. Within these generally high levels, some variations may point to seasonal movement. These data provide a strong contrast with the mainland terrestrial diet of early Neolithic populations in the same area.
The Lepenski Vir conundrum: reinterpretation of the Mesolithic and Neolithic sequences in the Danube Gorges
Authors: Borić Dušan
Published: January 2015

This paper employs new evidence—including new AMS dates—to support a reinterpretation of the stratigraphic and architectural phasing of Lepenski Vir, and links this new evidence with the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in the region by critiquing dominant models.
Beads and Beakers: heirlooms and relics in the British Early Bronze Age
Authors: Woodward Ann
Published: January 2015

During extended biographies, some artefact types may have functioned at times as heirlooms or relics. It is possible to illustrate this process by studying fragmentation, and two case-studies involving British Beaker pottery and amber spacer plate beads are presented. Wider social and chronological implications are also considered.
The Late Glacial human reoccupation of north-western Europe: new approaches to space-time modelling
Authors: Blackwell Paul G. , Buck Caitlin E.
Published: January 2015

How and when was northern Europe reoccupied at the end of the last Ice Age? Radiocarbon dates from the earliest post-glacial contexts provide one answer: they offer a sequence in which the regions of Europe, from the Upper Rhine to Britain, saw the return of humans. The authors use Bayesian methods to model a chronology and thus arrive at a sequence with clear assessments of uncertainty.
Gardening, foraging and herding: Neolithic land use and social territories in Southern Italy
Authors: Robb John , Van Hove Doortje
Published: January 2015

The authors explore the use of land in Neolithic south Italy, showing how the new territories combined arable farming with hunting and foraging wild resources from the hinterland.
Tombs with a view: landscape, monuments and trees
Authors: Cummings Vicki , Whittle Alasdair
Published: January 2015

The authors consider the impact that trees would have had on the visibility of the landscape from and around Neolithic monuments. It is suggested that woodland may have been an integral part of the way monuments were experienced.
Social identities and the expansion of stone bead-making in Neolithic Western Asia: new evidence from Jordan
Authors: Wright Katherine , Garrard Andrew
Published: January 2015

From their research in Jordan, the authors show that the appearance of early farming and herding communities in western Asia coincided with a large expansion in stone bead production. This reflects a new social role for personal ornament.
Beads, social change and interaction between India and South-east Asia
Authors: Bellina Bérénice
Published: January 2015

The author shows how technical studies of beads made of agate and carnelian are informative indicators of social conditions and contacts between regions. The beads in question throw new light on the relations between India and South-east Asia in the first millennium BC.
Hidden in view: African spiritual spaces in North American landscapes
Authors: Ruppel Timothy , Neuwirth Jessica , Leone Mark P. , Fry Gladys-Marie
Published: January 2015

How did enslaved African people in North America use material culture to create and signal their own identity? In a paper that has much significance for many other periods and places, the authors draw on archaeological and documentary evidence to show how African spiritual spaces were created in houses and gardens in the form of coded landscapes that were often hidden – though in view.
Grapes or raisins? An early Bronze Age larder under the microscope
Authors: Cartwright Caroline R.
Published: January 2015

The sudden conflagration of an Early Bronze Age room at Tell es-Sa'idiyeh in the Jordan valley resulted in the preservation of a remarkable assemblage of plant remains. Using microscopy and experiment, the author was able to detect fruits previously sun dried for preservation. Grapes, figs, pomegranate, olives, cereals, legumes and capers provided the most conclusive evidence for the drying and preservation of food.
Dance of the Cranes: Crane symbolism at Çatalhöyük and beyond
Authors: Russell Nerissa , McGowan Kevin J.
Published: January 2015

In this article, the authors reveal the symbolic role of cranes at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey. Worked bones of the Common Crane (Grus grus) are interpreted as coming from a spread wing used in dances, a ritual practice perhaps connected with the celebration of marriage.
The Egyptian origin of the Greek alphabetic numerals
Authors: Chrisomalis Stephen
Published: January 2015

Traditionally, it has been assumed that the Greek alphabetic numerals were independently invented in the sixth century BC. However, the author finds a remarkable structural similarity between this system and the Egyptian demotic numerals. He proposes that trade between Asia Minor and Egypt provided the context in which the Greek numerals were adopted from Egyptian models.
Population expansion in the western Pacific (Austronesia): a wave of advance model
Authors: Fort Joaquim
Published: January 2015

The author reconsiders the ‘wave of advance model’ used to describe (and partly explain) the rate at which people adopted farming. It is usually applied to large open areas, where one population group can easily see or meet another – but the populations considered here live on islands. Joaquim Fort finds that the 5000 km extent of the South Pacific was settled in the Neolithic period at a rate of at least 8 km per year.
The origins of iron working in India: new evidence from the Central Ganga Plain and the Eastern Vindhyas
Authors: Tewari Rakesh
Published: January 2015

Recent excavations in Uttar Pradesh have turned up iron artefacts, furnaces, tuyeres and slag in layers radiocarbon dated between 1800 and 1000 BC. This raises again the question of whether iron working was brought to India during supposed immigrations in the second millennium BC, or developed independently
Andean luxury foods: special food for the ancestors, deities and the élite
Authors: Hastorf Christine A.
Published: January 2015

Certain kinds of food can be classed as “luxurious” because they are difficult to procure and reserved for an élite – but luxury foods can be more surely defined from their context of use. Using examples from Andean archaeology the author shows how different foodstuffs perform ceremonial roles in different sectors of society. Many ordinary people use them to feed the ancestors, while the élite may put significance on a variety of consumables, including human blood.
Living Lithics: ethnoarchaeology in Highland Papua New Guinea
Authors: Sillitoe Paul , Hardy Karen
Published: January 2015

This paper represents the joint work of two very different specialists. The fieldwork was undertaken by Sillitoe as part of his ethnographic research in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the interpretative work was done by an archaeologist, Hardy. The work described here represents some of the last direct evidence from users of stone tools. It shows how procurement, manufacture, use, storage and the relative roles of men and women in the process was dependant on what other materials were available – material often sadly elusive in the archaeological record. Discard did not reflect use, but was often guided by the thoughtful wish to avoid cut feet.
The geoglyphs of the north Chilean desert: an archaeological and artistic perspective
Authors: Briones-M. Luis
Published: January 2015

A new review of the geoglyphs of the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile has allowed the author to define a vocabulary of forms and show how these relate to particular groups of people crossing the desert from the mountains to the sea in the prehispanic period. Geometric, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic symbols mark routes, destinations and usage by particular llama caravans. The travellers were key players in society and were winning prominence in their region from AD 800.
Boat remains and maritime trade in the Persian Gulf during the sixth and fifth millennia BC
Authors: Carter Robert
Published: January 2015

Archaeological excavations in Kuwait have revealed the earliest remains anywhere of sea-going boats. The author explains these remains and the distribution of Ubaid pottery as evidence for a system of maritime exchange in the Arabian Neolithic driven by status and ceremony.
New light on the warrior stelae from Tartessos (Spain)
Authors: Pérez Sebastián Celestino , López-Ruiz Carolina
Published: January 2015

The famous stelae from the Tartessos region of southern Iberia are compared with new discoveries from the Levant. Similarities of theme and iconography endorse the Phoenician connection, but show it to be more a cultural dialogue between east and west than an imposition by colonists.
Memory and monumentality in the Rarotongan landscape
Authors: Campbell Matthew
Published: January 2015

One way to understand how a landscape captures memories is to study places where documents have also preserved them. The author does this to remarkable effect in the island of Rarotonga, showing how the great road Ara Metua and its monuments and land boundaries were structured and restructured through time to reflect what was to be remembered. Students of the pre- and proto-histories of all continents will find much inspiration in the pages that follow.
Rillenkarren at Vayia: geomorphology and a new class of Early Bronze Age fortified settlement in Southern Greece
Authors: Tartaron Thomas F. , Pullen Daniel J. , Noller Jay S.
Published: January 2015

With ever more inhibited programmes of excavation, new methods of site survey are always welcome. Here a soil geomorphologist joins forces with archaeologists to read the history of limestone blocks exposed on the surface at sites in southern Greece. Rillenkarren for example are vertical grooves caused by rainfall on stones that remained for long periods in the same place. These and other observations showed that what looked like clearance cairns had in fact been piled up in the Early Bronze Age and led in turn to the definition of a new type of settlement.
The application of First World War aerial photography to archaeology: the Belgian images
Authors: Stichelbaut Birger
Published: January 2015

The First World War left its mark on the ground surface of Europe as perhaps no other human catastrophe before or since. The author applies modern digital mapping technology to the aerial photographs taken by the intrepid early pilots, and creates a landscape of military works that would not have been known in detail to either historians or generals at the time. The GIS inventory has great potential for historians of the war and is a vital instrument for the management of this increasingly important heritage.
Academic copying, archaeology and the English language
Authors: Bentley R. Alexander
Published: January 2015

The author detects a new undisciplined movement in academic writing. (though we still apply all the strictures here. Ed.).
Neighbours: Negotiating space in a prehistoric village
Authors: Frankel David , Webb Jennifer M.
Published: January 2015

This paper shows the remarkable level of social history that can be drawn from the high quality excavation and analysis of a well-preserved stratigraphic sequence. A Bronze Age settlement in Cyprus could be defined as a series of households, comprising dwellings, outbuildings and courtyards that were established, extended, replaced or abandoned over some 500 years. The authors' interpretation offers intimate access to the private lives of the inhabitants over a period in which their settlement grew from a village to a town and then reverted to a deserted ruin.
Kurgans and nomads: new investigations of mound burials in the southern Urals
Authors: Morgunova N.L. , Khokhlova O.S.
Published: January 2015

A new study of the group of kurgans (burial mounds) which stands near Orenburg at the south end of the Ural mountains has revealed a sequence that began in the early Bronze Age and continued intermittently until the era of the Golden Horde in the Middle Ages. The application of modern techniques of cultural and environmental investigation has thrown new light on the different circumstances and contexts in which mound burial was practised, and confirmed the association between investment in burial and nomadism.
Trees in Udmurt religion
Authors: Shutova Nadezhda
Published: January 2015

Prehistorians and early historic archaeologists often puzzle over seemingly random distributions of artefacts remote from settlements. Here is at least one possible explanation. Using ethnographic and archaeological evidence the author reveals how an early historic people of central Russia used trees in their religion, and describes some of the meanings that lay behind their rituals.
Chronology of the earliest pottery in East Asia: progress and pitfalls
Authors: Kuzmin Yaroslav V.
Published: January 2015

The origin of pottery is among the most important questions in Old World archaeology. The author undertakes a critical review of radiocarbon dates associated with the earliest pottery-making and eliminates a number of them where the material or its context are unreliable. Using those that survive this process of ‘chronometric hygiene’, he proposes that food-containers made of burnt clay originated in East Asia in the Late Glacial, c. 13 700-13 300 BP, and appeared in three separate regions, in Japan, China and far eastern Russia, at about the same time.
Danish razors and Swedish rocks: Cosmology and the Bronze Age landscape
Authors: Bradley Richard
Published: January 2015

A recent study has suggested that the decorated Bronze Age metalwork of South Scandinavia depicted the path of the sun through the sky during the day and through the sea at night. At different stages in its journey it was accompanied by a horse or a ship. Similar images are found in prehistoric rock art, and this paper argues that, whilst there are important differences between the images in these two media, they also signal some of the same ideas.
Sexual dimorphism in Upper Palaeolithic hand stencils
Authors: Snow Dean R.
Published: January 2015

Sexual roles in deep prehistory are among the most intriguing puzzles still to solve. Here the author shows how men and women can be distinguished by scientific measurement in the prints and stencils of the human hand that occur widely in Upper Palaeolithic art. Six hand stencils from four French caves are attributed to four adult females, an adult male, and a sub-adult male. Here we take a step closer to showing that both sexes are engaged in cave art and whatever dreams and rituals it implies.
The Egyptian olive (Olea europaeasubsp.europaea) in the later first millennium BC: origins and history using the morphometric analysis of olive stones
Authors: Newton Claire , Terral Jean-Frédéric , Ivorra Sarah
Published: January 2015

The authors examine a sample of olive stones from Egyptian contexts and show that from the first millennium BC, if not before, some of them relate to cultivars originating from the Levant. But equally prominent and just as early is another variety, of unknown origin and currently peculiar to Egypt. The method used is geometrical morphometric analysis – essentially classifying the olive stones by their shape.
Using Shuttle Radar Topography to map ancient water channels in Mesopotamia
Authors: Hritz Carrie , Wilkinson T.J.
Published: January 2015

The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) is currently producing a digital elevation model of most of the world's surface. Here the authors assess its value in mapping and sequencing the network of water channels that provided the arterial system for Mesopotamia before the petrol engine.
Touch not the fish: the Mesolithic-Neolithic change of diet and its significance
Authors: Richards M.P. , Schulting R.J.
Published: January 2015

Stable isotope analysis has startled the archaeological community by showing a rapid and widespread change from a marine to terrestrial diet (ie from fish to domesticated plants and animals) as people moved from a Mesolithic to a Neolithic culture. This could be a consequence of domestication, or as Julian Thomas (2003) proposed, of a kind of taboo (‘Touch not the fish’). In a key challenge, Nicky Milner and her colleagues (2004) questioned the reality of this nutritional revolution, contrasting the message of the bones and shells found on settlement sites, with the isotope measurements in the bones of people. Here Mike Richards and Rick Schulting, champions of the diet-revolution, strongly reinforce the arguments. The change was real, it seems: so what does it mean? Milner and colleagues respond.
Oceanic rock art: first direct dating of prehistoric stencils and paintings from New Caledonia (Southern Melanesia)
Authors: Sand Christophe , Valladas Hélène , Cachier Hélène , Tisnérat-Laborde Nadine , Arnold Maurice , Bolé Jacques , Ouetcho André
Published: January 2015

Rock art in an inland cave on the island of Lifou, New Caledonia, has been radiocarbon dated. A cluster of early paintings date to 2500 years ago, soon after the arrival of the first settlers, who must have quickly gone inland probably in pursuit of fresh water, available near the cave. They left their mark on the cave in the form of numerous hand stencils. During the first millennium AD, later generations of artists used the same cave, drawing birds and a circular sign for water still recognised by the present community.
Beaker age bracers in England: sources, function and use
Authors: Woodward Ann , Hunter John , Ixer Rob , Roe Fiona , Potts Philip J. , Webb Peter C. , Watson John S. , Jones Michael C.
Published: January 2015

The authors review the significance of bracers by undertaking a detailed examination of their morphology, fragmentation, manufacture and wear. The results have a number of implications regarding their use and value and this is supported by the use of petrographic and geochemical analyses which suggest discrete patterns of raw material acquisition. A description of the technical methodology and appropriate data tables are available at http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/woodward.
The Pacific's earliest painted pottery: an added layer of intrigue to the Lapita debate and beyond
Authors: Bedford Stuart
Published: January 2015

Lapita pottery, the herald of the settlement of the wider island Pacific, turns out to have been painted with lime and clay, to give a red and white finish over the decorated surface. The find of a pot in Vanuatu, its sherds in different states of deterioration showed why painted Lapita has previously gone unrecognised. The author suggests that it was widespread from 1000 BC and reminds us that pottery was painted in China 7000 years ago.
The ‘Briquetage de la Seille’ (Lorraine, France): proto-industrial salt production in the European Iron Age
Authors: Olivier Laurent , Kovacik Joseph
Published: January 2015

The authors describe the first recognition of briquetage in Europe and the subsequent appreciation of the great prehistoric salt industry. Central to Iron Age production was the site of Briquetage de la Seille, where broken salt containers survive in mounds 12 metres high and half a kilometre long. New techniques map the source of brine, the workshops and the boilers. Salt production here knew two boom periods: the eighth to sixth and the second to first centuries BC.
Vegetation and land-use at Angkor, Cambodia: a dated pollen sequence from the Bakong temple moat
Authors: Penny Dan , Pottier Christophe , Fletcher Roland , Barbetti Mike , Fink David , Hua Quan
Published: January 2015

Investigating the use of land during the medieval period at the celebrated ceremonial area of Angkor, the authors took a soil column over 2.5m deep from the inner moat of the Bakong temple. The dated pollen sequence showed that the temple moat was dug in the eighth century AD and that the agriculture of the immediate area subsequently flourished. In the tenth century AD agriculture declined and the moat became choked with water-plants. It was at this time, according to historical documents, that a new centre at Phnom Bakeng was founded by Yasovarman I.
Environment and culture change in Neolithic Southeast China
Authors: Jiao Tianlong
Published: January 2015

How did the Neolithic begin and develop in Southeast China? The author uses a highly detailed sequence of changes in sea-level, climate and vegetation to provide the back-drop – and some explanations – for the distinctive maritime community of the Taiwan Strait, whose descendants are thought to have colonised the Pacific.
The aurochs, nature worship and exploitation in eastern Gaul
Authors: Grant Annie , Sauer Eberhard
Published: January 2015

The unusual assemblage of aurochs horn cores from the baths of Bourbonne-les-Bains suggests votive deposits. But were they? The authors describe the assemblage, date it to the later Roman to early medieval period, discuss its possible environmental and ritual connotations, but also raise the possibility that it relates to craft-workers making use of the hot water supply to work the horn.