An ethnoarchaeometric approach has been followed to identify the textural and compositional characteristics of the ceramic pastes produced in ancient Iaitas/Ietas, an indigenous site located in western Sicily on Monte Iato, a few tens of kilometres from Palermo. This approach was primarily motivated by the lack of discovered Archaic kilns or production sites/workshops and the inability to identify

The emergence of pottery in Europe is associated with two distinct traditions: hunter-gatherers in the east of the continent during the early 6th millennium BC and early agricultural communities in the south-west in the late 7th millennium BC. Here we investigate the function of pottery from the site of Rakushechny Yar, located at the Southern fringe of Eastern Europe, in this putative contact zone

Arrowheads belonging to the Eurasian nomads in the Middle Ages constitute a rich database, allowing an evaluation of cultural interaction in this region. However, the written sources required to interpret this rich archaeological heritage are very scarce, and the information in these sources is rather superficial. For this reason, different methods have been used to evaluate the archaeological heritage

Studies of modern carnivore accumulations of bone (i.e., neo-taphonomy) are crucial for interpreting fossil accumulations in the archaeological and paleontological records. Yet, studies in arid regions have been limited in both number and detailed taphonomic data, prohibiting our understanding of carnivore bone-accumulating and -modifying behavior in dry regions. Here, we present a taphonomic analysis

Despite the ubiquity of parasitism, the knowledge regarding fossil parasites remains fragmentary. As an example, South American clade Xenarthra was a predominant group of mammals during the Cenozoic; however, its paleoparasitological knowledge has many gaps, with only a few reports in armadillos and fewer in ground sloths. Darwin’s ground sloth (Mylodon darwini) was a mega mammal widely distributed

Endscrapers are specialized tools that are usually recovered in great quantities in every Upper Paleolithic site in Europe. Although they make their first ephemeral appearance in the Middle–late Middle Paleolithic transitional technocomplexes, endscrapers commonly appear in toolkits from initial and early Upper Paleolithic traditions onwards. Nevertheless, endscrapers and, in general, domestic tools

Talgar in southeast Kazakhstan was one of the flourishing medieval towns in Central Asia that faced the Mongol invasion, which led to little textual or material evidence documented of subsequent human residence. A metal assemblage consisting of eight iron tools and a lighting device recently excavated from what is typically considered a medieval site at Talgar shed new light on Talgar’s post-medieval

Dental microwear analysis is a proxy for analysing the diet in extinct and extant vertebrates, especially mammals. The limits of these approaches are still rather poorly known, especially in terms of taphonomic impacts. Indeed, several physical or chemical phenomena may have altered the microscopic features linked to the diet and compromised their study. In this article, we evaluate the effect of sediment

Historical sources report that some species of freshwater fish were considered luxury food items in England during the Middle Ages. The high retail price associated with species such as pike, salmon and sturgeon, as well as restrictions of fishing rights on rivers, estuaries and natural and artificial ponds, proves their exclusivity and role as symbols of social privilege. In this work, the zooarchaeological

Fourteenth–fifteenth century food refuse from the kitchen of the Esztergom archbishopric shows a significant diachronic increase in cyprinid bones, in particular those of carp. Meanwhile, contributions by large acipenserids and carnivorous species (catfish/wels, pike, percids) declined. Contemporaneous account books indirectly suggest that the archbishop’s kitchen must have increasingly relied on farmed

The southeast of the Iberian Peninsula counts with a large number of earthen defensive architecture built in the medieval period. This heritage has been granted the highest level of protection by Spanish legislation and some of these structures are even listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites worldwide. Notwithstanding, the natural and anthropic risks threatening their survival and the advanced deterioration

Tāmure (Australasian snapper, Chrysophrys auratus) is the most commonly identified fish in pre-European Māori middens in northern New Zealand. Tāmure reproduce in open water, after which their larvae migrate to nurseries in sheltered inshore environments. The range of suitable nursery habitats in the Hauraki Gulf has declined over the last century as agriculture and industry have had an impact on the

To date, fishing economies of prehistoric populations of coastal South China have been inadequately studied. This paper presents the results from the first systematic study that documents a subsistence economy from the Neolithic settlement site of Guye (5900–5400 cal BP) in the Pearl River Delta region of Southern China using an ichthyoarchaeological analysis. The analysis yielded a large number of

Systematic archaeobotanical research in the Bronze Age Aegean has greatly expanded our knowledge regarding staple crops and aspects such as palaeoecology, human diet and food production. However, some plant foodstuffs remain ‘invisible’ to conventional archaeobotanical methods. This study explores the use of plant ingredients in Minoan cuisine through the analysis of starch grains from cooking or cooking

This article discusses the results of neutron activation analysis made on a limited number of LH IIIB and LH IIIC period sherds from the Argive settlement Asine, Greece. The analysis indicates that the transformation from the palatial to the post-palatial period, on a local level of a village as Asine, was not signified by loss of contacts with the surrounding world. Rather continuity and interaction

This paper analyses 20 Late Bronze Age (ca 1080–800 BC) copper alloy objects to discern their manufacture and the skills of local craftsmen. Several tools and jewellery were studied that originated from a bronze workshop located immediately next to the Prigglitz-Gasteil copper ore mining site and several contemporaneous sites in the surrounding area. The samples were studied with optical microscopy

The inland town of Aalst is located on the banks of the River Dender, which is part of the Scheldt basin that drains the major part of Flanders, the northern part of Belgium. In an attempt to look for diachronic trends in fish consumption, ichthyological remains from 34 stratigraphic units, derived from seven different sites within the town, are compared, spanning the period from the twelfth to the

Finds of raw glass and waste from two La Tène glass-working sites, the settlement agglomeration of Němčice dating to the 3rd–second century BC and the Staré Hradisko oppidum from the 2nd–first century BC, are analysed by LA-ICP-MS. The analysis results of a series of 60 samples are compared with the corpus of 1194 analysed glass artefacts from France. A concurrence was found with the composition of

In this paper, we present an updated technological analysis of the lithic collection excavated in the 1980s in a high-altitude site in the Ebro Basin, Peña Miel level e. This level represents one of the latest occurrences of Middle Palaeolithic technology in the Iberian Peninsula, so it is of special interest for understanding the trajectories of late Neandertals in this region. The results show the

The Still Bay is a key technocomplex within the Middle Stone Age (MSA), and Sibudu, in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, provides one of the longest and richest pre-Still Bay to Still Bay sequences. It has been hypothesised that the Still Bay industry emerged through technological revolution or alternatively through gradual change. In this paper we conduct a geometric morphometric (GM) assessment of the

Isotopic analyses of human remains have the potential to alter our understanding of prehistoric lifeways and migration in Australia, but very few such analyses have been conducted in the country to date. Here, we report the first regional multiproxy isotope study of pre-contact human remains from Australia. We obtained δ13Ccollagen, δ15Ncollagen, δ18Obioapatite, δ13Cbioapatite and 87Sr/86Sr isotope

This study presents a new isotope and element-composition database of copper ores from Mallorca and Menorca. The main goal of this paper is to characterize copper resources from the Balearic Islands and demonstrate how this database can contribute to furthering studies on the origins of archaeological materials from the Western Mediterranean. Using our isotope database in conjunction with supporting

Over the past decades, physicochemical-based analyses have been widely utilized to study many aspects of rock art, including the composition, morphology, topology, optical and electronic properties, and radiometric age. However, these analyses of rock art are still in the initial stages in Indonesia. To the best of our knowledge, studies of rock art in Indonesia have been dominated by work in the fields

The Early Dabban industry was discovered in the Cyrenaica region (Northeast of Libya), considered to be representative of the early stages of the Later Stone Age in this region. This industry was defined based on the lithic assemblages recovered from Hagfet ed Dabba and the nearby Haua Fteah site. We studied the lithic material from Level VI of the Hagfet ed Dabba site, which was excavated by Prof

Identifying the individuals who make up burned and commingled skeletal assemblages represents a labour-intensive challenge. Portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) is a potential tool for reconciling fragmented and mixed individuals using the unique elemental content of bone. While the method’s usefulness has been demonstrated with unburned bone, further work is needed to identify if the elemental signatures

Olieboomspoort is one of the few rock shelters in the vast interior of southern Africa documenting pulses of occupation from the Acheulean until the end of the Later Stone Age. Revil Mason excavated the site in 1954 and attributed the large Middle Stone Age (MSA) lithic assemblage to his middle phase of the so-called Pietersburg Industry. Recent work at the site has focused on the Holocene layers,

Although malaria is one of the oldest and most widely distributed diseases affecting humans, identifying and characterizing its presence in ancient human remains continue to challenge researchers. We attempted to establish a reliable approach to detecting malaria in human skeletons using multiple avenues of analysis: macroscopic observations, rapid diagnostic tests, and shotgun-capture sequencing techniques

The recently excavated necropolises of Esfola (Beja) and Monte do Bolor 1/2 (Beja) display a characteristic architecture and distinctive funerary items that refer to the seventh to sixth century BC. The work comprises a microanalytical study of copper-based artefacts, some of them symbols of status, recovered in these necropolises (Tartesic belt buckles, body grooming instruments and different types

The Cantabrian Zone (N of Spain) is characterized by an occurrence of Palaeozoic age materials, mainly belonging to the Devonian and Carboniferous. Among the different lithologies, certain facies contain black chert and radiolarite in a total of 13 geological formations. Textural (de visu, stereomicroscope and thin sections), mineralogical (X-ray diffraction) and geochemical (X-ray fluorescence and

Shovakh cave is a late Middle Paleolithic cave site in Northern Israel, situated ca. 8 km from the Sea of Galilee. The Cave was originally was excavated by Sally Binford in 1962, and results of the analyses of its lithic assemblages played a major role in the then-raging Bordes-Binford debate, as well as in the initiation of the field of inquires known as “technological organization.” A renewed excavation

The Chengdu Plain was the iron production center in southwest China in the Han dynasty (202 BC-220 AD), which three iron smelting sites and large amounts of iron objects were excavated in the past decades. However, metallurgical studies of iron production in the Chengdu Plain have been overlooked for a long time. This paper provides an opportunity to understand the iron production technology in the

This paper aims to explore gender diversity and sexual division of labour at the beginning of farming through the study of one of the earliest Linearbandkeramik cemeteries in Central Europe: Nitra (Slovakia). This topic is addressed by bringing out the nuance of the buried individuals’ lifeways and taskways. Use-wear studies have been undertaken on both ground and flaked stone instruments deposited

Chemical compositional data sets of archaeological artefacts are often analysed using standard statistical procedures. Adopting a different approach, we examine the major element oxides found in Parthian and Sasanian glazed pottery by identifying statistically important ratios of oxides in conjunction with the expert knowledge of the archaeological scientist during, rather than after, the identification

Barranco León (Orce, Andalusia, Spain) provides the oldest case of knapping and percussive activities on an ancient raw material reservoir deposit. This site has already proven to be one of the oldest and most significant Oldowan open-air sites in Europe (1.4 Ma), with an exceptionally rich flint and limestone lithic assemblage, in association with large and small faunal remains, including a tooth

Through paleoethnobotanical analysis, we illustrate mutualism between herding and cultivating crops among early Andean mobile pastoralists who lived in the Iroco region of the Central Altiplano of Bolivia during the Formative period (1500 BCE - 500 CE). These pastoralists, known as the Wankarani culture, cultivated quinoa, kañawa, and tubers even though they were mobile pastoralists. Cultivating these

The contact goniometer is a commonly used tool in archaeological analysis, despite suffering from a number of shortcomings due to the physical interaction between the measuring implement, the object being measured, and the individual taking the measurements. However, lacking a simple and efficient alternative, researchers in a variety of fields continue to use the contact goniometer to this day. In

The origin of the Hyksos dynasty (c. 1638–1530 BCE) is thought to be rooted in the Near East given the architectural features and burial customs present at the site of Tell el-Dabca, identified as the capital of Hyksos rule in the Eastern Delta of Egypt. We expand previous 87Sr/86Sr research on the site’s cemetery assemblage using a multi-isotopic methodology: oxygen (δ18O) and carbon (δ13Ccarb) stable

In recent years, new applications of microremain dietary analysis using dental calculus as a source of dietary data on ancient human subsistence and behaviours have accelerated. The dental calculus of contemporary human and non-human populations with known diets have been used as reference datasets, including the chimpanzees of Taï National Park (Côte d'Ivoire), but explaining the preservation mechanism

In Europe, several thousand ferrous semi-products attributed to the Iron Age (8th–1st c. BC) have been found. Recent advances in the field of archaeometry concerning the dating of iron objects, characterisation of materials and provenance studies have made it possible to address some important and hitherto unresolved questions. The results obtained from the study of an exceptional set of over 70 currency-bars

Archaeological Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) and saffron cod (Eleginus gracilis) remains were used to assess the past effects of warming and cooling climatic events on size and length of these two fish. It was predicted that climatic warming would result in greater overlap of the geographic ranges of salmon species, and increased saffron cod mean length. Ichthyofaunal remains were derived from

Sardinian metallurgy produced samples of high artistic and historical value. In particular, ship models are rare and unmatched examples of the mastery reached by Sardinian metallurgists and their production process deserves an in-depth analysis of all the phases involved in the making. In this work, we examined a Sardinian boat model to obtain information about its composition, microstructure and manufacturing

This paper presents the first combined elemental composition and lead isotope (LI) ratio data for Middle Kingdom Egyptian copper alloy artefacts and significantly extends our knowledge on copper smelting remains from the Sinai Peninsula. It further provides the first precise LI ratio and trace element data for two Classic Kerma daggers. Forty-one samples have been analysed from artefacts housed at

The beginning of husbandry in the Iberian Peninsula has been documented from the second half of the 6th millennium BCE and was based on the breeding of domestic caprines, mainly sheep. The first evidence of these practices comes from the Mediterranean region, but they quickly expanded inland. Previous studies have reported on the importance of the El Mirador sheepfold cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos

This paper examines how microblade technology emerged in North China based on the case study of the newly excavated Xishi and Dongshi sites in the hinterland of North China. Used as the lithic production area, Xishi and Dongshi sites generated abundant lithic debris which show the presence of a precocious form of microblade techno-complex embedded within the blade techno-complex. Radiocarbon dating

This study aims to better understand the development of group identity, mobility, and health in the Early Medieval Meuse Valley. This is achieved by combining existing demographic and palaeopathological information from 73 cremation deposits from Echt, the Netherlands, with new strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) and strontium concentrations ([Sr]) that are performed on pars petrosa, diaphysis, and

The paper focuses on a seventeenth century Japanese helmet (kabuto) from the Saotome School; previous investigations revealed that its lamellae, made of high-quality low-carbon steel, were assembled following a novel structure that suggested higher resistance to firearms. Neutron diffraction represents the ideal technique for the characterisation of the microstructural properties of metals. In this

One of the most important rituals in the Inca Empire was the capacocha. It required the most prestigious sacrificial offering of male and female children and young women who were characterized by their beauty and purity. The aim of this paper is to present the results of a bio-anthropological analysis of the remains of five individuals sacrificed on the summits of Ampato and Pichu Pichu during this

Human subsistence strategies and husbandry practices for sheep, goats, and cattle in the Gan-Qing region between the late Neolithic and Bronze ages remain ambiguous. This study sought to uncover this history by analyzing animal assemblages and reconstructing animal dietary intake using faunal remains derived from three settlement sites in the region and their isotopic data. We isotopically analyzed

Variables such as age, ethnicity, gender, and stature are the factors that reveal the biological and physical profile of the individual. Mathematical methods can be used to estimate the total height of the long limb bones. It is possible to shed light on different periods by revealing some anatomical and morphological bone features by using human bones from ancient times. For this purpose, after taking

Here we present the recently discovered desert kites of South Africa in terms of landscape-based data derived from LiDAR scanning that enable us to compare the morphometric and topographic characteristics of the individual kite funnels. We report on a least-cost-path analysis, and use both older and younger ethno-historical and ethno-archaeological observations to help understand possible animal and

Birch tar is the oldest manmade adhesive dating back to the European Middle Palaeolithic. Its study is of importance for understanding the cognitive capacities and technical skills of Neanderthals and the aceramic production systems employed in the European Palaeolithic and Mesolithic. Several methods may have been used to make birch tar, the most common proposition being dry distillation in oxygen-depleted

An unusual jaw-bone artefact from the north-western lowlands, West Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea, is described. It comprises 11 clusters of jawbones as well as a pendant of shell and a ring of bone. The clusters are separated by crab legs, and the entire assemblage is threaded on string. Ten of the clusters have four marsupial dentaries each, and one has three. One cluster also hosts a snake mandible

The shells of mollusks are commonly found archeologically around the world, being especially prevalent in North America. Today, however, many mollusks, freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae, Margaritiferidae) in particular, are some of the most imperiled faunas globally. Efforts to conserve mollusks should be informed by referencing the vast zooarchaeological record, as it can provide a historical

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01346-9

Archaeofaunal remains from the central Georgia Bight (USA) are used in a case study for assessing coastal fisheries between 2760 BCE and 1500 CE, particularly from the perspective of sustainability. The longevity of this fishery is evaluated in terms of taxonomic attributions, richness, ubiquity, diversity, and mean trophic level (TL) of fish individuals (MNI) in assemblages from 22 coastal archaeological

This paper deals with the findings of Hospital Viejo site of Logroño (La Rioja, Spain), which yielded the largest evidence of local pottery production, comprising three kilns and a potters’ dump (13th–15th centuries). The study of pottery production in inland Iberia provides valuable information on the material conditions in which the Iberian medieval and post-medieval society occurred. Yet, the territory

Beginning by at least the Andean Middle Horizon (AD 600–1000), sites located more than 60 km inland from the Pacific coast in far southern Peru contain the remains of jack mackerel (Trachurus murphyi). The coastal region near the modern Peruvian city of Ilo was the habitat where people procured fish and transported them to sites in the Moquegua Valley. Abundant neurocranial fragments indicate that

This study presents results from the analytical investigation of the polymetallic, non-ferrous metallurgical cycle at early Viking Age Ribe, Denmark, in the 8th and 9th centuries CE. We combine extensive surface analyses of crucibles and moulds (handheld XRF) with targeted micro-destructive examination (micro XRF, electron microprobe spectroscopy—EPMA) of crucibles, moulds, ingots, blanks, and finished

This study details the non-destructive chemical analysis of composite silver objects (ewers, situlas, amphora and casket) from one of the most significant late Roman finds, the Seuso Treasure. The Seuso Treasure consists of fourteen large silver vessels that were made in the fourth–early fifth centuries AD and used for dining during festive banquets and for washing and beautification. The measurements