The evolution of competitive settlement strategies in Fijian prehistory : results of excavations and radiometric dating

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Field, J.S.

2003-01-01

A series of excavations were completed between June 2001 and March 2002 in the Fiji Islands. The goal of this research was to investigate the evolution of competitive settlement strategies in Fijian prehistory from an archaeological and evolutionary ecological perspective. Twelve sites were excavated and mapped in the Sigatoka Valley, located in the southwestern corner of the main island of Viti Levu. Excavations were focused on determining the chronology of fortifications in the region, and the collected samples were compared to expectations based on GIS-based analyses of land productivity and historical documents pertaining to late-period warfare. Over four hundred archaeological sites have been identified in the Sigatoka Valley, and of these roughly one-third are purely defensive in configuration, with no immediate access to water or arable land. The Waikato Archaeological Dating Fund provided four radiometric dates for three defensive sites, and one site associated with a production area. (author). 6 refs., 1 fig

Script, code, information: how to differentiate analogies in the "prehistory" of molecular biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Kogge, Werner

2012-01-01

The remarkable fact that twentieth-century molecular biology developed its conceptual system on the basis of sign-like terms has been the object of numerous studies and debates. Throughout these, the assumption is made that this vocabulary's emergence should be seen in the historical context of mathematical communication theory and cybernetics. This paper, in contrast, sets out the need for a more differentiated view: whereas the success of the terms "code" and "information" would probably be unthinkable outside that historical context, general semiotic and especially scriptural concepts arose far earlier in the "prehistory" of molecular biology, and in close association with biological research and phenomena. This distinction, established through a reconstruction of conceptual developments between 1870 and 1950, makes it possible to separate off a critique of the reductive implications of particular information-based concepts from the use of semiotic and scriptural concepts, which is fundamental to molecular biology. Gene-centrism and determinism are not implications of semiotic and scriptural analogies, but arose only when the vocabulary of information was superimposed upon them.

Comprehensive Bibliography of Pakistan Archaeology: Paleolithic to Historic Times. South Asia Series, Occasional Paper No. 24.

Science.gov (United States)

King, Denise E.

The comprehensive bibliography is a compilation of twentieth century documents about Pakistan prehistory from Paleolithic times to the arrival of the Greeks in approximately 330 B.C., also includes some of the major archaeological studies in adjacent countries which have a bearing on the interpretation and comparative analysis of Pakistan…

Characterization, analysis and dating of archaeological ceramics from the Amazon basin through nuclear techniques; Caracterizacao, analise e datacao de ceramicas arqueologicas da Bacia Amazonica atraves de tecnicas nucleares

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Latini, Rose Mary

1998-07-01

The aim of this work is to contribute to the research in the reconstruction of part of the pre-history of the Amazon Basin by means of an analytical methods combined with multivariate analysis, given a analytic basis that can be continued by the archaeological work, through the identification, classification, provenance and dating the ceramics found in different archaeological sites of the Hydro graphic Basin of the Purus river. Neutron activation analysis in conjunction multivariate statistical methods were used for the identification and classification and thermoluminescence was used for the dating. Chemical composition results were in better agreement with archaeological classification for the archaeologically define Iquiri, Quinan and Xapuri phases and less characteristics the Iaco and Jacuru archaeological phase were not well characterized. An homogeneous group was established by most of the samples collected from the Los Angeles Archaeological Site (LA) and was distinct from all the other groups analysed. The provenance studies made with ceramics collected at this site shows that they were made with clay from nearby river (Rio Ina). From the LA ceramics dating the average date of site occupation was 1660 years. The ceramic dating results from the external wall of a circular earth wall construction confirm the relation with the local pre-history. Beyond the Acre material two urns were dated from the Archaeological Site Morro Grande and Sao Jose at Araruama, Rio de Janeiro. (author)

Scientific methods of research in archaeology, prehistory, and ancient history

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gentner, W [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik, Heidelberg (Germany, F.R.)

1977-12-01

This contribution deals with some fields of archaeometry, i.e. the application of physical methods in archaeology: Age determination in glasses and potsherds with the aid of fission tracks and thermoluminescence, determination of the origin of coins and pottery by chemical analyses with the aid of neutron activation ('fingerprinting'), obtaining information on metal winning in ancient history with the aid of the C-14-method.

Annual review of cultural resource investigations by the Savannah River Archaeological Research Program, fiscal year 1990

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brooks, Mark J.; Brooks, Richard D.; Sassaman, Kenneth E.; Crass, David C.; Lewis, George S.; Stephenson, D. Keith; Green, William; Anderson, David G.; Fuglseth, Ty

1990-11-01

The Savannah River Archaeological Research Program (SRARP) of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, is funded through a direct contract with the United States Department of Energy to provide services required under federal law for the protection and management of archaeological resources on the Savannah River Site (SRS). Because the significance of most archaeological resources is dependent upon research potential, the SRARP is guided by research objectives. An on-going research program provides the problems, methods and means of assessing site significance within the compliance process specified by law. In addition, the SRARP maintains an active program of public education to disseminate knowledge about prehistory and history, and to enhance public awareness about historic preservation. The following report summarizes the management, research and public education activities of the SRARP during Fiscal Year 1990.

Recent recoveries of archaeological ceramics on Santa Isabel, central Solomon Islands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carter, M.J.; Roe, D.; Keopo, J.

2012-01-01

Recent field investigations on Santa Isabel in the Central Solomon Islands have revealed the presence of archaeological pottery in both terrestrial and intertidal contexts. Preliminary dating results and comparative stylistic analyses of sherds provide evidence to suggest an antiquity of ceramics in northwest Isabel spanning the late Holocene to the recent historic past. These research outcomes expand the known distribution of pottery within the Solomon Islands and provide new knowledge about the prehistory of Santa Isabel. Here we describe the Santa Isabel ceramics, and suggest several implications of the research for current settlement models of the Solomon Islands and for our understanding of the variability in the archaeological record of mid- to late-Holocene ceramic distribution throughout the region. (author). 24 refs., 7 figs.

Investigating the global dispersal of chickens in prehistory using ancient mitochondrial DNA signatures.

Science.gov (United States)

Storey, Alice A; Athens, J Stephen; Bryant, David; Carson, Mike; Emery, Kitty; deFrance, Susan; Higham, Charles; Huynen, Leon; Intoh, Michiko; Jones, Sharyn; Kirch, Patrick V; Ladefoged, Thegn; McCoy, Patrick; Morales-Muñiz, Arturo; Quiroz, Daniel; Reitz, Elizabeth; Robins, Judith; Walter, Richard; Matisoo-Smith, Elizabeth

2012-01-01

Data from morphology, linguistics, history, and archaeology have all been used to trace the dispersal of chickens from Asian domestication centers to their current global distribution. Each provides a unique perspective which can aid in the reconstruction of prehistory. This study expands on previous investigations by adding a temporal component from ancient DNA and, in some cases, direct dating of bones of individual chickens from a variety of sites in Europe, the Pacific, and the Americas. The results from the ancient DNA analyses of forty-eight archaeologically derived chicken bones provide support for archaeological hypotheses about the prehistoric human transport of chickens. Haplogroup E mtDNA signatures have been amplified from directly dated samples originating in Europe at 1000 B.P. and in the Pacific at 3000 B.P. indicating multiple prehistoric dispersals from a single Asian centre. These two dispersal pathways converged in the Americas where chickens were introduced both by Polynesians and later by Europeans. The results of this study also highlight the inappropriate application of the small stretch of D-loop, traditionally amplified for use in phylogenetic studies, to understanding discrete episodes of chicken translocation in the past. The results of this study lead to the proposal of four hypotheses which will require further scrutiny and rigorous future testing.

BRS 'Symmetry', prehistory and history

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

2012-06-09

Jun 9, 2012 ... Abstract. Prehistory – Starting from 't Hooft's (1971) we have a short look at Taylor's and. Slavnov's works (1971–72) and at the lectures given by Rouet and Stora in Lausanne (1973) which determine the transition from pre-history to history. History – We give a brief account of the main analyses and results ...

Annual review of cultural resource investigations by the Savannah River Archaeological Research Program: Fiscal year 1991

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brooks, Mark J.; Brooks, Richard D.; Sassaman, Kenneth E.; Crass, David C.; Stephenson, D. Keith; Green, William; Rinehart, Charles J.; Lewis, George S.; Fuglseth, Ty; Krawczynski, Keith; Warnock, D. Mark

1991-10-01

A cooperative agreement with the United States Department of Energy provides the necessary funding for the Savannah River Archaeological Research Program (SRARP) of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, to render services required under federal law for the protection and management of archaeological resources on the Savannah River Site (SRS). Because the significance of archaeological resources is usually determined by research potential, the SRARP is guided by research objectives. An ongoing research program provides the theoretical, methodological and empirical basis for assessing site significance within the compliance process specified by law. In accordance with the spirit of the law, the SRARP maintains an active public education program for disseminating knowledge about prehistory and history, and for enhancing awareness of historic preservation. This report summarizes the management, research and public education activities of the SRARP during Fiscal Year 1991.

The archaeology of Omaha sandpit, Northland, New Zealand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Campbell, M.; Bickler, S.; Clough, R.

2004-01-01

In the course of mitigation of earthworks associated with residential development at Omaha, 249 middens were recorded and investigated. Dates range from about AD 1400-1700, placing the occupation and use of Omaha firmly within the late phase of prehistory. The middens contained very little other than shell, and we interpret their use as a combination of industrial scale shellfish processing and formal gatherings. The economic analysis of Omaha is fairly straight forward, but we also offer a socially oriented explanation to account for aspects of the archaeology that clearly are not economic. (author). 51 refs., 11 figs., 4 tabs

Prehistory of Australia, by lohn Mulvaney and lohan Kamminga, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., 1999

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Pamela Willoughby

2000-05-01

Full Text Available The prehistory of Australia is a fascinating topic. But it has also been a controversial subject, as aborigi­nal populations, settlers, and archaeologists have argued over the past, its ownership and its meaning and interpretation. Derek John Mulvaney has seen Australian archaeology develop from its early days, and in this book, he and co-author Johan Kamminga try to review the latest evidence. It is not clear who the book is intended for but it would include professional archaeologists as well as average Australians, aboriginal and non-aboriginal alike. This is the third edition of a work first published in 1969; a second edition appeared in 1975.

Climate and demography in early prehistory: using calibrated (14)C dates as population proxies.

Science.gov (United States)

Riede, Felix

2009-04-01

Although difficult to estimate for prehistoric hunter-gatherer populations, demographic variables-population size, density, and the connectedness of demes-are critical for a better understanding of the processes of material culture change, especially in deep prehistory. Demography is the middle-range link between climatic changes and both biological and cultural evolutionary trajectories of human populations. Much of human material culture functions as a buffer against climatic changes, and the study of prehistoric population dynamics, estimated through changing frequencies of calibrated radiocarbon dates, therefore affords insights into how effectively such buffers operated and when they failed. In reviewing a number of case studies (Mesolithic Ireland, the origin of the Bromme culture, and the earliest late glacial human recolonization of southern Scandinavia), I suggest that a greater awareness of demographic processes, and in particular of demographic declines, provides many fresh insights into what structured the archaeological record. I argue that we cannot sideline climatic and environmental factors or extreme geophysical events in our reconstructions of prehistoric culture change. The implications of accepting demographic variability as a departure point for evaluating the archaeological record are discussed.

The Infertile Crescent Revisited: A Case (Study for the History of Archaeology

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Jennifer Bracewell

2015-05-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the history of archaeological research concerning the eastern coast of James Bay in northern Quebec. The construction of prehistory in northern Quebec began with the earliest contact of Europeans with Native Canadians and developed from religious explanations to Classical Evolutionary ones to Culture-Historical ones to Neoevolutionary scientific ones. Although the theoretical interpretations changed over time, the content remained surprisingly constant. The challenges of research in the area, and the resulting paucity of data, led to generalizations that telescoped thousands of years and eight million square miles into a single interpretation, based largely on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century assumptions about hunter-gatherer mobility, subsistence and social evolution. This paper traces how these assumptions have affected the archaeology of the twentieth century in James Bay and northern Quebec.

Review of Green Arabia: Human Prehistory at the Crossroads of Continents

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Joe Roe

2014-04-01

Full Text Available ‘Green Arabia’ was a lively and smoothly run conference held at St John’s College, University of Oxford between the 2nd and 4th of April 2014. The facilities and organisation were excellent, and an opening address from HRH Prince Sultan Bin Salman Bin Abdul-aziz Al-Saud set the stage for a densely packed programme of world class research in Arabian archaeology. Papers arising from the organisers’ ongoing ERC-funded Palaeodeserts Project formed the backbone of four sessions on the environment and human landscape of early prehistoric Arabia. Michael Petraglia introduced this project in his keynote. The project targets an area largely neglected since systematic archaeological research began in Saudi Arabia in the 1970s, but which, as highlighted by Abdullah Alsharekh and Ali bin Ibrahim Al Ghabban, has recently been thrust onto the international research agenda. The central message that emerged over the two days was neatly summed up by Huw Groucutt: we can no longer ‘draw lines through Arabia’ when considering the dispersal of modern humans. The peninsula, linking Africa to Europe and Asia, was a critical nexus in early prehistory and demands the close attention of archaeologists in years to come.

Contact in the prehistory of the Sakha (Yakuts) : Linguistic and genetic perspectives

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pakendorf, Brigitte

2007-01-01

This study analyses the prehistory of a northeastern Siberian population, the Sakha (Yakuts), from both a linguistic and a molecular-genetic perspective. The Sakha, who are a Turkic-speaking group of cattle- and horse-breeders, migrated to the Lena river from an area further to the south several

The preliminary study on the alluvial stratigraphy of Peinan archaeological site, Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Hsiaochin; Chen, Wenshan; Yeh, Changkeng

2015-04-01

Many of the activities of prehistoric people who lived in Taiwan were concentrated around river terrace environments and seldom in alluvial environments which are resulting from the rapid tectonic uplift and high erosion rate of the late Cenozoic mountain belt. However, the Peinan archaeological site, one of the most important Neolithic sites in Taiwan because of the great amount of slate slab coffins and nephrite artifacts unearthed, is located at the bottom of Peinan Hill which is formed by the activity of Lichi and Luyeh Faults. According to the radioactive carbon dating results, the Peinan alluvial fan used as cemetery was lasted over 3,700 years (5700-2000 yr BP) but the related cultural formation was only lasted 400 years (3500-3100 yr BP). What have happened to the prehistoric people? As the stratigraphic record allows archaeologists to ascertain the effects of geological processes on the preservation of the archaeological record, determining which parts of the archaeological records are absent, which have potentially been preserved, and how fragmentary are the preserved portions of the records. The limitations that geologic processes impose on the archaeological record must be recognized and understood before meaningful interpretations of prehistory can be made. Therefore, the reconstruction of the landscape and stratigraphic records in archaeological site not only provides the paleo-environmental context but also helps to explain changes that occurred to human cultures over time.

Prehistory: A Teacher's Guide. Education on Site.

Science.gov (United States)

Corbishley, Mike; Darvill, Tim; Stone, Peter

Chronologically prehistory accounts for over 99% of the human past. During this time, the earliest human ancestors spread across the world from Africa and changed, modified, and evolved until the species "Homo sapiens sapiens" made its appearance some 200,000 years ago. This teacher's guide provides an outline of the prehistory of the…

Prehistoric human impact in the mountains of Bohemia. Do pollen and archaeological data support the traditional scenario of a prehistoric "wilderness"?

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kozáková, Radka; Pokorný, P.; Peša, V.; Danielisová, Alžběta; Čuláková, Katarína; Svitavská-Svobodová, Helena

2015-01-01

Roč. 220, September (2015), s. 29-43 ISSN 0034-6667 Grant - others:Rada Programu interní podpory projektů mezinárodní spolupráce AV ČR(CZ) M300020903 Program:M Institutional support: RVO:67985912 ; RVO:67985939 Keywords : mountains * human impact * pollen * archaeology * prehistory Subject RIV: AC - Archeology, Anthropology, Ethnology; EF - Botanics (BU-J) Impact factor: 2.158, year: 2015

BRS symmetry, prehistory and history

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Becchi, Carlo M.

2012-01-01

Prehistory - Starting from 't Hooft's (1971) we have a short look at Taylor's and Slavnov's works (1971-72) and at the lectures given by Rouet and Stora in Lausanne (1973) which determine the transition from pre-history to history. History - We give a brief account of the main analyses and results of the BRS collaboration concerning the renormalized gauge theories, in particular the method of the regularization-independent, algebraic renormalization, the algebraic proof of S-matrix unitarity and that of gauge choice independence of the renormalized physics. We conclude this report with a suggestion to the crucial question: what could remain of BRS invariance beyond perturbation theory. (author)

Contribution of analytical nuclear techniques in the reconstruction of the Brazilian pre-history analysing archaeological ceramics of Tupiguarani tradition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Faria, Gleikam Lopes de Oliveira; Menezes, Maria Angela de B.C.; Silva, Maria Aparecida

2011-01-01

Due to the high importance of the material vestiges for a culture of a nation, the Brazilian Council for Environment determined that the license to establish new enterprises are subjected to a technical report concerning environmental impact, including archaeological sites affected by that enterprise. Therefore, answering the report related to the Program for Prospection and Rescue of the Archaeological Patrimony of the Areas impacted by the installation of the Second Line of Samarco Mining Pipeline, the archaeological interventions were carried out along the coast of Espirito Santo. Tupi-Guarani Tradition vestiges were found there, where the main evidence was a interesting ceramics. Archaeology can fill the gap between ancient population and modern society elucidating the evidences found in archaeological sites. In this context, several ceramic fragments found in the archaeological sites - Hiuton and Bota-Fora - were analyzed by neutron activation technique, k 0-standardization method, at CDTN using the TRIGA MARK I IPR-R1 reactor, in order to characterize their elemental composition. The elements As, Ba, Br, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Eu, Fe, Ga, Hf, K, La, Na, Nd, Rb, Sb, Sc, Sm, Ta, Tb, Th, U, Yb, Zn and Zr were determined. Applying R software, a robust multivariate statistical analysis, the results pointed out that the pottery from the sites was made with clay from different sources. The X-ray powder diffraction analyses were carried out to determine the mineral composition and Moessbauer spectroscopy was applied to provide information on both the degree of burning and atmosphere in order to reconstruct the Indian burning strategies temperature used on pottery production. (author)

Archaeological Investigations into the Prehistory of the Middle Cumberland River Valley: The Hurricane Branch Site (40JK27), Jackson County, Tennessee

Science.gov (United States)

1982-07-31

diversity in Northwest Georgia. ijdgontinental Journal of Archaeology 7(l):99-132. -L 5- . . .. . Johnson, L. Lewis 1977 The Aguas Verde industry of...northern Chile . In Advances in Andean Archaeolor, edited by David L. Bowman, pp. 7-39. Mouton, The Hague. Jolley, Robert I. 1978 Archaeological...for Field Archaeology Sociedad de Arqueologia Chilena, Santiago, Chile Recent Publications 1973 - 1979 9 Articles. 1976 - 1978 .2 Books Technical

Great Excavations: Tales of Early Southwestern Archaeology, 1888-1939, School of American Research Press, 1995

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Stephen E. Nash

1997-05-01

Full Text Available Great Excavations: Tales of Early Southwestern Archaeology, 1 888-1939, is an "intentionally selective" account of eight major archaeological expeditions to the Southwest in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It succeeds in achieving the goals set forth in the prologue. The reader is taken on an "armchair tour"  of early Southwestern excavations in the hope that the resulting "basic understanding of what the early archae­ologists did" will stimulate a desire to "learn more about the intriguing prehistory of the Southwest" (pp. xiii. As a student of the history of North American archaeology, I would be amiss to speak for Elion's "layperson" audience, but my suspicion is that her presentation will indeed stimulate those readers. As an archaeologist, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and it may well be that Elliott's journalistic approach makes this book more enjoyable because she is able to remain above the level of detail that often burden archaeolo­gists' accounts of these expeditions. I must temper this statement by noting that Elliott's journalistic hyper­ bole and tendency to oversimplify complex research and analysis are at times discomforting.

Eneolithic mine Prljuša: Mali Šturac archaeological and geophysical investigations

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Antonović Dragana

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The Eneolithic copper mine at Mali Šturac was discovered in 1980 and subsequently investigated to a smaller extent from 1981 to 1987. In 2010 the investigations at Prljuša were reactivated with the aim of defining how much and how long the mine had been exploited during prehistory. Pilot geophysical studies were followed by more extensive explorations in 2011. They focused on a zone related to Shafts 4 and 6, discovered in 1987. The geophysical explorations have comprised the methods of selfpotential - SP, electrical scanning - ES and seismic profiling with one geophone - SGRP. The explorations covered a surface of 400 m² including five sections, each 50 m long, with 2 m intervals between them. These investigations identified underground channels in Shaft 4 and Shaft 6. Three meters below Shaft 4, a large underground gallery was found and in the continuation of the entrance of Shaft 6, a 10 m long horizontal channel was detected. Northwards from Shaft 4 and Shaft 6, at a distance of 6-8 m, at least six mining shafts were detected. However, they are not visible on the surface because their entrances are filled with loose material. The investigations carried out in 2011 proved that geophysical investigations are an efficient method for studying old mining works and, therefore, it has been decided to continue with this type of exploration. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177020: Archaeology of Serbia: cultural identity, integration factors, technological processes and the role of the Central Balkans in the development of European prehistory i br. 177023: Cultural changes and population movements in the early prehistory of the Central Balkans

Prehistory in Peril: The Worst and Best of Durango Archaeology, by Florence C. Lister, 1997, University Press of Colorado

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David A. Breternitz

1998-05-01

Full Text Available The history of archaeology in the United States (and elsewhere is fraught with examples of real and imag­ined conflicts of interest between academics, professionals and government officials on the one hand and their local counterparts of amateur archaeologists, newspaper reporters, artifact speculators and just inter­ested citizens. Florence Lister has reconstructed the story (still ongoing by the way of the interplay of opposing schools of thought as it involved archaeology in the Durango, Colorado, vicinity. Given a subject beset with emotions. acquisitions. misrepresentations, rumors, name calling, mistrust, and occasionally, cooperation between the parties involved, the author has presented the fascinating history of Durango archaeology in a documented, readable and unbiased book that derives much of its value by calling forth archival material that has until now been unavailable or has existed as nebulous oral tradition.

Wine and the vine in Upper Moesia archaeological and epigraphic evidence

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Pilipović Sanja

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Vine-growing and winemaking in the area of the Roman province of Upper Moesia are looked at based on the information supplied by the ancient sources, and the archaeological and epigraphic evidence (inscriptions, artistic depictions, vinedressing and winemaking implements, drinking and transport vessels. Viniculture is associated with the Greco-Roman cultural orbit, while the native central-Balkan tribes typically consumed alcoholic beverages made from cereals. Therefore the goal of the research is to shed as much light as currently possible on the significance of vine-growing and wine in the life of the inhabitants of Upper Moesia. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177012: Society, spiritual and material culture and communications in prehistory and early history of the Balkans

Archaeological Excavation and Deep Mapping in Historic Rural Communities

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Carenza Lewis

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This paper reviews the results of more than a hundred small archaeological “test pit” excavations carried out in 2013 within four rural communities in eastern England. Each excavation used standardized protocols in a different location within the host village, with the finds dated and mapped to create a series of maps spanning more than 3500 years, in order to advance understanding of the spatial development of settlements and landscapes over time. The excavations were all carried out by local volunteers working physically within their own communities, supported and advised by professional archaeologists, with most test pits sited in volunteers’ own gardens or those of their friends, family or neighbors. Site-by-site, the results provided glimpses of the use made by humans of each of the excavated sites spanning prehistory to the present day; while in aggregate the mapped data show how settlement and land-use developed and changed over time. Feedback from participants also demonstrates the diverse positive impacts the project had on individuals and communities. The results are presented and reviewed here in order to highlight the contribution archaeological test pit excavation can make to deep mapping, and the contribution that deep mapping can make to rural communities.

Marine resource reliance in the human populations of the Atacama Desert, northern Chile - A view from prehistory

Science.gov (United States)

King, Charlotte L.; Millard, Andrew R.; Gröcke, Darren R.; Standen, Vivien G.; Arriaza, Bernardo T.; Halcrow, Siân E.

2018-02-01

The Atacama Desert is one of the most inhospitable terrestrial environments on Earth, yet the upwelling of the Humboldt Current off the coast has resulted in the presence of a rich marine biota. It is this marine environment which first enabled the human settlement of the northern Atacama Desert, and continues to form the basis of regional economies today. In this paper we explore how the desert has shaped human dietary choices throughout prehistory, using carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of human bone collagen (n = 80) to reconstruct the diets of the inhabitants of the Arica region of the northern Atacama. This area is one of the driest parts of the desert, but has been generally understudied in terms of dietary adaptation. Statistical analysis using FRUITS has allowed deconvolution of isotopic signals to create dietary reconstructions and highlight the continued importance of marine resources throughout the archaeological sequence. Location also appears to have played a role in dietary choices, with inland sites having 10-20% less calories from marine foods than coastal sites. We also highlight evidence for the increasing importance of maize consumption, coinciding with contact with highland polities. In all periods apart from the earliest Archaic, however, there is significant variability between individuals in terms of dietary resource use. We conclude that marine resource use, and broad-spectrum economies persisted throughout prehistory. We interpret these results as reflecting a deliberate choice to retain dietary diversity as a buffer against resource instability.

Prehistory and History of the Upper Gila River, Arizona and New Mexico: An Archaeological Overview.

Science.gov (United States)

1984-02-01

Sharon Debowski directed the survey of the north side of the river, again covering the maximum flood pool and a half-mile (0.8 km.) buffer zone. In...resistance. By 1865, placer deposits were being worked along the San Francisco River; in 1869 Lt. John Bourke was one of several persons to note rich...Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology 44(1). Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Debowski, Sharon S., and Gordon Fritz

Books and Bare Feet: Experiencing Prehistory.

Science.gov (United States)

MacGugan, Kirk; Alixopulos, Hedrick

1979-01-01

Describes an experiential activity in which students enrolled in an interdisciplinary (history and anthropology) prehistory course at Leeward Community College (Hawaii) could simulate prehistoric conditions in a remote area. Presents a rationale based upon the influence of experiential learning on self-esteem and academic success of…

On Childhood in Prehistory: The Analysis of Inner Iberia Societies from the VIth and IIIrd Millenia BC

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Ana Mercedes Herrero Corral

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Research about children had been traditionally forgotten by the archaeology due to some factors as their difficult preservation and identification. The literature on Prehistory has mostly forgotten children, who had received a marginal and inappropriate treatment for been considered as passive members of the society. However, immature individuals belong to the community and are determinants for an appropriated reproduction of their social, economic and ideological patterns, through the learning processes, initiation rituals, etc. It appears absolutely necessary to take children into an account if we want to approach past societies. The main goal of this research is to collect and analyze the different funerary evidences of children, as it could provide valuable information to approach their social and economic role in prehistoric societies. In particular, it would be focus on inner Iberia sites from 5500 to 2000 cal AC (Neolithic and Copper Age, as during this period of time, crucial transformations occur in Western Europe prehistoric societies.

Grooved stone tools from Calabria region (Italy: Archaeological evidence and research perspectives

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Felice Larocca

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Since the end of the 19th century the Calabria region in southern Italy has been known for an abundance of grooved stone axes and hammers used during late prehistory. These artefacts are characterized by a wide and often pronounced groove in the middle of the implement, thought to have aided securing the head to a wooden haft. Their widespread presence is known both in prehistoric archaeological literature and in the archaeological collections of various regional and extra-regional museums. At first, scholars did not relate these tools to the rich Calabrian ore deposits and to possible ancient mining activities; they were regarded simply as a variant of ground lithic industry of Neolithic tradition. However, between 1997 and 2012, about 50 tools were discovered in the prehistoric mine of Grotta della Monaca in northern Calabria where there are outcrops of copper and iron ore. This allowed us to recognize their specific mining value and to consider them as a sort of “guide fossil” for the identification of ancient mining districts. This paper presents the results of a study involving over 150 tools from the entire region, effectively demonstrating an almost perfect co-occurrence of grooved axes and hammers with areas rich in mineral resources, especially metalliferous ores.

Time and place in the prehistory of the Aslian languages.

Science.gov (United States)

Dunn, Michael; Kruspe, Nicole; Burenhult, Niclas

2013-01-01

The Aslian language family, located in the Malay Peninsula and southern Thai Isthmus, consists of four distinct branches comprising some 18 languages. These languages predate the now dominant Malay and Thai. The speakers of Aslian languages exhibit some of the highest degree of phylogenetic and societal diversity present in Mainland Southeast Asia today, among them a foraging tradition particularly associated with locally ancient, Pleistocene genetic lineages. Little advance has been made in our understanding of the linguistic prehistory of this region or how such complexity arose. In this article we present a Bayesian phylogeographic analysis of a large sample of Aslian languages. An explicit geographic model of diffusion is combined with a cognate birth-word death model of lexical evolution to infer the location of the major events of Aslian cladogenesis. The resultant phylogenetic trees are calibrated against dates in the historical and archaeological record to infer a detailed picture of Aslian language history, addressing a number of outstanding questions, including (1) whether the root ancestor of Aslian was spoken in the Malay Peninsula, or whether the family had already divided before entry, and (2) the dynamics of the movement of Aslian languages across the peninsula, with a particular focus on its spread to the indigenous foragers. Copyright © 2013 Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan 48201-1309.

Nuclear method applied in archaeological sites at the Amazon basin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nicoli, Ieda Gomes; Bernedo, Alfredo Victor Bellido; Latini, Rose Mary

2002-01-01

The aim of this work was to use the nuclear methodology to character pottery discovered inside archaeological sites recognized with circular earth structure in Acre State - Brazil which may contribute to the research in the reconstruction of part of the pre-history of the Amazonic Basin. The sites are located mainly in the Hydrographic Basin of High Purus River. Three of them were strategic chosen to collect the ceramics: Lobao, in Sena Madureira County at north; Alto Alegre in Rio Branco County at east and Xipamanu I, in Xapuri County at south. Neutron Activation Analysis in conjunction with multivariate statistical methods were used for the ceramic characterization and classification. An homogeneous group was established by all the sherds collected from Alto Alegre and was distinct from the other two groups analyzed. Some of the sherds collected from Xipamunu I appeared in Lobao's urns, probably because they had the same fabrication process. (author)

Environmental Assessment for New Veterinary Clinic, Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota

Science.gov (United States)

2013-03-01

The following prehistory and history of Ellsworth AFB has been excerpted from the Ellsworth AFB Integrated Cultural Resource Management Plan (U.S...Air Force, 2011). Prehistoric Period Northern Plains prehistory has been the subject of several published studies and archaeological surveys as...information or research questions related to the prehistory of the immediate Ellsworth AFB area. Historical Period The Black Hills mining boom began

Streamlined Archaeo-Geophysical Data Processing and Integration for Department of Defense Field Use

Science.gov (United States)

2014-09-30

and contains 100 subsurface pit features (commonly used in prehistory for storage, cooking, processing, and ulti- mately, trash discard), each less...its archaeological character and history or prehistory , arouse the curiosity of a wide range of CRM professionals, including those who have not...storage and other purposes throughout much of prehistory , and which probably represent the single most common type of feature throughout much of the

Characterizing the hypersiliceous rocks of Belgium used in (pre-)history: a case study on sourcing sedimentary quartzites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Veldeman, Isis; Baele, Jean-Marc; De Doncker, H W J A; Goemaere, Eric; Deceukelaire, Marleen; Dusar, Michiel

2012-01-01

Tracking raw material back to its extraction source is a crucial step for archaeologists when trying to deduce migration patterns and trade contacts in (pre-)history. Regarding stone artefacts, the main rock types encountered in the archaeological record of Belgium are hypersiliceous rocks. This is a newly introduced category of rock types comprising those rocks made of at least 90% silica. These are strongly silicified quartz sands or sedimentary quartzites, siliceous rocks of chemical and biochemical origin (e.g. flint), very pure metamorphic quartzites and siliceous volcanic rocks (e.g. obsidian). To be able to distinguish between different extraction sources, ongoing research was started to locate possible extraction sources of hypersiliceous rocks and to characterize rocks collected from these sources. Characterization of these hypersiliceous rocks is executed with the aid of optical polarizing microscopy, optical cold cathodoluminescence and scanning-electron microscopy combined with energy-dispersive x-ray spectrometry and with back-scatter electron imaging. In this paper, we focus on various sedimentary quartzites of Paleogene stratigraphical level. (paper)

Environmental Assessment KC-46A Depot Maintenance Activation, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. Volume 1

Science.gov (United States)

2014-03-01

Cultural Resources Tinker AFB is located in the south central Oklahoma archaeological region. Important research into the prehistory of central...No. 5. Oklahoma River Basin Survey Project. University of Oklahoma Research Institute. Norman. Bell, R. E. (editor). 1984. Prehistory of Oklahoma...February 2012. Galm, J.R. and P. Flynn. 1978. The Cultural Sequences of the Scott (34LF11) and Wann (34LF27) Sites and Prehistory of the Wister Valley

Use of Patient-Authored Prehistory to Improve Patient Experiences and Accommodate Federal Law.

Science.gov (United States)

Warner, Michael J; Simunich, Thomas J; Warner, Margaret K; Dado, Joseph

2017-02-01

Although federal law grants patients the right to view and amend their medical records, few studies have proposed a process for patients to coauthor their subjective history in their medical record. Allowing patients to fully disclose and document their medical history is an important step to improve the diagnostic process. To evaluate patients' office experience before and after they authored their subjective medical history for the electronic health record. Patients were mailed a prehistory form and presurvey to be completed before their family medicine office visit. On arrival to the office, the prehistory form was scanned into the electronic health record while the content was transcribed by hospital staff into the appropriate fields in the history component of the encounter note. Postsurveys were given to patients to be completed after their visit. Pre- and postsurveys measured the patients' perception of office visit quality as well as completeness and accuracy of their electronic health record documentation before and after their appointment. Medical staff surveys were collected weekly to measure the staff's viewpoint of the federal law that allows patients to view and amend their medical records. Of 405 patients who were asked to participate, 263 patients aged 14 to 94 years completed a presurvey and a prehistory form. Of those 263 patients, 134 completed a postsurvey. The pre- and postsurveys showed improved patient satisfaction with the office visit and high scores for documentation accuracy and completeness. Before filling out the prehistory form, 116 of 249 patients (46.6%) agreed or strongly agreed that they felt more empowered in their health care by completing the prehistory form compared with 110 of 131 (84.0%) who agreed or strongly agreed after the visit (Pprehistory form beforehand to improve the patient experience while accommodating federal law.

Unravelling the complexity of domestication: a case study using morphometrics and ancient DNA analyses of archaeological pigs from Romania

Science.gov (United States)

Evin, Allowen; Flink, Linus Girdland; Bălăşescu, Adrian; Popovici, Dragomir; Andreescu, Radian; Bailey, Douglas; Mirea, Pavel; Lazăr, Cătălin; Boroneanţ, Adina; Bonsall, Clive; Vidarsdottir, Una Strand; Brehard, Stéphanie; Tresset, Anne; Cucchi, Thomas; Larson, Greger; Dobney, Keith

2015-01-01

Current evidence suggests that pigs were first domesticated in Eastern Anatolia during the ninth millennium cal BC before dispersing into Europe with Early Neolithic farmers from the beginning of the seventh millennium. Recent ancient DNA (aDNA) research also indicates the incorporation of European wild boar into domestic stock during the Neolithization process. In order to establish the timing of the arrival of domestic pigs into Europe, and to test hypotheses regarding the role European wild boar played in the domestication process, we combined a geometric morphometric analysis (allowing us to combine tooth size and shape) of 449 Romanian ancient teeth with aDNA analysis. Our results firstly substantiate claims that the first domestic pigs in Romania possessed the same mtDNA signatures found in Neolithic pigs in west and central Anatolia. Second, we identified a significant proportion of individuals with large molars whose tooth shape matched that of archaeological (likely) domestic pigs. These large ‘domestic shape’ specimens were present from the outset of the Romanian Neolithic (6100–5500 cal BC) through to later prehistory, suggesting a long history of admixture between introduced domestic pigs and local wild boar. Finally, we confirmed a turnover in mitochondrial lineages found in domestic pigs, possibly coincident with human migration into Anatolia and the Levant that occurred in later prehistory. PMID:25487340

Eurasianism versus IndoGermanism: Linguistics and mythology in the 1930s' controversies over European prehistory.

Science.gov (United States)

Geroulanos, Stefanos; Phillips, Jamie

2018-06-01

In 1935, the Russian linguist Prince Nicolai S. Trubetskoi and the French mythologist Georges Dumézil engaged in a vicious debate over a seemingly obscure subject: the structure of Northwest Caucasian languages. Based on unknown archival material in French, German, and Russian, this essay uses the debate as a pathway into the 1930s scientific and political stakes of IndoEuropeanism - the belief that European cultures emerged through the spread of a single IndoEuropean people out of a single "motherland." Each of the two authors held strong commitments to visions of European order and its origins - in "Eurasia" for Trubetskoi and a Northern European Heimat for Dumézil. The North Caucasus, long a privileged site for Russian and European scholars, now became key to the renegotiation of the origins and reach of imagined prehistoric IndoEuropean conquerors, but also the 1930s' debate over the value of different disciplines (linguistics, mythology, archaeology, folklore studies) for the origins of language, myth, and the European deep past. As a moment in the history of modern speculations about prehistory, pursued in the shadow of Nazi scholarship, the debate transformed fields of research - notably linguistics, comparative mythology, and structuralism - and the assumptions about the shape of Europe.

The "prehistory" of psychology: thoughts on a historiographical illusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Vidal, Fernando

2006-01-01

Although it is no longer as current as in the past to identify the "birth" of "scientific psychology" with the establishment of Wilhelm Wundt's laboratory in 1879, Hermann Ebbinghaus's dictum, "Psychology has a long past, but a short history," continues to inspire many authors, and to sustain the belief that there is a "prehistory" of psychology prior to the discipline's institutionalization and professionalization since the last third of the nineteenth century. Such "prehistory" is generally reconstructed by selecting the "psychological ideas" of past thinkers and looking for psychological themes in a variety of intellectual contexts, from medicine to theology. When one, however, considers the origins and uses of the word "psychology" in the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the structure and contents of the scientia de anima in Aristotelian contexts, and how such science was remade in the eighteenth century, it becomes possible to write the early history of psychology as a discipline while avoiding the anachronisms and idiosyncrasies that afflict most reconstructions of its "long" prehistorical past.

An Exercise in Theoretical Archaeology: Do Archaeological Cultures Exist?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marko Porčić

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Archaeological culture still persists as a basic analytical and interpretative concept in Serbian archaeology despite criticism. This paper presents a formal view of archaeological cultures and explores the epistemological implications of this formalization. Formal analysis of archaeological culture is achieved through logical and quantitative explication of the traditional definition of archaeological cultures. The main result of the formal analysis is that there are real patterns of formal variability of material culture that may or may not correspond to traditional archaeological cultures. These patterns are real only in the analytical sense – they are real for given input data and scale of analysis. Unlike the traditional approach where this patterns are equated with archaeological cultures which are furthered interpreted in essentialist terms or as quasi- organic entities such as ethnic groups, it is claimed here that discovered patterns are only the starting point – the empirical situation that needs to be accounted for in anthropological an historical terms. This paper shows how patterns that are traditionally identified as archaeological cultures can arise as a consequence of an entire range of processes – different social and historical realities. The main conclusion is that the traditional concept of archaeological culture is not useful neither as analytical or interpretative tools for two reasons: 1 traditional cultures are subjectively defined entities with no theoretical justification for the criteria used in their definition and 2 the empirical pattern cannot be an explanation in itself because it is the thing that needs to be explained. Cultural evolutionary (transmission theory is proposed as a general framework for defining and interpreting patterns of formal variability of material culture in time and space.

The quest for an absolute chronology in human prehistory: anthropologists, chemists and the fluorine dating method in palaeoanthropology.

Science.gov (United States)

Goodrum, Matthew R; Olson, Cora

2009-03-01

By the early twentieth century there was a growing need within palaeoanthropology and prehistoric archaeology to find a way of dating fossils and artefacts in order to know the age of specific specimens, but more importantly to establish an absolute chronology for human prehistory. The radiocarbon and potassium-argon dating methods revolutionized palaeoanthropology during the last half of the twentieth century. However, prior to the invention of these methods there were attempts to devise chemical means of dating fossil bone. Collaborations between Emile Rivière and Adolphe Carnot in the 1890s led to the development of the fluorine dating method, but it was not until the 1940s that this method was improved and widely implemented by Kenneth Oakley to resolve a number of problems in palaeoanthropology, including the Piltdown Man controversy. The invention of the fluorine dating method marked a significant advance in the quest for absolute dating in palaeoanthropology, but it also highlights interesting problems and issues relating to the ability of palaeoanthropologists and chemists to bring together different skills and bodies of knowledge in order successfully to develop and apply the fluorine dating method.

Discovery Handbook for Grades K-5.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Terry

This resource packet addresses the need for interpretive materials of the prehistory and early history of the state of Arkansas. These curriculum-focused activities, based on flyers and books created by the Arkansas Archaeology Survey, encourage integration of archaeological and historical study into classroom instruction. The teacher's guide is…

Anthropogenic influence on Amazonian forests in prehistory: An ecological perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bush, M.B.; McMichael, C.H.; Piperno, D.R.; Silman, M.R.; Barlow, J.; Peres, C.A.; Power, M.; Palace, M.W.

2015-01-01

An important debate has been re-invigorated by new data concerning the size and environmental impacts of human populations in the Amazon Basin during pre-history. Here, we review the history of debates concerning pre-historic human occupation of the Amazon Basin along with the presentation of

On The Prehistory Of Chinese-Western Comparative Literature

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

杨晓彤; 曹薇

2010-01-01

@@ The earlist prehistory of western comparative literature can be traced back to the Ancient Rome, as the literature of that period (in ancient Latin) intentionally imitated the Ancient Greek literature(in ancient Greek), like the Virgil's Aeneid was an imitation of Homeric epic, so the writers and theorists of Ancient Rome always compare the differences and similarities of the two periods、 nationalities and languages that reflected in literature.

Introducing the Index of Care: A web-based application supporting archaeological research into health-related care.

Science.gov (United States)

Tilley, Lorna; Cameron, Tony

2014-09-01

The Index of Care is a web-based application designed to support the recently proposed four-stage 'bioarchaeology of care' methodology for identifying and interpreting health-related care provision in prehistory. The Index offers a framework for guiding researchers in 'thinking through' the steps of a bioarchaeology of care analysis; it continuously prompts consideration of biological and archaeological evidence relevant to care provision; it operationalises key concepts such as 'disability' and 'care'; and it encourages transparency in the reasoning underlying conclusions, facilitating review. This paper describes the aims, structure and content of the Index, and provides an example of its use. The Index of Care is freely available on-line; it is currently in active development, and feedback is sought to improve its utility and usability. This is the first time in bioarchaeology that an instrument for examining behaviour as complex as caregiving has been proposed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

After Virtual Archaeology: Rethinking Archaeological Approaches to the Adoption of Digital Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gareth Beale

2017-06-01

Full Text Available In the 1980s archaeologists embraced the rapidly expanding field of computer modelling and visualisation as a vehicle for data exploration. Against this backdrop 'virtual archaeology' was conceived. The term was originally intended to describe a multidimensional approach to the modelling of the (immaterial structures and processes of field archaeology. It described how technology could be harnessed in order to achieve new ways of documenting, interpreting and annotating primary archaeological discoveries and processes. Despite their initial promise, these digital technologies failed to have the impact upon archaeological fieldwork that might have been expected. Even with the prevalence of digital devices on all archaeological excavations, the documentation, interpretation and subsequent narration of archaeological processes have retained their analogue character. While the archaeological record is now primarily digital, its sections, plans, drawings and photographs are facsimiles of the analogue technologies that preceded them. This retention of analogue conventions is increasingly out of step with the general prevalence and diversity of digital technologies as mediators of professional and private life. It is also challenged by 21st-century advances towards technologies that allow for complex engagements with and representations of physical matter and facilitate the interplay between digital and material worlds. This article argues that emerging forms of archaeological practice including gaming, mixed reality, computational photography and additive manufacturing, reveal digital archaeology to be a creative process, blending computational thinking, technological opportunities and established disciplinary traditions. We go on to suggest that digital archaeology, conceived as a form of practice rather than as a toolset, represents a locus for theory generation and critical thinking. Failure to recognise the skills and ideas that have emerged in

Selected References on Arctic and Subarctic Prehistory and Ethnology. Revised.

Science.gov (United States)

Fitzhugh, William, Comp.; Loring, Stephen, Comp.

This bibliography provides an introduction to the current literature, in English, on arctic and subarctic prehistory and ethnology. Leads for further research will be found in section 1. Publications listed are not available from the Smithsonian Institution but copies may be found in larger libraries or obtained through inter-library loan.…

Archaeology on Screen: Representing Archaeology on Film in Serbia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aleksandar Bandović

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Reading the popular culture may contribute to the reflexive view on a discipline such as archaeology. Film, as a part of popular culture, frequently unveils the hidden messages, which may be an echo of a discipline or its distorted image in the mirror. Film and archaeology share not only the common origins in the modernity, but also the imaginary spaces where the past and the present meet and intertwine. The subjects treated in films, the contexts in which archaeology appears, speak of the place the discipline holds in the society, reminding us at the same time of all the elements encompassed by the archaeological discourse. On the other hand, if we compare the portraits of the imaginary archaeologists (such as Professor Mihajlo Pavlović, Vera Zarić, with the witnesses of archaeology in Serbia over the 20th century (Nikola Vulić, Dragoslav Srejović, Milutin Garašanin, we shall approach the meeting point between academic and general public, science and the audience, theory and practice. Extraordinary individuals, unemployed dreamers living at the borders of the worlds, charming connoisseurs of the underworlds – these are but some of the qualities ascribed to the discipline by the films. However, these stereotypes do not generate out of the void, they are the consequence of the self-representation. This mystification of the discipline leads us back to the debate on the responsibility and ethics of the social scientists inside the society they live in. Of course, the suggested reading is one of the many possibilities, one of the archaeological interpretations.

Archaeology and Photography: A Pragmatology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svabo, Connie; Shanks, Michael

2013-01-01

This chapter is an exploration of meta-archaeology. We consider some of the premises, dispositions, infrastructures of archaeological practices, where the archaeological is no longer a substantive, but adjectival, an aspect of things and doings, where archaeology is part of the trans-disciplinary...

Environmental Microbial Forensics and Archaeology of Past Pandemics.

Science.gov (United States)

Fornaciari, Antonio

2017-01-01

The development of paleomicrobiology with new molecular techniques such as metagenomics is revolutionizing our knowledge of microbial evolution in human history. The study of microbial agents that are concomitantly active in the same biological environment makes it possible to obtain a picture of the complex interrelations among the different pathogens and gives us the perspective to understand the microecosystem of ancient times. This research acts as a bridge between disciplines such as archaeology, biology, and medicine, and the development of paleomicrobiology forces archaeology to broaden and update its methods. This chapter addresses the archaeological issues related to the identification of cemeteries from epidemic catastrophes (typology of burials, stratigraphy, topography, paleodemography) and the issues related to the sampling of human remains for biomolecular analysis. Developments in the field of paleomicrobiology are described with the example of the plague. Because of its powerful interdisciplinary features, the paleomicrobiological study of Yersinia pestis is an extremely interesting field, in which paleomicrobiology, historical research, and archeology are closely related, and it has important implications for the current dynamics of epidemiology.

Prehistory effects on the VHCF behaviour of engineering metallic materials with different strengthening mechanisms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zimmermann, M; Stoecker, C; Mueller-Bollenhagen, C; Christ, H-J

2010-01-01

Engineering materials often undergo a plastic deformation during manufacturing, hence the effect of a predeformation on the subsequent fatigue behaviour has to be considered. The effect of a prestrain on the microstructure is strongly influenced by the strengthening mechanism. Different mechanisms are relevant in the materials applied in this study: a solid-solution hardened and a precipitation-hardened nickel-base alloy and a martensite-forming metastable austenitic steel. Prehistory effects become very important, when fatigue failure at very high number of cycles (N > 10 7 ) is considered, since damage mechanisms occur different to those observed in the range of conventional fatigue limit. With the global strain amplitude being well below the static elastic limit, only inhomogeneously distributed local plastic deformation takes place in the very high cycle fatigue (VHCF) region. The dislocation motion during cyclic loading thus depends on the effective flow stress, which is defined by the global cyclic stress-strain relation and the local stress distribution as a consequence of the interaction between dislocations and precipitates, grain boundaries, martensite phases and micro-notches. As a consequence, no significant prehistory effect was observed for the VHCF behaviour of the solid-solution hardening alloy, while the precipitation-hardening alloy shows a perceptible prehistory dependence. In the case of the austenitic steel, strain-hardening and the volume fraction of the deformation-induced martensite dominate the fatigue behaviour.

Identification of bacterial cultures from archaeological wood using molecular biological techniques

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Helms, A.C.; Martiny, Adam Camillo; Hofman-Bang, H. Jacob Peider

2004-01-01

Anaerobic bacteria were isolated from a 1700-year-old wooden spear shaft, excavated from an archaeological site that dates from the iron age, in the southern part of Jutland, Denmark. The bacteria were cultivated in glucose- and xylose-supplemented media at 14degreesC and 20degreesC. A gene library...

The Times of Archaeology and Archaeologies of Time

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew Gardner

2001-11-01

Full Text Available The subject matter of archaeology as a discipline is explicitly structured by time, and ‘timetravel’ is a common feature of popular discourses about the study of the past. Yet archaeology is also the discipline which, amongst its other theoretical shortcomings, has singularly failed to develop any theory 'of 'time. Chronology is ever-present as a measuring tool, but only in rare cases has there been any consideration of this as but one, culturally-specific kind of temporality among many others experienced by people in their daily lives. In this paper, I will discuss various perspectives on archaeological times, including more sophisticated approaches developed since the later 1980s, and argue for an abandoning of the dualism between ‘measured’ and ‘experienced’ times which has emerged in some of these more critical attempts to grapple with the issue. Time is fundamental to archaeology, but not just because we ‘use’ dates. Rather, archaeologists should be able to contribute to wider discussions of time from their understandings of the materialized temporalities of past human agents, and to develop perspectives on the importance of these to the very nature of human social agency as a form of engagement with the world.

The Diversity of Classical Archaeology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

, settlement patterns, landscape archaeology, historiography, and urban archaeology. Additionally, essays on topics such as the early Islamic period and portraiture in the Near East serve to broaden the themes encompassed by this work, and demonstrate the importance of interdisciplinary knowledge in the field......This book is the first volume in the series Studies in Classical Archaeology, founded and edited by professors of classical archaeology, Achim Lichtenberger and Rubina Raja. This volume sets out the agenda for this series. It achieves this by familiarizing readers with a wide range of themes...... and material groups, and highlighting them as core areas of traditional classical archaeology, despite the fact that some have hitherto been neglected. Themes presented in this volume include Greek and Roman portraiture and sculpture, iconography, epigraphy, archaeology, numismatics, the Mediterranean...

Intransigent archaeology. An interview with Evžen Neustupný on his life in archaeology

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kuna, Martin

2012-01-01

Roč. 19, č. 1 (2012), s. 3-28 ISSN 1380-2038 Institutional support: RVO:67985912 Keywords : archaeological paradigm * processual archaeology * history of archaeology * Czech Republic Subject RIV: AC - Archeology, Anthropology, Ethnology

Archaeology of Architecture and Archaeology of houses in Early Medieval Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Quirós Castillo, Juan Antonio

2012-12-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to introduce the «Archaeology of Architecture and Household Archaeology in Early Medieval Europe» dossier, the object of which is to explore the different approaches, methodologies and themes analysed in the study of early medieval architecture in western Europe. More specifically, in what follows, analysis is undertaken of the contexts which explain the recent development of studies on this topic, as well as the main contributions of the seven papers which form this dossier. In addition, the main historical and archaeological problems raised by the analysis of this material record are also discussed.En este trabajo se presenta el dossier «Archaeology of Architecture and Household Archaeology in Early Medieval Europe», que pretende explorar los distintos enfoques, metodologías y temáticas analizadas en el estudio de las arquitecturas altomedievales en el marco de Europa occidental. Más concretamente se analizan los contextos que explican el desarrollo reciente de los estudios sobre esta materia, las principales aportaciones de los siete trabajos que conforman este dossier y se discuten los principales problemas históricos y arqueológicos que plantea el análisis de este registro material.

The archaeology of drill hole U20bc, Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McLane, A.R.; Hemphill, M.L.; Livingston, S.J.; Pippin, L.C.; Walsh, L.A.

1992-01-01

Impacts to four sites near drill hole U20bc on Pahute Mesa in the northwestern part of the Nevada Test Site were mitigated through data recovery. The work was done during 1988 by the Desert Research Institute for the Department of Energy, Nevada Field Office (DOE/NV)- The four sites that warranted data recovery were 26NY3171, 26NY3173, 26NY5561 and 26NY5566. These sites had previously been determined eligible to the National Register of Historic Places. They were temporary camps that contained lithic debitage, projectile points, milling stones and pottery, and therefore contributed significant information concerning the prehistory of the area. The study of the archaeological remains shows that the prehistoric people subsisted on plant foods and game animals as determined by the artifacts including manos, metates, pottery, lithic scrapers, and projectile points. The time sensitive arfifacts (pottery and diagnostic points) suggest that the region was used from about 12,000 B.P. to just before the historic period, possibly 150 years ago. DOE/NV has met its obligation to mitigate adverse impacts to the cultural resources at U20bc. Therefore, it is recommended that this project proceed as planned

Nuclear prehistory influence on irradiated metallic iron phase composition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alekseev, I.E.

2007-01-01

With application of different Moessbauer spectroscopy applications the phase composition of metallic iron after irradiation by both neutrons and charged particles were studied. Irradiation conditions, method of targets examination and phase composition of samples after irradiation were presented in tabular form. It is shown, that phase composition of irradiated metal is defined by nuclear prehistory. So, in a number of cases abnormals (stabilization of high- and low-temperature structural phases of iron at room temperature after irradiation end) were revealed

Archaeology in Delaware. Pupil's Guide.

Science.gov (United States)

Delaware State Dept. of Public Instruction, Dover.

The archeology of Delaware, for all practical purposes meaning Indian prehistory, is the focus of this set consisting of teacher's and pupil's guides. Intended primarily for use at the fourth grade level, the material can successfully be adapted for use in grades 5 through 8. The teacher's guide is flexible and non-structured, allowing for…

A prehistory of nuclear energy development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshikawa, Hideo

2007-01-01

Evolutionary progress of the LWR plants in the last half-century was reviewed in series. As a prehistory of nuclear energy development, this first lecture presented (1) discovery of nuclear energy and development of the atomic bomb and (2) development of the reactor system using nuclear energy for making electricity and for naval propulsion. The first nuclear reactor to produce electricity was the small Experimental Breeder Reactor (EBR-1) in Idaho, in the USA, which started up in December 1951. The Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) for naval use was developed under Hyman Rickover in the USA. The Mark I prototype naval reactor started up in March 1953 in Idaho, and the first nuclear-powered submarine, NS Nautilus, with the Mark II reactor was put into service in January 1955. (T. Tanaka)

The Apparatus of Digital Archaeology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeremy Huggett

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Digital Archaeology is predicated upon an ever-changing set of apparatuses – technological, methodological, software, hardware, material, immaterial – which in their own ways and to varying degrees shape the nature of Digital Archaeology. Our attention, however, is perhaps inevitably more closely focused on research questions, choice of data, and the kinds of analyses and outputs. In the process we tend to overlook the effects the tools themselves have on the archaeology we do beyond the immediate consequences of the digital. This article introduces cognitive artefacts as a means of addressing the apparatus more directly within the context of the developing archaeological digital ecosystem. It argues that a critical appreciation of our computational cognitive artefacts is key to understanding their effects on both our own cognition and on the creation of archaeological knowledge. In the process, it defines a form of cognitive digital archaeology in terms of four distinct methods for extracting cognition from the digital apparatus layer by layer.

Úvahy nad Archeologií pravěkých Čech

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Vencl, Slavomil

2009-01-01

Roč. 61, č. 3 (2009), s. 554-566 ISSN 0323-1267 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z80020508 Keywords : prehistory * Bohemia * synthesis * integration of information * presentation of archaeology Subject RIV: AC - Archeology, Anthropology, Ethnology

Neutron Activation Analysis and Moessbauer Correlations of Archaeological Pottery from Amazon Basin for Classification Studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bellido, A. V. B.; Latini, R. M.; Nicoli, I.; Scorzelli, R. B.; Solorzano, P. M.

2011-01-01

The aim of the present work was to investigate the correlation between data obtained by means of two analytical methods, instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and Moessbauer Spectroscopy of pottery samples combined with multivariate statistical analysis in order to optimize quantitative analysis in the classification studies. Ceramics recently discovered in archaeological earth circular structures sites in Acre state Brazil. 199 samples were analyzed by INAA, allowing simultaneous determination of twenty elements chemical concentrations, and 44 samples by using Moessbauer Spectroscopy, allowing the determination of fourteen hyperfine parameters. For the correlation study, data were treated by two multivariate statistical methods: cluster analysis for the classification and the principal component analysis for the data correlations. INAA data show that some of REE (rare earth elements) were the discriminating variables for this technique. Mossbauer parameters that exhibit the same behavior are being investigated, remarkable improve can be seem for the combined REE and the Mossbauer variables showing a good results considering the limited number of samples. This data matrix is being used for the understanding in the studies of classification and provenance of ceramics prehistory of the Amazonic basin.

Kuwaiti Youth Attitudes toward Archaeology

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Majed Almutairi

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This study assesses the level of knowledge, interest, and awareness of archaeology among Kuwaiti youth in keeping with the social learning theory (Bandura 1977, which emphasises the social context in which learning takes place. According to this approach, individuals acquire through observation and imitation of significant others key concepts and cultural symbols. This study also focuses on students' perceptions of how the Kuwaiti government implements the archaeology law. Data were collected from a survey conducted in 2015 on a random sample of 1193 students from 12 high schools located in the 6 governorates in Kuwait. Two high schools (representing males and females from each governorate were selected. Emphasis was on students in the senior level of high school (17-18 years old as the last stage in the public schooling system in Kuwait. The study analysed the impact of students' gender, socioeconomic background, and personal exposure to archaeology on their attitudes toward archaeology. Analyses using Chi-square tests along with descriptive statistics revealed that students with highly educated parents and those attending schools in well-to-do communities were more likely to be knowledgeable about, interested in, and aware of the importance of archaeology. Students with personal exposure to archaeology are more interested in and concerned with archaeology than those with no experience. In addition, gender was a significant factor as males showed more knowledge of, interest in, and awareness of archaeology than females.

New radiometric dates for the Prehistory of Northwestern Iberia: Valdavara Cave (Becerreá, Lugo

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vaquero Rodríguez, Manuel

2009-06-01

Full Text Available The goal of this paper is to make known the first results of the excavations in Valdavara Cave (Becerreá, Lugo, paying special attention to the radiometric dating that places this cave among the few Galician sites with Upper Palaeolithic dates. During the excavation carried out in 2007, two archaeological locations were documented in the same karstic system (Valdavara 1 and Valdavara 2. The test pit initiated in Valdavara 1 allowed us to identify so far two stratigraphic units: an upper unit corresponding to Recent Prehistory and a lower unit (level 4 that yielded the Upper Palaeolithic dates. An assemblage of human remains from the Bronze Age was found in Valdavara 2.

El objetivo de este artículo es dar a conocer los primeros resultados de las excavaciones en la cueva de Valdavara (Becerreá, Lugo, prestando especial atención a las dataciones radiométricas que la sitúan entre los pocos yacimientos gallegos que han arrojado fechas correspondientes al Paleolítico Superior. La excavación realizada en el año 2007 permitió documentar dos localizaciones arqueológicas en el marco del mismo sistema cárstico (Valdavara 1 y Valdavara 2. El sondeo iniciado en Valdavara 1 ha permitido identificar hasta el momento dos conjuntos estratigráficos: un conjunto superior correspondiente a la Prehistoria reciente y un conjunto inferior (nivel 4 en el que se han obtenido las fechas del Paleolítico Superior final. En Valdavara 2 se encontró un conjunto de restos humanos de la Edad del Bronce.

Radiocarbon dating of elk (Alces alces), an economic and symbolic resource in prehistory

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Philippsen, Bente

The European elk, “moose” in American English, was an important resource in the prehistory of Northern Europe. On some sites, it was the most important species in the economy. Furthermore, numerous examples of mobile and non-mobile art show the importance of the elk as a symbolic or ritualistic...

Virtually Dead: Digital Public Mortuary Archaeology

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Howard Williams

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Over recent decades, the ethics, politics and public engagements of mortuary archaeology have received sustained scrutiny, including how we handle, write about and display the archaeological dead. Yet the burgeoning use of digital media to engage different audiences in the archaeology of death and burial have so far escaped attention. This article explores categories and strategies by which digital media create virtual communities engaging with mortuary archaeology. Considering digital public mortuary archaeology (DPMA as a distinctive theme linking archaeology, mortality and material culture, we discuss blogs, vlogs and Twitter as case studies to illustrate the variety of strategies by which digital media can promote, educate and engage public audiences with archaeological projects and research relating to death and the dead in the human past. The article then explores a selection of key critical concerns regarding how the digital dead are currently portrayed, identifying the need for further investigation and critical reflection on DPMA’s aims, objectives and aspired outcomes.

Impacts of Climate Change on the Collapse of Lowland Maya Civilization

Science.gov (United States)

Douglas, Peter M. J.; Demarest, Arthur A.; Brenner, Mark; Canuto, Marcello A.

2016-06-01

Paleoclimatologists have discovered abundant evidence that droughts coincided with collapse of the Lowland Classic Maya civilization, and some argue that climate change contributed to societal disintegration. Many archaeologists, however, maintain that drought cannot explain the timing or complex nature of societal changes at the end of the Classic Period, between the eighth and eleventh centuries ce. This review presents a compilation of climate proxy data indicating that droughts in the ninth to eleventh century were the most severe and frequent in Maya prehistory. Comparison with recent archaeological evidence, however, indicates an earlier beginning for complex economic and political processes that led to the disintegration of states in the southern region of the Maya lowlands that precedes major droughts. Nonetheless, drought clearly contributed to the unusual severity of the Classic Maya collapse, and helped to inhibit the type of recovery seen in earlier periods of Maya prehistory. In the drier northern Maya Lowlands, a later political collapse at ca. 1000 ce appears to be related to ongoing extreme drought. Future interdisciplinary research should use more refined climatological and archaeological data to examine the relationship between climate and social processes throughout the entirety of Maya prehistory.

Archaeological analogous and industrials for deep storage: study of the archaeological metallic piece

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Criado Portal, A. J.; Martinez Garcia, J. A.; Calabres Molina, R.; Garcia abajo, A.; Penco Valenzuela, F.; Lecanda Esteban, J. A.; Garcia Bartual, M.; Jimenez Gonzalez, J. M.; Bravo Munoz, E.; Rodriguez Lobo, L. M.; Fernandez Cascos, T.; Fernandes Cordero, O.; Montero Ruiz, I.

2000-01-01

The aim of present research is to obtain information about archaeological analogous of iron and steel, useful for the model of deep geological repository (AGP). The analogous examined have remained buried between 1400 and 2400 years, in very assorted geochemical environments. The extraction of the archaeological pieces has been accomplished according to normalised protocols, trying to carry to the laboratory so the piece as its burial environment, avoiding all possible pollution. Trying to the archaeological analogous could provide valuable information to the AGP model, the study has been directed to related the physical-chemical characteristics of the terrain respect to the deterioration of the archaeological metallic piece. The geology of the surrounding terrain to the archaeological deposit, the geomorphological study of the terrain and data from the analysis of ground: pH, wetness, porosity, organic matter contents, bacteria presence, sulphates, carbonates, chlorides, etc., have allowed to explain the physical-chemical phenomena suffered by the archaeological iron and steel pieces. Also, an exhaustive study of the archaeological piece has been accomplished, concerning the microstructure of the corrosion layer and of the not deteriorated metallic rest. Obtained information concerns different items, such as corrosion velocity and formations of oxide layers, diffusion of chemical elements from the corrosion layer to the metal and viceversa, and structural changes in oxide layers and in the metallic remains by structural ageing. Obtained data have allowed to develop a mathematical model for calculation of corrosion velocity in buried iron and steels, based on physical-chemical variables of grounds, chemical composition and thermomechanical treatment given to the metal during its manufacture. (Author)

[PREHISTORY IN THE WORK AND WRITINGS OF KAROL LIBELT].

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Linetty, Jakub

2015-01-01

Prehistoric archaeology constituted an important topic in the writings of Karol Libelt during the final stage of his work. As a result of several years' research and bringing up this subject in his texts, Libelt made notable achievements in the field of prehistoric archaeology. The most important of them are: description of archaeological discoveries in Czeszewo, participation in a dispute over prehistoric chronology with Stefan Pawlicki in 1871, and also one of the first descriptions of the Stone Age in the Polish literature. Thus Libelt should be considered as a pioneer in prehistoric research, particularly the Stone Age, in Poland. Apart from that, among his undoubted achievements was propagation of the theory of evolution, although with reservations, during the earliest stage of Darwinism's reception in Poland.

Does environmental archaeology need an ethical promise?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Riede, Felix; Andersen, Per; Price, Neil

2016-01-01

societies in Europe?s prehistory. We ask whether cases of past calamities and their societal effects should play a greater role in public debates and whether archaeologists working with past environmental hazards should be more outspoken in their ethical considerations. We offer no firm answers, but suggest...

Chapter 3. Malpai Borderlands prehistory

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Paul R. Fish; Suzanne K. Fish

2006-01-01

Systematic archaeology in the Malpai Borderlands begins with D. D. Gaillard's (1896) map of the elevated Cloverdale Playa beachline in the San Luis Valley. During his involvement with the U.S.-Mexico International Border Survey, Gailard was drawn to this feature by local ranchers' reports of a massive Native American dam. Familiar with the scale of...

Introduction: Critical Blogging in Archaeology

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Colleen Morgan

2015-05-01

Full Text Available This special volume of Internet Archaeology collects the leading voices of blogging in archaeology to provide a critical examination of informal, online self-publication. This collection of articles is one result of over a decade of digital communication; the confluence of a conversation that grew from a few lonely voices to a tumultuous cacophony. Even so, blogging has had very little scrutiny in wider archaeological publication (but see Caraher 2008; Kansa and Deblauwe 2011. The first movement toward this volume was the Blogging Archaeology session at the 2011 Society for American Archaeology meetings, accompanied by a "Blog Carnival," a groundbreaking effort to foment reflexive discussion prior to the conference. Several participants of this original session and blog carnival have contributed to this volume; these articles are intermingled with perspectives from contributors who have started blogging in the intervening time, and with peer review comments from archaeologists who have blogged for a long time, and from those who do not blog at all.

Understanding Archaeological Authority in a Digital Context

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Lorna-Jane Richardson

2014-12-01

Full Text Available "…with the increasing spread of social media and mobile communication, the social networks of knowledge construction are becoming not only vastly bigger and quicker and less limited by space and time constraints than they have been before, but also more of a threat to established authorities." (Hofheinz 2011, 1426 This article considers the issues of archaeological authority, expertise and organisational reputation in the UK from an online perspective, and questions whether the participatory promise of social media technologies can, and should, challenge archaeological authority. It explores how these issues are approached and mediated online, the issues of digital literacy for audience reception, and the approaches used by archaeological organisations to address the challenges of undertaking digital public archaeology projects whilst maintaining archaeological rigour and the visible performance of expertise. It discusses how the concepts of archaeological authority and expertise are demonstrated and practised online, using data from my doctoral research, undertaken from 2011 to 2013. This article questions if the presence of websites dedicated to the promulgation of alternative archaeologies on the Internet can present challenges for the performance of archaeological expertise online, and how organisations monitor and respond to alternative archaeological interpretations and news stories.

Insights into Modern Human Prehistory Using Ancient Genomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Melinda A; Fu, Qiaomei

2018-03-01

The genetic relationship of past modern humans to today's populations and each other was largely unknown until recently, when advances in ancient DNA sequencing allowed for unprecedented analysis of the genomes of these early people. These ancient genomes reveal new insights into human prehistory not always observed studying present-day populations, including greater details on the genetic diversity, population structure, and gene flow that characterized past human populations, particularly in early Eurasia, as well as increased insight on the relationship between archaic and modern humans. Here, we review genetic studies on ∼45000- to 7500-year-old individuals associated with mainly preagricultural cultures found in Eurasia, the Americas, and Africa. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Archaeological Investigations at Nelson Wash, Fort Irwin, California. Fort Irwin Archaeological Project Research Report Number 23. Volume 2. Revision

Science.gov (United States)

1991-09-01

single, indivisible entity. This somewhat arbitrary 3 treatment may be rendered more acceptable if one keeps in mind that to some extent, reoccupation of...R.F. Heizer , pp. 538-549. Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 8. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. I Bedwell, S.F. 1970 Prehistory and

Holocene environmental change and archaeology, Yangtze River Valley, China: Review and prospects

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Li Wu

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Holocene environmental change and environmental archaeology are important components of an international project studying the human-earth interaction system. This paper reviews the progress of Holocene environmental change and environmental archaeology research in the Yangtze River Valley over the last three decades, that includes the evolution of large freshwater lakes, Holocene transgression and sea-level changes, Holocene climate change and East Asian monsoon variation, relationship between the rise and fall of primitive civilizations and environmental changes, cultural interruptions and palaeoflood events, as well as relationship between the origin of agriculture and climate change. These research components are underpinned by the dating of lacustrine sediments, stalagmites and peat to establish a chronology of regional environmental and cultural evolution. Interdisciplinary and other environment proxy indicators need to be used in comparative studies of archaeological site formation and natural sedimentary environment in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Valley. Modern technology such as remote sensing, molecular bioarchaeology, and virtual reality, should be integrated with currently used dating, geochemical, sedimentological, and palaeobotanical methods of analysis in environmental archaeology macro- and micro-studies, so as to provide a greater comprehensive insight into Holocene environmental and cultural interaction and change in the Yangtze River Valley area.

Archaeology, museums and virtual reality

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Laia Pujol

2004-04-01

Full Text Available This article looks at the idea that the virtual archaeological reconstructions seen in museums cannot be considered Virtual Reality (VR as they are based on an artistic conception of the discipline. The cause is to be found in the origins of Archaeology, which began in the 18th century and was closely linked to the History of Art. In the era of New Technologies, this concept has become both the cause and the consequence: determining the characteristics of VR from within the discipline, whilst simultaneously reinforcing the virtual reconstructions.To assess the relationship between VR and Archaeology, we must first establish a definition of Virtual Reality. Subsequently, we can take a brief look at the history so as to be able to understand the evolution of Archaeology and museums. This leads us to the analysis of some examples of VR in museums, from which we can gain conclusions on the current use of VR. Finally, we look at the possibilities for VR in terms of publicising Archaeology.

Archaeological Geophysics in Israel: Past, Present and Future

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Eppelbaum, L. V.

2009-04-01

, No. 12, 1061-1064. Ron, H., Porat, N., Ronen, A., Tchernov, E., and Horwitz, L., 2003. Magnetostratigraphy of the Evron Member - implications for the age of the Middle Acheulian site of Evron Quarry. Journal of Human Evolution, 44, 633-639. Segal, Y., Marco, S., and Ellenblum, R., 2003. Intensity and direction of the geomagnetic field in 24 August, 1179 measured in Vadum Iacob (Ateret) Crusader Fortress, northern Israel. Israel Jour. Earth Sci., 52, 203-208. Shalem, N., 1949. Earthquakes in Jerusalem. Jerushalaim, 1, 22-54 (in Hebrew). Sternberg, R. and Lass, E. H.E., 2007. An archaeomagnetic study of two hearths from Kebara Cave, Israel. In: (O. Bar-Yosef and L. Meignen, eds.) Kebara Cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel: The Middle and Upper Paleolithic Archaeology, Part I, American School of Prehistoric Research, Bull. 49, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, 123-130. Sternberg, R., Lass, E., Marion, E., Katari, K., and Holbrook, M., 1999. Anomalous archaeomagnetic directions and site formation processes at archaeological sites in Israel. Geoarchaeology, 14 (5), 415-439. Tanzi, J.D., Vickers, R.S., and Burns, P.L., 1983. Application of electrical resistivity techniques to archaeological surveys. Proceed. of the International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 1-3. Verri, G. Barkai, R., Bordeanu, C., Gopher, A., Hass, M., Kaufman, A., Kubik, P., Montanari, E., Paul, M., Ronen, A., Weiner, S., and Boaretto, E., 2004. Flint mining in prehistory recorded by in situ-produced cosmogenic 10Be. Proceed. of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 101, No. 21, 7880-7884. Weinstein-Evron, M., Mart, Y., and Beck, A., 1991. Geophysical investigations in the el-Wad Cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel. Geoarchaeology, 6, 355-365. Weiner, S., Goldberg, P., and Bar-Yosef, O., 1993. Bone preparation in Kebara cave, Israel using on-site Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry. Journal of Archaeological Science, 20, 613-627. Weinstein-Evron, M., Beck, A., and

A manufactured past: virtual reality in archaeology

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Glyn Goodrick

2004-01-01

Full Text Available Virtual reality and visualisation technologies developed over the past thirty years have been readily accessible to the archaeological community since the mid 1990s. Despite the high profile of virtual archaeology (Reilly 1991 both within the media and professional archaeology it has not been taken on board as a generally useful and standard technique by archaeologists. In this article we wish to discuss the technical and other issues which have resulted in a reluctance to adopt virtual archaeology and, more importantly, discuss ways forward that can enable us routinely to benefit from this technology in the diversity of archaeological practice.

The prehistory of haemodialysis as a treatment for uraemia.

Science.gov (United States)

Cameron, J Stewart

2016-02-01

Less is generally known about the ideas, events and personalities which drove developments permitting the evolution of haemodialysis as a clinically useful form of palliation and treatment, than its subsequent success and failures. This pre-history of haemodialysis is summarized here. One must remember that with hindsight we can now discern connections between ideas and developments which were not perceptible in their time, and that progress towards any new idea, material or piece of hardware was usually random and undirected, and outcomes uncertain. We must also remember the many blind alleys we can now safely ignore, to give a spurious continuity to the development of ideas. The prehistory of dialysis begins with study of the diffusion of solute and solvent in osmosis in living systems and experimental settings, and the retention of potentially toxic substances in kidney failure, during the 18th and early 19th centuries. These two areas came together in work in the mid-19th century on diffusion of gases and liquids, and showed that natural and synthetic membranes could selectively hinder different solutes. This explained osmosis and allowed semi-permeable membranes to be used and designed. These ideas underpinned the subsequent history of both dialysis using body cavities such as the peritoneum (not discussed here) and ex vivo dialysis of blood. To perform this, new membranes and anticoagulants were needed. These led to the first attempts in animals in 1912-3, and human patients in 1924-8, but only the purification and synthesis of newer materials such as cellulose and heparin allowed practical and successful haemodialysis to evolve in the 1940s.

History of marine archaeological research in India

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Tripati, S.

archaeology we study the past activities of human from maritime finds, usually from shipwrecks, sunken ports and settlements. Nautical archaeology is studied and explained as maritime archaeology, specialising in maritime activities and technology of ships...

Encyclopaedic dictionary on archaeology of Tatarstan:conceptual problems

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Abdullin Khalim M.

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Theoretical and methodological problems of creation the glossary for the preparation of encyclopedic dictionary, which is related to the Republic of Tatarstan archaeology are considered in this article. It is noticed that creation of such generalizing editions determines a new important stage of science and its theoretic and methodological basis development. Encyclopedias and dictionaries are the terminological thesaurus and functioning as a source of norms. They are forming the uniform, unifying and conventional approach to archaeological definitions and their content. They are also able to provide an insight into the basic archaeological concepts in the accessible form, to give the characteristic to archaeological monuments on Republic territory, to acquaint with archaeologists, who has ever worked on territory of Tatarstan, to present the last archaeological discoveries, and to popularize achievements of the Kazan Archaeology school. The complete information about archaeology in Republic is supposed to be included in the encyclopedic dictionary on archaeology of Tatarstan (the special attention will be focused on the conceptual system of archaeology, monuments and antiquity subjects, about objects and monuments of historic and archaeological heritage, as well as biographic data of all archaeologists who has ever worked in Tatarstan and information about all organizations related to archaeology in region. There are all preconditions to claim that the considerable source study and theoretical base for creation of the encyclopedic dictionary on archaeology of Tatarstan is created. It is gathered the significant experience on complex studying and generalization of considerable volume of a material which is referring to an ancient and medieval history of region and on research and ordering of archaeological monuments. It is suggested that at the first investigation phase will be created a glossary and after that the collective of authors can pass

Kazan archaeological school: research results and development prospects

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Khuzin Fayaz Sh.

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Basic stages of Kazan archaeological school development are traced from its origin, which was connected to the Society of Archaeology, History and Ethnology with Kazan University (1878 – early 1930s. The establishment of Kazan Institute of Language, Literature and History in 1939 (from 1945 as part of Kazan Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences started the formation of Kazan archaeological school. At the beginning, its representatives worked in the sector of History, Institute of Language, Literature and History, Kazan branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences (until 1962, and then joined the sector of Archaeology and Ethnography (1962–1986. Later on, the Department of Archaeology (1986–1995 was created, subsequently (in 1995 transformed into the National Center of Archaeological Research with the Institute of History named after Sh. Marjani of Tatarstan Academy of Sciences. In July, 2013, the Institute of Archaeology named after A.Kh. Khalikov of Tatarstan Academy of Sciences was established on the basis of the Center. The archaeology of Tatarstan was developing in the framework of three basic directions: 1 entire investigation prospecting of the region aimed at creating the most exhaustive list of archaeological monuments of the Middle Volga River region; 2 stationary investigations the prehistoric and medieval sites, first of all historically known Volga Bulgaria towns, rural settlements and necropolises; 3 studies in the sphere of ethnogenesis and ethnic history, interaction between the cultures of the Turkic and Finno-Ugric peoples of the region. For the next 5 years (2014–2018 the researchers of the Institute plan to develop the following trends: I. the medieval Turkic-Tatar civilization of Eurasia; II. prehistorical archaeology of the Volga-Kama region: genesis and interaction of cultures; III. GIS technologies in archaeology; IV. natural science research methods in archaeology; V. conservation and systematization of archaeological

Society of Archaeological Masters Students Annual Conference V

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Nicole Barber

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The Society of Archaeological Masters Students Conference is an opportunity for UCL Institute of Archaeology masters students to present their research. This year’s conference included papers from MA Cultural Heritage Studies, MSc Bioarchaeology and Forensic Anthropology, MSc Archaeological Science: Technology and Materials, and MSc Palaeoanthropology and Palaeolithic Archaeology students. The event sparked discussion between students from all areas of the department, and showcased the impressive range of research currently undertaken at the Institute of Archaeology.

Advancing Theory? Landscape Archaeology and Geographical Information Systems

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Di Hu

2012-05-01

Full Text Available This paper will focus on how Geographical Information Systems (GIS have been applied in Landscape Archaeology from the late 1980s to the present. GIS, a tool for organising and analysing spatial information, has exploded in popularity, but we still lack a systematic overview of how it has contributed to archaeological theory, specifically Landscape Archaeology. This paper will examine whether and how GIS has advanced archaeological theory through a historical review of its application in archaeology.

Space Archaeology: Attribute, Object, Task and Method

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xinyuan; Guo, Huadong; Luo, Lei; Liu, Chuansheng

2017-04-01

Archaeology takes the material remains of human activity as the research object, and uses those fragmentary remains to reconstruct the humanistic and natural environment in different historical periods. Space Archaeology is a new branch of the Archaeology. Its study object is the humanistic-natural complex including the remains of human activities and living environments on the earth surface. The research method, space information technologies applied to this complex, is an innovative process concerning archaeological information acquisition, interpretation and reconstruction, and to achieve the 3-D dynamic reconstruction of cultural heritages by constructing the digital cultural-heritage sphere. Space archaeology's attribute is highly interdisciplinary linking several areas of natural and social and humanities. Its task is to reveal the history, characteristics, and patterns of human activities in the past, as well as to understand the evolutionary processes guiding the relationship between human and their environment. This paper summarizes six important aspects of space archaeology and five crucial recommendations for the establishment and development of this new discipline. The six important aspects are: (1) technologies and methods for non-destructive detection of archaeological sites; (2) space technologies for the protection and monitoring of cultural heritages; (3) digital environmental reconstruction of archaeological sites; (4) spatial data storage and data mining of cultural heritages; (5) virtual archaeology, digital reproduction and public information and presentation system; and (6) the construction of scientific platform of digital cultural-heritage sphere. The five key recommendations for establishing the discipline of Space Archaeology are: (1) encouraging the full integration of the strengths of both archaeology and museology with space technology to promote the development of space technologies' application for cultural heritages; (2) a new

Archaeology 2.0? Review of Archaeology 2.0: New Approaches to Communication and Collaboration [Web Book

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Michael Shanks

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The Cotsen Institute in Los Angeles has launched a new publishing initiative in 'Digital Archaeology'. Its first book, Archaeology 2.0: New Approaches to Communication and Collaboration, edited by Eric C. Kansa, Sarah Whitcher Kansa and Ethan Watrall, makes a grand claim, if only in its title, that archaeology has undergone, or is about to undergo, changes that bring about a completely new version or kind of archaeology. The analogy is with the World Wide Web. Just as the IT world embraced radical changes of software design and web delivery nearly ten years ago and announced that this was Web version 2.0, so too archaeology is changed, the authors claim, and enough to warrant the designation version 2.0. We disagree and argue that the claim is not well supported. Moreover, we hold that the book misunderstands the implications of Web 2.0 and its aftermath. The well-meaning authors do make a valuable contribution to debates about uses of information technology in archaeology, and particularly data management. But their perspective is hopelessly narrow, looking back to the circumscribed concerns of professional field archaeologists with their data, its dissemination, use and survival. The authors focus mainly upon their own projects, expressing little interest in the scope of contemporary archaeology, digitally enabled as it all is, through heritage and everything to do with the representation of the material past in the present, an interest surely begged by the overt reference to the global changes associated with the notion of Web 2.0.

Droping the Trowel: Three Discourses and One Creative Archaeology

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José Antonio Mármol Martínez

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Archaeology offers insight into the values of the contemporary world. From three separate discourses, which address different temporalities and sites, an overarching archaeological narrative has been established, which reflects the role of art and heritage in artistic destruction; education and archaeology as an educational and social tool; and materiality (in the present case, the Chinese pottery sherds in Al-Andalus in the interpretations and acts of archaeologists. The visual values of archaeology and the role of the archaeological imagination to unify disparate archaeological practices will be explored here. The permeability of the spheres of archaeology and art allow us to explore both archaeological and artistic practices, as well as reflect on universal convictions and on the potentiality of archaeological practice to intervene in social contexts. With all this, archaeology acquires relevance insofar as it is a practice that is able to address the problems of the present day. In line with the so-called ‘creative archaeologies’, with their experimentation and creation of artistic works (in this case photographic, this paper aims to reflect on new ways to ‘see’ archaeology, which has never been more necessary.

The 'anthropologisation' of archaeological heritage

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kolen, J.C.A.

2009-01-01

With the growing impact of postprocessual orientations, archaeologists have become increasingly aware that the production of values resides in all aspects of archaeological research. This awareness has also paved the way for a more encompassing concept of archaeological heritage, which of course not

Training and Maritime Archaeology in a University Context

Science.gov (United States)

Parham, David; Palma, Paola

2008-12-01

This paper draws on experience gained by Bournemouth University to consider undergraduate education in maritime archaeology. At Bournemouth maritime archaeology is taught firmly in the context of a broader archaeological education. Archaeological programmes vary with the institutions within which they are taught, each programme thus having an individual character that separates it from that of other institutions and further enriches the subject through the breadth of this education. At Bournemouth the value of teaching archaeology with a high component of practical experience has been long understood. This does not mean that archaeology is taught as a purely practical subject but as one within which experience in the field is seen as a worthwhile focus. Bournemouth’s programme therefore recognises the value of field research projects as learning environments for undergraduates studying maritime archaeology. The programme is subject to a number of constraints, notably the size of the archaeological employment market, levels of pay within that market, questions of ongoing professional development after graduation, and the requirements of other employment markets into which archaeological graduates enter. This paper argues that research project-based learning, and in particular, involvement with amateur groups, provides a way to balance these constraints and supports development of both technical and transferable ‘soft’ skills.

Multisource data fusion for documenting archaeological sites

Science.gov (United States)

Knyaz, Vladimir; Chibunichev, Alexander; Zhuravlev, Denis

2017-10-01

The quality of archaeological sites documenting is of great importance for cultural heritage preserving and investigating. The progress in developing new techniques and systems for data acquisition and processing creates an excellent basis for achieving a new quality of archaeological sites documenting and visualization. archaeological data has some specific features which have to be taken into account when acquiring, processing and managing. First of all, it is a needed to gather as full as possible information about findings providing no loss of information and no damage to artifacts. Remote sensing technologies are the most adequate and powerful means which satisfy this requirement. An approach to archaeological data acquiring and fusion based on remote sensing is proposed. It combines a set of photogrammetric techniques for obtaining geometrical and visual information at different scales and detailing and a pipeline for archaeological data documenting, structuring, fusion, and analysis. The proposed approach is applied for documenting of Bosporus archaeological expedition of Russian State Historical Museum.

When Archaeology Begins: The Cultural and Political Context of Chinese Archaeological Thought

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Xinyi Liu

2008-05-01

Full Text Available Since the beginning of the 19th century, the construction of world history has been dominated by Western Europe. In Jack Goody’s recent work, The Theft of History (2007, he demonstrates that the interpretation of the past is conceptualized and presented according to what happened in Europe, and more often in Western Europe. Chinese archaeology, under the control of Western imperialism in the early 20th century, believed that it had to destroy Confucianism and come up with a new philosophy. However, with the arrival of many different kinds of western ideas, such as evolution and diffusion, Chinese archaeology was reformulated many times. Such issues have been discussed in several publications (Chen 1997; Liu and Chen 1999; Falkenhausen 1993. In this paper, we reexamine some of the key concepts of Chinese archaeological thought.

The significance of the Sun, Moon and celestial bodies to societies in the Carpathian basin during the Bronze Age

Science.gov (United States)

Pásztor, Emília

2011-06-01

Celestial events often exerted a great or even decisive influence on the life of ancient communities. They may provide some of the foundations on which an understanding of the deeper meaning of mythologies, religious systems and even folk tales can be based. These influences are reflected and may be detected in the archaeological material as well. There is good evidence that celestial (especially solar and perhaps lunar) phenomena played a particularly important rôle in the worldview of prehistoric Europe. To reveal the social and ideational significance of concepts relating to the celestial bodies in the prehistory of the Carpathian Basin, complex investigations on orientations of houses and graves, prestige archaeological finds and iconography have been accomplished. The results indicate ideological and/or social changes, which developed into a likely organized ideological system in large part of Central Europe including the Carpathian Basin by the Late Bronze Age. It might also be the first period in prehistory when people became really interested in celestial phenomena.

Prehistoric archaeology in Central Europe: beyond diversity

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Sosna, D.; Kolář, Jan; Květina, Petr; Trampota, F.

2013-01-01

Roč. 51, č. 2 (2013), s. 123-130 ISSN 0323-1119. [ Theory and method in the prehistoric archaeology of Central Europe. Mikulov, 24.10.2012-26.10.2012] Institutional support: RVO:67985912 ; RVO:67985939 Keywords : archaeological theory * artefact * communication * environment * history of archaeology * reflexivity Subject RIV: AC - Archeology, Anthropology, Ethnology

ARCHAEOLOGY, ARCHITECTURE AND CITY: The Enhancement Project of the Archaeological Park of the Baths of Baiae

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Renato Capozzi

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Following the theoretical and disciplinary framing of the elements that substantiate the relationship of archaeology with architecture and the city in light of the transformations of the modern city, the project aims at valorizing the archaeological asset, promoting a knowledge of the ruins from multiple theoretical perspectives. The enhancement project of the Archaeological Park of Baiae experiments with different modalities of knowing that include the knowledge of the relationship between the ruin and the landscape, the philological, typological-constructive knowledge, and the knowledge of the ruin’s own spatial elements. Bringing together the contributions of different disciplines and experts under the coordination of an architect, the theoretical core of the project promotes the enhancement of the Archaeological Park, envisioning it as a means of valorisation of a wider urban environment.

The pre-history of health psychology in the United Kingdom: From natural science and psychoanalysis to social science, social cognition and beyond.

Science.gov (United States)

Murray, Michael

2018-03-01

Health psychology formally came of age in the United Kingdom in the 1980s, but it was prefigured by much discussion about challenges to the dominance of biomedicine in healthcare and debates. This articles focuses on what could be termed the pre-history of health psychology in the UK. This was the period in the earlier 20th century when psychological approaches were dominated by psychoanalysis which was followed by behaviourism and then cognitivism. Review of this pre-history provides the backdrop for the rise of health psychology in the UK and also reveals the tensions between the different theoretical perspectives.

Building archaeology geodatabase in Iraq using GIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kalaf Abbas

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Geomatics has been an important tool in archaeology. The combination of Geomatics and archaeology adopters have been considered a perfect match, since archaeology often involves the study of the spatial dimension of human behavior over time, and all archaeology carries a spatial component. Since Iraqi archaeology becomes one of the main victims of destruction by negligence and terror attacks, makes our great heritages forgotten. Hence, it is necessary to build a secure database for all Iraqi archeological sites with their two main types (investigated and uninvestigated and rely on digital system by creating digital maps for each Governorate with their archeological database system. Results of archaeological studies are rich in spatial information. GIS is adept at processing these large volumes of data especially those that are geographically referenced. It is effective, accurate and a fast tool. The tools made available through GIS help in data collection, its storage and retrieval, its ability for customization and, finally, the display of the data so that it is visually comprehensible by the user. The most important aspect of GIS in archaeology lies, however, not in its use as a pure map-making tool, but in its capability to merge and analyze

The use of coca: prehistory, history, and ethnography.

Science.gov (United States)

Stolberg, Victor B

2011-01-01

The purpose of this article is to review the use of the natural mild stimulant coca, which is a story that originates with the prehistory of coca, evolves through its following historical uses, and leads up to the eventual development of cocaine. This discussion will begin with the botanical background of the coca plant, followed by a review of some of the prehistoric, historic and ethnographic evidence of coca use, which indicates the extensive antiquity and pervasiveness of coca use in South and Central America. The diverse roles that coca played among the Inca and other indigenous peoples led to the early adoption of coca in the West and, in turn, to the resultant discovery of cocaine and its assorted early applications, particularly for medicinal purposes. Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Qatar Islamic Archaeology and Heritage Project

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Report on the archaeological fieldwork at Al Zubarah and environs for the Qatar Museums Authority......Report on the archaeological fieldwork at Al Zubarah and environs for the Qatar Museums Authority...

Making Choices: Valletta, Development, Archaeology and Society

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Barney Sloane

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The European Archaeological Council's working group on 'Making Choices' conducted a survey of EAC member states about the ways in which they make decisions in archaeological heritage management with particular reference to development-led archaeological investigation. The driver for this is the belief that the approaches to development-led archaeology need to be more transparent and proportional to ensure continued state and developer/investor support. Based on a significant response (73% the survey gave a very useful insight into the way in which archaeological sites are defined and inventorised, the processes by which development-led investigations are designed, the means by which information is published and results (and collections archived, and the means by which the public are engaged in the process. The survey identified three key areas where choice-making is very much in the hands of the professional practice. These are: developing a clearer understanding of the significance of protected archaeological sites in the context of Valletta, assessing sensitivity to change for any sites proposed for development, and the design of the investigation itself. In addition, the survey revealed a clear interest in developing better ways of advocating the public value of development-led archaeology. This article summarises the issues raised in the survey and concludes that the most useful ways in which EAC could help its members would be through the preparation of guidance, case studies or toolkits — regardless of what legal or statutory structures are in operation in a given state — on the following subjects: understanding and articulating significance, developing national and regional research frameworks into which new excavations might be integrated, articulating the public value of archaeological investigation and developing better approaches to archaeological archives.

Species identification of archaeological skin objects from Danish bogs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brandt, Luise Ørsted; Schmidt, Anne Lisbeth; Mannering, Ulla

2014-01-01

environment of peat bogs leading to morphological and molecular degradation within the samples. We compared species assignment results of twelve archaeological skin samples from Danish bogs using Mass Spectrometry (MS)-based peptide sequencing, against results obtained using light and scanning electron...... microscopy. While it was difficult to obtain reliable results using microscopy, MS enabled the identification of several species-diagnostic peptides, mostly from collagen and keratins, allowing confident species discrimination even among taxonomically close organisms, such as sheep and goat. Unlike previous...

Drones in Archaeology

KAUST Repository

Smith, Neil; Passone, Luca; Al-Said, Said; Al-Farhan, Mohamed; Levy, Thomas E.

2014-01-01

In late 2013, a joint archaeological and computer vision project was initiated to digitally capture the archaeological remains in the al-Ula valley, Saudi Arabia. The goal of our team of archeologists and computer scientists is to integrate 3D scanning technologies to produce 3D reconstructions of archaeological sites. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) serve as the vehicle which makes this scanning possible. UAVs allow the acquisition of 3D data as easily from the air as from the ground. This project focuses on the recent excavations carried out in ancient Dedan by King Saud University and the country's conservation of the Lihyanite "lion tombs" carved into the ancient city's cliff faces. Over the next several years this site will be used as a test bed to validate the potential of this emerging technology for rapid cultural heritage documentation. We additionally scanned several areas in Mada'in Saleh, an ancient Nabatean city filled with monumental carved sandstone tomb facades, rivaled only by the capital of the Nabatean empire: Petra.

Drones in Archaeology

KAUST Repository

Smith, Neil

2014-09-01

In late 2013, a joint archaeological and computer vision project was initiated to digitally capture the archaeological remains in the al-Ula valley, Saudi Arabia. The goal of our team of archeologists and computer scientists is to integrate 3D scanning technologies to produce 3D reconstructions of archaeological sites. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) serve as the vehicle which makes this scanning possible. UAVs allow the acquisition of 3D data as easily from the air as from the ground. This project focuses on the recent excavations carried out in ancient Dedan by King Saud University and the country\\'s conservation of the Lihyanite "lion tombs" carved into the ancient city\\'s cliff faces. Over the next several years this site will be used as a test bed to validate the potential of this emerging technology for rapid cultural heritage documentation. We additionally scanned several areas in Mada\\'in Saleh, an ancient Nabatean city filled with monumental carved sandstone tomb facades, rivaled only by the capital of the Nabatean empire: Petra.

10 years of the Archaeology Museum of Tatarstan Republic of Institute of Archaeology named after A.Kh. Khalikov of Tatarstan Academy of Sciences

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Abdullin Khalim M.,

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The article is dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Archaeology Museum of Tatarstan Republic of the Institute of Archaeology named after A.Kh. Khalikov, AN RT. The issues of formation archaeological structures in the region, creation of archaeological collections, formation and development of the Museum are considered. The activities of Archaeology Museum are characterized, including the “acquisition, classification and inventory verification of archaeological collections”, “acquisition, cataloging and ordering of Science Fund’s materials”, “office processing of the archaeological field data”, “inclusion of collections of the Institute of Archaeology AN RT in the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation”. The main archaeological collections and research funds are taken into consideration, as well as the main results of the research unit, including the participation in exhibitions of such museums as the Museum of Islamic Culture, the Museum of History of the State, Museum- Reserve “Kazan Kremlin”, National Cultural Center “Kazan”, Bulgarian State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve, the State Historical and Architectural Museum “The Island of Sviyazhsk”, “Laishevo Land Museum”.

Chirping for large-scale maritime archaeological survey

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grøn, Ole; Boldreel, Lars Ole

2014-01-01

Archaeological wrecks exposed on the sea floor are mapped using side-scan and multibeam techniques, whereas the detection of submerged archaeological sites, such as Stone Age settlements, and wrecks, partially or wholly embedded in sea-floor sediments, requires the application of high-resolution ...... the present state of this technology, it appears well suited to large-scale maritime archaeological mapping....

Preservation of Urban Archaeological Deposits: monitoring and characterisation of archaeological deposits at Marks & Spencer, 44-45 Parliament Street, York

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M. Davis

2002-03-01

Full Text Available The City of York Council has been pursuing a strict policy of in situ preservation of archaeological deposits since April 1990. Planning consent is normally granted in the historic core of York for a new development so long as less than 5% of the archaeological deposits that are preserved on a site are destroyed. During archaeological evaluation work carried out as part of the redevelopment and expansion proposals for Marks & Spencer plc on Parliament Street, deposit monitoring devices were installed to investigate and monitor both the character of the archaeological deposits present and also the burial environment surrounding them (of particular importance because the burial environment, in terms both of its characteristics and stability, is thought to play a vital role in the preservation in situ of a site's archaeological deposits. The monitoring programme was undertaken between June 1995 and April 1998. As a result the data from a total of 30 site visits have been collected and are presented in this report. This article discusses results of the deposit monitoring project and presents evidence of changes that appear to be taking place in the archaeological deposits. Although the lower deposits at Parliament Street are stable, the upper deposits show considerable seasonal variations. The concept of preservation of archaeological deposits in situ is now deeply embedded both in Codes of Professional Conduct (IFA Code of Conduct and in national policy guidance (PPG 16. However, this emphasis on preservation in situ has been criticised. Does conservation archaeology in general and the City of York policy in particular achieve the preservation of the remaining 95% of the archaeology? Or are these deposits condemned to unseen, unrecorded destruction, sealed below new buildings; indeed if this is the case, shouldn't these deposits be excavated now while they are still viable?

Neem (Azadirachta indica): prehistory to contemporary medicinal uses to humankind.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Venugopalan Santhosh; Navaratnam, Visweswaran

2013-07-01

The divine tree neem (Azadirachta indica) is mainly cultivated in the Indian subcontinent. Neem has been used extensively by humankind to treat various ailments before the availability of written records which recorded the beginning of history. The world health organization estimates that 80% of the population living in the developing countries relies exclusively on traditional medicine for their primary health care. More than half of the world's population still relies entirely on plants for medicines, and plants supply the active ingredients of most traditional medical products. The review shows the neem has been used by humankind to treat various ailments from prehistory to contemporary.

Maritime archaeology and shipwrecks off Goa

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Tripati, S.; Gaur, A; Sundaresh

In recent years, maritime archaeological studies have unearthed several of our lost cultural heritages. Many believe that maritime archaeology is a complex and specialized field. Author has penned down his personal experiences in the form...

Archaeology and Science in China

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Giancarlo Elia Valori

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The monuments and historical memories of a people are its non-biological DNA, through which a political system creates its identity. Archaeological research, the protection and valorization of artistic heritage in China envisages the glorification of Beijing’s unifying power, recreating, through the business of cultural and archaeological tourism, sustained economic development, especially in depressed areas, also by taking into consideration the relationship between ecology, cultural heritage and economic development. Protecting Chinese artistic and archaeological structures fosters the interest of the government for leading-edge technologies used in discovering, protecting and managing the most delicate and complex finds.  Italy can supply Beijing with these technologies, together with the know-how, developed over many years of care and analysis of some of the world’s greatest artistic heritage. With the use of these technologies, in accordance with legislation related to environmental  protection, artistic and archaeological finds can be studied thoroughly and rapidly, thus providing the possibility of learning about the context in which a work is inserted and allowing the whole site to be valorized.

Archaeology audit program final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2009-04-15

In order to review oil and gas companies' archaeological management systems, the British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission (OGC) introduced its archaeology audit program (AAP) in April 2008. As part of this audit, twenty six oil and gas companies were selected for an office documentation review and a corresponding field audit. This document presented and described these audit results. The purpose of the final audit report was to provide information to assist oil and gas companies to improve their management systems by increasing the emphasis of the preservation of cultural resources. This report presented an overview of the AAP scope and methodology and provided examples from the audit of both good management practices encountered and practices in which opportunities for improvement to archaeological management systems could be implemented. Recommendations to address improvement opportunities were also discussed. It was concluded that the oil and gas companies subject to the audit were found to have met or exceeded OGC expectations for maintaining archaeological management systems. 2 tabs., 7 figs.

Archeologi educatori. Attuali tendenze per un’archeologia educativa in Italia, tra heritage education e public archaeology / Archaeologists-educators. Contemporary trends for an educational archaeology in Italy, between heritage education and public archaeology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marta Brunelli

2013-05-01

In Italy, in recent years there has been a perspective-shift in archaeological education and communication, showing how current educational activities for the many publics of archaeology have incorporated practices and approaches that belong to different disciplinary ambits, although partially overlapping: the heritage education field with its theoretical-pedagogical reflection (especially at European level as well as educational practices on the one hand; and the new ‘global’ approach to heritage, which is expressed by the public archaeology sector of Anglo-Saxon matrix. Actually a real ‘educational archaeology’ is emerging, i.e. an archaeological activity, not delegated to other mediators, but personally conducted by archaeologists with educational, social and cultural objectives and aims: first, to transmit knowledge and skills enabling visitors to understand the archaeological evidence and the meaning itself of the dig, of the archaeological sites and heritage; second, to implement innovative and diversified educational and communication strategies, able to reach wider audiences and, consequently, to meet the new demands of social inclusion and cultural participation; third, but not least, to reassert the meaning of archaeological heritage as well as of the discipline and its actors, as a shared value and a potential of growth for citizens, communities and society as a whole.

Moche: Archaeology, Ethnicity, Identity

OpenAIRE

Quilter, Jeffrey

2014-01-01

The two different modes of investigation in Art History and Anthropological Archaeology are discussed. This is followed by a consideration of these issues in relation to the Mochica archaeological culture. The “Mochica” have come to be considered a political or ethnic group and, in particular, considered as a prehistoric state. This essay questions these ideas and suggests that Moche is best considered as primarily a religious system. The ceremonial centers were likely places of pilgrimage wi...

Maritime archaeology of Lakshadweep Islands, India

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Tripati, S.; Gaur, A.S.; Sundaresh; Vora, K.H.

route from Europe to Asia before the opening of the Suez Canal In order to delineate the earliest human habitation and maritime contacts of Lakshadweep Islands, archaeological explorations was carried on by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI...

Interview with Mike Parker Pearson

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Thomas J. T. Williams

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Mike Parker Pearson is the Institute of Archaeology’s newly appointed Professor of British Later Prehistory. In this interview he reflects on his experience at the birth of post-processualism, current problems and opportunities in modern archaeology, and the subject for which he is best known: Stonehenge.

EAC Working Group for Archaeological Archives, A European View of Selecting for Archaeological Archives

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Brown, Duncan H.

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the issues around selecting for archaeological archives, including the reasons for doing so, how selection fit into a project and the methodological framework. The context is ‘Making Choices’, a project of the Europae Archaeologiae Consilium that is looking at how all choices are made across archaeological practice, while the foundations are provided by existing standards for archiving and for selection.

Starry messages: Searching for signatures of interstellar archaeology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carrigan, Richard A., Jr.; /Fermilab

2009-12-01

Searching for signatures of cosmic-scale archaeological artifacts such as Dyson spheres or Kardashev civilizations is an interesting alternative to conventional SETI. Uncovering such an artifact does not require the intentional transmission of a signal on the part of the original civilization. This type of search is called interstellar archaeology or sometimes cosmic archaeology. The detection of intelligence elsewhere in the Universe with interstellar archaeology or SETI would have broad implications for science. For example, the constraints of the anthropic principle would have to be loosened if a different type of intelligence was discovered elsewhere. A variety of interstellar archaeology signatures are discussed including non-natural planetary atmospheric constituents, stellar doping with isotopes of nuclear wastes, Dyson spheres, as well as signatures of stellar and galactic-scale engineering. The concept of a Fermi bubble due to interstellar migration is introduced in the discussion of galactic signatures. These potential interstellar archaeological signatures are classified using the Kardashev scale. A modified Drake equation is used to evaluate the relative challenges of finding various sources. With few exceptions interstellar archaeological signatures are clouded and beyond current technological capabilities. However SETI for so-called cultural transmissions and planetary atmosphere signatures are within reach.

Multiscale, multispectral and multitemporal satellite data to identify archaeological remains in the archaeological area of Tiwanaku (Bolivia)

Science.gov (United States)

Masini, Nicola; Lasaponara, Rosa

2015-04-01

The aim of this paper is to investigate the cultural landscape of the archaeological area of Tiwanaku (Bolivia) using multiscale, multispectral and multitemporal satellite data. Geospatial analysis techniques were applied to the satellite data sets in order to enhance and map traces of past human activities and perform a spatial characterization of environmental and cultural patterns. In particular, in the Tiwanaku area, the approach based on local indicators of spatial autocorrelation (LISA) applied to ASTER data allowed us to identify traces of a possible ancient hydrographic network with a clear spatial relation with the well-known moat surrounding the core of the monumental area. The same approach applied to QuickBird data, allowed us to identify numerous traces of archaeological interest, in Mollo Kontu mound, less investigated than the monumental area. Some of these traces were in perfect accordance with the results of independent studies, other were completely unknown. As a whole, the detected features, composing a geometric pattern with roughly North-South orientation, closely match those of the other residential contexts at Tiwanaku. These new insights, captured from multitemporal ASTER and QuickBird data processing, suggested new questions on the ancient landscape and provided important information for planning future field surveys and archaeogeophyical investigations. Reference [1] Lasaponara R., Masini N. 2014. Beyond modern landscape features: New insights in thearchaeological area of Tiwanaku in Bolivia from satellite data. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 26, 464-471, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2013.09.00. [2] Tapete D., Cigna F., Masini N., Lasaponara R. 2013. Prospection and monitoring of the archaeological heritage of Nasca, Peru, with ENVISAT ASAR, Archaeological Prospection, 20, 133-147, doi: 10.1002/arp.1449. [3] Lasaponara R, N Masini, 2012 Satellite Remote Sensing, A New Tool for Archaeology (Series

Material rhetoric: spreading stones and showing bones in the study of prehistory.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Reybrouck, David; de Bont, Raf; Rock, Jan

2009-06-01

Since the linguistic turn, the role of rhetoric in the circulation and the popular representation of knowledge has been widely accepted in science studies. This article aims to analyze not a textual form of scientific rhetoric, but the crucial role of materiality in scientific debates. It introduces the concept of material rhetoric to understand the promotional regimes in which material objects play an essential argumentative role. It analyzes the phenomenon by looking at two students of prehistory from nineteenth-century Belgium. In the study of human prehistory and evolution, material data are either fairly abundant stone tools or very scarce fossil bones. These two types of material data stand for two different strategies in material rhetoric. In this article, the first strategy is exemplified by Aimé Rutot, who gathered great masses of eoliths (crudely chipped stones which he believed to be prehistoric tools). The second strategy is typified by the example of Julien Fraipont, who based his scientific career on only two Neanderthal skeletons. Rutot sent his "artifacts" to a very wide audience, while Fraipont showed his skeletons to only a few selected scholars. Unlike Rutot, however, Fraipont was able to monitor his audience's interpretation of the finds by means of personal contacts. What an archaeologist gains in reach, he or she apparently loses in control. In this article we argue that only those scholars who find the right balance between the extremes of reach and control will prove to be successful.

Digital Co-production in Archaeology. An editorial

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chiara Bonacchi

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This special issue focuses on digitally-enabled co-production in archaeology, by bringing together papers that were presented at the session Communication as Collaboration: Digital Methods, Experiences and Values, organised at the 21st Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (University of Glasgow, 2015. The session was part of the Communicating Archaeology thematic cluster, which was partly inspired by the first published volume dedicated specifically to the topic of digital public engagement in archaeology (Bonacchi 2012. In that session and in this collection, we have been exploring communication as the collaborative construction of materials and interpretations rather than the dissemination of content at given stages of the archaeological research process (Bonacchi and Moshenska 2015.

RPAS AND TLS TECNIQUES FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY: THE CASE STUDY OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF ERACLEA MINOA (ITALY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Lo Brutto

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Digital documentation and 3D modelling of archaeological sites are important for understanding, definition and recognition of the values of the sites and of the archaeological finds. The most part of archaeological sites are outdoor location, but a cover to preserve the ruins protects often parts of the sites. The possibility to acquire data with different techniques and merge them by using a single reference system allows creating multi-parties models in which 3D representations of the individual objects can be inserted. The paper presents the results of a recent study carried out by Geomatics Laboratory of University of Palermo for the digital documentation and 3D modelling of Eraclea Minoa archaeological site. This site is located near Agrigento, in the south of Sicily (Italy and is one of the most famous ancient Greek colonies of Sicily. The paper presents the results of the integration of different data source to survey the Eraclea Minoa archaeological site. The application of two highly versatile recording systems, the TLS (Terrestrial Laser Scanning and the RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aircraft System, allowed the Eraclea Minoa site to be documented in high resolution and with high accuracy. The integration of the two techniques has demonstrated the possibility to obtain high quality and accurate 3D models in archaeological survey.

Case studies in archaeological predictive modelling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verhagen, Jacobus Wilhelmus Hermanus Philippus

2007-01-01

In this thesis, a collection of papers is put together dealing with various quantitative aspects of predictive modelling and archaeological prospection. Among the issues covered are the effects of survey bias on the archaeological data used for predictive modelling, and the complexities of testing

Cat Taming in the Western Mediterranean. Issues, Problematics and Unpredictability in the Light of Bio-archaeological Approaches to a Museum Specimen

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Roberto Miccichè

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The vast wealth of cultural artifacts and ancient biological samples can today be investigated using a great variety of methods and technologies. The result is a growing diffusion of studies on DNA, isotopes and morphometrics, and the exponential growth of publications and bio-archaeological discoveries of inestimable value for different areas of interpretation, such as phylogeny, history and archaeology. This paper describes the morphological and molecular study of a rare specimen of Felis from an Early Bronze Age horizon. The report offers the opportunity for a brief discussion on cat taming, on the origin of this practice and on the archaeological importance of this specimen for the reconstruction of taming practices in the Western Mediterranean Basin.

Durability and plasticity of a material under different trajectories cycle loading in dependence on the loading prehistory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mozharovskij, N.S.; Bobyr', N.I.

1979-01-01

Results of investigations into the durability and plasticity of a material under combined proportional cyclic loading over different trajectories depending upon the values of intensity of preliminary plastic deformation obtained by different loading methods are presented. The effect of loading prehistory type on material plastic properties and its durability are shown

Durability and plasticity of a material under different trajectories cycle loading in dependence on the loading prehistory

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mozharovskii, N S; Bobyr, N I [Kievskij Politekhnicheskij Inst. (Ukrainian SSR)

1979-12-01

Results of investigations into the durability and plasticity of a material under combined proportional cyclic loading over different trajectories depending upon the values of intensity of preliminary plastic deformation obtained by different loading methods are presented. The effect of loading prehistory type on material plastic properties and its durability are shown.

Neolithisation in Mongolia: the Mesolithic-Neolithic site of Tamsagbulag (Dornod district

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Michel Louis Séfériadès

2004-12-01

Full Text Available The article outlines the first results of the French Archaeological Mission to Mongolia centered on the Neolithic. The topics discussed include general aspects of the initial Neolithisation in Eurasia, and the use of state-of-the art archaeological techniques in studies of Prehistory, with special reference to the Mesolithic/Neolithic interface, as exemplified by a survey and excavations in the area of Tamsagbulag site (Eastern Mongolia, aimak/district of Dornod originally investigated by a Soviet-Mongolian mission directed by Professor A. P. Okladnikov, a renowned Russian archaeologist.

Feminism, theory and practice of a scientific archaeology

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Berrocal, María Cruz

2009-12-01

Full Text Available The paper reviews American feminist archaeology and its emphasis on the scientific character of the discipline. It is a synthesis of the origin and development of feminist archaeology, its links to gender archaeology and postprocessual archaeology, and its value as an epistemological critique of the discipline. The paper also considers the development of feminist archaeology in Spain, and its link to historical materialist archaeology.

Este artículo revisa la arqueología feminista, fundamentalmente norteamericana, y su contribución a la comprensión de la arqueología como ciencia. Se sintetiza brevemente el origen y desarrollo de la arqueología feminista, su relación con la arqueología de género y la arqueología posprocesual, y su valor como crítica epistemológica de la disciplina. Se observa también el desarrollo de la arqueología feminista en España y su relación con la arqueología materialista histórica.

An evaluation of applicability of seismic refraction method in identifying shallow archaeological features A case study at archaeological site

Science.gov (United States)

Jahangardi, Morteza; Hafezi Moghaddas, Naser; Keivan Hosseini, Sayyed; Garazhian, Omran

2015-04-01

We applied the seismic refraction method at archaeological site, Tepe Damghani located in Sabzevar, NE of Iran, in order to determine the structures of archaeological interests. This pre-historical site has special conditions with respect to geographical location and geomorphological setting, so it is an urban archaeological site, and in recent years it has been used as an agricultural field. In spring and summer of 2012, the third season of archaeological excavation was carried out. Test trenches of excavations in this site revealed that cultural layers were often disturbed adversely due to human activities such as farming and road construction in recent years. Conditions of archaeological cultural layers in southern and eastern parts of Tepe are slightly better, for instance, in test trench 3×3 m²1S03, third test trench excavated in the southern part of Tepe, an adobe in situ architectural structure was discovered that likely belongs to cultural features of a complex with 5 graves. After conclusion of the third season of archaeological excavation, all of the test trenches were filled with the same soil of excavated test trenches. Seismic refraction method was applied with12 channels of P geophones in three lines with a geophone interval of 0.5 meter and a 1.5 meter distance between profiles on test trench 1S03. The goal of this operation was evaluation of applicability of seismic method in identification of archaeological features, especially adobe wall structures. Processing of seismic data was done with the seismic software, SiesImager. Results were presented in the form of seismic section for every profile, so that identification of adobe wall structures was achieved hardly. This could be due to that adobe wall had been built with the same materials of the natural surrounding earth. Thus, there is a low contrast and it has an inappropriate effect on seismic processing and identifying of archaeological features. Hence the result could be that application of

Large-scale high-resolution non-invasive geophysical archaeological prospection for the investigation of entire archaeological landscapes

Science.gov (United States)

Trinks, Immo; Neubauer, Wolfgang; Hinterleitner, Alois; Kucera, Matthias; Löcker, Klaus; Nau, Erich; Wallner, Mario; Gabler, Manuel; Zitz, Thomas

2014-05-01

Over the past three years the 2010 in Vienna founded Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology (http://archpro.lbg.ac.at), in collaboration with its ten European partner organizations, has made considerable progress in the development and application of near-surface geophysical survey technology and methodology mapping square kilometres rather than hectares in unprecedented spatial resolution. The use of multiple novel motorized multichannel GPR and magnetometer systems (both Förster/Fluxgate and Cesium type) in combination with advanced and centimetre precise positioning systems (robotic totalstations and Realtime Kinematic GPS) permitting efficient navigation in open fields have resulted in comprehensive blanket coverage archaeological prospection surveys of important cultural heritage sites, such as the landscape surrounding Stonehenge in the framework of the Stonehenge Hidden Landscape Project, the mapping of the World Cultural Heritage site Birka-Hovgården in Sweden, or the detailed investigation of the Roman urban landscape of Carnuntum near Vienna. Efficient state-of-the-art archaeological prospection survey solutions require adequate fieldwork methodologies and appropriate data processing tools for timely quality control of the data in the field and large-scale data visualisations after arrival back in the office. The processed and optimized visualisations of the geophysical measurement data provide the basis for subsequent archaeological interpretation. Integration of the high-resolution geophysical prospection data with remote sensing data acquired through aerial photography, airborne laser- and hyperspectral-scanning, terrestrial laser-scanning or detailed digital terrain models derived through photogrammetric methods permits improved understanding and spatial analysis as well as the preparation of comprehensible presentations for the stakeholders (scientific community, cultural heritage managers, public). Of

Pioneers, publishers and the dissemination of archaeological knowledge: A study of publishing in British archaeology 1816-1851

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarah Scott

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The first half of the nineteenth century was a formative period in the development of archaeology as a discipline and archaeological publishing played a key role in this. Libraries were an essential marker of social and intellectual status and there now exists a considerable body of scholarship on the most impressive publications of the day and on the factors influencing their presentation; for example, in relation to the publication of Mediterranean classical antiquities. The crucial role which publishers played in the selection and dissemination of scholarship has been addressed in recent studies of the history of the book, and there is a growing literature on the role of publishers in the dissemination of scientific knowledge, but there has to date been very limited evaluation of the role of publishers in the selection and dissemination of archaeological knowledge in Britain in this period. This study will investigate the extent to which the publication and dissemination of archaeological knowledge, and hence the discipline itself, was shaped by the intellectual and/or commercial concerns of publishers, with a view to providing a more nuanced understanding of the ways in which knowledge was filtered and the impact that this had. Key trends in archaeological publishing in the period 1816-51 will be identified, based on the London Catalogue of Books, and will show how and why this kind of study should be seen as an essential component of any research which considers the history of the discipline. Selected case studies will show the immense, and previously unacknowledged, importance of decisions made during the publication process on the development of archaeology in Britain, and directions for further study will be identified.

Optical absorption of BaF2 crystals with different prehistory when irradiated by high-energy electrons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chinkov, E P; Stepanov, S A; Shtan'ko, V F; Ivanova, T S

2016-01-01

The spectra of stable optical absorption of BaF 2 crystals containing uncontrollable impurities after irradiation with 3 MeV electrons are studied at room temperature. The dependence of the efficiency of stable color accumulation in the region of emerging crossluminescence on the absorption coefficients measured near the fundamental absorption edge in unirradiated crystals of various prehistory is traced. (paper)

History of Latin American Archaeology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David L. Browman

1995-11-01

Full Text Available Two recent contributions (Oyuela-Caycedo 1994 and Politis 1995 to analyses of the intellectual development of archaeology in Latin America provide us with new perspectives. A theme shared by both is the perception by the authors of a need to distance the development of archaeology in Latin American countries from the overweening influence of Europe and especially U. S. archaeologists. Politis argues that U.S. influence has been tantamount to 'cultural imperialism' (1995:226. He sees U.S. archaeologists as having a history of appropriating and manipulating the knowledge of the past which ignores the local peoples own traditional perceptions of their patrimony, and argues that the U.S. perspective is designed to satisfy the needs of western scholarship but fails to enter a dialog with the legitimate concerns of the subject countries. Oyuela·Caycedo's introductory essay in his book "Nationalism and Archaeology" carries a very similar message. He faults U.S. archaeologists for failing to locate their studies in the areas social and local context, which he sees as leading the U.S. scholars to employ a model derived from "dependency theory" (1994:5, resulting in an overly simplistic perception of the context for the development of archaeological disciplines in respective Latin American countries.

L'Abbe Henri Breuil: Archaeologist

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lawrence Guy Straus

1992-05-01

Full Text Available In his otherwise excellent book, A History of Archaeological Thought, Trigger (1989: 156 makes only one passing reference in a half-sentence to the central figure in the development of Paleolithic prehistory in the first half of the 20th century -- and manages to get his name wrong, confusing Henri Breuil with his long-time, close colleague, Hugo Obenrnaie . Thirty years after his death, Breuil's role in the history of Old World prehistory required more serious consideration. He was a seminal figure not only in rock art studies, but also in the archaeology of at least France, Spain, England, Portugal, South Africa, and China. Before I had read Trigger's work or Sackett's (1991 critique of my supposed misinterpretation of Breuil's theoretical stance (e.g., Straus 1986, 1987, I had presented a review of Breuil's contributions in the 1991 Annual Snead-Wertheim Lecture in Anthropology and History at the University of New Mexico (Straus n.d.. The following is a brief summary of some of my conclusions.

Educational activities of remote sensing archaeology (Conference Presentation)

Science.gov (United States)

Hadjimitsis, Diofantos G.; Agapiou, Athos; Lysandrou, Vasilki; Themistocleous, Kyriacos; Cuca, Branka; Nisantzi, Argyro; Lasaponara, Rosa; Masini, Nicola; Krauss, Thomas; Cerra, Daniele; Gessner, Ursula; Schreier, Gunter

2016-10-01

Remote sensing science is increasingly being used to support archaeological and cultural heritage research in various ways. Satellite sensors either passive or active are currently used in a systematic basis to detect buried archaeological remains and to systematic monitor tangible heritage. In addition, airborne and low altitude systems are being used for documentation purposes. Ground surveys using remote sensing tools such as spectroradiometers and ground penetrating radars can detect variations of vegetation and soil respectively, which are linked to the presence of underground archaeological features. Education activities and training of remote sensing archaeology to young people is characterized of highly importance. Specific remote sensing tools relevant for archaeological research can be developed including web tools, small libraries, interactive learning games etc. These tools can be then combined and aligned with archaeology and cultural heritage. This can be achieved by presenting historical and pre-historical records, excavated sites or even artifacts under a "remote sensing" approach. Using such non-form educational approach, the students can be involved, ask, read, and seek to learn more about remote sensing and of course to learn about history. The paper aims to present a modern didactical concept and some examples of practical implementation of remote sensing archaeology in secondary schools in Cyprus. The idea was built upon an ongoing project (ATHENA) focused on the sue of remote sensing for archaeological research in Cyprus. Through H2020 ATHENA project, the Remote Sensing Science and Geo-Environment Research Laboratory at the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), with the support of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) aims to enhance its performance in all these new technologies.

Making space for an archaeology of place

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Wheatley

2004-01-01

Full Text Available Rather than attempt to write a balanced or complete overview of the application of GIS to archaeology (which would inevitably end up being didactic and uncritical this article sets out to present a discursive and contentious position with the deliberate aim of stimulating further debate about the future role of GIS within our discipline. To this end, existing applications of GIS to archaeology are reviewed, concentrating on two areas of application, predictive modelling and visibility analyses, and on their wider disciplinary context. It is argued that GIS cannot be simplistically held to have been a 'good thing' or a 'bad thing' for archaeology, but rather that these different application areas may be analysed separately and found to have quite different qualities. Although they are in no sense alternatives to one another, the areas of predictive modelling and visibility analysis can be seen to represent quite different agendas for the development of an archaeology of space and/or place. The development of correlative predictive models is considered first, both from the perspective of explanation and of cultural resource management. The arguments against predictive modelling as a means of explanation are rehearsed and it is found to be over-generalising, deterministic and de-humanised. As a consequence, it is argued that predictive modelling is now essentially detached from contemporary theoretical archaeological concerns. Moreover, it is argued to be an area with significant unresolved methodological problems and, far more seriously, that it presents very real dangers for the future representativity of archaeological records. Second, the development of GIS-based visibility analysis is reviewed. This is also found to be methodologically problematic and incomplete. However, it is argued that visibility studies — in direct contrast to predictive modelling — have remained firmly situated within contemporary theoretical debates, notably about

From Web to Grid, a new perspective for archaeology

CERN Document Server

Pelfer, Pier Giovanni

2004-01-01

It is well known that in Archaeology large use is done of digital technologies and computer applications for data acquisition, storage, analysis and visualisation. In the last years the amount of information coming from remote sensing. from precise and fast acquisition of 3-D artefacts images by scanners laser, from GPS precise reference of geographical points and from other human and natural sciences are increasing at a large extent the amount of data that it need to be stored and made available for analysis. Moreover the use of Virtual Archaeology as a new approach to the narration and visualisation in Archaeology, is expanding rapidly, not only in the museum and archaeology professions, but also in the broadcast media, tourism and heritage industries. From another side recent natural and social disasters (wars) created enormous damages to the archaeological heritage and in many case destroyed definitively any information about ancient civilisations. It is urgent a longterm project for saving archaeological...

The Prehistory of Serendipity, from Bacon to Walpole.

Science.gov (United States)

Silver, Sean

2015-06-01

During the past four decades there has developed a burgeoning literature on the concept of serendipity, the name for sudden insights or conceptual breakthroughs that occur by chance or accident. Studies repeatedly note that it was Horace Walpole, the eighteenth-century man of letters, who coined the word. None of them, however, notice that Walpole's term is itself indebted to a much older tradition, invoking a formula developed by Francis Bacon. Recovering the prehistory of the term suggests that "serendipity," rather than being a name for a special mode of discovery invented by Walpole, has all along accompanied empiricism as the name for an essential gap in its epistemology. Serendipity bears directly on the "induction problem," or what has more recently been called the "conceptual leap." Though Walpole gave it its current name, versions of the concept have all along isolated a critical gap in the method of the sciences inaugurated by Bacon.

The satellite archaeological survey of Egypt

OpenAIRE

Sparavigna, Amelia Carolina

2011-01-01

A recent announcement of some pyramids, buried under the sand of Egypt and discovered by means of infrared remote sensing, renewed the interest on the archaeological surveys aided by satellites. Here we propose the use of images, obtained from those of Google Maps after some processing to enhance their details, to locate archaeological remains in Egypt.

Stories of stones and bones: disciplinarity, narrative and practice in British popular prehistory, 1911-1935.

Science.gov (United States)

Rees, Amanda

2016-09-01

This paper explores how three central figures in the field of British prehistory - Sir Arthur Keith, Sir Grafton Elliot Smith and Louis Leakey - deployed different disciplinary practices and narrative devices in the popular accounts of human bio-cultural evolution that they produced during the early decades of the twentieth century. It shows how they used a variety of strategies, ranging from virtual witness through personal testimony to tactile demonstration, to ground their authority to interpret the increasingly wide range of fossil material available and to answer the bewildering variety of questions that could be asked about them. It investigates the way in which they positioned their own professional expertise in relation to fossil interpretation, particularly with regard to the - sometimes controversial - use they made of concepts, evidence and practices drawn from other disciplines. In doing so, they made claims that went beyond their original disciplinary boundaries. The paper argues that while none of these writers were able, ultimately, to support the wider claims they made regarding human prehistory, the nature of these claims deserves much closer attention, particularly with respect to the public role that historians of science can and should play in relation to present-day calls for greater interdisciplinarity.

Computer vision and machine learning for archaeology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Maaten, L.J.P.; Boon, P.; Lange, G.; Paijmans, J.J.; Postma, E.

2006-01-01

Until now, computer vision and machine learning techniques barely contributed to the archaeological domain. The use of these techniques can support archaeologists in their assessment and classification of archaeological finds. The paper illustrates the use of computer vision techniques for

The influence of a nuclear prehistory on transport rate of impurity ''hot'' atoms 111In, 114mIn and 115mIn in the irradiated metal cadmium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alekseev, I.E.; Lazarev, V.V.; Orlov, S.P.

2004-01-01

In our previous publications it was shown, that the velocity of migration of radioactive microimpurities (formed as a result of a nuclear change) in irradiated in metals is instituted by a nuclear prehistory. In the present work this problem was explored in detail. The selected system '' cadmium - impurity atoms of indium '' is unique for such experiments: it is possible to gain the same impurity ''hot'' atoms ( 111 In, 114m In and 115m In) via different ''nuclear channels'' and to explore their behavior depending on a nuclear prehistory. (orig.)

Volcanology and archaeology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Livadie, C.A.; Widemann, F.

1990-01-01

These proceedings study fossil volcanism and archaeology relationships in several countries ( North Yemen, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Martinique ). Age estimation of several eruptions is given and economic consequences of volcanic risk is evaluated

The genetic prehistory of the New World Arctic

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Raghavan, Maanasa; DeGiorgio, Michael; Albrechtsen, Anders

2014-01-01

The New World Arctic, the last region of the Americas to be populated by humans, has a relatively well-researched archaeology, but an understanding of its genetic history is lacking. We present genome-wide sequence data from ancient and present-day humans from Greenland, Arctic Canada, Alaska, Al...

History, Archaeology and the Bible Forty Years after "Historicity"

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

In History, Archaeology and the Bible Forty Years after “Historicity”, Hjelm and Thompson argue that a ‘crisis’ broke in the 1970s, when several new studies of biblical history and archaeology were published, questioning the historical-critical method of biblical scholarship. The crisis formed...... articles from some of the field’s best scholars with comprehensive discussion of historical, archaeological, anthropological, cultural and literary approaches to the Hebrew Bible and Palestine’s history. The essays question: “How does biblical history relate to the archaeological history of Israel...

Studying at UCL Institute of Archaeology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charlotte Frearson

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Ranked first in the UK for archaeology, for the fifth year in a row, in 'The Guardian' 'University Guide' League Tables, with a top score of 100/100. Ranked in the top five for student satisfaction in 'The Complete University Guide' 2016 League Table of UK archaeology departments (published in May 2015. Twitter: @UCLarchaeology Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UCLArchaeology_

Archaeology of Wari-Bateshwar

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Shahnaj Husne Jahan

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Wari and Bateshwar are two adjacent villages in Amlabo Union under Belabo police station in Narsingdi district, Bangladesh. It is situated on an isolated bit of the Pleistocene terrace at Manohardi-Sibpur, which is detached from the Madhupur tract by the Old Brahmaputra and the Laksya rivers. Since the 40s of the last century, a large number of cultural materials of Wari-Bateshwar have been reported from surface collections and chance excavations. Systematic archaeological exploration at the site was carried out in 1998-99 season by the author and subsequently a number of excavations conducted at the site since 2000. Archaeological investigations at Wari-Bateshwar revealed that the site had been occupied from the 4th century BC onwards with occasional breaks. The present paper is the detail report of all the evidences from the archaeological record in the form of physical remains unearthed from explorations and excavations till date and analyzes them to understand the nature and behaviors of the people who produced them. This also places Wari-Bateswar in the macro-level of Indian Ocean maritime trade network during the early historic period.

Soviet Archaeological Expedition as a Research Object

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Olga Sveshnikova

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Soviet archaeological expeditions are the main focus of my research. They provide us with very interesting examples of archaeological expeditions as a part of a society, and not only as a part of science. After the 1960s it was an especially popular leisure practice. Many people who were not professional archaeologists went on expeditions in their leisure time and worked there as diggers or shovelmen (excavators. A Soviet archaeologist described them as people who ‘prefer to spend their vacation in archaeological expeditions in various parts of our country instead of seaside resorts.

Concerning the work of the II international field archaeological school

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Sitdikov Ayrat G.

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The II international field archaeological school was held in Bolgar, 17-30 August, 2015. Basic theoretical lectures were included into syllabus, as well as methodical studies and work of such scientific sections as: History of ancient metallurgy and metal processing; Palaeoanthropology; Archeobiological methods in archaeology; Techniques of field conservation and restoration; Geoinformational systems in archaeology; History of ancient ceramics; Experimental and traseology study of ancient tools; Archaeological glass. The Bolgar school is an example of organisation an academic educational centre which is focused on practical acquisition of contemporary techniques of complex archaeological monuments’ study with wide usage of experimental research methods.

Teaching Experimental Archaeology at the University of Copenhagen

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lyngstrøm, Henriette Syrach

2011-01-01

For more than ten years the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Copenhagen has offered the course Experimental Archaeology, Ethno-archaeology and Simple Technology to all students at BA level....

Forensic archaeology and anthropology : An Australian perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Oakley, Kate

2005-09-01

Forensic archaeology is an extremely powerful investigative discipline and, in combination with forensic anthropology, can provide a wealth of evidentiary information to police investigators and the forensic community. The re-emergence of forensic archaeology and anthropology within Australia relies on its diversification and cooperation with established forensic medical organizations, law enforcement forensic service divisions, and national forensic boards. This presents a unique opportunity to develop a new multidisciplinary approach to forensic archaeology/anthropology within Australia as we hold a unique set of environmental, social, and cultural conditions that diverge from overseas models and require different methodological approaches. In the current world political climate, more forensic techniques are being applied at scenes of mass disasters, genocide, and terrorism. This provides Australian forensic archaeology/anthropology with a unique opportunity to develop multidisciplinary models with contributions from psychological profiling, ballistics, sociopolitics, cultural anthropology, mortuary technicians, post-blast analysis, fire analysis, and other disciplines from the world of forensic science.

EFFICIENT PREDICTIVE MODELLING FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH

OpenAIRE

Balla, A.; Pavlogeorgatos, G.; Tsiafakis, D.; Pavlidis, G.

2014-01-01

The study presents a general methodology for designing, developing and implementing predictive modelling for identifying areas of archaeological interest. The methodology is based on documented archaeological data and geographical factors, geospatial analysis and predictive modelling, and has been applied to the identification of possible Macedonian tombs’ locations in Northern Greece. The model was tested extensively and the results were validated using a commonly used predictive gain, which...

The pre-history of urban scaling.

Science.gov (United States)

Ortman, Scott G; Cabaniss, Andrew H F; Sturm, Jennie O; Bettencourt, Luís M A

2014-01-01

Cities are increasingly the fundamental socio-economic units of human societies worldwide, but we still lack a unified characterization of urbanization that captures the social processes realized by cities across time and space. This is especially important for understanding the role of cities in the history of human civilization and for determining whether studies of ancient cities are relevant for contemporary science and policy. As a step in this direction, we develop a theory of settlement scaling in archaeology, deriving the relationship between population and settled area from a consideration of the interplay between social and infrastructural networks. We then test these models on settlement data from the Pre-Hispanic Basin of Mexico to show that this ancient settlement system displays spatial scaling properties analogous to those observed in modern cities. Our data derive from over 1,500 settlements occupied over two millennia and spanning four major cultural periods characterized by different levels of agricultural productivity, political centralization and market development. We show that, in agreement with theory, total settlement area increases with population size, on average, according to a scale invariant relation with an exponent in the range [Formula: see text]. As a consequence, we are able to infer aggregate socio-economic properties of ancient societies from archaeological measures of settlement organization. Our findings, from an urban settlement system that evolved independently from its old-world counterparts, suggest that principles of settlement organization are very general and may apply to the entire range of human history.

ArchaeoGRID, the Archaeology on the e-Infrastructures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pelfer, G.; Cechini, R.; Pelfer, P. G.; Politi, A.

2007-01-01

It is well known that in archaeology large use is done of digital technologies and computer applications for data acquisition, storage, analysis and visualization. The approach of modern archaeology to the study of the evolution of ancient human societies is based on the acquisition and analysis of many types of data. The amount of information coming from the archaeology and the other connected sciences and human ties that need to be stored and made available for analysis are increasing at a very large extent. Such data must, however, be analyzed if they are to become valuable information and knowledge. The data analysis use advanced methods developed in mathematics, informatics, physics, geology, biology, ecology, anthropology and in other natural and human sciences. The inevitable result of this is an exponential increase of the amount and complexity of information that must be acquired, transferred, stored, processed and analyzed. From another, side natural disasters, wars and terrorism created enormous damages to the archaeological heritage and in many case destroyed definitively all information about ancient civilizations. It is urgent a long term project for acquiring, storing and preserving at least the archaeological information. The paper presents the EGEE- II ArchaeoGRID project that, using GRID technologies developed at CERN and in other laboratories, is developing a grid able to fit the very challenging requests of contemporary archaeology. (Author)

Prehistory effect on dielectric properties of NaNbO3-Gd1/3NbO3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burkhanov, A.I.; Bondarenko, P.V.; Shil'nikov, A.V.; Raevskaya, S.I.; Raevskij, I.P.

2006-01-01

One studied the low- and the infralow-frequency dielectric response of 0.9NaNbO 3 -0.1Gd 1/3 NbO 3 (NNG10) composition ceramics and single crystal at the material different prehistory. One revealed the differences in the nature of dielectric aging in NaNbO 3 antiferroelectric base material with a diffused phase transition in contrast to manifestation of similar phenomena in ferroelectrics-relaxors [ru

Implementing Community Service Learning through Archaeological Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Nassaney, Michael S.

2004-01-01

The Anthropology Department at Western Michigan University has sponsored an annual archaeological field school since the mid-1970s. Over the past decade, students have worked with community and government organizations, learning to apply archaeological methods to real world problems to preserve and interpret significant heritage sites. They come…

LIDAR, Point Clouds, and their Archaeological Applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

White, Devin A [ORNL

2013-01-01

It is common in contemporary archaeological literature, in papers at archaeological conferences, and in grant proposals to see heritage professionals use the term LIDAR to refer to high spatial resolution digital elevation models and the technology used to produce them. The goal of this chapter is to break that association and introduce archaeologists to the world of point clouds, in which LIDAR is only one member of a larger family of techniques to obtain, visualize, and analyze three-dimensional measurements of archaeological features. After describing how point clouds are constructed, there is a brief discussion on the currently available software and analytical techniques designed to make sense of them.

Analysis of archaeological pieces with nuclear techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tenorio, D.

2002-01-01

In this work nuclear techniques such as Neutron Activation Analysis, PIXE, X-ray fluorescence analysis, Metallography, Uranium series, Rutherford Backscattering for using in analysis of archaeological specimens and materials are described. Also some published works and thesis about analysis of different Mexican and Meso american archaeological sites are referred. (Author)

Archaeology and art

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Corbey, R.H.A.; Layton, R.; Tanner, J.; Bintliff, J.

2004-01-01

Archaeologists have approached the study of art from several directions, drawing their inspiration variously from evolutionary biology, anthropology, and art history.We examine the strengths and weaknesses of each of these approaches and demonstrate the unique opportunities open to archaeology in

Modelling distribution of archaeological settlement evidence based on heterogeneous spatial and temporal data

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Demján, P.; Dreslerová, Dagmar

2016-01-01

Roč. 69, May (2016), s. 100-109 ISSN 0305-4403 Institutional support: RVO:67985912 Keywords : settlement density * evidence density estimation * predictive modelling * prehistory * large datasets Subject RIV: AC - Archeology, Anthropology, Ethnology Impact factor: 2.602, year: 2016

The deep human prehistory of global tropical forests and its relevance for modern conservation.

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Patrick; Hunt, Chris; Arroyo-Kalin, Manuel; Evans, Damian; Boivin, Nicole

2017-08-03

Significant human impacts on tropical forests have been considered the preserve of recent societies, linked to large-scale deforestation, extensive and intensive agriculture, resource mining, livestock grazing and urban settlement. Cumulative archaeological evidence now demonstrates, however, that Homo sapiens has actively manipulated tropical forest ecologies for at least 45,000 years. It is clear that these millennia of impacts need to be taken into account when studying and conserving tropical forest ecosystems today. Nevertheless, archaeology has so far provided only limited practical insight into contemporary human-tropical forest interactions. Here, we review significant archaeological evidence for the impacts of past hunter-gatherers, agriculturalists and urban settlements on global tropical forests. We compare the challenges faced, as well as the solutions adopted, by these groups with those confronting present-day societies, which also rely on tropical forests for a variety of ecosystem services. We emphasize archaeology's importance not only in promoting natural and cultural heritage in tropical forests, but also in taking an active role to inform modern conservation and policy-making.

Study of ceramics from circular archaeological sites of Amazonic Basin by geochemical methods: dating and characterization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nicoli, Ieda Gomes

2000-09-01

The aim of this work is to examine by means of characterization and dating pottery recently discovery inside archaeological sites recognized with circular earth structure in Acre State - Brazil which may contribute to the research in the reconstruction of part of the pre-history of the Amazonic Basin. These sites are located mainly in the Hydrographic Basin of High Purus River. Three of them were strategic chosen which provide the ceramics: Lobao, in Sena Madureira County at north; Alto Alegre, in Rio Branco County at east and Xipamanu I, in Xapuri County at south. The X-ray diffraction mineral analysis made possible to identify two types of crystal structures of ceramic minerals: quartz and M-Kaolinite. Neutron activation analysis in conjunction with multivariate statistical methods were applied for the ceramic characterization and classification. An homogeneous group was established by all sherds collected from Alto Alegre and was distinct from all the other two groups analyzed. Some of the sherds collected from Xipamanu I appeared in Lobao's urns, probably because they had the same fabrication process. The Lobao's urns presented a homogeneous group. Geochronology of these materials was carried out by Thermoluminescence. The Xipamanu I was the oldest site and Lobao the youngest. The average age of Xipamanu I and Alto Alegre were 2600 and 2070 years respectively. The average age of of occupation was 400 years to Alto Alegre and 970 years to Xipamanu I. The most probably date for Lobao was 1880 years. (author)

The Archaeologist Undeceived: Selecting Quality Archaeological Information from the Internet

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paul Sturges

2003-01-01

Full Text Available The amount of unreliable information and actual misinformation available via the Internet makes its use problematic for academic purposes, particularly for data-intensive disciplines such as archaeology. Whilst there are many sources for reviews of websites, few apply the type of criteria most appropriate to archaeology. Information and library professionals have developed sets of criteria that can be adapted for the evaluation of archaeological websites. An evaluative tool for archaeological websites, using al-ready-available criteria, was developed and tested on twenty archaeological web sites. It proved capable of allowing its user to make clear distinctions between sites on the basis of quality. Further refining of the evaluative tool is possible on the basis of testing by both archaeologists and information professionals.

Dating of archaeological objects using Carbon-14 facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kamisah Hj Alias; Noraishah Othman; Nasasni Nasrol

2004-01-01

Dating is the key to organising all archaeological evidence. Furthermore, the development of dating methods, whether traditional or scientific, illustrates the ingenuity and lateral thinking that make archaeological problem-solving such a fascinating exercise. The development of MINT radiocarbon dating procedures is reviewed. Basic principles and counting techniques are discussed. A sample is converted by chemical methods into a suitable form, such as carbon dioxide followed by the acetylene gas, and the benzene end-product is placed inside a proportional counter to measure the radioactivity of 14 C. Not until some years ago did absolute dates by radiocarbon dating become a reality for prehistoric archaeology in Malaysia where thermoluminescence and fission-track dating had begun to provide a locally applicable dating method some decades earlier. Applications of radiocarbon dating procedures in the fields of archaeology are also discussed. (Author)

Studying at the UCL Institute of Archaeology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bill Sillar

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Ranked 1st in 'The Guardian' (2013 league table for studying archaeology Ranked 2nd in 'The Times' (2013 ‘Good University Guide’ 100% of Institute undergraduate finalists expressed satisfaction with our teaching and support in the UK National Student Surveys 2010 and 2011 Students at the UCL Institute of Archaeology discover the rich diversity of the human past, exploring societies from two million years ago to the present day, and asking questions of relevance to our shared global future. To address these questions students integrate the humanities and the sciences; using a wide range of approaches to collect, evaluate and interpret relevant evidence. At UCL and during survey and excavation projects students make life-long friends while developing teamwork, management and leadership skills. Studying archaeology demands energy and enthusiasm, it challenges expectations while developing the problem-solving and transferable skills which all employers are looking for. Graduates from the Institute go on to make wide-ranging contributions to society, including business, academia and archaeology.

The pre-history of urban scaling.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Scott G Ortman

Full Text Available Cities are increasingly the fundamental socio-economic units of human societies worldwide, but we still lack a unified characterization of urbanization that captures the social processes realized by cities across time and space. This is especially important for understanding the role of cities in the history of human civilization and for determining whether studies of ancient cities are relevant for contemporary science and policy. As a step in this direction, we develop a theory of settlement scaling in archaeology, deriving the relationship between population and settled area from a consideration of the interplay between social and infrastructural networks. We then test these models on settlement data from the Pre-Hispanic Basin of Mexico to show that this ancient settlement system displays spatial scaling properties analogous to those observed in modern cities. Our data derive from over 1,500 settlements occupied over two millennia and spanning four major cultural periods characterized by different levels of agricultural productivity, political centralization and market development. We show that, in agreement with theory, total settlement area increases with population size, on average, according to a scale invariant relation with an exponent in the range [Formula: see text]. As a consequence, we are able to infer aggregate socio-economic properties of ancient societies from archaeological measures of settlement organization. Our findings, from an urban settlement system that evolved independently from its old-world counterparts, suggest that principles of settlement organization are very general and may apply to the entire range of human history.

The Archaeologist Undeceived: Selecting Quality Archaeological Information from the Internet

OpenAIRE

Paul Sturges; Anne Griffin

2003-01-01

The amount of unreliable information and actual misinformation available via the Internet makes its use problematic for academic purposes, particularly for data-intensive disciplines such as archaeology. Whilst there are many sources for reviews of websites, few apply the type of criteria most appropriate to archaeology. Information and library professionals have developed sets of criteria that can be adapted for the evaluation of archaeological websites. An evaluative tool for archaeological...

Sea-level rise and archaeological site destruction: An example from the southeastern United States using DINAA (Digital Index of North American Archaeology).

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, David G; Bissett, Thaddeus G; Yerka, Stephen J; Wells, Joshua J; Kansa, Eric C; Kansa, Sarah W; Myers, Kelsey Noack; DeMuth, R Carl; White, Devin A

2017-01-01

The impact of changing climate on terrestrial and underwater archaeological sites, historic buildings, and cultural landscapes can be examined through quantitatively-based analyses encompassing large data samples and broad geographic and temporal scales. The Digital Index of North American Archaeology (DINAA) is a multi-institutional collaboration that allows researchers online access to linked heritage data from multiple sources and data sets. The effects of sea-level rise and concomitant human population relocation is examined using a sample from nine states encompassing much of the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of the southeastern United States. A 1 m rise in sea-level will result in the loss of over >13,000 recorded historic and prehistoric archaeological sites, as well as over 1000 locations currently eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), encompassing archaeological sites, standing structures, and other cultural properties. These numbers increase substantially with each additional 1 m rise in sea level, with >32,000 archaeological sites and >2400 NRHP properties lost should a 5 m rise occur. Many more unrecorded archaeological and historic sites will also be lost as large areas of the landscape are flooded. The displacement of millions of people due to rising seas will cause additional impacts where these populations resettle. Sea level rise will thus result in the loss of much of the record of human habitation of the coastal margin in the Southeast within the next one to two centuries, and the numbers indicate the magnitude of the impact on the archaeological record globally. Construction of large linked data sets is essential to developing procedures for sampling, triage, and mitigation of these impacts.

Animated GIFs as Expressive Visual Narratives and Expository Devices in Archaeology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Colleen Morgan

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Animated GIFs are uncommonly well suited for representing archaeology. A shudder-start, temporally ambiguous fragment of sequential media, the animated GIF (just GIFs, hereafter occupies the margins of formal discourse, visually annotating everyday life on the Internet. The creation of a GIF – compiling frames of action into a sequence – draws an easy parallel with the mode of atomizing that characterises excavation, treating archaeological deposits as discrete entities and their subsequent reassembly into a stratigraphic sequence (Morgan 2012; Morgan and Wright in press. Complex cultural expression is distilled into a brief gesture, the digital equivalent of an archaeological trace. Yet GIFs are fleetingly rare in archaeological representations, with only a handful of examples since the introduction of the media format in 1989. In this GIF essay (modelled on a photo essay, we briefly review the history of the animated GIF with particular attention to archaeological GIFs, discuss their utility in representing archaeological remains and narratives, and argue for a more creative integration of visual media into archaeological practice.

The Politics and Practice of Archaeology in Conflict

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Linde, van der S.J.; Perring, D.

2010-01-01

This introductory paper reviews recent writings on archaeology and conflict, setting the other contributions to this volume into context. We draw attention to the political nature of archaeological work, and to the problems of reconciling professional interest in the protection and management of

Use of radiography in archaeology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chetin, M.; Ekinci, Sh.; Aksu, M.

2014-01-01

Full text : Radiography is a versatile technique with many applications to archaeological and art historical artefacts. It can be used to assess the condition of objects before conservation treatment, to gain insight into materials used and methods of construction and to reveal the secrets of the embalmers art, hidden within mummified remains. X-ray radiography is an invaluable investigative technique that is non-destructive, quick and cost effective. The study described below covers the investigations of the archaeological artefacts in order to determine their corrosion conditions and production histories which are important for restoration, conservation, replica, dating and inventory works

Chemical characterisation of the whole plant cell wall of archaeological wood: an integrated approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Zoia, Luca; Tamburini, Diego; Orlandi, Marco; Łucejko, Jeannette Jacqueline; Salanti, Anika; Tolppa, Eeva-Liisa; Modugno, Francesca; Colombini, Maria Perla

2017-07-01

Wood artefacts undergo complex alteration and degradation during ageing, and gaining information on the chemical composition of wood in archaeological artefacts is fundamental to plan conservation strategies. In this work, an integrated analytical approach based on innovative NMR spectroscopy procedures, gel permeation chromatography and analytical pyrolysis coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) was applied for the first time on archaeological wood from the Oseberg collection (Norway), in order to evaluate the chemical state of preservation of the wood components, without separating them. We adopted ionic liquids (ILs) as non-derivatising solvents, thus obtaining an efficient dissolution of the wood, allowing us to overcome the difficulty of dissolving wood in its native form in conventional molecular solvents. Highly substituted lignocellulosic esters were therefore obtained under mild conditions by reacting the solubilised wood with either acetyl chloride or benzoyl chloride. A phosphytilation reaction was also performed using 2-chloro-4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaphospholan. As a result, the functionalised wood developed an enhanced solubility in molecular solvents, thus enabling information about modifications of lignin, depolymerisation of cellulose and structure of lignin-carbohydrate complexes to be obtained by means of spectroscopic (2D-HSQC-NMR and 31 P-NMR) and chromatographic (gel permeation chromatography) techniques. Py-GC-MS was used to investigate the degradation undergone by the lignocellulosic components on the basis of their pyrolysis products, without any pre-treatment of the samples. The application of all these combined techniques enabled a comprehensive characterisation of the whole cell wall of archaeological wood and the evaluation of its state of preservation. High depletion of carbohydrates and high extent of lignin oxidation were highlighted in the alum-treated objects, whereas a good preservation state was found

Developing technologies for the management of the Archaeological Heritage: towards a model of Evaluation of the Archaeological Impact

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Barreiro Martínez, David

1999-06-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes to establish criteria and procedures of archaeological practice to solve the problems and demands posed by the Management of the Archaeological Heritage. Our Research Unit is developing the CLAAR Programme, to define criteria and conventions for Landscape Archaeology and Archaeological Heritage. The main aim of this programme is to contribute to the development of systems and methodologies to manage and evaluate the Archaeological Heritage. In a practical sense, it tries to compose a Handbook of Practice to apply to research and commercial projects. As an example, this paper deals with the Evaluation of Archaeological Impact, proposing a methodological scheme to be applied to this new practice, which is an important part of the Evaluation of Environmental Impact.

Este texto plantea la necesidad de establecer procedimientos y convenciones de práctica arqueológica para resolver los problemas y demandas en la gestión actual del Patrimonio Arqueológico. En concreto se presenta el programa CAPA (criterios y convenciones en Arqueología del Paisaje y Patrimonio Arqueológico en vía de realización por nuestro Grupo de Investigación. El objetivo de este programa es contribuir al desarrollo de sistemas y metodologías de gestión y evaluación del Patrimonio Arqueológico y llegar a componer un Manual de Usos Internos que nuestro grupo aplicaría en los diferentes proyectos de investigación y de asistencia técnica. Como ejemplo de estos desarrollos, se considera la Evaluación de Impacto Arqueológico y se propone un esquema metodológico para la realización de este nuevo tipo de práctica arqueológica, que forma parte importante de la Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental.

Contact-induced change in Dolgan : an investigation into the role of linguistic data for the reconstruction of a people's (pre)history

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stapert, Eugénie

2013-01-01

This study explores the role of linguistic data in the reconstruction of Dolgan (pre)history. While most ethno-linguistic groups have a longstanding history and a clear ethnic and linguistic affiliation, the formation of the Dolgans has been a relatively recent development, and their ethnic origins

River archaeology - a new tool for historical hydrology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Toth, Attila J

2008-01-01

River archaeology consists of underwater research on the rivers themselves. It is also concerned with the archaeology of the valleys/floodplains with special attention to human-environmental interactions (reconstructing landscape, the environment, economy and society from material culture and traces of human impact on their surroundings). As historical hydrology is concerned with similar questions, from the hydrologist's point of view, the combination of different approaches offers the possibilities for fruitful cooperation for both disciplines. The intent of this paper is to present the type, nature and limitations of this part of the archaeological record through recent work in the Drava River basin.

22 CFR 1104.12 - Custody of archaeological resources.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 true Custody of archaeological resources. 1104.12 Section 1104.12 Foreign Relations INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY AND WATER COMMISSION, UNITED STATES AND MEXICO... resources. (a) Archaeological resources excavated or removed from the public lands remain the property of...

Online Tribes and Digital Authority: What Can Social Theory Bring to Digital Archaeology?

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Richardson Lorna-Jane

2017-01-01

Full Text Available From early discussions of the disruptive potential of computer technologies for archaeological applications, to the present era of digital archaeology as the technical underpinning of modern archaeological practice, we have continued to debate the potential impacts of digital communication and digital capture and storage on our knowledge, profession and communications. The increased use of digital tools and methods for archaeological research and dissemination, as well as what Roosevelt (2015 has referred to as the shift to the digital paradigm within archaeological practice, leads us to suggest that the impact of this paradigm shift requires careful and critical examination. This article will examine the edges of the disciplines of archaeology and sociology, where we aim to advance our understanding of the relationship between digital technologies and archaeological knowledge from a uniquely social perspective, using the theoretical approaches of both classic and modern sociologists. The application of this lens of sociology to digital archaeology equips us to understand how archaeology and archaeological practice is situated in a social world, which is especially relevant in the Global West, where digital technology is ubiquitous. Through a critical consideration of the complexity of use of digital technologies within digital archaeology, we can begin to shift our focus away from the character and method of tools and workflow, to the background of intellectual power and influence.

Thermoluminescence dating of Indian archaeological sites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singhvi, A.K.; Sharma, Y.P.; Agrawal, D.P.

1983-01-01

In an attempt to provide a chronology for Indian archaeological sites, an extensive pottery dating programme was initiated during 1978-1979. So far we have provided a chronology for seven important Indian archaeological sites. The dated cultures include: 1) the Ochre Colour Ware culture, 2) the Pre-Harappan culture, 3) the megalithic culture and 4) the Painted Grey Ware culture. A complete survey of recently measured TL dates are presented in a model format similar to that used in Radiocarbon. (author)

Spatiotemporal conceptual platform for querying archaeological information systems

Science.gov (United States)

Partsinevelos, Panagiotis; Sartzetaki, Mary; Sarris, Apostolos

2015-04-01

Spatial and temporal distribution of archaeological sites has been shown to associate with several attributes including marine, water, mineral and food resources, climate conditions, geomorphological features, etc. In this study, archeological settlement attributes are evaluated under various associations in order to provide a specialized query platform in a geographic information system (GIS). Towards this end, a spatial database is designed to include a series of archaeological findings for a secluded geographic area of Crete in Greece. The key categories of the geodatabase include the archaeological type (palace, burial site, village, etc.), temporal information of the habitation/usage period (pre Minoan, Minoan, Byzantine, etc.), and the extracted geographical attributes of the sites (distance to sea, altitude, resources, etc.). Most of the related spatial attributes are extracted with readily available GIS tools. Additionally, a series of conceptual data attributes are estimated, including: Temporal relation of an era to a future one in terms of alteration of the archaeological type, topologic relations of various types and attributes, spatial proximity relations between various types. These complex spatiotemporal relational measures reveal new attributes towards better understanding of site selection for prehistoric and/or historic cultures, yet their potential combinations can become numerous. Therefore, after the quantification of the above mentioned attributes, they are classified as of their importance for archaeological site location modeling. Under this new classification scheme, the user may select a geographic area of interest and extract only the important attributes for a specific archaeological type. These extracted attributes may then be queried against the entire spatial database and provide a location map of possible new archaeological sites. This novel type of querying is robust since the user does not have to type a standard SQL query but

AMS analyses at ANSTO

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lawson, E.M. [Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Lucas Heights, NSW (Australia). Physics Division

1998-03-01

The major use of ANTARES is Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) with {sup 14}C being the most commonly analysed radioisotope - presently about 35 % of the available beam time on ANTARES is used for {sup 14}C measurements. The accelerator measurements are supported by, and dependent on, a strong sample preparation section. The ANTARES AMS facility supports a wide range of investigations into fields such as global climate change, ice cores, oceanography, dendrochronology, anthropology, and classical and Australian archaeology. Described here are some examples of the ways in which AMS has been applied to support research into the archaeology, prehistory and culture of this continent`s indigenous Aboriginal peoples. (author)

AMS analyses at ANSTO

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lawson, E.M.

1998-01-01

The major use of ANTARES is Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) with 14 C being the most commonly analysed radioisotope - presently about 35 % of the available beam time on ANTARES is used for 14 C measurements. The accelerator measurements are supported by, and dependent on, a strong sample preparation section. The ANTARES AMS facility supports a wide range of investigations into fields such as global climate change, ice cores, oceanography, dendrochronology, anthropology, and classical and Australian archaeology. Described here are some examples of the ways in which AMS has been applied to support research into the archaeology, prehistory and culture of this continent's indigenous Aboriginal peoples. (author)

Archaeology and global information systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ian Hodder

1999-03-01

Full Text Available In this paper I wish to reinforce the view that there is a potential in the use of the Internet by archaeology for an important change in the organisation and institutionalisation of archaeological knowledge. As many have argued, this change involves a shift from hierarchy to networks and flows. But there are dangers that the Internet will simply translate old forms of elite knowledge into new forms, increasingly excluding the un-networked. Care needs to be taken to provide different modes of access for different groups and to find ways round the exclusive tendencies associated with the dispersal of any new technology.

Archaeology of Void Spaces

Science.gov (United States)

Look, Cory

The overall goal of this research is to evaluate the efficacy of pXRF for the identification of ancient activity areas at Pre-Columbian sites in Antigua that range across time periods, geographic regions, site types with a variety of features, and various states of preservation. These findings have important implications for identifying and reconstructing places full of human activity but void of material remains. A synthesis for an archaeology of void spaces requires the construction of new ways of testing anthrosols, and identifying elemental patterns that can be used to connect people with their places and objects. This research begins with an exploration of rich middens in order to study void spaces. Midden archaeology has been a central focus in Caribbean research, and consists of an accumulation of discarded remnants from past human activities that can be tested against anthrosols. The archaeological collections visited for this research project involved creating new databases to generate a comprehensive inventory of sites, materials excavated, and assemblages available for study. Of the more than 129 Pre-Columbian sites documented in Antigua, few sites have been thoroughly surveyed or excavated. Twelve Pre-Columbian sites, consisting of thirty-six excavated units were selected for study; all of which contained complete assemblages for comparison and soil samples for testing. These excavations consisted almost entirely of midden excavations, requiring new archaeological investigations to be carried out in spaces primarily void of material remains but within the village context. Over the course of three seasons excavations, shovel test pits, and soil augers were used to obtain a variety of anthrosols and archaeological assemblages in order to generate new datasets to study Pre-Columbian activity areas. The selection of two primary case study sites were used for comparison: Indian Creek and Doigs. Findings from this research indicate that accounting for the

Iowa Intensive Archaeological Survey

Data.gov (United States)

Iowa State University GIS Support and Research Facility — This shape file contains intensive level archaeological survey areas for the state of Iowa. All intensive Phase I surveys that are submitted to the State Historic...

ETANA-DL: Managing Complex Information Applications - an Archaeology Digital Library

OpenAIRE

Ravindranathan, Unni; Shen, Rao; Goncalves, Marcos A.; Fan, Weiguo; Fox, Edward A.; Flanagan, James

2004-01-01

Archaeological research results in the generation of large quantities of heterogeneous information managed by different projects using custom information systems. We will demonstrate a prototype Digital Library (DL) for integrating and managing archaeological data and providing services useful to various user communities. ETANA-DL is a model-based, componentized, extensible, archaeological DL that manages complex information sources using the client-server paradigm of the Open Archives Initia...

Complex adaptative systems and computational simulation in Archaeology

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Salvador Pardo-Gordó

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Traditionally the concept of ‘complexity’ is used as a synonym for ‘complex society’, i.e., human groups with characteristics such as urbanism, inequalities, and hierarchy. The introduction of Nonlinear Systems and Complex Adaptive Systems to the discipline of archaeology has nuanced this concept. This theoretical turn has led to the rise of modelling as a method of analysis of historical processes. This work has a twofold objective: to present the theoretical current characterized by generative thinking in archaeology and to present a concrete application of agent-based modelling to an archaeological problem: the dispersal of the first ceramic production in the western Mediterranean.

The prehistory of handedness: archaeological data and comparative ethology.

Science.gov (United States)

Uomini, Natalie T

2009-10-01

Homo sapiens sapiens displays a species wide lateralised hand preference, with 85% of individuals in all populations being right-handed for most manual actions. In contrast, no other great ape species shows such strong and consistent population level biases, indicating that extremes of both direction and strength of manual laterality (i.e., species-wide right-handedness) may have emerged after divergence from the last common ancestor. To reconstruct the hand use patterns of early hominins, laterality is assessed in prehistoric artefacts. Group right side biases are well established from the Neanderthals onward, while patchy evidence from older fossils and artefacts indicates a preponderance of right-handed individuals. Individual hand preferences and group level biases can occur in chimpanzees and other apes for skilled tool use and food processing. Comparing these findings with human ethological data on spontaneous hand use reveals that the great ape clade (including humans) probably has a common effect at the individual level, such that a person can vary from ambidextrous to completely lateralised depending on the action. However, there is currently no theoretical model to explain this result. The degree of task complexity and bimanual complementarity have been proposed as factors affecting lateralisation strength. When primatology meets palaeoanthropology, the evidence suggests species-level right-handedness may have emerged through the social transmission of increasingly complex, bimanually differentiated, tool using activities.

Sons and daughters beyond your control: episodes in the prehistory of the attention deficit/hyperactivity syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Foley, Paul Bernard

2014-09-01

Hyperactive and inattentive children have been discussed in both the pedagogic and medical literature since the nineteenth century, and many controversies associated with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been repeatedly analyzed in different contexts. The 'prehistory' of the ADHD concept-that is, up to the definition of ADHD in DSM-III and of the corresponding 'hyperkinetic disorder' in ICD-9-is outlined, with an emphasis on the literature not previously discussed in English language reviews of the subject.

Book review: Julian Thomas The Birth of Neolithic Britain: An Interpretive Account.

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Marko Sraka

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The Birth of Neolithic Britain is the fourth major work by the acclaimed Julian Thomas, one of the leading proponents of interpretive archaeology or archaeology informed by philosophy, anthropology and discussions in the arts and social sciences in general. After exposing the assumption and prejudices of archaeologists’ narratives of the Neolithic and presenting innovative explanations of the shift from hunting-gathering to farming as well as other issues in Rethinking the Neolithic (1991; reworked and updated version Understanding the Neolithic in 1999, questioning Western conceptualisations of time, identity, materiality with the help of archaeological case studies in the ‘Heideggerian’ Time, Culture and Identity (1996 and further contextualised archaeology as part of a (postmodern worldview in Archaeology and Modernity (2004, this book seems to be a relevant continuation of Thomas’s work. This is probably the first significant work on Neolithisation since Graeme Barker’s global overview The Agricultural Revolution in Prehistory (2006, Oxford: Oxford University Press, this time with a focus on Europe and particularly Britain.

Qualitative and Quantitative Data on the Use of the Internet for Archaeological Information

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Lorna-Jane Richardson

2015-04-01

Full Text Available These survey results are from an online survey of 577 UK-based archaeological volunteers, professional archaeologists and archaeological organisations. These data cover a variety of topics related to how and why people access the Internet for information about archaeology, including demographic information, activity relating to accessing information on archaeological topics, archaeological sharing and networking and the use of mobile phone apps and QR codes for public engagement. There is wide scope for further qualitative and quantitative analysis of these data.

Geospatial revolution and remote sensing LiDAR in Mesoamerican archaeology

Science.gov (United States)

Chase, Arlen F.; Fisher, Christopher T.; Leisz, Stephen J.; Weishampel, John F.

2012-01-01

The application of light detection and ranging (LiDAR), a laser-based remote-sensing technology that is capable of penetrating overlying vegetation and forest canopies, is generating a fundamental shift in Mesoamerican archaeology and has the potential to transform research in forested areas world-wide. Much as radiocarbon dating that half a century ago moved archaeology forward by grounding archaeological remains in time, LiDAR is proving to be a catalyst for an improved spatial understanding of the past. With LiDAR, ancient societies can be contextualized within a fully defined landscape. Interpretations about the scale and organization of densely forested sites no longer are constrained by sample size, as they were when mapping required laborious on-ground survey. The ability to articulate ancient landscapes fully permits a better understanding of the complexity of ancient Mesoamerican urbanism and also aids in modern conservation efforts. The importance of this geospatial innovation is demonstrated with newly acquired LiDAR data from the archaeological sites of Caracol, Cayo, Belize and Angamuco, Michoacán, Mexico. These data illustrate the potential of technology to act as a catalytic enabler of rapid transformational change in archaeological research and interpretation and also underscore the value of on-the-ground archaeological investigation in validating and contextualizing results. PMID:22802623

Geospatial revolution and remote sensing LiDAR in Mesoamerican archaeology.

Science.gov (United States)

Chase, Arlen F; Chase, Diane Z; Fisher, Christopher T; Leisz, Stephen J; Weishampel, John F

2012-08-07

The application of light detection and ranging (LiDAR), a laser-based remote-sensing technology that is capable of penetrating overlying vegetation and forest canopies, is generating a fundamental shift in Mesoamerican archaeology and has the potential to transform research in forested areas world-wide. Much as radiocarbon dating that half a century ago moved archaeology forward by grounding archaeological remains in time, LiDAR is proving to be a catalyst for an improved spatial understanding of the past. With LiDAR, ancient societies can be contextualized within a fully defined landscape. Interpretations about the scale and organization of densely forested sites no longer are constrained by sample size, as they were when mapping required laborious on-ground survey. The ability to articulate ancient landscapes fully permits a better understanding of the complexity of ancient Mesoamerican urbanism and also aids in modern conservation efforts. The importance of this geospatial innovation is demonstrated with newly acquired LiDAR data from the archaeological sites of Caracol, Cayo, Belize and Angamuco, Michoacán, Mexico. These data illustrate the potential of technology to act as a catalytic enabler of rapid transformational change in archaeological research and interpretation and also underscore the value of on-the-ground archaeological investigation in validating and contextualizing results.

Images of Miloje M. Vasić in Serbian Archaeology

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Aleksandar Palavestra

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Miloje M. Vasić, "the first academically educated archaeologist in Serbia", has a strange destiny in the Serbian archaeology. On the one hand, he has been elevated to the post of the "founding father" of the discipline, with almost semidivine status and iconic importance, while on the other hand, his works have been largely unread and neglected. This paradoxical split is the consequence of the fact that Vasić has been postulated as the universal benchmark of the archaeological practice in Serbia, regardless of his interpretation of the past on the grounds of the archaeological record – the essence of archaeology. Strangely, the life and work of Vasić have not been the subject of much writing, apart from several obituaries, two short appropriate texts (Srejović, Cermanović, and rare articles in catalogues and collections dedicated to the research of Vinča (Garašanin, Srejović, Tasić, Nikolić and Vuković. The critical analysis of his whole interpretive constellation, with "The Ionian colony Vinča" being its brightest star, was limited before the World War II to the rare attempts to rectify the chronology and identify the Neolithic of the Danube valley (Fewkes, Grbić, Holste. After the war, by the middle of the 20th century, the interpretation of Vasić has been put to severe criticism of his students (Garašanin, Milojčić, Benac, which led to the significant paradigm shift, the recognition of the importance of the Balkan Neolithic, and the establishment of the culture-historical approach in the Serbian archaeology. However, from this moment on, the reception of Vasić in the Serbian archaeology has taken a strange route: Vasić as a person gains in importance, but his works are neglected, though referred to, but almost in a cultic fashion, without reading or interpreting them. Rare is a paper on the Neolithic of the Central Balkans that does not call upon the name of Vasić and his four- volume "Vinča", in which Neolithic is not

Archaeometric studies on the Hatahara archaeological site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nunes, Kelly Placa

2009-01-01

The reconstruction of the past and the understanding of historical and cultural aspects of societies that developed at archaeological sites have been enabled by archaeometric studies undertaken on ceramics located at these areas. This study aims to be a contribution to the elucidation of these aspects with the application of three physical methods of analysis: neutron activation analysis (NAA), thermoluminescence dating (TL) an electronic paramagnetic resonance (EPR) to ceramic fragments from the Hatahara archaeological site, located at central Amazon. The elemental concentrations obtained by NAA for 120 ceramic fragments were interpreted by means of cluster analysis and discriminant analysis. The results showed the existence of five distinct ceramic groups. This information, supported by archaeological interpretation, confirm the existence of four distinct occupation Phases at Hatahara site. In order to establish a chronology for the occupations, the ages of three ceramic fragments were determined by TL. The dating of two fragments did not confirm the archaeological interpretation about their occupation Phases. However, the dating of the third fragment allowed the confirmation that it belongs to the Manacapuru Phase. The determination of the burning temperatures of four ceramic fragments was performed by EPR. It was observed that although the analyzed ceramic samples belong to three distinct groups, there was no significant variation on their burning temperatures. (author)

What Kind of Archaeology do We Need?

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Staša Babić

2016-02-01

Full Text Available From the time of the constitution of archaeology as an academic discipline to the present, two radical changes have taken place of theoretical postulates, aims, methods, relationships with other disciplines. However, potentially farreaching consequences of these fundamental changes have not had the same impact in all the academic communities. The critical assessment of the epistemological foundations of archaeology in Serbia indicates that our professional community has remained resistant to the large extent to the paradigm changes in the wider disciplinary surrounding, so the culture-historical approach still prevails, even though it was severely criticized as early as by the middle of the 20th century. Facing this significant delay raises many important questions, starting by the issue of selection among various, sometimes mutually conflicting theoretical approaches, being a part of archaeological research for several decades and implying certain consequences in terms of methodological aspects of the discipline. Partial, non-critical and insufficiently theoretically informed borrowing of individual elements of research may lead to equally bad results as the total rejection of influences from other archaeological environments. It is therefore necessary to bring into the discipline the comprehension of the social responsibility of archaeologists, the importance of the academic narratives we produce and the ways of their creation.

Towards the Enhancement of "MINOR" Archaeological Heritage

Science.gov (United States)

Morandi, S.; Tremari, M.; Mandelli, A.

2017-02-01

The research is an analysis of the recording, reconstruction and visualisation of the 3D data of a XVIII century watermill, identified in an emergency archaeological excavation during the construction of the mini-hydroelectric plant on the bank of the Adda river in the municipality of Pizzighettone (Cremona, Lombardy, Italy). The work examines the use and the potentials of modern digital 3D modelling techniques applied to archaeological heritage aimed to increase the research, maintenance and presentation with interactive products. The use of three-dimensional models managed through AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) technologies with mobile devices gives several opportunities in the field of study and communication. It also improves on-site exploration of the landscape, enhancing the "minor" archaeological sites, daily subjected to numerous emergency works and facilitating the understanding of heritage sites.

[Evaluation of the dental pathology in archaeological skeletal material: prevalence of dental caries since prehistory to modern age].

Science.gov (United States)

Stránská, Petra

2013-01-01

The evaluation of the dental health of past populations is an important part of the anthropological analysis of human skeletal remains uncovered during the archaeological excavations. The results provide the important information not only of the overall health of past populations, but also are reflective of the nutrition or the social status of our ancestors. We focused on the comparison of dental caries from prehistoric times to the present day. The aim was to evaluate the dental decay in several prehistoric, Early Medieval and modern populations and determine whether and to what extent the decay differ between the individual groups. METHODS AND RESULTS. We observed the permanent dentition in adult men and females, who were divided into three groups: the population of the younger Eneolithic to the Bronze Age, the population of the Early Middle Ages and the population of the modern times. We used the Index of Intensity of Caries I-CE and the Index of Caries Frequency F-CE to evaluate the incidence of caries and intra-vital losses. The comparison was carried out between groups, between both of jaws and between individual teeth. We took into account sex and age of the individuals studied. The highest value of F-CE was set in the population of the modern times (67.5). The difference in caries frequency among populations was not significant. The intensity of caries was the highest in modern population (I-CE: 13.2). Compared with the two older populations the difference was statistically highly significant (p 0.001).With regard to sex, the results differed between populations. It could be caused by a different frequency of men and females in individual groups.The correlation of intensity of caries with age was confirmed. Some partial results were affected by unequal frequency of age categories. CONCLUSION. The results showed the worst dental health in the population of the modern times. The null hypothesis,that tooth decay among the individual populations from different

An archaeology of Adam Smith's epistemic context

OpenAIRE

Vigo de Lima, I.; Guizzo, D.

2015-01-01

Adam Smith played a key role in Foucault's archaeology of political economy. This archaeology, which Foucault accomplished in The Order of Things, is the focus of this article. Foucault may have disagreed with the writings of the classical political economists but he widens our perspective through new possibilities of understanding. It is very illuminating to understand Smith's thinking as following a discursive practice that economic thought shared with the knowledge of living beings (natura...

GEOLOGICAL ANDGEOMORPHOLOGICAL MAPPING ARCHAEOLOGICAL MONUMENTS OF MOUNTAIN ALTAI

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G. Y. Baryshnikov

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The article discusses the results of geological and geomorphological mapping of archaeological monument, mainly Paleolithic age, the location of which is confined to low-mountain spaces of the Mountain Altai. Using this mapping would greatly clarify the sequence of relief habitat of ancient people and more objectively determine the age characteristics of archaeological monument. 

22 CFR 1104.17 - Confidentiality of archaeological resource information.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 true Confidentiality of archaeological resource information. 1104.17 Section 1104.17 Foreign Relations INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY AND WATER COMMISSION, UNITED... of archaeological resource information. (a) The Commissioner shall not make available to the public...

Early Pleistocene archaeological occurrences at the Feiliang site, and the archaeology of human origins in the Nihewan Basin, North China.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shuwen Pei

Full Text Available The Early Pleistocene archaeological evidence from the fluvio-lacustrine sequence of the Nihewan Basin (North China offers an excellent opportunity to explore early human evolution and behavior in a temperate setting in East Asia, following the earliest 'Out of Africa'. Here we present the first comprehensive study of the Feiliang (FL site, with emphasis on the archaeological sequence, site integrity, and stone artifact assemblages. Magnetostratigraphic dating results show that early humans occupied the site ca. 1.2 Ma. Archaeological deposits were buried rapidly in primary context within shallow lake margin deposits, with only minor post-depositional disturbance from relatively low energy hydraulic forces. The FL lithic assemblage is characterized by a core and flake, Oldowan-like or Mode 1 technology, with a low degree of standardization, expedient knapping techniques, and casually retouched flakes. The bone assemblage suggests that hominin occupation of the FL site was in an open habitat of temperate grassland with areas of steppe and water. The main features of the FL assemblage are discussed in the context of the early Pleistocene archaeology of Nihewan, for which an assessment of current and future research is also presented.

Archaeological predictive model set.

Science.gov (United States)

2015-03-01

This report is the documentation for Task 7 of the Statewide Archaeological Predictive Model Set. The goal of this project is to : develop a set of statewide predictive models to assist the planning of transportation projects. PennDOT is developing t...

LANDSCAPE ARCHAEOLOGY ALONG LIMES TRANSALUTANUS

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Eugen S. Teodor

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The project addresses the historical monuments comprised in the longest Roman ‘linear defence’ structure present on the Romanian territory.Despite it being the longest, this historic structure is the least protected and the least known in its technical details. Was indeed Limes Transalutanus an incomplete limes (lacking civilian settlements, for example, an odd construction (a vallum without fossa, an early-alarm line rather than a proper defensive line? Taking on these historical and archaeological challenges, the team attempts to develop an investigation technology applicable to large scale archaeological landscapes - a full evaluation chain, involving aerial survey, surface survey, geophysical investigation, multispectral images analysis, statistic evaluation and archaeological diggings. This technological chain will be systematically applied on the whole length of the objective, that is, on a 155 km distance. The attempt to find answers to issues related to the earth works’ functionality, layout, structure, chronology and relation with adjacent sites will be grounded on exploring the relations of the monument with the surrounding environment, by focussing on finding methods to reconstruct the features of the ancient landscapes, like systematic drilling, palynological tests and toponymical studies.

Digital fruition of archaeological finds. The experience at the Archaeological Museum of Bologna

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Anna Maria Manferdini

2011-12-01

Full Text Available This contribution presents a series of investigations undertaken thanks to the collaboration between the Department of Architecture and Territorial Planning of the University of Bologna and the Archaeological Museum of Bologna , aimed at finding a procedure for the 3d digital survey and exploration of archaeological finds. In particular, this paper shows how users can benefit from the use of digital technologies for the fruition of historical-artistic heritage. As a matter of fact, digital communication tools stimulate multisensory perception mechanisms and therefore allow to actively involve users in the exploration of contents presented through collections. Immersive visualizations, augmented reality and both tactile and visual exploration of findings can ease the establishment of a more immediate and direct communication channel with users that generally communicate and access information using digital technologies and mediums.

Sample Archaeological Survey of Public Use Areas, Milford Lake, Kansas

Science.gov (United States)

1982-09-01

especially ceramics); Middle "" Mississippian, Middle Woodland and Central Plains archaeology ; the engineering and building technology of the Maya ...Sample Archaeological Survey of Public Use Areas -- 0C 0 awo (L" . .614 4.- -. 1?CNOV 1 40484 * , "n. O ji - 0" By Laura S. Schwiekhard Thn ’.iint haUs...RECIPIENT’S CATALOG NUMBER 4. TITLE (and Subtitle) 5. TYPE OF REPORT & PERIOD COVERED Milford Lake, Kansas Sample Archaeological Survey of Public Use

Savage numbers and the evolution of civilization in Victorian prehistory.

Science.gov (United States)

Barany, Michael J

2014-06-01

This paper identifies 'savage numbers'--number-like or number-replacing concepts and practices attributed to peoples viewed as civilizationally inferior--as a crucial and hitherto unrecognized body of evidence in the first two decades of the Victorian science of prehistory. It traces the changing and often ambivalent status of savage numbers in the period after the 1858-1859 'time revolution' in the human sciences by following successive reappropriations of an iconic 1853 story from Francis Galton's African travels. In response to a fundamental lack of physical evidence concerning prehistoric men, savage numbers offered a readily available body of data that helped scholars envisage great extremes of civilizational lowliness in a way that was at once analysable and comparable, and anecdotes like Galton's made those data vivid and compelling. Moreover, they provided a simple and direct means of conceiving of the progressive scale of civilizational development, uniting societies and races past and present, at the heart of Victorian scientific racism.

History and Pre-History of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

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D. Platikanov

2014-02-01

Full Text Available In this paper a short review of the history of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Bonn - Bad Godesberg, Germany, on the occasion of its 60th anniversary is presented. This outstanding German foundation is actually the third one with the same name. Earlier two other Alexander von Humboldt Foundations consequently existed and they consist its pre-history, which is also shortly reviewed. The establishment of the present Foundation in 1953, its development and growth, its activities, information about the six presidents and five executive directors, as well as the main features, principles and guidelines are considered. During the last 60 years the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation became an important institution for the promotion of international research cooperation, which significantly influences the world science. It supported more than 27700 Humboldt fellows to carry out scientific research in Germany, and they form a large Humboldt family: a world-wide network. Large number Bulgarian Humboldt fellows are among the best scientists in Bulgaria.

The development of a GIS for New Deal Archaeology

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Bernard K. Means

2011-05-01

Full Text Available I have recently launched an effort to create a GIS of all New Deal-funded archaeological investigations conducted in the 48 states that comprised the USA during the Great Depression (Means 2011. This effort was inspired by the persistent notion that New Deal archaeology was largely limited to the southeastern United States, where the generally warmer climate was seen as conducive to the lengthy field seasons that ensured continuous work for the unemployed (Lyon 1996. The large mound sites that dotted the southeastern USA also ensured that there would be sufficient work for the large relief crews seen as ideal from the perspective of federal officials. While it may prove true that the majority of New Deal archaeology was conducted in the southeast, it is also demonstrably true that the various ‘Alphabet Soup’ work relief programs – notably the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC and the Works Progress Administration/Work Projects Administration (WPA – supported archaeological investigations throughout the USA. In my preliminary efforts to create a GIS for New Deal archaeology, I have determined that at least 75 percent of the 48 states that comprised the USA during the Great Depression had some form of federally funded work relief survey or excavation.

Feasibility study of archaeological structures scanning by muon tomography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gómez, H.; Katsanevas, S.; Tonazzo, A. [Laboratoire Astroparticule et Cosmologie (APC) - Université Paris 7. Paris (France); Carloganu, C.; Niess, V. [Laboratoire de Physique Corpusculaire (LPC) - Université Blaise Pascal. Clermont - Ferrand (France); Gibert, D. [Géosciences Rennes - Université de Rennes 1. Rennes (France); Marteau, J. [Institute de Physique Nucléaire de Lyon (IPNL) - Université de Lyon (UCBL). Lyon (France)

2015-08-17

One of the main concerns in archaeology is to find of a method to study precisely archaeological structures in the least invasive way possible to avoid damage. The requirement of preserving the structures integrity prevents, in the case of pyramids or tumuli, the study of any internal structure (halls or tombs) which are not reachable by existing corridors. One non-invasive method is the muon tomography. By placing a detector which allows to register the muon direction after the structure, it is possible to have an idea of its composition based on the attenuation of the muon flux, which depends on the material length and density that muons have crossed. This technique, alone or together with other exploration techniques as seismic tomography or electrical resistivity tomography, can provide useful information about the internal structure of the archaeological form that can not be obtained by conventional archaeological methods. In this work, the time measurement necessary to obtain a significant result about the composition of an archaeological structure is estimated. To do that, a Monte Carlo simulation framework based on the MUSIC software, properly tuned for this study, has been developed. The particular case of the Kastas Amfipoli Macedonian tumulus has been considered to perform the simulations.

Feasibility study of archaeological structures scanning by muon tomography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gómez, H.; Katsanevas, S.; Tonazzo, A.; Carloganu, C.; Niess, V.; Gibert, D.; Marteau, J.

2015-01-01

One of the main concerns in archaeology is to find of a method to study precisely archaeological structures in the least invasive way possible to avoid damage. The requirement of preserving the structures integrity prevents, in the case of pyramids or tumuli, the study of any internal structure (halls or tombs) which are not reachable by existing corridors. One non-invasive method is the muon tomography. By placing a detector which allows to register the muon direction after the structure, it is possible to have an idea of its composition based on the attenuation of the muon flux, which depends on the material length and density that muons have crossed. This technique, alone or together with other exploration techniques as seismic tomography or electrical resistivity tomography, can provide useful information about the internal structure of the archaeological form that can not be obtained by conventional archaeological methods. In this work, the time measurement necessary to obtain a significant result about the composition of an archaeological structure is estimated. To do that, a Monte Carlo simulation framework based on the MUSIC software, properly tuned for this study, has been developed. The particular case of the Kastas Amfipoli Macedonian tumulus has been considered to perform the simulations

Feasibility study of archaeological structures scanning by muon tomography

Science.gov (United States)

Gómez, H.; Carloganu, C.; Gibert, D.; Marteau, J.; Niess, V.; Katsanevas, S.; Tonazzo, A.

2015-08-01

One of the main concerns in archaeology is to find of a method to study precisely archaeological structures in the least invasive way possible to avoid damage. The requirement of preserving the structures integrity prevents, in the case of pyramids or tumuli, the study of any internal structure (halls or tombs) which are not reachable by existing corridors. One non-invasive method is the muon tomography. By placing a detector which allows to register the muon direction after the structure, it is possible to have an idea of its composition based on the attenuation of the muon flux, which depends on the material length and density that muons have crossed. This technique, alone or together with other exploration techniques as seismic tomography or electrical resistivity tomography, can provide useful information about the internal structure of the archaeological form that can not be obtained by conventional archaeological methods. In this work, the time measurement necessary to obtain a significant result about the composition of an archaeological structure is estimated. To do that, a Monte Carlo simulation framework based on the MUSIC software, properly tuned for this study, has been developed. The particular case of the Kastas Amfipoli Macedonian tumulus has been considered to perform the simulations.

Is Question-driven Fieldwork Vital or not? An Archaeological Heritage Manager's Perspective

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Agnieszka Oniszczuk

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This article is a follow-up to discussions held in the EAC Heritage Symposiums, and aims to answer one of the basic questions regarding the reasons for commencing any archaeological fieldwork. The subject is approached from the archaeological heritage manager's viewpoint, and question-driven fieldwork is understood here as scientific, as opposed to preventive and development-led archaeology. Basing my arguments mainly on the experiences of Polish archaeology, I argue in favour of the development-led research. It has been shaping European archaeology to the highest degree for several decades, and therefore should not be considered inferior or secondary. Considering the quality gap between purely scientific and development-led fieldwork, there is still a lot to be improved regarding the scope of research and its standards. Nevertheless, it still seems to have the highest potential for systemic heritage management consistent with the rules set out by the Valletta Convention and the Lausanne Charter (PDF, and for the development of archaeology as a science. Development-led archaeology is also the closest to the public and forces archaeologists to cooperate with various stakeholders.

Publishing Landscape Archaeology in the Digital World

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Howry Jeffrey C.

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The challenge of presenting micro- and macro-scale scale data in landscape archaeology studies is facilitated by a diversity of GIS technologies. Specific to scholarly research is the need to selectively share certain types of data with collaborators and academic researchers while also publishing general information in the public domain. This article presents a general model for scholarly online collaboration and teaching while providing examples of the kinds of landscape archaeology that can be published online. Specifically illustrated is WorldMap, an interactive mapping platform based upon open-source software which uses browsers built to open source standards. The various features of this platform allow tight user viewing control, views with URL referencing, commenting and certification of layers, as well as user annotation. Illustration of WorldMap features and its value for scholarly research and teaching is provided in the context of landscape archaeology studies.

Synchrotron radiation in art and archaeology SRA 2005

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pollard, A.M.; Janssens, K.; Artioli, G.; Young, M.L.; Casadio, F.; Schnepp, S.; Marvin, J.; Dunand, D.C.; Almer, J.; Fezzaa, K.; Lee, W.K.; Haeffner, D.R.; Reguer, S.; Dillmann, Ph.; Mirambet, F.; Susini, J.; Lagarde, P.; Pradell, T.; Molera, J.; Brunetti, B.; D'acapito, F.; Maurizio, C.; Mazzoldi, P.; Padovani, S.; Sgamellotti, A.; Garges, F.; Etcheverry, M.P.; Flank, A.M.; Lagarde, P.; Marcus, M.A.; Scheidegger, A.M.; Grolimund, D.; Pallot-Frossard, I.; Smith, A.D.; Jones, M.; Gliozzo, E.; Memmi-Turbanti, I.; Molera, J.; Vendrell, M.; Mcconachie, G.; Skinner, T.; Kirkman, I.W.; Pantos, E.; Wallert, A.; Kanngiesser, B.; Hahn, O.; Wilke, M.; NekaT, B.; Malzer, W.; Erko, A.; Chalmin, E.; Vignaud, C.; Farges, F.; Susini, J.; Menu, M.; Sandstrom, M.; Cotte, M.; Kennedy, C.J.; Wess, T.J.; Muller, M.; Murphy, B.; Roberts, M.A.; Burghammer, M.; Riekel, C.; Gunneweg, J.; Pantos, E.; Dik, J.; Tafforeau, P.; Boistel, R.; Boller, E.; Bravin, A.; Brunet, M.; Chaimanee, Y.; Cloetens, P.; Feist, M.; Hoszowska, J.; Jaeger, J.J.; Kay, R.F.; Lazzari, V.; Marivaux, L.; Nel, A.; Nemoz, C.; Thibault, X.; Vignaud, P.; Zabler, S.; Sciau, P.; Goudeau, P.; Tamura, N.; Doormee, E.; Kockelmann, W.; Adriaens, A.; Ryck, I. de; Leyssens, K.; Hochleitner, B.; Schreiner, M.; Drakopoulos, M.; Snigireva, I.; Snigirev, A.; Sanchez Del Rio, M.; Martinetto, P.; Dooryhee, E.; Suarez, M.; Sodo, A.; Reyes-Valerio, C.; Haro Poniatowski, E.; Picquart, M.; Lima, E.; Reguera, E.; Gunneweg, J.; Reiche, I.; Berger, A.; Bevers, H.; Duval, A.

2005-01-01

Materials - bones, artifacts, artwork,.... - lie at the heart of both archaeology and art conservation. Synchrotron radiation techniques provide powerful ways to interrogate these records of our physical and cultural past. In this workshop we will discuss and explore the current and potential applications of synchrotron radiation science to problems in archaeology and art conservation. This document gathers the abstracts of the presentations

Synchrotron radiation in art and archaeology SRA 2005

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pollard, A M; Janssens, K; Artioli, G; Young, M L; Casadio, F; Schnepp, S; Marvin, J; Dunand, D C; Almer, J; Fezzaa, K; Lee, W K; Haeffner, D R; Reguer, S; Dillmann, Ph; Mirambet, F; Susini, J; Lagarde, P; Pradell, T; Molera, J; Brunetti, B; D' acapito, F; Maurizio, C; Mazzoldi, P; Padovani, S; Sgamellotti, A; Garges, F; Etcheverry, M P; Flank, A M; Lagarde, P; Marcus, M A; Scheidegger, A M; Grolimund, D; Pallot-Frossard, I; Smith, A D; Jones, M; Gliozzo, E; Memmi-Turbanti, I; Molera, J; Vendrell, M; Mcconachie, G; Skinner, T; Kirkman, I W; Pantos, E; Wallert, A; Kanngiesser, B; Hahn, O; Wilke, M; NekaT, B; Malzer, W; Erko, A; Chalmin, E; Vignaud, C; Farges, F; Susini, J; Menu, M; Sandstrom, M; Cotte, M; Kennedy, C J; Wess, T J; Muller, M; Murphy, B; Roberts, M A; Burghammer, M; Riekel, C; Gunneweg, J; Pantos, E; Dik, J; Tafforeau, P; Boistel, R; Boller, E; Bravin, A; Brunet, M; Chaimanee, Y; Cloetens, P; Feist, M; Hoszowska, J; Jaeger, J J; Kay, R F; Lazzari, V; Marivaux, L; Nel, A; Nemoz, C; Thibault, X; Vignaud, P; Zabler, S; Sciau, P; Goudeau, P; Tamura, N; Doormee, E; Kockelmann, W; Adriaens, A; Ryck, I de; Leyssens, K; Hochleitner, B; Schreiner, M; Drakopoulos, M; Snigireva, I; Snigirev, A; Sanchez Del Rio, M; Martinetto, P; Dooryhee, E; Suarez, M; Sodo, A; Reyes-Valerio, C; Haro Poniatowski, E; Picquart, M; Lima, E; Reguera, E; Gunneweg, J; Reiche, I; Berger, A; Bevers, H; Duval, A

2005-07-01

Materials - bones, artifacts, artwork,.... - lie at the heart of both archaeology and art conservation. Synchrotron radiation techniques provide powerful ways to interrogate these records of our physical and cultural past. In this workshop we will discuss and explore the current and potential applications of synchrotron radiation science to problems in archaeology and art conservation. This document gathers the abstracts of the presentations.

AMS radiocarbon dating of 'Grotta Cappuccini' in Southern Italy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quarta, G.; Calcagnile, L.; D'Elia, M.; Rizzo, A.; Ingravallo, E.

2004-01-01

We present the results of AMS radiocarbon dating of human bones recovered in 'Grotta Cappuccini', a prehistoric cave in Galatone, Lecce (Southern Italy). The AMS analysis has confirmed the archaeological dating of the cave to the period between the end of the Copper Age and the early Bronze Age, and has given a fundamental contribution to the chronological definition of an important cultural aspect of the prehistory of Southern Italy

Building a Spatial Database for Romanian Archaeological Sites

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Aura-Mihaela MOCANU

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Spatial databases are a new technology in the database systems which allow storing, retrieving and maintaining geospatial data. This paper describes the steps which we have followed to model, design and develop a spatial database for Romanian archaeological sites and their assemblies. The system analysis was made using the well known Entity-Relationship model; the system design included the conceptual, the external and the internal schemas design, and the system development meant developing the needed database objects and programs. The designed database allows users to load vector geospatial data about the archaeological sites in two distinct spatial reference systems WGS84 and STEREO70, temporal data about the historical periods and cultures, other descriptive data and documents as references to the archaeological objects.

Archaeomagnetic dating of seven archaeological fireplaces in the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoof, A.A.M. van; Langereis, C.G.; Joosten, I.; Thijssen, J.R.A.M.; Nijhof, E.; Groenendijk, H.A.; Eynde, G.R.M. van den

1997-01-01

The palaeomagnetic directions of seven Dutch fireplaces are compared with the archaeological age estimates which range from the first to the 17th century AD. A comparison with the British master curve of secular variation for archaeomagnetic dating results in a refinement of the archaeological age

Alchemy or Science? Compromising Archaeology in the Deep Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Jonathan

2007-06-01

In the torrid debate between archaeology and treasure hunting, compromise is often suggested as the pragmatic solution, especially for archaeology carried out either in deep water or beyond the constraints that commonly regulate such activities in territorial seas. Both the wisdom and the need for such compromise have even been advocated by some archaeologists, particularly in forums such as the internet and conferences. This paper argues that such a compromise is impossible, not in order to fuel confrontation but simply because of the nature of any academic discipline. We can define what archaeology is in terms of its aims, theories, methods and ethics, so combining it with an activity founded on opposing principles must transform it into something else. The way forward for archaeology in the deep sea does not lie in a contradictory realignment of archaeology’s goals but in collaborative research designed to mesh with emerging national and regional research and management plans.

Application of Laser Mass Spectrometry to Art and Archaeology

Science.gov (United States)

Gulian, Lase Lisa E.; Callahan, Michael P.; Muliadi, Sarah; Owens, Shawn; McGovern, Patrick E.; Schmidt, Catherine M.; Trentelman, Karen A.; deVries, Mattanjah S.

2011-01-01

REMPI laser mass spectrometry is a combination of resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization spectroscopy and time of flight mass spectrometry, This technique enables the collection of mass specific optical spectra as well as of optically selected mass spectra. Analytes are jet-cooled by entrainment in a molecular beam, and this low temperature gas phase analysis has the benefit of excellent vibronic resolution. Utilizing this method, mass spectrometric analysis of historically relevant samples can be simplified and improved; Optical selection of targets eliminates the need for chromatography while knowledge of a target's gas phase spectroscopy allows for facile differentiation of molecules that are in the aqueous phase considered spectroscopically indistinguishable. These two factors allow smaller sample sizes than commercial MS instruments, which in turn will require less damage to objects of antiquity. We have explored methods to optimize REMPI laser mass spectrometry as an analytical tool to archaeology using theobromine and caffeine as molecular markers in Mesoamerican pottery, and are expanding this approach to the field of art to examine laccaic acid in shellacs.

Large-scale, high-definition Ground Penetrating Radar prospection in archaeology

Science.gov (United States)

Trinks, I.; Kucera, M.; Hinterleitner, A.; Löcker, K.; Nau, E.; Neubauer, W.; Zitz, T.

2012-04-01

The future demands on professional archaeological prospection will be its ability to cover large areas in a time and cost efficient manner with very high spatial resolution and accuracy. The objective of the 2010 in Vienna established Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology (LBI ArchPro) in collaboration with its eight European partner organisations is the advancement of state-of-the-art archaeological sciences. The application and specific further development of remote sensing, geophysical prospection and virtual reality applications, as well as of novel integrated interpretation approaches dedicated to non-invasive spatial archaeology combining near-surface prospection methods with advanced computer science is crucial for modern archaeology. Within the institute's research programme different areas for distinct case studies in Austria, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the UK have been selected as basis for the development and testing of new concepts for efficient and universally applicable tools for spatial, non-invasive archaeology. In terms of geophysical prospection the investigation of entire archaeological landscapes for the exploration and protection of Europe's buried cultural heritage requires new measurement devices, which are fast, accurate and precise. Therefore the further development of motorized, multichannel survey systems and advanced navigation solutions is required. The use of motorized measurement devices for archaeological prospection implicates several technological and methodological challenges. Latest multichannel Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) arrays mounted in front off, or towed behind motorized survey vehicles permit large-scale GPR prospection surveys with unprecedented spatial resolution. In particular the motorized 16 channel 400 MHz MALÅ Imaging Radar Array (MIRA) used by the LBI ArchPro in combination with latest automatic data positioning and navigation solutions permits the reliable high

“Bolshie Klyuchishi” (Ulyanovsk Oblast as a New Archaeological Complex: Preliminary Results

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vorobeva Elena E.

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The authors introduce for discussion materials of archaeological studies conducted by the team of the Volga Archaeological Expedition of the Mari State University in Ulyanovsk Oblast of the Russian Federation in 2010. Two of the studied archaeological sites seem to be most interesting: they are situated near Bolshie Klyuchishi village (Ulyanovsk District, Ulyanovsk Oblast. Archaeological materials collected during the excavations of these settlements have a very broad time span, which allows suggesting that Bolshie Klyuchishi is a multilayered archaeological complex. Both settlements yielded the Srubnaya culture handmade ceramics of 16th – 13th centuries BC. Moreover, Bolshie Klyuchishi-7 contained items of iron and slag, and Bolshie Klyuchishi-8 yielded sherds of 13th – 14th centuries wheel- made Bulgarian ceramics.

Archaeological analogous and industrials for deep storage: study of the archaeological metallic piece; Analogos arqueologicos e industriales para almacenamientos profundos: estudio de piezas arqueologicas metalicas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Criado Portal, A J; Martinez Garcia, J A; Calabres Molina, R; Garcia abajo, A; Penco Valenzuela, F; Lecanda Esteban, J A; Garcia Bartual, M; Jimenez Gonzalez, J M; Bravo Munoz, E; Rodriguez Lobo, L M; Fernandez Cascos, T; Fernandes Cordero, O; Montero Ruiz, I

2000-07-01

The aim of present research is to obtain information about archaeological analogous of iron and steel, useful for the model of deep geological repository (AGP). The analogous examined have remained buried between 1400 and 2400 years, in very assorted geochemical environments. The extraction of the archaeological pieces has been accomplished according to normalised protocols, trying to carry to the laboratory so the piece as its burial environment, avoiding all possible pollution. Trying to the archaeological analogous could provide valuable information to the AGP model, the study has been directed to related the physical-chemical characteristics of the terrain respect to the deterioration of the archaeological metallic piece. The geology of the surrounding terrain to the archaeological deposit, the geomorphological study of the terrain and data from the analysis of ground: pH, wetness, porosity, organic matter contents, bacteria presence, sulphates, carbonates, chlorides, etc., have allowed to explain the physical-chemical phenomena suffered by the archaeological iron and steel pieces. Also, an exhaustive study of the archaeological piece has been accomplished, concerning the microstructure of the corrosion layer and of the not deteriorated metallic rest. Obtained information concerns different items, such as corrosion velocity and formations of oxide layers, diffusion of chemical elements from the corrosion layer to the metal and viceversa, and structural changes in oxide layers and in the metallic remains by structural ageing. Obtained data have allowed to develop a mathematical model for calculation of corrosion velocity in buried iron and steels, based on physical-chemical variables of grounds, chemical composition and thermomechanical treatment given to the metal during its manufacture. (Author)

Curie temperature variation in polycrystalline sodium-lithium niobate with various thermodynamic prehistory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pozdnyakova, I.V.; Reznichenko, L.A.

2000-01-01

The Curie temperature T C in the samples obtained by various methods is measured with the purpose of establishing the effect of the structure formation conditions (thermal prehistory) of the Na 1-x Li x NbO 3 ceramic samples by 0.015 ≤ x ≤ 0.0275 on the behavior of solid solutions in the external electrical field. It is established that essential dependence of the transition temperature shift in the electrical field and also in T C on the conditions of the solid solution preparation is observed in the (NaLi)NbO 3 system. The conclusion is made that hot pressing with increased high-temperature seasoning is the best method for obtaining the ceramics of the given composition in the area of antiferro-ferroelectrical transition [ru

Response to ‘Brexit, Archaeology and Heritage: Reflections and Agendas’

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lorna-Jane Richardson

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This research was presented at the UCL Brexit, Archaeology and Heritage workshop and here it is summarised as a response to the lead forum article ‘Brexit, Archaeology and Heritage: Reflections and Agendas’.

Does environmental archaeology need an ethical promise?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Riede, Felix; Andersen, Per; Price, Neil

2016-01-01

formalized ethical codes or promises that not only guide the dissemination of data but oblige scientists to relate to fundamentally political issues. This article couples a survey of the recent environmental ethics literature with two case studies of how past natural hazards have affected vulnerable...... societies in Europe?s prehistory. We ask whether cases of past calamities and their societal effects should play a greater role in public debates and whether archaeologists working with past environmental hazards should be more outspoken in their ethical considerations. We offer no firm answers, but suggest...... that archaeologists engage with debates in human?environment relations at this interface between politics, public affairs and science....

Substance and materiality? The archaeology of Talensi medicine shrines and medicinal practices.

Science.gov (United States)

Insoll, Timothy

2011-08-01

Talensi materia medica is varied, encompassing plant, mineral, and animal substances. Healing, medicines, and medicinal practices and knowledge can be shrine-based and linked with ritual practices. This is explored utilising ethnographic data and from an archaeological perspective with reference to future possibilities for research both on Talensi medicine and, by implication, more generally through considering the archaeology of Talensi medicine preparation, use, storage, spread, and disposal. It is suggested that configuring the archaeology of medicine shrines and practices more broadly in terms of health would increase archaeological visibility and research potential.

Augmented Reality System for the musealization of archaeological sites

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Javier Esclapés

2013-11-01

Full Text Available In this paper we are presenting a multi-marker and semi-immersive system for augmented reality to visualize and interact with archaeological sites, specifically those located in inaccessible or complex environments, such as caves or underwater locations. The use of this system in museum exhibitions helps visitors to come closer to archaeological heritage. As an example for the implementation of this system, an archaeological site has been used. It is the “Cova del Barranc del Migdia”, located in the “Sierra del Montgó”, Xàbia (Spain. The product obtained has been exhibited in various museums nationwide.

‘Archaeology Time with Miss Jessica’ Archaeology education in summer schools and summer camp in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jessica Sutherland

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Archaeology education benefits not only archaeologists, but also teachers and students. It fosters future stewards of our cultural heritage while making any classroom lesson more exciting and engaging for the students. In an effort to realize both of these goals, the author undertook an archaeology education programme in her local area of Upper Peninsula Michigan using a dual approach. She coordinated and implemented archaeology education activities in four local elementary schools during summer school, on a weekly basis, and developed and led an archaeology summer camp for children in conjunction with a local chapter of the 4-H Club. Teaching methods and activities varied between the two approaches; however, object handling was a key component of every lesson. Activities included learning about the instructor through examining objects she had brought from home, the dustbin game and skeleton game, a wastebasket excavation to learn context and stratigraphy, a mock excavation, a pot-mending activity, the creation of a museum exhibit, a “Maya Math” activity using the Maya numbering system, and a human evolution activity using replica hominid crania. Each approach presented its own challenges and rewards, but ultimately the author was able to inculcate over one hundred future stewards of our cultural heritage.

Basic Issues in Harappan Archaeology: Some Thoughts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vasant Shinde

2006-12-01

Full Text Available The identification of the Harappan Civilization in the early twentieth century was considered to be the most significant archaeological discovery in the Indian Subcontinent as it pushed the beginning of settled life by 2000 years. Contemporary to the Mesopotamian and Egyptian Civilizations it was unique in its town planning. Spread over major parts of the western and north-western subcontinent, its influence is seen to the Tajikistan border in the north and the Gulf region in the west with over two thousand sites found till date. The past eight decades of research have brought to light many important details of the culture including the cultural process involving its origin, maturity and decline but certain aspects such as the terminology, climatic influence, regional variations, script etc are still very flimsy. To gain more information the focus of research will have to shift from Mega Site Archaeology to Small Site Archaeology with large multidisciplinary research projects to acquire a more holistic picture of the Harappan culture.

Cambridge Illustrated History of Archaeology, edited by Paul G. Bahn, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1996

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Douglas R. Givens

1997-11-01

Full Text Available The Cambridge Illustrated History of Archaeology is another in a series of volumes devoted to the history of archaeology that have appeared in recent time. Paul Bahn, the editor of the volume, has broken down his coverage of the history of worldwide archaeology into the following arrangement 'The Archaeology of Archaeology", "Old Worlds and New, 1500-1760", "Antiquarians and Explorers, 1760-1820", "Science and Romanticism, 1820-1860", "The Search for Human Origins, 1860-1920", "Archaeology Comes of Age, 1920-1960", "New Techniques and Competing Philosophies, 1960-1990",and "Current Controversies and Future Trends". Bahn's volume explores many of the major developments in archaeological practice from both in the classical world and was as from the practice of archaeology in the Americas. The volume even gives the reader a glimpse into the origins and growth of archaeology in New Zealand. Of particular interest is coverage of the history of early archaeological efforts having to do with early studies of human origins.

VIRTUAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENTS GENERATED IN AVAYALIVE ENGAGE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ANTHONY Rigby

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Realistically rendered and textured virtual spaces can be created in the AVAYALIVE ENGAGE platform by importing high polygon models and scaled accurately reproduced textures. In addition MellaniuM has successfully developed an application for utilizing all the archaeological virtual assets developed in 3D Studio Max or generated over the past several years using photogrammetry and laser scanning. It is possible therefore to create interactive environments of archaeological significance that can be accessed through the Internet and available to up to 40 participants. 

Application of synchrotron radiation in archaeology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nakai, Izumi [Science University of Tokyo, Faculty of Science, Department of Applied Chemistry, Tokyo (Japan)

2002-07-01

This paper reports current status of archaeological application of synchrotron radiation (SR). The advantages of SR in archaeological research and various application possibilities of X-ray powder diffraction (XPD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) analyses of objects and materials of cultural heritage value are demonstrated through a number of case studies from literatures. They include XPD characterizations of Egyptian cosmetic powder, Attic Black Gloss, and pigments in Gothic altarpieces, provenance analysis of Old-Kutani china wares by high energy XRF, and XAFS analyses to reveal to origin of red color in Satsuma copper-ruby glass and role of iron in Maya blue. (author)

The Race to Document Archaeological Sites Ahead of Rising Sea Levels: Recent Applications of Geospatial Technologies in the Archaeology of Polynesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mark D. McCoy

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Marine environments are rich in natural resources, and therefore, have been targeted for human occupation from at least the Pleistocene. In the modern day, the preservation and documentation of the physical archaeological evidence of human occupation and use of coasts, islands, and the ocean must now include mitigating the impacts of global climate change. Here, I review recent efforts to document archaeological sites across the islands of Polynesia using geospatial technology, specifically remote sensing, high-resolution documentation, and the creation of archaeological site geodatabases. I discuss these geospatial technologies in terms of planning for likely future impacts from sea level rise; a problem that will be felt across the region, and based on current evidence, will affect more than 12% of all known sites in New Zealand (Aotearoa.

Joined at the hip? A paleoepidemiological study of developmental dysplasia of the hip and its relation to swaddling practices among indigenous peoples of North America.

Science.gov (United States)

Blatt, Samantha H

2013-01-01

Clinical prevalence of developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) is the highest among modern indigenous populations of North America, yet no systematic study of the paleoepidemiology of this group exists. This study discusses the skeletal criteria, epidemiology, pathophysiology, and risk factors for DDH. A range of cases of DDH from an archaeological Native American population are described, and the clinical and prehistoric prevalence of DDH among indigenous populations of North America are calculated and discussed within a biocultural perspective. Pelves of 390 adults from the Late Prehistoric (1490 BP ± 70) Buffalo site, West Virginia were examined for DDH. Morphology of true and false acetabula was classified and other changes of the pelvis, lower limb, and spine were noted along with cranial deformation, providing evidence of infant restriction. Prevalence of DDH among living and archaeological indigenous peoples of North America were calculated and compared. DDH was identified in eighteen adults from Buffalo, resulting in a prevalence of 46.15, within the range reported in modern indigenous groups in North America. However, there is a significant difference between the DDH prevalence in prehistory and today in the target population. Indigenous peoples of North America have the highest reported global prevalence of DDH today and in prehistory. The etiology of DDH suggests that components of both genetic predisposition and swaddling practices have combined to create a high-risk environment for the development of DDH, contributing to its high prevalence within archaeological populations, like Buffalo, and modern Native American/Aboriginal groups within North America. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The sixth Nordic conference on the application of scientific methods in archaeology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-01-01

The Sixth Nordic Conference on the Application of Scientific Methods in Archaeology with 73 participants was convened in Esbjerg (Denmark), 19-23 September 1993. Isotope dating of archaeological, paleoecological and geochronological objects, neutron activation and XRF analytical methods, magnetometry, thermoluminescence etc. have been discussed. The program included excursions to archaeological sites and a poster session with 12 posters. (EG)

Small drones for geo-archaeology in the steppe: locating and documenting the archaeological heritage of the Orkhon Valley in Mongolia

Science.gov (United States)

Oczipka, M.; Bemmann, J.; Piezonka, H.; Munkabayar, J.; Ahrens, B.; Achtelik, M.; Lehmann, F.

2009-09-01

The international project "Geo-Archaeology in the Steppe - Reconstruction of Cultural Landscapes in the Orkhon valley, Central Mongolia" was set up in July 2008. It is headed by the Department of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology of Bonn University. The project aims at the study of prehistoric and historic settlement patterns, human impact on the environment and the relation between towns and their hinterland in the Orkhon valley, Central Mongolia. The multidisciplinary project is mainly sponsored for three years by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and bridges archaeology, natural sciences and engineering (sponsorship code 01UA0801C). Archaeologists of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences and of the Bonn University, geographers of Free University Berlin, geophysics of the Institute for Photonic Technology Jena and the RWTH Aachen University, and geographers and engineers of the German Aerospace Centre Berlin collaborate in the development of new technologies and their application in archaeology1. On the basis of Russian aerial photographs from the 1970s, an initial evaluation regarding potential archaeological sites was made. Due to the poor geometric and radiometric resolution of these photographs, identification of archaeological sites in many cases remained preliminary, and detailed information on layout and size could not be gained. The aim of the flight campaign in September 2008 was therefore the confirmation of these sites as well as their high resolution survey. A 10 megapixel range finder camera was used for the recording of high resolution aerial photography. This image data is suited for accurate determination and mapping of selected monuments. The airborne camera was adapted and mounted on an electrically operated eight propeller small drone. Apart from high resolution geo-referenced overview pictures, impressive panoramic images and very high resolution overlapping image data was recorded for photogrammetric stereoscopic

Pajarito Plateau archaeological surveys and excavations. II

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Steen, C R

1982-04-01

Los Alamos National Laboratory continues its archaeological program of data gathering and salvage excavations. Sites recently added to the archaeological survey are described, as well as the results of five excavations. Among the more interesting and important discoveries are (1) the apparently well-established local use of anhydrous lime, and (2) a late pre-Columbian use of earlier house sites and middens for garden plots. Evidence indicated that the local puebloan population was the result of an expansion of upper Rio Grande peoples, not an influx of migrants.

Geoarchaeology: interdisciplinary explanations for the archaeological research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Acevedo, Benjamin

2014-01-01

Geoarchaeological research carried out in Costa Rica and some Central American countries are described. The link between geology and archaeology is described as an interdisciplinary field of research within the earth sciences, with the purpose of to solve problems referring to the life of the pre-Columbian societies of Central American regions and until of postconquest period. The topics developed in the geoarchaeological works have been on geophysical prospecting in archaeological sites, provenance analysis and characterization of raw materials, analysis of processes and technologies of production, detailed reading of materials under study, among others [es

An overview of maritime archaeological studies in India

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Tripati, S.

stream_size 66180 stream_content_type text/plain stream_name Maritime_contacts_of_the_past_2015_729.pdf.txt stream_source_info Maritime_contacts_of_the_past_2015_729.pdf.txt Content-Encoding UTF-8 Content-Type text/plain; charset...=UTF-8 AN OVERVIEW OF MARITIME ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES IN INDIA 729An overview of maritime archaeological studies in India Sila Tripati, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, India Trade and cultural contacts among the people...

The displacement of archaeological structures in Spain. Relocate to preserve, preserve to present

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Víctor Manuel López-Menchero Bendicho

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Clearly it is not always feasible to conserve and exhibit the archaeological remains in situ, either for lack of funds in some cases, or for manifest incompatibility with the new land uses in others. This second case mix, ie the need to "free" land for new uses, sentences, in most cases, the archaeological remains to suffer a partial destruction since only movable materials are extracted, preserved and in some cases presented to the public, while the unmovable archaeological heritage, ie fixed archaeological structures, is destroyed, once it has been "properly" documented. However, in this field there is a kind of third way in which archaeological remains, including structures, are preserved and on display, while clearing the ground originally occupied. It is the displacement of archaeological structures. This article discusses the long history of such interventions in the Spanish case, making a typological classification proposal and finally a critical appraisal.

Is the Truth Down There?: Cultural Heritage Conflict and the Politics of Archaeological Authority

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Ian Barber

2006-06-01

Full Text Available The selective pressures and processes of cultural heritage management effectively disinherit some interest groups. Where this occurs in the context of postcolonial or nationalist conflict, the material archaeological record may be referenced to support or reject particular views. The disciplinary assumptions behind the archaeological evidence so produced are not usually contested in judicial contexts. A review of archaeology’s theoretical foundations suggests that this naivety itself may be problematic. A descriptive culture history approach dominated archaeology over the first half of the twentieth century with a strong political appeal to nationalist politics. Subsequently archaeology became concerned with processual explanation and the scientific identification of universal laws of culture, consistent with postwar technological optimism and conformity. A postprocessual archaeology movement from the 1970s has promoted relativism and challenged the singular authority of scientific explanation. Archaeologists caught within this debate disagree over the use of the archaeological record in situations of political conflict. Furthermore, the use of archaeology in the sectarian debate over the Ayodhya birthplace of Rama suggests that the material record of the past can become highly politicized and seemingly irresolvable. Archaeological research is also subject to other blatant and subtle political pressures throughout the world, affecting the nature and interpretation of the record. A system that privileges archaeological information values may be irrelevant also to communities who value and manage their ancestral heritage for customary purposes. Collectively this review of theory and applied knowledge suggests that it is unrealistic to expect that archaeology can authoritatively resolve strident claims and debates about the past. Instead, an important contemporary contribution of archaeology may be its potential to document cultural and

Archaeology of Bet Dwarka Island

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Sundaresh; Gaur, A.S.

Explorations along the shore and in the intertidal zone at Bet Dwarka island, Gujarat, India were carried out by the Marine Archaeology Centre of National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa, India between 1981-1994. Artefacts of both...

Identification of animal fats via compound specific δ13C values of individual fatty acids: assessments of results for reference fats and lipid extracts of archaeological pottery vessels

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Richard P. Evershed

2002-12-01

Full Text Available The possibility of obtaining molecular information from lipid residues associated with archaeological pottery has dramatically increased the potential for deriving new information on the use of ancient vessels and the commodities processed therein. Motivated by the high proportion of the archaeological potsherds that have been shown to contain animal fats, a new approach invol- ving compound specific stable isotope analysis of remnant fats has been developed to retrieve infor- mation which will allow new insights into animal exploitation, dietary preferences and vessel use amongst prehistoric peoples. The new approach uses the δ13C values of the major saturated fatty acid (C16:0 and C18:0 determined by gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC–C–IRMS to characterise the origins of animal fat recovered from archaeological pottery.

Archaeological Handbook for Establishing Offshore Wind Farms in Sweden. Lillgrund Pilot Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bengtsson, Boel [Bohuslaens Museum, Uddevalla (Sweden)

2008-03-15

The purpose of this handbook is to provide a structured guide for contractors interested in establishing offshore wind farms within Swedish territorial waters and its extended economical zone, in relation to Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH). It is also applicable to UCH in inland waters. Therefore, this handbook seeks to provide information on; - The management structure of underwater/maritime cultural heritage in Sweden, including institutions and units with maritime antiquarian expertise, - The different types of archaeological remains that can be found around the Swedish coast - in offshore, coastal areas and on the foreshore - which can potentially be affected by offshore wind farm projects, - The laws that underwater archaeological remains are subject to - within the National Maritime Boundary as well as within the contiguous and exclusive economical zones - and the necessary archaeological investigations that need to be considered in order to avoid and/or protect the cultural heritage provided by those remains, - Archaeological standards and methods for assessing and evaluating the potential for finding archaeological remains under water, - The steps that need to be to considered during the planning process of establishing offshore wind farms, and how the contractor and archaeologist can work together in order to make the process more cost effective, and - Considerations for the future. Furthermore, this handbook includes a presentation of archaeological finds made during archaeological surveys in connection with the Lillgrund project. The handbook does not make references to any investigations that may be required in relation to land based archaeological sites other than those which are undertaken close to the shoreline (situated on the foreshore), nor does it consider the visual impact sea-based wind farms might have on cultural heritage

Spain's magic mountain: narrating prehistory at Atapuerca.

Science.gov (United States)

Hochadel, Oliver

2016-09-01

The Sierra de Atapuerca in northern Spain is ranked among the most important excavation sites in human origins research worldwide. The project boasts not only spectacular hominid fossils, among them the 'oldest European', but also a fully fledged 'popularization industry'. This article interprets this multimedia industry as a generator of different narratives about the researchers as well as about the prehistoric hominids of Atapuerca. It focuses on the popular works of the three co-directors of the project. Juan Luis Arsuaga, José María Bermúdez de Castro and Eudald Carbonell make deliberate use of a variety of narrative devices, resonant cultural references and strategies of scientific self-commodification. All three, in different ways, use the history of science and of their own research project to mark their place in the field of human origins research, drawing on mythical elements to tell the story of the rise of a humble Spanish team overcoming all odds to achieve universal acclaim. Furthermore, the co-directors make skilful use of palaeofiction - that of Björn Kurtén and Jean Auel, as well as writing their own - in order to tell gripping stories about compassion and solidarity in human prehistory. This mixture of nationalist and universalist narratives invites the Spanish audience to identify not just with 'their ancestors' but also with the scientists, as objects and subjects of research become conflated through popularization.

Archaeology and astronomy

Science.gov (United States)

2009-10-01

MEETING REPORT The interaction between archaeology and astronomy has a long, tangled and not entirely creditable history, marred by misunderstandings on both sides. But statistics and cultural awareness are bringing a better picture of how and why lasting monuments such as Stonehenge were built. Sue Bowler reports on a joint meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society and the Prehistoric Society, held at Jodrell Bank on 17 July 2009.

Crumbling UNESCO and aggregating archaeology

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Carman, J.; Turek, Jan

2017-01-01

Roč. 13, č. 3 (2017), s. 387-391 ISSN 1555-8622 Institutional support: RVO:67985912 Keywords : indigenous people of Amazonia * Canaanite site in Gaza * UNESCO * world archaeology * European Association of Archaeologists Subject RIV: AC - Archeology, Anthropology, Ethnology

Information Policy for (Digital Information in Archaeology: current state and suggestions for development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lisa Börjesson

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The introduction of digital data capturing and management technologies has transformed information practices in archaeology. Digital documentation and digital infrastructures are integrated in archaeologists' daily work now more than ever. International and national institutions and projects have contributed to the development of digital archiving and curation practices. Because knowledge production in archaeology depends heavily on documentation and information dissemination, and on retrieval of past documentation, the question of how information is managed is profoundly intertwined with the possibilities for knowledge production. Regulations at different levels articulate demands and expectations from the emerging digital information practices, but how are these different regulations coordinated, and do they support archaeological knowledge production? In this article we look into the state of information policy - the sum of principles guiding decisions about information - in archaeology and related areas. The aim of the article is to shed light on how information policy directs practice in archaeology, and to show that analysis of such policies is therefore vital. Information policy in legislation and guidelines in Swedish archaeology serves as a case study, and examples from development-led archaeology and the museum sector illustrate how information policies have varied roles across different heritage sectors. There are historical and local trajectories in the policy documents specific to Sweden, but the discussion shows that the emergence of Swedish policies have many parallels with processes in other countries. The article provides recommendations for information policy development for archaeology and related areas.

77 FR 34987 - Notice of Inventory Completion: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-12

... Inventory Completion: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, University of... of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology has completed an inventory of human remains in..., University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 3260 South...

Marine archaeological research in India

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Tripati, S.; Sundaresh; Vora, K.H.; Bandodkar, S.N.

of this activity. All the developed countries have made tremendous progress in this field and substantial progress has been made in India in marine archaeology. Over the years the National Institute of Oceanography in collaboration with other Government agencies...

Archaeological applications of naturally occurring nanomagnets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Linford, Neil [English Heritage, Fort Cumberland, Fort Cumberland Road, Eastney, Portsmouth PO4 9LD (United Kingdom)

2005-01-01

The ubiquitous presence of iron minerals within the soils and sediments forming archaeological sites can often provide a valuable record of past human activity. These records are formed through the alteration of weakly magnetic minerals to fine grained iron oxides, such as magnetite or maghaemite, that leave an almost indelible magnetic 'finger print' on the landscape. Archaeologists have exploited these magnetic records at a variety of levels from geophysical survey to reveal the location of a site, to determining how old a particular excavated feature may be through archaeomagnetic dating. More recent studies have investigated the process of magnetic enhancement through the often complex interaction of pedogenic, microbial and anthropogenic mechanisms and pathways. This research has revealed many unique magnetic signatures within archaeological sediments that may help to identify a range of significant environmental conditions, such as the effects of climate change or the deliberate use of fire. This paper aims to provide an overview of how the techniques of environmental magnetism may be applied to the analysis of archaeological remains. Both field based geophysical prospecting and the measurement of magnetic properties from samples recovered during excavation will be considered. The interpretation of the resulting magnetic measurements will also be addressed through the use of an unmixing algorithm applied to hysteresis data.

Archaeological applications of naturally occurring nanomagnets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Linford, Neil

2005-01-01

The ubiquitous presence of iron minerals within the soils and sediments forming archaeological sites can often provide a valuable record of past human activity. These records are formed through the alteration of weakly magnetic minerals to fine grained iron oxides, such as magnetite or maghaemite, that leave an almost indelible magnetic 'finger print' on the landscape. Archaeologists have exploited these magnetic records at a variety of levels from geophysical survey to reveal the location of a site, to determining how old a particular excavated feature may be through archaeomagnetic dating. More recent studies have investigated the process of magnetic enhancement through the often complex interaction of pedogenic, microbial and anthropogenic mechanisms and pathways. This research has revealed many unique magnetic signatures within archaeological sediments that may help to identify a range of significant environmental conditions, such as the effects of climate change or the deliberate use of fire. This paper aims to provide an overview of how the techniques of environmental magnetism may be applied to the analysis of archaeological remains. Both field based geophysical prospecting and the measurement of magnetic properties from samples recovered during excavation will be considered. The interpretation of the resulting magnetic measurements will also be addressed through the use of an unmixing algorithm applied to hysteresis data

The identification of proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans in archaeological human bones and teeth.

Science.gov (United States)

Coulson-Thomas, Yvette M; Coulson-Thomas, Vivien J; Norton, Andrew L; Gesteira, Tarsis F; Cavalheiro, Renan P; Meneghetti, Maria Cecília Z; Martins, João R; Dixon, Ronald A; Nader, Helena B

2015-01-01

Bone tissue is mineralized dense connective tissue consisting mainly of a mineral component (hydroxyapatite) and an organic matrix comprised of collagens, non-collagenous proteins and proteoglycans (PGs). Extracellular matrix proteins and PGs bind tightly to hydroxyapatite which would protect these molecules from the destructive effects of temperature and chemical agents after death. DNA and proteins have been successfully extracted from archaeological skeletons from which valuable information has been obtained; however, to date neither PGs nor glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chains have been studied in archaeological skeletons. PGs and GAGs play a major role in bone morphogenesis, homeostasis and degenerative bone disease. The ability to isolate and characterize PG and GAG content from archaeological skeletons would unveil valuable paleontological information. We therefore optimized methods for the extraction of both PGs and GAGs from archaeological human skeletons. PGs and GAGs were successfully extracted from both archaeological human bones and teeth, and characterized by their electrophoretic mobility in agarose gel, degradation by specific enzymes and HPLC. The GAG populations isolated were chondroitin sulfate (CS) and hyaluronic acid (HA). In addition, a CSPG was detected. The localization of CS, HA, three small leucine rich PGs (biglycan, decorin and fibromodulin) and glypican was analyzed in archaeological human bone slices. Staining patterns were different for juvenile and adult bones, whilst adolescent bones had a similar staining pattern to adult bones. The finding that significant quantities of PGs and GAGs persist in archaeological bones and teeth opens novel venues for the field of Paleontology.

Cambridge Illustrated History of Archaeology, edited by Paul G. Bahn, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1996

OpenAIRE

Givens, Douglas R.

1997-01-01

The Cambridge Illustrated History of Archaeology is another in a series of volumes devoted to the history of archaeology that have appeared in recent time. Paul Bahn, the editor of the volume, has broken down his coverage of the history of worldwide archaeology into the following arrangement 'The Archaeology of Archaeology", "Old Worlds and New, 1500-1760", "Antiquarians and Explorers, 1760-1820", "Science and Romantic...

Maritime archaeological studies in India

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Gaur, A.S.; Vora, K.H.

India with more than 7000 km long coastline and about 5000 years old maritime history is dotted with several ancient ports. Marine archaeological research during last two and half decades has revealed a number of sites along the Indian coast, which...

Immediate Realities: an anthropology of computer visualisation in archaeology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonathan Bateman

2000-06-01

Full Text Available The use of computer visualisation techniques is an increasing part of archaeology's illustrative repertoire - but how do these images relate to the wider visual language that archaeologists use? This article assesses computer visualisations in the light of a range of anthropological, art historical, and cultural critiques to place them and their production squarely within the broader spectrum of the discipline's output. Moving from identifying the shortcomings in the methods and scope of existing critiques of archaeological illustrations, a comprehensive approach to understanding the visual culture of archaeology is outlined. This approach is specifically applied to computer visualisations, and identifies both the sociology of their production, and the technological nature of their creation and reproduction as key elements influencing their readings as communicators of archaeological ideas. In order to develop useful understandings of how the visual languages we employ act within the discourse of the discipline, we must be inclusive in our critiques of those languages. Until we consider the cultural products of our discipline with the same sophistication with which we examine the products of other cultures (past and present, we will struggle to use them to their full potential.

FROM EXCAVATIONS TO WEB: A GIS FOR ARCHAEOLOGY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. G. D'Urso

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The study and the protection of Cultural Heritage in recent years have undergone a revolution about the search tools and the reference disciplines. The technological approach to the problem of the collection, organization and publication of archaeological data using GIS software has completely changed the essence of the traditional methods of investigation, paving the way to the development of several application areas, up to the Cultural Resource Management. A relatively recent specific sector of development for archaeological GIS development sector is dedicated to the intra - site analyses aimed to recording, processing and display information obtained during the excavations. The case - study of the archaeological site located in the south - east of San Pietro Vetere plateau in Aquino, in the Southern Lazio, is concerned with the illustration of a procedure describing the complete digital workflow relative to an intra-site analysis of an archaeological dig. The GIS project implementation and its publication on the web, thanks to several softwares, particularly the FOSS (Free Open Source Software Quantum - GIS, are an opportunity to reflect on the strengths and the critical nature of this particular application of the GIS technology. For future developments in research it is of fundamental importance the identification of a digital protocol for processing of excavations (from the acquisition, cataloguing, up data insertion, also on account of a possible future Open Project on medieval Aquino.

"Atypical" use of combinations of geophysical methods for archaeological heritage preservation in the Czech Republic

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Křivánek, Roman

2015-01-01

Roč. 53, č. 2015 (2015), s. 472-476 ISSN 0066-5924. [International Conference on Archaeological Prospection /11./. Warszawa, 15.09.2015-19.09.2015] Grant - others:AV ČR(CZ) R300021421 Institutional support: RVO:67985912 Keywords : archaeological prospection * archaeological heritage preservation * medieval siege camp * archaeology of castle park and gardens * flood plain area Subject RIV: AC - Archeology, Anthropology, Ethnology

Archaeological recording and chemical stratigraphy applied to contaminated land studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Photos-Jones, Effie; Hall, Allan J

2011-11-15

The method used by archaeologists for excavation and recording of the stratigraphic evidence, within trenches with or without archaeological remains, can potentially be useful to contaminated land consultants (CLCs). The implementation of archaeological practice in contaminated land assessments (CLAs) is not meant to be an exercise in data overkill; neither should it increase costs. Rather, we suggest, that if the excavation and recording, by a trained archaeologist, of the stratigraphy is followed by in-situ chemical characterisation then it is possible that much uncertainty associated with current field sampling practices, may be removed. This is because built into the chemical stratigraphy is the temporal and spatial relationship between different parts of the site reflecting the logic behind the distribution of contamination. An archaeological recording with chemical stratigraphy approach to sampling may possibly provide 'one method fits all' for potentially contaminated land sites (CLSs), just as archaeological characterisation of the stratigraphic record provides 'one method fits all' for all archaeological sites irrespective of period (prehistoric to modern) or type (rural, urban or industrial). We also suggest that there may be practical and financial benefits to be gained by pulling together expertise and resources stemming from different disciplines, not simply at the assessment phase, but also subsequent phases, in contaminated land improvement. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Southwestern (U.S.A. Archaeological Tree-Ring Dating: 1930-1942

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen E. Nash

1997-11-01

Full Text Available Dendrochronology, the science of assigning precise and accurate calendar dates to annual growth rings in trees (Stokes and Smiley 1968, was the first independent dating technique available to prehistorians. Ar­chaeological tree-ring dating came of age at a time when North American archaeologists concerned them­selves primarily with time/space systematics (Willey and Sabloff 1980 and yet had no absolute and inde­pendent dating techniques available to guide their analyses. Histories of archaeology typically have not considered the development of archaeological tree-ring dating in detail. Willey and Sabloff (1980:12 devote one paragraph to the development of Southwestern archaeological tree-ring dating, as does Steibing (1993:261. Trigger (1989:305 considers dendrochronology (in the sense of the Douglass method only in light of radiocarbon dating. Textbooks and regional histories of archaeology do a little better in their treat­ment of dendrochronology, though discussions typically focus on the interpretation of tree-ring dates and not on the developmental history of the technique itself (e.g. Cordell 1984:88-90; Fagan 1991:129-133; Lyon 1996:46; Michels 1973:116; Thomas 1979:190-194. Scott (1966:9 argues that 'the story of the discovery of archaeological tree-ring dating by A E. Douglass and others has been told and retold and is now familiar to scientists and laymen alike'. I beg to differ.

ARCTIS — A MATLAB® Toolbox for Archaeological Imaging Spectroscopy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clement Atzberger

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Imaging spectroscopy acquires imagery in hundreds or more narrow contiguous spectral bands. This offers unprecedented information for archaeological research. To extract the maximum of useful archaeological information from it, however, a number of problems have to be solved. Major problems relate to data redundancy and the visualization of the large amount of data. This makes data mining approaches necessary, as well as efficient data visualization tools. Additional problems relate to data quality. Indeed, the upwelling electromagnetic radiation is recorded in small spectral bands that are only about ten nanometers wide. The signal received by the sensor is, thus quite low compared to sensor noise and possible atmospheric perturbations. The often small, instantaneous field of view (IFOV—essential for archaeologically relevant imaging spectrometer datasets—further limits the useful signal stemming from the ground. The combination of both effects makes radiometric smoothing techniques mandatory. The present study details the functionality of a MATLAB®-based toolbox, called ARCTIS (ARChaeological Toolbox for Imaging Spectroscopy, for filtering, enhancing, analyzing, and visualizing imaging spectrometer datasets. The toolbox addresses the above-mentioned problems. Its Graphical User Interface (GUI is designed to allow non-experts in remote sensing to extract a wealth of information from imaging spectroscopy for archaeological research. ARCTIS will be released under creative commons license, free of charge, via website (http://luftbildarchiv.univie.ac.at.

Archeologia delle risorse: tra archeologia ambientale, ecologia storica e archeologia rurale / Archaeology of resources: between environmental archaeology, historical ecology and rural archaeology

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Carlo Alessandro Montanari

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Il contributo, attraverso la discussione di alcuni casi di studio, prova ad esemplificare gli approcci del Laboratorio di Archeologia e Storia Ambientale (Dafist-Distav dell’Università di Genova allo studio delle aree rurali, insediate e non insediate. Oggetto principale delle ricerche è il tentativo di ricostruire, con un approccio analitico fortemente contestuale, le pratiche storiche di gestione e attivazione delle risorse ambientali (e le pratiche e i saperi naturalistici locali legati a tali pratiche a partire dal riconoscimento delle loro tracce archeologico-ambientali e attraverso gli apporti dell’archeologia, dell’archeobotanica, dell’ecologia storica e della ricerca documentaria. Gli esempi si concentrano su alcune tracce, riferibili per lo più a pratiche multiple di gestione delle risorse agro-silvo-pastorali (praterie alberate e boschi pascolati, agricoltura temporanea e uso del fuoco, colture permanenti e attività di pascolo, studiate in diverse aree dell’Appennino Ligure e riferibili a cronologie per lo più medievali e postmedievali. This contribution, through the discussion of case studies, tries to illustrate the study approach of the Laboratory of Environmental Archaeology and History (Dafist-Distav,University of Genoa to rural areas settled and not settled. The main object of the research is an attempt to reconstruct, with a strongly contextual analytical approach, historical practices of management and activation of environmental resources (and the practices and naturalistic knowledge related to such practices, starting from the analysis of their archaeological environmental evidence and through the contributions of archaeology, archaeobotany, historical ecology and documentary research. The examples focus on traces, related mostly to multiple practices of management of agro-forestry-pastoral resources (grazed wooded grassland and grazed woodland, temporary agriculture and use of fire, permanent crops and

The identification of proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans in archaeological human bones and teeth.

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Yvette M Coulson-Thomas

Full Text Available Bone tissue is mineralized dense connective tissue consisting mainly of a mineral component (hydroxyapatite and an organic matrix comprised of collagens, non-collagenous proteins and proteoglycans (PGs. Extracellular matrix proteins and PGs bind tightly to hydroxyapatite which would protect these molecules from the destructive effects of temperature and chemical agents after death. DNA and proteins have been successfully extracted from archaeological skeletons from which valuable information has been obtained; however, to date neither PGs nor glycosaminoglycan (GAG chains have been studied in archaeological skeletons. PGs and GAGs play a major role in bone morphogenesis, homeostasis and degenerative bone disease. The ability to isolate and characterize PG and GAG content from archaeological skeletons would unveil valuable paleontological information. We therefore optimized methods for the extraction of both PGs and GAGs from archaeological human skeletons. PGs and GAGs were successfully extracted from both archaeological human bones and teeth, and characterized by their electrophoretic mobility in agarose gel, degradation by specific enzymes and HPLC. The GAG populations isolated were chondroitin sulfate (CS and hyaluronic acid (HA. In addition, a CSPG was detected. The localization of CS, HA, three small leucine rich PGs (biglycan, decorin and fibromodulin and glypican was analyzed in archaeological human bone slices. Staining patterns were different for juvenile and adult bones, whilst adolescent bones had a similar staining pattern to adult bones. The finding that significant quantities of PGs and GAGs persist in archaeological bones and teeth opens novel venues for the field of Paleontology.

Soil Scientific Research Methods Used in Archaeology – Promising Soil Biochemistry: a Mini-review

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Valerie Vranová

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This work seeks to review soil scientific methods that have been used and are still being used in archaeology. This review paper aims at emphasising the importance of soil science practice to archaeology thus adding a scientific analytical nature to the cultural nature of archaeology. Common methods (physical, chemical and biochemical used to analyse archaeological soils and artefacts is touched on and their strengths and shortcomings duly noted to become the base for future research. Furthermore, the authors made emphasis on distinctive excavating/sampling methods, biochemical analyses focused on distinctive features of plough-land and soil organic matter mineralization, Counter Immunoelectrophoresis (CEIP method by the presence of proteins testing, carbon analyses such as carbon-14 dating techniques, soil phosphorus studies and geochemical analyses of hematite Fe2O3 and cinnabaryte HgS contents. It is obvious that, the future of archaeology is in the soil because the soil harbours information of the past hence the synergy between soil and archaeological research has to be strengthened and archaeology made a prime agenda by soil scientists by expanding the analyses scope of total phosphorus extraction and giving attention to soil magnetism.

Genome flux and stasis in a five millennium transect of European prehistory.

Science.gov (United States)

Gamba, Cristina; Jones, Eppie R; Teasdale, Matthew D; McLaughlin, Russell L; Gonzalez-Fortes, Gloria; Mattiangeli, Valeria; Domboróczki, László; Kővári, Ivett; Pap, Ildikó; Anders, Alexandra; Whittle, Alasdair; Dani, János; Raczky, Pál; Higham, Thomas F G; Hofreiter, Michael; Bradley, Daniel G; Pinhasi, Ron

2014-10-21

The Great Hungarian Plain was a crossroads of cultural transformations that have shaped European prehistory. Here we analyse a 5,000-year transect of human genomes, sampled from petrous bones giving consistently excellent endogenous DNA yields, from 13 Hungarian Neolithic, Copper, Bronze and Iron Age burials including two to high (~22 × ) and seven to ~1 × coverage, to investigate the impact of these on Europe's genetic landscape. These data suggest genomic shifts with the advent of the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages, with interleaved periods of genome stability. The earliest Neolithic context genome shows a European hunter-gatherer genetic signature and a restricted ancestral population size, suggesting direct contact between cultures after the arrival of the first farmers into Europe. The latest, Iron Age, sample reveals an eastern genomic influence concordant with introduced Steppe burial rites. We observe transition towards lighter pigmentation and surprisingly, no Neolithic presence of lactase persistence.

3D Virtual Dig: a 3D Application for Teaching Fieldwork in Archaeology

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Paola Di Giuseppantonio Di Franco

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Archaeology is a material, embodied discipline; communicating this experience is critical to student success. In the context of lower-division archaeology courses, the present study examines the efficacy of 3D virtual and 2D archaeological representations of digs. This presentation aims to show a 3D application created to teach the archaeological excavation process to freshmen students. An archaeological environment was virtually re-created in 3D, and inserted in a virtual reality software application that allows users to work with the reconstructed excavation area. The software was tested in class for teaching the basics of archaeological fieldwork. The application interface is user-friendly and especially easy for 21st century students. The study employed a pre-survey, post-test, and post-survey design, used to understand the students' previous familiarity with archaeology, and test their awareness after the use of the application. Their level of knowledge was then compared with that of those students who had accessed written material only. This case-study demonstrates how a digital approach to laboratory work can positively affect student learning. Increased abilities to complete ill-defined problems (characteristic of the high-order thinking in the field, can, in fact, be demonstrated. 3D Virtual reconstruction serves, then, as an important bridge from traditional coursework to fieldwork.

Provenance studies of obsidians from Neolithic contexts in Southern Italy by IBA (Ion Beam Analysis) methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quarta, Gianluca; Maruccio, Lucio; Calcagnile, Lucio

2011-01-01

Obsidian samples recovered in archaeological contexts in Southern Italy were analysed by PIXE (Particle Induced X-ray Emission) and PIGE (Particle Induced Gamma Ray Emission) for the quantitative determination of both major and trace elements composition. The archaeological contexts were absolutely dated to the 5th millennium BC by mean of AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) radiocarbon dating analyses carried out on associated organic materials such as charcoal and human bones. The comparison of the compositional results obtained for the analysed samples with published data available for the known obsidian sources in the Mediterranean allowed to identify the sources of the raw material, giving an important contribution to the reconstruction of the ancient trade and exchange routes in Southern Italy prehistory.

Spells of History: Childe's Contribution to the European Identity Discourse

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Herdis Hølleland

2010-05-01

Full Text Available It is now ten years since the Council of Europe's grand art exhibition 'Gods and Heroes of the Bronze Age – Europe at the Time of Ulysses' toured Europe as a means to 'increase the awareness of the value and the significance of the archaeological heritage' of Europe (AH 2008. Presenting the 'first golden age' of Europe, the Bronze Age exhibition was one of the first steps towards a more defined European cultural politics. The campaign represented something new in European politics, but the idea of the Bronze Age as a golden age in European history is not new. This article draws attention to the archaeological heritage which enabled such an idea to be put forward: Childean prehistory.

Archaeological Feedback as a Research Methodology in Near-Surface Geophysics

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Maillol, J.; Ortega-Ramírez, J.; Berard, B.

2005-05-01

A unique characteristic of archaeological geophysics is to present the researchers in applied geophysics with the opportunity to verify their interpretation of geophysical data through the direct observation of often extremely detailed excavations. This is usually known as archaeological feedback. Archaeological materials have been slowly buried over periods ranging from several hundreds to several thousands of years, undergoing natural sedimentary and soil-forming processes. Once excavated, archaeological features therefore constitute more realistic test subjects than the targets artifically buried in common geophysical test sites. We are presenting the outcome of several such verification tests aimed at clarifying issues in geometry and spatial resolution of ground penetrating radar (GPR) images. On the site of a Roman villa in SE Portugal 500 Mhz GPR images are shown to depict very accurately the position and geometry of partially excavated remains. In the Maya city of Palenque, Mexico, 900 Mhz data allows the depth of tombs and natural cavities to be determined with cm accuracy. The predicted lateral extent of the cavities is more difficult to match with the reality due to the cluttering caused by high frequency. In the rainforest of Western Africa, 500 MHz GPR was used to prospect for stone tool sites. When very careful positioning and high density data sampling is achieved, stones can be accurately located and retrieved at depths exceeding 1 m with maximum positioning errors of 12cm horizontally and 2 cm vertically. In more difficult data collection conditions however, errors in positioning are shown to actually largely exceed the predictions based on quantitative theoretical resolution considerations. Geophysics has long been recognized as a powerful tool for prospecting and characterizing archaeological sites. Reciprocally, these results show that archaeology is an unparalleled test environment for the assesment and development of high resolution

Switching To Digital Tools: heritage Evaluation For Preventive Archaeology in Hungary

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Máté Stibrányi

2017-03-01

Full Text Available During the last decade in Hungary, preliminary operations for large-scale archaeological excavations have became more and more important: the stakeholders have realised that it is cost-effective to spend more on the assessment phase rather than incurring higher expenditure because of problems related to an ill-planned project. Thorough knowledge of the size and characteristics of archaeological sites can largely contribute to the protection of the cultural heritage, as well as saving time and money. From 2011 Preliminary Archaeological Evaluations have been a mandatory part of the permission process of large-scale constructions (that is to say, a total minimum cost of c.1,600,000 EUR. These evaluations consist of desktop studies (such as analyses of historical documents and maps, as well as field investigations with a budget of 0.35% of the total construction cost. The goal is to make precise archaeological project plans, and to assess the optimal mitigation process. The Forster Centre – and its predecessor – has been responsible for the coordination and execution of preventive archaeological evaluations since 2013. During that time we have established and tested a GIS-based method which has been effective in large-scale investments and which – due to financial constraints – relies greatly on non-invasive methods as tools to help our investigation strategies. Our current strategy relies on three interdependent tasks: GIS-based field surveys, large-scale magnetometer surveys and targeted trial excavations. The scale of our tasks is challenging and demanding at the same time: the investigation of large areas with various methods gives us substantial and reliable datasets on the archaeological landscape. Collecting and comparing these GIS-based datasets on a nationwide scale gives us an opportunity to determine the most effective methods to identify and protect the archaeological heritage. One of the most promising opportunities is to

Social use of metal from the Late Chalcolithic to the Early Bronze Age in the Upper Euphrates Valley

OpenAIRE

Stork, Leigh A.

2013-01-01

Previous work on the early use of metal draws heavily upon the work of V. Gordon Childe, particularly his 1944 ‘Archaeological ages as technological stages’ article which outlined the development and social impact of metal in prehistory. Subsequent work, especially in the European paradigm, in the field of archaeometallurgy and material culture studies of metal have been oriented towards the typological definition and description of metal objects and how these typologies changed over time. Ra...

archAR: an archaeological augmented reality experience

Science.gov (United States)

Wiley, Bridgette; Schulze, Jürgen P.

2015-03-01

We present an application for Android phones or tablets called "archAR" that uses augmented reality as an alternative, portable way of viewing archaeological information from UCSD's Levantine Archaeology Laboratory. archAR provides a unique experience of flying through an archaeological dig site in the Levantine area and exploring the artifacts uncovered there. Using a Google Nexus tablet and Qualcomm's Vuforia API, we use an image target as a map and overlay a three-dimensional model of the dig site onto it, augmenting reality such that we are able to interact with the plotted artifacts. The user can physically move the Android device around the image target and see the dig site model from any perspective. The user can also move the device closer to the model in order to "zoom" into the view of a particular section of the model and its associated artifacts. This is especially useful, as the dig site model and the collection of artifacts are very detailed. The artifacts are plotted as points, colored by type. The user can touch the virtual points to trigger a popup information window that contains details of the artifact, such as photographs, material descriptions, and more.

TOF neutron diffraction study of archaeological ceramics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kockelmann, W.; Kirfel, A.

1999-01-01

Complete text of publication follows. The time-of flight (TOF) neutron diffractometer ROTAX [1] at ISIS has been used for identification and quantitative phase analysis of archaeological pottery. Neutron diffraction yields mineral phase fractions which, in parallel with information obtained from other archaeometric examination techniques, can provide a fingerprint that can be used to identify provenance and reconstruct methods of manufacturing of an archaeological ceramic product. Phase fractions obtained from a 13th century Rhenish stoneware jar compare well with those obtained from a powder sample prepared from the same fragment. This indicates that reliable results can be obtained by illuminating a large piece or even an intact ceramic object making TOF neutron diffraction a truly non-destructive examination technique. In comparison to X-ray diffraction, information from the bulk sample rather than from surface regions is obtained. ROTAX allows for a simple experimental set-up, free of sample movements. Programmes of archaeological study on ROTAX involve Russian samples (Upper-Volga culture, 5000-2000 BC), Greek pottery, (Agora/Athens, 500-300 BC), and medieval German earthenware and stoneware ceramics (Siegburg waster heap, 13-15th century). (author)

Contextualising Archaeological Information Through Interactive Maps

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Ian Johnson

2002-09-01

Full Text Available Many web sites use maps delivered as non-interactive images. With the development of web-enabled mapping, new methods of presenting and contextualising archaeological and historical data are becoming available. However, most current examples are static views of contemporary framework data or specific time slices, and do not provide interactivity relating to the time dimension, which is so important to archaeology and related disciplines. In this article I look at some of the advantages of time-enabled interactive mapping and map animation in providing educational experiences to museum visitors and the web-browsing public. These will be illustrated through three example applications of the TimeMap methodology developed at the University of Sydney Archaeological Computing Laboratory: 1. the Sydney TimeMap kiosk at the Museum of Sydney; 2. an embedded Java mapping applet developed for MacquarieNet, a major Australian online educational encyclopaedia; and 3. the metadata clearinghouse mapping applet developed for the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative, Berkeley. In each of these examples, a wide range of resources are delivered through a time-enabled map interface which accesses live database data rather than pre-structured curated presentations of data. This flexibility brings its own challenges in providing intuitive pathways and appropriate levels of detail in response to free-ranging user enquiries. The paper outlines some of the approaches I have adopted to resolve these issues.

Lumbreras and Peruvian Prehistory: A Retrospective View from Junin

OpenAIRE

Browman, David L.

2008-01-01

Research in Peru’s Mantaro Valley is featured in the earliest published work of archaeologist Luis Guillermo Lumbreras. The developing elucidation of the archaeology of the Jauja-Huancayo area is employed in this paper as a way of tracing some of the origins of the major intellectual facets that later characterized Lumbreras’ contributions to Andean research. To set the stage for this appreciation, we need to understand the state of knowledge of the area when Lumbreras began his work there in...

Archaeological analogs and corrosion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

David, D.

2008-01-01

In the framework of the high level and long life radioactive wastes disposal deep underground, the ANDRA built a research program on the material corrosion. In particular they aim to design containers for a very long time storage. Laboratory experiments are in progress and can be completed by the analysis of metallic archaeological objects and their corrosion after hundred years. (A.L.B.)

Steps Towards Operationalising an Evolutionary Archaeological Definition of Culture

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Riede, Felix

2011-01-01

This paper examines the definition of archaeological cultures/techno-complexes from an evolutionary perspective, in which culture is defined as a system of social information transmission. A formal methodology is presented through which the concept of a culture can be operationalised, at least...... within this approach. It has already been argued that in order to study material culture evolution in a manner similar to how palaeontologists study biological change over time, we need explicitly constructed archaeological taxonomic units . In palaeontology, the definition of such taxonomic units ? most...... are constructed, it is possible to define an archaeological culture at any given point in this hierarchy, depending on the scale of analysis. A brief example from the Late Glacial in Southern Scandinavia is presented, and it is shown that this approach can be used to operationalise an evolutionary definition...

The megalithic complex of highland Jambi: An archaeological perspective

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Mai Lin Tjoa-Bonatz

2008-12-01

Full Text Available The highlands of Sumatra remain one of the most neglected regions of insular Southeast Asia in terms of history and archaeology. No comprehensive research program incorporating both a survey and excavations within a defined geographical or environmental zone has been carried out there since Van der Hoop (1932 conducted his study of the megaliths on the Pasemah plateau in the 1930s. Meanwhile, Van der Hoop’s investigations and several other archaeological research activities at places such as northwest Lampung (McKinnon 1993, Pasemah (Sukendar and Sukidjo 1983-84; Caldwell 1997; Kusumawati and Sukendar 2000, Kerinci (Laporan 1995a, 1996a, and the Minangkabau heartland (Miksic 1986, 1987, 2004 have placed special emphasis on the megalithic remains. As a result, the megaliths are by far the bestknown archaeological attraction of the Sumatran highlands.

Prehistory of the southern Bahariya Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt. An outline

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Svoboda, Jiří

2006-01-01

Roč. 7, č. 28 (2006), s. 18-30 ISSN 1563-0110. [Early Human Habitation of Central, North and East Asia. Archaeological and Paleoecological Aspects. Gorny Altai, 16.08.2005-25.08.2005] Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z80010507 Keywords : Acheulian * Middle Paleolithic * Epipaleolithic * Bahariya * Egypt Subject RIV: AC - Archeology, Anthropology, Ethnology

Rachel Crellin, Chris Fowler and Richard Tipping, eds. Prehistory without Borders: The Prehistoric Archaeology of the Tyne-Forth Region ( : Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2016, 244 pp., 124 b/w figs, 19 tables, hbk, ISBN 978-1-78-570199-3)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Arnoldussen, Stijn

2017-01-01

Borders, in the sense of modern geopolitical boundaries, have no bearing on prehistoric realities, yet they do affect archaeology as a discipline―particularly when one is committed to thinking, working, and writing on regions that transcend administrative limits, whether regional or national. While

Scales of Memory in the Archaeology of the Second World War

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Gabriel Moshenska

2006-11-01

Full Text Available The growing interest in archaeologies of the recent past has included attempts to link archaeology with memory in its various forms but has lacked a coherent theoretical and methodological approach. This paper outlines a model for engaging with memory in the archaeology of the Second World War, drawing on recent work in memory studies and oral history. One of the principal pitfalls in memory work is the conflation and confusion of individual and social memory: in this paper I attempt to identify and outline different forms or scales of memory: individual memory, group narratives, and social memorialisation. If we distinguish between these models in relation to Second World War archaeological sites we can assess their accuracy and usefulness and begin to trace the intricate power relations implicit in memory work. The sites in question, a Nazi prison in Berlin and a Prisoner of War camp in Poland, illustrate the contested and highly politicised nature of memory-based work and archaeological studies of this period. By opening up such sites to the popular gaze, archaeologists have the power to bring these debates into the public sphere, potentially undermining the hegemony of officially sanctioned memory and making the production of meaningful pasts a more inclusive process.

Communicating Archaeological Risk with Web-Based Virtual Reality: A Case Study

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Giacomo Landeschi

2011-12-01

Full Text Available In the last decade 3D technologies have become very effective and are widely used for managing and interpreting archaeological data. A better way to perceive, understand and communicate Cultural Heritage has been achieved through VR applications, which have enabled archaeologists to make both reconstructions of original landscapes and to put artefacts in their original context. Furthermore, the exponential growth of the Web has led to a massive availability of digital content, even in the field of Cultural Heritage, that can be accessed in an easier and more intuitive manner by a broader audience. The case study presented here is designed to demonstrate the potential importance of Web3D technologies for communicating specific research aspects, such as the ones connected to the GIS-based spatial analysis applied to the archaeological landscape. To this end, a research project was undertaken in order to get a final predictive model for detecting archaeological presence in an area of the Pisa coastal plain, implemented in a Web-orientated Virtual Reality system. The end-user is able to navigate the model in real-time and observe different thematic layers, such as the distribution of the archaeological sites, maps of lithology, land use and, finally, the assessment of the archaeological risk.

Potassium-argon dating in archaeology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McDougall, I. (Australian National Univ., Canberra (Australia). Research School of Earth Sciences)

1990-01-01

The potassium-argon (K-Ar) isotopic dating method can provide precise and accurate numerical ages on suitable rocks, especially igneous rocks, over a wide range of age from less than 100,000 years old, with no older limit. Together with its variants, the {sup 40}Ar/{sup 39}Ar technique, the K-Ar method is very useful for the numerical age calibration of stratigraphic sequences, including those containing archaeological or fossil material, in cases where appropriate rocks for dating are present. This brief review of the basis of the K-Ar dating method and the underlying assumptions, concludes with an example of its application to the Plio-Pleistocene stratigraphic sequence in the Turkana Basin, northern Kenya. By dating alkali feldspars separated from pumice blocks in tuffaceous beds, excellent age control has been obtained for the wealth of vertebrate fossils, including hominids, as well as archaeological materials that has been found in the sequence. (author).

Archaeological Investigations at the Upper Chapel, Norfolk Street, Sheffield, UK

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Katherine Baker

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Sheffield, in the north of England, grew rapidly in the 19th century and gained an international reputation for its cutlery, tableware, and steel products. The material legacy of this age of industrialisation is extensive, and archaeological work in the modern city over the last 20 years has, for the most part, focused on the above and below ground industrial archaeology relating to metals trades' production sites spanning the 19th and 20th centuries. This article describes recent archaeological work around the Upper Chapel, a Unitarian Meeting House in the city centre where archaeological work recovered a possible buried medieval soil deposit, which contained an assemblage of medieval pottery dating from the 12th to 15th centuries. The presence of waster sherds and fragments of kiln furniture within this assemblage suggests that pottery production may have taken place on or near the site, making this the first putative evidence for pottery production in medieval Sheffield. The archaeological investigations also recovered four human burials from the 18th- to 19th-century burial ground associated with the Upper Chapel. The Upper Chapel burial ground differs from other recently excavated cemeteries in Sheffield as it potentially contained graves of high-status individuals, with at least a proportion of the skeletons and coffins well-preserved owing to waterlogged ground conditions. Detailed studies of the human remains, coffins, and incorporated material, including brass shroud pins are also discussed.

Archaeological obsidian from La Sierra Gorda Mexico, by PIXE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Juarez-Cossio, D.; Terreros, E.; Quiroz-Moreno, J.; Romero-Sanchez, S.; Calligaro, T.F.; Tenorio, D.; Jimenez-Reyes, M.; Los Rios, M. de

2009-01-01

The chemical compositions of 42 obsidian pre-Hispanic artifacts from Tancama and Purisima, both archaeological sites of La Sierra Gorda Valleys, Mexico, were analyzed by PIXE technique. These obsidians came from four sources: Sierra de Pachuca Hidalgo, Paraiso Queretaro, Ucareo Michoacan and mainly from Zacualtipan/Metzquititlan Hidalgo. According to archaeological evidences, La Sierra Gorda valleys participated in commercial exchange with other regional sites, from Classic to Post-classic periods (A.D. 300-1500).

Satellite SAR data assessment for Silk Road archaeological prospection

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Fulong; Lasaponara, Rosa; Masini, Nicola; Yang, Ruixia

2015-04-01

The development of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) in terms of multi-band, multi-polarization and high-resolution data, favored the application of this technology also in archaeology [1]. Different approaches based on both single and multitemporal data analysis, exploiting the backscattering and the penetration of radar data, have been used for a number of archaeological sites and landscapes [2-5]. Nevertheless, the capability of this technology in archaeological applications has so far not been fully assessed. It lacks a contribution aimed at evaluating the potential of SAR technology for the same study area by using different bands, spatial resolutions and data processing solutions. In the framework of the Chinese-Italian bilateral project "Smart management of cultural heritage sites in Italy and China: Earth Observation and pilot projects", we addressed some pioneering investigations to assess multi-mode (multi-band, temporal, resolution) satellite SAR data (including X-band TerraSAR, C-band Envisat and L-band ALOS PALSAR) in archaeological prospection of the Silk road [6]. The Silk Road, a series of trade and cultural transmission routes connecting China to Europe, is the witness of civilization and friendship between the East and West dated back to 2000 years ago, that left us various relics (e.g. lost cities) to be uncovered and investigated.. In particular, the assessment has been performed in the Xinjiang and Gansu section pf the Silk Road focusing on : i) the subsurface penetration capability of SAR data in the arid and semi-arid region ii) and sensitivity of SAR imaging geometry for the detection of relics As regards the point i) , apart from the soil moisture, the penetration is seriously restricted by the soil porosity. For instance, negligible penetration signs were detected in Yumen Frontier Pass either using X- or L-band SAR data due to the occurrence of Yardang landscape. As regards the point ii), the flight path of SAR images in parallel with the

Methodological remarks on studying prehistoric Greek religion

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Petra Pakkanen

1999-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a methodological approach to the study of Greek religion of the period which lacks written documents, i.e. prehistory. The assumptions and interpretations of religion of that time have to be based on archaeological material. How do we define religion and cultic activity on the basis of primary archaeological material from this period, and which are the methodological tools for this difficult task? By asking questions on the nature and definition of religion and culture scholars of religion have provided us with some methodological apparatus to approach religion of the past in general, but there are models developed by archaeologists as well. Critical combination of these methodological tools leads to the best possible result. Archaeology studies the material culture of the past. History of religion studies the spiritual culture of the past. In the background the two have important theoretical and even philosophical speculations since they both deal with meanings (of things or practices and with interpretation.

Computer Simulation of Multidimensional Archaeological Artefacts

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Vera Moitinho de Almeida

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The main purpose of this ongoing research is to understand possible function(s of archaeological artefacts through Reverse Engineering processes. In addition, we intend to provide new data, as well as possible explications of the archaeological record according to what it expects about social activities and working processes, by simulating the potentialities of such actions in terms of input-output relationships. Our project focuses on the Neolithic lakeside site of La Draga (Banyoles, Catalonia. In this presentation we will begin by providing a clear overview of the major guidelines used to capture and process 3D digital data of several wooden artefacts. Then, we shall present the use of semi-automated relevant feature extractions. Finally, we intend to share preliminary computer simulation issues.

Arthur Posnansky y su Obsesion Milenaria. Biografia lntelectual de un Pionero, by Carlos Ponce Sangines, 1994, La Paz: Producciones Cima

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David L. Browman

1995-11-01

Full Text Available Ponce proposes to develop an intellectual history of Posnansky, whom many view as the father of Bolivian archaeology, which he hopes will contribute to the establishment of context for the development of local prehistory. However, for the most part, the volume serves more as a foil for Ponce to refer to his own work and publications, as they update, contradict, and improve on the earlier archaeological reconstructions of Posnansky. Arthur Posnansky (1873-1946 was an important contributor to Bolivian culture history, being not only a pioneer in Bolivian archaeology, but also in Bolivian cinematography, in the development of the national park system, and in the introduction of the first automobile into Bolivia. He was trained as a naval engineer in his native Vienna, a skill which he quickly parlayed into a fortune in Bolivia in the rubber boom, in terms of transporting the latex by river transport. With the loss of Arce to Brazil in 1903, he shifted his focus to other fields. He brought the first gasoline-powered motorboat to Lake Titicaca that year, and while visiting the excavations of the French Crequi-Montfort and Senechal de La Grange Mission, under the direction of George Courty, during trips to the lake, he became very intrigued with the site of Tiwanaku and its place in Bolivian prehistory. Posnansky shortly thereafter began his extensive collection of material artifacts from Tiwanaku, constructing the -"Palacio Tihuanacu" in 1917-1918 to house the stela, ceramics and other materials which he collected. This structure and its collections were subsequently sold to the state, becoming the current Museo Nacional de Arqueologia.

77 FR 46120 - Notice of Inventory Completion: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-08-02

... Inventory Completion: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA... Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. The human remains and associated..., Repatriation Coordinator, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue...

76 FR 62842 - Notice of Inventory Completion: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-11

...: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard... the human remains may contact the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University...

76 FR 28072 - Notice of Inventory Completion: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-05-13

...: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, PA AGENCY: National Park... in the possession of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology... remains was made by University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology professional staff...

Identification Of Natural Dyes On Archaeological Textile Objects Using Laser Induced Fluorescent Technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdel-Kareem, O.; Eltokhy, A.; Harith, M. A.

2011-01-01

This study aims to evaluate the use of Laser Fluorescent as a non-destructive technique for identification of natural dyes on archaeological textile objects. In this study wool textile samples were dyed with 10 natural dyes such as cochineal, cutch, henna, indigo, Lac, madder, safflower, saffron, sumac and turmeric. These dyes common present on archaeological textile objects to be used as standard dyed textile samples. These selected natural dyes will be used as known references that can be used a guide to identify unknown archaeological dyes. The dyed textile samples were investigated with laser radiation in different wavelengths to detect the best wavelengths for identification each dye. This study confirms that Laser Florescent is very useful and a rapid technique can be used as a non-destructive technique for identification of natural dyes on archaeological textile objects. The results obtained with this study can be a guide for all conservators in identification of natural organic dyes on archaeological textile objects.

Identification Of Natural Dyes On Archaeological Textile Objects Using Laser Induced Fluorescent Technique

Science.gov (United States)

Abdel-Kareem, O.; Eltokhy, A.; Harith, M. A.

2011-09-01

This study aims to evaluate the use of Laser Fluorescent as a non-destructive technique for identification of natural dyes on archaeological textile objects. In this study wool textile samples were dyed with 10 natural dyes such as cochineal, cutch, henna, indigo, Lac, madder, safflower, saffron, sumac and turmeric. These dyes common present on archaeological textile objects to be used as standard dyed textile samples. These selected natural dyes will be used as known references that can be used a guide to identify unknown archaeological dyes. The dyed textile samples were investigated with laser radiation in different wavelengths to detect the best wavelengths for identification each dye. This study confirms that Laser Florescent is very useful and a rapid technique can be used as a non-destructive technique for identification of natural dyes on archaeological textile objects. The results obtained with this study can be a guide for all conservators in identification of natural organic dyes on archaeological textile objects.

Excavations in 2014 at Wade Street, Bristol - a documentary and archaeological analysis

OpenAIRE

Nick Corcos; Kamal Badreshany; Alejandra Gutiérrez; Rachel Heaton; Lorrain Higbee; Sarah Newns; Rachel Tyson

2017-01-01

A staged programme of historical research and archaeological fieldwork, involving a desk-based assessment in 2000 (Smith and Erskine 2000), an evaluation in 2013 (Mason 2013), and an excavation followed by a watching brief in 2014, the latter two by Avon Archaeology Ltd, was undertaken in order to mitigate the archaeological impact of a proposed residential development on a site of 1,260m² at the corner and on the north-west side of Little Anne Street and Wade Street, St Jude’s, Bristol. The ...

78 FR 19301 - Notice of Inventory Completion: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-03-29

...-PPWOCRADN0] Notice of Inventory Completion: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology... Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology has completed an inventory of human remains, in... Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Repatriation of the human remains to the Indian tribes stated...

Archaeology as an Avocation--A Certificate Program at Norwalk Community College.

Science.gov (United States)

Vlahos, Olivia

1979-01-01

Archaeology as an Avocation program certifies students as competent amateur archaeologists. The article describes how an independent study at local excavation sites grew into a community club that trains its members as archaeologists who help discover the archaeological potential of the community and help federal agencies in planning area…

C S Smith and the Prehistory of the Solid State 5 -6 ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

of European metallurgical technologies during a short span of history, because he ... ruvian Bronzes from Machu Picchu" in the American Journal of. Science. Smith often ... in Smith's Laboratory for Research on Archaeological Materials at MIT. .... two degree-granting academic programs for the department: a bachelor of ...

The application of geophysical methods to archaeological prospection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Linford, Neil [Geophysics Team, English Heritage, Fort Cumberland, Eastney, Portsmouth PO4 9LD (United Kingdom)

2006-07-15

The aim of this review is to combine the almost universal fascination we share for our past with the comparatively recent, in archaeological terms, application of geophysical prospection methods. For their success, each of these methods relies upon a physical contrast to exist between the buried archaeological feature and the properties of the surrounding subsoil. Understanding the archaeological origin of such physical contrasts, in terms of density, thermal conductivity, electrical resistance, magnetic or dielectric properties, remains fundamental to an appreciation of the discipline. This review provides a broad introduction to the subject area acknowledging the historical development of the discipline and discusses each of the major techniques in turn: earth resistance, magnetic and electromagnetic methods (including ground penetrating radar), together with an appreciation of more esoteric approaches, such as the use of micro-gravity survey to detect buried chambers and voids. The physical principles and field instrumentation involved for the acquisition of data with each method are considered and fully illustrated with case histories of results from the English Heritage archives.

The application of geophysical methods to archaeological prospection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Linford, Neil

2006-01-01

The aim of this review is to combine the almost universal fascination we share for our past with the comparatively recent, in archaeological terms, application of geophysical prospection methods. For their success, each of these methods relies upon a physical contrast to exist between the buried archaeological feature and the properties of the surrounding subsoil. Understanding the archaeological origin of such physical contrasts, in terms of density, thermal conductivity, electrical resistance, magnetic or dielectric properties, remains fundamental to an appreciation of the discipline. This review provides a broad introduction to the subject area acknowledging the historical development of the discipline and discusses each of the major techniques in turn: earth resistance, magnetic and electromagnetic methods (including ground penetrating radar), together with an appreciation of more esoteric approaches, such as the use of micro-gravity survey to detect buried chambers and voids. The physical principles and field instrumentation involved for the acquisition of data with each method are considered and fully illustrated with case histories of results from the English Heritage archives

Out of the archaeologist's desk drawer: communicating archaeological data online

Science.gov (United States)

Abate, D.; David, M.

2015-08-01

During archaeological field work a huge amount of data is collected, processed and elaborated for further studies and scientific publications. However, access and communication of linked data; associated tools for interrogation, analysis and sharing are often limited at the first stage of the archaeological research, mainly due to issues related to IPR. Information is often released months if not years after the fieldwork. Nowadays great deal of archaeological data is `born digital' in the field or lab. This means databases, pictures and 3D models of finds and excavation contexts could be available for public communication and sharing. Researchers usually restrict access to their data to a small group of people. It follows that data sharing is not so widespread among archaeologists, and dissemination of research is still mostly based on traditional pre-digital means like scientific papers, journal articles and books. This project has implemented a web approach for sharing and communication purposes, exploiting mainly open source technologies which allow a high level of interactivity. The case study presented is the newly Mithraeum excavated in Ostia Antica archaeological site in the framework of the Ostia Marina Project.

Trading Shovels for Controllers: A Brief Exploration of the Portrayal of Archaeology in Video Games

OpenAIRE

Reinhard, Andrew; Meyers Emery, Kathryn

2016-01-01

Archaeology has been a persistent theme for video games, from the long-running Indiana Jones and Lara Croft franchises to more recent uses of archaeology in games like Destiny and World of Warcraft. In these games, archaeology is often portrayed as a search for treasure among lost worlds that leads to looting and the destruction of cultural heritage. In this article, we review the current state of archaeological video games, including mainstream and educational games. While this is not an exh...

New Zealand archaeology professional development cell

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Phillips, C.; Low, M.

2015-01-01

In March 2006, the NZAA Council hosted a workshop in Wellington for consulting archaeologists to debate issues relating to professionalism and accreditation within the professional consulting archaeological community. Topics covered included radiocarbon dating, calibration and interpretation of dates.

Modelling past land use using archaeological and pollen data

Science.gov (United States)

Pirzamanbein, Behnaz; Lindström, johan; Poska, Anneli; Gaillard-Lemdahl, Marie-José

2016-04-01

Accurate maps of past land use are necessary for studying the impact of anthropogenic land-cover changes on climate and biodiversity. We develop a Bayesian hierarchical model to reconstruct the land use using Gaussian Markov random fields. The model uses two observations sets: 1) archaeological data, representing human settlements, urbanization and agricultural findings; and 2) pollen-based land estimates of the three land-cover types Coniferous forest, Broadleaved forest and Unforested/Open land. The pollen based estimates are obtained from the REVEALS model, based on pollen counts from lakes and bogs. Our developed model uses the sparse pollen-based estimations to reconstruct the spatial continuous cover of three land cover types. Using the open-land component and the archaeological data, the extent of land-use is reconstructed. The model is applied on three time periods - centred around 1900 CE, 1000 and, 4000 BCE over Sweden for which both pollen-based estimates and archaeological data are available. To estimate the model parameters and land use, a block updated Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm is applied. Using the MCMC posterior samples uncertainties in land-use predictions are computed. Due to lack of good historic land use data, model results are evaluated by cross-validation. Keywords. Spatial reconstruction, Gaussian Markov random field, Fossil pollen records, Archaeological data, Human land-use, Prediction uncertainty

Review of On the Theory and Practice of Archaeological Computing [Book

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julian D. Richards

2001-01-01

Full Text Available It might seem rather old-fashioned that, at the start of the new millennium, a book on archaeological computing should be published solely in traditional hard copy format. However, whilst the black-and-white screen shots would no doubt have been improved by colour representation, this book generally succeeds as a paper volume. That it does so is due, at least in part, to the fact that the emphasis is not so much on the technology and how to do it, but rather on how the technology affects the discipline, justifying Internet Archaeology to vary its normal policy of only reviewing electronic publications. The book began as a conference session on the impact of computers on archaeological theory and practice, held at the 4th World Archaeological Congress in Cape Town in January 1999. It comprises nine papers, plus a short introduction by the editors, in which they note that their volume needs to be seen in the tradition of Cooper and Richards (1985 and Reilly and Rahtz (1992, rather than the more methodological and positivist approach adopted by many of the papers published in the annual proceedings of the Computer Applications in Archaeology (CAA Conference. That some eight years have passed since the last survey indicates how timely this latest analysis is.

Auditory Ossicles in Archaeological Skeletal Material from Medieval Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Qvist, M; Grøntved, A M

2000-01-01

Auditory ossicles were collected from two skeletal materials from early medieval Denmark. A total of 147 and 1,162 ossicles were obtained from the 2 materials, constituting 23% and 55% of the possible in vivo ossicles. The numbers and percentages found are among the highest reported from studies...... of archaeological skeletal material. Archaeological ossicles may be used in palaeopathological evaluation of chronic otitis media and otosclerosis, and morphometric studies of the ossicles might be valuable in analysis of population genetics and taxonomy....

Freud and history before 1905: from defending to questioning the theory of a glorious past.

Science.gov (United States)

Cotti, Patricia

2008-01-01

By sticking closely to Freud's use of the German term Geschichte (history, story) between 1894 and 1905, I will reveal two conceptions of history. The first one, the theory of the glorious past and its archaeological metaphor, which accompanied and sustained the seduction theory of cultural history. I will define how this change was determined by an evolution in Freud's conceptions of childhood prehistory and original history. I will also question how the history problem interfered with Freud's auto-analysis.

Late neolithic pottery standardization: Application of statistical analyses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vuković Jasna

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This paper defines the notion of standardization, presents the methodological approach to analysis, points to the problems and limitation arising in examination of materials from archaeological excavations, and presents the results of the analysis of coefficients of variation of metric parameters of the Late Neolithic vessels recovered at the sites of Vinča and Motel Slatina. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177012: Society, the spiritual and material culture and communications in prehistory and early history of the Balkans

Shouldering the past: Photography, archaeology, and collective effort at the tomb of Tutankhamun.

Science.gov (United States)

Riggs, Christina

2017-09-01

Photographing archaeological labor was routine on Egyptian and other Middle Eastern sites during the colonial period and interwar years. Yet why and how such photographs were taken is rarely discussed in literature concerned with the history of archaeology, which tends to take photography as given if it considers it at all. This paper uses photographs from the first two seasons of work at the tomb of Tutankhamun (1922-4) to show that photography contributed to discursive strategies that positioned archaeology as a scientific practice - both in the public presentation of well-known sites and in the self-presentation of archaeologists to themselves and each other. Since the subjects of such photographs are often indigenous laborers working together or with foreign excavators, I argue that the representation of fieldwork through photography allows us to theorize colonial archaeology as a collective activity, albeit one inherently based on asymmetrical power relationships. Through photographs, we can access the affective and embodied experiences that collective effort in a colonial context involved, bringing into question standard narratives of the history and epistemology of archaeology.

77 FR 59968 - Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Stanford University Archaeology Center, Stanford, CA

Science.gov (United States)

2012-10-01

... Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Stanford University Archaeology Center, Stanford, CA AGENCY... the cultural items may contact the Stanford University Archaeology Center. DATES: Representatives of... to repatriate cultural items in the possession of the Stanford University Archaeology Center that...

Nuclear prehistory influence on transfer velocity of 54Mn impurity 'hot' atoms in irradiated metallic iron

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alekseev, I.E.

2007-01-01

Influence of nuclear prehistory on transfer velocity of 54 Mn impurity 'hot'-atoms - got by different nuclear channels: 56 Fe(d, α), 54 Fe(n,p) in irradiated metallic iron - is studied. Irradiation of targets were carried out in U-120 accelerator (energy range 7.3/5.3 MeV, deuteron beam current makes up 5 μA). Mean density of thermal neutron (WWR-M reactor) makes up 8.6·10 13 neutron·cm -2 ·s -1 . It is shown, that transfer velocity of 54 Mn 'hot' atoms is defining by rate of radiation damage of targets in the irradiation process at that a key importance has a bombarding particles type applied for radioactive label getting

AIRBORNE LASER BATHYMETRY FOR DOCUMENTATION OF SUBMERGED ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN SHALLOW WATER

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Doneus

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Knowledge of underwater topography is essential to the understanding of the organisation and distribution of archaeological sites along and in water bodies. Special attention has to be paid to intertidal and inshore zones where, due to sea-level rise, coastlines have changed and many former coastal sites are now submerged in shallow water. Mapping the detailed inshore topography is therefore important to reconstruct former coastlines, identify sunken archaeological structures and locate potential former harbour sites. However, until recently archaeology has lacked suitable methods to provide the required topographical data of shallow underwater bodies. Our research shows that airborne topo-bathymetric laser scanner systems are able to measure surfaces above and below the water table over large areas in high detail using very short and narrow green laser pulses, even revealing sunken archaeological structures in shallow water. Using an airborne laser scanner operating at a wavelength in the green visible spectrum (532 nm two case study areas in different environmental settings (Kolone, Croatia, with clear sea water; Lake Keutschach, Austria, with turbid water were scanned. In both cases, a digital model of the underwater topography with a planimetric resolution of a few decimeters was measured. While in the clear waters of Kolone penetration depth was up to 11 meters, turbid Lake Keutschach allowed only to document the upper 1.6 meters of its underwater topography. Our results demonstrate the potential of this technique to map submerged archaeological structures over large areas in high detail providing the possibility for systematic, large scale archaeological investigation of this environment.

Analyses of archaeological pottery samples using X-ray fluorescence technique for provenance study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tamilarasu, S.; Swain, K.K.; Singhal, R.K; Reddy, A.V.R.; Acharya, R.; Velraj, G.

2015-01-01

Archaeological artifacts reveal information on past human activities, artifact preparation technology, art and possible trade. Ceramics are the most stable and abundant material in archaeological context. Pottery is the most abundant tracers in all archaeological excavations. Compared to major elements, elements present at trace concentrations levels are source specific and they maintain same concentration levels in source clay as well as finished products e.g., fired clay potteries. As it is difficult to find out exact source or origin, provenance study is carried out first to establish whether objects under study are from the same or different sources/origin. Various analytical techniques like instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), Ion beam analysis (IBA) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) have been used for obtaining elemental concentrations in archaeological potteries. Portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometry provides a non-destructive means for elemental characterization of a wide range of archaeological materials. Ten archaeological pottery samples were collected from Kottapuram, Kerala under the supervision of archaeological survey of India. Portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometry using a handheld Olympus Innov-X Delta XRF device, ACD BARC, has been used for chemical characterization of the pottery samples. The instrument is equipped with the Delta Rhodium (Rh) anode X-Ray tube and uses a Silicon Drift Detector (resolution <200 eV at 5.95 keV Mn Kα X-ray). NIST 2781 SRM was analyzed for quality control purpose. Ten elements namely Fe, Ti, Mn, Co, Cu, Zn, Pb, Zr, Mo and Se were chosen for cluster analysis and their concentration values were utilized for multivariate statistical analysis using WinSTAT 9.0

On some mechanisms of the effect of thermal prehistory on the behavior of silicon parameters under irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nejmash, V.B.; Sagan, T.R.; Tsmots', V.M.; Shakhovtsov, V.I.; Shindich, V.L.

1991-01-01

The effect of preliminary thermal treatment (TT) in 400-1200 degC temperature range on the behavior of Si monocrystal parameters under subsequent γ-, electron and neutron irradiation is investigated. Five mechanisms of Si thermal prehistory effect on its properties are proposed: 1) decomposition of solid solutions of impurities interacting with radiation defects (RD); 2) formation of electrically active thermal defects (TD) in concentrations wich are sufficient for a significant alteration of RD charged state; 3) origination of TD, which can efficiency as aresult of the redistribution of impurities under thermal treatment; 5) formation of clusters of electrically active TD, resulting in the disturbance of electric homogeneity of Si crystal

The Archaeology of Smuggling and the Falmouth King's Pipe

Science.gov (United States)

Willis, Sam

2009-06-01

This article demonstrates the potential of an historical archaeology of smuggling and the value of an interdisciplinary approach to the study of smuggling and its prevention. By exploring the previously unstudied history of the King’s Pipe in Falmouth, a large chimney used for the destruction of tobacco, a rare survivor of many that once existed in England’s port cities, it demonstrates that archaeology could transform our understanding of smuggling and its prevention, and more broadly the history of crime and punishment in eighteenth century England.

In Praise of Vagueness: Uncertainty, ambiguity and archaeological methodology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Tim Flohr

2016-01-01

This article stipulates that vagueness is a socially important yet academically largely overlooked aspect of human interaction with the world. Vagueness and vague experiences can structure material categorisations of the world; it can contribute to the shaping of social relations and nurture...... and ambiguity can be integral to certain social and material phenomena. Third, the article examines recent archaeological analyses of burial practices in South Scandinavian passage graves from the Middle Neolithic in order to discuss the pursuit of certitude in archaeological observations and interpretations...

Alterations in archaeological bones thermally treated: structure and morphology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pijoan, C.M.; Mansilla, J.; Leboreiro, I.; Lara, V.H.; Bosch, P.

2004-01-01

Archaeological bones found close to Mexico city (Tlatelcomila) have been characterized by X-ray Diffraction, Small Angle X-ray Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy. These techniques, which are not conventionally used in archaeological research, provided useful information. The boiled bones were clearly distinguished from grilled bones. The degree of deterioration of the bone structure was quantified through parameters such as gyration radius or fractal dimension. The morphology followed the structural modifications and changes resulting from thermic exposure. (Author) 23 refs., 1 tab., 2 figs

ROV advanced magnetic survey for revealing archaeological targets and estimating medium magnetization

Science.gov (United States)

Eppelbaum, Lev

2013-04-01

Magnetic survey is one of most applied geophysical method for searching and localization of any objects with contrast magnetic properties (for instance, in Israel detailed magneric survey has been succesfully applied at more than 60 archaeological sites (Eppelbaum, 2010, 2011; Eppelbaum et al., 2011, 2010)). However, land magnetic survey at comparatively large archaeological sites (with observation grids 0.5 x 0.5 or 1 x 1 m) may occupy 5-10 days. At the same time the new Remote Operation Vehicle (ROV) generation - small and maneuvering vehicles - can fly at levels of few (and even one) meters over the earth's surface (flowing the relief forms or straight). Such ROV with precise magnetic field measurements (with a frequency of 20-25 observations per second) may be performed during 10-30 minutes, moreover at different levels over the earth's surface. Such geophysical investigations should have an extremely low exploitation cost. Finally, measurements of geophysical fields at different observation levels could provide new unique geophysical-archaeological information (Eppelbaum, 2005; Eppelbaum and Mishne, 2011). The developed interpretation methodology for magnetic anomalies advanced analysis (Khesin et al., 1996; Eppelbaum et al., 2001; Eppelbaum et al., 2011) may be successfully applied for ROV magnetic survey for delineation of archaeological objects and estimation averaged magnetization of geological medium. This methodology includes: (1) non-conventional procedure for elimination of secondary effect of magnetic temporary variations, (2) calculation of rugged relief influence by the use of a correlation method, (3) estimation of medium magnetization, (4) application of various informational and wavelet algorithms for revealing low anomalous effects against the strong noise background, (5) advanced procedures for magnetic anomalies quantitative analysis (they are applicable in conditions of rugged relief, inclined magnetization, and an unknown level of the total

Breaking Open the Black Boxes: media archaeology, anarchaeology and media materiality

OpenAIRE

Goddard, M.

2015-01-01

An essay on the emergent methodology of media archaeology, in realtion to the material turn in approaches to digital media. In particular, this article advocates taking up Siegfried Zielinski's concept of 'anarchaeology', but in a different sense to the way it was originally proposed, in order to emphasise the political potentials of a media (an)archaeological methodological approach.

New perspectives for satellite-based archaeological research in the ancient territory of Hierapolis (Turkey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Lasaponara

2008-11-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with the use of satellite QuickBird images to find traces of past human activity in the ancient territory of Hierapolis (Turkey. This is one of the most important archaeological sites in Turkey, and in 1988 it was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage list. Although over the years the archaeological site of Hierapolis has been excavated, restored and well documented, up to now the territory around the ancient urban area is still largely unknown. The current research project, still in progress, aims to search the area neighbouring Hierapolis believed to have been under the control of the city for a long time and, therefore, expected to be very rich in archaeological evidence. In order to investigate a large area around the ancient Hierapolis and discover potential archaeological remains, QuickBird images were adopted.

Results from satellite-based analysis allowed us to find several unknown rural settlements dating back to early Imperial Roman and the Byzantine age. Two significant test sites were focused on in this paper in order to characterize the different spectral responses observed for different types of archaeological features (shadow and soil marks. Principal Component Analysis and spectral indices were computed to enhance archaeological marks and make identification easier. The capability of the QuickBird data set (panchromatic, multispectral channel, PCA and spectral indices in searching for archaeological marks was assessed in a quantitative way by using a specific indicator.

Event review: How Interesting Archaeology Is! - Captivating and Leading-Edge Student Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Atsushi Uemine

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Kyoto City Archaeological Museum situated in Kansai region, the central part of Honshu Island, Japan, has held special exhibitions in collaboration with external organizations every year since 2011. From 2011 to 2013, several universities and even a high school have participated projects, and in 2014, the Kansai Archaeological Association for Students (KAAS played an important role as partner, producing the exhibit “ここまでわかる！考古学―学生が魅せる最先端” (“How Interesting Archaeology Is! - Captivating and Leading-Edge Student Research”.

ARIADNE: A Research Infrastructure for Archaeology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hollander, H.S.; Meghini, Carlo; Scopigno, Roberto; Richards, Julian; Wright, Holly; Geser, Guntram; Cuy, Sebastian; Fihn, Johan; Fanini, Bruno; Niccolucci, Franco; Felicetti, Achille; Ronzino, Paola; Nurra, Federico; Papatheodorou, Christos; Gavrilis, Dimitris; Theodoridou, Maria; Doerr, Martin; Tudhope, Douglas; Binding, Ceri; Vlachidis, Andreas

Research e-infrastructures, digital archives and data services have become important pillars of scientific enterprise that in recent decades has become ever more collaborative, distributed and data-intensive. The archaeological research community has been an early adopter of digital tools for data

First molecular and isotopic evidence of millet processing in prehistoric pottery vessels

Science.gov (United States)

Heron, Carl; Shoda, Shinya; Breu Barcons, Adrià; Czebreszuk, Janusz; Eley, Yvette; Gorton, Marise; Kirleis, Wiebke; Kneisel, Jutta; Lucquin, Alexandre; Müller, Johannes; Nishida, Yastami; Son, Joon-Ho; Craig, Oliver E.

2016-12-01

Analysis of organic residues in pottery vessels has been successful in detecting a range of animal and plant products as indicators of food preparation and consumption in the past. However, the identification of plant remains, especially grain crops in pottery, has proved elusive. Extending the spectrum is highly desirable, not only to strengthen our understanding of the dispersal of crops from centres of domestication but also to determine modes of food processing, artefact function and the culinary significance of the crop. Here, we propose a new approach to identify millet in pottery vessels, a crop that spread throughout much of Eurasia during prehistory following its domestication, most likely in northern China. We report the successful identification of miliacin (olean-18-en-3β-ol methyl ether), a pentacyclic triterpene methyl ether that is enriched in grains of common/broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), in Bronze Age pottery vessels from the Korean Peninsula and northern Europe. The presence of millet is supported by enriched carbon stable isotope values of bulk charred organic matter sampled from pottery vessel surfaces and extracted n-alkanoic acids, consistent with a C4 plant origin. These data represent the first identification of millet in archaeological ceramic vessels, providing a means to track the introduction, spread and consumption of this important crop.

SIG y Paisajes Virtuales en 3D. Posibilidades de divulgación de la Prehistoria Reciente de la Sierra de Atapuerca

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francisco Javier Marcos Sáiz

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Archaeology has developed several theoretical and methodological perspectives with the application of the Geographical Information Systems (GIS, Digital Terrain Models (DTM, Virtual Reality (VR and the 3D Modelling. In the spreading a gradual progress has begun for mapping the sites on its environmental context with the virtual generation of the topographic and ecological features. The aim of this paper is the analysis of the possibilities of spreading of the settlement patterns in the Late Prehistory around Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, VI to II millennium cal. BC-. The technical process is the modelling and 3D animation for video of Virtual Landscapes with GIS. The conclusion is that the Virtual Flying with GIS is a fundamental tool for the graphical spreading of the prehistoric settlement, especially with archaeological sites of surveys.

WATER AND ARCHAEOLOGY FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

NICHOLAS KATHIJOTES

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Water is undoubtedly the most precious resource of the planet and the accessibility to water resources marked the history of mankind since the dawn of times. Water has been indeed very central to archaeology and anthropology, that studied the ways in which water was provisioned, tanked, distributed, worshipped, exploited for agricultural irrigation or to power machines like water-mills, used for leisure, hygiene and healing, or abused to confer power on particular groups ,and how it played a central role in political and economic strategies. More than any other factor, waterways marked cultural and economic developments in history. This paper outlines examples of water resources management throughout the ages, in Cyprus and the Hellenic Civilization on different aspects of the use and management of water, investigates technical issues and gives suggestions, thus promoting a new approach to archaeological heritage and sustainable tourism.

Class 1 overview of cultural resources for the Western Area Power Administration Salt Lake City Area Integrated Projects electric power marketing environmental impact statement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moeller, K.L.; Malinowski, L.M.; Hoffecker, J.F.; Walitschek, D.A.; Shogren, L.; Mathews, J.E.; Verhaaren, B.T.

1993-11-01

Argonne National Laboratory conducted an inventory of known archaeological and historic sites in areas that could be affected by the hydropower operation alternatives under analysis in the power marketing environmental impact statement for the Western Area Power Administration`s Salt Lake City Area Integrated Projects. The study areas included portions of the Green River (Flaming Gorge Dam to Cub Creek) in Utah and Colorado and the Gunnison River (Blue Mesa Reservoir to Crystal Dam) in Colorado. All previous archaeological surveys and previously recorded prehistoric and historic sites, structures, and features were inventoried and plotted on maps (only survey area maps are included in this report). The surveys were classified by their level of intensity, and the sites were classified according to their age, type, and contents. These data (presented here in tabular form) permit a general assessment of the character and distribution of archaeological remains in the study areas, as well as an indication of the sampling basis for such an assessment. To provide an adequate context for the descriptions of the archaeological and historic sites, this report also presents overviews of the environmental setting and the regional prehistory, history, and ethnography for each study area.

Ludwik Fleck’s concepts slicing through the Gordian Knot of Serbian Archaeology

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Monika Milosavljević

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This article delves into the work of a researcher group based around the Center for Theoretical Archaeology in Belgrade (2007 – present and the path they have taken to establish a foundation for further archaeological development within Serbia. This process illuminates the conceptual tools Fleck originally formulated - thought collectives, thought style, proto-ideas – which have played a significant role in the deconstruction of the concept of scientific fact and in the historicization / socialization of the theory of knowledge. For the Serbian archaeological community, one of the most fiendish aspects has been the ever present correlation between the field and the construction of a national identity - an especially painful theme for the postwar Balkans whose borders are still imprecisely defined. Hence, this work pays special attention to long held beliefs of ethnicity, ethnogenesis and continuity, emanating from outdated racial anthropology, but unfortunately still held as fact in Serbian archaeology.

Interpretation of archaeological small-scale features in spectral images

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grøn, Ole; Palmer, Susanna; Stylegar, Frans-Arne

2011-01-01

The paper's focus is the use of spectral images for the distinction of small archaeological anomalies on the basis of the authors work. Special attention is given to the ground-truthing perspective in the discussion of a number of cases from Norway. Different approaches to pattern-recognition are......The paper's focus is the use of spectral images for the distinction of small archaeological anomalies on the basis of the authors work. Special attention is given to the ground-truthing perspective in the discussion of a number of cases from Norway. Different approaches to pattern...

Archaeology in Latin America, by Gustavo G. Politis and Benjamin Alberti, editors, 1999, Routledge, London

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David L. Browman

2001-11-01

Full Text Available The two editors argue in their preface to the volume that the particular sociopolitical context of Latin America has led to a regionalism not seen in North America or Europe, resulting in a unique variety of archaeology. They particularly conceive "Latin American archaeology" in this case to he only that archaeology done by individuals who are citizens of the countries of the region, and they ex­clude from consideration as being considered "Latin American archaeology" the work of foreign scholars such as North Americans and Europeans who do research in the region.

Ion beam techniques in arts and archaeology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qin Guangyong; Pan Xianjia; Sun Zhongtian; Gao Zhengyao

1991-01-01

The ion beam techniques used in studies of arts and archaeology are compared with other analytical techniques. Some examples are specially selected to illustrate the achievements and trends of the techniques in this field

Reconnecting Thomas Gann with British Interest in the Archaeology of Mesoamerica: An Aspect of the Development of Archaeology as a University Subject

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Colin Wallace

2011-05-01

Full Text Available ‘He [Thomas Gann] was lecturer in Central American archaeology at the University of Liverpool (1919–1938, and adviser to the British Museum expeditions to British Honduras’ (Dictionary of National Biography 1931–1940 [1949]: 306.Thus wrote the great archaeologist of the Maya, Sir John Eric Thompson (1898–1975, who knew Thomas Gann, the subject of this paper, from around 1926 until his death, and memorialised him elsewhere in the 'Boletín Bibliográfico de Antropología Americana'(Thompson 1940 and the 'British Medical Journal'(Thompson 1975. Curiously, all published sources, including Thompson, are seriously mistaken about Gann’s Liverpool connection, wrongly dating it to the period when it was inactive or had lapsed. Thus, ‘from 1919 to 1938 Gann was Lecturer in Central American Archaeology at Liverpool University, the first Americanist ever to hold a university position in Britain. I have never come across anyone who went to his lectures (I am not even sure if he gave any and he seems to have trained no students’ (Bray 1994: 6; cf. also Bray and Glover 1987: 119. I shall offer some new archival evidence to correct this. We shall also see that Bray’s conception of Gann as a British, university, ancestor, if an odd one, is unhelpful (but understandable; Gann’s position says as much about the atmosphere of the early years at Liverpool University (Freeman 'In preparation'; James 'In preparation' as it does about the study of Ancient America in Britain during the first few decades of the twentieth century. Recent historical research in the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology at Liverpool (the direct descendant of the Institute of Archaeology with which Gann was connected, by Mac James, our supervisor Dr Philip Freeman and myself, has included exploring the papers of Francis Chatillon Danson, an important early supporter of the Institute. The following paper is based on the Danson papers, now in National Museums

36 CFR 296.14 - Determination of archaeological or commercial value and cost of restoration and repair.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... shall be its fair market value. Where the violation has resulted in damage to the archaeological resource, the fair market value should be determined using the condition of the archaeological resource... archaeological or commercial value and cost of restoration and repair. 296.14 Section 296.14 Parks, Forests, and...

The Three Dimensions of Archaeology - Introduction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kamermans H., Piccoli, Ch., Neef W. de, Posluschny A.G., Scopigno, R.; Kamermans H., Neef W. de, Piccoli, Ch., Posluschny A.G., Scopigno, R.

2016-01-01

This volume brings together presentations from two sessions organized for the XVII World UISPP Conference that was held from 1-7 September 2014 in Burgos (Spain). The sessions are: The scientific value of 3D archaeology, organised by Hans Kamermans, Chiara Piccoli and Roberto Scopigno, and Detecting

Archaeology of Arid Environments Points to Management Options for Yucca Mountain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

N. Chapman; A. Dansie; C. McCombie

2006-01-01

As with all planned repositories for spent fuel, the critical period over which Yucca Mountain needs to provide isolation is the first hundreds to thousands of years after the fuel is emplaced, when it is at its most hazardous. Both the original and the proposed new EPA standards highlight the central importance of this performance period by focusing on repository behavior during the first 10,000 years. Archaeology has a lot to tell us about the behavior of materials and structures over this time period. There have been numerous studies of archaeological artifacts in conditions relevant to the groundwater saturated environments that are a feature of most international geological disposal concepts, but relatively few in arid environments like that of the Nevada desert. However, there is much information to be gleaned, not only from classic archaeological areas in the Middle East and around the Mediterranean but also, perhaps surprisingly to some, from Nevada itself. Our recent study evaluated archaeological materials from underground openings and shallow burial in arid environments relevant to Yucca Mountain, drawing conclusions about how their state and their environment of preservation could help to assess design and operational options for the high-level waste repository

Archaeology in the Átures Rapids of the Middle Orinoco, Venezuela

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Natalia Lozada Mendieta

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This paper briefly reports on the initial results of a new Leverhulme-sponsored four-year archaeological project (RPG 234- 2014 centred on the Átures Rapids area of the Middle Orinoco River, Amazonas State, Venezuela (Fig. 1. The Cotúa Island Reflexive Archaeology Project seeks to establish the longue durée historical processes that by early colonial times culminated in the region’s reputation for being a key crossroads – where diverse ethno-linguistic groups from far-flung regions converged to trade (Oliver et al. 2014. Harnessing new evi- dence, it aims to elucidate how interaction between such diverse indigenous groups unfolded and the role it played in forg- ing ethnogenesis. Through archaeological research, it seeks to gain new insights into its history and elucidate regional patterns of exchange through the study of technical andstylisticdimensionsofmaterialculture. It also aims to investigate the abundant pre-colonial rock art and its relationships to the landscape and aboriginal oral tradi- tions. Finally, it seeks to understand how Western and Non-western archaeological knowledge is produced by engaging with the current indigenous groups as partners in (reconstructing history.

Greek perceptions of frontier in Magna Graecia: literature and archaeology in dialogue

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Airton POLLINI

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with Greek perceptions of frontier in Magna Graecia, from a historical archaeological, contextual standpoint. Considering the complex relationship between literary and archaeological evidence, the paper uses as a case study the frontier in Southern Italy, discussing the subjective frontier perceptions by Greeks and Natives in interaction.

Archaeometry: nuclear and conventional techniques applied to the archaeological research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Esparza L, R.; Cardenas G, E.

2005-01-01

The book that now is presented is formed by twelve articles that approach from different perspective topics as the archaeological prospecting, the analysis of the pre hispanic and colonial ceramic, the obsidian and the mural painting, besides dating and questions about the data ordaining. Following the chronological order in which the exploration techniques and laboratory studies are required, there are presented in the first place the texts about the systematic and detailed study of the archaeological sites, later we pass to relative topics to the application of diverse nuclear techniques as PIXE, RBS, XRD, NAA, SEM, Moessbauer spectroscopy and other conventional techniques. The multidisciplinary is an aspect that highlights in this work, that which owes to the great specialization of the work that is presented even in the archaeological studies including in the open ground of the topography, mapping, excavation and, of course, in the laboratory tests. Most of the articles are the result of several years of investigation and it has been consigned in the responsibility of each article. The texts here gathered emphasize the technical aspects of each investigation, the modern compute systems applied to the prospecting and the archaeological mapping, the chemical and physical analysis of organic materials, of metal artifacts, of diverse rocks used in the pre hispanic epoch, of mural and ceramic paintings, characteristics that justly underline the potential of the collective works. (Author)

Strategies for Teaching Maritime Archaeology in the Twenty First Century

Science.gov (United States)

Staniforth, Mark

2008-12-01

Maritime archaeology is a multi-faceted discipline that requires both theoretical learning and practical skills training. In the past most universities have approached the teaching of maritime archaeology as a full-time on-campus activity designed for ‘traditional’ graduate students; primarily those in their early twenties who have recently come from full-time undergraduate study and who are able to study on-campus. The needs of mature-age and other students who work and live in different places (or countries) and therefore cannot attend lectures on a regular basis (or at all) have largely been ignored. This paper provides a case study in the teaching of maritime archaeology from Australia that, in addition to ‘traditional’ on-campus teaching, includes four main components: (1) learning field methods through field schools; (2) skills training through the AIMA/NAS avocational training program; (3) distance learning topics available through CD-ROM and using the Internet; and (4) practicums, internships and fellowships. The author argues that programs to teach maritime archaeology in the twenty first century need to be flexible and to address the diverse needs of students who do not fit the ‘traditional’ model. This involves collaborative partnerships with other universities as well as government underwater cultural heritage management agencies and museums, primarily through field schools, practicums and internships.

The Influence of Linguistics upon the Formation of the Culture-Historical Approach in Archaeology

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Zorica Kuzmanović

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Through the critical research into the history of archaeology, the paper aims to explore the influence of linguistics and, more generally, the role of language in modern societies, upon the formation of the culture-historical approach in the discipline, focusing upon the situation in the Serbian archaeology. In doing so, the author follows the series of the similar critical historical accounts of the history of archaeology, pointing to the conceptual burden carried along with the culture-historical practice of attributing artefacts according to their cultural affiliation, automatically making inferences about the cultural/ ethnic identity of the people who used them. The need to analyse the relationship between linguistics and archaeology at the time of formation of the discipline originates from the standpoint that, even if we do not advocate the complete rejection of the culture-historical tradition (still impossible, however, it is nevertheless necessary to understand the ways in which certain meanings were formed, implicit to the archaeological concept of culture. In this way, it becomes possible to avoid the interpretive mistakes inherent to the conceptual burden of the discipline.

77 FR 59661 - Notice of Inventory Completion: Stanford University Archaeology Center, Stanford, CA

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-28

... Inventory Completion: Stanford University Archaeology Center, Stanford, CA AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The Stanford University Archaeology Center has completed an inventory of... determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and a present-day Indian tribe...

77 FR 59660 - Notice of Inventory Completion: Stanford University Archaeology Center, Stanford, CA

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-28

... Inventory Completion: Stanford University Archaeology Center, Stanford, CA AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The Stanford University Archaeology Center has completed an inventory of... has determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and present-day Indian...

The Materials Science and its applications in the Archaeology specific case: Teopancazco, Teotihuacan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodriguez L, V.; Martinez G, C.; Manzanilla N, L.

2004-01-01

The cultural enormity wealth culture that exists in Mexico generates the necessity to reach a bigger interaction from the archaeology and restoration areas to the modern material science, with the purpose to establish new methodologies that allow to restore, conserve and preserve the materials that ancient civilizations used to construct buildings and objects of common use. It is in this sense that has been proposed methodologies for the use of analytical techniques in the study of archaeological materials to understand their nature, microstructural characteristics, deterioration causes, environmental factor influence, etc. We presents as example, a study of several archaeological samples that include mural painting fragments, ceramic with stucco and some pigment belonging to Teopancazco archaeological place located in San Sebastian Xolalpan (Teotihuacan, Mexico State). This study was performed by means of analytical scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and Infrared spectroscopy. (Author) 31 refs., 6 tabs., 10 figs

Smart SfM: Salinas Archaeological Museum

Science.gov (United States)

Inzerillo, L.

2017-08-01

In these last years, there has been an increasing use of the Structure from Motion (SfM) techniques applied to Cultural Heritage. The accessibility of SfM software can be especially advantageous to users in non-technical fields or to those with limited resources. Thanks to SfM using, everyone can make with a digital camera a 3D model applied to an object of both Cultural Heritage, and physically Environment, and work arts, etc. One very interesting and useful application can be envisioned into museum collection digitalization. In the last years, a social experiment has been conducted involving young generation to live a social museum using their own camera to take pictures and videos. Students of university of Catania and Palermo were involved into a national event #digitalinvasion (2015-2016 editions) offering their personal contribution: they realized 3D models of the museums collection through the SfM techniques. In particular at the National Archaeological Museum Salinas in Palermo, it has been conducted an organized survey to recognize the most important part of the archaeological collection. It was a success: in both #digitalinvasion National Event 2015 and 2016 the young students of Engineering classes carried out, with Photoscan Agisoft, more than one hundred 3D models some of which realized by phone camera and some other by reflex camera and some other with compact camera too. The director of the museum has been very impressed from these results and now we are going to collaborate at a National project to use the young generation crowdsourcing to realize a semi-automated monitoring system at Salinas Archaeological Museum.

SMART SfM: SALINAS ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. Inzerillo

2017-08-01

Full Text Available In these last years, there has been an increasing use of the Structure from Motion (SfM techniques applied to Cultural Heritage. The accessibility of SfM software can be especially advantageous to users in non-technical fields or to those with limited resources. Thanks to SfM using, everyone can make with a digital camera a 3D model applied to an object of both Cultural Heritage, and physically Environment, and work arts, etc. One very interesting and useful application can be envisioned into museum collection digitalization. In the last years, a social experiment has been conducted involving young generation to live a social museum using their own camera to take pictures and videos. Students of university of Catania and Palermo were involved into a national event #digitalinvasion (2015-2016 editions offering their personal contribution: they realized 3D models of the museums collection through the SfM techniques. In particular at the National Archaeological Museum Salinas in Palermo, it has been conducted an organized survey to recognize the most important part of the archaeological collection. It was a success: in both #digitalinvasion National Event 2015 and 2016 the young students of Engineering classes carried out, with Photoscan Agisoft, more than one hundred 3D models some of which realized by phone camera and some other by reflex camera and some other with compact camera too. The director of the museum has been very impressed from these results and now we are going to collaborate at a National project to use the young generation crowdsourcing to realize a semi-automated monitoring system at Salinas Archaeological Museum.

Marine archaeological exploration on the western coast, Gulf of Khambhat

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Gaur, A.S.; Bhatt, B.K.

large number of stone anchors at Gogha, Hatab, and Gopnath. These are similar to those reported from the western coast of the Saurashtra, particularly at Dwarka (Gaur et al. 2001), Bet Dwarka (Sundaresh et al. 2004), Miyani, Visawada (Gaur et al. 2007.... Stone Anchors from Bet Dwarka Island, Gujarat Coast, Bulletin of Australian Institute of Maritime Archaeology 26: 43-50 Yang, Q.Z. 1990. South- Song Stone Anchors in China, Korea and Japan, International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 19 (2): 113-121. ...

Analysis and interpretation of geophysical surveys in archaeological sites employing different integrated approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Piro, Salvatore; Papale, Enrico; Kucukdemirci, Melda; Zamuner, Daniela

2017-04-01

Non-destructive ground surface geophysical prospecting methods are frequently used for the investigation of archaeological sites, where a detailed physical and geometrical reconstructions of hidden volumes is required prior to any excavation work. All methods measure the variations of single physical parameters, therefore if these are used singularly, they could not permit a complete location and characterization of anomalous bodies. The probability of a successful result rapidly increases if a multhimethodological approach is adopted, according to the logic of objective complementarity of information and of global convergence toward a high quality multiparametric imaging of the buried structures. The representation of the static configuration of the bodies in the subsoil and of the space-time evolution of the interaction processes between targets and hosting materials have to be actually considered fundamental elements of primary knowledge in archaeological prospecting. The main effort in geophysical prospecting for archaeology is therefore the integration of different, absolutely non-invasive techniques, especially if managed in view of a ultra-high resolution three-dimensional (3D) tomographic representation mode. Following the above outlined approach, we have integrated geophysical methods which measure the variations of potential field (gradiometric methods) with active methods which measure the variations of physical properties due to the body's geometry and volume (GPR and ERT). In this work, the results obtained during the surveys of three archaeological sites, employing Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) and Fluxgate Differential Magnetic (FDM) to obtain precise and detailed maps of subsurface bodies, are presented and discussed. The first site, situated in a suburban area between Itri and Fondi, in the Aurunci Natural Regional Park (Central Italy), is characterized by the presence of remains of past human activity

Apis - a Digital Inventory of Archaeological Heritage Based on Remote Sensing Data

Science.gov (United States)

Doneus, M.; Forwagner, U.; Liem, J.; Sevara, C.

2017-08-01

Heritage managers are in need of dynamic spatial inventories of archaeological and cultural heritage that provide them with multipurpose tools to interactively understand information about archaeological heritage within its landscape context. Specifically, linking site information with the respective non-invasive prospection data is of increasing importance as it allows for the assessment of inherent uncertainties related to the use and interpretation of remote sensing data by the educated and knowledgeable heritage manager. APIS, the archaeological prospection information system of the Aerial Archive of the University of Vienna, is specifically designed to meet these needs. It provides storage and easy access to all data concerning aerial photographs and archaeological sites through a single GIS-based application. Furthermore, APIS has been developed in an open source environment, which allows it to be freely distributed and modified. This combination in one single open source system facilitates an easy workflow for data management, interpretation, storage, and retrieval. APIS and a sample dataset will be released free of charge under creative commons license in near future.

A Space View of Radar Archaeological Marks: First Applications of COSMO-SkyMed X-Band Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fulong Chen

2014-12-01

Full Text Available With the development of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR in terms of multi-band, multi-polarization and high-resolution data, space radar remote sensing for archaeology has become a potential field for research. Nevertheless, the archaeological detection capability of this technology has so far not been fully assessed. This paper is a pioneering effort to assess the potential of satellite SAR X-band data in the detection of archaeological marks. We focus on the results obtained from a collaborative contribution jointly carried out by archaeologists and remote sensing experts in order to test the use of COSMO-SkyMed data in different contexts and environmental conditions. The methodological approaches we adopted are based on two different feature-enhancement procedures: (i multi-temporal analysis performed to reduce noise and highlight archaeological marks; (ii single-date analysis to assess the ability of the single SAR scene to detect archaeological features like with optical remote sensing. Results from multi-temporal data analysis, conducted using 40 scenes from COSMO-SkyMed X-band Stripmap data (27 February to 17 October 2013, enable us to detect unknown archaeological crop, soil, and shadow marks representing Luoyang city, dating from the Eastern-Han to Northern-Wei Dynasties. Single-date analyses were conducted using COSMO-SkyMed Spotlight scenes acquired for Sabratha (Libya and Metapontum (southern Italy. These case studies were selected because they are characterized by diverse superficial conditions (desert and Mediterranean area and archaeological marks (crop, soil and shadow. The results we obtained for both of them show that even a single SAR X-band acquisition is a feasible and effective approach for archaeological prospection. Overall, the methodological approach adopted demonstrated that both multi-temporal and single-date analysis are suitable for the enhancement of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental features.

The Two Cultures and a World Apart: Archaeology and science at a new crossroads

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Tim Flohr

2017-01-01

Within the past decade or so, archaeology has increasingly utilised and contributed to major advances in scientific methods when exploring the past. This progress is frequently celebrated as a quantum leap in the possibilities for understanding the archaeological record, opening up for hitherto i......’, ‘facts’ and quantitative methods. It is argued that if archaeology is to break free of its self-induced inferiority to and dependence on science, it must revitalise its methodology for asking questions pertinent to the humanities....

Archaeological Excavations on the BTC Pipeline, Azerbaijan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paul Michael Taylor

2011-06-01

Full Text Available The archaeology and history of the Republic of Azerbaijan is not widely known in comparison with that of its neighbours. A recent summary of work in the Caucasus (Smith and Rubinson 2003 contained no specific references to results from Azerbaijan, although the studies were directly comparable and overlapped in period and geography. The reasons for this are many, perhaps the most influential is the presentation of material from Azerbaijan being confused with southern Azerbaijan in Iran in the wider academic audience and the use of the Cyrillic alphabet for reports written in the Azeri language over the past century. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC and South Caucasus Pipelines (SCP were constructed through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey during the period 2003-5. BTC was built first from the Caspian Coast to the Georgian border during 2003 and 2004, while the SCP pipeline was built from the Georgian border towards the Caspian and parallel to the BTC in 2005. To investigate and mitigate the effects of this construction, a four year archaeological fieldwork programme (2001-2005 was carried out, followed by a further six-year post-excavation programme that ended in early 2011. This article draws on this extensive archaeological project that combines both the broad corpus of material known in Azerbaijan and new techniques introduced in the Republic for the first time and used on a range of sites that are of both national and international significance.

Ground-Penetrating Radar Prospecting in the Peinan Archaeological Site, Taiwan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lun-Tao Tong

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The Peinan archaeological site is the largest prehistoric village in Taiwan. Only small-scale pits are allowed for research purposes because the Peinan site is protected by the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act. Careful selection of the pit locations is crucial for future archaeological research at this site. In this study, a ground-penetrating radar (GPR survey was applied near the stone pillar to understand the GPR signatures of the subsurface remains. Seven GPR signatures were categorized based on the radar characters shown on the GPR image. A detailed GPR survey with dense parallel survey lines was subsequently conducted in the area of northern extent of the onsite exhibition to map the subsurface ancient buildings. The results were verified by two test pits, which indicate that the distribution of the subsurface building structures can be well recognized from GPR depth slices. It will be very helpful for setting proper pits priorities for future archaeological research, and for making proper design of the new onsite exhibition.

ArtifactVis2: Managing real-time archaeological data in immersive 3D environments

KAUST Repository

Smith, Neil

2013-10-01

In this paper, we present a stereoscopic research and training environment for archaeologists called ArtifactVis2. This application enables the management and visualization of diverse types of cultural datasets within a collaborative virtual 3D system. The archaeologist is fully immersed in a large-scale visualization of on-going excavations. Massive 3D datasets are seamlessly rendered in real-time with field recorded GIS data, 3D artifact scans and digital photography. Dynamic content can be visualized and cultural analytics can be performed on archaeological datasets collected through a rigorous digital archaeological methodology. The virtual collaborative environment provides a menu driven query system and the ability to annotate, markup, measure, and manipulate any of the datasets. These features enable researchers to re-experience and analyze the minute details of an archaeological site\\'s excavation. It enhances their visual capacity to recognize deep patterns and structures and perceive changes and reoccurrences. As a complement and development from previous work in the field of 3D immersive archaeological environments, ArtifactVis2 provides a GIS based immersive environment that taps directly into archaeological datasets to investigate cultural and historical issues of ancient societies and cultural heritage in ways not possible before. © 2013 IEEE.

PHOTOGRAMMETRIC TECHNIQUES FOR PROMOTION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE: THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM OF PARMA (ITALY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Dall’Asta

2016-06-01

Full Text Available In a context rich in history and cultural heritage, such as the Italian one, promotion and enhancement of historical evidences are crucial. The paper describes the case study of the Archaeological Museum of Parma, which, for the main part, conserves evidences found in the roman archaeological site of Veleia (Piacenza, Italy. To enhance the comprehension of the past, the project aims to promote the exhibits through new digital contents, in particular 3D models and AR applications, to improve their usability by the public. Projects like this pose some difficulties especially in data acquisition and restitution due to complexity of the objects and their dimension and position that are not always adequate for an easy survey. Furthermore, in this case, it was necessary to find a solution that takes into account, on one hand, the necessity of a high degree of detail to ensure high metric quality and, on the other hand, the need of producing small files, in order to easy load and consult them on the web or smartphone applications. For all these reasons, close-range photogrammetry was considered the most adequate technique to produce the major part of the models. In this paper, particular attention will be dedicated to the description of the survey campaign and data processing, underlining difficulties and adopted solutions, in order to provide a methodological summary of the actions performed.

Development of Rapid and Low Cost Archaeological Site Mapping Using Photogrammetric Technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Azhar, N A Mohd; Ahmad, Anuar

2014-01-01

In digital photogrammetry, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platform is a new technology that can be used to capture digital images for large scale mapping with accuracy down to centimeter level from various waypoints for archaeological site documentation. UAV is one of the great alternatives to replace piloted aircraft and with combination of non -metric camera, thus it can be applied for small area such as cultural heritage building/ archeological site area. With the recent technology of non-metric cameras, this camera is capable of producing high resolution digital images. This study investigates the application of UAV images for documentation and mapping of a simulated archaeological sites. An archaeological site simulation modelwith dimension of 2.4 m × 3.5 m is used in this study. The accuracy for mapping the archeological sites based on the UAV system is evaluated and analyzed by performing the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) derived from the differences of coordinates between reference value and the coordinates observed from photogrammetric output such as digital terrain model and orthophoto. In this application, a simulation model was used to simulate the archaeological site excavation. The results clearly demonstrate the potential and the capability of UAV and non-metric camera in providing the accuracy of centimetre level for this application. From this study, it can be concluded that the UAV and the photogrammetric technique procedure satisfied the needs of archaeological sites survey and documentation

Extracting Archaeological Feautres from GPR Surveys Conducted with Variable Soil Moisture Conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, I. M.; Glisic, B.; Gonciar, A.

2017-12-01

As a common tool for subsurface archaeological prospection, ground penetrating radar (GPR) is a useful method for increasing the efficiency of archaeological excavations. Archaeological sites are often temporally and financially constrained, therefore having limited ability to reschedule surveys compromised by weather. Furthermore, electromagnetic GPR surveys are especially sensitive to variations in water content, soil type, and site-specific interference. In this work, GPR scans of a partially excavated Roman villa consisting of different construction materials and phases (limestone, andesite, brick) in central Romania are compared. Surveys were conducted with a 500 MHz GPR antenna in both dry (pre-rain event) and wet (post-rain event) conditions. Especially in time or depth slices, wet surveys present additional archaeological features that are not present or clear in the standard dry conditions, while simultaneously masking the clutter present in those scans. When dry, the limestone has a similar dielectric constant to the soil and does not provide enough contrast in electromagnetic properties for strong reflections despite the significant difference in their physical properties. Following precipitation, however, the electromagnetic properties of these two materials is dominated by their respective water content and the contrast is enhanced. For this reason, the wet surveys are particularly necessary for revealing reflections from the limestone features often invisible in dry surveys. GPR surveys conducted in variable environmental conditions provide unique archaeological information, with potential near-surface geophysical applications in nondestructive material characterization and identification.

Lower Cambrian biogeography and the prehistory of early animals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Signor, P.W. (Univ. of California, Davis (United States))

1991-02-01

Biogeographic distributions of animals reflect the complex interplay of biological and physical processes acting over geological time. In particular, plate tectonics and the evolution of lineages within clades play fundamental roles in determining faunal distributions. Ranges expand through vicariant events or dispersal and contract through local and regional extinctions. Vicariance promotes the evolutionary divergence of closely related lineages. Viewed as historical phenomena, biogeographic distributions can be employed to infer prior tectonic and evolutionary events. For example, the existence of modern marine faunal provinces reflects the interaction of evolution and plate tectonics. The Proterozoic history of skeletogenous organisms (and their ancestors) is a contentious subject, with many authors arguing that skeletogenous clades have no significant prehistory before their appearance in the fossil record. The existence of trilobite provinces dominated by different suborders, for example, suggests the trilobites evolved and dispersed, or were separated by plate movement, and then evolved independently for an extended period prior to their appearance in the fossil record. Similar arguments can be applied to other groups. The paleobiogeographic distribution of organisms also provides useful insights into late Proterozoic and Early Cambrian paleogeography. The provincial distribution of Early Cambrian taxa suggests that the putative Proterozoic supercontinent, if it existed, began to separate well before the Early Cambrian. Separate provinces would not have evolved had the various plates remained united. Therefore, the dawn of the Phanerozoic could not have coincided with the breakup of the Proterozoic supercontinent.

Punk's not dead. Fungi for tinder at the Neolithic site of La Draga (NE Iberia).

Science.gov (United States)

Berihuete-Azorín, Marian; Girbal, Josep; Piqué, Raquel; Palomo, Antoni; Terradas, Xavier

2018-01-01

This paper presents the study of the fungi remains preserved in the waterlogged deposits of the Neolithic site of La Draga. These resources had the potential of being used as food and medicine, but also as tinder. Fire was without a doubt one of the most important resources for past people. It was used for lighting, heating, processing food and other materials, cooking and protection, and also possessed social and ritual significance. Hearths are one of the most common features at archaeological sites, but very often little attention is paid to the question of how these fires were lit, and they are seldom reflected in the archaeological record. In order to produce fire by percussion, an intermediate material is required between the sparks and the fuel. Fruiting bodies of fungi are a potential form of tinder, but are less inclined to be well-preserved than other materials. This paper presents the fungal fruiting bodies found at the Neolithic site of La Draga and discusses the meaning of their presence within the archaeological context of the site and European Prehistory.

Punk’s not dead. Fungi for tinder at the Neolithic site of La Draga (NE Iberia)

Science.gov (United States)

Girbal, Josep; Piqué, Raquel; Palomo, Antoni; Terradas, Xavier

2018-01-01

This paper presents the study of the fungi remains preserved in the waterlogged deposits of the Neolithic site of La Draga. These resources had the potential of being used as food and medicine, but also as tinder. Fire was without a doubt one of the most important resources for past people. It was used for lighting, heating, processing food and other materials, cooking and protection, and also possessed social and ritual significance. Hearths are one of the most common features at archaeological sites, but very often little attention is paid to the question of how these fires were lit, and they are seldom reflected in the archaeological record. In order to produce fire by percussion, an intermediate material is required between the sparks and the fuel. Fruiting bodies of fungi are a potential form of tinder, but are less inclined to be well-preserved than other materials. This paper presents the fungal fruiting bodies found at the Neolithic site of La Draga and discusses the meaning of their presence within the archaeological context of the site and European Prehistory. PMID:29694409

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE MONITORING: UAV PHOTOGRAMMETRY CAN BE AN ANSWER

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F. Rinaudo

2012-07-01

Full Text Available During archaeological excavations it is important to monitor the new excavated areas and findings day by day in order to be able to plan future excavation activities. At present, this daily activity is usually performed by using total stations, which survey the changes of the archaeological site: the surveyors are asked to produce day by day draft plans and sections which allow archaeologists to plan their future activities. The survey is realized during the excavations or just at the end of every working day and drawings have to be produced as soon as possible in order to allow the comprehension of the work done and to plan the activities for the following day. By using this technique, all the measurements, even those not necessary for the day after, have to be acquired in order to avoid a ‘loss of memory’. A possible alternative to this traditional approach is aerial photogrammetry, if the images can be acquired quickly and at a taken distance able to guarantee the necessary accuracy of a few centimeters. Today the use of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles can be considered a proven technology able to acquire images at distances ranging from 4 m up to 20 m: and therefore as a possible monitoring system to provide the necessary information to the archaeologists day by day. The control network, usually present at each archaeological site, can give the stable control points useful for orienting a photogrammetric block acquired by using an UAV equipped with a calibrated digital camera and a navigation control system able to drive the aircraft following a pre-planned flight scheme. Modern digital photogrammetric software can solve for the block orientation and generate a DSM automatically, allowing rapid orthophoto generation and the possibility of producing sections and plans. The present paper describes a low cost UAV system realized by the research group of the Politecnico di Torino and tested on a Roman villa archaeological site located in

Detecting and quantifying ongoing decay of organic archaeological remains - a discussion of different approaches

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Matthiesen, Henning

2015-01-01

are well protected and are not undergoing rapid decay, and it requires a detailed knowledge of decay processes and rates. For instance it is well established that the presence of water is of paramount importance for the preservation of organic material, and there are several examples where archaeological....... Thus, for the management of archaeological sites it is necessary to develop tools and methods that allow us to discover ongoing decay as fast as possible. Furthermore, in order to prioritize between excavation, in situ preservation and mitigation the decay rate should be evaluated on a quantitative...... scale to determine if the archaeological remains can be preserved for centuries, decades or only a few years under different conditions. This is a challenging task as archaeological sites and materials are often heterogeneous and have been subjected to different site formation processes. This paper...

New evidence for prehistoric copper metallurgy in the vicinity of Bor

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Kapuran Aleksandar

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The last three years of archaeological investigations at the site Ru`ana in Banjsko Polje, in the immediate vicinity of Bor, have provided new evidence regarding the role of non-ferrous metallurgy in the economy of the prehistoric communities of north-eastern Serbia. The remains of metallurgical furnaces and a large amount of metallic slags at two neighbouring sites in the mentioned settlement reveal that locations with many installations for the thermal processing of copper ore existed in the Bronze Age. We believe, judging by the finds of material culture, that metallurgical activities in this area also continued into the Iron Age and, possibly, into the 4th century AD. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177020: Archaeology of Serbia: Cultural identity, integration factors, technological processes and the role of the central Balkans in the development of European prehistory

Vernon Lee in the Vatican: the uneasy alliance of aestheticism and archaeology.

Science.gov (United States)

Evangelista, Stefano

2009-01-01

From the 1800s onward, aesthetic critics attempted to free the study of ancient Greek art from the frameworks of institutional education and professionalized criticism. In this process, aestheticism entered an uneasy alliance with archaeology, a discipline that was likewise challenging traditional modes of classical learning practiced in public schools and the old universities. In "The Child in the Vatican" (1881), Vernon Lee -- writing under the influence of Pater and from a position of cosmopolitan female amateurism -- examines the uses of archaeological science in the study of classical art. Her analysis of the sculptures of the Niobe Group at once relies on the archaeological method and asks readers to doubt scientific approaches to art that dim the sublime power of the art object.

Modern analytic methods applied to the art and archaeology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tenorio C, M. D.; Longoria G, L. C.

2010-01-01

The interaction of diverse areas as the analytic chemistry, the history of the art and the archaeology has allowed the development of a variety of techniques used in archaeology, in conservation and restoration. These methods have been used to date objects, to determine the origin of the old materials and to reconstruct their use and to identify the degradation processes that affect the integrity of the art works. The objective of this chapter is to offer a general vision on the researches that have been realized in the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Nucleares (ININ) in the field of cultural goods. A series of researches carried out in collaboration with national investigators and of the foreigner is described shortly, as well as with the great support of degree students and master in archaeology of the National School of Anthropology and History, since one of the goals that have is to diffuse the knowledge of the existence of these techniques among the young archaeologists, so that they have a wider vision of what they could use in an in mediate future and they can check hypothesis with scientific methods. (Author)

Authenticity test in ceramics and archaeological figures by thermoluminescence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramirez L, A.; Schaaf, P.; Filloy, L.

1999-01-01

At present exists quite a lot of false archaeological pieces which provokes doubts about the legitimacy of the pieces. In this work it is presented the Authenticity test by Thermoluminescence realized at the urn of the goddess 13 serpent of the zapotec culture of Oaxaca which is exposed in Mexico City. The original piece contains crystalline structures which present hardly the thermoluminescence phenomena by the presence of 238 U, 232 Th, and 40 K getting with this the form and intensity of the natural thermoluminescence curve of an archaeological piece which shows a Tl peak and allows to know so if it was made recently or not. (Author)

Acanthocefalan eggs in animal coprolites from archaeological sites from Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferreira, L F; Araújo, A; Confalonieri, U; Chame, M

1989-01-01

An important point in paleoparasitology is the correct diagnosis of the origin of coprolites found in archaeological sites. The identification of human and animal coprolites, through the study of the shape, size, characteristics after rehydration, alimentary contents, and the presence of parasites, has proved to be accurate for human coprolites. For non-human ones we compared coprolites with recent faeces of animals collected near the archaeological sites, following the methodology above mentioned. In this paper anteaters coprolites (Tamandua tetradactyla; Myrmecophaga tridactyla) with eggs of Gigantorhynchus echinodiscus (Archiancanthocephala; Gigantorynchidae) were identified.

La Arqueología en España: una revisión critica de sus planteamientos teóricos

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Alcina Franch, José

1991-12-01

Full Text Available In this article, based on the explicitly anthropological assumptions of American archaeology. the author outlines a critical sketch of the development of theoretical debate in Spain during the last twenty years. This debate was started by the more concerned Spanish archaeologists who tried to rethink their theoretical positions as a starting point for reorganising archaeology as a whole. They devoted special attention to such problems as: archaeology vs. prehistory; archaeology as antropology or history; normativism and historicism or particularism; cultural materialism vs. dialectical materialism; post-modern archaeology, etc.

En este ensayo, el autor, partiendo de los presupuestos de la arqueología americanista. explícitamente antropológica, traza un bosquejo crítico del desarrollo del debate teórico promovido en España durante los últimos veinte años. por los más inquietos arqueólogos españoles quienes tratan de renovar aquellos planteamientos teóricos como punto de partida para renovar la Arqueología en su conjunto. Se presta una especial atención a los problemas de arqueología vs. prehistoria; arqueología como antropología o como historia; normativismo e historicismo o particularismo; materialismo cultural vs. materialismo dialéctico; arqueologías post-modernas. etc

Neutron activation analysis and provenance study of Tupiguarani Tradition pottery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Faria, Gleikam Lopes de Oliveira; Menezes, Maria Angela de B.C.; Ribeiro, Loredana; Jacome, Camila

2009-01-01

Archaeology can fill the gap between ancient population and modern society elucidating the evidences found in archaeological sites. The fingerprint identified, that is the chemical composition of the ceramics, can help understanding this connection between the past and the present. The Tupiguarani Tradition vestiges found by archaeologists will be a way to know about the last two millennia of the Brazilian prehistory. This archaeological site is located along the coast of the Brazilian State of Espirito Santo, where the main evidence is a pretty ceramic with the occurrence of plastic and painted decoration. When the Portuguese settlers arrived in this region, in sixteenth century, several Missoes Jesuiticas (Jesuitical Missions) were built along the Brazilian coast. In spite of living within the Mission and been catechized, the Indians kept on producing traditional handicraft, as the decorated ceramic, however, they introduced European elements to the decoration. During the research expeditions made to the archaeological site of the Tupiguarani Tradition, many sherds were found. The identification and classification of ceramics through a multielemental chemistry analysis will be used to determine if they have the same origin. This paper shows the first elemental concentration results of the sherds collected from archaeological site determined at CDTN/CNEN, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, using the TRIGA Mark I IPR-R1 nuclear reactor, applying the neutron activation technique, k 0 -method. (author)

The island of Skyros from Late Roman to Early Modern times : an archaeological survey

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Karambinis, Michalis

2015-01-01

Aegean archaeology has mainly concentrated on Prehistoric and Greco-Roman times and has provided relatively little information on human activity and material culture in the medieval period. Historical research concerning the medieval era is sufficiently developed but archaeological research on the

Diversity of management strategies in Mesoamerican turkeys: archaeological, isotopic and genetic evidence

Science.gov (United States)

Manin, Aurelie; Corona-M, Eduardo; Craig, Abigail; Thornton, Erin Kennedy; Yang, Dongya Y.; Richards, Michael

2018-01-01

The turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) represents one of the few domestic animals of the New World. While current research points to distinct domestication centres in the Southwest USA and Mesoamerica, several questions regarding the number of progenitor populations, and the timing and intensity of turkey husbandry remain unanswered. This study applied ancient mitochondrial DNA and stable isotope (δ13C, δ15N) analysis to 55 archaeological turkey remains from Mexico to investigate pre-contact turkey exploitation in Mesoamerica. Three different (sub)species of turkeys were identified in the archaeological record (M. g. mexicana, M. g. gallopavo and M. ocellata), indicating the exploitation of diverse local populations, as well as the trade of captively reared birds into the Maya area. No evidence of shared maternal haplotypes was observed between Mesoamerica and the Southwest USA, in contrast with archaeological evidence for trade of other domestic products. Isotopic analysis indicates a range of feeding behaviours in ancient Mesoamerican turkeys, including wild foraging, human provisioning and mixed feeding ecologies. This variability in turkey diet decreases through time, with archaeological, genetic and isotopic evidence all pointing to the intensification of domestic turkey management and husbandry, culminating in the Postclassic period. PMID:29410864

Diversity of management strategies in Mesoamerican turkeys: archaeological, isotopic and genetic evidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Manin, Aurelie; Corona-M, Eduardo; Alexander, Michelle; Craig, Abigail; Thornton, Erin Kennedy; Yang, Dongya Y; Richards, Michael; Speller, Camilla F

2018-01-01

The turkey ( Meleagris gallopavo ) represents one of the few domestic animals of the New World. While current research points to distinct domestication centres in the Southwest USA and Mesoamerica, several questions regarding the number of progenitor populations, and the timing and intensity of turkey husbandry remain unanswered. This study applied ancient mitochondrial DNA and stable isotope ( δ 13 C, δ 15 N) analysis to 55 archaeological turkey remains from Mexico to investigate pre-contact turkey exploitation in Mesoamerica. Three different (sub)species of turkeys were identified in the archaeological record ( M. g. mexicana , M. g. gallopavo and M. ocellata ), indicating the exploitation of diverse local populations, as well as the trade of captively reared birds into the Maya area. No evidence of shared maternal haplotypes was observed between Mesoamerica and the Southwest USA, in contrast with archaeological evidence for trade of other domestic products. Isotopic analysis indicates a range of feeding behaviours in ancient Mesoamerican turkeys, including wild foraging, human provisioning and mixed feeding ecologies. This variability in turkey diet decreases through time, with archaeological, genetic and isotopic evidence all pointing to the intensification of domestic turkey management and husbandry, culminating in the Postclassic period.

Elemental, isotopic, and geochronological variability in Mogollon-Datil volcanic province archaeological obsidian, southwestern USA: Solving issues of intersource discrimination

Science.gov (United States)

Shackley, M. Steven; Morgan, Leah; Pyle, Douglas

2017-01-01

Solving issues of intersource discrimination in archaeological obsidian is a recurring problem in geoarchaeological investigation, particularly since the number of known sources of archaeological obsidian worldwide has grown nearly exponentially in the last few decades, and the complexity of archaeological questions asked has grown equally so. These two parallel aspects of archaeological investigation have required more exacting understanding of the geological relationship between sources and the more accurate analysis of these sources of archaeological obsidian. This is particularly the case in the North American Southwest where the frequency of archaeological investigation is some of the highest in the world, and the theory and method used to interpret that record has become increasingly nuanced. Here, we attempt to unravel the elemental similarity of archaeological obsidian in the Mogollon-Datil volcanic province of southwestern New Mexico where some of the most important and extensively distributed sources are located and the elemental similarity between the sources is great even though the distance between the sources is large. Uniting elemental, isotopic, and geochronological analyses as an intensive pilot study, we unpack this complexity to provide greater understanding of these important sources of archaeological obsidian.

Getting to the point: making, wayfaring, loss and memory as meaning-making in virtual archaeology

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William Michael Carter

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The initial construction of a digital virtual object is the three-dimensional (3Dpoint. Using the notions of making, wayfaring, meshwork and agency, this discussion focuses on Ingold’s (2011 theoretical approach to these comments as a means for the construction of archaeological knowledge as applied to the 3D virtual landscape. It will demonstrate that 3D points, whether constructed or captured, can be considered to be agents within an actor network, have agency and are subject to memory and loss within the digital archaeological record. By their interconnections they become a mesh work that can exchange and retain unique attributes of materiality. As such, they challenge our notions of meaning-making beyond the rote actions of visualizing within archaeology to a form that is more theoretically deeper. By viewing the construction and capture and the production of 3D or 2D visual data through a different lens but within theoretical archaeological terms, we can begin to understand our role in the creation of meaning within virtual archaeology.

75 FR 33328 - Notice of Inventory Completion: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-11

... Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; Correction AGENCY: National Park Service..., Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from... Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard [[Page 33329

Landscape Archaeology in the Wādī al-ʿArab Region

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Soennecken Katja

2017-12-01

Full Text Available As an integral part of the Gadara-Region-Project, a survey of the Wādī al-‘Arab region was conducted during the years 2009-2012, by the Biblical-Archaeological Institute Wuppertal and the German Protestant Institute for Archaeology in order to achieve a better understanding of the hinterland of the main study site Tall Zirāʿa and to provide answers concerning settlement pattern, trade relationships and the importance of sites throughout time.

Unmanned Aerial Systems and Spectroscopy for Remote Sensing Applications in Archaeology

Science.gov (United States)

Themistocleous, K.; Agapiou, A.; Cuca, B.; Hadjimitsis, D. G.

2015-04-01

Remote sensing has open up new dimensions in archaeological research. Although there has been significant progress in increasing the resolution of space/aerial sensors and image processing, the detection of the crop (and soil marks) formations, which relate to buried archaeological remains, are difficult to detect since these marks may not be visible in the images if observed over different period or at different spatial/spectral resolution. In order to support the improvement of earth observation remote sensing technologies specifically targeting archaeological research, a better understanding of the crop/soil marks formation needs to be studied in detail. In this paper the contribution of both Unmanned Aerial Systems as well ground spectroradiometers is discussed in a variety of examples applied in the eastern Mediterranean region (Cyprus and Greece) as well in Central Europe (Hungary). In- situ spectroradiometric campaigns can be applied for the removal of atmospheric impact to simultaneous satellite overpass images. In addition, as shown in this paper, the systematic collection of ground truth data prior to the satellite/aerial acquisition can be used to detect the optimum temporal and spectral resolution for the detection of stress vegetation related to buried archaeological remains. Moreover, phenological studies of the crops from the area of interest can be simulated to the potential sensors based on their Relative Response Filters and therefore prepare better the satellite-aerial campaigns. Ground data and the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) can provide an increased insight for studying the formation of crop and soil marks. New algorithms such as vegetation indices and linear orthogonal equations for the enhancement of crop marks can be developed based on the specific spectral characteristics of the area. As well, UAS can be used for remote sensing applications in order to document, survey and model cultural heritage and archaeological sites.

Grounding the past : the praxis of participatory archaeology in the Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca, Mexico

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geurds, Alexander

2007-01-01

"Grounding the Past" addresses archaeological field praxis and its role in the political present of Santiago Tilantongo and Santiago Apoala, two communities in the Mixteca Alta region of Oaxaca, Mexico. Efforts to involve local stakeholder communities in archaeology have become an important issue

The Impact of Climate Change on an Archaeological Site in the Arctic

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hollesen, Jørgen; Matthiesen, H.; Elberling, Bo

2017-01-01

Climate change may accelerate the degradation of archaeological sites in the Arctic and lead to a loss of important historical information. This study assesses the current preservation conditions and the processes controlling the physical and chemical stability of the Qajaa kitchen midden......, thermal and hydrological erosion and oxygen exposure may lead to substantial loss of archaeological evidence before the end of the 21st century....

Trends in Archaeological Network Research: A Bibliometric Analysis

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Tom Brughmans

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an overview of major trends in archaeological network research through a bibliometric analysis of the full corpus of publications on the topic between 1965 and 2016. It illustrates we can begin identifying the outlines of a new sub-discipline within archaeology with its distinct traditions, including a diversity of research approaches, dedicated events and preferred publication venues. This sub-discipline is at a similar stage of development as historical network research, and we argue that archaeologists and historians alike interested in establishing network research as a key tool for exploring social change will have a greater chance for success to the extent that we actively collaborate, pool resources, engage in common community activities and publications, and learn from each other’s mistakes.

Features and Prospects of Bibliographic Control of Publications on Archaeological Costume and Textile

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Zhabreva Anna E.

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The article analyzes the issues of interrelations between the supplementary scientific branch bibliography with archaeology and history of the costume, as well as the dependence of the bibliographic support of the Archaeological Costume and Textiles topic on the evolution of archaeological knowledge. The author formulates the primary tasks and issues of identification and systematization of data, and notification of specialists. The article contains examples of primary retrospective bibliographic publications and describes the specific features of their application. It also features an analysis of the RSCI (Russian Science Citation Index as a tool for identifying publications on archaeological costume and textile. The authors confirm the absence of a ‘core’ of periodicals and the distribution of publications on this topic across a wide range of scientific journals. They suggest to organize the ongoing notification in the form of publishing the annual lists of new books and articles on the pages of a single most of organization of current information in the form of publication of annual lists of new books and articles on the pages of a core journal.

Multitemporal satellite data analyses for archaeological mark detection: preliminary results in Italy and Argentina

Science.gov (United States)

Lasaponara, Rosa; Masini, Nicola

2014-05-01

The current availability of very high resolution satellite data provides an excellent tool to detect and monitor archaeological marks, namely spectral and spatial anomalies linked to the presence of buried archaeological remains from a landscape view down to local scale (single site) investigations. Since the end of the nineteenth century, aerial photography has been the remote sensing tool most widely used in archaeology for surveying both surface and sub-surface archaeological remains. Aerial photography was a real "revolution" in archaeology being an excellent tool for investigations addressed at detecting underground archaeological structures through the reconnaissance of the so-called "archaeological marks" generally grouped and named as "soil","crop marks" "snow marks", and also recently "weed marks" (Lasaponara and Masini). Such marks are generally visible only from an aerial view (see detail in Lasaponara and Masini 2009, Ciminale et al. 2009, Masini and Lasaponara 2006 Lasaponara et al 2011) . In particular, soil marks are changes in soil colour or texture due to the presence of surface and shallow remains. Crop marks are changes in crop texture linked to as differences in height or colour of crops which are under stress due to lack of water or deficiencies in other nutrients caused by the presence of masonry structures in the subsoil. Crop marks can also be formed above damp and nutritious soil of buried pits and ditches. Such marks are generally visible only from an aerial view, especially during the spring season. In the context of the Project "Remote sensing technologies applied to the management of natural and cultural heritage in sites located in Italy and Argentina: from risk monitoring to mitigatin startegies P@an_sat", funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affair, we tested the capability of multitemporal data, from active and passive satellite sensors, in the detection of "archaeological marks". The areas of interested were selected from

Raw materials exploitation in Prehistory of Georgia: sourcing, processing and distribution

Science.gov (United States)

Tushabramishvili, Nikoloz; Oqrostsvaridze, Avthandil

2016-04-01

Study of raw materials has a big importance to understand the ecology, cognition, behavior, technology, culture of the Paleolithic human populations. Unfortunately, explorations of the sourcing, processing and distribution of stone raw materials had a less attention until the present days. The reasons of that were: incomplete knowledge of the archaeologists who are doing the late period archaeology (Bronze Age-Medieval) and who are little bit far from the Paleolithic technology and typology; Ignorance of the stone artifacts made on different kind of raw-materials, except flint and obsidians. Studies on the origin of the stone raw materials are becoming increasingly important since in our days. Interesting picture and situation have been detected on the different sites and in different regions of Georgia. In earlier stages of Middle Paleolithic of Djruchula Basin caves the number of basalt, andesite, argillite etc. raw materials are quite big. Since 130 000 a percent of the flint raw-material is increasing dramatically. Flint is an almost lonely dominated raw-material in Western Georgia during thousand years. Since approximately 50 000 ago the first obsidians brought from the South Georgia, appeared in Western Georgia. Similar situation has been detected by us in Eastern Georgia during our excavations of Ziari and Pkhoveli open-air sites. The early Lower Paleolithic layers are extremely rich by limestone artifacts while the flint raw-materials are dominated in the Middle Paleolithic layers. Study of these issues is possible to achieve across chronologies, the origins of the sources of raw-materials, the sites and regions. By merging archaeology with anthropology, geology and geography we are able to acquire outstanding insights about those populations. New approach to the Paleolithic stone materials, newly found Paleolithic quarries gave us an opportunities to try to achieve some results for understanding of the behavior of Paleolithic populations, geology and

Prehistory and state of catalytic exhaust gas detoxification of vehicle engines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pischinger, F

1985-01-01

The application of catalyst techniques to exhaust gas detoxification of car engines has a prehistory of about 60 years. There were important attempts at further development in the 1940's and 1950's in connection with efforts to comply with the legal measures in California caused by the smog problem in Los Angeles. The technical difficulties had been overcome by the mid-1970's, so that catalytic converters could be introduced into mass production of cars in the USA. Their function was first mainly limited to oxidation of noxious substances in the exhaust gas. Catalysts were first used to reduce nitrogen oxide emission in 1977. The 3 way catalyst now used in mass production in the USA permits the simultaneous reduction of all three important types of noxious substances emitted from petrol engines. In order to ensure the most favourable composition of the exhaust gas for this purpose, the 3 way catalyst is combined with electronic control of the formation of the mixture. The catalytic converter for cars represents by far the most economically important industrial application of catalyst techniques today. There is not other alternative for achieving the low emission of noxious substances which can be reached by this technique. (HW).

Response to Challenges and Opportunities for Mega-Infrastructure Projects and Archaeology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amanda Sutphin

2013-10-01

Full Text Available This is a very helpful and informative essay written by someone who is clearly very experienced with the complexity of urban archaeology. I would like to offer a perspective about these issues from New York City as although there are no projects that are truly analogous in both the scale and scope of the archaeology of the Crossrail Project, we do have similar projects from a construction standpoint (see New York City Department of Environment 2013 and MTA 2013.

The Nobody: Exploring Archaeological Identity with George Horsfield (1882–1956

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Amara Thornton

2014-10-01

Full Text Available This article examines George Horsfield’s life and professional career in the Department of Antiquities in British Mandate Transjordan through his correspondence and images in the archives of UCL Institute of Archaeology. Through these documents, Horsfield’s multiple archaeological identities – architect, official and foreigner – are revealed. His experience, situated within the context of life in British Mandate Transjordan, is used to analyse the archaeologist within a wider history of antiquities departments in British imperial possessions.

What is Common to Anthropology and Archaeology?

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Giulio Angioni

2016-07-01

Full Text Available This  essay discusses  the idea that archaeology, precisely like anthropology, must continually deal with the Western millennial habit to divide life into different areas (doing, saying, thinking, feeling ... and sort them into hierarchies. Perhaps the greatest cognitive and practical task of every anthropology and archaeology is to be able to connect together at par, thus turning them into a 'useful 'truth', either that the whole world is the same  and that “in Rome do as Romans do”, i. e. to understand and use the positivity and avoid the negativity of prescriptions wanting that “wright or wrong, my country”. Following only the human invariance or identity, or just following only the variety of ways of living, has caused great oversights and serious troubles. Archaeologists and anthropologists should know better than others that if men are always the same and always different, then they cannot be reduced  to their identity of species or to their different lifestyles.

Iron deposition in modern and archaeological teeth

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Williams, A.-M.M., E-mail: AnneMarie.Williams@utas.edu.au [School of Medicine, Private Bag 34, University of Tasmania, Hobart 7001 (Australia); Siegele, R. [Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, PMB 1, Menai, NSW 2234 (Australia)

2014-09-15

Iron surface concentrations and profile maps were measured on the enamel of archaeological and modern teeth to determine how iron is deposited in tooth enamel and if it was affected by the post-mortem environment. Teeth from Australian children who died in the second half of the 19th century were compared with contemporary teeth extracted for orthodontic purposes. Surface analysis of the teeth was performed using the 3 MV Van Der Graff Accelerator at The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Sydney, Australia. A small sample of teeth were then cut in the mid sagittal plane and analysed using ANSTO High Energy Heavy Ion Microprobe. Maps and linear profiles were produced showing the distribution of iron across the enamel. Results show that both the levels and distribution of iron in archaeological teeth is quite different to contemporary teeth, raising the suggestion that iron has been significantly altered by the post-mortem environment.

Iron deposition in modern and archaeological teeth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, A.-M.M.; Siegele, R.

2014-01-01

Iron surface concentrations and profile maps were measured on the enamel of archaeological and modern teeth to determine how iron is deposited in tooth enamel and if it was affected by the post-mortem environment. Teeth from Australian children who died in the second half of the 19th century were compared with contemporary teeth extracted for orthodontic purposes. Surface analysis of the teeth was performed using the 3 MV Van Der Graff Accelerator at The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Sydney, Australia. A small sample of teeth were then cut in the mid sagittal plane and analysed using ANSTO High Energy Heavy Ion Microprobe. Maps and linear profiles were produced showing the distribution of iron across the enamel. Results show that both the levels and distribution of iron in archaeological teeth is quite different to contemporary teeth, raising the suggestion that iron has been significantly altered by the post-mortem environment

The Materials Science and its impact in the Archaeology. Volume 3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mendoza A, D.; Arenas A, J.A.; Ruvalcaba S, J.L.; Rodriguez L, V.

2006-01-01

From the half-filled nineties the 'Archaeological and Art issues in Materials Science' symposium has come carrying out inside the International Congress of Materials Science that annually organizes the Mexican Academy of Materials Science. In this symposium, investigators of different nationalities, including Mexico, they have participated exposing their results in the study, consolidation and conservation of materials of archaeological origin and of works of art. By this way, the symposium has been promoted the exchange of experiences among the scientists, fomenting the collaboration among these. Due to the quality of the presented works and as an effort of the participants of disclosing their studies, the symposium organizing committee decided to capture in this third book series, the works presented in 2005, in such a way that its can be consulted by colleagues, students and public in general and know the investigations that are carried out in the field of the materials science applied to the study of archaeological samples and of works of art. (Author)

Bostonians, Yucatan, and the First Paths of American Archaeology in the Americas, 1875-1894

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guillermo Palacios

2012-07-01

Full Text Available This work discusses the relevance pre-Hispanic archaeological areas in the Yucatan peninsula had for the creation of American archaeology, especially of its original centers in Bostonand New York, which held periodical and sometimes conflicting relations with Chicago. The author claims that the “discovering” of what during the 1920's became known as the “Mayan Area” offered New England antique dealers their own and exclusive area, which was gradually “cleansed” of European agents and put under the control of a close-knit group of Bostonians and their allies, thanks, among other things, to the control of the consulate in Merida. The process of conceptually and institutionally construing the Mayan Area, which began in the 1880's, was essential for professionalizing American archaeology, consolidating its most important museums, and positioning the United States, in an exercise of scientific and cultural State building, at the same level as the European archaeological and anthropological communities.

Politics and the World Archaeological Congress [-3

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Rao, Nandini

1995-06-01

Full Text Available The recognition in the West that every discipline is influenced by its socio-political context led to the demand for reflexive archaeology and to the formation in 1986, by the 'politically aware', of the World Archaeological Congress (WAC. WAC explicitly recognises the socio-political context of archaeological practice, and archaelogy's political, social and academic responsibilities. The Congress, which meets every four years, met in India in December 1994. Indian archaeologists have largely denied the influence of socio-political contexts on academics. But this has not prevented some from (misusing archaeological evidence to further political ends with catastrophic results. No discussion on the issue was permitted at the Congress so that eight years after it was formed. the WAC compromised and suppressed free debate on a vital matter. This essay outlines the genesis of WAC and the reasons why it was formed, before analysing the Indian context of the third meeting of the Congress. It also examines the response of Indian archaeologists at WAC to the protest against such political abuse of archaeology and calls for a reflection on whether WAC has achieved its objective of becoming a relevant world organisation.

El reconocimiento en Occidente de que cada disciplina está influida por su contexto socio-político llevó a la reivindicación de una arqueología reflexiva y a la formación en 1986, por los arqueólogos ”políticamente conscientes”, del Congreso Arqueológico Mundial (WAC. El WAC reconoce explícitamente el contexto sociopolítico de la práctica arqueológica y las responsabilidades políticas, sociales y académicas de la arqueología. El Congreso, que se celebra cada cuatro años, tuvo lugar en India en diciembre de 1994. Los arqueólogos indios han negado durante mucho tiempo la influencia de los contextos socio-políticos sobre los investigadores. Pero ello no ha impedido que algunos de ellos hayan utilizado de

Connecting Archaeological Data and Grey Literature via Semantic Cross Search

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Douglas Tudhope

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Differing terminology and database structure hinders meaningful cross search of excavation datasets. Matching free text grey literature reports with datasets poses yet more challenges. Conventional search techniques are unable to cross search between archaeological datasets and Web-based grey literature. Results are reported from two AHRC funded research projects that investigated the use of semantic techniques to link digital archive databases, vocabularies and associated grey literature. STAR (Semantic Technologies for Archaeological Resources was a collaboration between the University of Glamorgan, Hypermedia Research Unit and English Heritage (EH. The main outcome is a research Demonstrator (available online, which cross searches over excavation datasets from different database schemas, including Raunds Roman, Raunds Prehistoric, Museum of London, Silchester Roman and Stanwick sampling. The system additionally cross searches over an extract of excavation reports from the OASIS index of grey literature, operated by the Archaeology Data Service (ADS. A conceptual framework provided by the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM integrates the different database structures and the metadata automatically generated from the OASIS reports by natural language processing techniques. The methods employed for extracting semantic RDF representations from the datasets and the information extraction from grey literature are described. The STELLAR project provides freely available tools to reduce the costs of mapping and extracting data to semantic search systems such as the Demonstrator and to linked data representation generally. Detailed use scenarios (and a screen capture video provide a basis for a discussion of key issues, including cost-benefits, ontology modelling, mapping, terminology control, semantic implementation and information extraction issues. The scenarios show that semantic interoperability can be achieved by mapping and extracting

Identifying potential differences in ontogentic ages between modern and archaeological Nacella deaurata shells, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

Science.gov (United States)

Surge, D. M.; Godino, I. B. I.; Álvarez, M.; López, M. B. I.

2017-12-01

Patelloid limpet shells are common constituents of rocky shore habitats along the eastern Atlantic basin and are often found in archaeological shell middens. Nacella deaurata is an intertidal species found in the Magellanic Province along the southern tip of South America. Recent discoveries of archaeological shell middens in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, identify N. deaurata as one of the abundant shells in these deposits. Preliminary observations reveal that modern N. deaurata shells achieve larger sizes compared to those found in the archaeological middens. Here, we provide preliminary data to test the hypothesis that the larger, modern specimens grow to older ontogenetic ages than the smaller archaeological specimens. Our results may provide insights into harvesting pressures on this species during the time when the archaeological sites were inhabited. Understanding their annual growth patterns also has important implications for generating oxygen isotope proxy data to reconstruct seasonal variation in sea surface temperature.

[Hans Gross as an archaeologist--the significance of archaeology for 'encyclopedic' criminology].

Science.gov (United States)

Karl, Stephan; Bachhiesl, Christian

2014-01-01

In some cases, forensics and criminology have to cooperate with disciplines that usually are counted among the humanities, e.g. with archaeology. This article examines the significance of this cooperation for the criminological epistemology at the turn of the 19th century. These methodological considerations are illustrated by an example: When Hans Gross, who became the founder of the Austrian School of Criminology later, saw an unusually shaped hill near Feldbach, a town in southern Styria, he assumed this hill to be a burial mound and informed the responsible archaeological authorities immediately. Further investigations showed, however, that this hill was a natural formation. This is an early example for interdisciplinary cooperation, which proves that both in archaeology and in criminology a thorough inspection of the site is decisive for further scientific analysis of the topic of research.

GIS and infographic applications in the North House of Arucci archaeological site (Aroche, Huelva

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Álvaro Corrales Álvarez

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The present paper is focused on the application of a methodological model specifically designed to develop the tasks related to analysis and dissemination of the Roman Hispania site of Arucci (Aroche, Huelva. The main aim of our approach is to reconcile the diffusion of the results obtained after the excavation, documentation, and the study of the archaeological record with the methodological analysis of a Geographic Information System (GIS. We consider that a GIS is the most appropriate tool in archaeology for this purpose since it allows users to manage a large amount of data in diverse formats and insert it in a closed topographic reference frame. For that purpose, we restrict the field of action to the North House (a house built in the time of Emperor Augustus that lasted until the 3rd century AD. The real power of this research relies on the integration of the digital building archaeological record in a GIS, while the architecture of the Roman house is reconstructed virtually from archaeological remains, in this way the domestic space is visually comprehensible. According to the results obtained in this pilot experience, we can affirm that the union of GIS and infographics allows archaeological reality to surpass the strictly academic scope and promote it to society making possible the Arucci site approachable to professionals of archaeology as well as to the uninitiated. The feasibility of the proposal that was carried out within the North House encourages us to consider the export of this study model to the rest of buildings that make up the site such as the foro, macellum, balneum as, well as other domus.

Enabling European Archaeological Research: The ARIADNE E-Infrastructure

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Nicola Aloia

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Research e-infrastructures, digital archives and data services have become important pillars of scientific enterprise that in recent decades has become ever more collaborative, distributed and data-intensive. The archaeological research community has been an early adopter of digital tools for data acquisition, organisation, analysis and presentation of research results of individual projects. However, the provision of e-infrastructure and services for data sharing, discovery, access and re-use has lagged behind. This situation is being addressed by ARIADNE: the Advanced Research Infrastructure for Archaeological Dataset Networking in Europe. This EU-funded network has developed an e-infrastructure that enables data providers to register and provide access to their resources (datasets, collections through the ARIADNE data portal, facilitating discovery, access and other services across the integrated resources. This article describes the current landscape of data repositories and services for archaeologists in Europe, and the issues that make interoperability between them difficult to realise. The results of the ARIADNE surveys on users' expectations and requirements are also presented. The main section of the article describes the architecture of the e-infrastructure, core services (data registration, discovery and access and various other extant or experimental services. The on-going evaluation of the data integration and services is also discussed. Finally, the article summarises lessons learned, and outlines the prospects for the wider engagement of the archaeological research community in sharing data through ARIADNE.

75 FR 58431 - Notice of Inventory Completion: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-24

... Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; Correction AGENCY: National Park Service... in the possession of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge... was a project of Harvard University faculty in 1972. No known individuals were identified. No...

76 FR 74690 - Extension of Import Restrictions Imposed on Archaeological and Ethnological Material From Bolivia

Science.gov (United States)

2011-12-01

... and Ethnological Material From Bolivia AGENCY: U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Department of... archaeological and ethnological material from Bolivia. The restrictions, which were originally imposed by... archaeological and ethnological material from Bolivia to which the restrictions apply. DATES: Effective Date...

Analysis of archaeological pieces with nuclear techniques; Analisis de piezas arqueologicas con tecnicas nucleares

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tenorio, D [Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Nucleares, A.P. 18-1027, 11801 Mexico D.F. (Mexico)

2002-07-01

In this work nuclear techniques such as Neutron Activation Analysis, PIXE, X-ray fluorescence analysis, Metallography, Uranium series, Rutherford Backscattering for using in analysis of archaeological specimens and materials are described. Also some published works and thesis about analysis of different Mexican and Meso american archaeological sites are referred. (Author)

Geophysical prospecting in archaeology: investigations in Santa Venera, south suburb of Poseidonia-Paestum, Campania, southern Italy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loperte, A; Satriani, A; Bavusi, M; Lapenna, V; Del Lungo, S; Gizzi, F T; Sabelli, R

2011-01-01

This paper is the result of a joint work between geophysicists and archaeologists in which the authors have used geophysical techniques to investigate the Greek and Roman settlement of Paestum, southern Italy for preventive archaeological research (commonly termed 'rescue archaeology') on an area of the ancient settlement affected by new building work and infrastructure. Starting from a background analysis of the archaeological and geological features of the site, an integrated geophysical approach based on magnetic, GPR and geoelectrical surveys was carried out on the Santa Venera area, a site selected to build a car parking. High-density and high-resolution cross-correlated geophysical surveys were carried out in different parts of the area to better resolve the structures. Systematic excavations confirmed the clues suggested by geophysical prospecting about the presence of archaeological remains such as walls, canals and tombs. By the use of non-destructive geophysical techniques a two-fold aim was reached: to properly plan the building of the infrastructure and preserve the ancient artefacts according to the advanced European guidelines on the protection of archaeological heritage

Optically stimulated luminescence dating of archaeological ceramics from Osvaldo and Lago Grande sites in central Amazon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hazenfratz, Roberto; Tudela, Diego R.G.; Munita, Casimiro S.; Mittani, Juan C.R.; Tatumi, Sonia H.

2013-01-01

Thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating are two important techniques for dating archaeological and geological material, especially suitable for archaeological ceramics, where samples for 14 C dating are not available. In this work, five pottery shards from Osvaldo and Lago Grande archaeological sites were dated by OSL. For measurements, it was used the SAR protocol. The annual dose rates were estimated by the contents of U, Th and K, determined by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) of the pottery shards and clay samples near both sites. Lago Grande and Osvaldo represent a microcosm of the region, and their proximity and high density of archaeological record turn them interesting to study possible relations of cultural and/or commercial exchange. Calculations showed that the water content is an important variable that cannot be neglected in OSL dating of pottery shards from central Amazon, due to the high humidity in regional soils. The results between 867 ± 101 and 1154 ± 62 years AD agreed with the average time span for the archaeological sites occupation found in the literature. (author)

Preliminary characterization of ceramics from the Lago Grande archaeological site in the central Amazon by INAA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hazenfratz, Roberto; Munita, Casimiro S.; Neves, Eduardo G.; Oliveira, Paulo M.S.; Toyota, Rosimeiri G.

2009-01-01

The macroscopic characteristics of archaeological ceramics, such as the surface decoration and shape, are used as cultural and chronological indicators of ancient people. The combination of stylistic-typological studies with archaeometric analysis, as provenance studies, has been considered of great importance in Archaeology. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the pre-colonial Amazonian occupations. Inside this context, fifty ceramic fragments from the Lago Grande archaeological site were analyzed by INAA in order to characterize its elemental composition. The results were treated with multivariate statistics: Cluster, Principal Components and Discriminant Analysis. The results obtained by these three methods were compared in an effort to achieve some correlation with the archaeological context. It was stated the existence of two different groups of artifacts. They probably regard to the main ceramic phases found in the site excavation: Paredao and Manacapuru. Once confirmed by other archaeological analyses, these results could corroborate an exchange net among the former inhabitants of Lago Grande and other sites in the neighborhood. (author)

Optically stimulated luminescence dating of archaeological ceramics from Osvaldo and Lago Grande sites in central Amazon

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hazenfratz, Roberto; Tudela, Diego R.G.; Munita, Casimiro S., E-mail: robertohm@ipen.br [Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares (IPEN/CNEN-SP), Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil); Mittani, Juan C.R.; Tatumi, Sonia H. [Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo (UNIFESP), Santos, SP (Brazil)

2013-07-01

Thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating are two important techniques for dating archaeological and geological material, especially suitable for archaeological ceramics, where samples for {sup 14}C dating are not available. In this work, five pottery shards from Osvaldo and Lago Grande archaeological sites were dated by OSL. For measurements, it was used the SAR protocol. The annual dose rates were estimated by the contents of U, Th and K, determined by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) of the pottery shards and clay samples near both sites. Lago Grande and Osvaldo represent a microcosm of the region, and their proximity and high density of archaeological record turn them interesting to study possible relations of cultural and/or commercial exchange. Calculations showed that the water content is an important variable that cannot be neglected in OSL dating of pottery shards from central Amazon, due to the high humidity in regional soils. The results between 867 ± 101 and 1154 ± 62 years AD agreed with the average time span for the archaeological sites occupation found in the literature. (author)

14C AMS dates on Rattus exulans bones from natural and archaeological contexts on Norfolk Island, south-west Pacific

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holdaway, R.N.; Anderson, A.J.

1998-01-01

The Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) was transported throughout the western Pacific by migrant peoples in prehistory. Meredith et al (1985) reported a minimum date for the presence of Rattus exulans on Norfolk Island using dates on charcoal from an apparently enclosing layer (the upper part of their Unit C4) in Cemetery Bay. 8 refs., 3 tabs

Synchronous environmental and cultural change in the prehistory of the northeastern United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Munoz, Samuel E; Gajewski, Konrad; Peros, Matthew C

2010-12-21

Climatic changes during the late Quaternary have resulted in substantial, often abrupt, rearrangements of terrestrial ecosystems, but the relationship between these environmental changes and prehistoric human culture and population size remains unclear. Using a database of archaeological radiocarbon dates alongside a network of paleoecological records (sedimentary pollen and charcoal) and paleoclimatic reconstructions, we show that periods of cultural and demographic change in the northeastern United States occurred at the same times as the major environmental-climatic transitions of that region. At 11.6, 8.2, 5.4, and 3.0 kyr BP (10(3) calendar years before present), changes in forest composition altered the distribution, availability, and predictability of food resources which triggered technological adjustments manifested in the archaeological record. Human population level has varied in response to these external changes in ecosystems, but the adoption of maize agriculture during the late Holocene also resulted in a substantial population increase. This study demonstrates the long-term interconnectedness of prehistoric human cultures and the ecosystems they inhabited, and provides a consolidated environmental-cultural framework from which more interdisciplinary research and discussion can develop. Moreover, it emphasizes the complex nature of human responses to environmental change in a temperate region.

NAA-applications in cosmology, archaeology and palaeontology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bichler, M.; Duma, B.; Musilek, A.; Steinhauser, G.; Huber, H.; Kutschera, W.; Vockenhuber, C.

2004-01-01

The use of the TRIGA reactor at the Atominstitute in Vienna as an irradiation facility in neutron activation analysis has a remarkable history. Present research work includes the recent determination of the precise half-life of 182 Hf and the participation in an archaeological long-term research program (SCIEM2000). (author)

Detection of Shallow Buried Archaeological Remains Structure using 2-D Resistivity Method at Sungai Batu, Lembah Bujang, Kedah

Science.gov (United States)

Ismail, Nurina; Nordiana, M. M.; Saidin, M.; Masnan, S. S. K.; Abir, I. A.

2018-04-01

In an archaeological study, 2-D resistivity becomes important tools for the scientific investigation and also can be applied to map shallow subsurface structures at the archaeological site. The main purpose of the research is to locate the shallow buried archaeological remains structure in the area of Sungai Batu, Lembah Bujang, Kedah (Malaysia). Resistivity surveys have been applied using a Pole-dipole array with both 5 survey lines for SB1 and SB2 sites using 0.75 m electrode spacing. Both results revealed high resistivity zone with ≥ 3000 Ωm at a depth ranging from 0-1.5 m at the study area. SB1 site conducting an excavation to validate the result obtain while SB2 is not conducting any excavation. Besides that, the other characteristics of the buried archaeological remains are indicated as mound area and there is exposed remain found on top of the surface. Based on the archaeological evidence, the higher resistivity value indicates the interesting anomaly which is clay bricks for archaeological excavation.

Islamic Archaeology in Qatar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Walmsley, Alan

2014-01-01

Three years of archaeological research at Al Zubarah on the northwest coast of the Qatar peninsula has produced detailed information on social, cultural, and economic structures of a major trading town of the Gulf in the 18th and 19th centuries CE. Detailed investigations, undertaken in partnership...... with the Qatar Museums Authority, have revealed vital evidence on developments in urban topography and planning, water systems, the arrangement of commercial and private space, commerce and inter-regional trade, relationships with hinterlands, and material culture horizons. The implications of these discoveries...... are discussed in relation to the socio-economic history of Qatar....

Optical micro-profilometry for archaeology

Science.gov (United States)

Carcagni, Pierluigi; Daffara, Claudia; Fontana, Raffaella; Gambino, Maria Chiara; Mastroianni, Maria; Mazzotta, Cinazia; Pampaloni, Enrico; Pezzati, Luca

2005-06-01

A quantitative morphological analysis of archaeological objects represents an important element for historical evaluations, artistic studies and conservation projects. At present, a variety of contact instruments for high-resolution surface survey is available on the market, but because of their invasivity they are not well received in the field of artwork conservation. On the contrary, optical testing techniques have seen a successful growth in last few years due to their effectiveness and safety. In this work we present a few examples of application of high-resolution 3D techniques for the survey of archaeological objects. Measurements were carried out by means of an optical micro-profilometer composed of a commercial conoprobe mounted on a scanning device that allows a maximum sampled area of 280×280 mm2. Measurements as well as roughness calculations were carried out on selected areas, representative of the differently degraded surface, of an ellenestic bronze statue to document the surface corrosion before restoration intervention started. Two highly-corroded ancient coins and a limestone column were surveyed to enhance the relief of inscriptions and drawings for dating purposes. High-resolution 3D survey, beyond the faithful representation of objects, makes it possible to display the surface in an image format that can be processed by means of image processing software. The application of digital filters as well as rendering techniques easies the readability of the smallest details.

Digital Media, Power and (InEquality in Archaeology and Heritage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sara Perry

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Decades of Internet study have arguably done little to shed light on the nature and implications of web-based communications in archaeology. Since the late 1990s, the online world has been lauded by archaeologists for its capacities to engender dialogue, participation, intellectual change and even democratic revolution. Yet the dangers associated with its use have barely been probed. Threats to privacy, equality, access, security of data, and personal safety and well-being are seemingly characteristic of all communication technologies. However, the naive zeal with which many archaeological and heritage organisations are employing online platforms for dissemination, profile-building, 'impact' and public accountability is fraught with risk and deserving of interrogation. This article explores the effects of digital culture on the professional identities and careers of archaeologists, heritage specialists and museum workers. Through a multi-disciplinary survey of over 400 individuals, nearly one-third of whom self-identified as archaeological or related heritage practitioners (working both inside and outside of the academic sector, we consider the various ways in which online technologies are used to express, promote, facilitate, strengthen and undermine both professionals themselves and professional practices in archaeology. Situating ourselves in the intersectional and feminist literature, we argue that web-based harassment and lack of adequate e-safety mechanisms are rife in the discipline, putting it in jeopardy of fuelling structural inequalities. Our findings suggest that close to one-third of practitioners report victimisation via online communication; the majority know their abusers offline; and, although the prevalence of such abuse is roughly equal among men and women, its nature is split along gender lines. Of especial concern, most practitioners choose to ignore their abuse, a decision that may be motivated by the non-existent or victim

The genetic prehistory of the New World Arctic.

Science.gov (United States)

Raghavan, Maanasa; DeGiorgio, Michael; Albrechtsen, Anders; Moltke, Ida; Skoglund, Pontus; Korneliussen, Thorfinn S; Grønnow, Bjarne; Appelt, Martin; Gulløv, Hans Christian; Friesen, T Max; Fitzhugh, William; Malmström, Helena; Rasmussen, Simon; Olsen, Jesper; Melchior, Linea; Fuller, Benjamin T; Fahrni, Simon M; Stafford, Thomas; Grimes, Vaughan; Renouf, M A Priscilla; Cybulski, Jerome; Lynnerup, Niels; Lahr, Marta Mirazon; Britton, Kate; Knecht, Rick; Arneborg, Jette; Metspalu, Mait; Cornejo, Omar E; Malaspinas, Anna-Sapfo; Wang, Yong; Rasmussen, Morten; Raghavan, Vibha; Hansen, Thomas V O; Khusnutdinova, Elza; Pierre, Tracey; Dneprovsky, Kirill; Andreasen, Claus; Lange, Hans; Hayes, M Geoffrey; Coltrain, Joan; Spitsyn, Victor A; Götherström, Anders; Orlando, Ludovic; Kivisild, Toomas; Villems, Richard; Crawford, Michael H; Nielsen, Finn C; Dissing, Jørgen; Heinemeier, Jan; Meldgaard, Morten; Bustamante, Carlos; O'Rourke, Dennis H; Jakobsson, Mattias; Gilbert, M Thomas P; Nielsen, Rasmus; Willerslev, Eske

2014-08-29

The New World Arctic, the last region of the Americas to be populated by humans, has a relatively well-researched archaeology, but an understanding of its genetic history is lacking. We present genome-wide sequence data from ancient and present-day humans from Greenland, Arctic Canada, Alaska, Aleutian Islands, and Siberia. We show that Paleo-Eskimos (~3000 BCE to 1300 CE) represent a migration pulse into the Americas independent of both Native American and Inuit expansions. Furthermore, the genetic continuity characterizing the Paleo-Eskimo period was interrupted by the arrival of a new population, representing the ancestors of present-day Inuit, with evidence of past gene flow between these lineages. Despite periodic abandonment of major Arctic regions, a single Paleo-Eskimo metapopulation likely survived in near-isolation for more than 4000 years, only to vanish around 700 years ago. Copyright © 2014, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Characterization of ceramic archaeological by high resolution X ray microtomography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Machado, Alessandra C.; Freitas, Renato; Calza, Cristiane F.; Lopes, Ricardo T.; Lima, Inaya; Carvalho, Daniele D.; Gaspar, Maria D.

2013-01-01

Characterization of ceramic fragments is a very important area of research in art and archeometry area because it enables a greater understanding of how ancient civilizations behave and what were their traditions and customs. Petrography and chemical analyses are commonly used, but these techniques are destructive, which is not interesting for this type of sample. Through the exchange of multidisciplinary scientific knowledge and new partnerships, high resolution X-ray microtomography has been introduced in archaeological area as a great possibility of 3D inspection in a non-destructive way. The goal of this work is to investigate the internal microstructures of four samples of archeological ceramic, from the Archaeological Site of Macacu - RJ. The X-ray microtomography were performed in a high resolution setup, and can be used to infer the nature of organic temper even with all plant remains completely burnt out during the firing process and also to ensure the homogeneity of samples envisaged for geochemical analyses, especially with respect to the distribution of chemically diverse fabric compounds. In this way this study intends to contribute to our understanding of the archaeological and historical formations of this region. (author)

Characterization of ceramic archaeological by high resolution X ray microtomography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Machado, Alessandra C.; Freitas, Renato; Calza, Cristiane F.; Lopes, Ricardo T.; Lima, Inaya, E-mail: alecastro@lin.ufrj.br [Coordenacao dos Programas de Pos-Graduacao de Engenharia (COPPE/UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Lab. de Instrumentacao Nuclear; Carvalho, Daniele D.; Gaspar, Maria D. [Museu Nacional (MN/UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Centro de Tecnologia

2013-07-01

Characterization of ceramic fragments is a very important area of research in art and archeometry area because it enables a greater understanding of how ancient civilizations behave and what were their traditions and customs. Petrography and chemical analyses are commonly used, but these techniques are destructive, which is not interesting for this type of sample. Through the exchange of multidisciplinary scientific knowledge and new partnerships, high resolution X-ray microtomography has been introduced in archaeological area as a great possibility of 3D inspection in a non-destructive way. The goal of this work is to investigate the internal microstructures of four samples of archeological ceramic, from the Archaeological Site of Macacu - RJ. The X-ray microtomography were performed in a high resolution setup, and can be used to infer the nature of organic temper even with all plant remains completely burnt out during the firing process and also to ensure the homogeneity of samples envisaged for geochemical analyses, especially with respect to the distribution of chemically diverse fabric compounds. In this way this study intends to contribute to our understanding of the archaeological and historical formations of this region. (author)

Biometric identification of capillariid eggs from archaeological sites in Patagonia.

Science.gov (United States)

Taglioretti, V; Fugassa, M H; Beltrame, M O; Sardella, N H

2014-06-01

Numerous eggs of capillariid nematodes have been found in coprolites from a wide range of hosts and in raptor pellets in archaeological samples from Patagonia. The structure and sculpture of the eggshell of these nematodes and their biometry are commonly used for identification. The aim of this study was to determine whether eggs of the genus Calodium with similar morphology, found in different archaeological samples from Patagonia, belong to the same species. For this purpose, capillariid eggs (N= 843) with thick walls and radial striations were studied by permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA). Eggs exhibiting similar shape and structure also showed similar biometry, regardless of the zoological origin of coprolites (P= 0.84), host diet (P= 0.19), character of the archaeological sites (P= 0.67) and chronology (P= 0.66). Thus, they were attributed to the same species. We suggest that an unidentified zoonotic species of the genus Calodium occurred in the digestive tract of a wide range of hosts in Patagonia during the Holocene and that both human and animal populations were exposed to this parasite during the Holocene in the study area.

Study of exchange networks between two Amazon archaeological sites by INAA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hazenfratz, Roberto; Munita, C.S.

2016-01-01

This work comprises the utilization of instrumental neutron activation analysis to determine the concentration of 24 chemical elements in pottery shards from two large archaeological sites in central Amazon, Lago Grande and Osvaldo. The multidimensional data set was analyzed by cluster and principal component analysis for defining chemical groups of pottery. The results were correlated to potential exchange networks driven by three mechanisms: trade, exogamic marriage and territorial integration in the region. All of them have important consequences for archaeological research regarding the Amazonian pre-colonial occupation. (author)

Natural and archaeological analogues: a review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brookins, D.G.

1987-01-01

In this chapter natural analogues in the geomedia for various aspects of radioactive waste disposal are discussed. Particular reference is made to the Okla Natural Reactor in Gabon. Igneous contact zones are discussed and natural analogues of waste-form materials. The importance of archaeological remains and anthropogenic materials left by man, in assessing weathering conditions and serving as radioactive waste analogues, is also emphasised. (UK)

From the archaeological record to archaeobim: the case study of the Etruscan temple of Uni in Marzabotto

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simone Garagnani

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The digital reconstruction of the recently discovered Tuscanic temple of Uni in Marzabotto gave the chance to test the application of the Building Information Modeling (BIM process to the combined fields of Archaeology and Engineering. In addition to the traditional historic and archaeological analysis, a new methodology in Experimental Archaeology is proposed; it proved to be original and innovative in the examination of the buried building, taking advantage of technologies focused on the architectural reliability validated by inferred digital models. The peculiar aspect of the research involves the elements at the beginning of the process, which consist of foundations or negative archaeological evidences only, supported by the clues and the rules that can be found in the historic and scientific literature. To better define this distinctive working process, the expression ArchaeoBIM was proposed, which highlights the common BIM matrix used for the data management through one or more analytical models, applied to the peculiar aspects of the Archaeological discipline.

Obsidian deposits in the central Balkans? Tested against archaeological evidence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tripković Boban

2003-01-01

Full Text Available Finds of obsidian artefacts on sites distant from the presumed primary source have often received a romantic note in the history of archaeology manifested in the idea about local exploitation as a form of procurement and archaeologists’ search for as yet undetected deposits of this raw material. In due course, such concepts have found their way into Serbian archaeology as well. The main objective of this contribution, therefore, is to reconsider the current knowledge about obsidian in the central and north Balkans, to test how well founded the idea about the use of local sources is, as well as to indicate some possible directions for future research.

MUSEUMS: A STRATEGY TO PRESERVE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN CAMPECHE, MEXICO

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marisol Ordaz Tamayo

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Mexico’s long history and rich cultural diversity translates into an equally rich offer of national patrimony. That offer, both national and international in scope, adopts diverse formats, such as and/ or archaeological parks. Several Maya archaeological sites in the state of have been exposed without previous planning for their conservation, management, and further research. This leads to and, consequently, their devaluation as a priceless patrimonial heritage. This study explores the prospect and of a community and museum-based strategy as a key to integrate the value of said sites as educational, cultural, economic, and tourist assets and contributing factors to the region’s sustainable

Enculturating environments: rock art and the archaeology of interior south-central California

OpenAIRE

Sturt, Fraser C.; Robinson, David; Bernard, Julienne

2010-01-01

The disarticulation of rock art from the archaeological record and its changing environment remains a primary obstacle facing many rock art researchers across the globe, but particularly in the American Far West, and California specifically (Robinson & Sturt 2009). A schism, so to speak, exists between the archaeological record and rock art as well as 'dirt' archaeologists and rock art specialists. This is because, in California, and particularly in the rock art rich area of south-central...

"If We Just Knew Who Should Do It", or the Social Organization of the Archiving of Archaeology in Sweden

Science.gov (United States)

Huvila, Isto

2016-01-01

Introduction: This paper analyses the work practices and perspectives of professionals working with archaeological archives and the social organization of archaeological archiving and information management in Sweden. Method: The paper is based on an interview study of Swedish actors in the field of archaeological archiving (N = 16). Analysis: The…

78 FR 25469 - Notice of Inventory Completion: University of South Alabama Center for Archaeological Studies...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-05-01

... completion of an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects under the control of the....R50000] Notice of Inventory Completion: University of South Alabama Center for Archaeological Studies... Alabama Center for Archaeological Studies has completed an inventory of human remains and associated...

Investigating the prehistory of Tungusic peoples of Siberia and the Amur-Ussuri region with complete mtDNA genome sequences and Y-chromosomal markers.

Science.gov (United States)

Duggan, Ana T; Whitten, Mark; Wiebe, Victor; Crawford, Michael; Butthof, Anne; Spitsyn, Victor; Makarov, Sergey; Novgorodov, Innokentiy; Osakovsky, Vladimir; Pakendorf, Brigitte

2013-01-01

Evenks and Evens, Tungusic-speaking reindeer herders and hunter-gatherers, are spread over a wide area of northern Asia, whereas their linguistic relatives the Udegey, sedentary fishermen and hunter-gatherers, are settled to the south of the lower Amur River. The prehistory and relationships of these Tungusic peoples are as yet poorly investigated, especially with respect to their interactions with neighbouring populations. In this study, we analyse over 500 complete mtDNA genome sequences from nine different Evenk and even subgroups as well as their geographic neighbours from Siberia and their linguistic relatives the Udegey from the Amur-Ussuri region in order to investigate the prehistory of the Tungusic populations. These data are supplemented with analyses of Y-chromosomal haplogroups and STR haplotypes in the Evenks, Evens, and neighbouring Siberian populations. We demonstrate that whereas the North Tungusic Evenks and Evens show evidence of shared ancestry both in the maternal and in the paternal line, this signal has been attenuated by genetic drift and differential gene flow with neighbouring populations, with isolation by distance further shaping the maternal genepool of the Evens. The Udegey, in contrast, appear quite divergent from their linguistic relatives in the maternal line, with a mtDNA haplogroup composition characteristic of populations of the Amur-Ussuri region. Nevertheless, they show affinities with the Evenks, indicating that they might be the result of admixture between local Amur-Ussuri populations and Tungusic populations from the north.

Investigating the prehistory of Tungusic peoples of Siberia and the Amur-Ussuri region with complete mtDNA genome sequences and Y-chromosomal markers.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana T Duggan

Full Text Available Evenks and Evens, Tungusic-speaking reindeer herders and hunter-gatherers, are spread over a wide area of northern Asia, whereas their linguistic relatives the Udegey, sedentary fishermen and hunter-gatherers, are settled to the south of the lower Amur River. The prehistory and relationships of these Tungusic peoples are as yet poorly investigated, especially with respect to their interactions with neighbouring populations. In this study, we analyse over 500 complete mtDNA genome sequences from nine different Evenk and even subgroups as well as their geographic neighbours from Siberia and their linguistic relatives the Udegey from the Amur-Ussuri region in order to investigate the prehistory of the Tungusic populations. These data are supplemented with analyses of Y-chromosomal haplogroups and STR haplotypes in the Evenks, Evens, and neighbouring Siberian populations. We demonstrate that whereas the North Tungusic Evenks and Evens show evidence of shared ancestry both in the maternal and in the paternal line, this signal has been attenuated by genetic drift and differential gene flow with neighbouring populations, with isolation by distance further shaping the maternal genepool of the Evens. The Udegey, in contrast, appear quite divergent from their linguistic relatives in the maternal line, with a mtDNA haplogroup composition characteristic of populations of the Amur-Ussuri region. Nevertheless, they show affinities with the Evenks, indicating that they might be the result of admixture between local Amur-Ussuri populations and Tungusic populations from the north.

Review of Environmental and Geological Microgravity Applications and Feasibility of Its Employment at Archaeological Sites in Israel

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Lev V. Eppelbaum

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Microgravity investigations are widely applied at present for solving various environmental and geological problems. Unfortunately, microgravity survey is comparatively rarely used for searching for hidden ancient targets. It is caused mainly by small geometric size of the desired archaeological objects and various types of noise complicating the observed useful signal. At the same time, development of modern generation of field gravimetric equipment allows to register promptly and digitally microGal (10-8 m/s2 anomalies that offer a new challenge in this direction. An advanced methodology of gravity anomalies analysis and modern 3D modeling, intended for ancient targets delineation, is briefly presented. It is supposed to apply in archaeological microgravity the developed original methods for the surrounding terrain relief computing. Calculating second and third derivatives of gravity potential are useful for revealing some closed peculiarities of the different Physical-Archaeological Models (PAMs. It is underlined that physical measurement of vertical gravity derivatives in archaeological studying has a significant importance and cannot be replaced by any transformation methods. Archaeological targets in Israel have been ranged by their density/geometrical characteristics in several groups. The performed model computations indicate that microgravity investigations might be successfully applied at least in 20–25% of archaeological sites in Israel.

Enabling European Archaeological Research: The ARIADNE E-Infrastructure

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hollander, H.S.; Aloia, Nicola; Binding, Ceri; Cuy, Sebastian; Doerr, Martin; Fanini, Bruno; Felicetti, Achille; Fihn, Johan; Gavrilis, Dimitris; Geser, Guntram; Meghini, Carlo; Niccolucci, Franco; Nurra, Federico; Papatheodorou, Christos; Richards, Julian; Ronzino, Paola; Scopigno, Roberto; Theodoridou, Maria; Theodoridou, Maria; Tudhope, Douglas; Vlachidis, Andreas; Wright, Holly

2017-01-01

Research e-infrastructures, digital archives and data services have become important pillars of scientific enterprise that in recent decades has become ever more collaborative, distributed and data-intensive. The archaeological research community has been an early adopter of digital tools for data

Between archaeology and anthropology: imagining Neolithic settlements

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Květina, Petr; Hrnčíř, V.

2013-01-01

Roč. 51, č. 2 (2013), s. 323-347 ISSN 0323-1119. [Theory and method in the prehistoric archaeology of Central Europe. Mikulov, 24.10.2012-26.10.2012] R&D Projects: GA MK(CZ) DF12P01OVV032 Keywords : Neolithic longhouse * ethnographic analogy * settlement patterns Subject RIV: AC - Archeology, Anthropology, Ethnology

Development of Network-type Archaeological Investigation System

Science.gov (United States)

Chiba, F.; Yokokoyama, S.; Kaneda, A.; Konno, K.

2015-08-01

The Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011 is said to be a once-in-1000-year catastrophic quake. The Tsunami triggered by the earthquake destroyed broad coastal areas in northeast Japan. As recovery from the earthquake proceeds, the demand for new road construction, housing hill development, and residential construction is rapidly increasing. Culture plays a critical role in the district's recovery. For that reason, before development, cultural properties in the corresponding districts must be urgently investigated. This is a must, although balancing cultural recovery with rapid economic recovery is no easy task. With this in mind, we have developed a new system focusing on speedy archaeological investigation and adequate documentation. The authors reexamined the existing investigation process to categorize tasks into two types: those that must be done only at archaeological sites (site A) and ones available at other places (site B). We then formulated a scheme where the tasks on both sites are performed simultaneously in parallel over the network. Experiments are ongoing. This presentation reports the process and issues of our research and development.

Material Culture and Cultural Meanings: Current Studies of Archaeological Ceramics and in Ce­ramic Ethnoarchaeology

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Charles C. Kolb

2000-05-01

Full Text Available Pottery and People: A Dynamic Interaction. James M. Skibo and Gary M. Feinman (editors. Founda­tions of Archaeological Inquiry. Salt Lake City. University of Utah Press. 1999. 260 pp. 91 figures. 30 tables. ISBN 0-87480-576-7. $55.00 (cloth; 0-87489-577-5. $25.00 (paperback. Material Meanings: Critical Approaches to the Interpretation of Material Culture. Elizabeth S. Chilton (editor. Foundations of Archaeological Inquiry. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. 1999.179pp. 35 figures. 11 tables. ISBN 0-87480-632-1. $55.00 (cloth; 087480-633-X. $35.00 (paperback. The description and interpretation of material culture may be regarded as the essence of archaeology, a discipline that seeks to recover, describe, document, and interpret past human culture. More recently, understanding that actions occur in a material world that is constituted symbolically, archaeological explanations are often framed in sociocultural meanings, the analysis of agencies, practices and behaviors. I shall subsequently return to this issue. Because of their longevity in the archaeological record, lithic and ceramic artifacts are crucial to the endeavor to interpret human culture. Objects fashioned from clay and subjected to intentional artificial sources of heat made their initial appearance in the archaeological record more than 26.000 years ago. Ceramic objects have been created in a seemingly endless variety of shapes and forms, varying from fertility figurines. to cooking and food storage vessels. lamps, smoking pipes, medicinal pastilles, tokens, beehives, and coffins to modern whitewares and pyroceramics.

The new Schonland PIXE microprobe and applications to geological and archaeological samples

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Przybylowicz, W J; Watterson, J I.W.; Annegarn, H J; Connell, S H; Fearick, R W; Andeweg, A H; Sellschop, J P.F. [Schonland Research Centre for Nuclear Sciences, Univ. of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (South Africa)

1993-04-01

The new positive ion microprobe at the Schonland Centre is described and details are given of its configuration, its imaging system and software. In a unique configuration, the microprobe has access to two accelerators, a 6 MV EN tandem and a 2.5 MV single-ended machine. The imaging system uses a CAMAC based system and runs on a personal computer under OS/2. The implementation of PIXE and treatment of thick-target data are presented. Applications discussed are analysis of tin artifacts from the prehistory of metallurgy in South Africa; a diamond-containing rock; carbonado, gold contained in pyrite and cogenetic minerals included in diamond. (orig.).

The new Schonland PIXE microprobe and applications to geological and archaeological samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Przybylowicz, W.J.; Watterson, J.I.W.; Annegarn, H.J.; Connell, S.H.; Fearick, R.W.; Andeweg, A.H.; Sellschop, J.P.F.

1993-01-01

The new positive ion microprobe at the Schonland Centre is described and details are given of its configuration, its imaging system and software. In a unique configuration, the microprobe has access to two accelerators, a 6 MV EN tandem and a 2.5 MV single-ended machine. The imaging system uses a CAMAC based system and runs on a personal computer under OS/2. The implementation of PIXE and treatment of thick-target data are presented. Applications discussed are analysis of tin artifacts from the prehistory of metallurgy in South Africa; a diamond-containing rock; carbonado, gold contained in pyrite and cogenetic minerals included in diamond. (orig.)

Archaeology and the future: Managing nuclear waste as a living heritage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holtorf, Cornelius; Hoegberg, Anders

2015-01-01

Archaeology, the study of the remains of the ancient past, may be relevant to the long-term preservation of RK and M, because it works to recover information, knowledge and meaning that have been lost. As a discipline, archaeology studies how the past is understood in the present, potentially drawing lessons that could guide future action concerning the preservation of RK and M across time by indicating how future societies could make sense of the past. Case studies, such as an examination of European megalithic tombs, show that the understanding of the past varies across time. It was emphasised that archaeological interpretation always reflects contemporary perceptions of past and future, which are socially and culturally embedded and highly mutable over time. What is more, archaeology is a fairly recent discipline and there is no certainty that it will exist in the long term, to help recover and reconstruct lost RK and M. As a result, it cannot be assumed that information, knowledge and meaning of the past can be transmitted reliably in the long term. Based on this understanding Profs. Cornelius Holtorf and Anders Hoegberg made a case for trying to keep knowledge alive over time, continuously engaging each present. They used the notion of 'living heritage', which refers to striving for continuity in the short and medium terms as a way to reach the long term, keeping in mind that reinterpretation and knowledge development over time is a given. As a result, they suggest to 'think about the long term but act for the short and medium terms'

Instrumental neutron activation analysis potentialities in archaeological ceramics studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paiva, Rosemeire P.; Munita, Casimirio S.; Alves, Marcia A.

1999-01-01

In this work, precision and sensitivity of the determination of As, Ba, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Eu, Fe, Hf, K, La, Lu, Na, Nd, Sb, Sc, Sm, Ta, Tb, Th, U, Yb and Zn in ceramic samples by INAA were evaluated. Two clay samples Brick Clay (NIST-SRM-697 reference material)and Ohio Red Clay (a well known clay sample) were analyzed for this purpose. Archaeological ceramic fragments from Agua Limpa Site, in Monte Alto city, SP were also analyzed. The archaeological ceramics were produced in the quotidian activities of non writing preterite societies, in sedentarization process. The ceramic chemical information are used to identify raw material sources and to study production and distribution models, which allow the reconstruction of the socio-cultural development and integration of extinguished societies. (author)

Automating the Extraction of Metadata from Archaeological Data Using iRods Rules

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Walling

2011-10-01

Full Text Available The Texas Advanced Computing Center and the Institute for Classical Archaeology at the University of Texas at Austin developed a method that uses iRods rules and a Jython script to automate the extraction of metadata from digital archaeological data. The first step was to create a record-keeping system to classify the data. The record-keeping system employs file and directory hierarchy naming conventions designed specifically to maintain the relationship between the data objects and map the archaeological documentation process. The metadata implicit in the record-keeping system is automatically extracted upon ingest, combined with additional sources of metadata, and stored alongside the data in the iRods preservation environment. This method enables a more organized workflow for the researchers, helps them archive their data close to the moment of data creation, and avoids error prone manual metadata input. We describe the types of metadata extracted and provide technical details of the extraction process and storage of the data and metadata.

Epilithic and endolithic bacterial communities in limestone from a Maya archaeological site.

Science.gov (United States)

McNamara, Christopher J; Perry, Thomas D; Bearce, Kristen A; Hernandez-Duque, Guillermo; Mitchell, Ralph

2006-01-01

Biodeterioration of archaeological sites and historic buildings is a major concern for conservators, archaeologists, and scientists involved in preservation of the world's cultural heritage. The Maya archaeological sites in southern Mexico, some of the most important cultural artifacts in the Western Hemisphere, are constructed of limestone. High temperature and humidity have resulted in substantial microbial growth on stone surfaces at many of the sites. Despite the porous nature of limestone and the common occurrence of endolithic microorganisms in many habitats, little is known about the microbial flora living inside the stone. We found a large endolithic bacterial community in limestone from the interior of the Maya archaeological site Ek' Balam. Analysis of 16S rDNA clones demonstrated disparate communities (endolithic: >80% Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Low GC Firmicutes; epilithic: >50% Proteobacteria). The presence of differing epilithic and endolithic bacterial communities may be a significant factor for conservation of stone cultural heritage materials and quantitative prediction of carbonate weathering.

Moessbauer Studies in Chinese Archaeology: A Review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hsia Yuanfu; Huang Hongbo

2003-01-01

The Moessbauer effect has been applied to a wide variety of objects related to Chinese archaeology. Besides ceramic artifacts, materials like porcelain, glazes, bronzes, ancient coins, ancient mineral drugs, and even fossils were studied. This article reviews these applications with particular emphasis on the study of the famous terracotta warriors and horses of the Qin Dynasty.

Moessbauer Studies in Chinese Archaeology: A Review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hsia Yuanfu; Huang Hongbo [Nanjing University, Department of Physics (China)

2003-09-15

The Moessbauer effect has been applied to a wide variety of objects related to Chinese archaeology. Besides ceramic artifacts, materials like porcelain, glazes, bronzes, ancient coins, ancient mineral drugs, and even fossils were studied. This article reviews these applications with particular emphasis on the study of the famous terracotta warriors and horses of the Qin Dynasty.

Magnitude of 14C/12C variations based on archaeological samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kusumgar, S.; Agrawal, D.P.

1977-01-01

The magnitude of 14 C/ 12 C variations in the period A.D. 5O0 to 200 B.C. and 370 B.C. to 2900 B.C. is discussed. The 14 C dates of well-dated archaeological samples from India and Egypt do not show any significant divergence from the historical ages. On the other hand, the corrections based on dendrochronological samples show marked deviations for the same time period. A plea is, therefore, made to study old tree samples from Anatolia and Irish bogs and archaeological samples from west Asia to arrive at a more realistic calibration curve. (author)

An archaeological predictive model for locating rock shelter sites in Hesse Germany) that contain both Final Palaeolithic archaeology and Laacher See tephra

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sauer, Florian Rudolf; Hoggard, Christian Steven; Zernack, Anke Verena

of foragers and the Late Glacial environment there. In contrast, in the medial zone in Hesse only a small number of surface scatters of lithic artefacts are known. No Late Glacial sites, particularly not rock shelter and cave locations, have been excavated in this region. Yet, it is precisely such locations...... of human impacts following the eruption, a dataset of c. 800 rock shelter locations throughout the state of Hesse was used to generate an archaeological predictive model (APM). The database was compiled in the early 1990 for the purpose of discovering new and well-stratified sites (Hofbauer, 1995......). In the project presented here, a landscape-archaeological approach in GIS was employed to estimate the correspondence of the local topography of rock shelter features with the topographic and cultural framework of known Late Palaeolithic sites. Typical parameters like rock shelter orientation and distance...

Georadar Archaeological Prospection at the Historical Center of the Merida City, Yucatan, Mexico.

Science.gov (United States)

Barba, L.; Ortiz, A.; Blancas, J.; Ligorred, J.

2007-05-01

This paper shows the results of the georadar archaeological prospection carried out by the Laboratorio de Prospección Arqueologica from the Instituto de Investigaciones Antropologicas (IIA) of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) verifing the archaeological and historical information recovered by the Departamento de Patrimonio Arqueologico y Natural del Municipio (DPANM) del Ayuntamiento de Merida en el Centro Histerico de la Ciudad de Merida under a joint project. The Historical Center of Merida has been classified as a "zone of high patrimonial value" after the topographic data and the historical documents recovered showed a long-term occupation, non interrupted since pre-Columbian times, when T Ho was the great capital of the northern region of the Maya area. For the rehabilitation program of the Historical Center of Merida has been a great priority to verify the existence of archaeological remains, pre-Columbian or colonial, under the present streets, gardens and plazas that could be damaged during the public infrastructure works. In order to prevent any damage to the patrimony a large georadar study was carried out pulling 200 and 400 MHz antennas of the GSSI SIR System 2 for 16500 m of the city streets, focusing in the areas where infrastructure works were imminent. After the analysis of the radar data it was possible to build up a map with the location of the most noticeable archaeological remains under the pavement of the streets that confirmed many of the topographic and documental proposed places. As a final result, by the first time a city government has available information to take present urban decisions, while preventing the damage to the archaeological patrimony of the same city.

fiReproxies: A computational model providing insight into heat-affected archaeological lithic assemblages.

Science.gov (United States)

Sorensen, Andrew C; Scherjon, Fulco

2018-01-01

Evidence for fire use becomes increasingly sparse the further back in time one looks. This is especially true for Palaeolithic assemblages. Primary evidence of fire use in the form of hearth features tends to give way to clusters or sparse scatters of more durable heated stone fragments. In the absence of intact fireplaces, these thermally altered lithic remains have been used as a proxy for discerning relative degrees of fire use between archaeological layers and deposits. While previous experimental studies have demonstrated the physical effects of heat on stony artefacts, the mechanisms influencing the proportion of fire proxy evidence within archaeological layers remain understudied. This fundamental study is the first to apply a computer-based model (fiReproxies) in an attempt to simulate and quantify the complex interplay of factors that ultimately determine when and in what proportions lithic artefacts are heated by (anthropogenic) fires. As an illustrative example, we apply our model to two hypothetical archaeological layers that reflect glacial and interglacial conditions during the late Middle Palaeolithic within a generic simulated cave site to demonstrate how different environmental, behavioural and depositional factors like site surface area, sedimentation rate, occupation frequency, and fire size and intensity can, independently or together, significantly influence the visibility of archaeological fire signals.

Satellite imagery-based monitoring of archaeological site damage in the Syrian civil war.

Science.gov (United States)

Casana, Jesse; Laugier, Elise Jakoby

2017-01-01

Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the rich archaeological heritage of Syria and northern Iraq has faced severe threats, including looting, combat-related damage, and intentional demolition of monuments. However, the inaccessibility of the conflict zone to archaeologists or cultural heritage specialists has made it difficult to produce accurate damage assessments, impeding efforts to develop mitigation strategies and policies. This paper presents results of a project, undertaken in collaboration with the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) and the US Department of State, to monitor damage to archaeological sites in Syria, northern Iraq, and southern Turkey using recent, high-resolution satellite imagery. Leveraging a large database of archaeological and heritage sites throughout the region, as well as access to continually updated satellite imagery from DigitalGlobe, this project has developed a flexible and efficient methodology to log observations of damage in a manner that facilitates spatial and temporal queries. With nearly 5000 sites carefully evaluated, analysis reveals unexpected patterns in the timing, severity, and location of damage, helping us to better understand the evolving cultural heritage crisis in Syria and Iraq. Results also offer a model for future remote sensing-based archaeological and heritage monitoring efforts in the Middle East and beyond.

Satellite imagery-based monitoring of archaeological site damage in the Syrian civil war.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jesse Casana

Full Text Available Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the rich archaeological heritage of Syria and northern Iraq has faced severe threats, including looting, combat-related damage, and intentional demolition of monuments. However, the inaccessibility of the conflict zone to archaeologists or cultural heritage specialists has made it difficult to produce accurate damage assessments, impeding efforts to develop mitigation strategies and policies. This paper presents results of a project, undertaken in collaboration with the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR and the US Department of State, to monitor damage to archaeological sites in Syria, northern Iraq, and southern Turkey using recent, high-resolution satellite imagery. Leveraging a large database of archaeological and heritage sites throughout the region, as well as access to continually updated satellite imagery from DigitalGlobe, this project has developed a flexible and efficient methodology to log observations of damage in a manner that facilitates spatial and temporal queries. With nearly 5000 sites carefully evaluated, analysis reveals unexpected patterns in the timing, severity, and location of damage, helping us to better understand the evolving cultural heritage crisis in Syria and Iraq. Results also offer a model for future remote sensing-based archaeological and heritage monitoring efforts in the Middle East and beyond.

Solar education combining art, history, science and technology at archaeological sites in Italy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silvi, C.; Ferro, P. [ISES (Italy); Ceccarini, T. [Educational Section - State Superintendence of Archaeological Monuments in Rome (Italy)

2004-07-01

''Solar Art and Solar Technologies'' and ''Solar Energy by studying Ancient Architecture'' laboratory promoted by ISES ITALIA and the Educational Section of the State Superintendence of Archaeological Monuments in Rome involved from 2000 to 2004 roughly 1000 schoolchildren, 20 teachers and five archaeologists. For its innovative character and its special approach to solar education, the exhibition ''Solar Art and Technologies'' has been acknowledged among the 50 best projects of the ''2001 Energy Globe Award.'' The program has been continuously improved and has broadened its educational reach beyond schoolchildren. The experiences made at the archaeological sites from the energy point of view lead to new research projects and initiatives on solar energy at the archaeological sites during the excavations, while exploring historical sources, and at the involved schools. A seminar on ''Solar energy and the built environment in past civilizations'' will be held at the end of May 2004 to review historical sources and the most recent archaeological discoveries that have relation with solar architecture and technology. The seminar will also address the possible participation of historians and archaeologists in the history sessions planned at ISES 2005 (www.swc2005.org). (orig.)

The LithicUB project: A virtual lithotheque of siliceous rocks at the University of Barcelona

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marta Sánchez

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The LithicUB project began in 2009 with two main objectives. The first objective was to make available to the scientific community the description and classification of a set of siliceous rocks that had been recovered from different surveys. The second to make public the lithotheque as a useful tool for archaeological research, related to the procurement and management of lithic raw materials in Prehistory. Thanks to several research projects that have been carried out, the number of samples is steadily increasing and diversifying, including siliceous rocks collected in Spain, Portugal, France, Jordan and Israel.

New perspectives on the occupation of Hatuana dune site, Ua Huka, Marquesas Islands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Molle, G.; Conte, E.

2011-01-01

New archaeological excavations were conducted in 2009 in the Hatuana dune site, Ua Huka, Marquesas archipelago (French Polynesia). The objectives of this research were to determine the complete stratigraphy of the western section of the site, and to obtain charcoal samples for radiocarbon dating. The results are presented here, updating previous dates by E. Conte, and enhancing our understanding of the place of the Hatuana coastal area in the island's prehistory. The main occupation occurred during a period of warfare, suggesting that the place was used to control and prevent enemy attacks. (author). 24 refs., 5 figs., 1 tab.

Application of Earth Sciencés Technology in Mapping the of Brazilian Coast: Localization, Analysis & Monitoring of the Archaeological Sites with Remote Sensing & LiDAR

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson Alves de Souza, Carlos Eduardo

Application of Earth Sciencés Technology in Mapping the of Brazilian Coast: Localization, Analysis & Monitoring of the Archaeological Sites with Remote Sensing & LiDAR Carlos Eduardo Thompson Alves de Souza cethompsoniii@hotmail.com Archaeologist Member of the European Association of Archaeologists B.A.Archaeology MA.Remote Sensing Abstract The Archaeological Research in Urban Environment with the Air Light Detection and Ranging is problematic for the Overlay Layers mixed with contexts concerning the Interpretation of Archaeological Data. However, in the Underwater Archaeology the results are excellent. This paper considers the application of Remote Sensing and Air Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) as separate things as well as Land Archaeology and the Underwater Archaeology. European Archaeologists know very little about Brazil and the article presents an Overview of Research in Brazil with Remote Sensing in Archaeology and Light Detection and Ranging in Land Archaeology and Underwater Archaeology, because Brazil has Continental Dimensions. Braziliańs Methodology for Location, Analysis and Monitoring of Archaeological Sites is necessarily more Complex and Innovative and therefore can serve as a New Paradigm for other archaeologists involved in the Advanced Management Heritage.

The tandetron: applications to earth sciences and archaeology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fontugne, M.

1996-01-01

The TANDETRON is a mass spectrometer coupled with a tandem accelerator. Its main advantage is being able to measure the radioactivity of C 14 in samples thousand times smaller than those allowed in classical β-counting methods. Some applications to paleoclimatology and archaeology are described. (A.C.)

Archaeological and taxonomic significance of ancient wood samples ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Ancient wood samples from an archaeological excavation, Test Pit II, in Ahanve, near Badagry were analysed to ascertain their identity. Anatomical study of the wood samples revealed oval-circular xylem pores, diffuse apotracheal axial parenchyma, procumbent and homogeneous ray and non-septate fibres, all consistent ...

Marine archaeological investigations in inferring shoreline / sea level changes along the Indian coast

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Vora, K.H.

disturbances from the excavations, for instance Harappan sites at Kalibanga in Rajasthan and Dholavira in Khadir Bet of Kachchh in Gujarat. National Institute of Oceanography has initiated marine archaeological investigations in 1981. Initially... coastline of Gujarat, which based on artefacts of the sites can be dated to late Harappan period, i.e. 3500 yrs B. P. Our archaeological studies in Bet Dwarka island suggest that at least two historical period sites gets submerged - one complete...

Management of the underwater and coastal archaeological heritage in Israel’s Seas (I)

OpenAIRE

Galili, Ehud; Arenson, Sarah

2014-01-01

The Maritime cultural heritage of Israel reflects important chapters in the history of humanity, including the Neolithic revolution and the beginning of agriculture, the emergence of the first empires and the foundation of the three monotheistic religions. Erosion due to sea level rise and human activity is destroying important coastal and underwater archaeological sites. Low levels in the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea exposed many archaeological remains, which are threate...

Multispectral thermal airborne TASI-600 data to study the Pompeii (IT) archaeological area

Science.gov (United States)

Palombo, Angelo; Pascucci, Simone; Pergola, Nicola; Pignatti, Stefano; Santini, Federico; Soldovieri, Francesco

2016-04-01

The management of archaeological areas refers to the conservation of the ruins/buildings and the eventual prospection of new areas having an archaeological potential. In this framework, airborne remote sensing is a well-developed geophysical tool for supporting the archaeological surveys of wide areas. The spectral regions applied in archaeological remote sensing spans from the VNIR to the TIR. In particular, the archaeological thermal imaging considers that materials absorb, emit, transmit, and reflect the thermal infrared radiation at different rate according to their composition, density and moisture content. Despite its potential, thermal imaging in archaeological applications are scarce. Among them, noteworthy are the ones related to the use of Landsat and ASTER [1] and airborne remote sensing [2, 3, 4 and 5]. In view of these potential in Cultural Heritage applications, the present study aims at analysing the usefulness of the high spatial resolution thermal imaging on the Pompeii archaeological park. To this purpose TASI-600 [6] airborne multispectral thermal imagery (32 channels from 8 to 11.5 nm with a spectral resolution of 100nm and a spatial resolution of 1m/pixel) was acquired on December the 7th, 2015. Airborne survey has been acquired to get useful information on the building materials (both ancient and of consolidation) characteristics and, whenever possible, to retrieve quick indicators on their conservation status. Thermal images will be, moreover, processed to have an insight of the critical environmental issues impacting the structures (e.g. moisture). The proposed study shows the preliminary results of the airborne deployments, the pre-processing of the multispectral thermal imagery and the retrieving of accurate land surface temperatures (LST). LST map will be analysed to describe the thermal pattern of the city of Pompeii and detect any thermal anomalies. As far as the ongoing TASI-600 sensors pre-processing, it will include: (a) radiometric

Study of archaeological underwater finds: deterioration and conservation

Science.gov (United States)

Crisci, G. M.; La Russa, M. F.; Macchione, M.; Malagodi, M.; Palermo, A. M.; Ruffolo, S. A.

2010-09-01

This study is aimed at an assessment of the methodologies, instruments and new applications for underwater archaeology. Research focused on study of the various kinds of degradation affecting underwater finds and stone materials aged in underwater environment, efficiency evaluation of various surface cleaning methods and study and mixing of protective products with consolidating resins and antimicrobial biocides to be applied to restored underwater finds. Transmitted light optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to study surface biofilms and the interactions with samples of different stone materials such as brick, marble and granite immersed in the submarine archaeological area of Crotone (South of Italy). Surface cleaning tests were performed with application of ion exchange resins, EDTA, hydrogen peroxide and ultrasound techniques. Capillary water absorption, simulated solar ageing and colourimetric measurements were carried out to evaluate hydrophobic and consolidant properties; to assess biocidal efficacy, heterotrophic micro-organisms ( Aspergillus niger) were inoculated on agar plates and growth inhibition was measured.

Establishing the date of Maori environmental impact in New Zealand through pollen analysis and radiocarbon dating

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McGlone, M.S.; Wilmshurst, J.M. [Landcare Research, Lincoln, (New Zealand)

1997-12-31

Full text: Over the last decade there has been an intense debate about whether New Zealand prehistory is long ( > 1500 years) or short ( < 800 years). Pollen and charcoal analyses have played a key role in this debate by helping to pinpoint the transition from relatively undisturbed environments to those deforested by anthropogenic fires. Problems with in situ contamination, reworking of sediments, confusion of natural with anthropogenic impacts, and different theoretical expectations of growth, spread and impact of early Maori populations have led to disparate conclusions. We review pollen based studies carried out on a variety of fossil sites, including peat bogs, swamps, estuaries and lakes, and contribute new results. Different sedimentary environments show varying susceptibilities to contamination and have resulted in a wide spread of ages for initial Maori impact. Datable materials least susceptible to contamination by old or young carbon are pure peat and macrofossils, whereas lake, swamp and silty sediments are most susceptible. Analysis of the radiocarbon ages obtained for the start of Maori deforestation show that ages falling in the `long` prehistory period are exclusively derived from lake sediments and swamps. In contrast, the bulk of the ages falling in the `short` prehistory period are from pure peat and selected plant fragments. We conclude from our analysis of radiocarbon ages for pollen based deforestation that the first evidence of Maori environmental impact began about 700-550 calendar years BP (1250-1400 AD). Finer age resolution is limited by dating techniques, site limitations and the uncertainty associated with identifying the first signs of human impact. The period we have identified corresponds with the oldest dated archaeological sites and supports the short prehistory hypothesis. We discuss how to distinguish reliable fossil sites from those that have a high risk of giving misleading results.

Establishing the date of Maori environmental impact in New Zealand through pollen analysis and radiocarbon dating

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McGlone, M.S.; Wilmshurst, J.M.

1997-01-01

Full text: Over the last decade there has been an intense debate about whether New Zealand prehistory is long ( > 1500 years) or short ( < 800 years). Pollen and charcoal analyses have played a key role in this debate by helping to pinpoint the transition from relatively undisturbed environments to those deforested by anthropogenic fires. Problems with in situ contamination, reworking of sediments, confusion of natural with anthropogenic impacts, and different theoretical expectations of growth, spread and impact of early Maori populations have led to disparate conclusions. We review pollen based studies carried out on a variety of fossil sites, including peat bogs, swamps, estuaries and lakes, and contribute new results. Different sedimentary environments show varying susceptibilities to contamination and have resulted in a wide spread of ages for initial Maori impact. Datable materials least susceptible to contamination by old or young carbon are pure peat and macrofossils, whereas lake, swamp and silty sediments are most susceptible. Analysis of the radiocarbon ages obtained for the start of Maori deforestation show that ages falling in the 'long' prehistory period are exclusively derived from lake sediments and swamps. In contrast, the bulk of the ages falling in the 'short' prehistory period are from pure peat and selected plant fragments. We conclude from our analysis of radiocarbon ages for pollen based deforestation that the first evidence of Maori environmental impact began about 700-550 calendar years BP (1250-1400 AD). Finer age resolution is limited by dating techniques, site limitations and the uncertainty associated with identifying the first signs of human impact. The period we have identified corresponds with the oldest dated archaeological sites and supports the short prehistory hypothesis. We discuss how to distinguish reliable fossil sites from those that have a high risk of giving misleading results

Architecture and Landscape. Approaches from archaeology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebeca Blanco-Rotea

2017-11-01

Full Text Available This work proposes a theoretical and conceptual basis for the study of the fortified landscapes of the Galician- Portuguese border in the Modern Age. From this theoretical framework there was designed a research program that studies these landscapes. It proposes an approach to the study of this type of archaeological record from the Landscape Archeology and the Archeology of Architecture, introducing the concepts of built space and Archeology of Built Space.

Investigating the Prehistory of Tungusic Peoples of Siberia and the Amur-Ussuri Region with Complete mtDNA Genome Sequences and Y-chromosomal Markers

Science.gov (United States)

Duggan, Ana T.; Whitten, Mark; Wiebe, Victor; Crawford, Michael; Butthof, Anne; Spitsyn, Victor; Makarov, Sergey; Novgorodov, Innokentiy; Osakovsky, Vladimir; Pakendorf, Brigitte

2013-01-01

Evenks and Evens, Tungusic-speaking reindeer herders and hunter-gatherers, are spread over a wide area of northern Asia, whereas their linguistic relatives the Udegey, sedentary fishermen and hunter-gatherers, are settled to the south of the lower Amur River. The prehistory and relationships of these Tungusic peoples are as yet poorly investigated, especially with respect to their interactions with neighbouring populations. In this study, we analyse over 500 complete mtDNA genome sequences from nine different Evenk and even subgroups as well as their geographic neighbours from Siberia and their linguistic relatives the Udegey from the Amur-Ussuri region in order to investigate the prehistory of the Tungusic populations. These data are supplemented with analyses of Y-chromosomal haplogroups and STR haplotypes in the Evenks, Evens, and neighbouring Siberian populations. We demonstrate that whereas the North Tungusic Evenks and Evens show evidence of shared ancestry both in the maternal and in the paternal line, this signal has been attenuated by genetic drift and differential gene flow with neighbouring populations, with isolation by distance further shaping the maternal genepool of the Evens. The Udegey, in contrast, appear quite divergent from their linguistic relatives in the maternal line, with a mtDNA haplogroup composition characteristic of populations of the Amur-Ussuri region. Nevertheless, they show affinities with the Evenks, indicating that they might be the result of admixture between local Amur-Ussuri populations and Tungusic populations from the north. PMID:24349531

Budget Uav Systems for the Prospection of - and Medium-Scale Archaeological Sites

Science.gov (United States)

Ostrowski, W.; Hanus, K.

2016-06-01

One of the popular uses of UAVs in photogrammetry is providing an archaeological documentation. A wide offer of low-cost (consumer) grade UAVs, as well as the popularity of user-friendly photogrammetric software allowing obtaining satisfying results, contribute to facilitating the process of preparing documentation for small archaeological sites. However, using solutions of this kind is much more problematic for larger areas. The limited possibilities of autonomous flight makes it significantly harder to obtain data for areas too large to be covered during a single mission. Moreover, sometimes the platforms used are not equipped with telemetry systems, which makes navigating and guaranteeing a similar quality of data during separate flights difficult. The simplest solution is using a better UAV, however the cost of devices of such type often exceeds the financial capabilities of archaeological expeditions. The aim of this article is to present methodology allowing obtaining data for medium scale areas using only a basic UAV. The proposed methodology assumes using a simple multirotor, not equipped with any flight planning system or telemetry. Navigating of the platform is based solely on live-view images sent from the camera attached to the UAV. The presented survey was carried out using a simple GoPro camera which, from the perspective of photogrammetric use, was not the optimal configuration due to the fish eye geometry of the camera. Another limitation is the actual operational range of UAVs which in the case of cheaper systems, rarely exceeds 1 kilometre and is in fact often much smaller. Therefore the surveyed area must be divided into sub-blocks which correspond to the range of the drone. It is inconvenient since the blocks must overlap, so that they will later be merged during their processing. This increases the length of required flights as well as the computing power necessary to process a greater number of images. These issues make prospection highly

A Survey of Archaeological Samples Dated in 1985

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mejdahl, Vagn

1986-01-01

A survey is given of archaeological samples received for dating in 1985 at the Nordic Laboratory for Thermoluminescence Dating. A total of 66 samples were dated, 42 of which were burnt stones. All results were corrected for short-term fading as measured for samples stored at room temperature...

ETHNO ARCHAEOLOGY OF ROCK ART IN PENINSULAR INDIA

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

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ETHNO ARCHAEOLOGY. OF. ROCK ART. IN. PENINSULAR INDIA. Presented by: D K K CHAKRAVARTY. Dr.K.K.CHAKRAVARTY. Page 2. UTTARAKHAND. Page 3. Lakhu-udyar, Almora. Page 4. Lakhu –udyar, Almora. Page 5. Sati Stone, Dwarson (Almora). Page 6. Chanchridhar, Almora. Page 7. Digoli, Almora. Page 8 ...

Toward a Historical Archaeology of West African Borderlands

African Journals Online (AJOL)

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Keywords: African History; Borderlands Studies; Historical Archaeology; ... Thus, the analysis of cultural heritage in the region has been .... In a similar development, ... arrived on the coast, West Africa was already linked by trade networks that ... For instance, in the ancient city of Badagry, the 'relics of the enslavement ...

Ancient Dwarka: Study based on recent underwater archaeological investigations

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Gaur, A; Sundaresh; Tripati, S.

, the Lord Krishna founded the holy city of Dwarka, which subsequently got submerged under sea. Marine archaeological explorations off Dwarka have brought to light a large number of stone structures, which are semicircular, rectangular and square in shape...

A field archaeological perspective on the Anthropocene

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Riede, Felix; Sørensen, Christina Vestergaard; Fredensborg, Kristoffer H.

2016-01-01

In a recent Antiquity debate, Todd Braje and respondents discuss the merits or otherwise of the recently proposed and hotly contested geological ‘Age of Man’—the Anthropocene. These papers make a useful contribution to the rapidly growing literature on this epoch-in-the-making (cf. Swanson et al....... archaeology as a discipline concerned with deep-time socio-ecological dynamics....

A foetal tile from an archaeological site: anthropological investigation of human remains recovered in a medieval cemetery in Northern Italy.

Science.gov (United States)

Licata, Marta; Rossetti, Chiara; Tosi, Adelaide; Badino, Paola

2018-06-01

The recovery of foetal remains is very sporadic in archaeology, especially due the scarce degree of bone mineralisation. This paper presents the singular archaeological discovery of a foetal tile preserving the bone remains, object of our anthropological examination. The foetal tile was discovered during an archaeological excavation in a medieval site (Northern Italy). The tile was analysed by CT scan and later, human remains were anthropologically examined. The archaeological investigation revealed a special ritual destined to foetuses while forensic anthropological analysis allowed estimating the gestational age near to 21-24 weeks.

Cave acoustics in prehistory: Exploring the association of Palaeolithic visual motifs and acoustic response.

Science.gov (United States)

Fazenda, Bruno; Scarre, Chris; Till, Rupert; Pasalodos, Raquel Jiménez; Guerra, Manuel Rojo; Tejedor, Cristina; Peredo, Roberto Ontañón; Watson, Aaron; Wyatt, Simon; Benito, Carlos García; Drinkall, Helen; Foulds, Frederick

2017-09-01

During the 1980 s, acoustic studies of Upper Palaeolithic imagery in French caves-using the technology then available-suggested a relationship between acoustic response and the location of visual motifs. This paper presents an investigation, using modern acoustic measurement techniques, into such relationships within the caves of La Garma, Las Chimeneas, La Pasiega, El Castillo, and Tito Bustillo in Northern Spain. It addresses methodological issues concerning acoustic measurement at enclosed archaeological sites and outlines a general framework for extraction of acoustic features that may be used to support archaeological hypotheses. The analysis explores possible associations between the position of visual motifs (which may be up to 40 000 yrs old) and localized acoustic responses. Results suggest that motifs, in general, and lines and dots, in particular, are statistically more likely to be found in places where reverberation is moderate and where the low frequency acoustic response has evidence of resonant behavior. The work presented suggests that an association of the location of Palaeolithic motifs with acoustic features is a statistically weak but tenable hypothesis, and that an appreciation of sound could have influenced behavior among Palaeolithic societies of this region.

Through the looking glass: Applications of ground-penetrating radar in archaeology

Science.gov (United States)

Stamos, Antonia

The focus of this dissertation is to present the results of four years' worth of geophysical surveying at four major archaeological sites in Greece and the benefits to the archaeological community. The ground penetrating radar offers an inexpensive, non-destructive solution to the problem of deciding how much of a site is worth excavating and which areas would yield the most promising results. An introduction to the ground penetrating radar, or GPR, the equipment necessary to conduct a geophysical survey in the field, and the methods of data collection and subsequent data processing are all addressed. The benefits to the archeological community are many, and future excavations will incorporate such an important tool for a greater understanding of the site. The history of GPR work in the archaeological field has grown at an astounding rate from its beginnings as a simple tool for petroleum and mining services in the beginning of the twentieth century. By mid-century, the GPR was first applied to archaeological sites rather than its common use by utility companies in locating pipes, cables, tunnels, and shafts. Although the preliminary surveys were little more than a search to locate buried walls, the success of these initial surveys paved the ground for future surveys at other archaeological sites, many testing the radar's efficacy with a myriad of soil conditions and properties. The four sites in which geophysical surveys with a ground penetrating radar were conducted are Azorias on the island of Crete, Kolonna on the island of Aegina, Mochlos Island and Coastal Mochlos on the island of Crete, and Mycenae in the Peloponnese on mainland Greece. These case studies are first presented in terms of their geographical location, their mythology and etymology, where applicable, along with a brief history of excavation and occupation of the site. Additional survey methods were used at Mycenae, including aerial photography and ERDAS Imagine, a silo locating program now

The Craft of Archaeology and Dialogue with the Public

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Staša Babić

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Over the last decades, especially among the postprocessualy oriented archaeologists, the link between the research into the past and various relations of domination in the modern world has been explicitly articulated, as well as the ways in which the discipline engages in the dialogue with its social context, widely encompassed by the notion of the public. On the other hand, the eminent representatives of other theoretical approaches in archaeology, such as Gordon Childe, have argued for the purpose of archaeological research in the search for knowledge leading to more just and human society much before this clearly value-oriented proclamation. The message conveyed by archaeologists to the public depends on the choice of the segment of this wide notion and whose interests an individual researcher decides to enforce, regardless of the theoretical and methodological inclinations.

Conserving the past, mobilizing the Indonesian future: Archaeological sites, regime change and heritage politics in Indonesia in the 1950s

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Martijn Eickhoff

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The archaeological sites that the Indonesian Republic inherited from the past were not neutral. In this article we investigate the multilayered processes of signification connected to these sites – scattered all over Indonesia, and selected, uncovered, investigated, conserved and partly put on display by state archaeologists under Dutch and Japanese colonial regimes – and their meanings for the young Indonesian Republic in the 1950s. Taking a site-centred approach we focus on what we call ‘archaeological interventions’, and in particular on the reconstruction and conservation history of the ninth-century Śiwa temple at Prambanan (1910s-1950s, in the broader context of archaeological research (state supported as well as inter-Asian and internationally based and colonial and postcolonial conservation politics. How did the Archaeological Services in successive colonial and post-colonial regimes in Indonesia contribute to the transmission of archaeological knowledge and to the skills and ethics of restoration politics over time? What was the effect of regime change on the development of archaeological sites into national sites? And how did post-independence national heritage politics relate to other, ongoing identifications with these sites – colonial/international, inter-Asian and local – that were stimulated by archaeological interventions taking place at these sites?

Archaeological Feature Detection from Archive Aerial Photography with a Sfm-Mvs and Image Enhancement Pipeline

Science.gov (United States)

Peppa, M. V.; Mills, J. P.; Fieber, K. D.; Haynes, I.; Turner, S.; Turner, A.; Douglas, M.; Bryan, P. G.

2018-05-01

Understanding and protecting cultural heritage involves the detection and long-term documentation of archaeological remains alongside the spatio-temporal analysis of their landscape evolution. Archive aerial photography can illuminate traces of ancient features which typically appear with different brightness values from their surrounding environment, but are not always well defined. This research investigates the implementation of the Structure-from-Motion - Multi-View Stereo image matching approach with an image enhancement algorithm to derive three epochs of orthomosaics and digital surface models from visible and near infrared historic aerial photography. The enhancement algorithm uses decorrelation stretching to improve the contrast of the orthomosaics so as archaeological features are better detected. Results include 2D / 3D locations of detected archaeological traces stored into a geodatabase for further archaeological interpretation and correlation with benchmark observations. The study also discusses the merits and difficulties of the process involved. This research is based on a European-wide project, entitled "Cultural Heritage Through Time", and the case study research was carried out as a component of the project in the UK.

Successful adaptation of three-dimensional inversion methodologies for archaeological-scale, total-field magnetic data sets

Science.gov (United States)

Cheyney, S.; Fishwick, S.; Hill, I. A.; Linford, N. T.

2015-08-01

Despite the development of advanced processing and interpretation tools for magnetic data sets in the fields of mineral and hydrocarbon industries, these methods have not achieved similar levels of adoption for archaeological or very near surface surveys. Using a synthetic data set we demonstrate that certain methodologies and assumptions used to successfully invert more regional-scale data can lead to large discrepancies between the true and recovered depths when applied to archaeological-type anomalies. We propose variations to the current approach, analysing the choice of the depth-weighting function, mesh design and parameter constraints, to develop an appropriate technique for the 3-D inversion of archaeological-scale data sets. The results show a successful recovery of a synthetic scenario, as well as a case study of a Romano-Celtic temple in the UK. For the case study, the final susceptibility model is compared with two coincident ground penetrating radar surveys, showing a high correlation with the comparative depth slices. The new approach takes interpretation of archaeological data sets beyond a simple 2-D visual interpretation based on pattern recognition.

Language writing: a history of your pre-history of childhood

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Maria Esteves Bortolanza

2017-02-01

Full Text Available This paper presents part of a study conducted to explain the process of appropriation of written culture by children in early childhood education, according to the organization of writing activities that are afforded to them in the school environment. To understand this process was carried out a pedagogical experiment in a class of children under five years of age, a public school in the city of Uberaba/MG. The theoretical and methodological dimension of this study is based on the principles of human development presented by the Historic-Cultural Theory, which brings with it the Activity Theory and the importance of mediation. The proposal of an educational intervention, conducted through the pedagogical experiment, aimed to describe, understand and explain the process of cultural appropriation writing from the day of organized activities in order to create favorable conditions for the development of the process in its constituent features, so that it could provoke and observe the different stages by passing the child in the prehistory of his writing. In outlining the paths taken by it in this process, provided an opportunity the conditions for use of writing in its social functionality, taking advantage of the development activity guide, in this age group, which is the game of social roles. The analysis of the data showed evidence that a pedagogical action, properly planned and mediated, creates conditions that enable the realization of the writing appropriation process in its social functionality, providing a qualitative change in the child's relationship with that kind of language, because she has to write.

Lignin distribution in waterlogged archaeological Picea abies (L.) Karst degraded by erosion bacteria

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Nanna Bjerregaard; Schmitt, Uwe Schmitt; Koch, Gerald

2014-01-01

The lignin distribution in poles of waterlogged archaeological Picea abies (L.) Karst, which was decayed by erosion bacteria (EB) under anoxic conditions for approximately 400 years, was topochemically identified by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution UV-microspectrophotome......The lignin distribution in poles of waterlogged archaeological Picea abies (L.) Karst, which was decayed by erosion bacteria (EB) under anoxic conditions for approximately 400 years, was topochemically identified by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution UV...

"Tools" for the Development of the Inspection Activity in Archaeological Sites

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Susanna Bortolotto

2015-05-01

Full Text Available One of the acquisitions of contemporary conservation philosophy is precisely this: you don’t restore the image but the matter of the work; restoration is first and foremost the conservation of the work’s authenticity. The task of conservation is not returning to an impossible past but rather enabling the work to be handed down to the future. From this standpoint, in today’s conservation language we speak of conservation: guaranteeing through our efforts that the work entrusted to us will still be available for the future, for ourselves and the generations to come, eliminating or slowing down the causes of deterioration that endanger it so that it can be enjoyed and used. The project, "Milan Archaeology for Expo 2015. Towards a valorization of the archaeological heritage of the city", intends - respect to these theoretical and methodological - to develop processes of knowledge and planned conservation of urban archaeological areas with coordinated maintenance actions, promotion and communication of the different sites present in Milan historic centre. All this sites will be connected in a network system built for a larger project that it will increase the accessibility and enhancement.

Archaeological Map of the Czech Republic. Current state and future visions of virtual research tools in the Czech Republic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin Kuna

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The Archaeological Map of the Czech Republic (AMCR project will soon be finished and one chapter of building digital infrastructures in the Czech Republic will be closed. It is a natural occasion to evaluate national state-of-the-art in dealing with Digital Culture Heritage, particularly archaeological data. It is a also good time to summarise our knowledge about using digital tools and to outline prospects of development for the coming years. What are the key points? The AMCR represents both an administrative system of field archaeology management and a kind of 'sites and monuments records' for the territory of the CR. Its fundamental underlying principles are interoperability, standardisation, data re-use, crowdsourcing and networking. However, a reasonable question should also concern the theoretical background to the process of digitisation of the archaeological world. Infrastructures should every time stay on the level of service for the community of researchers and every digital tool has to fulfil real needs in the fields of both archaeological theory and practice. On the other hand, the application of this virtual research environment is inseparable from archaeological legislation and institutional management.

Archaeological Monuments of the Siberian Khanates: Search of the Markers of the Statehood.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S.F. Tataurov

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Research objectives: To identify several sets of archaeological materials, which allow to unite all the Turkic-Tatar population of the forest-steppe zone of Western Siberia not only on the basis of socio-economic relations, but also on the principles of the existence of state entities. Research materials: Archaeological material (ceramics, weapons and funeral rite of warriors, ring-seals and attributes of supreme authority – helmets and tamgas. Results and novelty of the research: At present, the Turkic-Tatar state formations remain one of the most poorly studied issues in the medieval history of Western Siberia. An unformed base of archaeological sources could be added to a small amount of written documents. As a result, academic community is not able to make a full description of specific khanates – of their boundaries, administrative division and management, the level of development of state institutions, etc. Moreover, we do not have a chronological scale of cultural layers of any archaeological complex of this time including the capitals of khanates – Chimgi-Tura and Isker. Ordinary settlements and cemeteries remain with indefinite characteristics (cultural phenomena, which could allow to combine all these complexes into one whole, to become markers of the Siberian statehood. The author proposes to identify several sets of archaeological materials, which allow to unite all the Turkic-Tatar population of the forest-steppe zone of Western Siberia not only on the basis of socio-economic relations, but also on the principles of the existence of state entities. The author presents as these features ceramics, weapons and funeral rite of warriors, ring-seals and attributes of supreme authority – helmets and tamgas. It is possible that in the course of research this range of sources can be increased. Therefore, this work serves as an impulse for the development of scientific research in this direction.

Application of acoustic, magnetic and electromagnetic systems in marine archaeology

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

SubbaRaju, L.V.

The importance of integrated geoscientific studies is reiterated for underwater archaeological exploration. Geophysical systems applied for the detection of artefacts, ancient places and underwater sites/objects are explained and detailed...

22 CFR 1104.13 - Determination of archaeological or commercial value and cost of restoration and repair.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... part shall be its fair market value. Where the violation has resulted in damage to the archaeological resource, the fair market value should be determined using the condition of the archaeological resource... value and cost of restoration and repair. 1104.13 Section 1104.13 Foreign Relations INTERNATIONAL...

Pose tracking for augmented reality applications in outdoor archaeological sites

Science.gov (United States)

Younes, Georges; Asmar, Daniel; Elhajj, Imad; Al-Harithy, Howayda

2017-01-01

In recent years, agencies around the world have invested huge amounts of effort toward digitizing many aspects of the world's cultural heritage. Of particular importance is the digitization of outdoor archaeological sites. In the spirit of valorization of this digital information, many groups have developed virtual or augmented reality (AR) computer applications themed around a particular archaeological object. The problem of pose tracking in outdoor AR applications is addressed. Different positional systems are analyzed, resulting in the selection of a monocular camera-based user tracker. The limitations that challenge this technique from map generation, scale, anchoring, to lighting conditions are analyzed and systematically addressed. Finally, as a case study, our pose tracking system is implemented within an AR experience in the Byblos Roman theater in Lebanon.