Showing papers by "Hungarian National Museum published in 2013"

On the trail of Neolithic mice and men towards Transcaucasia: zooarchaeological clues from Nakhchivan (Azerbaijan)

Abstract: Transcaucasia comprises a key region for understanding the history of both the hybrid zone between house mouse lineages and the dispersal of the Neolithic way of life outside its Near Eastern cradle. The opportunity to document the colonization history of both men and mice in Transcaucasia was made possible by the discovery of mouse remains accumulated in pits from a 6000-year-old farming village in the Nakhchivan (Autonomous Republic of Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan). The present study investigated their taxonomy and most likely dispersal path through the identification of the Mus lineage to which they might belong using a geometric morphometric approach of dental traits distances between archaeological and modern populations of the different Mus lineages of South-West Asia. We demonstrate that the mouse remains trapped in the deep storage pits of the dwelling belong to the Mus musculus domesticus from the Near East, with dental shapes similar to current populations in Northern Syria. These results strongly suggest that the domesticus lineage was dispersed into Transcaucasia from the upper Euphrates valley by Neolithic migration, some time between the 7th and 5th millennium BC, providing substantial evidence to back up the scenario featuring near-eastern stimuli in the emergence of agriculture in the South Caucasus. The domesticus mitochondrial DNA signature of the current house mouse in the same location 5000 years later, as well as their turnover towards a subspecies musculus/castaneus phenotype, suggests that early domesticus colonizers hybridized with a later musculus (and maybe castaneus) dispersal originating from south of the Caspian Sea and/or Northern Caucasia. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2013, 108, 917-928.

The ANCIENT CHARM project at FRM II: three-dimensional elemental mapping by prompt gamma activation imaging and neutron tomography

Abstract: The aim of the EU FP6-funded ANCIENT CHARM project has been the development of new, and the integration of existing element-sensitive imaging methods utilizing neutrons. We present here the methodology and the first implementation of 3D elemental mapping at the Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis instrument of the research reactor FRM II, in order to determine spatially resolved elemental abundances in samples. After the design, optimization, and characterization of the new setup, measurements were successfully completed on archaeological objects of historical significance from the collection of the Hungarian National Museum.

Correlation between the sub-structure parameters and the manufacturing technologies of metal threads in historical textiles using X-ray line profile analysis

Abstract: Micro-structure can talk when documentation is missing. In ancient Roman or medieval periods, kings, queens, or just rich people decorated their clothes or even their horse covers richly with miniature jewels or metal threads. The origin or the fabrication techniques of these ancient threads is often unknown. Thirteen thread samples made of gold or gilt silver manufactured during the last sixteen hundred years are investigated for the micro-structure in terms of dislocation density, crystallite size, and planar defects. In a few cases, these features are compared with sub-structure of similar metallic threads prepared in modern, twentieth century workshops. The sub-structure is determined by X-ray line profile analysis, using high resolution diffractograms with negligible instrumental broadening. On the basis of the sub-structure parameters, we attempt to assess the metal-threads manufacturing procedures on samples stemming from the fourth century A.D. until now.