Showing papers in "Antiquity in 2006"
TL;DR: A newly discovered site at Shangshan in the Lower Yangzi River region has revealed the oldest open-air sedentary village and domesticated rice in south China as mentioned in this paper, which has been used as a research site for the first time.
Abstract: A newly discovered site at Shangshan in the Lower Yangzi River region has revealed the oldest open-air sedentary village and domesticated rice in south China.
150 citations
TL;DR: The Teouma site, on Efate in central Vanuatu, was uncovered during quarrying in 2003 and has proved to be one of the most significant discoveries to date for the colonisation of Remote Oceania as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The Teouma site, on Efate in central Vanuatu, was uncovered during quarrying in 2003 and has proved to be one of the most significant discoveries to date for the colonisation of Remote Oceania. Not only did it bring to light a fine assemblage of the famously diagnostic Lapita ceramics, but a cemetery of more than 25 individuals along with the pots. The skeletons offer an opportunity to investigate the origins of the �Lapita people� who first appeared in the Bismarck archipelago around 3300 years ago and rapidly moved through island Melanesia and Western Polynesia over the next few centuries.
124 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a critical review of radiocarbon dates associated with the earliest pottery-making and eliminating a number of them where the material or its context are unreliable is conducted.
Abstract: The origin of pottery is among the most important questions in Old World archaeology. The author undertakes a critical review of radiocarbon dates associated with the earliest pottery-making and eliminates a number of them where the material or its context are unreliable. Using those that survive this process of ‘chronometric hygiene’, he proposes that food-containers made of burnt clay originated in East Asia in the Late Glacial, c. 13 700-13 300 BP, and appeared in three separate regions, in Japan, China and far eastern Russia, at about the same time.
117 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, archaeological excavations in Kuwait have revealed the earliest remains of sea-going boats and the distribution of Ubaid pottery as evidence for a system of maritime exchange in the Arabian Neolithic driven by status and ceremony.
Abstract: Archaeological excavations in Kuwait have revealed the earliest remains anywhere of sea-going boats. The author explains these remains and the distribution of Ubaid pottery as evidence for a system of maritime exchange in the Arabian Neolithic driven by status and ceremony.
113 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the birthplaces of 90 early burials from Iceland were sought using strontium isotope analysis, at least nine, and probably thirteen, of these individuals can be distinguished as migrants to Iceland from other places.
Abstract: The colonisation of the North Atlantic from the eighth century AD was the earliest expansion of European populations to the west Norse and Celtic voyagers are recorded as reaching and settling in Iceland, Greenland and easternmost North America between c AD 750 and 1000, but the date of these events and the homeland of the colonists are subjects of some debate In this project, the birthplaces of 90 early burials from Iceland were sought using strontium isotope analysis At least nine, and probably thirteen, of these individuals can be distinguished as migrants to Iceland from other places In addition, there are clear differences to be seen in the diets of the local Icelandic peoples, ranging from largely terrestrial to largely marine consumption
99 citations
TL;DR: This paper proposed a new model for the origins of humans and their ecological adaptation, where the evolutionary stimulus lies not in the savannah but in broken, hilly rough country where the early hominins could hunt and hide.
Abstract: The authors propose a new model for the origins of humans and their ecological adaptation. The evolutionary stimulus lies not in the savannah but in broken, hilly rough country where the early hominins could hunt and hide. Such "roughness", generated by tectonic and volcanic movement characterises not only the African rift valley but probably the whole route of early hominin dispersal.
97 citations
TL;DR: The authors make a connection between fort-building and making pond-fields, demonstrating that the pressure on resources provoked both the intensification of agriculture and hostility between the communities of the small island.
Abstract: New excavations and survey on the island of Rapa have shown that a rockshelter was occupied by early settlers around AD 1200 and the first hill forts were erected about 300 years later. Refortification occurred up to the contact period and proliferated around AD 1700. Taro cultivation in terraced pond-fields kept pace with the construction of forts. The authors make a connection between fort-building and making pond-fields, demonstrating that the pressure on resources provoked both the intensification of agriculture and hostility between the communities of the small island.
85 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare the message of the bones and shells found on settlement sites, with the isotope measurements in the bones of people, and strongly reinforce the arguments.
Abstract: Stable isotope analysis has startled the archaeological community by showing a rapid and widespread change from a marine to terrestrial diet (ie from fish to domesticated plants and animals) as people moved from a Mesolithic to a Neolithic culture. This could be a consequence of domestication, or as Julian Thomas (2003) proposed, of a kind of taboo (‘Touch not the fish’). In a key challenge, Nicky Milner and her colleagues (2004) questioned the reality of this nutritional revolution, contrasting the message of the bones and shells found on settlement sites, with the isotope measurements in the bones of people. Here Mike Richards and Rick Schulting, champions of the diet-revolution, strongly reinforce the arguments. The change was real, it seems: so what does it mean? Milner and colleagues respond.
78 citations
TL;DR: Using strontium isotope measurements on the teeth of fallow deer found at Fishbourne, the authors argue that these elegant creatures were first introduced into Britain as a gift to the Romanised aristocracy.
Abstract: Using strontium isotope measurements on the teeth of fallow deer found at Fishbourne, the authors argue that these elegant creatures were first introduced into Britain as a gift to the Romanised aristocracy. Kept and bred in a special enclosure at the palace, they provided more than a status symbol and gastronomic treat: the fallow deer was an emblem of Empire.
71 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that specific marine shells were targeted, subject to special processes of manufacture into beads and that some had travelled hundreds of kilometres from their source, and that these beads provided a symbolic language that somehow kept the early peoples of Australia in touch with the sea.
Abstract: Why did Palaeolithic people wear shells, and why was the practice so widespread in the world? The authors' own researches in Western Australia show that specific marine shells were targeted, subject to special processes of manufacture into beads and that some had travelled hundreds of kilometres from their source. Whether they were brought in land by the manufacturers, or by specially ornamented people, these beads provided a symbolic language that somehow kept the early peoples of Australia in touch with the sea.
69 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the 19th International Radiocarbon Conference at Oxford in April 2006 has published an update on radiocarbon calibration results, which is essential reading for all archaeologists.
Abstract: This update on radiocarbon calibration results from the 19th International Radiocarbon Conference at Oxford in April 2006, and is essential reading for all archaeologists. The way radiocarbon dates and absolute dates relate to each other differs in three periods: back to 12400 cal BP, radiocarbon dates can be calibrated with tree rings, and the calibration curve in this form should soon extend back to 18000 cal BP. Between 12400 and 26000 cal BP, the calibration curves are based on marine records, and thus are only a best estimate of atmospheric concentrations. Beyond 26000 cal BP, dates have to be based on comparison (rather than calibration) with a variety of sources. Radical variations are thus possible in this period, a highly significant caveat for the dating of middle and lower Paleolithic art, artefacts and animal and human remains.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors assess the value of the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) in mapping and sequencing the network of water channels that provided the arterial system for Mesopotamia before the petrol engine.
Abstract: The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) is currently producing a digital elevation model of most of the world's surface. Here the authors assess its value in mapping and sequencing the network of water channels that provided the arterial system for Mesopotamia before the petrol engine.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show how men and women can be distinguished by scientific measurement in the prints and stencils of the human hand that occur widely in Upper Palaeolithic art, and they take a step closer to showing that both sexes are engaged in cave art and whatever dreams and rituals it implies.
Abstract: Sexual roles in deep prehistory are among the most intriguing puzzles still to solve. Here the author shows how men and women can be distinguished by scientific measurement in the prints and stencils of the human hand that occur widely in Upper Palaeolithic art. Six hand stencils from four French caves are attributed to four adult females, an adult male, and a sub-adult male. Here we take a step closer to showing that both sexes are engaged in cave art and whatever dreams and rituals it implies.
TL;DR: A long section adjacent to a former obsidian quarry on Easter Island (Rapa Nui) reveals a sequence of agricultural strategies, beginning with the clearing of palm trees in the twelfth century AD, and the making of an open garden growing yams and taro, that continued through the fifteenth century as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: A long section adjacent to a former obsidian quarry on Easter Island (Rapa Nui) reveals a sequence of agricultural strategies, beginning with the clearing of palm trees in the twelfth century AD, and the making of an open garden growing yams and taro, that continued through the fifteenth century. The later phases between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries include veneer and boulder gardens that reflect the broader strategy employed by the islanders to fight the increasingly arid soil.
TL;DR: The boat-grave cemetery at Abydos has provided the world's oldest sewn planked hulls, and vivid evidence for the way early Egyptian wooden boats were built as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The boat-grave cemetery at Abydos has provided the world's oldest sewn planked hulls, and vivid evidence for the way early Egyptian wooden boats were built. As well as sailing on the Nile, they were designed to be dismantled for carriage over land to the Red Sea. By the mid-fourth millennium BC the ship was a major technical force in the Egyptian political economy as well as an iconic force in ceremonial burial.
TL;DR: This paper found that the patterns on the roof of Chamber A1 at Rouffignac were made by the fingers of children aged between 2 and 5 years old, given the height of the chamber, such children would have needed to be hoisted aloft by adults.
Abstract: Amongst the numerous images found on the walls of Palaeolithic caves, fluted lines, made by fingers dragged through a skin of wet clay remain some of the most intriguing. In their study of images at Rouffignac, the authors undertook experiments with a range of modern subjects who replicated the flutings with their hands. Comparing the dimensions of the experimental flutings with the originals, they conclude that the patterns on the roof of Chamber A1 at Rouffignac were made by the fingers of children aged between 2 and 5 years old. Given the height of the chamber, such children would have needed to be hoisted aloft by adults. Who knows what lessons in art or ritual were thereby imparted to the young persons�
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the use of land during the medieval period at the celebrated ceremonial area of Angkor, and they took a soil column over 2.5m deep from the inner moat of the Bakong temple.
Abstract: Investigating the use of land during the medieval period at the celebrated ceremonial area of Angkor, the authors took a soil column over 2.5m deep from the inner moat of the Bakong temple. The dated pollen sequence showed that the temple moat was dug in the eighth century AD and that the agriculture of the immediate area subsequently flourished. In the tenth century AD agriculture declined and the moat became choked with water-plants. It was at this time, according to historical documents, that a new centre at Phnom Bakeng was founded by Yasovarman I.
TL;DR: This article applied modern digital mapping technology to the aerial photographs taken by the intrepid early pilots, and created a landscape of military works that would not have been known in detail to either historians or generals at the time.
Abstract: The First World War left its mark on the ground surface of Europe as perhaps no other human catastrophe before or since. The author applies modern digital mapping technology to the aerial photographs taken by the intrepid early pilots, and creates a landscape of military works that would not have been known in detail to either historians or generals at the time. The GIS inventory has great potential for historians of the war and is a vital instrument for the management of this increasingly important heritage.
TL;DR: The authors found that seeds did not become part of the staple diet until after 8700 b.p. It was at this time that animal and plant resources had begun to seriously diminish in a shrinking wetland.
Abstract: When did people start to eat small seeds, and what drove them to it? New investigations and dating at the Danger Cave in the American Great Basin show that seeds (pickleweed seeds) did not become part of the staple diet until after 8700 b.p. It was at this time that animal and plant resources had begun to seriously diminish in a shrinking wetland.
TL;DR: A well in the Jordan Valley shows that the Neolithic revolution included an understanding of underground water and how to access it as discussed by the authors, and the excavation of the well in long-titudinal cross-section is also something of a revolution in fieldwork.
Abstract: A well in the Jordan Valley shows that the Neolithic revolution included an understanding of underground water and how to access it. The excavation of the well in longtitudinal cross-section is also something of a revolution in fieldwork.
TL;DR: Lapita pottery, the herald of the settlement of the wider island Pacific, turns out to have been painted with lime and clay, to give a red and white finish over the decorated surface as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Lapita pottery, the herald of the settlement of the wider island Pacific, turns out to have been painted with lime and clay, to give a red and white finish over the decorated surface. The find of a pot in Vanuatu, its sherds in different states of deterioration showed why painted Lapita has previously gone unrecognised. The author suggests that it was widespread from 1000 BC and reminds us that pottery was painted in China 7000 years ago.
TL;DR: A new research project has revealed a fully specialised copper industry in south-west Iberia at the beginning of the third millennium BC as mentioned in this paper, which was rife with hierarchy: on the slopes of the hill copper-workers smelt and cast and have their own residential zone, while an incipient aristocracy occupies a small fortification at the summit and commands all the imports and means of transport.
Abstract: A new research project has revealed a fully specialised copper industry in south-west Iberia at the beginning of the third millennium BC. The settlement is rife with hierarchy: on the slopes of the hill copper-workers smelt and cast and have their own residential zone, while an incipient aristocracy occupies a small fortification at the summit and commands all the imports and means of transport. The author sees this social system as endemic to the new industry.
TL;DR: This paper examined a sample of olive stones from Egyptian contexts and showed that from the first millennium BC, if not before, some of them relate to cultivars originating from the Levant, but equally prominent and just as early is another variety, of unknown origin and currently peculiar to Egypt.
Abstract: The authors examine a sample of olive stones from Egyptian contexts and show that from the first millennium BC, if not before, some of them relate to cultivars originating from the Levant. But equally prominent and just as early is another variety, of unknown origin and currently peculiar to Egypt. The method used is geometrical morphometric analysis � essentially classifying the olive stones by their shape.
TL;DR: In this paper, an extensive survey and three sample sections at Jebel Gharbi in north-west Libya have been conducted to date the environment and the human presence within it from the Middle Stone Age to the early Holocene.
Abstract: Intensive survey and three sample sections at Jebel Gharbi in north-west Libya offer a new dated sequence of the environment, and the human presence within it, from the Middle Stone Age to the early Holocene. Hunter-gatherers were continuously active, including during the hitherto elusive Later Stone Age.
TL;DR: A study of the group of kurgans (burial mounds) which stands near Orenburg at the south end of the Ural mountains has revealed a sequence that began in the early Bronze Age and continued intermittently until the era of the Golden Horde in the Middle Ages.
Abstract: A new study of the group of kurgans (burial mounds) which stands near Orenburg at the south end of the Ural mountains has revealed a sequence that began in the early Bronze Age and continued intermittently until the era of the Golden Horde in the Middle Ages. The application of modern techniques of cultural and environmental investigation has thrown new light on the different circumstances and contexts in which mound burial was practised, and confirmed the association between investment in burial and nomadism.
TL;DR: The first recognition of briquetage in Europe and the subsequent appreciation of the great prehistoric salt industry was described in this paper, where broken salt containers survive in mounds 12 metres high and half a kilometre long.
Abstract: The authors describe the first recognition of briquetage in Europe and the subsequent appreciation of the great prehistoric salt industry. Central to Iron Age production was the site of Briquetage de la Seille, where broken salt containers survive in mounds 12 metres high and half a kilometre long. New techniques map the source of brine, the workshops and the boilers. Salt production here knew two boom periods: the eighth to sixth and the second to first centuries BC.
TL;DR: A review of the geoglyphs of the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile has allowed the author to define a vocabulary of forms and show how these relate to particular groups of people crossing the desert from the mountains to the sea in the prehispanic period as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: A new review of the geoglyphs of the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile has allowed the author to define a vocabulary of forms and show how these relate to particular groups of people crossing the desert from the mountains to the sea in the prehispanic period. Geometric, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic symbols mark routes, destinations and usage by particular llama caravans. The travellers were key players in society and were winning prominence in their region from AD 800.
TL;DR: The Minusinsk Basin is located where China, Mongolia, Siberia, and Kazakhstan meet as mentioned in this paper, and it was a focus for the development of that equestrian mobility which was to become the elite way of life for much of the Eurasian steppe for more than a millennium.
Abstract: The Minusinsk Basin is located where China, Mongolia, Siberia and Kazakhstan meet. Enclosed, but broad, and rich in copper and other minerals, the valley offers missing links between the prehistory of China and that of the greater Russian steppes. In the late Bronze Age the material from Minusinsk was important for the origins of bronze metallurgy in China, and in the Iron Age the area was a focus for the development of that equestrian mobility which was to become the elite way of life for much of the Eurasian steppe for more than a millennium.
We are privileged to publish the following two papers deriving from researchers at the Institute for the History of Material Culture at Saint Petersburg, which give us the story so far on the archaeology of this remarkable place. In The emergence of the Karasuk culture Sophie Legrand discusses the people who occupied the Minusinsk Basin in the Bronze Age, and in The emergence of the Tagar culture, Nikolai Bokovenko introduces us to their successors, the horsemen and barrow-builders of the first millennium BCE.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Jones-Bley and Zdanovich as discussed by the authors describe complex societies of Central Eurasia from the 3rd to the 1st Millennium BC: Regional Specifics in Light of Global Models (Journal of Indo-European Studies Monographs 45 & 46).
Abstract: Karlene Jones-Bley & D.G. Zdanovich (ed.). Complex Societies of Central Eurasia from the 3rd to the 1st Millennium BC: Regional Specifics in Light of Global Models (Journal of Indo-European Studies Monographs 45 & 46). 2 volumes. xxxviii & xiv+634 pages, many illustrations, tables. 2002. Washington, D.C.: Institute for the Study of Man/Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Chelyabinsk State University; 0-941694-83-6 (vol. 1) & 0-941694-86-0 (vol. 2) paperback $52 each.