Showing papers in "Antiquity in 2008"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show how the LiDAR picture can be enhanced so that features picked up by illumination from different directions can be combined in one comprehensive survey, which can be used for aerial survey.
Abstract: LiDAR is developing into a formidable instrument of aerial survey. Here the author shows how the LiDAR picture can be enhanced so that features picked up by illumination from different directions can be combined in one comprehensive survey.
167 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a mathematical model of "imperfect optimisation" is proposed to describe maritime networks, which can be adjusted by giving different relative importance to the cultivation of local resources or to trade.
Abstract: The authors raise spatial analysis to a new level of sophistication - and insight - in proposing a mathematical model of "imperfect optimisation" to describe maritime networks This model encodes, metaphorically, the notion of gravitational attraction between objects in space The space studied here is the southern Aegean in the Middle Bronze Age, and the objects are the 34 main sites we know about The "gravitation" in this case is a balance of social forces, expressed by networks with settlements of particular sizes and links of particular strengths The model can be tweaked by giving different relative importance to the cultivation of local resources or to trade, and to show what happens when a member of the network suddenly disappears
130 citations
TL;DR: The archaeological sites of Iraq, precious for their bearing on human history, became especially vulnerable to looters during two wars as mentioned in this paper, and they were targeted for their high value artefacts, particularly just before and after the 2003 invasion.
Abstract: The archaeological sites of Iraq, precious for their bearing on human history, became especially vulnerable to looters during two wars. Much of the looting evidence has been anecdotal up to now, but here satellite imagery has been employed to show which sites were looted and when. Sites of all sizes from late Uruk to early Islamic were targeted for their high value artefacts, particularly just before and after the 2003 invasion. The author comments that the "total area looted... was many times greater than all the archaeological investigations ever conducted in southern Iraq and must have yielded tablets, coins, cylinder seals, statues, terracottas, bronzes and other objects in the hundreds of thousands".
101 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors use new procedures to extend the competence and revelations of CORONA even further, using stereo pairs derived from images taken from fore and aft of the satellite.
Abstract: CORONA satellite imagery, preserving an account of the earth's surface from 40 years ago, is a most important archaeological survey tool and we have often sung its praises. Here the authors use new procedures to extend the competence and revelations of CORONA even further. Stereo pairs derived from images taken from fore and aft of the satellite give three dimensional images of landscapes and even individual sites. Techniques of modelling and rectification restore the sites to their original shape without recourse to survey on the ground - in many cases no longer possible since the sites have been buried, inundated or erased. The ingenuity shown here indicates that results from CORONA are only going to get better.
100 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the cause of the Viking episode is discussed head-on, reviewing and dismissing technical, environmental, demographic, economic, political, and ideological prime movers, concluding that a bulge of young males in Scandinavia set out to get treasure to underpin their chances of marriage and a separate domicile.
Abstract: This paper addresses the cause of the Viking episode in the approved Viking manner - head-on, reviewing and dismissing technical, environmental, demographic, economic, political and ideological prime movers. The author develops the theory that a bulge of young males in Scandinavia set out to get treasure to underpin their chances of marriage and a separate domicile.
92 citations
TL;DR: A cave site on the island of Palawan in the Philippines showed occupation from c. 11000 to c. 9500-9000 BP, and a human cremation burial in a container was emplaced, the earliest yet known in the region as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Excavations at a cave site on the island of Palawan in the Philippines show occupation from c. 11000 BP. A fine assemblage of tools and faunal remains shows the reliance of hunter-foragers switching from deer to pig. In 9500-9000 BP, a human cremation burial in a container was emplaced, the earliest yet known in the region.
89 citations
TL;DR: A detailed survey of the banks, channels and reservoirs at Angkor shows them to have been part of a large scale water management network instigated in the ninth century AD as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Meticulous survey of the banks, channels and reservoirs at Angkor shows them to have been part of a large scale water management network instigated in the ninth century AD. Water collected from the hills was stored and could have been distributed for a wide variety of purposes including flood control, agriculture and ritual while a system of overflows and bypasses carried surplus water away to the lake, the Tonle Sap, to the south. The network had a history of numerous additions and modifications. Earlier channels both distributed and disposed of water. From the twelfth century onwards the large new channels primarily disposed of water to the lake. The authors here present and document the latest definitive map of the water network of Angkor.
85 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify natural bitumen on stone implements dating to 70 000 BP and propose that this represents residue from hafting, taking the practice back a further 30 000 years from the date previously noted and published in Nature.
Abstract: The authors identify natural bitumen on stone implements dating to 70 000 BP. It is proposed that this represents residue from hafting, taking the practice back a further 30 000 years from the date previously noted and published in Nature. The bitumen was tracked to a source 40km away, using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and carbon isotopes.
83 citations
TL;DR: In this article, Evershed et al. used accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) to identify organic residues in pottery and then used it to date the use of the pot.
Abstract: Techniques for identifying organic residues in pottery have been refined over the years by Professor Evershed and his colleagues. Here they address the problem of radiocarbon dating these residues by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) which in turn dates the use of the pot. Fatty acids from carcass and dairy products cooked in the pot were isolated from early Neolithic carinated bowls found at the Sweet Track, Somerset Levels, England, and then dated by AMS. The results were very consistent and gave an excellent match to the dendrochronological date of the trackway. The method has wide potential for the precise dating of pottery use on sites.
83 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors measured the relative locus of the monsoons, the intensity of winter rains and the volume of water in the rivers in the Upper Indus, in the region of Harappa.
Abstract: Introducing the methods of archaeoclimatology, the authors measure the relative locus of the monsoons, the intensity of winter rains and the volume of water in the rivers in the Upper Indus, in the region of Harappa. They also note the adoption of a multi-cropping agricultural system as a possible strategy designed to adjust to changing conditions over time. They find that around 3500 BC the volume of water in the rivers increases, and the rivers flood, implying annual soil refreshment and the consequent development of agriculture. By contrast, from around 2100 BC the river flow begins to fall while the winter rains increase. This time-bracket correlates nicely with the brief flourishing of Harappa. The locally derived evidence from Harappa combined with the Beas survey data provide a model for understanding the abandonment of settlements in the Upper Indus and possibly the wider civilisation.
79 citations
TL;DR: This article investigated isotopic signatures of burials from the famous Viking period cemetery at Birka in Sweden, comparing their results on diet with the status and identities of individuals as interpreted from grave goods.
Abstract: In this paper the authors investigate isotopic signatures of burials from the famous Viking period cemetery at Birka in Sweden, comparing their results on diet with the status and identities of individuals as interpreted from grave goods. These first observations offer a number of promising correlations, for example the shared diet of a group of women associated with trade, and a marine emphasis among men buried with weapons.
TL;DR: The isotope signatures of strontium, oxygen and carbon showed up three groups which correlated with hereditary traits (derived previously from the analysis of the teeth) in a group of Linearbandkeramik people at Talheim, Germany, suggesting they had been selectively taken alive at the time of the massacre.
Abstract: A group of Linearbandkeramik people at Talheim, Germany were previously found to have died at the same time, probably in a massacre, and the authors were able to ask some searching questions of their skeletons. The isotope signatures of strontium, oxygen and carbon, which gave information on diet and childhood region, showed up three groups which correlated with hereditary traits (derived previously from the analysis of the teeth). In the local group, there were many local children but no adult women, suggesting they had been selectively taken alive at the time of the massacre. Another group, with isotope signatures derived from upland areas, includes two men who may have been closely related. A third group has a composition suggestive of a nuclear family. The variations of one type of isotope signature with another suggested subtle interpretations, such as transhumance, and a probable labour division in the community between stockholders and cultivators. Here we see the ever-growing potential of these new methods for writing the ‘biographies’ of prehistoric skeletons.
TL;DR: The authors show that widespread interaction, articulated by obsidian tools and stone mortars and pestles decorated with various motifs, was already in existence in New Guinea and New Britain and provide a preview of the social interaction that was to light up with the advent of Lapita.
Abstract: Lapita pottery seems to arrive in the Pacific out of the blue, and signal a new social, economic or ideological network. The authors show that widespread interaction, articulated by obsidian tools and stone mortars and pestles decorated with various motifs, was already in existence in New Guinea and New Britain. These earlier networks provide a preview of the social interaction that was to light up with the advent of Lapita.
TL;DR: The early enclosures on the hill, the Great Enclosure and the valley enclosures now appear as the work of successive rulers, each founding a new residence and power centre in accordance with Shona practice as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Any study of Great Zimbabwe has to rely a great deal on re-examining and re-assessing the work of early investigators, the men who removed all the most important finds from the ruins and stripped them of so much of their deposits' (Garlake 1973: 14). The authors have here done us a great service in reviewing the surviving archaeological evidence from this world famous site. They challenge the structuralist interpretation - in which different parts of the site were allocated to kings, priests, wives or to circumcision rituals - and use the architectural, stratigraphic and artefactual evidence accumulated over the years to present a new sequence. The early enclosures on the hill, the Great Enclosure and the valley enclosures now appear as the work of successive rulers, each founding a new residence and power centre in accord with Shona practice
TL;DR: The Hippocrene grape wine as mentioned in this paper was composed from wild grapes from the sixth millennium BC in the lands of its natural habitat, and the cultivation, domestication and selective breeding of the grape following in the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age was aimed primarily at the enjoyment of its sweetness.
Abstract: Emotional news for lovers of a dry white wine. The blissful Hippocrene was composed from wild grapes from the sixth millennium BC in the lands of its natural habitat. But, as the author shows, the cultivation, domestication and selective breeding of the grape following in the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age was aimed primarily at the enjoyment of its sweetness.
TL;DR: The authors provide an overview of animal exploitation in the Chinese Neolithic, emphasizing regional differences in meat procurement strategies and emphasizing the special relationship with fish that extended even to the grave of the dead.
Abstract: The authors provide an overview of animal exploitation in the Chinese Neolithic, emphasising regional differences in meat procurement strategies. While the Yellow river peoples turned from hunting wild animals to the rearing of pigs, dogs, sheep and cattle during the Neolithic, the peoples of the Yangzi valley continued to rely on an abundant supply of wild creatures into their Bronze Age. Their staples were deer, fish and birds and there was a special relationship with fish that extended even to the grave.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors assess the potential contribution of lidar surveys to national inventories of archaeological resources and compare the relative costs and sensitivity of LIDAR and aerial photography.
Abstract: The authors assess the potential contribution of lidar surveys to national inventories of archaeological resources ("Historic Environment Records"), and compare the relative costs and sensitivity of lidar and aerial photography.
TL;DR: The results of investigations into these structures were achieved with minimum intervention and disturbance on the ground, since the place remains sacred and in use as discussed by the authors. But the results of these investigations were achieved only for the case of Tongatapu, a site of a sequence of megalithic tombs.
Abstract: On Tongatapu the central place of the rising kingdom of Tonga developed in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries AD. Marked out as a monumental area with a rock-cut water-carrying ditch, it soon developed as the site of a sequence of megalithic tombs, in parallel with the documented expansion of the maritime chiefdom. The results of investigations into these structures were achieved with minimum intervention and disturbance on the ground, since the place remains sacred and in use
TL;DR: Using pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, the authors showed that amber was imported into Late Bronze Age Syria and used for making the prestige artefacts found in a Royal tomb of c. 1340 BC.
Abstract: Using pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, the authors show that amber was imported into Late Bronze Age Syria and used for making the prestige artefacts found in a Royal tomb of c. 1340 BC. The objects included beads and a unique vessel in the form of a lion, likely fashioned in Syria from raw amber imported from the Baltic via the Aegean.
TL;DR: The authors of as mentioned in this paper found that the banks of the surrounding enclosure were built up over several generations of time, accompanied by a succession of ovens, where meat was steamed and maize beer prepared at the edge of the gathering.
Abstract: What happened at the sites of prehistoric burial mounds after they were erected? In the southern highlands of Brazil and Argentina the pre-Hispanic mounds of the twelfth-thirteenth centuries AD are surrounded by large circular enclosures with avenues leading to their centre. The authors discovered that the banks of the surrounding enclosure were built up over several generations of time, accompanied by a succession of ovens. Ethnohistoric observations of more recent peoples in the same region suggested an explanation: the cremation of a chief was followed by periodic feasts at his mound, where meat was steamed and maize beer prepared at the edge of the gathering.
TL;DR: The role of string in early human communities, using prehistoric and ethnographic evidence, was reviewed in this paper, where the authors found that the process of manufacturing string itself inspired special roles and structures, which in turn held together the members of communities.
Abstract: The author reviews the role of string in early human communities, using prehistoric and ethnographic evidence. Fibres, rolled into string, offer a technical means of holding things together; but the process of manufacturing string itself inspired special roles and structures - which in turn held together the members of communities.
TL;DR: The Sannai Maruyama site (3900-2300 BC) is one of the largest known from Japan's Jomon period (14000-300 BC) as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The Sannai Maruyama site (3900-2300 BC) is one of the largest known from Japan's Jomon period (14000-300 BC). This study shows that over 1500 years the number of dwellings, their size, the type of stone tools and the fondness for figurines varied greatly. Nor was it a story of gradual increase in complexity: the settlement grew in intensity up to a peak associated with numerous grinding stones, and then declined to a smaller settlement containing larger buildings, many arrowheads and virtually no figurines. Using a bundle of ingenious analyses, the author explains what happened.
TL;DR: In this article, the application of a package of remote sensing procedures not only designed to locate sites but also to model the valley deposits which contain and cover them is described, and the variation in success of different methods in different deposits offers a guide to the design of evaluation projects on sand and gravel terrain everywhere.
Abstract: Methods for mapping and determining the condition of archaeological resources while they are still underground have been in development for nearly half a century. The authors here offer an example from the frontiers of the art: the application of a package of remote sensing procedures not only designed to locate sites but to model the valley deposits which contain and cover them. The variation in success of different methods in different deposits offers a guide to the design of evaluation projects on sand and gravel terrain everywhere.
TL;DR: The term "catastrophe" in this article reflects the now well-established fact that Earth is experiencing (anthropogenic) climate change at a rate and scale unparalleled in human history (IPCC 2007a).
Abstract: The term 'catastrophe' in my title is not chosen idly, but reflects the now well-established fact that Earth is experiencing (anthropogenic) climate change at a rate and scale unparalleled in human history (IPCC 2007a). Dramatic events such as the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 are so unexpected that one retains a clear memory of precisely when and where one learned of them. Regrettably, climate change is subtler, its effects slower, its consequences less immediately obvious. Yet something of the same is true. In my own case, I vividly recall the moment when I first grasped what it might mean. At the 1993 Kimberley meeting of the Southern African Society for Quaternary Research (SASQUA), a presenter commented that her palaeoenvironmental research, which reached back through the Holocene, might, perhaps, be relevant to modelling future climatic change. Back came the comment from another participant that the Holocene climatic 'optimum' was far from relevant; a bestcase analogue might instead be the conditions prevailing during the Pliocene, 5.3-1.8 million years ago.
TL;DR: A detailed account of recent research and current objectives at the famous ancient Meso-american city of Teotihuacan is given in this article, where the author offers an account of the composition and preoccupations of one of America's first urban societies, and how it began, flourished and ended.
Abstract: At Antiquity's invitation the author offers this account of recent research and current objectives at the famous ancient Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan. After a century of investigation, archaeologists are beginning to see something of the composition and preoccupations of one of America's first urban societies, and how it began, flourished and ended.
TL;DR: Maya Blue is a colour that is more than a pigment; it had roles in status, ritual and performance, being daubed onto pots and people before sacrifice as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Maya Blue is a colour that is more than a pigment; it had roles in status, ritual and performance, being daubed onto pots and people before sacrifice. Here researchers use experimental and historical evidence to discover how it was made, including direct scientific analysis of Maya Blue on a pot thrown into the sacred well at Chichen Itza. The results indicate that the formation of the colour was actually part of the ritual.
TL;DR: Stable isotopes extracted from two hominins and a range of animals from the original Neanderthal site showed these Middle Palaeolithic people to have been hunters predominately on a meat diet as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Stable isotopes extracted from two hominins and a range of animals from the original Neanderthal site shows these Middle Palaeolithic people to have been hunters predominately on a meat diet. Comparison with other specimens further south suggests this diet - deer, but no fish or plants - to be something of a behavioural norm, whatever the latitude and plant cover.
TL;DR: A small group of exotic obsidian blades supplied from over 600km distant reached a particular area of the East Mound at Catalhoyuk in the Early Ceramic Neolithic (7000-6300 cal BC).
Abstract: A small group of exotic obsidian blades supplied from over 600km distant reached a particular area of the East Mound at Catalhoyuk in the Early Ceramic Neolithic (7000-6300 cal BC). The authors explore a variety of explanations and contexts, including changes in technology, agricultural expansion, gift exchange, bride-wealth and incomers from the east.
TL;DR: This paper used stable isotope analysis to show that domestic cattle grazing on the pasture and the aurochs lurking in the forests and wet places co-existed for centuries with the domestic cattle which were to replace it.
Abstract: The aurochs was a type of wild cattle not extinct in Europe until the mid-second millennium BC - so they must have co-existed for centuries with the domestic cattle which were to supplant it Here the authors use stable isotope analysis to show what form that co-existence took: the domestic cattle grazing on the pasture, and the aurochs lurking in the forests and wet places
TL;DR: Caves in Ireland, as elsewhere, have been used for shelter and burial over much of recorded time as mentioned in this paper, and there was a strong symbolic or ritual sense shared in Neolithic Ireland between passage tombs and those certain kinds of cave that they resembled.
Abstract: Caves in Ireland, as elsewhere, have been used for shelter and burial over much of recorded time. The author here focuses on their use during the Neolithic, carefully isolating the available material and arguing from it that caves then had a primary role in the remembrance of the dead, and were used for excarnation, token deposition or inhumation. The author compares these practices to other contemporary types of burial and concludes that there was a strong symbolic or ritual sense shared in Neolithic Ireland between passage tombs and those certain kinds of cave that they resembled.