Showing papers in "Antiquity in 2011"
TL;DR: The authors showed that as many as 70 per cent of the oldest radiocarbon dates in the literature may be too young, due to contamination by modern carbon, and proposed to use more refined methods of pre-treatment described here.
Abstract: Few events of European prehistory are more important than the transition from ancient to modern humans around 40 000 years ago, a period that unfortunately lies near the limit of radiocarbon dating. This paper shows that as many as 70 per cent of the oldest radiocarbon dates in the literature may be too young, due to contamination by modern carbon. Future dates can be made more secure � and previous dates revised � using more refined methods of pre-treatment described here.
224 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a major research project that is peopling the Indian Ocean with prehistoric seafarers exchanging native crops and stock between Africa and India is described. But the prime movers of this maritime adventure were not the great empires but a multitude of small-scale entrepreneurs.
Abstract: Here is a major research project that is peopling the Indian Ocean with prehistoric seafarers exchanging native crops and stock between Africa and India. Not the least exciting part of the work is the authors' contention that the prime movers of this maritime adventure were not the great empires but a multitude of small-scale entrepreneurs.
200 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the Sky-view Factor (SVF) is used to estimate how much of the sky is visible from each point in the view of a point source.
Abstract: Aerial mapping and remote sensing takes another step forward with this method of modelling lidar data. The usual form of presentation, hill shade, uses a point source to show up surface features. Sky-view factor simulates diffuse light by computing how much of the sky is visible from each point. The result is a greatly improved visibility — as shown here by its use on a test site of known topography in Slovenia.
172 citations
TL;DR: The authors compare pottery assemblages in the Marianas and the Philippines to claim endorsement for a first human expansion into the open Pacific around 1500 BC and propose an epic pioneering voyage of men and women, with presumably some cultivated plants but apparently no animals.
Abstract: The authors compare pottery assemblages in the Marianas and the Philippines to claim endorsement for a first human expansion into the open Pacific around 1500 BC. The Marianas are separated from the Philippines by 2300km of open sea, so they are proposing an epic pioneering voyage of men and women, with presumably some cultivated plants but apparently no animals. How did they manage this unprecedented journey?
145 citations
TL;DR: For many years the author has been tracking the spread of the Neolithic of Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) and its extension eastwards into the western Pacific, as a proxy for dating the Austronesian (AN) languages across that same vast area as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: For many years the author has been tracking the spread of the Neolithic of Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) and its extension eastwards into the western Pacific, as a proxy for dating the spread of the Austronesian (AN) languages across that same vast area. Here he recalls the evidence, updates the hypothesis and poses some new questions.
137 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a sample of 48 burials from Trelleborg on Zealand in Denmark was taken and strontium isotope analysis demonstrated its ability to eavesdrop on a community: the young men in its cemetery were largely recruited from outside Denmark or the Slavic regions.
Abstract: The circular fortress of Trelleborg on Zealand in Denmark is well known as a military camp with a key role in the formation of the Danish state under Harald Bluetooth in the tenth century AD. Taking a sample of 48 burials from the fort, strontium isotope analysis once again demonstrates its ability to eavesdrop on a community: at Trelleborg, the young men in its cemetery were largely recruited from outside Denmark, perhaps from Norway or the Slavic regions. Even persons buried together proved to have different origins, and the three females sampled were all from overseas, including a wealthy woman with a silver casket. Trelleborg, home of Harald Bluetooth's army, was a fortress of foreigners with vivid implications for the nature of his political mission.
96 citations
TL;DR: The discovery of weapons, horse bones and human skeletal remains along the banks of the River Tollense led to a campaign of research which has identified them as the debris from a Bronze Age battle.
Abstract: Chance discoveries of weapons, horse bones and human skeletal remains along the banks of the River Tollense led to a campaign of research which has identified them as the debris from a Bronze Age battle. The resources of war included horses, arrowheads and wooden clubs, and the dead had suffered blows indicating face-to-face combat. This surprisingly modern and decidedly vicious struggle took place over the swampy braided streams of the river in an area of settled, possibly coveted, territory. Washed along by the current, the bodies and weapons came to rest on a single alluvial surface.
94 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discover "neighbourhoods" using different cultivation areas in the surrounding landscape, and differences between groups also emerge over the life of the settlement in the use of special plants, such as opium poppy and feathergrass.
Abstract: Through integrated analysis of archaeobotanical and artefactual distributions across a settlement, the authors discover "neighbourhoods" using different cultivation areas in the surrounding landscape. Differences between groups also emerge over the life of the settlement in the use of special plants, such as opium poppy and feathergrass. Spatial configurations of cultivation and plant use map out the shifting social geographies of a Neolithic community.
91 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of removing a major port of call could have impacted after an interval, as increased costs of transport gradually led to ever fewer routes and eventual economic collapse.
Abstract: What was the effect on Late Minoan civilisation of the catastrophic destruction of Akrotiri on Thera (Santorini) by volcanic eruption? Not much, according to the evidence for continuing prosperity on Crete. But the authors mobilise their ingenious mathematical model (published in Antiquity 82: 1009-1024), this time to show that the effects of removing a major port of call could have impacted after an interval, as increased costs of transport gradually led to ever fewer routes and eventual economic collapse.
84 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the generalised picture of Mesolithic marine diet giving way to a Neolithic terrestrial diet, as derived from isotope measurements, has been both championed and challenged.
Abstract: The generalised picture of Mesolithic marine diet giving way to a Neolithic terrestrial diet, as derived from isotope measurements, has been both championed and challenged in this journal. Here new results from the Balkans offer a preliminary picture of a diversity of food strategy, both before and after the great transition.
79 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors conceptualise a climate change archaeology, which is defined here as the contribution of archaeological research to modern climate change debates, and argue that the absence of an archaeological voice diminishes the relevance and impact of the debate as a whole.
Abstract: Archaeology claims a long tradition, going back to the middle of the nineteenth century, of undertaking both palaeoclimate research and studies on the impact of past climate change on human communities (Trigger 1996: 130–38). Such research ought to be making a significant contribution to modern climate change debates, such as those led by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); but in practice this rarely happens (e.g. McIntosh et al. 2000). This paper will attempt to conceptualise a ‘climate change archaeology’, which is defined here as the contribution of archaeological research to modern climate change debates (cf. Mitchell 2008). Irrespective of whether climate change poses the greatest challenge in the twenty-first century or whether it is just one of many challenges facing humanity (cf. Rowland 2010), the absence of an archaeological voice diminishes the relevance and impact of the debate as a whole.
TL;DR: The first occupants of Dzudzuana Cave were modern humans, in c 345-322 ka cal BP, and comparison with dated sequences on the northern slope of the Caucasus suggests that their arrival was rapid and widespread as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The report announces the important radiocarbon-dated sequence recently obtained at Dzudzuana Cave in the southern Caucasus foothills The first occupants here were modern humans, in c 345-322 ka cal BP, and comparison with dated sequences on the northern slope of the Caucasus suggests that their arrival was rapid and widespread The rich, well-dated assemblages of lithics, bone tools and a few art objects, coloured fibres, pollen and animal remains deposited at Dzudzuana through 20 millennia provide an invaluable point of reference for numerous other sites previously excavated in western Georgia Detailed information has been placed in a supplementary excavation report online The data support the significance of these excavations for a better understanding of modern human dispersals
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an account of why the bow and arrow was invented and then possibly laid aside by Middle Stone Age communities in southern Africa, finding that all modern humans are modern humans (Homo sapiens).
Abstract: The authors deliver a decisive blow to the idea of unidirectional behavioural and cognitive evolution in this tightly argued account of why the bow and arrow was invented and then possibly laid aside by Middle Stone Age communities in southern Africa. Finding that all are modern humans (Homo sapiens), they paint a picture of diverse strategies for survival and development from 75 000 years ago onwards. It is one in which material inventions can come and go, human societies negotiating their own paths through a rugged mental landscape of opportunity
TL;DR: In this article, a detailed examination of the probable natural conditions for travel in the North Sea and Irish Sea during the late Mesolithic are combined with the latest radiocarbon dates to present a new picture of the transition to the Neolithic in the British Isles.
Abstract: Careful examination of the probable natural conditions for travel in the North Sea and Irish Sea during the late Mesolithic are here combined with the latest radiocarbon dates to present a new picture of the transition to the Neolithic in the British Isles. The islands of the west were already connected by Mesolithic traffic and did not all go Neolithic at the same time. The introduction of the Neolithic package neither depended on seaborne incomers nor on proximity to the continent. More interesting forces were probably operating on an already busy seaway.
TL;DR: Two conflicting theories put the introduction of bronze into Southeast Asia 1000 years apart, one (before China) at 2000 BC, the other at 1000 BC as discussed by the authors, both were drawn from radiocarbon dates, the first of pottery, the second of bone.
Abstract: Two conflicting theories put the introduction of bronze into Southeast Asia 1000 years apart, one (before China) at 2000 BC, the other at 1000 BC. Both were drawn from radiocarbon dates, the first of pottery, the second of bone. The authors cut the Gordian Knot by showing the earlier dates to be unreliable - but their study has implications way beyond Thailand. The direct dating of pottery, it seems, is full of pitfalls...
TL;DR: In this paper, the existence of Pleistocene rock art in North Africa is proven through the dating of petroglyph panels displaying aurochs and other animals at Qurta in the Upper Egyptian Nile Valley.
Abstract: Long doubted, the existence of Pleistocene rock art in North Africa is here proven through the dating of petroglyph panels displaying aurochs and other animals at Qurta in the Upper Egyptian Nile Valley. The method used was optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) applied to deposits of wind-blown sediment covering the images. This gave a minimum age of ~15 000 calendar years making the rock engravings at Qurta the oldest so far found in North Africa.
TL;DR: In the Shang capital of Anyang as mentioned in this paper, a massive bone-working industry was uncovered and animal bones, mainly those of cattle, pig and deer, were provided as a spin-off from regular large-scale sacrifice, and made mainly into pins, awls and arrowheads.
Abstract: Excavations at the Shang capital of Anyang have uncovered a massive bone-working industry. The animal bones, mainly those of cattle, pig and deer were provided as a spin-off from regular large-scale sacrifice, and made mainly into pins, awls and arrowheads. Although some of the pins were destined for the tombs of prominent women, a penetrating analysis shows that production greatly overran local consumption and the authors are able to raise the likelihood of a wide market for traded objects in addition to the more expected control of production by the elite
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of horses as expressed in assemblages from settlement sites and cemeteries between the Eneolithic and the Bronze Age in Kazakhstan is examined.
Abstract: The authors examine the role of horses as expressed in assemblages from settlement sites and cemeteries between the Eneolithic and the Bronze Age in Kazakhstan. In this land, known for its rich association with horses, the skeletal evidence appears to indicate a fading of ritual interest. But that's not the whole story, and once again micro-archaeology reveals the true balance. The horses are present at the funeral, but now as meat for the pot, detected in bone fragments and lipids in the pot walls.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show how microscopic recording of the strata and content of widespread middens on the tell are revealing daily activities and the selective employment of plants in houses and as fuel.
Abstract: Microstratigraphy - the sequencing of detailed biological signals on site - is an important new approach being developed in the Catalhoyuk project. Here the authors show how microscopic recording of the strata and content of widespread middens on the tell are revealing daily activities and the selective employment of plants in houses and as fuel. Here we continue to witness a major advance in the practice of archaeological investigation
TL;DR: The Wadi Faynan 16 Structure O75 as mentioned in this paper was built by the earliest Neolithic in western Asia and served as a gathering place for social experiment in the 10th millennium BC, where community seems to take precedence over economy.
Abstract: The authors present a new type of communal and monumental structure from the earliest Neolithic in western Asia. A complement to the decorated stone pillars erected at Gobekli Tepe in the north, ‘Wadi Faynan 16 Structure O75’ in the southern Levant is a ritualised gathering place of a different kind. It serves to define wider western Asia as an arena of social experiment in the tenth millennium BC, one in which community seems to take precedence over economy.
TL;DR: The contribution made by isotopic studies has made a huge contribution to archaeology in recent years, so much so that isotope archaeology is now seen as an essential subdiscipline of archaeology as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: There can be no doubt that isotopic studies have made a huge contribution to archaeology in recent years, so much so that isotope archaeology is now seen as an essential subdiscipline of archaeology in much the same way as isotope geochemistry is a key subdiscipline of geochemistry. Ignoring for current purposes the contribution made by the measurement of a particular radioactive isotope of carbon (14C) since 1950, we can date the beginnings of isotope archaeology to the mid 1960s with the first measurements of lead isotopes in archaeological metals and slags by Brill and Wampler (1965, 1967). This was followed by carbon stable isotopes in human bone collagen in the late 1970s, building on previous work measuring σ13C in archaeological bone for radiocarbon determinations (Vogel & Van der Merwe 1977; Van der Merwe & Vogel 1978). Other isotopes followed rapidly, such as nitrogen, oxygen, sulphur and hydrogen for archaeological, palaeoecological or palaeoclimatological purposes and, more recently, the heavier radiogenic isotopes of strontium and neodymium for determining the provenance of organic and inorganic materials (Pollard & Heron 2008).
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare the records of fishing communities made in the sixteenth to twentieth centuries to archaeological evidence of the sixth millennium BP, and propose a sophisticated prehistoric network for the coastal people of northern Chile.
Abstract: Comparing the records of fishing communities made in the sixteenth to twentieth centuries to the archaeological evidence of the sixth millennium BP, the authors propose a sophisticated prehistoric network for the coastal people of northern Chile. Residential seashore settlements link both along the coast to temporary production sites for fish, and inland to oasis-based providers of products from the uplands and salt flats. Sharing values and kinsfolk, the coastal communities must have travelled extensively in boats which, like their modern counterparts, made use of floats of inflated sealskin.
TL;DR: The proteomic analysis shows that the woolly dog was increasingly superseded by sheep in the later nineteenth century, and that the Salish of west coast North America weaving blankets out of dog hair shows that they did, interweaving it with goat.
Abstract: Identifying animals to species from relict proteins is a powerful new archaeological tool. Here the authors apply the method to answer questions relating to the Salish of west coast North America. Did they weave their blankets out of dog hair? The proteomic analysis shows that they did, interweaving it with goat, and that the woolly dog was increasingly superseded by sheep in the later nineteenth century.
TL;DR: This paper examined the wood and flint to describe a range of the earliest harvesting techniques and their diverse applications at the Neolithic site of La Draga in north-east Iberia.
Abstract: Marvellous preservation of organic materials at the Neolithic site of La Draga in north-east Iberia include a range of wooden harvesting tools. The authors examine the wood and flint to describe a range of the earliest harvesting techniques and their diverse applications
TL;DR: An excavated sequence from Burkina Faso shows that the Asian jungle fowl Gallus gallus, also known as the chicken, had made its way into West Africa by the mid first millennium AD as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: An excavated sequence from Burkina Faso shows that the Asian jungle fowl Gallus gallus, also known as the chicken, had made its way into West Africa by the mid first millennium AD. Using high precision recovery from a well-stratified site, the author shows how the increasing use of chickens could be chronicled and distinguished from indigenous fowl by both bones and eggshell. Their arrival was highly significant, bringing much more than an additional source of food: it put a sacrificial creature, essential for numerous social and economic transactions, in reach of everyone.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present new research on the Chifeng area of north-eastern China where they have been studying the remains of a society of the second millennium BC.
Abstract: The authors present new research on the Chifeng area of north-eastern China where they have been studying the remains of a society of the second millennium BC. This northern region, which saw the introduction of agriculture at the same time as the Yellow River basin experienced a brief and intensive period of fortification in the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age: natural ridges above the valleys were ringed with double stone walls and semicircular towers enclosing clusters of round houses with yards. Using large-scale survey and analysis of the structures at the key site of Sanzuodian, they place this phenomenon in its cultural and social context.
TL;DR: The first human burial of Magdalenian age to be found in the Iberian Peninsula was reported in this paper, where the skeleton of a young adult whose bones were stained with red ochre was found.
Abstract: The authors describe the discovery of the first human burial of Magdalenian age to be found in the Iberian Peninsula�the partial skeleton of a young adult whose bones were stained with red ochre. The burial was well stratified in a sequence at the vestibule rear running from the Mousterian to the Mesolithic, and was adjacent to a large block that had fallen from the cave roof and been subsequently engraved. A preliminary AMS radiocarbon date on associated faunal remains from the ochre-stained, galena speckled burial layer yielded a date of 15700 BP, while a hearth directly above the burial is dated to 15 100 BP, placing the interment of this individual in the Lower Cantabrian Magdalenian, the period of most intensive human occupation of El Miron Cave during the Upper Palaeolithic
TL;DR: Using analysis of the residues trapped in the walls of these "kitchen blenders" and comparing them with Iron Age and Roman cooking pots, the authors showed that it was not the diet that changed, but the method of preparing certain products: plants were being ground in the mortarium as well as cooked in the pot.
Abstract: The Romans brought the mortarium to Britain in the first century AD, and there has long been speculation on its actual purpose. Using analysis of the residues trapped in the walls of these ‘kitchen blenders’ and comparing them with Iron Age and Roman cooking pots, the authors show that it wasn't the diet that changed — just the method of preparing certain products: plants were being ground in the mortarium as well as cooked in the pot. As well as plants, the mortars contained animal fats, including dairy products. The question that remains, however, is why these natural products were being mixed together in mortaria. Were they for food, pharmaceuticals or face creams?
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used radiocarbon dating of 32 stratigraphic samples aided by Bayesian analysis to produce a high precision chronology for the construction and development of a continental Neolithic long barrow for the first time.
Abstract: Radiocarbon dating of 32 stratigraphic samples aided by Bayesian analysis has allowed the author to produce a high precision chronology for the construction and development of a continental Neolithic long barrow for the first time. She shows when and how quickly people living on the shore of the Baltic adopted pit graves, megalithic chambers and long barrows. Better than that, she provides a date for the famous cart tracks beneath the final barrow to 3420-3385 cal BC. Although other parts of the package -ploughing and pottery- are late arrivals, her analysis of the global evidence shows that Flintbek remains among the earliest sightings of the wheel in northern Europe.
Abstract: The prime-mover for the arrival of the Neolithic in Island Southeast Asia is thought to be the expansion of rice farmers speaking an Austronesian language and coming from the north (see Spriggs, above). Much less is known of the indigenous hunter-gatherers and their interaction with the new farming communities. The mutually occupied area, in the definition of Peter Bellwood, was a "Friction Zone", where two radically different cultures met. This paper emphasises how much land, and information, was lost when the rising sea drowned Sundaland, an area the size of India, and brings to bear archaeological and DNA evidence to emphasise the continuing role of hunter-gatherers in the later prehistory of Southeast Asia.