Showing papers in "Antiquity in 2014"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the currently accepted narrative of human settlement in South America will have to be re-thought, based on a series of 14C and OSL dates, and by technical analysis of the stone tool assemblage.
Abstract: The date of the first settlement of the Americas remains a contentious subject. Previous claims for very early occupation at Pedra Furada in Brazil were not universally accepted (see Meltzer et al. 1994). New work at the rockshelter of Boqueirao da Pedra Furada and at the nearby open-air site of Vale da Pedra Furada have however produced new evidence for human occupation extending back more than 20 000 years. The argument is supported by a series of 14C and OSL dates, and by technical analysis of the stone tool assemblage. The authors conclude that the currently accepted narrative of human settlement in South America will have to be re-thought. The article is followed by a series of comments, rounded off by a reply from the authors.
95 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a detailed analysis of cod remains from London provides revealing insight into the changing patterns of supply that can be related to known historical events and circumstances, and identifies a marked increase in imported cod from the thirteenth century AD.
Abstract: The growth of medieval cities in Northern Europe placed new demands on food supply, and led to the import of fish from increasingly distant fishing grounds. Quantitative analysis of cod remains from London provides revealing insight into the changing patterns of supply that can be related to known historical events and circumstances. In particular it identifies a marked increase in imported cod from the thirteenth century AD. That trend continued into the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, after a short downturn, perhaps attributable to the impact of the Black Death, in the mid fourteenth century. The detailed pattern of fluctuating abundance illustrates the potential of archaeological information that is now available from the high-quality urban excavations conducted in London and similar centres during recent decades.
63 citations
TL;DR: Embracing the new generation of vast datasets requires reassessment of established workflows and greater understanding of the different types of information that may be generated using computer-aided methods.
Abstract: The increasing availability of multi-dimensional remote-sensing data covering large geographical areas is generating a new wave of landscape-scale research that promises to be as revolutionary as the application of aerial photographic survey during the twentieth century. Data are becoming available to historic environment professionals at higher resolution, greater frequency of acquisition and lower cost than ever before. To take advantage of this explosion of data, however, a paradigm change is needed in the methods used routinely to evaluate aerial imagery and interpret archaeological evidence. Central to this is a fuller engagement with computer-aided methods of feature detection as a viable way to analyse airborne and satellite data. Embracing the new generation of vast datasets requires reassessment of established workflows and greater understanding of the different types of information that may be generated using computer-aided methods.
59 citations
TL;DR: A re-examination of the chronology, assisted by new AMS determinations from Neolithic sites in Middle Egypt, has charted the detailed development of these new kinds of society as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The African origins of Egyptian civilisation lie in an important cultural horizon, the ‘primary pastoral community’, which emerged in both the Egyptian and Sudanese parts of the Nile Valley in the fifth millennium BC. A re-examination of the chronology, assisted by new AMS determinations from Neolithic sites in Middle Egypt, has charted the detailed development of these new kinds of society. The resulting picture challenges recent studies that emphasise climate change and environmental stress as drivers of cultural adaptation in north-east Africa. It also emphasises the crucial role of funerary practices and body decoration.
54 citations
TL;DR: The date of the Late Bronze Age Minoan eruption of the Thera volcano has provoked much debate among archaeologists, not least in a recent issue of Antiquity (‘Bronze Age catastrophe and modern controversy: dating the Santorini eruption’, March 2014) as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The date of the Late Bronze Age Minoan eruption of the Thera volcano has provoked much debate among archaeologists, not least in a recent issue of Antiquity (‘Bronze Age catastrophe and modern controversy: dating the Santorini eruption’, March 2014). Here, the authors respond to those recent contributions, citing evidence that closes the gap between the conclusions offered by previous typological, stratigraphic and radiometric dating techniques. They reject the need to choose between alternative approaches to the problem and make a case for the synchronisation of eastern Mediterranean and Egyptian chronologies with agreement on a ‘high’ date in the late seventeenth century BC for the Thera eruption.
53 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a combination of remote sensing, GIS, targeted excavation and AMS dating has revealed an extensive area of raised fields that was abandoned when Xaltocan was conquered by an alliance of powerful neighbours during the fourteenth century AD.
Abstract: Raised field agriculture in the Basin of Mexico was a highly sustainable farming method that did not depend upon centralised political control. Study of the chinampa system around the Early and Middle Postclassic city of Xaltocan through a combination of remote sensing, GIS, targeted excavation and AMS dating has revealed an extensive area of raised fields that was abandoned when Xaltocan was conquered by an alliance of powerful neighbours during the fourteenth century AD. The rise and abandonment of the chinampa system were thus directly linked to the political economy of the city-state. The failure to revive the raised field systems in the following Aztec period can also be attributed to the impact of political, economic and ecological factors
48 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, excavations at three open-air sites in the Karama valley of West Sulawesi have revealed similar suites of ceramics and overlapping chronologies, consistent with the theory of Austronesian expansion.
Abstract: Excavations at three open-air sites in the Karama valley of West Sulawesi have revealed similar suites of ceramics and overlapping chronologies. The pottery from the basal layers at Minanga Sipakko and Kamassi resembles that of the Philippines and Taiwan, and suggests the settlement of migrants from those areas, consistent with the theory of Austronesian expansion. The absence of the flaked lithic technology typical of earlier Sulawesi populations indicates that these two sites do not represent the indigenous adoption of Neolithic features. The Karama valley evidence underlines the importance, in the quest for the earliest farmers, of research at open-air sites close to agriculturally suitable land, while indigenous populations may have continued for some time to occupy remote caves and rockshelters.
44 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors have revealed an impressive stone-built fortification system dating to 2200�2100 cal BC that protected one of the main economic and political centres of Argaric Early Bronze Age society.
Abstract: Recent excavations at La Bastida in south-eastern Spain have revealed an impressive stone-built fortification system dating to 2200�2100 cal BC that protected one of the main economic and political centres of Argaric Early Bronze Age society. It consists of parallel walls with projecting towers flanking a narrow entrance passage. The defensive character of these structures appears beyond question and their design suggests they were a response to significant changes in warfare and weaponry in this period. This sophisticated fortification system raises once again the question of possible Mediterranean contacts, along with social change and the role of physical violence in the rise of Argaric society
43 citations
TL;DR: A recent study as discussed by the authors suggests that the bone heaps themselves were simply the final accumulations of bone at the site, undisturbed and preserved in situ when the return to a cold climate blanketed them in wind-blown loess.
Abstract: Did Neanderthal hunters drive mammoth herds over cliffs in mass kills? Excavations at La Cotte de St Brelade in the 1960s and 1970s uncovered heaps of mammoth bones, interpreted as evidence of intentional hunting drives. New study of this Middle Palaeolithic coastal site, however, indicates a very different landscape to the featureless coastal plain that was previously envisaged. Reconsideration of the bone heaps themselves further undermines the ‘mass kill’ hypothesis, suggesting that these were simply the final accumulations of bone at the site, undisturbed and preserved in situ when the return to a cold climate blanketed them in wind-blown loess.
41 citations
TL;DR: The authors of as discussed by the authors argue that Solutrean groups from southern France and the Iberian Peninsula used watercraft to make their way across the North Atlantic and into North America during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM).
Abstract: Across Atlantic ice: the origin of America's Clovis culture (Stanford & Bradley 2012) is the latest iteration of a controversial proposal that North America was first colonised by people from Europe rather than from East Asia, as most researchers accept. The authors, Dennis Stanford and Bruce Bradley, argue that Solutrean groups from southern France and the Iberian Peninsula used watercraft to make their way across the North Atlantic and into North America during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). According to Stanford and Bradley, this 6000km journey was facilitated by a continuous ice shelf that provided fresh water and a food supply. Across Atlantic ice has received a number of positive reviews. Shea (2012: 294), for example, suggests that it is “an excellent example of hypothesis-building in the best tradition of processual archaeology. It challenges American archaeology in a way that will require serious research by its opponents”. Runnels (2012) is equally enthusiastic.
40 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compare radiocarbon dates for a series of European Neolithic cultures with their generally accepted ‘standard’ date ranges and with the greater precision afforded by dendrochronology, where that is available.
Abstract: Archaeologists have long sought appropriate ways to describe the duration and floruit of archaeological cultures in statistical terms. Thus far, chronological reasoning has been largely reliant on typological sequences. Using summed probability distributions, the authors here compare radiocarbon dates for a series of European Neolithic cultures with their generally accepted ‘standard’ date ranges and with the greater precision afforded by dendrochronology, where that is available. The resulting analysis gives a new and more accurate description of the duration and intensity of European Neolithic cultures.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors considered the agents responsible for the food globalisation process during the third and second millennia BC and found that a key aspect of trans-Eurasian starch-crop movement was that it constituted an addition to agricultural systems, rather than movement to regions devoid of existing starch-based agriculture.
Abstract: Scholarly interest has been growing in an episode of Old World globalisation of food resources significantly predating the ‘Silk Road’. This process was characteristic of crosscontinental translocations of starch-based crops mostly during the third and second millennia BC but which might have been initiated in an earlier period (Jones et al. 2011). Among these translocations we can include a range of crops originally from Southwest Asia, notably bread wheat and barley, and others originally from northern China, such as broomcorn and foxtail millet (Hunt et al. 2008; Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute et al. 2013). Parallel patterns of crop movement between North Africa and South Asia have been observed and discussed in some depth (Boivin & Fuller 2009; Fuller et al. 2011; Boivin et al. 2013). The impetus behind this growth of interest has been the expansion of archaeobotanical research in South and East Asia over the past decade (Fuller 2002; Crawford 2006; Lee et al. 2007; Liu et al. 2008; Zhao 2010). This paper considers the agents responsible for the food globalisation process during the third and second millennia BC. A key aspect of trans-Eurasian starch-crop movement was that it constituted an addition to agricultural systems, rather than movement to regions devoid of existing starch-based agriculture. Other economic plants, such as grapes, dates and peas, also moved considerable distances in the archaeological record, often to areas previously devoid of those plants. However, the novel starchy crops held a particular significance. In both cases, Southwest Asian wheat and barley and East Asian millets went on to become important staple foods in many of their new destinations.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors found that the archaeological evidence from the 1944 Normandy Campaign and subsequent battles in the Ardennes and Hurtgenwald forests can significantly enhance our understanding of ground combat in areas covered by forest.
Abstract: Concrete fortifications have long served as battle-scarred memorials of the Second World War. The forests of north-west Europe, meanwhile, have concealed a preserved landscape of earthwork field fortifications, military support structures and bomb- and shell-craters that promise to enhance our understanding of the conflict landscapes of the 1944 Normandy Campaign and the subsequent battles in the Ardennes and Hurtgenwald forests. Recent survey has revealed that the archaeology surviving in wooded landscapes can significantly enhance our understanding of ground combat in areas covered by forest. In particular, this evidence sheds new light on the logistical support of field armies and the impact of Allied bombing on German installations
TL;DR: In this paper, hand stencils are found in caves and rockshelters in several parts of the world, and the recent demonstration that the oldest of those in Western Europe date back to 37 000 years or earlier further enhances their significance.
Abstract: Hand stencils are an intriguing feature of prehistoric imagery in caves and rockshelters in several parts of the world, and the recent demonstration that the oldest of those in Western Europe date back to 37 000 years or earlier further enhances their significance. Their positioning within the painted caves of France and Spain is far from random, but responds to the shapes and fissures in the cave walls. Made under conditions of low and flickering light, the authors suggest that touch—‘palpation’—as much as vision, would have driven and directed the locations chosen for these stencils. Detailed study of the images in two Cantabrian caves also allows different individuals to be distinguished, most of whom appear to have been female. Finally, the project reveals deliberate associations between the stencils and features on the cave walls.
TL;DR: In this paper, two different techniques are applied to the impressive Easter Island statue on display in the Wellcome Gallery at the British Museum to reveal the details revealed of the petroglyphs that decorate its surface.
Abstract: New methods of visualisation offer the potential for a more detailed record of archaeological objects and the ability to create virtual 3D models that can be made widely available online. Here, two different techniques are applied to the impressive Easter Island statue on display in the Wellcome Gallery at the British Museum. Of particular importance are the details revealed of the petroglyphs that decorate its surface.
TL;DR: The early Taiwanese Neolithic was an important factor in facilitating the subsequent expansion of Austronesian-speaking peoples to the Philippines and beyond as mentioned in this paper, and the broad-spectrum subsistence diversity of the Taiwanese NE were an important contributing factor to facilitate the subsequent Australian-to-Indo-Pacific expansion.
Abstract: The Neolithic of Taiwan represents the first stage in the expansion of Austronesian-speaking peoples through the Pacific. Settlement and burial evidence from the Tapenkeng (TKP) or Dabenkeng culture demonstrates the development of the early Taiwanese Neolithic over a period of almost 2000 years, from its origin in the pre-TPK of the Pearl River Delta and south-eastern coastal China. The first TPK communities of Taiwan pursued a mixed coastal foraging and horticultural lifestyle, but by the late TPK rice and millet farming were practised with extensive villages and large settlements. The broad-spectrum subsistence diversity of the Taiwanese Neolithic was an important factor in facilitating the subsequent expansion of Austronesian-speaking peoples to the Philippines and beyond
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TL;DR: For example, in this article, the authors used radiocarbon dates for the late Pleistocene and early Holocene periods in South America to understand the cultural and economic evolution of the early colonisation of South America.
Abstract: The number of radiocarbon dates for the late Pleistocene and early Holocene periods in South America has greatly increased in recent years, due to the widespread availability of AMS dating, and the growth of academic research done by South American archaeologists. A recent review of the period between 13 000 and 8000 14C years BP showed the continuous occupation of major biomes and the emergence of regional cultural and economic variation. Before this period the evidence is weak, sparse and discontinuous. It comes from sites that exist in spatial and temporal isolation from the surrounding regions, and invariably are subjected to intense debate. The critical approach to this data is not a simple signal of a ‘curse’ or an ideological barrier to be fought, as suggested by Boëda and colleagues. It simply demonstrates the difficulty of incorporating this data into a geographically comprehensive demographic model for the early peopling of South America (Bueno et al. 2013a & b). Pleistocene radiocarbon dates have been obtained for several sites in Brazil (Schmitz 1990; Prous & Fogaça 1999). Although the validity of these data had been questioned for many reasons, Boqueirão da Pedra Furada, in Piauı́ State, and Santa Elina, in Mato Grosso State, remained key pieces in this puzzle, justifying the importance of the continuing investigation of these areas (Parenti 1992; Vialou 2003). Their importance goes beyond the dates of over 20 000 years BP obtained for both sites. They represent the first clues to the pioneering phase of the colonisation of South America. This process would have created an archaeological record of low population density, but concentrated in physically distinctive places that could have been frequently re-occupied. Boqueirão da Pedra Furada and Santa Elina also point to the importance of the riverine routes, such as the São Francisco and La Plata basins, in this initial settlement process, connecting the continental interior to other contemporaneous settlement routes of the North Atlantic coast and the eastern side of the Andean chain (Dias & Bueno 2013). The article by Boëda and colleagues summarises the research conducted in the Vale da Pedra Furada open-air site; and it can be compared to other two Pleistocene sites recently investigated by the authors in the same region, Toca da Tira Peia and Sı́tio do Meio (Boëda et al. 2013; Lahaye et al. 2013). The preliminary results presented in these papers have the same problematic, unresolved issues as those that the Boqueirão da Pedra Furada debate brought to light in the pages of Antiquity in the 1990s: a) a lack of information about the contextual relationship between dated samples and artefacts; and b) a lack of specific palaeoenviromental, geoarchaeological and formation process studies to support a better understanding of the cultural and natural differences between the occupational phases of the Serra da Capivara region (Meltzer et al. 1994; Guidon et al. 1996; Parenti et al. 1996).
TL;DR: The earliest hand stencils and naturalistic animals are of late Pleistocene age and as early as those of Europe as discussed by the authors, but the difference in context (rockshelters) indicates that experiences in deep caves cannot have been their inspiration.
Abstract: The rock art of Southeast Asia has been less thoroughly studied than that of Europe or Australia, and it has generally been considered to be more recent in origin. New dating evidence from Mainland and Island Southeast Asia, however, demonstrates that the earliest motifs (hand stencils and naturalistic animals) are of late Pleistocene age and as early as those of Europe. The similar form of the earliest painted motifs in Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia suggests that they are the product of a shared underlying behaviour, but the difference in context (rockshelters) indicates that experiences in deep caves cannot have been their inspiration.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors studied the remains of domestic and industrial animals from a metalworking site at Timna in southern Israel and found that the higher value meat cuts come from industrial contexts, where they were associated with the specialist metalworkers, rather than the domestic contexts occupied by lower status workers engaged in support roles.
Abstract: The popular image of metalworking sites in desert settings envisages armies of slaves engaged in back-breaking labour. This is in conflict with ethnographic evidence indicating that skilled specialist metalworkers are often accorded high social status. This study approaches that contradiction directly by studying the remains of domesticated food animals from domestic and industrial contexts at Timna in southern Israel. The authors demonstrate that the higher-value meat cuts come from industrial contexts, where they were associated with the specialist metalworkers, rather than the �domestic� contexts occupied by lower status workers engaged in support roles. It is suggested that the pattern documented here could also have been a feature of early metalworking sites in other times and places
TL;DR: In 2011, a combination of non-invasive survey methods in the area to the south of the civilian town, where little was visible on the surface, led to the dramatic discovery of remains interpreted as a gladiatorial school, complete with individual cells for the gladiators and a circular training arena as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Sophisticated techniques of archaeological survey, including airborne imaging spectroscopy, electromagnetic induction and ground-penetrating radar, are opening up new horizons in the non-invasive exploration of archaeological sites. One location where they have yielded spectacular results is Carnuntum in Austria, on the south bank of the Danube, capital of the key Roman province of Pannonia. Excavations in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries revealed many of the major elements of this extensive complex, including the legionary fortress and the civilian town or municipium. Excavation, however, is no longer the only way of recovering and recording the details of these buried structures. In 2011, a combination of non-invasive survey methods in the area to the south of the civilian town, where little was visible on the surface, led to the dramatic discovery of remains interpreted as a gladiatorial school, complete with individual cells for the gladiators and a circular training arena. The combination of techniques has led to the recording and visualisation of the buried remains in astonishing detail, and the impact of the discovery is made all the greater by the stunning reconstruction images that the project has generated.
TL;DR: A long and distinguished history in archaeology can be traced to the work of Pollard et al. as mentioned in this paper who formulated the idea of provenance studies, which essentially formulated the notion of "fingerprinting" that some chemical characteristic of the geological raw material(s) provides a fingerprint which can be measured in the finished object, and that if an object from a remote source is identified at a particular place, then it is evidence of some sort of direct or indirect contact and trade between the two places.
Abstract: Determination of the provenance of material culture by means of chemical analysis has a long and distinguished history in archaeology. The chemical analysis of archaeological objects started in the intellectual ferment of late-eighteenth-century Europe (Caley 1948, 1949, 1967; Pollard 2013), almost as soon as systematic (gravimetric) means of chemical analysis had been devised (Pollard in prep.). Many of the leading scientists of the day, such as Vauquelin, Klaproth, Davy, Faraday and Berzelius, carried out analyses of archaeological objects as part of their interests in the contents of the ‘cabinets of curiosities’ of the day (Pollard&Heron 2008). The subject moved frommere curiosity to systematic and problemorientated study with the work of G¨obel (1842),Wocel (1854), Damour (1865) and Helm (1886), who essentially formulated the idea of ‘provenance studies’—that some chemical characteristic of the geological rawmaterial(s) provides a ‘fingerprint’ which can bemeasured in the finished object, and that if an object from a remote source is identified at a particular place, then it is evidence of some sort of direct or indirect contact and ‘trade’ between the two places.
TL;DR: In this article, excavation at four Iron Age moated sites in the Mun Valley in Thailand have identified seminal innovations, defined as emergent properties, that illuminate the origins of the kingdom of Angkor.
Abstract: Excavations at four Iron Age moated sites in the Mun Valley in Thailand have identified seminal innovations, defined as emergent properties, that illuminate the origins of the kingdom of Angkor. Combined with recent research at Angkor itself, they present a compelling case for re-examining fundamental cultural changes that took place over a period of little more than four centuries, from AD 400�800. They compare with similarly rapid developments in Mesoamerica and Mesopotamia; fundamental parallels are evident in the role of charismatic agents for change, an ideology conferring god-like status on leaders, a new and highly productive economic base, an expanded interaction sphere for the exchange of prestige goods, and endemic warfare.
TL;DR: The shell middens of Atlantic Europe consist of marine molluscs, but the eastern Baltic did not have exploitable marine species as mentioned in this paper, and the only recorded shell midden, at Rinnukalns in Latvia, is on an inland lake and is formed of massive dumps of freshwater shells.
Abstract: The prehistoric shell middens of Atlantic Europe consist of marine molluscs, but the eastern Baltic did not have exploitable marine species. Here the sole recorded shell midden, at Rinnukalns in Latvia, is on an inland lake and is formed of massive dumps of freshwater shells. Recent excavations indicate that they are the product of a small number of seasonal events during the later fourth millennium BC. The thickness of the shell deposits suggests that this was a special multi-purpose residential site visited for seasonal aggregations by pottery-using hunter-gatherer communities on the northern margin of Neolithic Europe
TL;DR: The motifs, techniques and stylistic features of Upper Palaeolithic art offer enormous potential for the investigation of social and cultural interactions in south-western France and northern Spain during the later stages of the last ice age as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The motifs, techniques and stylistic features of Upper Palaeolithic art offer enormous potential for the investigation of social and cultural interactions in south-western France and northern Spain during the later stages of the last ice age. The key regions of Aquitaine, Cantabria and the Pyrenees clearly share an overall family resemblance, but detailed analysis of horse heads on portable objects of bone, antler and stone from Magdalenian contexts reveal that particular features can be attributed to different regions at different periods. Furthermore, the patterns of interconnection are structured very differently in the Upper Magdalenian than in the Middle Magdalenian, perhaps as rising temperatures in the latter period led to territorial expansion and social realignment.
TL;DR: The date of the volcanic eruption of Santorini that caused extensive damage toMinoan Crete has been controversial since the 1980s as mentioned in this paper, and a recent contribution to that controversy has been the dating of an olive tree branch preserved within the volcanic ash fall.
Abstract: The date of the volcanic eruption of Santorini that caused extensive damage toMinoan Crete has been controversial since the 1980s. Some have placed the event in the late seventeenth century BC. Others have made the case for a younger date of around 1500 BC. A recent contribution to that controversy has been the dating of an olive tree branch preserved within the volcanic ash fall on Santorini. In this debate feature Paolo Cherubini and colleagues argue that the olive tree dating (which supports the older chronology) is unreliable on a number of grounds. There follows a response from the authors of that dating, and comments from other specialists, with a closing reply from Cherubini and his team.
TL;DR: In this article, a small farming community of the late fourth millennium BC developed a specialised plant economy dependent on cereals, grapes and flax, which may have introduced the fungal pathogen responsible for flax wilt.
Abstract: The intensification of agriculture as farming communities grew in size did not always produce a successful and sustainable economic base. At Ras an-Numayra on the Dead Sea Plain, a small farming community of the late fourth millennium BC developed a specialised plant economy dependent on cereals, grapes and flax. Irrigation in this arid environment led to increased soil salinity while recurrent cultivation of flax may have introduced the fungal pathogen responsible for flax wilt. Faced with declining yields, the farmers may have further intensified their irrigation and cultivation schedules, only to exacerbate the underlying problems. Thus specialised crop production increased both agricultural risk and vulnerability to catastrophe, and Ras an-Numayra, unlike other sites in the region, was abandoned after a relatively short occupation
TL;DR: The Lapita expansion took Austronesian seafaring peoples with distinctive pottery eastward from the Bismarck Archipelago to western Polynesia during the late second millennium BC, marking the first stage in the settlement of Oceania as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The Lapita expansion took Austronesian seafaring peoples with distinctive pottery eastward from the Bismarck Archipelago to western Polynesia during the late second millennium BC, marking the first stage in the settlement of Oceania. Here it is shown that a parallel process also carried Lapita pottery and people many hundreds of kilometres westward along the southern shore of Papua New Guinea. The key site is Hopo, now 4.5km inland owing to the progradation of coastal sand dunes, but originally on the sea edge. Pottery and radiocarbon dates indicate Lapita settlement in this location c. 600 BC, and suggest that the long-distance maritime networks linking the entire southern coast of Papua New Guinea in historical times may trace their origin to this period.
TL;DR: A recent survey work in western Azerbaijan has revealed that hilltop fortresses of the Bronze Age and Iron Age may have been part of larger walled complexes and could have functioned as the urban centres of small independent polities.
Abstract: Recent survey work in western Azerbaijan has revealed that hilltop fortresses of the Bronze Age and Iron Age may have been parts of larger walled complexes and could have functioned as the urban centres of small independent polities. On the S?rur Plain long lengths of stone wall link the major fortress Oglanqala it to its smaller neighbour Qi zqala 1, with evidence of a substantial settlement on the lower ground between the two. The southern Caucasus lies beyond the core area of Near Eastern states but these new discoveries suggest that major centres of power arose here, controlling both the fertile plains and strategic trade routes through mountainous terrain.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used the relative position of the radial sections of an olive tree as prior information to estimate the age of the outermost section of a branch of an Olive tree.
Abstract: Cherubini et al. (above) question the reliability of identifying annual growth increments in olive trees, and therefore voice caution against the result of the wiggle-match of the four sections of a branch of an olive tree to the 14 C calibration curve. Friedrich et al. (2006) were well aware of the problematic density structure of olive trees, and therefore assigned rather wide error margins of up to 50 per cent to the ring count. This still resulted in a late seventeenth century BC youngest date for the modelled age range of the outermost section of wood (95.4% probability). One can even remove any constraint from ring counting altogether and model the four radial sections as a simple ordered sequence, in which only the relative position is used as prior information, in other words that outer sections are younger than inner ones in a radial section.
TL;DR: A metrical and spatial analysis of these triggers reveals that they were produced in batches and that these separate batches were thereafter possibly stored in an arsenal, but eventually were transported to the mausoleum to equip groups of terracotta crossbowmen in individual sectors of Pit 1.
Abstract: The Terracotta Army that protected the tomb of the Chinese emperor Qin Shihuang offers an evocative image of the power and organisation of the Qin armies who unified China through conquest in the third century BC. It also provides evidence for the craft production and administrative control that underpinned the Qin state. Bronze trigger mechanisms are all that remain of crossbows that once equipped certain kinds of warrior in the Terracotta Army. A metrical and spatial analysis of these triggers reveals that they were produced in batches and that these separate batches were thereafter possibly stored in an arsenal, but eventually were transported to the mausoleum to equip groups of terracotta crossbowmen in individual sectors of Pit 1. The trigger evidence for large-scale and highly organised production parallels that also documented for the manufacture of the bronze-tipped arrows and proposed for the terracotta figures themselves.