Showing papers in "Antiquity in 2017"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explain how the Corded Ware Culture in Europe was formed in terms of local adaptations and interactions between migrant Yamnaya people from the Pontic-Caspian steppe and indigenous North European Neolithic cultures.
Abstract: Recent genetic, isotopic and linguistic research has dramatically changed our understanding of how the Corded Ware Culture in Europe was formed. Here the authors explain it in terms of local adaptations and interactions between migrant Yamnaya people from the Pontic-Caspian steppe and indigenous North European Neolithic cultures. The original herding economy of the Yamnaya migrants gradually gave way to new practices of crop cultivation, which led to the adoption of new words for those crops. The result of this hybridisation process was the formation of a new material culture, the Corded Ware Culture, and of a new dialect, Proto-Germanic. Despite a degree of hostility between expanding Corded Ware groups and indigenous Neolithic groups, stable isotope data suggest that exogamy provided a mechanism facilitating their integration. This article should be read in conjunction with that by Heyd (2017, in this issue).
140 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, the author concludes that although genetics has much to offer archaeology, there is also much to be learned in the other direction, which is reminiscent of Gustaf Kossinna's equation of ethnic identification with archaeological culture.
Abstract: Two recent palaeogenetic studies have identified a movement of Yamnaya peoples from the Eurasian steppe to Central Europe in the third millennium BC. Their findings are reminiscent of Gustaf Kossinna's equation of ethnic identification with archaeological culture. Rather than a single genetic transmission from Yamnaya to the Central European Corded Ware Culture, there is considerable evidence for centuries of connections and interactions across the continent, as far as Iberia. The author concludes that although genetics has much to offer archaeology, there is also much to be learned in the other direction. This article should be read in conjunction with that by Kristiansen et al. (2017), also in this issue.
71 citations
TL;DR: The results of these studies suggest that glass bead manufacture at this site was largely independent of glass-making traditions documented farther afield, and that Igbo Olokun may represent one of the earliest known glass-production workshops in West Africa as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Recent excavations at the site of Igbo Olokun in the Yoruba city of Ile-Ife, in south-western Nigeria, have shed light on early glass manufacturing techniques in West Africa. The recovery of glass beads and associated production materials has enabled compositional analysis of the artefacts and preliminary dating of the site, which puts the main timing of glass-working between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries AD. The results of these studies suggest that glass bead manufacture at this site was largely independent of glass-making traditions documented farther afield, and that Igbo Olokun may represent one of the earliest known glass-production workshops in West Africa.
55 citations
TL;DR: The earliest peopling of South America remains a contentious issue as mentioned in this paper and despite the growing amount of new evidence becoming available, and improved excavation and dating techniques, few sites have yet to be securely assigned to a period earlier than 12000 BP.
Abstract: The earliest peopling of South America remains a contentious issue. Despite the growing amount of new evidence becoming available, and improved excavation and dating techniques, few sites have yet to be securely assigned to a period earlier than 12000 BP. The Santa Elina shelter in Brazil, located at the convergence of two major river basins, is one of them. The excavations at the site, including the results of various dating programmes, are described here along with reflections on the unique insights offered by Santa Elina into early migration routes into the Southern Cone.
55 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the first radiocarbon dates for rock paintings in Botswana and Lesotho were presented, along with additional dates for Later Stone Age rock art in South Africa.
Abstract: Rock art worldwide has proved extremely difficult to date directly. Here, the first radiocarbon dates for rock paintings in Botswana and Lesotho are presented, along with additional dates for Later Stone Age rock art in South Africa. The samples selected for dating were identified as carbon-blacks from short-lived organic materials, meaning that the sampled pigments and the paintings that they were used to produce must be of similar age. The results reveal that southern African hunter-gatherers were creating paintings on rockshelter walls as long ago as 5723–4420 cal BP in south-eastern Botswana: the oldest such evidence yet found in southern Africa.
50 citations
TL;DR: The development of several key technologies in China, such as bronze and iron metallurgy and horse-drawn chariots, came out of the relations of central China, of the Erlitou period (c. 1700�1500 BC), the Shang (c., 1500�1046 BC) and the Zhou (1046�771 BC) dynasties, with their neighbours in the steppe as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The development of several key technologies in China�bronze and iron metallurgy and horse-drawn chariots�arose out of the relations of central China, of the Erlitou period (c. 1700�1500 BC), the Shang (c. 1500�1046 BC) and the Zhou (1046�771 BC) dynasties, with their neighbours in the steppe. Intermediaries in these exchanges were disparate groups in a broad border area of relatively high land around the heart of China, the Central Plains. The societies of central China were already so advanced that, when these foreign innovations were adopted, they were transformed within highly organised social and cultural systems.
45 citations
TL;DR: In this article, Strontium isotope analysis revealed that at least 75 per cent of the Bronze Age wool samples originated outside present-day Denmark and no evidence for the use of organic dyes was found in Nordic Bronze Age textile production.
Abstract: Recent analysis of the wool textiles from the famous Egtved oak coffin burial in Denmark indicated that the wool had been obtained from beyond Denmark. Was this an isolated case or evidence of a large-scale wool trade in the Danish Bronze Age? To investigate the broader pattern of wool provenance, textile manufacturing and trade practices, strontium isotope and organic dye analyses were conducted on textiles from a variety of selected burial contexts. Strontium isotope analysis revealed that at least 75 per cent of the Bronze Age wool samples originated outside present-day Denmark. Results also showed no evidence for the use of organic dyes, thereby supporting the hypothesis that no dyestuffs were used in Nordic Bronze Age textile production. These results challenge extant interpretations of Scandinavian Bronze Age textile provenance, and demonstrate the complexity of exchange networks in wool textiles during this period.
43 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a simplified method was developed for examining data, thereby providing insight into diachronic change in the origins of lead sources used in artefacts in the Chinese Bronze Age.
Abstract: Lead is a major component of Chinese ritual bronze vessels. Defining its sources and usage is thus highly significant to understanding the metal industries of the Chinese Bronze Age. A new, simplified method has been developed for examining data, thereby providing insight into diachronic change in the origins of lead sources used in artefacts. Application of this method to the existing corpus of lead isotope data from the Erlitou (c. 1600 BC) to the Western Zhou (c. 1045�771 BC) periods reveals changes in the isotope signal over this time frame. These changes clearly reflect shifts in the sourcing of ores and their use in metropolitan foundries. Further data are required to understand these complex developments.
38 citations
TL;DR: Fish-hooks discovered among grave goods associated with an adult female burial at the Tron Bon Lei rockshelter on the island of Alor in Indonesia are the first of their kind from a Pleistocene mortuary context in Southeast Asia as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Fish-hooks discovered among grave goods associated with an adult female burial at the Tron Bon Lei rockshelter on the island of Alor in Indonesia are the first of their kind from a Pleistocene mortuary context in Southeast Asia. Many of the hooks are of a circular rotating design. Parallels found in various other prehistoric contexts around the globe indicate widespread cultural convergence. The association of the fish-hooks with a human burial, combined with the lack of alternative protein sources on the island, suggest that fishing was an important part of the cosmology of this community. The Tron Bon Lei burial represents the earliest-known example of a culture for whom fishing was clearly an important activity among both the living and the dead.
36 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a new series of radiocarbon dates from the site of Adunqiaolu in Xinjiang has been presented, showing the most easterly extension of Andronovo affinity into western China.
Abstract: Bronze Age social and cultural interconnections across the Eurasian steppe are the subject of much current debate. A particularly significant place is occupied by the Andronovo Culture or family of cultures. Important new data document the most easterly extension of Eurasian Bronze Age sites of Andronovo affinity into western China. Findings from the site of Adunqiaolu in Xinjiang and a new series of radiocarbon dates challenge existing models of eastward cultural dispersion, and demonstrate the need to reconsider the older chronologies and migration theories. The site is well preserved and offers robust potential for deeper study of the Andronovo culture complex, particularly in the eastern mountain regions.
36 citations
TL;DR: In the mid eleventh century AD, Cahokia emerged as a substantial Mississippian urban centre and a shrine complex known as the Emerald Acropolis, marking the beginning of a processional route to the city, also flourished.
Abstract: In the mid eleventh century AD, Cahokia emerged as a substantial Mississippian urban centre. To the east, a shrine-complex known as the Emerald Acropolis, marking the beginning of a processional route to the city, also flourished. Excavations and geophysical survey of the monumental landscape around this site suggest that lunar cycles were important in the orientation of structures and settlement layout. They further indicate that water played a significant role in the ritual activities associated with the closure and abandonment of individual structures. The contemporary development of these sites suggests an intrinsic connection between them, and provides early evidence of the importance that the moon and water came to assume in Mississippian culture.
TL;DR: In this article, a new systematic approach to metal chemistry uses trace elements and isotopes to characterise the underlying circulation pattern of the Shang and Zhou bronzes, revealing the complexity of the copper sources on which the late Shang capital at Anyang depended for its bronzes.
Abstract: The Shang (c. 1500–1045 BC) and Zhou dynasties (c. 1045–771 BC) of China are famous for their sophisticated ritual bronze vessels. Sourcing the leaded tin-bronze has, however, proved to be a challenge. A new systematic approach to metal chemistry uses trace elements and isotopes to characterise the underlying circulation pattern. It reveals the complexity of the copper sources on which the late Shang capital at Anyang depended for its bronzes, suggesting the transport of copper from distant regions in the south, on the Yangtze, and from north-east China. The new interpretational system furthers our understanding of the network on which successive Chinese dynasties depended for copper, lead and tin, and attempts to give equal weight to the archaeological and chemical data.
TL;DR: In this article, a large body of radiocarbon and luminescence dates, formally modelled in a Bayesian framework, was used to address the timescape of the Orkney Late Neolithic.
Abstract: Orkney is internationally recognised for its exceptionally well-preserved Neolithic archaeology. The chronology of the Orcadian Neolithic is, however, relatively poorly defined. We analysed a large body of radiocarbon and luminescence dates, formally modelled in a Bayesian framework, to address the timescape of the Orkney Late Neolithic. The resultant chronology for the period suggests differences in the trajectory of social change between the 'core' (defined broadly as the World Heritage site) and the 'periphery' beyond. Activity in the core appears to have declined markedly from c. 2800 cal BC, which, we suggest, resulted from unsustainable local political tensions and social concerns.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the palaeodemographic development and provided regionally differentiated estimates for both the densities and the absolute numbers of people in the later part of the Gravettian.
Abstract: The Gravettian is known for its technological innovations and artisanal craftwork. At the same time, continued climatic deterioration led to the coldest and driest conditions since the arrival of Homo sapiens sapiens in Europe. This article examines the palaeodemographic development and provides regionally differentiated estimates for both the densities and the absolute numbers of people. A dramatic population decline characterises the later part of the Gravettian, while the following Last Glacial Maximum experienced consolidation and renewed growth. The results suggest that the abandonment of the northern areas was not a result of migration processes, but of local population extinctions, coinciding with a loss of typological and technological complexity. Extensive networks probably assured the maintenance of a viable population.
TL;DR: The role of pottery in hunter-gatherer communities has been investigated in this paper, showing that early pottery on Sakhalin was used for the processing of aquatic species, and that its adoption formed part of a wider Neolithic transition involving the reorientation of local lifeways towards the exploitation of marine resources.
Abstract: The Neolithic in north-east Asia is defined by the presence of ceramic containers, rather than agriculture, among hunter-gatherer communities. The role of pottery in such groups has, however, hitherto been unclear. This article presents the results of organic residue analysis of Neolithic pottery from Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East. Results indicate that early pottery on Sakhalin was used for the processing of aquatic species, and that its adoption formed part of a wider Neolithic transition involving the reorientation of local lifeways towards the exploitation of marine resources.
TL;DR: The semi-automated detection process presented here offers a more expedient and accurate method for monitoring looting activities over time, as evidenced at the site of Ai Khanoum in Afghanistan.
Abstract: High-resolution satellite imagery has proved to be a powerful tool for calculating the extent of looting at heritage sites in conflict zones around the world. Monitoring damage over time, however, has been largely dependent upon laborious and error-prone manual comparisons of satellite imagery taken at different dates. The semi-automated detection process presented here offers a more expedient and accurate method for monitoring looting activities over time, as evidenced at the site of Ai Khanoum in Afghanistan. It is hoped that this method, which relies upon multispectral imagery and principal component analysis, may be adapted to great effect for use in other areas where heritage loss is of significant concern.
TL;DR: A new program of radiocarbon dating has provided a revised age estimate for the Palaeolithic burial at Kostenki 18 in European Russia (west of the Urals) as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Palaeolithic burials are few and far between, and establishing their chronology is crucial to gaining a broader understanding of the period. A new programme of radiocarbon dating has provided a revised age estimate for the Palaeolithic burial at Kostenki 18 in European Russia (west of the Urals). This study reviews the need for redating the remains, and contextualises the age of the burial in relation to other Upper Palaeolithic funerary sites in Europe and Russia. The new date, obtained using a method that avoided the problems associated with previous samples conditioned with glue or other preservatives, is older than previous estimates, confirming Kostenki 18 as the only plausibly Gravettian burial known in Russia.
TL;DR: This article found that despite the use of similar textile technologies at this time, Italy shared the textile culture of Central Europe, while Greece largely followed the Near Eastern traditions of textile production, which greatly expands our current understanding of the regional circulation of textile technological knowledge and the role of textiles in ancient societies.
Abstract: Archaeological textiles are relatively rare finds in Mediterranean Europe, but many fragments survive in a mineralised form. Recent analysis of Iron Age textiles from Italy and Greece indicates that, despite the use of similar textile technologies at this time, Italy shared the textile culture of Central Europe, while Greece largely followed the Near Eastern traditions of textile production. This research greatly expands our current understanding of the regional circulation of textile technological knowledge and the role of textiles in ancient societies.
TL;DR: In this article, a Bayesian model was used to find evidence that an earlier, small-scale Aceramic colonisation preceded the later Neolithic reoccupation of Knossos.
Abstract: Knossos, on Crete, has long been famous both for its Minoan period remains and for the presence, at the base of the stratigraphy, of an early Neolithic settlement. The chronology and development of the Neolithic settlement, however, have hitherto been unclear. New light is now thrown on this formative period by combining new and older radiocarbon dates with contextual information in a Bayesian modelling framework. The results from Crete and western Anatolia suggest that an earlier, small-scale Aceramic colonisation preceded the later Neolithic reoccupation of Knossos.
TL;DR: In this paper, the isotope archaeology community in the UK and elsewhere, who make for lively conferences and an exciting and inclusive field, are acknowledged and thanks are due also to Gundula Muldner, Mike Richards, Michelle Alexander, Jennifer Jones, Joshua Wright and Orsolya Czere.
Abstract: I am grateful for the invitation to contribute this piece and for comments on earlier versions, especially from two anonymous reviewers. Thanks are due also to Gundula Muldner, Mike Richards, Michelle Alexander, Jennifer Jones, Joshua Wright and Orsolya Czere. Finally, I should like to acknowledge the isotope archaeology community in the UK and elsewhere, who make for lively conferences and an exciting and inclusive field.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify patchwork technology (SPT) at two key early farming sites in the Ligurian-Provencal Arc in the north-west of the Italian peninsula.
Abstract: Pottery-manufacturing sequences can act as proxies for human migration and interaction. A good example is provided by the �spiralled patchwork technology� (SPT) identified at two key early farming sites in the Ligurian-Provencal Arc in the north-west of the Italian peninsula. SPT is distinct from the ceramic technology used by early farmer communities in south-east Italy that shows technical continuity with the southern Balkans. Macroscopic analysis and micro-computed tomography suggests the presence of two communities of practice, and thus two distinct social groups in the northern Mediterranean: one of southern Balkan tradition, the other (associated with SPT) of as yet unknown origin. The identification of SPT opens up the exciting possibility of tracing the origins and migrations of a second distinct group of early farmers into Southern Europe
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of different weapons and different blows in inflicting cranial injury were investigated using a replica of the ‘Thames Beater’ Neolithic wooden club.
Abstract: The difficulty in identifying acts of intentional injury in the past has limited the extent to which archaeologists have been able to discuss the nature of interpersonal violence in prehistory. Experimental replication of cranial trauma has proved particularly problematic due to the lack of test analogues that are sufficiently comparable to the human skull. A new material now overcomes this issue, and for the first time allows accurate insight into the effects of different weapons and different blows in inflicting cranial injury; in this case, blunt force trauma caused using a replica of the ‘Thames Beater’ Neolithic wooden club.
TL;DR: In this paper, an assessment of over 9000 aerial photographs taken during the First World War, integrated with other approaches to landscape archaeology, offers a new perspective on the shifting nature of the historic struggle around the town of Ypres in Belgium.
Abstract: As the centenary commemorations of the Battle of Passchendaele approach, this article is a timely demonstration of how archaeology can provide new insights into the landscape of the Western Front. Assessment of over 9000 aerial photographs taken during the First World War, integrated with other approaches to landscape archaeology, offers a new perspective on the shifting nature of the historic struggle around the town of Ypres in Belgium. The results not only illustrate the changing face of the landscape over that four-year period, but also highlight the potential of aerial photographic records to illuminate hitherto overlooked aspects of landscape heritage.
TL;DR: In this article, a combination of stratigraphic data with absolute dating methods has now provided a date of AD 751�789 for the construction of the church of Santa Comba de Bande.
Abstract: The church of Santa Comba de Bande in north-west Spain has long been considered a model for regional Late Antique and early medieval architecture. Controversy, however, has recently emerged concerning its construction date. Is it a �Visigothic� (seventh century) or �Mozarabic� (ninth to tenth centuries) church? The combination of stratigraphic data with absolute dating methods has now provided a date of AD 751�789 for construction of the church. This result has historical and architectural implications: Santa Comba de Bande represents an extremely early example of Mozarabic architecture, and demonstrates the dynamic circulation of influences between the Islamic south and Christian north in eighth-century Iberia
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare the use of hunting blinds and associated tactics in the guanaco hunting in two distinct steppe landscapes in southern Patagonia, the western basaltic plateaux and the central Deseado Massif.
Abstract: Research in two distinct steppe landscapes in southern Patagonia�the western basaltic plateaux and the central Deseado Massif�compares hunter-gatherer strategies in the two environments, focusing on the use of hunting blinds and associated tactics in the hunting of guanaco. The evidence obtained brings this region into discussions about the use of rocky structures and the recognition of tactics used for hunting ungulates in a global perspective. The authors also emphasise the importance of highland settings as major and reliable sources of critical resources for foraging peoples, a topic still not fully appreciated in archaeological studies of hunter-gatherers.
TL;DR: The early occupation of this Swahili port, from the sixth century AD, presents a unique opportunity to develop our understanding of the growth and development in settlement and trade along the East African coast as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: New investigations at the coastal settlement of Unguja Ukuu in Zanzibar have demonstrated the effectiveness of magnetometry as a survey method. The early occupation of this Swahili port, from the sixth century AD, presents a unique opportunity to develop our understanding of the growth and development in settlement and trade along the East African coast. The geophysical survey has allowed the size of this important site to be reassessed and an industrial component to be identified. It also offers an insight into the role that early Islamicisation may have played in helping to establish the settlement as a key port during the growth of the Indian Ocean trade network.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the spatial and temporal patterning in the spread of our genus around the planet, and what environmental and behavioural factors specify this patterning, and they proposed short-range maritime hops at both the Strait of Gibraltar and Bab-el-Mandeb (Lambeck et al. 2011; Rolland 2013).
Abstract: To what extent is there spatial and temporal patterning in the spread of our genus around the planet, and what environmental and behavioural factors specify this patterning? The prevailing model of Pleistocene dispersals of Homo holds that this process was essentially terrestrial, with oceans and seas inhibiting and directing the movement of hominins out of Africa (e.g. Mellars 2006; Dennell & Petraglia 2012; Gamble 2013), although some scholars propose short-range maritime hops at both the Strait of Gibraltar and Bab-el-Mandeb (Lambeck et al. 2011; Rolland 2013). The relatively recent discovery of stone tools with apparently Lower and Middle Palaeolithic characteristics on islands in the eastern Mediterranean and in Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) has, however, been used by some scholars to challenge this terrestrial model.
TL;DR: Aurochs played a prominent role in mortuary and feasting practices during the Neolithic transition in south-west Asia, although evidence of these practices is diverse and regionally varied as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Aurochs played a prominent role in mortuary and feasting practices during the Neolithic transition in south-west Asia, although evidence of these practices is diverse and regionally varied. This article considers a new concentration of aurochs bones from the southern Levantine Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of Kfar HaHoresh, situating it in a regional context through a survey of aurochs remains from other sites. Analysis shows a change in the regional pattern once animal domestication began from an emphasis on feasting to small-scale practices. These results reveal a widely shared practice of symbolic cattle use that persisted over a long period, but shifted with the beginning of animal management across the region
TL;DR: The Classic Maya village of Joya de Ceren is extraordinary in that it was preserved by volcanic ash following the Loma Caldera volcanic eruption, and the excellent preservation conditions offer a unique opportunity to understand plants in their primary use contexts, and to examine geospatial relationships between plants in gardens, fields and households as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The Classic Maya village of Joya de Ceren is extraordinary in that it was preserved by volcanic ash following the Loma Caldera volcanic eruption. The excellent preservation conditions offer a unique opportunity to understand plants in their primary use contexts, and to examine geospatial relationships between plants—both living and curated—in gardens, fields and households. The geospatial analysis of ‘plantscapes’ at Ceren presented here provides a template for interpreting botanical resource use and management at other contemporaneous Maya sites, and can contribute to a broader understanding of the use of space, plants and agriculture in the past.
TL;DR: The authors presented the first diachronic study of ceramic manufacture throughout the extended cultural history of Nubia, highlighting the varying manifestations of change and continuity in long-term pottery traditions.
Abstract: Sai Island, in the Nile in northern Sudan, has a series of settlement sites spanning the entire period from the eighth millennium BC through to the Eighteenth Dynasty of the Egyptian New Kingdom. This long sequence provides an excellent opportunity to study continuity and discontinuity in long-term pottery traditions. Ceramics from the varying cultural phases of the occupation reflect changing dynamics between broader regional social identities, notably Kerma to the south and Egypt to the north. Combining studies of petrography with trace element composition and chaine operatoire analysis, the authors present the first diachronic study of ceramic manufacture throughout the extended cultural history of Nubia, highlighting the varying manifestations of change and continuity.