Showing papers in "Journal of Archaeological Science in 2013"

TL;DR: The possibilities for 3D registration of archaeological features are examined in a computer vision-based approach using the PhotoScan software package (Agisoft LCC) and it proved to be a scientific and cost-effective improvement compared to traditional documentation methods.

TL;DR: The sex of ancient remains is vital for critically testing hypotheses about social structure in prehistoric societies, but morphological methods are imprecise and prone to errors.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors point out several flaws in Frahm's paper, and provide some examples of PXRF measurements that are valid and reliable and conform to international standards as published.

TL;DR: Comparisons of dental morphometric descriptors in wild and domestic pigs indicate that geometric morphometrics offers an extremely powerful alternative to more traditional biometric approaches of length and width measurements to capture the elusive morphological changes induced by the domestication process in archaeological remains.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the evolution of the southern African MSA and the main technological changes therein, particularly emphasizing the emergence, succession and disappearance of the Still Bay (SB) and Howiesons Poort (HP).

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that a restricted set of geometric engraving patterns, with the dominance of two main motifs, one using a hatched band and the other sub-parallel to converging lines, coexisted, but shifted in frequency toward the latter through time.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors conducted an extensive literature review of peer-reviewed research that used portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) instruments for in situ analysis of archaeological materials.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors presented new luminescence ages for 17 rock samples (equivalent dose estimated with a SAR-ITL protocol instead of classical MAAD-TL) as well as for 5 sediment samples, and an update of the 22 previous age estimates for burnt lithics (modified calibration and beta dose estimates).

TL;DR: In this paper, a novel application of statistical techniques to the FTIR spectra of bone samples burned in the range 100°C-1100°C has been used to identify five new spectral indices of heat-induced crystallinity change.

TL;DR: In this article, a case study of flat Middle Palaeolithic combustion structures is presented, in which for an entire experimental series of flat combustion structures the black layer represents the fire-altered topsoil on which the fire was made.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors used petrographic, mineralogical and structural analysis of South African silcrete from the West Coast and its thermal transformations to shed light on the nature of these transformations, the ideal heating temperatures and the tolerated heating speed.

TL;DR: In this article, the effects of charring and burial on modern cereal grain and pulse seed values were investigated and the results indicated that the charred material more closely resembles that of the modern charred grains and seeds, suggesting that archaeobotanical remains accumulate nonstructural material during burial but retain their original carbon and nitrogen content.

TL;DR: The functional analysis of a large selection of tools from level IIa of the early Middle Palaeolithic site of Biache-St-Vaast (France) is presented in this article.

TL;DR: In this article, a series of new single-grain optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages for the Still Bay at Blombos Cave, South Africa, and compares them to previously published OSL, thermoluminescence, and electron spin resonance (ESR) ages.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors presented new 500 year interval palaeogeographic models for Britain, Ireland and the North West French coast from 11,000 cal. BP to present to calculate the varying rates of inundation for different geographical zones over the study period.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used radiocarbon dates and crop assemblages from Ifri Oudadane, an Epipalaeolithic-Early Neolithic site from North-East Morocco, to shed light on the early stages of agricultural development in Northern Africa.

TL;DR: There is indeed a strong ‘canopy effect’ in temperate woodland, probably related to differential light levels, but that not all apparently woodland-dwelling mammals show such an effect, and considerable isotopic variation at the base of the food chain is shown.

TL;DR: In this paper, the validity of handheld portable XRF for Near Eastern obsidian sourcing was tested under deliberately "sub-optimal" conditions, and the results showed that irregular obsidian debitage near the minimum size limits was sourced with a success rate of 94% to 100% under conditions chosen to mimic "off-the-shelf" operation.

TL;DR: In this paper, the physical remains of percussive tool use at 58 anvils in Brazil over a 36-month period revealed repeated use, seasonal consistency, temporal variation, landscape-scale patterning, appearance of new hammers and transport of existing hammers to new anvil sites.

TL;DR: The results of a micromorphological study of the sediments at Diepkloof, focusing in particular on the numerous anthropogenic inputs and modifications recorded within the sequence, are presented in this paper.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors focused on a chemical study of a thick black residue found on a quartz flake attributable to the Late phase of the Howiesons Poort (HP) and reconstructed a picture of the multilevel operations and interactions that comprise the process of hafting.

TL;DR: In this article, K-means cluster analysis and cluster centroid and point dispersal pattern analysis are used to define Minimum Bounding Rectangles (MBR) representing human demographic patterns, and they find a refugia-type hunter-gatherer response during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and again during the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR) (∼14.5-12.5).

TL;DR: In this article, ground-based Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (GBInSAR) and Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) were integrated to obtain 3D interferometric radar point clouds to facilitate the spatial interpretation of displacements affecting archaeological monuments.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors carried out a new paleomagnetic study across stratigraphic layer TD7 of Gran Dolina Site, Atapuerca, and reassess the existing absolute ages (thermoluminescence, electron spin resonance) obtained at this site.

TL;DR: A study with wild lions in Tarangire National Park (Tanzania) and with captive lions in Cabarceno Reserve (Spain) has yielded two different bone modification patterns, probably as a result of the differences in environmental contexts.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated forty-two prehistoric sites in the upper Yellow River valley located in Guide, Jianzha, Hualong, Xunha and Minhe, Qinghai Province, China.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the nature of the pastoralist economies in two Early Iron Age populations from the burial grounds of Ai-Dai and Aymyrlyg in Southern Siberia.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the first multidisciplinary synthesis of the Middle Stone Age sequence of Diepkloof Rock Shelter (South Africa) and explore the main cultural changes that characterized southern African hunter-gatherer societies from OIS 5 to OIS 3.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared) spectroscopy to detect changes in the clay mineral structure due to exposure to high temperatures on the interior walls of cooking installations.

TL;DR: The Levantine rock art at Cingle de la Mola Remigia is used to test the integral documentation performance combining 2D and 3D recording techniques to yield not merely digital copies, but state-of-the-art documentation.