Showing papers in "Journal of Archaeological Science in 2016"

TL;DR: This article examined the impact of the Byzantine-Islamic transition on the natron glass industry of Palestine from the 7th to the 12th century, using a series of 133 well-contextualised glass vessels from selected excavations in modern day Israel have been analyzed for major, minor and trace elements using LA-ICP-MS.

TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of some of the most important variables underlying the transfer of heat to subsurface sediments, including temperature, duration, sediment type, moisture, and mineralogy, are altered in ways that bracket the range of conditions under which past fires may have existed.

TL;DR: A review of the utility and importance of phytolith analysis in documenting the domestication and dispersal of crop plants around the world can be found in this paper, where experts who have carried out the hands-on work review the utility of this technique.

TL;DR: This technique developed at Olympia improves measurement accuracy by an order of magnitude compared to previous implementations, with a precision of at least 1 part in 50,000, and 95% of the surfaces located accurately within 2–3 mm.

TL;DR: In this paper, the development of phytoliths where silica is deposited in the cell wall and those where it is deposited inside the cell lumen is considered. But very little is known about the development and formation of the phytoid in the plant.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the most recent applications of the technology in Cambodia, including the results of a newly-completed campaign of airborne laser scanning in 2015, and highlight the importance of using these methods as part of a problem-oriented research program that speaks to broader issues within history and archaeology.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors draw attention to the most significant shortcoming in claims of early domesticated dogs and show that without comprehensive data on the range of variation within Pleistocene wolf populations, the identification of domestic dogs from prior to the Late Upper Paleolithic cannot be conclusively accepted or rejected.

TL;DR: In this paper, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) survey in Tonga has documented a dense and complex archaeological landscape, particularly on the principal island of Tongatapu.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors applied lead and strontium isotope analyses to dental enamel samples from twenty individuals excavated from Londinium and found that the geographic origins of the population of Roman London varied, comprising individuals local to London and Britannia, but also from further afield in the Empire, including Rome.

TL;DR: In this article, a two-step analytical protocol has been proposed for the reliable structural identification of red wine thanks to the presence of dark grape (tartaric, malic, syringic acids) and fermentation markers (succinic and pyruvic acids) in a smashed, large, coarse jar and a jug excavated inside a Neolithic house destroyed by fire around 4300 BCE at the site of Dikili Tash in northern Greece.

TL;DR: In this article, a large-scale food storage has been identified at an Early Mesolithic settlement on the east coast of Sweden, implying a delayed-return subsistence strategy, suggesting semi-sedentism, technological skill and the ability to adapt rapidly to changing environmental conditions.

TL;DR: In this article, it is suggested that two major periods of mining exploitation took place, the first in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC and the second during the Late Bronze Age, and based on the discrimination of copper sources and the available analyses, most of the metal circulating in Northern Italy and in the greater Po Valley region was actually produced from Southern Alpine ores.

TL;DR: Results suggest that diverse mortuary rites were practised and that different configurations of remains were subject to prescribed, varied treatment, rather than resulting from different stages of the same process.

TL;DR: The data indicate that the isotopic baseline depends on the local environmental particularities which must be taken into account in reconstructing human palaeodiets, and the probable strong influence of natural factors impacting soil and plant isotopic ratios and passing this variation further on into the whole food chain.

TL;DR: In this article, the useability of U, Th, and Zn distribution maps to identify zones of diagenetic overprint in human teeth has been investigated for the analysis of fossil human teeth.

TL;DR: The International Phytolith Morphometric Analysis (measurements of size and shape) has become a significant research tool in phytolith studies as discussed by the authors, and the ICPM has established methodological standards for the discipline.

TL;DR: This paper examined the extent to which increasing returns to settlement scale in material outputs, which are apparent in contemporary urban systems, also operated in the Late Pre-Hispanic Tarma and Mantaro drainages of the Peruvian Central Andes.

TL;DR: The British Roman road network is employed to explore the analytical possibilities offered by a combination of Social Network Analysis, Spatial Network Analysis and spatial interpolation-based distribution analysis and the results suggest a continuous inflow of exotics.

TL;DR: The results of a preliminary investigation of the variability in glutamine deamidation levels in an archaeological bone due to sampling location within a bone, localised diagenesis, and sample preparation methods are reported in this paper.

TL;DR: The red disks from El Castillo Cave are among the earliest known cave paintings as discussed by the authors, and the morphometric and technological study of red disks was performed by combining the morphological and technological analysis of the red disks with the microscopic, elemental, and mineralogical analysis of pigment.

TL;DR: This study analyzed 1831 bird bones, which included 429 bones previously recorded as “domestic chicken” from 18 Neolithic and early Bronze Age sites in central and northern China, to reveal the origin and history of the domestic chicken in northern China.

TL;DR: Half of the infant samples studied here were free from bacterial bioerosion, further suggesting that histological analysis can be used to identify archaeological remains of stillborn and short-lived infants.

TL;DR: In this paper, the chemical compositions of all the tin ingots were analysed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), following the compositional analysis, microstructural study was carried out on eight Salcombe ingots selected to cover those with different sizes, shapes and variable impurity levels.

TL;DR: In this paper, the first aerial mapping of Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and photogrammetric techniques, to provide a detailed digital cartographic basis for this world-renowned paleoanthropological site.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present new evidence of the wide dispersion of Mesopotamian glass, 1400-1100 BCE, from Syria and Egypt to the Nordic Bronze Age.

TL;DR: An innovative framework for employing 3D-GIS as an exploratory platform to perform visual analysis aimed at detecting patterns of visibility to simulate the past human perception of specific categories of artifacts placed inside a virtually reconstructed three-dimensional space is introduced.

TL;DR: A broad range of laboratory-based analytical methods have been used in linking the archaeological record and human activity as mentioned in this paper, including soil micromorphology, mineralogical, elemental, phytolith and isotope analysis.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors developed a series of new simulations based on the ideal gas model, allowing for an explicit prediction of the encounter rate, the variable for which population density and mobility are proxies, and which ultimately governs the rate of cultural transmission.

TL;DR: In this paper, a microscopic analysis is applied to Early Stone Age pounding artefacts from Olduvai Beds I and II, and the importance that percussive activities played during the Early Pleistocene suggests a wider range of activities in addition to knapping and butchering.

TL;DR: In this paper, carbon and oxygen isotope ratios in the remaining carbonate fraction of experimentally heated modern bone and cremated bone from several archaeological sites were measured to assess the amount of information that can be extracted from such material, and they found very little evidence of post-burial alterations on the isotope composition of calcined bone.