QUANTIFICATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF LIPID IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL CERAMICS: IMPLICATIONS FOR SAMPLING POTSHERDS FOR ORGANIC RESIDUE ANALYSIS AND THE CLASSIFICATION OF VESSEL USE

Organic residue analysis has been performed on 62 reconstructed vessels from a single archaeological site (Rounds, Northamptonshire, U.K.). In order to establish regions of lipid accumulation within a vessel, sherds were sampled from different parts of a vessel, for example base, body and rim, and submitted to lipid extraction procedures. The techniques of high-temperature gas chromatography (GC) and GC/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) were then used to analyse the sherd lipid extracts. The quantitative results obtained show differential accumulation and preservation of lipid in various parts of the same vessel. This latter observation has serious implications for the sampling of potsherds for organic residue analysis. Furthermore, the amount of absorbed lipid varies quite considerably between vessel types. On this basis, a new method is proposed for classifying vessel use by comparing the concentration of lipid present in different parts of individual vessels.     

THE BILZINGSLEBEN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE: NEW DATING EVIDENCE

New absolute dates have been obtained for the Bilzingsleben (D.D.R.) archaeological site, using uranium-series analyses of travertine, and electron spin resonance (ESR) analyses of travertine and tooth enamel of rhinoceros. The results indicate that the site was apparently occupied during interglacial isotope stages 9 or 11. The surrounding terrain has been subsequently dissected by at least three discrete stages of fluvial erosion during succeeding glacial stages. Bilzingsleben is thus shown to be significantly older than the Lower Travertine at the nearby site of Ehringsdorf, assigned to isotope stage 7 by uranium-series dating. The latter assignment is confirmed by new ESR data presented here.     

TECHNIQUES FOR INVESTIGATING THE ECONOMIC BASE OF CITIES

Economic-base analysis is applied to 15 small towns of Vologda Oblast in northern European Russia in an attempt to analyze the provision of services in these urban places. The employment structure of the town of Kadnikov, based on a “firm-by-firm” approach, is used as the standard to prorate total employment into basic and nonbasic components. The Kadnikov standard is then applied to the other towns and any excess in employment beyond the nonbasic Kadnikov standard is allocated to the basic sector. The higher proportion of basic employment in some of the study towns is interpreted as reflecting inadequate development of service activities. The analysis suggests that the small towns of Vologda Oblast are relatively well served by education, public health and retail trade-at any rate they are no worse off than the standard town, Kadnikov-but lag in the provision of housing and repair services. Economic-base concepts developed by J. W. Alexander and G. Alexandersson in the 1950s are used as a point of departure.     

EVIDENCE FOR THE MIXING OF FATS AND WAXES IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL CERAMICS

Lipid residues from two Late Saxon/early medieval ceramic vessels recovered from excavations at West Cotton, Raunds, Northamptonshire, U.K., have been investigated by high-temperature gas chromatography (GC) and GC/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The solvent extracts of sherds sampled from different points on each vessel (i.e., base, body and rim) were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively and compounds were identified which were characteristic of beeswax and animal fat. Furthermore, by determining the sites of accumulation of the specific lipid types and their concentrations in different parts of the vessels it can be inferred that the beeswax was added to the vessels prior to the addition of the fat. It was concluded that the two vessels performed different functions in antiquity.     

SIMULATION OF THE FOURIER PHASE SPECTRUM FOR THE GENERATION OF SYNTHETIC ACCELEROGRAMS

This study presents the application of a new method for generating synthetic accelerograms based on statistical distributions for Fourier phase differences and Fourier amplitudes as functions of earthquake magnitude, hypocentral distance and site geology. Two important characteristics of the methodology are that it requires a small number of input parameters and that ground motion time histories can be simulated without any specific modulation function. Two areas with different tectonic patterns (North-Eastern and Central Italy) were selected for the application. The results of our analysis are reliable in the case of Central Italy because the data set is large and quite uniformly distributed, while for North-Eastern Italy our results should not be used for distances greater than 30 km.     

STATISTICAL ASPECTS OF POTTERY QUANTIFICATION FOR THE DATING OF SOME ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXTS*

This paper describes some statistical analyses of a particular archaeological material (pottery) originating at some sites in the city of Tours. An important part of the archaeological study of pottery is the comparison of ceramic assemblages to establish the absolute dates of contexts. In this paper, a statistical model is built to assess this comparison. The statistical procedure uses classical tools (correspondence analysis, linear regression and resampling methods) in an iterative scheme. Archaeologists may find in the paper a useful set of known statistical methods, while statisticians can learn a method of ‘arranging’ well‐known techniques. No method is new, but their combination is characteristic of this application.     

RADIOCARBON DATES FOR BEESWAX FIGURES IN THE PREHISTORIC ROCK ART OF NORTHERN AUSTRALIA

Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon ages have been taken for a test suite of small samples of material removed from some of the ‘beeswax’art figures found in rock shelters in northern Australia. The results indicate that we can reliably date this unique form of rock art with no noticeable damage. We had not expected to find figures of any great antiquity, and so we were surprised to find that the ages obtained spanned the time period from the recent past to about 4000 BP.     

赤仄五铢钱的考古新验证——从西汉御史大夫张汤墓考古发掘谈起

赤仄五铢钱是西汉武帝时期铸造的一种五铢钱,其行时既短,又时铸时销,后世流传者已不多闻,其钱文递变之迹两千年已不能通晓。故赤仄之谜成为千古“公案”。2 0 0 2年5月,西安市文物保护考古所为配合西安市西部大学城建设,在长安区郭杜镇西北政法学院南校区进行考古发掘。在考古清理该校体育办公楼的基槽过程中,发掘了一座东西向,略偏西北方向的斜坡墓道土洞墓,出土两枚双面穿带印,印主是张汤。笔者结合相关历史文献记载和考古发掘的第一手资料,考证此张汤墓就是西汉御史大夫张汤墓。其意义十分重大,对探寻赤仄五铢提供了考古学上的新线索和新…     

PROBLEMS OF THE RADIOCARBON CALENDAR AND ITS CALIBRATION

Both the growing body of literature on the tree-ring calibration of radiocarbon dates, and the variety of statistical approaches used, make it appropriate to review the basic principles involved in the construction of a calibration curve. While its ultimate validity is in part a geophysical problem, the appropriate form for the calibration function, given a specific body of data, is a statistical question centering upon the analysis of the measurement errors involved. The relationship between the calibration function and the inverse calibration function is examined, and the shortcomings of the available published calibration curves considered in the light of this examination. It is concluded that there is no reason to doubt the general principles on which the calibration is based, but a need exists for a more critical handling of the measurement data with a statistical treatment of the errors involved. The quality of the data could itself be improved by the use of replicate samples for inter-laboratory projects specifically designed to investigate the magnitude of measurement error.     

THE SCIENTIFIC IDENTIFICATION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL JET-LIKE ARTEFACTS

Jet has been widely used in the past for jewellery but was just one of a range of black lithic materials employed. When worked into small objects these materials can be visually indistinguishable, yet discrimination is important because of the restricted occurrence of jet. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is a rapid non-destructive discriminatory technique, but not all samples are clearly classified, and inhomogeneity may pose problems. A reassessment of the use of XRF is reported. Other techniques considered include electron spin resonance, infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy and X-radiography. These were tested on geological materials to define an effective methodology for archaeological material. The recommended approach is a combination of XRF and X-radiography, although preliminary Fourier transform infrared results showed promise. The X-ray techniques were tested on Romano-British assemblages from Catterick and Stanwick.