Alternatives to Urbanism? Reconsidering <Emphasis Type="Italic">Oppida</Emphasis> and the Urban Question in Late Iron Age Europe

The mega-sites of Late Iron Age Europe (traditionally known as oppida) provide an important dataset for exploring how complex social systems can articulate power in novel ways. The question of whether these can be described as ‘urban’ has overshadowed a deeper understanding of the development and role of such sites, with many studies examining this issue almost wholly against peculiarly classical concepts of urbanism, isolating Iron Age studies from wider debate. Rather than seek to redefine ‘towns’, this paper explores how and why oppida diverge from traditional concepts of urbanism, arguing that the form of oppida reflects their focus on particular aspects—assembly, theatricality, and the household—which reflect the nature of Late Iron Age societies. It will be suggested that oppida are comparable to a range of mega-sites and low-density settlements recognised throughout the world that represent alternative solutions to the social complications urbanism seeks to address.     

Millet microremains—an alternative approach to understand cultivation and use of critical crops in Prehistory

The term “millets” is used to identify several genera of grasses (Poaceae), most of which belong to the subfamily Panicoideae. Millets are one of the major food sources in arid and semi-arid areas of the world and they have been important crops in the prehistory of Africa and Eurasia. In this paper, we discuss phytoliths and starch grains from two of the less studied major millets (Pennisetum glaucum and Sorghum bicolor) as well as from some small millet species that are not normally considered of much importance (so-called forgotten millets: Digitaria ciliaris, Echinochloa colona, Echinochloa frumentacea, Brachiaria ramosa, Setaria pumila and Setaria verticillata). The preliminary results of this study on phytolith morphology, both at single and joined (silica skeletons) morphotypes, and starch grains show great potentials for the identification of different genus or species on the basis of microremains.     

Phytolith analysis for the identification of barnyard millet (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Echinochloa</Emphasis> sp.) and its implications

Echinochloa was an important prehistoric food crop of early agriculture in Asia. Macro-remains can be used to identify Echinochloa. However, when few macro-remains are available, phytolith analysis can be performed. In this study, we examined the phytolith morphology of the glumes, lemmas, and paleas from the inflorescence bracts of nine Echinochloa species from different regions of China and obtained diagnostic, morphological, and morphometric characteristics for Echinochloa. Phytoliths in Echinochloa are different from those in most known crops except those in Setaria italica and Panicum miliaceum. We found the following two diagnostic features within an epidermal silica layer that can be used to distinguish Echinochloa sp. from S. italica and P. miliaceum: (1) the β-type undulated patterns with constricted top of the undulation amplitude and (2) the discriminant functions based on the morphometric data of the β-type undulated patterns, which suggested that 94.9 % of the cross-validated data were correctly classified into Echinochloa, S. italica, and P. miliaceum. Thus, we established the phytolith identification criteria for Echinochloa; this could have important implications in plant taxonomy, archaeobotany, and plant domestication.     

Dietary patterns in human populations from northwest Patagonia during Holocene: an approach using Binford’s frames of reference and Bayesian isotope mixing models

The goal of this paper is to assess the variation in the proportional contribution of diverse resources to the diet of human populations from northwest Patagonia (Argentina) throughout the Middle-Late Holocene. Particularly, we assessed the variation among three geographic areas and two periods. We first estimated the expected proportions of terrestrial animals and plants and aquatic resources for each area according to the Binford’s frames of references approach. A Bayesian mixing method was then applied to calculate the proportion of plants and animals in the diets from stable isotopes (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) of human bone collagen. The isotope values suggest that the composition of diets differed spatially and temporally. Diets of South Mendoza were mainly composed of terrestrial animals (Rhea-Lama and rodents) with a greater incorporation of C₃ plants towards the later Late Holocene; in North Neuquén, Rhea and Lama represent a proportion of 0.84 of the diet consumed; and finally, the sample of Center Neuquén is the only one with high values of Araucaria in the diet. The isotopic values obtained for the three studied areas did not fit to the expectations of Binford’s model, North Neuquén being the area that departs most from the predicted proportions of terrestrial animals and plants and aquatic organisms in the diet. These findings open up new questions about the local conditions that influenced regional variation in the diet of prehistoric hunter-gatherers.     

Ancient plant use and palaeoenvironmental analysis at the Gumugou Cemetery,Xinjiang, China: implication from desiccated plant remains

The Gumugou Cemetery is located in the Lop Nor region of the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang, northwest China. Radiocarbon dating found the site to be 3800 years BP. Due to the exceptionally arid conditions, most of the plant remains are well-preserved. Morphological and anatomical studies suggest that the plant remains consist of: Triticum cf. aestivum, Phragmites australis, Populus euphratica, Ephedra sp., as well as Typha sp. These ancient plants imply that the indigenous people lived in oases surrounded by extensive desert. Caryopses of T. cf. aestivum might have been used as funeral objects of the mummies as well as a subsidiary food source of the inhabitants, while the wild plants were used in other aspects of daily life.     

Fish and Fish Products in Late Antique Palestine and Babylonia in Their Social and Geographical Contexts: Archaeology and the Talmudic Literature

This paper looks at the ancient Jewish talmudic literature (4th-7th centuries CE) for information about fish and fish products in the ancient world and compares it with information from classical sources and from archaeology. Analysis of the texts show that information about food, and particularly fish and fish products, can be derived from texts originally written as religious regulations and moral narratives. Talmudic textual evidence, backed up by parallel archaeological finds, documents long-distance transport of preserved fish, including what is identified as Nile perch from Egypt and mackerel from Spain. Parallel papyrological evidence testifies to the import of the parrot wrasse. Graeco-Roman allec, a sauce made of macerated tiny fish, is identified by the Palestinian Talmud with tarit terufah, made of tiny chopped fish, and afitz, cf Greek afye, immature fish, often cooked as such. Remains of allec have been found archaeologically in Israel/Palestine. The Palestinian Talmud identifies tarit[a] with tza?ana, one of a trio of strong-smelling Babylonian fish-dishes eaten by the poor: the others are gildana and harsana. The varied material on these discussed here adds to our knowledge of ancient salted and/or fermented fish-dishes. The identification of tza?ana with 9th-to-10th century ?a?na from Baghdad of the Caliphs and 14th-century Cairo appears very likely. Thus tarit/tza?ana/?a?na appears to have been not very appetising processed fish food for the poor in Roman Palestine, Jewish Babylonia, Baghdad of the Abbasid Caliphs and Mamluk Egypt, and it may be identified with allec. The talmudic literature also discusses reasons for failure of the preservation processes, as well as of potentially lethal effects of insufficient preservation.     

The Wreck of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pettu</Emphasis> as an Example for Nineteenth Century Rural Shipbuilding in South-Western Finland

Although the design and construction of wooden merchant vessels in the nineteenth century is generally considered to be well understood, the excavation and subsequent analysis of the wreck of the wooden Finnish topsail schooner Pettu (1865) revealed a number of unexpected features, which prompted the authors to take a closer look at the ship. In the following study, it will be attempted to gain an insight into the society that produced and used the merchant vessel through a detailed analysis of its construction and an investigation into the concept behind its design. The wreck of the Pettu, which, considering its loss in 1893, is barely covered by the 100 year rule in Danish heritage legislation, is a good example for the archaeological potential of even relatively ‘modern’ wreck sites, adding to their significance.     

Egyptian sculptures from Imperial Rome. Non-destructive characterization of granitoid statues through macroscopic methodologies and in situ XRF analysis

Aegyptiaca-like Domitian’s obelisk is now decorating Bernini’s fountain on Piazza Navona or the Egyptian lions flanking Michelangelo’s stairs towards the Capitol figure prominently amidst Rome’s cultural heritage. Motivations for the import, contextualization, and copying of these objects during the Imperial Roman period are as heavily debated as they are ill understood. Provenance determination plays an important role in these discussions in terms of a (supposed) dichotomy between Egyptian (real) versus egyptianising (copy) but has only been applied stylistically and never been tested analytically. A scientific characterization of the materials themselves is even lacking altogether, as is an investigation into the cultural and symbolic meaning of the materials used. This paper is a first attempt to address these important lacunae on the basis of an explorative study of a selected sample of Egyptian statues from Rome. The identification and provenance attribution of the materials used for these statues are often problematic due to their relatively fine-grained nature and dark color. Therefore, a full non-destructive analysis of Egyptian statues in dark-colored rocks is presented in this study, with the stones evaluated by macroscopic examination and handheld X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis. The implemented methodology has allowed a distinction between greywacke and several varieties of granitoid rocks. In order to evaluate the potential for source attribution, a comparison was made between the results of our analyses and geochemical data for several granitoid rocks from Egypt. This has suggested Aswan as most likely source. The results presented here indicate that handheld XRF analysis can be used for the assessment of compositional variability in and potentially for the provenance of granitoid rocks, provided that a fine-grained area of the material can be measured on multiple locations, and if these values can be assessed on (in)consistencies with other published reference materials.     

Experimental artefacts in research on prehistoric and aboriginal technology: a standardised terminology and registry code based on alpha-taxonomy and the <Emphasis Type="Italic">chaîne opératoire</Emphasis>

In research on prehistoric and aboriginal technology, terms such as ‘replica’, ‘reproduction’ or ‘imitation’ are still used as generic labels for (non-original) experimental objects, their intended meaning becoming potentially confusing. Because the implementation of a standard terminology is required in order to allow individuals involved in research on prehistoric and aboriginal technology to speak the same language, an experimental artefact terminology, based on alpha-taxonomy and the chaîne opératoire, is presented. In this terminology, alpha-taxonomy takes into account three stages of the operational scheme of the chaîne opératoire as couplets: (1) the raw material used, (2) the method employed for shaping a given object, and (3) its resulting final shape. Additionally, a registry code suitable for labelling experimental artefacts is also presented. Although the lexicon presented in this paper does not intend to solve all the problems related to experimental artefacts in prehistoric and aboriginal technology, it represents a user-friendly approach to experimental realities, by establishing a shared language—which, to date, has still not been implemented—for experimental items. While this terminology and code system are primarily addressed to prehistoric and aboriginal technologists concerned with experimental work, they are equally relevant to museum curators and can also be of value to individuals involved in many other human endeavours, from the contemporary-art trade to the mechanics industry.     

A Cost-Based Ripley’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis> Function to Assess Social Strategies in Settlement Patterning

Most quantitative approaches to distributional analysis in archaeology assume a homogeneous study surface that is amenable to easy generalisations. This framework has been widely used to describe settlement processes, disregarding the spatial heterogeneity inherent to geographic reality. In other words, researchers have often assumed that the correlation between the elements of a spatial distribution is a function of the Euclidean distance (i.e. straight line distance) between them. Other archaeological studies have tested alternative measures to Euclidean distances, such as cost-based ones, both to describe optimal routes and to assess spatial autocorrelation in a point pattern. Nevertheless, until now there has been no suitable model to introduce these measures into spatial statistical equations. In order to overcome this obstacle, we approach the implementation problem inversely by embedding the spatial pattern under study into a Euclidean frame of reference based on its cost-distance pairwise matrix. This paper describes the application of this methodology on one of the main tools used by archaeologists to assess settlement patterns: Ripley’s K function. We present two case studies, covering both macroscale and mesoscale, with significant variations in the results depending on the use of the Euclidean or cost-based approach. Data, functions and results have been R-packaged for the sake of reproducibility and reusability, allowing other researchers to build upon our methods.     

Representative archaeological finds of <Emphasis Type="Italic">pietra ollare</Emphasis> from Comacchio (Italy): identifying provenance and high-T mineral breakdown reactions hindering lithotype classification

Three different lithotype groups have been recognized in representative fragments of pietra ollare artefacts found in the mediaeval archaeological excavations of Comacchio (Italy). Petrographic, mineralogical and chemical compositions clearly show that Valchiavenna and Valmalenco, in the Central Alps, represent the provenance areas of two of the pietra ollare groups, i.e. grey carbonate talc schist (also known as soapstone) and green chlorite schist, respectively. The third representative pietra ollare group consists of whitish-yellowish rocks inferred to be Alpine talc schists that have suffered some artificial pyrometamorphic transformation hindering their classification in the framework of pietra ollare lithotype categories and source localities reported in literature. A distinguishing feature of these high temperature-fired (HT-fired) talc schist samples is the occurrence of talc and chlorite dehydroxylation and subsolidus reaction products, mainly protoenstatite/enstatite + forsterite, together with relatively low loss on ignition values. These talc schists might have been exposed to temperatures >900 °C (with the resulting talc dehydroxylation producing a void-rich texture), but never reaching 1200 °C, which is the sintering temperature for soapstones. The whitish-yellowish artefacts were definitely not used as containers for cooking food at temperatures below or around 500–600 °C (as instead shown by the preservation of the original physical features of the grey pietra ollare lithotypes), but in some kind of higher-T pyrotechnological processes.     

Timber economy in the Roman Age: charcoal data from the key site of Herculaneum (Naples,Italy)

The city of Herculaneum (Naples, southern Italy), buried by the volcanic eruption of Mount Somma-Vesuvius in 79 ad, is a key site for understanding the timber economy during the Roman period. In this paper, the results of charcoal analysis of different building element types are presented. Beams, joists, poles, planks and door and window frames were investigated allowing us a view of which timber the Romans preferred for building in this area. We also fit the taxonomic results into the reconstruction of the ancient Campanian landscape, and finally, we discuss the knowledge that the Romans had about the technological properties of the wood that they used for building and the possible selection criteria that they followed in choosing them. Coniferous timber is the preferred material for building purposes. Abies alba is especially used, this fact confirming its stronger presence in southern Italian woods during the past and suggesting that its decline is mainly due to human overexploitation. The large presence of Cupressus sempervirens, selectively used for the production of poles, confirms that this tree was cultivated in plantations for timber production in the Vesuvius area. Furthermore, it might indicate that cypress could have been present as a natural tree in the local vegetation, suggesting a forest type that nowadays almost completely disappeared from this area and from the entire Italy. The findings of Juglans regia, Pinus pinea and Olea europaea, typical elements of the Mediterranean cultural landscape, show that their use was not limited to fruit production and that Romans also appreciated their timber. Beside these local resources, the presence of Picea abies and Picea/Larix indicates the importation of timber from northerly regions, probably the northern Apennines and the Alps.     

The Muddle in the Middle Pleistocene: The Lower–Middle Paleolithic Transition from the Levantine Perspective

The terms Lower Palaeolithic and Middle Palaeolithic represent research constructs within which cultural evolution and prehistoric hominin behaviours can be studied, with the transition usually understood as marking a watershed in our evolution: an adaptation with a million-year record of success that gives way to something new. The interpretation of the Lower Palaeolithic Acheulian technocomplex is usually understood as a period of cultural stasis that extends over much of Africa and Eurasia, principally associated with Homo erectus. Those innovations that can be observed occur widely separated from one another in space and time. Yet a closer and more detailed examination of the Middle Pleistocene records from East Africa, southern Africa, Europe and the Levant reveals significant variation in cultural repertoires. A kind of paradox emerges, in which an Old World Lower Palaeolithic, apparently lacking an overall dynamic of distinctive and directed change in terms of cumulative variation over time, nevertheless culminates in a transition which sees the universal appearance of the Middle Palaeolithic. The two main hypotheses that have been advanced to explain the global transition, which happens essentially synchronously, appear mutually exclusive and contradictory. One view is that altered climatic-environmental constraints enabled and encouraged an ‘Out-of-Africa’ dispersal (or dispersals) of a new type of genus Homo. This cultural replacement model has been challenged more recently by the alternative hypothesis of accumulating but unrelated and temporally non-linked regional, and in fact potentially autochthonous, processes. The Levant, by virtue of its position bridging Africa and Eurasia (thus being the region into which any out-of-Africa groups would have had first to disperse into), must be seen as a critical region for assessing the relative merits of these competing hypotheses. This paper deals with the Lower–Middle Paleolithic boundary in the Levant within a long temporal perspective. The Middle Pleistocene record in the Levant enables us to examine the amplitude of variation within each techno-complex, as well as to question whether there are diachronic changes in the amplitude of techno-typological variations as well as changes in the manner by which they appear in the record. The results carry significant implications for understandings of demographic and societal processes during the Lower–Middle Paleolithic transition in the Levant.     

The ancient pozzolanic mortars and concretes of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Heliocaminus</Emphasis> baths in Hadrian’s Villa (Tivoli,Italy)

The aim of this work is the physical and mineralogical-petrographic characterization of the mortars from the Baths with Heliocaminus, a special and unique architectural building in the complex of the Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli. Thirty samples were investigated for composition and physical properties (density, porosity, water absorption, mechanical strength, particle size distribution of aggregate, etc.), representative of eight mortar groups: cubilia bedding mortar, brick bedding mortars, floor-coating and wall-coating bedding mortars, floor (rudus) and wall conglomerates (trullisatio), vault concretes, and lime plasters (arriccio). Physical parameters, together with the microscopic analysis and binder/aggregate ratio determined in three ways using image analysis (on thin sections and on specimens) and weight-data from dissolution of binder, have shown an interesting relationship between the physical-compositional characteristics and the function of mortars within the structure of the Heliocaminus baths. To identify the minerals and the reactant phases between binder and aggregate, as well as the hydraulic degree, selected samples were analyzed with x-ray powder diffraction, thermogravimetry, and differential scanning calorimetry techniques. The obtained results provide a close relation between pozzolanic characteristics and physical-mechanical properties of the mortars (i.e., punching strength index).     

"孔子作《春秋》"说溯源——先秦两汉时期的"春秋"谱系

It is often said that “Confucius composed the Chunqiu 春秋 (The Spring and Autumn Annals) to convey the way of the king.” Scholars have long noticed that before the founding of and during the Han Dynasty the phrase that served as the title of the allegedly Confucian work, “Chunqiu,” was also often used to designate history in general. In what intellectual and textual contexts did the term evolve from something general into a specific concept associated with Confucius? What works or ideas did pre-Han and Han scholars have in mind when discussing Confucius’s Chunqiu and the broader “Chunqiu” canon? Exploring these questions, the study that follows begins by systematically documenting the occurrences of this term in pre-Han and Han texts. It demonstrates that while Mencius was the first person to associate Confucius’s teachings with the Chunqiu, his statement was a solitary and surprising voice in the pre-Han era. Not until the Western Han Dynasty was Confucius widely heralded as the creator of the Chunqiu. But few scholars are aware that Western Han scholars never strictly distinguished the laconic Chunqiu from the detailed historical knowledge preserved in the Gongyang 公羊, Guliang 谷梁, and Zuo 左 commentaries. Furthermore, as the Chunqiu gained canonical status, the phrase still served as a generic term, referring to various historical narratives. Zhang Xuecheng 章学诚 is famous for claiming that “The Six Classics are all history,” and I shall show that in the minds of the people of the Han Dynasty, all historical works were classics.     

Necessary for Life: Studies of Ancient and Modern Grinding Stones in Highland Ethiopia

Ethnoarchaeological research combined with morphological analysis of modern and ancient grinding stones was completed in 2013 and 2014 as part of the Eastern Tigrai Archaeological Project (ETAP), based in the Gulo Makeda region of northern Ethiopia. Research focused on investigating the cultural context of grinding, grinding stone morphology, and use-surface area employing low power use-wear analysis of grinding surfaces. In the Gulo Makeda region today, men manufacture grinding stones and women use them in food processing for many hours per day. While grinding, relationships are formed and maintained with other women, and archaeological evidence suggests that women were grinding together in the past. It was discovered through interviews that distinctive grinding surfaces are preferred for processing different cereals based on grain size. Rough surfaces are used to process larger grains such as imported Near Eastern barley (Hordeum vulgare), wheat (Triticum spp.), maize (Zea mays), and the African domesticate sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), while fine/smooth surfaces are used for smaller, locally domesticated African grains including finger millet (Eleusine coracana) and t’ef (Eragrostis tef). Comparing ethnoarchaeological data with evidence of different use-surfaces on ancient Mezber grinding stones suggests that both locally domesticated and imported grains have been processed in the region for thousands of years. Interpretations are made about the use of grinding stones in the past through analogy, supported by evidence of ancient stone tool morphology and surface wear. The archaeological record at the pre-Aksumite site of Mezber indicates that grinding stone sizes have changed through time, with larger grinding surface areas likely reflecting the need for the production of greater amounts of flour.     

De la controverse aux règles de la méthode de discussion : La métamorphose Pascalienne de la dispute sur le vide

Pascal’s Expériences nouvelles touchant le vide (1647) outlines a physical demonstration that aims to put to an end controversies between plenists and vacuists. The traditional form of the dispute with which Pascal wanted to break, however, finds itself reactivated by Étienne Noël, who takes up again the plenist objections which the Expériences nouvelles only consider as possible the better to refute them. Pascal’s letters Au très révérend père Noël and À Monsieur Le Pailleur on the contrary permit one to define a field of disputation different from the one which Noël perpetuates. Pascal subordinates the dispute to the recognition of common epistemological principles: the antithetical discussion about the vacuum should be governed by methodological criteria accepted by all. In contrast with the model of the learned dispute, Pascal thus defines a radically new model: the scientific dispute.     

Estimating Core Number in Assemblages: Core Movement and Mobility During the Holocene of the Fayum,Egypt

The utility of the cortex ratio first developed by Dibble et al. (American Antiquity, 70(3), 545–560, 2005) and extended by Douglass et al. (American Antiquity, 73(3), 513–526, 2008) is examined in contexts where cores rather than flakes may be transported. The cortex ratio is used to demonstrate the movement of artifacts by quantifying missing surface area, typically where it is the flakes that were removed and the cores that were left behind. In such situations, the removal of flakes with small volumes will result in the removal of relatively large cortical surface areas resulting in a low cortex ratio. However, when it is the cores that were removed, assemblages will lose greater proportions of artifact volume relative to the loss of artifact surface area. Here, we propose methods to investigate the effects of high-volume artifact removal from archeological assemblages as a proxy for human movement in addition to the cortex ratio. We apply the methods to stone artifact assemblages from the Fayum, Egypt, where changes in mid-Holocene mobility are closely linked to food production.     

Elucidating post-harvest practices involved in the processing of algarrobo (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Prosopis</Emphasis> spp.) for food at El Shincal Inka site (Northwest Argentina): an experimental approach based on charred remains

It is known from previous studies that qualitative and quantitative morphological attributes of food products and residues may permit the identification of different food processing activities in desiccated algarrobo (Prosopis chilensis and Prosopis flexuosa) remains. Experimental approaches are used here in order to (1) evaluate if those diagnostic features persist even after charring and (2) to use these results as a means of interpreting types of processing from archaeobotanical contexts of the Inka site of El Shincal. Experimentation was made on the basis of traditional practices which were registered during previous ethnobotanical work in the area. Diagnostic patterns of Prosopis flours and patay (bread), as well as of añapa/aloja (fresh and alcoholic beverages, respectively) and arrope (syrup) residues were stipulated for charred remains. In the specific case of El Shincal, specimens derived from flour manufacture (unrefined and refined) and añapa/aloja residues were recognized from different buildings. This must have implied a special organization of the production and the people working on that, in the sense of post-harvest intensification.     

Identification of woods dating back to the Neolithic Age released from the YENİKAPI (İSTANBUL) excavations

Many ruins dating back to the Neolithic Age have been unearthed at Yenikap? during the archaeological excavations carried out as part of the Marmaray Metro Project. Wood samples of these ruins were sectioned via freezing sliding microtome. These sections became permanent slides and they were compared with reference to slides, wood identification atlases and books in order to identify their taxa. Only 240 samples could be sectioned from among 430 wood samples. As a result of the identification, the following were determined: Quercus spp., Q. pontica, Juniperus spp., Ficus spp., Juglans spp., Fraxinus spp., Alnus glutinosa, Abies spp., Salix sp., Acer spp., Ulmus spp., Castanea sativa and Taxus baccata.