RETHINKING THE SMALL PIG HORIZON AT YORK MINSTER

Summary.   The small pig horizon within the headquarters building of the legionary fortress of Eboracum (York) is a unique assemblage of early post-Roman animal bones. Originally interpreted as evidence of an impoverished Dark Age community scratching out a living within the ruined fortress, reinterpretation of this deposit suggests that it may be evidence of the economic power of a post-Roman elite conspicuously consuming suckling pig, perhaps in an echo of high-status Roman dietary preferences.     

SHA'AR HAGOLAN AND NEW INSIGHTS ON NEAR EASTERN PROTO-HISTORIC URBAN CONCEPTS

Summary.   The new results from the Pottery Neolithic site of Sha'ar Hagolan in Israel, dated to 6400–6000 BC (calibrated), reveal advanced notions of settlement planning, including the introduction of courtyard houses, a street system and infrastructure such as the construction of a water well. It is suggested, on the basis of the Near Eastern archaeological evidence from the eighth to sixth millennia BC, that early signs of urban concepts may be found at this stage. These signs show the development of 'functionally hierarchical' concepts reflected in domestic architecture and settlement planning. At least from the cognitive point of view, these concepts may be on the direct trajectory towards the full-blown urban centres of the fourth and third millennia BC in the Near East.     

AN ANGLO-SAXON EXECUTION CEMETERY AT WALKINGTON WOLD, YORKSHIRE

Summary.   This paper presents a re-evaluation of a cemetery excavated over 30 years ago at Walkington Wold in east Yorkshire. The cemetery is characterized by careless burial on diverse alignments, and by the fact that most of the skeletons did not have associated crania. The cemetery has been variously described as being the result of an early post-Roman massacre, as providing evidence for a 'Celtic' head cult or as an Anglo-Saxon execution cemetery. In order to resolve the matter, radiocarbon dates were acquired and a re-examination of the skeletal remains was undertaken. It was confirmed that the cemetery was an Anglo-Saxon execution cemetery, the only known example from northern England, and the site is set into its wider context in the paper.     

USING AND ABANDONING ROUNDHOUSES: A REINTERPRETATION OF THE EVIDENCE FROM LATE BRONZE AGE–EARLY IRON AGE SOUTHERN ENGLAND

Summary.   It has recently been demonstrated that a number of roundhouses of the early first millennium BC in southern England show a concentration of finds in the southern half of the building. It has thus been argued that this area was used for domestic activities such as food preparation, an idea which has formed the basis for discussion of later prehistoric 'cosmologies'. However, reconsideration of the evidence suggests that this finds patterning does not relate to the everyday use of the buildings, being more likely to derive from a particular set of house abandonment practices. Furthermore, evidence can be identified for the location of domestic activities within contemporary roundhouses that appears to contradict the established model.     

THE LEAD INGOTS OF CAPO PASSERO: ROMAN GLOBAL MEDITERRANEAN TRADE

Summary.   Epigraphic and isotopic analysis of the lead ingots recovered from a shipwreck off Capo Passero (in Sicily) in mid-2006 suggests that the ingots were produced in Spain, in the Cartagena region. The shipwreck is estimated to have occurred around 38 BC, at the beginning of the Hispanic era. This provides further evidence that the Romans were trading lead throughout the Mediterranean Sea.     

'WHY THEY CAME'; THE COLONIZATION OF THE COAST OF WESTERN SWEDEN AND ITS ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT AT THE END OF THE LAST GLACIATION

Summary.   In this paper we will bring into view new aspects of Late Palaeolithic and early Mesolithic research on the west coast of Sweden. In doing so, we make use of oceanography and tidal modelling, in conjunction with basic research in the fields of archaeology and palynology. The focus of research concerns the Hensbacka culture group in central Bohuslän, a group of hunter-gatherers which visited the area between c.10,300–9300 bp (10,200/10,000–8500 cal BC). Recent investigations indicate that the frequency of Hensbacka sites in the archipelago of central Bohuslän, which at that time had a total land area of c.500 sq km, might well represent the highest site density area in northern Europe during a c.1000-year period of time at the close of the Late Glacial and beginning of the early Post Glacial. In the pages that follow, we will discuss how, and why, this 'seasonal colonization' was possible.     

Rapid Na, Cu exchange between synthetic fluid inclusions and external aqueous solutions: evidence from LA-ICP-MS analysis

Three sets of equilibration experiments (Set 1 to Set 3) were performed in cold-seal pressure vessels to investigate the compositional modification of quartz-hosted fluid inclusions after entrapment. Each set of experiment consisted of two stages. In a pre-run, fluid inclusions containing 5–10 wt% NaCl and selected trace elements were synthesized at 700°C/140–200 MPa. These samples were then loaded into new capsules together with Cu-bearing solutions and some mineral buffers, and re-equilibrated at 600–800°C and 70–140 MPa for 6–8 days. LA-ICP-MS analysis of individual fluid inclusions reveals that in re-equilibration experiments in which the outer fluid was composed of KCl (±FeCl₂) up to 83% of the original Na content of pre-existing fluid inclusions were lost, and up to 5660 ppm Cu were gained. Other elements with larger ionic radii (i.e. K, Fe, Ba, Sr) were not exchanged, demonstrating that the inclusions remained physically intact and that Na and Cu were transported through quartz by diffusion. The observed Na loss from pre-existing fluid inclusions correlates positively with Cu gain, with about 1 Cu atom being gained per 10 Na atoms lost. Thus, Na and Cu (plus probably H) were exchanged by interdiffusion. Remarkably, this processes resulted in up to 10 times higher Cu concentrations in re-equilibrated inclusions than were present in the outer fluid, i.e. Cu diffused 'uphill'. Large variations of Cu concentrations relative to the concentration of other elements are common also in natural fluid inclusion assemblages. However, no evidence for a correlation between Cu content and Na content was found so far, suggesting that Cu diffusion in natural samples may be dominated by processes other than Na–Cu interdiffusion.     

Numerical model of pore‐pressure diffusion associated with the initiation of the 2010–2011 Guy–Greenbrier,Arkansas earthquakes

We model pore‐pressure diffusion caused by pressurized waste‐fluid injection at two nearby wells and then compare the buildup of pressure with the observed initiation and migration of earthquakes during the early part of the 2010–2011 Guy–Greenbrier earthquake swarm. Pore‐pressure diffusion is calculated using MODFLOW 2005 that allows the actual injection histories (volume/day) at the two wells to diffuse through a fractured and faulted 3D aquifer system representing the eastern Arkoma basin. The aquifer system is calibrated using the observed water‐level recovery following well shut‐in at three wells. We estimate that the hydraulic conductivities of the Boone Formation and Arbuckle Group are 2.2 × 10^?2 and 2.03 × 10^?3 m day^?1, respectively, with a hydraulic conductivity of 1.92 × 10^?2 m day^?1 in the Hunton Group when considering 1.72 × 10^?3 m day^?1 in the Chattanooga Shale. Based on the simulated pressure field, injection near the relatively conductive Enders and Guy–Greenbrier faults (that hydraulically connect the Arbuckle Group with the underlying basement) permits pressure diffusion into the crystalline basement, but the effective radius of influence is limited in depth by the vertical anisotropy of the hydraulic diffusivity. Comparing spatial/temporal changes in the simulated pore‐pressure field to the observed seismicity suggests that minimum pore‐pressure changes of approximately 0.009 and 0.035 MPa are sufficient to initiate seismic activity within the basement and sedimentary sections of the Guy–Greenbrier fault, respectively. Further, the migration of a second front of seismicity appears to follow the approximately 0.012 MPa and 0.055 MPa pore‐pressure fronts within the basement and sedimentary sections, respectively.     

PROCESSION AND SYMBOLISM AT TARA: ANALYSIS OF TECH MIDCHÚARTA (THE 'BANQUETING HALL') IN THE CONTEXT OF THE SACRAL CAMPUS

Summary.   New analysis explores Tech Midchúarta (the 'Banqueting Hall') from the point of view of a sacral, processional approach to the summit of the Hill of Tara, the pre-eminent cult and inauguration site of prehistoric and early medieval Ireland. It is suggested that aspects of its architectural form symbolize the liminal boundary between the human world and the Otherworld of Tara, and that in so far as Tech Midchúarta is also designed to control and manipulate how the ceremonial complex is disclosed to the observer, it assembles the existing monuments into one, integrated ceremonial campus. It is argued that Tech Midchúarta is one of the later monuments on the Hill of Tara and that it may date from the early medieval period. Using the evidence of documentary sources and extant monuments, a possible processional route from Tech Midchúarta to Ráith na Ríg is described.

Immráidem fós Long na Láech
frisanabar Barc Ban mbáeth.
Tech na Fían, nirbo long lec,
co cethri doirsib deac.
Let us consider too the Hall of the Heroes
which is called the Palace of Vain Women;
the House of Warriors, it was no mean hall,
with fourteen doors.

( Gwynn 1903–35 , Metrical Dindshenchas III, 18)     

Traffic volume and highway permeability for a mammalian community in the Canadian Rocky Mountains

We examined whether highway traffic volume changed the rates of movement (habitat permeability) for ten mammalian species in the central Canadian Rocky Mountains. Winter track count data were collected on four highways of varying traffic volume: the Trans-Canada Highway (TCH) (14,000 annual average daily traffic [AADT]) and 1A Highway (3,000 AADT) in Banff National Park and the Highway 40 (5,000 AADT) and Smith Dorrien Trail in Kananaskis Country (2,000 AADT). Permeability represented the ratio of road crossing tracks/km to tracks/km on transects adjacent to roads. We compared permeability at the community level and for carnivore and ungulate guilds, using a Kruskal–Wallis H -test. Traffic volume significantly reduced habitat permeability for the community ( P  < 0.05). Pair-wise Kruskal–Wallis tests showed that habitat permeability was significantly reduced for carnivores at high traffic volume ( P  = 0.008) and for ungulates at very high traffic volume ( P  < 0.043). Cross-referencing with winter traffic counts, we found movement was impaired for carnivores when traffic ranged from 300 to 500 vehicles per day (VPD) and for ungulates between 500 and 5,000 VPD. Our results indicated that the TCH requires mitigation to restore habitat permeability for all species and yielded strong evidence that the Highway 40 is a priority for mitigation.     

Fluid inclusion and stable isotope constraints on the genesis of the Jian copper deposit,Sanandaj–Sirjan metamorphic zone,Iran

The Jian copper deposit, located on the eastern edge of the Sanandaj–Sirjan metamorphic zone, southwest of Iran, is contained within the Surian Permo‐Triassic volcano‐sedimentary complex. Retrograde metamorphism resulted in three stages of mineralization (quartz ± sulfide veins) during exhumation of the Surian metamorphic complex (Middle Jurassic time; 159–167 Ma), and after the peak of the metamorphism (Middle to Late Triassic time; approximately 187 Ma). The early stage of mineralization (stage 1) is related to a homogeneous H₂O–CO₂ (XCO₂ > 0.1) fluid characterized by moderate salinity (<10 wt.% NaCl equivalent) at high temperature and pressure (>370°C, >3 kbar). Early quartz was followed by small amounts of disseminated fine‐grained pyrite and chalcopyrite. Most of the main‐ore‐stage (stage 2) minerals, including chalcopyrite, pyrite and minor sphalerite, pyrrhotite, and galena, precipitated from an aqueous‐carbonic fluid (8–18 wt.% NaCl equivalent) at temperatures ranging between 241 and 388°C during fluid unmixing process (CO₂ effervescence). Fluid unmixing in the primary carbonaceous fluid at pressures of 1.5–3 kbar produced a high XCO₂ (>0.05) and a low XCO₂ (<0.01) aqueous fluid in ore‐bearing quartz veins. Oxygen and hydrogen isotope compositions suggest mineralization by fluids derived from metamorphic dehydration (δ¹⁸O_fluid = +7.6 to +10.7‰ and δD = ?33.1 to ?38.5‰) during stage 2. The late stage (stage 3) is related to a distinct low salinity (1.5–8 wt.% NaCl equivalent) and temperatures of (120–230°C) aqueous fluid at pressures below 1.5 kbar and the deposition of post‐ore barren quartz veins. These fluids probably derived from meteoric waters, which circulated through the metamorphic pile at sufficiently high temperatures and acquire the characteristics of metamorphic fluids (δ¹⁸O_fluid = +4.7 to +5.1‰ and δD = ?52.3 to ?53.9‰) during waning stages of the postearly Cimmerian orogeny in Surian complex. The sulfide‐bearing quartz veins are interpreted as a small‐scale example of redistribution of mineral deposits by metamorphic fluids. This study suggests that mineralization at the Jian deposit is metamorphogenic in style, probably related to a deep‐seated mesothermal system.     

NEW EVIDENCE FOR IRON AGE SECONDARY BURIAL PRACTICE AND BONE MODIFICATION FROM GUSSAGE ALL SAINTS AND MAIDEN CASTLE (DORSET, ENGLAND)

Summary.   The Middle and Late Iron Age samples of disarticulated human remains from the settlement site of Gussage All Saints and the hillfort of Maiden Castle (Dorset, England) were investigated for evidence of funerary rites. The samples were examined using osteological, forensic and archaeological methodologies for evidence of excarnation and secondary burial. The study found evidence for dry-fractures, animal gnawing and peri-mortem trauma, indicating that many individuals had received blunt-force cranial fractures and/or weapon injuries at the time of death. The taphonomic indicators showed that bodies were excarnated, received secondary burial treatment and then selected skull and long bones were incorporated into structured deposits. Osteological analysis also showed that the majority of individuals were adult males, which corresponded to patterns of trauma in the inhumated sample from Dorset. Two bones also provided unique evidence within Dorset for the cultural modification of human remains.     

A THOUSAND AND ONE COLUMNS: OBSERVATIONS ON THE ROMAN GRANITE TRADE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AREA

Summary.   Provenancing and archaeological information on Roman granite columns in the Mediterranean area has been collated from a range of published papers by the author and others, together with new analyses for Rome, to produce an integrated dataset comprising 1176 columns. This dataset allows an overview of Roman granite trade in seven regions across the Mediterranean area. Examination of the data indicates that columns made from Troad (Turkish) granite are the most numerous observed overall (compatible with Lazzarini's earlier (2004) observation that this is the most widely distributed type), followed by Aswan, then Elba and Giglio, and Kozak Dağ ( Marmor Misium ). In the city of Rome, Mons Claudianus columns predominate. In geographically peripheral parts of the Roman world (Spain, Israel), granite columns are mainly from local sources, and are generally of smaller sizes than those seen in Rome and Tuscany. Analytical data can be used to suggest multiple extraction sites within some quarries, and have the potential for identification of specific intra-quarry provenance. Dating evidence for primary use of columns from the quarries considered is relatively sparse, but suggests early (first century BC) exploitation of Spanish and Elba granites, while column production at Aswan and Troad persisted into the fourth century followed by reuse within later antiquity, in the fifth and seventh centuries AD.     

Permeability of the continental crust: dynamic variations inferred from seismicity and metamorphism

The variation of permeability with depth can be probed indirectly by various means, including hydrologic models that use geothermal data as constraints and the progress of metamorphic reactions driven by fluid flow. Geothermal and metamorphic data combine to indicate that mean permeability ( k ) of tectonically active continental crust decreases with depth ( z ) according to log  k  ≈ −14–3.2 log  z , where k is in m² and z in km. Other independently derived, crustal-scale k – z relations are generally similar to this power-law curve. Yet there is also substantial evidence for local-to-regional-scale, transient, permeability-generation events that entail permeabilities much higher than these mean k – z relations would suggest. Compilation of such data yields a fit to these elevated, transient values of log  k  ≈ −11.5–3.2 log  z , suggesting a functional form similar to that of tectonically active crust, but shifted to higher permeability at a given depth. In addition, it seems possible that, in the absence of active prograde metamorphism, permeability in the deeper crust will decay toward values below the mean k – z curves. Several lines of evidence suggest geologically rapid (years to 10³ years) decay of high-permeability transients toward background values. Crustal-scale k – z curves may reflect a dynamic competition between permeability creation by processes such as fluid sourcing and rock failure, and permeability destruction by processes such as compaction, hydrothermal alteration, and retrograde metamorphism.     

HOUSES FOR THE DEAD AND CAIRNS FOR THE LIVING; A RECONSIDERATION OF THE EARLY TO MIDDLE BRONZE AGE TRANSITION IN SOUTH-WEST ENGLAND

Summary.   The Early to Middle Bronze Age transition period has often been interpreted as involving a move to 'rational' food-producing societies. More recently, models have been advanced which have highlighted the presence of ritualized practices within Middle Bronze Age society. However, many of these interpretations have largely been based upon evidence from excavated settlements in central southern England. This paper examines the need to consider the transition period at a more localized level and presents the evidence from south-west England.     

LATE BRONZE AND IRON AGE LAKE SETTLEMENT IN SCOTLAND AND IRELAND: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE 'CRANNOG' IN THE NORTH AND WEST

Summary.   This paper considers the evidence for the origins and development of the lake settlement tradition of Scotland and Ireland in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages. Considering a crannog 'event horizon' around the mid-first millennium BC, dating and structural evidence are compared and contrasted, and the evidence for non-domestic activity including ritual and votive deposition is contextualized. It is argued that the concurrent appearance of crannogs with the flourish of domestic monumentality in Scotland and Ireland can be seen as a consequence of the fusion of ritual and domestic spheres of life in the later first millennium BC, integrating the themes of architectural monumentality and the Iron Age reverence of water.     

Comedy in Paestan vase painting

Summary.   The 'phlyax' vases of magna graecia are now known to represent actors and staging of Middle Comedy. More than half of the comic vases dating from the third quarter of the fourth century BC were painted in Paestum by Asteas and his circle, who were influenced by the Sicilian Painter of Louvre K 240. This paper asks whether these painters worked from direct observation of the theatre; and if so, whether the vases are evidence for details of performance methods in Paestum or in Sicily, and at what period. The stage and skene , masks, costumes and comic acting style are considered, together with the link between Asteas and the Painter of Louvre K 240 and the significance of the disagreement of their evidence with that of the Manfria Group of Sicilian painters.     

WHO WERE THE GLASSMAKERS? STATUS,THEORY AND METHOD IN MID‐SECOND MILLENNIUM GLASS PRODUCTION

Summary.   Glass was first produced in a regular and controlled manner in the Near East in the sixteenth century BC. This paper examines a wide variety of textual, archaeological and analytical sources to try and determine more about the makers of this first glass. It attempts to show how modern ideas about medieval glassmaking have been anachronistically applied to the second millennium BC, and readdresses this by turning instead to second millennium sources of evidence. Using these sources, it investigates the position of glass within Late Bronze Age society and the status of glassmakers themselves. It goes on to examine the evidence for ritual and experimental behaviour in LBA crafts and industries and applies this to ideas of technological innovation and change in the period. It looks at the alchemical nature of glass production and proposes new ways of attempting to understand the glassmakers themselves.     

EARLY IRON AGE BALANCE WEIGHTS AT LEFKANDI, EUBOEA

Summary.   This report analyses the 16 stone balance weights and fragments recovered in 1994 from the ninth-century BC Tomb 79 in the Toumba cemetery at Lefkandi, Euboea, the tomb of the 'Warrior Trader'. In material, shapes, and mass standards, the weights are for the most part virtual duplicates of common LBA balance weights from Cyprus and the Levant and attest to (a) the long-term continuity of maritime trading across the Bronze/Iron Age divide in the Cypro-Levantine world, and (b) the active participation of Euboeans in this commercial sphere no later than the early ninth century. Discussed also is the relationship between some of these weights and the later Euboeic weight standard.     

Low‐temperature catalytic CO2 hydrogenation with geological quantities of ruthenium: a possible abiotic CH4 source in chromitite‐rich serpentinized rocks

Metal‐catalysed CO₂ hydrogenation is considered a source of methane in serpentinized (hydrated) igneous rocks and a fundamental abiotic process germane to the origin of life. Iron, nickel, chromium and cobalt are the catalysts typically employed in hydrothermal simulation experiments to obtain methane at temperatures >200°C. However, land‐based present‐day serpentinization and abiotic gas apparently develop below 100°C, down to approximately 40–50°C. Here, we document considerable methane production in thirteen CO₂ hydrogenation experiments performed in a closed dry system, from 20 to 90°C and atmospheric pressure, over 0.9–122 days, using concentrations of non‐pretreated ruthenium equivalent to those occurring in chromitites in ophiolites or igneous complexes (from 0.4 to 76 mg of Ru, equivalent to the amount occurring approximately in 0.4–760 kg of chromitite). Methane production increased with time and temperature, reaching approximately 87 mg CH₄ per gram of Ru after 30 days (2.9 mgCH₄/g_ru/day) at 90°C. At room temperature, CH₄ production rate was approximately three orders of magnitude lower (0.003 mgCH₄/g_ru/day). We report the first stable carbon and hydrogen isotope ratios of abiotic CH₄ generated below 100°C. Using initial δ¹³C_CO2 of ‐40‰, we obtained room temperature δ¹³C_CH4 values as ¹³C depleted as ?142‰. With time and temperature, the C‐isotope separation between CO₂ and CH₄ decreased significantly and the final δ¹³C_CH4 values approached that of initial δ¹³C_CO2. The presence of minor amounts of C₂‐C₆ hydrocarbons is consistent with observations in natural settings. Comparative experiments at the same temperatures with iron and nichel catalysts did not generate CH₄. Ru‐enriched chromitites could potentially generate methane at low temperatures on Earth and on other planets.