Sexing cattle horn‐cores: problems and progress

It has long been recognised that cattle horn‐cores are sexually dimorphic, and many methods have been developed using archaeological material for differentiating between specimens belonging to cows, bulls and oxen. Whilst these techniques have been adopted widely by zooarchaeologists, in particular those studying medieval and post‐medieval tannery and horn‐working assemblages, they are highly subjective and their reliability has never been tested using material from cattle of known sex. This paper seeks to redress the balance. It presents the results of a study of 19th and 20th century cattle horn‐cores, from animals of known age, sex and breed, which were examined and measured in order to test the validity of traditional horn‐core sexing techniques. Previously claimed traits of sexual variation are here refuted, and a new metrical threshold for separating the males and females of ‘medium‐horned’ and ‘long‐horned’ types are presented. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Burnt bones and teeth: an experimental study of color,morphology, crystal structure and shrinkage

Burnt osteological materials are one focus of interest in forensic, archaeological, and palaeontological studies. We document the effects of experimental, controlled heating on a sample of modern bones and teeth from sheep and goats. Four aspects of heating specimens to between 20 and 940°C were considered: color, microscopic morphology, crystalline structure and shrinkage. Our results show that changes in both color and microscopic morphology of burnt bones and teeth can be divided into five stages each of which is typical of a particular temperature range, although the stages based on color do not correlate exactly with those based on micromorphology. These stages can be used to determine (1) if specimens of unknown taphonomic history were burnt, and (2) the maximum temperature reached by those specimens. In addition, powder X-ray diffraction studies show that heating causes an increase in the crystal size of hydroxyapatite, the major inorganic component of bones and teeth. This fact in conjunction with the microscopic morphology can be used to confirm deduced heating to 645°C or more. The data on shrinkage are analyzed to yield a polynomial expression that summarizes percentage shrinkage as a function of the maximum temperature reached by bones. Thus, the original size of specimens can be reconstructed within limits since the maximum temperature reached by the bones can be deduced on the basis of color, microscopic morphology and/or powder X-ray diffraction patterns. Finally, because there is a discrepancy between the maximum heating device temperature and the maximum specimen temperature, caution must be exercised in distinguishing between the effects of man made and natural fires.     

Incremental banding in dental cementum: Methods of preparation for teeth from archaeological sites and for modern comparative specimens

Analysis of incremental banding in dental cementum is a well-established means of determining the age and season of death of wild mammals. The dental cementum of domesticated mammals likewise can indicate age and season of death. Methods of preparation applicable to archaeological teeth differ from those used for modern specimens, however, and this paper describes two methods that have given excellent imaging on teeth of Bos taurus; one for modern teeth and the other for teeth from archaeological sites.     

NEUTRON ACTIVATION PATTERNING OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL MATERIALS AT THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ‘DEMOKRITOS’: THE CASE OF BLACK‐ON‐RED NEOLITHIC POTTERY FROM MACEDONIA,GREECE

A short history of the application of NAA in the characterization of archaeological materials at the National Center for Scientific Research ‘Demokritos’, Athens, is presented. NAA was first applied in archaeology in 1974 at the Radioanalytical Laboratory, and since 1989 has been one of the primary analytical techniques of the ‘Demokritos’ archaeometry programme. A case study is also presented, concerning chemical patterning of the black‐on‐red Neolithic pottery class from Macedonia. Four chemical groups were identified, each corresponding to a different area of production. It is shown that this standardized concept of pottery technology and style was spread out within at least eastern Macedonia.     

Assessing Post‐traumatic Time Interval in Human Dry Bone

The post‐traumatic status of antemortem fractures in human dry bone remains is currently defined as being either ‘healing’ or ‘healed’. However, detailed ‘dating’ of the related post‐traumatic time interval would be desirable, since it would aid in assessing individual medical status and care at the time of death. Within forensic pathology practice, fresh tissue healing phases are routinely used as an intrinsic parameter for the length of the post‐traumatic time interval. Unfortunately, the direct application of such a method is hampered when applied to dry bone skeletal material. This study explores the possibility of applying a fracture dating system, drawn forth from the traditional forensic pathology method, on dry bone remains. More specifically, the aim is to establish the extent to which various histomorphological features indicative of specific time intervals of healing are consistently detectable. Human dry bones with fractures and amputations in various phases of healing were studied. Results show that the complementary use of radiological and histological investigation techniques improves the differentiation between various healing phases and thus allow for a more detailed dating of lesions. For future use, healing features that have proven to be consistently detectable and their related post traumatic time intervals are listed. The system aids in demarcating a considerably more ‘narrow’ post‐traumatic time interval than usual. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Managing,Valuing, and Protecting Heritage Resources in the Twenty-First Century: Peatland Archaeology,the Ecosystem Services Framework,and the Kyoto Protocol

Abstract

This paper argues that the development of the Ecosystem Services framework, which has recently emerged as an internationally recognized framework for valuing ‘the ‘natural capital’ of ecosystems, presents a number of opportunities for heritage management and the archaeological record, arguing that the inclusion of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental ‘value’ within this framework presents an opportunity to incorporate heritage alongside a range of other critical ‘services’. It presents a short case study focusing on the problems facing the preservation of peatland archaeological sites and deposits in situ alongside developments within peatland conservation and restoration initiatives partly driven by the ability of healthy, functioning peatlands to sequester carbon and hence mitigate climate change. It is argued that this drive towards peatland re-wetting may bring both positive benefits and opportunities for heritage management but also presents a number of practical issues, which now require active engagement from the archaeological community.     

Sex estimation using cervical dental measurements in an archaeological population from Iran

Sex estimation of skeletal remains is one of the major components of forensic identification of unknown individuals. Teeth are a potential source of information on sex and are often recovered in archaeological or forensic contexts due to their post-mortem longevity. Currently, there is limited data on dental sexual dimorphism of archaeological populations from Iran. This paper represents the first study to provide a dental sex estimation method for Iron Age populations. The current study was conducted on the skeletal remains of 143 adults from two Iron Age populations in close temporal and geographic proximity in the Solduz Valley (West Azerbaijan Province of Iran). Mesiodistal and buccolingual cervical measurements of 1334 maxillary and mandibular teeth were used to investigate the degree of sexual dimorphism in permanent dentition and to assess their applicability in sex estimation. Data was analysed using discriminant function analysis (SPSS 23), and posterior probabilities were calculated for all produced formulae. The results showed that incisors and canines were the most sexually dimorphic teeth, providing percentages of correct sex classification between 86.4 and 100 % depending on the measurement used. The combination of canines and other teeth improved significantly the level of correct sex classification. The highest percentages of sex classification were obtained by the combination of canines and incisors (100 %) and canines and molars (92.3 %). The present study provided the first reference standards for sex estimation using odontometric data in an Iranian archaeological population. Cervical measurements were found to be of value for sex assessment, and the method presented here can be a useful tool for establishing accurate demographic data from skeletal remains of the Iron Age from Iran.     

Tracing the Distribution of Late 16th and Early 17th Century European Copper Artefacts in Southern Québec and Ontario,Canada

To understand the nature of trade/exchange of ‘Basque’ copper kettles and their fragments among Indigenous communities from Québec to Ontario, Canada, we examined 948 copper samples from 75 archaeological sites. We found that 936 samples were sortable into 11 coarse chemical groups: seven biased towards Ontario, three favouring Québec and only one balanced between the two provinces. This pattern may represent kettles and pieces ‘mostly traded’ or ‘mostly kept’ by Indigenous groups within Québec. Chemical group distribution within individual provinces is complex. A tentative chronology of copper chemical groups provides additional insight into the complex trading/exchange patterns among the Indigenous groups of southern Ontario.     

Neolithic pigs from Durrington Walls,Wiltshire, England: a biometrical database

The large assemblage of animal remains from Late Neolithic Durrington Walls (Wiltshire, England) provides an opportunity to examine patterns of variability in the measurements of pig bones and teeth in a large archaeological sample, and to propose a set of ‘standard’ measurements to be used as a comparison with other European sites. The results provide a basis for suggesting which measurements are best suited to tackle different questions, such as the separation of populations, sexes and age groups.     

Kites — new discoveries and a new type

The stone structures known as kites and found widely in ‘Arabia’, are one of the more intriguing archaeological traces in what are often arid and bleak landscapes. They were first reported from the air in 1927, and by 1995 — largely through interpretation of old aerial photographs — c.500 had been identified. Now (2012), remote‐sensing techniques of various kinds have produced a huge increase, to over 3000. Recent work has also extended the geographical spread of kites in ‘Arabia’, from south‐eastern Turkey and north‐western Iraq to central Yemen. Much detailed work will be required to develop and refine a typology for kites as a whole and to digest and present data from remote sensing on which specialists may build interpretations and explanations. Current tabulation and mapping, however, already reveal patterns, and the discovery of an unusual form in the desert between Damascus and Palmyra in Syria deserves special attention.     

International Heritage Tourism in Rwanda: Paving Over the Past at the Musanze Caves

Through a case study of the Musanze Caves, this paper describes the impact of Rwanda’s heritage tourism industry on archaeological resources. The paper outlines Rwanda’s tourism industry and describes how it privileges ‘natural heritage’ above ‘cultural heritage’, a situation which is negatively impacting upon archaeological sites such as the Musanze Caves. To create the Musanze Caves tourism experience there has been significant non-archaeological excavation and construction in the caves, which has damaged regionally significant archaeological remains that date from 1000 CE to the present. Furthermore, the Musanze Caves tourism experience does not incorporate extant archaeological information into the presented narrative, which is instead based on ‘natural heritage’ and adventure tourism. This situation is damaging rare resources that might help construct new historical narratives to replace untenable colonial and pre-genocide ones, and is generally unhelpful in communicating the knowledge that we do have about the region’s history.     

Landscape Construction and Long-Term Economic Practices: an Example from the Spanish Mediterranean Uplands Through Rock Art Archaeology

We argue in this paper that Levantine rock art in the Spanish Mediterranean basin allows us to ‘map’ the economic landscape of its makers. Rock art would be the ‘monumental’ side of a dual process of landscape construction: on the one hand, rock art is the first ‘cultural’ action on the landscape beginning in the Early Neolithic; on the other hand, the first evidence of active modification of the Mediterranean vegetation comes from this period. But this evidence as well as other kinds of archaeological remains are still relatively scarce in the uplands; rock art is therefore the most complete type of evidence we can use to support an early use of the Mediterranean upland environment. We use statistical and geographical analysis, together with archaeological, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic sources and pollen data, in order to support the idea of early use and exploitation of the Mediterranean uplands since the Neolithic, and into contemporary times.     

Quantifying histological changes in archaeological bones using BSE–SEM image analysis

Recent years have seen rapid developments in the understanding of diagenetic changes to archaeological bones. In particular, the degradation or preservation of proteins and other biomolecules has been explored using an increasingly sophisticated battery of analytical techniques. Problems remain, however, in correlating these parameters with physical changes to bone that may be observed microscopically. This is due, in part, to the problems in reproducibly quantifying histological changes to archaeological bone. This paper introduces a novel method for the accurate quantification of these changes employing image analysis of SEM images. Self–consistency of results was tested using measurements of total calcium content at different magnifications. The term ‘bioerosion index’ is suggested for the measured parameter.     

First Geochemical ‘Fingerprinting’ of Balkan and Prut Flint from Palaeolithic Romania: Potentials,Limitations and Future Directions

Long‐distance raw material transfers across Romania prior to the Last Glacial Maximum have previously been inferred from either visual and/or petrographic observations of East Carpathian sites. We investigated the potential to ‘fingerprint’ flint from archaeological sites at Mitoc‐Malu Galben and Bistricioara–Lut?rie III in Eastern Romania, using in situ high‐precision analyses of 28 major, minor and trace elements determined by laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS) in combination with multivariate statistical analysis. Our results suggest that geochemical analyses have the ability to distinguish between different geographical sources but are unable to positively associate flint artefacts from archaeological contexts to these geochemical groups. The mismatches of signatures between artefacts and geological materials, however, raise new questions and open unforeseen perspectives.     

Later Stone Age shellfishing behaviour at Dunefield Midden (Western Cape,South Africa)

Later Stone Age shellfishing behaviour was analysed within a unique archaeological context using computer aided spatial analysis techniques. The young age, the short occupation and large excavated area of the site ‘Dunefield Midden’ (Western Cape, South Africa) made it an ideal candidate for the investigation of patterns within shellfish distributions. A model describing the factors involved in causing shellfish patterning on archaeological sites was developed and used as a guide for the interpretation of the analyses. Human behaviour was successfully identified to have produced patterns in the shellfish distributions providing a new understanding of the practices of the prehistoric inhabitants. All results were summarized in a model of shellfishing behaviour at ‘Dunefield Midden’.     

THE ANALYSIS OF DYESTUFFS FROM FIRST‐ TO SECOND‐CENTURY TEXTILE ARTEFACTS FOUND IN THE MARTRES‐DE‐VEYRE (FRANCE) EXCAVATIONS*

A series of Gallo‐Roman clothes and miscellaneous textile fragments from the first and second centuries from the Martres‐de‐Veyre necropolis (Puy‐de‐Dôme, France) was investigated. The objects studied were excavated between 1851 and 1923, during successive rounds of archaeological work. Since that time, they have been conserved in the Barguin Museum at Clermont‐Ferrand. The target of our research was dye identification, as it gives very interesting and useful information regarding the ancient technology. This approach has until now not been considered to be relevant and, unfortunately, is not systematic. The analysis was carried out by high‐performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection (HPLC–PDA). The small samples (threads up to 0.6 mg, less than 1 cm long) of coloured textile fibres were submitted to this technique. In one case, X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis was applied. According to the analysis, the dyeing sources proposed are the Rubiaceae family for red, a luteolin ‘base’ for yellow, ellagitannins for brown and indigo for blue colours. Several samples did not seem to contain any dye. We point out possible factors for the partial dye source determination: instrumental limits, sample size, low dyestuff content in analysed samples and the dyes’ decomposition during ageing. Some improvements of dye analysis in archaeological samples by separation techniques based on recent analytical instrumentation and combined approaches are proposed.     

It’s the Ideology,Stupid! In Macri’s Argentina: A Reportage

A first snapshot from the frontlines of ‘change’ in Latin America: cumbia music from the Casa Rosada, police repression against villeros and indigenous activists, and soul-searching amidst supporters of the ‘Victory Front’ in the face of defeat. Have we now moved from the ‘pink’ to the ‘yellow tide’?     

Exploring the Coroplasts’ ‘Techne’ in Greek Architectural Terracottas from Sicily: an Archaeometric Approach

The study intends to support the archaeological questions about the technological choices related to the manufacturing of an important class of archaic artefacts—the fictile roof revetments of the temples—in the Greek colonies of Sicily, unveiling the possible relations among raw materials, decorative and firing techniques and functionality of the architectural terracottas. By applying a multidisciplinary and a multimethodological archaeometric approach, the aforementioned questions have been addressed, explaining the technological expedients employed by the coroplasts in the manufacturing of the roof revetments, and suggesting interesting mobility schemes of both raw materials and ‘techne’ (know‐how) throughout the island.