Environmental context of a Neolithic site at Beifudi,north-west Hebei Province,China

The earliest evidence of prehistoric religious practice in China found so far comes from excavations at Beifudi, about 120 km south of Beijing, in the form of votive offerings and porcelain sorcery masks dated to the period 8000–7000 yr BP. These finds are part of a rich Neolithic site located on the second river terrace on the north shore of the Yi River. This paper presents results of pollen analysis of part of a sediment profile from a depression at the edge of first terrace towards second terrace, a few hundred metres away from the main archaeological finds. A sequence of marked changes in environment occurred between 9000 cal yr BP and 6000 cal yr BP, and dating evidence suggests strong associations with the ebb and flow of human activity in the area. The first phase of activity on the site begins at around 8000 cal yr BP, towards the end of a period of relatively dry, cold environmental conditions. Between 7800 cal yr BP and 7400 cal yr BP, the first clear evidence of cereal cultivation appears in the pollen record. Rich archaeological finds occur during the same time period, suggesting local prosperity. This first phase of the Beifudi culture ends at 7300 cal yr BP, when warmer and wetter conditions are inferred and wetland areas expand, reducing the area available for crop cultivation near the site. A return to drier and cooler conditions from 6900 cal yr BP corresponds with the second phase of apparent prosperity in the archaeological record from Beifudi. This phase ends at around 6500 cal yr BP, at the start of another shift towards wetter conditions in the flood plain environment. The pollen record suggests that environmental conditions in the flood plain were a major determinant of human activity at Beifudi in the early-mid Holocene.     

Paleoenvironmental reconstruction at Canyon del Muerto,Arizona, based on principal-component analysis

A multivariate statistical technique, principal-component analysis, is used to interpret pollen assemblages from archaeological context in terms of paleoenvironmental information. The pollen samples originate from an archaeological site in northeastern Arizona (Canyon del Muerto) covering the period between AD 700 and AD 1300. Through the use of principal-component analysis the percentage constraint in the pollen counts is removed and the data set effectively reduced to groups of co-varying taxa. Once these groups are ecologically defined as to the environment they represent, their changes of dominance through time can be analysed. This study has shown a correlation between a population expansion in Canyon del Muerto (AD 1050–1150) and the dominance of upland forest types suggesting slightly cooler and/or wetter conditions. The pollen data compare well with the tree-ring indices for this region. Local disturbance is reflected in the record during the period of greatest population. A shift to a shrubland vegetation during the peak construction phase indicates the clearing of cottonwood, fir, spruce and pine (all found within the site) by local inhabitants. Thus, the palynological evidence suggests both cultural and climatic factors are involved in the explanation of pollen deposition.     

DEAD SEA ASPHALT IN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MUMMIES—WHY?

The asphalt from the Dead Sea was an important item of trade in antiquity. Among its many uses, the most widespread was its export to Egypt for use in the mummification process, albeit at a relatively late date; that is, post 1000 bc . Its use became particularly important in the Ptolemaic–Roman period, as demonstrated by a war in the fourth century bc specifically to gain commercial control of this product. Although the reasons why the Egyptians wanted Dead Sea asphalt at this specific time are nowhere specified, the answer may lie in its increasing availability as a (partial) replacement for the plant resins used previously. A review of the historical literature shows that Dead Sea asphalt was used for at least two millennia as a biocidal agent in agricultural practices. It is proposed that the reasons for using Dead Sea asphalt in the mummification process are due to its dual role; first, as an external mechanical shield, when smeared on the exterior of mummy wrapping, to prevent ingress by insects, fungi, bacteria and moisture; and, second, as a biocidal agent (perhaps due to its high sulphur content), which prevented the flesh from decaying, the prime concern for the ancient Egyptians.     

Late Devonian gastropods from the Canning Basin,Western Australia

Over 50 identifications of Tertiary pollen are reviewed. The pollen assemblages indicate rain-forest through most of the Tertiary, but the requisites for pollen preservation are biased towards the wetter climates.

The present day geographical affinities of the botanical groups are largely with taxa of the tropical zone and Australia-wide taxa. There is geographic variation in the fossil pollen assemblages when southeastern Australia is compared with Central Australia and Queensland.

The major changes in the fossil floras coincide with climatic change, indicating the influence of climate on the evolution of plant assemblages. The older phytogeographic concepts are inappropriate for the fossil record, especially when considered in conjunction with palaeoclimates and palaeogeography.

It is unfortunate that palynology has given little information of the evolution of floras in drier climatic regimes, or of the evolution of the eucalypts.     

The hydrogeochemistry of subsurface brines in and west of the Jordan–Dead Sea Transform fault

This study is based on 113 analyses of brines with Cl > 0.57 mol l^?1 (modern seawater), which were collected and analysed mostly during several decades of exploration for gas and oil in Israel. Based on critical evaluation of correlations of elements and ionic ratios and on spider patterns, six different brine events or source brines were identified in the Phanerozoic: the Triassic, Lower Cretaceous and the Mio/Pliocene brine families which were identified in boreholes Sdom‐1, Sdom Deep‐1 and Ha'on, and the Holocene Dead Sea brines. The Triassic brines are nowadays also encountered in under‐ and overlying rock units such as the Paleozoic Negev‐Yam Suf and the Jurassic Arad Groups, respectively. The southern Jordan–Dead Sea Transform (also known as the Rift) hosts the Mio‐Pliocene Sdom Deep and Sdom brine families. Brine bodies not sufficiently isolated by impervious sedimentary layers were flushed out during the Pliocene when the southern Valley drained north‐ and westwards through the Yizre'el Valley to the Mediterranean Sea. In the northern Rift Miocene to Pliocene seawater evaporated and infiltrated into the Rift sediments and into adjacent rocks. Further diluted by freshwater, it emerges as the Ha'on brine. Together with its derivatives, they form the Ha'on family. The derivatives of the Holocene Dead Sea brine family occur along the shoreline of the recent Dead Sea. Apart of all these evaporation brines, brines deriving from dissolution of evaporites locally occur in the area. The time‐bound chemical composition of paleoseawater is considered when discussing the ionic ratios of brines generated during different geological periods. Spider patterns of each brine family are compared and, where necessary, the relationship of brines to distinct families of brines is supported by inverse modelling.     

A functional analysis of grinding stones from an early holocene site at Donghulin,North China

The processes that led to the transition from small mobile groups of hunter-gatherers in the Late Pleistocene to sedentary communities of the Early Holocene in north China are poorly understood. The Donghulin site in Beijing was occupied at the onset of the Holocene, and excavations have revealed a rich archaeological record for investigating the changing subsistence strategies during this transitional period. A functional study of two grinding stones (a slab and a handstone) near a burial dated to 9220–8750 cal BC at Donghulin investigated the range of plants exploited during this early occupation period. Starch residues indicate that the grinding stones were used for processing plants, and confirm processing of acorns, which is consistent with the incidence of oak in the pollen record. The usewear, with only rare patches of developed polish, suggests that plant parts of low silica content were processed, although usewear on the handstone suggests processing of two or more plant taxa. The results suggest that the use of grinding stones to process plant foodstuffs, particularly acorns, may have played a major role in the subsistence strategy during the transitional period to sedentism and agriculture in some parts of north China.     

NEW ANALYSIS OF CYLINDRICAL AND OVOID JARS (‘ARCHIVE JARS') FROM SOUTHERN JUDEA

This paper presents new compositional analysis of 26 fragments of the much‐debated cylindrical and ovoid jars, a vessel type first defined at Khirbet Qumran and associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls. The new samples include 15 examples from Tel ?evron, a site which yielded a pottery workshop and that carries certain similarities with Khirbet Qumran during the Early Roman period, as well as several examples from Jericho and Masada. According to the new as well as previous analyses, many of these jars were produced in the ?evron area; another source may be located in the northern Dead Sea area. The actual function of these jars, and whether they ever contained scrolls, is still unclear.     

Sources of mummy bitumen in ancient Egypt and Palestine

Bitumen used as a preservative in ancient Egyptian mummies was previously thought to come only from the Dead Sea in Palestine. Other, closer sources of bitumen were investigated at Abu Durba and Gebel Zeit on the shores of Egypt’s Gulf of Suez. Bitumen from these localities and from five mummies was analysed using molecular biomarkers derived from gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. It was found that four of the mummies contained Dead Sea bitumen, and the fifth and oldest (900 bc) had bitumen from Gebel Zeit, thus providing the first evidence for the use of an indigenous source of bitumen in ancient Egypt.     

Pollen evidence for major shifts in forest composition since the mid‐nineteenth‐century in the vicinity of Sudbury,Ontario

Numerous anthropogenic stressors have impacted the region surrounding Sudbury, Ontario, leading to pronounced vegetation and landscape change. Few long‐term records exist to understand the nature or timing of this change. We use pollen analysis from radiometrically dated sediments of Clearwater Lake to compare pre‐ and post‐settlement vegetation. Beginning ～1850 CE, the record shows major shifts in forest composition, coincident with settlement and the beginnings of lumbering. These changes are unprecedented for the past ～5000 years, and consist of increases in diversity and abundance of deciduous tree taxa and herbaceous disturbance indicators. While evidence of mining appears as early as 1900 CE, little effect is seen in the pollen record until ～1930 CE, when sedimentation rates increased and acidification of the lake also began. At this time, further increases in palynological disturbance indicators and minimum sediment organic matter levels indicate the period of maximum vegetation loss. As a result of reduced emissions since the 1970s, water quality began to improve in Clearwater Lake and there are some decreases in the abundances of shade‐intolerant disturbance indicators in the pollen record. However, the fact that the pollen assemblages do not resemble those prior to 1850 suggests lasting vegetation changes.     

Cainozoic euphorbiacean wood from the Canning Basin,Western Australia

A new species of fossil wood is described, Bridelioxylon canningense Bamford & McLoughlin, belonging to the Phyllanthoideae group of the Euphorbiaceae. The woods occur in indurated sandstones and conglomerates preserved in palaeochannels incised into the Upper Permian Condren Sandstone in the Landrigan Cliffs, northern Canning Basin, Western Australia. Based on the presence of the dicotyledonous woods and the geomorphological setting of the palaeochannel, a Palaeogene age is suggested for the host rocks. This is the first record of fossil euphorbiacean wood in Australia; pollen has been previously recorded. The fossil wood is most closely comparable to extant members of Bridelia that currently occupy the warmer and wetter parts of Australia.     

A New Type of Composite Anchor Dated to the Fatimid-Crusader Period from the Dead Sea, Israel

Two composite anchors of a kind not hitherto identified, each composed of a re-used ashlar block, a wooden shank, two arms and a rope, were discovered recently on the Dead Sea shoreline. Two additional anchor weights of identical type were found in the same region. The two well-preserved anchors were dated to the Fatimid-Crusader period. The shank and the arms were made from local tree species: Christ thorn and tamarisk, and both ropes of date-palm.
© 2008 The Authors     

Two Ancient Wooden Anchors from Ein Gedi, on the Dead Sea, Israel

Two ancient wooden anchors with ropes, dating to different periods, were found on the western shore of the Dead Sea. The one-armed anchor was dated by 14C to the Late Iron Age—Persian Period, and the second anchor to the Roman Period. The saline water of the Dead Sea preserved the wood and ropes, but corroded almost all the metal parts. A thin black crust of lead and a green crust of copper are the only remains of the collar of the Roman anchor. The finds were made from local tree species and were probably made locally: the one-armed anchor from Acacia, the Roman one from Christ-thorn, and both ropes of date-palm.
© 2005 The Nautical Archaeology Society     

Quaternary Organic Deposit from Newton Creek Valley,Western Tasmania

Pollen and macrofossils from an organic deposit probably 44 ka BP in age record subalpine heath with abundant local Athrotaxis cupressoides. This was succeeded by subalpine heath that included Casuarina, Phyllocladus and Eucalyptus. The pollen/vegetation assemblages are comparable with present subalpine vegetation located between 850–1050 m, though the site is at 550 m and potentially below the limit of temperate rainforest (620 m). It is inferred that the vegetation altered from upper to lower subalpine heath and that the climate became warmer and wetter. The mean temperature is estimated to have been at least 3.2°C to 1.7°C colder than today. The trend of vegetation and climate change compares closely with Late Glacial changes but does not compare with changes recorded from sites of Middle Last Glacial age in the West Coast Ranges. A radiocarbon date of 34 ka BP and a trend towards warming suggests that the deposit may represent the onset of an interstadial during the Early Last Glacial Stage.     

Multi-proxy reconstruction of mire development in the Poręby Wojsławskie ecosystem (Sandomierz Basin, southeastern Poland)

Multi-proxy analysis (sedimentological, palaeobotanical, geochemical data and results of radiocarbon dating) of the biogenic sediments from a small mire ecosystem in the Sandomierz Basin (SE Poland) is presented. The ecosystem contains a full hydroseral sequence from minerotrophic to ombrotrophic wetland. It is one of the few sites in this region which is so thoroughly investigated in terms of the palaeoenvironmental record. Changes in the water supply of the mire area, and consequently the changes in the plant and sediment succession, were well correlated with the regional tendencies in precipitation and temperature during the Late Glacial/Holocene transition and in the Holocene. Human impact is very well recorded in pollen diagram from the Subboreal period.     

Methodologies for assessment of the state of preservation of pollen and plant macrofossil remains in waterlogged deposits

Abstract

Methodologies are proposed for assessing the state of preservation of pollen and plant macrofossil remains based on the investigation of known prehistoric waterlogged sites in the Somerset Levels, under threat from peat extraction and peat wastage. For each sample assessed, a fixed number of pollen grains and macrofossil seeds was classified according to deterioration type and scored for intensity of deterioration. The principal deterioration types recognised for pollen were biochemical (corrosion and degradation) and mechanical (breakage and crumpling). For seeds two main categories of deterioration were adopted, fragmentation and erosion/corrosion of the seed testa. The calculation of preservation indices for pollen and macrofossils allowed comparisons to be made within and between sites. A range of factors which may have influenced variations in preservation are briefly discussed. These methodologies are potentially valuable where there is a need to assess the survival of the archaeobotanical record, particularly where sites are sensitive to environmental change.     

Clearances and Clearings: Deforestation in Mesolithic/Neolithic Britain

Clearances, interpreted from pollen records during the Mesolithic and Neolithic of Europe, are generally ascribed to purposive deforestation which is compatible with the transition model, whereby early Neolithic economic strategies are a development of late Mesolithic intensification of wild plant food husbandry. This paper considers the role of natural processes in creating clearings and the role of inadvertent impact of human activity on forest processes, including woodland regeneration. The role of climate, wind-throw and lightning strikes in creating clearings and forest instability is emphasised and the evidence discussed from sites which may be interpreted as resulting from opportunistic human use of natural clearings. Unfortunately, regional pollen diagrams lack sufficient spatial resolution to detect the size of isolated clearings or establish the spatial variation in forest composition that was intimately related both to forest ecology and the effects of subtle human impacts. This may be the major reason for an apparent contradiction between pollen evidence of Neolithic impact and the archaeological record. Moreover, early Neolithic agricultural activity may have been concentrated in valley bottoms, which is undetectable in regional pollen diagrams. Alternative models need to be considered, which include culturally specific exploitation of the local environment, along with the inadvertent ecological repercussions of pre-agricultural and early-agricultural human activities in naturally dynamic woodlands.     

THE RED INK OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

The red ink on four fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls was analysed by X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction. The red pigment was identified as mercury sulfide (HgS), cinnabar. The significant archaeological and historical aspects of this finding are discussed.     

A multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental investigation of the findspot of an Iron Age bog body from Oldcroghan,Co. Offaly,Ireland

In 2003, the remains of an Early Iron Age bog body, known as ‘Oldcroghan Man’, were recovered during the cutting of a drainage ditch in a bog in the Irish Midlands. Only some fingernails and a withe fragment remained undisturbed in situ in the drain face, providing the sole evidence for the original position of the body. A detailed reconstruction of the depositional context of the body has been undertaken through multi-proxy analyses of a peat monolith collected at the findspot. The palynological record shows that the surrounding area was the focus of intensive human activity during the Later Bronze Age, but was largely abandoned during the Bronze Age–Iron transition in the mid-first millennium BC. In the mid-4th century BC, a bog pool developed at the site, evidenced in the stratigraphic, plant macrofossil, testate amoebae and coleopteran records. Plant macrofossil and pollen analysis of peat samples associated with the fingernails suggests that the body was deposited in this pool most likely during the 3rd century BC. The absence of carrion beetle fauna points to complete submergence of the body within the pool. Deposition occurred shortly before or around the time that the surrounding area again became the focus of woodland clearance, as seen in the extended pollen record from the peat monolith. This period corresponds to the Early Iron Age in Ireland, during which renewed cultural connections with Britain and continental Europe can be seen in the archaeological record and widespread forest clearance is recorded in pollen records from across Ireland. The palaeoenvironmental results indicate, therefore, that the demise of Oldcroghan Man took place at a pivotal time of socio-economic and perhaps political change.     

A Pirate's Life for me: The Maritime Culture of the Sea Peoples

An anthropological approach to a culture extrapolates social structures, traditions, and general organizing principles of that culture from the careful observation of patterns of behaviour as described in case studies. In the absence of a living culture to record, archaeologists extrapolate this information from behaviour reconstructed from spatially determined patterns in the deposition of material remains and from patterns found in the general organizing principles of historically documented cultures, using arguments based on analogy. This contribution builds on our previous research on the “Sea Peoples” as a piratical culture in order to apply an anthropological approach to understanding the cultural identities of the various tribal groups involved in maritime activities at the end of the Bronze Age who are popularly known as the “Sea Peoples”, and place this within the broader context of the current discussions on the transition between the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age in the Mediterranean.     

An overview of bitumen trade in the Near East from the Neolithic (c.8000 BC) to the early Islamic period

The aim of the paper is to summarise the present state of knowledge concerning bitumen trade in the Near East from the Palaeolithic (70,000 BP) to the Early Islamic period. During the Palaeolithic and Early Neolithic period, bitumen utilisation was mostly concentrated in settlements close to oil seeps. From the Ubaid 3 period, bitumen from the Mosul area became more important and was traded as far as the southern Persian Gulf. The Uruk period is a turning point for Mesopotamian history as settlements evolved into city‐states. These cities had a great need for raw materials, and this marks the beginning of large‐scale exploitation of Hit bitumen. This bitumen was traded at settlements along the Euphrates, where a large trade network was established. Hit bitumen entered the Persian Gulf at the turn of the second millennium (Dilmun period). Bitumen from Iraq (Mosul and Hit) became predominantly used in most settlements along the southern coast of the Gulf. During this period Iranian bitumen was also exported and this supply tended to increase, especially during the Partho‐Sasanian period. Dead Sea bitumen had its own exchange network, which was concentrated across present‐day Israel and Egypt where it was extensively used for mummification.