A GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE ANCIENT QUARRIES OF SIDI GHEDAMSY ISLAND (MONASTIR,TUNISIA)

Amongst a large number of ancient quarries scattered along the North African coast, those at Sidi Ghedamsy (Monastir, Tunisia) have supplied building stones of Pliocene age. Two lithofacies have been distinguished in the quarry faces: (i) fine sandy limestone, which has been used in the construction of Roman and Arabic monuments; and (ii) porous and coarse limy sandstone, which is of bad quality for construction. Laboratory analysis results confirm that the exploitation of stone in antiquity was well focused on the levels containing the first type. This is confirmed by geotechnical tests, which show that the fine sandy limestone is harder and less porous than the coarse limy sandstone. Extraction of these stones began in the Roman period. The Romans exploited the quarries using steel tools that permitted the extraction of blocks from several levels. In the eighth century, Arabic quarry workers continued the stone extraction using the same technique, but they produced blocks of small and medium size. Statistical measurements have been done on the quarry faces and on the walls of the Ribat in order to understand the degree of conformity between the dimensions of the extracted blocks and those used for building, and ultimately to attempt to date the quarries and the construction of the Ribat.     

A Bronze Age Quarry in Eastern Crete

Abstract

The sandstone quarry at Mochlos is one of four major quarries in eastern Crete that were worked during the New Palace Period of Minoan civilization (ca. 1700–1450 B.C.) to produce large ashlar blocks for nearby Minoan sites. At that time sandstone, or ammoudha, as it is known locally, was especially valued as a building material, partly because of its distinctive color and texture, but mainly because of the ease with which it could be cut, and the stone was used extensively for exterior façades, for walls around interior courts, and for other architectural features of the more important buildings on these sites. This article describes the quarry at Mochlos in some detail, including the quarrying techniques employed, and argues that the destination of the stone from the Mochlos quarry was the Minoan palace at Gournia. The article ends with a comparison of the four ammoudha quarries in eastern Crete.     

Approaching the Hatch Jasper Quarry From a Technological Perspective: A Study of Prehistoric Stone Tool Production in Central Pennsylvania

Abstract

Mitigation of the Hatch jasper quarry, a “prospect site” in Central Pennsylvania, has enabled the reconstruction of a local system of stone tool acquisition and production. Artifacts from the quarry and the nearby Houserville habitation complex were analyzed using an attribute-based stage typology. This technological approach permitted the separation of geofacts from artifacts, and revealed evidence suggesting that Houserville knappers obtained tool stone from the quarry. Attention was also given to the study of how systematic heat treatment was used to enhance the flaking characteristics of the Hatch quarry jasper. This research highlights the benefits that a technological analysis of flake artifacts, in addition to finished tools, can provide for understanding stone tool production at quarry localities.     

Mid-Cretaceous calcarenite in stone products from the Roman colony of Emona,Regio X (modern Ljubljana,Slovenia)

Over the course of studying stone products from the Roman colony of Emona (Regio X), stratigraphically undefined calcarenite that was used to make simple sepulchral and architectural stone products was detected. The calcarenite used is late Aptian to early Cenomanian in age. The corresponding facies were found in the Lower Flyschoid Formation outcropping near the town of Medvode, within the local radius of Emona. The Roman quarry was likely located in this area near the Sava River. According to the collected data, the quarry was in operation mainly in the 1st century.     

Megalithic Quarrying Techniques and Limestone Technology in Eastern Spain

Abstract

Evidence in Eastern Spain and in the Balearic Islands indicates that during the building period of the megaliths and thereafter the inhabitants of this region developed a considerable limestone technology. This technology embraced an empirical knowledge of carbonate chemistry and karst geology which enabled them to quarry large limestone blocks to gain a maximum of usable material with a minimum of effort. It appears that one of the quarrying methods used was based on the chemical dissociation by fire of standing stone blocks at their attachment points, a technique hitherto unknown or unreported in the literature. Throughout the interval of megalith occupation there is evidence of the exploitation of limestone for a wide variety of purposes, including the making of objects such as containers, querns, and funereal vessels. Ultimately, their experiments led to a unique burial practice in which the dead were cremated by means of quicklime.

The quarrying methods used by the Iberian megalith builders are described below. Most of the specifics of their methods will be drawn from one well studied site, Son Carla on the island of Menorca, but similar quarries have been identified at numerous sites in the Balearic Islands and at Sisante in La Mancha on the mainland.     

龙游石窟的成因及遗产价值分析

龙游石窟位于浙江省西部金衢盆地中心,是中国南方罕见的红砂岩洞窟,其成因迄今尚未形成共识。持采石观点的既有研究主要从地质岩性、开采技术和石料需求等方面进行了探讨。本文以龙游县域乃至浙西地区为空间范围,在充分查阅文献与实地考察的基础上,从区域历史、红砂岩采石传统、区域地形、采石成本四个方面论证了龙游石窟作为历史时期采石遗迹的可能性和合理性。在此基础之上,文章分析了龙游石窟较之相关世界遗产项目所具备的比较特点,认为龙游石窟符合世界遗产的第(i)、(iv)和(v)条标准。     

Greenstone and diabase utilization in the stone age of western Norway: Technological and socio‐cultural aspects of axe and adze production and distribution

The subject of this article is the production and distribution of stone axes and adzes originating from two large Stone Age quarries in western Norway: the greenstone quarry on the small island of Hespriholmen, B?mlo kommune, Hordaland fylke, and the diabase quarry at Stakaneset, Flora kommune, Sogn og Fjordane Fylke. The identification of production sites and distributed products associated with these quarries is based on petrological investigations, both thin‐section and geochemical analyses. Radiocarbon and shoreline datings of debris assemblages and chronological grouping of the distributed artifacts have made it possible to gain control over the time depth and time consistency in the utilization of the two outcrops. Different technological aspects of the production process are discussed on the basis of finds and observations from the quarries and workshop sites. The distribution patterns will be examined with regard to their reflection on cultural continuity and change. Finally, some hypotheses on the social context of production and distribution will be put forward. These include the diffusion mechanisms responsible for the distribution and aspects concerning terri‐toriality and demography as reflected in the distribution patterns.

The results presented here are based on two theses for a master's degree in archaeology at the University of Bergen: ‘Bruk av diabas i vestnorsk steinalder’ (Asle Bruen Olsen 1981) and ‘B?mlo. Steinalderens råstoffsentrum på S?rvestlandet’ (Sigmund Alsaker 1982).     

The Role of Functional Efficiency in the Decline of North America’s Copper Culture (8000–3000 BP): an Experimental,Ecological, and Evolutionary Approach

The copper-using cultures of North America’s Archaic Period (10,000–3000 BP) have long been an archaeological enigma. For millennia, Middle and Late Archaic hunter-gatherers (8000–3000 BP) around the Upper Great Lakes region made utilitarian implements out of copper, only for these items to decline in prominence and frequency as populations grew and social complexity increased during the Archaic to Woodland Transition. From a cultural evolutionary perspective, the trajectory of North America’s copper usage presents a conundrum, as it is generally assumed that “superior” tools, i.e., metals, will replace inferior ones, i.e., stone. For well over a century, scholars have pondered the reason for the demise of copper technology that was once a wide-spread phenomenon. To address this question, an extensive archaeological experimental program was conducted which compared replica copper tools (spear points, knife blades, and awls) to analogous ones made of stone or bone to assess whether relative functional efficiency contributed to the decline of utilitarian copper implements. Here, the results of this three-part research program are presented in concert with population dynamics and ecological change to paint a broader picture of the complex interrelationships between the social, ecological, and technological spheres of past human behaviors. The synthesis of these approaches reveals that functional explanations—derived from experimental archaeology placed in an evolutionary framework—can shed much light on the trajectory of metal use in the North American Great Lakes.

     

Sampling for Provenance: Tailings from Prehistoric Stone Quarries in the South Pacific

Stone is a principal component in archaeological assemblages across the Pacific. It provided a major element in architecture, used as trade goods, and was fashioned into implements and ornaments, monolithic monuments, statues, money, and emblematic symbols of victory, status and ethnicity. In short, stone is a pervasive element in the economic, social, and political fabric of Pacific cultural traditions. However, provenance of rock quarries, the source of this raw material, has received limited attention in Oceania. Provenance studies have been sidestepped or short-changed in the rush to analyse artifactual materials. Here we establish a foundation for more robust provenance studies and field sampling strategies through a discussion of (1) quarry identification and (2) sampling within prospective sources. A model of quarry identification, sampling, and characterization is drawn from work on Rapa Nui (Easter Island), and the fundamental precepts are outlined for future sampling experiments and provenance work in stone quarries generally.     

The stone quarry on Jiddah Island,Bahrain

The surface of the small island of Jiddah lying north‐west of Bahrain is covered in traces of stone quarrying, but although the island probably supplied the limestone ashlars for the second‐millennium BC Dilmun temples at Barbar, the sixteenth‐century AD Bahrain Fort and other eminent buildings, no study has ever been made of the ancient quarry. Information from a geological report and a few photographs may, it is hoped, inspire new research.     

Determining the provenance of black limestone artifacts using petrography,isotopes and EPR techniques: the case of the monument of Bocco

This paper investigates the provenance of the black limestone of the monument known as Bocco, named after the king of Mauretania who presented Silla with this work as a sign of his submission to the power of Rome. A multi-method approach, comprising petrographic observations, carbon and oxygen isotope composition and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra characteristics, was used for this purpose. The monument is part of a reconstruction of a rectangular base (approx. 8 × 2 m) which is likely to have served as the base for a bronze statuary group and is currently composed of six blocks of limestone whose exterior is engraved with a fine frieze. The results of the different analyses were compared with the data of a published database of the most important black limestone quarries exploited during Roman times in the Mediterranean area. The petrographic and physico-chemical parameters did not prove to be very effective in determining the provenance of the black limestone of Bocco; the isotopes result even raised some uncertainty as to whether all six blocks came from the same quarry, though this doubt was dispelled by the EPR data and, above all, by the evident petrographic similarity between them. Differences in the isotopic composition of the various blocks may be due to an in situ rock alteration process caused by interaction with an aqueous fluid. It was, however, impossible to determine with certainty the origin of the material of the stone artifact using the database available; it is possible that the black limestone of Bocco came from an ancient quarry that is likely to be located in north western Africa but has not yet been uncovered. An alternative hypothesis, according to which the limestone used for the monument of Bocco came from the ancient quarry of Ain el Ksir, one of the Tunisian quarries present in the database, is also discussed.     

The origins of lithic projectile point technology: evidence from Africa,the Levant,and Europe

Projectile weaponry is a human cultural universal, but its origins and antiquity remain poorly understood. Stone- and bone-tipped projectile weapons have long been treated as emergent features of the "Upper Paleolithic" behavioral revolution. Recently it has been proposed that projectile technology was in widespread use among Homo sapiens populations in Africa during Middle Stone Age (MSA) times. One obstacle to researching the origins of projectile point technology is that the criteria archaeologists employ for recognizing plausible and implausible stone projectile points are largely subjective (overall tool shape, microwear traces). Tip cross-sectional area (TCSA) is a ballistically significant dimension that works well at discriminating North American stone projectile points (spearthrower dart tips and arrowheads) from spear points. This paper compares the TCSA values of ethnographic North American stone projectile points to hypothetical Middle and Upper Paleolithic stone projectile points from Africa, the Levant, and Europe. The results of this comparison do not support the hypothesis of widespread use of stone-tipped projectiles in Africa, the Levant, or Europe prior to 40 Ka. In the New World and in Australia, where we have the richest ethnographic record of stone projectile point use, these implements are largely employed in big-game hunting and in warfare. One or both of these factors may have played a role in the widespread adoption of stone projectile point technology after 40 Ka.     

Archeometric characterization of prehistoric grindstones from Milazzo Bronze Age settlement (Sicily,Italy)

The results of a petrographic and geochemical study carried out on archeological grindstones allow to provide new constraints on protohistoric commercial exchanges over the Mediterranean area. Eleven grindstones, discovered in an archeological site located in Milazzo (Messina, Sicily) and dated from the Early Bronze Age, have been investigated by geochemical and petrographic techniques. The raw materials are mainly volcanic rocks characterized by calc-alkaline and K-alkaline affinities with volcanic arc geochemical signature. Only one sample, made of basalt belonging to the Na-alkaline series, shows an intraplate signature. The comparison with the available literature data for similar rocks allowed constraining the volcanic origin of the exploited lavas. While the intraplate-type raw material came from Mt. Etna Volcano (Sicily), the arc-type volcanic rocks are mostly trachyandesites, basaltic andesites, and one rhyolite. Although most of them come from the Aeolian Arc, a provenance of some samples from the Aegean Arc cannot be excluded. This last region could represent the most probable provenance area for the rhyolite sample.     

Verifying the Reliability of Lithic Use-Wear Assessments by ‘Blind Tests’: the Low-Power Approach

Abstract

Several freshly knapped pieces of fine-grained basalt were utilized by an experimenter for a large variety of tasks. The tools were then submitted to an analyst, who was ignorant of the uses to which each of the objects had been put. Employing low-power microscopic techniques, he was able to identify with reasonable accuracy the used part(s) of the implements, the prehended part(s), the activities in which the pieces had been engaged, and the relative resistance of the materials worked. It is argued that low-power micro-wear techniques have several advantages, among which are ease and speed of analysis and availability of equipment. The methods selected for any use-wear analysis of stone tools, however, must be adapted to the particular situation and the questions to be asked of the data.     

Gandhara sculptural schist: Proposed source

Previously suggested source localities for the chloritoid-paragonite-muscovite quartz schist, the most widely used Gandharan rock, have been examined and rejected. However, an ancient disused quarry near Sakhakot, south of Dargai, in northern Pakistan, has been located and sampled. Chemical and mineralogical comparisons between two quarry samples and a specimen of artifact schist are very close, leading to the proposal that the quarry is one definite source of Gandhara sculptural schist.     

中国磨制石器起源的南北差异

磨制石器的起源是学界关心的问题之一,本文试图探讨中国早期磨制石器的主要种类、发展阶段及南北差异的原因,以期揭示磨制石器起源的内在机制。磨制石器的起源与生业经济紧密相关,中国旧石器向新石器过渡阶段对于植物资源的利用促使了中国磨制石器的起源。由于中国南北环境的差异,对于植物资源的利用种类和利用方式有所区别,因此导致中国南北磨制石器种类的不同。     

陕西淳化县枣树沟脑遗址先周时期遗存

2006年4~7月,西北大学文化遗产与考古学研究中心等单位对枣树沟脑遗址进行了发掘,发现大量先周时期的灰坑、房址、墓葬等遗迹,出土了大量陶器、石器、骨器等遗物。该遗址的文化内涵丰富,特征明显,为研究先周文化提供了一批新资料;对于探索古"豳地"考古学文化的发展,也具有非常重要的意义。     

Radiocarbon Dating of Architectural Mortar: A Case Study in the Maya Region,Quintana Roo,Mexico

Abstract

The use of radiocarbon dating to analyze mortar and charcoal inclusions within mortar or plaster is a useful way to date the construction of architecture, particularly when options for other chronometric methods are limited. In the Yalahau region of northern Quintana Roo, Mexico, members of the Yalahau Regional Human Ecology Project have faced challenges in dating buildings made of large blocks of stone in the Megalithic architectural style. The Megalithic style poses serious problems for any analysis, as excavating into structures with stones weighing several tons can be dangerous, expensive, and time consuming. Additionally, there are no associated sculptures, texts with dates, or other traditionally accessible chronological markers. These factors have resulted in a reliance on a ceramic chronology despite the uncertainty of the dating of many ceramic types in this region, as well as the questionable contextual associations between recovered ceramics and architectural construction phases. Megalithic-style structures at the ancient Maya site of El Naranjal have residual mortar with charcoal inclusions left behind during the mortar-making processes that can be extracted and dated with AMS ¹⁴C methods. Several samples of mortar and charcoal were obtained from structures 1 and 10 from exposed exterior walls and an interior vault. The resulting dates confirm the date for the construction based on ceramics excavated from the same site.     

河北满城要庄发掘简报

<正> 要庄村位于河北省保定市西北郊区,属满城县管辖。东南距满城县城十华里,西和眺山遥遥相对,北相隔不过一华里为漕河,南傍依著名的一亩泉。 要庄遗址位于要庄村西的高台平地上。1982年初至1983年底,河北省文物研究所联合保定地区文物管理所、满城县文化馆,对这一带进行了考古勘查和初次发掘。 在勘查中,除搞清楚了遗址的分布、面积、文化堆积及内涵外,在遗址以东,与古遗址的中心分布相距一华里的地方,新发现了两处古墓葬,探出古墓葬120余座。探出古代水井5眼(图     

辽宁铁岭市歪石砬子辽金遗址发掘简报

歪石砬子辽金遗址位于辽宁铁岭市镇西堡乡歪石砬子村北1公里的坡地上(图一)。1993年5月,辽宁省文物考古研究所与铁岭市博物馆在配合铁岭电厂贮灰场基建工程的文物调查中,在贮灰场占地范围的南部发现了该遗址,并组成考古队,对其进行了发掘。共开5米×5米探方12个(编号为93TDT1~12,以下简称为T1~12),探