London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition excavations at Saar: 1993 season

During 1993, the London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition conducted a fourth season of excavations at the early second millennium settlement of Saar, Bahrain. A lower level of the temple was cleared, and a range of buildings to its north-west discovered. A new street was found opposite the temple entrance, and several of the buildings along the main street were further investigated. Further environmental research included a new programme of micromorphology and the start of research into the fish remains.     

London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition: 1991–2 excavations at Saar

Preliminary results are presented of the third season of excavations at Saar, Bahrain, by the London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition. Research at this second millennium BC site continued in the temple, as well as in parts of the upper town. Bedrock was reached at a depth of approximately 5.45 metres in the sondage below the temple. Several new buildings were found and work was completed in houses discovered in previous seasons. The article goes on to discuss the numerous seals and seal impressions found this season.     

Bilad al‐Qadim revisited: recent archaeological research at the Al‐Khamis Mosque,Ain Abu Zaydan and Abu Anbra,Bahrain

In comparison to our understanding of pre‐Islamic occupation and land use on Bahrain, that of the Islamic period has remained less well known. In connection with the building of a visitor centre at the Al‐Khamis Mosque and the planning of an associated heritage trail, renewed archaeological research has taken place in Bilad al‐Qadim, an archaeologically important area of Islamic settlement in the north‐east of the main island of Awal. This has involved excavations in the Abu Anbra cemetery, at Ain Abu Zaydan and at the Al‐Khamis Mosque. The results of these excavations are reported here and these contribute to our understanding of Islamic settlement on Bahrain by supporting the interpretation that Bilad al‐Qadim was the main centre of Islamic settlement in the eleventh–thirteen century AD.     

Notes and News

Abstract

Most parts of Israel were excavated intensively, and most of the country was also covered by surveys. Our knowledge of settlement patterns and distribution during the various periods is very comprehensive — probably more so than in any other region in the world. Using data from the numerous excavations and from the detailed surveys, many studies have made use of various and sundry methods, in order to learn about the settlements and the population of the country, about changes in settlement patterns and distribution, and about periods of crises, decline, or growth.

Past studies, however, have ignored an entire array of findings that could have improved, refined, and even changed the familiar picture of the settlement history of ancient Israel. Thousands of salvage excavations ('rescue digs') were carried out over the years, and especially in the last decade, but these have not been dealt with systematically. These excavations provide comprehensive and reliable information, which is likely to change the picture of the history of settlement in some periods. While a comprehensive project of collecting and analysing the published data on these excavations is now in progress, the present article aims at drawing attention to this neglected source of information. We will demonstrate the advantages of this analysis as compared to other sources of information, and will show how this information, when combined with other sources of information, is changing our understanding of the settlement history of certain periods, including the transition from the Iron Age I–II and the formation of the Israelite monarchy, the nature of the Neo-Babylonian period, and the outcomes of the Jewish revolts against the Romans. The paper ends with a discussion of the advantages and limitations of the various sources of information, i.e., planned excavations, surveys, and salvage excavations.     

Tell Abraq during the second and first millennia BC: site layout,spatial organisation,and economy

Research recommenced at Tell Abraq in 2007, carried out by Bryn Mawr College with an international team in co‐operation with the Sharjah Archaeology Authority. Between 2007 and 2010 fieldwork was limited to documenting sections of the previous excavations and one small sounding while our attention focused mainly on the nearby shell‐midden site of Hamriya and the fortified Iron Age settlement site of Muweilah. Since 2010, large‐scale excavations have been conducted which have fundamentally altered our understanding of the layout of the settlement and its economic relations during the second and first millennia BC. In this report, we detail the results of this work and present preliminary interpretations.     

Some Account of the Parish Church of Bakewell in Derbyshire,and of the Early Grave-Stones and Other Remains Discovered During the Recent Repairs

This report outlines the results of excavations carried out on the Stanwick earthworks in four different areas between 1981–86. At Forcett, area investigation recovered more of the structural plan of the north-western entrance investigated by Wheeler in 1951. Both here and in the Tofts, earlier deposits and features were recognized beneath the ramparts. Wheeler's idea that the Tofts settlement originated as a defended enclosure can no longer be sustained, and geophysical survey has indicated that its southern defences in fact follow a different line from that originally envisaged. Other excavations took place at Henah Hill, where a low bank underlies a long sequence of agricultural activity, itself sealed by the medieval ridge-and-furrow; and at Forcett Barns. The date and context of the earthworks are briefly reviewed in the light of the recent work at Stanwick. The main defensive earthworks were all probably constructed within a relatively short period around the mid first century A.D., when the long-lived settlement was at its most important.     

Roovesmore Fort,and Stones Inscribed with Oghams,in the Parish of Aglish,County Cork

The results of excavations carried out in the Roman civil settlement at Heronbridge, two kilometres from the legionary fortress at Chester (Deva), since its discovery in 1929 are summarized and the overall history and character of the site assessed. Evidence from other provinces is deployed to show that the existence of two, nucleated civilian settlements in the immediate vicinity of a legionary fortress was a common, rather than an irregular, occurrence. The possible reasons for this phenomenon of ‘Siedlungsdualität’ are discussed and it is suggested that the more distant settlement, unlike the canabae, lay outside the boundaries of the prata legionis.     

Excavations at Rio Claro,Northeast Honduras: Preliminary Report

Abstract

During the summer of 1975, preliminary survey, mapping, and excavations were conducted at the H-CN-12:Rio Claro site, a sizeable Pre-Hispanic village settlement in the Department of ColónNE Honduras, Central America. Artifactual remains and chronometric determinations indicate that the settlement was inhabited during the Cocal Period (ca. 1000-1530 A.C.). This report describes the location and layout of H-CN-12:Rio Claro, principal excavations, the first regional radiocarbon dates for the Cocal Period, and some of the artifacts and significant findings of the second season of fieldwork in this little-studied region of the Americas. The possibility is raised that the site is the ethnohistorical chiefdom center Papayeca.     

On The Medieval Antiquities of Anglesey

The excavations at Aulnat-Gandaillat are producing evidence of the pre-urban settlement system belonging to the last centuries B.C. The agricultural settlement was also engaged in industry, including the working of bronze, iron, gold, silver, glass, bone and possibly other substances such as coral. It is also providing us with the most refined chronology yet available from a La Tène settlement, and also with details of the development of trade with the Mediterranean world. The site was abandoned around 40–20 B.C. when the oppidum of Gergovie was founded.     

江苏泗洪韩井遗址2015—2016年发掘简报

2015年3月和2016年4月,中国国家博物馆等单位对韩井遗址进行第二、三次勘探和发掘.通过发掘揭示出顺山集文化一期、二期的遗存,发现了顺山集一期由洼地和多条水沟组成的水稻田等遗迹,丰富了顺山集文化的内涵.尤其是水稻田的发现,很可能是目前所见最早的与人类驯化水稻相关的遗迹,为研究顺山集文化的聚落形态和中国早期稻作农业提供了重要实物资料,也为中国淮河流域和黄河下游地区新石器时代文化跨区域的交流和互动提供了珍贵的材料.     

Elemental characterisation of Barbar ceramics from Tell Abraq

The early second millennium levels at Tell Abraq have yielded over 600 fragments of friable, red-ridged pottery with exploding lime grits which is superficially indistinguishable from contemporary, so-called 'Barbar'pottery on Bahrain (1). The Bahraini origin of the Tell Abraq Barbar sherds has been demonstrated by means of proton-induced x-ray and gamma-ray emission (PIXE/PIGME) analysis. In addition, the results of x-ray fluorescence (XRF) of Barbar pottery from Saar on Bahrain (2) have been re-examined, showing that the subgroups which characterise the Tell Abraq material correspond to those found in the Saar corpus. The techniques used on the Tell Abraq and Saar material – PIXE/PIGME and XRF – are compared.     

Archaeological Investigations at Yunkaray (Cuzco,Peru): Reconstructing the Rise and Fall of an Early Inca Rival (A.D. 1050–1450)

In the highland Andes during the centuries leading to Inca imperial expansion (ca. a.d. 1400–1530s), the people of the Cuzco Basin established alliances and rivalries with diverse neighbors living across the Cuzco region. Among the most powerful of those groups was a polity centered at Yunkaray (occupied ca. a.d. 1050–1450) on the Maras Plain just northwest of the burgeoning city of Cuzco. Recent settlement survey and excavations in and around Yunkaray have identified the site as the principal settlement of the Ayarmaca group, which remained outside the sphere of Inca cultural influence despite its proximity to Cuzco. The distinctive nature of Yunkaray’s interaction with the Incas is examined here through household excavations, which indicate that the large village was occupied by a population presenting modest status distinctions and relying on locally derived sources of social identity.     

Constructing community at civic-ceremonial centers: pottery-making practices at Crystal River and Roberts Island

ABSTRACT

Crystal River (8CI1) and Roberts Island (8CI36, 8CI40, 8CI41) are neighboring mound complexes on Florida’s west-central Gulf Coast, with mainly sequential occupations during the Middle and Late Woodland periods, respectively. Previous work at Crystal River produced assemblages marked by a diversity of pastes and surface treatments, suggestive of distinct communities of practice. However, these excavations were unsystematic and poorly controlled, thus confounding understanding of temporal and spatial variation in practice. Recent excavations in domestic areas, combined with the analysis of older collections from mounds, support a finer-grained understanding of variation in ceramic production. Our analysis suggests that communities of practice persisted through time, although there is variation that corresponds well with changes in settlement.     

湖北京山屈家岭遗址群2007年调查报告

本次调查在屈家岭遗址周边新发现8个新石器时代遗址和石器采集点,是一处新石器时代的大型遗址群,其分布范围远远超过以往的认识,其中屈家岭遗址是在遗址群中具有核心地位。调查还发现包括屈家岭遗址、钟家岭遗址、冢子坝遗址的大环壕系统,另外还可能存在仅限于屈家岭遗址南部的小环壕系统,这是继三次发掘后对屈家岭遗址群聚落结构与聚落形态演变的突破性认识。     

江苏宜兴西溪遗址发掘纪要

骆驼墩遗址位于太湖西部山地向平原过渡地带,其早期文化遗存以平底陶釜为主要特征,代表了太湖西部地区马家浜文化时期的一个新的文化类型。发掘中发现了马家浜文化时期的大型聚落遗址,崧泽文化时期、良渚文化时期的墓葬、灰坑等,以及广富林文化时期的灰坑,共出土陶器、石器、骨器、玉器等约400件,以及各类动物骨骼标本约2000件。发掘者建议将以骆驼墩早期文化遗存为代表的、以平底釜为主要特征的考古学文化遗存,命名为骆驼墩文化。     

关于赵宝沟文化的聚落形态问题

本文对赵宝沟文化的白音长汗、水泉、小山和赵宝沟四处居住址的结构进行了分析,总结和阐释了以往在赵宝沟文化聚落形态认识上的主要观点和产生分歧的原因,认为只有对赵宝沟文化居住址做全面的揭露,才能真正解决赵宝沟文化的聚落结构问题。依据现有材料初步将赵宝沟文化的聚落区分为大、中、小三个层次,应该是较为切合实际的。     

Behavioural archaeology and refuse patterns: A case study

This paper examines the association and distribution of different classes of refuse around a late Iron Age and Roman settlement in Essex, England. It is shown, for instance, that bone and pottery refuse from the eating of meals was distributed differently from that deriving from food preparation. Some conclusions are then drawn about activity variation within the settlement. Clearly, this approach can extract a great wealth of information from extensively excavated settlements, but it is also argued that similar studies are both feasible and necessary for small‐scale, rescue excavations.     

Excavations at Muweilah. Preliminary Report on the First Two Seasons

Two seasons of excavation have been completed at the site of Muweilah in the United Arab Emirates. The excavation is prompted by a desire to examine the manner in which humans inhabited arid regions in the past. The project seeks to understand the subsistence practices at this site within the broader context of settlement patterns in late prehistoric southeastern Arabia and to examine some of the biases and prior assumptions concerning human occupation of environments which are often considered hostile and marginal. The results obtained in the first two seasons of excavations are presented below and they indicate that a positive contribution will be made towards achieving these objectives.     

Early settlement in Hadramawt: preliminary report on prehistoric occupation at Shi'b Munayder

While excavation and survey in Wadi Hadramawt itself has documented extensive first-millennium population centres and complex irrigation systems, earlier settlement and production remain poorly documented. Results of recent survey and test excavations in the mountainous hinterlands of southern Arabia have revealed scattered settlement near fossil springs that may have provided an important focus from as early as 6000 years ago. Lithic studies of surface material suggest that the widespread house sites at Shi'b Munayder in Wadi Idim were re-occupied or re-used as late as the Iron Age early-mid-first millennium BC. But stratigraphic evidence and a radiocarbon date point to an earlier establishment of settlement during at least the post-Neolithic second millennium BC. The site of Shi'b Munayder, the earliest reported settlement in Hadramawt, seems to suggest that Hadrami peoples living at the time of the early establishment of complex centres retained ties with cultural groups to the east rather than with highland northern Yemen.