Terrestrial laser scanning and close range photogrammetry for 3D archaeological documentation: the Upper Palaeolithic Cave of Parpalló as a case study

Graphic and metric archaeological documentation is an activity that requires the capture of information from different sources, accurate processing and comprehensive analysis. If monitoring of the state of conservation is required, this task has to be performed before intervention, during and after the completion of the works in a repetitive way.This paper presents the use of terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) in order to effectively produce, prior to intervention, accurate and high-resolution 3D models of a cave with engravings dating back to the Upper Palaeolithic era. The processing of the TLS data is discussed in detail in order to create digital surface models. The complexity of the cave required the integration of two techniques, TLS and close range photogrammetry to yield not only traditional drawings such as sections and elevations, but also photo-realistic perspective views and visual navigation worlds fully operational in 3D environments. This paper demonstrates the potential of integrating TLS and close range photogrammetry to provide both accurate digital surface models and photo-realistic outputs. This processed data can be used to systematically improve archaeological understanding of complex caves and relief panels of prehistoric art with tiny engravings.     

First archaeobotanical approach to plant use among Selknam hunter-gatherers (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina)

Diverse hunter-gatherer groups inhabited Tierra del Fuego (Argentina) from the end of the last glaciation until recent dates. Sadly, the contact with European settlers was fatal for them, and a series of different causes led to their disappearance. Among these groups, Selknam inhabited the central and northern part of the Isla Grande (Tierra del Fuego) until the first decades of twentieth century. Although many travellers and ethnographers described this society, the recorded information related to vegetal resources management and plant exploitation strategies was quite scarce. As a consequence, a picture was created in which plants, and especially plant food, had a very poor role in the everyday life of these people. In this work, we present the results of the first archaeobotanical analyses carried out on an excavated site related to the Selknam hunter-gatherers. The information presented here, along with future studies, will enlarge the knowledge and enrich the image that we have of Selknam’s plant use, economy and social relations.     

Isotopic values of diet of Blastocerus dichotomus (marsh deer) in Paraná Basin,South America

The marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus, Illiger, 1815) is the largest contemporary South American deer, and its habitat includes the floodplains and wetlands of eastern South America. Throughout the Holocene these deer were widely used by indigenous societies, from the southern banks of the Amazon River to the Río de la Plata River, and from the Andean foothills to the Atlantic Ocean. However, despite the enormous ecological and archaeological importance of this ungulate in the region, our knowledge of the isotopic values of their diet is almost nonexistent. This paper is the first systematic approach to the study of the isotopic values of this mammal's diet, using archaeological and present-day samples from interconnected watersheds of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers in east-central Argentina. The results obtained from 24 measurements indicate an average value of ?21.09 ± 1.46‰ in δ¹³C collagen, with a low coefficient of variation (6.92%). The data indicate a marked preference for consumption of plants with a C₃ photosynthetic pathway. Most of the observed variability in the isotopic values corresponds to the period 900–1430 ¹⁴C years BP, a time range during which the values show higher consumption of C₄ plants. This it could be related with a period where temperature and associated humidity increased, synchronous in the area with the Medieval Climate Anomaly.     

Points and convergent tools in the European Early Middle Palaeolithic site of Payre (SE,France)

The lithic assemblage from the Middle Palaeolithic site of Payre (Rhone Valley, France) contains a large number of convergent tools and pointed tools of various shapes, sizes and retouch types. These were excavated from several archaeological units, dating from marine isotopic stages 8–5, which also yielded human skeletal remains. Consideration of this large tool kit has led to an improved analysis of Middle Palaeolithic tools with two retouched convergent edges. The 350 tools were not described within the classical typological framework, but, rather, from a lithic technological perspective in relation to a discoid debitage. In addition, an initial macroscopic use-wear analysis aided in establishing whether they were used according to their technical and/or morphological features. The Middle Palaeolithic convergent tools from Payre are shown to be quite diversified, and the question of the significance of the retouch and the definition of the various types is addressed. Initial functional results indicate that a clear relationship between shape and function cannot be easily established, and that these tools were used as hand tools. This study contributes to the debate on the use of stone tip spears in the Early European Middle Palaeolithic.     

From the Opposite Corner: A Bibliometric Analysis of Research on American Archaeology in European Publications

We see what we are prepared to see. Scientific research aims at breaking down this situation, analysing its subjects/objects of study from different points of view. Although multiple meanings can be derived from every question and a myriad of positions can be adopted, some are bound to be silenced by traditional criteria of authenticity. Archaeology is not an exception to this: the prevailing agenda severely impacts on our perception of what archaeological practice consists. In turn, its ethos is recreated as part of our own identity processes through our productions, whether by passively accepting monolithic standards or by dynamically proposing alternative positions in response. The study of the prehistoric and colonial periods in America can be a good test bed for surveying the influence of academic background upon the analysis of human history. Here we review two Spanish journals of American studies to discuss the different orientations of the authors according to their provenance. Plotted against the country represented by the authors, we consider his/her research as regards the object of study (ie. artefacts/written sources), its origin, chronology and, finally, the aim of the paper. We found interesting orientations in relation to focus on particular subjects, most probably conditioned by the ontology of the researchers. Although the selection is quite taxative, it may usefully complement studies carried out in the Americas.     

Epistemologías transculturales: prácticas y producción de conocimientos en zonas de contacto colonial en los Andes y Paraguay

It is proposed that there is an iconographic and epistemological relationship between some drawings in Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala’s Nueva corónica y buen gobierno and the images recorded in several colonial wood vessels (qeros) which circulated widely during the time that Guaman Poma was writing his letter to the King of Spain. This connection shows that the work of Guaman Poma was not an isolated or singular act in the colonial context and that both communicative and creative processes, that of the Nueva corónica and that of the qeros, formed part of a process of shared colonial semiosis through which Andean societies maintained a certain autonomy in the production and circulation of their own discourses. Secondly, the article discusses the epistemological tension that results from the coexistence of different narratives (European and Andean) that used their own temporal and spatial categories to account for new colonial conditions.     

Evolution of Expenditure in the Budget of the European Union (1957–2002)

This article analyses the evolution of Community expenditure, on the basis of the data given in the budget and in the EDF, from the origin of the process in 1957 until the year 2002, the last definitive figures. The technique of principal component factor analysis has been applied to these variables. The basic objective of this study is to detect the interrelationships among the policies of the Union and to effect a classification of them, in order to detect the priorities of the European project and to estimate the dimension of the impact of its policies during the period.     

Neolithic case of metastasizing carcinoma: Multiple approaches to differential diagnosis

The remains of the fragmented skeleton of a mature male individual from a Neolithic mass burial (ca. 5000 years BP) are presented. The lesions consist of osteoblastic proliferation and replacement of previously normal haematopoietic tissue. The most affected area seems to have been the iliac blade. So-called ‘seeding’ of tumour tissue has been found in different loci in the femoral neck, sacrum, L4 and scapula. Differential diagnosis points to metastatic carcinoma, most likely from the prostrate gland. In order to support the observations, radiological and histological analyses have been performed. Trace element analyses of tumour and control samples have shown the limited contribution of these data to ascertain the aetiology of secondary neoplasias in buried material.     

Shape matters: assessing regional variation of Bell Beaker projectile points in Central Europe using geometric morphometrics

Despite the large-scale expansion of Bell Beaker phenomenon, there is a tension between the normative Bell Beaker material culture categories and their local objectification in the form of real artefacts. Stone projectile points provide an opportunity to evaluate how much was the general category of such a point influenced by regional and local factors. The aim of this paper is to explore shape and size variation of Central European Bell Beaker projectile points from Moravia (Czech Republic) to elucidate factors responsible for this variation. The sample consists of 194 projectile points from 54 Central European Bell Beaker sites (2500–2300/2200 BC) distributed in Morava River catchment. The size and shape of projectile points were studied by landmark-based geometric morphometrics and expressed as shape groups, which have been assessed in terms of their spatial distribution, raw material, and reutilization. Although several shape categories of points were identified, there is a strong degree of uniformity in the research sample. The dominant shape category (75.4 % of points) was pervasive across geographic space and was not significantly affected either by raw material or reutilization. A lower degree of reutilization of points is interpreted as a consequence of a non-utilitarian role of projectile points, which represented a critical component of Bell Beaker mortuary practices.