Paleodietary analysis of the sacrificial victims from the Feathered Serpent Pyramid,Teotihuacan

The consumption of different types and quantities of food frequently serves as a practice that expresses and reinforces social distinctions among individuals within complex societies. This study explores the dietary behavior of probable sacrificial victims interred within the offering complex underlying the Feathered Serpent Pyramid as a line of evidence concerning the identities and life experiences of individuals selected for inclusion within one of Teotihuacan’s public monuments. Stable carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotope values from rib samples of 12 individuals within the Feathered Serpent Pyramid complex were compared with those of 14 individuals interred in residential contexts within the city. Results provide new information concerning daily subsistence at Classic period Teotihuacan (ca. A.D. 200–600) and highlight the dietary distinctiveness of individuals interred within the Feathered Serpent Pyramid as compared to the general residential population of the site, particularly in terms of the carbon isotope composition of protein sources consumed by a number of the sacrificial victims. Oxygen isotope analysis suggests that most individuals from the Feathered Serpent Pyramid resided within the local Teotihuacan area during the years immediately prior to their deaths, indicating that the unique dietary pattern seen in stable carbon isotope values cannot be attributed to nonlocal residence prior to sacrifice. Rather, these dietary differences may suggest that the group of individuals selected for interment within the Feathered Serpent Pyramid offering complex maintained a distinctive social or economic identity as compared to the rest of the Teotihuacan population during their lives.     

Faunal acquisition,maintenance, and consumption: how the Teotihuacanos got their meat

The compilation of the last 40 years of zooarchaeological exploration at Teotihuacan, Mexico, provides a unique opportunity to create more nuanced models of New World vertebrate consumption that did not focus on domesticated animals (dog and turkey). Any single model of ancient food systems fails to represent how varied ecological and social contexts led to a complex web of adaptations, and here, it is argued that Teotihuacan’s arid, highland, and urban environment contributed to a distinct faunal acquisition strategy. Intra-site variation and diverse degrees of animal procurement and management were practiced throughout the site. For example, the low proportion of deer compared to the abundant evidence of rabbit/hare consumption suggests small-scale animal management and breeding programs in the residential complexes supplemented with opportunistic garden hunting and meat purchased through a market economy. Such foodstuffs would have been both more predictable and readily made available to organize large feasting events, a possibility that is strengthened by evidence of extraordinarily high abundances of rabbits in ceremonial contexts.     

Agricultural change in Copper Age Croatia (ca. 4500–2500 cal B.C)?

The Copper Age in the Carpathian Basin is marked by a distinct change in settlement patterns, material culture, social traditions and subsistence practices; however, few studies address the nature of crop cultivation in the region. This paper examines new archaeobotanical data from 13 Copper Age (ca. 4500–2500 cal BC) sites located in continental Croatia, in order to assess the extent to which crop agriculture may have changed and contributed to overall subsistence economies in the Copper Age. From the archaeobotanical results, a dominance in einkorn and emmer is seen followed by barley. Less frequently millet, naked wheat and spelt/new glume wheat are also recovered, but due to their limited numbers, it is less clear whether they were grown as crops or represent weeds. Pulses (e.g. lentil, pea and grass pea), fruit remains (e.g. cornelian cherry and chinese lantern) and wild plant and weed species are also recovered, although more commonly from the late Copper Age sites. The archaeobotanical results show a clear reduction in the quantity and range of plant species recovered during the early/middle Copper Age; however, this is likely the result of taphonomic bias rather than a reduction in crop cultivation. The results therefore highlight problems of recovery bias in the region, which makes comparisons between sites as well as the reconstruction of crop husbandry regimes difficult. Overall, the results from continental Croatia suggest that the type of crops cultivated continued relatively unchanged from the late Neolithic, although it is clear that more research is desperately needed to explore the relationship between crop agriculture and the changing socio-economic environment of the Copper Age in the region.     

The composition of colourless glass: a review

A total of 1496 investigated colourless glass analyses have been collected with the aim of achieving a clear geographical, typological, chronological and compositional overview on this particular type of glass. Based on manganese and antimony contents, four main groups were characterised: naturally colourless, Mn-decoloured, Sb-decoloured and Mn/Sb-decoloured. Main achievements relates to the chronological distribution of manganese and antimony technologies, the former being associated to a long lasting technology which culminated during the Late Antique period while the latter being practically absent after the 8^th century AD, being at its acme during the Roman imperial period. Except for naturally colourless glass, glass-making technology mostly implied the use of impure sands and natron, relegating the other components to a virtually irrelevant ?presence?, except during the  Late Antique and Medieval periods.     

Disclosing mineralogical phases in medioeval iron nails by non-destructive neutron techniques

There is not only one methodology for the study of mineralogical phases in archaeological samples. In this paper, we discuss a strategy applied to ancient iron nail samples completely based on non-destructive analyses. The archaeological samples come from the archaeological site of Valle delle Forme (province of Brescia–Italy) and date back to the 1300–1400 ad. Neutron-based techniques, like time-of-flight neutron diffraction and neutron tomography, have been used to determine the mineralogical composition and the structure of nails. An independent check for the assessment of the presence of different mineralogical phases was given by Raman spectroscopy. The combination of different non-destructive techniques has provided very useful information on their chemical composition, nature of the patina and corrosion features of the nails (also in the bulk of the samples).     

New compositional data on ancient mortars from Hagia Sophia (Istanbul,Turkey)

This study shows the results of a multidisciplinary collaboration between the University of Calabria (Italy) and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), about the compositional characterization of some mortars taken from Hagia Sophia in Istanbul (Turkey), one of the most important buildings in antiquity. Twenty samples of joint mortars were analysed by micro-chemical analyses (SEM-EDS), X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), optical microscopy (OM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The compositional study allowed us to define, with more detail, the construction phases of the fifth, sixth and tenth century. The petrographic analysis in thin section by optical microscopy showed four typologies of sands, used as aggregate, with specific compositional features. SEM-EDS analyses and TEM observations of the binder around the ceramic fragments of the aggregate showed the presence of different morphologies of single C-S-H compounds.     

The Gothic and the Gaelic: Exploring the Place of Castles in Ireland’s Celtic Revival

This paper examines the conflict in early nineteenth century Ireland that emerged between the way castles were portrayed in academia on the one hand and romantic literature on the other. Focusing on a key text of the Celtic Revival, Sydney Owensons The Wild Irish Girl, the paper explores how this novel (with its strong gothic influences) established a lens through which Gaelic Ireland could be understood and how this in turn affected the representation of castles. The second part of the paper ties these themes into an analysis of the relationship between architecture, literature and identity in the occupation of Leap Castle, Co. Offaly during the changing political climate of nineteenth and early twentieth century Ireland.     

Wild Cattle: Red Deer in the Religious Texts,Iconography, and Archaeology of Early Medieval Ireland

Humans use animals as a means of creating and manipulating relationships with other human beings. This process occurs both through the use of animals for food or raw materials and through the use of animals as literary and artistic symbols. Cervus elaphus is Irelands only indigenous deer species. It is also unique in being the only native Irish, wild animal to appear frequently in medieval texts, iconography, and archaeological deposits. This paper brings together diversesources of information to illuminate how early medieval monasteries used reddeer to establish an identity for themselves and to conceptualize socioeconomic relationships with others.     

Probabilistic models of seasonal <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bison</Emphasis> exploitation based on fetal prey osteometry and reproductive phenology

Seasonality studies are a staple of Great Plains archaeology, but obtaining evidence for seasonal food procurement is challenging. This study explores seasonality through the lens of fetal bison remains. A method is developed that produces intra-annual probability distributions for the date of fetal death. These distributions are informed by osteometric data from fetal bison in archaeological contexts, fetal skeletal growth curves, and data-driven models of bison conception dates. Probabilities can be assigned to seasonality hypotheses by examining date intervals across these intra-annual distributions. This method is implemented through an R program and applied to seasonality hypotheses at three archaeological sites containing fetal bison remains: Big Goose Creek (Wyoming), Baker Cave III (Idaho), and the Upper Tucker Site (Texas). Unlike previous efforts to infer seasonality from fetal bison remains, this method provides explicit probabilities showing the level of agreement between the osteometric data and seasonality hypotheses. This probabilistic approach could be extended to seasonality studies involving other animal taxa both within and outside of North America.