Easter and the Battle of Pollentia

Interest in the battle of Pollentia in recent years has been confined to the issue of dating the year in which it occurred, the extent to which either Claudian or Prudentius, the two late Roman poets who mention it, depended on the other's work, and the significance of the battle in the political and military careers of its two chief protagonists, Stilicho, the Vandal regent of the emperor Honorius, and Alaric, the Visigothic leader and rebellious Roman agent. In this paper, I consider religion as a tactic in the conduct of the battle. We know from Orosius that it was fought at Easter, something for which he chastised Stilicho. While scholars refer to its Easter date and Vanderspoel has found Easter allusions in another of Claudian's poem written in the light of the battle, none has investigated the significance of the battle taking place at Easter. It is argued here that religious considerations were crucial in determining the moment of engagement and not just coincidental and that, by attacking Alaric at Easter, we have another indication of just how precarious Stilicho's position was.     

Chiefdoms and states in the Yuncheng Basin and the Chifeng region: A comparative analysis of settlement systems in North China

Regional settlement datasets for the Yuncheng Basin and the Chifeng region are re-analyzed for comparison so as to reconstruct differing patterns of community development at local and supra-local scales. A methodological implication of this reanalysis is that comparing settlement areas and surface artifact densities between projects requires special attention to how the data were recorded so as to put them on the same measurement scale. The analytical approaches originally taken to reconstructing community organization in the two regions, while differing in several respects, are shown to produce highly compatible results, permitting a comparison of the two trajectories with a sound empirical foundation. Neolithic settlement began much earlier in Chifeng, but rates of demographic and community growth were extremely slow. In Yuncheng, early village growth was much more dramatic. Multiple chiefly districts of modest size emerged in both regions, but those of Yuncheng, despite their shorter developmental trajectory, had substantially larger populations. Their central settlements, in particular, grew to be much larger than those in Chifeng and the special activities carried out at these centers differed between the two regions. A poorly understood, but not contemporaneous, demographic disruption punctuated both sequences. It was followed by the emergence of political integration on a much larger scale in the Yuncheng Basin, focused on a single settlement an order of magnitude larger than its predecessors. In Chifeng, regional population soared far beyond previous levels, but political integration remained persistently small in scale.     

Genetic analysis of wheat landraces enables the location of the first agricultural sites in Italy to be identified

We typed five microsatellite loci in 52 landraces of Italian emmer wheat to determine if genetic analysis of cereals can provide information relevant to the spread of agriculture. Each of the five loci was polymorphic with 43 allele combinations identified in the 52 landraces. The allele combinations fell into two groups. Group 1 comprised 27 genotypes found in 42 landraces and Group 2 comprised 15 genotypes found in 10 landraces. The landraces with Group 1 genotypes showed a strong correlation between geographical and genetic distances (r = 0.601, p < 0.001) but those with Group 2 genotypes did not (r = 0.116, p = 0.244). We inferred that the Group 1 landraces might therefore retain a phylogeographical structure that reflects ancient events. We present a phylogeographical model for the spread of agriculture that enables the point of origin of crop cultivation to be predicted by comparison between the genetic and geographical distances between landraces. We applied this model to the Group 1 landraces by positioning 131 hypothetical points of origin around the coastline and northern border of Italy. The highest correlation coefficients between genetic and geographical distances were seen for hypothetical points of origin located on the coast of northern Puglia. We repeated the analysis with 1040 hypothetical points of origin located within the Italian peninsula. Again, the highest correlation coefficients were located in northern Puglia. These predicted points of origin correspond with the location of the earliest agricultural sites in Italy. The results show that plant genetics can be used to study the spread of agriculture.     

A biface and blade core efficiency experiment: implications for Early Paleoindian technological organization

Early Paleoindians often are described as highly mobile hunter–gatherers who employed lithic technologies designed to minimize stone transport costs. We experimentally reduced blade and bifacial cores and found both reduction strategies to be equally efficient for the production of useable flake blanks. Further, when compared to similar core reduction experiments, the results of this study showed no significant differences in core efficiency between bifacial, prismatic blade, and wedge-shaped blade core reduction. Biface and blade cores with initial weights greater than 1000 g produced useable flakes as efficiently as informal cores. However, bifacial and blade core efficiency decreased with initial core weight. When considered in terms of Early Paleoindian technological organization, differences in core efficiencies suggest that Folsom groups employed core reduction strategies designed to minimize stone transport costs, but Clovis groups did not.     

Prehispanic water pressure: A New World first

Ancient cultures have a wide range of water control management techniques, each associated with a particular purpose, including water for consumption, agriculture, flood control, drought relief, and rituals (Scarborough, 2003). One technique that has received limited archaeological attention is the purposeful creation of water pressure to perform useful work. Perhaps the earliest such example was found on the island of Crete in a Minoan palace and dates as early as 1400 BC. Terracotta pipe segments with graded diameter reductions were used to create fountains (Evans, 1921–1935). Although gravity and the weight of water are the most efficient means of generating water pressure in a closed conduit, natural conditions (climate, geology, topographic slope, etc.) that might lead to the construction of water pressure systems are less clear. Here we show that the Classic Maya (AD 250–600) constructed a water pressure system with the potential to control the flow of water within an urban area. By burying a conduit along a steep ephemeral channel passing through a residential group, upland springs could be diverted to build pressure in the conduit to provide a dry-season supply of water. Up to 6 m of hydraulic head could have been recovered to lift water from the pressurized conduit to a point of use. Water pressure systems were previously thought to have entered the New World with the arrival of the Spanish. Yet, archaeological data, seasonal climate conditions, geomorphic setting, and simple hydraulic theory clearly show that the Maya of Palenque in Chiapas, Mexico had empirical knowledge of closed channel water pressure predating the arrival of Europeans.     

Chemical and mineralogical characterization of historic mortars from the Santa Eulalia de Bóveda temple,NW Spain

Bulk samples of mortars from the Santa Eulalia de Bóveda temple (NW Spain) have been characterized from a chemical and mineralogical point of view, with the aims of contributing technological and provenance inferences, and evaluating possible correlations with the various identified stages along historical periods of construction.     

Hydraulic structures of the Roman Mithraeum house in Augusta emerita, Spain

This paper deals with some of the hydraulic structures of Augusta Emerita (Mérida, Spain), specifically those found in the Mithraeum House. In particular, we describe and characterise the hydraulic mortars and coatings of the viridarium water channel. The recipient of the channel was covered with two hydraulic mortars and a finishing coating. Hydrated lime was used as binder. Calcite grains with different morphology have been observed in the mortars studied. The siliceous aggregate was composed of quartz, mica and feldspars. Ceramic fragments, which were added to the mortar to improve its hydraulic properties, were composed of quartz, mica, iron oxides, anorthite and an amorphous phase; aluminium-iron silicates were used as raw materials for their manufacture. We discuss the interactions between the hydrated lime and the surface of the ceramics in the mortars.     

New radiometric dating of water management features at the prehistoric Purrón Dam Complex,Tehuacán Valley,Puebla, México

Recent investigations at the prehistoric Purrón Dam Complex in the Tehuacán Valley of southern Puebla, México applied radiometric dating to more securely date the complex. Ceramic-based dating in the 1960′s placed the Dam's origin to the Formative Period. While Formative Period origins are widely accepted, the chronology lacks resolution and direct dates. Samples from impounded sediments behind the dam and from prehistoric canal fill were dated through Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) as well as both standard ¹⁴C and accelerated mass spectrometry (AMS) assays. These samples directly date the functioning of the water management features within the complex. The results confirm the Formative Period origins of the Purrón Dam, and offer new insights into the construction and functioning of the dam and irrigation system.