Constructing America from the Sea: Maritime Archaeology Research,International Cooperation and Best Practices in the Underwater Cultural Heritage of Latin America

This article introduces this special issue of the Journal of Maritime Archaeology by giving a brief introduction to the current situation of the practice of maritime archaeology in Latin America, as well as reviewing the main challenges that the discipline faces here. An assessment of existing regional cooperation, the presence of maritime archaeology within the international community and its importance to develop new theoretical and methodological perspectives that advance access to knowledge is made. Finally, the article focuses on some of the current work carried out in Latin America.     

Regional Maritime Contexts and the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Maritorium</Emphasis>: A Latin American Perspective on Archaeological Land and Sea Integration

In the field of maritime archaeology, the use of maritime, coastal, riverine, and lacustrine spaces by past societies has been perceived in different and changing viewpoints. These perspectives have flourished in dynamic and varying ways in many countries, and under different theoretical constructs. If in the 1970s the subject was perhaps not recognized as a central research subject by much of our community, it is now not only accepted but it has become a robust area of interest in maritime research. Two concepts in Latin America have been accepted that have had widespread application and influence, namely the regional maritime context and the maritorio. The points of contact between both are so intense that it is possible to speak about a single alternative with two possible names. In this article, their origins, applications, and theoretical influences are presented in a way that unifies these two concepts into a single approach (the maritorium), and examines how these ideas have been applied to research carried out in Mexico, Chile, and Uruguay. These applications are wide ranging, as they include the interconnected complexity between land and sea as used and inhabited by past societies. They have been applied in the study of ship traps, whole fleets, sites of maritime conflict and warfare, exploration activities, and ethnographic research. These will also be presented in light of other concepts of similar interest in the international sphere, such as the widespread concept of the Maritime Cultural Landscape, and also in view of other theoretical frameworks coming from the wider sphere of the profession, such as Landscape Archaeology and Phenomenological Archaeology.     

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.     

Stable isotope analysis of Late Upper Palaeolithic human and faunal remains from Grotta del Romito (Cosenza), Italy

Stable isotope analysis of carbon (δ¹³C), nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) and sulphur (δ³⁴S) were carried out on one of the largest assemblages of Late Upper Palaeolithic human remains in Southern Europe, at Grotta del Romito (Cosenza), Italy. The burials were stratigraphically dated from ca. 18,000 to 13,000 cal BP, which was confirmed by a series of new AMS dates made directly on the bone collagen. Dietary reconstruction from carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes revealed that eight of the nine individuals analysed, dating to the Final Epigravettian, had very consistent diets, rich in terrestrial animal protein, regardless of their age or sex. These included two individuals who were suffering from severe pathologies. A single individual, dating to the Evolved Epigravettian had a more variable diet, which was significantly enriched in protein from marine or freshwater fish compared to the later burials. Overall, the results are consistent with the very limited number of other studies which describe a change to more specialised and less variable subsistence strategies, in this case the hunting of large herbivores, towards the end of the Palaeolithic period. Sulphur isotope values of all of the nine burials and several faunal samples were notably consistent, showing no evidence of long-distance migration to the site from a different geological zone.     

GPR survey at Lapa do Santo archaeological site,Lagoa Santa karstic region,Minas Gerais state,Brazil

In this work we present and discuss the results of a novel and timely GPR-2D and GPR-3D survey performed at an archaeological rock shelter site, Lapa do Santo, localized in the karstic region of Lagoa Santa, central Brazil. A total of 113 ground-penetrating radar profiles were acquired with 200 MHz and 400 MHz shielded antennas aiming in identifying geological and archaeological anomalies in order to assist archaeologists in an excavation program. The GPR results indicated clear geophysical anomalies characterized by hyperbolic reflections and areas with high amplitude sub-horizontal electromagnetic waves. The anomalies observed by GPR were confirmed by the excavation of test units, allowing the identification anthropogenic features such as a fire-hearth structure and wooden artifact, and natural features, such as, tree roots and rocky bodies such as speleothems, boulders and bedrock. The results showed the efficiency of GPR method in identifying potential buried archaeological targets in cave sites within a karstic area, and they oriented to archaeological excavations, reducing costs and increasing the probability of finding archaeological targets in the initial stages of a project.     

重估郎世宁的使命——将意大利绘画风格融入清朝作品

耶稣会士郎世宁于1715年至1766年供职于清廷内务府期间,将两种截然不同的艺术文化融合在一起:欧洲艺术风格是这位艺术家所受的基础训练,中国艺术风格则促成了他的职业成就。本文在分析郎世宁意大利基础训练及绘画知识的同时,也分析了其在清廷的代表作品,以提供这位画家在中国进行文化融合的基本框架。郎世宁的文化融合证明,他所接受的意大利基础训练与其后来作为宫廷画家所取得的成就之间,有着深远的联系。本文讨论了郎世宁全部绘画作品中不同元素之间相互关联的动态系统。这些相互关联的元素主要包含三方面的背景:绘画的、政治的以及感性的,分别与三种绘画流派有关——风景画、肖像画以及通景画,这一点对于理解郎世宁的事业至关重要。从更广义的角度讲,本文的目的在于通过展示郎世宁的艺术生涯,有助于我们勾勒出18世纪促成中国与欧洲文化艺术碰撞中的联结点。     

Starch grain characterization of Prosopis chilensis (Mol.) Stuntz and P. flexuosa DC,and the analysis of their archaeological remains in Andean South America

The fruit (pods) of Prosopis (Fabaceae) are frequently recovered from pre-Hispanic Argentinian archaeological sites, suggesting that this genus was of importance in ancient economies in this region. Yet it is only recently that archaeobotanists have begun to carry out systematic research into this genus. Therefore many questions remain to be addressed concerning the food value of Prosopis fruit, and its potential contribution. This paper examines starch from the pods of two species, Prosopis flexuosa and Prosopis chilensis, for the purposes of describing and classifying their morphological features and biometrical parameters. Pods of both species were gathered from two extremes (northern and southern) of the Hualfín Valley, Catamarca, Argentina. Starch abundance is estimated and compared with that of Zea mays, an economically important plant with high concentrations of starch. This paper reveals that Prosopis pods contain very low amounts of starch compared to starch-rich edible species. Despite this, the recovery of Prosopis starch grains can be successfully used to assess archaeological tool uses. Prosopis starch grains were found to be highly variable in shape. Grain size ranged between 10 and 20 μm. Granule irregularity and the high birefringence under polarized light are two of the most important diagnostic features. No significant statistical differences were found in the structure (morphology, size and hilum) of the starch of the same species from both localities. Finally, the implications for the role of this plant in past societies are discussed.     

Temperature,compression and fragmentation: an experimental analysis to assess the impact of taphonomic processes on charcoal preservation

This paper explores how mechanical properties of different South Asian tree taxa might influence charred wood fragmentation and the composition of charcoal assemblages retrieved from archaeological contexts. The dataset is composed of selected plant species that were collected in Gujarat (Northern India) in September 2007 as part of the North Gujarat Archaeological Project. The taxa analysed represent the most common wood species found in the arid thorn scrubland formation in South Asia and are among the most abundant identified in Neolithic and Chalcolithic archaeological sites in this area. The specimens have been measured and subsequently charred at three different temperatures, under constant conditions. Afterwards, their resistance to compression has been measured on two planes, parallel and perpendicular to the direction of fibres, using a Hounsfield 5-kN machine. The tests were performed in order to understand the different response to compressive stress of wood that has been subject to a range of thermal degradations. The standardised treatment applied to the samples has permitted the comparison of results and the delineation of simple correlations and divergences among the species analysed. Furthermore, the utilisation of a relatively simple operating protocol easily allows the addition of further data in the future. The applied protocol was specifically designed to answer archaeological questions. Therefore, even though from a material science point of view some of the measurements were not taken according to the prevailing standard procedures, it offers valuable data for anthracological research applied to archaeology in arid zones.     

Dating Historical Buildings: An Update on the Possibilities of Absolute Dating Methods

The reconstruction of the history of a building represents a difficult task, as written information is not usually available or incomplete. Some building materials (e.g., bricks, wood) have been classically used for absolute dating while on others has been considered unreliable (e.g., stone). However, developments and tests performed in the last 20 years have shown important advances on the use of such methods, increasing the possibilities of successful reconstruction of building chronologies, although most of these advances are still scarcely known by the community involved in the site management (e.g., archaeologists, architects). Both, radiocarbon and luminescence dating have been the most successful techniques but others, such as archaeomagnetism, can also be used. Even, some important events such as fires could be dated. The purpose of this work is to provide an overview of the last achievements of absolute dating techniques available in building materials.