The Circulation,Distribution and Consumption of Marine Products in Byzantium: Some Considerations

Marine exploitation in Byzantium had developed to become an industry by the early 10th century, but the systematic study of the various pieces of information scattered through a range of sources has only just begun. Despite the piecemeal nature of the evidence, it has been possible to sketch out a picture of the organised and methodical exploitation of the empire’s marine resources through large and expensive investments, such as in epochai and vivaria, which facilitated an uninterrupted supply of marine products to the cities. It is the development of these features that merits the use of the term “industry”. Byzantium sustained elaborate methods for supplying food to its employees which was provided either during the exercise of their duties, as part of their reward, as a mark of their privileged status, or even based on legitimate legal claims. Large groups of people benefited from the work of those involved in primary production (fishermen, epochai/vivaria owners and lease holders), without necessarily having contributed to the initial investments or expenses. By clarifying these distribution methods, it is evident that the circulation and consumption of marine products in Byzantium was larger than previously thought, and middle and lower class citizens actually did participate and have a share in it. Marine product consumption was not simply restricted by the producer-buyer or offer-demand relationship, it involved social parameters that are not immediately and easily recognisable because of the fragmentary nature of the available information.     

Negotiation of Social Values in the World Heritage Listing Process: A Case Study on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal,China

This paper examines the World Heritage listing process for the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to understand the sociopolitical meanings of heritage in contemporary China. Over the past four decades, the efforts of the Chinese government have been clearly geared towards improving governance over heritage sites by designating them as state properties, which requires the selection and evaluation of cultural heritage sites on the specific political meaning based on historical, aesthetic, or scientific value. In the process of World Heritage listing of Chinese heritage sties, the model of ‘state properties’ had to be compatible with UNESCO’s understanding of ‘heritage’, as well as economic benefits of heritage. Drawing on the data collected from the process of World Heritage listing of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, this paper explores the integration of the social meanings of heritage into the ‘authorized’ values criteria, facilitating multiple uses of ‘heritage’ through collaboration among UNESCO, Chinese heritage officials, and local communities. It argues that practices of heritage that consider social meanings will integrate local communities’ understandings into political meanings of heritage on basis of central government’s interests. This paper shows how the social meanings of heritage create a dialectical relationship to enable a ‘living’ cultural process in the preservation of ‘state properties’. In addition, the social meanings of heritage allow all potential stakeholder groups to negotiate with the heritage bureaucracy, as well as strengthening the role of local interests in heritage policy.     

The aceramic production of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Betula pubescens</Emphasis> (downy birch) bark tar using simple raised structures. A viable Neanderthal technique?

Following on from our previous research into the prehistoric aceramic distillation and production of birch bark tar, this series of exploratory experiments investigated the use of raised structures within a fire. These field-based experiments were conducted using sand, gravel, wood fuel, and bark from Betula pubescens (downy birch). The structures that were created were simple raised sand mounds, which reflected known Neanderthal combustion surfaces from the Middle Palaeolithic. The bulk of the experiments were recorded throughout using a thermocouple to provide temperature readings from the base of the bark pyrolysis chamber. The experiments proved successful at producing birch bark tar and several containers were used to catch the tar for later analysis. Based on the results, the authors contend that not only could Neanderthals control fire but that regular birch bark tar production by Neanderthals was most likely a result of specific chaînes opératoires in order to provide the necessary control and outcomes.     

Siberia and neighboring regions in the Last Glacial Maximum: did people occupy northern Eurasia at that time?

An updated analysis of Paleolithic sites in Siberia and the Urals ¹⁴C-dated to the coldest phase of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), with its timespan currently determined as ca. 23,000–19,000 BP (ca. 27,300–22,900 cal BP), is presented. It is demonstrated that people continuously occupied the southern and central parts of Siberia and the Russian Far East (up to 58° N latitude), and perhaps sporadically settled regions located even further north, up to 70° N, throughout the LGM. This is in accord with our previous data, but is now based on a larger dataset, and also on a paleoecological analysis of the major pre-LGM archaeological sites in Siberia and the Urals north of 58° N. It is clear that Paleolithic people in northern Eurasia were able to cope with the treeless tundra environment well in advance of the LGM, at least at ca. 34,000–26,000 BP (ca. 38,500–30,000 cal BP). Therefore, a high degree of adaptation to cold conditions allowed people to survive in Siberia during the LGM.     

Unraveling a Neanderthal palimpsest from a zooarcheological and taphonomic perspective

Practically all archeological assemblages are palimpsests. In spite of the high temporal resolution of Abric Romaní site, level O, dated to around 55 ka, is not an exception. This paper focuses on a zooarcheological and taphonomic analysis of this level, paying special attention to spatial and temporal approaches. The main goal is to unravel the palimpsest at the finest possible level by using different methods and techniques, such as archeostratigraphy, anatomical and taxonomical identification, taphonomic analysis, faunal refits and tooth wear analysis. The results obtained are compared to ethnoarcheological data so as to interpret site structure. In addition, activities carried out over different time spans (from individual episodes to long-term behaviors) are detected, and their spatial extent is explored, allowing to do inferences on settlement dynamics. This leads us to discuss the temporal and spatial scales over which Neanderthals carried out different activities within the site, and how they can be studied through the archeological record.     

Different glassmaking technologies in the production of Iron Age black glass from Italy and Slovakia

This study presents the results of an archaeometrical investigation performed on 75 black glass beads dated to the ninth–fifth century BC coming from Bologna, Cumae, and Pozzuoli (Italy), and Chotin (Slovakia). The analyses of the major, minor, and trace elements—as well as that of Sr and Nd isotopes performed on a selection of samples coming from Bologna—provided evidence for two different production technologies in Iron Age black glass found in Italy (natron glass, probably produced in Egypt) and Slovakia (wood ash glass, probably produced in Europe). In both cases, the glasses derive their black colouration from the high presence of iron (around 12 % FeO), introduced into the glass batches through the intentional choice of dark sands. The production model appears to be small-scale and experimental, characterised by the use of non-sorted raw materials and poorly defined formulae, producing glass with a high chemical variability. The wood ash technology appears to have dropped out of use in Europe until the Medieval period, while natron production spread quickly, becoming predominant throughout the Mediterranean.     

Lithic use-wear analysis of the Early Gravettian of Vale Boi (Cape St. Vicente,southern Portugal): insights into human technology and settlement in southwestern Iberia

During the Upper Paleolithic, lithic variability is one of the most important keys to recognize hunter-gatherer behavior, technology, ecology, and social dynamics. The origin and expansion of Gravettian populations in Eurasia has been seen as one of the most critical episodes in human evolution, argued to be the first clear evidence of the so-called polymorphism among modern human populations. In the case of southern Iberian Peninsula, recent data have shown a new regional and diachronic organization for the Gravettian occupation in this region. Therefore, the interpretation of such variability is one of the most important questions, and functional analysis is a fundamental proxy to recognize human technological, settlement and ecological adaptations as major factors for this polymorphism. This study focused on lithic use-wear analysis of the Early Gravettian of Vale Boi (southern Portugal), in order to understand lithic technological organization and variability within and between occupations at the site. Results show similar patterns between assemblages, showing that different materials were worked at the site, although showing reduced time of work, low variability and percentage of pieces used. Unlike other Gravettian contexts in southern Iberia, the Early Gravettian from Vale Boi is characterized by some variability of backed points, marked by the predominance of bipointed double-backed bladelets. Functional analysis of the Early Gravettian lithic industries of Vale Boi provide a new insight to interpret human technology and settlement strategy during the onset of Upper Paleolithic industries in western Eurasia.     

Stable isotope evidence for dietary and cultural change over the Holocene at the Sabana de Bogotá region,Northern South America

The Sabana de Bogotá in the northern Andes is an interesting region to investigate temporal patterns of dietary variation because it counts with a vast archeological and osteological record for the last 10,000 years. In this paper, stable isotope data of human archeological bone collagen and apatite were used to study the evolution of diet and major subsistence transformations taking place during the Holocene (～9000–600 cal BP). Paleoenvironmental reconstructions and the isotopic ecology of the Sabana de Bogotá were used as an interpretative baseline. Stable isotope measurements (δ¹³C_col, δ¹³C_ap, δ¹⁵N, and Δ¹³C_col-ap) representing hunter-gatherers, horticulturalists, and agriculturalists (N = 134 individuals) were analyzed by using bivariate, regressional, and discriminant statistical techniques. Results show that early Holocene hunter-gatherers (9000–7000 cal BP) consumed mostly C₃ vegetal resources locally available. In contrast, animal protein was less important. Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers (6000–4500 cal BP) continued with the food foraging pattern observed in the earlier counterparts and presented a slight increase in C₃ animal protein intake. During the initial late Holocene ca. 4000 cal BP, important shifts in subsistence strategies occurred when populations presented a trend toward mixed C₃/C₄ diets, and by ca. 3500 cal BP, there is a clear signal of C₄ crops (i.e., maize) consumption concomitant with the introduction of ceramic technology. During the final late Holocene (last 2000 cal years BP), intensive agriculture was adopted and humans presented relatively diverse diets integrated by C₄ and C₃ crops, C₃-C₄ feeding animals, and freshwater resources. Such dietary change coincides with an increase in sociopolitical complexity, population size, and a general decline in health.     

Plant microfossils in human dental calculus from Nemrik 9, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic site in Northern Iraq

Samples of dental calculus were taken from 11 human individuals buried at Nemrik 9, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic site in Northern Iraq. All of them represented the time span of ca. 9100–8600 bp. In total, 95 microfossils were retrieved from these samples, including 70 phytoliths, 9 starch granules or clusters of starch, 3 pollens, and 1 xylem fragment. Most microfossils could be attributed to C₃ cool season cereals, most likely wheat and barley, which is consistent with previous knowledge about the composition of crops in early farming communities living in the Fertile Crescent. In addition, three phytoliths and one starch granule typical of C₄ warm season grasses were recovered including one subangular and faceted starch granule, which might derive from a native grass, but is not diagnostic of any genus. Prior to assigning diagnostic status to this starch, exhaustive reference work on native grass seeds is necessary. The presence of one Phragmites phytolith suggests non-alimentary processing of reeds using teeth or perhaps using the stem of this grass as a toothbrush or toothpick.