Using neutron activation analysis to identify scales of interaction at Kinet Höyük,Turkey

We use NAA to characterize a relatively large archaeological ceramic sample from the Late Bronze Age to Hellenistic phases of Kinet Höyük, a coastal Turkish site in the Gulf of Iskenderun at the northeast corner of the Mediterranean Sea. The geographic extent of local Kinet wares (how local is local?) is established through comparison with sediment samples across the Kinet hinterland. Four major compositional groups are identified: local and locally imported wares, imports from Cypriot, and presumed Western Anatolian and Aegean centers, and imports that appear relatively homogenous elementally but comprise typologically diverse ceramics with attributions that range from Cyprus to the coastal mainland. Comparison with other published NAA studies for this site reinforces the elemental evidence for local production, and underlines the need for caution when assuming local production always equates with local clays particularly for coastal sites. We propose that the chronological distribution of the local and non-local groups provides a useful political economic proxy. The study indicates systemic and widespread political disruption and marginalization at the transition to the Late Iron Age in this region.     

Engraved ochre from a Middle Stone Age context at Klein Kliphuis in the Western Cape of South Africa

This paper reports on a piece of engraved ochre recovered from a Middle Stone Age context at the rock shelter site of Klein Kliphuis (Western Cape, South Africa). The ochre was associated with a mixed assemblage of Howiesons Poort and post-Howiesons Poort MSA artefacts, suggesting that it is substantially younger than similar finds at Blombos Cave. The implications of the find for arguments concerning the nature of Late Pleistocene behavioural evolution are discussed.     

Exchange patterns,boundary formation,and sociopolitical change in Late Bronze Age Southern Caucasia: preliminary results from a pottery provenance study in northwestern Armenia

In the South Caucasus—roughly the territory of today's Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan—the transition from the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) to the Late Bronze Age (LBA) is equated with fundamental shifts in settlement patterns, subsistence economy, and political strategies. During the mid-2nd millennium BC, nomadic pastoral societies that had dominated the region began to settle down and construct stone fortresses along the foothills of the Lesser Caucasus; these fortifications largely replaced the expansive and often opulently adorned kurgan burials as the most prominent expression of political dominance on the landscape. After a decade of intensive archaeological study at various fortifications, very little remains known about the political and economic relationships among fortresses on a regional scale that might improve our understanding of the roots of these sociopolitical transformations. In this paper, we highlight the results of a recent neutron activation analysis (NAA) of ceramics from elite and non-elite contexts at a selection of LBA fortresses on the Tsaghkahovit Plain in northwestern Armenia, and offer some preliminary interpretations about political and economic organization and boundary formation. Most strikingly, the NAA data suggest that the fortresses on the Tsaghkahovit Plain appear to have isolated themselves economically from surrounding valleys, perhaps in an attempt to forge boundaries and legitimating ideologies attendant to new political formations that were quite distinct from their nomadic predecessors in the MBA.     

Stone Age Prehistory of the Songwe River Valley, Lake Rukwa Basin, Southwestern Tanzania

This paper reports on results from survey and preliminary test excavations at MSA and LSA sites along the Songwe River in the Lake Rukwa Rift Valley of southwestern Tanzania. At IdIu22, a continuous, extensive archaeological deposit was revealed which may have both Pleistocene and Holocene components. The lithic material here shows a gradual transformation from a flake based LSA assemblage to one employing microburin techniques.Cet article discute la recherche préhistorique aux environs de la rivière Songwe, dans le vallée rift de Lac Rukwa en la sud-ouest de Tanzanie. Au gisement IdIu22, un sequence de l'âge de la pierre finale (LSA) a été découverte avec possible niveaux du Pleistocene et Holocène. Les assemblages lithiques changent graduellement dès un LSA avec outils sur les éclats, vers un LSA employant la téchnique microburin.     

安徽潜山薛家岗遗址第六次发掘简报

本次发掘发现了一批相当丁二薛家岗文化二、三期的墓葬、灰坑以及红烧十遗迹,确认薛家岗三期墓葬大都有墓坑。此外发现了大最的商周时期的遗物和遗迹,它们具有较强的地方特征而与同时期的中原文化有明显差异。在该遗址两面的永兴遗址,还发现了一处可能与建筑有关的大面积红烧十堆积,它与薛家岗遗址应有密切的关系。     

甘肃新石器时代与青铜代陶器研究的内容和科学意义

综述了现代分析测试方法和数学方法在古代陶器成分分析、年代测定、制作工艺、产地判断、形态分析方面的应用以及甘肃新石器与青铜时代陶器研究的意义。     

浙江旧石器考古综述

从2002年开始,浙江进行了一系列旧石器考古调查与发掘,成果表明古人类在浙江活动频繁、从早更新世晚段开始一直延续到晚更新世的某一阶段,持续时间很长。石制品的组合大多数归属于南方主工业,但也表现出了一些小流域的特色。从目前所发现旧石器地点分析,浙江旧石器考古研究的前景广阔。     

辽宁西丰县东沟遗址及墓葬发掘简报

2009年辽宁省文物考古研究所对西丰县东沟遗址和墓葬进行了发掘,共清理灰坑25个、灰沟4条、墓葬11座。遗址出土遗物有陶器、石器和铁器,其年代为战国至西汉初期。墓葬出土遗物有陶器和石器,依据墓葬形制及随葬器物组合等,推测其年代为春秋末至战国初。     

毛庆沟墓地年代学研究

<正>位于内蒙古凉城县蛮汉山南麓的毛庆沟墓地,已发掘79座墓葬,其中东西向墓葬67座,南北向墓葬12座,墓葬间没有发现打破或叠压关系。这批材料最先于1982年披露,1986年发表考古发掘报告(以下简称《报告》)。报告     

The historical geography of 1 Kings 9:11–14

ABSTRACT

1 Kings 9:11–14 relates Solomon’s sale of the land of Cabul to Hiram, king of Tyre. Commentaries and studies on this pericope have dealt with its linguistic and historical aspects without reaching consensus on where this land was, what the term ‘Cabul’ actually means, or even whether these verses preserve an actual historic event from the 10th century BCE. This article addresses these issues through a more systematic presentation of the archaeological remains and geographic realities in the Galilee, and in so doing, offers a more contextually derived understanding of the events recorded in 1 Kgs 9:11–14 than has heretofore been offered.