The meals in a Tuscan building yard during the Middle Age. Characterization of organic residues in ceramic potsherds

The characterization of organic residues found in ceramics objects coming from the Carmine Convent in Siena (Central Italy), probably built in the second half of the 13th century, is described. The nine objects analyzed in this study are pots, casseroles, and lids and they were used as filling material of the vault of one room of the convent.     

大遗址保护与考古遗址公园建设

建设考古遗址公园,是新时期大遗址保护新模式,是建设和谐社会和中华民族共同精神家园的重要举措。建设考古遗址公园的根本目的是保护遗址、服务考古。考古遗址公园建设必须科学规划,严肃论证,循序渐进,稳妥扎实。考古学家应积极支持考古遗址公园建设。文物管理部门应对考古遗址公园建设热情支持,善加引导,健全规章,严格管理。     

Subsistence practices and pottery use in Neolithic Jordan: molecular and isotopic evidence

This paper presents direct evidence of subsistence practices and pottery use at a Late Neolithic site at al-Basatîn, northern Jordan. Measurable concentrations of C_16:0 and C_18:0 were recovered from 8 of 10 archaeological pottery fragments through use of a microwave-assisted silica gel and aminopropyl solvent protocol developed for the isolation and concentration of free fatty acids in marine sediments. Subsequent isotopic analysis of the surviving C_16:0 and C_18:0 saturated fatty acids revealed ∂¹³C ratios consistent with those of adipose fats of ruminant and non-ruminant animals pastured on lands adjacent to the Jordan Valley. The high recovery of diagnostic compounds from the al-Basatîn material is discussed in context of a wider examination of the initial development and use of pottery in the Fertile Crescent, and the emerging debate concerning the efficacy of stable carbon isotope values in characterizing organic residues embedded in pottery fragments recovered from the earliest ceramic horizons in the Middle East and Europe.     

Currents and trends in the archaeological sciences

Here I use ISI Web of Knowledge to build on a recent paper by Butzer (2009) and track current trends in the archaeological sciences. I researched eight thematic keywords replete in the title, abstract, keywords and main body of archaeological science literature for the period 1970–2008. For all keywords investigated a steady rise in archaeological science research is evidenced after 1980, with pronounced growth occurring after 2000. I attribute this pattern to the standardisation of research production and academic evaluation, in addition to the democratisation of new information technologies, notably the Internet. The evolution of 10 leading archaeological science journals was also tracked. Since the 1970s, the bibliometric data show that nine of the ten journals have successfully expanded on an annual basis. I found that the biggest growers (the Journal of Archaeological Science [JAS], the Journal of Human Evolution and the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology) are all published by Elsevier. In 2008, the JAS was ranked first for five of the eight thematic keywords by ISI, underlining the popularity and interdisciplinary scope of the journal. According to the 2008 Journal Citation Reports, the JAS ranks second for total citations (4219) in archaeological science and third for its overall impact factor (1.779).     

Sedimentological and archaeological fabrics in Palaeolithic levels of the South-Eastern Pyrenees: Cova Gran and Roca dels Bous Sites (Lleida, Spain)

The comparative study of sedimentary fabrics in relation to archaeological fabrics in various levels of the sites of Cova Gran de Santa Linya (Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic) and the Roca dels Bous (Middle Palaeolithic) has made it possible to analyse the formation dynamics of the deposits and determine the extent of disturbance of the archaeological levels by natural processes. To achieve this, diagrams and two- and three-dimensional indices were calculated from the azimuth and dip angle of natural clasts and artefacts. The results indicate that the sedimentary levels were formed mainly by planar fabric shape gravitational processes (low depositional angles), which differ notably from the archaeological fabrics they contain, characterised by a greater degree of isotropy. This difference in the fabrics would reflect human activity and indicates that the archaeological levels both in Cova Gran and Roca dels Bous have not been subject to significant natural modifications, and are preserved in situ.     

Towards the identification of dyestuffs in Early Iron Age Scandinavian peat bog textiles

A large systematic dye investigation of prehistoric Danish and Norwegian bog textiles was carried out using high performance liquid chromatography with photo diode array detection. After the selection of the most suitable protocol for dye extraction and HPLC analysis for this specific group of archaeological samples, the second part included the characterisation of the dyes detected in the whole series of the Early Iron Age textiles and the interpretation of the dyeing technology. Natural organic dyes were found from the three main categories of natural dyes, hence throwing new light on the use of biological dye sources in Early Iron Age Scandinavia. The results clearly indicate that most Scandinavian peat bog textiles originally were dyed and that already during the 1st millennium BC, the populations in Scandinavia were familiar with the dyeing technology.     

考古学文化命名原则对古代瓷窑遗址命名方式的启示

瓷窑命名方式有以古文献记载的内容命名以及按现今地名命名两种方式。采用古文献记载的方式大致可分为以窑址所在州县名称命名、以窑址所在的小地名命名、以窑场所在方位命名、以窑场生产性质命名和以督窑官或窑场主姓氏命名五种方式。按现今地名命名的方式多受通行的考古学文化命名方式的影响。但两种命名方式都存在混乱的情况。根据考古学文化命名的原则,本文为古代瓷窑遗址命名提出三点建议,强调在窑址命名中注重窑址内涵中的稳定因素和窑址的空间分布范围。     

放射性碳素测定年代报告(三八)

本报告发表的是中国社会科学院考古研究所考古科技实验研究中心碳十四实验室和中国科学院地球环境研究所西安加速器质谱测试中心在2007～2011年期间测定的40个考古数据。数据表示方式与以往所发报告相同。为方便应用另做如下几点说明。1.碳十四年代半衰期按5568年计算。2.校正年代所用程序为OxCal,校正曲线为1998年公布版本。3.与以往报告相同,所给年代误差范围均为±16,年代范围的概率分布为68.2%。4.由于树轮年代校正曲线各区段形状不同,校正后年代范围可能形成几组,总合概率为68.2%(与过去报告中总合概率表示为100%相同)。5.校正均按单一样品方式处理。6.数据均作碳十三     

Development and application of methods used to source prehistoric Southwestern maize: a review

Archaeological cobs free of mineral contaminants should be used to source the soils in which they were grown. Mineral contaminants often contain much higher concentrations of metals than vegetal materials and can alter a cob’s apparent metal and heavy-isotope content. Cleaning a cob via immersion in an acid solution for more than a few minutes will result in the incongruent and sometimes complete leaching of metals, including strontium (Sr), from the cob. When using ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr to determine the location of potential agriculture fields, it is best to either integrate several depth-integrated soil samples or to integrate several vegetation samples from individual fields. Biologically labile Sr in semi-arid Southwestern soils largely originates from eolian source or sources and usually is not derived from underlying bedrock. Existing Sr-isotope data indicate that archaeological cobs from Aztec Ruins came from either the Mesa Verde-McElmo Dome or Totah areas, that Pueblo Bonito and Chetro Ketl cobs, from Chaco Canyon that predate A.D. 1130, probably came from the Rio Chaco corridor, and that cobs from Chaco Canyon, that postdate A.D. 1130, probably came from either the Totah or Zuni areas.     

考古与遗址公园——国家考古遗址公园建设中的两个定位

国家考古遗址公园是近年来我国大遗址保护的一种创新模武.在建设过程中,我们既要正确理解国家考古遗址公园的定位,处理好"考古遗址"与"公园"之间的关系,确保考古遗址公园的特质属性和发展走向,也要全面准确把握国家考古遗址公园中考古工作的定位.这种正确的定位有利于考古遗址的科学保护、深入研究及有效展示,同时也有助于推动中国现代...