Transition in the use of cobalt-blue colorant in the New Kingdom of Egypt

Cobalt-blue colorant was first used in the 18th Dynasty in the New Kingdom of Egypt. The source of this cobalt was cobaltiferous alum from the Western Oases of Egypt. The use of this alum, especially in glass, was suddenly limited at the end of the 18th Dynasty. There is little evidence of the production of cobalt-blue glass in the Ramesside Period (the 19th–20th Dynasties) in the New Kingdom of Egypt. In this study, we brought a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer to two archaeological sites located in the Memphite region and used it for onsite analyses of Ramesside cobalt blue-colored glasses and faiences. This method revealed that the compositional characteristics of the cobalt-blue colorant in these Ramesside glasses and faiences is different from the colorant derived from cobaltiferous alum used in the 18th Dynasty, based on the comparison of transition metal composition and alumina content with those of the cobalt blue-colored artifacts from the 18th Dynasty. This result suggests that a new cobalt source other than cobaltiferous alum from the Western Oases was utilized in Egypt during the Ramesside Period.     

Provenance study of early and middle bronze age pottery from Kaman-Kalehöyük,Turkey, by heavy mineral analysis and geochemical analysis of individual hornblende grains

The provenance of Early Bronze Age and early Middle Bronze Age pottery produced between 2100 and 1970 B.C. and excavated from Kaman-Kalehöyük, Turkey was studied using mineralogical methods, including heavy mineral analysis and geochemical study of individual hornblende grains. The relative abundances of heavy minerals in the fabrics of 20 Early Bronze Age (EBA) and early Middle Bronze Age (MBA) pottery sherds, together with 27 local sediments collected within a radius of 25 km of the site were studied. The heavy mineral distributions in the Kaman region were statistically analyzed for consistencies in their occurrence. Amphibole was found to be the most abundant heavy mineral in most of the analyzed samples, followed by titanite and epidote. The amounts of other minerals such as garnet, clinopyroxene, and zircon are subordinate. Different proportions of heavy minerals in the fabrics allow categorization of the EBA and early MBA potteries into 5 groups. Comparative study of heavy mineral assemblages of local sediments and pottery suggests that half of the EBA and most of the MBA potteries were produced from sediment near the excavation site, whereas the other half of the EBA potteries were produced from sediment occurring at 25 km east or more east of the site. The geochemistry of individual amphibole grains was studied by electron-microprobe analysis. Most of the studied amphibole grains are calcic and aluminous, corresponding to hornblende. They can be further characterized into four types based on their chemical composition. The combination of heavy mineral identity and hornblende geochemistry provides diagnostic evidence for the origins of Kaman-Kalehöyük pottery. These and analogous heavy mineral techniques are effective archaeometric tools for determining pottery provenance.     

Paleoenvironmental catastrophies on the Peruvian coast revealed in lagoon sediment cores from Pachacamac

Paleoenvironmental reconstruction combining data from diatom, pollen, macrophytic, and archaeological analyses had not been attempted previously for coastal Peru. We analyzed two radiocarbon-dated sediment cores extracted from the “sacred” Urpi Kocha Lagoon at the pre-Hispanic religious center of Pachacamac (ca. AD 350-1533), near Lima, to characterize the paleoenvironment of the site. The data reveal an environmental history characterized by alternating periods of severe drought and catastrophic flood. Recurrent pulses with distinctive sediment, diatom, pollen, and macrophytic characteristics reflecting variations in water depth, substrate, turbidity and salinity, usually contain a thick basal sandy storm deposit overlain by thin organic accumulations of peat, gyttja, and snails. The most intense of these disturbance pulses, when correlated with pollen, plant macrofossils, radiocarbon dates, and regional proxy data, provide local evidence of four major floods associated with sustained, catastrophic El Niño events, tsunamis and/or severe storms in the Andean highlands over the last 2000 years.     

Spinal degenerative lesions and spinal ligamentous ossifications in ancient Chinese populations of the Yellow River Civilization

Rheumatological diseases, whether inflammatory or degenerative, are ubiquitous among modern Asian people but very few palaeopathological studies have been performed in Asia on this subject. Since 1996, we have been carrying out a palaeoepidemiological survey of rheumatic diseases in ancient Chinese and Japanese skeletal populations. Findings on the spinal column in ancient Chinese populations (ca. 5000 bc –ad 1644) in Henan Province (centre of the Yellow River Civilization) are reported in this study. The examined number of the people over 20 years old was 365 (185 males, 169 females and 11 unsexed). Of these, 248 were young adults, 98 were middle adults and 19 were old adults. Crude prevalence (number/100) in total population of vertebral osteophytosis/facet osteoarthritis was 17.5/7.7, 17/3.7 and 44.6/21.1 at the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine, respectively. That of ossified anterior longitudinal ligament (OALL) or Forestier's disease was around 3 at each of the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine. Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) of the cervical spine was observed in five out of 114 skeletons with cervical spine preserved, while it did not exist in any thoracic and lumbar segment. Ossification of the ligamentum flavum (OLF) was predominantly observed in the thoracic spine, the crude prevalence of which was 36.7. Overall spinal degenerative lesions seemed to have been more prevalent and spinal ligament ossifications less prevalent in ancient Chinese populations than in modern people. None of the inflammatory lesions like rheumatoid spondylitis, as well as seronegative spondyloarthropathies, were detected. This is the first palaeopathological study in which the prevalence of OPLL and OLF, the two clinically important spinal ligamentous ossifications causing myelopathy in modern mankind, was surveyed in ancient skeletons. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transitions in Islamic plant-ash glass vessels: on-site chemical analyses conducted at the Raya/al-Tur area on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt

This study focuses on the chemical composition of Islamic plant-ash glass (dated from the 9th to 11th centuries) excavated from the Raya/al-Tur area on the South Sinai in Egypt. Plant-ash glass objects from the Raya site were classified into three compositional types based on on-site chemical analyses with a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. Based on typological characteristics and chemical composition comparisons with contemporary glass objects from other Islamic sites, one hypothesis holds that plant-ash glass objects produced in the Syria–Palestine or Mesopotamian regions could have been imported to Raya during the 9th to 10th centuries. In particular, some colorless glass vessels with a high magnesium/calcium ratio were noted to exhibit post-Sassanian cut decorations. Conversely, most of the bluish-green plant-ash glass objects from the Monastery of Wadi al-Tur near the Raya site exhibited relatively high levels of aluminum, titanium, iron, and lead. These pieces were likely produced during the Fatimid period (late 10th to 12th centuries), and based on their elemental composition, possibly originated in Egypt. The present work provides a greater understanding of chronological changes in post-9th century Islamic plant-ash glasses and the development of social and commercial networks within the Middle Eastern area.     

Change in chemical composition of early Islamic glass excavated in Raya,Sinai Peninsula,Egypt: on-site analyses using a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer

The Raya port (eighth to 12th centuries) on the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, was one of the important port cities for the Red Sea trade. We performed on-site analyses of Islamic glass vessels (used in eighth to 11th centuries) mainly from this site in Egypt using a portable XRF spectrometer. The aim of this paper is to contribute to our understanding of the chemical compositions of early Islamic glass vessels by comparing their archaeological date and typology. In the early Islamic period, glass objects were mainly produced from natron as the soda source. Among the natron glass analyzed in this study, glass vessels with low titanium and iron and high strontium contents, which were probably produced in the Syria–Palestine region, were excavated in the eighth century layer. From the ninth century layer, a large number of samples with high levels of calcium, titanium and iron, probably produced in Egypt, were found. It should be noted that a large number of glass vessels with this chemical composition were found at the Raya site, because this type of glass was rarely reported from other Islamic sites. We finally concluded that this type of glass seems to be produced under a fixed recipe, although some samples contain a colorant or decolorized materials.     

Erosive peripheral polyarthritis in ancient Japanese skeletons: A possible case of rheumatoid arthritis

The antiquity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is still in dispute, due to the difficulty of conclusively differentiating peripheral polyarthritis, especially from spondyloarthropathy, in archaeological populations. In view of the importance of genetic factors in developing spondyloarthropathy and of the far lower prevalence of the disease in modern Japanese, a rarity of peripheral polyarthritis would be anticipated in the ancient Japanese population, given that RA had not been present there. One hundred and sixty adult Japanese skeletons of the late and final Jomon period (3400–2400 years bp ) were examined to find peripheral polyarthritis. There was one male skeleton with peripheral polyarthritis, showing marginal and surface erosions in the joints of the hands, feet, ankle and zygoapopheseal joints of the thoracic vertebrae. RA is suggested as the most probable cause of this pathology. This report raises the significance of further studies to consider whether more cases than anticipated exist in skeletal populations that would have been resistant to developing spondyloarthropathy. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A possible case of metastatic carcinoma in a middle Sican burial from Batán Grande,Perú

The skeleton of a young to middle-aged adult excavated at the base of the Pre-Incaic pyramid of Huaca Las Ventanas, northern coast of Peru, shows an osteoplastic formation on the fifth lumbar vertebra compatible with a diagnosis of metastatic carcinoma, possibly from the prostate gland.