The in situ preservation of archaeological remains: using lysimeters to assess the impacts of saturation and seasonality

Recent research has studied the effects of seasonal variability on waterlogged burial environments. In a new approach to the study of archaeological contexts, the use of controlled laboratory conditions via lysimeters has enabled new insights into the nature of short term fluctuations in saturation, and the impact that these can have on burial contexts. In addition, the protocols used have facilitated interesting insights into burial environments and the way in which fluctuations in saturation and seasonality can impact on the contained organic components within them.     

Southwest Scottish Crannogs: using in situ studies to assess preservation in wetland archaeological contexts

This paper presents the results of in situ monitoring of waterlogged burial contexts in southwest Scotland. The sites investigated are Iron Age crannogs (lake dwellings) which have a proven waterlogged archaeological component, and which are being assessed as part of a national program of study by the Scottish Wetland Archaeology Programme (SWAP) team. A monthly monitoring program commenced in July of 2004. To date, monitoring of water levels, pH, and redox potential, has been undertaken for a period of 17 months in order to encompass any seasonal variability at the sites studied. The results have proven robust in that an ‘ideal’ site for in situ preservation has been identified from the five sites investigated, and the monitoring has highlighted external variables and seasonal impacts that have the potential to influence the long-term in situ preservation at the remaining sites studied. In general, these results have expanded upon our knowledge of the potential for the preservation of existing archaeological remains within such contexts. This study represents the first stage of monitoring aimed at developing a holistic understanding of in situ conditions at the crannog sites studied in southwest Scotland.     

Identifying the geochemical taphonomy of the osteological material from Katsambas rockshelter

We report analytical work undertaken in order to identify the geochemical taphonomy of the osteological collection (human and animal bones) recovered from a 1950s excavation at Katsambas, a small cavity in the marly limestone on the west bank of Kairatos River, Crete. The site had funerary use and yielded material of Neolithic and Minoan age with poor stratigraphical association. Disintegration of provenance labels from bags has introduced further uncertainty about the contexts of recovery. Samples of human and animal bones that macroscopically appear to belong to three taphonomic categories were studied by means of FT-IR spectroscopy, TEM microscopy and REE analysis to explore the taphonomical processes the bones have undergone. Although not novel in palaeontological research the use of REE opens a new path to investigating poorly provenanced osteological collections from old excavations. Such geochemical work offers a proxy to their relative dating through the evaluation of the time span bones have remained in the sediments and their respective taphonomic histories.