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Publication date: May 2018Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 93 Author(s): Daniel Contreras, Joel Guiot, Romain Suarez, Alan KirmanAssessing the implications of paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental data at temporal and spatial scales that would have directly intersected with human decision-making and activity is a fundamental archaeological challenge. This paper addresses this challenge by presenting a spatial and temporal downscaling method that can provide quantitative high-spatio-temporal-resolution estimates of the local consequences of climatic change. Using a case study in Provence (France) we demonstrate that a centennial-scale Mediterranean-wide model of Holocene climate, in conjunction with modern geospatial and climate data, can be used to generate explicit and solidly-grounded monthly estimates of temperature, precipitation, and cloudiness at landscape scales and with annual resolution, enabling consideration of climate variability at human scales and meeting the data requirements of socioecological models focused on human activity. While the results are not reconstructions – that is, particular values are single realizations, consistent with the coarse-grained data but not individually empirically derived nor unique solutions – they provide a more suitable basis for assessing the human consequences of climate change than can coarse-grained data.

Publication date: May 2018Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 93 Author(s): Michael J. Plank, Melinda S. Allen, Reno Nims, Thegn N. LadefogedEstablishing whether pre-industrial societies caused significant harvesting impacts on fish stocks is often hindered by the paucity of historic evidence. Some archaeological assemblages contain information on the sizes and/or species of individuals in the catch, but this does not provide any direct evidence on the absolute size of the catch or comparative metrics. We develop a method for using size-frequency data to infer the intensity of fishing and the size-selectivity of the fishing gear in use. The model allows quantitative estimates to be made for the depletion of snapper populations relative to the unexploited pre-human biomass. We evaluate this method using six modern and five archaeological datasets from northern New Zealand for a key commercial and artisanal species, Australasian snapper or silver seabream (Pagrus auratus). Our method uses two models for the size selectivity of fishing: one S-shaped, representing mobile fishing gear such as trawls or seines, and one dome-shaped, representing static fishing gear, such as hooks, longlines, or gillnets. The results show that the estimated fishing intensity is lower, and the size of fish being caught is larger, in the archaeological datasets than in the modern datasets, as might be expected. Nevertheless, some of the archaeological datasets show evidence that is consistent with substantial resource depression and depletion of the largest fish in the population, while others suggest only light exploitation. The method allows the five archaeological cases to be rank ordered in terms of exploitation pressures and the relative orderings are further assessed using independent information on site chronology, stratigraphy, and recovery procedures (i.e., screen size). Other factors that can affect size-frequency data are briefly considered, but require additional environmental and taphonomic data that are not currently available. The results provided by our new method support the hypothesis that the depletion of large fish and capture of progressively smaller ones occurred in the pre-European era, albeit in spatially localized areas and at a much less severe level than in modern times. The model results also help identify potential biases in the archaeological assemblages and directions for further research.

Publication date: May 2018Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 93 Author(s): E. Kotoula, D.W. Robinson, C. BedfordThis paper deals with the documentation, and virtual visual analysis of pictographs using interactive relighting, digital image enhancement techniques and diagrammatic representations. It discusses areas of interest for the analysis of low surface detail, large and geometrically complex superimposed pictographs. The synergy of reflectance transformation imaging (RTI) and decorrelation stretch (DS) aimed to improve the study of superimposition via the enhanced visualization of the surface morphology, dominant features, paint characteristics and layering. Additionally, diagrammatic representations of the results of the image-based analysis provided a valuable tool for interpretation and integration of the diverse dataset from the ongoing research in the Pleito Cave in California. This method allows revisiting unresolved hypotheses concerning the site by unpacking chemical and visual data in superimposed sequences.

Publication date: May 2018Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 93 Author(s): Bernhard Muigg, Willy Tegel, Pascal Rohmer, Uwe Eduard Schmidt, Ulf BüntgenThe use of hydropower provides an important technical advancement over hand-operated grain mills, which steadily increased over large parts of Europe from the early Middle Ages onwards. Since written information on the technical design of early medieval water mills is generally missing, archaeological evidence may provide unique insights into their evolution. Well-preserved wooden finds from continental Europe are, however, extremely rare. Here we present dendroarchaeological results from an exceptional number of structural elements of the Audun-le-Tiche water mill in northern France. Taxonomical identification, tree-ring dating and observations of technical features provide a detailed picture of milling technology as early as the Carolingian period in the mid-9th century. A well-preserved waterwheel segment allows the reconstruction of an undershot start-and-float wheel. Numerous wooden paddles reveal a technological evolution from one-piece paddles to composite forms. Placing our results in the context of other early medieval mills, suggests a rather uniform consruction design within, though different beyond the Frankish Empire. This study provides a detailed description of early medieval water milling technology that possibly contributed to the success of agriculture as well as cultural and economic growth of the Carolingian Empire.

Publication date: May 2018Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 93 Author(s): Elin Figueiredo, João Fonte, Alexandre Lima, João Pedro Veiga, Rui J.C. Silva, José MirãoProvenance and production of tin in the Ancient World has since long been a major topic of discussion among archaeologists. In Western Europe, where significant tin ore (cassiterite) deposits are known, only a few remains of ancient tin production, such as tin slags, have been detected. In the present work, elemental and microstructural analyses by WDXRF, SEM-EDS and XRD were performed on recently recognised tin slags from the Iron Age Carvalhelhos hillfort located in NW Iberia, a territory that represents the largest extension with tin mineralisation in Western Europe. Elemental and microstructural characterisation of cassiterite collected in a pilot field survey in the region of the hillfort are presented and discussed, as well as two ceramic fragments that could be part of a smelting structure and an iron slag from the settlement. Results show that the tin slags have variable but high contents in Sn, similarly to Pre-Medieval tin slags found in other Western European areas, but also high contents of Ta and Nb, which specifically distinguish them from other tin slags, such as those found in SW Britain. Tin ores from the hillfort region frequently have Ta and Nb in cassiterite solid solution or as inclusions of columbite group minerals, relating well with the Carvalhelhos tin slags. Up to present, the Carvalhelhos slags are amongst the very few ancient tin slags known in Western Europe, and their study can contribute to a better knowledge on ancient tin sources and trade routes.

Publication date: Available online 1 March 2018Source:Journal of Archaeological Science Author(s): Renée Friedman, Daniel Antoine, Sahra Talamo, Paula J. Reimer, John H. Taylor, Barbara Wills, Marcello A. ManninoThe application of tattoos to the human body has enjoyed a long and diverse history in many ancient cultures. At present, the oldest surviving examples are the mainly geometric tattoos on the individual known as Ötzi, dating to the late 4th millennium BCE, whose skin was preserved by the ice of the Tyrolean Alps. In the Egyptian Nile valley, the arid climate has also promoted extensive soft tissue preservation. Here we report on the tattoos found during the examination of two of the best preserved naturally mummified bodies from Egypt’s Predynastic (c. 4000-3100 BCE) period, making them the earliest extant examples from the Nile Valley. Figural tattoos that mirror motifs found in Predynastic art were observed on the right arm of one male and the right arm and shoulder of one female, demonstrating conclusively that tattooing was practiced in prehistoric Egypt. These findings overturn the circumstantial evidence of the artistic record that previously suggested only females were tattooed for fertility or even erotic reasons. Radiocarbon testing and datable iconographic parallels for the motifs indicate that these tattooed individuals are nearly contemporaneous with the Iceman, positioning them amongst the bearers of some of the oldest preserved tattoos in the world. At over five thousand years of age, they push back the evidence for tattooing in Africa by a millennium and provide new insights into the range of potential uses of tattoos in pre-literate societies by both sexes, revealing new contexts for exploring the visual language of prehistoric times.

Publication date: April 2018Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 92 Author(s): Brad Chase, David Meiggs, P. Ajithprasad, Philip A. SlaterThe analysis of strontium isotopes in archaeologically preserved biological tissues is most productive when these can be compared to naturally occurring variation in strontium isotope ratios across the physical landscape. Such work is in its infancy in South Asia. Here, we report on the first attempt to monitor 87Sr/86Sr variation across the Indian state of Gujarat using herbivore dung. As it incorporates plant material from throughout an individual animal’s grazing range, herbivore dung averages local isotopic variation in palatable vegetation and is therefore an ideal material for use in studies involving domestic livestock. In our analysis of 125 dung samples from 38 sampling locations across the study area, 87Sr/86Sr values and geographic variation are commensurate with expectations based on regional geology. The values that we report are significantly different from those reported for both ecosystem elements and archaeological humans and livestock that have been published for other regions of the Indus Civilization (2600–1900 BC). No individual humans or livestock in these studies appear to have their origins in Gujarat. The present study further allows for more detailed interpretations of our previously published study of strontium isotope ratios in faunal remains from the walled Indus manufacturing center of Bagasra in Gujarat (Chase et al., 2014b). Specifically, it is now clear that while most livestock show very little movement within the period of enamel formation, their places of origin were scattered throughout central Saurashtra, adjacent to the site, suggesting that a portion of the livestock consumed at Bagasra were initially raised in the many small unexcavated villages in the area. There is little evidence for the procurement of livestock from further afield within the region and none for livestock originating outside the region. These results demonstrate that monitoring geographic 87Sr/86Sr variation using herbivore dung has the potential to significantly advance archaeological interpretation of livestock mobility in the past and is applicable anywhere that modern livestock graze on natural vegetation.

Publication date: April 2018Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 92 Author(s): Ido Wachtel, Royi Zidon, Shimon Garti, Gideon Shelach-LaviArchaeological predictive modeling is a tool that helps assess the likelihood of archaeological sites being present at different locations in the landscape. Such models are used for research purposes, as an analytical tool to better explain settlement patterns and past human behavior. They are also an important tool for the preservation of archaeological sites, as they can help planners avoid areas where sites are likely to exist. In this study we compare two methods of predictive modeling for archaeological site locations using two independent case studies. The more commonly used method of logistic regression is compared with a newer method of maximal entropy (MaxEnt). We examine the effectiveness of both models on two independent datasets collected from the Upper Galilee (northern Israel) and the Fuxin area (northeast China). While both methods have proven useful, in both cases the MaxEnt models produced much better results, which were much more efficient, than those of the logistic regression.

Publication date: March 2018Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 91 Author(s): Robin Torrence, Marcos Martinón-TorresOn his retirement as Editor of Journal of Archaeological Science (JAS) at the end of 2017, we celebrate Thilo Rehren’s contributions to the growth of the journal over the past 13 years and, consequently, his impacts in shaping archaeological science as a discipline. Since Rehren was an architect of the new consortium of journals comprising JAS and JAS Reports, on this occasion it is also appropriate to consider the future of publishing in the constantly evolving field of archaeological science.

Publication date: March 2018Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 91