| 1. |
- Blaschikoff, Ludmilla, et al.
(författare)
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A multidisciplinary study of Iberian Chalcolithic dogs
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Archaeological Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 2352-409X .- 2352-4103. ; 42
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Domesticated dogs have been present in the Iberian Peninsula long before other domesticated species, back to the late Palaeolithic period. Their origin is still uncertain, but dogs were already well established during the Chalcolithic period (ca. 5000-4000 BP). This study employed a multidisciplinary approach comprising osteometric, radiographic and palaeogenomic analyses to characterize Chalcolithic Iberian Canis remains. Two Chalcolithic archaeological sites - Leceia, Oeiras, in Portugal, and El Caset ' on de la Era, Villalba de los Alcores, Valladolid, in Spain - were the main focus of this study. Osteometric and odontometric data from eleven other sites in Iberia were also included. Osteometric results show signs of phenotypic variability, likely the result of human-driven selective pressure. Dental radiographic and dental wear analyses allowed age at death estimation for four individuals (two juvenile and two adults). Three Chalcolithic Iberian dogs had their mitogenomes resequenced and the mitochondrial DNA analysis allowed to assign each individual to two of the major known haplogroups - A and C. Molecular sex infered by the chromosomeX/chromosome1 coverage ratio allowed to identify one female and two males. This study unveils some aspects of the Iberian Chalcolithic dogs: these dogs already exhibited various morphotypes whose profiles might be associated to the performance of certain tasks, as well as mitogenomes of two distinct lineages that help tracking the evolutionary paths of Iberian dogs.
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| 2. |
- Grabowski, Radoslaw, et al.
(författare)
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The use of space on two Early Iron Age house sites in South-West Jutland, South Scandinavia : A geoarchaeological multiproxy approach
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Archaeological Science. - : Elsevier. - 2352-409X .- 2352-4103. ; 42
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper describes analyses for understanding the general use of space on two Early Iron Age house sites on the site of Sønderris in South-West Jutland (South Scandinavia). The main method consists of the geoarchaeological techniques of soil P analysis by citric acid extraction, low frequency magnetic susceptibility analysis, and measurement of the soils organic content by loss-on-ignition. The results of these analyses are, moreover, interpreted alongside artefact distribution data, data on the dispersal of plant macrofossils, and an evaluation of the architectural details of the sites.At both house sites, the geoarchaeological data shows patterning indicative of human activities. The main achievements are inference of outdoor areas which may have contained pyres or kilns, delineation of yard spaces with refuse deposition, and the characterisation of functional aspects of two small outbuildings. In general, the geoarchaeological results are consistent with the inferences attained from non-geoarchaeological sources. A notable exception is that few clear traces of stalling were identified in the geoarchaeological record, despite the presence of animal booth partition walls indicating the presence of byres in the longhouses. Possible reasons for this are discussed.Overall, this study demonstrates the continued usefulness of long-established geoarchaeological methods for gaining insights about the nature, extent, and orientation of activities on prehistoric house sites. A key take-away from the study is that the potential of any individual method for reading activities (geoarchaeological or otherwise), increases when several techniques with overlapping, but not identical, scope for inferring activities are integrated. The resulting multiproxy analysis is, as a whole, more useful than the sum of its constituent parts.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Peyroteo-Stjerna, Rita, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Multidisciplinary investigation reveals an individual of West African origin buried in a Portuguese Mesolithic shell midden four centuries ago
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Archaeological Science. - : Elsevier. - 2352-409X .- 2352-4103. ; 42
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cabeço da Amoreira is a well-studied shell midden with a robust chronology based on a large number ofradiocarbon dates on Mesolithic human burials. Surprisingly, we discovered one individual that lived about 400years ago buried in this site. We employed a multidisciplinary approach integrating archaeology, historical records,genetics, radiocarbon dating and stable isotope analysis to investigate the biogeographic origins of thisindividual and burial circumstances. We could determine that this was a man of West African origin, probablyfrom Senegambia, arriving in Portugal via the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Our study provides new insights intoaspects of the life and death of a first-generation African individual in Portugal during the Trans-Atlantic SlaveTrade period and highlights the power of multidisciplinary research to unravel unwritten history.
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| 5. |
- Roy, Amber Sofia, 1992-
(författare)
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Direct analysis of ground stone artefacts; a study of the use of Early Bronze Age stone Battle-Axes and Axe-Hammers
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Archaeological Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 2352-409X .- 2352-4103. ; 46, s. 103646-103646
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Most interpretations of ground stone artefacts are still based on their form and depositional contexts and lack scientific functional assessments, such as use-wear analysis and experimental archaeology. For instance, previous interpretations of perforated stone battle-axes and axe-hammers have been influenced by their form and similarity to the battle-axes of the Single Grave Culture in Scandinavia and have assumed the British battle-axes were purely ceremonial while the rougher axe-hammers were too large and crude to be either ceremonial or functional. Studies of typology, manufacturing processes and identification of petrological sources have failed to resolve the use of these implements. This paper presents the methodological approach used to revisit artefact function in the first large-scale application of use-wear analysis on Early Bronze Age battle-axes and axe-hammers from Northern Britain and the Isle of Man, 2200–500 BCE. The data supports a reassessment of the role of these objects, indicating they were versatile and multi-functional tools while expanding traceological research data for bladed ground stone artefacts. Moreover, it enhances the field of use-wear analysis on bladed ground and polished stone artefacts, of which only a small fraction have been analysed in this manner. As such, this research demonstrates the academic potential of applying use-wear analysis and experimental archaeology to the study of ground stone artefacts, which has thus far received less attention than knapped and flaked industries.
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| 6. |
- Sjöblom, Rolf, et al.
(författare)
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Assessment of the reason for the vitrification of a wall at a hillfort. The example of Broborg in Sweden
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Archaeological Science. - : Elsevier. - 2352-409X .- 2352-4103. ; 43
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It was discovered around 250 years ago that some of the rock material in the walls of some hillforts had been subjected to such high temperature that it had vitrified. This prompted a debate as to the reason for it that is still going on today: did the vitrification come about as a result of hostile action, by accident, or for the purpose of constructing the fort? The present paper is based on the recognition that hillforts are different, and therefore should be evaluated individually. All identifiable factors of interest should be included, and especially those that might disprove any alternative. Thus, incentives, competence and petrographic aspects were evaluated for the hillfort named Broborg (dated to the Migration Period, in Sweden A.D. 400–550), and it is concluded that the vitrification here came about for the purpose of constructing the fort.
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| 7. |
- Väre, Tiina, et al.
(författare)
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Breastfeeding in low-income families of the turn of the 19th-century town of Rauma, Southwestern Finland, according to stable isotope analyses of archaeological teeth
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Archaeological Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 2352-409X .- 2352-4103. ; 44
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We explore breastfeeding practices among low-income families in the late 18th to early 19th-century town of Rauma in Southwestern Finland. The breastfeeding practices in the area of the current nation of Finland (at the time belonging to first Sweden and then Russia) had been under debate. While in certain regions artificial infant feeding was common and was linked to high infant mortality, breastfeeding was also known to be practiced in certain regions of Finland. To explore this, we analyzed the δ15N and δ13C values in collagen of horizontally cut dentin segments of permanent first molars (M1; n = 7) collected from 19th century human skeletal remains from the deconsecrated Holy Trinity churchyard excavated in 2016. The resulting isotopic profiles were similarly patterned across the seven individuals. The emerging pattern revealed a period of exclusive breastfeeding during approximately the first six months of life, followed by weaning until the latter half of the second year. We further investigated diet during mid-childhood by comparing the stable isotope ratios in collagen of the M1 and premolar roots. This comparison suggested that the mid-childhood diets may have contained more plant-based foods than those consumed earlier in childhood.
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| 8. |
- Ingvardson, Gitte, et al.
(författare)
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Purse of medieval silver coins from royal shipwreck revealed by X-ray microscale Computed Tomography (µCT) scanning
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. - : Elsevier BV. - 2352-409X. ; 43:103468
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the archaeological discovery and microscale X-ray Computed Tomography (µCT) scanning of a silver coin purse lost in a medieval shipwreck while the king who issued many of the coins was aboard. The find demonstrates that shipwrecks are extraordinary repositories of historical information, in this case providing insight into one of the most important and dramatic events of medieval Scandinavia. In the summer of 1495, Gribshunden, the flagship of King Hans, ruler of Denmark and Norway, burned and sank in the Baltic Sea en route to a political summit in Sweden. The identified coins in this purse impart direct evidence of Hans’ establishment of new mints to increase the amount of currency in circulation, and his decision not to recall and debase existing coins. These were essential elements of Hans’ comprehensive strategy for consolidating a Nordic political union and constructing a new nation. The recovered coins are too fragile for mechanical separation, but µCT allowed full or partial identification of 82% of the coins in the concreted purse. Our investigations suggest the purse likely was the personal possession of a high-ranking and trusted person in the king’s entourage. Further, the composition of the purse illuminates politics and monetary policy in medieval northern Europe.
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| 9. |
- Ladegaard-Pedersen, P., et al.
(författare)
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Constraining a bioavailable strontium isotope baseline for the Lake Garda region, Northern Italy: A multi-proxy approach
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. - : Elsevier BV. - 2352-409X. ; 41
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The evidence of prehistoric long-distance exchange networks in northern Italy is overwhelming, attested by several finds of non-local raw materials in Bronze Age pile-dwelling settlements of Lake Garda and eastern Po plain, like amber beads and bronze artefacts. Metals are dispersed throughout Bronze Age Europe from mining communities within the Alpine regions, and possibly local artefacts, like the Peschiera-type daggers, are known from archaeological records throughout Europe. This positions the region as part of organized networks of trade and communication connecting prehistoric Europe from north to south. This, however, does not in itself indicate a similar long-distance mobility of prehistoric individuals. To investigate individual, human provenance and mobility, the strontium (Sr) isotope methodology compares strontium isotope analysis of human remains to bioavailable strontium isotope baselines characterizing the regions of interest. We present here environmentally based, multi-proxy (water, soil leachates and plants) Sr baselines from the Lake Garda region. Our results show two separate baselines, roughly corresponding to the geographical distribution of rock types and erosional products thereof. One baseline is valid for the Lake Garda region, where Mesozoic carbonates are a dominant surface-near strontium source, and for the central Po plain north of River Po. We constrain this to 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7088 ± 0.0014 (2σ; n = 44) when including 9 compatible samples reported previously. The second Sr-baseline is valid for Alpine areas dominated by magmatic (basalts excluded) and metamorphic bedrock around the Fersina valley. We constrain this to 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7146 ± 0.0058 (2σ; n = 22) when including 11 compatible samples reported in previous studies. The baselines are compatible with previously reported results of other Sr proxies such as snails, archaeological fauna, and agricultural soils and products from the region. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd
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| 10. |
- Nowak, K., et al.
(författare)
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The Late Bronze Age 'metallurgists' graves’ in south-western Poland. Tracing the provenance of the metal raw material using casting moulds
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. - : Elsevier BV. - 2352-409X. ; 42
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A collection of objects associated with prehistoric metallurgy, including casting moulds, a casting core, and a fragment of a tuyere, were found in three metallurgists’ graves in the Late Bronze Age cemetery in Legnica, south-west Poland. The finds from these graves presented an opportunity for a scientific investigation of several aspects of Bronze Age metallurgy in this region by applying various analytical procedures to characterise the remains of metals inside the casting moulds. We also analysed metal used for the repair of one of the moulds, and the razor from one of the graves that could have been cast in a mould discovered in another grave. One of the aims of this research project was to establish a possible provenance of the metal used by the population buried in these so-called metallurgists' graves using the chemical and lead isotope analysis. The casting moulds had clear wear marks providing proof of their use. In two cases, the moulds had thick greenish-black layers possibly representing remains of a corroded metal. The chemical compositions of these layers and metal from two other artefacts was investigated using ED XRF and SEM EDS. These analyses showed the diversity of the metals used for castings. Lead isotope analyses using MC ICP MS provided information about the possible origin of lead in the remains from the moulds. The most likely source of this lead is from the ores in the Erzgebirge, in eastern Germany, a few hundred kilometres south west from the site of the graves. The provenance of lead from the razor and from the repair of the mould can be either from the Erzgebirge or Slovak Ore Mountains, or a mixture of these ores. © 2022
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| 11. |
- Sabatini, Serena, 1974, et al.
(författare)
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Investigating sheep mobility at Montale, Italy, through strontium isotope analyses
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. - : Elsevier BV. - 2352-409X. ; 41
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In recent years, extensive archaeological studies have provided us with new knowledge on wool and woollen textile production at the Terramare site of Montale, in the Po plain, northern Italy. The large number of textile tools, and of zooarchaeological evidence suggesting intense sheepherding, hints at Montale being a specialized centre of wool production during the local Middle and Recent Bronze Age. The aim of our study has been to investigate, by means of strontium isotope analyses, whether engagement in this economic activity was facilitated by mobile herding practices or by regional/interregional exchange/trade of animals. To this aim, we conducted 75 strontium isotope analyses of tooth enamel from 36 zoo-archaeological remains of as many sheep/goat individuals from all the 11 archaeological phases identified at Montale and of four from the neighbouring early Middle Bronze Age site of Baggiovara. We also created a multi-proxy baseline from environmental samples of the region around Montale to interpret the results of the analyses from the sheep/goat teeth. Strontium isotope analyses have proven to be a powerful tool for the investigation of mobility when relevant and well-established baselines are available; our results hint at sheep herded to a consistent extent in the territory surrounding the respective sites. The data obtained in this study support earlier works suggesting that the territory around Montale had a significant pastoral vocation. © 2021 The Author(s)
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