Search results for "Context"
showing 10 items of 6304 documents
Early Bronze Age painted wares from Tell el-'Abd, Syria: A compositional and technological study
2018
Abstract The ‘Euphrates Monochrome Painted Ware’ (henceforth EMPW) is a ceramic style attested in the Middle Euphrates region in northern Syria at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age, ca. 2900–2700 BCE. This style is not an isolated phenomenon; rather, it must be understood in the context of a general, albeit short-lived, re-introduction of painted ceramics into local assemblages of Greater Mesopotamia. In the present study, we investigate the technology and provenance of the painted pottery from Tell el-'Abd (North Syria) and its relation to contemporary ceramics retrieved at this site. We apply a combination of macroscopic observations, ceramic petrography, and micro X-ray diffraction (…
Social differentiation and land use at an Early Iron Age “princely seat”: bioarchaeological investigations at the Glauberg (Germany)
2014
Excavations at the late Hallstatt/early La Tene (6th–4th century BC) “princely seat” of the Glauberg (Hesse, Germany) revealed exceptionally furnished graves in monumental mounds, simple inhumations in associated ditches and non-normative burials of up to eight individuals in conical storage pits. The study presented here addresses bioarchaeological characteristics of these burials and their implications for social differentiation and the sphere of influence of the “princely seat”. It includes osteological, aDNA, and multi-isotope analyses of 27 human individuals and faunal remains. One of the outstandingly rich graves (tumulus 1/grave 1) contained the skeleton of a young man (the “prince”)…
Ivory in the Chalcolithic enclosure of Perdigões (South Portugal): the social role of an exotic raw material
2015
AbstractThis article discusses the social role played by ivory and ivory articles in the Perdigoes enclosures (South Portugal) during the Chalcolithic (third millennium bc), in the context of the emergence and development of social complexity on the Iberian Peninsula. Perdigoes is a Portuguese prehistoric site with some of the highest concentrations of ivory objects known in Iberia and with the greatest variety. The contexts, almost exclusively funerary, are discussed along with the results of provenance studies. Comparing the different contexts and the categories of objects made of ivory makes it possible to distinguishing a variety of active social dimensions (such as individual status, g…
Terracotas en Terra Sigillata Hispánica. Reflexión a partir de un nuevo ejemplar en Augusta Emerita (Mérida, Badajoz)
2017
En este trabajo abordamos el estudio en clave iconográfca, funcional y cronológica de un ejemplar de terracota elaborado en Terra Sigillata Hispánica (TSH). Éste apareció en un contexto funerario en Augusta Emerita. Se trata de una fgura de bulto redondo mutilada y que presenta la peculiaridad de estar pintada, algo no muy frecuente en el repertorio de la TSH. Aprovechamos además la ocasión para plantear una nueva hipótesis interpretativa sobre este hallazgo como representación de una deidad oriental y analizamos otros ejemplares similares producidos en las otras fglinae peninsulares
The first colonization of Ibiza and Formentera (Balearic Islands, Spain): Some more islands out of the stream?
1995
Abstract The Balearic Islands, off the east coast of Spain, have provided a focus of interest in investigations of the earliest colonization of the Mediterranean islands, because of the relatively late date of their oldest sites. Mallorca was visited in the fifth millennium BC and inhabited by the third, and Menorca was colonized during the closing centuries of the third millennium; this therefore makes Ibiza and Formentera special cases of isolation, since they were evidently not occupied until about 2000 BC and moreover were essentially deserted between roughly the thirteenth and seventh centuries BC. The paper presents all the currently available data relevant to this question, particula…
Discovery of indigoid-containing clay pellets from La Blanca: significance with regard to the preparation and use of Maya Blue
2014
Analytical studies using extraction/liquid chromatography, pyrolysis–silylation gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, visible and infrared spectroscopies, solid state voltammetry and electron microscopy on a set of spherical greenish pellets discovered in the Structure 4H1 of the ancient Maya site of La Blanca (Peten Department, Guatemala), dated in the Terminal Classic period, confirm the presence of indigoids (dehydroindigo, indigo) associated to palygorskite. The appearance of such pieces, whose origin and function is uncertain, but most likely correspond to residuals of a decorative plaster, can be considered as indicative of the use of Maya Blue in a quotidian context, thus suggesting …
An approach to lithic raw material procurement at the middle Palaeolithic site Abrigo de la Quebrada (Chelva, Valencia)
2011
We offer a preliminary characterisation of the lithic raw-materials found in levels I-III of the Middle Paleolithic site of Abrigo de la Quebrada. The artifacts were excavated in the field seasons of 2004 and 2007, have already been the object of a preliminary technological assessment (Villaverde et al. 2008), and their analysis has been preceded by a survey of local procurement sources, carried out in 2008. We present, in a regional context, the different raw-material categories recognized (by means of a macroscopic study), and variants thereof, and we describe the different outcrops identified. Based on these data, we attempt a preliminary assessment of the resource catchments and mobilit…
Preservation of fungi in archaeological charcoal
2010
During the analysis of wood charcoal remains from archaeological sites, it is common to find different microorganisms and different forms of degradation present in the plant tissue. However, one may encounter difficulties when attempting to identify these microorganisms and determine when their attack occurred. This paper focuses on preservation aspects related to the microorganisms in wood and demonstrates the structural changes that take place in different types of decayed wood after it was converted into charcoal. The study seeks to determine whether the microbial attack found in archaeological woods took place before the burning of the wood or after. Burning experiments were conducted u…
A group of metals from the Bronze Age village of lâArbocer (Font de la Figuera, Valencia)
2005
In this paper, we present a study of a group of cooper and bronze objects that were found by chance in the Bronze Age village of L’Arbocer (Font de la Figuera, Valencia). The main aims are the description of the objects and the results of the X Ray Fluorescence analyses. Moreover; a short fieldwork season has been carried out, which has allowed us to determine the archaeological context of the metals and to establish their connection with a possible area of metallurgical activity. The village of L’Arbocer is located on the border of the provinces of Valencia, Alicante and Albacete. This is very interesting in helping us to evaluate the presence of a possible metallurgy workshop and its chro…
Mas dâIs (Penàguila, Alicante): farms and Early Neolithic causewayed camps in the Serpis valley
2003
In this paper, results from recent archaeological field work carried out in the Neolithic village of Mas d’Is (Penaguila, Alicante) are presented. We focus on an important set of domestic and monumental architectural structures. Integration of data from the site in a regional context allows us to rethink the social relations of the first farmers in the area. At the same time, radiocarbon data from our excavations show a finer chronology of the neolithization in Western Mediterranean, and what is more important to approach its historical process.