Search results for "History"
showing 10 items of 18523 documents
La France du Nord (Champagne-Ardenne, Île-de-France, Nord, Basse-Normandie, Haute-Normandie, Pas-de-Calais, Picardie)
2003
In Nordfrankreich gelang, hauptsachlich durch die Ausgrabungen in Gournay-sur-Aronde (Oise), erstmalig der Nachweis von regelrechten Heiligtumern der keltischen Bevolkerung der Mittellatenezeit (3. Jahrh. v. Chr.). Exemplarisch sind dort die ; wichtigsten Grundzuge dieser Kultstatten abzulesen: ein heiliger Bezirk von rechteckigem Grundriβ, ausgefuhrt als Graben und Palisade, ein monumentales Eingangstor und - anstelle eines Tempels - im Zentrum des Areals ein eingetiefter Altar, letzterer oft in Verbindung mit einer Feuerstelle und meist durch ein Gebaude geschutzt. An diesen Platzen gibt es Uberreste von Kulthandlungen in Fulle : Tierknochen, die von der regelhaft geubten Opferung von Rin…
First discovery of orichalcum ingots from the remains of a 6th century BC shipwreck near Gela (Sicily) seabed
2017
Ingots recently recovered from the seabed near Gela, a major harbour of Sicily, reveal an unexpected side of ancient metallurgy. The ingots were found near remains of a ship and earthenware dated around the end of the VI century BC and probably coming from the eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean sea. The ingots were analysed by means of X-Ray Fluorescence spectroscopy via a portable spectrometer. Results indicate that they are mostly consist of copper and zinc although many of them have a significant amount of lead. This alloy is nowday called brass, but in ancient time it was know as orichalcum, one of the rarest and most precious alloy along with gold and silver. Only small items of oric…
Reconstructing caribou seasonal biogeography in Little Ice Age (late Holocene) Western Alaska using intra-tooth strontium and oxygen isotope analysis
2019
Abstract The palaeobiogeography of key prey-species can provide valuable insights into animal-human interactions, human subsistence activities and landscape use in the past. In many contemporary indigenous Arctic societies, caribou (Rangifer tarandus spp.) are an important seasonal subsistence species, and recent climatic shifts have influenced the seasonal and spatial distribution and migrations of herds. The impact of larger scale climatic change on this species, such as that experienced during the Little Ice Age (LIA), is not known, but may provide vital clues about future variability. Here we present sequential strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and oxygen (δ18OCO3) isotope data from archaeological …
Social Lives of Monumental Walls: Hunting along the Upper Tigris
2021
On the left bank of the Tigris in northern Iraq, in an area today partially flooded by the Mosul Dam reservoir, lies an enigmatic monumental enclosure known in the literature as the “Tigris Wall.” Before its partial submersion under the waters of the modern lake, the large L-shaped embankment, about 4 × 4 km long, enclosed an area of ca. 1600 ha, overlooking the Tigris and its alluvial plain. By means of a holistic strategy that includes different levels of analysis (remote sensing, pedestrian and UAV photogrammetric surveys, excavation, and settlement pattern analysis), this paper addresses the structure, its context, and its environment. Relying on the results of this multi-disciplinary a…
Neolithic fish remains from the freshwater shell midden Riņņukalns in northern Latvia
2016
The Neolithic site Riņņukalns in the Lake Burtnieks/River Salaca area in northern Latvia is the only freshwater shell midden in the eastern Baltic Sea area. An excavation carried out in 2011 revealed an intact stratigraphy with alternating layers of unburnt and burnt mussel shells and yielded various kinds of archaeological finds, among them several thousand fish remains. To gain an understanding of the fish species and specimens caught by the Neolithic settlers, and to discern any temporal development in the fish species composition, we analysed fish remains from different sections and layers. Results from both the archaeozoological and stable isotope data, give evidence for a change in th…
Early Holocene ritual complexity in South America: the archaeological record of Lapa do Santo (east-central Brazil)
2016
Early Archaic human skeletal remains found in a burial context in Lapa do Santo in east-central Brazil provide a rare glimpse into the lives of hunter-gatherer communities in South America, including their rituals for dealing with the dead. These included the reduction of the body by means of mutilation, defleshing, tooth removal, exposure to fire and possibly cannibalism, followed by the secondary burial of the remains according to strict rules. In a later period, pits were filled with disarticulated bones of a single individual without signs of body manipulation, demonstrating that the region was inhabited by dynamic groups in constant transformation over a period of centuries.
Dating Bulk Sediments from Limnic Deposits Using a Grain-Size Approach
2013
Radiocarbon measurements on bulk subaqueous sediments typically provide ages significantly older than actual time of deposition. This is generally caused by the presence of reworked organic compounds, which are depleted in 14C. To explore this issue of age heterogeneity, we collected 4 organic-rich samples from varying depths in a lake sediment core at the Gemündener Maar (Eifel, Germany), a lake of volcanic origin. We divided each sample into 5 standard grain-size fractions: gravel, sand, silt, clay, and 1 fraction smaller than 0.45 μm. These were cleaned separately using a standard acid-alkali-acid treatment. The highly organic gravel-size fraction provided the youngest 14C ages of all gr…
Analysis of Cipollino Verde marble wall decoration in Ephesos, Turkey, using geological reconstruction
2021
Abstract Slabs of Cipollino Verde, composed of layered and folded marble from Euboea in Greece, decorated the hall of a Roman town house in Ephesos, Turkey in the second century AD. After excavation, the fragmented slabs were restored. Preservation of the dowels in the walls from which the slabs were originally suspended allowed reconstruction of the order in which they had been placed on the walls. The pattern of folded layering in the slabs in turn allowed 3D structural geological reconstruction of the folds, and reconstruction of the arrangement of slabs in the marble block, from where they were serially sectioned, using a slab saw. Investigation of geological fold alignment in the block…
Interpreting the Schöningen 13II-4 butchery sequence using the Harris Matrix
2021
Abstract The Schoningen 13II-4 site is well known for the discovery of multiple wooden spears in association with a large assemblage of Middle Pleistocene fauna. Such extraordinary organic preservation also extends to a wide array of bone surface modifications that can be used to reconstruct Middle Pleistocene hominin butchery practices. On bones with few hominin-induced marks, the butchery sequence can be determined quite easily. However, the sequence becomes increasingly more difficult to decipher in bones that include a high number and diversity of biotic and abiotic modifications. To aid in this process, we developed a simple approach for determining the order of bone surface modificati…
Dietary freshwater reservoir effects and the radiocarbon ages of prehistoric human bones from Zvejnieki, Latvia
2016
Abstract Aquatic food resources (fish and molluscs) were exploited intensively at Riņņukalns, a Neolithic freshwater shell midden at the outlet of Lake Burtnieks, north-eastern Latvia. Stable isotope data (δ 15 N and δ 13 C) from a rich fishbone assemblage and a wide range of terrestrial species complement published results on faunal samples from the famous prehistoric cemetery and settlement at Zvejnieki, on the same lake. Stable isotope data show that freshwater food resources made substantial but varying contributions to human diets at Zvejnieki and Riņņukalns throughout the Mesolithic and Neolithic. Our research has also shown significant radiocarbon freshwater reservoir effects (FRE) i…