Search results for "IDE"
showing 10 items of 55536 documents
Analysis of the bacterial communities in ancient human bones and burial soil samples: Tracing the impact of environmental bacteria
2019
Abstract In our attempts to reveal the hidden fragments of the history of the natural world, ancient DNA (aDNA) is the precious missing key that allows us to discover hidden truths about ourselves and the world around us. Not only does aDNA encrypt genetic data from a particular individual, it also carries information about the microbial communities that were present in the individual. However, the process of such data mining has many intrinsic challenges. One of the main challenges in aDNA research is the contamination of archaeological material with environmental bacteria from the surrounding soil and postmortem microbial sources. The goal of this study was to identify the microbial commu…
Consolidation of earthen building materials: a comparative study
2019
The consolidation and protection of mud bricks are a challenge in the field of conservation of archeological sites. One of the solutions is represented by the coverage of the entire excavation that assures a protection against mud dissolution. Unfortunately, this is not always feasible, both for economical and practical issues. For these reasons, alternative solutions are needed. In this work, laboratory experimentation has been carried out in order to test the efficacy of some products to slow down the dissolution process and increase the brick toughness. Three typologies of raw materials taken from different outcrops (one from the Republic of Azerbaijan and two from Calabria region, Italy…
Rethinking the perishable: Identifying organic remains in metal objects at the Iron Age site of La Bastida de les Alcusses (Moixent, Spain)
2019
Abstract The use of certain perishable materials for handicraft, such as wood, has been underestimated in archaeological investigation due to their poor preservation. Its study through indirect evidence (other non-perishable materials, ethnographic sources) is partial, and does not account for the real importance of wood in domestic, craft and ritual contexts in past societies. In this review we reclaim the use of wood as a co-constitutive material of objects by focusing on Iron Age tools, weapons and carpentry elements from a case-study in the Western Mediterranean. We also suggest the adoption of protocols for sampling and analysing the remains of wood adhered to metal objects, which may …
Ivory Craftsmanship, Trade and Social Significance in the Southern Iberian Copper Age: The Evidence from the PP4-Montelirio Sector of Valencina de la…
2013
Because of its great potential to provide data on contacts and overseas trade, ivory has aroused a great deal of interest since the very start of research into Iberian late prehistory. Research recently undertaken by the German Archaeological Institute in Madrid in collaboration with a number of other institutions has provided valuable contributions to the study of ivory in the Iberian Copper Age and Early Bronze Age. One of the archaeological sites that is contributing the most data for analysing ivory from the Copper Age in southern Iberia is Valencina de la Concepción (Seville), which is currently the focus of several debates on the development of social complexity. This article contribu…
Arqueoentomología y arqueobotánica de los espacios de almacenamiento a largo plazo: el granero de Risco Pintado, Temisas (Gran Canaria)
2019
This contribution aims at understanding the storage techniques used in the past by means of studying the entomological and plant remains present in the pre-hispanic granary of Risco Pintado, dated between the IX and XV centuries cal AD.This type of granary groups together a large number of silos excavated in the volcanic tuff, situated on steep escarpments, difficult to access and easy to defend.The exceptional environmental conditions of these infrastructures have allowed the desiccated remains of the stored plant products and the pests associated with such storage to be preserved within the silos.The domestic species documented include cereals (barley and wheat), legumes (broad beans and …
Diet and mobility during the Christian conquest of Iberia: The multi-isotopic investigation of a 12th-13th century military order in Évora, Portugal
2020
Abstract The Kingdom of Portugal was established with the help of military-monastic orders, which provided important defence against Muslim armies during the 12th–13th century Christian conquest. While historical sources document the main events of this period, this research seeks to elucidate individual lifestyles and movement, aspects typically absent from written records. A multi-isotopic approach was used on skeletal material from eight Christian and two Muslim burials from Evora, Portugal (11th–13th centuries). Anthropological and archaeological evidence suggests the Christian adults belonged to the Evora Militia, which we seek to confirm through the reconstructed diet and mobility of …
Copper quality and sources in Middle Bronze Age I Byblos and Tell Arqa (Lebanon)
2013
Abstract Forty-four Middle Bronze Age I weapons discovered at the sites of Byblos and Tell Arqa in Lebanon were investigated in order to study their copper quality and provenance. The evaluation of copper qualities is based on quantifying permanent inclusions such as copper sulfide and lead globules. The provenance of copper was studied using lead isotope analyses. For further discrimination between copper groups and sources elemental analyses by PIXE were performed on some of the weapons investigated. The results revealed two copper groups that could be qualified as “dirty” copper and “clean” copper. The former was used in most of the weapon types whereas the latter was reserved for items …
Volcanic climate forcing preceding the inception of the Younger Dryas: Implications for tracing the Laacher See eruption
2021
Climatic warming from the last glacial maximum to the current interglacial period was punctuated by a similar to 1300 years long cold period, commonly referred to as the Younger Dryas (YD). Several hypotheses have been proposed for the mechanism triggering the abrupt inception of the YD, including freshwater forcing, an extra-terrestrial impact, and aerosols from volcanic eruptions. Here, we use synchronised sulphate and sulphur records from both Greenland and Antarctic ice cores to reconstruct volcanic forcing between 13,200-12,800 a BPGICC05 (years before 1950 CE on the Greenland Ice Core Chronology 2005; GICC05). This continuous reconstruction of stratospheric sulphur injections highligh…
The influence of religious identity and socio-economic status on diet over time, an example from medieval France
2019
International audience; In Southern France as in other parts of Europe, significant changes occurred in settlement patterns between the end of Antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages. Small communities gathered to form, by the tenth century, villages organized around a church. This development was the result of a new social and agrarian organization. Its impact on lifestyles and, more precisely, on diet is still poorly understood. The analysis of carbon and nitrogen isotopes in bone collagen from the inhabitants of the well-preserved medieval rural site Missignac-Saint Gilles le Vieux (fifth to thirteenth centuries, Gard, France) provides insight into their dietary practices and enab…
Effects of cooking on mollusk shell structure and chemistry: Implications for archeology and paleoenvironmental reconstruction
2016
Mollusk shells excavated from archeological sites have been used to reconstruct paleoenvironment, human foraging, and migratory patterns. To retrieve information on past environment or human behavior, chemical signatures such as oxygen stable isotopes (δ18Oshell) are analyzed. Shell archeological remains usually represent food waste. Thermal treatments such as boiling and roasting may influence shell structure and biochemical composition. However, little is known about the relationship between changes at macro-, microstructural and chemical levels. This work is a calibration study on modern Phorcus (Osilinus) turbinatus shells. A simulation of two different cooking methods (boiling and roas…