Search results for "archaeological"
showing 10 items of 239 documents
A quantitative assessment of intraspecific morphological variation in Gahagan bifaces from the southern Caddo area and central Texas
2019
This investigation aggregates intact or reconstructed Gahagan bifaces from the southern Caddo area and central Texas to test the hypothesis that Gahagan biface morphology differs between the regions. The Gahagan bifaces (n = 102) were scanned, then analysed using a novel landmarking protocol and the tools of geometric morphometrics. Results provide a preview of the significant differences in Gahagan biface morphology expressed between the southern Caddo area and central Texas regions. The size discrepancy represents an inversion of current theoretical constructs that posit a decrease in tool size thought to articulate with an increase in distance from the raw material source. It is posited …
Le gallerie VIII e IX: analisi strutturale. Le lucerne. Elementi del corredo personale
2007
The paper reports the results of the archaeological excavations carried out between 2000 and 2007 in the Early Christian cemetery of Villagrazia di Carini. Four periods were recognized in stratigraphy, from late antiquity to the mid-twentieth century. The sepulchral typologies are arcosolia, loculi, "tombe a mensa" and "formae". The cemetery was used by the Christian community of the ancient diocese of Hykkara from the 4th to at least the 7th century A.D.
Catacomba di Villagrazia di Carini. La galleria XII: indagini archeologiche e problemi della conservazione
2017
The archaeological research in the southeastern area of the Early Christian catacombs of Villagrazia di Carini has been ongoing since 2000 to the present, but in 2014 the structural problems occurred during the excavation of the cubicles X13 and X15 have showed that this sector of the cemetery was cut into a tuff stone bench less compact and durable than the rest of the catacomb. Similarly, the excavation in the corridor XII has provided new informations about the serious effects of the physico-chemical changes that occurred here, over the centuries, by the action of the environmental factors and the continued infiltrations of water from the above ground. The risk of a collapse that would m…
Determination of selected polyaromatic hydrocarbons by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry for the analysis of wood to establish the cause of sinkin…
2014
Abstract The aim of this paper was to establish the cause of sinking of an old wooden vessel by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) analyses because wood combustion is a source of PAHs. In particular, the molecular PAH patterns generated by each source are like fingerprints and it is possible to determine the processes that generate PAHs by studying their distribution in wood samples. The relative abundance of high molecular weight PAHs, together with the PAH compound ratios and with total index (proposed by us) has demonstrated that samples owe their PAHs in wood archaeological material to a predominant single mode of origin, i.e. combustion processes, therefore we can say that the sinki…
CAMPANIAN WINE FOR PUNIC SICILY: PETROGRAPHIC AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES OF GRAECO-ITALIC AMPHORAE FROM PALERMO
2018
This contribution proposes a combination of archaeological fabric analysis and petrographic research applied to the study of 35 sherds of Graeco-Italic amphorae mostly found in Palermo, but also in Pantelleria and Malta (Tab. 1). The provenance identification derived from both approaches gives evidence for the arrival, in North-Western Sicily, of presumable wine amphorae from central-Tyrrhenian Italy since the very late 4th century BC. The production of the majority of the material has been confidentially attributed to the area of the Gulf of Naples/Ischia, but a second large group originates from several, still unidentified production sites to be located along the coastal strip of Campania…
PROTEGGERE E VALORIZZARE: RIFLESSIONI PER UNA BUONA PRATICA SUI SITI ARCHEOLOGICI
2014
Tra i beni culturali quelli archeologici hanno più animato il dibattito culturale sul rapporto fra conservazione e valorizzazione. La fragilità con cui la materia ci viene consegnata dalla storia, la frammentarietà del reperto, la scarsa disponibilità di risorse finanziarie, in relazione anche alla vastità del patrimonio a noi pervenuto, impongono interventi mirati e talvolta urgenti per la salvaguardia e la conservazione di tali beni. Ma la sola conservazione non può costituire l’obiettivo ultimo dell’intervento: essa deve interessare anche azioni di messa in valore, di fruizione e di comunicazione, necessarie per favorire un nuovo ruolo a queste realtà private dell’originaria identità. Qu…
Riflessioni conclusive
2015
The rural sanctuary in the San Cataldo district, between the territories of Terrasini and Partinico, is mentioned by the written sources since the XII century, but the surviving architectural structures date back to the 16th century. The site, abandoned since the 1950s and now restored by the Soprintendenza ai Beni Culturali of Palermo who carried out archaeological excavations in this area in 2000 and 2014, over the centuries has been an important aggregation pole in order to the cultural and religious identity of the rural communities in northwestern Sicily, in relation to the fertile hinterland through the Roma viability (via consolare Valeria) .
Religious believes versus cultural resource management: about the Medieval Jewish cemetery of Valencia (Spain)
2001
Archaeological heritage ownership is a controversial subject under the influence of both ethnic and religious claims. In 1996, a group of Jewish communities finally were able to interrupt the archaeological excavation under way at the medieval Jewish cemetery of Valencia. In this manner they did not allow the anthropological analysis of human remains recovered at the site that were reburied at the Jewish cemetery of Barcelona. Both administrations, local and regional, prioritized religious claims of the communities involved with respect to the archaeological heritage. As a consequence of a complaint filed by a group of citizens, the Síndic of Greuges of the Valencian Community (regional omb…
Palaeogenetics and cultural heritage. Species determination and STR-genotyping from ancient DNA in art and artefacts
2000
Abstract In recent years, a few papers have addressed the palaeogenetic analysis of cultural, historical and archaeological artefacts. We provide an overview of the individual published articles and then describe the results we had in the framework of a palaeogenetic research project involving various historical and prehistoric finds from museums, archaeological excavations, and libraries. We show that ancient DNA can be isolated from most of the various biomaterials (leather, parchment, glue, binding media, crusted organic plant remains in containers). Short pieces of degraded DNA are used, on the one hand, to determine the organic remnant’s genus/species of origin, and on the other hand, …
An original experimental approach to study the alteration and/or contamination of archaeological ceramics originated by seawater burial
2014
This paper deals with the proposal of an original experimental methodological approach specifically designed for appraising any compositional alteration and/or contamination of archaeological ceramics after the protracted contact with seawater. A series of ceramic test-pieces (briquettes and cylinders) were purposely manufactured by mixing selected calcareous or non-calcareous clays with different varieties of sieved sand temper. The aim was to reasonably simulate the ceramic pastes most frequently found in the shipwrecks recovered in the coastal areas of western Mediterranean. The used raw materials were previously characterized in terms of mineralogical and chemical composition (XRPD, XRF…