Saúl Guerrero Rivero, Javier G. Iñañez, Fernando Amores Carredano
et al.
The technological development of ceramic production during the early modern period in the Iberian Peninsula is a crucial topic in historical archaeological research. The present study analyzes pottery from Jerez de la Frontera, Andalusia, focusing on ceramic materials from the Convent of Santo Domingo (late 15th to early 17th centuries). Through the analysis of production wastes, including <i>dolia</i> and olive jars (<i>botijas</i>), this text unveils key aspects of regional ceramics practices. Using a multidisciplinary archaeometric approach, we applied petrography, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to investigate compositional, technological, and provenance characteristics. The petrographic analysis identified clay matrix variability and mineral inclusions, indicating diverse raw material sources and production techniques. The XRD analysis confirmed key mineral phases that reflect controlled firing temperatures, while the ICP-MS analyses provided trace element profiles that were used to distinguish between local and non-local raw materials. Together, these results reveal technological shifts and resource diversity over time, challenging the assumption that Seville was the sole supplier of ceramics for Atlantic trade. This study establishes Jerez as a potential complementary production center, offering a new understanding of early globalization processes and ceramics manufacturing in southwestern Andalusia.
This article examines how ethnographic methodology and literary theory can advance research engines and artificial intelligence systems beyond the reductive computational approaches that dominate contemporary AI development. Drawing on recent Stanford research revealing fundamental gaps in large language models’ ability to distinguish factual knowledge from belief, I argue that contemporary AI systems enact what I term “abducted semantics”—appropriating the inferential logic of human meaning-making while systematically attenuating the culturally embedded, phenomenologically grounded capacities that generate authentic understanding. Through close analysis of Clifford Geertz’s thick description, Charles Sanders Peirce’s triadic semiotics, and canonical literary works—Miguel de Cervantes’ <i>Don Quixote</i> and Gabriel García Márquez’s <i>One Hundred Years of Solitude</i>—I demonstrate that human understanding operates through complex semiotic processes irreducible to pattern-matching and statistical prediction. The article proposes concrete interventions to transform research engines from tools of semantic extraction into technologies that preserve and enhance interpretive richness, arguing that ethnographic and literary methodologies offer essential correctives to the epistemological impoverishment inherent in current AI architectures.
This paper is dedicated to the issue of two multicultural and multi-temporal necropolises in the riverside part of Vodyanskoye settlement. A study conducted in 2011 revealed several Muslim burials in the site which was previously thought to be a Christian cemetery. The presented tables summarize for the fi rst time the data on all burials from this area and excavated between 1968 and 2014. This allows us to confirm the previously expressed opinion about the presence of two necropolises in the riverside part of Vodyanskoye settlement. The northern section is a Christian cemetery where burials were made until the 30s of the XIV century. The southern cemetery of the second half of the XIV century was an urban cemetery, where there are burials with Mongoloid and Uraloid features, beshik deformation, one burial has an inventory, some of the burials were made according to Muslim burial rite. Perhaps, this place was abandoned during the crisis of the 60-70s of the XIV century, and during the restoration of the city under Toktamysh Khan this site could be used for burials.
The author characterizes the ceramic complex of the Gorodets culture settlements, widespread in the second half of the 1st millennium BC in the forest-steppe part of the Don basin. It consists of molded earthenware for kitchen purposes; there are practically no tableware. The pottery had both a smoothed and relief-shaped outer surface (“matting”, “mesh”, “grooved”). The main mineral impurity added to the molding mass during their manufacture was grus (crushed mineral rocks). Sand and chamotte (crushed ceramics) were often used. The dominant type of dishes were pots, the appearance of which is given by 24 reconstructed specimens. Three main and several single varieties of shape of these vessels have been identified. Less numerous are jars and cups, of which three were found in their “whole” form. A significant part of the vessels were undecorated, but most ones were decorated with finger tucks, notches, punctures. The spread of well-profiled pots in the Gorodets environment, which replaced jar forms, is explained by economic interaction with the Scythian culture, whose area covered the southern part of the region.
Miguel Ángel Maté-González, Jesús Rodríguez-Hernández, Cristina Sáez Blázquez
et al.
This research presents a virtual tour performed on the <i>oppidum</i> of Ulaca, one of the most relevant archaeological sites of the Iberian Peninsula during the Late Iron Age (<i>ca</i>. 400–50 BC). Beyond the clear benefits of the tool to the interpretation, dissemination, and knowledge of the mentioned archaeological site and its surroundings, the novelty of this research is the implementation of the platform in alternative scenarios and purposes. In this way, the present work verifies how the access to multi-source and spatially geolocated information in the same tool (working as a geospatial database) allows the promotion of cross-sectional investigations in which different specialists intervene. This peculiarity is also considered useful to promote tourism with an interest beyond the purely historical/archaeological side. Likewise, the possibility of storing and managing a large amount of information in different formats facilitates the investigation in the contexts of excavations and archaeological or environmental works. In this sense, the use of this kind of tool for the study of cultural landscapes is especially novel. In order to better contextualize the potential of the virtual tour presented here, an analysis about the challenges and possibilities of implementing this tool in environments such as the Ulaca <i>oppidum</i> is performed. The selected site stands out for: (i) being in a unique geological, environmental and ecological context, allowing us to appreciate how human beings have modified the landscape over time; (ii) presenting numerous visible archaeological remains with certain conservation problems; and (iii) not having easy access for visitors.
Manolis I. STEFANAKIS, Stella SPANTIDAKI, Ioannis MPARDANIS
<p>The paper discusses the methodology, some preliminary results and scientific problems of the HISTIA research project studying the production, maintenance, and administration of a neglected area of research, namely the sails, rope and any textile equipment needed for the military ships of Rhodes, mainly based on similar studies carried out for the Athenian navy, as well as research on the naval power of Rhodes. By focusing on this previously unstudied field of naval studies, this project, not only aims at breaching a significant research gap, but also establishes a new field of textile archaeology that studies textiles intended for the ships.</p>
ABSTRACT: This article discusses archaeological evidence for the veneration of Odin in late pagan Denmark. According to place-name evidence Odin was totally dominant in public cult at this time, and was closely linked to warriors and kings. (Actual evidence for a relationship with the great cult centre at Lejre is uncertain.) However, a group of riders’ graves with weaponry from the tenth century represent a new burial custom for magnates, and it is argued that they relate to Odin and Valhalla. Female magicians, who have been convincingly identified in a series of Viking-Age graves, and miniature chairs, from which the once seated figure is usually missing, were probably also connected with Odin. Further, it has been suggested that miniature swords, spearheads and staves might have been Odinic symbols. Some figurative amulets, however, often featuring women in various guises and often interpreted as Valkyries, likely had an entirely different meaning.
RESUME: Artiklen diskuterer de arkæologiske vidnesbyrd om dyrkelsen af Odin i det sen-hedenske Danmark. Ifølge stednavnematerialet var Odin totalt dominerende i den offentlige kult på denne tid og nært forbundet med krigere og kongemagt. (Der er dog ingen sikre belæg for forbindelse med det store kultcentrum i Lejre.) En gruppe ryttergrave med våben fra 900-tallet, som især findes i Jylland, repræsenterer imidlertid en ny gravskik blandt stormænd, og der argumenteres for, at de relaterer til Odin og Valhal. Kvindelige magikere, der overbevisende er identificeret i en række vikingetidsgrave i Danmark og andetsteds i Skandinavien, samt miniaturestole, hvor den siddende figur som regel mangler, var sandsynligvis også knyttet til Odin. Det er desuden foreslået, at miniaturesværd, -spydspidser og -stave var symboler for Odin. Derimod har en gruppe figurative amuletter, der tit forestiller kvinder i forskellige situationer, og som ofte er tolket som valkyrier, formentlig en helt anden betydning.
Há uma emoção em ver a superfície marítima, mas também há uma comoção em descobrir aquilo que está nas profundezas do mar. Desbravar, mergulhar, ir longe das
areias, se encantar com a grandeza da natureza e a história. De certa forma, a história da humanidade e os vestígios se encontram muitas vezes com o mar.
AbstractA keynote presentation at the 2012 Computer Applications in Archaeology (CAA) conference in Southampton (UK) proposed the use of grand challenges as a vehicle for identifying and pursuing major advances in Digital Archaeology. At the same time, it was argued that this should be a collaborative venture. This was taken forward at a round table session at the 2014 CAA in Paris, and a number of papers in this volume were presented there. This paper introduces the concept of grand challenges for Digital Archaeology and seeks to define their key characteristics.
The excavations of terramara S. Rosa of Poviglio (RE), of the Middle-Late Bronze Age, arrived at the XXX campaign, have gained a large knowledge of the site, thanks to the contribution of many collaborators with different academic background. Multidisciplinarity of the research and attention at publishing and promotion of the area arise as essential elements of the project. It is worth to mention also the close-knit and competent team and the logistic organization well strengthened in time.
En este artículo se presentan diez nuevos campos de hoyos aparecidos durante los trabajos de control arqueológico de diferentes obras de construcción en la zona media y ribera de Navarra. Caracterizan diferentes momentos cronológicos de la Prehistoria Reciente, con ejemplos entre el Neolítico Inicial y el Hierro Antiguo.
La fortification Horodca Mică est située dans la zone centrale de l'espace pruto-dniesterien, aux environs des sources de la rivière Botna, et elle est devenue objet des recherches systématiques depuis 2006. Plusieurs des résultats obtenus depuis cette date on été publiés entre temps. On compte parmi ceux-ci une étude concernant les éléments défensifs de la forteresse, où l'on a mis en avant l'hypothèse d'une fortification par étapes, du promontoire, alternées avec des destructions périodiques. Au départ, on avait plus insisté sur la première phase d'édification du système défensif, en décrivant ses éléments constitutifs, les techniques utilisées dans le processus d'édification, mais aussi l'évolution de la fortification même, jusqu'au dévastateur incendie qui a écroulé la construction défensive.
Dans cet article on a repris le débat portant sur le système défensif. L'hypothèse sur laquelle on se fonde admet l'existence de trois autres phases de refortification du même espace, suite à la première destruction. Pour l'argumentaire de ce point de vue on s'est proposé de présenter dans un premier temps, le tableau des observations objectives, enregistrées sur le terrain, et dans un deuxième temps, partant de ces observations, offrir une explication de la vision que nous avons construit. Cette analyse porte y compris sur les modalités d'édification du système défensif dans chacune des phases identifiées, sur les techniques et matériaux utilisés, ainsi que des raisonnements concernant les repères chronologiques.
On est donc d'avis que dans ces phases ultérieures de fortification du promontoire, a été procédé de la même manière que dans la première : un fossé a été creusé (en réalité c'est l'ancien qui a été étendu en largeur), derrière a été montée une palissade complexe, en bois (sur le sommet même de la vague constituée suite à l'écroulement de la construction de la phase précédente), remplie avec de la terre excavée du fossé. Dans la situation crée, la berme utilisée dans la première phase d'édification du système défensif, n'y trouvait plus sa place. Ainsi, on estime que la délimitation du fossé proprement-dit, depuis l'intérieur, doit être fixée par rapport à la palissade. De cette manière, des barrières solides ont pu être créées, qui, dû à leurs dimensions impressionnantes, ont protégé à plusieurs reprises la population de ces espaces, dans les siècles V à III a. Chr.