Amir Zaribaf, Joseph W. Lehner, Abigail Buffington
et al.
Industrial periodicity is a hallmark of modern and ancient extractive economies. In Southeast Arabia, current evidence demonstrates that intensive periods of copper production are bracketed by century- to millennia-scale periods of little to no production. Explanations for this periodicity range from environmental degradation (e.g., deforestation related to unsustainable fuelwood provisioning) to shifts in local and distant trade networks to internal sociocultural factors. In this paper, we give an overview of the current understanding of this problem and introduce new data from the Archaeological Water Histories of Oman (ArWHO) project’s research along Wadi Raki, one of the largest and best preserved ancient industrial landscapes in Arabia. Methods used to generate this data include remote sensing, pedestrian surveys, targeted excavations, and laboratory analyses of production debris and wood charcoal to examine the periodicity of copper production. Our work provides a new baseline understanding of environmental and sociopolitical factors that drove changes in the tempo of industrial copper production in Southeast Arabia.
Alexia Rosak, Maureen Le Doaré, Julien Charbonnier
et al.
The al-Ula Cultural Oasis Project (UCOP) led by Archaïos, funded and steered by the French Agency for AlUla Development (AFALULA) on behalf of the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU), is investigating since 2021 a hitherto unknown network of qanats surrounding the well-known city of Qurḥ, today known as al-Mābiyāt, in the al-ʿUlā valley (northwestern Saudi Arabia). Well documented in Islamic sources, Qurḥ was situated on the pilgrimages routes and described as a main power center in the region until the end of the 12th century AD. As a first step, remote sensing and photo-interpretation were combined with a systematic pedestrian survey to identify the qanats. As a second step, chronological evidence was obtained through the study of the ceramic and glass assemblages collected during the survey. Our preliminary results suggest that these qanats supplied water to the hinterland of Qurḥ and were probably abandoned simultaneously with the city. They therefore form the largest network of qanats, and overall the most extensive waterscape, known from the Early and Middle Islamic periods (7th to 13th century AD) in the Arabian Peninsula. The creation of the morphological map and the study of local hydrology, combined with the analysis of the spatial organization of these qanats, also suggest that they collected several underground water sources. This ongoing study thus highlights the role played by water management in the urban development in the northern Hejaz during the Early and Middle Islamic periods.
In arid environments, continental records of climate change are rare. In southeast Arabia, where most of the landscape is dominated by the ophiolithic al-Hajar mountains, palaeoclimatic data are mainly derived from sedimentary records on the piedmonts. In the mountains themselves, where human occupation could have prevailed during periods of climatic stress, sedimentary archives are weakly preserved. Recent studies have revealed the existence of thick but under-explored sedimentary archives in oases. In order to evaluate their potential as palaeoenvironmental records, we develop a geomorphic, sedimentological and mineralogical approach in the oasis of Masafi (UAE). Results allow us to identify sediment sources and deposition modes over the last 18 ka. Late Pleistocene deposits are comprised of quartz-rich aeolian sands from the Rub’al-Khali while Early to Mid-Holocene deposits (10–7.5 ka) are calcite-rich loess probably originating from the Persian Gulf, deposited on the slope upstream of the oasis and later remobilized during humid periods. Late Holocene records (after 2.7 ka) are more complex to interpret with the onset of anthropogenic activities. While sediment connectivity between the slope and the oasis still occurred up until the last 2 ka through the channelling of runoff water and gullying, we witness shifting soil management strategies and reduced sediment supply from the slopes after that date. As a conclusion, our results reveal complex morphoclimatic and anthropogenic processes in the oasis but its high potential as an archive of ancient climate change and alluvio-aeolian processes if studied with caution. Highlights • Continental records of climate change are rare in arid mountainous environments • Stratigraphic sequences in oases provide an underexploited sedimentary archive • We develop a geomorphic, sedimentological and mineralogical study of oasian archives • Oasian sequences record regional climatic signals, local hydrogeological conditions and anthropogenic activities • Aeolian processes and hydric remobilization of windborne sediment are dominant sedimentation processes in the oasis • Sediment disconnectivity occurred during the last millennia as a result of reduced water resources
Jessica Z. Metcalfe, Lauryn E. Eady-Sitar, Ayumi Hyodo
et al.
Sulfur isotopes (δ34S values) have significant potential for addressing archaeological, paleontological, and paleoecological research questions. Studies of ancient materials rely on the assumption that δ34S values have been minimally altered by diagenesis, yet meaningful analyses of sulfur isotope preservation/alteration are rare. This paper has 3 objectives: (1) to review and revise previous approaches to evaluating sulfur isotope alteration of collagen, (2) to evaluate sulfur isotope preservation in Great Lakes mammoth (Mammuthus spp.) and mastodon (Mammut americanum) bone, tooth, and tusk collagen, and (3) to make inferences about proboscidean diets and habitat preferences based on δ34S values. To evaluate sulfur isotope preservation in collagen we recommend 3 approaches. First, researchers should examine collagen %C, %N, and atomic C:N values, and exclude samples whose values fall outside the expected ranges (defined according to context-specific considerations). Second, researchers should examine collagen %S, C:S, and N:S values, and exclude samples that fall outside the ranges for modern taxa. These ranges are subject to revision, but this study provides a new compilation of modern mammalian collagen with %S = 0.14–0.63, C:S = 185–873, and N:S = 55–266 (n=119). Third, researchers should check for correlations between collagen δ34S and %S, C:S, or N:S values, which could suggest systematic alteration of sulfur isotope values due to sulfur contamination or amino acid loss. For our Great Lakes proboscideans, the first approach was insufficient to identify sulfur isotope alteration, but the second and third approaches led to the exclusion of 4 samples with probable alteration. Great Lakes proboscideans had lower δ34S values than recent taxa from the same region, and the δ34S of mastodons tended to be lower than those of mammoths. These results suggest that mammoths and (to a greater extent) mastodons consumed an abundance of plants rooted in anoxic freshwater wetland sediments.
This paper aims to re-examine key scholarly works pertaining to the Sri Lankan Vadda, an indigenous community of the island, in order to explore extant research of the said community. Despite considerable progress, lingering misunderstandings and uncertainties persist regarding their origins, connections to prehistoric populations, affiliations with contemporary ethnic groups, and the interrelationships among different Vadda communities across the island. Furthermore, uncertainties persist regarding the authenticity of Vadda skeletal remains and the adequacy of archaeological samples, which often suffer from fragmentation and incompleteness. It is this archaeological sample that has been used to draw conclusions about the cultural and biological continuity of the Mesolithic population or the Balangoda man (Homo sapiens balangodensis) with the Vaddas and the modern populations of the island, thus perhaps distorting interpretations. Similarly, this study underscores concerns regarding the representation of modern samples collected from diverse Vadda clans inhabiting various ecological zones and engaging in different subsistence practices, potentially skewing the conclusions of preceding research. In this study, fresh ethnoarchaeological data are used to examine some misconceptions prevailing about the Warugas (clans) as well as the use of the term Wanniyalaetto as a synonym for Vaddas. Given the rapid acculturation of Vaddas, there is a pressing need for continued interdisciplinary investigations into the Vadda communities, encompassing different Warugas and geographic regions, to ensure a better understanding of their socio-cultural dynamics with the aim of enhanced insight into their evolutionary pathways.
In the paper there are presented the chronologically latest ceramic lamps that have been found in the Olbia Pontica collection while studying the whole range of these devices from the end of the 7th century BC till the 5th century AD. The items considered here are mostly imported types and are dated to the middle of the 3rd–beginning of the 5th centuries AD. The study includes recently found lighting devices in the R-23 and R-25 excavation sectors in Olbia that are connected with the latest historical events at the settlement. A brief history of research, a catalogue of lamps and discussion of local and imported ceramic lamps are provided.
Ana Belén Galán López, Nicole Torres-Tamayo, María Fernanda Martínez-Polanco
Reindeer mobility patterns exhibit significant variability in modern ecosystems, especially between open and wooded environments. This variability makes it difficult to reconstruct past reindeer migration patterns, which is key to understand the role of reindeer herds in the sustenance and territorial organization of Prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies. By examining morphology associated with different habitats and movement patterns, insights into prehistoric reindeer behavior can be obtained. Investigating the relationship between locomotor anatomy and substrate type in present-day animals allows for paleoecological inferences, as previous research indicates that an animal's environment affects bone morphology. In the present study, 3D geometric morphometrics is employed to examine the influence of habitat type and mobility patterns on distal phalanx morphology from extant caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou). Our analysis reveals significant morphological adaptations linked to different habitats (boreal forest, mountain, and tundra) and mobility types (sedentary, migratory, and altitudinal). However, the potential impact of sex remains uncertain due to incomplete data. The significant variations in shape and size of caribou distal phalanges across different habitats and mobility types underscore the complex interactions between morphology, ecology, and evolutionary pressures.
The two decades comprised within the partition of Vietnam and the end of the Indochina Wars surprisingly saw major advances in prehistoric archaeology in the region. This article examines the political context and implications of archaeological investigations conducted in Thailand and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam under the guidance of, respectively, American and Soviet specialists, as an aspect of the cultural Cold War. Archaeological discoveries in both countries debunked colonial archaeology’s account of prehistoric Southeast Asia as a passive recipient of Chinese cultural influence by documenting autonomous technological development. The article argues that the new image of mainland Southeast Asia’ prehistory that formed by the early 1970s reflected the superpowers’ objective of empowering the region’s postcolonial nation-states notwithstanding their political contrasts, yet it was not equally congruent with the nationalist narratives of Thailand and North Vietnam.
History (General) and history of Europe, History of Civilization
Loanword analysis is a unique contribution of historical linguistics to our understanding of prehistoric cultural interfaces. As language reflects the lives of its speakers, the substantiation of loanwords draws on the composite evidence from linguistic as well as auxiliary data from archaeology and genetics through triangulation. The Bronze Age of Central Asia is in principle linguistically mute, but a host of recent independent observations that tie languages, cultures and genetics together in various ways invites a comprehensive reassessment of six highly diagnostic loanwords (‘seven’, ‘name/fame’, ‘sister-in-law’, ‘honey’, ‘metal’ and ‘horse’) that are associated with the Bronze Age. Moreover, they are shared between Indo-European, Uralic, Turkic and sometimes Old Chinese. The successful identification of the interfaces for these loanwords can help settle longstanding debates on languages, migrations and the items themselves. Each item is analysed using the comparative method with reference to the archaeological record to assess the plausibility of a transfer. I argue that the six items can be dated to have entered Central and East Asian languages from immigrant Indo-European languages spoken in the Afanasievo and Andronovo cultures, including a novel source for the ‘horse’ in Old Chinese.
Scholars working in the Aegean are used to associating the term Neolithic always with plant cultivation and domesticated animals. On the other hand, the recent trends in redefining the Neolithic reveal that the Neolithic is marked not only by the onset of farming and animal husbandry, but also by sedentism, structural transformation, symbolic behavior and sensory perception of landscape etc. This essay reveals that the Aegean 9th millennium BC communities show the same general trends as the Cypriot and Anatolian Pre-Pottery Neolithic, and it is necessary to consider a Neolithic period without pottery in the Aegean.
Sited at the furthest limits of the Neolithic revolution and standing at the confluence of the two great sea routes of prehistory, Britain and Ireland are distinct from continental Europe for much of the prehistoric sequence. In this landmark study, Richard Bradley offers an interpretation of the unique archaeological record of these islands. Highlighting the achievements of its inhabitants, Bradley surveys the entire archaeological sequence over a 5,000 year period, from the last hunter-gatherers and the adoption of agriculture in the Neolithic period, to the discovery of Britain and Ireland by travellers from the Mediterranean during the later pre-Roman Iron Age. His study places special emphasis on landscapes, settlements, monuments, and ritual practices. This edition has been thoroughly revised and updated. The text takes account of recent developments in archaeological science, such as isotopic analyses of human and animal bone, recovery of ancient DNA, and more subtle and precise methods of radiocarbon dating.