Archaeometry最新文献

Ten timbers from the spire scaffold of Salisbury Cathedral were dated using a combination of ring-width dendrochronology, stable oxygen isotopic dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating. Seven timbers were coeval and assigned a combined empirical felling date range of 1352–1378, which was further refined to 1351–1359 (OxCal 95.4%). These results would indicate that the scaffold was not a 1320s construction but instead built later in the 14th century. The remaining sampled timbers produced a precise felling date of spring 1737 and are coincident with documented repair work in 1738.

Provenance reconstruction using strontium and lead stable isotopes can produce complex multidimensional fingerprints, challenging traditional methods. Identifying nonlocals, who migrated between sites, is a major task. Migrants are identifiable by divergent multi-isotope fingerprints due to isotopic mixing between origin and destination sites. Detecting early migrants, however, is possible in exceptional cases only.

This study used a Support Vector Machine approach to detect migrants as “in-between instances” between sites. Tested on synthetic data, the model effectively identified IBIs under varying conditions. Applied to archaeological multi-isotope data, it revealed nonlocal individuals, also early migrants, including the approximated years since migration.

New radiocarbon determinations from rice grains and bamboo have been obtained from Non Ban Jak, Northeast Thailand. These, along with charcoal, date a late Iron Age building sequence. The results come from short-lived species and charcoal with potential inbuilt age. We built a series of Bayesian models to obtain a reliable chronology. A model including a Charcoal_Plus Outlier detection approach can allow us to include charcoal dates, which are almost certainly affected by inbuilt age and quantify the effect. The results demonstrate that the site accumulated very rapidly within the 5th century ce, a chronological framework with important cultural implications.

This study focuses on two terracotta incense burners discovered in the Daba Al-Bayah necropolis in the Musandam Peninsula (Oman), associated with an Iron Age collective tomb (LCG-2). Through gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS), the organic residues preserved within these artifacts were analyzed to investigate their use and environmental context. The unveiling results revealed a combination of fatty acids and plant-derived sugars, confirming the use of these vessels for burning aromatic substances, likely derived from resins or plant materials present in the area at the time. These findings shed light on ritual practices in the Iron Age Arabian Peninsula and provide new insights on the paleoenvironmental context and ancient trade networks.

With northern regions warming at twice the global rate, assessing the state of archaeological sites in these areas is critically important. In this study, we used a multimethod geophysical approach (ERT, GPR, and EMI) to characterize the current geocryological conditions of an Inuit archaeological site on South Aulatsivik Island (Labrador, Canada). Analysis of the geophysical surveys revealed a thin (~1 m) discontinuous layer of residual permafrost on the tombolo. This study investigated the vulnerability of Inuit cultural heritage to climate warming while promoting the use of a rapid and noninvasive research method new to northern geoarchaeology.

The hillfort of Castrejón de Capote is one of the best investigated settlements of Late Iron Age southwest Iberia. Located in the territory that the classical sources attributed to the Celtici, it was occupied between the early 4th and the 1st centuries bce. The excavations from the 1980s and 1990s have brought to light an extensive and diverse ceramic assemblage, including hand-made and wheel-made pottery, elaborate incense burners, spindle-whorls, storage vessels and several nonlocal ceramic types (Ibero-Phoenician pottery, black-gloss ‘Campanian’ ware and amphorae). This article presents the first technological analysis of the site's ceramics, revealing the compositional and technological diversity of this assemblage, which partly relates to the site's geodiverse surroundings. Utilising a broad spectrum of archaeometric methods (ceramic petrography, X-ray diffraction, inductively coupled plasma spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy), this study brings new insights into patterns of local manufacture and exchange of ceramics in Late Iron Age southwest Iberia.

Investigating why hominins adopted particular flake technologies during the Mid-to-Late Pleistocene is essential to understanding patterns of lithic innovation. This period witnessed the emergence of Levallois technologies (~350–250 ka) and later blades, each “replacing” earlier forms. While prior studies have emphasised technological efficiency and utility, comparative assessments of functional performance—particularly edge sharpness—are limited. The controlled cutting experiment conducted here broadly reveals no significant differences in sharpness between expedient, Levallois, blade and bladelet flakes; however, Levallois débitage displayed significantly blunter edges. These results suggest functional limitations to débitage and imply edge sharpness did not drive flake technological change.