Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory最新文献

{"title":"Fortress of Culture: Reinterpreting Krobo Mountain Site Through the Perspective of Persistent Places","authors":"William Narteh Gblerkpor","doi":"10.1007/s10816-026-09775-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-026-09775-3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47725,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147536091","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sodium Chronicles... Grain by Grain. New Methods for Quantifying Ancient Salt Demand","authors":"A. Sotgia, L. Alessandri, P. A. J. Attema, F. Bulian, J. Sevink","doi":"10.1007/s10816-026-09771-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-026-09771-7","url":null,"abstract":"Salt played a crucial role in ancient societies, serving both dietary and industrial purposes. Despite its importance, direct quantification of salt demand remains challenging due to limited archaeological evidence and the complexity of variables involved in salt production. This study proposes an indirect approach to estimating salt consumption through a reconstructive model of agropastoral landscape exploitation. By assessing the maximum number of people and animals requiring salt, along with the production of food items such as bread, cheese, and preserved meat, this model allows for a broad estimation of salt needs in each settlement. By reconstructing the territorial system’s agricultural and pastoral economy, this research estimates salt consumption and explores its implications for settlement sustainability. The case study of the Iron Age site of ‘Piscina Torta’ (Rome, Italy)—a production site—is used to test this methodology. The study further assesses the necessary volume of seawater to meet the estimated demand. While the results are estimates, they provide a valuable reference framework for understanding salt consumption trends in early state development. Ultimately, this research highlights the significance of salt as a strategic resource, contributing to broader discussions on ancient economic systems and resource management.","PeriodicalId":47725,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory","volume":"73 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147368058","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Visual Method to Compare the Quality and Complexity of Archaeological Textiles: The Cotton Mantas of Pre-Hispanic Colombia","authors":"Anne Kwaspen, Adriana Escobar-Toro, María Consuelo Moreno-González, María Alicia Uribe-Villegas, Juanita Sáenz-Samper, Marcos Martinón-Torres","doi":"10.1007/s10816-025-09758-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-025-09758-w","url":null,"abstract":"Concepts such as cost, value, skill, complexity, and quality are central to archaeological interpretations of material culture, yet often they remain undefined, resulting in subjective and inconsistent analyses. This is particularly true in archaeological textile studies, where technological complexity, cost, and craftsmanship are frequently underexplored or assessed informally. This paper proposes a formal method for evaluating and comparing the production of archaeological textiles, using complexity and quality as proxies for skill and cost. Drawing on sociology, economics, and material culture studies, we argue that value is context-dependent, shaped by both intrinsic properties of objects and cultural frameworks. Skill involves embodied knowledge and culturally informed standards of what constitutes a ‘well-made’ artefact. To operationalise these concepts, we integrate the <jats:italic>chaîne opératoire</jats:italic> with a colour-coded matrix and comparative diagrams inspired by Kuijpers’ work on metallurgical skill (2018b, 2018c). These visual tools enhance transparency, interpretation, and reproducibility across case studies. We apply this method to five types of pre-Hispanic cotton <jats:italic>mantas</jats:italic> woven by the Muisca and Guane of Colombia’s Eastern Highlands, and a further comparative set from the southern Nariño department. The analysis identifies both shared and variable features that reflect differences in complexity, quality, and labour investment. Correlations among variables reveal forms of labour organisation and social constraints. Our visualisation tools highlight patterns within and across textile assemblages. By making the technical aspects explicit, this formal approach enables better comparison, reduces bias, and fosters more nuanced understandings of craft organisation, skilled labour and complexity in past technologies. (For an extended summary of this paper in Spanish, see Supplementary Materials).","PeriodicalId":47725,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory","volume":"49 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147359882","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluating Random Forest Model Performance for Cave and Sinkhole Prediction in the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa: Preliminary Analysis and Variable Importance Assessments","authors":"Margaret J. Furtner, Robert L. Anemone, Lei Wang, Juliet K. Brophy","doi":"10.1007/s10816-025-09761-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-025-09761-1","url":null,"abstract":"Surveying an area for new fossil sites is a labor-intensive and resource-draining activity that can be alleviated with the aid of machine learning models. In karst landscapes of southern Africa, Plio-Pleistocene fossils that inform the paleoanthropological record are primarily found preserved in caves and sinkholes. The purpose of this study is to assess the utility of Random Forest (RF) models for cave and sinkhole prediction in the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa. Multispectral satellite imagery, digital elevation models (DEMs), and geologic maps were converted into raster (pixelated matrix) images in a GIS environment to denote varying aspects of the local topography, including elevation, slope, aspect, curvature, drainage, spectral reflectance, vegetation cover, fault proximity, and underlying geology. The rasters were stacked and overlaid with 1080 known cave and sinkhole locality points and 1080 random non-cave points in the study area for model training. Variable values associated with these geopoints were input into an RF model in Python for training and evaluation using a spatial ten-fold cross-validation. The model performed with 81.6% accuracy and an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.912. The importance of each variable for prediction was evaluated by measuring the increase in prediction error when variable values were shuffled. Distance to major faults, location within the Chuniespoort geologic group, dolomite presence, chert presence, and elevation exhibited the highest importance for model accuracy, while three out of 48 total predictor variables exhibited less importance than a randomly generated variable. The identification of important/unimportant variables will help build more efficient, robust models in future iterations, as well as help identify variables that could be useful in other karst regions.","PeriodicalId":47725,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory","volume":"60 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147368044","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Forest Herding and Tree Foddering in Neolithic Europe: Comparing δ13C Values in Caprine Enamel with Archaeobotanical Evidence at Lake Shore Settlements in Switzerland and the French Jura","authors":"Marie Balasse, Alexa Dufraisse, Laurent Emmanuel, Denis Fiorillo, Rose-Marie Arbogast, Urs Leuzinger, Pierre Pétrequin","doi":"10.1007/s10816-026-09773-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-026-09773-5","url":null,"abstract":"Forest grazing and tree leaf foddering were once widespread in Europe. Stable carbon isotope analysis of faunal remains can help investigate the practice back to the Neolithic. The approach presupposes the empirical definition of a threshold δ¹³C value beyond which a forest component in diet is arguable. This objective can be attained in contexts where animals feeding on forest trees were demonstrated independently. We analyzed caprine teeth from the sites of Arbon-Bleiche 3 (34th century BCE, Switzerland), where forest fodder was directly evidenced from macroremains in caprine faeces; and from Clairvaux (39th–37th c. BCE) and Chalain (32nd–30th c. BCE; French Jura) where it was suggested from thousands of branches accumulated in the occupation layers. Sequential isotope analysis in caprine tooth enamel revealed δ¹³C values ≤ −14‰ at Clairvaux and Chalain, and ≤ −15‰ and down to −16.7‰ at Arbon during winter, the lowest recorded to date in Neolithic Europe. A more ¹³C-depleted signal at Arbon, associated with significantly lower δ¹⁸O values, may reflect the abrupt cooler and wetter climatic event recorded at this time in the Lake Constance sediments, causing harsher winters and the need for complementary feed in the form of tree leaves, as well as a potential tree-line decline leading to a greater proximity of the fir forest. Inter-individual variability reflects adaptability of extensive herding systems subjected to environmental uncertainties. These results confirm that in these chronocultural contexts, forests were fully integrated into husbandry systems, shaping practices and animal behaviors, and potentially contributing to the reshaping of the landscape.","PeriodicalId":47725,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147507873","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Bone Weathering Variability in Semiarid Environments: Insights from Taphonomic Experiments in the Dry Chaco, Central Argentina","authors":"María Paula Weihmüller, Andrés Darío Izeta, Gabriela Roxana Cattáneo","doi":"10.1007/s10816-026-09769-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-026-09769-1","url":null,"abstract":"Understanding the factors that govern bone weathering is essential for interpreting faunal preservation and site formation processes in archaeological contexts. This study presents the first four-years of an actualistic long-term experiment conducted in three contrasting depositional settings of the Dry Chaco ecoregion of Central Argentina: two open-air contexts (Arid Chaco and Mountain Chaco; <italic>n</italic> = 54, <italic>n </italic>= 76) and a sheltered context within the Mountain Chaco (<italic>n</italic> = 44). Annual observations of weathering progression were recorded for camelid skeletal elements and integrated with climatic data to evaluate the influence of environmental and anatomical variables. Using a Bayesian regression model, we assessed the relative contributions of temperature, precipitation, solar radiation, and microenvironmental conditions to weathering trajectories. The model outputs demonstrate pronounced differences across contexts: rockshelter context showed an extremely low probability of transitioning into higher weathering stages, remaining at stage 0 across all years, while open-air settings exhibited faster and more heterogeneous weathering. Element morphology played a major role, with flat and axial bones showing higher susceptibility than long or compact elements. Microenvironmental factors—including shading, substrate, moisture regimes, and vegetation cover—proved more influential than broad regional climate, underscoring the need to interpret weathering within local ecological and geomorphological conditions. To explore ontogenetic effects, we generated exploratory estimates of neonatal weathering stages using adult–newborn differentials from an independent experiment. These suggest reduced survivorship of neonatal elements in open-air settings, highlighting the importance of age in mortality and taphonomic interpretations. Overall, our findings caution against using weathering stages as direct chronological markers and demonstrate the value of Bayesian approaches for modeling taphonomic processes. The methodological framework presented here provides a robust basis for expanding actualistic studies and improving archaeological inference in semiarid environments.","PeriodicalId":47725,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147507883","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Small Drills, Big Questions—Investigating Late Neolithic Dickenbännli Drills Through Experimentation, Technology, Traceology and Residue Analysis","authors":"Hannah Huber, Claus-Joachim Kind, Patrick Schmidt, Yvonne Tafelmaier, Flavia Venditti","doi":"10.1007/s10816-026-09768-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-026-09768-2","url":null,"abstract":"The manufacture of limestone beads using so-called Dickenbännli drills has been proposed to be part of a large-scale societal development: specialization of labor and the resulting emergence of social stratification. These small lithic drills are abundant at many Middle and Late Neolithic sites in Southern Germany and Northern Switzerland, frequently co-occurring with limestone beads. However, the use of the drills for bead manufacture is mostly assumed rather than demonstrated. Furthermore, there is little experimental, technological and traceological evidence to support the hypothesis of a specialized production, except for the site of Hornstaad-Hörnle, where the argument is based on spatial distribution and manufacturing skill. The Late Neolithic assemblage of Kohlhau-Abri, which includes both drills and disc bead fragments, serves as a case study to reconstruct the manufacturing process of drills and limestone beads and evaluate their interconnection, ultimately examining the technical skills involved. This was achieved through explorative and controlled experiments, coupled with traceological and residue analysis of both drills and beads. Our use wear results show that the drills were used, likely to work limestone. Raman spectroscopy of a white residue found at the tip of one of the drills indicates calcite, the primary component of limestone. Neither the experimental nor the archaeological evidence suggests a necessity for specialists in bead manufacturing. Our study highlights how the application of multiple analytical approaches can provide us with complementary lines of evidence, and how such a holistic approach enables us to tackle not only small-scale but also large-scale questions.","PeriodicalId":47725,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory","volume":"132 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147287348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Benefits of Niche Construction in Northern Rio Grande Pueblo Agriculture: Modeling Cotton, Maize, and Wheat Cultivation","authors":"Kaitlyn E. Davis, R. Kyle Bocinsky","doi":"10.1007/s10816-026-09764-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-026-09764-6","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47725,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory","volume":"93 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147287114","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Food Equality: Multiproxy Biomolecular Dietary Analysis Shows Unstratified Foodways Among Protohistoric E Baltic Communities","authors":"Ester Oras, Mari Tõrv, Eve Rannamäe, Kristiina Johanson, Agnes Unt, Shidong Chen, Almira de Villa, Holar Sepp, Annaliisa Männik, Sven Isaksson","doi":"10.1007/s10816-026-09765-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-026-09765-5","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47725,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147287115","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Settlement Patterns and Community Delimitation in Chibcha Chiefdoms of Colombia and Panama","authors":"Luis Miguel Soto Rodríguez","doi":"10.1007/s10816-026-09767-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-026-09767-3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47725,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146205147","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}