Journal of Archaeological Science最新文献

{"title":"The afterlife of Roman roads in England: insights from the fifteenth-century Gough map of Great Britain","authors":"Eljas Oksanen ,&nbsp;Stuart Brookes","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106227","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106227","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper presents a new Geographic Information Systems database of travel and communications routes in England and Wales derived from medieval cartographic evidence. We argue on the basis of archaeological, physical landscape, onomastic, documentary, cartographic and other historical evidence that the network of red distance lines on the Gough Map of Great Britain, dated <em>c</em>. fifteenth century, represents travel routes and roads connecting medieval settlements. As such it constitutes the earliest depiction of a British network of medieval overland routes at a reasonable level of complexity and geographical extent. Taking this as a very partial, but important, sample of the fuller medieval travel networks, we investigate which elements were carried over from the road network of Roman Britain. Using a selection of computational and qualitative methods and approaches, we thereby evaluate the character, regionality and relative quantity of Roman routeway survival, shedding light into the complex transformations of human landscapes that occurred both at macro (national) and micro (regional, local) scales across approximately one thousand years.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 106227"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143877188","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Culturing island biomes: marsupial translocation and bone tool production around New Guinea during the Pleistocene–Holocene","authors":"Dylan Gaffney ,&nbsp;Annette Oertle ,&nbsp;Alvaro Montenegro ,&nbsp;Erlin Novita Idje Djami ,&nbsp;Abdul Razak Macap ,&nbsp;Tristan Russell ,&nbsp;Daud Tanudirjo","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106241","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106241","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Humans have shaped island ecosystems for tens of millennia. A crucial part of this process included the anthropogenic translocation of wild animals between islands. Archaeological evidence presented here suggests humans introduced forest wallabies to Island Southeast Asia from Sahul (Pleistocene New Guinea–Australia) before 12,800 years ago. This is the earliest reported anthropogenic translocation west of Sahul, and one of the earliest in the world. Our agent-based modelling indicates anthropogenic and natural processes could account for wallabies in the Raja Ampat Islands, but humans were likely needed to move animals further west into the Maluku Islands. Zooarchaeological analyses from Raja Ampat show wallabies were hunted throughout the Holocene but became locally extirpated in the Mid–Late Holocene. Zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry (ZooMS) indicates macropods (the family of forest wallabies) persisted until at least 4400–4200 years ago, with skeletons being reused for bone point manufacture. The capture, translocation, exchange, hunting, and recycling of marsupials was part of a wider process of ‘culturing’ island biomes centred around New Guinea in the Terminal Pleistocene to Mid Holocene. Recognising that Pleistocene humans partly shaped and extended the ‘native’ distribution of animals in island rainforests has important implications for tropical biogeography, ecology, and conservation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 106241"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143877189","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evidence for large-scale rice utilization in the Guanzhong region during the final Neolithic (ca. 4600-4000 B.P.): A case study of the Yangyuan site, Xi'an","authors":"Qianyi Lin ,&nbsp;Liya Tang ,&nbsp;Ruichen Yang ,&nbsp;Yanpeng Wang ,&nbsp;Bo Gao ,&nbsp;Xiangyu Zhang ,&nbsp;Zhijun Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106238","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106238","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Rice, domesticated in the Yangtze River Basin, was introduced to the Guanzhong Plain, and became prominence alongside millets during the Longshan period (ca. 4600-4000 B.P.). This study analyzes flotation samples from the Yangyuan site, revealing a significant abundance of charred rice grains and spikelet bases, surpassing those found at other contemporaneous sites in the Guanzhong Plain. The high concentration suggests substantial rice utilization by the site's ancient inhabitants. The Yangshao period, was marked by rice use influenced by external factors, whereas during the Longshan period, local inhabitants in the Guanzhong region gradually adopted the uses of rice as a self-sustaining practice, with possible regional transport of rice. These findings offer valuable insights into the agricultural practices and dietary preferences of the Neolithic Guanzhong Plain, highlighting the region's evolving civilization and its mixed agriculture of rice and millets.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 106238"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143877187","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Solidification simulation of the Anyang niuzun: Insights into late Shang Dynasty bronze casting techniques","authors":"Yang Huan ,&nbsp;Fang Minghui ,&nbsp;He Yuling ,&nbsp;Tonia Eckfeld ,&nbsp;Yang Junchang","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106243","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106243","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Ritual vessels of the Bronze Age in China, are numerous and their exquisite craftsmanship offers a means to understand ancient Chinese society. Important bronzes have been unearthed at the site of Yin, the late Shang dynasty capital city, in present-day Anyang. One particularly significant example discovered in the Yin ruins is a cattle-shaped wine vessel (niuzun). This study combines archaeological observations and solidification simulation methodology to investigate the casting technologies used to produce this vessel and to evaluate bronze craftsmanship at the Yin capital city during the Late Shang Dynasty. By reconstituting the process of the vessel's dynamic solidification, it was found that the niuzun's features have an even wall thickness design, use metal chaplets, and incorporate bronze patches. In addition, the artisan's deliberate sprue placement significantly reduced casting defects. These findings indicate that by the late Shang Dynasty, artisans had already mastered piece-mould casting techniques, and that for the exquisite bronze niuzun, they designed an impeccable mould conforming to extremely high casting standards. This study provides a novel perspective on understanding ancient metalwork technology considering transient solidification processes, and offers valuable insights for studying other metal relics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 106243"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143864592","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"New scientific evidence for the history and occupants of tomb I (“Tomb of Persephone”) in the Great Tumulus at Vergina","authors":"Yannis Maniatis ,&nbsp;Konstantina Drosou ,&nbsp;Miren Iraeta Orbegozo ,&nbsp;Dorothea Mylopotamitaki ,&nbsp;Terence A. Brown ,&nbsp;Keri Brown ,&nbsp;Robert Frei ,&nbsp;Sahra Talamo ,&nbsp;Hannes Schroeder ,&nbsp;Theodore G. Antikas ,&nbsp;Laura Wynn-Antikas","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106234","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106234","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Great Tumulus of Vergina (Aegae) is considered to be the royal burial complex of the Macedonian kings. Beneath it four tombs were discovered, labeled Tomb I, II, III and IV. Several hypotheses have been proposed for the identities of the occupants of the “royal tombs”, but without scientific backing. We present new data from Tomb I (“The Tomb of Persephone”), which contained inhumed (unburnt), in situ and commingled adult skeletal remains, as well as commingled nonadult and animal bones. We applied a range of scientific techniques, including radiocarbon dating, ancient DNA (aDNA), strontium and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis, supported by osteological and odontological observations on the adult and nonadult bones found in Tomb I to provide concrete evidence for the date of burials, sex, age at death and origin of the individuals interred in this tomb. Our results show that, with the exception of four bones that were identified as female, all the adult bones are male according to the aDNA and osteological results, and they belonged to a man aged 25–35 years with a stature of approximately 167 cm. Radiocarbon dating places this burial in the first half of the 4th century calBC, specifically between 400 and 367 calBC, and by applying a potential collagen offset correction this is slightly shifted to 388-356 calBC at the latest. The female bones date to the same period. However, all the nonadults and animal bones, date to the Roman period from 150 calBC, the earliest to 130 calAD the latest. Therefore, these are not related to the primary adult burials. The male occupant was most likely an important Macedonian royal of the Argead/Temenid house who died in the period 388-356 calBC and was probably honored or worshipped in the shrine above and entombed likely together with a female. Previous suggestions that the skeletal remains belong to Philip II, his wife Cleopatra and newborn child are not scientifically sustainable.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 106234"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143868639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Commercially relevant species in the Mediterranean Sea: A perspective from Late Pleistocene to the Industrial Revolution","authors":"Daniela Leal ,&nbsp;Konstantina Agiadi ,&nbsp;Maria Bas","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106242","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106242","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Mediterranean Sea is the world's second-largest biodiversity hotspot and has been impacted by several environmental changes and human activities since pre-historic times. We present the results of a systematic review of the published literature on the nature and extent of these impacts on the ancient-historic Mediterranean marine ecosystems. We aim to provide an overview of the current state of knowledge and identify research gaps about climate and human-activity impacts on commercially relevant species of marine mammals, fishes, and molluscs in the Mediterranean Sea over the last 130 thousand years until the Industrial Revolution (the year 1850). In most of the reviewed publications, species were used as indicators of past climatic conditions or human subsistence strategies. A research gap remains, however, in quantifying their effects on marine ecosystems. Based on our results, we identify data trends in time and space and by functional group. Data are available primarily from the Holocene rather than the Late Pleistocene, reflecting a heterogeneous availability of records. The Adriatic Sea is underrepresented among subregions, which may indicate variability of accessible data between subregions rather than an actual lack of information. Marine mammals were less studied than fishes and molluscs in the three subregions. Despite the lack of standardised guidelines to conduct studies and the subsequent variability in information, this work can provide novel insights into the importance of studying the evolution of research focused on past environmental and anthropogenic impacts in the Mediterranean Sea. Research efforts need to be balanced to examine both economically and ecologically valuable species in the marine ecosystem. We also reinforce the need for uniforming approaches to gather data in a useable format for posterior research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 106242"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143860544","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"In search of draught cattle: An identification method","authors":"Phoebe Liu,&nbsp;Lenny Salvagno,&nbsp;Benjamin Wimmer,&nbsp;Umberto Albarella","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106229","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106229","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Draught cattle, used for ploughing and carting, contributed to drive social transformations in prehistoric societies by replacing or complementing human power. However, identifying draught cattle from archaeological sites has proven challenging due to the dearth of direct evidence. This paper presents a biometric approach to identifying draught cattle in archaeological assemblages based on metapodials, and first and second phalanges. The analysis includes over 150 modern non-draught cattle encompassing various species and breeds, along with a smaller group of draught cattle. Statistical tests and multivariate analyses were first adopted, revealing distinct morphological differences between the two groups, which do not appear to be highly correlated with age. Although cattle limb bone morphology could vary between breeds, the principal component analysis suggests traction is the predominant factor distinguishing between modern draught and non-draught cattle. Biometric data from metapodials and phalanges were then applied to construct five predictive logistic regression models, with the first phalanges showing the highest balanced accuracy for separating the draught and non-draught groups, a clear advance from Lin et al. (2016)'s pioneering work. The predictive models were then applied to data from two British sites to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach to archaeological assemblages. The results show that this biometric approach has the potential to significantly enhance our understanding of draught cattle exploitation in the past.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 106229"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143860545","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Network analysis in Tairona chiefdoms of the Río Frío basin, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia","authors":"Luis Miguel Soto Rodríguez ,&nbsp;Juan Carlos Vargas","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106230","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106230","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article analyzes the interaction networks in the Tairona chiefdom communities of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia, to investigate settlement patterns and the scales of socioeconomic integration over time. Employing network analysis on the technological and typological attributes of ceramic artifact assemblages from pre-Hispanic settlements within a 40-square-kilometer area of the Regional Archaeology Program of the Río Frío basin (currently ongoing), we modeled patterns of social interaction and economic integration. The results reveal varying degrees of economic integration among settlements, with certain sites playing central roles in the distribution of ceramic goods and coordination of economic activities. These findings underscore the importance of specific settlements in driving social centralization and offer a pioneering perspective on the development of complex societies in northern South America.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 106230"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143860546","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fire and its products: recent developments in geoarchaeological microscopy and multi-disciplinary analysis","authors":"Matthew Canti","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106236","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106236","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Research into fires and pyrogenic materials found on archaeological sites has grown exponentially in the last decade or so, producing a large specialised body of innovative methods and major interpretative advances. This review examines those developments with respect to our understanding of fire contexts and the materials produced. Although often rooted in soil micromorphology, the approaches used now embrace a number of spectral techniques which have significantly augmented the interpretative value and quantitative integrity. Recent progress in both site-based and experimental studies is examined with a view to exploring some future directions for this growth area in our understanding the human past.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 106236"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143855897","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Nets hidden in pottery:Resurrected fishing nets in the Jomon period, Japan","authors":"Hiroki Obata ,&nbsp;Yoon-ji Lee","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106231","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106231","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Japanese archipelago, surrounded by the sea and rich in marine resources, has a long fishing history, dating back to the Jomon period (c. 14,000-900 BCE). Evidence of this includes discovering fish bones and fishing gear from around 2700 shell mounds. While research on the Jomon fishing nets has focused on various aspects, such as net mesh size and marine life caught, there has been limited attention to the actual structure of the nets. Previous studies have primarily examined net imprints preserved on pottery surfaces known as ‘textile-impressed pottery’, discovered from the end of Jomon to the beginning of Yayoi at sites in the Kyushu region. These nets had been identified as fishing nets without any qualify. In this study, X-ray computed tomography (CT) was used to investigate and digitally reconstruct net impressions found in pottery from the Hidaka region of Hokkaido, Japan, dating to the Early Jomon period (referred to as ‘Shizunai-Nakano style pottery’). Subsequently, these impressions were compared to net imprints preserved on textile-impressed pottery found in the Kyushu region. The results revealed that fishing nets were (re)used in various ways in pottery production in both traditions. However, differences in thread twist direction and knotting methods likely stem from cultural variations, in contrast to differences in mesh size which resulted from the specific nets chosen for pottery making. Among them, the nets with a small mesh size of less than 6.5 mm on textile-impressed pottery were not for fishing but possibly containers or other uses. This study is the first to reconstruct Jomon period nets based on impressions in/on pottery, shedding light on not only the importance of net production in Prehistoric Japan but also biases in the sources of the pottery-making process that should be considered when archaeologists are analysing archaeological materials.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 106231"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143844699","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}