Journal of Archaeological Science最新文献

{"title":"Metaproteomic approaches to ancient foodways: A review","authors":"Miranda Evans","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106211","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106211","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Proteomic approaches to understanding ancient foodways have rapidly expanded in recent years, addressing diverse questions, regions and sample types. Proteins are well placed to explore questions of ancient food given that they can sometimes provide tissue and taxonomically specific ingredient detections and can be resistant to degradation into archaeological timescales. Here I review the development of protein studies of ancient foodways, and current and future research agendas. The development of protein-based approaches to ancient foodways is reviewed, spanning early amino-acid and immunological approaches to residues on stone tools and pottery, then shifting to a discovery based “shotgun” approach. The sample types that have yielded proteomic insights into ancient food are outlined, including stone tools and pottery and their residues, well preserved food remains, dental calculus and other organic remains. Finally, the current research agendas are laid out, including understanding the biases which impact protein preservation, optimising extraction and data analysis pipelines for ancient samples, and implementing multi-method approaches. Suggestions for future studies include further development and refinement of ancient protein authentication and screening approaches, and a focus on benchmarking expected protein results from a diverse range of experimental studies of intentional actions such as food preparation practices and incidental taphonomic factors, the results of which will inform expected preservation and provide a basis of archaeological interpretations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"178 ","pages":"Article 106211"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143726239","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Cumulative Interaction Path Analysis for Santo Domingo Tonaltepec, Mixteca Alta, Mexico","authors":"Antonio Martínez Tuñón,&nbsp;Verónica Pérez Rodríguez","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106215","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106215","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We present a Cumulative Interaction Path Analysis (CIPA) that combines a Least Cost Path (LCP) analysis with a gravitational principle of political interaction to examine the development of a peripheral area in relation to a peer polity system and its changes through time. We performed this analysis on a large settlement pattern database of pre-Hispanic sites in the Mixteca Alta region of Mexico, centered on the modern-day pottery-making community of Santo Domingo Tonaltepec. The results of the analysis suggest that in early periods Tonaltepec was relatively isolated from the larger network and in later times it became an important node between polities. This change related not so much to Tonaltepec itself, but to changes in the relative importance of the polities that developed around it. This supports the idea that the locational advantages of a site are dependent on the broader interaction network and the political developments that occur at larger scales. Our methods and results are significant not only in understanding the historical trajectory of this corner of the world but also serves as a case study on how to approach broader processes in other world regions where large settlement-pattern databases exist.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"178 ","pages":"Article 106215"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143726240","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":"Multi-proxy approaches in Archaeobotany: Botanical reconstruction of ancient gardens from a Mediterranean perspective","authors":"Dafna Langgut","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106209","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106209","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Over the past two decades, the field of garden archaeology has expanded significantly in both temporal and spatial scopes, moving beyond its initial focus on the gardens of the Vesuvius region. These early Roman gardens, remarkably well-preserved, feature the first instances where garden soils were treated as archaeological artifacts. This innovative approach laid the groundwork for the study of ancient gardens in subsequent decades. The developments of this discipline in recent years are largely attributable to advancements in archaeobotanical techniques and the incorporation of new methodologies. This paper seeks to review the current knowledge of archaeobotanical methods used to identify ornamental plants cultivated in ancient gardens. The most efficient techniques involve microbotanical proxies such as palynology and phytolith analysis, as well as the study of macrobotanical remains, including wood, charcoal, seeds, and fruits. For each type of archaeobotanical method, this paper will explore sampling strategies, identification possibilities, data interpretation, and associated strengths and limitations. The article demonstrates that employing multiple archaeobotanical techniques enhances the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the resulting list of ornamental plants. Once such a list is established, it can be integrated with other evidence, such as root cavities, to reconstruct garden designs and identify gardening trends, including the use of exotic species or practices such as dwarfing trees and shrubs. Additionally, the suggested list of ornamental plants can help reconstruct the sensory experience of ancient gardens, considering the plants' colors, scents, and possible soundscapes. This sensory analysis is further enriched by examining the surrounding environment, the garden's visual communication, and its features, including walls, fountains, channels, pools, and statues. This review paper primarily focuses on the ancient gardens of the Mediterranean and the Near East, but the approaches discussed and the conclusions drawn are applicable to ancient gardens worldwide. Prospects of the discipline are also given.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"178 ","pages":"Article 106209"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143706284","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Deciphering the origins of Sanxingdui bronzes through petrographic and elemental analysis of casting cores","authors":"Huiru Lian ,&nbsp;Xiaotian Zeng ,&nbsp;Pei Liang ,&nbsp;Siran Liu ,&nbsp;Honglin Ran ,&nbsp;Jianbo Guo ,&nbsp;Ji Zhang ,&nbsp;Jianjun Mei ,&nbsp;Kunlong Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106212","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106212","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Sanxingdui, one of the most significant Bronze Age sites in China, has yielded unique bronze artifacts with varying styles: some exhibit distinct local characteristics, while others resemble central Shang designs, raising questions about their origins. This study applies semi-quantitative petrographic observations and elemental analysis to 39 casting core samples from Pits 1 and 2 at Sanxingdui. The results reveal distinct differences in production techniques and materials between vessel and non-vessel artifacts. Comparative analysis with local soils, sediment, and casting cores from other Chinese bronze production sites suggests that non-vessel bronzes were likely cast locally near Sanxingdui, while vessel artifacts show connections to the middle and lower Yangtze River region. Our findings indicate that Sanxingdui bronzes were part of a larger, interconnected circulation network for bronze products and ores, reflecting complex cultural, technological, and material exchanges with other regions during the Shang period.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"178 ","pages":"Article 106212"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143706282","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":"Chemical and isotopic analyses confirm dietary change marks the Early Medieval Slavic expansion into Central and Eastern Europe","authors":"Jiří Macháček ,&nbsp;Julie Dunne ,&nbsp;Renáta Přichystalová ,&nbsp;Tomáš Zeman ,&nbsp;George Haberfield ,&nbsp;Mengyao Zhang ,&nbsp;Timothy D. Knowles ,&nbsp;Richard P. Evershed","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106213","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106213","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>During the first millennium AD, the much-discussed Migration Period marked a major episode of demographic and consequent economic, social and political change across large areas of Europe. Slavic migration from Eastern into Central Europe, between 500 and 700 AD, brings a proposed change in ‘kitchen culture’ and subsistence, displacing Germanic (e.g. Longobard) groups elsewhere, marking the end of the Late Antique period and the beginning of the Middle Ages. Notably, organic residue analysis of a total of 75 vessels from across the span of these periods confirms a distinct dietary shift between these purported groups. Food can often be one of the most distinctive expressions of social, religious, cultural or ethnic groups and, here, we demonstrate that a clear reliance on millet, in the form of porridge made with milk and, possibly, honey or soups and stews with meat, dominates, likely brought from the Slavic homelands. Thus, absent in the late Antique period, a new diet based on millet may thus have been a contributing factor to the population increase during the Early Medieval period and the subsequent expansion by Slavic groups across Europe. Analysis of a large series of legacy radiocarbon dates from human and animal bone, supported by compound-specific lipid dating of four of the same vessels allows us to identify the turning point of the change in habitus, with Slavic-speaking communities with a new housing culture, foodways and burial rites appearing in Moravia (Czech Republic) and Lower Austria, by the latest 598 AD (but probably much earlier, between 560 and 590 AD).</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"178 ","pages":"Article 106213"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143706283","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"On the roads and rivers of Late Iron Age Gaul: Adjusting least-cost path analysis to multiple means of transport and imprecise data","authors":"Clara Filet ,&nbsp;Fabrice Rossi","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106177","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106177","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Celtic societies at the end of the last millennium BCE experienced a shift in the scale of production and exchange, leading to a revolution in mobility.</div><div>This study aims to investigate these ancient exchanges by focusing on their primary constraint: the difficulties of transportation. We seek to estimate the remoteness between sites from a merchant's perspective, considering transport costs, that is, the challenges of moving heavy and bulky goods over long distances.</div><div>Our approach is based on Least-Cost Path (LCP) estimation, which we adapt to address the various complexities inherent in applying this method to ancient transportation systems. These complexities include the multimodal nature of transportation, involving inland transport, upstream and downstream fluvial navigation, and the lack of or imprecise nature of data regarding navigable sections and transportation costs. While LCPs are widely used in archaeological contexts, a standardised methodology for calibrating them and selecting algorithmic variants remains elusive, particularly when reference paths are absent.</div><div>This article offers firstly a methodological contribution to the development and rational application of LCPs in archaeology, adapting them to the limitations of our data and the multimodal nature of goods transportation; and secondly an archaeological contribution demonstrating the crucial role of considering the constraints of ancient mobility in exploring the evolution of past societies' territories.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"177 ","pages":"Article 106177"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143697483","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":"Paleopathology in the JAS: Peering back and looking forward","authors":"Anne L. Grauer ,&nbsp;Rebecca L. Gowland","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106205","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106205","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The field of paleopathology is closely linked with both archaeology and science and has provided readers of the Journal of Archaeological Science with many articles exploring human and animal health and disease in the past. Along with a brief review of the history of paleopathology, and through an evaluation of contributions to the Journal over the past 50 years, suggestions for future research are offered. These suggestions include incorporating theoretical paradigms emphasizing complex roles that social behavior and environmental contexts play in disease processes, syndemic relationships between diseases and conditions, and avoiding a Cartesian epistemological framework of dualisms (body/culture, nature/nurture) as a means to conceptualize the body as fully entangled within relational entities, rather than as a separate entity upon which all else inter-acts. Critical recognition of ways in which paleopathology, and indeed, archaeology and science, has ignored ethical issues of inequality and perpetuated inequity is also addressed as essential steps towards robust knowledge of life in the past.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"178 ","pages":"Article 106205"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143678195","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":"Unveiling the narrative behind the neonate burials at Lepenski Vir in present-day Serbia","authors":"Aleksandra Žegarac ,&nbsp;Jelena Jovanović ,&nbsp;Tamara Blagojević ,&nbsp;Camille de Becdelièvre ,&nbsp;Sofija Stefanović","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106214","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106214","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Lepenski Vir, in the Danube Gorges area, was a Mesolithic and Neolithic settlement, famous for artistic sandstone boulders often associated with the remains of trapezoidal houses during the Mesolithic-Neolithic Transformation phase. Additionally, neonates' burials were cut into the red-plastered floors of these buildings, but the reasons remained unknown. We produced paleogenomes of four individuals - two neonates found below the floor of the trapezoidal house and one adult and an infant, buried in a pit next to each other. Our aim was to infer genetic relatedness among them to understand the identity of the neonates and why they were buried in association with the houses, as well as what was the function of these unique houses. Genetic results showed that two neonates have both Aegean/Anatolian and Iron Gates hunter-gatherers’ ancestry and that admixed individuals were also present in the buildings. In contrast, individuals found in a pit had entirely Aegean/Anatolian ancestry. Since no biological relatedness was detected, it could be hypothesized that the houses did not function as residential places. One of the possible explanations is that they served the community - as a place for giving birth or as a place where the community's social and ritual activities took place, as supported by symbolic artifacts and artworks found above the floors. The results indicate the existence of strong social relationships in the Danube Gorges, which would facilitate socio-cultural interactions and biological admixtures, providing benefits to early farmers and local foragers, gradually leading to social and demographic changes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"178 ","pages":"Article 106214"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143678196","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":"Archaeological obsidian sourcing: Looking from the first 60 years to the next","authors":"Ellery Frahm","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106200","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106200","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Obsidian sourcing (or provenancing) is the process by which obsidian artifacts are matched to the geological sources from which the raw material originated. Given that obsidian is a substance that has been used from the emergence of our genus to the 21st century, reconstructing the movement of obsidian artifacts has great relevance to a wide variety of research questions. Matching obsidian artifacts to their origins has been called “one of the success stories of archaeological science” as well as “one of the most productive and successful research programs of archaeological science” (Williams-Thorpe, 1995). Furthermore, it has been labeled as “a microcosm of the development of archaeological science” (Henderson, 2001), reflecting wider trends within archaeology. Identifying an artifact's source is only a proximate goal: the ultimate aim is to elucidate human behavior in the past. Since its inception during the 1960s, a variety of technological and methodological advances have been incorporated into obsidian sourcing research around the world. The focus here is not an overview of global obsidian sourcing articles. Instead, this paper is organized according to a set of familiar questions: What? When? Who? Where? How? Why? What next? The goal here is to address how obsidian sourcing has been, is now, and can be used to better understand our past, eventually moving from generating data to developing archaeological models and theories.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"177 ","pages":"Article 106200"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143678186","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":"Dentin collagen sample geometry impacts pattern of intra-tooth nitrogen and carbon isotope change in taurine teeth","authors":"Christine Winter-Schuh ,&nbsp;Rebekka Eckelmann ,&nbsp;Cheryl A. Makarewicz","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106124","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106124","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Sequential stable isotope analyses of hypsodont ruminant molars provide insights into animal behavior and human-animal interactions at seasonal scales. Stable carbon (<em>δ</em>¹³C) and nitrogen (<em>δ</em>¹⁵N) isotope ratios obtained from intra-tooth sequences of dentinal collagen inform on animal weaning and feeding habits, but sequential sampling of this tissue is rarely carried out in part due to the undefined relationship between dentin geometry, sample position, and measured isotope values. Here, we present a serial sampling approach applied to dentin collagen from modern and archaeological taurine second molars that entails sub-sampling the outermost portion of the dentin structure. Compared to intra-tooth isotope sequences measured from the entire thickness of the dentin structure, nitrogen isotope sequences obtained from the outermost dentin portion better capture the weaning process, while carbon isotope values reveal subtle but discernible shifts in C₃ dietary intake that were not visible in dentin portions involving the entire dentin thickness. The ability to document dietary change at higher resolution has important implications for gaining more nuanced insights into livestock husbandry practices in the past, including foddering, weaning, and pasturing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"178 ","pages":"Article 106124"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143644568","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}