Journal of Archaeological Science最新文献

{"title":"Human femur and tibia retain primary lamellar bone formed during growth: measurement of anthropogenic radiocarbon in bone cross-sections","authors":"Fumina Minamitani ,&nbsp;Hisakazu Takatsuka ,&nbsp;Takayuki Omori ,&nbsp;Hiromasa Ozaki ,&nbsp;Minoru Yoneda","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106290","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106290","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Bones exhibit isotope ratios with average seasonal variations resulting from constant remodeling; however, primary lamellar bone in some long bones represents tissue that forms during bone growth and persists without remodeling into adulthood. If this tissue grows sequentially, it could provide a novel source of information to reconstruct a personal history. This would also provide insight into the temporal changes in diet and migration of past human populations.</div><div>In this study, we measured anthropogenic radiocarbon (¹⁴C) in the femur of one individual and the tibia of the other who had been judicially dissected as unidentified bodies to determine the duration of primary lamellar bone formation. Samples were analyzed serially at 100–360 μm intervals over the direction of bone growth and ¹⁴C concentration decreased in the direction of bone growth. The endosteal areas of long bone cross-sections dominated by lamellar bone, containing sporadic osteons, were analyzed continuously during the growth period. The availability of time-series information on adolescent growth from the bone areas dominated by lamellar bone may be applied to life history reconstructions in anthropology. Importantly, long bones may retain information decades older than the time of death.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"180 ","pages":"Article 106290"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144263263","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":"Assessing the impact of Nile water level fluctuations on the structural stability of the Philae temples in Aswan, Egypt","authors":"Abdelrhman Fahmy ,&nbsp;Laura Basell ,&nbsp;Salvador Domínguez-Bella ,&nbsp;Eduardo Molina-Piernas","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106278","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106278","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The ancient Egyptian temples at the Philae UNESCO World Heritage Site in Aswan face conservation challenges due to fluctuating water levels, which threaten their building material resistance. Following a summary review of the hydrological changes to the natural responses of the Nile caused by the construction of the Aswan dam, our research employs a novel approach, combining remote sensing data analysis, literature review, fieldwork, and multiple high-specification materials analyses, to assess the impact of these changes on the temples in Philae. The new data permit the identification of the most at-risk areas and inform the long-term monitoring and conservation of Philae. Our approach enhances understanding of the causes and effects of building material decay and underscores the urgent need for conservation strategies to mitigate ongoing water-induced deterioration. The research highlights the impact of human-induced hydrological changes, offering a case study that informs future climate change effects. It is clear that tough decisions will be required for the long term heritage conservation of the Philae temples in the face of modern infrastructural developments and climate change, and that cultural heritage management guidelines before and after dam construction is urgently required. The issues identified, are not unique to the Philae Temples so the results and recommendations are relevant to other World Heritage sites that are currently facing similar environmental and conservation challenges.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"180 ","pages":"Article 106278"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144263182","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":"FTIR spectra combined with machine learning to reveal the amber trade during the Han dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE)","authors":"Xingping Li ,&nbsp;Liduo Long ,&nbsp;Yixuan Wang ,&nbsp;Qi Liu ,&nbsp;Bin Chen ,&nbsp;Qinghui Li","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106268","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106268","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Amber has long been recognized as a key to providing vital insights into the commercial exchanges of ancient civilizations. This study analyzed fifty amber beads from Southern China (Guangdong Province), fifteen from Northwestern China (Qinghai Province), and thirteen from Central China (Hunan Province) during the Han dynasty to trace their origins by Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) and Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Spectroscopy (DRIFTS). An automated amber origin classification method was proposed to verify the manually identified amber origin and streamline the analysis. The factors influenced by post-depositional alterations, including impurities, degrees of aging, and testing methods, show no correlation with amber origin, which may diminish classification effectiveness. Each of these factors was examined individually, leading to the identification of credible origin fingerprint peaks in the IR spectra. Valid data processing steps focused on fingerprint peaks’ regions were designed based on the IR spectra features. Density-based spatial clustering of application with noise (DBSCAN) was adopted to discover groups within the data. Classification models were then created using Support Vector Machine (SVM), Decision Tree (DT), and K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) algorithms. The machine learning (ML) models demonstrated high accuracy comparable to manual identification while also achieving greater efficiency. According to the manual and ML results, the prevalence of both Baltic and Burmese amber in Guangdong and Hunan and the mainstream of Baltic amber in Qinghai were discussed, along with the potential amber trade routes. Our results provided evidence for the vibrant exchange between China, Southeast Asia, Southern Asia, and Central Asia in the Han dynasty and indirect trade links from the Han Empire to ancient Europe.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"180 ","pages":"Article 106268"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144222890","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":"Detecting baobab trees (Adansonia digitata) in drone imagery and evaluating their anthropogenic legacy in eastern Africa","authors":"Wolfgang Alders ,&nbsp;Jonathan Soon Lim ,&nbsp;Logan Brunner","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106280","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106280","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recent research has led to a reevaluation of the scale of human impacts on tropical environments, notably through arboriculture. The extent to which this occurred in Africa is poorly understood, but the baobab tree (<em>Adansonia digitata)</em> may serve as a useful proxy for measuring the impacts of long-term human land use. These trees are long-lived, produce important economic products, and function culturally as shrines and markers on landscapes. Archaeologists in eastern Africa have long suspected an association between baobab tree groves and sites, but no full-coverage studies have measured this spatial relationship. This paper explores different methods for detecting this tree species in high-resolution drone imagery, which is increasingly available. Then, the paper evaluates associations between baobab tree distributions and archaeological and historical settlements on the island of Unguja, in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Qualitative assessments and a Nearness test show positive associations between baobab groves and Swahili settlements from the 7th-18th centuries CE. Thismay reflect the anthropogenic factors of baobab dispersal and propagation, especially from the 11th c. onward. Baobabs are negatively associated with historical 19th-century settlements, possibly reflecting deforestation in areas cleared for clove plantations. These results demonstrate the potential for landscape analysis with full-coverage, high-resolution drone imagery, and shed light on the baobab tree as an anthropogenic legacy in the African tropics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"180 ","pages":"Article 106280"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144222891","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":"Geometric morphometric analysis sheds new light on silver bullion production systems of the Southern Song period","authors":"Suhui Liu,&nbsp;Tian Liu,&nbsp;Keli Gao,&nbsp;Siran Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106282","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106282","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Song Dynasty marked a pivotal moment in Chinese fiscal history by establishing the first monetized taxation system. By the Southern Song period (1127–1279), silver became deeply integrated into this system, and gradually supplanted iron and copper coins as the standard measure of value for paper money. Archaeological findings frequently uncover tax silver in the form of silver bullions, which played a significant role in the payment and transportation of tributes and taxes from local to central governments. The study of these bullions offers valuable insights into the taxation and economic history of China's first silver-based taxation system. While prior research has extensively examined the inscriptions on silver bullions, their morphological characteristics have received comparatively little attention. This study analyses the orthoimages of 113 Southern Song silver bullions to investigate potential correlations between their shapes and the production systems of the time. By employing a quantitative analysis of silver bullion outlines using two-dimensional geometric morphometric methods (2D-GMM) based on Elliptic Fourier Analysis and multivariate statistical techniques, the research reveals that the shapes of silver bullions vary with their weights and production locales, indicating a de-centralized bullion production system involving numerous prefecture level governments. Notably, a substantial number of silver bullions produced by gold and silver shops exhibit highly consistent shapes, although each shop had its own workshop and some of them were geographically distant from each other. Frequent exchanges between vouchers of monopolized products and silver bullions at these shops likely contributed to a high uniformity of bullion shapes. By integrating quantitative methods, this research provides a novel perspective on the study of Southern Song silver bullions and offers new insights into the silver-based taxation system during this period.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"180 ","pages":"Article 106282"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144205179","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":"Ostrich eggshell bead size variation: The impacts of material and technology on bead diameter","authors":"Joseph Jeffrey Werner,&nbsp;Flannery Surette","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106279","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106279","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This research explores the impact of non-stylistic variables such as drilling technology and eggshell thickness on the size of ostrich eggshell beads. Since external bead diameter is thought to reflect culturally informed preferences, differences in external diameter across space and time have been used to identify distinct populations and to infer migration and culture change. Conversely, our analysis of archaeological and experimental data shows that material and technological biases significantly contribute to the size of beads. Specifically, we show that shell thickness contributes to variance in external bead diameter. As such, we argue that assemblage or regional scale differences might not always represent different cultural groups with their own material traditions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"180 ","pages":"Article 106279"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144205178","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":"An AI-assisted workflow for object detection and data collection from archaeological catalogues","authors":"Kevin Klein ,&nbsp;Antoine Muller ,&nbsp;Alyssa Wohde ,&nbsp;Alexander V. Gorelik ,&nbsp;Volker Heyd ,&nbsp;Ralf Lämmel ,&nbsp;Yoan Diekmann ,&nbsp;Maxime Brami","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106244","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106244","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Reconciling the ever-increasing volume of new archaeological data with the abundant corpus of legacy data is fundamental to making robust archaeological interpretations. Yet, combining new and existing results is hampered by inconsistent standards in the recording and illustration of archaeological features and artefacts. Attempts at collating data from images in existing publications first involve scouring the substantial body of existing literature, followed by extracting images that require onerous manual preprocessing steps, like re-scaling, re-orienting, and re-formatting. While the sample sizes of such manual analyses are curtailed by these problems, recent developments in AI and big data methods are poised to accelerate and automate large syntheses of existing data.</div><div>This paper introduces an AI-assisted workflow capable of creating uniform archaeological datasets from heterogeneous published resources. The associated software (<em>AutArch</em>) takes large and unsorted PDF files as input, and uses neural networks to conduct image processing, object detection, and classification. Objects commonly found in archaeological catalogues – like graves, skeletons, ceramics, ornaments, stone tools, and maps – are reliably detected. Accompanying elements of the illustrations, like North arrows and scales, are automatically used for orientation and scaling. Outlines are then extracted with contour detection, allowing whole-outline morphometrics. Detected objects, contours, and other automatically retrieved data can be manually validated and adjusted via <em>AutArch</em>'s graphical user interface.</div><div>While we test this workflow on third millennium BCE Central European graves and Final Neolithic/Early Bronze Age arrowheads from Northwest Europe, this method can be applied to the vast number of artefacts and archaeological features for which shape, size, and orientation holds technological, functional, cultural, and/or temporal significance. This AI-assisted workflow has the potential to speed-up, automate, and standardise data collection throughout the discipline, allowing more objective interpretations and freeing sample sizes from budget and time constraints.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 106244"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144195005","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":"50 years of bronze provenance studies: A perspective from China","authors":"Siran Liu ,&nbsp;Zhenfei Sun ,&nbsp;Ji Zhang ,&nbsp;Junling Lin ,&nbsp;Kunlong Chen ,&nbsp;Jianli Chen ,&nbsp;Jianfeng Cui ,&nbsp;Jianjun Mei","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106272","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106272","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This review summarizes the current state of bronze provenance studies in China, highlighting both recent trends and challenges for scholars working with Chinese artefacts and beyond. The first section addresses the issues surrounding highly radiogenic lead (HRL) from the Shang period, arguably the most widely discussed topic in Chinese bronze provenance research. In addition to providing an overview of the current discourse, this section emphasizes two critical questions: the metal(s) with which HRL is associated, and the meaning of its isochron-like trend line. Clarifying these questions could fundamentally alter our understanding of HRL and the metal circulation systems of the Shang period. The second section focuses on the emerging pattern in the rapidly growing body of publications on lead isotope analysis of Chinese bronzes, particularly the synchronic alteration of lead isotope features across vast regions over two millennia. Additionally, this section reviews specific spatial-temporal units, which have generated significant research in recent years and may reveal distinct metal circulation systems. The following sections shift attention to the provenance of copper and tin, essential components in the production of bronze artefacts but often overlooked in provenance studies. Methodological challenges are discussed, with a particular emphasis on the widely used trace element analysis technique. Furthermore, increasing archaeological evidence from metallurgical workshops related to mining, smelting, and alloying practices of these metals holds potential to shed new light on these issues in the near future. Finally, the review offers a brief discussion on model-informed provenance investigations, reflecting a global trend in the field, which is expected to have a substantial impact on the study of Chinese materials in various ways.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"180 ","pages":"Article 106272"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144166369","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":"Ochres as earth pigments in Hellenistic and Roman polychromy: State of the art and future directions on material origins and trade","authors":"Ariadne Marketou ,&nbsp;Alexandra Rodler","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106276","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106276","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Ochres are naturally occurring materials that are abundant in various geological environments and geographic regions and that have been used for a range of different purposes throughout history. Their wide use as pigments in ancient art is well-documented and, due to their abundancy, it is often presumed that ochres were extracted from locally available sources. However, ancient literary sources underline a preference for ochres from <em>specific</em> regions and provenance is viewed as a signifier for different properties, uses, and values. Despite the evident importance of ochre provenance for Hellenistic and Roman art, research on the topic remains scarce. This review paper aims to bridge archaeological and literary evidence with science-based methodological approaches that contribute to ochre provenance research. Firstly, an overview of ancient texts discussing terminology and the significance of ochre provenance and trade during the Hellenistic and Roman period is presented. Secondly, archaeological science-based approaches to ochre provenance research are reviewed, sketching out the contribution of interdisciplinary research to ancient ochre research, with a focus on evaluating possible raw material sources. Finally, this paper explores future directions that could contribute to the contextualisation of science-based approaches of ochre-provenance research within the framework of Classical Mediterranean archaeology, a period for which textual and historical evidence complement archaeological finds.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"180 ","pages":"Article 106276"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144166367","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":"Seafaring megaliths: A geoarchaeological approach to the Matarrubilla giant stone basin at Valencina (Spain)","authors":"Luis M. Cáceres Puro ,&nbsp;Teodosio Donaire Romero ,&nbsp;José Antonio Lozano Rodríguez ,&nbsp;Marta Díaz-Guardamino ,&nbsp;Francisco Martínez-Sevilla ,&nbsp;Alicia Medialdea ,&nbsp;Miren del Val ,&nbsp;Jonàs Alcaina-Mateos ,&nbsp;Joaquín Rodríguez-Vidal ,&nbsp;Fernando Muñiz Guinea ,&nbsp;Juan Manuel Vargas Jiménez ,&nbsp;Miguel Ángel Rogerio-Candelera ,&nbsp;Leonardo García Sanjuán","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106263","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106263","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A broad multidisciplinary approach is deployed to study an exceptional megalithic feature: the stone basin that presides over the chamber of the Matarrubilla tholos, part of the Valencina Copper Age mega-site (Sevilla, Spain). The study, including geoarchaeological characterisation and sourcing of the stone, traceological analysis of its surfaces based on photogrammetry and morphometrics, digital image analysis as well as OSL dating, leads to a number of substantial findings of great relevance to understand the significance of this stone basin, the only of its kind documented to this date in the Iberian Peninsula, with parallels only in Ireland and Malta. Among the most relevant conclusions, it is worth noting the fact that the gypsiferous cataclasite block the basin was made of was brought from the other side of the marine bay that five thousand years ago extended across the south-east of Valencina, this is the first evidence of waterborne transport of a megalithic stone in the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, the basin appears to have been put where it stands today sometime in the first half of the 4th millennium BC, long before any tholoi were built at Valencina, which suggest a prior history of still poorly documented monumentality at this mega-site.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"180 ","pages":"Article 106263"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144146949","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}