Qing Wang , Jingkun Ran , Zhengquan Gu , Shungang Chen , Jianglong Guo , Yuanyang Cai , Yu Gao , Shalini Sharma , Jishuai Yang , Yongco , Yan Tong , Yucheng Wang , Xiaoyan Yang
{"title":"Bulk-bone ancient metagenomics reveals the transport of South Asian fish across the Himalayas in the 8th century CE","authors":"Qing Wang , Jingkun Ran , Zhengquan Gu , Shungang Chen , Jianglong Guo , Yuanyang Cai , Yu Gao , Shalini Sharma , Jishuai Yang , Yongco , Yan Tong , Yucheng Wang , Xiaoyan Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106157","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106157","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Fish was an important component of (pre)historical consumption products. The study of (pre)historical fish products has been impeded by the morphological identifications in zooarchaeological research, based on poorly preserved fish bones. In this study, we applied the Bulk Bone Shotgun Metagenomic (BBSM) approach to unidentifiable bone fragments excavated from the Kongsangqiao site (dated to 652–768 CE) located on the southern slope of the central Himalayas. Among other species, the low-land South Asian fish species Rohu (<em>Labeo rohita</em>) was identified, marking the first discovery of a South Asian fish species on the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau. This new evidence suggests that fish may have been carried by travelers departing from South Asia to provide necessary nutritional sustenance and energy for their long-distance journeys, or was exported from the low-land South Asian plain to the Tibetan Plateau along the ancient Tubo-Nepal Road. The results also show the great potential of ancient DNA analysis on unidentifiable bone fragments in enhancing our understanding of the history of fish utilization.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"176 ","pages":"Article 106157"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143372934","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}
Jonas Gregorio de Souza , Jonas Alcaina-Mateos , Carla Lancelotti , Pablo Vidal-Torrado , Marcia R. Calegari , Wenceslau Geraldes Teixeira , Gilvan Martins , Rodrigo Santana Macedo , Marco Madella
{"title":"Spatial analysis of Amazonian Dark Earth formation supports an anthropic origin at the Caldeirão site, Brazil","authors":"Jonas Gregorio de Souza , Jonas Alcaina-Mateos , Carla Lancelotti , Pablo Vidal-Torrado , Marcia R. Calegari , Wenceslau Geraldes Teixeira , Gilvan Martins , Rodrigo Santana Macedo , Marco Madella","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106169","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106169","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Amazonian Dark Earths (ADEs) are distinct archaeological sites in the Amazon, characterized by their enriched nutrient content in soil layers. While activities related to human occupation are acknowledged as the primary driver of the geochemical properties of ADEs, the intra-site spatial variations in their formation processes, and how they relate to human settlement, are not completely documented. In this study, we employ geostatistical analysis to investigate spatial variations in the geochemical signature and pottery concentration of ADE at the Caldeirão site, Central Amazon, a site that has sparked ongoing debates due to the revival of a natural genesis hypothesis of ADEs. Our findings reveal non-homogeneous spatial distribution of the ADE geochemical signature at the site, suggesting multiple foci of human activity at different temporal stages. Notably, we document the possible emergence of a semi-circular village pattern, prevalent in other Amazonian contexts, gradually transitioning to a more homogeneous ADE cover during the final stage of occupation. This observed pattern, consistent with archaeological and ethnographic evidence, provides compelling evidence for human activity as the primary driver of ADE formation at Caldeirão, laying to rest the hypothesis of a natural origin.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"176 ","pages":"Article 106169"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143372933","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":"Current methods and theory in quantitative zooarchaeology","authors":"Nimrod Marom","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106165","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106165","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Zooarchaeology has undergone a significant transformation in recent years, evolving from a discipline focused on human-animal relationships to a broader investigation of the complex interplay between humans, animals, and environments. This shift is driven by advancements in methodologies, including geometric morphometrics, low-magnification dental dietary analysis, and palaeo-species distribution modelling, which allow for detailed phenotyping and environmental reconstruction. By adopting a niche construction framework, zooarchaeologists can explore the multifaceted ways in which humans and animals have shaped their environments and been shaped by them. This approach offers a unique perspective on the Anthropocene, a geological epoch characterized by human-induced global change. By examining the long-term consequences of human ecosystem engineering, zooarchaeology contributes to a deeper understanding of our impact on the planet and the future of human-animal relations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"176 ","pages":"Article 106165"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143373014","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":"Frozen motion: Contextualizing wheel rut data within and beyond the Pompeiian street grid","authors":"David Picker-Kille","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106155","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106155","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The past few decades have seen a growing use of GIS in archaeological research to study ancient movement at varying scales. In the case of urban networks, most spatial analyses of street systems have been modelled on pedestrian movement. At the site of Pompeii, however, recent scholarship has highlighted the ways in which the material evidence of the construction, use, and disuse of the street network inherently underlie the importance of vehicular traffic throughout the city. Dividing Pompeii's streets into discrete units of movement, this study geospatially maps wheel-rut measurements collected by the author onto previously published data of Pompeiian street paving and vehicular traffic. The resultant patterns between the paving history, traffic flow, and wheel-rutting across the street network reveal important transformations in the nature and extent of the city's connectivity to the surrounding countryside, and highlight the potential for similar approaches at other ancient urban centers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"175 ","pages":"Article 106155"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143350552","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}
Guiyu Zhou , Xinxin Zuo , Zhenyu Zhou , Jianhui Jin , Xuechun Fan , Junjie Wei , Yaoyao Pei , Hui Xie , Yongjun Huang , Lin Ren , Yingjun Lin
{"title":"Early Island rice farmers on the South China Coast during the 7th millennium BP","authors":"Guiyu Zhou , Xinxin Zuo , Zhenyu Zhou , Jianhui Jin , Xuechun Fan , Junjie Wei , Yaoyao Pei , Hui Xie , Yongjun Huang , Lin Ren , Yingjun Lin","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106158","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106158","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The spread of agriculture and population from Mainland East Asia to the islands of Southeast Asia and Oceania was the last far-reaching prehistoric phenomenon in the Pan-Pacific region. However, archaeobotanical data examining whether and when early rice farmers occupied these islands is limited and thus contested. Thus, we performed phytolith, OSL and radiocarbon dating analyses of two Neolithic shell mound sites on Haitan Island on the South China Coast. The new dates were amalgamated with the results of earlier absolute dating studies, providing a chronology for these sites. Our results indicate that the two occupation peaks of the Keqiutou Culture centred between approximately 6800–6300 cal BP and 5800–5300 cal BP. Continuous rice phytolith records—including rice bulliforms—were observed in the Neolithic layers at the two sites. Moreover, rice bulliform phytoliths with ≥9 fish-scale decorations accounted for 41%, higher than the established standard for wild rice, suggesting that rice cultivation had already emerged at 6800 cal BP on Haitan Island and probably earlier. These findings provide the earliest evidence of rice cultivation on Haitan Island, adding evidence of the first farmers’ sea voyages and colonisation of the South China Coast islands.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"175 ","pages":"Article 106158"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143234440","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}
André Texugo , Pablo Sánchez de Oro , Ana Catarina Sousa
{"title":"From dots to dynamics: Searching the complexities of prehistoric mobility in the Lisbon Peninsula","authors":"André Texugo , Pablo Sánchez de Oro , Ana Catarina Sousa","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106127","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106127","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores prehistoric mobility networks in the Lisbon Peninsula, focusing on the Chalcolithic and Late Bronze Age periods. Utilising Least Cost Path (LCP) methodologies and Tobler's Hiking Function, movement patterns and connectivity between settlements were analysed. The research reveals a complex landscape of human interactions and environmental adaptations, highlighting social and economic transformations across these periods. In the Chalcolithic, a dense network of routes was identified, which suggest intense social and trade exchanges. In contrast, the Late Bronze Age (LBA) exhibits a changed mobility landscape, with less dense but more focused routes, reflecting possible socio-economic reorganisations. This study not only sheds light on the territorial dynamics of the Lisbon Peninsula during these critical periods but also contributes to a richer understanding of occupation strategies and the relationship between humans and their environment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"174 ","pages":"Article 106127"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142874768","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}
Nicole Hultquist , Jean-Francois Millaire , Paul Szpak
{"title":"Strontium isotopes and the geographic origins of camelids in the Virú Valley, Peru","authors":"Nicole Hultquist , Jean-Francois Millaire , Paul Szpak","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106142","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106142","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study presents the strontium isotopic composition of camelid tooth enamel from Huaca Santa Clara, Huaca Gallinazo, and Huancaco in the Virú Valley, northern Peru. These sites were occupied during the Early Intermediate Period (EIP, c. 200 BCE-600 CE) with Huaca Santa Clara and Huancaco being associated with ritual sacrifices of camelids during the late Middle Horizon (LMH, 850–950 CE for Huancaco and c. 1150 CE for Huaca Santa Clara). Most camelids had strontium isotopic compositions that fell within the predicted isotopic range for the Virú Valley. Isotopic compositions of the serially sampled teeth suggest most camelids did not move between regions with different strontium isotope baselines during enamel formation. At Huaca Gallinazo, the capital of the Virú Polity during the EIP, all the camelids appeared to be local to the lower Virú Valley. At Huaca Santa Clara, a regional administrative center, butchered individuals associated with the EIP occupation had strontium isotope ratios reflecting primarily local origins, with some evidence of individuals from the highlands. The scarified individuals at Huaca Santa Clara (late Middle Horizon) all had strontium isotope ratios consistent with a local origin in the Viru Valley. At Huancaco, some butchered (EIP) and sacrificed (LMH) camelids were local to the Virú Valley but this site may have included more individuals with higher tooth enamel <sup>87</sup>Sr/<sup>86</sup>Sr, possibly originating in the middle and upper valley regions relative to the other two sites. These data confirm that camelid husbandry was present on the north coast at least as early as the EIP and this practice was maintained through the late Middle Horizon after the waning of north coast polities such as Virú and Moche.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"174 ","pages":"Article 106142"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142825108","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}
Grace Kohut , Robert Losey , Susan Kutz , Kamal Khidas , Maxime Pelletier , Tatiana Nomokonova
{"title":"An improved age estimation method for caribou and reindeer using tooth eruption and wear","authors":"Grace Kohut , Robert Losey , Susan Kutz , Kamal Khidas , Maxime Pelletier , Tatiana Nomokonova","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106133","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106133","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Dental age estimation based on tooth eruption schedules and wear is a useful analytical tool in zooarchaeology for developing demographic profiles for animal skeletal remains, particularly those from ruminants. While tooth eruption schedules are applicable only to younger individuals, tooth wear can be used for older animals as the heights of their crowns shorten over their lifetime, creating recognizable visual changes to tooth occlusal surfaces. This study presents a novel tooth eruption and wear age estimation method for <em>Rangifer tarandus</em>, a key species of the Circumpolar North. The method was created using a sample of over 600 mandibles from known-age caribou and reindeer from several populations. These are Qamanirjuaq, Beverly, Dolphin-Union, Bluenose East, and Bluenose West caribou herds from Canada and forest reindeer from Finland. The method provides a user-friendly manual featuring tooth wear illustrations of premolars and molars created using frequency of occurrence data of easily recognizable visual wear traits. This method can be applied to modern and archaeological <em>Rangifer</em> dentition to estimate age and can be utilized with complete or fragmentary mandibles, including isolated teeth.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"174 ","pages":"Article 106133"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142825126","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}
A.G. Brown , M. Lucas , I.G. Alsos , B. Fromm , S. Hudson
{"title":"The sedaDNA revolution and archaeology: Progress, challenges, and a research agenda","authors":"A.G. Brown , M. Lucas , I.G. Alsos , B. Fromm , S. Hudson","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106132","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106132","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The uptake of sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) in archaeology appears to be rather behind that in areas such as palaeoecology, palaeolimnology and Quaternary sciences in general, and in contrast to the on-going revolution in palaeogenomics from skeletal material. From our experience of a high level of requests for sedaDNA analyses and general enquiries, we ascribe this so a knowledge-gap in the bioarchaeology and environmental archaeology sub-disciplines. This paper aims to address this by; providing a review of sedaDNA research in archaeology including taphonomic considerations by environmental context types, sampling and analytical considerations, quality control and authentication, and combined analysis with other proxies. Key areas of emerging archaeological application include a much deeper understanding of hunter-gatherer landscape interactions, the environments of early agriculture, domestication, disease and pandemics, field systems and agricultural revolutions. The high taxonomic precision of sedaDNA metabarcoding also provides new approaches to human migration since people migrate with their food cultures. It is hoped that this will encourage archaeological scientists to enter this research field, which is currently short of trained personnel. The paper also sets out the major challenges that are faced in the further application of sedaDNA, and potentially sedaRNA, in archaeology and also possible solutions and avenues for fruitful research. It is argued that sedaDNA, although immensely powerful, is still at present best used in combination with traditional areas of archaeobotany and archaeozoology. However, the emerging possibilities of both palaeo-phylogenetics and functional palaeogenetics are sign-posts to a deeper application that could constitute a revolution in archaeological science.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"174 ","pages":"Article 106132"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142874829","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}
Adi Eliyahu-Behar , Ivan Stepanov , Ernst Pernicka , Michael Brauns
{"title":"Exploring the rhenium-osmium isotopic system and metal trace-elements analysis for iron provenance","authors":"Adi Eliyahu-Behar , Ivan Stepanov , Ernst Pernicka , Michael Brauns","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106134","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jas.2024.106134","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Although programs focusing on the provenance of ancient iron are becoming more common in archaeometallurgical research, no standardised approach currently exists. Recent studies have shown the potential of osmium (<sup>187</sup>Os/<sup>188</sup>Os) isotope analysis as a robust and effective method. It was also shown that trace element composition analysis, of the metal phase, provides a complementary fingerprint to refine hypotheses about the origins of archaeological iron, and to overcome the overlapping of isotopic signatures. This study further explores the potential of the rhenium-osmium isotope system and the <sup>187</sup>Re/<sup>188</sup>Os isotope ratio as an additional parameter for distinguishing ore sources.</div><div>By analysing metallurgical products smelted experimentally, this research utilises the residual solutions from Os and Re isotope analysis (conducted via Carius tube digestion) to directly determine the concentrations of 12 trace elements within the metal phase (Cr, V, Co, Ni, Mo, Cu, As, Sb, Sn, Zn, W, Pb) using solution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The study also qualitatively compares the efficiency of this method against results obtained by laser ablation ICP-MS analyses of polished blocks. Findings demonstrate that the new method offers better comparability with Os and Re concentrations. Moreover, the study identifies two siderophile (Co, Ni) and four chalcophile elements (Mo, Cu, As, Sb) that exhibit near-complete reduction from ore to metal in the bloomery process while also highlighting the potential of the <sup>1</sup><sup>87</sup>Re/<sup>1</sup><sup>88</sup>Os isotope ratio for distinguishing ore sources. Thus, the study enhances the potential for large-scale diachronic and synchronic investigations of ancient iron artifacts, providing critical insights into metallurgical practices and their socio-economic and political contexts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"174 ","pages":"Article 106134"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142874763","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}