Archaeological Research in Asia最新文献

{"title":"Before the Holocene humid period: Life-sized camel engravings and early occupations on the southern edge of the Nefud desert","authors":"Maria Guagnin ,&nbsp;Ceri Shipton ,&nbsp;Finn Stileman ,&nbsp;Faisal Jibreen ,&nbsp;Malek AlSulaimi ,&nbsp;Paul S. Breeze ,&nbsp;Mathew Stewart ,&nbsp;Amy Hatton ,&nbsp;Nick Drake ,&nbsp;Deepak Kumar Jha ,&nbsp;Fahad Al-Tamimi ,&nbsp;Mohammed Al-Shamry ,&nbsp;Mishaal Al-Shammari ,&nbsp;Andrea Kay ,&nbsp;Huw S. Groucutt ,&nbsp;Abdullah M. Alsharekh ,&nbsp;Michael Petraglia","doi":"10.1016/j.ara.2023.100483","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2023.100483","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>The Neolithic of northern Arabia is characterised by monumental stone structures, ephemeral ‘hearth sites’ indicative of a highly mobile lifestyle, and a rich rock art heritage with iconic representations of domesticated livestock. However, the character and timing of occupation prior to the spread of pastoralism<span> (ca. 6000 BCE) remains elusive, with only one stratified Epipalaeolithic site and two surface early Neolithic sites so-far known in the Jubbah Oasis. Here we present Sahout, a newly documented rock art site with Neolithic and earlier occupations, on the southern edge of the Nefud desert. The rock art is dominated by life-sized, naturalistic, engravings<span> of camels, which are in some cases superimposed with Neolithic imagery of domesticated sheep. Surveys and test excavations carried out in the vicinity of the rock art revealed a lithic assemblage with similarities to the late Epipalaeolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the Levant. Radiocarbon ages from two test trenches and two hearths indicate repeated occupation at Sahout between the Terminal </span></span></span>Pleistocene<span> and the Middle Holocene, which partly mirror the rock art sequence. Investigations at Sahout indicate that rock art production in northern Arabia may have begun earlier than previously thought. Research also suggests a broader geographical extent to human occupations prior to the Holocene humid period.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":51847,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Research in Asia","volume":"36 ","pages":"Article 100483"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49739417","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Population dynamics in Taiwan from the Neolithic to early historic periods (5000–100 cal BP): Linking cultural developments and environmental change","authors":"Christian Leipe ,&nbsp;Jou-chun Lu ,&nbsp;Ko-an Chi","doi":"10.1016/j.ara.2023.100482","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2023.100482","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>To reconstruct population dynamics in Taiwan between 5000 and 100 cal BP, we analysed spatial-temporal changes in archaeological site abundance and size (area). The results suggest that population growth was discontinuous throughout the study region and that the main spatial differences in population trends were between eastern/northern and western Taiwan. Comparison of settlement data shows that population trends in Taiwan and different regions in continental China were partly parallel. We contrast these data with political, economic, settlement, and climatic developments in continental China, when considering possible factors that influenced these demographic relationships. In addition, we examined published palaeoenvironmental time series from the broader study region to explore human-environment interactions. This revealed that proxy records of human activities (agriculture, deforestation) correlate with the derived trends in site abundance and area. Furthermore, we hypothesise that the inferred sparse settlement in eastern Taiwan during 2700–1800 cal BP is related to climate change. An increase in seasonal rainfall and high-intensity precipitation events in late summer and autumn, due to long-term changes in summer monsoon precipitation and El Niño–Southern Oscillation intensity, likely resulted in unfavourable hydrological conditions for crop cultivation in this part of the study region.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51847,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Research in Asia","volume":"36 ","pages":"Article 100482"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49762823","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Beyond 55° North latitude: Expanding the northern boundary of initial upper Paleolithic dispersal","authors":"Evgeny P. Rybin ,&nbsp;Mikhail N. Mescherin ,&nbsp;Alexey M. Klementiev ,&nbsp;Arina M. Khatsenovich","doi":"10.1016/j.ara.2023.100481","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2023.100481","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span><span><span>Human populations, the bearers of laminar Initial Upper Paleolithic </span>industries (IUP) in Central Eurasia, were adapted to the </span>mosaic environments of mountains and their piedmonts. Until recently, no IUP sites in northern Asia had been found north of 55° North latitude, beyond the mountain belt of southern Siberia. Increasingly over the past 20 years, emerging evidence of human occupation of northern latitudes during the early stages of the Upper Paleolithic have raised questions concerning the boundaries of their adaptation plasticity, the character of these populations that can be seen from their rapid exploration and spread along mountain ranges and in piedmonts regions of Southern Siberia and Central Asia. Ongoing research and reassessment of older data makes it possible to significantly correct perceptions of the limitations of adaptive capabilities of earliest </span><em>Homo sapiens</em> associated with the mountain belt of South Siberia. Here we consider the distribution of lithic industries, indicating technological and typological IUP components, through the valleys of large Siberian rivers – Yenisei, Angara, and Lena – to latitudes up to 58°-63° North. We hypothesize these lithic industries dispersed within a chronological span approximately comprising Greenland interstadial GI12, about 47–45 ka BP. Lithic assemblages that these populations left behind were impacted by denudation, aeolian, and cryogenic processes during cold phases of MIS-3 and were finally buried in chronologically younger sediments. The evidence from the Kolpakov Ruchei site on the middle Angara reveals the ability of these populations to expand beyond their indigenous zones of mountains and foothills in South Siberia and Central Asia, relying on exploitation of large herd ungulates in the open spaces of subarctic latitudes.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51847,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Research in Asia","volume":"36 ","pages":"Article 100481"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49762836","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Early paintings of central-western Thailand","authors":"Victoria N. Scott,&nbsp;Podjanok Kanjanajuntorn","doi":"10.1016/j.ara.2023.100480","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ara.2023.100480","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In the field of rock art, Mainland Southeast Asia remains the least understood region in the world. Thailand has a rich corpus of rock art, particularly in the central-west of its mountainous uplands. This paper takes an empirical approach to the study of central-western Thai rock art presenting for the first time a comprehensive inventory of the region's motifs and contextualising them against the archaeological and anthropological records of central-western Thailand and neighbouring regions (southwest China and northern Vietnam) to re-examine existing interpretations of the art.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51847,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Research in Asia","volume":"36 ","pages":"Article 100480"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44542315","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Chadiping: A pig iron production site of the Ming Dynasty in Southeast Chongqing, China","authors":"Yingfu Li ,&nbsp;Wan Huang ,&nbsp;Wei Huang ,&nbsp;Tianqiang Sun ,&nbsp;Gillian Juleff ,&nbsp;Yingbin Niu ,&nbsp;Yuniu Li","doi":"10.1016/j.ara.2023.100464","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ara.2023.100464","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In this article, we introduce the excavation of an iron smelting site at Chadiping, Pengshui County, southeast Chongqing, China. Archaeological survey and excavation were carried out in 2012 and 2014, which a total of 21 furnaces were surveyed and recorded in 2012 and five were excavated in 2014. The Chadiping site is dated to the 15th–17th centuries according to the radiocarbon dating<span> analysis and the local pottery assemblage. According to the furnace and site structures and the results of preliminary analysis of collected ores and slags, the iron ore used was possibly hematite and fueled by charcoal, the function of the site was possibly only to produce pig iron ingots, and the iron ingots were likely to be sold or transported to other areas to make different objects. The discovery at the Chadiping site is the first archaeological evidence of iron smelting in Chongqing, and would provide great contribution to the study of iron smelting and production in Chongqing, and the history of local economic and social structure.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":51847,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Research in Asia","volume":"35 ","pages":"Article 100464"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47624391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A new approach in petrographic analysis of Loessic ceramics: Late Shang and Western Zhou bronze casting moulds","authors":"Wen Yin (Elaine) Cheng ,&nbsp;Robert B. J. Mason ,&nbsp;Chen Shen","doi":"10.1016/j.ara.2023.100449","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ara.2023.100449","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>Studying ceramics in Chinese archaeology in the early dynasties often faced the issue of analyzing ceramics high in quartz all within the same silt size due to the use of </span>loess<span>. The traditional method of petrographic analysis is insufficient in differentiating between these raw materials due to the nature of loess. This research presents a new method of analyzing Chinese ceramic that allows for greater sensitivity in differentiating between silt-sized quartz materials, beyond comparing the fabrics to grainsize and mineral. The petrography analysis developed in this research incorporates the petrographic method in stone paste raw materials to help produce specific signatures for particular silt-rich fabric. This research allows a more accurate comparison of the high silt materials between different artifact groups.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":51847,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Research in Asia","volume":"35 ","pages":"Article 100449"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42757050","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Early Holocene broad-spectrum subsistence at Xinglong in the southeastern Inner Mongolian Plateau, North China","authors":"Minghao Lin ,&nbsp;Yanbo Song ,&nbsp;Zitong Liu ,&nbsp;Yangliu Peng ,&nbsp;Mingjian Guo ,&nbsp;Xiaohong Wu ,&nbsp;Gang Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.ara.2023.100461","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ara.2023.100461","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Human adaptations post-Pleistocene, especially during the early Holocene<span> in ecotonal regions, are vital for understanding the mechanisms of evolutionary trajectories of domestication in human history. Unfortunately, human subsistence in the ecotonal zones in North China, which is one of the earliest domestication centers in the world, has not yet been fully understood. Here, we present zooarchaeological data from the early Holocene site of Xinglong in the southeastern Inner Mongolian Plateau to uncover human adaptive subsistence strategies at the beginning of domestication. Our results reveal that dogs have been domesticated at the site since the early Holocene. While the ratios of large ungulates (e.g., aurochs, cervids, and equids) began to increase in the Neolithic Phase 3 period, there have been few fluctuations for wild boars over that time, suggesting a limited role that wild boars might have been playing in human subsistence. Moreover, a wide range of other faunal (e.g., small game prey) and floral taxa were also exploited, indicating a long practice of a successful broad-spectrum subsistence economy prior to the origins and development of agriculture. These findings provide valuable insights into early human-animal-environment interactions and the adaptive evolution of human societies in the early Holocene.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":51847,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Research in Asia","volume":"35 ","pages":"Article 100461"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48026425","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Patterns of spread and adoption of millet agriculture along the eastern rim of the Tibetan Plateau: Archaeobotanical evidence from Houzidong, Southwest China (4200–4000 cal. BP)","authors":"Bingyan Wang ,&nbsp;Huashi Liu ,&nbsp;Yang Liu ,&nbsp;Zejuan Sun ,&nbsp;Xuexiang Chen ,&nbsp;Anke Hein","doi":"10.1016/j.ara.2023.100448","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2023.100448","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The spread of domesticated crops has commonly occurred alongside broad patterns of long- and short-distance human movements and culture contact across regions. While exchange across Eurasia along the so-called Silk Road has been much discussed, recent work has revealed increasingly more evidence for early north-south contact along the eastern rim of the Tibetan Plateau. Main points of debate concern the timing and direction of the spread of agriculture and domesticated crops. This paper contributes to these discussions by presenting new data from macrobotanical remains and phytoliths from Houzidong in southwest Sichuan, a Neolithic site on the eastern rim of the Tibetan Plateau. The results show that the main crops during the late Neolithic (4200–4000 cal. BP) were foxtail millet (<em>Setaria italica</em>) and broomcorn millet (<em>Panicum miliaceum</em>), with a small amount of rice (<em>Oryza sativa</em>), but that agriculture was overall not a major focus. Rather, the subsistence at Houzidong like at other sites in the region was highly diverse, relying on gathering, hunting, and small-scale cultivation with considerable crop diversity aimed at minimizing the impact of potential crop failure. This paper shows that subsistence practices differed markedly between sites, local populations exploiting the rich natural resources in the respective ecological niches in various ways. We argue that the wide variety of food sources available in southwest China allowed people to mitigate risk but also made them more receptive to new food sources such as plant crops, experimenting with them and adding them to their portfolio. Similar patterns can be seen in the adoption and adaptation of other outside influences with each community picking and choosing what suited them best, thus creating the rich and varied patchwork of highly localized cultural phenomena that came to characterize southwest China.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51847,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Research in Asia","volume":"35 ","pages":"Article 100448"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49762842","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Above ground and underground – An integrated approach of the burial mounds within the Suusamyr plateau, Kyrgyzstan","authors":"Adrian Cristian Ardelean ,&nbsp;Adriana Sărășan ,&nbsp;Andrei Bălărie ,&nbsp;Kunbolot Akmatov ,&nbsp;Kubatbek Tabaldiev ,&nbsp;Ruben Wehrheim","doi":"10.1016/j.ara.2023.100463","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ara.2023.100463","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>Archaeological research in the Kyrghyz Tian Shan Mountains using state-of-the-art technology such as geophysical investigations and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is still in its early stages. The current investigations have shed light on the complexity of burial grounds in the Suusamyr Plateau, where over 951 structures have withstood the test of time and now serve as a silent expression of ancient civilizations. This study utilized an integrative approach that combined UAV data and geophysical prospection to map surface and subsurface features. Of the identified structures, 68.2% are </span>burial mounds<span>, 93% of which are simple mounds and 7% of which are complex collared mounds. The typological diversity of the burial mounds suggests that they were constructed starting with the Late Bronze Age up to the Turkic period. Subsurface investigations at four sites supplemented surface information, revealing a complex pattern of outer rings of stone circles surrounding the large burial mounds. The combined approach consisting of aerial, ground level and subsurface investigations proved invaluable for gaining an integrative perspective of the Suusamyr Plateau burial grounds. Although excavation is needed for absolute chronology, this research offers insights into prehistoric cultures and underscores the importance of continued conservation efforts, given current anthropic threats.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":51847,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Research in Asia","volume":"35 ","pages":"Article 100463"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44339824","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Lakhuti-IV – A new site of the early Palaeolithic in Central Asia (Tajikistan)","authors":"Anton Anoikin ,&nbsp;Petr Sosin ,&nbsp;Andrei Rybalko ,&nbsp;Tura Khudjageldiev ,&nbsp;Abdullo Sharipov ,&nbsp;Asliddin Karayev ,&nbsp;Ekaterina Kulakova ,&nbsp;Olga Meshcheryakova ,&nbsp;Olga Tokareva ,&nbsp;Redzhep Kurbanov","doi":"10.1016/j.ara.2023.100466","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ara.2023.100466","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>Opening of series of sites of Loess Palaeolithic in Central Asia, found within a different levels of loess-palaeosol sequences of Tajikistan, was a great step in understanding history of hominin dispersal in Eurasia. The highest density of Loessic Palaeolithic sites is recorded in the Khovaling Loess Plateau. In 2021 a Russian-Tajik geoarchaeological expedition carried out an archaeological survey and discovered an area rich in stone artefacts, </span> <span>concentrated in pedocomplexes 5, which was excavated and called Lakhuti-IV. All archaeological material at the Lakhuti-IV site was associated with pedocomplex 5, consisting of two well developed palaeosols reflecting different climatic phases of the interglacial period. The stratigraphic occurrence and the typological characteristics of the assemblage indicate a single industry<span>. Several knapping technologies are recorded in the primary knapping: radial, slice and simple parallel. From the existing geochronological data for the Khovaling Loess Plateau, cultural layer of Lakhuti-IV is correlated with MIS 13 (∼0.5 Ma). A distinctive feature of Lakhuti-IV, and one which distinguishes it from the entire assemblages of the Palaeolithic sites in the Khovaling Loess Plateau, is the high concentration of artefacts. Another unique feature of the site is that here, for the first time in the Loessic Palaeolithic of Central Asia artefacts are found in several distinct cultural horizons within the same pedocomplex, i.e., within the same climatic warm period.</span></span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":51847,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Research in Asia","volume":"35 ","pages":"Article 100466"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43451834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}