Geoarchaeology-An International Journal最新文献

{"title":"Evolution of water extraction technology (spring tunnels) in the Southern Levant during the last three millennia","authors":"Azriel Yechezkel,&nbsp;Amos Frumkin,&nbsp;R. Lawrence Edwards,&nbsp;Xianglei Li,&nbsp;Uzi Leibner","doi":"10.1002/gea.21978","DOIUrl":"10.1002/gea.21978","url":null,"abstract":"<p>A spring tunnel is an ancient water installation used to artificially increase the water yield of a spring through a subterranean tunnel. We have developed a database of 216 spring tunnels documented in the central region of the Southern Levant (present-day Israel), constructed between Iron Age II and the modern era. The study focuses on the evolution of this water installation over a period of 2500 years, examining these constructions from technological, typological, spatial, and cultural perspectives. Within the larger database, 132 spring tunnels have been mapped, from which we present 36 examples selected to outline the typology and chronology of this type of water installation. The findings of the study indicate a diachronic correlation between the distribution of settlement in the mountain region and the number and geographical distribution of spring tunnels. Ethnic and religious changes, and the complexity of the mountain region's population, are also reflected in the use of these water installations. The comprehensive water structure database presented in this article, from a peripheral, yet strategically located region in relation both to the Far East and to West Mediterranean Empires, is used for initial consideration of local initiatives versus the knowledge-transfer process.</p>","PeriodicalId":55117,"journal":{"name":"Geoarchaeology-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/gea.21978","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139750688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"Linking archaeology and paleoenvironment: Mid-Holocene occupational sequences in the Varamin Plain (Iran)","authors":"Robert Busch,&nbsp;Reinhard Bernbeck,&nbsp;Morteza Hessari,&nbsp;Fabian Kirsten,&nbsp;Christopher Lüthgens,&nbsp;Susan Pollock,&nbsp;Nolwen Rol,&nbsp;Brigitta Schütt","doi":"10.1002/gea.21995","DOIUrl":"10.1002/gea.21995","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Early human habitation of the arid to semiarid Central Iranian Plateau was strongly connected to the availability of water and associated natural hazards, such as flooding and drought events. In this geoarchaeological study, we focus on the occupation at the prehistoric site of Ajor Pazi within the formerly active fluvial environment of the Varamin Plain. Through radiocarbon and luminescence-dated sediment cross-sections, we apply multivariate statistics to sedimentological characteristics of bulk samples collected during a rescue excavation in 2018. Based on facies interpretations, we differentiate depositional processes and present their implications for the environs of Ajor Pazi. Our results show evidence of settlement activities between 6.4 and 5.6 ka cal B.P. (4.4–3.6 ka cal. B.C.E.). Phases of reduced geomorphodynamics can be distinguished when soil-forming processes take place. Our findings provide insights into the hitherto scarcely explored Transitional Chalcolithic II period during which the site of Ajor Pazi emerged and began to shape its environs.</p>","PeriodicalId":55117,"journal":{"name":"Geoarchaeology-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/gea.21995","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139750980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"The Bronze Age occupation of the Black Sea coast of Georgia—New insights from settlement mounds of the Colchian plain","authors":"Hannes Laermanns,&nbsp;Mikheil Elashvili,&nbsp;Giorgi Kirkitadze,&nbsp;Christopher P. Loveluck,&nbsp;Simon Matthias May,&nbsp;Daniel Kelterbaum,&nbsp;Revaz Papuashvili,&nbsp;Helmut Brückner","doi":"10.1002/gea.21994","DOIUrl":"10.1002/gea.21994","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Along the lower course of the Rioni and several minor rivers, more than 70 settlement mounds (local name: <i>Dikhagudzuba</i>) have been identified by field surveys and remote sensing techniques. They give evidence of a formerly densely populated landscape in the coastal lowlands on the Colchian plain (western Georgia) and have been dated to the Bronze Age. As yet, limited information is available on their internal architecture, the chronology of the different layers and their palaeoenvironmental context. Based on archaeological sources, remote sensing measurements of three mounds and sediment cores from one mound and its closer surroundings, our study presents a review of the relevant literature and reveals the internal structure, distribution and spatial extent of the mounds. Geochemical and sedimentological analyses of element contents (X-ray fluorescence) and granulometry helped to identify different stratigraphical layers and differentiate between natural facies and anthropogenic deposits; using the Structure-from-Motion technique the mounds' dimensions were calculated. The studied settlement mounds had relatively small dimension (varying from 30 to 100 m in diameter) and were similar in their stratigraphy. Measurement of elements that can identify types of human activity, notably metals and phosphorus, suggest changing intensities of human occupation, pastoral agriculture and metalworking through the occupation sequence. According to the ¹⁴C chronology, the formation of the settlements occurred during the first half of the second millennium B.C., which confirms the archaeological interpretation of their Bronze Age origin. The narrow age difference between the lowermost and uppermost anthropogenic layers indicates an intentional construction of the mounds, rather than a successive accumulation of construction debris due to the disintegration of loam bricks by weathering. Therefore, they are indeed <i>mounds</i> and not <i>tells</i>. It is most likely that the characteristic circular moats that surround them were the source of their construction material. Fluvial and alluvial processes in a warm and humid climate dominated the environment of the mounds.</p>","PeriodicalId":55117,"journal":{"name":"Geoarchaeology-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/gea.21994","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139668679","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"An interdisciplinary approach to the collapse of the port and degradation of freshwater resources at Panama Viejo (Panama), 1519–1671","authors":"Miriam Martos,&nbsp;Bethany Aram,&nbsp;Gonzalo Malvarez","doi":"10.1002/gea.21991","DOIUrl":"10.1002/gea.21991","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Archaeological Site of Panama Viejo (Panama) comprises a protected area of 28 km² within present-day Panama City, on America's Pacific coast. In 1519, the Spaniards founded the city of Panama Viejo to secure a natural port in an area inhabited by indigenous peoples since at least the eighth century CE. The site, along the coastline and between two rivers, became a principal gateway for goods and people travelling between Europe and Pacific settlements to the east (Realejo) and the west (Trujillo, Lima, Arica). Within one century, however, Panama Viejo's natural port and freshwater infrastructure collapsed, leading to the city's relocation after corsairs attacked it in 1671. This study combines archaeological, geographical and historical analyses to explain how and why human interactions with the local environment made the settlement increasingly untenable.</p>","PeriodicalId":55117,"journal":{"name":"Geoarchaeology-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/gea.21991","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139560531","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"Development of water management strategies in southern Mesopotamia during the fourth and third millennium B.C.E.","authors":"Simone Mantellini,&nbsp;Vincenzo Picotti,&nbsp;Abbas Al-Hussainy,&nbsp;Nicolò Marchetti,&nbsp;Federico Zaina","doi":"10.1002/gea.21992","DOIUrl":"10.1002/gea.21992","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The last two decades witnessed increasing scholarly interest in the history of water management in southern Mesopotamia. Thanks to many geoarchaeological research projects conducted throughout the central and southern Iraqi floodplains, a general understanding of the macrophases of anthropogenic manipulation of this vast hydraulic landscape has been achieved. However, current narratives mostly rely on studies at a regional scale and are based on excessively long chronological phases (often spanning a whole millennium). A finer-tuned analysis at a submillennial scale is needed to better appreciate the dynamics that led to the development of artificial canals and irrigation systems and the creation of harbours in cities and other navigation-related facilities. The Iraqi-Italian QADIS project is addressing this issue through a systematic geoarchaeological investigation in the south-eastern area of the Qadisiyah province. We aim to update the current narrative by analysing case studies involving specific periods of occupation. We performed 17 boreholes to propose a date on the functioning period of the hydraulic works in five selected archaeological sites of this region. This approach allowed us to understand changes in water management strategies in both the short and the medium term (i.e., on a scale of centuries). In this paper, we present the results for the fourth and third millennia B.C.E. This period witnessed a crucial passage from the basic exploitation of natural watercourses for irrigation and occasional navigation to the emergence of the first system of artificial canals and intraurban harbours.</p>","PeriodicalId":55117,"journal":{"name":"Geoarchaeology-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/gea.21992","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139560526","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"Exploring the past through lynchet landscapes in the Vosges Mountains and the Lorraine Plateau (France)","authors":"Benjamin Keller,&nbsp;Robin Vincent,&nbsp;Dominique Schwartz,&nbsp;Damien Ertlen","doi":"10.1002/gea.21993","DOIUrl":"10.1002/gea.21993","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Lynchets are ridges formed by erosion and sediment accumulation downstream of agricultural plots and offer valuable insights into past agricultural activity. These microtopographies cover vast areas and serve as indicators of historical changes in land use. As a result, their ubiquity across Europe makes them particularly interesting. In this study, we propose a geoarchaeological approach to analyze six lynchets, four in the Vosges Mountains and two on the Lorraine Plateau (France). The lynchets can be considered soil archives with no stratigraphic organization or chronological sequence from bottom to top, making it difficult to determine the age of the lynchets and identify changes in land use over time. To this end, we propose the analysis of historical and geo-historical archives combined with the “pedosedimentary” archives of lynchets through charcoal identification and dating combined with near-infrared spectroscopy to determine the age, vegetation, and past land use changes associated with lynchet landscapes. By combining these multiple data sources, we are better able to show the chronological development of these ancient agricultural systems and uncover valuable information on landscape history. Charcoal dating suggests a higher frequency of fires from the Middle Ages. The dating aligns with the regional dynamics of anthropogenic fires, indicating a potential use of fire for cultural purposes. We also demonstrate the difficulty of extrapolating the dating of a lynchet to the entire lynchet system. Our results highlight the difficulties of interpreting the formation and dating of lynchets and the lynchet system on the sole basis of charcoal analysis. However, we highlight the value of applying pedoanthracology to lynchets to determine the dynamics of land use change in former fields.</p>","PeriodicalId":55117,"journal":{"name":"Geoarchaeology-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/gea.21993","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139560747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"The role of geoarchaeology in the interpretation of fragmented buildings and occupation surfaces: The case of coastal settlements in northeast Scotland","authors":"Vanessa Reid,&nbsp;Karen Milek,&nbsp;Charlotte O'Brien,&nbsp;Óskar G. Sveinbjarnarson,&nbsp;Gordon Noble","doi":"10.1002/gea.21990","DOIUrl":"10.1002/gea.21990","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Around the world, poorly preserved buildings and occupation deposits often represent the primary evidence for archaeological structures and settlements. Integrated geoarchaeological methods, such as soil chemistry and micromorphology, can be used to maximise the information obtained from such deposits regarding site preservation and the use of space. However, archaeologists are often reluctant to apply these methods if they suspect that preservation is poor or stratigraphy is not visible in the field. To assess the role that geoarchaeology can play in the interpretation of fragmented and poorly preserved structures, this paper presents the results of two case studies in which multiple geoarchaeological methods (microrefuse analysis, pH, electrical conductivity, magnetic susceptibility, loss-on-ignition, portable XRF and micromorphology) were applied to poorly preserved occupation deposits and fragmented buildings in early medieval coastal settlements in northeast Scotland. Micromorphology proved to be fundamental for recognising and understanding the composition of occupation deposits that had formerly been floor surfaces. It also aided interpretations for the use of space and maintenance practices and improved an understanding of the post-depositional processes that had affected stratigraphic visibility at the macroscale. When subjected to principal component analysis, the geochemical, magnetic and microrefuse data were able to provide new details about activity areas, and successfully identified and filtered out the effects of post-medieval contamination. Most significantly, the integrated approach demonstrates that fragmented buildings and poorly preserved occupation surfaces can retain surviving characteristics of the use of space, even if the floor surfaces were not preserved well enough to be clearly defined in the field or in thin section.</p>","PeriodicalId":55117,"journal":{"name":"Geoarchaeology-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/gea.21990","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139051506","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"Sand, hearths, lithics and a bit of bioturbation: Site formation processes at Umhlatuzana rockshelter, South Africa","authors":"Irini Sifogeorgaki,&nbsp;Hans Huisman,&nbsp;Panagiotis Karkanas,&nbsp;Viola C. Schmid,&nbsp;Gerrit L. Dusseldorp","doi":"10.1002/gea.21988","DOIUrl":"10.1002/gea.21988","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Umhlatuzana rockshelter is known for its continuous record of Middle and Later Stone Age lithic assemblages. This study presents multiproxy geoarchaeological data (micromorphology, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive spectroscopy) to reconstruct the depositional and post-depositional history of the site. Although the Stone Age deposits macroscopically appear homogeneous, micromorphological analysis reveals the existence of primary, unaltered depositional microlayering throughout the sequence. Sediments related to combustion activities on-site are observed in both the Holocene and Pleistocene deposits. Post-depositional geochemical alterations result in the formation of several phosphatic minerals that significantly affect the site's preservation conditions. One of those is vashegyite, a rare magnesium phosphate mineral related to acidic and moist sedimentary environments. Bioturbation features are prominent at the microscale, but sediment mixing does not seem to affect the vertical distribution of the artifacts. The observation of horizontal microlayering in both the Pleistocene and Holocene illuminates the dominant mechanism of sedimentation throughout the site's 70,000-year occupational history. It moreover shows that the lithics can be analysed as coherent assemblages.</p>","PeriodicalId":55117,"journal":{"name":"Geoarchaeology-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/gea.21988","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138827029","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"Retraction: Applying geoarchaeological principles to marine archaeology: A reappraisal of the “first marine” and “in situ” lithic scatters in the Dampier Archipelago, NW Australia","authors":"","doi":"10.1002/gea.21956","DOIUrl":"10.1002/gea.21956","url":null,"abstract":"<p><b>Retraction:</b> Ingrid Ward, Piers Larcombe, Peter J. Ross, and Chris Fandry. (2022). Applying geoarchaeological principles to marine archaeology: A reappraisal of the “first marine” and “in situ” lithic scatters in the Dampier Archipelago, NW Australia. <i>Geoarchaeology</i>, <i>37</i>(5), 783–810. https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.21917</p><p>The above article, published online on June 20, 2022 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), has been retracted by agreement between the authors, the journal Editors-in-Chief, Kevin Walsh and Sarah Sherwood, and Wiley Periodicals LLC. The retraction has been agreed given the journal received evidence confirming that the required university approvals were not sought prior to the research being conducted.</p>","PeriodicalId":55117,"journal":{"name":"Geoarchaeology-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/gea.21956","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138631840","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"‘Paleoenvironmental study of modern charcoal making activity on forest soils in the Northern Vosges Mountains (Bitche, France): A multidisciplinary study of two remaining charcoal platforms and associated soils sequences’","authors":"Anne Gebhardt,&nbsp;Anne Poszwa,&nbsp;Laurence Mansuy-Huault,&nbsp;Vincent Robin,&nbsp;Luc Vrydaghs,&nbsp;Catherine Lorgeoux","doi":"10.1002/gea.21986","DOIUrl":"10.1002/gea.21986","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This multidisciplinary study aims to decipher the impact of ancient charcoal production on past and present-day soils in the northern Vosges Mountains. Soil observations in the field and laboratory were complemented by charcoal and phytolith studies on large thin sections, molecular analyses of organic pollutants, and phytolith analysis on bulk samples. The complex <i>technosol</i> platform records an ancient natural soil sequence buried by a human-made platform on which charcoal accumulated. The current upslope soil is an <i>entic Podzol</i>. Palaeoecological data collected in the buried soil are reliable owing to low bioactivity due to soil acidity. Podzolisation predated the platform construction. The presence of ashes induced low soil alkalisation developed in the charcoal hearth remains and appears to have generated the migration of subsequent iron/clay/organic bands throughout the platform sediment and the buried soil. Charcoal studied in thin sections revealed mainly <i>Quercus</i> and <i>Fagus</i> taxa. Phytolith studies suggest that a less dense or degraded forest preceded platform construction, probably due to former woodland coppicing or earlier disorganised wood gathering. The specific distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons sorbed on charcoal has persisted in soils throughout centuries, but we have no evidence that charcoal-making activities contributed to diffuse global pollution.</p>","PeriodicalId":55117,"journal":{"name":"Geoarchaeology-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/gea.21986","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138543923","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}