Old Knowledge
Architecture, wealth and status in Classic Maya urbanism revealed by airborne lidar mapping
Francisco Estrada-Belli et al.
Journal of Archaeological Science, September 2023
Abstract:
Archaeologists have long associated high-quality Classic Maya (250-900 CE) masonry buildings with elite and perishable material structures with commoners. Currently, little agreement exists on how their distribution on the landscape may relate to models of socio-political organization in Maya urbanism due to the limited extent of settlement data in the highly forested Maya lowlands. Here we present a method for detecting masonry buildings on detailed lidar-derived maps at an unprecedented scale. We analyze the spatial distribution of 110,000 structures from different subregions of the Maya lowlands to explore patterns in Classic-period social and economic organization. Our results demonstrate that Maya elites consistently located themselves at regular intervals among the general population in urban and rural areas alike to optimally oversee the use and exchange of resources. This spatial arrangement likely favored flow of resources through every level of the social hierarchy and through different environmental zones to improve overall system efficiency and sustainability.
An arrowhead made of meteoritic iron from the late Bronze Age settlement of Mörigen, Switzerland and its possible source
Beda Hofmann et al.
Journal of Archaeological Science, September 2023
Abstract:
A search for artefacts made of meteoritic iron has been performed in archaeological collections in the greater area of the Lake of Biel, Switzerland. A single object made of meteoritic iron has been identified, an arrowhead with a mass of 2.9 g found in the 19th Century in the late Bronze Age (900–800 BCE) lake dwelling of Mörigen, Switzerland. The meteoritic origin is definitely proven by combining methods extended and newly applied to an archaeological artefact. Elemental composition (7.10–8.28 wt% Ni, 0.58–0.86 wt% Co, ∼300 ppm Ge), primary mineralogy consisting of the associated Ni-poor and Ni-rich iron phases kamacite (6.7 wt% Ni) and taenite (33.3 wt% Ni), and the presence of cosmogenic 26Al (1.7−0.4+0.5 dpm/kg). The Ni-rich composition below the oxidized crust and the marked difference to meteorites from the nearby (4–8 km) Twannberg iron meteorite strewn field is confirmed by muon induced X-ray emission spectrometry (8.28 wt% Ni). The Ni-Ge-concentrations are consistent with IAB iron meteorites, but not with the Twannberg meteorite (4.5 wt% Ni, 49 ppm Ge). The measured activity of 26Al indicates derivation from an iron meteorite with a large (2 t minimum) pre-atmospheric mass. The flat arrowhead shows a laminated texture most likely representing a deformed Widmanstätten pattern, grinding marks on the surface and remnants of wood-tar. Among just three large European IAB iron meteorites with fitting chemical composition, the Kaalijarv meteorite (Estonia) is the most likely source because this large crater-forming fall event happened at ∼1500 years BC during the Bronze Age and produced many small fragments. The discovery and subsequent transport/trade of such small iron fragments appears much more likely than in case of buried large meteorite masses. Additional artefacts of the same origin may be present in archaeological collections.
A new ape from Türkiye and the radiation of late Miocene hominines
Ayla Sevim-Erol et al.
Communications Biology, August 2023
Abstract:
Fossil apes from the eastern Mediterranean are central to the debate on African ape and human (hominine) origins. Current research places them either as hominines, as hominins (humans and our fossil relatives) or as stem hominids, no more closely related to hominines than to pongines (orangutans and their fossil relatives). Here we show, based on our analysis of a newly identified genus, Anadoluvius, from the 8.7 Ma site of Çorakyerler in central Anatolia, that Mediterranean fossil apes are diverse, and are part of the first known radiation of early members of the hominines. The members of this radiation are currently only identified in Europe and Anatolia; generally accepted hominins are only found in Africa from the late Miocene until the Pleistocene. Hominines may have originated in Eurasia during the late Miocene, or they may have dispersed into Eurasia from an unknown African ancestor. The diversity of hominines in Eurasia suggests an in situ origin but does not exclude a dispersal hypothesis.
Destruction by fire: Reconstructing the evidence of the 586 BCE Babylonian destruction in a monumental building in Jerusalem
Nitsan Shalom et al.
Journal of Archaeological Science, September 2023
Abstract:
Evidence of fire is one of the most important features for identifying and characterizing destruction events. Analysis of microscopic remains of fire has developed exceedingly in recent years, enabling archaeologists to examine new questions relating to the intensity of destruction events and to the circumstances of the creation of destruction layers. One of the most crucial events in the history of the Southern Levant is the Babylonian destruction of Judah and its capital Jerusalem in 586 BCE, which shaped the biblical narrative and theology for generations to come. Building 100 was an extraordinarily large and rich elite building, thoroughly destroyed during the Babylonian campaign. This paper presents a study of the destruction layer excavated within the rooms of the building. FTIR spectrometry and archaeomagnetic analysis were combined in the micro-archaeological study of the remains in order to create a detailed reconstruction of the destruction event. This reconstruction sheds new light on how the Babylonian destruction was manifested in reality in the elite buildings of Jerusalem.
Animals hidden in plain sight: Stereoscopic recording of Palaeolithic rock art at La Pasiega cave, Cantabria
Raquel Asiain, Roberto Ontañon & Pedro Saura
Antiquity, forthcoming
Abstract:
Cantabrian cave art is familiar from photographs reproduced in textbooks, but these two-dimensional images do not capture the irregularities of the rock surfaces on which animals and other designs were painted or engraved. Here, the authors use stereoscopic photography to review the parietal art of La Pasiega cave. By documenting the uneven surfaces of the cave's walls alongside painted and engraved marks, they identify new animal figures and reinterpret others, previously thought to be partial representations, as complete. The results show the positioning of animal figures to make use of concave/convex surfaces and rock edges to define the outlines of animals, reinforcing the need to record and interpret cave art three-dimensionally.
Morphological and dietary adaptations to different socio-economic systems in Chalcolithic dogs
Colline Brassard et al.
Journal of Archaeological Science, September 2023
Abstract:
Dogs have cohabited with humans since the Upper Paleolithic and their lifestyle and diet during late prehistory probably already depended on the role they played in past societies. Here, we used a combination of stable isotope analyses and three-dimensional geometric morphometrics to test for differences in, and associations between, diet and mandibular morphology based on 150 dogs of three sites of the Chalcolithic Gumelniţa culture in Romania (4550–3900 cal. BCE) characterized by different socio-economic systems. At Hârşova-tell and Borduşani-Popină, where the subsistence economy is mainly based on herding, dogs have a variable diet that is rich in domestic animals (sheep, cattle, pig) and may contain fish. In contrast, at Vităneşti-Măgurice, where hunting predominates, the diet of dogs is more specialized towards large game (red deer, aurochs, wild horse), reflecting the composition of human food refuse. Moreover, dogs have more robust (but not larger) mandibles at this site with shapes suggesting a greater importance of the temporal muscle important for the capture of large prey and the breaking of large bones. The strong covariation between mandible shape and stable isotope signatures suggests functional adaptations to diet. Overall, our results support the idea that prehistoric dogs adapted to human lifestyles.
The Southern Levantine pig from domestication to Romanization: A biometrical approach
Max Price, Lee Perry-Gal & Hagar Reshef
Journal of Archaeological Science, September 2023
Abstract:
Zooarchaeological research has begun to expose the long and complex history of the pig in the southern Levant. In this paper, we present the first large-scale synthesis of biometrical data from pigs and wild boar in the southern Levant from sites dating from the Paleolithic through the Islamic period. We show broad morphological change over this multi-millennium period. We find the first evidence of morphological change associated with domestication in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic C (c. 7000-6400 cal. BC), at the site of Motza. This date is contemporaneous with the first evidence from kill-off patterns and relative abundance data indicating management of morphologically wild boar. Taken together, we argue for a process of local pig domestication. We also present tentative evidence for increased body size correlating with the genetic replacement in the Iron Age, when European-derived mitochondrial haplogroups replaced those of local origin. Finally, the data indicate variability in tooth size in the Roman period (c. 63 BCE – 330 CE), suggesting the exploitation of different populations of pigs. The data suggest sophisticated management techniques underwrote the upsurge in pig husbandry in the Levant in the Classical period.