Integral archaeometric study in the San Juan river neighborhood of Teotihuacan (mexico)

The present paper constitutes a review of the archaeometric (or archaeological sciences) studies focusing on the area of Aegean between 30000 and 3000 BC., alongside a focus on the area of Dodecanese islands (SE Aegean) for the period from 800 to 200 BC. This systematic work is part of a project (2012-2013) that aimed to create a database including metadata related to the diachronic habitation in Aegean. The current review is classified into nine broad categories, namely Chemical Analysis, Dating Techniques, Palaeoenvironment, aDNA Analysis, Archaeomagnetism, Isotopic Analysis, Restoration and Conservation and Geophysical studies. This interdisciplinary review serves as a useful guide to a significant academic discipline, that of archaeological sciences, which is progressively advanced in methods, techniques and major applications. Delving into the material culture offers valuable information to the deciphering of the human prehistoric and historic past.

Se realizaron estudios arqueométricos que involucraron la aplicación de microscopía electrónica de barrido y técnicas termoanalíticas sobre distintas piezas óseas recuperadas del sitio de Boca de Lega (BL), Provincia de Santa Fe, Argentina. El material ósteoarqueológico recuperado de BL, exhibe una baja integridad mecánica y una distribución a nivel superficial, debido a procesos de acumulación de depósitos sedimentarios, re-depósitos y erosión del ambiente fluvial. También se observó signos de posible termoalteración. Los primeros estudios arqueométricos sobre un elemento denominado como BL21, lograron determinar la existencia de accionar antrópico de sociedades pretéritas. A partir de estos resultados, se avanzó en el análisis de otros elementos óseos de BL, denominados BL07, BL26 y BL49, mediante nuevos estudios arqueométricos en donde se aplicaron técnicas analíticas como ser: análisis térmico diferencial, termogramimetría y microscopía electrónica de barrido con microanálisis dispersivo de energías. El uso conjunto de estas técnicas permitió identificar la alta incidencia de componentes edáficos en las muestras como también el registro de un calentamiento que fue superior a 673K/400°C. En virtud de los resultados obtenidos fue posible reconfirmar el muy posible accionar humano como factor originario de la termoalteración previamente observada.

Excavations conducted by Beloit College in 1958 and 1960 identified the site of La Magdalena in the Bajío of Mexico. Investigators have since highlighted three primary phases of occupation at La Magdalena, two of which were proposed to have been culturally influenced by Teotihuacan or Tula. Modern research in the Bajío mostly diverges from those postulations of distant connections, supplanting them with local patterns that hold much more explanatory power. Archaeometric studies are pivotal in this regard but have thus far been infrequently used. This research analyzes the obsidian assemblage from La Magdalena and finds a nearly ubiquitous utilization of a local obsidian source known as Ojo Zarco. These findings merit a reevaluation of obsidian in the eastern Bajío and argue for more archaeometric studies that elucidate local procurement patterns.

At the Classical-Hellenistic settlement at Düzen Tepe (SW Turkey), magnetite particles were observed in the majority of the excavation contexts and a considerable amount of metal production waste and metal objects was found in a wide variety of archaeological contexts. In order to find out the origin of the magnetite ore and to determine whether or not the ores, production waste and objects all originated from local metal production activities, a series of archaeological and archaeometric studies were executed. A petrographic study of production waste samples and X-ray fluorescence analysis of production waste and a magnetite ore sample indicated that indeed magnetite was used in the process from which the waste samples resulted. Several inherent characteristics of the magnetite sample used in this study, are likely reflected in the production waste samples. Through a combination of geomagnetic survey and archaeological test soundings a couple of areas probably related to iron production activities could be determined. One location was identified as an area for ore preparation. Although mutual links could not be determined for all three find categories related to metal production (ore, production waste and objects), the study yielded sufficient arguments to assume that metal was produced locally, local magnetite sources were exploited for that reason and at least part of the metal finds from the excavations resulted from that local production.

The Roman Stamped Tiles of Vindonissa (1st Century A.D., Northern Switzerland): Provenance and technology of production – an archaeometric study

The archaeological knowledge of the material culture in the city of Córdoba (Andalusia, Spain) during the late medieval and early modern periods is very scarce. Urban rescue excavations and archive sources evidence that the so-called Barrio de las Ollerías (potters’ quarter) was the main ceramic production area from the early medieval period until the end of the early modern period. Nevertheless, there is a total lack of archaeological and archaeometric studies since research has traditionally focused on Seville city and other production centres closer to the Atlantic Coast. However, archaeological and archaeometric studies concerning Islamic pottery have increased in Córdoba in the last years, although there is a lack of studies on the late medieval and early modern ceramic production. This article aims to contribute to filling this gap through an exhaustive study of the ceramic production of Córdoba in this period. As a first objective, studying the ceramics recovered from the workshops will enable us to define the chemical reference groups (RG). The second step will be the approach to the technology used by the potters for the elaboration of the different products. With these objectives in mind, 120 individuals have been chemically characterised using x-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF) and mineralogically through x-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). The sample includes tin-lead glazed vessels, coarse and cooking ware vessels, and storage and transport jars dated from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries.

Major explosive activity in the Monti Sabatini Volcanic District (central Italy) over the 800–390 ka interval: geochronological–geochemical overview and tephrostratigraphic implications

Prehistoric gold metallurgy in Transylvania – an archaeometrical study

An in‐depth archaeometric study was undertaken on the Monument to Augustus (Saint‐Bertrand‐de‐Comminges, Occitanie, France), focusing on both the provenance of the marble and the analysis of the pigments in order to answer questions about the original layout of the Monument and the quarry(ies) that supplied the marble used to create it. A multi‐method protocol including petrography, cathodoluminescence, isotope and elemental analyses, as well as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) was applied to identify the marble provenance. The results indicate that the marble used to sculpt the whole ensemble came from the same quarrying site, one of the Saint‐Béat quarries, as suggested by the strong homogeneity in most of the isotopic and elemental data. Pigment analysis using hyperspectral imaging and portable X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) revealed that red ochre was widely used, sometimes combined with Pb‐based pigments to produce various shades. Overall, this archaeometric study suggests that the different elements of the Monument were created within the same time period and by the same craftsmen, although some questions remain regarding its exact location and the nature of its original structure. However, the question of whether or not all the pieces studied belongs to the same monument remains unanswered.

The Residence of Chrysaliskos is one of the most interesting Late Hellenistic fortified con structions, situated in the north-eastern part of the Taman Peninsula. It was excavated in 1970- 1973 by Nikolay Sokol’skiy. This house, which was a residence of a powerful Bosporan official during the reign of king Asandros, was destroyed in a great fire. In the layers of destruction, an important pottery assemblage was unearthed. The materials from the excavations have been preliminary published but without any special analysis of the ceramic complex. We could not distinguish exactly all the production centers of this pottery without ar chaeometric studies, but according to visual characteristics the main part of them belong to Bosporan sigillata, a local group of pottery distributed only in the Bosporan kingdom. Some Pergamene and Knidian vessels as well as their local imitations were also found here. A sepa rate group of pottery of the same shape as Bosporan sigillata was covered with black slip. Several lekythos and unguentaria are also present in the article. Lamps of jug-shape type, typical for the late Hellenistic period, are the most common group among lighting equipment. This article is the revised version of the publication in English in the volume of the Inter national Association for Research on Pottery of the Hellenistic Period (Lomtadze, Zhuravlev 2020). All the parallels for different pottery groups came from Crimea and Taman peninsula, as well as from other regions of the Black sea area and Mediterranean, mainly from the contexts of the second quarter of the 1st century BC From our point of view the Residence of Chrysaliskos could have been destroyed in the late third – early fourth quarter of the 1st century B.C., however it is still not evident what exact historic events could have caused such considerable devastation

The Jesuit Mission in Japan was characterized by the establishment of the first painting Seminario in the Far East supervised by the Italian Jesuit Painter Giovanni Cola, who arrived in Nagasaki from Rome in 1583. The activity of the painting school focused on the production of sacred images needed for the Missionaries' evangelization effort, and it soon became a hub of Renaissance technology. European pigments were made available to Japanese and Chinese painters who trained at the Jesuit facility. New archaeometric studies have enabled to present in this work, for the first time, a renewed interpretation of historical records, also revealing, along with documentary evidence, that Arie, a place located in Kyushu, where the Seminario stayed between 1595 and 1597, played a major role as it hosted the first European glass workshop in the Far East. The systematic use of pigments introduced at Arie influenced the production of scared images both in Japan and China. However, the overall technological transfer proved an asymmetrical process due to the fierce persecution of Christians from 1614, and, as a consequence, local production of imported pigments will not start until the lifting of the ban on Christianity in 1873 with the return of Europeans to Japan.

This paper considers the results of an examination of painted pottery from prehistoric sites of the Prmor’ye region (Southern Russian Far East) in the northwestern part of the Sea of Japan basin. Red-painted and black-painted ceramic wares occur here only in the remains of the Yankovskaya archaeological culture dated to the 1st mil. BCE. Red painting appears as a colored surface coating, and black painting is represented by very simple drawn patterns. Until recently painting decorations have not been intentionally studied. The objects of our investigation are a small series of red-painted and black-painted ceramic fragments originated from archaeological sites. The methods of optical microscopy, SEM-EDS, and Raman spectroscopy were applied to the study of research materials. As a result, the data on characteristics of texture and composition of red and black paints were obtained. Both were determined to be pre-firing paints. Red paint is a clayish substance mixed with natural ochre pigment containing the hematite coloring agent. Black paint is carbon-based. Black carbon and burnt bone are recognized as colorants. The presented materials are new evidence of pottery paint technologies in prehistoric Eurasia.

In a period spanning from the 7th to the 1st century BC, the exterior surfaces of civil and sacred buildings in Italy were mainly decorated with terracottas. The aim of this study is to determine the skills and technological level reached by ancient manufacturers of painted ceramics from the sanctuary of Hercules in the archaeological site of Alba Fucens (Abruzzo, Central Italy). A multi-analytical approach including X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD), µ-Raman and portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) was applied to determine the mineralogical composition of terracotta samples and to identify the pigments decorating the ceramics. The studied terracottas were decorated using valuable pigments such as Egyptian blue as well as a palette of colors common in the Roman period from the 3rd to the 1st century BC. The mineralogical composition of the ceramics allows estimating a firing temperature lower than 800 °C. Finally, a local origin of raw materials is suggested by the presence of alluvial and lake deposits outcropping in the Fucino area.

Ceramic finds from the Galeria de las Ofrendas at Chavin de Huantar and surface finds from the settlement of Chavin were characterised by combining the results of archaeological typology with archaeometric studies using neutron activation analysis, Mossbauer spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and thin-section microscopy. Sherds from the pyramid Tello are included in the study as representative of local material. The analyses show that the vessels were made from different raw materials and that different firing procedures were used in their production. Sherds of certain styles largely exhibit similar types of Mossbauer patterns and in many instances also have similar element compositions. This supports the archaeological notion that the vessels were brought to Chavin from the provinces, perhaps on the occasion of a festivity.

The fonts on the technological processes used in the art of the ancient goldsmith are largely fragmentary and a continuous activity must be developed to describe those processes. Amongst them, the archaeometric studies recently are taken advantage of the innovative non-destructive techniques. Some of those allows to study the whole body of a finding in terms of both used materials and traces of the technological processes put in place in its production process. The aim is twofold: on the one hand, we need to reveal the techniques and their relationship to the specific cultural milieu and, on the other hand, we can attempt to describe the exchange of raw materials needed for the production of such jewellery. Our study concerns the complete description of an archaeological finding consisting in a piece of Hellenistic gold jewellery embedding a precious stone. It was likely manufactured in the Greek colony of Taranto and discovered in Serre Boscose location in Cariati municipality (CS), Italy. This is a hilly area known in ancient times as Hylias, which was centred around fortified brettia city of Pruìia of Terravecchia (CS). The gold jewel was examined by means of the X-ray microtomography at the μTomo experimental station of STAR-facility (University of Calabria) to recover its internal structure and describe the details of the metal processing. This imaging technique allowed us to acquire the volumetric model of the finding and to characterize its internal structure with a resolution of 10 microns. Furthermore, the X-ray fluorescence spectrometry was used to analyse the elements of the constituent materials whilst the Raman spectroscopy was used to characterize the precious stone.KeywordsHellenistic jewelX-ray µCTXRF spectroscopyRaman spectroscopyArchaeometry