Archaeological Exploration Research Articles

Discoveries, nations, and archaeological explorations: The scientific colonization of Tarapacá, Atacama desert

The discovery of the “ruins” of Guatacondo, in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, made the news in 1963. It was the pinnacle of a process of scientific colonization of this territory that had begun in the 19th century and connected multiple experts with the desert and its history. This paper explores the context of discovery of an archaeological site in the Atacama to show how archaeology—as a field of knowledge and a scientific practice—emerged in the interstices of projects of colonial expansion and capitalist modernization, often merging public and private interests. Weaving together histories of scientific explorations, museum operations, and extractivist enterprises, it highlights deep connections between geopolitics and ideology with the seemingly apolitical and objective nature of archaeology. Starting with the peripheral figure of Emil de Bruyne—an engineer employed by one of the biggest mining operations in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile—we explore the role of different actors within a network of well-connected people whose personal histories, intellectual backgrounds, and personal positions gave shape to the practice of archaeology in this part of the Atacama Desert.

A multidisciplinary approach for the evaluation of the archaeological heritage of Borbona (Rieti, Italy)

The area of Borbona (Rieti, Italy) has been sparsely researched from a historical and archaeological perspective. In order to obtain new data on unexplored areas, a systematic study was carried out combining archaeological explorations, photogrammetric surveys and geophysical prospections. All data was stored in a Geographic Information System, which enabled spatial analysis and the creation of thematic maps. The aim of the research was to discover the unknown territory and trace its origins. The project identified ancient habitats and significant Roman architectural fragments. The research aims to pass on the history and culture of Borbona to future generations and promote a sense of belonging. The protection of historical heritage and archaeologically endangered areas as well as the enhancement and promotion of existing cultural assets are fundamental measures to increase the attractiveness of the land in the present and preserve its identity in the future.

中國 禮制 形成過程의 考古學的 檢討

This study aims to comprehend the contextual backdrop of research concerning the formation of civilization and nation in prehistoric and ancient China. The focus is specifically on the ritual system, with a thorough examination of archaeological findings and Chinese research outcomes. The archaeological exploration delves into the process of establishing this ritual system. Ritual system, viewed as the cornerstone of national governance, is deemed a distinguishing trait of the ancient Chinese civilizations during the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Hence, it's imperative to scrutinize the earlier stages of ritual formation archaeologically. Initially rooted in ritual, it underwent a progression towards standardization and institutionalization, ultimately serving as a benchmark for social status and roles, and laying the foundation for a governance framework-a hallmark of the Three Dynasties era in China. To delve into the archaeological trajectory of ritual formation, materials from the middle and late Neolithic Age preceding the Three Dynasties were categorized into ritual architecture, tombs, human sacrifice, and ritual artifacts like pottery and jadeware. As a consequence, transformations such as the construction of rammed earth foundations and large buildings, the rise and prevalence of tombs featuring double wooden coffins, the advent of human sacrifices and funeral rites, the evolution of exceptional high-quality earthenware, and the regional shifts and developments in jadeware emerged. While these changes began to manifest during the parallel period of the Yangshao Culture in the Neolithic Age, it has been confirmed that they became standardized and regularized starting from the Longshan Culture stage.

Landscape, chronology and function of Bronze Age terrace-shaped settlements: A case study from the Youzhashan site in Yangxin County, Hubei Province, China

The Middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, constituting a region rich in metal resources, played an important role in the formation and early development of the Bronze Age civilization in China, mainly including mainly the southeastern part of Hubei Province, the northern part of Jiangxi Province and the southern part of Anhui Province. Geological surveys have revealed that this region, which stretches for 500 km along the Yangtze River, is rich in mines, and archaeological institutions have discovered a large number of Bronze Age mining and metallurgical sites in the region over the past three decades. This region is an important area for studying the rise and prosperity of the Chinese Bronze Age civilization. Therefore, exploring the production pattern of the bronze industry in the copper mining area in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, as well as the resource circulation network between this region and the northern part of China, has become a hot issue in Chinese archaeological research in recent years.From March to July 2023, Wuhan University and the Cultural Relics Bureau of Yangxin County formed a joint archaeological team to carry out an archaeological survey of mining and metallurgical sites in an independent geographic unit in the northern part of Yangxin County, Hubei Province, covering an area of 120 km2, and a total of 60 mining and metallurgical sites were discovered during the survey, and approximately two-thirds of the 60 sites exhibited the landscape with a more typical terrace-shaped site. In this study, we have carried out systematic archaeological exploration and drone mapping of the Youzhashan site, a typical terrace-shaped site in this region, and reconstructed the process of terrace-shaped site accumulation formation using materials from archaeological excavation, exploration and survey. In addition, scientific and technological tests were conducted on the metallurgical relics collected from the Youzhashan site, which revealed the occurrence e of copper smelting activities at the Youzhashan site, and we analyzed the processing system. In addition, the carbon samples excavated from the Youzhashan site were carbon dated to determine the exact date of the formation of the Youzhashan site.

Non-invasive investigation of a submerged medieval harbour, a case study from Puck Lagoon

This study presents an innovative approach to underwater archaeological prospection using non-invasive methods of seabed exploration. The research focuses on the Puck medieval harbour, a cultural heritage site, and utilises acoustic and optical underwater remote-sensing technology. The primary objectives include optimising the use of Airborne Laser Bathymetry in underwater archaeology, enhancing the filtration process for mapping underwater sites, and utilising data from both multibeam echosounder and bathymetric LiDAR for detailed archaeological research. A systematic approach to data processing is advocated to maximise the value of collected data and inform subsequent investigations. The study demonstrates the high accuracy of bathymetric datasets from optical and acoustic sources, with an R-squared correlation coefficient of 0.9853. The application of these techniques is demonstrated, underscoring the compatibility and effective combination of these methods in underwater archaeological exploration. This research provides valuable insights and directions for future archaeological prospections based on active remote-sensing measurements.

Study on the detectability of CSRMT in archaeological exploration: taking the ancient city wall remains as an example

Although electromagnetic methods have made significant advances in archaeological exploration, there remains a lack of a method that offers both high operating efficiency and high resolution. This study introduces a novel approach derived from the Controlled Source Radio Magnetotelluric (CSRMT) method. The CSRMT method combines the efficient configuration of the Controlled Source Audio-magnetotelluric (CSAMT) method with enhanced resolution capabilities. To evaluate the efficacy of the new method in archeological exploration, we designed a series of models based on existing references related to ancient city wall remains. Using the 3D contraction integral equation method, we numerically simulated the high-frequency component of the CSRMT method, and then on, the Laterally Constrained Inversion technique is used to invert the data. The effectiveness of the method was assessed qualitatively and quantitatively through analysing the electromagnetic field and apparent resistivity of models with varying widths, heights, top burial depths, and resistivity. Our analysis revealed that models with shallower burial depth and greater height of the underground city wall exhibited higher resolution. The findings demonstrate that the CSRMT method can efficiently and accurately identify buried remains, making it a highly promising tool for archaeological exploration and warranting further development.

EARLY MEDIEVAL MYKILSKE HOARD: PRELIMINARY REPORT

This paper presents the findings from the Mykilske hoard, which belongs to the assemblages of the Martynivka circle. Jewelry from the hoard dates to the se­cond half of 6th — late 7th century, and its deposition occurs in the middle — third quarter of 7th century. This assemblage was discovered outside the archaeological sites. Therefore it is possible that this hoard confirms the «household» version of the deposition of hoards proposed by one of the authors. Mykilske hoard consisted of 4 whole (two couples) and head-plat of fifth radiate-headed fibulae, 2 lunar pendants with 3 trapezoidal pendants, fragmentary bracelet, 2 rings and bronze tubular beads: 5 spiral and 7 simple smooth ones. The study of the chemical composition of the metal and its analysis make it possible to trace the techno­logy of objects manufacturing, to single out the individual operations and methods used by craftsmen. The production of items took place according to a single technological scheme — casting in two-piece clay cas­ting molds in combination with separate jewelry techniques, such as the use of stiffening ribs — longitudinal ribs in the manufacture of radiate-headed fibulae. Such a constructive detail, which is uncharacteristic for Crimean and Western European jewelers, is considered a local jewelry technique of the artisans of the Middle Dnieper region and the Dnieper forest-steppe Left Bank. Further morphological and trassological study of the objects from hoard make it possible to more fully trace the technique, operations and methods used by jewelers, to reconstruct the process of making jewelry and to highlight the characteristic features of jewelry of this region. Who and how many people could be the owners of this assemblage is also a debatable question. However, the four radiate-headed fibulae may indicate at least two sets for clothing. The Mykilske hoard was discovered in the area of the Kolochin culture. Downstream of the river Psel the Bezdryk barrow cemetery is located. A more precise definition of the ethno-cultural context is possible only after archaeological explorations in the microregion. However, this is currently impossible, because since the end of February 2022, after the full-scale invasion of russian troops, this territory has become an arena of hostilities and remains potentially dangerous. It is also located within a 20-kilometer zone from the state border of Ukraine, where scientific activities are currently prohibited. Although the hoard is quite typical for this circle of antiquities, nevertheless, it adds information about the ethno-cultural situation in the region in the period of the 5th—7th centuries and the features of the spread of such assemblages among Slavs.

Kurgans of Gazanbulag

This article presents the results of rescue archaeological excavations carried out in November 2015 — January 2016 (following the program of archaeological research in new building sites, within the framework of the South Caucasus Pipeline Expansion project) near the Gazanbulag River, in the Borsunli kurgan cemetery, and the samples of material culture of the ancient Azerbaijan population identified within the site. The surveyed area is located about one kilometer north from the village of Veyisli, on the right side of the highway leading to the district center — the city of Goranboy (Goranboy district, the Republic of Azerbaijan), at an altitude of 219 m.a.s.l. During the archaeological exploration work carried out in 2013, about 30 burial mounds were discovered on the territory of the Borsunlu “Camp” and near the Gazanbulag River. In 2015–2016, nine burial mounds were excavated at the “Camp” site. All these mounds had a covering consisting of medium and large stones. The space between the stone rows of mounds was filled with earth. Burial chambers were found in all of them except for kurgans 3 and 8. Despite the fact that mounds 7 and 9 had chambers and equipment, they did not contain human remains. In some mounds (Nos. 6, 7, 9) the burial chambers were located in the center of the mound covering, while in others (Nos. 1, 2, 4, and 5) on its slopes. In the burials, representative archaeological materials were revealed, which shed light on the study of religious beliefs, social status and life of ancient inhabitants of the analysed area of Azerbaijan. Samples of ceramic vessels found in the mounds are characteristic to the Khojaly-Gadabay archaeological culture in their shape and content. Apart from pottery, numerous bronze items of jewellery were found in the graves: bracelets, rings, earrings, diadems, flat buttons, headbands, beads. The discovered iron products are represented by knife blades and iron rod. It can be assumed that persons with a special high social status were interred in the Gazanbulag kurgan cemetery. Based on the type, structure, grave goods recovered, as well as the results of the radiocarbon analysis, the analysed burial mounds are mainly dated to the end of the Bronze Age and the begin-ning of the Early Iron Age, precisely to the 10th–9th c. BC.

A Case Study of the Integration of Ground-Based and Drone-Based Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) for an Archaeological Survey in Hulata (Israel): Advancements, Challenges, and Applications

This study delves into the fusion of ground-based and drone-based ground-penetrating radar (GPR) technologies in archaeological exploration. Set against the backdrop of the Hulata solar panel construction site in Israel, the research confronts daunting obstacles such as clayey soil, accurate detection of small objects, and the imperative of timely reporting crucial for construction management. The drone-based GPR, a testament to technological innovation, showcases remarkable adaptability to challenging terrains, dispelling doubts about electromagnetic wave decay in clayey soil. Methodologically, the study employs detailed orthophoto mapping and grid-type surveys. The correlation of the results significantly bolsters the reliability of archaeological discoveries, uncovering scattered artifacts buried approximately 1–1.5 m below the surface. Meticulous excavations validate the geophysical surveys, affirming the presence of structures constructed from boulders. The application at the Hulata site validates the adaptability of drone-based GPR in challenging terrains. It provides a swift, cost-effective, and minimally invasive alternative to traditional excavation techniques, thereby transforming the field of archaeology.

Archaeological Exploration on Unearthed Archaeological Sites of Nayagarh District: A Case Study on Kusumi River Valley

Archaeological Exploration on Unearthed Archaeological Sites of Nayagarh District: A Case Study on Kusumi River Valley

‘Reclaiming their stories’: A study of the spiritual content of historical cultural objects through an Indigenous creative inquiry

Developing methods for communicating, analysing, and interpreting the spiritual context of cultural objects is essential to gaining a deep understanding of the past. In archaeology, Indigenous methodologies in the field of creativity as an embodied exploration can enable archaeologists to understand how we perceive and interpret cultural information. This article examines how art making, within Indigenous cultures, serves as a powerful lens through which archaeological inquiries can be spiritually interpreted. This intricate relationship between art making and archaeological exploration provides a nuanced understanding of the spiritual significance inherent in historical relics. Its objective is to highlight Indigenous creative embodied methodologies, embracing a decolonised perspective that honours Indigenous worldviews. Serving as a bridge, it narrows the divide between creative craftsmanship and the field of archaeology.

Towards better differentiation of archaeological objects based on geomorphometric features of a digital elevation model, the case of the Old Oder Canal

AbstractLimited visibility in the underwater environment often restricts opportunities for archaeological prospection. Especially in reservoirs with a high content of suspended solids, methods based on acoustics prove to be extremely useful. This study represents the first high‐resolution acoustic mapping and archaeological prospections of the Old Oder Canal, which has extremely poor visibility. The study site is located near the town of Krosno Odrzańskie in Poland. The town is one of the country's most significant river crossings and settlements of mediaeval origin (including its wooden bridges). The following research objectives were identified: (1) exploration of the Old Oder Canal, including underwater acoustics and archaeological prospections; (2) analysis and interpretation of the study area based on acquired datasets; and (3) evaluation of secondary features of the river bathymetry for identification of archaeological objects. Possible locations of archaeological objects were determined based on analysis and interpretation of multibeam echosounder measurements of the riverbed. Fieldwork allowed structural elements of mediaeval bridges to be found and dendrochronological sampling performed. Feature selection analyses allowed the determination and evaluation of geomorphometric attributes, combining the characteristics of the discovered objects and diagnostics in order better to differentiate archaeological remains. Proposed secondary features may facilitate archaeological explorations in difficult environments.

Archaeological Exploration at the Site of Tell Jidr (Karkar) in Iraq: Results and Prospects

The article is devoted to archaeological exploration conducted by researchers of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences in March 2023 at the site of Tell Jidr in Iraq. According to new research, the city of Tell Jidr, named Karkar in the ancient times, was a multi-layered monument that emerged on the eastern channel of the Euphrates – Iturungal – back in the Ubaid III Period, and then existed throughout the Early Dynastic I and Akkadian Periods, the Third Dynasty of Ur, into the Old Babylonian and the Kassite era. At its peak in the Parthian and Sasanian Periods, Tell Jidr, which apparently lost its original name, occupied an area of about 430 ha, stretching 4.4 km from northwest to southeast and 1.9 km from southwest to northeast, and competed with the capital of both empires, Ctesiphon. Remote sensing and ground truthing activities made it possible to clarify the internal structure of the monument, which consisted of northern and southern parts, to identify the system of city blocks and streets, public buildings (temple, palace, citadel), fortification, and to trace the evolution of urban development. Taking into account the finds of ceramic fragments decorated with stamps and fish dishes, as well as mention of Karkar in cuneiform sources of the late Achaemenid and Seleucid times, it is possible to clarify the existing ideas about the stages of the settlement’s development and to confirm the existence of the settlement in the Achaemenid and Hellenistic Periods.

Octopus-Inspired Underwater Soft Robotic Gripper with Crawling and Swimming Capabilities.

Can a robotic gripper only operate when attached to a robotic arm? The application space of the traditional gripper is limited by the robotic arm. Giving robot grippers the ability to move will expand their range of applications. Inspired by rich behavioral repertoire observed in octopus, we implement an integrated multifunctional soft robotic gripper with 6 independently controlled Arms. It can execute 8 different gripping actions for different objects, such as irregular rigid/soft objects, elongated objects with arbitrary orientation, and plane/curved objects with larger sizes than the grippers. Moreover, the soft gripper can realize omnidirectional crawling and swimming by itself. The soft gripper can perform highly integrated tasks of releasing, crawling, swimming, grasping, and retrieving objects in a confined underwater environment. Experimental results demonstrate that the integrated capabilities of multimodal adaptive grasping and omnidirectional motions enable dexterous manipulations that traditional robotic arms cannot achieve. The soft gripper may apply to highly integrated and labor-intensive tasks in unstructured underwater environments, including ocean litter collecting, capture fishery, and archeological exploration.

Underground Empire: Charles Warren, William Simpson, and the Archeological Exploration of Palestine

AbstractBritish army officer Charles Warren's archeological excavations in Jerusalem in the late 1860s on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund and Scottish artist William Simpson's paintings of those activities articulated a new kind of imperial space: the underground empire. The imperial underground was a place that had not yet been conquered and where the British had limited visibility. In contrast to picturesque and panoramic views that created an illusion of order and omniscience, Simpson's sketches depict an imperial presence that was confined, constrained, and in danger of collapse. Yet as the British began to probe this subterranean frontier, they turned the underground world into a place not just of darkness and danger but of exploration and excitement. In the process, Warren's work and Simpson's portrayal of it helped lay the foundation for Britain's eventual conquest of Palestine during the First World War by burrowing beneath Jerusalem's dilapidated Ottoman present in search of its ancient and Judeo-Christian past. Jerusalem was not the only node in Britain's nascent underground empire—British work there occurred alongside the construction of sewers and railway tunnels in London and the mining of gold and diamonds in Australia and South Africa—but it was in Jerusalem that an imperial underground was first and most fully articulated, a space that embodied both the precariousness and the potential of Britain's embryonic efforts to establish a presence in the Middle East.

Surprise from the East. A Quiver or Bowcase Loop from the Ancillary Settlement in Gdańsk

Archaeological explorations carried out between Tartaczna and Panieńska streets in Gdańsk has provided a wealth of movable historical artefacts. One of them is a quiver/bowcase loop made of antler. The article discusses typological classification, comparative analysis, dating and ethnocultural characteristics of the artefact. Antler and iron elements of quivers and bowcases are very rare in Poland and all of them are considered to be elements of foreign culture: Rus’ or Hungarian.

Archaeological Exploration, Excavation, and Analysis for a Richer Interpretation of the Past Chola Heritage City- Poompuhar

The article deals with the process of collecting underwater data from the historical area in South India and explicitly showcasing its ancient civilization. Various methods are used to investigate the environmental and structural variables that regulate the coastal structures. Geostatistical interpolation is a technique to predict the values of a spatially continuous bathymetry or depth of a submerged shoreline from a few sample data measurements. The bathymetric investigation of the submerged region surrounding the ancient port of Poompuhar consists of numerous processes conducted in stages. The survey was carried out with the use of an integrated measuring system developed by the National Institute of Technology, Chennai, which included various levels of Multi Beam Echo Sounder (MBES), GPS, sonar, and ROV. To discover continuous surfaces required for analyzing the morphology of the bottom of submerged Poompuhar, a suitable interpolation technique must be used to get estimated values in regions that were not physically surveyed. Bathymetric and topographic data, which typically are gathered independently for various purposes, were included in the spatial data used for elevation surface modeling. Data is gathered in multiple forms with varying resolutions and accuracy; as a result, a standard surface model that will allow for quick and accurate analysis is currently lacking. The major purpose of this study was to create a high-accuracy model of a coastal area's surface using input data from numerous sources. ArcGIS is a popular software platform for analyzing and visualizing geographic data, and it contains several geostatistical interpolation techniques. The research involves the erosion of the shoreline as well as the rise in water level. The study uncovered new scientific and methodological information on Poompuhar's bathymetric properties and submerged surface.

К ИСТОРИИ ЗАСЕЛЕНИЯ ПЛАТО АБОМЕЙ: ДАННЫЕ УСТНЫХ И АРХЕОЛОГИЧЕСКИХ ИСТОЧНИКОВ

Taking into account the shortage of the written sources for the study of the history of Benin, the use of oral sources, verified through archaeological re-search, became the most effective. The archaeological exploration on the Abomey Plateau, carried out in 2020, was intended to confirm the local inhab-itants’ information previously known and collected during the expedition. The archaeological objects and artifacts found indicate the organization of the in-ternational slave trade, which was conducted by the kingdom of Danxome in the XVII–XIX centuries. The sites recorded include the remains of the an-cient villages, sanctuaries, slave pens and encampments, and archeometallurgi-cal sites. Local ceramics, iron slag, and also imported smoking pipes and beads are found out among the findings. The cultivated plants preserved there also helped to identify the places of the former settlements.

Geodiversity photographed: An exploratory and iconographic study of geoheritage in protected areas

This paper is part of the scope of cultural geodiversity and mobilizes photography in order to understand the role it has played in the knowledge of geodiversity and in the recognition of geoheritage. To carry out this research, four books written and directed by specialists in the photographic medium were used. They allowed us to constitute a corpus of 88 photographs, 48 of which present a geodiversity now included within the limits of a protected area. They were taken between 1853 and 1999. These photographs were specifically analyzed according to three criteria: (1) the geological and geomorphological features that were the subjects of the images; (2) the location of the protected areas represented by these photographs; (3) the place and role of the photographs in the history of this medium (techniques and/or specialties). Three main results emerged from this exploratory study: The first concerned the nature of the elements photographed (typology of forms) and the “proto-geopatrimonialization” of this geodiversity (redundancy of photographs via the constitution of photographic series); the second specifically identified the links between protected areas and geodiversity via geological surveys, West Americans in particular, artistic views of abiotic nature and archaeological explorations; the third result showed the importance of geodiversity in the history of photography, and vice versa.

Underwater Detection of Ancient Pottery Sherds Using Deep Learning

This paper outlines the creation of a machine learning model designed to identify ancient pottery fragments near a submerged shipwreck off Modi Island, Greece. We trained multiple iterations of the YOLOv8 model using a custom dataset comprised of underwater videos taken during diving expeditions at the wreck site. The primary goal of this research is to integrate the resulting object detection system into a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) for automated pottery shard recognition, thereby aiding archaeological excavations. The paper elaborates on the model's development methodology and presents comprehensive experimental and evaluative results. These findings underscore the model's potential to significantly enhance the efficiency and accuracy of underwater archaeological exploration and analysis.