Archaeological Reports Research Articles

Belonging and Belongings: Portable Artefacts and Identity in the Civitas of the Iceni. By N. Harlow. BAR British series 664: Archaeology of Roman Britain Volume 4. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford, 2021. Pp. 269, illus. Price £63. isbn 9781407357010.

Belonging and Belongings: Portable Artefacts and Identity in the Civitas of the Iceni. By N. Harlow. BAR British series 664: Archaeology of Roman Britain Volume 4. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford, 2021. Pp. 269, illus. Price £63. isbn 9781407357010.

What Collapsed in 1177?

What Collapsed in 1177?

From the Nile to the Red Sea: On roads, quarries, and mines - S. E. Sidebotham, and J. E. Gates-Foster, eds., with J.-L. Rivard, figures ed. 2019. The Archaeological Survey of the Desert Roads between Berenike and the Nile Valley: Expeditions by the University of Michigan and the University of Delaware to the Eastern Desert of Egypt, 1987–2015. American Schools

From the Nile to the Red Sea: On roads, quarries, and mines - S. E. Sidebotham, and J. E. Gates-Foster, eds., with J.-L. Rivard, figures ed. 2019. The Archaeological Survey of the Desert Roads between Berenike and the Nile Valley: Expeditions by the University of Michigan and the University of Delaware to the Eastern Desert of Egypt, 1987–2015. American Schools of Oriental Research Archeological Reports 26. Boston: American Schools of Oriental Research. - Volume 35 Issue 1

The Chronology of Helmand Changes in Seistan

The Helmand River has three distinct beds in Seistan: the North Channel, the Trākun River, and the Sanā Rūd. Over the ages, the Helmand has undergone repeated changes and shifted from one bed to the other. This article reconstructs the Helmand channel alterations based on fieldwork observations, existing archeological investigation reports, and the writings of ancient geographers. It seeks to identify ancient cities, locate ancient weirs and main canals, and establish the chronology of changes of the river channel. It shows that the river flowed in the channel of the Sanā Rūd during the period c.3200-c.1800 BC, in the channel of the Trākun River during the periods c.1800-c.1300 BC, c.200 BC-AD c.400, AD c.1100-c.1700 and finally in the North Channel during c.1300-c.200 BC, AD c.400-c.1100, AD c.1700-present.

The prevalence of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis in England and Catalonia from the Roman to the post-medieval periods

ObjectiveEvaluate the prevalence of DISH through time from the Roman to the post-Medieval period in England and Catalonia. Material281 individuals from England and 247 from Catalonia were analyzed. MethodsAdult individuals with at least three well-preserved lower thoracic vertebral bodies were analyzed. DISH was assessed considering the early stages of development. Diachronic and geographical dietary shifts were investigated using reported light isotope data, archaeological reports and historical documentation. ResultsMales and older individuals showed consistently higher prevalence of DISH, however, only the English sample showed a significant difference between males and females in the prevalence of DISH. No significant difference was found in the prevalence of DISH though time (from Roman to post medieval periods) nor across regions (England and Catalonia). ConclusionThe development of DISH is probably influenced by a combination of factors including increasing age and sex. SignificanceThis is the first exhaustive analysis of DISH in ancient Catalan populations and the first that considers the early stages of DISH. LimitationsReduced sample size, particularly in post-medieval samples, as a result of the available excavated samples and the inclusion criteria adopted. Future ResearchInclude rural, religious and high-status samples in the analysis of DISH. Re-assess the prevalence of DISH in post-medieval populations.

Urban soil properties distinguished by parent material, land use, time since urbanization, and pre-urban geomorphology

The typically high lateral and vertical variation of urban soil properties challenges the interpretation and prediction of their spatial patterns. The aim of this study was to investigate physico-chemical properties of, and pedogenesis in urban soils with different parent materials, and to evaluate whether information on land use, time since urbanization, and pre-urban geomorphology can help to better understand and spatially predict urban soil properties in the historic city of Ghent, Belgium. Sixteen soils were collected from sites with various land uses in three quarters that were urbanized at different times. They were described and characterized by laboratory methods (soil pH, electrical conductivity, soil organic carbon content, black carbon content, equivalent calcium carbonate content, soil particle size distribution, coarse fragments content) and portable X-ray fluorescence (total Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Pb content). Site history and pre-urban geomorphology were deducted from archeological reports and historical imagery. Our results revealed that human-transported materials (HTMs) are common in soils in Ghent. Decalcification, eluvation or illuvation in HTM were only evidenced in soils for which landfill occurred >100 years ago, which had not been disturbed recently. Hence, soil properties were strongly influenced by compositional differences (e.g., nature or type of artifacts) between (native or human-transported) parent material types. In contrast to land use, time since urbanization and pre-urban geomorphology were indicative of parent material type, soil properties, and human soil modifications. More specifically, soils in the old, medieval quarter Inner City consisted mainly of urbic or spolic parent material and had a lower sand content, and a higher content of silt, coarse fragments, and heavy metals (Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb) compared to the young quarter Wondelgem, where soils mainly developed in native parent material or lithic HTM. Furthermore, soils situated in raised, former floodplains had a higher soil pH, electrical conductivity, calcium carbonate content, silt content, and coarse fragments content, and a lower sand content compared to soils of the periglacial plain. Multidisciplinary data sources (e.g., historical maps) can be integrated to better comprehend the complex urban soilscape, where past and current human interventions, pre-urban geomorphology and hydrography are all at play.

From natural environment to artificial system: Chang'an and its water system in the Western Han Dynasty

People around the world have shaped societies and urban spaces around water for millennia. They have transformed natural water structures and patterns to serve their diverse needs. The ways in which historical decisions affect contemporary water systems and influence future planning of urban systems still need to be fully recognized. This paper explores the multiple roles of water systems in Chang'an during the Western Han Dynasty. Chang’an, one of the ancient names for the city of Xi’an, was a typical capital city of China and East Asia in early ancient times. This study explores everyday practices pertaining to water as well as its role in defense, gardening, politics and culture.Drawing upon three historical theories, this study presents findings that water was embedded in the design of traditional Chinese capitals. The siting and construction of capital cities was first based on the Theory of Choosing the Center (3rd century BCE) and the Theory of Conforming to Nature (5th–3rd century BCE). However, the final maturation of this urban morphology, including the water system, was closely related to the Theory of Symbolizing and Modeling Heaven and Earth (4th–3rd century BCE), in a way that manifested the imperial power's organization and control of space and time.Through close analysis of historical documents, archaeological reports and modern investigations, the paper aims to clarify, analyze and summarize the historical context and evolution, functional and structural characteristics, as well as the economic, political, cultural and military connotations of water systems in Chang'an. It argues that the coordination of urban construction and the water environment was a key foundation for capital city development. It proposes that people shaped urban water supply in many ways, including daily life, waterway transportation, agricultural irrigation, aquaculture promotion, military defense and fire prevention.The water system in Chang'an also provided an important place for royalty and nobility to go fishing, to hunt and to engage in leisure and naval training. The landscape with this water system as the core, including Taiye Lake and Kunming Lake, had also inspired Chinese gardening history, and had a profound impact on future generations. More importantly, the capital's urban morphology design was a miniature of the world recognized by the monarch, as well as the symbolic image of the supreme rulers' political and cultural desire to control and possess Tianxia, which essentially means the whole world. In conclusion, the paper calls for a closer study of water-based design as a foundation for urban planning.

К вопросу об учете человеческих останков в коллективных захоронениях санитарного характера на этапе полевых работ

Materials and methods. Based on the analysis of the descriptions of collective burials of the victims of the Mongol invasion in archaeological reports, taking into account the experience of foreign researchers of mass burials of the 20th century, an original method of fixing human remains of various completeness is proposed. Approbation of the methodology is described on the example of a study (2008, 2020) of a col-lective burial in 1238 in the archaeological object "construction No. 60" on the territory of the Yaroslavl Kremlin. Results. To resolve the issue of the method of registration of remains of different completeness, we turned to the archaeological practice of separating individual and mass material. As well as for individual archaeo-logical finds, it is proposed to introduce a field logbook of “individual anthropological finds”, in which they will be numbered and described with an indication of their completeness (“type” of deposition), localization and in situ position. The use of continuous numbering implies the general name of the numbered object, which, in our opinion, can be a name similar to that adopted for an individual material in archeology – “indi-vidual anthropological find”. Conclusion. The application of the proposed method will make it possible to more accurately describe the position and completeness of anthropological materials in mass graves of a sanitary nature or collective burials destroyed due to anthropogenic or other factors and containing redeposited remains. A careful de-scription and maximum "personification" with this approach will contribute to the realization of a paleoan-thropological material as a source for bioarchaeological and historical reconstructions. This corresponds to the modern contextual approach in archeology, aimed at a comprehensive study of the communities of the past based on a detailed analysis of all types of sources discovered during excavations.

Current State of Archiving Archaeological Reports in Bulgaria: still more physical than digital

This article provides an overview of the current state of archaeological archiving in Bulgaria. It briefly outlines the legislation that regulates archaeological fieldwork activities. Although the national legislation regulates the non-destructive and destructive activities equally, differences occur owing to the existence of the 'Archaeological Map of Bulgaria', a national 'sites and monuments' type of archaeological information system. Currently, online storage of brief data and information is possible for different archaeological sites. Its next version will be based on GIS and geographic features that allow storage of raw field survey data. According to the regulations, paper/digital reports of all fieldwork activities are collected yearly and copies of all of them are stored at the 'Scientific Archive' section at the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Although their digitisation is still in the early stages, the good news is that the centralised archaeological workflow regulates their storage in one place, which makes them more easily accessible. The annual publication of the 'Archaeological Discoveries and Excavations' series, with summaries for all fieldwork activities in the year, is also very useful for keeping track of the archaeological work and results.

Is it the Thought that Counts? An evaluation of Digital Archaeological Data Archiving in Catalonia

Archaeological data archiving has not been a major concern in Catalonia. The heritage legal corpus does not engage with the archiving and curation of archaeological data other than the excavation reports. However, it highlights the responsibility of the administration in cataloguing and disseminating the cultural heritage. For this reason, a lot of effort has been invested during the past few years in inventorying known archaeological sites and publishing archaeological reports, with the aim of increasing the transparency of the administration towards its citizens. This article describes the present situation for archaeology in Catalonia, its legal framework and the main initiatives carried out to archive, manage, and publish archaeological data from a user's point of view. Its main aim is to evaluate the current state of archaeological data archives and public databases by analysing the existing platforms with a set of indicators. This assessment leads to the conclusion that the current repositories and databases could be more worthwhile if some limitations were overcome, but also that the advance in archaeological data archiving is restricted by existing law.

Coins of Roman Times from Berezan Island – end of 20th – beginning of 21st century finds

The coin material of Roman times, which was found during archaeological studies of an ancient settlement on the island of Berezan, is analyzed in the paper.
 The ancient settlement on the island of Berezan is primarily known as the first Greek colony in the Northern Black Sea region.
 In addition to the sites of the archaic period of the 6th – 5th centuries BCE, the objects belonging to other historical epochs are studied on the island. Roman times are represented by a large number of materials: ceramics, epigraphic finds, damaged archaeological sites (remains of dwellings, utility pits, etc.). Almost all researchers of the site have singled out single artefacts from Roman times. Unfortunately, the cultural layers of the first centuries of the New Era were destroying starting from the construction of the Turkish fortress finishing the works that preceded World War II. And nowadays, the process of destruction is still in progress due to large-scale grave robbery. In recent years, during archaeological studies, the coins of Roman times have usually been found in mixed redeposited layers.
 Coins of the 2nd – 3rd centuries CE are rare archaeological artefacts, found during research on the island, but at the same time, they are not unique finds.
 Currently, there is no generalized work cataloguing the numismatic material of the Roman times found during more than a century of archaeological study of the ancient settlement on the island of Berezan. Information about coins can be found in archeological reports and publications only as additional material. Such finds are mentioned in the works of P.Y. Karyshkovskyi, V.A. Anokhina, M.F. Boltenko, S.B. Buiskykh, V.V. Krutilov, and others.
 At the end of the 20th – beginning of the 21st century, coins of the Roman times were found at different excavation units of the archaeological research on the island headed by various scholars. V.V. Nazarov found coins at excavation units ‘R-1V’ and ‘T’, V.V. Krutilov at ‘T’ and ‘O’, and O.I. Smirnov and D.V. Bondarenko at ‘HSh’. All material is clearly dated to the 2nd – 3rd centuries CE, classified by Roman and Olbia minting of bronze and silver and belongs to the reigns of the emperors Antoninus Pius, Septimius Severus, and Archon of Olbia Dada son of Satyros. This gives us the opportunity to support the assumption of Ukrainian archaeologists that in the second half of the 2nd – beginning of the 3rd century CE on the island of Berezan there was a fortification of Roman troops detachment which garrisoned in Olbia.

The Patterns of Bone Technology in Ancient Kashi (1300 bc to 300 ad)

The political, socio-economic and cultural development of Kashi was never blocked. The history of technological development in Kashi state has been very flourished. The present study is an attempt to present historical and analytical studies regarding bone technology and its characteristics used in the region of ancient Kashi. The contribution of bone technology in the wisdom of Kashi and the development of a socio-economic perspective has also been discussed. Various bone tools obtained from Kashi’s archaeological sites and excavations reports have been studied. Archaeological and literary sources revealed that ancient Kashi was very developed in technology. The sources candidly depicted the prosperous societal life of its inhabitants in the backdrop of rich culture. Bone objects remains constitute an essential theme to study the integrated ecological aspect of human life.

Different Fates of Architectures

This paper aims to problematize the issue of reuse and reoccupation of architectures and building materials in the Near East. So far, the vast majority of research and published work dealing with this topic (not only in the field of Islamic Archaeology and Art History) have focused on the monumental complexes of urban centres. In this framework, the concept of spolia has been at the centre of a long and still heated transdisciplinary debate. Vernacular architecture and rural contexts have, for the most part, been neglected. Frequent episodes of reoccupation of earlier structures, even if thoroughly described in archaeological reports are almost automatically branded as the result of pragmatic behaviour of local communities benefitting from the availability of abundant building materials from ruined structures. However, the vast number of ways in which reuse and reoccupation might have occurred is often overlooked. Even conceding that most of the evidence is likely due to some form or other of “pragmatism,” the different ways in which these appear need to be more fully explained and interpreted. This paper, which builds on existing scholarship of reuse and reoccupation, argues for a rethinking of the methodology. Other experiences, most notably those investigating the late Antique and early Medieval western Mediterranean, provide a useful point of reference for where to start the discussion. This paper will demonstrate how extending the perspective from the single building to the broader context, including the surrounding landscape, is ultimately the only way to fully comprehend the archaeological evidence and possibly better understand and explain the different “fates” of architectures.

Newsround

Abstract‘Newsround’ offers a platform for new discoveries that do not appear within the specialist contributions of this year’s Archaeological Reports, but which nevertheless warrant emphasis, either as a result of their particular characteristics or for the contribution they make to broader archaeological narratives. This section is not intended to be exhaustive but rather an overview of archaeological research in Greece. It comprises largely preliminary reports (results of excavations that took place up to and including August 2021 where possible) which complement the digital content made available through Archaeology in Greece Online (https://chronique.efa.gr). Due to the diachronic nature of a number of the sites and for ease of reference, the material is organized geographically in the first instance and then chronologically (earliest to latest) within each section as far as possible.

The Clayton Collection: An Archaeological Appraisal of a 19th Century Collection of Roman Artefacts from Hadrian's Wall. By F.C. McIntosh. British Archaeological Reports British Series 646; Archaeology of Roman Britain 1. Archaeopress, Oxford, 2019. Pp. xiv + 192, illus. Price £38. isbn 9781407321479.

The Clayton Collection: An Archaeological Appraisal of a 19th Century Collection of Roman Artefacts from Hadrian's Wall. By F.C. McIntosh. British Archaeological Reports British Series 646; Archaeology of Roman Britain 1. Archaeopress, Oxford, 2019. Pp. xiv + 192, illus. Price £38. isbn 9781407321479. - Volume 52

MagIC as a FAIR Repository for America's Directional Archaeomagnetic Legacy Data

AbstractBeginning in 1964, an academic lineage of Robert DuBois and his students, Daniel Wolfman and Jeffrey Eighmy, developed dedicated United States‐based archaeomagnetic research programs. Collectively, they analyzed over 5,377 archaeomagnetic sites, primarily from North America, dated to less than 2,000 years old. Yet despite their decades of effort, few journal publications resulted. Most of their published results are embedded in archeological reports, often without technical data, which limits the data's accessibility. Furthermore, when published, the results are generally averaged at the site level using statistical conventions different from today's standards, limiting the data's comparability and (re)usability. In 2015, we undertook a salvage archival study to digitize the surviving data and metadata from the scientists' individual estates and emeritus collections. We digitized measurement data from more than 51,000 specimens, reinterpreted them using modern conventions, and uploaded them to the FAIR‐adhering magnetic data repository, earthref.org/MagIC. The reinterpreted site‐level results from the three laboratories are mutually consistent, permitting the individual data sets to be combined and analyzed as single regional entities. Through incorporation into the MagIC repository, these legacy data are now accessible for incorporation into archaeomagnetic and global magnetic field modeling efforts, critical to understanding Earth's magnetic field variation through time. In the Four Corners region of the United States Southwest, this digitized archive advances the development of a new regional paleosecular variation curve used in archaeomagnetic dating. This project highlights both the value and complexities of managing legacy data; the many lessons learned to set a precedent for future paleomagnetic data recovery efforts.

The Dogs of Remote Oceania: an archaeological and ethnohistorical view of domestic dog introduction and loss in the South Pacific

ABSTRACTDomestic dogs were transported by voyagers to the islands of Remote Oceania. However, the distribution of these, and other domesticates, varies by location. By the time of European contact, dogs were extirpated from many islands, but the cause of their disappearance remains unknown. Archaeological reports and ethnohistoric text analysed for 35 islands and island groups in Remote Oceania reveal regional patterns of dog introduction and loss that shed light on their disappearance. The findings of this survey indicate that people introduced dogs to most island groups in Remote Oceania and that pre‐European extirpation rates were high. The highest localized extinction rates occurred on low islands suggesting that low‐island vulnerabilities and spatial constraints on population size affect survivorship. The dogs of Remote Oceania have a complex history in which introduction to new islands was common, but long‐term persistence was difficult.

Construction Ceramics of Gabala XI-XIII Centuries

The article deals with the construction ceramics of Gabala in the XI-XIII centuries, including samples of tiles, bricks, tiles, pottery pipes and their main characteristics. Typological and analytical methods were used to study the samples found during the research, and the information and materials obtained from the archeological research reports were thoroughly analyzed by comparison.
 Construction ceramics has not been a separate field of research in the medieval city of Gabala, which has a special place in Azerbaijani historiography. Therefore, the relevance of the article is to determine the current state of construction ceramics for the period, the general level of development of the art of construction and the main characteristics.
 It is important to study the technology of making tiles used in the roofing of buildings, bricks used in masonry, tiles used to decorate the walls and pottery pipes used in the construction of water lines in the city, their shape and size.
 If we look at the shape of the tiles, most of the patterns have a protrusion in the middle. Bricks were widely used in construction because they were cheaper. The main raw material for making bricks was clay. The abundance of clay deposits in the ancient city of Gabala created ample conditions for the production of bricks here. It is noteworthy that during archeological excavations in Gabala in 2009, two bathrooms were discovered. One of the rooms was replaced by baked bricks and the other by pottery.
 In the XI-XIII centuries, tiles were widely used by craftsmen as a decorative material in construction. Tiles were mainly used in mosques, baths, palaces and other public buildings. Floral drawings were also made on the tiles of different colors. Such images gave a new shape to the appearance of the building.
 In Gabala, pottery was widely used in the construction ceramics of the time for the construction of water lines. The use of a potter's wheel by craftsmen in the manufacture of pottery and the perfect development of water pipes was a great achievement. When the pipeline was laid, the pipes were fastened to each other with lime mortar. The pottery pipes, one of which was inserted into the other, were durable and did not leak water.

Labelling the past: data set creation and multi-label classification of Dutch archaeological excavation reports

The extraction of information from Dutch archaeological grey literature has recently been investigated by the AGNES project. AGNES aims to disclose relevant information by means of a web search engine, to enable researchers to search through excavation reports. In this paper, we focus on the multi-labelling of archaeological excavation reports with time periods and site types, and provide a manually labelled reference set to this end. We propose a series of approaches, pre-processing methods, and various modifications of the training set to address the often low quality of both texts and labels. We find that despite those issues, our proposed methods lead to promising results.

Expectations on Swedish Rescue Archaeology: fertile circles, the courage not to know, and texts with meaning

This paper discusses some general problems within Swedish rescue archaeology. In order to illustrate these problems, more or less recognizable negative states are contrasted with positive expectations. Vicious circles, prohibiting critical evaluation and discussion, are contrasted with ”fertile circles", promoting an intellectual and creative archaeology. The comfortable and stagnant search for "known" and easily categorized features and objects is contrasted with the courage to actively focus on problematic features and relations. Finally, archaeological reports that are anxiously occupied with numbers and descriptive "facts", while avoiding subjective reflexions and interpretations, are contrasted with reports communicating meaning, interpretations and evaluations.