Chronological Markers Research Articles

The nineties in 1990s Britain: long-sighted temporalities at the turn of the millennium

Abstract Chronological categories of periodization such as decades, centuries and millennia are broadly treated with scepticism by historians. This essay reframes the questions we ask of such categories by exploring their contemporary significance for ‘ordinary’ historical actors. It focuses on the curious case of 1990s Britain, a decade that, in comparison to the historiographical advents of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, has been slow to emerge as a distinct trope of periodization. In considering why this might be, the essay looks beyond explanations that focus on the political legacy of Blairism, the stasis of neo-liberal hegemony or the retrospective notion that the decade marked a ‘holiday from history’ – an oasis of consensus, tranquillity and indeed boredom sandwiched between the class and cold wars of the 1980s and a post-9/11 clash of civilizations. Instead, it examines how the nineties were being constructed, contested and wielded in the 1990s themselves. Drawing on materials generated by the sociological organization the Mass Observation Project (M.O.P.), narratives of past, present and future co-produced by ‘ordinary’ observers and the authors of the M.O.P. directives, the article traces the shifting constellation of decadal temporalities that circulated during the nineties. As the decade drew to a close, the spectre of the millennium encouraged a lengthening of imagined temporal trajectories: eyes were cast beyond the immediately surrounding years to the larger terrain of the century and even the millennium. These long-sighted temporalities obscured the nineties as a category of historical significance, shaping the source base and collective memory of the decade. Ultimately, a study of the temporal regimes operating in 1990s Britain reveals the cultural power and emotional stickiness of seemingly arbitrary chronological markers.

Jean Le Fèvre, Disners, and the War of the Union d’Aix (1382–1388) during the Great Western Schism

The role of commensality, particularly banquets, in peace negotiations is well-known. Banquets were a part of various occasions and rites of passage, including births, knighting ceremonies, marriages, and elections/nominations. They were also an integral component of political rituals, such as when a prince embarked on travels. Notably, banquets symbolized reconciliation, marking the transition from war to peace and agreements between lords since sharing a meal together represented the act of reconciliation. In the following essay, which is based on a reading of Jean Le Fèvre’s journal, I argue that it was not just the banquet itself but the dining table that played a significant role in negotiations. Once established that disners referred to lunches, I explore how they served as chronological markers for afternoon meetings, indicating different stages of negotiations. These occasions were often used to announce important political decisions and acted as focus points for organizing petitions and negotiations. Groups engaged in discussions frequently gathered around the table to facilitate their conversations, taking advantage of the opportunities to exchange gifts and gather valuable information.

Potential for large losses of carbon from non-native conifer plantations on deep peat over decadal timescales

Peatland drainage is a large source of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. While conversion to agriculture is widely acknowledged to lead to “irrecoverable” carbon (C) losses, in contrast the C impacts of peatland forestry are poorly understood, especially in intensively managed plantations. Losses of C from peat oxidation are highly variable and can be compensated for by gains of C in trees, depending on the lifecycle of the timber and timescale considered. Here, we used ITRAX scanning to enable rapid detection of the Hekla 4 cryptotephra layer as a reliable chronological marker above which peat properties and C stocks could be compared between open and afforested blanket bog cores in the Flow Country of Northern Scotland. At one site, Bad a’ Cheò, we combine replicated core pair comparisons (n = 19) with timber extraction data to derive net ecosystem C balance over the lifetime of the plantation. Here the reduction in peat C carbon storage above Hekla 4 in afforested samples (67 t C ha−1) is only partially compensated by tree C sequestration (47 t C ha−1), leading to a net ecosystem C balance indicating a loss of 20 t C ha−1 over the 50 years since the plantation was established. At that site, ∼65 % of tree C rapidly returned to the atmosphere, as it was primarily used for heat and power generation. Across the wider Flow country region, a simplified paired sampling method was adopted at eight further sites, finding a either a loss or negligible change in peat C storage above Hekla 4 in afforested samples with a mean loss of 86 t C ha−1 and median loss of 50 t C ha−1. This study suggests that potentially substantial C losses have been an unintended consequence of non-native conifer afforestation over deep blanket bogs.

Climate Factor in Cultural Transformations of Eurasia in the Mid-4Th – Mid-3Rd Millennia BC, and Possibilities of Creating an Absolute Chronology

Climate changes were the most important factor that stimulated migration in antiquity. It was they which led to the appearance of monuments of the megalithic tradition in the Northwestern Black Sea region (Usatovo), in the North Caucasus (Novosvobodnaya), in the Urals, and in Central Asia (Chemurchek) in the 4th – 3rd millennia B.C. This also caused the spread of the tradition of Yamnaya culture to Central Europe, the appearance of the Corded Ware cultures and many other changes. However, the general process of climate change could not be a trigger for migrations. These were short-term drastic climatic changes, which are recorded by dendrochronology. The latter can also be used as chronological markers, making it possible to create the Eurasian chronology independent of radiocarbon analyses, which have too wide confidence intervals. This approach made it possible to determine the date of the Yamnaya migration to the Carpathian Basin and the formation of the Corded Ware cultures ca. 2850 B.C., and the date of the Fatyanovo migration from Europe to the east ca. 2564 B.C. Unfortunately, the dates of the appearance of megaliths in the east are not determined with a similar accuracy, due to the impossibility to verify this with alternative sources. Their appearance can be dated to ca. the mid-4th millennium B.C. in Eastern Europe, in the last quarter of the 4th millennium B.C. in the Urals, and in the 24th century B.C. in Central Asia.

Reconsidering chronologies and cultural change on the south coast of Peru: A compilation and analysis of radiocarbon dates from Nasca, Ica, and Paracas

The South Coast of Peru, the location where Peru's widely used period/horizon relative ceramic chronology was established and where archaeological samples were obtained for the earliest radiocarbon studies, has figured prominently in the development of chronologies in the Central Andes. We examine the current state of chronology in the region with a compilation of 770 published and unpublished radiocarbon dates from >60 sites in the Nasca and Ica drainages and on the Paracas Peninsula, spanning a period of approximately 8000 years, to evaluate the relative ceramic chronologies and explore the timing and duration of major cultural changes. Kernel Density Estimate (KDE) summaries of Bayesian phase models demonstrate the following aspects of regional cultural dynamics: the earliest settlements began in the Preceramic ca. 6000 BCE and are found on the coast; the Paracas culture was established ca. 900 BCE and cultural development was first focused in the north and then spread south; a reverse direction of cultural influence is found during the Nasca culture when innovation began in the south and spread north; an early mixture of Late Nasca/local Loro culture is found in Nasca (510–720 CE) followed by the spread of Loro elsewhere and the establishment of intrusive highland Wari colonies that peaked in the mid-9th century CE; and the Late Intermediate Period was variable throughout the region in terms of timing and duration, reflecting a turbulent period. The results of the study reveal strong temporal overlap in the ceramic styles indicating they are not purely sequential and consequently are inadequate as chronological markers on a regional level. The research highlights the potential of radiocarbon evidence to reveal sub-regional temporal heterogeneity and to help us better understand the dynamics of cultural change.

Geology, chronology, and temporal evolution of basaltic to dacitic magma system in Raung volcano, East Java, Indonesia

Raung volcano, located within the Ijen UNESCO Global Geopark in East Java, poses a significant risk of volcanic hazard for nearby residents and visitors. Our study provides a framework to understand Raung long-term behavior and potential hazards by examining its stratigraphy, petrology, and temporal magma evolution. The erupted products of Raung vary from lava flow, pyroclastic density current (ignimbrite and block and ash flow), scoria fall, and pumice fall. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal samples within pyroclastic deposits and weathered sediments beneath tephra fall layers yield the age of 840 ± 30 BP to 370 ± 30 BP. It provides an important chronological marker that confirms the past VEI-4 to VEI-5 eruption around 1200 to 1600 CE. Petrological and geochemical data reveal that Raung magma composition ranges from basalt to dacite (48–64 wt% SiO2) and can be classified into two distinct magma types. Type 1 magma has med-K series, low Rb/Nb, and no Eu anomaly. Type 2 magma has high-K series, high Rb/Nb, and negative Eu anomaly. Evidence of disequilibrium features (e.g., reverse zoning, sieve texture, resorption texture, orthopyroxene mantled by clinopyroxene) and mingling texture, along with geochemical features, indicate magma mixing and many episodes of mafic magma replenishment. While the current volcanic activity is dominated by andesitic Strombolian eruption, the characteristics of Raung eruptive products suggest that past major Plinian eruptions (VEI 4–5) had occurred in both andesitic and dacitic magmatic systems, with greater VEI associated with dacitic composition. The study of Raung temporal evolution documented various eruptive behaviors related to its wide range of magma composition, thus providing an essential database for hazard assessment and mitigation.

SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIATION OF HOMONYMOUS NOUNS OF THE MODERN GERMAN LANGUAGE

The article explores the semantic features of homonyms and the methods used to differentiate them in speech. A comprehensive sampling from the explanatory dictionaries Duden (2023), Langenscheidt (2019), and Wahrig (2018) revealed 2,128 homonymous nouns, which were grouped into 1,018 homonymous series. A component analysis of these homonymous nouns indicated that the majority refer to people or groups of people, as well as artificial objects. Other significant lexical-semantic groups, in descending order, encompass human social status, place names, fauna, mechanisms and devices, food and drink, measurements, actions, flora, art, language, human attributes, buildings, abstract concepts, natural things, and spatial objects. Statistical analysis shows that concrete concepts are more likely to be listed as the first or second homonym in the dictionary, while abstract concepts typically appear in third to fifth positions. This pattern reflects a broader principle in human activity organization, including language, where development progresses from simple to complex, from familiar to unfamiliar, and from observable to abstract. It has been determined that, in the majority of cases (86%), homonyms belong to different lexical and semantic groups, providing a natural form of differentiation within the language system. Homonyms that belong to the same lexical-semantic group are distinguished by factors such as grammatical gender, different plural forms, and social, regional, stylistic, or chronological markers. These distinctions enable a clear understanding of their meanings, reducing the ambiguity traditionally associated with homonymy. This observation suggests that the common belief that homonymy is a significant obstacle to communication may be overstated, as the above-mentioned factors allow for effective differentiation, ensuring that the risk of misinterpretation is not as frequent as one might expect.

Kind One by Laird Hunt, or a Tale of a Real Twice Lost: Writing the Individual and Collective Memory of Slavery

This article purposes to examine the specific resources of fiction to overcome the resistance of the real, here the brutal experience of slavery, to convey the extreme character of this experience and to animate the collective memory of it against the risks of denial or forgetfulness.We first examine how the novel draws upon history while ostensibly rejecting its chronological markers and its explanatory discourse, to favor the mediation of story-telling and its dynamics of symbolization. Indeed, Hunt invents a hybrid form of fictional historical testimony in which the expressive power of tales and myths arouses the reader’s imagination while composing a transitional object for the memory of slavery to be evoked and passed on.We then go on to study specific aspects of the novel’s poetics of indirection showing how Hunt resorts to allegories, metaphors and the structural mechanisms of trauma to convey the characters’ experience of “the real”, as they have witnessed the veil of language being torn asunder by traumatic violence.

Variation in Muskox (Ovibos moschatus) Guard Hair Growth Rates: Implications for Measuring Chronological Biomarkers.

Segmental analyses of hair may be useful for measuring biomarkers over several seasons to years from a single sample. To attribute hair segments to specific time periods, a known chronological marker, or a hair growth rate, is needed. We examined guard hair growth rates of captive muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) in Fairbanks, Alaska, USA. We sought to determine if a general growth rate could be applied across muskox populations, thus facilitating the use of segmental analyses for various biomarkers. We used archived samples from 16 muskoxen that had guard hairs sampled at six, 14, and 30 wk after shaving. We measured the lengths of 10 guard hairs per sample, calculated weekly and annual growth rates, and then fitted linear mixed-effects models to assess the effect of different covariates on hair growth rate. The period in which hair had been grown had a significant effect (P<0.05) on growth rate. Extrapolated annual hair growth rates were 277±40 mm/yr (weeks 0-6), 248±47 mm/yr (weeks 7-14), and 165±36 mm/yr (weeks 15-30), with an overall average rate of 210±14 mm/yr. These rates were significantly faster than those of free-ranging Greenland muskoxen-78 mm/yr as measured by stable isotope analyses-and varied intra-annually. This suggests that a universal growth rate cannot be generalized across muskox populations and time.

Comprehensive characterization of modern industrial Argentinian paints for improved chronological painting attribution

Throughout the twentieth century, the paint industry developed a multitude of new binding media, pigments and additives that improved the appearance, ease of application, and performance of modern industrial paints. Depending on when and where they were first manufactured, and when they were introduced into paint formulations, some of these new paint components could conceivably be chronological markers useful in assigning attribution to specific artists or in the study of forgeries. The aim of this study was to develop a systematic methodology for characterizing organic and inorganic materials in modern paints, and search for potential chronological markers. Colored reference paints manufactured by local companies in Argentina from the 1940s and 1950s were studied with a multi-analytical approach that included Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis. A wide range of compounds was identified due to the complementarity use of the analytical techniques. Historical references, patents, books, and scientific publications about the materials used in that time period provided invaluable information in establishing tentative timelines for modern paint components. This investigation was part of a broader interdisciplinary investigation of Concrete Art, an international art movement of the beginning of the twentieth century, which took place in Argentina and other nearby countries during the 1940s and 1950s. To prove the concept, a micro-sample from “Obra N° 171” by Raúl Lozza was analyzed. Organic and inorganic fractions were studied and the information collected was correlated with developed timelines to support the authentication process. Ultimately, the information from this study may also have a direct impact on the key areas of material characterization, aging behavior, and conservation of works of art made from these products.

«Как нам жить дальше»: комбинаты Ленинградского отделения Художественного фонда СССР накануне «оттепели» на рубеже 1940–1950-х гг. По материалам ЦГАЛИ СПб

The article is devoted to the activities of the combines of the Leningrad Branch of the USSR Art Fund in the mid-1950s. The article is based on materials from the Branch's fund deposited in the Central State Archive of Literature and Art of St. Petersburg. The research approach according to which the material is analyzed is connected with the study of everyday life as one of the relevant areas of modern historical science. Researchers advocate the “chamber propaganda program” that operated in the art production of the USSR in the mid- second half of the 20th century. The material of the Leningrad Branch's fund allows us to trace the specific problems faced by the implementation of this plan in practice. Basing on this source, we reveal how reality corrected ideological attitudes. The focus of the article is on the activities of the Painting and Sculpture and Art-design combines of the Branch. The year 1956 was chosen as a chronological marker, as the moment of transition from one political and cultural period to another, from the period of “late Stalinism” to the period of “Thaw”. The archival materials analyzed in the article allow us to draw the following conclusions. Firstly, the personal factor made significant adjustments to the work of the combines. On one hand, there was a struggle against bureaucracy and routine. On the other hand, policy on combating anti-Semitism was publicly announced. Both were supposed to demonstrate a new ideological atmosphere, “correction of the mistakes in the past”. Secondly, an important role in the real participation of combines in the process of forming the living environment of a Soviet citizen was played by the distribution of funding in specific areas of activity. The most artistic trends related to the manufacture of applied art and interior design received the least money. The main funds were spent on direct propaganda and ongoing technical work. Finally, another factor of adjustment was the accepted system of wage payment. It made more profitable work not creative, but routine, related to the repetition of what had already been done earlier. All that complex of factors, of course, left its mark on the implementation of ideological attitudes and corrected the implementation of the "chamber propaganda plan". It seems that this trend of research may be of significant interest both for studying the activities of the enterprises of the USSR art industry, and for the political history of the country and the history of its everyday life. The scientific potential of the relevant archival materials, some of which did not attract the attention of researchers, is extremely great.

Римські бронзові черпаки у варварів Північного Причорномор’я

The paper examines all known finds of Roman bronze casseroles from the Sarmatian and Late Scythian burials in the territories of Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania. The items were classified according to relevant typological schemes, the dating of the finds was substantiated and a cross-cultural comparative analysis was carried out. Bronze casseroles, which were part of the equipment of a Roman legionary, are probably the most numerous type of Roman metal vessels found in the Sarmatian and Late Scythian burials. The typology and chronology of Roman bronze casseroles is well developed, and they are a reliable chronological marker. Roman bronze casseroles from the Sarmatian and Late Scythian burials of modern Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania have been studied in several works, but a comparative analysis of these vessels among the Sarmatians and Late Scythians of the Northern Pontic region has not yet been conducted and is one of the tasks of this work. Ten bronze casseroles have been discovered in the Sarmatian graves in modern Ukraine, Moldova and Romania and seven ones in the Late Scythian burials in the Crimea. The Sarmatian assemblages with Roman casseroles of Eggers types 137—144 in the Northern Pontic region are dated from the second half of the 1st to the mid-2nd centuries AD. It should be noted that the majority of similar vessels from Asian Sarmatia were also found in the graves dated mainly to the second half of the 1st — the first third of the 2nd centuries AD. There is a version that such casseroles got to the Sarmatians after the Bosporus-Roman war of 45—49 AD. A somewhat different picture is observed among the Late Scythians. All assemblages with Roman casseroles are dated since the mid-1st century AD (Ust-Alma, grave no. 720, Eggers type 133) until the last quarter of the same century (the rest of the assemblages of Ust-Alma and Belbek IV burial grounds). Sarmatian graves with casseroles have been accompanied by various and often expensive grave goods. The burials of the Late Scythian necropoli with bronze vessels also belonged to the wealthy members of the community. The assortment of Sarmatian and Late Scythian imported casseroles is somewhat different — the Sarmatians had no early casseroles of Eggers types 133—136, and the Late Scythians had no Gödåker type casseroles (Eggers type 144). There are no casseroles in the Late Scythian burials of the Lower Dnipro region, all finds are concentrated in the Crimea.

DATING THE END OF THE EGYPTIAN OLD KINGDOM: NEW CONTEXTUALIZED DATES FROM THE REIGN OF KING PEPY II

ABSTRACTIn this study, the temporal accession date of king Pepy II is modeled by using a series of 14C dates based on samples from the burial of Djau at Deir el-Gebrawi in Middle Egypt. Djau was one of Pepy II’s officials—overseer of Upper Egypt and nomarch of the 8th and 12th provinces. Five samples of Djau’s wrapping as well as his wooden coffin were analyzed. ATR-FTIR (Attenuated Total Reflection–Fourier Transform InfraRed spectroscopy) analyses were carried out on textile samples to ensure they were not contaminated by organic chemicals due to the embalming process, prior to being dated using the conventional radiocarbon method at the IFAO Laboratory (Cairo). Based on archaeological evidence, the temporal density associated with Djau’s death is then used as a chronological marker for the death date of king Pepy II. Taking into account the possibility of either biennial, annual or irregular censuses to assess the duration of his reign, the accession date of Pepy II is thus modeled using OxCal software. The results place king Pepy II’s accession date between 2492 to 2256 BCE with 95.4% probability, and between 2422 to 2297 BCE with 68.3%.

SECRETS OF THE DRAVA: BRONZE AGE METALWORK IN CONTINENTAL CROATIA

SummaryThe article presents a group of Bronze Age artefacts recovered from the Drava river wetlands in continental Croatia, examining their typological and chronological markers, and assessing the technological characteristics of the material through spectrometric and use‐wear analyses. We discuss the context of the finds, types of items retrieved and deposition locations, and how these fit into the patterns of European Bronze Age metal deposition practices. Compositional and metalwork use analyses indicate that most of the items were in use prior to their deposition and display solid metallurgical skill. Chronologically, typologically, compositionally, and conceptually, the items align with the depositional trends seen in the wider region and beyond.

CALIBRATION OF MULTIPLE TREE-RING BLOCKS AND ITS IMPLICATION ON THE DEBATE OF MINOAN ERUPTION OF SANTORINI AROUND 17TH–16TH CENTURY BCE

ABSTRACTThe Minoan eruption of Santorini, Greece, is an important and often-debated chronological marker in contexts of the Eastern Mediterranean region. Among various age estimates of this event, one based on wiggle-matching of radiocarbon (14C) dates from an olive branch found in Santorini by Friedrich et al. (2006) has been widely discussed. Calibrated age estimates based on wiggle-matching of these 14C ages have been changing with improvements in the 14C calibration curve. As also shown earlier, calibration of average 14C age of multiple tree rings dated together should not be done using a single-year calibration curve. Since recent calibration curves include many single-year 14C datasets, a different approach should be considered to calibrate the average 14C age of block of multiple tree rings. Here we have demonstrated the use of multiple moving average (MA) calibration curves for calibrating the sequence of four 14C ages reported for the Santorini olive branch. The resultant calibrated ages for the Minoan Eruption are relatively younger than previous estimates and range from the late-17th century BCE to mid-16th century BCE date.

Dating recent tidal marsh sediments using windborne giant particles of green petcoke – An example from the southwest coast of Portugal

Coastal systems are especially vulnerable to human activities resulting from a range of direct physical modifications of the ecosystems to the biological, chemical, and physical impacts of pollutants. For the most recent decades, these modifications can be accurately tracked by industrial development indicators, providing an exceptional record of historical changes. In return, when such changes are identified in the sedimentological record, they can serve as precise chronological markers. Here, we examined the potential of petcoke particles, a by-product of crude oil refining, as an emergent sediment dating tool. To this end, giant (63–∼200 μm) black spheroidal petcoke particles – present in cores retrieved in the salt marshes of the Sado estuary (SW Portugal) – were used. These anthropogenic particles were counted and identified according to their morphology, structure, and chemical composition, using complementary micro-beam techniques: Scanning Electron Microscope and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy, and Micro X-Ray Diffraction. The analyses revealed shot-type green petcoke particles containing a set of elements, which are well-known metallic/non-metallic impurities in petcoke. Based on the available historical data on petcoke imports in the port of Setúbal (Sado estuary) and Portugal, their first appearance in sediments can be dated to 1996 ± 2, with maxima in 2006 ± 4. Both the presence and the historical evolution of the use of petcoke in the region were recorded in all sediment cores, with higher particle density in locations aligned with the prevailing winds. The combination of petcoke and 137Cs data provided accretion rates for the 1963–2006 period ranging from 0.1 to 0.3 cm yr−1 (average: 0.2 cm yr−1), while these rates significantly increased from 2006 onwards (avg. rate: 1.1 cm yr−1; range: 0.6–2.1 cm yr−1). The widespread handling of petcoke worldwide leads us to suggest petcoke particles as a reliable chronological marker at local and regional scales, to be used in combination with other dating methods to build more exact sediment chronologies.

Bits and Cheek-Pieces from the Archaeological Sites of the Northern Altai of the Rouran Period (Based on the Materials of the Choburak-I Complex)

Purpose. This article studies bits and cheek-pieces belong to the mass categories of riding horse equipment from the archaeological sites of Altai of 2nd century BC – 5th century AD. These finds, taking into account the rarity of such materials from synchronous sites in adjacent territories, are an important source for the reconstruction of horse equipment of the nomads of Central and North Asia. The article presents the analysis of a series of bits and cheek-pieces from objects of the Rouran period of the Choburak-I necropolis.Methods and Results. The analyzed collection includes nine bits and five cheek-pieces. The basis of the study was the morphological analysis and classification of items of horse equipment, as well as the comparison of these finds with materials from neighboring territories. Two types of bits and two types of cheek-pieces are distinguished, demonstrating common and special features of the manufacture of bridle sets by the population of Northern Altai in the Rouran period. A comparative study made it possible to determine their dating and genesis.Conclusion. It has been established that bits and cheek-pieces are an important chronological marker for further clarification of the periodization of the archaeological sites of Altai. It is concluded that the horse equipment of the Bulan-Koby archaeological culture had a significant impact on the appearance of this category of objects among the early Turks. The results obtained expand the existing ideas about the evolution of horse equipment among the nomads of Asia in the middle of the 1st millennium AD.

Youngest Toba Tuff deposits in the Gundlakamma River basin, Andhra Pradesh, India and their role in evaluating Late Pleistocene behavioral change in South Asia

AbstractThe eruption of Toba ca. 75 ka was the largest volcanic eruptive event during the Quaternary, and evidence for this eruption is widespread in terrestrial sediment sequences in South Asia as primary and reworked distal ash deposits. Youngest Toba Tuff horizons (YTT) have been widely employed as isochrons to understand and link regional sediment sequences and the evidence for environmental and cultural change in the archaeological records preserved within them. We identify the YTT deposits at Retlapalle, Andhra Pradesh, India, and present the optical ages of the K-feldspar grains recovered from sediments immediately underlying and overlying the tephra horizon. We combine these results with particle size and magnetic susceptibility analyses to establish the depositional conditions of YTT, which indicate that accumulation and reworking ceased by ca. 64 ka. We explore the role of YTT deposits as an isochron for examining the effect of the 75 ka Toba super-eruption, highlighting the need for an independent chronological assessment of YTT before using it as a Late Pleistocene chronological marker in reconstructing South Asian paleo-landscapes and hominin adaptations. Further, our findings support the regional continuity of human occupations within South Asia, spanning the eruption of Toba and the enduring utility of Middle Paleolithic tools.

Reconstructing the chronology of the natural and anthropogenic uranium isotopic signals in a marine sediment core from Beppu Bay, Japan

The long-lived U isotopes, 233U and 236U, have been used increasingly in recent years as marine circulation tracers and for identifying sources of uranium contamination in the environment. The sedimentation histories of these two U isotopes in combination with natural 238U were reconstructed for an anoxic sediment core collected from Beppu Bay, Japan, in the western North Pacific Ocean showing good time resolution (less than 2.6 y/sample). The 233U/236U atom ratio showed a prominent peak of (3.20 ± 0.30) × 10−2 around 1957 which can be attributed to the input from atmospheric nuclear weapons tests including thermonuclear tests conducting in the Equatorial Pacific. The integrated 233U/236U ratio of (1.64 ± 0.08) × 10−2 for the sediment was found to be in relatively good agreement with the representative ratio published for global fallout (∼1.4 × 10−2). A prominent increase in the authigenic ratio of 233U/238Ua,s in the leached fraction (1.39 ± 0.11 × 10−11) and the bulk digestion (1.36 ± 0.10 × 10−11) was also observed around 1957. This reflects the input supply of 233U to the seawater which is known to have a relatively constant 238U content. The authigenic 236U/238Ua,s ratio (0.18 ± 0.02 × 10−9) obtained for 1921 increased from the early 1950's to a maximum of (6.59 ± 0.60) × 10−9 around 1962. The variation in this ratio represents well the introduction history of U into the surface environment without site-specific U contamination and the time profile is also consistent with the 137Cs signature. This work thus provides a benchmark for the long-term use of the isotopic U composition as an input parameter for seawater circulation tracers and as a chronological marker for anoxic sediments and sedimentary rocks. Especially the 233U/236U ratio may serve as a key-marker for the new geological age Anthropocene.

Building Technique of the Early Byzantine Fortifications of the South-Western Taurica: Historiographical Tradition and Archaeological Realities

The system of early mediaeval fortifications in the Byzantine lands in the South- Western Crimea remains an object of discussion. The dating of many fortifications was determined by indirect evidence, particularly the stonework of defensive walls. In the mid-twentieth century, A. L. Yakobson inferred that the Crimean forts of ashlar masonry dated to the age of Justinian I. This article argues that the technique in question appeared in the Hellenistic Period and was used in the defensive walls throughout the history of Byzantium and therefore was not a particular chronological marker. The given research addresses the materials of archaeological investigations at 12 forts in the South-Western Taurica, constructed, in the scholars’ view, in the Early Middle Ages. The results of historiographical analysis make it possible to single out a group of castles constructed in the sixth century according to archaeological materials: Mangup-Kale, Eski-Kermen, Bakla, Sivag-Kermen, and Alouston. This group should also include the fort in Gorzoubitai, the construction of which fortifications was described in the Buildings of Procopius of Caesarea. The ashlar facing of defensive walls has been documented at two sites of the group in question, Mangup and Eski-Kermen. The other forts had rubble facing of their defensive walls. Apparently, both building techniques were used by the Byzantine engineers in the Taurica simultaneously. With a degree of probability, the castles of Chufut-Kale and Kalamita and the fort in the Karalez valley can be attributed to the Early Middle Ages.