This paper presents the integrated study of a distinctive bleach-decorated (bleached or etched) carnelian bead (S3074) discovered at the South Arabian port of Sumhuram (Dhofar, Sultanate of Oman), a Hadrami trading outpost active within regional and transoceanic trade networks between 100 BCE and 400 CE. Originating from a technology developed in the Greater Indus Valley during the 3rd millennium BCE, bleached carnelian beads remained markers of long-distance trade in the Early Historic and Medieval periods. Stylistic comparisons and SEM-based drilling diagnostics revealed that the Sumhuram specimen, the first securely identified example of this bead type in South-western Arabia, is consistent with production in north-western India. Its discovery in an urban context rather than a funerary assemblage raises interpretive questions about its circulation and meaning. While it may reflect structured trade flows linking Gujarat with South-eastern Arabia, the possibility that it was the personal possession of a South Asian individual temporarily residing in Sumhuram is equally plausible. This case ultimately exemplifies the entanglement of material culture, mobility, and identity in a cosmopolitan port city. Beyond economic exchange, the bead provides insight into personal histories and cross-cultural interactions across the Western Indian Ocean during the Late Iron Age. • First bleach-decorated carnelian bead identified in South-western Arabia. • Found at Sumhuram, a Hadrami port in Dhofar active in Indian Ocean trade. • Stylistic and SEM analysis indicates north-western Indian origin. • The find may represent structured trade or personal loss by a South Asian resident. • The case reflects mobility, identity, and cultural entanglement in the Western Indian Ocean.

Diet, mobility and gendered violence: Integrating multi-isotope analysis with proteomic sex identification at the bi-ritual Early Iron Age cemetery of Statzendorf, lower Austria

Reconstructing subsistence strategies from the Bronze to Iron age in the Tianshan Mountains: Integrating GIS spatial interpolation, MaxEnt and MixSIAR models

Integration of age-at-death and novel peptide sex estimation reveals cattle culling practices at Yorkshire Iron Age shrine site

The North Atlantic climate has been suggested to exert a major control on the hydroclimate of Inner Asia, but the direction and persistence of the temperature–moisture relationship remain unclear. Here, we present new varve-chronology-constrained geochemical records from Lake Shira in northern Inner Asia, revealing a cyclical succession of centennial-scale wet-dry climate intervals over the past ~2500 years. Wet periods with high lake levels are interrupted by three arid intervals (350–479 CE, 1459–1534 CE, 1898–1928 CE), marked by low lake levels, high salinity and holomixis. The wet intervals coincide with the Roman Warm Period, the Medieval Warm Period and the middle–late Little Ice Age (LIA), and the dry phases with cold spells associated with the Dark Ages Cold Period and the beginning and end of the LIA. A phase of less intense aridity 349–296 BCE overlaps with the end of the Iron Age Cold Period. A thorough review of published climate data and our own findings shows that this pattern is primarily driven by thermal conditions in the North Atlantic region, where higher sea surface temperatures (reflected in elevated Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation indices) promote more positive North Atlantic Oscillation states and intensify mid-latitude westerly moisture transport. Comparison of varve thickness measurements with observed/reconstructed climate records for the past 150 years indicates that sedimentation rate is mainly controlled by fluvial discharge to the lake. Although varve thickness tends to be negatively correlated with precipitation and temperature, several notable exceptions limit its use as independent climate proxy. • Hydroclimatic variability inferred from varved lake sediment archive of Lake Shira. • A review of published climate data suggests a teleconnection with the North Atlantic. • Dry intervals dated to 349–296 BCE, 350–454 CE, 1459–1534 CE and 1898–1928 CE. • Wet and dry intervals correspond to warm and cold climate phases, respectively. • Varve thickness variability shows limited applicability as independent climate proxy.

Estimating age at death in archaeological populations is often limited by poor skeletal preservation, particularly in cremated remains. Tooth cementum annulation counts (TCAc), based on incremental lines of Salter (ILS), offer a promising alternative. In this study, TCAc is evaluated in terms of feasibility, microstructural preservation and internal consistency in cremated archaeological teeth, focusing on methodological applicability rather than chronological accuracy. We analysed 62 roots from eight Lusatian Urnfield culture cemeteries in southwestern Poland, dating to the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age. Undecalcified transverse sections were prepared, and ILS were examined alongside two complementary indicators: ILS width (ILSw) and the ratio of acellular extrinsic fibre cementum thickness to ILSw (AEFCt/ILSw). Results showed good intra- and inter-observer repeatability of ILSc, and both AEFCt and ILSc displayed significant age-related increases (p < 0.01). Combined estimates based on TCAc and AEFCt/ILSw yielded narrower age ranges than morphology alone. ILSw did not differ by sex, age group or tooth type, but varied significantly between cemeteries (p < 0.001), potentially reflecting environmental or life-history factors. These findings indicate that TCAc shows practical potential for use on cremated archaeological material, while also highlighting the need for future comparisons with known-age collections to refine interpretative standards.

Artificial photosynthesis enables the solar-driven reduction of CO2 in water to form formic acid, a C1 hydrogen carrier and renewable fuel precursor. However, selective formic acid formation in aqueous media remains fundamentally limited by inefficient interfacial proton-electron coupling. Here, we show that ionic liquids (ILs) actively mediate interfacial charge transfer through ion-pair pathways that extract and stabilize photogenerated electrons and protons, thereby enabling selective CO2 photoreduction. In this context, our iron oxide microrods exhibit high activity for formic acid production in IL-aqueous solutions under LED irradiation. Among the different ILs, 1,2-dimethyl-1-n-butyl-imidazolium 2-methylimidazolate (BMMIm.MeIm) affords the highest efficiency, achieving a yield of about 55.4 μmol (554 μmol.g-1) of formic acid with >99% selectivity and an apparent quantum yield of 4.4%. Spectroscopic analyses (EPR, NMR, and ex situ FTIR) reveal the formation of [CO2]•- and imidazolium-cation radical species, confirming the direct participation of IL in charge extraction and CO2 activation. Mössbauer spectroscopy confirmed hematite as the predominant phase and revealed an IL-induced formation of 6-9% reduced iron (Fe(0)/Fe(I)), indicating partial Fe2O3 reduction within the microrods. The IL creates an organized interfacial microenvironment that tunes band energetics, promotes charge separation, and stabilizes CO2-derived intermediates, while light-induced radical signatures indicate transient interfacial charge-transfer processes that favor selective formate production. This catalytic system also demonstrates efficiency under natural sunlight, producing 27.7 μmol (277 μmol.g-1), highlighting its adaptability and robustness. DFT calculations further reveal that IL cation-anion orientation at Fe2O3 surfaces modulates band energetics and promotes interfacial charge transfer.

ABSTRACT Riverine and valley systems across the globe have been central to the development of past urban centres. By AD 900, the Shashe and Limpopo Rivers seem to have facilitated the interaction and integration of early farming communities in southern Africa. This paper focuses on the application of geoarchaeological perspectives made available by the subsurface environments and the development of advanced morphometric models to understand human behavioural patterns under various climatic conditions in the Shashe‐Limpopo basin. Mapungubwe emerged between AD 1220–1300 as the earliest Iron Age state system in the middle Limpopo valley, practising floodplain agriculture together with surplus wealth generated from long‐distance trade that bolstered social and political transformations. At about AD 1290, Mapungubwe began to decline and was subsequently abandoned due to erratic rainfall patterns in the region. Despite the general absence of relevant palaeo‐environmental proxies, Mapungubwe's dominance lasted to about the 13th Century. The reasons for Mapungubwe's decline remain contested. The role played by changing climate variability is a possible proximate cause. Uneven distribution of rainfall and flooding seem to have resulted in low agricultural productivity in the Shashe‐Limpopo Basin and led to the movements of people towards better‐watered regions. This paper aims to show how advanced morphometric hydrological analysis of inundation regimes (riverine modelling) and evidence from geoarchaeological records on buried soil sequences can be used as tools to evaluate human responses against the ever changing and deteriorating environmental conditions in southern Africa.

This study presents the largest regional-scale stable isotope investigation of human and faunal remains spanning the Bronze and Iron Ages (c. 2400-100 BCE) in the Eastern Adriatic to date. New δ13C and δ15N data from 51 individuals were integrated with previously published results (n = 233) to explore long-term and region-specific dietary trends, with a focus on the emergence of millet as a dietary component. Results reveal an inland-coastal contrast: while coastal populations predominantly consumed C3-based diets, inland groups show consistently higher δ13C values indicative of direct millet intake from the Middle/Late Bronze Age onwards. Statistical analyses confirm strong effects of both period and location on δ13C values, with most inland populations exhibiting more positive signatures particularly during the Middle/Late Bronze Age transition and again in the Iron Age. A probabilistic two-endmember mixing model estimates millet contributions reaching up to ~ 40% of dietary protein in these inland groups, suggesting episodic but significant integration of C4 crops into subsistence systems. In contrast, faunal baselines reflect purely C3 diets, indicating that the C4 signal in humans derives from direct millet consumption. These findings help refine the chronology of millet adoption in the eastern Adriatic, pushing its significant dietary incorporation back to the Middle/Late Bronze Age transition, and highlight fluctuating patterns of C4 plant consumption through the Bronze and Iron Ages, likely shaped by ecological conditions and local adaptive strategies rather than uniform cultural change.

What is the temporal, material, and representational status of what (selectively) reaches us from deep antiquity? In this paper, I explore the deep temporality of the altered rock, i.e. rock-carved images and inscriptions as durable and stubborn remains of the past, hailing for us from the temporal depths of history and the weathered surfaces of geology. Rather than accepting their durability as an accident of history, I invite readers to consider the politics of carving the rock as a site-specific and future-oriented, gesture, a creative one, with a sense of reaching posterity and a desire to claim legacy. Thinking through the perspective of the futurity of archaeological things and applying them to rock-cut images and inscriptions, I consider, in this essay, how one would make sense of an image or inscription carved on the surface of a living rock. Thinking beyond the visual content of the image and/or the inscription (which is often the case with art historical and philological studies of rock monuments without sufficient consideration of their landscape context), I ask a question more in tune with the archaeological imagination of these monuments: how does one articulate the creative and materially enduring, tectonic act of embedding an image onto a geological surface? And how is this site-specific act made meaningful within the very particular yet long-term history and politics of the local ecology or landscape? Here, I interrogate the rock-carved monuments through three aspects of engaging with the geology of the place: temporality, materiality, and coloniality. I argue that these three aspects of monument-making are fundamental to understanding the nature of this gesture of carving. Finally, I will turn to a few examples of architectural interventions in Bronze and Iron Age Anatolia where a special mimetic engagement with the mineral world is well documented.

The history of the Albanian people has long been debated, as they first appear in historical records in the eleventh century CE and their language is not closely related to any surviving Indo-European branches. Here, to reconstruct their history, we analysed over 6,000 ancient West Eurasian genomes and 74 newly sequenced present-day ethnic Albanians. Using a range of population genetics methods, including an enhanced protocol to detect identity-by-descent segments between ancient and present-day individuals, we detect continuity of West Balkan Late Bronze and Iron Age ancestry in Early Medieval Albania, to a greater degree than in neighbouring Balkan regions. We find that present-day Albanians predominantly descend from this remnant palaeo-Balkan group, which by at least 800-900 CE already exhibited a genetic profile suggesting that they are ancestral to many modern Albanians. In addition, we observe geographically structured admixture with Medieval East European-related groups, averaging 10-20% across present-day Albanians. Our findings provide insight into the demographic processes shaping Albanian ancestry and help locate the origin area of the Albanian language.

Abstract This study explores the complex development of transhumance, shielings and summer farms in Norway, emphasising how patterns of stability and change varied across time and space. It draws on three case studies across Møre and Romsdal: Setersetran, Sandnessetra and Søstølen. At Setersetran, there were recurrent woodland clearances and human activity in four phases: the Pre-Roman Iron Age, the Migration Period, the Viking Age–Early Medieval Period and from the early modern period onwards. More profound and sustained landscape changes occurred after ad 900, suggesting the establishment of a more stable transhumant system, but there is no evidence of settlement until the early modern period. Sandnessetra experienced continuous grazing and human activity from the Roman Iron Age, and this was intensified in the Viking Age–Early Medieval Period. At Søstølen, there is archaeobotanical evidence of grazing and human activity from the end of the Early Iron Age. Despite intermediate periods of abandonment and regrowth of woodland, the site may have been settled in the Viking Age and its most intensive phase of land use was in the High Middle Ages before it was abandoned and never resettled. These findings reveal how various transhumant systems in the region emerged, marked by alternating phases of expansion, maintenance and decline. Notably, however, the transitional period between the Viking Age and the Early Medieval Period stands out as a period of significant transformation across all three sites, most probably linked to the major demographic and socio-economic changes at the time.

Island subsistence during the Late Bronze and Iron Age in Menorca: insights from stable isotopes and Bayesian mixing models at the Biniadrís Cave (Spain)

• Sequential δ 13 C and δ 18 O analyses of dental enamel provided evidence of cattle feeding habits from Mas Castellar de Pontós. • Data confirm the integration of C 4 plants into the cattle diet during the warmer months. • Two possible options are proposed: the consumption of cultivated cereals or of wild plants from the coast and salt marshes. • Cattle, as well as sheep, had access to a diversified range of plant resources during the year. • The results suggest the adoption of a deliberate and adaptive seasonal livestock feeding strategy. This study investigates cattle feeding strategies at the Late Iron Age rural establishment of Mas Castellar de Pontós (Empordà plain, northeastern Iberian Peninsula), a key agricultural and commercial centre linked to the coastal Greek colonies of Emporion and Rhode. Previous isotopic data from bulk collagen analyses of bones (Messana et al. 2025) suggested a potential introduction of C 4 plants into the cattle diet; however, the temporal dimensions of this practice remained unclear. To address this gap, sequential analyses of δ 13 C and δ 18 O values were performed on dental enamel from seven lower molars belonging to five cattle, allowing a seasonal resolution of their feeding habits. The results confirm the seasonal integration of C 4 plants into the cattle diet during the warmer months, complementing a basal C 3 plant consumption during the year. Considering the landscape surrounding the settlement and the agricultural activity, two options are proposed regarding the nature of the C 4 plants consumed: cultivated cereals such as millet or wild plants growing along the coast and in salt marshes. The isotopic data currently available do not allow a discernment between the two hypotheses, resulting in a scenario of so-called equifinality. This pattern reflects a deliberate and seasonally adaptive feeding strategy, comparable to that observed in sheep from the same settlement. This evidence suggest that cattle, as has been documented for sheep, had access to a diversified range of plant resources during the year. These livestock feeding habits may have been adopted by herders to maximise the availability of pasture and/or fodder.

Since the discovery of the Mesha Inscription, the kingdom of Moab has drawn widespread scholarly attention, with numerous surveys and excavations conducted over the past half century. Despite this research, significant questions remain regarding the origins of the kingdom, its structure, and the many settlements and sociopolitical groups that were integrated within the vision of Moab outlined by Mesha. This article presents the preliminary results from a series of archaeological surveys and excavations at several sites on the Madaba Plateau (Khirbat al-Mukhayyat, Khirbat al-Fayha, Khirbat Libb, Tall Maʿin, Khirbat Nitl, and Khirbat ad-Deleilat ash-Sharqiyah). Some of these sites were major settlements in the region during the Iron Age II period, though they have yet to enter scholarly discourse. The introduction of these preliminary summaries presents a significant step in better understanding the region of the Madaba Plateau during the Iron Age II, particularly in relation to site interrelations and hierarchy in the context of the formation of the kingdom of Moab. Preliminary Iron Age data from these sites reveal a system of numerous settlements, fortified sites, and accompanying towers/forts linked via access routes and integrated within an intentional network of intervisibility that bolstered inter-site relations and increased strategic visibility.

Hidden in the mound – Exploring the stratigraphy and paleoenvironmental context of an Early Iron Age burial mound (Süttő, Hungary) by semi-destructive pedological and botanical approaches

This study explores landscape mobility among settlements in northwestern Jordan during the Iron Age IIB–IIC periods. Specifically, it considers how interaction changed from the IIB to IIC period in this upland region between the newly discovered site of Tall al-Assara, neighboring settlements, and sites identified during the Tall Yaʾmoun Regional Archaeological Survey (TYRAS) project. The aim is to evaluate how landscape considerations, proximity, and potential for interaction might have shaped cultural affiliations in a region that was, for a period, part of the Neo-Assyrian hinterland. A baseline for mobility across this diverse topography is first established, utilizing a spatial point dataset to model local and regional interactions from Tall al-Assara and four other settlements during the Iron Age IIB and IIC period. Second, the modeling is contextualized with published ceramic and settlement data to assess its robustness. This research contributes to the ongoing scholarly discourse on the interplay between frontier regions as buffer zones for expanding ancient Near Eastern empires, while also highlighting large-scale shifts in occupation during this transformative period.

First confirmed finds of baleen whale from Iron Age Scania, Sweden, and their archaeological implications

ABSTRACT In this paper we present a small assemblage recovered in the older part of the city of Coimbra (Portugal), under the National Museum Machado de Castro, where human occupation was identified since the Iron Age. Animal remains were present from the Roman until the modern period. The study of discarded food refuse over time provides a perspective into the evolution of local animal use and management. Sheep and goat were the most exploited species throughout; cattle, the second most represented group, gain increasing importance in later periods, especially the modern one. Malacological finds indicate mainly the presence of estuarine species, suggesting the consistent use of this nearby ecotone in the various periods of occupation. Birds were also part of the assemblage, including galliformes, anatids and a few wild species. Some samples from later modern contexts seem to show the exploitation of marine resources, although most of the remains come from mammals. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of medieval faunal remains reveal dietary variability among domestic species, reflecting diverse animal management practices, especially for chickens. Overall, this work contributes novel insights into diet and human-animal relationships in Coimbra down the centuries.

Correction to: Tracing household economies and food technologies in the Eastern Pyrenees: grinding at Late Iron Age of El Castellot de Bolvir (La Cerdanya, Spain)