Long-distance Contacts Research Articles

På höjderna och i stadens utkant. Gravfält och gravgårdar i det äldsta Sigtuna

This article discusses late Viking Age mortuary practices in the town of Sigtuna during the early urban phase (c. 980–1100 AD) with focus on the so-called graveyards (Sw. gravgårdar): cemeteries where the dead were inhumed mainly in accordance with Christian customs, but that lacked churches. It aims to trace cultural, social, or religious communities among the early town dwellers based on an analysis of their burial rituals, in combination with results of osteological and bioarcheological studies of their physical remains. The paper shows that burial customs varied within the early townscape: the dead were laid to rest under visible grave constructions in exposed topographical locations, as well as on flat-ground cemeteries in lower terrain close to the settlement area or at early churchyards. Moreover, diversity in mortuary customs, sex and age distribution, gender division, and diet can be detected between individual cemeteries, indicating that they were used by different urban groups that to some extent parted from their dead in different ways. The results of bioarcheological analyses indicate a heterogenous early urban population, comprising people from the Mälaren area, and also from distant regions. The burial customs reflect this specific urban situation, bearing witness to both long-distance contacts and roots in local mortuary traditions.

Long-Distance Contacts: Elephants call one another by name across the savanna.

Long-Distance Contacts: Elephants call one another by name across the savanna.

Unique Use of Dibromo-L-Tyrosine Ligand in Building of Cu(II) Coordination Polymer-Experimental and Theoretical Investigations.

Although the crystals of coordination polymer {[CuCl(μ-O,O'-L-Br2Tyr)]}n (1) (L-Br2Tyr = 3,5-dibromo-L-tyrosine) were formed under basic conditions, crystallographic studies revealed that the OH group of the ligand remained protonated. Two adjacent [CuCl(L-Br2Tyr)] monomers, bridged by the carboxylate group of the ligand in the syn-anti bidentate bridging mode, are differently oriented to form a polymeric chain; this specific bridging was detected also by FT-IR and EPR spectroscopy. Each Cu(II) ion in polymeric compound 1 is coordinated in the xy plane by the amino nitrogen and carboxyl oxygen of the parent ligand and the oxygen of the carboxyl group from the symmetry related ligand of the adjacent [Cu(L-Br2Tyr)Cl] monomer, as well as an independent chlorine ion. In addition, the Cu(II) ion in the polymer chain participates in long-distance intermolecular contacts with the oxygen and bromine atoms of the ligands located in the adjacent chains; these intramolecular contacts were also supported by NCI and NBO quantum chemical calculations and Hirshfeld surface analysis. The resulting elongated octahedral geometry based on the [CuCl(L-Br2Tyr)] monomer has a lower than axial symmetry, which is also reflected in the symmetry of the calculated molecular EPR g tensor. Consequently, the components of the d-d band obtained by analysis of the NIR-VIS-UV spectrum were assigned to the corresponding electronic transitions.

Weighing in Cyprus: the function of weighing equipment in Late Bronze Age Cyprus

The Late Bronze Age in the Eastern Mediterranean saw an unprecedented increase in the long-distance contacts between socio-political entities of the area. Textual and material evidence provide a complex picture in which goods, ideas and people were traveling easily. Among the motivations for these contacts between different people and socio-political structures, trade played a prominent role. If we focus on goods, the trade of raw materials was in many cases an obligatory decision given their geographical uneven distribution in and around the Mediterranean area. A good example of this is provided by metals such as silver, gold and copper. In textual evidence is clear that metals were quantified by weighing. In Cyprus usually weighing equipment has been systematically connected to trade of copper. But was it always the case? The present paper, based on the work I presented at the PoCA conference of 2020, tries to assess this issue through a comparative study of weighing equipment found in Agia Irini-Palaeokastro, Enkomi, and Kalavasos-Agios Dimitrios. The results suggest a set of parameters that can contribute to define an interpretation of the context of use of weighing equipment. An interpretation for the weighing equipment found in the study-cases will be also provided. The overall result can contribute to a deeper knowledge of weighing technology and its impact in the Cypriot societies.

The Early PPNB of Amqa (Upper Galilee, Israel) from a Regional Perspective

Abstract. Salvage excavations at the site of Amqa (upper Galilee, Israel) revealed a rich PPN occupation layer confined to a natural bedrock depression covering ca. 25 m2. The finds present an intriguing combination of EPPNB traditions and PPNA elements, including a dominant component of imported bi-directional blade blanks and the prominent use of non-local pink/purple and beige flint types, as well as a significant microlithic component. Among the projectile points, Helwan points are the most common, with a notable presence of Khiam points and single examples of northern types, such as “Foliate”/“Nemrik” points and Hollow-based points. Reaping knives are abundant alongside finely denticulated sickle blades. Bifacial tools are thin and unpolished, some of them bearing tranchet removal scars. Long-distance contacts are indicated by a rich obsidian assemblage and by the presence of bifacial tools made of the green mineral nephrite. Although absolute dating could not be achieved due to the poor preservation of organic material, the site of Amqa presents a notable addition to the discussion of early Neolithic dynamics and settlement patterns in the southern Levant. This paper presents the site of Amqa and the analyses of the material culture reflected through the finds and discusses its contribution to the regional debate regarding the onset of “Neolithic lifeways” in our region.

Hamiltonian cycles on bicolored random planar maps

We study the statistics of Hamiltonian cycles on various families of bicolored random planar maps (with the spherical topology). These families fall into two groups corresponding to two distinct universality classes with respective central charges c=−1 and c=−2. The first group includes generic p-regular maps with vertices of fixed valency p≥3, whereas the second group comprises maps with vertices of mixed valencies, and the so-called rigid case of 2q-regular maps (q≥2) for which, at each vertex, the unvisited edges are equally distributed on both sides of the cycle. We predict for each class its universal configuration exponent γ, as well as a new universal critical exponent ν characterizing the number of long-distance contacts along the Hamiltonian cycle. These exponents are theoretically obtained by using the Knizhnik, Polyakov and Zamolodchikov (KPZ) relations, with the appropriate values of the central charge, applied, in the case of ν, to the corresponding critical exponent on regular (hexagonal or square) lattices. These predictions are numerically confirmed by analyzing exact enumeration results for p-regular maps with p=3,4,…,7, and for maps with mixed valencies (2,3), (2,4) and (3,4).

A complex case of trade in metals: The origin of copper used for artefacts found in one hoard from a Late Bronze Age Lusatian Urnfield Culture in Poland

Metal artefacts from Bronze Age hoards have routinely been used to study interregional contacts. Their stylistic and typological features helped distinguish local products and imports by appearance. In the last 40 years, combined lead isotope and chemical analyses of metals have been widely applied to verify hypotheses based on style and typology. This paper is a comprehensive typological and analytical study of a metal item hoard discovered in Paszowice, SW Poland. In the Bronze Age, the area was inhabited by the Lusatian Urnfield culture (ca. 1350/1300–800/750 BC) communities. We expected that at least some of the artefacts would be local products fashioned according to foreign stylistic patterns. The research aimed to determine whether a ‘classical’ stylistic analysis combined with provenance studies of metals would allow more decisive conclusions. This combination of methods could also show how the metal reached the Lusatian Urnfield culture settlement zone. We conducted a detailed typological and chronological analysis to map the distribution of similar artefact types. It demonstrated that stylistic matches for the artefacts from Paszowice occur mainly in NE Hungary, S Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Romania. Selected metal artefacts (both tin bronze items and raw copper objects) from Paszowice were also analysed for their chemical (EPMA) and lead isotope (MC ICP MS) compositions. The study revealed many copper sources used for their production, ranging from the nearest copper mines in the Slovak Ore Mountains, through Eastern Alps and mines in Sardinia, to possibly the Iberian Peninsula. In this way, we identified the potential trade routes by which metal could get to SW Poland: the southwestern and southeastern routes and the Mediterranean-Danube route. The Iberian metal might have also reached the study area from the north – through its redistribution by Scandinavian traders. Our results show that metal from many sources circulated in central Europe during the Late Bronze Age. The Lusatian Urnfield communities were part of a pan-European exchange network and maintained extensive long-distance contacts, allowing metal acquisition from various sources.

Okucie końca pasa w formie dysku z Siemkowic w powiecie pajęczańskim. Analiza – interpretacja - rekonstrukcja procesu zdobienia

This paper describes an unusual, though accidental discovery of a strap-end fitting in the village of Siemkowice in Pajęczno county, Poland. Along with a detailed description of the object, the authors attempt to perform its typological classification and try to determine the decorative style of the analyzed artefact. Another vital research objective is to establish both the chronology and the origin of the belt set element. The discovery of the undoubtedly unique strap-end fitting raises a number of new questions about long-distance contacts during the Migration Period on the territory of modern Poland. The element of the strap-end fitting from Siemkowice is an invaluable contribution to the research on its historical period. The typological classification of the artefact and its ornament indicate phases D1-D2. However, the lack of any context of the finding makes it impossible to date its origin precisely.

Text and the City: How the City Shaped Language

Abstract This paper presents the first case of dramatic and large-scale loss of linguistic diversity. Language death has been part of our history as long as languages were spoken, but in the fourth millennium bce urbanisation and a growing regional economy caused a decrease in both language and typological diversity on a much larger scale than ever before. The first cities in Mesopotamia had developed writing and administration which centralised power and disseminated its influence. In particular, standard languages that were used for official purposes over large areas emerged. Written standard language slowed down the rate of change and consolidated diverging dialects. The larger areas in which languages were spoken in combination with increased mobility and long-distance contacts increased language contact and decreased typological differentiation. Massive population movements due to natural and human made disasters wiped out whole linguistic lineages through language shifts. In effect, this was a first wave globalisation, resulting in the first extensive linguistic diversity eradication.

Mode and Tempo of 3D Genome Evolution in Drosophila.

Topologically associating domains (TADs) are thought to play an important role in preventing gene misexpression by spatially constraining enhancer-promoter contacts. The deleterious nature of gene misexpression implies that TADs should, therefore, be conserved among related species. Several early studies comparing chromosome conformation between species reported high levels of TAD conservation; however, more recent studies have questioned these results. Furthermore, recent work suggests that TAD reorganization is not associated with extensive changes in gene expression. Here, we investigate the evolutionary conservation of TADs among 11 species of Drosophila. We use Hi-C data to identify TADs in each species and employ a comparative phylogenetic approach to derive empirical estimates of the rate of TAD evolution. Surprisingly, we find that TADs evolve rapidly. However, we also find that the rate of evolution depends on the chromatin state of the TAD, with TADs enriched for developmentally regulated chromatin evolving significantly slower than TADs enriched for broadly expressed, active chromatin. We also find that, after controlling for differences in chromatin state, highly conserved TADs do not exhibit higher levels of gene expression constraint. These results suggest that, in general, most TADs evolve rapidly and their divergence is not associated with widespread changes in gene expression. However, higher levels of evolutionary conservation and gene expression constraints in TADs enriched for developmentally regulated chromatin suggest that these TAD subtypes may be more important for regulating gene expression, likely due to the larger number of long-distance enhancer-promoter contacts associated with developmental genes.

From the cave to the virtual museum: accessibility and democratisation of Franco-Cantabrian Palaeolithic art

Highlights: Despite being a transcendental cultural manifestation in the history of humanity, there are hardly any open-access virtual repertoires of Palaeolithic art. The numerous photogrammetric studies carried out in successive archaeological campaigns to answer scientific questions can be used in educational and dissemination projects. In the framework of the authors’ outreach project called "PaleoArt-3D: regreso al pasado" a virtual museum has been created to make Palaeolithic art a more accessible and democratic heritage. Abstract: Palaeolithic art is a cultural manifestation of great importance to understanding the early history of our species. Through this artistic phenomenon, one can study aspects such as long-distance contacts, evidence of learning or the perception with which Palaeolithic humans were able to execute and memorise such precise details. However, there are few virtual repertoires that offer collections of Palaeolithic art. Accessibility to this type of archaeological remains is even more difficult considering conservation is prioritised over tourist visits. For these reasons, Palaeolithic art is today a type of cultural asset that is largely unknown to the population. The project "PaleoArt-3D: regreso al pasado" was created with the aim of democratising this heritage and making it more accessible. To this end, a virtual museum has been developed to exhibit digital models of parietal and portable art with complementary annotations for each one. The methodology includes a first stage dedicated to digitising examples of Palaeolithic art in caves or open-air stations and exhibited in Spanish and French museums. Next, the necessary infrastructure was designed to house the exhibition using specific software such as Blender. Post-processing tasks were carried out to reducing the number of polygons without losing quality. Finally, the museum has been uploaded to the Sketchfab platform to make it freely available online. It is hoped that this virtual museum will contribute to promoting and creating a more significant number of digital resources related to Palaeolithic art that are easily accessible to the public.

Imported ornaments of a Late Antiquity community in Christian Ethiopia

ABSTRACT Several thousand glass beads excavated in the Maryam Anza (Tigray, Ethiopia) cemetery over three seasons between 2014 and 2016 tell the story of the direct or indirect long-distance contacts of the people buried there. By combining typological and quantitative studies of drawn glass beads, this paper provides new bead evidence on the subject of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean trade in Late Antiquity. The assemblage is dominated by tiny monochrome glass beads of mid-fourth/fifth-century AD date that were brought as ships’ cargo from South Asia through Arabian ports, reaching Northeast Africa at a time of intensive Indian Ocean trade. Close proximity to the Red Sea port at Adulis (in modern Eritrea) also allowed the transport of other overseas bead imports produced in Egypt or the East Mediterranean region. Comparative percentage analysis makes Aksum and the Maryam Anza community one of the major accumulators of India/Sri Lankan beads in Northeast Africa.

The Geography of Trade. Landscapes of Competition and Long-distance Contacts in Mesopotamia and Anatolia in the Old Assyrian Colony Period. By Alessio Palmisano. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2018. Pp. xii + 192 + 102 color and black and white illustrations. £35 (paper).

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewThe Geography of Trade. Landscapes of Competition and Long-distance Contacts in Mesopotamia and Anatolia in the Old Assyrian Colony Period. By Alessio Palmisano. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2018. Pp. xii + 192 + 102 color and black and white illustrations. £35 (paper).Yağmur Heffron and Neil ErskineYağmur HeffronUniversity College, London Search for more articles by this author and Neil ErskineUniversity of Glasgow Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Near Eastern Studies Volume 81, Number 1April 2022 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/718499 Views: 91Total views on this site For permission to reuse a book review in this section, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Dálkové kontakty Netolicka v raném středověku. Svědectví mincí a ozdob

In this text, we present five extraordinary metal finds from the area of Netolice, the Prachatice District, dated to the period from the end of the 8th to the 10th centuries. Only two of them (a gilded belt strap end decorated with niello, and an imitative coin based on the Bavarian type) are chronologically related to the existence of the Na Jánu Hillfort as a centre; the other ones are earlier. All these finds are evidence of long-distance contacts of the area with the southeast (the late Avar type) and with the west especially (the two belt strap ends and two coins) and they were probably related to the so-called Linz Trail. The most important is the denier of Louis the Pious, minted in Paris, which extends the evidence of the circulation of Carolingian coins in Bohemia, and its close connection with Bavaria in the 9th century. The imitative issue based on the Bavarian type, dated to the period 967–976, extends this, relatively numerous, group of coins and attests the Bavarian influence in the 10th century Bohemia.

Central Sites and the Development of Rural Settlements from the Middle to Late La Tène Period in Central Moravia

At a certain point in time, there were two central places in central Moravia: an older unfortified central agglomeration near the present-day village of Němčice nad Hanou and a younger oppidum at Staré Hradisko. Each of this centres had its own approach to raw materials, orientation of the socio-economic contacts, and possibly political focus as well. Němčice, being located at one of the main branches of the Amber Road, connected the Middle Danube area from the Mediterranean to the Adriatic; Staré Hradisko eventually expanded these contacts into a systematic trade network, being under the strong influence of the Bohemian region with links to Bavaria. During the LT C2, in addition to the location of the central place, changes took place in terms of material culture and settlement strategies in the region. This was further accentuated in LT D1 by the shift of settlements towards the west, to the vicinity of the oppidum and, at the same time, vacation of the corridor around the Morava River. In an attempt to chronologically assess the settlement pattern, it became evident how important it is to define, as precisely as possible, the dating of individual sites. This was only possible thanks to the detailed and extensive study of the material available (Čižmář 2018). Thanks to precise dating of settlements and classification based on the new chronology, the seemingly illogical group of settlements in central Moravia revealed a distinct settlement network which, in particular during the period contemporary with the oppidum, allows us to see the significant changes in the number of sites and in the orientation of long-distance contacts that were possibly associated with historical events.

Long-distance contacts and social networks of the Upper Palaeolithic humans in the North-Western Caucasus (on data from Mezmaiskaya Cave, Russia)

The article is addressed to the issue of long-distance contacts and social networks between the Upper Palaeolithic of the North-western Caucasus and other regions, basing on finds (artifacts from mammoth tusk, azurite sandstone pebble, Black Sea marine mollusc shells, and obsidian artifacts) from the Upper Palaeolithic layers at Mezmaiskaya Cave. Personal decorations from mammoth tusk found at Mezmaiskaya suggest rare contacts between culture-unrelated Upper Palaeolithic groups in the North-western Caucasus and Russian plain. Recurrent obsidian procurement from two specific remote obsidian sources at Mezmaiskaya suggests that there were two well-established social networks between Upper Palaeolithic humans in the North-western Caucasus and related human groups in the North-central and South Caucasus. The evidence of obsidian transport from Mezmaiskaya outlines borders of the Upper Palaeolithic cultural area with similar human population and culture in the Caucasus, within wich the Upper Palaeolithic groups in the North and South Caucasus had regular social-cultural relations, including exchange of obsidian raw material. Finds of Black Sea marine shells and an azurite sandstone pebble at Mezmaiskaya are discussed as non-utilitarian objects derived from remote areas located on the paths of the two obsidian exchange networks that likely outline directions and limits of direct movements of Upper Palaeolithic humans from the North-western Caucasus.

Local Ceramics from the Islamic Trade Center of Harlaa, Eastern Ethiopia: Markers of Chronology and Contacts

Locally made ceramics from Islamic sites in Ethiopia have been neglected in most archaeological studies, which tend to privilege imported Middle Eastern and Chinese/Southeast Asian ceramics. An assemblage of the local ceramics from the important trading site of Harlaa, in eastern Ethiopia (mid-sixth and fifteenth centuries AD), is the subject of this article. The study emphasizes the value of these ceramics as chronological markers, and for understanding regional and long-distance contacts, cultural innovations, processes of Islamization, and foodways.

A prehistoric jade axe from Galicia (Northwestern Iberia): Researching its origin

The Vilapedre axe (Lugo, Northwest Iberia) has been traditionally considered by archaeologists as evidence of prehistoric long-distance contacts along the Atlantic Coast of France and Spain. This artefact - as other “Tumiac type” axes (long polished blades, generally butt-perforated) - would have been produced in Brittany during the Neolithic (5th millennium BCE) using jadeitite as raw material, a green-coloured rock for which there are sources in the western Italian Alps. In this paper, we have traced the possible archaeological origin of this artefact back by examining the personal files of one of its first owners, Santiago de la Iglesia. Furthermore, we have conducted a mineralogical (X-Ray Diffraction, XRD) and an elemental analysis (Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray Detection, SEM-EDX) of both the Vilapedre axe and geological samples from several places at the Alps where prehistoric quarrying of greenstones has been reported. The aims were physicochemically characterizing the axe to provide information about its possible geological source. During our analyses, we have found significant compositional similarities between the Vilapedre axe and one of the geological samples coming from the Alps (Alp06). The results are therefore consistent with the alleged Alpine origin of this artefact. The presence of this axe in Northwest Spain, together with other evidence, such as the presence of objects of Iberian origin in Breton monuments, strongly suggests the existence of contacts between both regions of the Atlantic façade during the Neolithic onwards in which seafaring would undoubtedly have played an important role.

Nonlinear fluctuation behaviors of complex voter financial price dynamics on small-world network

To simulate the price fluctuation dynamics of financial markets, a novel financial price model is developed by the voter dynamic system on the Watts-Strogtz small-world network and the random jump process. The voter system is a classical statistical physics system, which describes the dynamics of voters’ attitudes towards a certain topic in the mutual influence. The Watts-Strogtz small-world network is a special kind of complex networks, which can be used to study the transmission dynamics of different things in complex and real-world systems. The paper first attempts to use the voter dynamic system on the small-world network to reproduce the micro-mechanism of price fluctuations caused by the interaction among different investors in financial markets, where investors can potentially disseminate information and interact via additional long-distance contacts. Moreover, considering that external macro environments have the impact on price fluctuations in financial markets, this paper introduces the random jump process in the price model. The effectiveness of the proposed model can be verified by comparing price returns generated by the model with returns of several important stock indexes in terms of nonlinear fluctuation behaviors. First, some statistical behaviors of the fluctuation dynamics are explored, including distribution characteristics and autocorrelation. Moreover, based on the ensemble empirical mode decomposition method, multifractal behaviors and complexity behaviors of returns and the first three intrinsic mode functions are investigated. The empirical results show that the dynamical model can well simulate these nonlinear fluctuation behaviors of real markets.

Tell el-Retaba (West): season 2019

Area 4 north of the Migdol was the focus of the 2019 season excavations. An apparent well from Phase G3 was discovered with some pottery sherds inside dating from the end of the Middle Kingdom. In the early Eighteenth Dynasty it was turned into a cemetery; seven tombs discovered this season provided the first evidence of suprapositioning of grave structures in this part of the burial ground. The outskirts of the Phase G settlement and cemetery may have been reached in the excavation. Mud-brick structures from Phase F3 were used for domestic and crafting activities. A battery of ovens continued to be excavated. Parts of Phase F2 architecture were excavated beside the Migdol and below the platform of Wall 2. Artifacts and raw materials indicated long-distance contacts. Metal objects (rings, needles) and arrowheads were also discovered. Phase D4 was represented by the remains of a transport route/walkway. Two silos and a fireplace enclosed by a wall dated to phase C.