Medieval Site Research Articles

Slag Inclusions in Iron Artifacts from Cemeteries at Kichigino I and Krasnaya Gorka, and the Metallurgy of the Early Iron Age Itkul Culture

Silicate slag inclusions in iron artifacts from the Trans-Urals and in iron slags from sites of the Itkul culture were analyzed to assess the geochemical characteristics of iron ore sources exploited during the Early Iron Age. Slag inclusions were found in 19 out of 25 samples from Kichigino I and Krasnaya Gorka. For comparison, we used 12 iron slag samples from Early Iron Age and medieval sites near Lake Irtysh and from Zotino mine. Via statistical analysis, four geochemical groups were separated, each including one or more Kichigino artifacts, which suggests a variety of iron ore sources used by the nomads. Slags and artifacts of the first group are associated with infiltration-sedimentary ironstone ores of the Middle Trans-Urals. Smithing slag from the Itkul site of Shatanov V suggests that these ores were already smelted in the Early Iron Age. The fact that group 1 includes only one artifact from Kichigino I demonstrates that the nomads of the Southern Trans-Urals obtained iron mainly from other sources. Group 2 is characterized by a higher content of Mn and sometimes Ba and S in inclusions. This may attest to the use of Fe-Mn ironstone associated with barite-polymetallic deposits of Central Kazakhstan. Group 3 shows an elevated content of CaO and MgO, indicating the use of ironstone from platform carbonate strata. In the fourth group, the content of K2O is high, and that of MnO, low.

Osteometric characteristics of the Medieval population of Northern Sudan (based on materials from the Deraheib monument)

Introduction. Paleoanthropological studies of Medieval North African materials are extremely few. Despite the large number of international expeditions working in the region, very few results of craniometric and osteometric data are presented. This is partly due to the loss of practical measurement skills in European anthropological schools in the second half of the 20th century, partly due to the difficulties of studying the graves of the Islamic period. Several seasons of work of the Nubian Archaeological and Anthropological Expedition of the Research Institute and the Museum of Anthropology of Lomonosov Moscow State University on the Southern Necropolis of the medieval site Derakheyb (Republic of Sudan) were devoted to the study of this population. The purpose of the publication is characteristics of the medieval population buried in the Southern Necropolis of the Derakheyb site due to osteological features and introducing the new data. Materials and methods. The material is the bones of the postcranial skeleton of adult individuals (14 men and 9 women). The technique corresponds to the classical program in the modification of V.P. Alekseev (a total of 74 signs and 16 pointers). The reconstruction of the body length was carried out, the total body dimensions were described, and the proportion indicators were calculated. For intra-group analysis, the principal component method was used, which was carried out using individual data using the R language. Results and discussion. The male population is characterized by average total body size and shoulder width, while the female series is relatively narrow-shouldered. In the male series, the distal parts of the arms and legs are elongated relative to the proximal ones, and the lower limbs are elongated relative to the upper ones. The women's series featured a more graceful physique. The distal part of the leg is elongated relative to the proximal one, as in the male group; there is also some shortening of the upper limbs relative to the lower ones. Body length varies between 166 cm for men and 156 cm for women. Conclusion. According to osteometry data, the medieval population of the city of Derakheyb can be characterized as heterogeneous, the individuals that stand out mainly correspond to those that stood out according to craniological data. The male part of the population is medium-massive, and the female part is graceful. The entire sample is characterized by shortened lower limbs relative to the arms, as well as elongated distal parts of the arms and legs relative to the proximal ones, which reflects one of the features of the tropical adaptive type.

Entanglements, ontologies, and grinding stones at the medieval site of Handoga (Djibouti)

ABSTRACT This paper analyses the role and meaning of grinding artefacts in Handoga (Djibouti), a medieval town that flourished between the 13th and 16th centuries in a territory previously occupied by nomadic communities. The technical-morphological and morphological-functional studies conducted on the sample suggest that the management of tools related to agriculture followed an approach characterized by minimal care through the different stages of the objects’ lives. This situation, contradictory to what could be expected in a town that had been sedentary for centuries, has been used to reflect on the interrelations between these objects and their users, following Hodder’s concept of entanglement. The analyses conducted on Handoga’s tools point that contrary to what could be expected, some processes such as sedentarization, which are usually conceived as univocal or inevitable can be negotiated or even rejected, and the material-human interactions built around them can also be untangled, if desired.

A case of early childhood caries from a Medieval site in Southern Portugal: a multidisciplinary approach.

Dental caries is the most prevalent chronic infectious disease during childhood both in historical and contemporary times, but research focused on the oral health of non-adults from the past is still scant. As such, this study proposes a multidisciplinary approach to the differential diagnosis of severe dental lesions in a medieval non-adult skeleton. The skeleton of a three-year-old child recovered in the medieval necropolis of Cacela Velha (Portugal) was studied through macroscopic, radiological, elemental and stable isotope analyses. This individual exhibited enamel destruction and dentine exposure in both the maxillary and mandibular teeth, with the latter also showing changes in coloration. Elemental analysis showed that his skull presented lower values of Si, Cl, and Ca and higher of Cu compared to the control, while the concentration of P and S were significantly lower in the teeth. Early childhood caries is the most probable diagnosis for the dental lesions observed, apparently stemming from a reticulate of factors that include potential malnutrition, and the consumption of sugars in complementary feeding - even though historical sources point to the scarcity of sugar in Portugal during most of the Middle Ages.

Sieving the weeds from the grains: an R based package for classifying archaeobotanical samples of cereals and pulses according to crop processing stages

AbstractThe R package CropPro is an open-access resource to classify archaeobotanical samples as products and by-products of different stages of the crop processing sequence for large-seeded cereal and pulse crops in south west Asia, Europe and other Mediterranean regions. It builds on ethnographic research and analysis conducted by Jones (Plants and ancient man: studies in palaeoethnobotany. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp 43–61, 1984), (J Archaeol Sci 14:311–323, 1987), (Circaea 6:91–96, 1990) and a modified method by Charles (Environ Archaeol 1:111–122, 1998). CropPro provides functions, which allow users to construct triplots, to conduct discriminant analysis comparing archaeobotanical samples with ethnographic crop processing stages and to plot the discriminant analysis results. This paper provides two worked examples of the use of CropPro: the early medieval site of Stafford in the UK and the Bronze Age site of Tell Brak in Syria. These examples illustrate the use of the package for identifying crop-processing stages, and for assessing the relevance of taphonomic pathways other than crop processing.

Capturing the fusion of two ancestries and kinship structures in Merovingian Flanders

The Merovingian period (5th to 8th cc AD) was a time of demographic, socioeconomic, cultural, and political realignment in Western Europe. Here, we report the whole-genome shotgun sequence data of 30 human skeletal remains from a coastal Late Merovingian site of Koksijde (675 to 750 AD), alongside 18 remains from two Early to Late Medieval sites in present-day Flanders, Belgium. We find two distinct ancestries, one shared with Early Medieval England and the Netherlands, while the other, minor component, reflecting likely continental Gaulish ancestry. Kinship analyses identified no large pedigrees characteristic to elite burials revealing instead a high modularity of distant relationships among individuals of the main ancestry group. In contrast, individuals with >90% Gaulish ancestry had no kinship links among sampled individuals. Evidence for population structure and major differences in the extent of Gaulish ancestry in the main group, including in a mother-daughter pair, suggests ongoing admixture in the community at the time of their burial. The isotopic and genetic evidence combined supports a model by which the burials, representing an established coastal nonelite community, had incorporated migrants from inland populations. The main group of burials at Koksijde shows an abundance of >5 cM long shared allelic intervals with the High Medieval site nearby, implying long-term continuity and suggesting that similarly to Britain, the Early Medieval ancestry shifts left a significant and long-lasting impact on the genetic makeup of the Flemish population. We find substantial allele frequency differences between the two ancestry groups in pigmentation and diet-associated variants, including those linked with lactase persistence, likely reflecting ancestry change rather than local adaptation.

Animal diseases in the southern part of the Carpathian Basin during the medieval period

AbstractThis study aims to shed light on animal management influences on the development of pathological changes observed on animal remains from the medieval site of Crkveno Brdo. Animal remains with abnormalities were discovered during archaeological excavations of the medieval settlement at the site of Crkveno Brdo in 2019. The site is situated near Senta in the northern region of modern‐day Serbia. The part of the settlement dated from the 11th to the 15th centuries was excavated. The percentage represented by various mammalian species documents that the most important economic species were cattle and horses, followed by sheep, goats, and pigs. Fishing and hunting were marginal in the settlement subsistence. The analyzed assemblage of bones with lesions consists of 39 specimens with 40 abnormalities. All of the remains exhibiting abnormalities were subjected to macroscopic and stereomicroscope analysis. The specimens with the most prominent changes also underwent x‐ray imaging and histopathological analysis. Almost all lesions were found in domestic animals. The most prevalent lesions in cattle, sheep, goat, and pig were dental and oral pathology, followed by articular abnormalities. In horses, 77% of pathological changes were articular abnormalities, and 11% dental and oral pathology, followed by traumatic lesions and inherited disorders (5.5% each). Congenital morphological variation is represented by a single specimen of horse lumbar vertebra. Pathological alterations were also noted in dogs, as was a severe healed tibiofibular fracture in a frog. Pathological alterations were related to external factors and specifically to patterns of animal management. Dental pathologies in cattle, sheep/goats, and pigs were primary attributed to malnutrition quality; articular abnormalities in horses, similar to aging and environmental factors, most likely work related.

Evidence of non-adult vitamin C deficiency in three early medieval sites in the Jaun/Podjuna Valley, Carinthia, Austria

ObjectiveThis study aims to determine and discuss the prevalence of non-adult scurvy cases from the early medieval Jaun/Podjuna Valley in southern Austria. Materials86 non-adult individuals were assessed from three early medieval sites. MethodsMorphological characteristics associated with suggestive and probable scurvy were observed macroscopically and under 20–40x magnification. ResultsA significant relationship between the prevalence of scurvy and age group was observed. Perinates (46%, 6/13) and children (27.5%, 8/28) showed a high prevalence of skeletal features indicating a diagnosis of scurvy, while no cases of scurvy were observed in adolescents and adults. ConclusionsIn this Alpine region, scurvy occurred frequently in infants and children. Seasonal fluctuations of diet are discussed as factors triggering scurvy. SignificanceThis study sheds new light on the prevalence of scurvy in the Alpine region and how the region developed after the fall of the Roman Noricum. It also models ways in which multiple lines of evidence can contribute to the diagnostic process. LimitationsPoor preservation posed a challenge to identifying probable cases of scurvy. Likewise, non-adult remains are difficult to diagnose due to their developing nature and it is not always possible to distinguish between normal bone growth and pathological growth. Suggestions for further researchFuture applications of biomolecular studies will help illustrate changes in diet that may have contributed to vitamin deficiencies.

Ancient mitogenomes suggest complex maternal history of one of the oldest settlements of western India

The ancient township of Vadnagar tells a story of a long chain of cultural diversity and exchange. Vadnagar has been continuously habituated and shows a presence of rich cultural amalgamation and continuous momentary sequences between the 2th century BCE and present-day. Seven cultural periods developed a complex and enriched settlement at Vadnagar in spatio-temporality. Although archaeological studies done on this oldest settlement suggested a rich cultural heritage, the genetic studies to pinpoint the genetic ancestry was lacking till date. In our current study we have for the first time reconstructed the complete mitogenomes of medieval individuals of the Vadnagar archaeological site in Gujarat. The study aimed to investigate the cosmopolitan nature of the present population as well as the migratory pattern and the inflow of different groups through trade, cultural and religious practices. Our analysis suggests heterogeneous nature of the medieval population of Vadnagar with presence of deeply rooted local ancestral components as well as central Asian genetic ancestry. This Central Asian component associated with mitochondrial haplotype U2e was not shared with any individual from India, but rather with individuals from the Bronze Age of Tajikistan and with an earlier age of coalescence. In summary, we propose that the medieval site of Vadnagar in western India was rich in cultural and genetic aspects, with both local and western Eurasian components.

Fecal biomarkers in Italian anthropogenic soil horizons and deposits from Middle Ages and bronze age

Archaeological excavations in urban and rural contexts often uncover dark homogeneous anthropogenic deposits, soils and soil horizons, known as Dark Earths, Cultural Layers and Anthrosols. Major scientific questions arise about the processes that lead to the formation of these soils and deposits, as they are often related to a complex combination of environmental, climatic, and anthropogenic factors. Many studies focused on the morphological and physical-chemical investigation of the archaeological remains found as well as the inorganic constituent of the soil. The organic fraction has been only roughly investigated and studies carried out on a molecular level are very limited. However, a more refined investigation of the chemical constituents of these soils can potentially reveal pivotal insights on the archaeological context such as past domestic habits and/or urban organization. It has been demonstrated that, among organic matter constituents, fecal steroids are promising biomarkers to track fecal input in many environmental matrixes such as water, soils, and sediments. In this paper we determine the fecal sterols and stanols content in dark homogeneous anthropogenic deposits and soils found in seven archaeological sites in Italy (from Verona, Como, Florence, Mel and Conegliano) dated from the Late Bronze Age and the Medieval Period, aiming to assess the major contribution of the fecal input using diagnostic fecal indexes obtained from specific fecal sterol proportions. To this purpose, a baseline was established by identifying the fecal fingerprint of domestic herbivores (caprids, ovines, equines and bovines) and omnivores (pigs). Based on their fecal fingerprint, we classified the deposits of seven studied sites into four distinct categories: i) the medieval sites of Verona, presented a strong mixed fecal input from both herbivores and humans; ii) the medieval sites of Como and Florence which showed a similar pattern, with a predominance of human fecal input over livestock; iii) the late medieval soils of Mel and the late bronze age Cultural Layers of Castellar di Leppia (Verona) which exhibited a generally scarce fecal contamination while iv) the final bronze age site of Conegliano (Treviso), a strong fecal contamination from herbivores was detected. These results thus demonstrate that for the Medieval Dark Earth the socio-cultural processes leading to the formation of the Dark Earth differ in terms of sewage and waste management and/or in animal husbandry practices.

Between water and land: Connecting and comparing underwater, terrestrial and airborne remote-sensing techniques

Ostrów Lednicki is one of the most important early medieval sites in Poland. Land and underwater archaeological excavations have been carried out there for many decades. This has allowed for a significant reconnaisance of the Lednica settlement complex. However, further research, especially that carried out underwater and in the shore-zone, has required the use of modern methods involving a multibeam echosounder (MBES), sub-bottom profiler (SBP), caesium magnetometer and LiDAR scans. The primary platform used for combining the underwater and aerial survey data was a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment. This software made it possible to compare and correlate acoustic, magnetic, seismic and laser data. As a result, new important archaeological features were discovered, including two previously unknown bridges and extensive shore-zone fortifications.

Kola’s Kingdom: The Territory of Abasa (Western Somaliland) during the Medieval Period

During the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries, the territory of western Somaliland was integrated into a series of Muslim states which controlled large areas of the southeastern Horn of Africa. One of the ways this control manifested itself was in the emergence of a network of permanent settlements on the westernmost side of Somaliland and the neighboring Ethiopian region. Although 20 of these sites have been identified so far, our information about most of them is fragmentary at best. This paper presents a comprehensive study of the material, architectural and territorial context of three of these medieval sites: Abasa (Darbiyah Kola), Hasadinle, and Iskudarka. This paper analyzes the information they provide us for understanding some of the key themes of the history of the region, such as the strategies of state control, the process of Islamization, the relationships between nomads and urban dwellers, and the material expressions of hierarchization and social inequality.

Medieval Archaeological Sites of Semenovsky Island in Tatarstan: history of study and some results of research

The article is dedicated to the medieval sites of the 10th – beginning of the 15th centuries, located on Semenovsky Island in the Spassk district of Tatarstan. These are 5 burial grounds and 4 ancient settlements. Semyonovka I settlement was one of the early settlements of the Volga Bolgars in the Kazan Volga region and founded in the second half of the 10th century. At present, the cultural layer of the ancient settlements on Semenovsky Island is completely eroded by the waters of the Kuibyshev reservoir, as well as the necropolises belonging to them. A significant part of the materials from these sites has been published, except for ceramics. The researchers paid special attention to coins and items, made of non-ferrous metal. The analysis of the finds allowed us to assume that the settlement structure on Semenovsky Island developed without significant interruptions from the second half of the 10th century to the beginning of the 15th century, having undergone several crisis transformations at the end of the 11th – the first half of the 12th and the first third of the 13th centuries, connected in the first case with the invasions of the Kipchaks and in the second case with the Mongol conquest.

Stone Tools of the Nomads of the Arctic Tundra from the Medieval Site of Khaltsyneisalya 1 on the Gydan Peninsula (use wear analysis)

The paper studies stone tools from the Khaltsyneisalya 1 site located on the eastern coast of the Ob Bay on the Gydan Peninsula. The ceramic material found at the site is attributed to the Tiuteisalinsky type of the Lower Ob culture, which was common among the nomads of the Arctic tundra in the Middle Ages. The resulting stone tools are represented by scrapers, knives and anvils. The presence of anvils in the materials of the site is a rather rare phenomenon, in contrast to the scrapers and knives that are consistently found on the sites of the Early Iron Age and the Middle Ages in the Arctic zone of Western Siberia. In order to establish their functional purpose, traceological analysis was carried out with experimental verification of the proposed functions. To establish the purpose of stone tools, experimental work was carried out to model wear marks, which made it possible to obtain important arguments for substantiating the function of the studied tools.

Maltese antiquarians of early-modern age and the cave church of Mellieha

This article aims at presenting some unpublished documents about historiographical research on Maltese Christian Middle Ages written by a Discalced Carmelite friar in the 17th century and recently discovered in the Archives of the Generalate of the Discalced Carmelites in Rome. This is the occasion to report some accounts of Maltese and European scholars regarding one of the most important Medieval sites of Malta (the Church of Our Lady of Mellieha) and to underline how scholars and missionaries of the 17th century related with the historical and archaeological affected by close contacts with Islam. The paper wants therefore to contribute on describing how scholars of the 17th century approached the multicultural and often turbulent aspects of the main Mediterranean areas and how they contributed in assessing the nascent study of Arabic language and culture in terms of historiographic structuring of Mediterranean identity.

A pathological lesion or a postmortem artefact? An interdisciplinary approach to deal with an interesting early medieval case

ObjectiveThis study evaluates a case of pseudopathology and the effects that postmortem taphonomic changes and environmental influences can have on bone. MaterialA skeleton of a young male from the early medieval site Staré Město, dated to the 9th–10th century CE. MethodsThe skeletal remains were subjected to detailed macroscopic and X-ray examination, and then a CT scan and XRF analysis were performed. ResultsX-ray examination of the mandible revealed unusually dense structures, whose appearance was not consistent with any known pathology. Based on the results of CT scanning, it was hypothesized that these were cavities filled with alluvial sediment. X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), focusing on the determination of the silica content, revealed a high intensity of silica in the samples of the affected area of the bone. ConclusionThe hypothesis that the inclusions were composed of waterborne sediment was supported. SignificanceAlthough it is well known that soil can infiltrate bones buried in the ground, its appearance on plain radiographs is not that commonly known. The case illustrates the usefulness of differentiating true pathologies from postmortem alterations to avoid inappropriate interpretations. LimitationsNo similar cases have been described. Suggestion for further researchIn palaeopathological evaluation, the use of multiple imaging and evaluative techniques should be implemented to differentiate pathological lesions from pseudopathology.

Seeing the fields through the weeds: introducing the WeedEco R package for comparing past and present arable farming systems using functional weed ecology

The functional ecology of arable weeds provides a way of comparing present-day and past farming regimes. This paper presents the R package WeedEco, an open-source resource which allows users to compare their archaeobotanical dataset against three previously published arable weed models to understand fertility, disturbance or a combination of both. The package provides functions for data organisation, classification and visualisation, allowing users to enter raw archaeobotanical data, obtain trait values from the functional trait dataset, conduct discriminant analysis and plot the results against the relevant present-day model. Using data from the early medieval site of Stafford in the UK, the paper provides a detailed example of the use of the package, demonstrating its different functions, as well as how the results can be interpreted.

THE PROBLEM OF CONTACTS BETWEEN THE ANCIENT MORDVINIAN POPULATION OF THE MIDDLE TSNA REGION AND THE UPPER VORONEZH CULTURAL GROUP

The issue of contacts between the ancient Mordvins and the early Slavs has become relevant again after finding a group of early medieval sites in the upper reaches of the Voronezh River that are associated with the Dnieper cultural circle. The paper aims to prove contacts between the ancient Mordvins, who left burial sites with cremations in the middle Tsna region (mid-second half of the 7th century AD), and the population of the Upper Voronezh cultural group of the early Middle Ages. To meet the aims the following tasks were set: to consider the origin of the rite of burning the burial grounds in the middle Tsna region during the mid-second half of the 7th century AD; to determine which of the neighbouring archaeological cultures it shows the greatest similarity with; to analyze the clothing complex of the Middle Tsna burial grounds of the specified period with the view to identify the presence of decorations of the Dnieper cultural circle. The research included a comparative analysis of the body cremation rite of the middle Tsna region burial grounds of phase A stage 1 (according to O.V. Zelentsova) with synchronous antiquities of neighbouring regions. As a result, its similarity to the cremations of the Ryazan-Oka culture was established and the assumption of its Slavic origin was rejected. At the same time, the correlation of jewellery originating from some of the earliest burials at cemeteries in the middle Tsna region with materials from the Dnieper cultural circle made it possible to assume the presence of contacts between the indicated communities and suggest a hypothesis that the Upper Voronezh region could be the territory from which objects of the Dnieper appearance, as well as Byzantine imports, came to the Middle Tsna.

Coins from the multi-stratified medieval site of Reccopolis: analysis of long-term numismatic records

ABSTRACT The relationship between numismatic research and archaeological stratigraphy is one of the most significant resources for defining the economic and social mechanisms of the Middle Ages. A numismatic assemblage comprising 146 coins – mostly unpublished – recovered from the late sixth-century Visigothic settlement of Reccopolis in Guadalajara, Spain, is the focus of this study. Through characterisation of the deposits and monetary finds it has been possible to establish a contextual interpretation in which indicators of durability, continuity and rituality in the use of currency can be observed. In connection with this, a substantial number of coins have been found concentrated in specific sectors of the site, especially in the neighbourhood of the church, where the foundational value of some hoards has been reinterpreted. This study establishes a constant connection between chronological dating and stratigraphic contextualisation, exploring the complex periods of continuity in use of certain specimens, while also stressing the importance of interpreting coinage within wider material assemblages.

Medieval migrations and the birth of modern British peoples: a craniometric approach

Craniometric characteristics have long been used to reconstruct among-group variation, potential migration routes and ancestral origins. This study presents results of the comparison of 946 individuals from 16 British medieval sites using craniometric analyses. The purpose is to determine: 1) if observable cranial variation exists among British medieval groups, 2) whether it can best be detected from neurocranial or facial measurements, and 3) the potential causes of these differences.The data were analyzed with multivariate statistical analyses. A selection of 18 variables recorded on each cranium was used for comparison among separately pooled males and females for each site. Principal component analysis was carried out on the mean measurements for these pooled samples to detect differences.The results support findings from previous studies indicating a observable difference in measurements among British samples. Male and female samples follow the same grouping pattern, indicating the validity of the statistical analysis. Both neurocranial and facial measurements contribute to the variability of the groups analyzed.The differences in craniometric measurements are likely determined by immigration from other European areas. Samples from British towns where migration occurred more frequently during and before the Middle Ages (i.e., Hythe, London and Scarborough) support this difference. These towns were major ports, and the movement of people was frequent, with various migrant groups selectively populating them (e.g., Scandinavian, Icelandic, Flemish, French). This is supported by correspondence of the results with historical and archaeological records.