Number Of Archaeological Sites Research Articles

Chronology and paleoclimatic context of hominin occupations in the Fenhe River Basin of northern China during the middle to Late Pleistocene

The relationship between climate change and hominin evolution over the Pleistocene in East Asia is still poorly understood, in particular due to the limited number of archaeological finds and fossils with reliable chronologies. Paleolithic sites preserved in loess-paleosol sequences in eastern Chinese Loess Plateau provide prospective evidence for understanding hominin evolution and dispersion across the Middle to Late Pleistocene in northern China. The Fenhe River Basin has been known as a key area for paleolithic sites and fossil hominins. Here, quartz Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and K-feldspar post-infrared infrared stimulated luminescence (pIRIR) dating was employed on 61 samples from 13 paleolithic sites in the Fenhe River Basin. The reliability of the ages are checked by analysis of luminescence characteristics and comparison between quartz OSL and K-feldspar pIRIR ages. Paleoclimatic records were established using alternating loess-paleosol sequences, and multi-proxy indices of grain size, magnetic susceptibility, CaCO3 and color from the dated sites. These results provide the reliable chronology for hominin presence in the Fenhe River Basin spanning the past three glacial-interglacial cycles. Our results show that this region experienced predominantly dusty, dry and cold conditions during glacials and comparatively moist and warm interglacial conditions, that are sensitive to variations in East Asian Summer and Winter Monsoon (EASM and EAWM respectively) intensities over glacial-interglacial timescales. The Fenhe River Basin is a key geographic refuge for hominins during glacial-interglacial climatic changes in northern China. It was occupied over glacial and interglacial periods spanning at least the last 370 ky, and the evidence for hominin presence is especially clear from ∼250 to 60 ka and since ∼35 ka. The frequency of hominin activity, as indicated by the number of archaeological sites and density of stone artifacts, increased during warm and humid periods of MIS 7 and MIS 5, in contrast to the cold, windy, and dry period of MIS 6. Site numbers increased in MIS 3 and the Last Glacial Maximum, in association with microblade technology. The dating results indicate that hominins with ‘modern’ features may have occurred in the Fenhe River Basin ∼140 ka ago, however, the exact timing of modern human occupation in the region needs a more combined approach consisting of morphological, ancient DNA and geochronological studies.

The Goldilocks Zone for maize agriculture and the settlement and abandonment of the West Tavaputs Plateau

Between 2100 and 500 BP, maize farming spread throughout the American Southwest, driving changes in land use patterns and relative increases in the number of archaeological sites, which is commonly interpreted as increases in population. In the context of the Southwest, with its variable topography and limited water sources, the locations suitable for productive maize agriculture are limited. Higher elevation locations often have a greater abundance of water, both in the form of precipitation and perennial water sources but lack the growing season lengths required for maize farming. Lower elevation locations have the long growing seasons required for maize, but often have higher evaporation rates corresponding with higher temperatures, and thus decreased soil moisture retention. The relationship between elevation and maize agriculture is well recognized, and locations where both growing season length and moisture requirements can be met serve as a Goldilocks Zone in which maize farming is possible. Here, we use a regional approach to model the Goldilocks Zone for maize farming in Utah, and then contextualize patterns of settlement and abandonment on the West Tavaputs Plateau (WTP) in east-central Utah. We use archaeological sites with direct evidence of maize cultivation, modern growing degree days estimates, and modern estimates of moisture abundance to bracket the prehistoric maize farming niche in Utah. Then, we apply the model to archaeological data from the WTP to test hypotheses derived from the Ideal Free Distribution model about the effects population and precipitation changes had on prehistoric land use patterns of settlement and abandonment, and whether the patterns of settlement and abandonment differ from one another. We find that a) population drives land use patterns in the WTP, but not in the way we originally hypothesized, suggesting there is an important decision variable missing from our model, which may pertain to the specific topographic setting of the WTP and the distribution of its water sources, b) precipitation has no effect on land use patterns suggesting that maize agriculture on the WTP was dependent on irrigation, and c) that patterns of settlement and abandonment seem to mirror each other.

Археологическое наследие на территории Муниципального образования «город Екатеринбург»: общий обзор, итоги инвентаризации 2023 г.

There are almost all types of archaeological monuments (settlements, burial grounds, pictograms, ancient production sites) on the territory of the municipal formation of the city of Ekaterinburg, most of them are represented by settlements located along the banks of watercourses and lakes. The dating of the sites covers a wide range from the Mesolithic to the Late Iron Age. At the same time, no more than 10 % of the sites have been explored. The number of archaeological sites in the Ekaterinburg municipality as of 2023 totals 124 objects (according to the State Security authorities). At 66 objects of cultural (archaeological) heritage, the boundaries of the distribution of the cultural layer are defined, and information about them is included in the Unified Register of Objects of Cultural Heritage of Russia. The remaining sites are in the status of identified objects of cultural (archaeological) heritage. They have yet to be added to the register. This article presents a general overview and characteristics of objects of cultural (archaeological) heritage located within the modern boundaries of the municipal formation of the city of Ekaterinburg. It also considers the results of work to determine the boundaries of the spread of the cultural layer on objects of cultural (archaeological) heritage from 2013 to 2022, necessary for entering information about sites in the state cadaster of real estate, methodology and prospects of work in this direction, as well as the need to define the boundaries of all scientifically significant archaeological heritage sites on the territory of Ekaterinburg.

Study of the access routes to the Castilian plateau through the Sella River valley (Asturias, Spain) during the end of the Upper Palaeolithic

The Sella River valley (Asturias, Spain) has been and is currently a benchmark in Palaeolithic discoveries and research. The location and the number of archaeological sites along its orography certify a significant human presence in the valley throughout all of Prehistory.The mobility that these human groups exercised and developed along the fluvial valley and its geographical location, invites the study of access routes to the exploitation of existing resources, as well as the exploration of territories, such as access to the valley of the Duero River, during the Late Glacier.The use of auxiliary tools such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for the study and tracing of prehistoric transit routes, have meant enormous progress in this field, although they are not the definitive solution. In this work we verify the existence of errors generated by these tools. The superimposition of the routes calculated on the real orography of the territory subject to study in this article, reflect certain paths that are impossible to carry out.A verification on the ground is necessary, which serves to elaborate the best route in this case, referring to the Azilian period.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE AND SURVEYS. MODERNITY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE ANNIVERSARY OF M. P. KUCHERA

The paper presents a brief analysis of the territorial, quantitative, and qualitative scope of M. P. Kuchera’s explorations; organizational principles, methodological principles, and practical techniques for ensuring the functioning and livelihood of his archaeological exploration expedition are defined. The peculiarities of the methodology, research methods and style of the researcher’s scientific investigations are characterized.
 Due to visiting and detailed examination in different years of numerous Old Rus sites in different lands of Rus-Ukraine the scientist could to conceptualize and formulate a probable typology of Old Rus settlements and fortifications as well as to build a well-founded dating scheme of Old Rus kitchen pottery. The conscious understanding of necessity of the development of source base and research interest required the most comprehensive coverage of the entire scope research object. At least twice M. P. Kuchera set such tasks and successfully fulfilled them: he created a comprehensive, consolidated and complete study of the Old Rus settlements of Ukraine and the Zmievy Walls.
 A brief description of the author’s personal exploration experience within the scope of the student scientific Early Slavic archaeological expedition and as part of the expedition of M. P. Kuchera is presented.
 The combination and understanding of previous experience, strategies and methods allowed the author to synthesize, develop and implement the program of complex multi-year and multi-seasonal archaeological explorations of the historical Ovruch Volost. The concentrated description of the main principles and features of exploration in the Ovruch project, their key methods and results is provided. Multiple trips, observation in dynamics, monitoring of the state of preservation are some of the main components of the field research strategy of the expeditions of the Ovruch project. The main result was a more than tenfold increase in the number of archaeological sites known in this area before the start of work. Such drastic qualitative and qualitative changes prompted the development of a new special scientific and practical field of archaeological knowledge — the study and assessment of the degree of archaeological research (SAD). The methods of SAD ensure the determination of the archaeological potential of the territory, the creation of its detailed regional models, special techniques and methods of studying and assessing the level of accounting and protection of the historical and archaeological heritage objects of the certain region, the identification and assessment of risks and threats to them.
 Finding the critical modern state of study, recording and preservation of domestic archaeological sites makes it obvious the need to develop and implement urgent and large-scale tasks in this field, first of all, to find out at least approximate parameters of the real archaeological potential of the relevant territories of the state. This task requires specially designed, planned and implemented broad and detailed archaeological exploration.
 In the paper the author once again emphasizes the vital need for the development and implementation of the National Program of Archaeological Survey of Ukraine and the corresponding changes in the strategy and tactics of scientific research of the Instituteof Archaeology of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

Effects of human activities on mountain forest in northern China during the middle Holocene

China has a long history of civilization and agriculture, and its terrestrial ecosystems have long been subjected to anthropogenic impacts. However, we lack detailed knowledge of the nature and timing of human impacts on the development of vegetation ecosystems in the mountain region of northern China during the Holocene, especially during the middle and late Neolithic periods. In this study, we used pollen and charcoal data, combined with the biomization method, from a sediment core from Mayinghai Lake to reconstruct the Holocene vegetation history of a mountain region in northern China. Considering the relatively warm and wet climatic conditions indicated by independent paleoclimate reconstructions, we conclude that our results provide a record of human impacts on the natural landscapes of the study region since ∼4.8 ka (1 ka = 1000 cal yr BP), which are mainly indicated by a decrease in the coverage of temperate deciduous forest (based on biomization scores), higher sedimentary charcoal concentrations, and an increase in the number of archaeological sites, both in the vicinity of the study site and throughout the whole of northern China. Our results provide new insights into the role of humans in the ecological evolution of this mountainous region during the Holocene, and we suggest that the impact of prehistoric humans on vegetation succession was potentially significant, which needs to be considered when using pollen records for paleoclimatic reconstruction.

The Upper Palaeolithic Bone Needle Cases of Siberia: An Overview

Purpose. Needle cases belong to “passive” bone tools, which store thin bone tools such as eyed needles or awls. Being an essential element of the technology of sewing complex clothing, needle cases and needles act as a marker of technological innovations, the spread of which in the Upper Palaeolithic contributed to the active population of the territory of Northern Eurasia. This study's objectives were to analyse and systematise published and archived data on the Upper Palaeolithic needle cases of Siberia and generalise the available information on the problems of interpreting the considered category of sewing kits, their archaeological, technological, cultural and chronological contexts.Results. The study results clearly show that the finds of bone needle cases have been identified and analysed in the materials of a minimal number of archaeological sites with different chronologies and associated with several cultural generations of the Upper Palaeolithic. Bone needle cases of Siberian sites, separated by hundreds and thousands of kilometres, show noticeable similarities in size, morphology, production technology, and ornamentation methods.Conclusion. Appearing for the first time in the Early Upper Palaeolithic, they are rare in Siberian sites and do not always accompany even mass finds of needles.

НЕКОТОРЫЕ РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ МЕРОПРИЯТИЙ ПО ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОМУ НАДЗОРУ НА ОБЪЕКТАХ АРХЕОЛОГИЧЕСКОГО НАСЛЕДИЯ АЛТАЙСКОГО КРАЯ В 2021 ГОДУ (РОССИЯ)

The publication presents the results of the work of the Sector of Archaeology of the Department of State Supervision of the Department of State Protection of the Objects of Cultural Heritage of the Altai Territory, created in 2019. The most important activities of the staff of the Archaeology Sector are the systematic monitoring of archaeological heritage sites, the identification of damage as a result of illegal and non-coordinated archaeological work, as well as the implementation of measures to preserve and protect archaeological sites. The article highlights the work in a number of regions of the Altai Territory in the legal and practical sphere of the protection of cultural heritage sites for 2021 at various archaeological sites: mounds and archaeological settlements. During these events, archaeological structures were recorded: mounds, ditches and ramparts. These observations supplement the available scientific data on a number of archaeological sites and allow us to raise the issue of identifying a new archaeological microdistrict in the Kamensky Ob region, located on the islands of the Ob river. Obi.

Реконструкция ландшафтов и палеоклиматических обстановок на раннесредневековых некрополях Южного Предуралья: Бустанаевском курганном и Бирском грунтовом могильниках (по палинологическим данным)

Interest in the palynological study of deposits of the cemeteries on the territory of Southern Cis-Urals was rare. Moreover, the results of such a few works have not been published. The purpose of this study was to restore paleoecological conditions at the time of the functioning of the Bustanai burial mounds and Birsk burial ground based on the results of palynological analysis. Bustanai burial mounds, numbering 63 barrows, is a part of the Bustanai archaeological complex. The settlement included in the complex is a fortified settlement of the Bakhmutino culture of the Early Middle Ages (3–7th centuries AD). The Birsk burial ground, numbering 692 burials, is the most important site of the Early Middle Ages in the study area. In total, 15 samples were analyzed by the palynological method: 5 samples from barrow 45 at the Bustanai burial mounds and 10 samples from excavation 2 of the Birsk burial ground. The territory of the Birsk burial ground was a synanthropized edge of a coniferous-broad-leaved forest, and in the vicinity of the Bustanai burial mounds, floodplain willow forests were probably widespread. Thanks to comprehensive archaeological and palynological studies of two burial grounds and cultural layers that formed in the Early Middle Ages at a number of archaeological sites in the Southern Fore-Urals region, it was possible to establish zoning in the distribution of plant communities in this time. In the more northern regions at this time coniferous (pine) forests with an admixture of broadleaved species (Birsk settlement) and coniferous-deciduous forests (Birsk burial ground) grew. To the south (fortified settlement Ufa 2) broad-leaved and small-leaved broad-leaved forests with an admixture of conifers were widespread. In open areas, grasses, representatives of meadow forbs, and various synanthropic (ruderal and pasqual) plants grew. The climate of the Early Middle Ages was cooler and drier in the northern regions, temperate and more humid in the vicinity of Ufa. The gaps in the accumulation of palynological material discovered by us in the excavations of the Bustanai burial mounds and the Kara-Abyz settlement may also indicate a deterioration in climatic conditions within the study area in the Early Middle Ages.

Некоторые результаты изучения археологических памятников в Каменском Приобье в 2021–2022 годах

The article presents data on the study (systematic inspection, archaeological exploration) of some archaeological sites in the Kamensky Ob region of the Altai Territory. These observations supplement the available scientific data on a number of archaeological sites and clarify information about one of the archaeological microdistricts in this part of the Upper Ob.

Характер использования долины р. Большой Бабки в средневековье

The authors have summarized the materials from a number of archaeological sites accumulated during many years of investigations by several generations of archaeologists in the Bolshaya Babka river valley. Despite their different quality of exploration and documentation of the research, the following areas were brought to light: general trends in exploration of this territory in temporal and spatial dimensions, preferred locations for settlement in certain landscapes, its usage and perception by various ethnocultural communities. The authors managed to determine some interdependencies between the river valley landscape, shaped by fluvial processes with frequent streamflow changes, and its usage dynamics. It was also discovered that stable flood land regions played an important role; they were not exposed to constant degradations in its widest segment — in its middle and lower reaches. It explains the multilayer nature of the most sites occupied by the population with the similar pattern of economic activity over the wide time line — from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages. Moreover, some naturally emerged within the same landscape lines of communication with neighboring settlement enclaves had to play a significant role in determination of locations for residential areas.

Captivating Architecture of Samadhis (Commemorative Tombs), Chakwal, Punjab, Pakistan

South Asia is an attractive land encapsulating a splendid cultural heritage in the form of dignified art and architecture. Potohar plateau is an uneven land encompassing four district of Punjab Province: Chakwal, Attock, Rawalpindi and Jehlum. Chakwal is one of them. This land is comprised of diversified landscape with hills intersected by undulating plains and rocky patches. A preliminary survey and documentation were conducted in Chakwal in 2019 which yielded a considerable number of archaeological sites and monuments. Chakwal is accommodating rich cultural profile from Stone Age to Medieval Period. Marvelous architecture of different eras is its fascinating aspect. The monuments of district Chakwal are very rich in art and architecture which show local as well as western (Greeks, Roman and Persian) influences. This research paper will throw light upon the splendid architecture of Hindu and Sikh Samadhis found in the same district. Among commemorative tombs, one of them is both Hind-Sikh Samadhi which is a unique and rare characteristic of intriguing Samadhis in the region of Potohar. Fresco paintings illustrated inside the tombs will reveal cultural articulation of Indian Sub-Continent to the western world in the form of decorative motifs as these have been amalgamated to adorn the architecture pieces.

Display of the Ancient Religious Bone Cults in the Late Acheulean–Mousterian Art

The relevance of research. One of the most important unsolved problems of cultural studies, religious studies, art history, and history is to determine the time of the origin of religious ideas: that of the beginning of the spiritual evolution of the mankind, which at a certain stage of development begins to master not only the material world but also tries to comprehend the supernatural transcendent reality. The views of scholars regarding the time of the birth of religious beliefs is divided into two opposing points of view. According to one of them, expressed in the works of R. Marett, F. Ratzel, V. Kabo, A. Zubov, religious representations were inherent in the primitive man since the beginning of existence. A serious argument against this version is the fact that art the site of Olduvai culture no object was found that did not have a utilitarian purpose and that could be interpreted as a cult object. However, this fact can be explained by the fact that the rational awareness of the highest supernatural power was preceded by its subconscious (intuitive) sensation, which did not require objectivation in cult objects. Religious ideas were primitive so that they did not need any cult objects. According to other scholars, one can speak of the emergence of religious ideas only from the moment when the cult artefacts appeared; the pre-religious period had lasted until the end of the Mousterian era. However, the discovery of a number of archaeological sites in the second half of the 20th century at the beginning of the 21st century makes it possible to move the beginning of the appearance of Religious beliefs back until the period of the late Acheulean–beginning of Mousterian era.The purpose of the article: to establish the time of the origin and evolution of the earliest religious beliefs associated with the cult of bones, based on the analysis of the most ancient artefacts currently known, which testify to the ritual activities of the primitive man. The considered artefacts lead to the conclusion that the most ancient evidence of the cults of bones belongs to the era of the late Acheulean and Mousterian. Animal bones were among the first objects that the primitive man singled out from the environment as sacred, and endowed with a supernatural ability to revive the lives of animals and humans. Symbolic compositions of bones and signs carved in them became sacred attributes used for magical rites. The first acts of the ritual symbolization marked the emergence of sacred art and magic, which, radically different from the directly useful work, passed into a special plane of connection of men with the supernatural force. The earliest monuments (Torralba, Ambrona, Azykh), which testify to magical actions with bones, date back to about 400–200 thousand years BC. Thus, more than 2 million years passed from the appearance of man (ca. 2.7 million years ago) to the emergence of religious ideas, which required objectification in cult items and the performance of certain rituals. Although it cannot be denied that the intuitive subconscious sense of the supernatural power has been inherent in man since the beginning of his existence, purposefully by cultic magical actions that called on higher powers for help, he began to practice from the period of the late Acheulean. In the Mousterian era, in addition to the cult of bones, the cult of the skull arose as a container of special energy capable of renewing human life. Despite the fact that there are only a few examples of skull burials in the Mousterian period, apart from Mount Circeo, in Zhoukoudian (1929), Ngandonga (1931–1933) and Steingheim (1933), it can be assumed that about 70–50 thousand years ago, along with burials, an undissected body could be another rite of separation of the skull, which as a container of a special vital energy of man was buried in some parts of the caves on piles of bones and stones, just as at about the same time separately buried the skulls of bears in stone boxes and niches in caves of Regurdu, Azykh, Drachenloh, Wildenmannlisloch, and others. Later, with the development of ideas about the soul, the cult of skulls is further developed, based on the realization of the power of the extracorporeal spiritual essence of the revered dead (= ancestors), the concentration of which requires a magical container.

Weathering processes and mapping of rock’s damage category using GIS at Yoshimi region, Japan

Japan is one of the countries that has a considerable number of archaeological sites that are dated back to thousands of years and are of value. They, as well as many archaeological sites worldwide, suffer weathering to different limits of damage categories. Specification of damage category of such ancient sites is of value for the decision of conservation. The current study aims to find out the prevailing weathering processes acting on the archaeological sites at the Yoshimi area. Also, it aims to map damage categories defined by field survey using a geographic information system (GIS 10.1) program, numerical specification of rock’s damage categories applying the magneto-structive ultrasonic waves for measuring the velocity of the ultrasonic waves (Cp) at specific measuring points in the field. The rock’s salt content has also been examined in the laboratory for small size representative rock samples at the Yoshimi region to find out the main reasons behind the prevailing weathering at the study area. Rock’s petrography and mineral composition using a transmitting polarizing microscope and a scanning electron microscope indicated meta-sediments at the Yoshimi site with diagenetic kaolinite. The damage category at caves 2 and 3 is higher than that at cave 1 as indicated from field survey as well as laboratory measurements of Cp and rock’s salt content. Mapping with GIS confirms that field specification of damage categories is highly matching with laboratory study for these caves. Chemical weathering and mechanical weathering are acting at these sites creating diagenetic kaolinite, micro-cracks, rock deformation up to rock powdering. Salt weathering acts through crystallization of chlorides and hydration of sulfates. Frost weathering as well as biological weathering by algae and plants deforms these sites that are of historical value.

Bioarchaeology-related studies in the Arabian Gulf: potentialities and shortcomings

Archaeological studies provide a powerful tool to understand the prehistoric societies, especially when combined to cutting-edge morphological and molecular anthropological analyses, allowing reconstructing past population dynamics, admixture events, and socio-cultural changes. Despite the advances achieved in the last decades by archaeological studies worldwide, several regions of the World have been spared from this scientific improvement due to various reasons. The Arabian Gulf represents a unique ground to investigate, being the passageway for human migrations and one of the hypothesized areas in which Neanderthal introgression occurred. A number of archaeological sites are currently present in the Arabian Gulf and have witnessed the antiquity and the intensiveness of the human settlements in the region. Nevertheless, the archaeological and anthropological investigation in the Gulf is still in its infancy. Data collected through archaeological studies in the area have the potential to help answering adamant questions of human history from the beginning of the structuring of genetic diversity in human species to the Neolithisation process. This review aims at providing an overview of the archaeological studies in the Arabian Gulf with special focus to Qatar, highlighting potentialities and shortcomings.

Using the USSR General Staff maps to determine the geographical coordinates in archeology

The main problem of archaeological plans drawn in the mid-20th century is that almost all of them have poor accuracy of spatial localisation of objects. Simple estimates show that the error relatively to the actual position of the site can reach several hundred meters on the Earth surface. Because of this, only large, well-preserved ob-jects can be identified using archaeological plans. If the monument is small and poorly preserved, then it is im-possible to distinguish it among modern buildings. This is especially critical if the search radius, which depends on the error in the archaeological plan, reaches 300–500 meters [Bolelov et al. 2019]. This situation complicates creation of modern accurate maps and geographical information systems. To specify the position of the monu-ments, we propose using maps of the General Staff of the USSR (GS), which contain the location details of a large number of archaeological sites. According to our estimate, the GS maps have an error of ca. 50 meters, which significantly reduces the search area. The idea is that, first, the site on the archaeological plan must be identified with the object on the map of the GS, and then the GS coordinates (SK-42) need to be recalculated to the WGS-84 ones of Google Earth. A simple method of conversion from the SK-42 coordinate system to WGS-84 and vice versa in the form of additive corrections to geographical coordinates is proposed. Estimates of random errors have been obtained, which are caused by the error in compiling and analysing the maps. Although numeri-cal estimates have been obtained for the territory of historical Khorezm, it is most likely that the same transforma-tions are applicable to other territories. The described technique has been successfully applied to the archaeo-logical sites of the Yakke-Parsan Channel, which, according to the map of E.E. Nerazik [2013, fig. 14], comprises 20 monuments. Of them, only six largest structures had an accurate identification. As a result of the research, we found and identified seven objects more. The comparison of coordinates made possible the preliminary identifica-tions, and final identifications were made after comparing the appearance of the objects with architectural plans. Other sites have not been found because they have not been preserved to our time. Nevertheless, the GS maps allow obtaining accurate coordinates of the lost monuments.

The Archaeology of Northern Slavery and Freedom by James A. Delle

Reviewed by: The Archaeology of Northern Slavery and Freedom by James A. Delle Christopher Blakley (bio) The Archaeology of Northern Slavery and Freedom james a. delle University Press of Florida, 2019 224 pp. African slavery shaped the society, economy, and culture of northeastern North America beginning as early as 1626, when Dutch settlers forcibly relocated Atlantic Africans to New Netherland. Twelve years later William Pierce sailed the Desire from the Caribbean to Boston, where he hoped to sell a cargo of captive Africans, possibly including Dorcas "ye blackmore," in exchange for enslaved Indigenous people seized by settlers during the Pequot War. James A. Delle's study of the archaeology of northern slavery and freedom explores the materiality of enslavement, fugitivity, and emancipation in the Northeast and New England from the early seventeenth century to the antebellum era and Reconstruction. He argues at the outset that "American slavery was not born in the tobacco fields of Virginia or the rice plantations of the Carolina Low Country but in the villages of Puritan New England and on the streets of Dutch New Amsterdam, the settlement that would eventually become New York City" (31). Drawing on previous scholarship—including archaeological field excavations led by colleagues and his own research conducted with field school teams on multiple sites in the Northeast—Delle makes use of an abundance of archival and archaeological materials to consider the lives of enslaved, self-emancipated, and free people of color over the longue durée. The book fuses analysis with historical documents to a range of material cultural evidence from architecture to ceramics, metal and glass artifacts, cultural landscapes, tools, musical instruments, conjure bundles, and children's toys to reconstruct the everyday lives of diverse communities. A central thesis of the book is that enslaved people experienced and survived violence from slaveholders in the North in much the same way as others did in the South, and Delle's efforts to challenge commonplace notions among the public of kind and benevolent northern slaveholders is worthwhile. The book is divided into eight chapters organized into five sections that examine the themes of the history of northern slavery, the materiality of enslavement in the North, the forms of resistance the enslaved practiced in opposition to their enslavers or slave-catching gangs, the kinds of freedoms [End Page 575] that formerly enslaved people pursued, and the commemoration of northern slavery. Delle begins by providing an overview of northern slavery and archaeological investigations, first with the form of critical community archaeology developed at the African Burial Ground in New York. This excavation conducted in Lower Manhattan raised the methodological question of how to "decolonize the field" of historical archaeology, and it is surprising that beyond this brief mention Delle does not explicitly return to this question throughout his book. Other sites of either enslaved or free African Americans discussed include Lucy Foster's Garden in Andover, Massachusetts; two communities of free people—Skunk Hollow, New Jersey, and Parting Ways, Massachusetts; and provisioning plantations in Rhode Island, principally at Newport, a center of Atlantic slaving throughout the eighteenth century. Following his survey of archaeological projects, Delle turns to reviewing the historiography of slavery in the Northeast and New England, and he discusses the scholarship of Wendy Warren and Christy Clark-Pujara. A third chapter takes up a number of archaeological sites in the North, including another African burial ground in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the provisioning manors of Long Island, and plantations in Connecticut and Massachusetts. In addition to domestic objects like clay pipes and ceramics, Delle draws attention to artifacts associated with conjure and medicine, such as cowrie shells, glass beads, bundles of iron objects, and a stone pestle. Moving to a single case study, Delle presents his research of one plantation, Rose Hill, in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. Descendants of the well-known Carter family of Virginia purchased the estate in 1802 and relocated the enslaved families they possessed to the Genesee Country to produce and sell wheat flour for the Baltimore flour trade as food for provisioning captives on Caribbean plantations. Delle and colleagues investigated the remnant buildings at Rose Hill and its environs, including a home that...

НЕКОТОРЫЕ РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ ПО СИСТЕМАТИЧЕСКОМУ НАБЛЮДЕНИЮ ОБЪЕКТОВ АРХЕОЛОГИЧЕСКОГО НАСЛЕДИЯ АЛТАЙСКОГО КРАЯ В 2020 ГОДУ

The article is dedicated to the results of the work of the Archaeology Sector of the Department of State Supervision of the Office of State Protection of the Cultural Heritage of the Altai Territory which was founded in 2019. The most important areas of activity of the staff of the Archaeology Sector are the systematic observation of archaeological heritage, the identification of damage as a result of illegal and unauthorized archaeological work, as well as the implementation of measures for the preservation and protection of archaeological sites. The article highlights the work in the regulatory and practical sphere of the protection of the objects of cultural heritage in 2020 at various archaeological sites: barrows, archaeological sites, ancient settlements. During these events, archaeological structures were recorded: dwellings, ditches and ramparts. The results of work on the archaeological sites in the Talmensky, Topchikhinsky, Burlinsky and Slavgorodsky districts of Altai Territory are reflected. These observations complement the available scientific evidence for a number of archaeological sites. Keywords: sectors of archaeology, objects of cultural heritage, settlement, moat, rampart, dwelling, burial mound, cultural layer, ceramic vessel, archaeological items

История открытия и начальные этапы изучения Фирсовского археологического микрорайона

Фирсовский археологический микрорайон (ФАМ), впервые выделенный и обоснованный А.Б. Шамшиным, является одним из интереснейших археологических комплексов Верхнего Приобья. На относительно ограниченной территории правобережья Оби в устьевой зоне р. Лосихи сосредоточено свыше трех десятков разнофациальных и разновременных объектов. Большое количество археологических объектов на ограниченном отрезке берега можно объяснить несколькими факторами. Первый — это степной характер правого борта долины Оби от села Кислухи до села Фирсово. Такой ландшафт пригоден для эффективного скотоводческого хозяйства. Второй фактор — впадение на этой территории в Обь нескольких малых рек — Лосихи, Повалихи, Кислухи и др. Третий фактор — чрезвычайно богатые биологическими ресурсами территории данного географического региона: обширная речная пойма, сосновый бор и примыкающие к нему степные пространства. Такие памятники, как некрополь Фирсово XIV и поселение позднего бронзового века Фирсово XVIII, являются крупнейшими на юге Западной Сибири. До сих пор при обследовании отдельных участков ФАМ ученые открывают все новые и новые памятники различных эпох. История открытия и изучения данного комплекса, насчитывающая уже более ста лет, является своеобразным срезом, маркирующим различные периоды развития науки, а также создание периодизации и хронологии древнейшей истории региона.

Computing Solar, Lunar, and Geographical Alignments of Archaeological Sites

Algorithms are described for computing solar, lunar, and geographical alignment angles at any geo-location as a function of time. These angles include the directions of solstice and zenith passage sunrise and sunset, and major/minor lunar standstill moonrise and moonset, and the direction to another site or reference location (e.g., a geomagnetic pole). Two algorithm implementations that have been developed are demonstrated at a number of archaeological sites.