Phases Of Occupation Research Articles

Pastoral subsistence and mounted fighting in the Eastern Tianshan Mountain region: New insights from the Shirenzigou worked bone assemblage.

Situated at a geographic crossroads, the eastern Tianshan Mountain region in northwest China is crucial to understanding various economic, social, and cultural developments on the Eurasian Steppes. One promising way to gain a better knowledge of ancient subsistence economy, craft production, and social change in the eastern Tianshan Mountain region is to study the artifact assemblages from archaeological contexts. Here, we present an analysis of 488 worked animal bones from the large site of Shirenzigou (ca. 1300–1 BCE), to date the largest assemblage of this kind uncovered in the eastern Tianshan Mountain region. We classified these worked bones into six categories, including “ritual objects”, “ornaments”, “tools”, “worked astragali”, “warfare and mobility”, and “indeterminate”. The identification of animal species and skeletal elements indicates that worked bones from Shirenzigou are characterized by a predominance of caprine products, particularly worked astragali, which is consistent with the large proportion of caprine fragments found in animal remains associated with food consumption. This demonstrates the contribution of caprine pastoralism to bone working activities at Shirenzigou. The making of most worked bones does not appear to have required advanced or specialized skills. Considering the absence of dedicated bone working space, alongside the variability in raw material selection and in dimensions of certain types of artifacts, we infer that worked bone production at Shirenzigou was not standardized. In terms of raw material selection and mode of production, Shirenzigou differed from their settled, farming counterparts in the Yellow River valley of northern China. In addition, along with the evidence for violence and horseback riding, the increasing use of bone artifacts associated with warfare and mobility during the late occupation phase of Shirenzigou reflects growing social instability and implies the likely emergence of single mounted horsemen, equipped with light armors, in the region during the late first millennium BCE. Our results provide new insights into animal resource exploitation and changing lifeways of early pastoral societies in the eastern Tianshan Mountain region, expanding our knowledge of the economic, social, and political milieu of late Bronze Age and early Iron Age eastern Eurasia.

Ceramic building materials from the ancient Témesa (Calabria region, Italy): Raw materials procurement, mix-design and firing processes from the Hellenistic to Roman period

Ceramic building materials (CBM) are interesting archaeological items for gathering the material culture identity and urban setting of the ancient populations since their production is generally related to the local availability of clayey raw materials and advancements of technological skills of ancient makers.This paper investigates the Hellenistic and Roman productions of ceramic building materials from the archaeological site of Témesa on the Tyrrhenian coastline of Calabria region (southern Italy), a settlement where a flourishing ceramic tradition has been attested for all of its occupation phases, from the late Archaic to the Roman period. Here, the local availability of clayey and sandy raw materials permitted the development of a thriving worksite. A combined study of mineralogical, petrographic and micropaleontological features of archaeological samples and geological raw materials collected nearby the archaeological settlement, permitted to constrain the raw materials sources, and investigate the technological level achieved between the second half of the 4th century BCE and the 3rd century CE.This study highlighted that most of CBM was made by mixing sands from a nearby fluvial deposit with upper Miocene clayey raw materials. Chemical composition and micropaleontological investigation of the foraminiferal content of archaeological samples and clays validated the possible exploitation of local raw materials. Textural parameters and the mineralogical assemblage of temper grains, characterized by the peculiar presence of metamorphic lithics, also attested the use of Savuto river sands. Ceramic technology accounts for a firing process at reasonably high temperatures, evidencing the good technological level of production.Moreover, the presence of samples characterized by mix-designs and mineralogical assemblages consistent with geological materials from Campania region witnesses the importation of ceramic materials from other sites, suggesting the existence of operating trades as already attested for other sites of Tyrrhenian coast.

Supportive primary teacher beliefs towards multilingualism through teacher training and professional practice

Teaching multilingual learning groups is an important part of the professional activity of primary teachers in Germany, placing high demands on their occupational professionalism. The aim of this article is to analyse the effects of educational and occupational influencing factors on the beliefs of teachers regarding multilingualism as a facet of pedagogical professionalism. The data is based on the ‘BLUME-study’, in which primary teachers (N = 123) were asked about their beliefs regarding multilingualism. A linear regression model was used to analyse the extent to which the teachers’ beliefs are influenced: (a) by participating in learning opportunities on ‘German as a Second Language (GSL)’ in teacher training; (b) through experiences with multilingual students in teaching; (c) by participating in training on multilingualism in professional practice; and (d) by undertaking language-sensitive school programmes. Therefore, we analyse influencing factors drawn from both the university phase and the occupational phase of teacher professionalisation. The results show that the use of learning opportunities on the topic of ‘GSL’ in pre-service training and in in-service training as well as the positive evaluation of contact experiences in teaching lead to supportive beliefs towards multilingualism.

CIB W040: International Surveys Considering Moisture Safety in Buildings During Design and Construction

We conducted comparative surveys of design consultants in three countries to determine current knowledge and experienced moisture problems. The study is part of the CIB W040 research roadmap needs analyses for realigning research efforts with stakeholder requirements for moisture safety. Survey results show that a third of construction projects in the last five years were affected by moisture problems, even though practitioners applied multiple preventative measures at least some of the time. Water installations caused approximately 20 % of the moisture damage. In each country, preventing moisture damage was necessary; the means to address problems varied, with no one dominating solution. Design and construction guidelines were more helpful than the building code requirements. Information is available, but designers need dedicated time and budget for implementing better moisture safety. A quantitative goal is to increase the frequency of moisture safety measures while increasing the availability of tools. The usefulness of selected measures and instruments is strongly case-specific. Subtopic analysis such as causes of moisture damage due to leaky water installations needs more detailed investigation. Further research is needed building upon the online survey results to develop intelligent tools preventing moisture damage in the design, construction, and building occupancy phases.

Qarakhanids on the Edge of the Bukhara Oasis: Archaeobotany of Medieval Paykend

The urban center of Paykend was an exchange node just off the main corridor of the Silk Road in the Bukhara Oasis on the edge of the hyperarid Kyzyl–Kum Desert. The city was occupied from the end of 4 century B.C.E. to the mid–12 century C.E.; our study focuses on the Qarakhanid period (C.E. 999 – 1211), the last imperial phase of urban occupation at Paykend before its abandonment. In this study, we present the results of an analysis of archaeobotanical remains recovered from a multifunction rabat, which appears to have comprised a domicile, military structure, center of commerce, and/or a caravanserai, a roadside inn for travelers. We shed light on how people adapted a productive economy to the local ecological constraints. By adding these data to the limited Qarakhanid archaeobotany from across Central Asia, we provide the first glimpses into cultivation, commerce, and consumption at a Silk Road trading town along the King’s Road, the central artery of ancient Eurasia.

FRAGMENTS OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM BC FROM NIGIN

The ancient city of Nigin in the State of Lagash is largely attested in the epigraphic sources of the rulers of the First Dynasty of Lagash. Conversely, the archaeological evidence of the Early Dynastic Period is so far very scanty and limited. This paper presents a small group of documents to be dated to the Early Dynastic Period IIIb that were found out of context, but that nevertheless point to a phase of occupation of Nigin in the third millennium BC and are coherent with the information we already know about history of the city and the State of Lagash.

Gonfienti (Prato, Tuscany, Central Italy), a zooarchaeological snapshot on daily sixth-century Etruscan household life

While Etruscan sites have received considerable attention over the years, scholarly focus has rarely been directed on the faunal remains from the various celebrated archaeological localities. The present is a zooarchaeological analysis of archaeofaunal material from Gonfienti, a renowned Etruscan locality near Prato, in north-central Tuscany. The vast, complex archaeological site includes a large building, called Edifice 1, that was constructed starting from the sixth century BC. Predominant taphonomic signatures, human-induced damage, archaeobiological evidence and mortality patterns obtained from the study of the faunal remains from the building’s main phase of occupation revealed that the householders depended principally on cattle and subordinately on domestic suids for much of their subsistence, although game also formed part of the diet. The zooarchaeological interpretations match up very well with the interpretations of the excavators and archaeologists concerning the function of Edifice 1 and the use of some of its rooms. In addition, the low incidence of in situ weathering, extensive corrosion of cortical bone surfaces possibly by exposure to alkaline solutions and the relatively high frequency of waterfowls in the studied samples suggest that the area hosting Edifice 1 experienced very humid conditions and was surrounded by large wetland expanses at the time of its main Etruscan occupation.

Mountains, Herds and Crops: Notes on New Evidence from the Early Neolithic in the Southern Central Pyrenees

AbstractAfter years of intense fieldwork, our knowledge about the Neolithisation of the Pyrenees has considerably increased. In the southern central Pyrenees, some previously unknown Neolithic sites have been discovered at subalpine and alpine altitudes (1,000–1,500 m a.s.l.). One of them is Cueva Lóbrica, 1,170 m a.s.l., which has an occupation phase with impressed pottery datedca.5400 cal BCE. Another is Coro Trasito, 1,558 m a.s.l., a large rock shelter that preserves evidence of continuous occupations in the Early Neolithic, 5300–4600 cal BCE. Evidence of human occupation at higher altitudes has also been documented. In the Axial Pyrenees, at the Obagues de Ratera rock shelter, 2,345 m a.s.l., an occupation has been dated to around 5730–5600 cal BCE. At Cova del Sardo, in the Sant Nicolau Valley, at 1,780 m a.s.l., a series of occupations have been excavated, dated toca.5600–4500 cal BCE. These sites allow us to discuss patterns of occupation of the mountainous areas between the Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic. Recent data suggest that the last hunter–gatherer occupied all altitudinal stages of the Pyrenees, both in the outer and inner ranges. A change in the settlement pattern seems to have occurred in the Early Neolithic, which consisted of a concentration of occupations in the valley bottom and mid-slopes, in biotopes favourable to both herding and agriculture.

Multiple hominin dispersals into Southwest Asia over the past 400,000 years

Pleistocene hominin dispersals out of, and back into, Africa necessarily involved traversing the diverse and often challenging environments of Southwest Asia1–4. Archaeological and palaeontological records from the Levantine woodland zone document major biological and cultural shifts, such as alternating occupations by Homo sapiens and Neanderthals. However, Late Quaternary cultural, biological and environmental records from the vast arid zone that constitutes most of Southwest Asia remain scarce, limiting regional-scale insights into changes in hominin demography and behaviour1,2,5. Here we report a series of dated palaeolake sequences, associated with stone tool assemblages and vertebrate fossils, from the Khall Amayshan 4 and Jubbah basins in the Nefud Desert. These findings, including the oldest dated hominin occupations in Arabia, reveal at least five hominin expansions into the Arabian interior, coinciding with brief ‘green’ windows of reduced aridity approximately 400, 300, 200, 130–75 and 55 thousand years ago. Each occupation phase is characterized by a distinct form of material culture, indicating colonization by diverse hominin groups, and a lack of long-term Southwest Asian population continuity. Within a general pattern of African and Eurasian hominin groups being separated by Pleistocene Saharo-Arabian aridity, our findings reveal the tempo and character of climatically modulated windows for dispersal and admixture.

Bramka Rockshelter: An Early Mesolithic cave site in Polish Jura

Although multiple Mesolithic cave sites have been recognised in Europe, the use of such sites by Early Holocene hunter gatherers was extremely scarce north of the Carpathians. Single Mesolithic artefacts have been found thus far only in six cave sites in Poland. The rich Early Mesolithic assemblage found in Bramka Rockshelter in southern Poland seems to be quite extraordinary in such a context. The site was excavated over 50 years ago, but the results have never been published or analysed beyond a short mention of child burial found in the Mesolithic context. The paper presents new radiocarbon dates obtained for the Mesolithic occupation and the child burial, showing the Early Holocene chronology of the Komornician assemblage and the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age chronology of the burial. The assemblage's techno-typological analysis allowed us to identify six human occupation phases at the site, with the most intensive phase connected to the Mesolithic. Comparative analyses of other Mesolithic assemblages from the region, together with an extremely high percentage of debitage found in the Bramka Rockshelter assemblage, allow us to discuss the possibility of identifying the site as a knapping workshop located in the vicinity of Jurassic flint outcrops.

New insights into the spatial organization, stratigraphy and human occupations of the Aceramic Neolithic at Ganj Dareh, Iran.

The Aceramic Neolithic site of Ganj Dareh (Kermanshah, Iran) is arguably one of the most significant sites for enhancing our understanding of goat domestication and the onset of sedentism. Despite its central importance, it has proven difficult to obtain contextually reliable data from it and integrate the site in regional syntheses because it was never published in full after excavations ceased in 1974. This paper presents the Ganj Dareh archive at Université de Montréal and shows how the documentation and artifacts it comprises still offer a great deal of useful information about the site. In particular, we 1) present the first stratigraphic profile for the site, which reveals a more complex depositional history than Smith's five-level sequence; 2) reveal the presence of two possible pre-agricultural levels (H-01 and P-01); 3) explore the spatial organization of different levels; 4) explain possible discrepancies in the radiocarbon dates from the site; 5) show some differences in lithic technological organization in levels H-01 and P-01 suggestive of higher degrees of residential mobility than subsequent phases of occupation at the site; and 6) reanalyze the burial data to broaden our understanding of Aceramic Neolithic mortuary practices in the Zagros. These data help refine our understanding of Ganj Dareh's depositional and occupational history and recenter it as a key site to improve our understanding the Neolithization process in the Middle East.

The role of the built environment in updating design requirements in the post-pandemic scenario: a case study of selected diagnostic facilities in Brazil

ABSTRACT This paper aims to discuss the relations between the built environment and the patient’s health, considering the context of the pandemic experienced since 2020. We assessed the results of a systematic literature review to create a theoretical framework. Based on that, we evaluated the performance of five diagnostic facilities sited in São Paulo, Brazil, during the occupation phase. These buildings share a similar design programme in a way that enables a systematic qualitative assessment. We organised the design requisites in a Table of Diagnostics and Recommendations. Based on the gathered evidence, we proposed reviewing the existing guidelines to promote healthier indoor environments. Among the leading design guidelines updates are issues regarding the management of contamination risk, such as the strategic planning of circulation routes, increasing outdoor air rates, and the specification of disinfection systems. We also present measures to promote healthiness and well-being for both patients and the medical team, including improving solar access to indoor environments and physical and visual access to the outdoors.

New data and perspectives on the early stages of the Neolithic in the Middle Kura River Valley (South Caucasus). The 2017–2019 excavations at Kiçik Tepe, Western Azerbaijan

The factors and dynamics that initiated the Neolithisation process in the South Caucasus between the very end of the 7th and the beginning of the 6th millennium BCE are still unclear and hotly debated. It is within this framework that the excavations at Kiçik Tepe, in the middle Kura river valley of Western Azerbaijan, aim to offer new data and new perspectives on the complex interplay of environmental, social and cultural factors that contributed to this process. Excavations at Kiçik Tepe uncovered two main phases of occupation consisting of circular buildings dating to the first centuries of the 6th millennium. Architectural remains allowed us to highlight an evolutionary architectural trajectory hinting at social and productive changes in the role and structure of the households. The subsistence strategies that rely on species domesticated elsewhere show at once a series of specificities highlighting adaptation to the local environment and the exploitation of wild species possibly resulting from previous Mesolithic practices. Simultaneously, while the almost aceramic way of life at Kiçik Tepe outlines a local dialectic between Mesolithic and Neolithic cooking practices, lithic and macrolithic tools pinpoint broadly shared regional elements as well as very localised traits framed into both long and short distance contacts. As a whole the new evidence from Kiçik Tepe highlights that the Neolithisation in the South Caucasus was not a straightforward process that consisted of the abrupt and homogenous adoption of an exogenous ‘package’ but most probably of a gradual and complex process of change resulting from dynamics of resistance and innovation between old and new socio-economic and cultural models.

Lower and Early Middle Palaeolithic of Southern Britain: the Evidence from the River Test

Fluvial terrace sequences of Pleistocene rivers provide a chronological framework for examining broad patterns of change in the Palaeolithic record. Collections of artefacts recovered from individual terraces represent a time-averaged sample of the range of lithic technology discarded in a river valley over thousands of years. These can be compared and contrasted with other terraces to identify the timing of the appearance of key technological innovations and chronological variation in lithic technology. In Britain, the punctuated nature of human presence during the Pleistocene means that archaeological variation across a river terrace sequence is likely to relate in part to successive phases of occupation by human groups derived from populations in mainland Europe. This paper presents an analysis of the Lower and early Middle Palaeolithic record of the River Test, Hampshire, which was a tributary river of the former River Solent. The timing of the first appearance of handaxes and Levallois technology is established, and chronological patterning in handaxe typology and technology is identified. The Test record is placed in its regional context, and its implications for understanding the human occupation history of northwest Europe during the Middle Pleistocene are discussed.

Integration of Emergy Analysis with Building Information Modeling

Traditional energy analysis in Building Information Modeling (BIM) only accounts for the energy requirements of building operations during a portion of the occupancy phase of the building’s life cycle and as such is unable to quantify the true impact of buildings on the environment. Specifically, the typical energy analysis in BIM does not account for the energy associated with resource formation, recycling, and demolition. Therefore, a comprehensive method is required to analyze the true environmental impact of buildings. Emergy analysis can offer a holistic approach to account for the environmental cost of activities involved in building construction and operation in all its life cycle phases from resource formation to demolition. As such, the integration of emergy analysis with BIM can result in the development of a holistic sustainability performance tool. Therefore, this study aimed at developing a comprehensive framework for the integration of emergy analysis with existing Building Information Modeling tools. The proposed framework was validated using a case study involving a test building element of 8’ × 8’ composite wall. The case study demonstrated the successful integration of emergy analysis with Revit®2021 using the inbuilt features of Revit and external tools such as MS Excel. The framework developed in this study will help in accurately determining the environmental cost of the buildings, which will help in selecting environment-friendly building materials and systems. In addition, the integration of emergy into BIM will allow a comparison of various built environment alternatives enabling designers to make sustainable decisions during the design phase.

Crop management and agricultural responses at Early Bronze IV Tell Abu en-Ni'aj, Jordan

This study employs an array of quantitative methods to analyze village agricultural practices during a time of regional urban abandonment at the end of the Early Bronze Age in the Southern Levant. Coordinated cluster and canonical discriminant analyses of stratified archaeobotanical assemblages from the village of Tell Abu en-Ni'aj, Jordan support a detailed portrait of changing crop management at a sedentary agrarian community during Early Bronze IV, a period marked by widespread mobile pastoralism. Our quantified analyses of carbonized plant remains are augmented with stable isotope composition data for major cultigens to offer an innovative perspective on Early Bronze IV agrarian life in the northern Jordan Valley. Seeds from seven occupation phases spanning the time period from about 2500 to 2200 cal BC indicate increasing primary reliance on Hordeum vulgare (hulled barley), and only modest cultivation of wheat, mostly Triticum dicoccum (emmer) over this time span. Constrained incremental sum of squares (CONISS) cluster analysis and canonical discriminate analysis (CDA) illustrate significant shifts in crop cultivation, and possibly related animal management, including a major transition at about 2375 cal BC. Our analyses further highlight the most important plant taxa that contributed to these shifts. Cultivated crops, wild species and chaff are more ubiquitous in the earlier phases at Tell Abu en-Ni'aj, while percentages of H. vulgare and ubiquities of Lens culinaris (lentil) increase in the later phases. Lower seed densities, weed ubiquities and chaff to cereal ratios suggest more distant crop processing after about 2375 cal BC. Values of Δ13C for the major cereals, which provide a proxy for water availability, indicate dry farming of barley and preferential watering of wheat. This study proposes that a suite of changes occurred between the earlier and later phases at Tell Abu en-Ni'aj, which portray generally diminished, more remote crop production, possibly amid greater drought stress, leading to village abandonment. We illustrate a multi-faceted analytical approach suitable for interpretation of comparable archaeobotanical evidence and inference of agrarian dynamics elsewhere in prehistory.

Geophysical prospecting for the pre- and early-historical reconstruction of the subsurface underneath the Paleochristian Basilica of Santa Maria di Compulteria (northern Campania, Italy)

The medieval Basilica of Santa Maria in Compulteria was built at an important road junction in the Alife Plain (Campania region), a wide basin within the Apennine mountains of southern Italy. Archaeological excavations carried out during the 1990s at shallow depths under the floor of the Basilica discovered the remains of Roman Age buildings, but little is known about their extent and the older phases of occupation of this key site. We present here the results of two high-resolution 3D geophysical surveys – ground penetrating radar and electrical resistivity tomography – carried out to understand the nature and the extent of the structures buried down to about 10 m depth under the modern floor of the Basilica. The geophysical investigations allowed us to find evidence for older anthropogenic traces at a greater depth, which have never been hypothesized. An integrated interpretation of the geophysical measurements with previous archaeological data for the shallow part, and with admissible human traces at depth, has provided an exhaustive reconstruction of the subsurface remains from the upper to the deeper portion of the investigated volume. In particular, our findings highlight anomalous features of likely anthropogenic origin, which are ascribed to historical and pre-historical phases preceding the construction of the middle age Basilica.

2400 years of climate and human-induced environmental change recorded in sediments of Lake Młynek in northern Poland

Abstract. In the densely forested Warmia and Masuria region (northern Poland) there are many small endorheic lakes characterized by their low sedimentation rate, which makes them excellent archives of Holocene environmental and palaeoclimatic change. Lake Młynek, located near the village of Janiki Wielkie, was selected for multi-faceted palaeoenvironmental research supported with radiocarbon dates. Sediments from this lake also contain unique information about human impact on the environment, because a stronghold has been operating on its northern shore since the early Iron Age to the early Medieval period, giving the opportunity to correlate palaeoenvironmental data with the phases of human activity over the last 2400 years. During the second and third centuries BCE the lake was surrounded by a dense deciduous forest. From the first century BCE to second century CE the forest around the lake was much reduced, which can be associated with the first pre-Roman (La Tène) and Roman occupation phase evidenced by the construction of the stronghold located close to the lake. From the second up to ninth century CE gradual restoration of the forest and a decline in human activity took place, along with lake deepening and the onset of a colder and humid climatic phase which corresponded to the global cooling episode known as the Bond 1 event (1.5 ka BP). The next intensive phase of forest clearing around the lake occurred between the 9th–13th century CE as result of human activity (Middle Age settlement phase of the stronghold). Whilst this period is marked by a warming, the human impact which has transformed the landscape likely overprints any signals of climate-driven environmental changes.

Roasting Pits as Social Space: The Organisation of Outdoor Activities on an Early Mesolithic Settlement Site in Northern Sweden

The interior of northern Sweden was thc last area in Europe to become icefree and pioneer settlers arrived soon aftcr deglaciation. Early Mesolithic settlement sites in the Arjeplog area, Sweden, provide evidence of rapid colonization. This paper highlights the significance of the overall site arena as an interpretative unit for analyses of social life among the pioneer settlers in interior Northern Sweden. Results from the excavation of the Dumpokjauratj site dating to c. 8,600 BP (9,600 cal BP) are presented. The distinct spatial outline implies conformity in cultural codes during the initial phase of occupation reflecting an underlying principle of duality.

Tracking behavioral persistence and innovations during the Middle Pleistocene in Western Europe. Shift in occupations between 700 and 450 ka at la Noira site (Centre, France)

Some areas in Western Europe indicate hiatuses in human occupations, which cannot be systematically attributed to taphonomic factors and poor site preservation. The site of la Noira in the center of France records two occupation phases with a significant time gap. The older one is dated to around 700 ka (stratum a) with an Acheulean assemblage, among the earliest in Western Europe, and the upper phase of the sequence (stratum c) is dated to ca. 450 ka. Humans left the area at around 670 ka, at the beginning of the marine isotope stage (MIS) 16 glacial stage, when cold conditions became too severe. No sites between 650 and 450 ka have yet been discovered in the center region despite systematic surveys over the past three decades. The archaeological evidence indicates that populations returned to the area, at the end of MIS 12 or the beginning of the long interglacial MIS 11. Here, we use technological behaviors common to the two levels of la Noira—strata a and c to evaluate their differences. Compared to other key European sequences, this site can be used to address the evolution of the behavioral strategies in Europe between MIS 17 and 11. We formulate two hypotheses concerning the human settlement of this area: (1) local behavioral evolution over time of populations occasionally occupying the region when the climate was favorable or (2) dispersal and arrival of new populations from other areas. The results focus on (1) changes in land-use patterns with the extension of the territory used by hominins in the upper level, (2) the introduction of new core technologies, including some evidence of early Levallois debitage, and (3) more intensive shaping of bifaces and bifacial tools. Results attest that the la Noira archaeological assemblages record similar regional behavioral evolution as observed at a larger scale in Europe.