Rescue Excavations Research Articles

Searching for islands of happiness – LBK settlement at Cząstków Polski site XII, Czosnów Commune in Mazovia, Central Poland

Abstract Loose finds associated with the LBK have long been recovered during surveys in the Warsaw Basin, Mazovia. Most often, they have been interpreted as remnants of short stays of LBK communities migrating northwards along the Vistula River, or as stopping points of expeditions southwards for flint. Rescue excavations at Cząstków Polski site XII, Czosnów commune, although carried out on a small scale, provide the first possibility of a comprehensive multiproxy analysis to test this hypothesis and determine the nature of the settlement. By integrating the results of the analysis of natural conditions (soils, hydrography), excavated features, and artefacts: pottery (technology, stylistics, petrography), flint (raw materials, typology, use-wear) and coarse-grained stone (raw materials, typology, use-wear), we show that the site actually represents the remains of a small, shortly used settlement that is part of a small contemporaneous settlement micro-region occupied during the beginnings of the middle LBK (early Music Note phase). This micro-region is an example of a peripheral, short-lived and thus unsuccessful colonisation of early farming communities associated with the LBK.

Re-evaluating Cambaztepe in the Context of its Yamnaya (Pit-Grave) Origin, the Anatolian Trade Network and Possible Early Migrations towards Anatolia in the 3rd Millennium BC

Abstract This study aims to re-evaluate Cambaztepe, located approximately 12 km west of the Silivri district center of İstanbul, where rescue excavations led by the İstanbul Archaeology Museums in 2015 were carried out. Cambaztepe is a burial mound dated to the Early Bronze Age II (EBA II) within Anatolian chronology. It also has a secondary burial context dated to the Iron Age. Although there is no absolute dating, Cambaztepe is currently believed to be the earliest burial mound in Türkiye’s European territory (also known as Eastern Thrace), considering the burial position and the grave goods and/or finds. The excavation team has published only a preliminary report and two papers, of which one was published in a popular magazine. The possible relationship between Cambaztepe and Yamnaya (Pit-Grave), and other related cultures was not examined in the preliminary report. Furthermore, the preliminary report provides inaccurate and misleading suggestions about the way the deceased were placed in the grave and the grave finds. In addition to other evidence, the way the deceased were placed in the grave as a semi-supine position indicates that the Cambaztepe EBA II grave context is related to the Pit-Grave or other cultures with Pit-Grave traditions in the Balkans. However, the grave structure in round shape with a floor of stone slabs and the grave finds, consisting of a beaked jug of inland Western Anatolian origin and a dagger of Anatolian origin, make Cambaztepe different from contemporary burial mounds in the Balkans. The existence of a cremation burial is sufficient to make concrete suggestions in the context of possible early migrations from Europe to Anatolia in the 3rd millennium BC, even though the exact nature of these migrations remains unknown, whether they involved the population movement or transfer of ideas-ideology-beliefs (or a combination of both). Likewise, the Cambaztepe EBA II grave context has a potential to define the mechanism of migration from Anatolia to Europe more precisely. The Cambaztepe EBA II grave context should be placed at the date range 2700–2500 BC, based on the burial practice observed in the Balkans and the grave finds of Anatolian origin.

William F. Grimes: archaeology in the public eye

William Francis Grimes (1905–1988) was Director of the Institute of Archaeology, London, from 1956 to 1973. His career included membership of the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff where he was responsible for the excavation of prehistoric and Roman sites in Wales. In 1938 he joined the archaeology team of the Ordnance Survey and took part in the excavation of the Anglo-Saxon burial at Sutton Hoo. During the war years he undertook rescue excavations prior to the construction of military airfields. He was appointed Director of the Museum of London in 1945 and was engaged with the excavation of bomb-damaged London, including the site of the Roman Mithraeum at Walbrook. In retirement he conducted a number of field projects in Pembrokeshire through the Field Studies Centre at Dale.

Preliminary Report on the Salvage Excavation in the Egyptian Section at the National Museum of Rio De Janeiro

Preliminary Report on the Salvage Excavation in the Egyptian Section at the National Museum of Rio De Janeiro

Horus Behdety, a Royal Wife, and a Royal Daughter from the Private Necropolis of Kom el-Khamaseen (South Saqqara)

Kom el-Khamaseen is a small necropolis located in South Saqqara, 3 km west of the pyramid of Djedkare-Izezi, dating from the end of the Old Kingdom to the First Intermediate Period. In the past few decades, the site has been the victim of several incidences of looting which have destroyed it to a great extent. Between 2019 and 2022, a team from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona carried out rescue excavations there. A great number of limestone blocks and block fragments decorated with inscriptions and reliefs were recovered. In a few cases, this decoration suggests reuse and external provenance. Thus, the two blocks presented here – one with a representation of Horus Behdety and the other with an allusion to a royal daughter – must come from the royal cemeteries of South Saqqara. A discussion of this provenance and of the robbery and reuse of materials during the First Intermediate Period is presented. [Formula: see text]

The Artemis Sanctuary of İnarası Cave (Burdur/Bucak)

İnarası is located within the borders of Taşyayla village in Bucak district of Burdur province. This place was discovered in 2008 by F. Gülşen from Burdur Museum, who went with the court committee to investigate the illegal excavation incident in İnarası; the registration efforts were completed in 2009, and the boundaries of the area were determined and added to the cultural inventory in 2014. The data obtained during the rescue excavations carried out in the cave, which was determined to be used as a sacred area and naos in 2016-2017, belong to the Late Neolithic Age and the Ottoman Period. One of the most striking issues in this study is the inscriptions. The first of the inscriptions is the one that documents that the sanctuary was dedicated to the goddess Artemis. The second inscription, it is learned that it is not the name of the person who had votived, but the name of his father. In addition, it is suggested that a fragmentary inscription containing the letters MHTPI˂O may have been associated with Meter Oreia or Demeter. Another important subject of the study is the architectural elements that provide important clues regarding the restitution of the two facade arrangements of the sanctuary. It is known that in the Anatolian theological tradition, the continuity of the cult was ensured by the identification of the Mother Goddess with the belief in Ephesian Artemis. For this reason, the presence of worship areas related to the Mother Goddess on the main rock surrounding the sacred area in İnarası and on the hill to the north, and the construction of the Artemis sacred area in the same region later, are important evidence of the continuity of the cult.

New data about the use of coinage in Late Antique Tridentum (Trento, Italy)

Abstract In 2003, rescue excavations at Piazzeta dell'Anfiteatro, Trento, identified an extramural funerary area dated to the 5th c. CE. The necropolis yielded 45 coins (3rd–5th c.), most of which were involuntary losses. Owing to the sound stratigraphy of the site, these coins present a reliable sample of coinage circulating in Tridentum during the 5th c. This study presents a brief synthesis of the transformations undergone by the Late Antique city, so as to understand the dynamics attested in Piazzeta dell'Anfiteatro, a description of the stratigraphic units that contained coins, and a detailed analysis of the coins from several perspectives. The aim is to improve our understanding of the Late Antique monetary history of the city and Trentino's territory.

Salvage Excavations of a Stone Cist Grave at Açıkköy, Mardin: An Archaeological and Archaeometric Evaluation

Salvage Excavations of a Stone Cist Grave at Açıkköy, Mardin: An Archaeological and Archaeometric Evaluation

Bioarchaeological Assessment of Skeletal Remains from A Salvage Excavation in Antalya Province

Bioarchaeological Assessment of Skeletal Remains from A Salvage Excavation in Antalya Province

The Puzzle of Silesia’s Pre-Roman Iron Age: The Settlement at Graniczna Street in Wrocław

In the autumn of 2014, rescue excavations were carried out at 4A Graniczna Street in Muchobór Wielki, Wrocław. The 2-hectare excavation area yielded remains of a multi-phase settlement, including a stage from the pre-Roman Iron Age. The excavated finds primarily consisted of pottery vessel fragments, alongside a well-preserved middle La Tène Mötschwil-type brooch, daub, and animal bones. Among the identified features were pits, postholes, pit houses, and the remains of a ground-level post building with a well. However, while the structure dates to the Iron Age, its exact chronology remains a subject of debate. The discovery of this late pre-Roman Iron Age settlement in the Ślęza river zone provides further evidence that the area featured a network of settlements dating to the earliest phases of the late pre-Roman period. These settlements bridge the chronological gap between the decline of the Lower Silesian La Tène culture settlement and the earliest discoveries associated with the classical Przeworsk style.

New research on Neolithic circular enclosures

Today, Neolithic circular enclosures are generally regarded as evidence of the first monumental architecture in Europe. They are undoubtedly a topical subject in Neolithic research and also attract great interest from a broader audience. This has not always been the case. Just over 40 years ago, the few examples known then, mainly from Bavaria and Bohemia, were regarded as exotic and of no particular importance for the cultural-historical assessment of early farming societies in Europe. Thanks to aerial archaeology, the number of known sites increased rapidly in the 1970s and 1980s in Bavaria and Lower Austria. This has also been the case, since the 1990s, in East Germany and other countries of the former Eastern Bloc when political change made systematic prospecting flights possible. In addition, the development of geophysical prospection methods provided new insights into the structure and landscapes into which the enclosures were embedded. Finally, the increasing number of rescue excavations and large-scale scientific excavations have contributed to a better understanding of such sites as a characteristic component of Middle Neolithic societies in Central Europe.

RADIOCARBON CHRONOLOGY OF THE OCCUPATION OF THE SOUTHERN COAST OF NAYARIT, MEXICO

ABSTRACT Despite chronicles from the 16th century describing fertile alluvial plains and densely populated wetlands, archaeology in western Mexico has been little studied. The Directorate of Archaeological Salvage (DSA) of National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) has initiated a study of two sites in Costa Canuva, at the southern part of Nayarit state: Becerros and Naranjos. Thirty charcoal and shell samples were radiocarbon (14C) dated to determine occupation history. A Bayesian approach was used to build a chronological modeling from charcoal samples. Charcoal and shell samples found in the same context allowed us to calculate the ΔR values of marine offset for this period. In general, the archaeological sites of this area are divided into three major periods: Formative, Classic, and Postclassic. The 14C dating of Becerros recovered materials provided a chronological framework for the site’s occupation, from cal AD 169–1025, corroborating the ceramic studies in the sense that human settlement activities date from the Formative (300 BC–AD 600) to the Early Postclassic (AD 900–1200). Naranjos started in the Classic period and reached its occupancy peak in the Late Classic. The site’s occupation may have persisted for at least two centuries after the conquest of the Altiplano in 1521. The comparison of charcoal dates and associated shell samples from the Naranjos Unit gave a probability distribution for ΔR, that ranged from 118.5 to 199.5 with a mean value of 159 ± 4, slightly higher than other values obtained at nearby sites.

Recycle, repair and reuse in Roman Napoca

The archaeological rescue excavations carried out between 1992 and 2001 and again in 2012 in Roman Napoca (Cluj-Napoca, Romania), on the site from Victor Deleu Street revealed important information regarding the life of the ancient town and its residential areas. One of the most interesting discoveries is represented by an assemblage of twelve metal objects: a statue, a statuette, three fragmentary metal vessels, four pieces belonging to lighting equipment (candlesticks and a lamp base), a pair of scissors fragmentarily preserved and two decorated bronze plates. They were identified on the floor of an annex belonging to a private residence, in a context which can be dated during the fourth–fifth decades of the 3rd century AD. The paper is a preliminary analysis of the assemblage. The objects are all high-quality imports and most of them present traces of repair or were recomposed from different parts coming from other objects. They attest the existence of a ‘antiquarian-restorer’ in Roman Napoca and reveal a clear concern for selecting, collecting, recycling, repairing and refunctioning good quality objects.

Defining Boundaries of Modern Times Archaeological Heritage Sites in Izhevsk and Sarapul, Udmurt Republic

The article publishes the findings made by the staff of the Kama-Vyatka archaeological expedition from the Udmurt State University. The study aims to identify the boundaries of the sites of archaeological heritage dated the Modern Times and located in Izhevsk and Sarapul, the Udmurt Republic. The methodology for identifying the boundaries of the monuments within the urban development includes analysis of archives and maps, combination of archaeological and archival research. The fruitful efforts of the Udmurt State University team and the Udmurt Republic State Body for Protection of Cultural Heritage Sites joint in 2007–2022 allowed to determine boundaries of the Izhevsk Plant settlement, the Troitsky (Nagorny), Mikhailovsky and Nikolo-Pokrovsky cemeteries in Izhevsk, Sarapul settlement and the Voskresensky Cemetery in Sarapul. Some other towns differentiate particular zones or blocks associated with finds of the cultural layer or items. However, in contrast thereto, the boundaries of the Sarapul settlement and the Izhevsk Plant Settlement are outlined as a single territory associated with the historical part of Sarapul and Izhevsk. This allows immediate archaeological rescue works in the monuments. Izhevsk and Sarapul reveal a rather intense dynamics of setting Modern Times archaeological sites, namely – the early cemeteries and historical parts of cities

An underwater metal hoard of the Urnfield Period from Prosiměřice in Znojmo District: On the issue of the relationships between hoards, settlements and waters

The Prosiměřice 2 metal hoard was discovered during archaeological rescue excavation in 2021 on the northern edge of the cadastre, where it was located in the floodplain of the River Jevišovka below the groundwater level. In addition to nine ingots and a broken-off sprue, the hoard contains two socketed axes, which date the find to the later stage of the Middle Danube Urnfield Culture. All the artefacts of the hoard were subjected to material composition analysis, which proved both relatively pure and variously impure copper (most ingots) as well as tin bronze (axes, ingot, sprue). According to X-ray computed tomography and use-wear analysis, the axes are imperfect, though functional, casts. The Prosiměřice 2 hoard therefore contains artefacts from various stages of the metallurgical production chain, just like the previously discovered Prosiměřice 1 hoard. Both hoards are part of a contemporary open settlement area and their contents could thus indicate local metallurgical activity. Other metal hoards in settlement areas also indicate a potential correlation between their contents and metallurgical production in open settlements. The location of both hoards from Prosiměřice in a floodplain wetland or even underwater points to their irreversible deposition and, like most other multi-piece hoards in a water environment, we associate them with communal socio-cultic rituals.

Burial Histories, Bodies, and Pots: Mortuary Practices in the Southeastern Rainforests of the Andes during the 1st Millennium a.d. (El Cadillal, Argentina)

ABSTRACT Through the control of social memory and the dead, household members in Argentinian Andean early Formative villages often used primary and secondary mortuary practices to negotiate power and identity among the living. In this paper, we explore the material evidence obtained in the large-scale salvage excavations of El Cadillal, Argentina, where 51 burials were recovered from three burial sites. Between a.d. 0 and 900, people living in the southeastern rainforests placed deceased household members in ceramic urns and, less frequently, inside of rock enclosures and pits surrounded by a range of grave offerings. Drawing upon this case study, we attempt to disentangle the complex web of relationships between the dead, the living, and the El Cadillal community in order to assess how social memories were crafted through primary and secondary mortuary events and how the repetition of mortuary rituals created a social landscape and memories of the dead.

Spilled Wine, Spilled Blood: Spilling the Secrets of the Covered Cup from the Chungul Kurgan

Abstract The covered cup, discovered in 1981 during the salvage excavation of a burial mound in southern Ukraine, is an impressive example of secular metalwork from around 1200. The cup’s interior contains a cast silver-gilt lion and a hitherto undetected siphon mechanism, making it one of the first preserved automata from Europe and the earliest known Western medieval example of this type of trick vessel. The cup from the Chungul Kurgan helps to clarify the probable operation of the chantepleure illustrated in the sketchbook of Villard de Honnecourt and sheds light on possible other medieval automata. The cup’s presence in the same burial with other works from the same approximate date and region suggests historical circumstances that might have resulted in its burial with a nomadic leader in the steppe.

Victim of an armed conflict?

During rescue excavations at a rural cemetery in Dolany (NW Bohemia) dating to the 11th-12th century, the skeleton of a young male featuring numerous wounds (n=10) of perimortem sharp force trauma was excavated. Nine of the injuries were localised to the postcranial skeleton and one to the skull. An analysis and interpretation of the wounds showed that at least eight blows were inflicted with a slashing weapon, which could have directly contributed to his death. The observed pattern is most consistent with injuries inflicted during armed conflict. Based on historical sources, it is known that there was no warfare in the immediate vicinity of Dolany during the period under review. Therefore, it has been suggested that the male may have been the victim of a fight or battle, and his body was transported and buried in the place where he probably came from. The discovery provides new information on the funerary practices of victims of early medieval armed conflicts in Bohemia.

Exploring Colour Palette in Pottery from Western Anatolia and East Asia—Colour Schemes to Inspire

In the present case study, the manufacturing technology for glazed pottery was investigated, with particular focus on the great variety of colours and glaze recipes used in Western Anatolia and East Asia and observed in finds from rescue excavation sites in Greece. An assemblage of 40 ceramic fragments dating from the Late Byzantine and Islamic to the Ottoman/Venetian periods was examined for their decoration, surface treatment, and production technology. The peculiarities of the colour recipes applied on the glazed pottery of different assumed origins of production were investigated, focusing on glaze technology and employing colourants. This was achieved by the use of an analytical workflow that considered the compositional details of pigments, slip coatings, and glazes. The chemical evaluation was carried out utilising X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (pXRF) and Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). Raman Spectroscopy provided information about the compositional variation, and the microscopic examination via Optical Microscopy (OM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM-EDS) yielded information about the sample stratigraphy of the examined ceramic sections. Through a wide range of colour and glaze recipes, this study of glazed ceramics was able to define and express the essential elements of each pottery workshop’s perception of colour.

Rescue excavation at Kurnish al-Bahr Tombs (Latakia city)

Rescue excavation at Kurnish al-Bahr Tombs (Latakia city)