Team Of Archaeologists Research Articles

مہر گڑھ :تاریخ وکِڑد، اسہ گونڈ وجاچ اس

Mehrgarh is one of the ancient settlements, which is situated in district of Kachi (Bolan) on the foot hills of Bolan river near Dahdar. The ancient settlement is belonged to Neolithic period (7000BCE-2600BCE). The French Archaeological team took part in the excavations of Mehrgarh under the supervision of Jean Fransco Jarrige since 1974 to 2000. After a long period, the team has excavated seven periods of Mehrgarh mound. The team conclude that the ancient people of Mehrgarh were well advanced and developed. The archaeological evidences of Mehrgarh proves that the inhabitants of area had introduced first time village culture network, Terracotta figurine (human and animals), domestication of plants (wheat, rice and barely) and animals (waterbufallo) in South Asia. Mehrgarh had produced remains of dental surgery who able to treats the affected teeth on that time by the help of an ancient technology. however, the inhabitants of Mehrgarh used to storage jar for the purpose of seeds storage. The ancient population had trade linked among neighboring populations as well long distance communication such as Iran, Afghanistan, Oman and Mesopotamia through sea and land routes.

Integrated characterization of ancient burial mounds using ERT and limited drillings at the Hepu Han Tombs, in coastal area of Southern China

The Hepu Han Tombs, located on the south coast of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, in southern China, bordering the Beibu Gulf, can date back to the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), when Hepu was an important international trade port of the maritime Silk Road, spreading strong and persistent cultural influence to neighboring countries from ancient China, and also connecting China with African, European and other Asian countries in national migration, religious communication, political, trade, technical and cultural exchanges, and so on. The research of the Hepu Han Tombs can offer opportunities to understand the burial customs and the Han culture in the Chinese Han Dynasty. With the aim of detecting the location, depth and geometry of two burial mounds at Jinjiling Site of Hepu Han Tombs, an electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) survey was performed in cooperation with archaeological team to calibrate the results with detailed information from the limited drillings in the area. Besides, series of 2-D ERT sections, acquired above the larger mound, were combined into a “Pseudo 3-D” volume, and iso-resistivity surfaces were further calculated to emphasize the location and lateral variations within the data volume, expected towards a more detailed and quantitative interpretation. Both the 2-D and 3-D resistivity imaging gave a clear evidence of structural details of the burial mounds. The results have shown a general consistency between the geophysical work and traditional archaeological drilling explorations, improving our knowledge on the un-excavated mounds, and allowing detailed pre-excavation plan at the Hepu Han Tombs.

Roman Millstones of Carthage (Tunisia): a Geoarchaeological Study Using Petrological and Geochemical Methods

A great number of Roman millstones have been discovered in the archaeological site of Byrsa at Carthage since the nineteenth century by different international archaeological teams which have excavated the site. Most of these millstones (catilli/metae) are hourglass-shaped, and all are made of igneous rocks whose source was identified through petrochemical study. The location of the artefact rock source was determined by comparing thin sections of samples taken from black and red-brownish lava catilli found at the Byrsa Roman site with geological samples taken from Tunisian volcanic rocks located in the northern-western part of the country (Nefza and Mogods regions). The comparison shows that the volcanic petrological and geochemical compositions (basalt and rhyolitic ignimbrite) of the catilli are not from local sources where basaltic and rhyodacite outcrops have been identified in the Guelb Saad Moun (Mogods region) and in the Nefza region respectively. The comparison with existing literature data on similar rocks from Italy has constrained the volcanic origin of the exploited lavas. Thus, the diversity of volcanic rocks (basalt and rhyolitic ignimbrite) suggests several outside origins, such as the Pantelleria Island for the black lava mills and Sardinia (in the area of Mulargia) for the red-brownish lava mills, where these two types of igneous rocks have been widely identified.

ANCIENT SHIPYARD ON TURKEY’S DANA ISLAND: ITS 3D MODELLING WITH PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND COMPUTER GRAPHICS

Abstract. Although a small island 2 km off the southern coast of Turkey, Dana Island offers a rich history which is likely to shed light upon the Dark Ages. Starting from 2015 our archaeological team discovered through continuing coastal and underwater excavations 274 shipsheds/slipways there. This discovery places Dana Island among the biggest shipyards of antiquity. The slipways varied in dimensions suitable for vessels of different sizes from small boats to large warships. Historical sources suggest that the name of the island may stem from Yadnana, Yadana or Adana which was mentioned in an Assyrian tablet of the 8th century BC, as an island in the vicinity of Cyprus. Archaeological evidence exists that shows Dana Island had played a significant role in seamanship activities in Levant starting from Neolithic times. A substantial part of the naval campaigns must have involved Dana Island which used be the biggest shipyard/naval base of the Eastern Mediterranean. A 3D model of the island has been made by using photogrammetry and computer graphics methods and simulations were executed to check the hypotheses related to the involvement of Dana Island in the major sea battles of antiquity, such as Sea Battle of Lade in 495 BC.

The genome of an ancient Rouran individual reveals an important paternal lineage in the Donghu population.

Following the Xiongnu and Xianbei, the Rouran Khaganate (Rouran) was the third great nomadic tribe on the Mongolian Steppe. However, few human remains from this tribe are available for archaeologists and geneticists to study, as traces of the tombs of these nomadic people have rarely been found. In 2014, the IA-M1 remains (TL1) at the Khermen Tal site from the Rouran period were found by a Sino-Mongolian joint archaeological team in Mongolia, providing precious material for research into the genetic imprint of the Rouran. The mtDNA hypervariable sequence I (HVS-I) and Y-chromosome SNPs were analyzed, and capture of the paternal non-recombining region of the Y chromosome (NRY) and whole-genome shotgun sequencing of TL1 were performed. The materials from three sites representing the three ancient nationalities (Donghu, Xianbei, and Shiwei) were selected for comparison with the TL1 individual. The mitochondrial haplotype of the TL1 individual was D4b1a2a1. The Y-chromosome haplotype was C2b1a1b/F3830 (ISOGG 2015), which was the same as that of the other two ancient male nomadic samples (ZHS5 and GG3) related to the Xianbei and Shiwei, which were also detected as F3889; this haplotype was reported to be downstream of F3830 by Wei et al. (). We conclude that F3889 downstream of F3830 is an important paternal lineage of the ancient Donghu nomads. The Donghu-Xianbei branch is expected to have made an important paternal genetic contribution to Rouran. This component of gene flow ultimately entered the gene pool of modern Mongolic- and Manchu-speaking populations.

Archaeology of a falaj in al Madam Plain (Sharjah, UAE); a study from the site

Since the 1990s, several archaeological teams have been investigating the link between Iron Age settlements in the Oman Peninsula and qanat systems. It is assumed that the development of water-draining galleries, such as qanat, or falaj as they are called in Oman, allowed for the settlement of populations on the desert fringes and the growth of villages at this time. Fieldwork undertaken by a Spanish archaeological team working at al Madam has provided evidence for the existence of wells and water-draining galleries (falaj/aflāj) in contemporaneous use at the beginning of First Millennium BC. The excavation of an underground gallery, the course of which forms a zig-zag pattern, has revealed a system that would have permitted the collection of a significant amount of groundwater. This proves the existence in Antiquity of a large shallow water table in the area of al Madam. The water that was brought to the surface by this system was diverted into secondary channels, tree-pits, ponds and pools, corresponding to the ancient cultivated fields. This unprecedented network of irrigation channels was dug into the natural rock. The archaeological record of al Madam shows that this cultivated area was situated to the east of the village in the Iron Age, and included a palm grove of significant size (at least 15 ha).

Réflexions sur la « schola » du decumanus à Lepcis Magna et son contexte urbain

Cleared in 1957 at Lepcis Magna by the Italian archaeological team, the city-block to the west of the four-way arch (quadrifrons) of Septimius Severus, between the decumanus maximus and a parallel north road, contained a large courtyard surrounded on three sides by colonnades and framed east and west by semicircular exedrae. The north side displayed a row of seven niches with statue-bases. The elegant South façade with corinthian pilasters had three arched doorways opening onto the decumanus. Westward, a series of rooms led to a doric north-south portico running alongside a thermal complex, followed by a residential area largely rebuilt in Late Antiquity. The inscriptions found in the courtyard suggest that, from the Hadrianic phase, it was an aula honouring a conspicuous local family, the Plautii and the matron Blaesilla. However, it is possible that the whole city-block had previously been a gymnasium area with associated bath-complex on the edge of the city.

IN QUEST OF ANGKORIAN MEDICINE BUDDHA AND BODDHISATVA: NEW ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

This paper attempts to describe the historical iconography of medical Buddhist statues uncovered from an excavation site at the Angkor archaeological park that brings new evidence to support the Buddhist roots and cultural foundations of public health and medical practices in medieval Angkor during the reign of King Jayavarman 7 (1181-1221 CE). This focused Art history paper does not include any comprehensive analysis of the overall excavation project that will be reported elsewhere by the archeological team in the near future. Keywords: Angkorian, medicine, Buddha, Boddhisatva, archeology

The excavation of the Taiji Hall complex in Han-Wei Luoyang City

AbstractSince 2011, Archaeological Team of Han-Wei Luoyang City of the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences conducted coring tests and excavations to the site of Taiji Hall complex in the palace city of the Northern Wei Dynasty in the Han-Wei Luoyang City Site, by which the east half of the foundation of the main hall and that of the Taiji East Hall and the aprons, paths, courtyards, gateways, side houses and draining ditches around them were recovered, and the artifacts including bricks, tiles, tile-ends, stone slabs for paving the floor and bronze coins were unearthed. The excavations confirmed that the Taiji Hall in Luoyang was first built in the Three-Kingdoms Period and the layout of the Taiji East and West Halls flanking the main hall in the middle was also formed at that time. This layout was succeeded, rebuilt and reused by the Western Jin, Northern Wei and Northern Zhou Dynasties in the later times. This palace system and capital city planning established by the Wei Kingdom of the Three-Kingdoms Period in the Han-Wei Luoyang City were followed by the later dynasties and periods and introduced to Korea and Japan.

The excavation of walls and roads at the Erlitou Site in Yanshi City, Henan in 2012–2013

AbstractFrom November 2012 to May 2013, the Erlitou Archaeological Team of the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of the Social Sciences found a roughly north-south orientated rammed-earth wall (Q7) and hard-trodden road surface parallel to the wall in the vicinity of the workshop zone of the Erlitou Site. The wall was most likely erected during Erlitou Phase II and continued to be in use until the early stage of Phase IV. The trodden roads took form during Phase II and ended in Phase III or early stage of Phase IV. Together with the previous findings, the excavators postulated two competing propositions on the rammed-earth wall in question. It was the west wall of the walled workshop zone or it was the east wall of a walled enclosure has yet to be discovered to its west. The roads were auxiliary facilities of the walled zone when it was in use.

Neolithic cultural remains in the coastal area of southeastern Hainan Province

AbstractFrom December 2012 to January 2016, the First South China Archaeological Team, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Hainan Museum conducted excavations to the Qiaoshan and Lianziwan Sites in Lingshui County and Yingdun Site in Sanya City, all in Hainan Province. The unearthed artifacts showed that the polished red-coated pottery wares and sandy pottery wares found in the south of Yingdun Site clearly belonged to different archaeological cultures, based on which the cultural remains of the Yingdun Site are divided into the early and late phases. The artifacts belonging to the early phase are pottery wares, stone tools, strung ornaments made of fish bone and large amount of marine and terrestrial animal remains. The Lianziwan Site in Lingshui County yielded potsherds, stone tools and large amount of animal remains. The cultural remains of the Qiaoshan Site can be also divided into the early and late phases. The early phase yielded pottery wares and stone tools, and the features of the late phase were mainly the surface of the Stratum 3 and burials, the artifacts of which were pottery wares and stone tools. Based on the stratigraphicalrelationships and the characteristics of the unearthed artifacts, the basic chronological sequence of “Cultural remains of Yingdun Site → Cultural remains of Lianziwan Site → Cultural remains of Qiaoshan Site” can be established.

The excavation of the Niupodong Site in Pingba District, Gui’an New Area, Guizhou in 2012–2013

AbstractIn 2012 and 2013, The First South China Archaeological Team of the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Guizhou Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology conducted cooperative excavation to the Caves A and B of the Niupodong Site in Pingba County. The excavation recovered four burials, the dates of which were all early Neolithic Age. The artifacts unearthed at this site were mainly chopped microliths and related tools and products, such as stone blanks, fragments, cores, flakes and refuses, and some finished microliths, such as scrapers, choppers, points, etc. In addition, large amounts of typical microcores and microblades were also found. Pebble tools were also discovered in large amount, most of which had concaves on both sides. Very few whetstones were found. Polished stone implements were also found in small quantity, most of which were stone axes. Pottery wares were also found in small quantity and type, and badly fragmentary. These discoveries provided important materials for the researches on the characteristics and connotations of the prehistoric archaeological cultures in Guizhou, and are also significantly meaningful for the relevant researches.

Cist behind the Binns: the excavation of an Iron Age cist burial at the House of the Binns, West Lothian*

During a routine archaeological monitoring visit to the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) property at the House of the Binns in August 2013, human bone was discovered eroding from a small bedrock quarry face. Following investigation by the NTS Archaeology Team this was identified as the remains of two male skeletons from the first centuries BC/AD. Both were buried within a single stone cist, with the remains of one individual (30–50 years old) clearly disturbed during the placement of the second (a young adult). The second individual was placed in a crouched position on his left side and was wearing a penannular brooch on his left shoulder. A significant element of the site is the survival of some extremely rare Iron Age textile upon the brooch.

Lights, Camera ... Shipwreck!?! Multimedia at Four Thousand Feet

On 20 May 2007, filmmakers from Nautilus Productions joined the Mardi Gras Shipwreck Project archaeological team from Texas A&M University (TAMU) and the Minerals Management Service (MMS) to document the Mardi Gras Shipwreck site. The technology-driven project required the Nautilus Productions crew to complete a few simple tasks: document everything from the time the project vessel left Port Fourchon, Louisiana, until the conservation of the artifacts was completed at TAMU, and then create an educational documentary and Web video about the effort for the Louisiana State Museum, the MMS, and TAMU. The film crew worked alongside the archaeological team, ship’s crew, and remotely operated vehicle pilots throughout 24 hr. shifts, recording the decisions, research design, and research as it happened. Nautilus Production’s mission was simple: document the project and allow the archaeology to speak for itself. It is the purpose of this article to show how electronic and digital media can assist in documenting an archaeological site, support project goals, and enhance public education during and after the project.

H. L. Hunley Revealed: documentation, deconcretion, and recent developments in the investigation of an American Civil War submarine from 1864

Since 2014, the conservation staff at Clemson University's Warren Lasch Conservation Center in Charleston, South Carolina have been removing the concretion from the hull of H. L. Hunley, an American Civil War submarine lost 1864. In parallel, the archaeological team has been documenting the condition of the hull, the concretion layers, and the hull features revealed by the deconcretion process. This involved photography, direct measurements, and 3D scanning. This article will discuss the strategy for recording the concretion, the techniques used to document the newly revealed hull and its unique features, and the preliminary analysis of their archaeological significance.

Imagining Localities of Antiquity in Islamic Societies

This article aims to conceptualize some of the varied ways Muslims have engaged with antiquity over time. Beginning with the example of Palmyra, it argues that the restoration of the Temple of Bel by the French archaeological team led by Henri Seyrig in the early twentieth century and the destruction of that same temple by ISIS in 2015 are both ideological acts oriented toward reviving an imagined and idealized past. While ISIS erased the remains of the ancient site recreated by the French, the French had previously erased 1,800 years of Christian and Muslim heritage at Palmyra. Both actions are the outcome of the logic inherent in globalized, cosmopolitan heritage ideals. As a means of moving beyond the problematic discourse of the globalized heritage model in which certain heritage values are ‘authorized’ and others are not, the article then proposes an initial conceptualization of imaginings of heritage in Islamic societies over time, suggesting a range of diverse ways Muslims have valued and continue to value ancient localities, and introduces the articles contained in this special issue.

Geophysical Survey And Archaeological Excavations In the Neolithic and Bronze-Age Settlement of La Dou (Girona, Spain). A combined approach to a new site

This paper presents the results of the investigations carried out from 2009 to 2013 in the multi-period archaeological site of La Dou (Sant Esteve d’en Bas, Girona, Catalonia). The authors expose the strategy applied to create the surveys and results of the excavations conducted to verify and date the detected features. The site was discovered in 2005 in a rescue excavation due to the building of a road, revealing a group of firing pits and other stratigraphic remains of a rare Neolithic, open-air settlement, dated from the 5th millennium BC. In 2009, a team of archaeologists from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) created a project to expand the investigations to the cultivation fields surrounding the first findings. A magnetic survey was used to locate new archaeological remains and delimit the possible extents of the site. The results revealed a complex magnetic map that included several groups of anomalies interpreted as possible archaeological remains in an area of circa 2.4 ha. The attention of the team was then focused on a possible ditch detected in the survey and that was partially excavated. The excavation results and the C14 analysis expanded the chronology of the site until the Bronze Age, revealing an uncommon settlement that is still the object of investigations.

A “Most Disastrous” Affair: The Battle of Hungry Hill, Historical Memory, and the Rogue River War

The Battle of Hungry Hill, fought on October 31 and November 1, 1855, ended in a “humiliating defeat for a fragile coalition of U.S. Army dragoons and several companies of citizen volunteers” against the Takelma. In this research article, Mark Tveskov describes how Euro-American accounts of the battle “overlooked the American defeat,” “veterans of the battle minimized the defeat and desertion in their memoirs, sometimes mythologizing the battle to the point of turning it into a victory,” and “the battle was lost to the larger historical narrative of the American West.” In September 2012, a team of archaeologists and scholars discovered the battle site, and their research points to a history that is sometimes at odds with long-standing portrayals of the Battle of Hungry Hill.

Cuando los límites importan: Dimensión pública e implicancias sociales del trabajo arqueológico

Este trabajo aporta una mirada reflexiva sobre el impacto de una investigación arqueológica en el contexto local donde esta se desarrolla. Se presenta el caso del proyecto de investigación en el paraje El Tonelero de la localidad de Ramallo (Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina), donde se iniciaron trabajos de Arqueología histórica en el año 2012 como parte de un proyecto que estudia la guerra del Paraná, desde una perspectiva pluridisciplinar. Se discuten las implicancias de la construcción de una “dimensión pública” en torno a dicha investigación, con el propósito de indagar el tipo de relaciones que confluyen con los contenidos históricos investigados.

The Gangga Cemetery in Chen Barag Banner, Inner Mongolia

Abstract In July through October 2014, the Joint Hulun Buir Archaeological Team organized by the Institute of Archaeology, CASS and other institutions conducted excavation to the Gangga Cemetery in Chen Barag Banner. This cemetery covering an area of about 2ha was located on the riverbank terrace about 6km to the east of Hoh Nor Town and about 600m to the south of the mainstream of the Hailar River. The excavated area is 680sq m, from which 16 burials were recovered. All of the burials had wooden burial receptacles, most of which were log coffins, and some of them were furnished with wooden board coffins. The grave goods unearthed from these burials included pottery wares, wooden saddles, birch bark quivers, iron arrowheads, bronze belt ornaments, agate beads, etc. The date of Gangga Cemetery was around the 8–10th centuries CE, which is significantly valuable for the exploration of the origination of the Mongol ethnic group.