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The assertion that the phosphate content of ceramic is an established marker for the presence of residues of organic substances such as fats and blood (Bollong et al., Direct dating and identity of fibre temper in pre-Contact Bushman (Basarwa) pottery, Journal of Archaeological Science20,41-55, 1993) is refuted. Phosphate is a common contaminant of buried pottery and may not be considered an indicator of function.

This paper deals with hearth-related accumulations in Middle Palaeolithic sites. Spatial behaviour is a key to understanding the cultural capabilities of ancient hominids. Ethnoarchaeological and archaeological research has shown that hearth-related assemblages are a basic feature in the spatial behaviour of modern and prehistoric hunter–gatherers. In this paper, we propose a methodology for analysing archaeological accumulations and study a series of hearth-related assemblages from the Abric Romanı́ Middle Palaeolithic site (Capellades, Spain). We also analyse the degree of contemporaneity between the different activity episodes documented at each archaeological accumulation. Our results suggest that the characteristics of domestic areas in this site are not substantially different from those observed in ethnoarchaeological contexts and Upper Palaeolithic sites.

In a recent paper in this journal, Anovitz et al. (1999) identify potentially serious flaws in the measurement and modelling of obsidian hydration for dating archaeological obsidians. This critique follows other recent papers highlighting potential problems with the method (e.g., Ridings, 1996; Stevenson, Mazer & Scheetz, 1998). Contrary to this latest critique, the current paper offers evidence for the apparent efficacy of a quadratic model for obsidian hydration dating of archaeological obsidians, using empirical results from archaeological projects throughout the western United States. It is posited that this model is sufficient, in part, due to limits of commonly used methods of hydration analysis, which also provide a cost-effective means for large-scale sampling. Given apparent support for quadratic modelling and, hence, the diffusion theory underlying it, an empirical approach to obsidian hydration rate formulation that incorporates field temperature data is explored. Although evaluation of the resulting rate formula for Casa Diablo obsidian is somewhat equivocal, the results are relatively robust when compared to other posited rates. As such, the approach appears to hold promise within the limits of temporal resolution necessary for many regional research strategies, while also serving as a potential check of laboratory-based strategies.

This papers tries to illustrate the exploratory use of GIS within the context of landscape research in archaeology. Current landscape approaches incorporate important theoretical advancements which have made archaeologists sensitive to the subtleties of human space but these developments have not been matched by advances in method. The paper focuses on this aspect and thus should be seen as pilot example towards the development of new landscape methodology.

When deciding which parts of a prey animal to transport home, hunters may be more or less selective. In our vocabulary, unselective hunters are those who usually bring home most of the carcass; selective hunters are those who usually abandon all but the choicest (and/or lightest) parts. This paper uses the abcml statistical method to develop a means of estimating transport selectivity from the frequencies of skeletal parts in a faunal assemblage. It then applies the method to artiodactyl data from the Emeryville Shellmound in order to test the local depression and distant patch use hypothesis. This hypothesis predicts that selectivity should decline during the early part of the Emeryville sequence and rise during the later part. The initial analysis did reveal such a pattern, but this pattern disappeared when samples were pooled in order to produce acceptably narrow confidence intervals. Although this result weakens the hypothesis, it does not firmly refute it, because the model fits the data imperfectly in the critical middle portion of the sequence. Abcml also provides estimates of the intensity of attrition, which indicate that attrition was most severe in early strata and least severe in later ones. Substantial attrition (50% of bones surviving) is indicated even from samples that show no indication of attrition using conventional methods. These conclusions are based on assumptions about the processes of transport and attrition that are more reliable in qualitative outline than in quantitative detail. Consequently, the paper's qualitative conclusions are more trustworthy than its quantitative estimates.

This paper presents a standardized series of replicable and comparable density assays, based on the technique of photon densitometry (or absorptiometry), for two native South American camelid taxa, the domesticated llama (Lama glama) and alpaca (L. pacos). Two sets of volume density (VD) measures (in g/cm3) are provided: (1) “shape-adjusted” volume density (VDSA) which computes cross-sectional area of each scan site based upon computerized analysis of scanned digital images; and (2) standard volume density (VDLD/BT) which norms cross-sectional area to a block form. Derived value sets are compared with each other, between camelid specimens and with published figures for camelid, deer and bison skeletal elements. Patterns of structural bone densities between South American camelids and other artiodactyls might be attributed to unique anatomical expressions of locomotor and dietary adaptations. The density data are combined with derived meat utility indices to explore the archaeological correlates associated with the production, distribution and consumption of ch'arki, a native Andean dried meat product. The paper examines the validity of an Andeancharqui effect (sensu Miller, 1979, An introduction to the ethnoarchaeology of the Andean Camelids. Ph.D. Thesis, University of California at Berkeley), based on the well-known schlepp effect, by comparing hypotheticalch'arki and chalona models of meat preservation. Faunal data from the prehistoric Peruvian site of Chavı´n de Hua´ntar do not support the consumption of imported ch'arki, but could implicate its local production. The data could also support the consumption of imported chalona, or the importation of live camelids which were subsequently slaughtered, locally produced into chalona and consumed. In both cases, the data leave open the possibility that Chavı´n may have been a production centre for either ch'arki or chalona; however, acceptance of the differing interpretations requires some potentially problematic assumptions.

The isotopic composition of an element records information about its history. Given a fossil, it is possible to analyse the isotopic composition of the elements in the fossil and to use this to reconstruct the diet that the animal consumed. The process of dietary reconstruction, however, is far from simple. Biological systems are quite complex and can themselves introduce isotopic fractionations that may distort the dietary information. The aim of this paper is to review the concepts of isotope fractionation under steady-state conditions to provide a framework for discussion of dietary reconstruction. Among the elements of interest for dietary reconstruction, nitrogen bears a distinct role. This is because nitrogen is almost unique to protein. A secondary aim of this paper is then to review nitrogen metabolism. The final aim is to combine these in postulating a simple isotopic model of nitrogen metabolism.

Previous papers have detailed the nature and optics of the microscopic faecal spherulites found at various archaeological sites in the last 15 years. Early indications gained about the spherulite-producing species, the quantities produced and the environmental controls have subsequently been analysed in more detail, mostly under U.K. conditions. This paper presents the results of those experiments as well as a limited study of taphonomic factors leading to the spherulites’ preservation or destruction in the stratigraphic record. Spherulites are initially deposited in the small intestine of many animals, probably as a by-product of the neutralization of acid chyme from the stomach or abomasum. Numbers are highest in ruminant herbivores, low in omnivores and low-to-absent in carnivores. No spherulites have been found in the caecal digesting herbivores. They reach maximum abundance in dung from animals grazing or rooting on alkaline soils (pH >7) and are very low-to-absent when the soil is below pH 6. Spherulite preservation is due to a complex of factors, but dissolution occurs rapidly under conditions of high throughflow where the host stratigraphy is below pH 7·7.

In a recent paper, Schmitt and Juell argued that corroded, thinned, and polished bones may be diagnostic of carnivore scatological bone. This paper examines leporid and bird bones recovered from 20 golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) pellets, and concludes that these same taphonomic traces are commonly present on bones regurgitated by this diurnal raptor. As a result, much additional research will be required before carnivore scatological bone can be uneqivocally distinguished from bones cast by golden eagles.

This paper is the third in a series on the craniology of four species of Bosand it is the last of the three papers in which the skulls of British domestic cattle are used in an attempt to establish a basic craniology for the genus. Part 1 (Grigson, 1974) dealt with nomenclature, material, history, age assessment and absolute size. Part 2 (Grigson, 1975) dealt with cranial proportions and angles. This paper deals first with sagittal profiles and then with other non-measurable characters.

This paper is the first of four parts dealing with the composition of copper alloys used in the classical world. In this paper there is a discussion of previous analytical work and the use to which the analytical data may be put.

This paper describes the development and use of a new program designed to automate the process of cumulative viewshed analysis using Mesolithic site location on Islay as a case study. It compares two methods for adding new utility to the GRASS GIS and concludes that native-code programming is the only viable option. It then presents a method for cumulative viewshed analysis which makes use of random sampling. This method reduces the time required for the case study from approximately 1000 days to under 24 hours. The paper illustrates how the archaeological potential of GIS can be greatly enhanced by modifying the software to address specific archaeological problems.

This paper develops a theory for describing those diagenetic changes in bone which involve its interaction with groundwater. Three main processes are considered, as examples of such changes; namely the uptake of uranium, the dissolution of bone, and the increase of crystallinity of the bone mineral (carbonate hydroxyapatite or dahllite). Here simple models of the chemistry involved are postulated (although how bone interacts with water on amolecularscale is not clearly known) in order to demonstrate the theory with explicit mechanisms and values. Greater emphasis is given to uranium uptake, since the model used is comparatively detailed, being based on the authors' previous work.The basic assumption is that the rate-limiting process in diagenetic change is the movement of solutes to, from, or within the bone. Therefore the main thrust of the paper is to show how the physical structure of the bone itself, together with the hydrology of the burial site, interact to determine how water and its solutes move into, within and from a bone during burial. This interaction can be of three kinds, defined by the site hydrology. These are termed here, diffusion, hydraulic flow and recharge. All three types may operate together, and their relative importance depends on the extent to which the pore structure of a bone has been altered by diagenesis, as well as the type of chemical change taking place. It is shown that diffusion is usually the most common and important process, but that it is possible to predict the hydrological regimes in which other mechanisms dominate. It is shown how knowledge of site hydrology (mainly the specification of soil structure and moisture variation), the physical state of the bone, and the chemistry of the diagenetic process can provide estimates for the rate and manner of the particular diagenetic process. Such estimates agree with observation, suggesting this approach to be on the right lines. Qualitative predictions also result from the theory. The main value of this approach is to identify those situations where particular diagenetic changes are simplest (e.g. sites where the hydrology gives rise to a single and quantifiable hydraulic process) so that they may be decisively tested against the quantitative predictions of the theory.

Proteins extracted from both bones and teeth found in archaeological contexts are used for radiocarbon dating, amino acid racemization age at death determinations, and genetic and dietary studies. The changes induced in these proteins as a result of decomposition by known micro-organisms have been little studied. The decomposition pathways of these proteins, and indeed the organisms involved, have not been comprehensively defined. This paper attempts to suggest which types of micro-organisms are likely to be involved in this decomposition and outlines their characteristics. This paper also describes the use of bone and tooth, with their associated soils, from various archaeological contexts, as source material for the isolation of fungi and bacteria by enrichment culture at 10°C. Samples from various soil types and archaeological periods were included in the trial. Bacterial and fungal isolates that tested positive for a collagenase were identified. Decomposition studies, which continue, are outlined.

A recent paper by Fiedel (1996) denouncing the validity of “blood” residue analysis was found to contain several inaccuracies concerning methodologies and interpretation of data. In this paper we discuss some of the interpretative errors made in the Fiedel paper, present an historical perspective of immune analysis and point out some recent studies supportive of the use of residue analysis in an archaeological context.

This paper proposes that the additional acid-loading brought about by the deposition of large quantities of acid aerosols from Icelandic volcanic eruptions may be responsible for environmental stress and settlement abandonment postulated by previous authors for northern and western Britain in the late 2nd millennium BC. The mechanism is predicted to have been of significance only in those ecosystems that were already significantly acidified. The paper discusses and counters suggestions that the volcanically-induced climatic change was the principal mechanism for both an apparent abandonment of settlement over large areas of northern Scotland, and the stress experienced by oak trees growing on raised bogs in Ireland. Copyright 1994, 1999 Academic Press

Past discussion on the unusual skeletal part representations at Klasies River Mouth is briefly summarized. Recent discussion in this journal, regarding the “Klasies Pattern”, has focused upon the differential destruction of small and large bovid bone epiphyses by carnivore ravaging and density-mediated attrition. Bartram & Marean (1999) argue, from ethnoarchaeological study and consideration of other archaeological sites, that, unless shaft fragments are painstakingly identified, the upper limb bone epiphyses of large bovids will be seriously under-represented. They therefore suggest that the “Klasies Pattern” is likely to be artefact of taphonomic and analytical processes. Klein, Cruz-Uribe & Milo (1999) replied with a defence of the analytical procedures employed during the original Klasies River Mouth analysis. They also state that there was very little evidence of carnivore ravaging at Klasies River Mouth. In this paper, it is pointed out that Bartram & Marean's (1999) study only considered the humerus, radius, femur, tibia and metapodia. However, in the “Klasies Pattern” it is the scapula that is most notably abundant in the small bovid classes and most notably scarce in the large bovid classes. It is argued that, from the study of bone mineral densities and Brain's (1981) carnivore ravaging experiment, there is no reason to expect a differentially greater taphonomic destruction of large bovid scapulae. In fact, exactly the reverse may be true. It is therefore argued that at least this aspect of the “Klasies Pattern” must be considered to represent human differential bone transport, rather than an artefact of taphonomic processes.

This paper presents a comprison of the isotopic values of eight pairings of hair keratin and bone collagen and 12 pairings of hair keratin and nail keratin taken from living humans resident in the U.K., with the aim of examining whether modern human isotopic data can be directly compared to archaeological isotopic data.

Recent work on material from New Kingdom and Byzantine Amarna has considerably expanded our knowledge of the insect fauna of Egypt. As well as presenting new fossil records, the paper reviews archaeoentomological work from mummies, offerings and archaeological material and attempts to highlight the necessity of fossil insect study in the archaeology of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Lithic use-wear analysis mainly deals with use-wear features which can be observed on the surface of stone tools but a major part of the wear of brittle material is found under the surface. This wear might also be a clue to the interpretation of archaeological stone tools. In this paper we try to examine subsurface damage on experimental and archaeological quartz tools by dying them with fluorescent colour and scanning them with a CLSM. This method shows that various worked materials cause different subsurface damage, which is related to the hardness of the worked material.

In this paper, I reconsider the problem of pottery firing using a large set of comparable data, most of it collected during extensive fieldwork conducted in Africa and Asia. My main purpose is to assess the actual relationships between the firing procedures (structure, fuel, schedule and scale) and some of the firing conditions (time and temperature). Indeed, if different firing procedures result in different firing conditions, the fired pots might display distinct physical characteristics. I will first characterize the various procedures in terms that are both meaningful for anthropologists and likely to influence the thermal profile of a firing. I will then examine the characteristics of the various firing processes in terms of duration, maximum temperature, heating rate and soaking time.

In this paper we discuss Chalcolithic (c.4500–3500bc) metal production in light of recent discoveries from the site of Shiqmim in the northern Negev desert, Israel. Several new copper artifacts are presented, the precise function of which is uncertain. Following this, the evidence for copper production within the settlement is examined. In particular, the remains of metallurgical installations, a smelting installation distinct from crucibles, are reported. In addition, new data on the chemical composition of ores, slag, and metallic copper from most recent excavations are evaluated. Evidence for copper production at Mezad Aluf, a small satellite hamlet of Shiqmim, is also presented. Finally, issues concerning the social context for village-based copper production are discussed.

A review of bone needles from the Mallorcan earliest prehistory is presented. They are not artifacts, but actually represent natural items, identified as Myotragus balearicusfibular diaphysis. The corpus fibulaeofM. balearicusis here illustrated by first time. Archaeological and paleontological implications of this diagnosis are discussed in this paper.

Zooarchaeologists recognize that density-mediated attrition is a bias that demands consideration in the analysis of archaeofaunal samples. This paper presents bone mineral density values (aereal and volumetric) for the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) and represents the first application of Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) to birds. The relationship between density and the survivorship of avian skeletal elements and portions is demonstrated by examining 20 assemblages from the archaeological record of the northeastern United States. The results suggest that density may account for the differential survivorship of least 35% of the samples tested. Further analysis of a single site demonstrates the importance of examining bone mineral density when interpreting past bird hunting and use.

A number of burial mounds from the South Scandinavian Early Bronze Age have contained iron pan encapsulated, wet mound cores, in which organic material has been extraordinarily well preserved. Chemical analysis of iron pan formations in recently excavated burial mounds from Jutland, Denmark have demonstrated that the iron pans were formed by redox-processes, caused by anaerobic conditions in the core of the mound and possibly influenced or determined by the way the mound was constructed. In 1995 an experimental burial mound was erected at the Historical-Archaeological Research Centre at Lejre in Denmark. The purpose of the experiment was to test and elaborate the theories on the iron pan formation and the mound construction developed on the basis of the previous chemical analysis. Three years after construction the mound was excavated and the iron pan formation and the preservation of organic matter in an oaken log coffin were studied. Anaerobic conditions had developed in the mound core and the contents of the oaken log coffin were found to be well preserved. This paper describes the results of the experiment.

Maize (Zea maysL.) was the staple domestic food crop for Ancestral Pueblo people throughout the northern American Southwest. It is thought to have been the basic food of the inhabitants of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, a location that was a major centre of Ancestral Pueblo building and population during the 11th and early 12th centuries ad. Modern heirloom varieties of Native American corn have been difficult to grow in experimental fields in Chaco Canyon. Given an abundance of apparent storage structures in Chacoan buildings, it is possible that some corn recovered from archaeological contexts, was imported from surrounding areas. The ultimate goal of this research is to determine whether the corn in Chaco Canyon was grown locally or imported. This paper establishes the feasibility of a method to accomplish this goal. This study reports the results of using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometric (ICP-MS) instrumentation to determine chemical constituents of experimental fields and modern heirloom varieties of Native American corn. Analysis of 19 elements is adequate to differentiate soil and corn from three field areas. These results are promising; however, a number of problems, including post-depositional alterations in maize, remain to be solved.

In this paper we present the results of observations made via optical microscopy and SEM of microwear traces on experimental lithic tools used in the replication of rock art engravings. The overall aim of this experimental programme is to generate diagnostic microscopic criteria that could subsequently be used (a) in the identification of archaeological artefacts that have been involved in the production of rock art engravings, and (b) in the inference of the engraving techniques in which they have been used. The methods of replication of engraved figures and lines, and the observation of the microwear traces on the experimental artefacts used are presented. The complementary use of stereomicroscope, metallographic microscope with bright field, dark field and laser illumination, and SEM is also discussed. The resulting microwear traces observed on the tools used in the experiment are characterized, and are linked to the two different engraving techniques with which the rock art replication has been carried out.

This paper describes a new archaeological prospection technique for wetlands. High-resolution micro-topographical data generated in GPS surveys were processed to form continuous topographic digital surfaces. Through the generalization and exaggeration of these surfaces within ESRI ARC/INFO GIS software, buried archaeological features in wetland landscapes were identified. A subsequent programme of ground truthing has demonstrated that patterns of differential desiccation of wetland sediments have resulted in micro-topographical variation, reflecting archaeological features. The study was undertaken on two Iron Age sites: Sutton Common in the Humber wetlands and Meare Village East in the Somerset Levels.

Tattoos can have cultural or medical significance. Occasionally, evidence of this type of body modification may be found in archaeological remains. This paper describes three tattoos found in a collection of human remains from the site of Semna South in Sudanese Nubia. The tattoos date to the Meroitic period, about 2000 years ago. Two tattoos were located on the dorsal surfaces of naturally mummified hands. These tattoos were examined using infra-red reflectography to enhance visibility. The tattoos are relatively complex designs and may relate to the social status or the group affiliation of the individuals bearing them.

Myotragus balearicuswas a small-sized bovid endemic to the Gymnesic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca and surrounding islets), an archipelago within the Balearics. It is thought that this species became extinct approximately 4800bp. Since 1974, it has been widely accepted that this species was the subject of a domestication attempt by the first human settlers of Mallorca. A review of the presumed evidence for the domestication of M. balearicusis presented in this paper. Our principal conclusion is that there is no conclusive evidence for the human management of this species. Morphological evidence previously cited as indicating domestication is more plausibly interpreted as the result of taphonomic processes, including post-mortem alteration of bones by the M. balearicusthemselves. Accordingly, there is at present no empirical basis for the notion that Homo sapiensever attempted to domesticate Myotragusin any manner.

Pine cambium is a food resource that was regularly utilized by foraging populations of the interior of British Columbia from at least ad1790 to 1950. The scars left on living pine trees (Culturally Modified Trees, or CMTs) by cambium stripping are directly datable evidence for this subsistence activity by utilizing forestry increment borers to extract cores. Further, pine cambium is generally regarded as a marginal, or supplementary resource, with changes in the frequency of cambium collection being related to natural cycles in the abundance of staple resources. This paper discusses the dating of these subsistence features, and in comparing two areas of the Nechako River drainage of British Columbia, suggests that pine cambium was more intensively utilized in areas lacking salmon, the staple of the greater region.

Although it is almost 25 years since David Clark argued that there would have been substantial plant use during the Mesolithic, clear evidence to support his argument in terms of sites with large quantities of plant remains continue to be elusive in the archaeological record. In this paper we describe the plant remains from the site of Staosnaig on the Isle of Colonsay in Western Scotland, which appears to provide precisely the type of evidence that Clark anticipated. We argue that a very large number of hazelnuts were exploited at this site within a short period of time, together with a substantial quantity ofRanunculus ficariaL.

Lithic use-wear analysis, despite being a well-accepted research tool, is still undermined by its qualitative nature. An effort has been made to quantify use-wear analysis, but only with limited success. This paper will present a new method of analysis based on a non-destructive measurement technique, laser profilometry. This optical technique, when coupled with appropriate software, allows for easy measurement of roughness parameters at several length scales. This accounts for the length-scale dependence of surface topography and allows for its quantitative description. Further, the information from this type of measurement can, in some cases, be described by fractal geometry leading to new interpretive possibilities. Initial results showed that measurements could be made on several different chert and obsidian samples and that these could be distinguished based on their wear histories.

In archaeozoological investigations of sexually-dimorphic species such as Rangifer, Cervus, andBison, osteometry has a great—but as yet unexploited—potential as a source of refined demographic information. For this purpose, however, two important points must be taken into account. Firstly, the age-classes represented by different skeletal elements differ and thus sex-ratios may vary according to the anatomical element studied. Secondly, the fragments to be analysed should be chosen carefully in order to ensure that he age-class which they represent is known. A failure to do so may hinder the correct determination of sex ratios. This paper attempts to show, by means of an example, that, when these factors are considered, important demographic information and interesting insights about topics such as hunting strategies can be gained. The analysis of the reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) assemblage from Stellmoor, an open-air Late Glacial site in northern Germany, revealed that male and female individuals in the different cohorts were killed in the same proportions as they occur in a typical herd, thus pointing to a non-selective hunting strategy. The results also argue against the assertion that reindeer herds were controlled by people during this period.

In the course of the last four decades, Middle Palaeolithic inter-assemblage lithic variability has been studied by relatively standardised quantitative methods. Still, it has been difficult to present any single assemblage as a “sum” of its lithic properties in relation to other assemblages, and to gauge the degree of similarities and dissimilarities among assemblages on this basis. This paper presents the application of a statistical procedure, which displays the distances among assemblages graphically, and allows their intuitive evaluation. The procedure is applied to a series of Mousterian lithic assemblages from the terrace of Qafzeh Cave, Israel, in an attempt to test through the lithic analysis hypotheses about diachronic changes in settlement patterns on the site.

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is becoming a more common component of the standard array of geophysical techniques that are used by archaeologists. In this paper, we report on the use of GPR to survey an area of archaeologically important karst topography at Kitley Caves in Devon, U.K. We describe the use of GPR to detect voids within a limestone outcrop, as an aid to locating cave systems which might contain sediments suitable for excavation. The performance of the GPR equipment is analysed and the results compared to those obtained with an electrical resistance survey carried out at the same location. In particular, the depth of penetration of the GPR is estimated, and we report discernible echo signals from a much greater depth than is usually reported in archaeological applications of GPR.

The statistical analysis of lead isotope ratio data in archaeology has attracted considerable controversy, but one area of consensus seems to be that a minimum sample size of 20 is adequate for the satisfactory characterisation of a lead isotope field. The argument in the present paper is that this is too small. Twenty would be satisfactory if the assumption of normality sometimes used in analysing lead isotope was correct, but it is inadequate for checking this assumption or detecting non-normal structures within a field. Evidence based on both real and simulated data suggests that 40 may be a more realistic minimum, and even this is not always adequate. The consequences of incorrectly assuming normality, and alternative methods of analysis that do not involve this assumption, are investigated.

Archaeological evaluation of deeply stratified sedimentary sequences from lowland river valleys can be problematic because of the often excessive depth of the deposits, the associated high level of the water table and ground instability. In such situations conventional archaeological survey techniques are inappropriate and alternative methodologies are required. One suitable approach is to model subsurface stratigraphy, in an attempt to determine potential locations for buried archaeology, using an integrated borehole and geophysical program of ground investigation. Information of this type is often available in the form of geotechnical data that can be usefully augmented by geoarchaeological targeting of selected areas of the site for further information. In this paper we show how such techniques can be used to model buried gravel surfaces, peats within alluvial stacks and buried former clifflines in Holocene and Pleistocene sediments from southern England.

This paper analyses nearly 9000 rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) bones recovered from Picareiro Cave, central Portugal. The majority of the rabbit bones were recovered within the remains of two hearth features dating between 11,800 and 12,300bp. Element patterning indicates that entire rabbit carcasses were carried to the cave for processing and consumption. The patterning of burned bones suggests that the carcasses were roasted whole over or within hot coals. A total of 400 tibia, femur, and humerus shafts were recovered, which indicates that marrow was systematically extracted from these long bones. A nutritional comparison of rabbit, pork, and deer meat shows that rabbit meat is as nutritionally balanced as deer meat, and considering that extra fat was extracted from the long bones of most of the carcasses consumed in the cave, rabbit was not a “starvation food”. Rabbit hunting provided the Late Upper Palaeolithic peoples of central Portugal with substantial calories, a relatively balanced diet of protein and fat, and several important minerals such as calcium. While small mammal hunting was important to the Late Upper Palaeolithic peoples of central Portugal, additional research is required on earlier occupations before we know whether the hunting of small prey intensified through time in this region of southwest Europe.

Past sources of air pollution in the cities of Northern Italy are investigated by a critical analysis of a 17th-century treatise written by B. Ramazzini, a medical doctor interested in the associations between work, environmental pollution and health. In this paper, past emissions due to domestic and craftsman's activity have been recognised and classified according to the potential damage to cultural heritage. The indoor environment experienced concentrations of smoke due to bad ventilation and domestic combustion for lighting and heating. High indoor concentrations of sulphur dioxide were common from the burning of sulphur for domestic and workshop activities. The outdoor environment experienced smoke for the combustion necessary for several workshop activities and uncontrolled dangerous emissions. The urban pollution was not homogeneous; the craftsmen's activities were organised in different specific areas so that the environmental deterioration potentials changed from site to site inside the same town.

This paper presents the palaeoecological analysis of a sediment core extracted from the marsh of Gravgaz in the Pisidian Lake District (southwest Turkey). The sediments are Late Holocene, dating back toc.3300bp. The research is part of an inter-disciplinary project, aiming to reconstruct the palaeoenvironment of the Sagalassos' territory, and to determine the impact of the former inhabitants of the area on the landscape. The Late Holocene pollen diagram shows four pollen assemblage zones: a phase with dominance of pine forest (zone A:c.3300–3200bp; Cal. ∼1640–1520bctill ∼1520–1430bc), a deforestation phase (zone B: c.3200–2300bp; Cal. ∼1520–1430bctill ∼410–240bc) an important cultivation phase (zone C:c.2300–1300bp; Cal. ∼410–240bctillad660–770) and a final reforestation phase (zone D: from c.1300bp; Cal. ∼ad660–770, till the present day). The results are complimented with archaeological and sedimentological data.

Recent chemical analyses of ancient anthrosols in Mesoamerica and elsewhere demonstrate the explanatory value of these investigative techniques and also point out some of the problems that challenge interpretive capabilities. This paper presents the results of phosphate and heavy metals analyses of soils in residential areas at Piedras Negras, Guatemala, and offers some preliminary interpretations of the patterns obtained. After a brief review of recent studies of soils in archaeological contexts, we discuss some of the merits and problems with using different sampling designs and with obtaining reference samples that help model distributions of chemical concentrations. To aid in interpreting domestic activities, soil analyses are combined with archaeological data produced from both large-scale clearing and smaller test units. In this way, phosphate concentrations implicate refuse disposal areas, and heavy metal signatures and their patterning suggest that urban Maya houses may have been painted with metal-based mineral pigments. Varying, relative proportions of phosphates and heavy metals in midden deposits indicate the probability of classifying such features according to chemical signatures. We argue that this combined approach offers greater clarity in discerning activity patterns in residential environments than investigations that do not incorporate soil chemical analyses.

Bodmin Moor is one of the most complete and best preserved upland prehistoric landscapes in Britain. The field archaeology has been described in some detail, although on the basis of comparatively little excavation, but this has nevertheless been used to generate hypotheses concerning the nature and timing of human settlement and impacts on the Moor. In contrast, there has been relatively little palaeoenvironmental work, due to a perceived lack of suitable deposits. These two articles present new palynological data from a series of recently discovered undisturbed profiles. This first paper describes the physical and archaeological settings of the sites and discusses the nature of the early Holocene vegetation on the Moor. Although previous work has suggested a dominance of open moorland throughout the Holocene, the two high-altitude (280m OD) profiles presented here show that dense woodland dominated by Corylus avellanaand Quercuswas present until around 6500 BP and probably extended to the very highest points of the Moor. Other taxa, such as Ulmus, Betula, and Tilia cordata, were also subordinate components of the vegetation. Alnus glutinosabecame established later, possibly after disturbance to the vegetation by human activity, although the nature and extent of Mesolithic disturbance to the vegetation is unclear. Thus, the early Holocene vegetation of the Moor was not predominantly open heath or grassland as has previously been assumed, but more probably a dense cover of hazel and oak woodland.

Archaeological sediments often offer opportunities to examine local palaeoenvironmental conditions from analysis of included microfossils. On-site conditions commonly vary, and thus so do the preservation conditions for microfossils. Consequently, a range of palynological preparation techniques are commonly used. While different types of microfossils provide valuable palaeoenvironmental information, the use of separate extraction methods for different microfossil types may be both time- and resource-consuming, especially where the recovery predicability is low. This paper examines the possibility of combining preparation techniques for three commonly encountered microfossils—pollen, spores and phytoliths—by comparing pollen extractions using heavy liquid extraction and standard pollen recovery procedures. Although the use of heavy liquids for pollen and spore preparations has been well-documented, for several reasons it has not been a favoured technique for pollen extraction. The research reported here shows that for most of the sediments tested, heavy liquid extraction procedures produced comparable results to those arising from standard pollen extraction techniques. For oxidized sediments, especially, more reliable results are likely to be obtained from heavy liquid extraction procedures than from those employing acetolysis. Overall, heavy liquid procedures allow complementary suites of data to be investigated with the least cost and effort, thus enabling palynologists and phytolithologists to adopt more effective research practices for environmental reconstruction.

An assemblage of rocks, such as comprising a fireplace, will acquire a remanent magnetization upon cooling parallel to the ambient geomagnetic field and thus will share a common direction of magnetization. Detailed palaeomagnetic analyses of oriented samples will reveal whether these rocks have remained in situsince the last heating event or whether these rocks have moved or represent discard material. Thermal demagnetization makes it possible in many cases to estimate the maximum temperature which a given rock has experienced. The direction of magnetization can be used to reposition rocks to their cooling position and the cooling history of boiling stones can be reconstructed for some rocks. This paper presents results obtained from burned rocks from various archaeological sites.

The Wareham Experimental Earthwork was constructed in 1963 in an area of heathland in the south of England with acidic sandy soils to investigate the processes that occurred early in the establishment of the archaeological record. Amongst its objectives was monitoring the changes to various archaeological materials that were buried in the earthwork. In this paper we present data on the interaction of soil micro-organisms with linen, flax, goatskin and hemp buried in 1963 and recovered during the 1996 excavation of the earthwork. These materials were originally buried on the old land surface beneath a stack of freshly cut turves (the turf environment), where the total C and N contents were relatively high, and higher up in the earthwork (the sand environment). In the 33 years since the earthwork was constructed all the visible remains of the linen, flax and hemp had been lost except where preservation had been aided by the presence of copper alloy or steel discs. The size of the soil microbial community (microbial biomass) and microbial activity (respiration rate) were greater in the turf environment than in the sand environment, but all the values were very small compared with typical ranges for soils. There was some evidence, in the form of increased respiratory responses to added glucose and greater respiration rates, that a legacy from the flax and the hemp persisted after they ceased to be visible. However, the results from adenosine triphosphate (ATP) analysis, which provides a measure of physiologically active micro-organisms, and from substrate utilization profiles (which provide an indication of the metabolic capability of the microbial community) did not support this. A short-term (7 months) laboratory experiment using samples of the original materials from the experimental archive and soil samples from the earthwork was conducted to attempt to simulate the conditions at the outset of the experiment. The rate of decomposition of the materials during this experiment was initially rapid and after 7 months between about 10 and 20% of the carbon in the buried materials had been lost. The substrate utilization profiles of the microbial communities associated with the decomposing materials could be related to their chemical composition, with the communities associated with plant-derived (carbohydrate-rich) materials giving large responses to carbohydrates, and the goatskin (mostly proteinaceous tissues) giving large responses to amino acids (components of proteins). Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was used to investigate changes in the distribution of carbon between differentfunctional groups indicative of some of the main types of biochemicals in the materials during the short term decomposition experiment. Only small changes were observed in the NMR spectra of the plant-derived materials. Consistent with the substrate utilization profiles, there was evidence of protein depolymerization to amino acids in the NMR spectra for the decomposing goatskin. When the materials were incubated in a reference soil that contained more N and a larger community of active micro-organisms than either of the soil types from the earthwork, the short term decomposition rate of all the materials was more rapid than in the earthwork soils, with the increase in decomposition rate being more marked for the plant-derived materials. It is hypothesized that this observation is due to a lack of available N restricting decomposition of the plant-derived materials in the earthwork soils.

Obsidian source characterization is another tool that can be used by archaeologists to examine hunter–gatherer mobility strategies by allowing them to reconstruct the potential geographic extent of group mobility. In this paper, data on obsidian source characterization from nine Archaic sites in the Tucson Basin of southern Arizona are used to determine whether changes in obsidian procurement ranges are associated with a reduction in residential mobility documented in the area between the Middle and Late Archaic/Early Agricultural periods. Analysis of the data reveals that not only do procurement ranges change, but procurement strategies may also have changed. It is argued that obsidian source characterization is a useful tool for examining group mobility when used in conjunction with other site data.

The faunal and botanical data from the first millennium bcsite of Nkang, Southern Cameroon, are presented in this paper. The analysed material, retrieved from refuse pits, comprises charcoal, phytoliths, molluscs and animal bones, which allow a reconstruction of the former environment. In addition, the site provides new insights into the emergence of food-producing communities in the African rainforest. Food procurement strategies at the site involved gathering, hunting, fishing, as well as small livestock keeping and banana cultivation. This is the earliest evidence for such practices in Central Africa.

This paper describes analysis of bone counts by maximum likelihood (abcml), a new statistical method for analysis of bone counts from archæological sites. It estimates (i) the proportion of the animals in an assemblage contributed by each of several agents of deposition, (ii) the damage from such causes as gnawing by carnivores, and (iii) the number of animals represented in the assemblage. In addition to point estimates, the method provides confidence intervals and measures the goodness of fit of the model to the data. Abcml is evaluated using simulated skeletal part counts and the Hadza pattern of transport. These experiments show that the method yields accurate estimates even with severely damaged assemblages. In contrast to the minimum number of individuals (MNI), which is shown to yield severely biased estimates of the number of individuals in a data set, abcml estimates all its parameters with minimal bias. It is used to consider the hypothesis that the faunal assemblages of Gatecliff and Last Supper caves were deposited by people who transported animal parts in the manner of modern Hadza. Under that hypothesis, the data indicate that both sites are kill–butchery sites rather than home bases. The residuals from this analysis, however, are much larger than they should be. This observation makes it possible to reject the hypothesis that these sites were accumulated by people who behaved in accord with the Hadza small-animal transport model.