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Humans inhabit rich social and physical worlds and archaeology is increasingly engaging with the multisensory experience of life in the past. In this article, the authors model the soundscapes of five Chacoan communities on the Colorado Plateau, where habitation sites cluster around monumental great houses. The work demonstrates that the audible range of a conch-shell trumpet blown from atop these great houses consistently maps the distribution of associated habitation sites. Staying within the audible reach of great houses may have helped maintain the social cohesion of communities in the past which, the authors argue, also has implications for the management of archaeological landscapes in the modern world. Keywords: North America, Chaco Canyon, Pueblo, GIS, sensory archaeology, acoustic archaeology, Introduction Investigation of sensory regimes can enrich the study of past human experiences. In recent decades, sensory research has gained ground in archaeology (Day & Skeates 2020). Geographic Information System […]

Stratigraphic data form the backbone of archaeological records from excavated sites and are essential for the integrated analysis and wider interpretation of artefacts and sites. Accessible archiving of this data is therefore vital for understanding and revisiting such interpretations. Here, the authors highlight the need for more consistent digital records of stratigraphic and associated temporal relationships derived during post-excavation analysis phasing activities. They argue for the distillation of best practice in post- excavation procedures and the application of consistent and persistent terminology to make this fundamental archaeological data sustainably FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) and 'Open' across present-day geopolitical and spatiotemporal boundaries. Keywords: Stratigraphic methods, Harris matrix, post-excavation, excavation archives, FAIR, Phaser, Introduction Stratigraphic laws, principles (Harris 1989) and associated data form the backbone of excavation records at archaeological sites. These data underpin the integrated analysis and wider interpretation of sites, as […]

The inability to differentiate skeletal remains belonging to the ferret from those of its wild ancestor, the European polecat, presents a particular challenge for zooarchaeologists which currently hinders a better understanding of ferret domestication history. Using a geometric morphometric approach on the mandible, this study provides a new method to distinguish the two forms. Despite a small sample size and some overlap in the dataset, this method allowed the identification of a (post)medieval specimen from Mechelen (Belgium) as a wild polecat. Results demonstrate that ferrets can largely be distinguished from polecats based on mandibular morphology. Keywords: Northwest Europe, Middle Ages, geometric morphometrics, domestication, mandibula, Mustela, Introduction The domestication of various animal species has marked crucial transitions in human (pre) history. The desire to increase our understanding of the timelines and processes underlying these domestication events […]

Key tipping points of history are rarely found directly in the archaeological record, not least because an event's significance often lies in the perception of the participants. This article documents an earlyninth-century ritual fire-burning event at the Maya site of Ucanal in Guatemala and argues that it marked a public dismantling of an old regime. Rather than examine this event as part of a Classic period Maya collapse, the authors propose that it was a revolutionary pivot point around which the K'anwitznal polity reinvented itself, ushering in wider political transitions in the southern Maya Lowlands. Keywords: Mesoamerica, Late Classic period, Terminal Classic period, royal burial, greenstone ornaments, political history, Introduction From an archaeological perspective, the direct observation of historical tipping points is rare. The 'Big Bang' that dramatically shifted the organisation and composition of Mississippian Cahokia in the Southeast […]

As an important component of prehistoric subsistence, an understanding of bone-working is essential for interpreting the evolution of early complex societies, yet worked bones are rarely systematically collected in China. Here, the authors apply multiple analytical methods to worked bones from the Longshan site of Pingliangtai, in central China, showing that Neolithic bone-working in this area, with cervid as the main raw material, was mature but localised, household-based and self-sufficient. The introduction of cattle in the Late Neolithic precipitated a shift in bone-working traditions but it was only later, in the Bronze Age, that cattle bones were utilised in a specialised fashion and dedicated boneworking industries emerged in urban centres. Keywords: Central China, Late Neolithic, Longshan period, craft production, bone-working, cattle, Introduction The study of craft production is fundamental to archaeological investigations of the role of material culture in day-to-day, social and ritual life and is central to the explication of […]

Rock art of the Middle and Upper Orinoco River in South America is characterised by some of the largest and most enigmatic engravings in the world, including snakes exceeding 40m in length. Here, the authors map the geographic distribution of giant snake motifs and assess the visibility of this serpentine imagery within the Orinoco landscape and Indigenous myths. Occupying prominent outcrops that were visible from great distances, the authors argue that the rock art provided physical reference points for cosmogonic myths, acting as border agents that structured the environment and were central to Indigenous placemaking along the rivers of lowland South America. Keywords: South America, pre-Columbian, spatial analysis, affordance viewsheds, rock art, petroglyphs, Indigenous myth, Introduction In this article, we report on a unique South American tradition of monumental rock art and link it to the extant archaeological and ethnographic knowledge of the Orinoco River […]

The origins of Iron Age urbanism in temperate Europe were long assumed to lie in Archaic Greece. Recent studies, however, argue for an independent development of Hallstatt mega-sites. This article focuses on developments in Western Thessaly in mainland Greece. The author characterises the Archaic settlement system of the region as one of lowland villages and fortified hilltop sites, the latter identified not as settlements but refuges. It is argued that cities were rare in Greece prior to the Hellenistic period so its settlements could not have served as the model for urban temperate Europe. Consequently, the social and political development of Greece and temperate Europe followed different trajectories. Keywords: Greece, Archaic period, cities, urbanisation, hillforts, fortifications, Introduction The origins and development of urbanism in Europe during the first half of the first millennium BC have been the focus of an unresolved archaeological debate since the early […]

The nature and timing of the transition to farming north of the Linearbandkeramik zone in Europe is the subject of much debate, but our understanding of this fundamental shift in lifeways is hampered by the low resolution of available data. This article presents new multi-proxy evidence from Swifterbant (4240-4050 BC), in the Dutch wetlands, for morphologically domestic cattle with two different dietary regimes. The authors argue that the results indicate early animal management, alongside arable farming and the continuance of foraging practices, prompting the reconsideration away from broad statements about the Neolithic north of the Linearbandkeramik zone towards more local trajectories. Keywords: Northern Europe, Neolithic, Linearbandkeramik, dietary stable isotopes, zooarchaeology, archaeobotany, human-animal interactions, Introduction The transition from hunting and gathering to farming represents a fundamental shift in human lifeways and in the relationship between humans and non-humans. North of the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) zone […]

Examination of plant microfossils (phytoliths and starch granules) preserved in dental calculus allows for the direct identification of some components of prehistoric diets. In this article, the authors present the results of microfossil analysis of dental calculus from wild and domestic animals at the Late Neolithic site of Kangjia in the Central Plains, an area critical in the emergence of early Chinese states. Consumption of cooked plant foods by domestic pigs and dogs, and of domestic crops by wild animals, at this site hints, the authors argue, at an interdependent relationship between animal management, agricultural production and ritual practices that contributed to the political transformations of Late Neolithic China. Keywords: Asia, Central Plains, Longshan, microfossil analysis, phytoliths, starch granules, feasting, Introduction Substantial social and political transformations took place in the middle and lower Yellow River valley in China during the third millennium BC. Settlements of the Late Neolithic Longshan culture […]

Clusters of Neolithic cursus monuments are attested in several parts of Britain but have so far not been recorded in Ireland, where only isolated or pairs of monuments are known. A recent lidar survey of the Baltinglass landscape of County Wicklow, Ireland, has now identified a cluster of up to five cursus monuments. Here, the author explores this group of monuments and their significance within the wider setting of Neolithic Ireland and Britain. Their unique morphology, location and orientation offer insights into the ritual and ceremonial aspects of the farming communities that inhabited the Baltinglass landscape and hint at the variability in the form and possible functions of these monuments for early farming communities. Keywords: Western Europe, Ireland, Neolithic, lidar, cursus monuments, solar alignment, mortuary practices, Introduction In many parts of western Europe, the start of the Neolithic brought with it the construction of the first large-scale communal monuments. Causewayed enclosures--defined by their segmented banks, ditches […]

Increases in population size are associated with the adoption of Neolithic agricultural practices in many areas of the world, but rapid population growth within the Dingsishan cultural group of southern China pre-dated the arrival of rice and millet farming in this area. In this article, the authors identify starch grains from taros (Colocasia) and yams (Dioscorea) in dental calculus and on food-processing tools from the Dingsishan sites of Huiyaotian and Liyupo (c. 9030-6741 BP). They conclude that the harvesting and processing of these dietary staples supported an Early Holocene population increase in southern East Asia, before the spread of rice and millet farming. Keywords: Southern China, Early Holocene, Dingsishan, microfossil analysis, dental calculus, starch grains, taro, Introduction Around 10 000 BP, the first open settlements emerged on terraces along the Yongjiang River in southern Guangxi in southern China (Fu 2002; Zhang & Hung 2010, 2012; Hung […]

Despite significant research, the direct and indirect causes of a population decline in the eponymous foragers of the Late Jomon period (c. 4500-2300 BP) in Japan remains undetermined. Here, the authors examine the impact of nutritional stress, using scurvy as a case study, on Middle and a Late/Final Jomon populations. While an increase in the prevalence of scurvy between the time periods is apparent, no associated change in age at death was observed. The authors argue that the Late Jomon adapted their food-sharing practices in times of ecological stress, and they highlight the need to consider morbidity and mortality together in palaeopathological assessments and the growing evidence for a non-nutritional cause in the Late Jomon population decline. Keywords: Japan, pre-Neolithic, scurvy, climate change, population decline, morbidity, mortality, Introduction Recent archaeological and bioarchaeological research emphasise the intricate relationship between climate change, social organisation and human health (Burke et al. 2021; Robbins Schug et al. 2023). Understanding the resilience, […]

The late seventh-century introduction of silver coinage marked a transformation in the economy of north-west Europe, yet the source(s) of the silver bullion behind this change remains uncertain. Here, the authors use combined lead isotope and trace element analysis of 49 coins from England, Frisia and Francia to provide new insights into north-European silver sources during the 'long eighth century' (c. AD 660-820). The results indicate an early reliance on recycled Byzantine silver plate, followed by a shift c. AD 750 to newly mined metal from Francia. This change indicates the strong role of the Carolingian state in the control of metal sources and economic structures across the North Sea zone. Keywords: North-west Europe, Middle Ages, Byzantine period, silver mining, lead isotope analysis, coinage, Introduction The adoption of silver currency in north-west Europe from c. AD 660/70 marked a profound transformation in the early medieval economy. The replacement of gold with large silver coinages [...]

Modern and contemporary archaeology, the French equivalent of historical archaeology, emerged in the 1970s. Subsequent attempts at theorising this sub-discipline have been hindered by a lack of broad professional recognition and funding. While the archaeology of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries is now more widely recognised in France, studies of the post-nineteenth-century period remain limited to a few specific contexts. Here, the author offers an overview for the Anglophone readers of modern and contemporary archaeology in France and argues that greater theorisation, cross-fertilisation with other archaeological traditions and a diversification of the range of themes considered might enhance recognition of this sub-discipline within and beyond France. Keywords: Western Europe, France, historical archaeology, contemporary archaeology, archaeological theory, Introduction Is there a unified theory of historical or contemporary archaeology in France? Since the late 1970s, there have certainly been many attempts to achieve common theoretical grounds but the [...]

The widespread significance of tobacco in Mesoamerica is documented in historical and ethnographic sources, yet recovery of the organic remains of this plant from archaeological contexts is rare. Here, the authors present evidence for the ritual use of tobacco at Cotzumalhuapa, Guatemala, during the Late Classic period (AD 650-950). Detection of nicotine in residue analysis of three cylindrical ceramic vases recovered from cache deposits near the El Baul acropolis suggests that these vessels contained tobacco infusions or other liquid preparations. These results suggest an ancient ritual practice involving tobacco for which there was previously no physical evidence in Mesoamerica. Keywords: Guatemala, Cotzumalhuapa, El Baul, Late Classic period, LC-MS, nicotine, Nicotiana, Introduction Tobacco (Nicotiana sp., Solanaceae) is one of the most significant and ubiquitous ritual plants of the Americas (Linton 1924; Mason 1924; Wilbert 1987, 1979; Winter 2000). Early colonial accounts [...]

The remains of black henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) are relatively common at archaeological sites as it grows naturally around settlements in north-western Europe. All parts of the plant may be used as a medicine or a narcotic but its natural prevalence in built environments makes it difficult to interpret any intentionality behind its presence in the archaeological record. Evidence of the deliberate collection and use of black henbane seeds in the Roman Netherlands is presented here for the first time. Examination of Classical texts and interrogation of the archaeobotanical data allow the authors to place the discovery at Houten-Castellum of a hollowed bone containing hundreds of black henbane seeds within the context of the wider Roman understanding of the plant and its properties. Keywords: north-western Europe, Roman period, archaeobotany, GC-MS, medicinal plants, birch-bark tar, Introduction Black henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) is an extremely poisonous plant species that can also be used as a medicinal or psychoactive drug. It is a ruderal species, preferring dry, nutrient-rich [...]

Exogamous marriage alliances involving royal women played a prominent role in the conversion of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms to Christianity in the seventh century AD. Yet the large number of well-furnished female burials from this period suggests a broader change in the role of women. The authors present the results of isotopic analysis of seventh-century burials, comparing male and female mobility and the mobility of females from well-furnished versus poorly/unfurnished burials. Results suggest increased mobility during the Conversion Period that is, paradoxically, most noticeable among women buried in poorly furnished graves; their well-furnished contemporaries were more likely to have grown up near to their place of burial. Keywords: England, Anglo-Saxon, Conversion Period, stable isotope analysis, burials, gender, exogamy, Introduction During the conversion of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms to Christianity in the seventh century AD--referred to as the Conversion Period--women briefly took centre stage in English history. Written sources--above all, [...]

In this article, the authors present an analysis of radiocarbon dates from a stratified deposit at the Greek Geometric period settlement of Zagora on the island of Andros, which are among the few absolute dates measured from the period in Greece. The dates assigned to Greek Geometric ceramics are based on historical and literary evidence and are found to contradict absolute dates from the central Mediterranean which suggest that the traditional dates are too young. The results indicate the final period at Zagora, the Late Geometric, should be seen as starting at least a century earlier than the traditional date of 760 BC. Keywords: Mediterranean Europe, Greece, Early Iron Age, Geometric period, radiocarbon, chronology, Introduction The Greek Geometric period, named after the patterns painted on the ceramics produced at the time, spanned the latter part of the Early Iron Age. One of its sub-phases, [...]

Sedentary occupation of the southern Levantine coast spans from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic C to the Early Bronze Age Ib phase (c. 7000-3100 BC). Sites dating to the Early Pottery Neolithic (c. 6400-5500 BC) are scarce, however, potentially reflecting the effects of the 8.2ka climatic event. Here, the authors present the investigations at the submerged site of Habonim North off the Carmel Coast. Typological and radiocarbon dating indicate an Early Pottery Neolithic occupation and evidence for continuity of subsistence and economic strategies with both earlier and later Neolithic cultures. The results indicate the resilience of coastal communities in the face of significant climatic uncertainty and contribute to understanding human responses to environmental change. Keywords: Israel, Neolithic, climate change, sea-level rise, subsistence, resilience, Introduction The centuries leading up to the sixth millennium BC are perceived as a key period of development for Neolithic societies across southern Europe, the Aegean, Anatolia, Syria and Mesopotamia. [...]

The settlement of Ban Non Wat charts the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age in north-eastern Thailand. Examination of grave inclusions and mortuary treatment at this important site allows insights into social change during this key period. Increasing complexity and the inclusion of exotic items in the mortuary treatment of some individuals early in the Bronze Age is suggested to show the rise of a lineage of aggrandisers who controlled access to these symbolic articles. But, the author argues, their elevated status was ephemeral, forfeited as local bronze casting became established. Keywords: Ban Non Wat, Bronze Age, copper, exotic ornaments, aggrandisers, mortuary practices, social change, Introduction This article explores social changes that occurred when copper-base artefacts entered exchange circuits in Southeast Asia. It centres on the prehistoric settlement of Ban Non Wat, located in a [...]

Broomcorn millet and foxtail millet were first cultivated in Neolithic China then the process spread west across Asia during the Bronze Age. But the distinctive ceramic, and later bronze, vessels utilised in East Asian cuisines for boiling and steaming grains did not move west alongside these crops. [ere, the authors use measurements of 3876 charred millet grains to evaluate regional variations and implications for food preparation. In contrast to wheat grains, which became smaller as their cultivation moved east, millet grains became larger as they spread from northern China into Inner Asia and Tibet. This indicates the decoupling of millets from associated cooking techniques as they reached geographical and cultural areas. Keywords: East and Central Asia, Neolithic, Bronze Age, archaeobotany, foxtail millet, broomcorn millet, grain size, cuisine, Introduction For many cereals, domestication corresponds with an increase in the size of the grain or caryopsis (Zohary & Hopf 2000; Fuller et al. 2014; Stevens et al. 2021). Grain [...]

Historically, urban centres are seen as consumers that draw in labour and resources from their rural hinterlands. Zooarchaeological studies of key urban sites in Southwest Asia demonstrate the movement of livestock, but the region-wide application of these findings has not been tested and the logistics of urban provisioning remain poorly understood. Here, the authors analyse zooarchaeological data from 245 sites in the Levant and Mesopotamia to examine patterns of livestock production and consumption over a 5000-year period. They find that although preferences varied over time and space, urban sites consistently relied on rural satellites to overcome local limitations to support their large and diverse populations. Keywords: Middle East, Levant, Mesopotamia, zooarchaeology, urbanism, land use, food production, Introduction Urban centres in most regions of the ancient world, including Southwest Asia, are characterised by relatively high population densities and the presence of inhabitants who do not engage in [...]

The deposition of intentionally damaged metal arte-facts within burials and hoards is a phenomenon attested in areas as disparate as Ireland and the Caucasus during the Bronze and Iron Ages. While ritual significance is often attributed to such damage in burial contexts, the intentions behind the inclusion of damaged objects in hoards remain enigmatic. This article synthesises evidence for the intentional destruction of metal artefacts from 70 sites in the territory of modern Georgia and analyses patterns of deliberate damage over time and space. The study of these damaged artefacts enhances our understanding of ritual practice at a local level and locates the south Caucasus within the wider networks of this phenomenon. Keywords: Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, damage analysis, identity, Introduction The phenomenon of intentionally damaged metal artefacts deposited in burials and hoards is well known to archaeologists studying the Bronze and Iron Ages. The practice is documented over an [...]

Explanations for the emergence and abandonment of the Chalcolithic Trypillia mega-sites have long been debated. Here, the authors use Gini coefficients based on the sizes of approximately 7000 houses at 38 Trypillia sites to assess inequality between households as a factor in the rise and/or demise of these settlements. The results indicate temporarily reduced social inequality at mega-sites. It was only after several generations that increased social differentiation reemerged and this may explain the subsequent abandonment of the mega-sites. The results indicate that increases in social complexity need not be associated with greater social stratification and that large aggregations of population can, for a time at least, find mechanisms to reduce inequality. Keywords: Eastern Europe, Chalcolithic, Gini coefficient, wealth inequality, households, population agglomeration, Introduction Between c. 4200 and 3600 BC, the so-called Trypillia mega-sites were established on the northern limits of the Pontic Steppe (Zbenovich 1996; Videiko 1998; Menotti & Korvin-Piotrovskiy 2012; Muller [...]

Lack of contextual evidence for the use of small personal ornaments means that much of our understanding of ornamentation traditions within archaeological cultures is reconstructed from ethnographic comparisons. New in situ finds from the areas around the ears and mouth in burials at Boncuklu Tarla, a Neolithic settlement in Turkiye, add a novel dimension to the interpretation of stone 'tokens' or 'plugs'. This article presents a new typology for these artefacts and argues for their use as ear ornaments or labrets in a practice involving significant and lasting corporal alteration. Keywords: South-west Asia, Neolithic, body augmentation, perforation, ornamentation, labret, Introduction Small, disc or nail-like objects similar to modern and ethnographic examples of labrets--worn through piercings beneath the lower lip--are well documented in the material culture of Neolithic South-west Asia [...]

Hypertrophic 'giant' handaxes are a rare component of Acheulean assemblages, yet have been central to debates relating to the social, cognitive and cultural 'meaning' of these enigmatic tools. The authors examine giant handaxes from the perspective of the British record and suggest that they are chronologically patterned, with the great majority originating from contexts broadly associated with Marine Isotope Stage 9. Giant handaxes tend to have higher symmetry than non-giants, and extravagant forms, such as ficrons, are better represented; they may therefore be linked to incipient aesthetic sensibilities and, potentially, to changing cognition at the transition between the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic. Keywords: Britain, Lower Palaeolithic, MIS 9 (~300 000 years ago), Acheulean handaxes, stone-tool morphology, symmetry, Introduction The extreme paucity of hominin fossils and organic artefacts from the Lower Palaeolithic means that our understanding of early hominin culture, society and cognition is largely reconstructed from lithic [...]

Fog oases (lomas) present pockets of verdant vegetation within the arid coastal desert of Andean South America and archaeological excavation within some of the oases has revealed a long history of human exploitation of these landscapes. Yet lomas settlements are under-represented in archaeological datasets due to their tendency to be located in remote inter-valley areas. Here, the authors employ satellite imagery survey to map the locations of anthropogenic surface features along the central Peruvian coast. They observe two categories of archaeological features, large corrals and clustered structures, and document a concentration of settlement features within lomas landscapes that suggests a pre-Hispanic preference for both short- and long-term occupation of these verdant oases. Keywords: South America, Andean central coast, pre-Hispanic, settlement patterns, satellite imagery survey, fog oases, lomas, Introduction Lomas (fog oases) are vegetation islands along the Peruvian coastal desert belt, fed by dense fog that results from the interaction between warm moist air from the Pacific Ocean [...]

Recent archaeological research in the Andes suggests that Indigenous herders carefully managed their environments through the modification of local hydrology and vegetation. However, the limited geographical scale of previous research makes it challenging to assess the range and prevalence of pastoralist land management in the Andes. In this article, the authors utilise large-scale, systematic imagery survey to examine the distribution and environmental contexts of corrals and pastoralist settlements in Huancavelica, Peru. Results indicate that corrals and pastoralist settlements cluster around colonial and present-day settlements and that a statistically significant relationship exists between pastoral infrastructure and perennial vegetation. This highlights the utility of remote survey for the identification of trans-regional patterns in herder-environment relationships that are otherwise difficult to detect. Keywords: South America, Andes, satellite imagery survey, optimised hot-spot analysis, pastoralism, bofedales, corrals, estancias, Introduction Archaeologists and ecologists have documented the persistent importance of bofedales--high altitude, anthropogenic wetlands that provide high-quality, perennial vegetation--for pastoral ecologies (e.g. Verzijl & Guerrero Quispe 2013; Lopez-i-Gelats et al. [...]

Archaeological surveys conducted through the inspection of high-resolution satellite imagery promise to transform how archaeologists conduct large-scale regional and supra-regional research. However, conducting manual surveys of satellite imagery is labour- and time-intensive, and low target prevalence substantially increases the likelihood of miss-errors (false negatives). In this article, the authors compare the results of an imagery survey conducted using artificial intelligence computer vision techniques (Convolutional Neural Networks) to a survey conducted manually by a team of experts through the GeoPACHA platform (for further details of the project, see Wernke et al. 2023). Results suggest that future surveys may benefit from a hybrid approach--combining manual and automated methods--to conduct an AI-assisted survey and improve data completeness and robustness. Keywords: South America, Andes, satellite survey, remote sensing, artificial intelligence, deep learning, GeoPACHA, Introduction: the potential of AI-assisted surveys Archaeological surveys conducted through the manual inspection of high-resolution satellite imagery hold transformational promise for regional and supra-regional research. Traditional pedestrian surveys covering many [...]

The north coast of Peru is among the most extensively surveyed regions in the world, yet variation in research questions, sampling strategies and chronological and geospatial controls among survey projects makes comparison of disparate datasets difficult. To contextualise these issues, the authors present a systematic survey of satellite imagery focusing on hilltop fortifications in the Jequetepeque and Santa Valleys. This digital recontextualisation of pedestrian survey data demonstrates the potential of hybrid methodologies to substantially expand both the identification of archaeological sites within difficult terrain and, consequently, our understanding of the function of defensive sites. Keywords: South America, Andes, Middle Horizon, Moche culture, satellite imagery survey, pedestrian survey, fortifications, Introduction Pedestrian surveys of the coastal valleys of northern Peru have painstakingly recorded archaeological traces of complex social relations through time (Willey 1953; Daggett 1987; Wilson 1988; Dillehay et al. [...]

Imagery-based survey is capable of producing archaeological datasets that complement those collected through field-based survey methods, widening the scope of analysis beyond regions. The Geospatial Platform for Andean Culture, History and Archaeology (GeoPACHA) enables systematic registry of imagery survey data through a 'federated' approach. Using GeoPACHA, teams pursue problem-specific research questions through a common data schema and interface that allows for inter-project comparisons, analyses and syntheses. The authors present an overview of the platform's rationale and functionality, as well as a summary of results from the first survey campaign, which was carried out by six projects distributed across the central Andes, five of which are represented here. Keywords: South America, Andes, satellite survey, settlement pattern analysis, big data, large-scale imagery survey, QGIS, Scalar challenges in archaeology One of archaeology's most substantial challenges is aligning the scales of our datasets with those of the social worlds that we seek to study. At the [...]

Comparative studies of inequality based on archaeological data rely on universal notions of status or prestige that are not always meaningful across diverse cultural contexts. Here, the authors evaluate three broadly contemporaneous urban communities (Marothodi, Molokwane and Kaditshwene) in the southern African interior in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries AD. The study combines a statistical measure of inequality, the Gini coefficient, with insights from the rich ethnohistorical archives of African knowledge systems. The results suggest markedly different levels of inequality, but contextualisation points to divergent social strategies for settlement organisation and for managing sociopolitical insecurity. The findings raise important questions about cross-cultural indices of social inequality. Keywords: Southern Africa, farming communities, settlement, inequality, Gini coefficient, Lorenz curve, Introduction How can remote sensing, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and statistical tools be used to assess and promote African knowledge systems and the continent's heritage? In what ways can such [...]

In the Andean highlands, hilltop fortifications known as pukaras are common. Dating predominantly to the Late Intermediate Period (AD 10001450), pukaras are important to archaeological characterisations of a political landscape shaped by conflict but the distribution of these key sites is not well understood. Here, the authors employ systematic satellite imagery survey to provide a contiguous picture of pukara distribution on an inter-regional scale covering 151 103[km.sup.2] in the south-central highlands of Peru. They highlight the effectiveness of such survey at identifying pukaras and capturing regional variability in size and residential occupation, and the results demonstrate that satellite surveys of high-visibility sites can tackle research questions at larger scales of analysis than have previously been possible. Keywords: South America, Andes, Late Intermediate Period, satellite imagery survey, fortification, conflict, Introduction In the Andes, the term pukara, meaning fortress in both Quechua and Aymara, refers to a wide range of defensive sites that are strategically positioned on hills and ridges [...]

Innovations in horse equipment during the early Middle Ages provided advantages to societies from the steppes, reshaping the social landscape of Eurasia. Comparatively little is known about the precise origin of these crucial advances, although the available evidence points to early adoption in East Asia. The authors present new archaeological discoveries from western and northern Mongolia, dating to the fourth and fifth centuries AD, including a wooden frame saddle with horse hide components from Urd Ulaan Uneet and an iron stirrup from Khukh Nuur. Together, these finds suggest that Mongolian groups were early adopters of stirrups and saddles, facilitating the expansion of nomadic hegemony across Eurasia and shaping the conduct of medieval mounted warfare. Keywords: Mongolia, Middle Ages, horse riding, stirrup, saddle, Introduction Across Eurasia, the development of sophisticated cavalry had tremendous consequences for ancient societies. Beginning with the domestication of the horse and the subsequent invention of the chariot in the [...]

Durable architecture is a hallmark of Polynesian chiefdoms, associated with centralised control of residential and agricultural land. Previous work in West Polynesia has indicated a relatively late date for the onset of such construction activity--after AD 1000--suggesting that political development was influenced by events such as post-colonisation migration. The authors report new dating evidence from the excavation of a large earth mound on the island of Tongatapu. Its construction 1500 years ago indicates that, in contrast to previous findings, well-developed chiefdoms and field monuments probably dominated the landscapes of West Polynesia substantially prior to the colonisation of more easterly island nations. Keywords: Polynesia, first millennium AD, AMS radiocarbon dating, LiDAR, stratigraphy, chiefdoms, social complexity, Introduction The archaeological record of the first millennium AD in West Polynesia is central to our understanding of the in situ development of chiefly polities and the nature of political [...]

Wine was deeply embedded in all aspects of Roman life and its role in society, culture and the economy has been much studied. Ancient Roman texts and archaeological research provide valuable insights into viticulture and the manufacture, trade and consumption of wine but little is known of the sensory nature of this prized commodity. Here, the authors offer a novel oenological approach to the study of Roman dolia through their comparison with modern Georgian qvevri and associated wine-production techniques. Far from being mundane storage vessels, dolia were precisely engineered containers whose composition, size and shape all contributed to the successful production of diverse wines with specific organoleptic characteristics. Keywords: Italy, Georgia, Roman archaeology, viticulture, vinification, dolia, qvevri, An underexplored phenomenon Wine played a fundamental role in Greco-Roman Antiquity (Van Limbergen 2020). A quintessential tool in Roman winemaking was the dolium, a large earthenware vessel with a rounded [...]

Myanmar is located within an important geographic corridor of prehistoric demographic and technological exchange, yet relatively few archaeological sites have been securely dated. Here, the authors present a new radiocarbon chronology for Halin, a UNESCO-listed complex in the north-central Sagaing Division of Myanmar, which contributes to the generation of nuanced regional chronologies and to improving the temporal resolution of Southeast Asia more generally. Discussion of 94 radiocarbon determinates, together with site stratigraphy and pottery traditions, provides a chronological sequence from the early third millennium BC to the early second millennium AD. Corroboration of the beginning of this sequence would place Halin as the oldest currently dated Neolithic site in Mainland Southeast Asia and would provide support for the two-layer model of Neolithic migration. Keywords: Southeast Asia, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Pyu, radiocarbon, Introduction The national territory of the Union of the Republic of Myanmar (henceforth, Myanmar) constitutes the sub-Himalayan corridor for terrestrial human interactions from Initial Human Colonisation about 60 kya to [...]

Relatively few examples of Palaeohispanic writing have been recovered from the Vasconic territories of present-day Navarre, leading to the assumption that the Vascones were a pre-literate society. Here, the authors report on an inscription on a bronze hand recovered at the Iron Age site of Irulegi (Aranguren Valley, Navarre) in northern Spain. Its detailed linguistic analysis suggests that the script represents a graphic subsystem of Palaeohispanic that shares its roots with the modern Basque language and constitutes the first example of Vasconic epigraphy. The text inscribed on this artefact, which was found at the entrance of a domestic building, is interpreted as apotropaic, a token entreating good fortune. Keywords: Iberian Peninsula, Circum-Pyrenean region, Late Iron Age, Vasconic epigraphy, Palaeohispanic, linguistic analysis, Introduction The Vascones--mentioned in Classical sources including Ptolemy (Geographia 2.6.67; Garcia Gil & Molinero Hernando 2006) and Pliny (Naturalis Historia 3.3.24; Rackham 1942) --were a Late Iron Age cultural group [...]

Grain-cooking traditions in Neolithic China have been characterised as a 'wet' cuisine based on the boiling and steaming of sticky varieties of cereal. One of these, broomcorn millet, was one of the earliest Chinese crops to move westward into Central Asia and beyond, into regions where grains were typically prepared by grinding and baking. Here, the authors present the genotypes and reconstructed phenotypes of 13 desiccated broomcorn millet samples from Xinjiang (1700 BC-AD 700). The absence in this area of sticky-starch millet and vessels for boiling and steaming suggests that, as they moved west, East Asian cereal crops were decoupled from traditional cooking practices and were incorporated into local cuisines. Keywords: Central Asia, western China, Bronze Age, ancient DNA, phenotype, millet, starch, culinary traditions, Introduction When the cultivation of millet moved westwards into Central Asia, did traditional East Asian culinary practices travel with it? In this article, we use ancient DNA (aDNA) to determine [...]

The late third-millennium BC Longshan period was a crucial time for state formation in central China. During these centuries, long-distance networks expanded and shared material culture and then cultural practices spread across wider areas precipitating social and ideological developments that presaged the rise of states and cities on the Central Plain. In this research, the authors use multiple (strontium, oxygen and carbon) isotope analyses from the dental enamel of 67 individuals buried at the Xiajin cemetery, Shanxi Province. The results indicate significant long-distance migration among females during the Longshan period, which the authors interpret as evidence of exogamous marriage for political alliance-building--a phenomenon found more widely across Eurasia at the start of the Bronze Age. Keywords: central China, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Taosi culture, burial, isotopic analysis, migration, exogamy, Introduction The Longshan period (c. 2500-1900 BC) was a crucial time for state formation in central China. During this period, inter-regional networks developed rapidly, transmitting shared material forms and cultural [...]

The article explores the evolving nature of fieldwork in anthropology, highlighting the increasing presence of research participants in the anthropologist's own society. It discusses the author's encounters with Yemeni refugees in their hometown, reflecting on the complexities of identity and positioning in anthropological research, and proposes a perspective of the migrant anthropologist to understand interconnectedness and positionalities within globalized societies.

This article provides an overview of the published archaeological, geological, anthropological, and paleontological research that has been undertaken at Švédův stůl Cave at Ochoz u Brna in the southern part of the Moravian Karst. Most of these excavations took place from the end of the 19th century to the present and have already been described in the literature; however, to date, there has been no comprehensive review for an English-speaking audience. The authors focus on the excavations of Bohuslav Klíma between 1953–1955 and the discovery of a Neanderthal’s mandible by the student Karl Kubasek in 1905, and the circumstances under which this find entered the collections of the Moravian Museum in Brno. The article also includes, for the first time ever, photographs from the Bohuslav Klíma archive documenting his excavations in the cave in the 1950s. This documentation was also used to place the test pits excavated in front of the cave in 2019 by an international research team in the spatial framework of Klíma’s excavations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immersion in the arts is often associated with complex, cutting-edge technology. However, this technology-focused view limits our understanding of immersion. Immersion should be seen as the normal state of perception, while non-immersion is a historically and culturally specific mode created by "old media." The aesthetics of contemporary immersion are shaped by digitization and climate breakdown, leading to two main directions: creating simulations or experiences of re-entanglement with the wider world. The idea that the world is in front of us goes against human experience, but was created by a techno-cultural environment, with the central perspective and printing press as key elements. Digitization and climate change challenge this notion and the belief that the world is populated by passive objects. The crisis of classic Western aesthetics is not new, but its articulation had little impact outside the arts. The question of the aesthetics of immersion is urgent, as different aesthetics make different aspects of digitization and climate change accessible to our perception, shaping how we experience the world and our place within it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamic development of virtual reality (VR) technology is reconfiguring the relationship between humans and their avatars in virtual worlds. Physical bodies and spaces become entangled with their digital counterparts and are engaged in events within virtual environments, necessitating a shift in the approach to conducting anthropological research in VR. This essay challenges digital dualism through the exploration of the hybrid nature of embodiment in VR. The aim of the text is to lay the groundwork for a postdualistic and posthumanist approach to VR anthropology, which emphasizes the entanglements between humans and technologies, and between physical and digital bodies, blurring the boundaries between these dichotomies. In this approach, I conceptualize VR users as cyborg assemblages, emerging in intra-actions between humans, technologies, and digital bodies, thereby highlighting the agency of non-humans in co-shaping their hybrid somaticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PEPAdb (Prehistoric Europe's Personal Adornment Database) is a long-term, open-ended project that aims to improve access to archaeological data online. Its website (https://pepadb.us.es) publishes and analyses datasets about prehistoric personal adornment, drawing on the results of various research projects and bibliographic references. Keywords: data analysis, Open Science, FAIR principles, personal adornment, Mediterranean Europe, Introduction Access to publications and datasets generated by publicly funded R&D projects, either raw or processed, is limited for many scientists and citizens. This has caused a movement in academia [...]