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International audience; The pressures on honeybee (Apis mellifera) populations, resulting from threats by modern pesticides, parasites, predators and diseases, have raised awareness of the economic importance and critical role this insect plays in agricultural societies across the globe. However, the association of humans with A. mellifera predates post-industrial-revolution agriculture, as evidenced by the widespread presence of ancient Egyptian bee iconography dating to the Old Kingdom (approximately 2400 bc). There are also indications of Stone Age people harvesting bee products; for example, honey hunting is interpreted from rock art in a prehistoric Holocene context and a beeswax find in a pre-agriculturalist site. However, when and where the regular association of A. mellifera with agriculturalists emerged is unknown. One of the major products of A. mellifera is beeswax, which is composed of a complex suite of lipids including n-alkanes, n-alkanoic acids and fatty acyl wax esters. The composition is highly constant as it is determined genetically through the insect’s biochemistry. Thus, the chemical ‘fingerprint’ of beeswax provides a reliable basis for detecting this commodity in organic residues preserved at archaeological sites, which we now use to trace the exploitation by humans of A. mellifera temporally and spatially. Here we present secure identifications of beeswax in lipid residues preserved in pottery vessels of Neolithic Old World farmers. The geographical range of bee product exploitation is traced in Neolithic Europe, the Near East and North Africa, providing the palaeoecological range of honeybees during prehistory. Temporally, we demonstrate that bee products were exploited continuously, and probably extensively in some regions, at least from the seventh millennium cal bc, likely fulfilling a variety of technological and cultural functions. The close association of A. mellifera with Neolithic farming communities dates to the early onset of agriculture and may provide evidence for the beginnings of a domestication process

The extensive investigation carried out in recent years at the UNESCO site of Al-Khutm (Ibri, Oman) has allowed to uncover the monumental remains of a tower dated back to the third millennium BC and to collect an abundant ceramic assemblage from the associated soil deposits. Eighteen selected pottery samples have been investigated using a multi-analytical approach including microfocus X-ray computed tomography, X-ray diffraction, optical microscopy and prompt gamma activation analysis to analyse the vessel-forming technique and to characterise their micro-structure, mineralogical and chemical composition to recognise possible local vs. non-local raw materials. The results provided new insights on ancient manufacturing processes and revealed that most of the vessels were locally produced exploiting raw materials from the surroundings of the site with the exception of a fragment of a black slipped jar. The chemical results suggest that the latter was imported from the Indus area in nowadays Pakistan. This evidence integrates our knowledge about the presence of this type of vessels in Oman and confirms the involvement of inland centres like Bat and Al-Khutm into a large-scale exchange system.

Abundant clay burnt plaster remains and a few flaked tools, including an obsidian artefact, found on the ground surface not far from Trieste (north-eastern Italy) provide rare evidence of a possible prehistoric open-air occupation in the area. To confirm and detail their ancient origin, a plaster sample has been dated between 4000 and 2000B.C. via thermoluminescence. Outer and inner structure of selected plaster samples has been characterized using several techniques, i.e. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray computed micro-tomography, obtaining information about their production technology. The last technique has allowed to image and virtually extract vegetal remains and imprints. Their 3D morphological study has contributed to collect information about the ancient environment and has provided clues to define the plaster production season. The provenance of the obsidian artefact from Lipari Island, revealed by prompt gamma activation analysis, suggests that the finding site was part of long-distance connection systems and probably worked as intermediate point between the north-eastern Adriatic coastal areas and the inner Karst plateau.

Filling a polymer with halloysite nanotubes is considered a promising strategy to generate nanocomposites with tailored physicochemical properties. We have focused our attention on pluronic block copolymer/halloysite nanocomposites prepared by melt blending. The effect of composition on thermal stability and polymer crystallinity was investigated by thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry. Electron microscopy was used to monitor the nanoparticle distribution in the polymeric matrix. The pluronic thermal stability is reduced by the clay nanoparticles. Concerning the polymer crystallinity, it is slightly decreased even if the melting temperature is lowered by halloysite. Furthermore, waterlogged archeological wood samples are consolidated using the nanotubes/pluronic nanocomposite, and the penetration of the nanocomposites into the lignin channels is confirmed by measurements based on X-ray computed microtomography.

We present the investigation of two rather ephemeral archaeological sites located in the municipality of Oprtalj/Portole (Croatian Istria) by means of integrated archaeological, geophysical and remote sensing techniques. The results obtained confirm the first interpretation of these contexts, a protohistoric burial mound and a small hillfort, respectively. We further obtained detailed information about both deposits through 2D and 3D remote sensing and geophysical studies that produced maps, volumes, profiles and cross-sections. At the first site, the volume reconstruction of both the inner stone core and the superimposed earth of the putative stone mound also allowed us to estimate the labour necessary to erect the structure. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that the integrated approach can be valuable not only to acquire novel data about the archaeological deposits but also to calibrate future investigations and to plan effective measures for heritage management, monitoring and valorization.

This paper presents the results of an international research aimed at investigating the ancient landscape of the Mali Kras plateau, a sector of northern Istria (southwestern Slovenia). The remains of two main protohistoric hill forts, Mali Kras and Socerb, and a few minor sites were already reported from this area. A cemetery, associated with Socerb hill fort, was in use between the sixth century BC and the first century AD. Airborne LiDAR remote sensing of Mali Kras plateau has allowed to identify several unknown archaeological features, ranging from approximately square features (30 × 30 m) to larger enclosures with different shapes, very long linear features and stone mounds. The elaboration and digitization of high-definition remote sensing data compared with historical cartography, field surveys, targeted small-scale excavations and thermoluminescence dating have been performed in order to decode the complex archaeological palimpsest. The square structures can be attributed to Middle-Recent Bronze Age on the basis of pottery finds. These structures are located close to natural passages from the plateau to the gulf of Trieste, in areas with low visibility and scarcity of soil, which were traditionally used for grazing activities. The other identified enclosures, some of them sharing a similar chronology, were also probably used for pastoral activities but for other purposes since their shape and size are different. Two main long drystone walls define the southeastern sector of Mali Kras plateau in correspondence of the most accessible entrance to the area. The preliminary data and comparisons with similar structures suggest these walls could correspond to protohistoric linear boundaries built to delimit grazing or agricultural areas under direct control of the nearby settlements. The enclosures identified at Mali Kras plateau, most probably connected to herding activities, and perhaps the long linear walls too, could reflect the development of new husbandry practices in the Middle-Recent Bronze Age in the karst areas of the north Adriatic hinterland, such as observed in the alpine territory.

A collection of polished stone axes from a late Neolithic site and an Early Bronze Age hill fort in South Tyrol (Italy) have been analysed through a multi-analytical approach, mainly based on non-destructive techniques (i.e. Raman spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence and prompt gamma activation analysis) to identify the raw materials used in the same area during different periods and compare them with those in use in the surrounding territories. The analytical results suggest raw material exploitation strategies based on local or close sedimentary, metamorphic and magmatic rocks. Most of the artefacts are made from antigoritic serpentinite, whose origin is probably from Hohe Tauern (Austria) or related secondary deposits. These data confirm the importance of such raw material for the production of polished stone axes during recent prehistory and integrate the present knowledge about the distribution of antigoritic artefacts in north-eastern Italy and neighbouring countries.

The extensive analysis of remote-sensed data (among which ALS-derived images) and fieldwork carried out in the Trieste Karst (N–E Italy) have shed light on archaeological landscapes largely unknown until recent years. The chronological definition of this complex palimpsest was based on the collection of findings associated to the archeological evidence, shape and orientation of detected structures and stratigraphic relations among features. This allowed to evaluate the interplay between landforms through time and to reconstruct some long-term economic strategies pursued by past communities. As a result, we present a 1:5000 map of the easternmost sector of the Trieste area, next to the border between Italy and Slovenia, approximately corresponding to the area of the map Carta Tecnica Regionale ‘Grozzana’. The map aims at providing a tool for the protection of the cultural and environmental heritage, land use planning and touristic valorization of the area.

The Trieste Karst, at the northernmost shore of the Adriatic Sea, is rich in prehistoric caves and protohistoric hill forts. Most of these archaeological sites were already identified in the second half of the 19th century when large parts of the area were almost without vegetation coverage for the effect of sheep breeding and exploitation of wood resources. Only a few open-air archaeological sites have been discovered in recent years due to the lack of systematic archaeological surveys and reforestation. Airborne LiDAR (light detection and ranging) data, originally acquired for environmental monitoring over the Friuli Venezia Giulia region (north-eastern Italy), have been recently analysed by means of free open source softwares for archaeological prospection of the Trieste Karst area. The LiDAR derived images have allowed identifying numerous unknown fortified structures ranging from prehistory to Roman time within a complex archaeological landscape that includes possible funerary barrows, agricultural terraces and other structures. The discovery of a probable Roman republican fort is particularly significant since similar structures, almost unknown in Italy, find comparison only with later examples of military forts from Roman provinces. The discovery of prehistoric, protohistoric and Roman fortified sites reported in this paper shows that airborne LiDAR remote sensing represents a revolution in landscape archaeology and archaeological mapping of karstic areas. This technique can provide unexpected results even in relatively urbanized territories investigated for a long time.