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The identification of controlled fires in ancient agricultural systems is important for understanding how past societies managed the landscape. Although the use of fire in agriculture is documented in recent historical records, and combustion markers can persist in soils over a long time scale, this is a complex issue because combustion traits in general are ubiquitous. Archaeopedological surveys undertaken in an ancient forest in Burgundy (France) have led to the recovery of several red indurated nodules scattered in the soils. Gallo‐Roman housing structures and parcels were recognized using light detection and ranging mapping, stimulating questions about the understanding of the nature of these nodules. Elemental and structural analyses by X‐ray fluorescence and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the local origin of these features by comparing their composition with on‐site sediments, and thermoluminescence dating placed the samples in the Medieval period. The results cast light on the nature of the nodules and how they can be related to controlled fires used in agricultural practices. Even though questions remain about which processes lead to the formation of the nodules, the firing temperature estimated via XRD analysis seems to be in agreement with that used in the "paring‐and‐burning" technique. The present study provides new information about medieval agriculture practices from the 10th to the 12th centuries CE and shows how past societies managed the opening and maintenance of agricultural fields using natural resources and "archaeological" remains from the antique period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two types of materials were sampled as part of an investigation of the relics of the Holy Catholic Church of the Apostles St Philip and St James in the Basilica dei Santi Apostoli in Rome: bone- and mummy-materials and architectural samples. The analyses encompassed radiocarbon dating, thermoluminescence dating, gas and liquid chromatographic separation with mass spectrometric detection, X-Ray fluorescence, X-Ray diffraction, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, Raman spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results show that the samples were subjected to a number of conservational and exhibition-related treatments. The alleged femoral bone of St James was dated between AD 214 and 340 (2σ confidence), which shows that this cannot be the bone of St James. An encrustation found in a canal in the reliquary in the high altar construction showed the presence of heavily oxidized rapeseed oil, which was radiocarbon dated between AD 267 and 539 (2σ confidence), and a ceramic shard also found in the high altar construction was TL-dated to AD 314–746 (2σ confidence). The two latter dates are consistent with a translation of the relics following the erection of the church at the time of Pope Pelagius I in AD 556–561. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]