Search

The 2019 season in Metsamor confirmed the functioning of the settlement in the Urartian period. House II, discovered during the fieldwork, is the first architectural structure built at the beginning of the Early Iron Age period which, after some possible rearrangements, retained control over the Aras valley during the Urartian kingdom. Pottery discovered there confirms that the already excavated part of the settlement was extensively used after the fall of Urartu. A pit grave dated to the 7th century BC yielded a late Urartian cylinder seal.

The article presents in two aspects the flint material from the Final Palaeolithic Arch Backed Piece technocomplex from the site of Nowy Młyn Cypel at Rydno. The typological, morphological and technological analyses of the artefacts, show, among others, characteristic features of the so-called Kamienna variant of the ABP complex, probably an older component of the Arch Backed Piece assemblages, which may be a testimony to the local process of azilianisation in Poland. The undertaken attempt at reconstructing the spatial arrangement of the flint concentrations, associated with features with haematite coloured fill, allows determining the character and organisation of the campsites, as well as the types of flint processing and economic activities of the inhabitants. An artefact distribution analysis, the refitting method and Dick Stapert's ring and sector method were utilised in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological exploration of the eastern part of the settlement in Metsamor in 2018 uncovered several rectangular structures. Most of these structures were dated to the early Iron Ages I and II. Roman-period graves were recorded in the ruins of the Iron Age settlement. An anthropological assessment of human remains from three of the burials (sex, age, cranial and postcranial measurements as well as the selected paleopathologies) is presented in the appendix.

The Atlantic coast of north-west France is one of the classic shell-midden regions of the European Mesolithic, made famous by the excavations of Téviec and Hoedic in the first half of the 20th century. At this time, there was a lack of interest in the food refuse component of shell middens. By the end of the 1990s new study methods and techniques had also contributed to a better description of the varied activities of these coastal populations. In Atlantic France, new excavations have demonstrated that shell middens are not a site type but rather one of a variety of stratigraphic units that make up the total settlement pattern. Our perception of the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers of the French Atlantic coast has now changed from a population pre-occupied with day-to-day survival and forced to eat shellfish out of necessity, to fisher-hunter-gatherers involved in varied activities. Their knowledge of marine biotopes is revealed by the diversity of marine animals dedicated to food, but also by the collection of other raw materials washed up on the beach , including flint or shells devoid of flesh. The latter give us access to the symbolic sphere and were clearly and carefully selected for ornamental purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Metsamor site in the 2017 season was excavated in two areas. The main area was the so-called town area whereseveral dwellings from the Early Iron Age were cleared. Evidence of violent site destruction included two human skeletons belonging most probably to victims of a sudden attack, left unburied after the town had been destroyed. The cemetery was the second investigated area. Exploration of kurgan XIX demonstrated that it had been looted. Nevertheless, some human remains and several artifacts in the form of bronze snake head bracelets were recorded inside the burial chamber.

The 2019 season in Metsamor confirmed the functioning of the settlement in the Urartian period. House II, discovered during the fieldwork, is the first architectural structure built at the beginning of the Early Iron Age period which, after some possible rearrangements, retained control over the Araxes valley during the Urartian kingdom. Pottery discovered there confirms that the already excavated part of the settlement was extensively used after the fall of Urartu. A pit grave dated to the 7th century BC yielded a late Urartian cylinder seal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Stratum Plus Journal is the property of P.P. Stratum plus and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Résumé Au Paléolithique moyen, le Micoquien est-européen oriental a été développé dans tout l’ensemble du Caucase du Nord-Ouest. La tradition locale de La Micoque a été étroitement liée à l’Europe centrale et orientale. Ce n’est que vers la fin du stade 3 MIS, que le Moustérien Hostinsky arrive de la Transcaucasie dans cette région. Au Nord-Ouest du Caucase, le Moustérien de Zagros est présent dans la grotte Lassok. Ainsi, dès le Paléolithique moyen, il existe des différences significatives au Caucase du Nord dans le développement des régions occidentale et orientale. A geographical position of the Caucasus in the border between Europe and Asia defines a complex character of the Middle Paleolithic in the region as a whole and in the Northern Caucasus in particular. Today, we can recognize three major cultural areas existed during the Middle Paleolithic in the Northern Caucasus: (1) a local North Caucasian variant of Eastern Micoquian, which is closely related to Eastern Micoquian of Central and Eastern Europe, in the Northwestern Caucasus; (2) a specific Caucasian industry type (called Khostinian Mousterian), which penetrated during later MIS 3 to the Northwestern Caucasus from the Northeastern Black sea cost in the Southern Caucasus; and (3) a similar to Zagros Mousterian industry, which is presented in Weasel Cave in the Northeastern Caucasus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A brief review is done of the history of the research on Upper Paleolithic floors and structures, with a general outline of the main substantive and theoretical–methodological aspects. On the resulting “state of the art” we present the preliminary results of the study of the occupation evidences from the Lower Gallery of La Garma. In essence, it constitutes an astonishing ensemble of extensive Middle Magdalenian occupation floors, exceptionally rich and quite well preserved, including several structures and associated with rock art paintings and carvings of that period. The potential of the site is superlative, and the research’s project already begins to offer some interesting results of which this article is a fairly small advance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper discusses spatial analysis at site level. It is suggested that spatial analysis has to proceed in several levels, from global to more detailed questions, and that optimum resolution should be established when applying any quantitative methods in this field. As an example, the ring and sector method is applied to two hearths excavated at the Federmesser site of Andernach in Germany. One hearth can be shown to have been present inside a dwelling, while the second one was out in the open. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]