The Kotayk Survey Project. Preliminary Report on 2015 Fieldwork Activities

2017 ◽  
Vol 77 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 294-317
Author(s):  
Roberto Dan ◽  
Artur Petrosyan

The Kotayk Survey Project (ksp) started in the summer of 2013. This is a joint Armenian—Italian project involving the study of the upper Hrazdan river valley, located in the northern part of the Kotayk region in the Armenian Republic. This article presents the results of the third fieldwork season, which involved both excavation and survey. In particular, the text describes the excavation of the Solak 1 fortress and discusses its role in the framework of Middle Iron Age/Urartian archaeology.

Indago ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Shaw Badenhorst ◽  
Jackson S. Kimambo

Khoekhoe pastoralists living in Gobabeb, in the arid Kuiseb River Valley of central-western Namibia, keep goats (Capra hircus). Several decades ago, palaeontologist C.K. Brain collected modern skeletal remains of goats from these villages. The goats were butchered using pocketknives with metal blades. We investigated the frequency of butchery marks on a sub-sam- ple of this collection, representing 60% of the total assemblage. Most specimens in the collection are weathered. Moreover, most goat specimens from Gobabeb lack butchery evidence and even the use of magnification only marginally increased this number. We compared our results with the frequency of butchery marks documented from Early and Middle Iron Age samples from South Africa, a time when sheep dominated faunal assemblages and were slaughtered using metal knives. The frequency of specimens with butchery marks in the goat sample from Gobabeb is higher than that recorded for the Early and Middle Iron Age samples. The higher frequency of butchery marks on the goat remains from Gobabeb may relate to aspects such as the butchering method and style, as well as the large size of the specimens themselves.


2006 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-159
Author(s):  
Ann MacSween

The site of Northton in Harris is known to most of those familiar with Scottish prehistory for the excavations which produced Scotland's largest domestic assemblage of Beaker pottery. This often-quoted fact, along with previous glimpses of what publication of the 1965–6 excavations would offer, such as those in the excavator's preliminary report in Settlement and Economy in the Third and Second Millennia BC ( Simpson 1976 ), has had many eagerly awaiting the publication of this important site. The site was discovered in 1963 by James McEwen of Aberdeen University, and rescue excavations were undertaken by Derek Simpson of the University of Leicester a couple of years later. Excavations revealed a multi-period site which could be divided into two Neolithic, two Beaker and two Iron Age/Historic phases. The Northton project was one of the first multi-disciplinary studies in the Western Isles with the excavation complemented by topographic and geological survey, and palaeoenvironmental analysis.


1967 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 177-179
Author(s):  
W. W. Shane

In the course of several 21-cm observing programmes being carried out by the Leiden Observatory with the 25-meter telescope at Dwingeloo, a fairly complete, though inhomogeneous, survey of the regionl11= 0° to 66° at low galactic latitudes is becoming available. The essential data on this survey are presented in Table 1. Oort (1967) has given a preliminary report on the first and third investigations. The third is discussed briefly by Kerr in his introductory lecture on the galactic centre region (Paper 42). Burton (1966) has published provisional results of the fifth investigation, and I have discussed the sixth in Paper 19. All of the observations listed in the table have been completed, but we plan to extend investigation 3 to a much finer grid of positions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-97
Author(s):  
Richard Massey ◽  
Matt Nichol ◽  
Dana Challinor ◽  
Sharon Clough ◽  
Matilda Holmes ◽  
...  

Excavation in Area 1 identified an enclosed settlement of Middle–Late Iron Age and Early Roman date, which included a roundhouse gully and deep storage pits with complex fills. A group of undated four-post structures, situated in the east of Area 1, appeared to represent a specialised area of storage or crop processing of probable Middle Iron Age date. A sequence of re-cutting and reorganisation of ditches and boundaries in the Late Iron Age/Early Roman period was followed, possibly after a considerable hiatus, by a phase of later Roman activity, Late Iron Age reorganisation appeared to be associated with the abandonment of a roundhouse, and a number of structured pit deposits may also relate to this period of change. Seven Late Iron Age cremation burials were associated with a contemporary boundary ditch which crossed Area 1. Two partly-exposed, L-shaped ditches may represent a later Roman phase of enclosed settlement and a slight shift in settlement focus. An isolated inhumation burial within the northern margins of Area 1 was tentatively dated by grave goods to the Early Saxon period.<br/> Area 2 contained a possible trackway and field boundary ditches, of which one was of confirmed Late Iron Age/Early Roman date. A short posthole alignment in Area 2 was undated, and may be an earlier prehistoric feature.


2018 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-136
Author(s):  
Oliver Good ◽  
Richard Massey

Three individual areas, totalling 0.55ha, were excavated at the Cadnam Farm site, following evaluation. Area 1 contained a D-shaped enclosure of Middle Iron Age date, associated with the remains of a roundhouse, and a ditched drove-way. Other features included refuse pits, a four-post structure and a small post-built structure of circular plan. Area 2 contained the superimposed foundation gullies of two Middle Iron Age roundhouses, adjacent to a probable third example. Area 3 contained a small number of Middle Iron Age pits, together with undated, post-built structures of probable Middle Iron Age date, including a roundhouse and four and six-post structures. Two large boundary ditches extended from the south-west corner of Area 3, and were interpreted as the funnelled entrance of a drove-way. These contained both domestic and industrial refuse of the late Iron Age date in their fills.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1S) ◽  
Author(s):  
Edyta Zawisza ◽  
Anna Filbrandt-Czaja ◽  
Alexander Correa-Metrio

<p class="Tre">Lake Jelonek is a small lake located in central northern Poland, in the Tuchola Forest. The sediments of the lake represent a natural archive that offers insights into the natural history of the region from the Late Glacial to present. In winter 2002, a 1330 cm long sediment core was recovered from the deepest part of lake. Using a multiproxy approach (cladocerans, pollen and basic geochemistry), we reconstructed trophic status changes through the last ~15,000 years. Special attention was devoted to the evaluation of nutrient contributions to the lake from natural and anthropogenic sources. The Cladocera analyses yielded a total of 29 species belonging to five families (Bosminidae, Daphniidae, Leptodoridae, Chydoridae, Sididae), with planktonic species representing more than 60% of Cladocera relative abundance throughout the core. The pollen results suggested four periods of increased human activity, so-called settlement phases. The first traces of human activity in the basin of Lake Jelonek appeared in the Atlantic period and were related with Mesolithic and Neolithic settlements. The second (Bronze Age) and the third (Iron Age) settlement phases are well marked by the paleolimnological proxies studied. This time period clearly manifested on the lake waters as an increasing trophy level probably caused by human-associated discharges of nutrients to the lake. After the third settlement phase cladoceran data indicated a significant decrease in the lake trophic level and the pollen data showed a recovery of forest cover. The fourth period of human economic activity during the early Middle Age was characterized by deforestation associated with land reclamation for grazing and cultivation of cereals, and the subsequent nutrient enrichment of lake waters. According to our results, the biological development of Lake Jelonek was determined by climate changes from Late Glacial up to the Atlantic period. Contrastingly, the most important driver for the lake development though the middle and late Holocene has been human activity within the lake catchment. The recovery of the lake trophic level during the last century, which is primarily related to extensive afforestation of the lake catchment, highlighted the importance of land use in the conservation of healthy water bodies.</p>


1963 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 228-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest Greenfield

SummaryTwo shrines of circular and polygonal shape, probably part of a larger group, were erected early in the second half of the third century A.D., and occupied until late in the fourth century. The shrines occur in an area of widespread settlement dating from the late Iron Age until the end of the fourth century. Many objects of bronze and iron of ritual significance, together with a large number of votive deposits and coins, were recovered from the circular shrine. Miss M. V. Taylor's discussion of the principal objects appears on pp. 264–8.


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