scholarly journals New AMS dates for the Middle Iron Age in the Mapungubwe landscape

2021 ◽  
Vol 117 (3/4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas N. Huffman ◽  
Stephen Woodborne
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Ethnic Stratification ◽  
Culture History ◽  
Middle Iron Age ◽  
Ams Dates

Research in the Limpopo Valley has documented over 500 Middle Iron Age sites (AD 900–1320) relevant to the origins of Mapungubwe – the capital of the first indigenous state in southern Africa. Fifteen new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates from 11 of these archaeological sites establish the boundaries of the ceramic facies that form the culture-history framework for such diverse topics as land use, ethnic stratification, population dynamics and rainfall fluctuations. Mapungubwe was abandoned at about AD 1320.

scholarly journals Radiocarbon Chronology of the Shigir and Gorbunovo Archaeological Bog Sites, Middle Urals, Russia

Radiocarbon ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 54 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 783-794 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia E Zaretskaya ◽  
Sönke Hartz ◽  
Thomas Terberger ◽  
Svetlana N Savchenko ◽  
Mikhail G Zhilin
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Peat Bogs ◽  
Middle Urals ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Chronology ◽  
First Time ◽  
Late Mesolithic ◽  
Ams Dates

Two well-known archaeological sites, the peat bogs of Shigir and Gorbunovo (Middle Urals, Russia), have been radiocarbon dated (61 conventional and accelerator mass spectrometry [AMS] dates from various natural and artifact samples). For the first time, a detailed chronology of Early to Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic occupation for this region has been obtained, and a paleoenvironmental history reconstructed. Based on these results, we propose that the Mesolithic settlement of the Middle Urals region started in the early Holocene, at the same time as in central and eastern Europe.

New radiocarbon dates for Eastern and Southern Africa

1972 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. G. Sutton
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Congo Basin ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Eastern And Southern Africa

This article is a follow-up to that of Mr D. W. Phillipson published in this Journal in 1970, and to the six earlier lists compiled for the whole of sub-Saharan Africa by Dr B. M. Fagan. I have endeavoured to include here all radiocarbon dates for archaeological sites of the Iron Age and most of those of the end of the Stone Age in the eastern and southern part of Africa—that is from Ethiopia, the Upper Nile and the Congo Basin southward—which have been published or made available since the preparation of the former articles. Some of these dates are already included in recent numbers of the Journal Radiocarbon, or have been mentioned in publications elsewhere, as indicated in the footnotes. A large proportion of these new dates, however, have not yet been published, and are included here through the agreement of the various individual archaeologists and research bodies, all of whom I wish to thank for their cooperation. In particular, I am indebted to Mr David Phillipson for his willing assistance in providing a number of contacts and relaying information from southern Africa.

scholarly journals AMS Radiocarbon Dates of Kurgans Located On the Ust'-Yurt Plateau, Uzbekistan

Radiocarbon ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soren Blau ◽  
Vadim Yagodin
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Skeletal Remains ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Late Prehistoric ◽  
Human Skeletal Remains ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Relative Dating ◽  
Ams Dates

Recent osteological analyses of archaeological human skeletal remains from the Ust'-Yurt Plateau, Uzbekistan, provided the opportunity to obtain samples for radiocarbon dating. The results of 18 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates are presented in this paper and provide the first absolute dates for late prehistoric and early historic archaeological sites in Uzbekistan. The AMS dates suggest that most sites are earlier than have been traditionally thought based on relative dating using artifact typologies.

scholarly journals Ancient mitochondrial DNA connects house mice in the British Isles to trade across Europe over three millennia

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oxala García-Rodríguez ◽  
Emilie A. Hardouin ◽  
Ellen Hambleton ◽  
Jonathan Monteith ◽  
Clare Randall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mitochondrial Dna ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
House Mouse ◽  
Wood Mouse ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
House Mice ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Mus Musculus Domesticus ◽  
Middle Iron Age

Abstract Background The earliest records in Britain for the western European house mouse (Mus musculus domesticus) date from the Late Bronze Age. The arrival of this commensal species in Britain is thought to be related to human transport and trade with continental Europe. In order to study this arrival, we collected a total of 16 ancient mouse mandibulae from four early British archaeological sites, ranging from the Late Bronze Age to the Roman period. Results From these, we obtained ancient mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) house mouse sequences from eight house mice from two of the sites dating from the Late Bronze to Middle Iron Age. We also obtained five ancient mtDNA wood mouse (Apodemus spp.) sequences from all four sites. The ancient house mouse sequences found in this study were from haplogroups E (N = 6) and D (N = 2). Modern British house mouse mtDNA sequences are primarily characterised by haplogroups E and F and, much less commonly, haplogroup D. Conclusions The presence of haplogroups D and E in our samples and the dating of the archaeological sites provide evidence of an early house mouse colonisation that may relate to Late Bronze Age/Iron Age trade and/or human expansion. Our results confirm the hypothesis, based on zooarchaeological evidence and modern mtDNA predictions, that house mice, with haplogroups D and E, were established in Britain by the Iron Age and, in the case of haplogroup E, possibly as early as the Late Bronze Age.

scholarly journals Distinguishing African bovids using Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS): New peptide markers and insights into Iron Age economies in Zambia

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. e0251061
Author(s):  
Anneke Janzen ◽  
Kristine Korzow Richter ◽  
Ogeto Mwebi ◽  
Samantha Brown ◽  
Veronicah Onduso ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Peptide Mass Fingerprinting ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
African Buffalo ◽  
Accurate Identification ◽  
Peptide Mass ◽  
Sub Saharan

Assessing past foodways, subsistence strategies, and environments depends on the accurate identification of animals in the archaeological record. The high rates of fragmentation and often poor preservation of animal bones at many archaeological sites across sub-Saharan Africa have rendered archaeofaunal specimens unidentifiable beyond broad categories, such as “large mammal” or “medium bovid”. Identification of archaeofaunal specimens through Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS), or peptide mass fingerprinting of bone collagen, offers an avenue for identification of morphologically ambiguous or unidentifiable bone fragments from such assemblages. However, application of ZooMS analysis has been hindered by a lack of complete reference peptide markers for African taxa, particularly bovids. Here we present the complete set of confirmed ZooMS peptide markers for members of all African bovid tribes. We also identify two novel peptide markers that can be used to further distinguish between bovid groups. We demonstrate that nearly all African bovid subfamilies are distinguishable using ZooMS methods, and some differences exist between tribes or sub-tribes, as is the case for Bovina (cattle) vs. Bubalina (African buffalo) within the subfamily Bovinae. We use ZooMS analysis to identify specimens from extremely fragmented faunal assemblages from six Late Holocene archaeological sites in Zambia. ZooMS-based identifications reveal greater taxonomic richness than analyses based solely on morphology, and these new identifications illuminate Iron Age subsistence economies c. 2200–500 cal BP. While the Iron Age in Zambia is associated with the transition from hunting and foraging to the development of farming and herding, our results demonstrate the continued reliance on wild bovids among Iron Age communities in central and southwestern Zambia Iron Age and herding focused primarily on cattle. We also outline further potential applications of ZooMS in African archaeology.

LIST OF 14C DATES OBTAINED UNDER THE PROJECT “THE DOBUŻEK SCARP MICROREGION AS A PART OF A PHYSIOLOGICAL AND BIOCULTURAL FRONTIER BETWEEN THE BALTIC AND THE PONTIC ZONE (FROM THE 6TH TO THE 2ND MILLENNIUM BC)”

Radiocarbon ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Tomasz J Chmielewski ◽  
Tomasz Goslar ◽  
Agata Hałuszko ◽  
Agata Sady-Bugajska ◽  
Jan Wiejacki
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Plant Macroremains ◽  
Human Bones ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Central Eastern ◽  
The Baltic

ABSTRACT This paper presents results of accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14C) dating of prehistoric samples (human and animal bones, cremated human bones, charcoals, and other charred plant macroremains) from archaeological sites located in the area of Dobużek Scarp, on the Sokal Ridge in central-eastern Poland (E Poland). The date list reports 46 14C age measurements performed within the project “The Dobużek Scarp Microregion as a part of a physiological and biocultural frontier between the Baltic and the Pontic zone (from the 6th to the 2nd millennium BC)” conducted in 2016–2021. The resulting 14C dates fall into quite a long interval, which in terms of the regional archaeological periodization lasts from the Middle Eneolithic to the Early Iron Age, and in terms of the climatological one corresponds with the Subboreal.

scholarly journals On the influence of Vatin and Verbicioara cultures in the finds of the Gamzigrad cultural group

Starinar ◽  
2009 ◽  
pp. 53-69
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Kapuran
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Small Area ◽  
Ceramic Materials ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Iron Age ◽  
The Bronze Age

The Timocka Krajina region has not been sufficiently investigated archaeologically, which coupled with the fact that a very small number of metal finds and remains have been discovered, makes the reconstruction of the start and end of the Bronze Age that much more difficult. Identification work in the area around Romuliana on two occasions in 2001 and 2008 led to the discovery of another 10 predominantly multi-layered sites dating back to the Bronze Age, of which 7 are highland settlements while 3 are lowland settlements located in the immediate vicinity of the Timok river or its tributaries. The discovered sites 1. Varsari, 2. Djokin Vis, 3. Kravarnik, 4. Mustafa, 5. Nikolov Savat, 6. Njiva Zore Brzanovic, 7. Petronj, 8. Potes-Petronj, 9. Strenjak and 10. Zvezdan; bare the characteristics of the material culture of the ?Gamzigrad group? of the Middle Iron Age. Besides known ceramic forms and characteristic ornamentation of this culture, there is a visibly strong influence of the Vatin (Crvenka-Cornes?i) and Verbicioara elements to a greater extent, and Paracin cultural elements to a lesser extent. Given that this material was collected during identification work, we are now aware of the stratigraphic relations between these elements, and have devoted more attention to common characteristics and interconnections from which certain conclusions can be drawn. Based on the finds from archaeological sites that have been excavated it can be concluded that the distribution of sites with Gamzigrad cultural characteristics is limited to a very small area, i.e. only to the vicinity of the Crni Timok river. Nearly at all sites, both highland and lowland, Vatin and Verbicioara elements are strongly visible on the ceramic materials. The geographic position of the Crni Timok, which is located in the area where the Paracin, Vatin and Verbichoar cultures connected and overlapped, could contribute to shedding light on the origin and characteristics of this phenomenon of the Middle Bronze Age in Eastern Serbia.

Iron Age and Roman Enclosed Settlement at Winchester Road, Basingstoke

2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-97
Author(s):  
Richard Massey ◽  
Matt Nichol ◽  
Dana Challinor ◽  
Sharon Clough ◽  
Matilda Holmes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Field Boundary ◽  
Crop Processing ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Middle Iron Age ◽  
Grave Goods

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.

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