A Progress Report on the Dating of Archaeological Sites by Means of Radioactive Elements

1948 ◽  
Vol 13 (4Part1) ◽  
pp. 281-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert S. Merrill
Keyword(s):  
Large Field ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Radioactive Elements ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Dating Methods ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Ancient Rock ◽  
Rock Strata

The importance of being able to date accurately the remains of past societies has long been recognized by archaeologists. The problem has always been to find methods that work in the absence of historical records. Recent developments, such as tree-ring dating, have been great contributions, but they are not applicable everywhere. There is still a great need for new methods to supplement and extend the range of present dating procedures.A large field of knowledge so far largely unexplored for possible dating methods is the physics and chemistry of archaeological remains. One area in this field is the study of naturally occurring radioactive elements. Some of these elements have been used by geologists to date ancient rock strata, but applications to archaeological materials have not been made. Recently, however, two possible methods for using radioactive elements to date archaeological remains have been proposed on theoretical grounds. It is not yet definitely known whether they will work, or how well. Further research is necessary.

Bird Bones, Burials, and Bundles in Plains Archaeology

1975 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 444-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas H. Ubelaker ◽  
Waldo R. Wedel
Keyword(s):  
Missouri River ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Museum Collections ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Time Perspectives ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
Plains Archaeology ◽  
Minor Portion ◽  
Important Time ◽  
Indian Medicine

Plains archaeologists have usually devoted little attention to the bird remains that normally comprise a relatively minor portion of the yield from their excavations. Bird bones from several archaeological sites on the Missouri River are shown to have been purposefully and selectively modified by man. They exhibit a remarkable similarity to prepared bird skins and other ceremonial objects found in Omaha, Osage, Arikara, and other Plains Indian medicine bundles in various museum collections. The ethnographic specimens are believed to identify the archaeological remains as to function; conversely, the archaeological materials add important time perspectives to native use of the ritual items in museum collections and in the documentary record.

Identification of domestic chicken bones in archaeological sites

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 193-200
Author(s):  
Hui Deng ◽  
Jun Li
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Chicken ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Morphological Identification ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Bone Morphology ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Advance Research ◽  
Place Of Origin ◽  
Future Work

AbstractIn recent years, with the participation of genetics and other disciplines, the controversy on the origins of the domestic chicken has returned. As the resource of primary data, archaeology plays an extremely important role in this dispute. Taking an archaeological standpoint, this paper aims to establish a set of bone morphological identification standards for domestic chicken bones unearthed at archaeological remains, beginning with the bone morphology as the most basic but also the least studied aspect. By this set of standards, we reanalyze available chicken bone materials and relevant pictorial and textual materials for domestic chicken candidate samples as mentioned by previous scholars. The results show that no confirmed domestic chicken bones have been found in China’s early to mid-Holocene remains to date; meanwhile, there is no substantial archaeological evidence to support China as the earliest place of origin of domestic chicken. Future work seeking to advance research on the origin of the domestic chicken should first pay proper attention to the archaeological background; only continuing scientific analyses and exploration on the origin of domestic chicken based on scientific morphological identification will prove the most convincing methodology.

scholarly journals Predicting wildfire impacts on the prehistoric archaeological record of the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico, USA

Fire Ecology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan M. Friggens ◽  
Rachel A. Loehman ◽  
Connie I. Constan ◽  
Rebekah R. Kneifel
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Fire Effects ◽  
Burn Severity ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Jemez Mountains ◽  
Archaeological Materials

Abstract Background Wildfires of uncharacteristic severity, a consequence of climate changes and accumulated fuels, can cause amplified or novel impacts to archaeological resources. The archaeological record includes physical features associated with human activity; these exist within ecological landscapes and provide a unique long-term perspective on human–environment interactions. The potential for fire-caused damage to archaeological materials is of major concern because these resources are irreplaceable and non-renewable, have social or religious significance for living peoples, and are protected by an extensive body of legislation. Although previous studies have modeled ecological burn severity as a function of environmental setting and climate, the fidelity of these variables as predictors of archaeological fire effects has not been evaluated. This study, focused on prehistoric archaeological sites in a fire-prone and archaeologically rich landscape in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico, USA, identified the environmental and climate variables that best predict observed fire severity and fire effects to archaeological features and artifacts. Results Machine learning models (Random Forest) indicate that topography and variables related to pre-fire weather and fuel condition are important predictors of fire effects and severity at archaeological sites. Fire effects were more likely to be present when fire-season weather was warmer and drier than average and within sites located in sloped, treed settings. Topographic predictors were highly important for distinguishing unburned, moderate, and high site burn severity as classified in post-fire archaeological assessments. High-severity impacts were more likely at archaeological sites with southern orientation or on warmer, steeper, slopes with less accumulated surface moisture, likely associated with lower fuel moistures and high potential for spreading fire. Conclusions Models for predicting where and when fires may negatively affect the archaeological record can be used to prioritize fuel treatments, inform fire management plans, and guide post-fire rehabilitation efforts, thus aiding in cultural resource preservation.

scholarly journals Unveiling an odd fate after death: The isolated Eneolithic cranium discovered in the Marcel Loubens Cave (Bologna, Northern Italy)

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. e0247306
Author(s):  
Maria Giovanna Belcastro ◽  
Teresa Nicolosi ◽  
Rita Sorrentino ◽  
Valentina Mariotti ◽  
Annalisa Pietrobelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Woman ◽  
Outer Surface ◽  
Soft Tissues ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Vertical Shaft ◽  
Post Mortem ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Ritual Context ◽  
Geological Context

An isolated human cranium, dated to the early Eneolithic period, was discovered in 2015 at the top of a vertical shaft in the natural Marcel Loubens gypsum Cave (Bologna area, northern Italy). No other anthropological or archaeological remains were found inside the cave. In other caves of the same area anthropic and funerary use are attested from prehistory to more recent periods. We focused on investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of this individual, since the cranium shows signs of some lesions that appear to be the results of a perimortem manipulation probably carried out to remove soft tissues. Anthropological analyses revealed that the cranium belonged to a young woman. We analysed the taphonomic features and geological context to understand how and why the cranium ended up (accidentally or intentionally) in the cave. The analyses of both the sediments accumulated inside the cranium and the incrustations and pigmentation covering its outer surface suggested that it fell into the cave, drawn by a flow of water and mud, likely from the edges of a doline. The accidental nature of the event is also seemingly confirmed by some post-mortem lesions on the cranium. The comparison with other Eneolithic archaeological sites in northern Italy made it possible to interpret the find as likely being from a funerary or ritual context, in which corpse dismemberment (in particular the displacement of crania) was practiced.

Location-Based Services (LBS) in Micro-Scale Navigation

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 51-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suleiman Almasri ◽  
Muhammad Alnabhan ◽  
Ziad Hunaiti ◽  
Eliamani Sedoyeka
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Location Based Services ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Mobile Technologies ◽  
Large Field ◽  
Battery Lifetime ◽  
Micro Scale ◽  
Multimedia Contents ◽  
Recent Developments

Pedestrians LBS are accessible by hand-held devices and become a large field of energetic research since the recent developments in wireless communication, mobile technologies and positioning techniques. LBS applications provide services like finding the neighboring facility within a certain area such as the closest restaurants, hospital, or public telephone. With the increased demand for richer mobile services, LBS propose a promising add-on to the current services offered by network operators and third-party service providers such as multimedia contents. The performance of LBS systems is directly affected by each component forming its architecture. Firstly, the end-user mobile device is still experiencing a lack of enough storage, limitations in CPU capabilities and short battery lifetime. Secondly, the mobile wireless network is still having problems with the size of bandwidth, packet loss, congestions and delay. Additionally, in spite of the fact that GPS is the most accurate navigation system, there are still some issues in micro scale navigation, mainly availability and accuracy. Finally, LBS server which hosts geographical and users information is experiencing difficulties in managing the huge size of data which causes a long query processing time. This paper presents a technical investigation and analysis of the performance of each component of LBS system for pedestrian navigation, through conducting several experimental tests in different locations. The results of this investigation have pinpointed the weaknesses of the system in micro-scale environments. In addition, this paper proposes a group of solutions and recommendations for most of these shortcomings.

scholarly journals Niède Guidon: a cientista brasileira responsável pelo tesouro arqueológico nacional

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Jéssica Da Silva Gaudêncio
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Journal ◽  
Sao Paulo ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
São Paulo ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Land Bridge ◽  
Unesco World Heritage ◽  
Carbon 14 ◽  
The City

ResumoO presente artigo aborda a trajetória científica da arqueóloga Niède Guidon, brasileira nascida no interior de São Paulo e Doutora em Pré-História pela Université Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne. Chegou na cidade de São Raimundo Nonato (Piauí) em 1970 em busca de vestígios arqueológicos provenientes daquela região. Ao deparar-se com resultados de análises enviadas à laboratórios franceses, no qual datavam através da técnica com Carbono-14 artefatos e vestígios arqueológicos com mais de 18 mil anos BP[1], Niède ampliou suas pesquisas e reuniu esforços pela preservação do local que hoje é conhecido como Parque Nacional da Serra da Capivara, patrimônio cultural da humanidade pela Unesco. Em 1986, publicou suas descobertas na prestigiada revista científica britânica Nature, dando destaque internacional para os sítios arqueológicos do nordeste brasileiro. A partir daí Guidon continuou seu trabalho e suas descobertas arqueológicas constataram artefatos com datações de 100 mil anos BP, desenvolvendo novas teorias para a origem do homem americano, refutando assim a teoria mais aceita do Estreito de Bering. Isto causou a indignação de diversos arqueólogos internacionais e nacionais que questionavam a veracidade de suas pesquisas. Mesmo com todas essas polêmicas, Niède Guidon e demais pesquisadores seguem com seus estudos nos mais de 1300 sítios arqueológicos da região do Piauí, sugerindo que mais resultados ainda estão por vir.Palavras-chave: Niède Guidon; Arqueologia; Pré-história brasileira.AbstractThis article deals with the scientific accomplishments of the archaeologist Niède Guidon, a Brazilian born in the interior of São Paulo who earned a Ph.D. in Prehistory from the Université Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne. He arrived in the city of São Raimundo Nonato (Piauí) in 1970 in search of archaeological remains from that region. When he first received the results from French laboratories of Carbon-14 analyses, a method capable of dating artifacts that are at least eighteen thousand years old, Niède expanded his research and joined efforts to preserve the location now known such as Serra da Capivara National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Center. In 1986, he published his findings in the prestigious British scientific journal Nature, gaining international prominence for the archeological sites of northeastern Brazil. From there Guidon continued his work and his archaeological discoveries, finding artifacts dating to 100,000 years before the present (BP), developed new theories for the origin of American humankind, thus refuting the more accepted theory of the humankind’s migration across the land bridge between Asia and North America. This caused indignation among several international and national archaeologists who questioned the veracity of his research. Even with controversies, Niède Guidon and other researchers have continued their studies in more than 1300 archaeological sites in the Piauí region, which suggests that more findings can be expected.Keywords: Niède Guidon; Archeology, Brazilian Prehistory.[1] Before the Present – Antes do Presente – escala utilizada pelas disciplinas científicas na datação de eventos do passado em relação à data presente.

ULVS XXVI: Sedimentological and Palynological Studies of Holocene Environmental Changes from a Plateau Basin Infill Sequence at Grerat D'nar Salem, near Beni Ulid, in the Tripolitanian Pre-desert

1993 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. D. Gilbertson ◽  
C. O. Hunt ◽  
N. R. J. Fieller
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Field Survey ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Shrub Species ◽  
North West ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Modern Landscape ◽  
Early And Middle Holocene ◽  
The Town

AbstractThis paper describes an integrated series of sedimentological and palynological studies of the arenaceous deposits which infill the large alluvial basin of Grerat D'nar Salem, which is located on a limestone plateau in the semi-arid pre-desert of Tripolitania north-west of the town of Beni Ulid. This research shows that in the early and middle Holocene this depression was occupied by a large semi-permanent or permanent water body which was surrounded by a grass-steppe vegetation with some tree and shrub species, perhaps growing in wetter stream- and wadi-beds. Sometime in the mid-Holocene the region became much more arid, the lake disappeared, matching the pattern of environmental change observed elsewhere in northern Africa. The geomor-phic environment became dominated by aeolian processes, interrupted by occasional winter floods, in a landscape dominated by grass steppe — essentially the situation that has continued to the present day. It is clear from general biogeographical and geomorphic considerations that Romano-Libyan floodwater farming in the region must have brought about significant changes in the character of wadi floors. Field survey indicates that it has also left a legacy in the contemporary distribution of plants, animals and runoff in the modern landscape. Nevertheless, no clear evidence has emerged from this study that the widespread and intensive flood-water farming, evidenced by the archaeological remains in the area, was associated with either a climate or a landscape notably different from that of today. The new palynological evidence suggests that the nature of the related ancient cultivation at Grerat is better viewed as a monoculture, rather than the mixed farming deduced previously for wadi-floor areas. There is no evidence that any naturally-occurring environmental change was associated with the introduction or loss of floodwater farming in the region. There is some sedimentological evidence that such activity might have led to problems of soil salinity in this basin.

scholarly journals Lessons from Star Carr on the vulnerability of organic archaeological remains to environmental change

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (46) ◽  
pp. 12957-12962 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsty High ◽  
Nicky Milner ◽  
Ian Panter ◽  
Beatrice Demarchi ◽  
Kirsty E. H. Penkman
Keyword(s):  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Rapid Loss ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Exceptional Preservation ◽  
Environmental Materials ◽  
The Last Glacial ◽  
Organic Remains

Examples of wetland deposits can be found across the globe and are known for preserving organic archaeological and environmental remains that are vitally important to our understanding of past human–environment interactions. The Mesolithic site of Star Carr (Yorkshire, United Kingdom) represents one of the most influential archives of human response to the changing climate at the end of the last glacial in Northern Europe. A hallmark of the site since its discovery in 1948 has been the exceptional preservation of its organic remains. Disturbingly, recent excavations have suggested that the geochemistry of the site is no longer conducive to such remarkable survival of organic archaeological and environmental materials. Microcosm (laboratory-based) burial experiments have been undertaken, alongside analysis of artifacts excavated from the site, to assess the effect of these geochemical changes on the remaining archaeological material. By applying a suite of macroscopic and molecular analyses, we demonstrate that the geochemical changes at Star Carr are contributing to the inexorable and rapid loss of valuable archaeological and paleoenvironmental information. Our findings have global implications for other wetland sites, particularly archaeological sites preserved in situ.

scholarly journals Potential of the Radiocarbon Method for Dating Known Historical Events: The Case of Yaroslavl, Russia

Radiocarbon ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 54 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 615-624
Author(s):  
A V Engovatova ◽  
G I Zaitseva ◽  
M V Dobrovolskaya ◽  
N D Burova
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
Methodological Question ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Central Russia ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
Dating Method ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
The City

We address here the methodological question of potentially using the radiocarbon method for dating historical events. The archaeological investigations in Yaroslavl (central Russia) provide an example. The Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IARAS) has been conducting excavations at the site for many years, and many archaeological complexes dating to different times have come to light. The most interesting of these are connected with the founding of the city by Prince Yaroslav the Wise in AD 1010 (the first fortifications) and with the devastation of the city by the Tatar Mongols in 1238 (evidenced by sanitary mass burials of Yaroslavl's inhabitants). We have conducted a certain experiment, a “reverse” investigation of the chronology of the events. The dates of the events are known from chronicles, archaeological materials, and dendrochronological data for several assemblages. We have taken a large series of 14C samples from the same assemblages, dated them in 2 different laboratories, and compared the data. The accuracy of the 14C dates proved to be compatible with dates found via the archaeological material. The article shows the potential for 14C dating of archaeological assemblages connected with known historical events. The results of the research conducted by the authors serve as an additional argument for the broader use of the 14C dating method in studies of archaeological sites related to the Middle Ages in Russia.

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