Hradiště u Mařína (okr. Svitavy) a jeho širší zázemí ve světle kovových artefaktů z 6.–10. století / Hillfort near Mařín (East Bohemia) and its broad hinterland in light of metal artefacts from the 6th to 10th century AD

The article evaluates the results of systematic metal detector surveys from the borderland between east Bohemia and northwest Moravia over the past fifteen years, supplemented with a geophysical survey of early medieval hillfort near Mařín (Svitavy district). The conducted surveys have produced imports of Byzantine and Carolingian origin (strap ends, loops, spear tip) from the 7th to 9th century, with cast ornaments of the Late Avar type from the 8th century occurring in the greatest numbers. The spatial distribution of early medieval artefacts outside the traditional settlement territory shows ties to defunct roads preserved in the form of sunken lanes.

Islamic Copper-Based Metal Artefacts from the Garb Al-Andalus. A Multidisciplinary Approach on the Alcáçova of Mārtulah (Mértola, South of Portugal)

A multidisciplinary approach has been applied to investigate the production technology of a collection of copper-based artefacts found during archaeological excavation campaigns carried out in the Almohad neighbourhood of Mārtulah, the Islamic name of modern Mértola (South of Portugal). In stark contrast to other Islamic materials found in the same site such as common and finely decorated pottery, glass, and bone artefacts, metal objects have received less attention despite the number of artefacts recovered. This study focuses on the chemical characterisation of 172 copper-based artefacts dating back to the 12th and the first half of the 13th centuries. The artefacts are daily use objects and consist of personal ornaments (earrings, rings, and casket ornaments), tools (spindles, spatulas, and oil lamp sticks) and artefacts with unknown functions. X-ray fluorescence Spectroscopy (XRF) and Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (SEM/EDS), provided information not only about technological issues, as well as on the socio-economic implications of metal consumption at Islamic Mértola. The results revealed that metals were produced with a variety of Cu-based alloys, namely unalloyed copper, brasses, bronzes, and ternary alloys, by mixing Cu, Zn and Sn and Pb without any apparent consistency, as a likely result of recurrent recycling and mixing scrap metals practices or use of minerals available locally.

Contacts of Bronze - Early Iron Age Archaeological Cultures with Synchronous Cultures of the Outer World (General overview)

The Eneolithic and Bronze-Early Iron Age cultures prevalent in the territory of Western Georgia do not seem to be isolated from the archeological cultures of the outside world, but there are observed quite close contact-relations between them. In the Eneolithic Age, with pottery and one group of stone artifacts, there are close contacts with Upper Imereti and pre-Maykop materials. The touching points are also revealed between the Dolmen and Proto-Colchian cultures. According to some of the metal artefacts of Upper Svaneti and Upper Racha (Brill Cemetery), contacts are observed with the materials of the Maykop and Digoria cultural materials…., Which took place through communication routes leading to some of the passes of the Central Caucasus Range. We have met elements of Mtkvari-Araks and Proto-Colchian cultures in Dablagomi settlement (Samtredia region). With some of the materials found in Colchis, some contacts are revealed with the Beden culture existing on the territory of Shida Kartli. In the territory of Western Georgia (Adjara, Eastern Colchis) mainly in the composition of bronze treasures are found the axes from Central Transcaucasian, which must have gotten here as a result of the relations between the populations of Western and Eastern Georgia. Imported pottery found in southwestern Colchis (Makhvilauri hill-settlement) reveals certain relations with the Proto-Hittite world. The connections with separate artifacts of Bronze Age ceramic materials found in Colchis with materials from Asia Minor can be seen.

Edelmetallgegenstände als Quellen zu sozialen Prozessen der Spätawarenzeit (8.–9. Jahrhundert n. Chr.)

The present paper analyses the precious metal artefacts, scarcely known in the huge archaeological material of the “late Avar period” (eighth to early ninth centuries AD). Unlike in the previous era the majority of the gold and silver objects of the late Avar period are stray finds; in particular high-quality goldsmith's artefacts are absent in the grave assemblages of the eighth century. The significance of precious metal objects in grave assemblages reached its low ebb around the middle of the late Avar period; afterwards not only new object types appeared but a new grave-horizon emerged comprising precious metal objects. This paper, based on the quality and morphology of the objects, their archaeological contexts as well as their spatial distribution, draws a conclusion concerning the social and cultural changes in the early medieval Carpathian Basin.

Punta di Zambrone I

This monograph presents a significant portion of the scientific results of the archaeological excavations at the Bronze Age settlement site of Punta di Zambrone on the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria (southern Italy). These excavations were conducted from 2011 to 2013 in an Italian-Austrian cooperation. The book is the first in a series dedicated to the final publication of those excavations and focuses on the later part of the settlement history (13th–12th cent. BCE). Major topics include the topography of the site (including a harbour bay), its chronology, investigations into the economic basis of the Bronze Age society and its local, regional and interregional interactions. The new data from Punta di Zambrone are evaluated in comparison with new research results from coeval sites in Italy and Greece, which forms the basis for a historical contextualization of the settlement and thus contributes to the broader reconstruction of Mediterranean history at the end of the second millennium BCE. These coeval sites are presented by their excavators or investigators. The authors conducted geophysical and bathymetric surveys as well as underwater archaeological investigations, typological analyses of artefacts, a definition of the relative and absolute chronology, archaeobotanic and archaeozoological studies, aDNA analysis, Sr isotope analyses on human and animal teeth, chemical and Pb isotope analyses on metal artefacts, provenance analyses of pottery vessels, amber and stone artefacts (from Zambrone and other sites).

From a river- to a man-dominated environment. Insights from the geo-archaeological record of Bologna (northern Italy)

<p>Mid-Late Holocene stratigraphy beneath the town of Bologna, in northern Italy, records an upward increase in the amount, thickness, width and connectivity of anthropogenic deposits and a parallel decrease in alluvial sediments. Anthropogenic deposits, spanning from the Neolithic to the Present, occur at three stratigraphic intervals separated by alluvial strata.</p><p>The lower interval, dated to the Neolithic-Early Eneolithic, includes sparse lithic, ceramic and copper artefacts, post holes, charcoals, shallow wells and ditches. These evidences of human presence are scattered along a pedogenized horizon developed during a phase of river stability lasting more than 3 millennia. Early Eneolithic rests are aligned along paleo river courses.</p><p>The second horizon consists of an uninterrupted archaeological sequence spanning from the Late Bronze Age to the Late Antiquity. Late Bronze and Iron Age remains include ceramic and metal artefacts, charcoals, huts, dwellings, wells, ditches, and cemetery sites. Iron age remains are pervasive and their distribution is irrespective of riverbed location. The elevated number of dwellings and cremation jars testifies to a significant local population growth. A dense grid of ditches and embankments denotes a widespread control of the drainage network. Roman deposits include large dwellings, public buildings, productive sites, wells, aqueducts, ditches, landfills, roads, bridges, cemetery sites. Romans introduced in the geological record huge amounts of anthropogenic materials with high preservation potential such as bricks and mortars. Large quantities of different rock types were imported from European and Mediterranean areas. These materials constitute a laterally continuous horizon buried at depth of 3-4 metres, which testifies to the development the colony of <em>Bononia</em>, founded in 189 BC. The amount and connectivity of roman rests, decreases away from the historical centre, where large farms, reclaimed lands and <em>centuriae</em> highlight an anthropogenically modified rural landscape. Fluvial gravels deposited since the Roman period are commonly enriched in brick clasts.</p><p>The uppermost anthropogenic interval is dated to the last millennia. Its base is a time-transgressive erosional surface which testifies to the progressive expansion of the Bologna urban area, with a minor pulse dated to Middle Ages (1200-1300 AD) and a major to the last 70 years. Particularly, in the 20th century the urban area of Bologna became 20 times larger and merged with adjacent villages. Post-1950 deposits are up-to-30 m thick and deeply cut into older stratigraphic units. Concrete, metal, and plastic are the most abundant materials. The last 70 years also record the spread of pollutants within shallow acquifers and dramatically increased subsidence rates due to water withdrawal.</p><p>Anthropogenic deposits beneath Bologna record an overall upward transition from a river-dominated to a man-dominated environment. Iron Age and Roman deposits represent the first evidence of a landscape heavily modelled by human activities. However, the thickness, lateral extent and pervasiveness of post-1950 anthropogenic units support the recently proposed idea to place the base of the Anthropocene in the mid-20<sup>th</sup> century.</p>

Deep learning–based metal artefact reduction in PET/CT imaging

Objectives The susceptibility of CT imaging to metallic objects gives rise to strong streak artefacts and skewed information about the attenuation medium around the metallic implants. This metal-induced artefact in CT images leads to inaccurate attenuation correction in PET/CT imaging. This study investigates the potential of deep learning–based metal artefact reduction (MAR) in quantitative PET/CT imaging. Methods Deep learning–based metal artefact reduction approaches were implemented in the image (DLI-MAR) and projection (DLP-MAR) domains. The proposed algorithms were quantitatively compared to the normalized MAR (NMAR) method using simulated and clinical studies. Eighty metal-free CT images were employed for simulation of metal artefact as well as training and evaluation of the aforementioned MAR approaches. Thirty 18F-FDG PET/CT images affected by the presence of metallic implants were retrospectively employed for clinical assessment of the MAR techniques. Results The evaluation of MAR techniques on the simulation dataset demonstrated the superior performance of the DLI-MAR approach (structural similarity (SSIM) = 0.95 ± 0.2 compared to 0.94 ± 0.2 and 0.93 ± 0.3 obtained using DLP-MAR and NMAR, respectively) in minimizing metal artefacts in CT images. The presence of metallic artefacts in CT images or PET attenuation correction maps led to quantitative bias, image artefacts and under- and overestimation of scatter correction of PET images. The DLI-MAR technique led to a quantitative PET bias of 1.3 ± 3% compared to 10.5 ± 6% without MAR and 3.2 ± 0.5% achieved by NMAR. Conclusion The DLI-MAR technique was able to reduce the adverse effects of metal artefacts on PET images through the generation of accurate attenuation maps from corrupted CT images. Key Points • The presence of metallic objects, such as dental implants, gives rise to severe photon starvation, beam hardening and scattering, thus leading to adverse artefacts in reconstructed CT images. • The aim of this work is to develop and evaluate a deep learning–based MAR to improve CT-based attenuation and scatter correction in PET/CT imaging. • Deep learning–based MAR in the image (DLI-MAR) domain outperformed its counterpart implemented in the projection (DLP-MAR) domain. The DLI-MAR approach minimized the adverse impact of metal artefacts on whole-body PET images through generating accurate attenuation maps from corrupted CT images.