Plants and Subsistence during the Fluted-Point Period of the Northeast

The role of plant foods during the fluted-point period (FPP) of North America is contested. Central to this debate is whether the scarcity of FPP macrobotanical materials stems from poor preservation of archaeological features and the macrobotanical remains they might contain or from the limited use of plants during the FPP. Employing summed probability distributions of radiocarbon date frequencies in northeastern North America, we find that FPP hearths are as common as expected, given the small number of well-dated FPP sites in the region. A second comparison shows that northeastern FPP hearths contain macrobotanical remains at a higher frequency than hearths from a region with better preservation and where small seeds formed a part of the diet. The macrobotanical materials so far recovered from FPP hearths in the Northeast show that plant foods contributed to diets during the FPP but that the plant diet breadth was relatively narrow, consistent with a specialized caribou hunting lifeway.

INTER-UNIVERSITY ACCELERATOR CENTRE, NEW DELHI (IUACD) RADIOCARBON DATE LIST II

ABSTRACT Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) activities at the Inter-University Accelerator Centre (IUAC) in New Delhi, India, started with its 15UD Pelletron accelerator and cosmogenic radionuclide (CRN) measurements of 10Be and 26Al. Realizing the demand of a radiocarbon (14C) AMS facility in India, a 500kV Pelletron accelerator based AMS system was installed in 2015. This facility was designated with the lab code IUACD for 14C measurements. 14C dates measured in 2015 and 2016 were published in the first radiocarbon date list (see text for details). The present list is the second 14C date list and consists of dates measured from January to December 2017.

THE BURIAL WITH A BRONZE HAMMER-AXE FROM THE ANDREEVSKIY KURGAN IN STAVROPOL REGION

Статья посвящена публикации погребения 19 с бронзовым топором-молотом из кургана 1 у пос. Андреевского близ г. Георгиевска на севере района Кавказских Минеральных Вод. Памятник раскопан Р. В. Прокофьевым. Захоронение является основным для второй насыпи кургана, возведенного ранее над захоронениями долинского варианта майкопско-новосвободненской общности. Топор-молот из п. 19 украшен литым орнаментом. Погребение имеет радиоуглеродную дату -третья четв. III тыс. до н. э. В статье приводятся аналогии топору-молоту в Предкавказье и в степном Поволжье. Проводится анализ орнаментов этих топоров-молотов и делается вывод об их символическом значении как топоров-скипетров. Производство такого типа оружия связывается с Центральным Предкавказьем. The paper describes burial 19 containing a bronze hammer-axe from kurgan 1 located in the vicinity of the Andreevskiy settlement near the town of Georgievsk in the North Caucasian Mineral Waters region. The site was excavated by R. V. Prokofyev. The burial is primary one in the second kurgan mound constructed earlier over the burials attributed to the Dolinskoye variant of the Maykop-Novosvobodnaya community. The entire surface of the discussed hammer-axe from burial 19 is densely covered with cast decoration. The radiocarbon date of the burial puts it within the third quarter of 3 mill. BC. The article presents analogies to the hammer-axe among similar artifacts from the Fore-Caucasus and the steppe Volga region. It also analyzes decoration patterns on such hammer-axes and comes to the conclusion on their symbolic meaning as scepter-axes. Production of this type of weapons is associated with the central ForeCaucasus.

New scientific data of materials from the Starshy Nikitinsky burial ground and its place in the chronology of the Middle Volga Abashevo culture

The paper is devoted to the introduction of a new radiocarbon date into scientific circulation and the analysis of the results of determining the metal composition of the items of the Starshy Nikitinsky burial ground of the Middle Volga Abashevo culture. The overwhelming majority of the burial grounds decorations are made of pure copper. One pendant ornament is made of silver; in two other items the content of silver and arsenic was noted in small quantities. Products made of pure copper are usually associated with the Volga-Ural sources of metal, traditional for the Middle Volga Abashevo culture. The appearance of silver and arsenic in the metal composition of the Middle Volga Abashevo culture is associated with the South Ural ore sources and their development by the Volga-Ural Abashevites. Within the framework of traditional relative chronology, this corresponds to the time of the end of the developed stage of the Middle Volga Abashevo culture. The preservation of organic materials, which is rare for the sites of the Middle Volga Abashevo culture, makes it possible to compare the results obtained only with the materials of the Pepkino burial mound. Speaking of metal composition, both sites belong to a single stage of the Middle Volga Abashevo culture. The radiocarbon dates of the two burial grounds obtained at the Oxford Laboratory are close and indicate a somewhat later age of the burials of the Starshy Nikitinsky burial ground relative to the burials of the Pepkino kurgan.

An Unusual Roman Fettered Burial from Great Casterton, Rutland

ABSTRACT In 2015, an unusual burial was uncovered during construction works at Great Casterton, Rutland. A male adult human skeleton, secured at the ankles with a pair of iron fetters and a padlock, was buried in a probable ditch. Iron hobnails were present around the feet of the individual. A radiocarbon date (AMS) from the burial produced a date of a.d. 226–427 with 95.4 per cent probability. This example appears to be the first definitive archaeologically excavated instance of an individual buried in this manner in Roman Britain. The character of the burial may imply that this was a slave, although other possibilities are also considered, as are the wider social and symbolic implications of the inclusion of shackles in a burial.

Logboat Discovered in Lake Lubanowo, Western Pomerania

The paper presents a logboat found by an expedition from the University of Warsaw in Lake Lubanowo (northwestern Poland) during an underwater archaeological survey in 2020. It is the first logboat made of beech wood (Fagus sylvatica) registered in the area of Poland. The conventional radiocarbon date is 2350±30 BP; thus, the vessel may be attributed to the Jastorf or Pomeranian culture, as it was found in the border area between the territories of both units. Only a few logboats are known from the period preceding the Middle Ages in Poland. Other untypical traits are a transom, and a carefully formed beak-shaped bow. In the prow there is a rectangular hollow with a circular perforation inside of unclear function. One may consider it a fastening of an outrigger or other kind of floating attachment but also perhaps that the bow slot was intended either for a figurehead, for mooring, or to hold a torch during night-time fishing, or even functioned as a ‘stick-in-the-mud’ – type anchor.

Combining Ancient DNA and Radiocarbon Dating Data to Increase Chronological Precision

This paper examines how ancient DNA data can enhance radiocarbon dating. Because there is a limit to the number of years that can separate the dates of death of related individuals, the ability to identify first-, second-, and third-degree relatives through aDNA analysis can serve as a constraint on radiocarbon date range estimates. To determine the number of years that can separate related individuals, we modeled maximums derived from biological extremes of human reproduction and death ages and compiled data from historic and genealogical death records. We used these estimates to evaluate the date ranges of a global dataset of individuals that have been radiocarbon dated and for which ancient DNA analysis identified at least one relative. We found that many of these individuals could have their date ranges reduced by building in date of death separation constraints. We examined possible reasons for date discrepancies of related individuals, such as dating of different skeletal elements or wiggles in the radiocarbon curve. Our research demonstrates that when combined, radiocarbon dating and ancient DNA analysis can provide a refined and richer view of the past.

COMBINING ANCIENT DNA AND RADIOCARBON DATING DATA TO INCREASE CHRONOLOGICAL PRECISION

This paper examines how ancient DNA data can enhance radiocarbon dating. Because there is a limit to the number of years that can separate the dates of death of related individuals, the ability to identify first-, second-, and third-degree relatives through aDNA analysis can serve as a constraint on radiocarbon date range estimates. To determine the number of years that can separate related individuals, we modeled maximums derived from biological extremes of human reproduction and death ages and compiled data from historic and genealogical death records. We used these estimates to evaluate the date ranges of a global dataset of individuals that have been radiocarbon dated and for which ancient DNA analysis identified at least one relative. We found that many of these individuals could have their date ranges reduced by building in date of death separation constraints. We examined possible reasons for date discrepancies of related individuals, such as dating of different skeletal elements or wiggles in the radiocarbon curve. Our research demonstrates that when combined, radiocarbon dating and ancient DNA analysis can provide a refined and richer view of the past.