Session I: Strength in Numbers:

Combining Old Datasets to Explore New Questions

Chair: Lucy Timbrell 

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Open access to a diverse range of published datasets has facilitated exciting new archaeological research, especially for students and early career academics. It has also allowed for the combination of datasets and interdisciplinary projects which has broadened the scope of research accessible for students, who often have limited time and funds to complete extensive data collection which is frequently involved in quantitative investigations. For example, open access to published data allows students to use data from distant archaeological collections that would otherwise be unobtainable. However, the amalgamation of data is not always simple, as often seemingly minor discrepancies in data collection, storage and/or cleaning can result in major issues with data transformation to a common schema required for scientifically rigorous analysis. For this reason, perhaps more data does not necessarily mean better data, especially in a field not traditionally trained in handling and analyzing data. This session aims to explore how students can use and combine published data in exciting new ways, in addition to identifying the potential challenges of integrating previously collected data from multiple sources. The session invites papers from all areas of archaeology and biological anthropology that have analysed synthesized data to explore new questions.

 

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Hunting in the Neolithic:

A Zooarchaeological Meta-Analysis Examination of the Changing Role of Wild Mammals Following the Adoption of Agriculture in Eastern Europe

Giselle Rainsford-Betts • University of York 

 

This study collates faunal data from 126 Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites across the Ukraine, and Eastern and Southern Romania to perform a meta-analysis evaluating the evidence for continued hunting after the adoption of agriculture in the area. The dataset amalgamates zooarchaeological reports from 29 journal articles and books, to fill part of the gap in the coverage of previous zooarchaeological meta-analyses of Neolithic Europe. Theories about the Neolithic subsistence system are ruled by persistent narratives of the revolutionary Neolithic package and the cognitive separation of the wild from the domestic. Challenges to these ideas generally focus on the rate of transition or packaged nature of the Neolithic, not the evolutionary subtext of the  argument. This has fuelled the limited discussion of hunting in the Neolithic, with some viewing its role as a staged process of decline. This study demonstrates that, at the majority of sites, wild mammals retained the role of a regular secondary meat resource across the Neolithic period. No evidence was found for an overall decrease in the frequency of hunting through time, with the practice instead increasing in the late fifth millennium BC before decreasing again – but not disappearing – in the fourth millennium BC. A link is proposed between this increase in hunting with the increase in social division observed around this time. This opens a possible avenue of future investigation into the relationship between hierarchy, lowered standards of living, and the role of hunting.

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Dead But Not Buried: The Re-Evaluation of Material Culture and the Manipulation of the Deceased in the Southern Levant Between 1000 BC and 200 AD

Sara Mura • Leiden University 

 

The status of archaeological and anthropological datasets related to the Southern Levant’s funerary practices between the Iron Age and Roman period; represents an issue in the attempt to produce comprehensive and comparative studies. Whereas the accessibility of data is precluded by their publication, mostly in Hebrew, the scale and quality of researches depend on funding, academic traditions, publication date, and conservation. Furthermore, this research-focus affects the collection and interpretation of data towards either specific elements such as tomb-types and funerary assemblages, or chronological periods and geographical areas, leading to incomparable and fragmented datasets. This study aims to better understand burial customs as a process made of complementary actions intended to dispose, commemorate and remember the deceased. The data from the selected case studies, the necropolises of Tell es-Sa’idiyeh, Tell el-Mazar, Lachish, Jerusalem and Dhiban, are re-evaluated through an interdisciplinary approach including tomb typologies, spatial organization of burials and markers, number of buried individuals, treatment and disposition of the bodies, demographic variables, grave goods, tomb reuse and disturbance of human remains. Their datasets are deprived of any theological and socio-economic framework, which translate funerary practices into ethnic and social identity markers. Additionally, both chronological and geographical labels used to investigate them (e.g., Iron Age, Biblical Land), which inevitably imply cultural-historical baggage and influence the research itself, are avoided. Preliminary results indicate that a wider perspective on concrete data can shed new light on how the application of misleading chronological and geographical terms and cultural-historical frameworks neglect the complexity of funerary traditions.

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Are There Any Relevant Data in Reflexive Excavation Diaries? 

Gustavo Sandoval • University of York 

 

In the last two decades there has been an increasing trend to enlarge the amount of written records for excavation work; for example, some projects like the Çatalhöyük Research Project are famous for reinserting the use of excavation diaries alongside context sheets. Specifically, these experiments emerge from a methodological discourse defined as reflexive archaeology that claims that additional diary recording enlarges the variability of recorded information onsite and reinforces the credibility of primary testimonies. Altogether this contributes to improve the quality of the site records. In this talk, I want to present some quantitative and qualitative results from the analysis of excavation diaries from Çatalhöyük. The purpose is to show that having more site observations do not necessarily contribute to having more relevant data; additionally, this argument will help to explain why Çatalhöyük diaries do not represent an adequate example of reinforcing the credibility of primary testimonies. Finally, some recommendations will be drawn for having more relevant excavation diaries.

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Multiple Datasets, Multiple Meanings?

A Reanalysis of Multiple Internment Burials in Early Anglo-Saxon England

Caroline Palmer • University of Oxford 

 

This paper examines a previous dataset published by Nick Stoodley in 2002 on multiple burials in early Anglo-Saxon England, updating his research with post-2002 data and reassessing his conclusions. Stoodley’s paper entitled “Multiple Burials Multiple Meanings? Interpreting the Early Anglo-Saxon Multiple Internment” focussed on a comprehensive overview of multiple burials in a way that had not been previously done. This paper expands upon that, revisiting Stoodley’s analysis and conclusions and questioning his application of available data. This paper concludes that Stoodley’s analysis was not representative of his own data and found trends where they did not exist, such as suggesting incorrectly that females rather than males were almost exclusively buried with subadults. Stoodley’s final argument, that multiple internment burials were ‘amulets’ for dealing with high-stress deaths, is examined more empirically in this paper and added upon by suggesting that the individuals interred together were tied by social relationships that were not necessarily rooted in biology. The various multiple interment burials of the early Anglo-Saxon period marked the ending and renewal of social relationships, whether it be occupational or dealing with societal-familial roles, such as conceptions of caretakers. As the social relationship is broken in death, enacting that relationship in death repairs the lost relationship. 

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Pirates from Space: Using GIS to Understand Piracy from the Graceo-Roman Era

Adam Dawson • University of Oxford 

 

The study of ancient piracy from an archaeological perspective has repeatedly been decried as impossible. Prominent historians such as Phillip de Souza have claimed that ancient piracy, as a subject, is a singularly textual phenomenon. However, using GIS to combine archived photos, satellite imagery, and database records with modern geospatial techniques it is possible to decipher an identifiable archaeological signature for Cilician piracy. This paper aims to demonstrate how we can address previously unanswerable questions by integrating archived data into modern Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Using an array of techniques such as visibility analysis, weighted overlay, and supervised classification we can identify the theoretical location of sites and cross-reference them with pre-existing datasets. This in turn sheds more light on the “Cilician Phenomena,” a period from 175BC to 63BC where piracy was apparently rampant in the Mediterranean and yet no archaeological evidence of them survives.

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Session II: Past and Future-Lifestyle and Inequality

Sabrina Ki and Helena Muñoz-Mojado

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The session aims to bring together new pieces of research into the study of past equality and inequality. This can include bioarchaeological studies (human and funerary osteology, isotopes, zooarchaeology etc.) in conjunction with socio-cultural studies (ethnography, gender, queer archaeology etc.), used to delve into aspects of past lifestyles such as assembly structure, horizontal political and economic spheres and more. The session goal is to highlight the investigatory power of interdisciplinary studies of past lives, beyond the way we reconstruct the features of past societies based on our current conceptions. The session offers the chance to join new developments in scientific methodology with disruptive theoretical approaches, and look beyond the androcentric, heteronormative, materialist and individualist ideas that have dominated the history of archaeological hypotheses.

 

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Gathering Practices in Eastern Central Sweden During the Middle and Late Mesolithic

Erik Solfeldt • Stockholm University 

 

This paper/presentation deals with the gathering practices in eastern central Sweden during the Middle and Late Mesolithic. During the post-processual paradigm, the idea of women as hunters has come to be accepted. However, men as gatherers seems to have gotten lesser attention. The aim with this paper is to understand who the Mesolithic gatherer was. By using James J. Gibson’s theory of affordances on the region’s most common biofact, the hazelnut (Corylus Avellana), I argue that the social organization of women as gatherers and men as hunters is an incorrect interpretation for the region. The affordances of the hazelnut rather speak for the gatherer being the hunter, the women, the men, the children and the old – gathering is not a set of practices that belong to a social group, but a set of practices performed by all members of the society.

 

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The Visual Language of Gender in Classical Greece and Han Dynasty China:

A Comparative Approach 

Min Lin • University College London  

 

Both textual records and visual evidence indicate that females participated in a diverse array of labour. Most interestingly, on the one hand, similar gender roles shared among different societies can be represented in diverse ways. On the other hand, notwithstanding the socio-culturally specific nature of gender ideology, similar strategies are used in representing gender across different cultural traditions. In this presentation, I explore the depiction of female roles in household labour on Attic painted pottery and Han pictorial slabs. I intended to move beyond the ‘local explanations’, which stress the cultural specificity in constructing gender ideology and gender role. A comparative approach can identify the unique characters of these two traditions that caused the difference in the visual representation of certain gender roles against the background of in many respects very similar gender ideology. By a systematic formal analysis accorded with textual and archaeological evidence, I will examine the parallel and/or differences in the depiction of female role in household labour. Also, I will discuss to what extant do such similarities and differences reflect the gender ideology in text description, and to how are they shaped by the unique social-cultural context in which women were made visible. 

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Shaping tradition:

An analysis of rims and shape variation using the ceramics at Százhalombatta-Földvár

Petra Jones • University of Cambridge 

 

Shape is something we tend to avoid looking at or describing as archaeologists, especially when talking about typologies as we regard it as arbitrary and not a true reflection of previous societies. However, typologies should be more than identifying similarities and differences, it should discuss why this matters and why these particular similarities and differences are important. Százhalombatta-Földvár is a Bronze Age tell settlement situated on the river Danube in Hungary, which boasts excellent preservation, is rich in material culture, and allows a fine-scale resolution of analysis of the materials on site. Using the ceramics found in Phase I excavated in 1997, and the ongoing data being collected from the site, I will begin to explore change occurring through the phase, especially the shape of the rims of ceramic vessels. It is not only looking at change throughout one assemblage or period but multiple levels and generations of potters. By engaging with typologies and shape on a fine scale, we can investigate an idea of tradition that is not static and rigid but continuous and absorbing a certain degree of change. This leaves us to figure out how to categorise these kinds of changes that fall outside the expectations and parameters of typology and tradition.  But most importantly, by using large datasets we can explore why variation is occurring, why traditions are changing, and how do we as archaeologists quantify such a change and the nature of these changes.

 

Missing Objects: New Perspectives to Tackle the Problem of Textile Activity

Patricia Rosell Garrido • University of Alicante 

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The study developed by one of the research groups of the Archaeology area of the University of Alicante (Spain) in the archaeological site of Los Almadenes (Hellín, Spain) -dated to the VI century BC- has led to the in-depth study of traditionally forgotten elements such as loom weights or pondera and spindle whorls or fusayolas. These pieces have been obtained since the first excavations in the 1990s and continue to emerge as part of the material record in the excavations of the most recent years, however, their small amount with respect to the total findings, their dispersion and disconnection in the space and the characteristic of the place inevitably generate a debate regarding its close and direct link with the presence of the female figure. That is why, from a vision of Gender Archaeology and applying the theories of Archaeology of Domestic Units (Household Archaeology), we reflect on the validity of this type of automatic identification between the tools of textile activity and the woman who may be ignoring an integral reading of the archaeological context. Consequently, various case studies are presented in which these pieces are present and whose analysis can shed light on them in terms of different functionalities and different personal links that does not always have to do with the fact of being a daily activity that leads to out the woman in her home.

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Investigating Seven Skeletons Excavated at the Medieval Abbey of St. James, Northampton

Rebecca Scott • University of York 

 

Age, sex and stature studied alongside skeletal pathologies are strong indicators of previous health and wellbeing. This paper concerns the age, sex, stature and pathological data obtained from seven skeletons of the nearly three hundred excavated between 2000 and 2001 at the Medieval Abbey of St James in Northamptonshire, spanning from its founding by Peverel in 1104 to its dissolvement in 1538. Although an admittedly small sample size, this report intends to explore the seven individual’s previous lives in conjunction with the historic record to argue for an observance of a largely male, young middle adult population who were heavily involved in agricultural work which caused and intensified their injuries. The paper also links the osteological findings into the broader study of socio-cultural hierarchies, particularly, the distinction between clergymen and laymen. The impact of an agriculturally dominated economy on the health of local populations in Medieval England is also discussed.

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Session III: Animal-Human Interaction in the Past:

Becoming, Making, Relating

Chair: Izzy Wisher

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Does the relational turn in archaeology mean that we need new concepts for the study of animals in the past? Archaeology has begun to challenge anthropocentric approaches, appreciating the way that relations cross-cut categories such as human/animal/object and individual/group/species. Relational thinking challenges the divide between active human agents and passive animal resources. Instead, inspired by observations in contemporary non-Western societies, relational archaeologies consider the possibility that this boundary was blurred in the past. This enables discussions of potential transformations between human and animal states; the process of becoming human or animal; past societies’ dependency on, and orientation around, animals; animal sociality and agency; and action that defies categories like ‘nature’ or ‘culture’. From this perspective, material culture can be understood as a medium to negotiate “animal-ness” and “human-ness”—or to transcend the binary altogether. What does an archaeology of animals that embraces these insights look like? This session explores the multifaceted ways animal-human relations have been negotiated, through becoming animals, making objects from animals, and relating to animals.

 

Waste Not:

A Re-Examination of Neanderthal Hunting Strategies and Their Relationship with Animals

Erica Priestly • University College London/University of York

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Research increasingly supports the notion that humans and Neanderthals are more alike than originally believed. Previously lauded to be the defining characteristics of humanity, features such as ideology and ritual are most likely shared, derived traits. Shipman (2010) proposed an additional hallmark, the animal connection, where the intensified interaction fauna has influenced the evolution of Homo. Zooarchaeology should therefore offer insight into Neanderthal ideologies, as hunting is rarely just a means to an end (Overton and Hamilkas 2013). However, research continues to interpret evidence in terms of subsistence, perpetuating Occidental bias that animals are passive players in an anthropogenic world. This has been criticised by Overton and Hamilakis (2013), who argue that other ontologies, not just Cartesian dualism, must be engaged in order to understand past reflexive relationships. This author will argue that ethnography can be partnered with zooarchaeology in order to achieve this goal. The taphonomic and zooarchaeological evidence from a selection of Middle Palaeolithic open-air sites will first be presented. The hunting modus operandi at these sites have been presented solely in economic terms and, at a few, appear to have been superficially wasteful. This evidence will then be compared to the Khanty and the Yukaghir, who Khanty and the Yukaghir, who are two animistic societies who believe that human-animal boundaries are blurred, and certain animals have personhood. In the latter society, the act of hunting itself encourages soul regeneration, thereby satisfying cosmological requirements. These analogies are thus useful for offering fresh insight into previously uncharted territory of Neanderthal ideology.

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(How) Can We Access Animal-Human Relationships in Prehistory?

Joanna Lawrence • University of Cambridge 

 

Following decades of processualist-inspired analyses of zooarchaeological materials, twenty-first century archaeologists have avidly sought to understand qualitative aspects of human-animal relationships. This endeavour has proven to be challenging however, as methodologies to bridge the gap between subsistence-oriented analyses of faunal remains and cosmologically-focused interpretations of art and ‘ritual’ are not well-established. In this paper, I discuss the challenges of integrating these approaches, and the potential of a cognitive-semiotic approach to Scandinavian Bronze Age rock art to access the nature of the everyday interactions between humans and animals that underly prehistoric ontological beliefs. Through this lens, I also consider the question of agency as distributed between human and animals in the negotiation of their relationships.

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The Concept of Rumah Peradaban (Civilization House):

A Challenge Towards Archaeology for the Public in Indonesia

Yadi Mulyadi and Erwin Mansyur Ugu Saraka • Hasanuddin University

 

In Indonesia all archaeologists are civil servants, which are government archaeologists. Under government institutions, archaeologists are in government agencies including; the National Archaeological Research Center (NARC), the Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums, and the archaeology departments at six universities.  As a government archaeologist, all archaeological research is financed through the state budget, the source of which is from the society (community tax). Accordingly, the results of archaeological research should be intended for the benefit of the community, but, in reality, the usefulness of the results of archaeological research for the community is still very limited. The archaeological paradigm for archaeology is one of the causes of the lack of publication of the results of archaeological research for the community. It has an impact on the lack of public knowledge about the results of archaeological research that has been carried out in Indonesia. Moreover, furthermore even the people do not know what benefits can be obtained from the research even the legacy of the archaeologists around them. In consequence, Puslitarkenas (NARC) launched the Rumah Peradaban (Civilization House) program which was an attempt to publish the results of archaeological research to the wider community.  The quantitative approach combined with qualitative is applied in assessing the implementation of the concept of Rumah Peradaban, resulting in an information of an increase in people's understanding of the results of archaeological research. That also triggered an increase in the number of archaeology majors at universities in Indonesia as well as public awareness of the importance of cultural heritage as archaeological heritage in their lives.

 

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Session IV: Public Archaeology in the Light of Global Politics: New Challenges and Opportunities

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Since its beginning, Archaeology has developed methodologies to deal with paradigm shifts and new technologies: Historical-Cultural Archaeology, Processualism, Post-Processualism etc. Archaeology faces new challenges: political landscapes, repatriation, new technologies for research and public.  

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What’s Old is New Again: Archaeology in Iraq

Kyra Kaercher • University of Cambridge 

 

This paper explores the changing landscape of the archaeology of Iraq and tangentially Syria. It traces the archaeological projects operating in Iraq and Syria from the mid-1850s to the present day. The proposed paper looks at the different nationalities of the excavations, the period they are interested in, and their publications (who they are publishing with, what they are publishing on) to see if any trends appear overtime. This then links in with larger geopolitical changes in the world, i.e. the rise and fall of the Saddam Regime in Iraq. Lastly, it looks at these trends in order to make recommendations for future collaborations.

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Rights of Cultural Objects: Gypsy Girl Reuniting With Her Company

Elvin Akbulut Dağlıer • Koç University 

 

“With a wild look in her eyes, the Gypsy Girl of Zeugma meets you on the wall of a dark room reached through a labyrinthine path at Zeugma Mosaic Museum of Gaziantep in Turkey, which houses many of the mosaics salvaged from the flooding of the new dam. She was hidden under a fallen pillar as the members of her company were roughly cut out from the floor back in 1960s and she lost track of them until 2012. After long negotiations with their safe-keepers in the Bowling Green State University of the US, she is about to reunite with her company and enjoy her true-self: the maenad of Dionysus.” The above story regarding repatriation of mosaic fragment to Turkey from the US as such may sound like a melodrama on who is the true mother: the one who gives birth or who rears, but it tells more than that: i. claims over ownership and protection, ii. criminological aspect (illicit trade and destruction of cultural heritage), iii. ethical issues (i.e. whistle-blowing, acquisition policies and failure to protect or a simply neglect by the source countries) and iv. power of open dialogue and 

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The Concept of Rumah Peradaban (Civilization House): 

A Challenge Towards Archaeology for the Public in Indonesia

Yadi Mulyadi and Erwin Mansyur Ugu Saraka • Hasanuddin University

 

In Indonesia all archaeologists are civil servants, which are government archaeologists. Under government institutions, archaeologists are in government agencies including; the National Archaeological Research Center (NARC), the Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums, and the archaeology departments at six universities.  As a government archaeologist, all archaeological research is financed through the state budget, the source of which is from the society (community tax). Accordingly, the results of archaeological research should be intended for the benefit of the community, but, in reality, the usefulness of the results of archaeological research for the community is still very limited. The archaeological paradigm for archaeology is one of the causes of the lack of publication of the results of archaeological research for the community. It has an impact on the lack of public knowledge about the results of archaeological research that has been carried out in Indonesia. Moreover, furthermore even the people do not know what benefits can be obtained from the research even the legacy of the archaeologists around them. In consequence, Puslitarkenas (NARC) launched the Rumah Peradaban (Civilization House) program which was an attempt to publish the results of archaeological research to the wider community.  The quantitative approach combined with qualitative is applied in assessing the implementation of the concept of Rumah Peradaban, resulting in an information of an increase in people's understanding of the results of archaeological research. That also triggered an increase in the number of archaeology majors at universities in Indonesia as well as public awareness of the importance of cultural heritage as archaeological heritage in their lives.

 

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“Remembering What We Cannot See” 

Excavating Public Memory at the Mine of Death in Santa Barbara, Peru 

Charlotte Williams • University of Pennsylvania

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Known as the “Mine of Death,” the Santa Bárbara Mercury Mining Complex claimed thousands of lives in Peru during the Spanish Colonial regime. In 2017, Peru nominated the site for UNESCO’s World Heritage Tentative List, under the category of technological marvels. The contentious history of the mine, 

interaction, among others. This session invites papers to innovate methodologies for these new challenges and opportunities. Papers are suggested to explore new ways to communicate archaeological research to the public and make it beneficial for archaeologists in the digital era by discussing Archaeology’s relevance, influence or reaction in global socio-political contexts. Key communication topics include but not limited to: engagement strategies, collaborative Archaeology, social media, investor and media relations, new technologies (e.g. VR and AR), museums and conservation, UNESCO, field schools and archaeological tourism. Key political themes include but not limited to: power—market transparency and illicit trade, political landscapes—diplomatic and cultural identity, repatriation, international court, Archaeology of refugees and Feminism.

 

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Recapturing Heritage and Identity: Nunalleq Project

Caitlin Jacobson • University of Aberdeen 

 

Nunalleq is a case study for indigenous power, authority and identity over their heritage. The village corporation Qanirtuuq, Inc. and the Yup’ik village of Quinhagak, Alaska contacted the Archaeology Department of the University of Aberdeen to carry out a salvage excavation in 2009. Now, 10 years later, the Yup’ik elders with archaeologists have unearthed a 700 old (pre-contact) winter village and over 100,000 pristinely preserved artifacts. This year the Nunalleq Culture and Archaeology Center has opened and showcased the first traditional Yup’ik dancing in over 100 years and the entire artifact collection. The Quinhagak elders have maintained autonomy throughout the entirety of the Nunalleq project. This autonomy has created a successful public outreach and inspired cultural interest for the Yup’ik youth of Quinhagak. The elders and archaeologists have produced educational material about Nunalleq which are bilingual and available online for free. The Nunalleq Project has been a successful partnership between Yup’ik elders and archaeologists. This case study could be an archetype for empowering indigenous groups to work with archaeologists and encourage archaeologists to cultivate public partnerships.

 

Papa Hee Nalu: Two Surfboards from the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum

Joanna Tonge • University of Southampton 

 

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This case study of two surfboards from the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, one associated with the Hawaiian Princess Kaiulani and one from the J.S. Emerson Collection, explores the experience of colonisation, appropriation and the geography of social change that took place in the Hawaiian Islands during the 19th century. Tied to Hawaiian cultural, individual and national identity, the political and spiritual microcosm of surfing mirrors the complexity of social changes during this time. Historically missionaries and colonial hierarchies have been unable to dominate the ocean and surf zone, or po’ina kai, thus it represents something of a cultural sanctuary for indigenous Hawaiians continuing to surf. The necessity of evolution in their use is directly related to the changing nature and meaning of water spaces in 19th century Hawaii. Considering their materiality and affectivity, the surfboard can be seen as an extended body of an individual significant in the creation and maintenance of an “emotional geography”. A mode of political protest, a conduit of love and desire, of genealogy and ancestral pride; Hawaiian surfboards are agents of great cultural import.

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Session V: Poster Session: New Frontiers in Archaeology

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The poster session of the CASA conference is accepting posters on the theme of New Frontiers. With this theme we are especially interested in posters that re-examine archaeological datasets or artefacts in new ways, challenge conventional views in archaeology and/or present novel ideas to the field. 

 

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Wolf vs. Dragon. What if Medieval Dragons Were Wolf-Headed Snakes from Antiquity? 

Giuseppe Delia • Durham University 

 

In this paper, I would like to discuss a hypothesis regarding the mythological origins of dragons as imagined in Medieval Europe. This concept could come from a distant past and a far land: Egypt. The impact of Egyptian religion and practices spread throughout the Mediterranean Sea once collected, interpreted and adapted by Greeks. In both Egyptian and Greek myths, one can read about many kinds of threats to mankind, but wolves and snakes played a particular role because they may have represented the most immediate dangers of the untamed nature surrounding villages and cities, leading to countless ways for these to deal with them. The major mean of diffusion of Egyptian traditions was the Roman Empire, its Army, its policy about religions and the free circulation of people in it. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, paganism was gradually and systematically destroyed but some of its features, the iconography and the philosophy behind it were assimilated by Christians. On the other hand, when the classical culture became elitist, people lost the references about some tales and images, so they found new ways to explain them, usually distorting their meanings. 

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Magdalenian Minds: The Role of Cognition in Mobility Art of the Magdalenian

Molly Hardman • University of York 

 

A novel cognitive approach to studying Palaeolithic arts is introduced. This research presents an evaluation of the role of cognition in Magdalenian mobiliary art using an object biography entwined with aspects of cognitive archaeology. Previous approaches to Magdalenian art have failed to engage with the cognitive implications of its conceptualisation, production, and use. Small-scale, high-resolution object biographies targeting specific artefacts can provide one avenue to access cognitive insights surrounding the production and use of Magdalenian art. The method was deployed in two diverse object categories: barbed points and contour découpé, with a random object chosen from each category to test the approach. The results of the analysis revealed that specific cognitive processes can be established throughout the production of Magdalenian art using this framework. In so doing, the analysis serves to highlight the important role specific aspects of cognition played in the life histories of Magdalenian mobiliary art. More broadly, exploring cognitive processes through material culture using an object biography framework represents a valuable tool that could be usefully deployed in other contexts.

 

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A Ruined Dream: The Contemporary Archaeology of a Mid-20th Century Zoo

Anton Larsson • Stockholm University 

 

In the mid-1960s, one man bought land atop a forested hill in rural Sweden, and began building a zoological park of his own, without any funding or outside support. The vision would live on for a decade, constantly battling both the economy and local authorities. Throughout this time, before finally shutting down in the 1970s, the “Stenvall Zoo” was home to dozens of captive animal species, some exotic, some indigenous, some domestic. This poster builds upon the prior scholarship surrounding “zoo archaeology” (as opposed to zooarchaeology). It is a first preliminary look at the contemporary archaeology of the zoo ruins, today still clearly visible in the highly altered forest landscape, and the animal-human interactions that played out within this confined environment.

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How Can 3D Documentation Methods Bring New Light into 

the Archaeological Study of Buildings? 

Lan Shi • University College London 

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This paper confronts the development of recent 3D methods in archaeology and how 3D models would revolutionise the study of buildings. Recent research shows that 3D modelling and recording have brought archaeologists new insights into the built environment and allow new interpretations to be made. 3D modelling alongside VR has contributed greatly to the recent study in buildings and brought new opportunities for the archaeological research in the built environment.

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Session VI: New Frontiers in the Archaeology of Buildings

Chair: Xosé L. Hermoso-Buxan

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Buildings, together with pottery, are one of the most ubiquitous types of evidence encountered by archaeologists, found both in urban and rural contexts and ranging from the monumental (palaces, temples, military complexes, etc.) to the domestic and utilitarian (residences and households, storage buildings, etc.). Archaeological research on buildings has the potential to inform us about a wide variety of topics. Urbanism, households and kinship, social stratification and class, cultural identity, political and power strategies, economy or religion, are all subject areas that place the study of buildings at their core.  From a methodological point of view, in recent years, traditional art historical, typological and formal approaches to architecture have been supplemented with new methods applied to the study buildings of many different periods and geographical areas. Indeed, although studies are still limited, digital and spatial analysis, 3D modelling, laser scanning and photogrammetry, space syntax, micromorphology and activity area analysis, among others, are methods that are helping change the way we study buildings, the research questions that can be asked and the type of information that can be obtained from them. This session would therefore aim to address questions such as, but not limited to, the following: how can buildings be used as tools to elucidate current theoretical debates in Archaeology? How can new methodologies bring new light to the study of buildings in archaeological contexts and how can they help re-examine the information we already have about them? In what ways can we use buildings as subject matter to ask new questions about the past?

 

The Land of the Living: Understanding British Neolithic Structures

Jessica Domiczew • University of Cambridge

 

Early and Middle Neolithic (c. 4400-2900BC) structures in Britain have had limited reviews over the last century. This is predominantly due to their ephemeral nature which has led to the belief that British Neolithic societies lived a nomadic lifestyle leaving too few structures and associated finds. These views may have held merit in the first half of the 20th century, but now, with an increase in scientific technology, ethnography and structures being unearthed through large-scale excavation and survey, previous views may not be as valid. Due to this, this project delves into this untapped resource, focusing on how early and middle Neolithic structures in England and Wales were used based on artefacts, landscape and structure biography. This project will ascertain whether new data can teach us more about these structures and critique previous works.

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The Life in the Chemistry of Soils: A Geochemical Study of the Gatehouse at Meillionydd

Nebu George • Bangor University

 

Various tools have been employed in spatial archaeological studies of roundhouses to understand daily activities within. Based on patterns observed in these studies, various models of space use in roundhouses have been proposed, such as centre-periphery and sun-wise, among others. However, most models are based on the study of finds distributions. Studies based on such distribution are generally based on the assumption that finds within the roundhouses are contemporary with each other. At sites that lack any significant number of finds, the identification of activity areas within structures may be difficult. At such sites, geochemical analysis of floors may be used to identify activities. A roundhouse lacking any significant finds at Meillionydd was analysed by geochemical analysis using a TXRF spectrometer. Meillionydd is a double ringwork enclosure settlement site dating to Late Bronze Age to Middle Iron Age on the Llyn peninsula, in North Wales. Based on the geochemical study at this site, a division of space in the roundhouse was identified, suggesting that certain areas were designated for specific functions. Such a division of space was identified based on the idea that repetitive and frequent use of a particular space leaves a permanent mark in the chemistry of the soil. This paper, along with detailing the results of the geochemical analysis done at Meillionydd, also checks, with this roundhouse, the compatibility of models of space use within roundhouses suggested previously in British prehistoric studies.

 

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Peculiar Elements of the Building Culture and the Problems of “Special” Rural Settlements 

Roman Zabolotnii • Otto-Freidrich-Universität Bambaerg 

 

An extended archaeological excavation near Wetzlar-Dalheim (Hesse, Germany) has revealed a sequence of medieval occupation deposits belonging to a rural settlement dating from the Merovingian to the late medieval period. Several features, associated with buildings and rubbish pits with building debris, as well as the artefacts found within are unusual for a village of that time. This paper investigates the nature of this settlement, stressing its special character. In particular, the significance of the group of specific features is discussed, while trying to find the meaning of these peculiar traces of building culture. Also, a potential connection to the iron metallurgy practiced at the site and represented in the archaeological record is considered.  Through the search for similar phenomena at the regional scale, I intend to prove the existence of borders, both as limits of the geographical distribution of the features discussed here but also as conceptual borders between the different types of rural settlements.

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Towers in the Septentrional Border in Spain

Isaac Martinez Espinosa • Universidad Autonoma de Madrid 

 

The Septentrional Border was throughout the Middle Ages a space of struggles between Christians and Muslims first, and between Christian kingdoms later. Despite the existence of a large number of disputes throughout the period, it also developed as a very heterogeneous space for exchanges of people, subjects, cultures, heritage and societies. The two elements that supposed a greater vertebral element of the region were the Way of St. James on the one hand and the defensive architectures on the other. In the Autonomous Community of La Rioja there were more than 130 different defensive architectures divided into eight different typologies. Among them, the Fort-Towers stand out, which accounted for about 30% of all buildings. They were especially popular during the fourteenth century, but their construction takes place between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries. From then on they were practically obsolete until finally we are left with only 18 of which only seven have undergone some kind of restoration while the rest are destined to disappear. The objective of this essay would be the study of restoration materials, the campaigns that have been carried out, the enhancement of these 7 buildings, five of which have been rehabilitated for private use and another two as recreational spaces, giving them a second life and being able to be enjoyed by all of us.  

 

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Desert Kites: A New Frontier in Near Eastern Archaeology

Mariam Shakhmuradyan • Yerevan State University

 

Desert kites are large-scale stone structures, comprised of two or more long stone rows and of a spacious enclosure attached to them. To the latter are attached towers. The enclosure of the kites can have different forms. Some of them are geometrical, while others resemble images of different objects and animals. These structures have been discovered in the Near East and Central Asia. Though the research of kites has a century-long history, neither the function nor the place and time of their origin have yet been determined. Currently, the oldest kites are dated to the Neolithic Period. The most widespread view is that these structures served as hunting traps for the herds of wild ungulates. However, to date no direct evidence confirming this theory has been found. Vice versa, the recent findings and the analysis of the morphology and landscape of the kites make this theory improbable. In this paper it is argued, that kites had a cultic significance. Based on the comparative analysis of the kite forms and the iconography of the Ancient Near East, a new hypothesis has been put forward, according to which the forms of the kites represent the symbols of worshiped deities.

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Reconstructing Buildings, Reconstructing History: The Christian Architecture of Arabia

Valentina A. Grasso • University of Cambridge 

 

Pre-Islamic Arabia still remains a rarely exploited subject. Yet late antique Arabia and its northern extension (Syrian desert) are a peculiarly fertile ground for a historical inquiry into the transition from polytheism to monotheism. We possess a wide array of sources to reconstruct the historical milieu of pre-Islamic Arabia. New archaeological finds in the Arabian Peninsula are in fact rapidly expanding our understanding of the pre-Islamic milieu and the political structures of the Middle East. We are thus often lucky enough to be able to integrate the study of the literary materials with a range of archaeological finds This paper elucidates the religious history of late antique Arabia through a study of its religious buildings, especially looking at the Christian architecture of Jordan, in use between the fourth and the sixth centuries. The aim of this paper is to present a brief outline of the churches and monasteries of the Arabian Peninsula, comparing and contrasting the archaeological data with the picture portrayed by the literary accounts. Christianity quickly spread in Arabia and the Christian architecture of the area witness to this trend.

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Session VII: New Frontiers in Archaeological Sciences:

Trowel Blazing at it’s Cutting Edge

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The past few years have seen major advancements in not only the development of sophisticated scientific methods in archaeology, but in the broader uptake of a more fundamentally scientific approach that is now integral to how archaeology is carried out and perceived. Recent exciting developments such as the uptake of ZooMS and palaeoproteomic approaches, population modelling through aDNA, and refined material provenancing techniques interaction, among others. This session invites papers to innovate methodologies for these new challenges and opportunities. Papers are suggested to explore new ways to communicate archaeological research to the public and make it beneficial for archaeologists in the digital era by discussing Archaeology’s relevance, influence or reaction in global socio-political contexts. Key communication topics include but not limited to: engagement strategies, collaborative Archaeology, social media, investor and media relations, new technologies (e.g. VR and AR), museums and conservation, UNESCO, field schools and archaeological tourism. Key political themes include but not limited to: power—market transparency and illicit trade, political landscapes—diplomatic and cultural identity, repatriation, international court, Archaeology of refugees and Feminism.

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Introduction: Really Cool Stuff in the Future of Archaeological Sciences

Ruairidh Macleod • University of Cambridge 

 

"Major discoveries in archaeology in the coming years will be more often in the lab than in the field. " Price (2006).This introductory presentation will discuss the recent rapid development of archaeological sciences and offer perspectives on the most exciting current and future frontiers for research, and what these bode for the future of the field. For example, with the rapid uptake of ancient proteomic sequencing (reflected in two presentations in this session), similarities have been drawn to the prior expansion of the field of ancient DNA. Despite the advantages (greater molecular stability and preservation) and disadvantages (proteomes providing less phylogenetic insight than genomes), guidance may still be provided by learning from the pitfalls experienced by aDNA labs. This addresses the more fundamental issues of how scientific research is done, including insularity of research groups, intense competitive pressure, and culturally and scientifically sensitive moralities. Collins (2006) caricatured the past relationship between Archaeology and Archaeological Sciences, describing the (data-) poor "Archaeology Town" and its fringe "Archaeometry Science Park", mostly occupied by immigrants from the sprawling (data-) rich "Science Metropolis", viewed with suspicion or even contempt. Now, over a decade later, "Archaeology Town" has become data-rich, but this success has been primarily the success of the "scientific immigrants". 

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ArcHives—Biomolecular Record of Bees in Medieval Sealing Wax

Tuuli Kasso • University of Copenhagen

 

Manuscripts of parchment, made from domesticated animal skins, carry the written history of our past, often dated, signed, and stamped with a wax seal. Manuscripts are an unprecedented reservoir of biological information localized and dated either directly (signed and dated historical documents) or estimated from palaeography (manuscripts) and sigillography (seals). As a biological record, animal skins are evidence for the process of improvement from the middle ages to the 19th century and an attendant microbiome from scribing, handling and storage of the text. The recent catastrophic decline in bee populations has caused concern for ecosystems worldwide and has highlighted bees’ vulnerability to environmental change. Beeswax of honey bees (A. mellifera) records (i) colony and (ii) the microbiome of the hives (iii) the pollen of the foraging areas (up to 802 km) around the hive, and (iv) the humans that kneaded the wax into seals. If we can recover human DNA trapped inside the wax seals we can explore the potential for an archaeology of the individual. This paper presents the goals and methods of the ArcHives project (directed by Prof. Matthew Collins), which explores whether beeswax of the wax seals, like the parchment itself contains biomolecular data that can be used to explore beekeeping and wax trade in the Middle Ages.

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Skeletal Biology of Human Populations Between Classical and Post-Classical Times in Italy:

The Evidence of Dental Enamel Hypoplasia

Erwin Mansyur Ugu Saraka • La Sapienza University of Rome

 

In this study will discuss the evidence of dental enamel hypoplasia from two different populations, classical and post-classical in Italy. Enamel hypoplasia occurs during different tooth formation because at the same time it shows systemic physiological stress caused by malnutrition and congenital genetic defects and another factors. This can be seen in the presence of physiological signs in the teeth in the form of horizontal lines that can mostly be identified in the facial teeth. The material to be studied is 118 individuals; 57 from the Povegliano site and 61 from the Selvicciola site, Northern and Central Italy. In this research, the aim was to provide an overview of the frequency of enamel hypoplasia, the types of hyperplastic defects, the earliest developmental age estimates for the formation of enamel hypoplasia and nutritional status between the two populations. In order to achieve these objectives, the method used to describe the research sample according to the samples needed in the study, identification and measurement using a standardized digital caliper which is also combined with analytical techniques X-ray microtomography (Micro-CT) to make cross sections of physical objects that can be used to recreate virtual models (3D models) to see email thickness as a result of amnioblast activity for assessment of enamel hypoplasia as an indicator of nutritional status. 

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Past Scents: Using Chemical Analysis to Recreate the Smellscape of an Ancient Oasis

Barbara Huber • Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History 

 

Smells are known for being ephemeral. They disappear quickly, without leaving any trace behind in the archaeological record. Thus, it remains a challenging task for archaeologists to study the olfactory world of an ancient culture. My research focuses on investigating the smellscape of the ancient oasis of Tayma, Saudi Arabia, by implementing a chemical biomarker approach to artefacts that contain remains of aromatics. The oasis, currently being investigated by a Saudi-German team, is located on one of the major branches of the “Incense Road”. Samples from stratified contexts (Bronze Age to Late Antiquity) at Tayma were analysed by means of liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to detect the characteristic profiles of secondary metabolites or, in other words, the chemical fingerprint of a substance. The analyses of these residues enable us to identify the nature of the plants and aromatics that were used to create the sweet scents. The results yielded at least three different resins and demonstrated a wide use of scented substances at a community level, as revealed through smells whose functions varied based on the context. Myrrh, for instance, was used specifically at graveyards for burial practices, whereas frankincense was mainly burnt in private houses. In this regard, the study also sheds light on how humans transformed their environment with different smells, providing unique insight into the sensual world of the past.

 

Chemical Analysis of Glass Fragments from Sepphoris, Israel

Brittany Stone • University College London 

 

For over twenty years, small shards of glass have been sitting in storage, neglected after their initial discovery during excavations of Sepphoris in Israel. Sepphoris was a continually inhabited site since pre-Roman times until 1948, especially important in Roman and Byzantine Galilee, but it is archaeologically significant due to an earthquake in 363 CE that more accurately assists with dating layers and artefacts. Archaeological glass studies can also assist with dating as certain elements are key tells in production date because glass composition changed over time. The longevity of the site’s occupation and its clearly defined destruction layer legitimise the comparison of glass dating techniques. By chemically analysing twenty-two glass samples, twelve finished vessel pieces and ten raw production remains, the results can be compared with excavators’ initial understanding of the site to test these ideas off each other. Twenty years ago, these pieces were too small and deemed too invaluable for previous study, however, SEM and pXRF techniques today can work with material as small as three millimetres to produce viable results. These results will also be scrutinized against other glass studies done in the region for an inter-regional look at trade and commerce in Roman and Byzantine Galilee.  The goal of this study is to validate dating techniques and contribute to the wealth of glass research in antiquity.

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Palaeoproteomic Analysis of Coprolites from Nunalleq

Anne Katherine Runge • University of York 

 

Palaeoproteomics is an advancing field within archaeological science that has already proven impactful and provided new insight into past lifestyles, diet, art, evolutionary relationships and much more. This project explores the application of palaeoproteomics to dog coprolites from Nunalleq, a precontact Thule site in Alaska. Dogs played a significant role in the adaptation to Arctic lifeways that was introduced with the Thule tradition, where, among other things, transportation via dog slep was integral to their success. However, their dietary requirements, which for the most part had to be accounted for in human subsistence strategies, made dogs an expensive resource. Understanding the dietary relationship between humans and dogs at Nunalleq can therefore provide new insight into Arctic lifeways and adaptations. Using tandem massspectrometry (LC-MS/MS) I show that it is possible to detect proteins in coprolites from both host and dietary sources, and with the application of ZooMS to bone fragments found within the coprolite matrix, it might even be possible to identify some of the dietary sources to species level. The application of palaeoproteomic analyses therefore has the ability to complement established methods, such as stable isotopes and ancient DNA for inferring diet.