Scianò, Filippo Bramanti, Barbara Gualdi-Russo, Emanuela
Published in
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
The study of thalassaemia syndromes in archeological human remains is of growing interest in the field of paleopathology. However, a definitive diagnosis of the disease in skeletonized individuals remains difficult. Several non-specific bone lesions have been suggested as the most likely evidence of β-thalassaemia syndrome. In particular, skull les...
Jones, Richard E. Levi, Sara T. Bettelli, Marco Cannavò, Valentina
Published in
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
Decorated Italo-Mycenaean (IM) pottery, a high-status class found and made over three centuries from the Italian Late Middle Bronze Age onwards, was the subject of a large archaeological and archaeometric enquiry published by the present authors in 2014. The present paper focuses on identifying IM’s centres of production. The results of chemical an...
Simpson, Rachel Cooper, David M. L. Swanston, Treena Coulthard, Ian Varney, Tamara L.
Published in
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
Given their strong affinity for the skeleton, trace elements are often stored in bones and teeth long term. Diet, geography, health, disease, social status, activity, and occupation are some factors which may cause differential exposure to, and uptake of, trace elements, theoretically introducing variability in their concentrations and/or ratios in...
Trentacoste, Angela Nieto-Espinet, Ariadna Guimarães, Silvia Wilkens, Barbara Petrucci, Gabriella Valenzuela-Lamas, Silvia
Published in
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
Throughout the Western provinces of the Roman Empire, greater economic and political connectivity had a major impact on agricultural production, which grew in scale and specialisation after integration with the Roman state. However, uniquely in Western Europe, farming strategies in Italy began to evolve centuries before the Roman conquest, and many...
Fenner, Jack N. Herrscher, Estelle Valentin, Frédérique Clark, Geoffrey
Published in
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
Tonga is a Polynesian island chain that was initially colonized by the Lapita culture about 2700 years ago. Its inhabitants went on to found the Tongan State about 700 years ago. Our project uses carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses to investigate and compare the diets of Lapita and Tongan State individuals. Sampled burial locations include ...
Trant, Pernille L. K. Kristiansen, Søren M. Christiansen, Anders V. Wouters, Barbora Sindbæk, Søren M.
Published in
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
This study explores the significance of spatial sampling resolution on portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analysis of an archaeological settlement site with favorable preservation conditions and clearly defined stratigraphic contexts as a benchmark study to interpret geochemical mapping of anthropogenic elemental markers. We present geochemical ele...
Huisheng, Tang Bednarik, Robert G.
Published in
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
A reconsideration of the application of 230Th/234U analysis to thin accretionary skins of re-precipitated carbonate to secure minimum or maximum ages for physically related rock art suggests that the controversy it has created can be resolved. A program to test the method’s results indicates that such calcite skins tend to yield age estimates that ...
Sun, Xiaofan Man, Xingyu Liao, Xuezhu Yang, Jiyun Cao, Jun Zhu, Hong Zhang, Quanchao Wang, Qian
Published in
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
Footbinding was an infamous custom of the Han Chinese people used to modify the size and shape of feet in women. Binding started at a very young age and gradually deformed the natural growth of the feet, which was not only a painful process but also a lifetime source of inconvenience and morbidity. In this study, we report a large number of skeleto...
Ioannides, Demetrios Kassianidou, Vasiliki Papasavvas, George
Published in
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
This paper discusses the results of an analytical study of the metallurgical ceramic assemblage recovered from the Late Bronze Age (LBA) urban settlement of Enkomi, Cyprus. The ceramic fabric and the slagged surfaces of a total of 106 tuyère and crucible samples from the workshops of Enkomi, Area III, have been analysed using a handheld pXRF spectr...
Mbeki, Linda Kootker, Lisette M. Laffoon, Jason E. Davies, Gareth R. Kars, Henk
Published in
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
There is a growing body of bioarchaeological research on eighteenth and nineteenth century colonial Cape Town, a significant node in the transportation networks of both the Indian and Atlantic oceanic slave trades, attempting to shed light on the lives of enslaved persons. Here, a preliminary archaeological isotopic dietary baseline for the colonia...